Studio One Dancers

I am joining the Studio One Dancers team and teaching a pre-ballet class. I am so excited to be teaching again. This woman and I met at church and she had an extra long waiting list so she asked if I was interested in teaching and now here I am! She made her garage into a dance studio (remember we don't have basements where I live) with hard wood floors and put mirrors and bars up. It is beautiful. Take a look! studioonedancers.com I'll have fun with the 3 and 4 year olds; the only thing I am worried about is how C will do in my class!?!

Rain Rain Rain

We have been getting amazing rain storms. They just down pour all of the sudden and the thunder and lightning is loud and actually shakes the house. Scary! M doesn't like that I tell C that thunder is just the clouds bumping into one another. Tornado's are spotted just 20 min away from us. I know. It is too close. We can't go swimming because there is thunder almost every day. It has been kind of crazy. M loves the storms. He could sit through a horrendous rain and thunder storm and be very content. Yes, he is a little strange. Surprisingly enough we haven't had too much heat. Yes, the heat index is sometimes up to 103, but not as much as I would have expected in July! I am so glad that I will be gone for most of August!

One Year Anniversary

I just realized that in the month of June was my one year mark for blogging!!! It doesn't seem like I have been doing it for that long. I hope it has been enjoyable for those of you that read. I have loved your comments and emails. It makes me feel like there are people that still care about us even though we are so far away from family and friends. We love you all. Thanks for reading!!

Love Melanie

Things we do

C and I have fun going to the library every other Tuesday. We go for story time so she can sit and I can grab books like a mad dog so I can get out of the building with out someone screaming and crying! I do! I grab books so fast while C sits and listens to the stories. I don't even look at the books very much. I just check if they have short sentences or long paragraphs. And yes, I pick the short sentenced ones. C is very well behaved during story time. I am so proud. She is always so concerned about all the kids not keeping the teacher's rules. . . mmm. . . that sounds a lot like some one we all know. Well any way, we have fun going and we love having new books to read at home. J is pleasant, but now that he is crawling he wants to get down and pull all the books off the shelf. Very typical.




We all went to visit M a long time ago at his work. We ate lunch in the cafeteria and met some of his coworkers. We had fun. I couldn't believe how close to downtown we actually live! I was there in no time (with no traffic of course). M didn't want me to take pictures, but as you can see I did anyway. J was hanging on me in the BJorn so he isn't in the picture. Isn't my family so cute?

Crazy Animals

These are my crazy animals! Well, really they are my children. Aren't they cute?

J is already a big flirt with the ladies. Everyone rants and raves about his round head and beautiful smile.

M was mowing the lawn with C in this back pack (just a way to get her out of the house so Mommy could have a break). We had to put her in the back pack because she didn't want to change out of her nice dress and she cries because she thinks we are walking away from her when mowing. She obviously fell asleep and so Daddy took her off and set her on the porch. Since it stands on its own, he left her there. She slept for a long time.

These are the actual crazy animals I was talking about. My friend and I went to a place called McDonalds Farm. These animals are so tame. The dear are aggressive if you have some food.

C even got to ride a horse. She didn't whine or worry about it either. What a relief. She loved it.

What she loved most was following the dear around. She wouldn't even play on the fun play ground, the sand pile, or be interested in other animals.

French Drain Documented

This is a project that M took upon himself to improve the yard. When it rained this one side of our lawn would puddle up with water for a long time. He thought that a French Drain system would be helpful and it is!! It works like a charm. No more puddles and that means no more breading grounds for mosquitoes! H invited his coworker over to help - what a good friend. It just so happened to be one of the most hot and humid days when M decided to do this project. He wanted to make sure that it could get all done by that evening too. So he asked me to help start digging the night before - - at 9:00 p.m.! I was in my pj's and flip flops. The ground is like a wet suction cup with every step and the bugs were out and about. My job was to hold the light while he dug out the sod. Now I knew M was strong, but not this strong. He was pulling these huge clumps of sod that are completely filled with water. He is standing in the trench full of water heaving out the monstrous loads, bugs are swarming him (and me because I am holding the light!), and he says "Isn't this fun?!". What a guy. After a little while I am really noticing the bugs all over me and am asking M every few minutes why we can't do this in the morning. I am then given the job to shovel the sod out so he can pick it up. Now I am shaking because this wet land smells like sewage and the bugs are eating my alive. I also notice that every time M lifts up the sod an army of huge spiders come running towards me!! If any of you know me then you know how I felt about this. I was beside myself. I must have been in shock because I didn't think of going to change my clothes so they wouldn't be running over my toes and up my legs .\dfkla;kdhf lksjfhg. Oo that gave me the shivers just writing about it. Lets move on.

M's friend came the next day and his wife and family came too. We swam at the pool next door while the boys worked hard to finish the job. I made sure they had drinks, but you could tell that they were delirious from heat, exhaustion, and dehydration. They were moving very slow by the end of the project. You can tell in the pictures. Luckily they got to come swim afterwards. We have such nice neighbors. Wow, this story turned into a long one. I hope you enjoy the pictures. . .




Our great neighbors.
M's coworker and wife

Before we cut the ground

This shows the three stages of the system. Ground, rocks, hose, rocks, sod on top.

Almost finished!

Last clump of sod to roll over!!

Camping

About a month ago we went camping with some friends. It was perfect weather. We can't go anymore because it is too hot. We had fun camping again. It has been a long time since we have camped. C loved the freedom to roam and she needed it. So many rules back home. She found joy in holding a stick and looking at bugs and just running around. J was a good boy. We brought a box for him to sleep in because we didn't have a pack n' play yet. I worked fine but he ended up sleeping in his car seat inside the tent. M made a great fire and cooked up some famous rice and chicken (Jamaican style). We stayed up too late talking and we went on a little walk in the morning. Nothing like a Utah camping trip, but hey, it is as close as we can get.

Army Crawl

I just wanted to document that today J is officially army crawling. He has learned so fast. C can't protect her toys anymore and I've got to baby proof the house again. I need a walker!