Marian's Dance concert

At the beginning of summer Marian had a dance recital.  Since I couldn't go to the last one because I was on bed rest (lame) I was THRILLED to be able to go this time.  Funny story.  For some reason I thought the recital was at Capitol Theater (a really prestigious theater in Salt Lake...as in Broadway shows and the Utah Ballet perform there).  I remember thinking "wow!"  Marian's dance studio is going all out for this recital.  As we parked downtown and were walking toward the theater I thought it was a little strange that I didn't see any other little dancers walking toward the theater.  I wondered if maybe we were supposed to use a back entrance or something.  As we got closer I thought it was even stranger that the theater lights weren't on.  I wondered if they were waiting to turn them on till it was closer to performance time.  Finally when I found the doors to be locked and NO lights were on anywhere in the building, I realized I was at the WRONG THEATER!  AHH!  A quick call to my sister-in-law (who's daughters danced with Marian) and I got  the address for the actual theater...at a local community college.  Marian and I raced back to the car and sped the few blocks to the recital and PRAYED our way into a relatively close parking spot and made it just in time! The best part of story was being able to spend that crazy hour with this adorable little dancer!

There's no denying the fact that this little girl LOVES to pose.
Enjoy.

 

 

 

This pose...

and this pose

and THIS pose were all Marian's idea :)

 

Have you ever...

Have you ever heard that a Kitchen-Aid will "walk off" the counter when it is mixing dough?

 Have you ever thought it won't walk off if you leave it on the lowest setting and set it at the BACK of the counter?

Have you ever run up stairs to take care of a crying baby and thought you would be RIGHT BACK down?

Have you ever heard little hands cranking the Kitchen-Aid up to full speed (and then run away) while you were still up stairs?

Have you ever come sprinting down the stairs just in time to see the kitchen aid launch itself off the counter, taking the giant glass jar of flour (which was recently refilled) with it?


Yeah...I hate that.

(not pictured) the huge gash in our wood floor and the Kitchen-Aid that believe it or not still works just fine.

Look who FINALLY got to start dance lessons

 

Summer Highlights

School starts in one week.  Seriously people?  It is still the beginning of August!!!!  Summer 2013 was so much fun and could probably be dubbed the summer of swimming at Crestwood Pool/the summer where I hardly took any pictures!  BLAST!   Of the few pictures I did take here are some highlights.

We got a trampoline and the kids are in HEAVEN about this addition

The joy of getting the tramp was only overshadowed by the fact that a few days later we got to Dog-
Sit my sister's dog "Pip" pictured above (you might need a magnifying glass...Pip is one small dog).  Marian was thrilled to find out that Pip spent the night sleeping by her feet.  Don't ask me why Marian was sleeping in the music room.  After 4 days with us Pip probably went home to his family exhausted from the almost hourly walks and constant love/mauling from my dog deprived children. I'm pretty sure that between Jack and Marian, Pip was introduced to EVERY home in the neighborhood.

Robby came from Australia and we got him all to ourselves for a few days!  He was a good sport and slept in our unfinished basement, jumped on the tramp with the big kids every day, let me beat him in the game "Ticket to Ride", and played the doting uncle to Grant and Gracie (seen here wearing their patriotic Stars...and Stripes pj's for the 4th of July)

Lucy got interested in the babies.  G&G have had many unexpected run in's with miss Lucy lately.  Poor Grant got his head washed while he was sleeping in his swing.

We got to celebrate my Grandma Jean's birthday

complete with impromptu tea party

Jack and Marian tried their hands at small business

Jack won the award for most outgoing (and apparently charming) salesman

Marian won the award for most patient saleswoman.  She didn't pick a high traffic day like Jack did but she didn't care one bit.  She was happy as could be waiting for customers (2 total in over an hour...not counting me, Lucy, me, Jack, me again, and Chad)  A UPS driver stopped and gave her a $4.75 the tip for her 25 cent lemonade.  I guess that's what you get when you are the world's cutest lemonade seller.

We were reminded time and time again that Grandma Marian is the best and most fun babysitter ever.

Seriously, if I have half of her energy when I am in my eighties...I will be thrilled!

My sister Kate and her husband Rich were in town from NYC for a day and we enjoyed them every minute of their stay.  We also enjoyed every bite of Kate's homemade Chocolate Chip cookies...they were eaten too fast to get a picture of.

Two and a half months of summer down...only about 2 and a half more days to go.

Sisterly Love

 

Jack's Baptism

I don't know how it happened...but somehow it was Jack's baby blessing one day...

Then I blinked and it was his baptism day

 

 

It was such a special day.  Made even more special by the fact that Jack's GREAT-Grandmothers Jean...

and Marian were there.

I am so proud of Jack and his decision to be baptized.  He has really worked hard to be prepared to make this special promise with Heavenly Father and even though he is only eight, I think he understood what a special and wonderful event his baptism was.  I challenged Jack to memorize our Church's
13 Articles of Faith (click on the link if you are unfamiliar with them)
before he was baptized.  Man alive did he work hard to learn them all.  I think the promised reward of unlimited toppings at Golden Spoon helped a little too.  The day before his baptism he recited them all to me perfectly! And today at church he recited the 10th article of faith for the whole primary.  I asked him why he chose the 10th and he said "it's the hardest one!"

Jack is such a great big brother...which is not always easy when you have little sisters and a little brother who take/break your stuff, cry when you tease, and demand lots and lots of mom's attention.  But somehow Jack often finds a way to be incredibly sweet and helpful to all the littles.

(side note:  in the car, Jack sits in the back row between Lucy and Marian.  One night we had my brother Robby with us and so I squished in the back seat and had Jack on my lap.  I gained a lot of respect and understanding for Jack's lot in life that night because being stuck between those two girls in the back is NO FUN.)

I think Jack was happy most of the day but he was less than happy to have to stay in his Sunday clothes while we posed for pictures.  He was DYING to get into his play clothes to go run wild with his cousins.

It really was a great day.  All of the Pugh cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents were there.  Jack's great grandma's were there, even my Aunt Barb came to support Jack as well.

  We had a great web-cam chat with my parents and Robby in Australia the day before which was so fun.  The kids sang for them the song "If the Savior Stood Beside me" which they performed with all of Jack's cousins at his Baptism. It was so sweet.  My parents were lucky because they got to hear Lucy sing it.  When it came time to sing at Jack's baptism Lucy wouldn't have anything to do with it!

My sister Anne (who was out of town for the big day) dropped off for Jack his very own batch of cookies to do with as he pleased.  She also brought these flowers from her/my mom's garden which was the next best thing to having them there.

they smell even better than they look...if you can believe that.

 BONUS pics! Just for fun...cuz these babies are

SO

Stinkin

CUTE!