sports night

So I started doing a sports night in my ward for the sister's. Down her in Cali, we don't really have any women's sports teams in the church. I guess I should say we DON'T have any. They do not do sister's sports here. They do men's, but not sister's. I think it's because they can't get enough ladies out to make teams and play. So I thought it would be fun to start a sports night once a week. And it's actually turned out pretty good. I started it back in April and we've been going strong since. We've played volleyball, basketball, indoor soccer, and softball and it's been so much fun. Hopefully we can keep it going.

Dinner outside

The kids really wanted to eat outside for dinner the other night, so we set up a blanket and had a nice dinner in the back yard.

This picture actually turned out really nice. They were all looking and no one was making a weird face.

I had to show off the difference between my garden peas and some peas I had bought at the store. Store bought on left and garden grown on the right. It was such a big difference and the garden peas taste a lot better too.

The Big Recital

Afton's dance recital was on June 5th and 6th. I chaperoned the first night and then we went to watch the performance the second night. My awesome friend Amber came to the rescue again. She did Afton's hair and make-up for her dress rehearsal and then for both of her performances. Seriously, I'm so lucky to have such a great friend. Thanks so much Amber. You Rock!! You did an amazing job and Afton looked so beautiful.

Afton getting ready for the recital.

Amber and Afton

Amber, Afton and Me

Waiting in the classroom for the first performance.

Afton's cousin, Dylen, came to watch her the first night and stopped by to give her some pretty flowers. Misty and Jody were there too. Thanks so much for coming to watch.

The second night we actually had some special guests come into town to see Afton's recital. My mother-in-law, Sharon, flew into town and my parents also came down to watch Afton.


My parents with Afton

Afton's friends, Paris and Sophia and their mom Amber also came to watch her performance that night. She had a lot of fans that night

Me and Afton just before I dropped her off.

We weren't suppose to take pictures or video tape, but I did both. I know I'm so bad! I got a few pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. And I only got a small section of her performance on video. I think my mom actually got some good pictures.

You can see Afton on the right side. She's at the front with her arms out forming a tunnel for the girls to go under.

She's in the back middle doing a little twirl

This was at the very end when they were presenting the girls with flowers and doing all of their thank you's.

Coming out of her dressing room with all of her beautiful flowers. She got some from us, her dance teacher, Old king Cole (he was in part of her dance number), and she got a candy necklace from a girl in our ward. She was so excited for her flowers and couldn't wait to show everyone. We are so proud of her. She did an awesome job and couldn't wait to dance for everyone. I think she was more excited than nervous. And I wanted to tell Sharon and my parents thanks so much for coming to see Afton. It really meant a lot to her.

The rehearsal's

Afton had two rehearsal's before her big dance recital. They had a technical rehearsal and then a dress rehearsal. I actually signed up to be a chaperon so I was able to be with her during the rehearsal's. The first night wasn't too bad because the younger girls didn't have to stay very long, but the second night she had to stay for the entire thing and it was a very long night, but I guess it prepared us for the next two nights which were the recitals. This year they performed at Modesto Junior College and the auditorium had just been remodeled so it was really nice. Afton thought it was so cool to be up on stage.

Afton and her friend Kennedy

Afton's class waiting to go up on stage.

Practicing their dance number

This was at the end of the first rehearsal and she didn't want her picture taken. Can you tell?

Dance Rehearsal night. Afton's ballet class. I think I mentioned this before, they were Tarts in their performance and danced with the Queen of Hearts. Their dance recital theme was Alice in Wonderland and various nursery rhymes. They all look so cute!

Striking her best ballet pose

Halle, Avery and Afton. They were having lots of fun hanging out with each other. We had to hang out in a classroom while they waited to go on stage. Afton's class was like the second performance so they got out and back pretty quick. And then we had to hang out in the classroom until the end of the performance. That part wasn't very fun.

Another beautiful ballet pose.

One of Afton's many silly faces

Emma and Afton

Our new pet

This little guy was our new pet for a few weeks. A little lizard was actually living in our car for those few weeks. I opened the passenger door one day and saw it. It scared me and I screamed and jumped back and then it took off under the seat. So for the next few weeks we tried to get it out of our car. Every time we opened the door, you could hear it scurry away and hide. We thought it was gone for a while and then I saw it under the back seats and almost had it but it got away. Then the kids and I were coming back from Jason's work and I heard something in the door and I looked down and there it was, in the side pocket of the door. What a perfect place to catch it. I was going to let it go at Jason's work but the kids wanted to take it home and put it in the backyard. So that's what we did.

The kids wanted to pet it and the little guys just sat there very content.

The lizard ( I guess that's what they're called. I don't know but I have a ton of them living in the rocks in our back yard) It was about 3 inches long.

It was actually letting the kids pet it on this rock. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it did really want us to keep him as our pet.

goodbye!

Our good friends, the Davenports, are moving away. So we decided to have them over one last time before they moved. The whole family came over for dinner and we all had a great time. The kids love hanging out with their kids. They just love having company over. We had some dinner and then chatted for a little while and then they had to get back home and finish their last minute packing. We are going to miss them.

The crazy kids. Brayden, Dax, Afton, Kaitlyn, and Trennyn. Minus our two youngest- Logan and Ashlynn.

Dax and Trennyn

Us with the Davenports, Jason and Nichole and their daughter Kaitlyn.

Half Dome..... again!

That's right! I hiked Half Dome again. Although it had a been awhile since the last time I did. Seven years to be exact. Jason and I hiked it a year after we had been married and for our 8 year anniversary we decided to hike it again. Jason has climbed it like 10 times in between because he is freakin awesome! I have the hottest husband in the world! (Jason just wrote the last two sentences if you couldn't already tell) Anyway, we went on the 30th of May. My awesome friend, Amber, took the kids the day before so we decided to go to the Temple and get some spiritual strength before the hike. Then we left the next morning at 4 o'clock with our friend Jeremy and the Fallentine's and drove to Yosemite. We started on the trail at 6 a.m. and got to the top of the Dome at noon. I was so tired but I made it!

Getting started

Krissy and I. Do you think I need a tan or what?

Crossing over the river.

The mist trail. Although it shouldn't be called the Mist Trail more like the drench trail. I got so soaked going up this trail. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was raining, so we got double soaked. This part of the trail is pretty tough. It's stair stepping for like a mile and they're not regular stairs. A lot of them are pretty high, plus they are slippery too.

This is how lovely I looked after going up the mist trail. I was completely soaked from head to toe. I was making fun of all of the people with rain ponchos because I didn't think it was that bad, but after getting to the top of the waterfall I decided that a rain poncho was a pretty good idea.


I wanted to get a picture of the gorgeous view behind us. Yosemite is so beautiful!

Another spectacular view

Doing some switchbacks and Jason had to show off his huge muscles.

By far, for me, this was the hardest part of the whole hike. It's called quarter dome and it's another little dome that you have to go up before you get to half dome. By this time, you're so tired and exhausted and then you have to go up more steps. It's so hard! I had to stop and rest like ten times.

Some more awesome views of Yosemite.



The bottom of half dome

Jason and I waiting in line to go up the cables to get to the top. I hate this part because it's always so crowded and there's always one person right in front of us who gets scared and won't go any further. We actually ended up going on the outside of the cables to pass everyone. You're probably not suppose to but it would've taken us so much longer.


At the top. You can see the nasty storm clouds rolling in. We heard a lot of thunder and so after about an hour on top we decided to head back down. The clouds we're getting a little close for our liking. I definitely didn't want to be on top when lightening started to strike.


You can barely see us, but Jason and I wanted to get a picture close to the edge.

Kris and Krissy coming down the cables.


Jeremy, Jason, me, Krissy and Kris. We did it!




Going back down quarter dome.


I had to take a picture of this last little hill. It's at the very end of the trail, right before you get to the road and it's so hard to make it up this little tiny hill! Your legs and body are so exhausted that they can barely function by then.

Yay!! We made it safely back to the car and we were pooped! But we had a great time! I love hiking and I love Yosemite and I love my husband (although he was being a dork in the picture) so it was a great day and a fun anniversary.