Daley Happenings

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.

the garden

Well, our Garden is doing pretty good. The kids have had fun picking and eating the peas and we've gotten quite a few from the plants. It's actually been kind of fun to watch the garden grow and see the fruit and vegetables growing and getting bigger. It's pretty exciting to see something that started as a little tiny seed get really big and and produce food for you to eat. I'm really happy that we decided to plant a garden this year.

The peas are a little crazy. After I planted them, I was told that when you plant peas you're suppose to use strings. Oops!

Afton and Dax sitting by the garden

McDonald's fun

As most of you probably already know, kids just love McDonald's and my kids extremely love it. Whenever we ask them where they want to go eat for dinner, it's always McDonald's. Or Logan would say "BigDonalds". Lucky us! So we headed to MCD's for some ice cream. I snapped a few cute pictures of the kids so I thought I'd share them.

Afton and Dax making silly faces with ice cream in their mouths.

Jason and Logan. I love this picture. Logan loves his daddy and he looks so much like him. Just kidding. I thought I'd say that because everyone always says that Logan looks nothing like Jason.

I love it! He's saying cheese.

Backyard Campout

Since we didn't really have any plans for Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to have a campout in our backyard. So Jason set up our mini house (our very large tent), made some popcorn and got out the UNO cards and we had ourselves a campout. It was lots of fun and the kids had a great time. They love sleeping in our tent and of course they love UNO. I love Daxon's wink in the big picture. I don't know if he does it on purpose or not.

DaNcE!

On May 24th, Afton and I were very lucky and got to see some very awesome dancers in their dance recital. I really wanted to go last year but wasn't able to get tickets, but this year I made it. My friend Amber and Jason's cousin Misty were both in the same dance class so I had the opportunity to watch both of them perform together. You girls rocked it! They are both in hip-hop and did a dance number to "It's Tricky" and it was so awesome. I'm way jealous of both of your dance skills. I have no talent when it comes to the dancing department. I'd prefer to watch and that's what I did. You both did an amazing job! Afton and I also got to see Amber's girls, Paris and Sophia perform and we also got to see miss Dylen perform too (Misty's daughter). And they all did an amazing job! They definitely have their moms mad dance skills. Afton and I had a great time. It was a fun mother-daughter outing.

Dylen showing off some of her ballet moves. Isn't she so cute?

Dylen and Afton

My friend, Amber, with her daughters, Sophia and Paris. I loved the costumes they had to wear for their performance. Definitely 80's comeback material. The red shoes are hot!