Dance!

Emma participated in her 2nd dance recital this year. We love dance! I think she only missed on class this year because of the weather and she went twice a week. We are really hoping for all of her things to fall on one night next year. I can't handle that being away from home stuff during supper and homework hours. It makes life tough.

Anyway, her first number was jazz. The first picture is awful, but you can see how into it she is. She loved the music and the moves.

John and Judy came to watch! Emma spent most of the evening on Judy's lap!

Tumbling is her favorite. My camera isn't good enough to get good pictures, but she sure learned a lot this year. I can't even begin to list all of the things she can do but it's amazing to watch.
She's in the middle on the top.

Her least favorite is ballet. I love it. It's so pretty and graceful. Right before the show started the blond girl on the front on the left...physically tried to push Emma into a different spot. Emma stood her ground but got M.A.D. I was sure there was going to be some tulle flying but she maintained composure. After the song, I rushed to the back and counted find her! I was worried that she had the little girl in a choke hold (you know, her father's temper:), but she had brushed the encounter off.

A BIG thanks to everyone who helped with getting Emma to and from dance and/or watching Colby while Emma was there. I really appreciate it. Also a big thanks to all of you who came to her recital to watch her....she is truly blessed.

Camp I-MO

Camp I-MO....what a great place.

These pictures are backward, but here it goes. On Sunday, Vance and I drove Colby up to I-MO for his first over night visit by himself. Last year, we went to I-MO together as a family and it was a good way for Colby to understand how things work. I am so excited to see how it goes and if he enjoyed it....he was a little apprehensive about going.

He invited 2 good friends to go along with him. Miss Jaden and Caron. I hope they have a great time!
On his bunk.....his super awesome mom had him pack a sleeping bag which is easiest to keep neat so he doesn't get the skunk bunk! He also took a fan....good deal!
Carson is sleeping underneath him. The dean is to the left. hmmmmm.....
On Saturday, I took Emma to her first I-Mo Day Camp! She invited her friend, Sylvia, along. I think they had a great time and fell asleep on the way home:)

R.I.P

Emma wants a bird...BADLY. So badly, in fact, she created a bird trap. The trap never worked, but kept her in suspense for nearly a week. She couldn't go to sleep in case there was a bird in the trap! This week, Colby was riding horses with his cousin and they came back all excited! They had run up on a nest and there was a baby bird. So Emma went and got it and put it in the cage. Why, you ask, did we have a cage? Well, I bought it to put flowers in, but promised Emma if she caught a bird, that she could use it. So my flowers went to the floor.

She put the bird in the cage and talked to it, and fed it, and scraped the poor thing off the floor when the dogs dumped the entire cage.

24 hours later, when the bird was face down with all 2 legs splayed apart...she came to grips with the fact that he was indeed gone :(
So she buried him at the back door and made a cross out of wood and electrical tape....oh that girl of mine. She's moving on to the turtle now :)

Roping

The weather has been so yucky lately that there hasn't been too many ropings, but we love going! It's my chance to sit and watch...no chores :) The kids love playing with their cowboy/girl friends and of course Vance is in heaven. I have decided I'm bad luck, because everytime I go home he comes and tells me how he won this or that. When I'm there, he never wins...not that he does badly, just no $$ :)

This year he is heading and heeling...mostly on Monty, but a little on Fancy.

Summer Fun!

I've made myself a summer resolution (somewhat like a New Year's Resolution) that I'm going to blog. Enough excuses....it's a must! Anyway, here is a recap of our summer to date.

We've been swimming in the pond a couple of times. Colby is a good enough swimmer that he can take his life jacket off if I'm right there. Emma is quite content to leave hers on!

Colby's been playing as much baseball as the weather allows and we love it. He is so much fun to watch!

We've had lots of friends over. Above is a picture of our cousin Colton from ND and Emma's friend Sylvia. They are having hot dogs and 'smores:)
We went to the wedding of my beautiful cousin Kelsey in Iowa. That is where we met up with the ND family and then they came to MO to visit for a couple of days.
I got my hair chopped off. It is very easy to manage, but I somewhat miss the longer hair. I can't recap the way the stylist did it and it makes me mad!