The 3's of Me

OK, another Facebook "tag", but I thought I'd post it in the blog for my posterity (you know, when I print this into a book for future generations to enjoy!)

Three names I go by:
1. Mom, Mommy, or Mama depending on which child is yelling it.
2. Girl (Wayne's nickname for me. He NEVER uses my real name)
3. Sister Burton

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Cashier at a drugstore
2. Dance instructor
3. Sales clerk at a clothing store

Three places I have lived:
1. Manyberries, Alberta
2. Rexburg, Idaho
3. Salt Lake City, Utah

Three TV shows I watch:
1. So You Think You Can Dance
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. anything of HGTV

Three places I have been:
1. England
2. Hawaii
3. Mexico

People who text me regularly:
1. Text?? What's that?? (I don't text)
2
3

Three of my favorite foods:
1. Anything with Cream cheese or whipping cream
2. Crab
3. French fries with gravy

Three Favorite Drinks
1. Cherry Coke
2. Virgin Strawberry Daquari
3. Any fruit smoothie from a place like Booster Juice or Jamba Juice in the USA.

I skipped the part about who I think will respond since I'm not forwarding it to any of you. But...Did you learn anything new about me?

Our babysitter

Wayne and I decided to go out to a late show this evening. We left Emmy in charge as the babysitter for a couple of hours. She took a babysitting course earlier this spring and "aced" the final exam. We've had her do quite a lot of babysitting for us this last while.

When we came home, the boys were brushed and ready for bed (they both had naps so they were still awake). Azia was quietly playing on the computer and Emmy left a surprise for us upstairs. She cleaned the kitchen, dining area and family room!!

(the note on the counter says, "I hope you like it...from Emmy")

With summer break, the house is rarely tidy for more than an hour or so. This truly was a pleasent surprise! It was cleaner than when I tidied this morning!!

I AM impressed! (and relieved to see that some of our "hounding" is making an impact.)

Stand in Holy Places

We were fortunate enough to catch the open house for the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple in the southwest area of the Salt Lake Valley.

The Temple is nestled in a quaint neighbourhood and set on a small hillside. The grounds are already beautifully landscaped and dotted with white tents to welcome the thousands of visitors who would come to see the new Temple.

We started by watching a short video that spoke about the importance of LDS Temples and how they allow us to live as eternal families. After the video was done, the kids exited from the tent and Parker asked, "Is that it?? Was that the open house?" I told him that it was just the introduction and that we would get to go inside and see it. His eyes widened with an innocent smile..."Really? I'm so excited...I've never been in the Temple before!!" It was so sweet to see his pure excitement to go in to the beautiful building.

As with all Temples, it was exquisite! The chandeliers were breathtaking, the finishes were beautiful, but the feeling of peace and happiness within those walls is undescribable. It was truly a wonderful tour of a magnificent building. It was also a great blessing to see my family, all 5 of our children, with us in the Temple for the first time.

Kennecott Copper Mine

We lived in Utah for 4 years and never went to one of its "biggest" tour attractions. Since moving back to Lethbridge, we've probably made another 20 trips back to Utah. Everytime we go, Wayne always says, "Maybe we should go up to the Copper Mine!" It never sounded very fun, so we never did it. Until now.

Jade and her boys joined us for our little adventure up to the biggest open pit mine in the world. It is so large, it is visible from space. It is a really BIG hole in the ground and it was actually more interesting than I thought it would be. The boys all thought it was really great, especially the massive trucks that were hauling the earth away.

Water Fun

As our first summer trip this year, we went to...UTAH! (Big suprise, right?) Even though Wayne had 2 big recording sessions, we still managed to get in some good family fun!

We had a tonne-of-fun at the Lehi Aquatic Centre. They had an AWESOME pool with so much to do. The kids' favorite was waiting for the giant bucket to dump a bunch of water on them from up high!

We also had a fun filled day with some "village" friends. The Madsen's were kind enough to host the fun and the kids had a blast!

We even celebrated Cardiff's 4th birthday! Happy Birthday Diffy!

Recital

This past week has been CRAZY! It was recital time. That meant 2 days of dress rehearsals and 4 performances this year!

As always, Emmy and Azia did wonderfully! Emmy danced in a hip hop and ballet number. Azia also did a ballet/jazz number as well as a tap dance. I absolutely love watching them up on stage! Azia really knows her stuff and although she complained about it, she was put front and centre in both of her dances. When Emmy dances, she has a smile that lights up any stage! (I'll try to post their dances soon.)

This was also a special year for their dance studio. It celebrated its 25th Anniversary! I was one of the few original students that started when they first opened their doors. To commemorate this event, they had a small group of alumni dancers open the final show. We got to perform a short dance and then each of our names was called out with the years that we danced. It was great to be a part of that!

Following the last show, the awards were handed out and to our pleasent surprise, Azia won the Tap Scholarship! Her dance teachers have been telling me that they think she is really quite talented and would like to move her up to the next level and have her get involved in competition. It is a really big commitment to do competition, but her teachers are willing to work with our sometime crazy travel schedule....they really want her to do it. So proud of her!

Both girls are quite the dancers! They love the stage makeup, the love making up their own dances and they love performing on stage. It has been fun watching them this year. Now...a couple of months off before we jump right back in again! (Check here for more photos of the girls and even some of ME!!)

Randomness

Just some randomness from our life...


Azia had a piece of art selected for the "Arts Alive and Well in the Schools" exhitbit at the local art gallery. This is the second time one of her pieces has been selected. This one is a watercolour painting called, "Sunflowers."


Sawyer went "missing" one morning. I was busy elsewhere in the house and I hadn't heard or seen him in a while. I went upstairs and found him asleep on the floor next to his bed. What a sweet Bean!

These are some of Sawyer's favorite shoes. We've had them since Emmy, so they've gone through 4 kids before! Sheeeesh, you'd think we could afford to buy our kid a new pair of shoes!