May 2015

On to May, the month it rained literally almost every single day. It was a busy one.

We finally introduced the girls to Star Wars! Dan had to take a picture of such a momentous occasion:

Dan had to miss Ellie's Daddy Day at preschool so he took her out miniature golfing that night, where she got a real hole-in-one:

Just a typical day with Ellie riding up to the school to pick up Alta:

We went to watch Alta during the fun run, and the Ellies loved Sprucewood's mascot (who happened to be a friend in the ward)

A few days before Mother's Day my mom and I went to the symphony in Park City. They played in a Catholic Church with a gorgeous backdrop of Park City's scenery. It was really cool to see them in a smaller setting and be right up front:

We've been dog-sitting Beni every time the Browers go out of town. The girls love to have a pet even just for a few days. He's always a hit when we pick Alta up from school:

Anna and I had signed up for the 30 miles in the Goldilocks ride close by in Herriman. I hadn't been riding as much as I'd have liked to so I was hesitant to commit to the longer distances. As race day approached the weather forecast looked worse and worse. I brought all the rain/cold gear I had but it was barely sprinkling before we started and I felt like we would be ok. This is pre-race, all bundled up:

About 5 minutes after we started, the rain came for real. It was 45 degrees and pouring the entire time and it was the most miserable ride I've ever done. Here's a picture from the race photographers:

I felt ok for the first 15 miles or so, but started getting colder and colder. We decided to quit early (we ended up doing 24 miles) and I'm glad we did; those last few miles were almost unbearable. I could barely shift gears because my hands were completely numb. We got to the finish line and grabbed some food but we were both so cold and shivering so bad we could seriously not even function. Walking to the car and trying to put the bikes on the rack was torture! I don't think I really felt warm until hours after.

The next week my mom and I went to the Payson Temple open house. It was beautiful and fun to show the girls around.

Meanwhile, Dan was at a trade show with Kevin trying to get people interested in the High Sight. He sent me this picture because Kevin had never been to a major league baseball game and Dan decided it was time:

That Saturday was Alta's birthday party! I had planned and prepared everything a couple weeks in advance. It was going to be a sidewalk chalk party with all sorts of outdoor games, but like so many other things that month (including a baby shower I hosted at our house a few days before), our plans had to change last minute because of the non-stop rain.

Here's Alta waiting for her friends:

They were happy to just play in her room for a while. I had made pretzel dough and when they were ready I let everyone roll out their own pretzels. They played outside while they were cooking (despite the cold and intermittent rain), and after eating snacks I tried to get games out but it wasn't very successful. It ended up being pretty chaotic and I was definitely ready for everyone to go home at the end! But Alta had fun and that's all that mattered:

I bought Twister the day before her party knowing we would need some alternatives to outdoor games and although it wasn't a hit at the party, Alta and Ellie now love it:

Proof that we apparently all like Legos, even Olive (that's her concentration face):

That Monday was our first piano recital! Alta and Ellie played, along with my other two students Ruby and Porter. I had the recital at our house and it was short and sweet.

 The next day was Ellie's gymnastics performance. She did great and is a talented little tumbler!

The day after that was Alta's first grade play. She and all the girls in her class were fireflies and had a cute song and dance. She sang all the songs in the play and had her own short line and did great!

And the day after that was Alta's birthday. We had birthday pancakes in the morning:

And Alta came home with a birthday crown from school:

Alta opening her present from Ellie:

That weekend we decided last minute to go to St. George. We all needed a relaxing weekend! And I also needed to get in some training rides; it had been raining so much I could never get on my bike in Draper! On my Saturday ride this hawk was so close I could have jumped up and touched it:

This is what sacrament meeting looked like for us in St. George. We left early...

We went to check out the Red Cliffs recreation are on Sunday afternoon. We hiked around and found dinosaur footprints, Indian ruins, and a perfect place to listen to our echoes.

I got another ride in Monday morning, and then we packed up and drove home. On the way we stopped at Cove Fort, something we'd been wanting to do for a while but it had never been convenient. It was a great place to stretch our legs and the girls were pretty interested in seeing all the old rooms in the fort.

And they loved the old-fashioned toys:

I volunteered to help Alta's class with their walking field trip to the wetlands. Alta was initially a little disappointed about the destination since we go to the wetlands all the time, but it was a lot of fun.

It's so rare for me to hold a sleeping baby these days that I made Dan take a picture of this:

I don't even know where this picture came from but it's cute!

And the last Sunday of May we had the Browers over for a BBQ to celebrate Alta and Ellie's birthdays, but somehow I didn't take any pictures. We gave the girls their big presents - new bikes (or hand-me-downs in Ellie's case, she STILL doesn't care) and a new bigger tumbling mat.

Phew! Done!