May 27, 2016

Some snippets of our last couple weeks:

After the girls left for school one morning, I found Andi's teddy bear sitting on the couch.  I figured there might be a day when I miss sights like this, so I took a picture.  "Teddy" was my childhood bear.

Some shots of cute Millie in the tub:

After school one Friday, I took the girls over to my parents so they could play basketball and in the "forest" in the back.  Millie got to play with Grandma:

On the night of Friday, May 13th, Andi had her dance recital.  The theme for the recital was "superheroes" and her class were little spider girls and they danced to Spiderman music.

After the recital:

Getting ice cream afterwards:

A cute picture Andi drew:

Abbey had her last piano lesson of the school year.  It was a "group piano lesson" a few days before her recital so she and those in the group could practice their songs for each other.  At the same time, Abbey's teacher awarded the kids for their individual accomplishments throughout the year.  

Here are the certificates Abbey received.  So proud of her.  She even received the "highest honor" of all of her teacher's students for earning the most "points" throughout the year.  Her teacher easily has 40-50 students.  (Earning points involves practice time, memorizing songs, participating in "Achievement in Music," etc.)

If you look closely at some of these photos, you may see just how incredible these accomplishments are and what a good student Abbey is.

I feel so proud but also know I cannot take credit for so much of her accomplishments.  She has really bloomed in piano and school and shows much natural ability when it comes to both.    

Go Abs!

Andi participated in her class' music talent show by performing a dance for them.  (She danced to her favorite song, "Maps" by Maroon 5.)  I must admit I was little hesitant about the whole thing, but she ended up doing a fabulous job, if I do say so myself.  What made me most happy was to see her performing so well in front of her class, with total confidence and belief in herself.  I was so proud, it made me want to cry!  

Here we are before her performance:

This is the outfit she wore for her dance:

A little take-home from Abbey and my Mother-Daughter dinner for her Activity Days group:

Just because I love him, and because he's constantly at my feet, looking at me like this:

These two love each other a lot.  I love it.

Abbey also participated in her school class' music talent show.  She played a piano piece and did a beautiful job.  So calm and collected.  My mom, me, and my nephew Bo came to see her play.  Here's Abbey and Bo after her performance:

Each week my mom takes our friend Kylie out for an afternoon.  Oftentimes Mom and Kylie will spend the time helping me run errands and such.  One such afternoon while I was waiting for my mom at her house, we caught my mom's dog Lucy cuddling Kylie on my mom's couch.  It made us laugh.  Love Kylie so much.

Abbey and Andi took six weeks of tennis lessons this spring.  The lady who teaches it has a tennis court in her backyard.  While I watch, her dog is always so good at fetching tennis balls.  Ava and I really came to love "Simon" as they call him--He kept us well entertained as we waited.

Ava waiting at the tennis lessons with me.  She has karate on those days too--hence, the outfit.

Their last tennis lesson:

Eric ran another half marathon on the 21st.  Ogden's famous marathon race kept up its recent reputation of being a total downpour.  This year was worse than ever.  Eric said he just wanted to get it over with so he ran pretty dang hard.  He got a great 2:05 time, but crossed the finish line completely soaked.  So proud of him.  He's worked really hard taking care of himself and working at his goals. It shows and I am a proud wife.

The Luke family got together for a rare family photo session.  We had a family friend take our pictures and I'm excited to see the results.  In the meantime, here's a cute picture of Millie and my dad while we were waiting to get the pictures done.  She loves my dad and it melts my heart!:

A great illustration of the fact that Millie loves herself some veggies.  (Unfortunately she hates meat, but I'll take the good with the bad.)

The past few years on my brother Chris' birthday, I have had my family over for some of Chris' favorite dessert.  Afterwards, we head down to the cemetery to visit his grave together.  My grandpa and his wife Nadene came this time, too.  It's a time I look forward to each year.  I love to see everyone gathered with Chris once again, in one of the limited ways we can.  Love him always.  He would have been 43 this year.

Some of my nephews and Abbey taking Harry up the hill after the cemetery:

On Monday afternoon of this last week, Millie, Harry, and I walked to Grandma's house:

Harry needed a break for a bit :)--

More time at Grandma's:

My last time volunteering at the school this year (except for Field Day this upcoming week). I looked forward to this time each week.

Millie and I met Eric for lunch this last week.  I decided I needed to make that happen before school gets out and I have more ladies in tow.  

Love these cuties:

Abbey's 4th grade class had their "Mountain Man Rendezvous" at school this week.  We borrowed a costume from Grandma Cathi and sent her with a bunch of stuff to help make it successful.  Pretty cute pioneer girl!

She was super excited.

The teepee they set up in front of the school for this annual rendezvous for the 4th graders:

A few pictures from Andi's dance teacher:

The 2nd grade end-of-year singing program was this week:

Andi did an animal report on bats and then made a "habitat" for it.  (She has developed a liking for bats the past year, so she was excited to do a report on it.)  Her report and the habitat was on display in her classroom after her 2nd grade singing program this week.  Millie and I enjoyed the tour!

Here they are, packed up in Eric's truck, getting ready to leave for their first annual Memorial Day camping weekend with Eric:

Here are a few pictures from several weeks ago when Eric took the girls on a hike up to Flag Rock--a nearby hiking destination on the mountains above our house:

  

 This was a picture taken at Abbey's piano recital last week.  Abbey got to play on a yellow grand piano--she loved it!  Eric has the rest of the pictures from the evening, so I'll post more of those soon:

Bathtime fun with Eric's camera: