The Piano Guys!!

Quentin, the girls and I are HUGE Piano Guys fans.  We just think they're brilliant!  Anyway, a couple of months ago (mostly from being inspired by Steven Sharp Nelson, the cello guy from The Piano Guys) Quentin decided to buy a cello and learn how to play.  Quentin knows how to play the clarinet, saxophone, violin, guitar and piano...so why not teach himself how to play the cello too?  Anyway, last week The Piano Guys were in Salt Lake doing a "Meet and Greet."  We of course had to go.  We met Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Al van der Beek and Paul Anderson and they signed our Piano Guys CDs.  After we got through the line Quentin realized he should have brought his cello bow to have them sign it.  He decided to go home then go back...and he not only got his cello bow signed but his cello (on the back of the scroll) signed by the 4 of them too.  How cool is that?! 

 

Quentin and I were also so excited to be able to go to their concert last Saturday.  Best concert EVER and something we'll never forget! 

 

Funnies

• We went to the school playground the other day and Kasidee said she wanted to show me that she can do the monkey bars forward and backward.  I was a little worried as I pictured her trying to look behind her as she grasped the bars in back of her, but I was curious to see how she would do.  So she started out and went forward on the monkey bars...and then she turned around and went the other way.  "Backward" to her was going one way and then back again!
• Kasidee tried on some shoes that had been slightly big a few weeks ago and exclaimed, "Mama - these shoes are actually growing into me!"
• Kasidee woke up the other morning and said, "I can't breathe out of this nose (pointing to one nostril)...it's foggy."
• We went to the Meet & Greet for The Piano Guys the other night.  When we got in the car when it was over I asked the girls if they thought it was worth it.  There was a resounding YES!  I said I was glad they had fun because I had wondered if I should have dropped them off at Granny's while Quentin and I went.  Makenna said, "What?!  You mean we had other options?"
• Before Kasidee went to one of her friend's birthday parties, she insisted on wrapping the gifts herself.  There were 4 small gifts which she wrapped individually and then stacked them on top of each other, the biggest on the bottom and the smallest on the top.  She said, "Look - I stacked them oldest to littlest!"
• Kasidee's kindergarten class did "Graduation Pictures" where they each got to wear a cap and gown.  Kasidee showed me the proofs and was so excited.  When she got to the page of about 10 wallet-sized pictures all on one sheet, she said, "Wow - there's a ton of me's!"
• The other night as we were getting ready for bed, Kasidee said, "I've been waiting all day for bedtime!"  (That's how I feel every day!)

Kiera's 11th

I seriously can't believe Kiera is 11.  One more year until she's a Young Woman.  Crazy stuff - it just is going way too fast!

 

Kiera wanted a "Sweet Shoppe" theme for her birthday party (the Saturday before her birthday.)  She had gone to a birthday party at the Lion House a couple of years ago and really liked the idea of doing that for her own party - but she admitted her favorite part was making taffy.  I told her we could make our own taffy at home and she was thrilled at the idea.  So she invited a dozen of her friends over to celebrate her birthday.  They took a little quiz matching taffy flavors with the taffy colors, made bracelets with jelly bean beads, made cars out of candies, pulled their own pieces of taffy, decorated their own cupcake...it was a fun and busy day!

 

 

The day before Kiera's birthday, her Grandma Stephens took her out to dinner at Dairy Queen - just the 2 of them.  Then they came back and had cake and ice cream at our house.

On Kiera's real birthday (the 30th) we gave her the choice of going to school or staying home.  I think every year she has stayed home and we've done something fun but this year she wanted to go to school - I think because one of her friends in her class shares her birthday!  She woke up to streamers on her door, a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" complete with musical instruments (something Kasidee had been planning for almost a week!), and pancakes for breakfast.  At lunchtime, I checked her and Makenna out of school (Kasidee was already out of kindergarten) and we had a pizza picnic at the park.  After school was over, the 5 of us went to dinner at the Olive Garden (her choice) with Granny then had cake and ice cream at Granny's house.  We ran out of time to go ice skating that evening, so we'll have to do it another day!

 

Zoo Day!

On April 15, Kasidee went on her kindergarten field trip to the zoo!  Of course...it was cold and rainy!  She had so much fun riding on the school bus.  Quentin had the day off and he and I drove up to the zoo and were able to join everyone there.  In our group, we had 3 girls and 4 parents!  (There's lots of parental involvement at our school!!)  They endured the cold weather and had a lot of fun.  The plan was to eat lunch at a park but it was so cold so they quickly made arrangements to eat lunch at the state capitol.  What a fun experience!

 

April 15 was also Quentin and my 16-year anniversary!  Since Quentin had the day off, we took the girls out of school early (after getting home from the field trip) and went out for an early dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.  We had planned on going up to Park City to browse and see the Lego exhibit but it was just such miserable weather we decided against it.  When we got home that evening, Quentin had decorated our downstairs kitchen with balloons and a "Sweet 16" banner - and he had yummy strawberry shortcake for us!  Quentin and I decided early on that we want to involve the girls when celebrating our anniversary because it's kind of a family event, plus it will help the girls learn how important anniversaries are!  Besides, everything is more fun with them!

 

 

 



California!

During Spring Break we went to Southern California!  It was one of those trips that we've been thinking about doing for a couple of years but were waiting for the "right time."  I was nervous about going during Spring Break because I thought half the world would be there, but it was the only time that would really work for us.  And the crowds really weren't that bad...and the weather was absolutely perfect!  We went 4 years ago and had fun, but the girls were more "into it" this time, and Kasidee was tall enough to ride pretty much all of the rides.  I'm so glad we went - we made lots of happy memories!

 

We left Easter afternoon, after church and dinner at Mom's house and drove to St. George.  I think the St. George Temple is one of the prettiest temples.  On Monday we drove from St. George to Anaheim.

 

 

On Tuesday we went to Disneyland! 

 

                                      

 

(Giving singing lessons to Tinkerbell's friends....)

 

 

                                      

 

The highlight for Kasidee was being able to meet Minnie and see her house and Mickey's house - Kasidee just adores anything Minnie!

 

 

 

 

We met my Aunt Loreen for dinner at a cafe in Disneyland - she lives just a few miles away from Disneyland.

 

 

On Wednesday we met my aunt and cousin Kanevin for breakfast, then we spent the day at California Adventures.

 

 

(Sharing a Mickey Mouse-shaped pretzel)

 

 

On Wednesday night, Kasidee's tooth (which had been hanging by a thread) finally came out.  At about 4:30 in the middle of the night, she came over to my hotel bed and woke me up.  Thinking she had to go potty, I led her into the bathroom.  She spit into the sink and her tooth was there - it had fallen out while she was sleeping and she felt it floating around in her mouth.  It's amazing she didn't swallow it!  Anyway, she wanted to keep her first tooth and wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining that - the Tooth Fairy let her keep her tooth and gave her 2 golden dollar coins too!  Lucky girl! 

 

 

 

On Thursday, we visited the Downtown Disney District (the pic below was at the Lego store)

 

Then we drove from Anaheim to San Diego.  In the late afternoon we went to La Jolla Beach, just minutes away from our hotel.

 

On Friday we spent the day at Sea World.  The girls loved seeing all kinds of animals.  I think they're favorite part was being able to touch and feed a dolphin - something I don't think they'll ever forget!

 

(Getting ready to get wet in the "Soak Zone.")

Saturday we drove from San Diego (we stopped at the San Diego Temple on our way out) to Las Vegas.  We made a quick stop at the M&M Store and then relaxed in our hotel room (which was actually in Henderson, NV - it was so nice to be away from The Strip!)

 

Sunday morning we took a dip in the hotel pool and visited the Las Vegas Temple before we began our 7-hour drive from Las Vegas to home!  It was a fun trip full of fun memories!