Nutcracker

Evie was a bon bon this year in the Nutcracker.  She loves to perform!

Evie's Dance Recital

Here's a clip from Evie's dance recital in June.  She's the one in the middle.  This year she was part of the ballet La Fille Mal Gardee.  The girls in her class are flower girls at a wedding. It's not as exciting as last year, no fist fights or anything, but she still looks cute!

My Little Musician

We took a visit to the amazing Musical Instrument Museum while we were in Phoenix. We had a great time, but the best part was a room with a variety of instruments for patrons to try. Our favorite was the theremin, you wave your arms between two antennae to control pitch and volume. Here's a video of Leo playing. You can't hear the song, but his performance was hilarious anyway!

Ward Chili Cook-off

This year, the Elders' Quorum was in charge of the Ward Chili Cook-off, so I got a chance to help out with the party planning.  I decided to make it a western theme, and made a photo booth with accessories.  Here's a few of my little cowboys!

 



Max Turns 6

Here are some highlights from Max's day.

 

Gift opening at breakfast

The jumpy thing at the mall with our friends (also named Clarks)

Lunch at Chick-fil-A.  Without any notice, they provided balloons, hats, fans, and a stuffed animal!

Dinner with the Clarks (our family this time) and a DQ cake (lame I know!).

All in all, despite zero planning, it was a pretty great day.

Soccer

Max played YMCA soccer this summer.  He really loved it, even though he was very timid during the games.  What he lacked in talent, he made up for in smiles.  He had one moment of glory this season.  He ran up to the biggest kid on the other team and stole the ball.  His coach started clapping and shouting "Way to be aggressive Max!" Max was beaming and giving everyone thumbs up, while someone else stole the ball from him.  It was still a proud moment for me.  I may or may not have teared up.

 

Evie's Ear Piercing

Evie and her little friend Hazel decided that they wanted to get their ears pierced. After watching Hazel go first (Hazel didn't even flinch), Evie was super excited to do it too.  I don't have any pictures of Evie's turn because the poor thing was crying so hard.  We almost had to leave with only one done! They look really cute though!