The Bosgraaf Family Blog

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho!! That's what Lily said as we came down the stairs to see what Santa brought! It was a great Christmas! The girls LOVED everything they got and were so excited to open presents. It was a really fun year with Lily because she understood what was going on. Our favorite part of Christmas is watching the girl's faces light up when they see their presents!

Santa has a sense of humor at our house...

Lily got new binkies! Can you tell what she is saying? "Open!"

After we opened presents at home, we got ready and went to church. It was really nice having church on Christmas. We went to our old ward and saw our old friends, it was great. Then we went over to Jeff's dad for brunch and more presents! Bill came to our house that night for dinner and to spend time with the girls.After dinner, Grandpa had some special gifts for us. New shoes for Ella, Arsenal jersies for Jeff, and syrup from Hawaii! Ella is always asking him to bring her back coconut syrup from Hawaii so he wrapped about 8 of them up for her! He also gave the girls an art easel and sleeping bags! We just love Grandpa!

It was a great day! I missed my family a lot but I'm so greatful for technology. I felt like I was close to my family all day because we were able to call, send pictures back and forth and skype. I'm so thankful for mine and Jeff's families and for my Savior, Jesus Christ. It was a wonderful Christmas and we can't wait for the year to come! Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve night was spent at Jeff's mom and stepdad's house. It's always fun at Ginger and Steven's, especially on Christmas Eve. Ginger makes a wonderful dinner, the grandkids participate in a talent show and then are spoiled with presents. This year we added to the fun by having all twelve grandkids act out the story of Christ's birth. There were costumes and everything! Ella was the angel and Lily was a wiseman. I'm really glad we did that, it brought the spirit into our evening and hopefully the kids remembered why we were celebrating.

(Ella is wearing glasses in most of the pictures but they aren't real! She thought they looked cool so she insisted on wearing them and there is no point in arguing with a 5 year old!)

Tebowing after acting out the nativity

Looking at the beautiful Christmas lights on the way home

When we got home, we opened a few gifts. I love opening presents Christmas Eve! The girls each got new pj's, slippers and a new ornament. We started the tradition of giving them a new ornament each year in hopes that one day they will have enough for their own trees. This year was all about Minnie Mouse for Lily and Rapunzel for Ella. After a few presents, Jeff read "The Night Before Christmas" and it was off to bed!

Twinkle Toes

2011-12-23T14:32:00.000-08:00

We got to observe Ella's ballet class and were so impressed with how much she has improved in the past few months. Her teacher is fantastic and I'm so happy that Ella loves to dance!

Early Christmas

2011-12-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

My sister and her husband went to Atlanta for Christmas so we celebrated with them early. My sister made us dinner and the girls opened their gifts. Ella's favorite thing was the candy cane filled with M&M's! She pretended it was a cane to walk with. Ella loved all of her new art supplies and cell phone that had makeup in it! We went to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights but the line was too long. We ended up skipping the lights and came back to our house for treats. I'm so happy Mel and Mate live so close by, we just love them so much!

Christmas with friends

2011-12-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

We had our neighbors over for a Christmas party! The kids decorated their own gingerbread houses while the adults ate too many treats! We then piled in cars and drove around to see the Christmas lights. It was a really fun night. All of our kids are around the same ages which makes it even more fun to get together! We feel really lucky to live where we do and to have such great neighbors and friends so close by.

Kindergarten Christmas

2011-12-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Ella has been counting the days until her kindergarten Christmas party! Her class did a Polar Express party and they got to wear their pajamas. She thought it was the coolest thing being able to wear her pajamas to school! She got a golden ticket that she had to take to her party. She has such a great teacher that we all love!

The book Ella made...

The gift Ella and I made for her teacher...

Silly Lily

2011-12-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

Miss Lily loves to play dress up, especially with Ella. She makes us smile!

Christmas Beauties

2011-12-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus

2011-12-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

We have found the perfect Santa! He is at Cabelas and although the wait is about an hour, he is worth it! There is a lot to look at in the store so the girls stay entertained. Or they just sit in the cart and entertain each other.

Ella loves to see Santa and sit on his lap. Ella told Santa that she wanted a guitar with a case and then asked him what kind of cookies he likes. His answer was white chocolate macademia nut! Lily loves Santa from afar, "Ho Ho" is what she calls him. But she was a little freaked out when we stuck her on his lap. She sat long enough to get a picture but that was all she would do. But when you ask her about Santa, she says "Ho Ho", pats her legs because she sat on his lap and signs candy because he gave her a candy cane!

Dutch Christmas

2011-12-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

Sinterklaas came again this year and luckily none of the kids went into the sack! It's always fun to get together with Jeff's dad and sisters to celebrate Ducth Christmas.

Family Getaway

2011-12-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

My family went on a trip over the weekend- just me, my sister, my brother, my mom and dad. No in-laws or grandkids! It was so fun to be together again! We went to Colorado where we ran a half marathon to celebrate my sister and her battle with cancer last year. Life was so different a year ago for Melanie. It was hard to imagine doing this run when she was so sick last year. But that made doing this even more special. The race was pretty tough- cold, snow and 30 mph winds! The course was on a dirt/rock trail through a canyon which was a little tricky at times. But we all finished! (I have to brag- out of 600 runners, my brother finished 42nd! Way to go Jamie!) It was also my mom's birthday that day so we got to celebrate that too! That night we went to the Broadmoor Hotel for dinner. The hotel was so pretty and the dinner was delicious! I'm so glad we could be there for her birthday. It was a great weekend, one that we will never forget!

Sweet Girls

2011-11-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

Temple Square

2011-11-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

We went to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights with our friends, the Huberts. The lights were beautiful and we had a great time with our friends!

O Christmas Trees

2011-11-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

Family

2011-11-25T15:47:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

We have so many great things to be thankful for this year....our wonderful families near and far, our beautiful, healthy girls and each other. We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We started off the morning by watching the Macy's parade then went to Jeff's sister's house to spend the rest of the day with family. The food was excellent and the company even better. It's always great to be with family! After a fun day, we put Lily to bed and Ella had a sleepover with her cousins! Then Jeff, Stephanie and I went shopping!!
Look at these cute turkey shirts my mom made for the girls!

Fun with the fish!

2011-11-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Jeff was able to take a couple of days off for Thanksgiving! We spent one morning at the Aquarium. The girls love seeing (and touching) the fish!

Fun...

2011-11-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Girls

2011-11-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

Queen Bee

2011-11-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

Ella got to be the Queen Bee at school! Since Ella's birthday is in the summertime, her week to celebrate was in November. She got to sit in the special Bee chair all week and made a crown to wear. She got to teach the class a skill and decided to show them how to do a cartwheel! On Friday, I went in to the class to read Ella's favorite book and bring a birthday treat. Ella has such a great teacher and it was fun to celebrate her pretend birthday!!

Party! Party! Party!

2011-11-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Lily had a great birthday and had 2 parties! Her birthday was on a Thursday and that is our busiest day of the week. I had to work and Ella had her ballet class so we just did a family party with Lily.

Lily seemed to understand that it was a special day, she was really excited about the presents and the balloons. Jeff came home early and his mom came by to give Lily her birthday presents. After we all got home from our activities, we opened more presents! Lily LOVES baby dolls so that is what she got from us and Ella. We skyped with my parents so they could watch Lily open her present from them....a new car! A new, red, little car that Lily can drive all by herself! To say that she was excited about the car would be an understatement. She has never been possessive about anything but the second anyone tries to get near her new car, she throws a fit! After we pulled her away from the car (against her will), we sang to her and ate cupcakes! We love watching her try to eat all by herself and love the mess she makes even more!

Sunday night we had another little party with Jeff's dad, Melanie & Nate, Steph and her kids. Lily got another riding toy from Mel & Nate! Her favorite part about this new car is that she can lift the seat up and hide things in it! Jeff made another one of his amazing cakes...this year he made a spider. Lily is obsessed with spiders. She was scared when she first saw the cake but when Jeff let her put her finger in it to taste, she loved it.

Lily is such a sweet girl and we are so blessed to have her!

Happy Birthday!!!

2011-11-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet Lily Belle! We love you so very much!

Trick-or-Treat!

2011-11-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Both of our girls were pirates this year. Ella got to dress up for school and they even had a parade! That night we went out trick-or-treating with our neighbors. I took the kids first for about an hour and then Jeff and I switched. He and Ella went out for another two hours! She had so much candy! Lily really enjoyed it this year. She was so excited about the candy she got at the first house I think she would have been happy with just that! Both our girls had so much fun!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-30T00:36:00.000-07:00

Halloween Party!

2011-10-29T00:48:00.000-07:00

Ella and Lily had their friends over for a Halloween party. The costumes were great and we had a lot of fun!

Texas...part 2

2011-10-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

We spent a day at the Dallas Arboretum, Botanical Gardens. We went with my mom, sister in law and her kids. It was all decked out for fall with pumpkins everywhere! The kids got their faces painted, fed the Koi fish, played in the Pioneer Adventure houses, walked through the pumkin patches and had a picnic.

While we were in town, my dear friend Lindsey had her baby shower! This is her first baby and she is having a girl. Ella came with me and it was fun to see her!

We had a really great time with my family as usual. We love to visit and hope it's not too long before we can go back!

We love Texas!! part 1

2011-10-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

The girls and I made a trip to Texas before Lily turned 2. We had so much fun and as always, the trip went by way too fast. We spent a lot of time at my parents house, playing with dolls and toys and Rupert! We spent a day with Grandma Lucy. We went to the National Cemetary where my Grandpa is buried and then back to my Grandma's place for lunch.

The only thing Ella wanted to do while we were there was to go to the American Girl Doll store. She brought her doll, Kit Kitredge and we spent all afternoon there! We shopped around the store, ate lunch in the cafe and Kit went to the doll salon to get her ears pierced and hair fixed. Ella had the best time! Afterwards, I got to go boot shopping with my mom and dad! That's what I asked for for Christmas so they let me pick them out!

We spent a lot of time with my brother and his wife and their 3 boys. We played outside and Ella went fishing with Papa and even helped him reel one in! We took all the kids to the Dallas Zoo and had a lot of fun. We saw all kinds of animals, we had a picnic, the kids went to Trader Joes (they traded nature items for points to buy things) and played in the water to cool off. We've done so much and the trip is only half over! More to come.....

Aquarium

2011-10-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to the aquarium with my sister and the little girl she nannies. The girls had fun all together. We got to see the penguins being fed and Lily and Jordyn walked around making snake sounds. So cute!

Hike

2011-10-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

There is a trail that goes behind our house and hikes along the mountains and ends up at the park. It wasn't stroller friendly so we had to carry Lily the entire way. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the walk. We even found deer bones! The girls had fun playing at the park and then we hiked back home.

Happy Birthday!

2011-10-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Jeff and all three of his sisters are born in October so we had a family party at his mom's house. Jeff's actual birthday was on a Thursday so Lily and I went and had lunch with him. Ella had ballet that evening and I had to work but we had friends over that night for cake and ice cream. Jeff took work off on Friday and we had a fun day! After Ella got out of school, we went to Boondocks to play in the arcade and then to Pat's BBQ for dinner. Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and dad!!! We love you!

Cornbelly's

2011-10-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

For Girl Scouts, we went to Cornbelly's to play! All of Ella's little friends were there and her cousins even came. Everyone had a blast!

Cute Girls!

2011-10-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

Lily's new accessory

2011-10-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Miss Lily had to get glasses to hopefully correct a "lazy" eye. She looks so cute in them and actually likes to wear them!

Miss Lily

2011-10-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ella's Homework

2011-10-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ella always really fun homework. This week she had to find different ways to sort buttons!

The Bug

2011-10-01T08:05:00.000-07:00

Lily loves bugs...real bugs, fake bugs, anything that looks like a bug. We found a dead bug in one of our cupboards and I left it in there (gross, I know) because Lily was so excited to see it. It would entertain her for at least 10 minutes at a time!

Bath Time

2011-09-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Yay!

2011-09-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Look what just came out.....
Ella has all the "Buddy" movies so we just had to get it!

Birthday Party

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our nephew, Mason's birthday! Jeff's mom came down and took us all to Chili's, the family favorite!

Our Girls

2011-09-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Bike Ride

2011-09-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Jeff and Ella rode the trail by our house and I pushed Lily in the stroller. It was 6 miles round trip! Ella just learned to ride without training wheels and she did so good!

Friends

2011-09-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to have neighbors that have kids the same ages as our girls. We have so much fun together!

Mmmmm....

2011-09-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

We LOVE snowcones!!!

Garden

2011-09-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Jeff planted a garden this year- carrots, green beans, beets, green peppers, strawberries and tomatoes. He does a really good job taking care of it and it's so nice to have our own fresh veggies. Here are the girls pulling carrots!

All grown up!

2011-08-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is off to her first day of kindergarten! She is so excited and we are excited for her. Her teacher is Mrs. Terry and she is great! The school mascot was waiting by the kindergarten rooms when we walked up to welcome the kids. We are so proud of our sweet Ella and we know she is going to have a great year at school!

Lily's 1st Haircut

2011-08-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

Both of our girls are lucky to have been born with so much hair and Lily finally needed a haircut at 21 months! We were worried that Lily wouldn't sit still but she did pretty good. Aunt Melly put a cool fish cape on her and she played with "Pillow Pants", Uncle Nate's troll that Lily loves!

Summer Beauties

2011-08-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Farm Country

2011-08-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

We went to Farm Country on our next trip to Thanksgiving Point with our friends, the Blacks. The kids had fun seeing the animals and loved taking a pony ride!

Ella's Baby

2011-08-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

New Toy

2011-08-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

Grammy sent a fun new toy for the girls to play with...I think they like it!

Funny Girl

2011-08-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

Lily fell into the book basket and must have thought it was pretty comfortable because she just sat there and played!

Girl's Night!

2011-08-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of Ella's friends was moving so we decided to have a sleepover before she left- Olivia and Lily came over and they had such a fun night! They played dress up, did puzzles, made ice cream sundaes, made a fort, watched a movie and ate more treats than they should have! Ella is so lucky to have such great friends where we live!

Dino Museum

2011-08-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

We love August because Thanksgiving Point does $2 Tuesdays! We went to the Dinosaur Museum with our friends, the Harrs. We had a really fun time!

More RSL!

2011-08-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday night, another Real Salt Lake soccer game! They played the New York Red Bulls and won 3-0! Jeff's favorite player, Thierry Henry, plays for the Red Bulls so he was excited to see him play!

Sweet Girls

2011-08-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

Our little Texan

2011-08-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

Ella said her first "ya'll" the other day! I knew the Texan in her would start coming out sooner or later!

Back to ballet!

2011-08-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Ella has started ballet again and is so excited to be in Ballet 1 this year!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2011-08-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Jeff's dad had a birthday so we had a party! We ordered pizzas and just enjoyed being together as a family and letting all of the cousins play! Jeff's sister, Steph, made this fabulous marzipan cake. It was her first go at making one and it was delicious!

Little Buddies

2011-07-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Ella and her best bud, Mya!

Splash Park

2011-07-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Holiday Weekend

2011-07-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon at the pond, swimming and building sand castles. My sister and her husband came along too. The water was freezing but Ella didn't mind. Lily didn't care too much for the water but she liked to play in the sand.

That evening we went the the RSL game and after the game we were able to go sit on the field to watch fireworks. Our good friends, the Blacks, came along and it was a fun evening!

More water fun!

2011-07-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

The Splash Park

Splashing around the pool

Floating the river
There is a park by our house and when the snow starts to melt on the mountains, the river fills up and the kids float down in tubes. It is freezing but the kids love it!

The kids found berries and decided it would be fun to cover themselves in berry juice.

Pretty

2011-07-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Lily's Favorite Food

2011-07-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Say Cheese!

2011-07-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Goin' Coastal

2011-07-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

The Kenny Chesney concert was so good! He is my absolute favorite so I was so excited to be able to go. I tried for 3 weeks to win tickets off of the radio with no luck. My dad called one day and told me he had just put something in the mail for me and my sister. We were beyond excited when his package showed up with two tickets to see Kenny Chesney in it! Well my sister ended up having last minute surgery the weekend of the show (and is now cancer free!!!) so my dad came to the concert with me. We had a great time! The weather was perfect, our seats were amazing and Kenny didn't disappoint!

The funny part to this story is a week after my dad bought us tickets, I won some off the radio!

Me and my dad at Usana

Our seats
The opening act- Billy Currington. He was really good!

Awww...Kenny

Happy 4th!

2011-07-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July...ward breakfast in the morning then up to grandpa's house for a cookout, the RSL game and fireworks!

At the RSL game with Ella's cousin

Fun Day

2011-07-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends, Jenny spent the afternoon with us and brought fireworks to set off. The girls loved her!

A Visit from Grandma

2011-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

My sweet Grandma (who turns 96 this week!) came to visit! We have been trying to get her to come for years and were so excited when she finally came. The girls loved her and we really enjoyed spending quality time with her. We took her to Temple Square one day and spent a lot of time visiting. We tried to ask her a lot of questions about her life and had fun listening to stories about her family and childhood. My Grandma is an amazing lady and we love her!

Splash Park

2011-07-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

We found a really great splash park by our house and went with our neighbors. It was a hot summer day and we all enjoyed running through the water!

Gym Star

2011-07-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Since Ella is taking the summer off from ballet, we decided to put her in gymnastics. She loves it and has caught on so fast. It has been a really fun summer activity!!

Lily even has fun!

Watch me ride!

2011-07-05T16:08:00.001-07:00

The girl's both have fun toys to ride on...Ella just got a new Barbie scooter and Lily has a Dora powerwheels. They love to play outside!

Family Festival

2011-07-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Cedar Hills had their annual Family Festival and it was a fun filled weekend! Friday night was dinner and a movie in the park. Dinner was excellent and it was a perfect night to sit at the park. There was a huge movie screen and when it got dark they were supposed to start "How To Train Your Dragon". They were having technical difficulties so we got the kids home and we watched it at our house with the neighbor friends.

Saturday started off with the parade. All of the cousins came down and Jeff's sister Steph was in the parade for City Council. The kids got so much candy! Next we went to the carnival at the park. The kids played games, rode on the rides and got their faces painted. Radio Disney was there and Ella played in their freeze dance competition and was one of the winners!! Steph, her daughter Hallie, and I entered the baking contest! Everything looked so yummy but sadly we didn't win. Oh well, there's always next year. That evening we cooked out, roasted marshmellows and watched the fireworks. It was a great Family Festival and a fun weekend with family!

We Love To Swim!!

2011-06-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

Camp Zoofari

2011-06-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ella turned 5 just in time to sign up for Girl Scout Day Camp this summer! The theme was Camp Zoofari and one day was spent at the zoo and the other day was at the park making crafts, singing songs and playing games. She had so much fun and made a lot of new friends!

Happy 7 Years!

2011-06-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I just celebrated our anniversary, 7 great years!!! We spent the day with our girls at Boondocks. We played putt-putt (which I won of course!), Jeff and Ella rode the go-carts, and then we finished up in the arcade. We love our girls and it was fun celebrating our special day with them!

Wow!

2011-06-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

One of the many reasons we love living where we do. This view from our front yard is so beautiful, especially on nights like this!

At the Zoo

2011-06-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

Yummy

2011-06-24T22:24:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite restaurants is Pat's BBQ and one of our favorite things to order is their smoked meatloaf. It is SO good so we decided to try to make our own. Jeff pulled out the smoker and voila...it was delicious!!

Lovin' the Sun!

2011-06-21T11:42:00.001-07:00

After a fun day swimming...

Picnic Time

2011-06-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

We love to sit outside when it's nice and eat our lunch!

Show me your tongue!

Silly Lily

2011-06-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Lily is now 18 months old! She has been so much fun and her cute personality is really starting to come out! She loves....looking at books, dancing, playing with her baby dolls, going to the park, and playing with Ella just to name a few!

At Lily's 15 month check up, her pediatrician noticed a slight delay in Lily's development. We had some tests done and when they all came back negative for any serious problems we enrolled her in Kids On The Move, an early intervention program. Needless to say, they have been fantastic! She has been working with 2 therapists for the past couple months to strengthen her legs and work on fine motor/communication skills. She is doing so great! She is now walking, pushing herself up to standing, climbing the stairs and crawling up onto the furniture all by herself! She can do about 10 signs which has been so helpful for her and us. We are so proud of her and all she has accomplished in the past couple months. We just love our Lily!!

Birthday Girl!

2011-06-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, our baby is 5 years old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone! Ella had a great birthday filled with presents, friends and family. She had already picked out her birthday present from Jeff and I- an American Girl Doll, but we put her away until the big day. Ella was still so excited to see Kit waiting for her downstairs when she woke up! My parents, grandma and Jeff's parents all got her accessories and clothes for her new doll. After church, Jeff's mom and stepdad came up for dinner. Ella chose her favorites for dinner- stuffed peppers and watermelon! We played outside for a while and Ella got to throw the horseshoes with her friend. Ella's cousins, my sister and her husband came over for cake and ice cream! By the end of the day , Ella was worn out! We are so proud of our little Ella and are so happy to have her in our family!

ALOHA!! Ella had a Hawaiian themed birthday party. We played beach Bingo, had a hula hoop contest, played with the parachute and had a beach ball pinata! Jeff made the cupcakes look like little beaches, with blue frosting for the water, graham cracker crumbs for the sand and a little beach umbrella in each one! It was a party to remember!

Antoher tooth lost!

2011-06-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Two teeth gone before she turned 5!

More RSL fun!

2011-06-12T22:37:00.000-07:00

We were able to take my sister and her husband to a game and besides it being freezing we had a great time! And what could make this night even more fun??? Cotton candy!

Ella Bella Super Star!

2011-06-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Ella just finished up her 2nd year of ballet! She is taking at Classical Ballet Academy this year and has learned so much. Ella loves her teacher Miss Jennie, and her assistant Miss T. I have loved them too! Jennie was my ballet director at BYU and I'm so happy to have Ella learn from her too. She has become so graceful and quite the little ballerina!

At the end of the year, we were allowed to sit in and watch their class and then they performed a dance at the end. They danced to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and it was so beautiful! Ella's Grandma came to watch and then took us out for bagels afterwards!

Ella also finished up her 2nd season of soccer! Jeff coached her team this year and all of her little neighbor friends were on her team. She had a lot of fun playing this year. The age group was for kids ages 3-5 so Ella was one of the oldest on the team. She was very aggressive and even scored a couple of goals! Jeff did a great job coaching too!

DONE!

2011-06-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my sweet baby sis was diagnosed with colon cancer last October. She was 24 at the time so it was a huge shock to everyone. She had surgery in November to have the tumor removed and has just finished 5 months of chemotherapy TODAY!! I can only imagine what a struggle these past months have been but she has dealt with this challenge with such grace and has stayed as positive as can be. Mel always tried to see the good through this experience and has definately come out of this a better person. I admire her courage and strength and love her with all my heart.
Mel started a blog where she goes into more detail about everything that has happened, it's an amazing story... getmelsoon.blogspot.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2011-06-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday to our Ella Bella!!!

Finally...

2011-06-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

It's starting to feel like spring here! I feel like it rained the entire month of May but the weather seems to be cheering up! And we can finally dress the girls in their cute summer dresses!