Soren's 9th Birthday

We celebrated with a family brunch to Our Home Kitchen the weekend before his actual birthday. It's now one of our new favorite breakfast spots!! 

Monday morning he woke up to waffles Nutella and berries, I had to run Miriam to an early ballroom practice so I brought the 9 birthday balloons home with me.

 I picked Soren up from school for a birthday lunch but first I surprised him by making a stop at Bountiful Music so he could pick out his new Ukulele. 

Then to Cutlers for lunch and to pick out his birthday cookies.

Our Caring Cousins charity this year was Pencils of Promise (POP) so as a family we read the book by the founder called "Pencils of Promise: How an Ordinary Person can make Extraordinary Change".  Soren was inspired by the stories shared in the book and decided (all on his own...no prompting from us I swear!!) to have his guests donate to the charity rather than bring gifts.

We took 6 friends + his favorite brother to Get Air for an hour of jumping fun,

then stopped by a nearby park for pizza and cookies.

I goofed and only put 8 candles on his cake....so we had to have him blow out one more!

I had to include photos taken and artistically manipulated by Byron.

9 things I adore about Soren at 9 years old:

1. His kind heart, this boy cares deeply about the feelings of others....especially his brother and sister.  He just about can't stand it if anyone is sad or hurt but he jumps out of his skin if it's his brother or sister.

2. His generous heart. This guy is a gift giver, note writer, treat share-er.  He LOVES to give or create gifts and surprises.  

3. Music.  Soren is our family DJ.  He loves music so much he listens whenever he can, and often suggests songs for us to listen to. He has 90% of the songs on the radio memorized.

4. Soren is a loyal and true friend.  He is like Charolette in Charolette's Web.  He will listen, and help problem solve, he's got your back.

5. He loves to dance and sing.  This goes along with music but his energy around music is contagious! His joy and enthusiasm changes a room...brings joy and life into it.

6. His determination in Taekwondo. This has really really pushed him this year.  It's 3 days a week and it's HARD.  It isn't easy to get him to go most of the time, but when he is there he puts in 100% and he walks out of class with more confidence.

7. His tenacity with 3D puzzles.  This guy has always loved hand puzzles but up until lately they have been more frustrating than fun. This year with the help from Darin he figured out the 2X2, then he spent his own money on a four pack.  He figured out the 3X3, the Pyraminx, and the Skewb.

8. His sense of humor.  Soren is witty, and clever and his laugh is adorable.  He loves telling jokes and he does it with such flare. His favorite movie this year has been Fantastic Mr. Fox...he has always loved it, but he rented it from the library again a few months ago and watched it so much he almost has it memorized. He's got great taste.

9.  Soren does hard things....everyday.  School and most extracurricular activities are not easy for this guy, he just doesn't love it and feels scared and worried most of the time. We are working on gratitude, re-framing, coping strategies and it's working, but it isn't easy.  Everyday he gets up and faces those big overwhelming scary feelings and shows up.  I admire him so much for that.

Ending LPA Concerts

Advance Musical Theatre put on Pirates of the Carabiner for their Spring Show.

The 9th graders were disappointed at first because they like to put together a Broadway Review,  but their director Jules does have a good feel for hilarious plays.  It was so funny, with great songs.

It was fun to see Miriam tackle an "out of the box" role for her...a deranged idiot pirate!  We know she can play the spunky heroine but she can totally do lunatic as well.

Legacy Prep Dance Concert

They got to perform all their dances throughout the year, do the 9th grade dance battle, and then Miriam and Logan put together a Latin duet.

This concert if the pay off for all the early morning practices, all the long competitions, all the dress rehearsals and costume fittings.  They got to dance, and celebrate, and cry their eyes out saying good-bye to Jr. High ballroom. 

We could not possibly get M flowers for every performance...there are just too many (although I have thought about making a bouquet out of dance tights or bobby pins and hair spray) but for this concert at the end of her 9th grade year we felt flowers were in order.

Cousin Easter Party

It was an all-boy egg hunt this year.

It was extra male heavy in general...Maddie was doing an internship in England, and Miriam had a mandatory theatre rehearsal.  It's rare that all the guys are home at one time, and who knows when that will happen again.

Lunch, games outside (lovely weather!), egg dying, egg painting, and Anna put on a fantastic egg hunt. 

Ethan's first cousin party!

 Cristin also shared her family tradition of making a ceramic painted egg.

It was so fun, and a good way to get the older kids involved.

Spring Break Continued....

Miriam flew off to Italy on a school trip at 5:00 am on Wednesday.  The boys and I packed up for Price and were there by the afternoon.  

This wasn't Spring Break for our Price cousins so it was business as usual.  We stopped by Grandpa's store for a quick visit before heading up to their house.

We ate Grandma's organic salsa, avocados and whole grain tortilla chips for lunch (my mom is always pretty health conscience, but she has upped her game recently).

The boys and drove RC cars in the hills while we waited for school to get out.

Then we grabbed some cousins to go visit Great Grandpa in the nursing home.  He had a stroke last month so being the rest home is a new thing and to be frank he isn't adjusting very well. We was silly as ever when we went to visit.

That night we went to a CHS band concert to hear Josh and Ali play.  Josh plays sax in every band there is at CHS!

We met up with Mirissa and crew at the Chow Hound in Greenriver to go on a fossil scramble at Fossil Point. The weather was perfect, and Ris's mom knew where to find the good fossils imprints

Then we road back through town to go to Spring Geyser, such a weird and magical place right by the Green River.

Back to Price for some park time with Wyler and one more night.  We stopped by Helper on our way home for a treat, and to run the parkway really fast before getting home.

Spring Break Ski Trip

Our family gift this Christmas was a weekend ski trip.  Because of a work trip, ballroom comps, and 2 plays (Shrek/Wizard of Oz) we could not find a free weekend that worked until Spring Break.  The 3 resorts we had our eye on all closed the first weekend of Spring Break so we made plans and reservations quickly!

We tried out this renamed/reopened resort down in Beaver called Eagle Point.  It was so fun.  Beyond my expectations fun, and exactly our family's pace.  The main thing that bugs me about skiing is the crowds and this place, even with the ski races and fun events over the weekend provided quiet skiing where I could mosey on down the hill making my beautiful perfect s turns. 

We stopped in Beaver at the Creamery for jalapeno cheese curds.  The ice cream line was too long but next time....

Then we pulled over in Beaver Canyon to walk around the river while Darin fished for a bit.  We weren't there long because the wind made it difficult to cast, but it was beautiful.

We drove past our lodge and rented condo to see if we could make the end of the water skimming event. We made it, and it was hilarious!  Music was blasting as we watched people make it or biff it in the man made pond. 

When we got too cold we drove to the lower lodge for dinner,  checked into our condo and then hit the hot tub.  I was afraid they would be full of "dude bros" after the skimming but we had a tub to ourselves for a "polar burn" party of our own.

We finished off the night with warm showers, Food Network and Animal Planet in our condo. 

Next morning the sun was shining!! 

We hit the slopes all day long.  From the time they opened until they closed.  It's amazing how long you can ski when the weather is good.

 Then we hit the road for home as they were closing down the resort for the season.

That was the closing of our first ever family ski season as well.