Grace getting her JIG on

 Grace walked in the Salt Lake St. Patrick's Day Parade! It was cold and windy...but super fun.

Then her group danced at the Gateway. She did an awesome job! We LOVE Irish Dance!

Birthday

 Andrew is in England, so he called her to say Happy Birthday....

 About to open her iPod Touch.....

 I left work for a minute to take her flowers and give her a hug at exactly 9:28...the moment she was born.

 Did I mention that I LOVE our new tradition of Kneaders Cream Cheese Brownies instead of cake!?!?

Ended the day with her very first piano recital (she rocked it!) and then Ryan's Christmas concert...I'll try to upload movies of some of that later.
Happy 10th Year Gracie!!!

Ten

Today is Grace's 10th birthday...Andrew left for England again yesterday, so we celebrated on Saturday with a movie, and then our annual trip to the mall to buy her build-a-bunny a birthday outfit. If you look very close in the above picture, you'll notice the tears on her cheeks...her siblings were doing their job by torturing and teasing her until she cried. To be fair, Grace is incredibly sensitive and quick to tears...but still.

Sigh. You'll have to tilt your head to view this picture. Don't know why it won't load correctly. I took more pictures today: she had a piano recital, Ryan had a choir concert, and we barely ate dinner at 9pm tonight after it was all over, so I just frankly don't want to load those pictures on right now.
Anyway.
Our Grace.
Most of you know that we waited a long time for our Grace.  She is a gift, made even more precious by the things we learned waiting for her. Not a day goes by that I don't look into those brown eyes, and say a little prayer of thanks to a loving Heavenly Father who, after trying our faith, gave us this gift. I look forward to every day that I get to teach her, love her, and learn from her. Jillian enjoys playing the game "how long did I wait for a sister!?!?" with Grace...the answer: 12 long years of praying for her. Grace plays along good-naturedly, confident in her "miracle of joy" status.
"Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace..." - 2 Thessalonians 2:16

Jillian Stole My Post

So I'd planned to post about fall break...but Jillian beat me to it. Check here for deets ;)

Summer Trip to St. George and Zions in lieu of Lake Powell

 Our yearly houseboat trip to Lake Powell was canceled at the last minute due to some health problems with my niece. SO Andrew made a spur of the moment decision to go ahead and take Grace and Ryan on a vacation anyway...to visit Ty in St. George. They went to Dixie Rock....

 And hiked in Zions National Park...

And swam in the hotel pool...or in Grace's case tried to drown her brother ;)

Lazy Days of Summer

 Snickers and Grace LOVE to go to the park...we throw Snick's rope, and a shoe for Grace, and they have races to see who can bring it back the fastest. I'm not kidding.

 Snickers LOVES to go in the car. It's super sad any more if we have to go somewhere that she can't go...she sits at the door and whines. Apparently, this whole year, while the rest of us are at work/school, Jillian has been taking her everywhere. She thinks she's a person. And did you know that the bank offers not only suckers for good little children, but DOG TREATS for your pooch? It's true.

 Happy, tired, dog.

Happy, tired, Gracie.

Last Day of 3rd Grade!

 I picked Grace up from school today. Her LAST day as a 3rd grader! We got pedicures, went to see Kung Fu Panda, went to Barnes & Noble, then went to the MALL to purchase clothes for the summer that are NOT uniforms!

She changed her clothes in the car on the way home...no more charter-school uniforms for 3 whole months!

Dance Recital

Gracie has been taking a hip-hop dance class all year. Saturday was the end of the year recital. It was super fun!
Two dances, two costumes, and our traditional flowers for the performer!

ZOO!

My spring break was a week after the kids. So I kept Grace home from school on Tuesday to play with me...
All 3 of us girls went to Hogle Zoo. It was cold, but actually the best trip ever in terms of actually viewing the animals!

These are the girl giraffes. They walked right up to us.
Grace getting eaten by a lion...
Then we went to the 3D IMAX movie "Born to be Wild." We look ridiculous.
It was amazing. Thanks to Jill's Megaplex job for the free movie passes...we can see any movie for free after it's been out for 10 days. It's. Awesome.
It was a super fun, animal-filled girls day!

Sibling Boredom

These pictures are what happens when Ry and Grace have too much time on their hands on a Sunday afternoon...



The many faces of Grace. Scary. Silly. Sweet?

Wheeled Footwear Part II

Last night Grace FELL whilst heely-ing around the kitchen.
Bruised her knees, and sprained her wrist. I asked her to leave the shoes OFF for the night at least...she did, accompanied by much sulking.
Today, she's sporting an ACE bandage, but is back on the wheels. Sigh.

Wheeled Footwear

Sigh. These are the Heelys that Grace got for Christmas. Wait. Let me back up a minute.
Last year, my sister-in-law gifted us (along with several bags of marvelous outgrown clothes) a pair of Heelys that my niece had outgrown. After 2 days of tears and falls, Grace mastered the art of Heely-ing. She loved it! Then she outgrew them. Believe me, she stuffed her feet in them painfully until the absolute last possible moment.
SO that was the only thing she wanted for Christmas. She received them. THEY HAVE BEEN ON HER FEET EVERY POSSIBLE WAKING MINUTE SINCE.
You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. The second she wakes up in the morning they go on. She wears them until the second carpool drives up to the house, then grudgingly puts on her school shoes. The very second she walks in the door after school; Heelys go back on. She rolls from the kitchen to the entry way to the front door. Over and over and over. All night long. She cannot even sit for dinner...every time we turn around she's back up on her wheels rolling back and forth to and from the table. Family game time on Sundays? Constantly on her feet rolling back and forth from the table when it's not her turn. Even when it IS her turn.
In her jammies? Feet-jammies? No problem. She stuffs her feeted-jammy-feet into the heelys. And continues to roll around the house. They only leave her feet when she climbs in bed at night.
She begs to go to WalMart or Smith's...they are a wheely-heely dream. She loves to hang on to the side of the cart and sling shot herself down the aisles.
Good times.
But it's slowly driving the rest of us nuts. I hear the sound of wheels bumping along in my sleep. I find myself begging "sit down!" to anyone in my vicinity...it's a habit now.
What is going to happen when she grows out of this pair......I'll bet I could get the rest of the family to chip in and bribe her to NOT get another set of wheels.

Field Trip Friday

When Ry was little, and the other two kids were in school, I instituted "Field Trip Friday". It gave us both something to look forward to every week. Sometimes we would meet Andrew for lunch, and then go shopping, or to a museum, or park hopping, or the library. His favorite place to go was "Map World" inside of the Utah-Idaho Supply store.
Last Friday, Grace had the day off from school, and it wasn't my Friday to work. I sprang Ry from school too, and we spent the day together. It was the best day ever!
We started off with dentist appointments. Both kids had clean bills of teeth-health. Then we went to Paradise Bakery for lunch, followed by a trip to the BYU Art Museum to see the Karl Bloch exhibit. It was amazing.
The next stop seems silly....but then we went to WinCo. Ry had never been there to view the abundant buy-in-bulk part of the store. Who needs 95 different kinds of granola? Ranch flavored corn nuts for $.71? Dark Chocolate covered cranberries? Spices, nuts, beans by the bag-full!? WE DO!
Then I had free coupons for Golden Spoon yogurt...so we drove up the street to the only one in Utah County and each got a bowl of yogurt. For Free. (Actually we felt kind of bad, so Ry put a dollar in the guys tip jar.) As we walked out, Gracie said with a giggle "Look! The spoon is actually gold!" Hahahahaha....
Day spent with 2 of my favorite people. Life is good ;)

Sweethearts

Ryan went to the girl's choice "Sweethearts" Dance....she asked him by decorating his room with hidden dinosaurs.
(She works at the movie theater too...he has two friends named Paige...so we call her "Dino Paige" cause she works at the dinosaur museum as well. Another side note: rumors were flying that another girl was planning on asking him to the dance. I got a call from Dino Paige on a Wednesday night...."Sister Ditty! This is Dino Paige....has Ryan been asked to Sweethearts yet???" I said no. "(Relief in her voice) Ok. Can I come in a half hour to decorate his room? I need to ask him TONIGHT!" Turns out the other girl was planning on asking him the next night....she waited too long!! Hee.)
He answered by going into her math class with the show choir and serenading her with his answer. They had a great time...everyone in the group were already friends. They did fondue for dinner; which I think is a great idea! No awkward sitting there watching each other chew...there is something to be actively doing during the meal. Anyway. He had a blast.
Gracie and her BFF, Brynlie, making Valentine cookies.
And that is our February So Far. I'm still trying to climb out of the winter funk in which I've been mired.

Four Eyes Are Better Than Two

Grace got glasses yesterday. Doesn't she look adorable?
She spent the whole ride home furiously reading license plates, billboards, and street signs. We started singing "A Whole New World...now that Grace can see...with her new glasses..."
We're four for four now. Jill got hers in 2nd Grade, Ry in 1st Grade, Ty in 11th Grade...and now Grace in 3rd Grade. Perhaps we should have gotten genetic testing before we married and bred children :P

Grace turns 9

Grace's birthday celebrations began on Saturday at Incredible Pizza with family, and best friend Brynlie. We bowled...
Played Dance Revolution, skee-ball, and other games....
Ate, and got prizes! Super fun place to party.
Her actual birthday was on a Sunday. We had to wake her up exactly at 9:00 AM...on her 9th birthday....(don't judge...it's Sunday and she stayed up really late last night!)
She didn't want cake. She wanted (and got) a cream cheese brownie from Kneaders.
Making a wish...
Hugs from the person who made her.
I scrolled back and tried to see if I've blogged about her birth. I sort of did on her 7th birthday. So I won't bore you again with the "miracle of joy" story. But here are 9 things I love about our Grace:
1. She never leaves a room without saying "I love you."
2. She has a kind heart.
3. She's great fun to see movies with.
4. She has a fabulous sense of humor...she keeps us laughing.
5. She is a good, true, and loyal friend.
6. She is always quick to say "I'm sorry."
7. She reminds us of the simple joys in life.
8. She loves to make cards and letters for everyone.
9. She LOVES shoes!!!

It's hard sometimes being the youngest in a house full of adults. Our Grace keeps us all young-at-heart, and is so patient with us. Thank you, baby, for being one of my best friends. I love you more and more every day. Happy 9th Birthday!