Mackenzee's Winter Dance Recital

Maggie and Mackenzee had their dance recital this month as well. They danced to "Roly Poly the Polar Bear" and so they got to wear these headbands with little polar bear ears on them. :0) Very cute.
During the song the words say "Brrr baby, it's cold out here" so the girls are showing the proper way to look when it gets to that part of the song. :0)

Isn't she a cute polar bear?

This is my Landon waiting for his sister's show to get started. Yes, he is reading a book. I don't think he had much expectations for the show.....

This is all of the teachers at the dance studio. Miss Julie is the one holding the microphone off to the left. The next teacher dressed in a brown top and jeans is Miss Amanda. She is Mackenzee's dance and tumbling instructor and Mackenzee just loves her.

This is Mackenzee's class being led onstage for the final curtain call. I know it's hard to tell which one she is, but she is the fourth polar bear back.

Here they are attempting to take a bow.

I think was all we were able to nab of the actual performance. Kenzee would have been to the left of the screen here, but she seems to have disappeared. :0)

Isn't my polar bear the cutest you've ever seen? We had a good time watching her dance with her little friends. It's fun knowing how much she enjoys doing it. If she could go to dance every day she would. :0) We're barely making it through these last weeks of no dance class. Luckily only one week left before class starts back up again! Whew!

Halloween dance party!!!

Mackenzee's dance class has a new policy this year where parents are only allowed to watch their kids practice on the last class of each month. This is so that hopefully the kids will actually pay attention to their teacher instead of show off for their mommies. :0) For the month of October the girls learned a Halloween dance to show the parents on the last class of the month. Kenzee was so excited to show off her wicked dance moves. The first half of class was for dancing...the last half was for a short Halloween party. This was the first time I let Kenzee put on her Halloween costume...

This is her dancing to their Halloween song "Witches Brew"....it was really cute and the girls had so much fun doing it in their costumes. {A lot of princesses in that room....let me tell ya!}

Here are all the girls in their Halloween costumes, including Miss Amanda {the teacher}.

Amazingly Mackenzee and Maggie showed up wearing similar costumes. :0) Pink and gold!!! Although Mackenzee was Sleeping Beauty and Magge was Barbie. Gotta love it!

Dance

Mackenzee started back up in dance classes this September. She has been so excited to have her best friend, Maggie, in class with her this year. Of course, they now have to be separated in class because they talk too much about their dance outfits....but at least they're together right???

Mackenzee has a new teacher this year too. I think she was worried about it at first because she loved Miss Cassia so much last year. But, Miss Amanda is so much fun and Mackenzee has warmed right up to her.

We were also surprised to find out that Mackenzee's friend, Libby, is also in her class. It's like a party every week for her now. :0)

She tells me that she can't wait to get on the stage again with all the lights and dance for everyone....

Definitely a dancing queen!

Thirty, Flirty, and THRIVING

So, I had a birthday even though I told everyone that I wasn't going to have one. :0)
But, I must say that I have some pretty wicked awesome friends and family. Friday night I had plans to go out with my friend, Montay, for a fun non-birthday dinner. While eating some fabulous pasta at Tomato's we decided it might be fun to go to the movies afterwards. Well, instead of driving to the theatre, Montay started to drive me out to the country. She swore we were going to go to Jackpot and that her hubby, Rob, and Jaysen were already in Jackpot waiting for us. {That was my first clue that she was LYING!} But, I went along for the ride. Why not....right? Then, my dear friend, Montay, turned on the EXACT same road that you would normally go down to get to my grandparents house. When I asked her if we were going there she said "Maybe". {Honestly Montay, you are a CRAPPY liar!} Of course, when she turned down my grandparents lane and I saw oodles of cars parked outside their barn I realized what was going on.
There had been an EVIL scheme going on behind my back to make sure that I really DID have a birthday!

This is my "SURPRISE!" picture....look how EVIL Montay's grin is. PUNK!
What happened after that? The DJ showed up and we boogied down all night. Oh....and ate chocolate cake and cheesecake. It was wicked awesome!
My friend, Jenn, drove all the way up from Salt Lake to come and celebrate with me. I haven't seen her in over two years and it was so much fun to shake our booties together again {like in the good old days.....when I wasn't 30}

My grandparents even joined in on the festivities....

Thanks for letting us use the barn!

Yes, we even danced the Macarena. Honestly, I think it has been nine years since I did the Macarena. I couldn't even remember all of the moves....

Here are the slacker boys pretending that they can't dance because they are so ravenously hungry that they must consume mass quantities of MY chocolate cake. :0)

The Jaques family....Amy did all of the decorations. Thanks so much Amy!

Landon has some wicked awesome dance moves......seriously. He danced the night away with me.

Princess Mackenzee even graced us with her prescence. :0) I love how she's got the fork in one hand, but has chosen the more "Proper" approach to inhaling chocolate cake......using her fist.

Ben and Heather Bingham

Who was the mastermind behind this whole crazy thing? My dear hubby, Jaysen. He thought of everything from the chocolate to the cheesecake to the music and dancing.

And babe....I forgive you. :0)

Turning thirty isn't so bad with you around. Thanks so much for putting all of this together for me. I love you CRAZY!

One Fine Face

Mackenzee had her very first dance recital last night at CSI. She was sure that she needed pigtails in her hair for her performance because she wanted to look different from all of the other girls. So, with excess amounts of gel and lots of rubber bands, we were able to glue back her short hair into two ponytails. Of course, that meant the feather hair piece had to be split in two. I will tell you....she was the only one with pigtails and two feather pieces in her hair. She still looked just like all the other girls though. :0)

Mackenzee has been taking dance since just January, starting four months after the rest of her class. She has enjoyed every minute of it and would go every day if it was possible. I was worried about whether or not she would freak out once she realized she was going to be performing not just in her little dance studio, but on a huge stage in a huge auditorium. The worry faded quickly. :0) She had a huge grin on her face the whole time.

Her first dance was a tap dance to "On The Good Ship Lollipop". The other number was a ballet dance to a cute Sesame Street song "One Fine Face". This was her favorite dance overall and she would go through the steps at home nonstop. Sadly, her teacher Miss Cassia won't be teaching at the dance studio any more as she has moved to Pocatello with her family. I met Cassia just after Mackenzee was born and she has been such a great dance teacher for Mackenzee. After she starting taking her dance classes all I heard about was her friend, Miss Cassia. They all said goodbye to her at the end of the recital and it was a sad moment. I know that Cassia has taught at Julie's Jazzworks for 8 or 9 years now. She will definitely be missed.

After the show Jaysen and I were talking to Mackenzee about how well she performed and how we thought she was so big for being able to get up in front of all of those people to dance. She looked at me and said, "But mom, I was the best dancer huh." {She doesn't have a high opinion of herself or anything does she?} Trying to deflate her a bit I told her that everyone in her class danced good. Of course, I was overruled by an overly proud daddy who told Mackenzee that everyone might have been good but she really was the best dancer. Mackenzee liked his answer better.We've got a two week break here before her summer classes start. She's disappointed that she has to take a break, but I am relieved as we needed to squeeze in some swimming lessons for her this summer too.

We really are proud of you Mackenzee. You did a great job and were adorable up on the stage. I'm so glad you have found something you truly enjoy. Keep it shakin'!

My hot date

Isn't he handsome? Jaysen took me to a Valentine's Day dinner and dance last night. Though the dancing portion wasn't quite what I had hoped it would be, the dinner was good and the company was SO FUN! I had a blast and it was nice to go and do something grown-up. I got to dance with my hubby, get dressed up, and eat fancy food.
Thanks for taking me Jaysen. You are the most awesome hubby ever! I love you!

Dancing Queen

Today was Mackenzee's first day of dance class. She has been looking forward to this for WEEKS! Miss Cassia was kind enough to squeeze her in mid year because I was such a slacker in September. So, we do have some catching up to do with the other girls, but Kenzee looked like she was up for the challenge.

Though I had prepped her for what to expect I still wasn't sure how she would handle it. I told her she would have to go into the dance studio by herself and that I was only able to watch her from outside the window in the waiting area. She wasn't sure about it when I first told her, but seemed to accept it when I reminded her this morning. Miss Cassia was so surprised to see Mackenzee walk in the door and march right into the dance studio to "warm up" with the other girls running around the room. She didn't even look back.

So, we officially have a dancing queen in our home. Notice the ALL pink outfit she chose. {The shoes aren't her official dance shoes, though. She doesn't get to wear those outside of dance class. These are her pink "sparkle" shoes.} She can't wait to show you all her wicked moves. :0)