Dance Competition

 We have entered the world of competitive dance....just for this year!  It is a huge commitment of time and resources which doesn't leave much time for the girls to do anything else.  They dance at the studio at least 14 hours a week, sometimes more when extra rehearsals are scheduled.  They love to dance and have made some nice friends at the studio.  Their first competition was held in Sacramento at a very nice auditorium at U.C. Davis.  Allison, Connor, the girls and I drove up to Sacramento on Friday and stayed at a hotel.  The competition was all day on Saturday. This is serious business....their makeup had to be just right, as well as their hair and costumes.  They each had four dances to perform in.
                                          Haley and Hannah loved every minute of it!!

           Grandpa and Grandma Sullivan drove over from San Francisco to watch for a few hours.

                                        Connor was loving all of the attention from the girls!!!

                                  The whole dance team does a great Bollywood number called Jai Ho.

             

            Their group number, "He's Alive" won first place all around for large group numbers!!!

     The girls received first place platinum awards for each of their performances. They rocked it!!!

                                           
                                            It was a very long day, but fun and entertaining.
                                 Tribute dance company is going home with lots of trophies!!!

Track Meet

Hannah loves to participate in school activities, so of course she wanted to run in a few of the races at the Reagan track meet.  She signed up for the 800 and the 1500 meter races.  She ran hard and did her best.  She qualified for district in the 800meter.  Go Hannah!!!!!

Leading the group in a few pre race stretches.....

Can't get enough of this kid!!!!!

I drove with Emily up to Provo to get her moved in to her new apartment and spent the weekend visiting with everyone.  Then Allison and Connor flew back to Bakersfield with me to spend the week at our house.  Yeah!!!  Connor was really good on the plane.

Bath time in Grandma's kitchen sink was so much fun!!!

Quality reading time with Grandpa!!!

Connor enjoyed exploring the backyard......

After a long cold winter in Provo, Allison and Connor were happy to have some sunshine!!!

Haley, Hannah and Ben love having Connor around to play with!!

Connor was a great shopping buddy...he even went home with a few new outfits.  

Grandma loves to spoil him!!!

We loved having Allison and Connor come stay with us!! We wish they didn't live so far away!

Hawaii...oh how I love you!!!!

Can you tell we are excited to get away by ourselves for a whole week?!?!

We flew first class on Hawaiian Airlines...and it was awesome!!!

This was our first time on the island of Maui, and we loved it!!!

Our first stop was at the car rental place to pick up our convertible mustang......

Our next stop was the Four Seasons Hotel......this has got to be one of the nicest places Russ and I have ever been to!! The service is outstanding, and the property is beautiful!! 

                                           We enjoyed the beautiful sunsets every night.

This was the beach that we played at everyday.  It is right on the Four Seasons property.  The clearest water and softest sand I have ever seen.  We went snorkeling right along those rocks.  We also enjoyed paddle boarding.  We would paddle out quite a ways and watch for whales, which we saw quite often.

The hotel staff surprised us with a gift to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

We enjoyed taking walks along this path. 

 There were some amazing homes that we dreamed about owning one day!!!

There was a beautiful tennis court where we took a lesson from the tennis pro, 

and enjoyed playing a few games.  

One of the days we took the "road to Hana".  It was a three hour drive through some very narrow, winding roads.  The scenery was gorgeous.  There were several things to stop and see along the way.  We took a 2 mile hike through a lush forest to get to a 400 ft. waterfall.  

                           

                                We also hiked to the seven pools which fed into the ocean.
 It was so windy here we almost lost our hats.  The power of the water in the ocean is amazing!!

Another stop was at a black sand beach with these amazing arches and blowholes.

We went out on the ocean in an outrigger canoe.  We saw sea turtles and whales off in the distance.

Our last morning we went on a sunrise whale watching trip aboard this huge catamaran.

We saw so many pods of whales all around us.  Such an awesome experience!!!

We had such an amazing time in Hawaii!!  We can't wait to go back.
 Thanks to Emily for staying with the children while we were gone!!!

Emily's trip to Ecuador

A few days before Christmas, Emily flew to Ecuador to volunteer at an orphanage for two months.  She was a volunteer for Orphanage Support Services Organization (OSSO). She lived in a home with an Ecuadorian family and an American couple, and a few other college aged girls who were all volunteers.  The length of stay for each of the volunteers differed.  Some stayed for a week or two, some for a month or two.  Emily was excited for the chance to be in Ecuador for Christmas.  She had taken lots of things with her that family members had donated to give to the children at the orphanage.  We loved talking with Emily often to hear of her experiences.  She really enjoyed working with the children.  There were three different rooms at the orphanage called salas.  The children were separated by age.  In sala one were the infants 0- 6 months.  In sala two were the children 6months to one year.  Sala three was for the children older than one.  The children in salas one and two never went outside.  Their life was entirely in the room.  The older children were able to go outside and play in the yard. There were a few times when Emily was able to visit other orphanages and interact with the children who lived at them.  One place was a home for teenage boys with special needs.  Emily has always had a sweet, loving, compassionate spirit.  She was able to bless all of the children she came in contact with her love. I'm so proud of her and thrilled that she was able to have this wonderful, life changing experience.!

While in Ecuador, it was not all work and no play.......

each Friday the girls had the day off, and they usually went on a grand excursion.

At the end of her volunteer time in Ecuador, Emily and her friend Karissa had signed up to go on an amazon adventure.  They were supposed to be staying in a beautiful lodge.  When they got there, they found out the lodge was under construction, so they had to stay in this horrible bunk room.  Not what they were expecting, but being the adventurous girls that they are, they just went with it and decided to make the best of their time in the amazon.  There was a lot of mud!! and a few spiders and the threat of anacondas. I'm so grateful they were watched over and protected!! It was an adventure neither girl will ever forget.

                                         The "resort" was along the Napa river in the amazon.

                                   Emily learned how to protect herself by using blow darts.....

                              Emily was cleansed by the neighborhood shaman (medicine man)

                                     
                                       Who needs an umbrella when you have huge leaves!!

Welcome home Emily!!!  We missed you!!!!

Thanks for the fun gifts!!