Our Ballerina

Warming up w/ stretches. Ella is the blondie in a black skirt.

I can't remember which position this is. Amanda???

I love this picture!

The girls danced w/ scarves and when the music stopped they were supposed to freeze.

The three ballerina amigos (Dallyce, Abby and Ella)

Ella has been taking dance for the last month or so from Canyon Dance Academy near our house. She loves it! It is her first time taking lessons of any sort (besides swim lessons) so we're very excited! She goes every Wednesday after school for an hour to a Kinderdance class where she is learning tap and ballet. There are two friends of hers from school and church that attend the class also and we carpool together, which works nicely. Their names are Dallyce and Abby. This week is observation week where the parents can watch their children during class time and take pictures. I've been anxiously awaiting this day so I could see my little girl dance. It was so cute and so much fun to watch. I love a little girl in tights and a leotard, especially Ella because of her round little tummy. Here are a few pictures and a little video.

John's party

John's had a good birthday! Since we've already done all of our celebrating, it was a pretty low key day. I made him his favorite dinner of steak and mashed potatoes (the boy has good taste) and then we were off to piano lessons. Later in the evening, we had Grandparents Bishop and Grandparents Gunnerson over for cake and ice cream. The two neighbor kids came over also. John received a few calls and happy b-day messages via the internet. He appreciated them all, especially the Hallmark e-card from Steve and Amanda. He's watched that quite a few times now. Here are a couple pictures of this evening. I was going to take pictures of our dinner, but forgot.

John through the years

newborn

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old9 years old

10 years old11 years old12 years old

My firstborn baby is 12 years old! I can hardly believe it. I feel a wide range of emotions from reflective, sentimental and sad to happiness and excitement. I'm sad that time is passing so quickly and he's only got 7 more years in our home before he's off to bigger and better things. I'm sad that I'll never get to hold him as a baby again. At times I wish that I could have just a few hours with each of my kids as newborn babies again. That would be so wonderful. I'm so happy that he's going to receive the priesthood and become a deacon. How very special that is. I hope that he strives to always be a worthy priesthood holder. I'm excited for all of the opportunities that await him as he becomes a youth and enters these years. John is such a great son. He is so responsible, honest, and sweet. He's one of my only children that doesn't get embarrassed when I kiss him! He's a good friend and student. He has a sweet spirit and soft disposition. He tries hard in all he does. On top of all of this, he's very funny! We LOVE YOU with ALL of our HEARTS, JOHN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON! These are some pictures of John through the years from babyhood to the young man he is today. I'll be sure to post more pictures and entries as we have a little family party for him and he is ordained on Sunday.

Our Bishop family in Utah

Sweetheart Connor, in his new glasses.
Having lunch before we left, (Seth, Allie w/ two suckers, Ella and Eric). In the background is Tyler, Janice, Kade, John and Ashton (in the high chair).
Sweet little Ashton. She's 18 months old.
Seth and Ashton happily played together in Ashie's crib.

Going to Conference was great, but so was seeing our family! Mark has two brothers and one sister and their families that all live fairly close to each other and we were able to see all of them while we were there. On Friday night, Janet and Loren and their kids, Dallen and Katie, and Jay and Janice and their two, Connor and Allie, came over for a great dinner of pizza and salad. We don't see Loren and Janet very often, so that was a special treat and we're so glad that they were able to make it. We were so busy visiting, that we completely forgot to take pictures of them. Darn. We spent Saturday evening together as well, while the older guys were gone. We had spaghetti (with Janice's homemade meat balls) and ice cream, and did some more visiting. The cousins had so much fun together. Really, so much fun! It was sad to leave. Cooper was almost in tears, and Eric (Brent and Jen's little one who is almost 4) was in tears! It was hard to leave everyone. Paige was great to do crafts with Ella, sleep on the floor by her both nights, and even include her when she had a friend over. Ella loved it! She also enjoyed playing with Allie. Cooper and John loved playing with Tyler and Connor and Kade was nice enough to spend some time playing board games and Nintendo DS with the boys. They ate it up! Seth loved Ashton and Eric and was at ease and made himself quite at home. Little Ashton let me put two of the tiniest pig tails in her hair. Adorable. Brent and Jen's oldest, Matt, is 17 and was headed off on a date to Sadie Hawkins the evening we got there. That was fun to see! We sure had a nice time and appreciate Janice for changing her work schedule so she could spend so much time with us and Brent and Jen for their hospitality and for making it possible for us to go to conference by watching the kids for us. By the way, did I mention that the food was great!? Jen went all out, pancakes Saturday morning and cinnamon rolls Sunday morning. It was delicious! We sure love our family!

General Conference

Two handsome boys in front of the waterfall at the Conference Center.
Outside of the AMAZING Conference Center.
The four of us excited to head off to Conference.
A family picture before we left for Conference.


We had the most wonderful opportunity to attend General Conference this weekend! During last April's conference John made mention that that was the only thing he wanted for his 12th b-day, to attend General Conference. We took that to heart and were able to get tickets through our stake for the Saturday afternoon session. We stayed in Pleasant Grove with Mark's brother and his wife and their family (Brent and Jenalyn) . They were kind enough to watch Ella and Seth, since you have to be at least 8 years old to go to conference. It was a dreary, cold and rainy day but the spirit was strong and our hearts were warm. They like you to be seated at least 1/2 hour before the session starts, so we were just chatting and all of a sudden things quieted and everyone stood up and President Hinckley walked in and waved his cane at everyone and took his seat. It was a really neat feeling of reverence! I also loved how I felt when the audience arose and sang the rest hymn. There is always a powerful feeling that accompanies that many people singing at once. I went there with a prayer in my heart that the boys would be able to feel the spirit and recognize what that felt like. I believe my prayer was answered! My two favorite speakers actually spoke in that session (Elder Nelson and Elder Holland). Pretty lucky, hah? Cooper and I headed back to Pleasant Grove after the session and Mark's brother and his two sons met Mark and John for the Priesthood session. None of them had tickets for that session, but they stood in the standby line and with 10 minutes to spare Mark and John made it in. Brent, Matt and Kade were too late, so they watched in the tabernacle. They met up afterwards though, and went out for dinner. It was a special memory that our family will treasure and we're so grateful that John's b-day wish was fulfilled!

Funny Faces

I love it when I go to download and save some pictures from our camera to the computer, and I'm surprised by random out of the ordinary pictures taken by my husband. These are such pictures. I thought they were too cute not to share.

My favorite quote

The General Relief Society Meeting last Saturday evening was fabulous! I went with 5 other ladies from my ward. Our stake combined with the Middleton Stake and we had a punch and cookie social afterwards. I really enjoyed listening to all of the speakers. The new General R.S. Presidency seems great. As always, President Monson gave a wonderful talk. There was one quote towards the beginning of his talk that I absolutely loved. He said it in speaking about the General R.S. Presidency and the spirit they brought to the meeting. He commented on how thankful he was for their parents and leaders as young girls. It made me think of Ella. Nobody really knows what lies ahead for her, what she'll accomplish or how she'll be. I have many hopes and dreams for her though, mostly of her becoming a wife and mother and remaining a faithful daughter of God all of her days. Every woman, even those who are accomplished or well known, were once ordinary little girls and those who loved and cared for them had no clue of the ladies they were going to someday be. I hope I am doing all I can for Ella to help her live up to her potential. As a matter of fact, I loved this quote so much that I printed it out, framed it and put it in her room. This is it.