Harmonizing Heroes Go to the Movies piano recital

This recital turned out to be one of my favorites.  I was tired of having my traditional recitals so I got excited with this theme and had everyone dress up.  It just felt like a big old Halloween party and I think it helped most of my students be more at ease. 

For my record:  Back row, L to R: Rusty Riddle as Darth Vader, Carter Riddle as a pirate, Tait Belnap as Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Carter Hancock as Hagrid, Caden Hancock as Harry Potter, McKenzie Thornton as Sandy from Grease, Taylor as Bella from Twilight, Melanie as Princess Tiana.  Front row, L to R: Rachel Riddle as Cinderella, Cameron Holdaway as Happy from the 7 dwarfs, Katie Blake as Annie, Emma Lawes as Miley Cyrus, Aydia Melo as Russell from Up, Tiernan Belnap as Tizzy from American Tail, Amara Belnap as Snow White, Emery Hancock as Giselle from Enchanted, Elle Melo as Princess Leia, Kenadi Thornton as the scareccrow from Wizard of Oz.  We had the Earle boys missing.  Wyatt was going to be James Bond and Jaratt was going to be Indiana Jones.  They were both involved in the Iron Man with their parents.  Congratulations on a great race finished Janie!  Also, Dawson and Ryken Featherstone arrived late so we didn't get them in the group shot.  They didn't want to dress up.  Everyone did very well and we had a great time!

I couldn't stop laughing at Hagrid the Giant.  I don't think it was as much fun for him to be in the hot wig and beard.  Good job Carter on your Double Toil and Trouble solo!

Mr. Harry Potter performing his Hedwig's Theme!

Giselle playing her Happy Working Song.

My solo was a medley of songs from the movie, The Princess and the Frog.  Ella and Emery both asked me previous if they could sing to them since they know the words so well.  Ofcourse I thought that was a fabulous idea.  The less attention on me, the better!  They both sang, I'm Almost There, and Down in New Orleans.  Caden helped me in being the bad voodoo dude in the song, Friends on the Other Side.  He turned quickly to the audience to sing this line.  He was also my page turner.  What would I do without my cute kidletts!

Here we are with the wonderful Melo family.  Katie is one fantastic teacher to my kids.  We just love her and I just love teaching her 2 enthusiastic girls.

Aren't they so cute!

We're all worn out and ready to return to our normal selves.  Carter was dying to get out of his hair!  Ha ha!

Thank you Curtis for filming it all and taking care of Evey at the same time.  I know it is challenging.  We missed you Lyndsi.  She is usually our tech girl but had a very important occasion to be to.  Her nephew got married that day and I had fun tagging along at the reception after.  I didn't have time to wash out my hair so I went as is.  A lot of people didn't recognize me and I was a little embarassed but it was worth being with you and your family Lyndsi.  I just love you guys!  Thanks for accepting me no matter what I look like!

More exciting cousin time!

We have been so lucky to be able to spend so much time with our cousins over the last few months!  My sweet sister, Chelsea and her family were driving from Calgary to Kaysville to drop off their 2 adorable children at Cynthia and Mike's house.  They were anticipating a lovely Caribbean cruise.  When I found out that they would be at the Hasslers for a whole day on Saturday, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity, especially when I only get to see my sweet sister once or twice a year.  Even though we just got back from Disneyland 5 days previous, I had to pack up and party again!  Who needs responsibilites when you can just have fun with your familiy?!  The kids and I drove up on Friday afternoon.  It was fun to spend that evening with the Hasslers in doing their Friday night tradition, Papa Murphy's pizza, treat for each child from chevron, and a movie rented from Blockbuster.  Thanks Hasslers again for accomodating us when you had another family coming.  Chelsea and Andrew arrived in record time.  It only took them 13 hours with their little ones.  It takes me at least 14+.  Way to set the bar Sheers!  We should travel with you!   

We all got together with the Carters on Saturday.  We met at the same school again where we played street hockey, park games, and insect hunting.

Here are Syndey, Sam, Berkley, and Jenna watching the street hockey game.

Caden and Zachary are showing off their minnows.

Berkley and Corbin got a lot of attention from the older ones!

Here is the gang by the river searching for those insects and minnows!

Park fun with Sam and Evey!

Abby working so hard at getting Corbin to smile!

Carter is just lovin' helping the little ones!

This is what Berkley did during nap time.  Jenna's markers are much more fun than sleeping!

That evening we were treated to Mike's most famous ribs done on the smoker and a delicious smoothy.  I sure was in heaven.  Thank you, thank you Mike and Cynthia! This was the highlight of the trip for me!  We played a few games and visited before the Sheers had to leave on their midnight flight.

I love my sisters!  Lori, Cynthia, Chelsea.  Chelsea barely looks pregnant and is more than half way.  It's just not fair!

Thanks for the good times everyone.  I was thoroughly uplifted!

Oh ya, did I mention that we squeezed in a trip to Ross that day.  How could we miss this store when Chelsea is around!

Disneyland trip..Part 4!

We were sad to have our Disneyland fun came to an end but we were excited at the same time to wake up to this gorgeous New Port Beach by the ocean!  What a lovely day and what lovely company we had!

This is a view of the beach houses lined up facing the ocean.  Our children are already hard at work looking for sea shells!

 On our way to the ocean.  What a view with the sky and ocean blending into each other!

Emery was our most passionate sea shell collector!

All the kids loved trying to beat the waves!

Hmm, I wonder what characters these 2 little ones are being?

Lily was so sweet to share her sand toys with Evey.

Cute little Evey head!  She kept requesting to be buried!

Curtis was throwing a bottle out as far as he could.  The kids loved playing this and watching it come back into shore with the waves.

I love the running pictures!

I also loved seeing the boats off in the distance!

Our group shot that we got, FINALLY!

It was so cool to see this pair of dolphins!

Our beach day was a great way to close our fabulous vacation! We were thankful for all the fun and memories that we created.  Thank you Houskeepers for letting us hang out with you and for be such amazing friends.  We loved our time with you! 

The drive home was a bit of a challenge.  It seemed VERY long.  The tv in the van wasn't working right, my children were throwing food ( I think they were delirious).  Emery got burnt by nacho cheese sauce and cried for over an hour, and there was sand and wet clothes everywhere.  Ahhh.  I just had to mention this to prove that our family was NOT happy to go home!  We can't wait to go back!

Disneyland trip..Part 3!

We actually woke up, an hour late.  Oh well, there's only so much you can do when your partying hard!  I rushed over to Princess Fantasy Fare to line up first thing.  Curtis actually got up on time and left earlier with the 3 oldest.  He wanted to ride the Matterhorn that had been closed the previous 2 days.  Saturday is a very busy day so he had to get there.  The boys didn't think it was too exciting but Emery liked it.  Then they headed over to our area and the boys were good sports waiting in line with us..well, for most of the time.  Meeting the princesses is one of my most favorite parts.  You never know which ones are going to be around the corner!  So it was exciting to meet Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White, the 3 classics!

On our way out we noticed that the princesses were rotating.  Aw, too bad because Ariel is Ella's favorite.  I was glad to get a picture of her though.  I love her green dress and flower/starfish!  Also, we caught a glimpse of Tiana's dress but couldn't get a decent picture.  She is all of the girls' favorites!  Too bad!  We got excited, so Ella and I lined up again while Curtis took the other 4 into Toon Town to ride the mini rollercoaster.  Just as Ella and I were near the front of the line, there came a lull.  I could tell the princesses were rotating once again.  SAD!  So, as it was our turn for the second time, as we came around the corner we discovered that Snow White and Aurora were both back.  Snow White remembered us and was as kind as ever.  We bypassed Aurora and went straight to Jasmine.  She noticed and asked us if we wanted to meet Aurora.  Too funny!

At the exit of the princesses they have souvineer shop.  Here is a lovely royal looking princess bench at the store showing off our lovely princesses!  Ella got caught up in the magic and bought an Ariel polly pocket doll package.  Each of the kids had their own money and had fun picking something out that day to take home.

It was neat running into some of our favorite characters in Toon Town!

Pluto was a hard one to catch.  He was busy jumping and drinking the water!

I love this picture of my 6 children :)  There's nothing like eating junk food in Toon Town!

We met up with the Houskeepers in Critter Country.  Ella and Luke love being goofy together!

We were getting very hot and tired after lunch, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a swim and rest.   It was wonderful to gain some down time.  I just love these shots of my blue eyed beauties in the pool.  After swimming Evey zonked for a few hours.

We then freshened up and met the Houskeepers in California Adventure for the pixar parade.  It was really cute.  We are hanging out here while some of the group went on Soarin' Over California.  It was fun to just chill and visit for a few minutes!  We had dinner at the tasty Pilot's Grill. Mmmm!

These girls are excited for this new Under the Sea adventure.  We'll just have to go back to check it out!

Now it was time to fit in all the rides again before the park closed at 9.  This one had to be tested one last time.  Does the pose look staged or what!

Since it was the last day, the kids had to finish their shopping.  As I was in the bathroom with Evey and Curtis was helping Emery and Carter, Caden had picked out his toys, taken them up to the till and payed for them all on his own.  However, he was short a few pennies and I guess the lady helping him told him not to worry about it and that she would cover it.  Caden told us about this since it was weighing on his conscience.  He didn't feel good about leaving her short.  So he asked his dad for the pennies that he could repay her with. Well, she was so impressed with his honesty, that she had to present him with this "Honorary Citizen's Badge".  I was very grateful to her for building him up and telling him what wonderful qualities he had.  Caden was grinning from ear to ear and ofcourse we felt a little proud!  Way to go Caden.

Carter and I weren't done yet.  Disneyland stayed open until midnight so he and I stayed to get in as much as we could!  So with soar feet, and aching bodies, we ran through the park and got on Splash Mountain 2x, Thunder Mountain 2x, Star Tours and a few little rides in Fantasyland.  We got popcorn and yummy churros!  I loved just being with Carter.  He was so funny planning out each step of the way and kept mentioning the count down to the closing of the park since it was a our last day there.  He loves it so much and has talked about it everyday since we've been back.  It sure is a place you never want to leave.  So, goodbye Disneyland.  We hope to meet you again, SOON!