Sunday, May 3, 2009

April

A snapshot of some of April.


Jarom was in tumbling the whole month. On the last day they all performed and showed off their new skills. Here he is with his medal. He is very proud of this medal.

Jarom took tumbling, while Bella took dance. It culminated in this recital. Here's Bella's class doing the Lollipop dance.

Bella and her coach, Michael. He was also one of Jarom's coaches for tumbling.


Papa came out with Daniel (Papa's namesake) for Saturday's General Conference. Matt went with them and braved the Salt Lake crowds.


Bella all dressed up for Farrer's International Night. Amy was in charge of it! She really helped make it a success. There were lots of booths representing different countries, and all of the kids had these little passports. They visited each booth and got a stamp in their passport. Amy and Michelle manned (womanned) the concessions booth, selling bottled water and churros and nachos. All of the money they brought in went to Give to Ghana, and was donated to the Penteng Primary School in Penteng, Ashanti Region, Ghana.

here's Jarom's class, ready to begin

Jarom's class dancing at International Night

The PTA girls doing their thing. We are so proud of them. They are determined and active in their community and help make Farrer the best it can be.

Amy's cute Give to Ghana display

Amy made *all* of these crepe paper puffballs. It was a lot of work, but they turned out amazing. The kids loved them, and everyone who stayed and helped clean up got to take one home!


We made a quick trip to Idaho Falls for April and Seth's new baby's (Sara) blessing. It was a snowy, windy, one-day ordeal. Lots of winter driving, but we made it safely both ways.


Oey coloring after receiving Nana's package

dyeing eggs

waiting for the colors to soak in

all bathed and ready for the indoors egg hunt (hard-boiled)

score!

everyone made out

Jarom hit the jackpot with the prize five-dollar egg

reflecting upon their winnings

the stash of eggs, each with a custom prize Sharpied upon it

The famous Provo city egg hunt at Pioneer Park. This year they seemed to have *plenty* of eggs, a big improvement over last year.

Eggs loaded up. Jarom even brought his backpack.

Bella found a special pretty pink sugary egg.

Oey showing off his eggs

meeting the Easter bunny at Macey's and their Easter treasure hunt

The Backmans always show us the best time on Easter Sunday. It's been our tradition since we've lived here to spend Easter Sunday with them. Aunt Kathy always has the best treats (and baskets!) for us, and a *massive* egg hunt that can't be beat!

Jarom found so many eggs that he had to use a box!

the girls

Easter family photo. Our only one, right as the hunt ended.


Apricot blossoms! Our poor tree only had these blossoms for what seemed a few days before late-April winter took over.


Another thing we decided to do for the kids this spring was get them new bikes. Their old bikes were well-used, too small, worn out and in disrepair, so we got them bigger, better bikes that surely will last much longer. We went to our local bike shop, Mad Dog Cycles, where manager Travis Martin was very kind to us.

To break them in we rode on a beautiful day over to the duck pond at BYU.

the sun in her eyes

Climbing around. This one was taken with my Holga.


princess dress-up with Brianny


piggyback rides in the bathroom

10 comments:

moonshinejunkyard said...

oh my my my, it is so good to see a new blog from you guys! i love your easter photos and all the fun stuff you did in april; the videos of the kids' dances are just the cutest things in the world. good job with the fundraiser for ghana amy, that was a lot of work! you have to show me how to make those giant puffballs...i love them and want to decorate my back patio with them hanging all over.

it is always unbelievably heartwarming and heart-wrenching to see pictures of these happy adorable faces. they are addictive. i miss you guys all so much!

Unknown said...

so cute! i love your easter eggs idea, with having custom prizes on each of them. i love it!

Glory Watts said...

Wow, you guys went to like a bizillion easter egg hunts. How fun!

I LOVE Bella's dance recital. Little girls dancing is the best!

Love you guys, can't wait to hear about your trip to Africa!!

Jennifer Nielson said...

What an eventful month! I also loved the "sharpie easter eggs." Your family is just darling-

Susan said...

Oh my goodness, how I wish I could be with you guys every day! I can't believe how empty Easter is without the little ones around here! Next year I'll have to crash Claudia's house and borrow some grandkids! How much fun you always have and aren't my grandbabies so so precious. I love you all each and every one and am so happy you are building such wonderful memories of a beautiful life there in Utah! Love, Nana

polly compost said...

matt and amy!
i love the holga picture,
the light is fantastic
and dramatic. you cant do that with a digital.
i think bella had the best technique in her dance, the gran plie at the end was the best.
so cool.
(mother freakin cool...an imput from carl who is "doing an essay" on speaker for the dead...)
stanley yelnats.
ps,
i want to find the dollar movie egg. (matt, i think we should see harry #6 this summer, we saw the last one together at midnight when i was pregnant. memories.)

Suburban Monkey said...

What a fun April!! Nothing better than watching little kids dance to a routine. The lollipop dance...priceless!

Deanna Smith said...

What a busy April you guys had!! Your kids were so lucky to go on so many Easter egg hunts!! I too loved the Easter egg with prizes idea.
Georgia really enjoyed Bella's lollipop dance and now wants to be a ballerina.

crazy christensen family said...

I laughed so hard at bellas dance. It was awesome! Especially the finger wagging. She looked like she was on fast forward-but the squat at the end, now that is talent. I love little kids trying to display their growing talents. You guys are great!

mattbeatty said...

Dolly, I agree, we should see the new Harry Potter. So either when I'm in town briefly, or you need to come out here to visit!