FHE at Salt Lake Cemetery

While my parents were on their mission on Temple Square, my dad would take groups up to the Salt Lake Cemetery and go on a tour of different gravesites. They were the final resting place of many of our former prophets. He also had located the graves of many of our ancestors from both the 'Farr' side and the 'McAllister' sides. My brothers and I have often asked Dad about the tour and how interesting it would be to be able to actually participate in the tour. My parents were in town for awhile, so we made arrangements with my brothers family and our family to get together for FHE and go on the tour. Dad took us took us to see the graves of several of our ancestors and also of some of the prophets. The most amazing part was how interested the kids were. They were mesmerized by the stories my dad told us about our prophets. We saw the grave for Harold B Lee, David O McKay, Brigham Young, and Gordon B Hinckley. We also saw the grave for our own ancestors: Karl G Maeser, Duncan McNeil McAllister and Willard Ballantyne Farr. It was a great FHE for all of us.

Tuacahn

We had the opportunity to go to Tuacahn in St. George to see "The Little Mermaid". My parents had made arrangements to get tickets for myself and Kyra, Spencer & Susie and their kids, and my parents. I drove down to St. George with Kyra and Sydni. We had some good laughs and made it safely. After Spencer & Susie arrived, we went to dinner. After dinner we headed out to Tuacahn. We had great seats and when the show started the girls ALL were entranced. They enjoyed the whole play. It was a very well done show. It started late (8 pm) and so it ended kind of late (11:30 pm), but the girls were real troopers and stayed awake the whole time.

We are so blessed to have these opportunities. I love having special mommy & Kyra moments like that. She was really good the entire time. Thank you mom & dad for creating some special family times.

The other play that was showing this summer was "Grease". Of course, Kyra and Addi couldn't walk past the cut outs and not stick their heads in.

Kyra, Addi and Lilly in the cutout for "The Little Mermaid".

Summer Vacation - Sunriver, OR

For Scott's CPE course this year, we chose to go to Sunriver, Oregon. I went online and found a cute little house to rent and we drove to Sunriver. It was SOOOO much fun! The first night we were there, we had 3 deer come right through our yard. We did have a little adventure at the beginning. The house that I had rented was awful. It was hard to tell in the pictures, but after reading a few reviews I realized I had made a HUGE mistake. So, I called the rental agency and told them that the house just did not meet our needs. They moved us into another home, no charges, no questions. The second house was perfect! We were by the park, there was a rock mountain in the backyard for the kids to play in, the bike path was close by. We signed Kyra up for tennis lessons for a couple of days. She loved it. We took the kids swimming and rock climbing at the new Maverik's Center. Kyra even tried the flo-rider pool. We went on bike rides, we went horse back riding, we went swimming, and the boys went white water rafting.





It was just like the Sunriver vacations that I remember as a kid. It was relaxing and had a mix of weather. We rain a couple of days and we had nice sunny weather a few days. It was really enjoyable being able to share my childhood memories with my own children.

Good grief...Another Birthday

Kyra turned 10 years old this year. Since our school went to a traditional school year, the kids were out of school on Kyra's birthday. I didn't have an excuse to not have a friends bday party for her. She hasn't had one since she turned 4. So, I caved and we prepared for a friends party. She invited several girls and they all came except one. All of the girls were friends from school. So, it was really exciting for me as a parent to see them come and support her. Kyra has struggled with friends at school. That was one of the reasons that I haven't had a friends party for her...she has never really had any friends. I'm really proud of her. She didn't get too over stimulated and she stayed pretty calm throughout the party. She had a good time and that's really all that matters!

DCC Camp

Last year Kyra and I went to Dallas to attend the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Friends & Family show. This year they didn't have a friends & family show. So, instead I signed her up for their cheerleader clinic. It was for 3 days (Wed - Fri). We flew on buddy passes via Jet Blue. It was a little scary getting out of Salt Lake, but we made it and connected through Long Beach to Austin, TX. Then we rented a car and drove to Dallas (about 3 hours). By the time we arrived in Dallas, I admit we were exhausted but really excited to be there.

I dropped Kyra off at Cowboys Stadium Wednesday morning and then we (the parents) were told that we needed to leave. I had made arrangements to meet an old friend for breakfast. So, while Kyra was doing her "thing" I went and met Marla. We chatted quite a bit a talked about training camp and how the new rookies were doing. She also called Ms. Kitty Carter and asked if Kyra and I could come to her studio and see her that night. Of course Ms. Kitty said yes. So, Wednesday night we went and saw Ms. Kitty and watched her girls prepare for their big recital they were having that weekend.

Kyra with Kelsi Reich (4th year veteran)

Kyra with Cassie Trammell (4th year veteran)

With Whitney Isleib (4th year) and Melissa Kellerman (3rd year)

Kyra and I with Ms. Kitty Carter, choreographer and technical instructor for DCC

Thursday, I spent the day touring Dallas. I went to the library where JFK was shot. That was really interesting. Then I went and saw a couple of different memorials honoring JFK. When I picked up Kyra we went on a tour of the stadium. That was really fun. Kyra was excited to show me all of the places that they were able to see during her camp time.

Friday, I spent the day shopping. Kyra was kept busy from 9 am until I picked her up at 3 pm. Friday afternoon the parents showed up early because the girls did a small performance. They performed all of the things that they had learned for the last 2 days. I couldn't believe the stampede of parents to get a good seat. Holy Cow! Kyra did really well.

The fun part was that later during the summer the DCC posted a fun video to advertise for camp and it was one that Kyra was in.

After the performance on Friday, we went and met our friends from last year and had dinner at Coopers BBQ. Talk about yummy Texas BBQ. One of our friends has a daughter that is a former DCC. Christina came to dinner, so it was fun for us all to meet her and Kyra had her picture taken with her.

HS Soccer

The Riverton High School soccer season started officially with tryouts the last week in February. The first game was the first week of March. The season officially ended May 10, 2011. Riverton made it to the playoffs and for the first time in 20+ years, won their first playoff game. So. they ended up playing in the semi's and lost there. It was a close game, but we didn't come out on the winning side. Tanner played JV for the entire year. Unfortunately, he didn't have any opportunities to play in any Varsity games. It was fine because he played really hard for the JV team and played in every game.

The season was wild because we had a really late spring, so we spent almost the whole season watching his games in the rain and snow. As I parent, I didn't like that, but I was there supporting our son in every game. We traveled to Logan to play Mountain Crest. After the game we had dinner with Michelle & Ryan.

The end of year banquet was held the last week in May. It was where they handed out awards and letters. Tanner's coach felt that Tanner made such a contribution to the team that he went ahead and awarded him a varsity letter. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of him getting his certificate. I have PLENTY of pictures from the season though. Here is just a sampling:

Cheer Recital

Kyra has developed a love for cheering. She has taken from Vision Cheer & Dance for over a year now. She really likes her teacher (Ms. Kansas...ie Candace). There are only 8 girls in her class, and the age range is HUGE (5-10). So, trying anything tricky is hard for the teacher. This isn't a competition cheer class at all. Kyra is really doing well with the tumbling, so we may pull her out and keep her with the tumbling part only. We'll see what the future holds, but for now she is enjoying her cheer class.

Last year for her recital, since she was the oldest and tallest I couldn't get a decent picture because there was always a pom pom in her face. This year I think I did a little better.

Look out world...

Tanner officially got his driving permit. He is excited yet scared. His first driving experience was the next night when he remembered at 11:00 pm that he was supposed to bring the bread for the sacrament the next day. So I took him and told him he could drive since there wouldn't be very cars on the road. Well I was wrong about the amount of cars. He wouldn't pull out of the parking lot until there wasn't a car within 2 miles. The next few times were better though. Once he gets his confidence up he should be fine.

Kyra's First Piano Recital

With her teacher, Mrs. Jessee
A posed picture

Her certificate of accomplishment (along with HUGE smile)

During her performance

Kyra started taking piano lessons this year. She only started taking in Feb, so when her teacher mentioned that there would be a recital in April, I honestly didn't think Kyra would be participating in it.

However, Kyra surprised us all and memorized a song and performed it for her recital. She was so proud of herself. When she was all done she got up from the piano with a HUGE smile on her face. I have to admit....we were pretty proud too! I am personally grateful that she enjoys piano. It's time someone else in our family learns how to play the piano!

Dental Work

We learned a few months ago that Kyra was going to have to have some major dental work done. The dentist was concerned about the fact that she just wasn't losing her baby teeth, and there were a few permanent teeth ready to pop through but couldn't. So, he wanted to pull out the baby teeth. The original plan was to pull 4 1/2 teeth...2 on the top and 2 on the bottom. She also had a tooth that the permanent tooth split in half when it was trying to come through. Half of the baby tooth fell out and we couldn't pull out the other half. (therefore the 1/2 tooth). Her appt. was set and we went in. She was a real trooper. The hardest part for her was the novacaine shots. I admit I had to step out of the room for a minute because I couldn't stand listening to her cry and scream. They finally got her calmed down and numbed up and went to work. WELL....9 teeth later...they were done! I guess half way through the process the dentist felt that he should just pull ALL her baby teeth and just be done with it. I was shocked when he told me how many he pulled. Kyra was sooooo good about it. She didn't feel good for most of the day, but she LOVED the fact that she had permission to eat ice cream all day if she wanted. We noticed a day later, that a couple of the permanent teeth were already starting to come up more just because the baby tooth was out of the way. So, I guess it was necessary and it was a good thing to do.

The "loot" for the tooth fairy!

The bottom teeth

As good a picture as I could get of the "top" teeth.

Telling Papa & Gram ALL about it that night!