Nolan's First Talk

Yesterday, the Primary counselor called to see if Nolan would give a last-minute talk in church. We said yes and began working on it right away. We talked about temples a little bit and then Nolan told us the things he wanted to say. We drew some pictures as prompts for him to follow and he did surprisingly well at memorizing most of it. He did such a great job! I was so proud of him as he spoke clearly and looked up at the audience. Afterward, I asked if he thought it was fun giving his talk. He said, "Yes, that was so fun. I'm so lucky!" I told him that all the kids got quiet so that they could listen to him and he said, "Yeah, but then they started laughing and that wasn't good!" You'll see why some of the kids laughed a little. Here is a recording of his talk later that afternoon.

We tried to get him to do it one more time while looking up more. He wasn't too into it, and this is what happened.

Ken and Barbie go to Dance Camp

Justin and I spent the past week at the BYU Ballroom Dance Camp. We took 5 hours of Viennese Waltz and 5 hours of Cha-Cha. Both of those dances were performed at the final banquet. We also took 4 hours each of Tango (our favorite!), American Swing, and West Coast Swing. There were 3 hours of the Quickstep, which is every bit as difficult as you've heard them talk about on Dancing with the Stars, but it was so fun! We also did a little Salsa, Samba, and Foxtrot. Overall, we held up very well. Our feet were sore and smelly, and at one point Justin had to ice his arm (he got a little excited on one of the cha-cha moves and pulled a muscle). But we didn't overdo it either. We ditched one or two dance classes and a lecture so that we could go see the final Harry Potter movie (fantastic!) and go to the temple. The last time we'd been on a trip for more than one night was 5 years ago, before we even had kids, so we wanted to work in a little relaxation, too. It was also great to eat out at yummy Provo restaurants together.



We were surprised to find very few other people our age. There were 280 "campers" and I'd say we were among the youngest. We joked that sometimes it felt like we were dancing at the senior citizen center. The youngest dancers were taking more advanced classes. Sigh... some day. A lot of these dancers have been to camp 20 to 30 times. And I hate to say it, but it doesn't show. Thank goodness they love it despite how well they may or may not dance. I was lucky to have Justin to dance with. He is a great lead. Many couples would switch partners, but we typically did not. We didn't arrange for babysitters and vacation time just to dance with other people! The one class that we did switch, we had several ladies saying afterward, "Oh, your husband is such a good partner! You are so lucky!" Believe me, I know. How many husbands would do this for their vacation in the first place?

One of my favorite parts was the morning warm-up. It had some components of jazz dancing, which I haven't done much since high school. Justin could tell I was having so much fun that he snapped a picture. The teacher, Mic Thomson, has danced alongside many famous people, including Michael Jackson in "Dangerous." He was in the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, Enchanted, and he does lots of work for Disney. He even choreographed High School Musical and Tarzan at Tuacahn. He was so much fun!



Our instructors were fabulous! They have won many competitions and some are even current champions. Here is a look at our Viennese Waltz teacher. She and her partner were recently on Dancing with the Stars as guest performers. Here are Urs and Agnes:






Click here if you want to see their amazing performance to Michael Buble on the show.


We also loved Ron Montez, who was an amazing dancer in his day, and can still hold his own on the dance floor. He was one of the choreographers on "So You Think You Can Dance" a few years back and is the host of the long-running America's Ballroom Challenge on PBS. Here's Ron:


Speaking of Ron, before the final banquet started he came over to us and asked our names. Uh-oh... we knew something was up. We started to fear that we would be asked to come out and start the open dancing or something. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and then they started in on giving several (mostly silly) awards. Well, they called us up and we received the Ken and Barbie award! The dance director, Lee Wakefield, said, "We have so many wonderful couples that come to dance camp and this year we'd like to give the Ken and Barbie award to them. Aren't they cute together?!" They gave us our own Ken and Barbie dolls. It was quite a fun surprise. For the rest of the night, everyone said hello to Ken and Barbie (no one knew our real names). We had thought that nobody would really watch our performances, but after receiving our award we were wrong. Before we began we could hear all the teacher assistants yelling, "Go Ken and Barbie!" So much for going unnoticed! The performances went well, and Justin and I had a fabulous time. We count that night as one of the most memorable since we have been together. It was fun to be dance partners all over again, similar to how we met as partners on the folk dance team more than 8 years ago. It was great to be at BYU and be reminded of the many memories we had on that campus.



So here we are driving to dance camp. Boy, were we excited!!!



And here we are waiting for the shuttle bus at our hotel so that we can begin classes for the day.


Here we are just after getting home... it was so great!



A big thank you to Grandma Sherri, Grandma K., and Aunt Jodi for watching our little rascals. We're so glad that our kiddos were in good hands. They had a great time with cousins and even went to the zoo!







One of the mornings, Grandma K. and Jodi couldn't find Nolan anywhere. They were started to get frantic and even check outside. Finally, he was found sound asleep sitting straight up in his closet. He had gone to the bathroom at some point and then returned to his closet without any bottoms on. This kid can sleep anywhere!

Puppy Portrait Session

As I was downloading pictures from the camera, I saw about 30 pictures of Nolan's puppy come up. He's got a fierce love for this puppy and can't help but photograph it on a regular basis. I think he's really done well with the lighting and capturing puppy's personality. Here are just a few shots from the photo session.

Dance Party

There was a full house of kids over to play one day last week. Thank goodness for "Just Dance" on the Wii. Ryan and Kendyll had a good time playing with our neighbors, Nicole and Katelyn. It's just too bad they had a certain two boys following them around all afternoon!
There's been a lot of painting going on lately. I only have the closet doors left, thank goodness. I was skeptical at first, but Nolan really does speed up the process. He earns beans if he does his best painting.

And I've never seen a kid love reading more than Ezra. He's either begging for a treat, or begging to read. It's as important as sugar to him. Going to bed used to be a quicker process, but now the boys insist on reading LOTS of books! That night we were reading our favorites, books about our Grandma and Grandpa Moulton.

Summer Outing

We finally decided to take a break from the basement work and head up a nearby canyon to roast marshmallows. It was nice and cool outside, and the s'mores tasted so good! The boys liked being out in the sticks, but after a while Ez just wanted to play in the van, go figure. While we waited for the coals to get hot, Nolan entertained us with a song and dance. He told us it was "in another language," so we couldn't understand what he was singing about. But his love for performing shone through. He's got some pretty cool jump moves! We love our toasted marshmallows on Fudge Stripe cookies. It was Ezra's first time trying s'mores. He loved it until he realized he couldn't get the marshmallow off his hands. He then tried wiping it off in the dirt. Yeah, that didn't work either. Angry Ezra.
After getting wiped off, we headed to the playground and the nearby creek. Nolan and Daddy crossed a precarious log and did some brief exploring while Ez threw rocks in the river. I loved that we could drive right home and not try sleeping in a tent with monster Ezra. We're so glad to have some mountains nearby.

Nolan's Bean Jar

When summer started, I instituted a lima bean jar. Nolan can earn beans for doing all kinds of "jobs" for me. He earns beans if he happily gets dressed, does his coloring/workbooks, picks up toys, helps stir the brownie mix (yeah, that one is really hard work!), is a good boy at Wal-Mart, etc. My favorite job that he does for me is reading to Ezra. We find all the books that are the most simple and then they point to the pictures together. It is such a big help, even if it's only 8 to 10 minutes, when I'm trying to make dinner and Ez would typically be whining at my feet.

Nolan filled up his bean jar for the first time last week. It took him about 6 weeks but he was persistant. I let him pick a toy that was less then $10. He's pretty happy with his rescue truck/trailer with snowmobile. Way to go, little helper! The bean jar is also great for threatening to take beans away if he's acting up. Whatever works!

4th of July

We started out our 4th of July weekend in Logan since Justin's family from San Diego was in town. As it turns out, Jodi and her two boys came as well. Nolan was having a great time visiting his little uncles and cousins from California. We attended Courtney Petersen's baptism and Hugo Andrews' blessing. There was lots to do (the boys even tried fishing, but with no luck), but unfortunately it was a rough weekend. There were some extended family problems and on top of that we had a terrible hot night. Ezra just doesn't know how to sleep anywhere but his own bed (and I've mentioned before that he doesn't even do great there, either). So after only one night we decided we'd had enough excitement and couldn't bear another sleepless night.

When we got home, Ezra begged for a truck ride. It felt so great to head out in our clunker and be together on a dirt road. The boys had such a great time getting up close to the passing freight train and Ez was so comfortable that he dozed off... just like Grandma Moulton said she always used to do when the truck was theirs.

We went to the local parade with my sister's family. The kids were in the street the entire time waiting for candy to be thrown. After that it was off to Home Depot (our home away from home) and then home to work on the basement and yard. Luckily it was a cloudy, cool day. That night the kids were very excited for our four fireworks (yes, only four, but Nolan thought that was so great). Thank goodness we had pop-its and sparklers! They were a hit. Since aeriel fireworks are allowed now, we took a quick walk around our neighborhood to see them. There were so many! We ended the night with a big fireworks show, but we kept our distance from crowds so that we could get home quick since Ez was sound asleep. Nolan kept saying, "This sure was an exciting day. That was so fun!"

It was good to teach Nolan a little about why we celebrate Independence Day and the significance of the flag as it went by in the parade. I love our country and I'm so glad that my family and I get to live here.