Getting our house put together...

Life doesn't slow down, even when you are trying to move. It will take us months to put everything away, and even longer for us to be able to decorate the way that we would like to. But here are a couple of the rooms that have finally been made liveable..

This is the entrance to the kitchen from the East side of the house. The stairs go down to the basement. I'm actually getting used to the carpet! LOL

The fireplace is a see through fireplace, it comes through to the kitchen and the family room on the other side.


View from the pantry

This is my favorite thing, (besides the backyard), MY CLOSET!

It just keeps going...

Master Bath

That door is the toilet room, kind of saloon looking

Hallway to the girls rooms

Kaylee's room

Her room opens up to a second kitchen

My mom brought two fish home for the kids the other day-(thanks a lot!)

Gracie had a trip to the E.R. Thursday night after sticking the tip of a play spiderman plane in her eye. It got jabbed while she was either playing with it, (or probably fighting with one of the boys because she stole it away). Anyway, she came out with her eye bleeding from the inside-scared me to death! She scratched underneath her eyelid, but luckily, no other damage was done.

Higher Ground had a performance at the Porter Carnival last night. Kaylee performed her "Material Girl" solo & her group clogging routine. Check out the HG website for more pictures of the performance.

Afterward, Kaylee had a handful of friends over for a little sleepover. They played outside all night. Gracie is obsessed with bugs. She comes and gets me everytime she sees any kind of bug outside. (They are all bees)

The boys practiced for their BIG GAME that they have today.

They are the ANGELS. They are excited for dad to help coach again.

I LOVE this awesome backyard!!!

The Zoo

Ethan's Kindergarten class had a fieldtrip to the Zoo on Tuesday, so I took the kids and met him up there. We had a lot of fun!

Rylan, Brooklyn & Ethan

(all in the same class together)

Noah just chilled in the front seat of his stroller eating snacks

"Rhino-saurus", Ryal calls it

The weather was perfect!

Terd Princess

Pretty Princess

Cotton Candy Bum!

Amberly & Gracie

Sno Cones!

We had to wrap Gracie like a mummy!

CHEERS!

Fun Day at the ZOO!!!

We stopped real quick at home to change and we were off to gymnastics...

Noah has his own little play area there

The boys were always too far away for me to take pictures, but this week, Ethan got moved up to BOYS LEVEL I

I always crack up watching Gracie do her stunts!

Ms. Suzanne is her gym coach

I've spent the entire day doing things like organizing my closet and going through bags of things that need to be put away from the move. I turned my back on Noah for 5 min. and this is what I found...

YEP! He was playing IN the fireplace.

WHAT?!?

Little Twerp!

Spring Break

For Spring Break, our family MOVED!

We are in our new home, but we still have a lot to do! We spent the week staying up late and organizing and hauling things back and forth. The kids still had fun enjoying new bedrooms and a HUGE backyard, and we tried to break it up a little by playing at the park or having friends over. Here are some pictures of the outside of the home.

Corner lot

West Side

East Side

The backyard is HUGE-is it horse property! We love the set up!

Lots of room to ride bikes!

The house is 5000 sq. ft. We have so much storage it's unbelievable! The house needs some work and is a little outdated, but it really is a dream home for us! We're right across from my parents and we only moved a mile away. Close to work and friends. We're excited about it, and the kids LOVE it! They call it the BIG HOUSE.

I'll post pictures of the rooms once we finally get them organized.

The kids were cute to help clean up. They wanted to do ALL the dishes!

Noah helped too!

YES, that's carpet in the kitchen!

The boys started baseball this week, which was really exciting for them because dad is helping to coach again. And the girls took a trip to Tucson for another Cinderella pageant! (we just went to compete for scoresheet this time, where the judges give you comments and critiques on how you did)

We rode up with Angela Thompson and her girls Emma & Ashlyn

This is Emma and Gracie, both little TOTS.

Gracie & Emma getting ready to go into interview-with Sydnee Coddington, International Tot

Ashlyn-all ready for interview

(Angela's girls are darling!!!)

Kaylee ready for interview

(she's darling too!)

Sportswear-Kaylee had to give a speech!

Kaylee, Emma, Ashlyn, Gracie

Gracie had to put her shoes on ALL BY HERSELF!

This is during Partywear Collective-cracks me up how little she is!

Talent-Best part of the day!

This is Gracie during her onstage interview-when she grows up, she wants to be a WITCH!

The girls

Glover Girls

All the Girls

Afterward, we all went to eat at Mimi's Cafe-dang blurry camera!

MMMmmmm...strawberry Lemolade!

Today is Sunday and we attended a new ward. It was bitter sweet. I really missed Harmony Park today. It's sad to not see your friends at church, especially when you don't get to see them that often throughout the week. BUT, our new ward is great and we have really enjoyed moving into a ward that is equally as wonderful. Change is great and change is hard. Moving has had it's pros and cons. I'm overwhelmed and extremely grateful at the same time. There are things I already miss about my old house and neighborhood, and there are things that I have fallen in love with here in our new place. I hope that this will turn out to be a wonderful experience for our family. If anyone from HP reads this, please know that your friendship and love has meant so much to our family. We will miss being a part of your ward, but we hope to always be a part of your lives.

Ahwatukee Cinderella Pageant

Kaylee gave up her crown as the Ahwatukee Cinderella Miss on Saturday and Gracie competed in the Tot Division.

Carlie Clayton (Arizona St. Mini-Miss), Madison Curtis (2007-08 Intl. Mini-Miss) & Gracie, getting ready for Interviews

Tot Interviews

Partywear

Brynn Hiatt was the reigning Ahwatukee Mini-Miss and Katie Sorenson was competing as a Mini-Miss (both HG girls)

Gracie fell in love with Madison

Brynn & Kaylee-Reigning Royalty!

Both got to perform and give up their crowns.

Kaylee was running back and forth backstage, so I didn't get a lot of pictures of her.

Cinderella is a youth development program that focuses on poise, confidence and talent. These girls are to be dressed age appropriately, (no make-up on the younger ones), and they are judged on their personality and onstage presentation, not on their physical beauty. I love what Cinderella has done for Kaylee, and I personally feel that it is important to help girls feel comfortable to get up on stage and learn to perform, whether it is playing the piano, dancing or a simple self-introduction. These girls feel good about themselves everytime they compete because they do better each time. And I love a program that teaches girls how to act like young ladies, this seems to be lost in this day and age. These girls become great friends, they learn to cheer eachother on, and they are taught that they are ALL WINNERS!

Sportswear

"Hi, I'm Gracie Glover, I'm 3 years old, I live in Mesa, Arizooooonnnaaaa!!"

Gracie right after her on stage Tot Personality Interview, (she got a fun little goody bag), with Madison as she gets ready to perform

I don't know how she did it as a 3 year old hyper little tot...but Gracie won!!!

She was wild and out of control, she even flicked a booger on the stage during crowning and then wiped her hands on Madison's dress...but at least she was having fun, right? Embarrassing!

2009-2010 Ahwatukee Cinderella Royalty

Yeah Gracie!

Kaylee gave a great farewell speech and had a fun little final walk, but I was on stage with her so I didn't get any pictures of it. So sad.

Katie Sorenson & Gracie-HG girls!

Today, she was was so excited to tell everyone she was the winner! And her word of the day today was, "Cock-a moodle-boo!" This girl cracks me up everyday!

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

So we got to meet Tricia at Disneyland last week! HG was performing, (see the HG website for pictures of the girls), and also participating in a workshop with one of Disney's amazing choreographers. We did 3 days at Disneyland and CA Adventure as a family...so fun!

Kaylee got to bring her BFF, Caroline Haws.

Yep-everyone matched!

Gracie had a leash-and she was not happy about it!

Scott wasn't happy about his name being on the back of his shirt, but I thought it was cute!

Kyle Hiatt nicknamed Scott, "Rhinestone Cowboy!" (They are not rhinestones, they are studs)

Casey Jr.

This is Ryal's BRAVE face...ready to go on Thunder Mountain Railroad!

This is how my boys waited in all of the lines...

Ryal tried to get off of his horse himself, he just hung here like this for along time, without saying anything...funny kid!

Peformance time...Calli and I were pumped and ready to go!

Kaylee got to peform her Co. jazz, her clogging, her hip hop and her solo...she did great!

The last day we ate lunch at Ariel's Grotto, the kids LOVED meeting all of the princesses!

Gracie was all decked out in her "Princess" outfit.

Gracie became obsessed with Minnie Mouse!

Mmmm...dessert!

Kaylee was always off with her friend...

The PIXAR Parade at CA Adventure was awesome! The kids LOVED it!

Ethan was thrilled to see one of his BFF's, Nathan Stahle, at Disneyland! (His sisters dance at HG) They got to do rides while the girls danced at the workshop.

Noah LOVED the bubbles during the parade!

Had to do the face painting...

The last night, the boys got to make their own Light Saber's, (Life Flavors, as Ryal calls them)...Scott insisted that this was their idea...Hmmm....

On Saturday we got to relax and take the kids to the park...

Ethan was having a hard day at the park...

Love that perfect CA weather

Just love blogger sometimes...I could not get this picture to face the right direction. This is Ruby Doo...we celebrated her first birthday Saturday night! (daughter of Martin & Nancy Dodd)

My sweet grandmother purchased tickets for Tricia and I to go with her to see LORD OF THE DANCE! Of course, I LOVED it!!! It was absolutely incredible!

And the perfect end to a perfect vacation was my aunt Nancy buying me the perfect treat for the ride home...Team Edward! (March 21st-girl party! Can't wait!!!)

Sorry for the long post, but it was a long vacation with lots of fun things going on!

Now, back to real life; laundry, bills, making dinner (no churro's for dinner), school, work, yuck! Spring Break-HURRY UP!