Zoo Crew

Judy, Chris and Carson came down for a visit and are joining us for our weekend fun. Started off at Ian"s football game with a big win against Taylorsville. Then lunch at the Corner Bakery and now we're at the zoo waiting for the birdshow to begin. Avyrlie is having a ton of fun with Carson and is quote the tour guide. I'm not sure if its all informative but she talks non stop and gives a lot of directions ;)

Back to Ballet

After missing the first couple classes for family events she is oh-so-ready to dance.

This year we switched to the Saturday time so there is a class before her. She was pretty excited get to watch the older girls for a bit.

Alaska Hunt

Aaron (not me, the other Aaron) sent out this email and pics from his hunting trip in Alaska:

I just wanted to share some pictures from my Alaska Trip.

A special thanks to my wife, Evan & Amber Raber, and the Froehle Family who made this trip possible.

I spent some time in Nome, AK and some surrounding native villages. It was an amazing experience I will remember it the rest of my life. This caribou is part of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd which is approximately 490,000 strong.

Thanks

Aaron

(click More to see the pics)

Ice Blocking with the Smiths

A brave few of the Smith clan headed to the park after our get together at the other park. We had a ton of fun with plenty of trash talk, crazy speed, crushed kids, and Jessica made sure she stole the show on the last run but paid for it with a little blood.
(click the pic for the rest of the gallery :)

Cartoon Cuddling

Avyrlie and Liza love to hang out in the morning and watch cartoons. They take turns picking shows or just compromise and end up with Scooby Doo ;)

Dance Video

For everyone I talked out of trekking up to Avyrlie's performance, we'll host a video party once we get our copy of the studio's DVD recording. In the meantime, I did record her rehearsal the night before for your viewing pleasure. If you lose track of her, she is the girl with her tongue hanging out (a trait she learned from the dog) and is usually dancing to her own tune.

The laughing and giggling you can here as they skip around is Avyrlie of course. She was just as giggly in the performance the next night. She loves that they are supposed to be teasing Gaston through the scene :)

My favorite bit is around 4:18 where she just gets tired of standing there ;)

Beauty and the Beast

Avyrlie's dance studio had their end of season performance this last Thursday. They did Beauty and the Beast which is just perfect for all the little princesses Avyrlie dances with.

I was slightly less than excited about sitting through and entire dance studio performance, even with Avyrlie in it. My previous experience was Chelsi's dance performances and competitions where you waited for hours trying to figure out just when she would be on while trying to battle the manic horde of dance mothers for a seat. Consequently, I didn't push much to get attendees and even tried a bit to talk most family members out of attending.

It ended up being pretty enjoyable. The production went smoothly and the dance numbers were very entertaining. The scenes were creative and fun and everyone on stage seemed to be having a great time. The three hours didn't exactly fly by, but I didn't lose interest either.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Sutliff for coming, and there was little chance of dissuading Chelsi from attending. Click to the pic below for more photos:


#end#

Avyrlie the Texas Girl

Cuddly Cute Couple

Ian smiling for the camera is rare. Ian cuddling with his dog is not.

Oldest vs Youngest

Cute little sister happy and serene.



Luckily I knew how to correct the situation.



Chaos restored.