Just Dance!

Cat, Artem and Sasha are in the Temple Celebration Program tomorrow night at the Conference Center.  It was a huge effort for multiple regions, to put this all together.  It was an even a bigger effort to get the boys to dance!  At first I bribed them with more computer time.  That didn't turn out so great.  When their schedule's got too busy, is when they couldn't even get on the computer.  That was when we had to pull out the; "You're going to dance because, I'm the Mom, and I say so!"  I know that they will be glad someday when pigs fly, but for now I think that it has been a fun experience for them.  I have caught them having a good time with their friends, so I know all the pleading, prodding, yelling, screaming, kicking, fighting, was well worth it!  Cat was even having bouts of "I don't want to's," until she got herself a partner for the dance.  A very cute partner.  The boys were okay until they got cute partners for the dance.  They have a lot of growing up to do in the maturity department.  I must say though, that they are so dang cute dancing!      

You may be able to see them in the on stage performance if you look hard enough.  We had to tape that performance for our stake, so I couldn't let my kids get all the glory!

  

In other news, my oldest Maddie was in the Miss Sandy Pageant.  She did this all on her own, and I was so proud of her for doing so.  She has never been able to perform in front of people very well.  She didn't even speak in church, when we all had to speak as a family.  She was too uptight about it.  To do this Pageant she had to really step out of her comfort zone.  It was a fun night for her.  Although, she didn't win Miss Sandy, she did win a $2,500 modeling contract with Urban Talent Management.  Here are some highlights of the pageant.  Way to go Maddie! 

Hey time, slow down, you move too fast!

This month has been ridiculously busy.  With one Daughter graduating High School, to another Daughter participating in the Miss Sandy Pageant, and three other teens trying to pass their classes at the end of the year.  It has been overwhelming busy.  Today, however, seems to be a quite one.  No real deadlines to meet this week, so were good for this morning.

Now to catch up!  It was great to meet and greet one of the families that just came back from Ukraine with their new 3 teenaged Daughters. (Yes, you read it right!)  They are beautiful girls, and we are so happy for them.    

  Sasha is getting so tall!  He is still growing too!  He and Artem are the same height and weight, and he is a year younger!

I couldn't stay long.  As part of a great Mother's Day, Kent took me to the Eagles Concert (which was amazing!) 

Here is a small glimpse of the concert.

The Kids were also so great this year.  They went out with their own money and bought me fun gifts.  The boys both got me these funny cards, and wrote some very tender things in them.  That was the best gift from them, and all I could have asked for.  Lauren got me a Willow Tree figurine of a Mother and Daughter, chocolate covered gummy bears, (my favorite), and a white chocolate caramel apple!  

Maddie and Cat walked into my bedroom with a tray of food and Edward Cullen!  Who could ask for anything more!  It scared me to death.  I wasn't at all prepared to be receiving any guests, let alone Edward Cullen! 

 

The boys got their braces finally!  Sasha has been asking for them, since he got here.  Artem didn't think that he needed them.  I didn't either until I had them both looked at by our Orthodontist.  It was way obvious that Sasha need them.  He had teeth growing out of the roof of his mouth.  He had one removed, and the other one needs to be pushed into place.  Artem has pretty straight teeth, but had a very pronounced overbite, and his jaw line was set way back, which made so he looked like he didn't have much of a chin if you looked at him from the side.      

                                Sasha will have his braces much longer then Artem.  He would not let me take a picture of them.  Sorry folks!

Sasha only got braces on the top teeth, which requires a lot more work then the bottom teeth.  He will get his bottoms ones later on.  He will have his braces for about 4 years!

Artem got the whole shebang!  Braces, top and bottom and a herps!  A herps is a little contraption that orthodontist are using instead of headgear.  It is correcting his overbite and giving him a more pronounced jaw line.  It looks really good.  It doesn't feel good though, and he wonders why he even needs it.  You know, they don't need braces in Ukraine! Artem will only have to wear his braces for about a year.  Thats a very short time for you and me, but for a 15 year old teen aged boy, it's an eternity!

They are still hurting and can't eat a whole lot.  I have been making scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, and cup cakes.  Yummy!  I shredded up some barbecued chicken last night, and they scarfed it down.  They were so hungry. 

Lastly, Kent and I and some friends of ours, rode in the Salt Lake Century ride on Saturday.   Kent is getting ready for the LOTOJA race in September.  It is a bike race from Logan Utah, to Jackson Hole Wyoming and is 203 miles long!  He has to finish it in one day.  I'm getting ready for the Little Red Riding Hood ride in Logan.  I'm attempting to do 100 miles this year.  I only did the 36 miler last year.  My friend Jen and I, were only going to do 67 miles in the Century, but she got a wild hair and wanted to go as far as we possibly could.  I knew I wasn't ready for anything more then 40.  I wasn't even sure I could go 67.  By the time I finished I had completed 94 Miles!  I couldn't believe it!  After running into a parked truck on the Tuesday before, with a jammed up arm and a jammed up bike, I was still able to ride on Saturday, and do more miles than I had ever done in my life!  WOW.  I don't even have to mention how sore I am now!  Looking back it was quite fun though.

Over all it has been a pretty good month so far.  Keeping really busy helps with the kids not getting so bored!  I don't know what I'm going to do with them for the Summer.  The boys will see Inna through the Summer.  I don't want them to get lazy with their English skills they have learned so far.  They don't want to do it, but too bad!  They will thank me someday, just not anytime soon though.