Dance Lessons

This summer Ali took dance lessons from the YMCA. She loved the ballet part but got scared during the tap part because of all the noise. I made sure that she had tap shoes thinking that if she was taking part in making the noise she wouldn't be so scared but it didn't really work. Anyway, here are a couple of cute pictures.

Reunions and sunny CA

This year I (Sarah) celebrated my 10 year high school graduation. After a lot of convincing, John agreed to accompany me to the reunion. We actually had a much better time than expected. I thought it would be nice to have a little get together with some of my close friends the night before the official reunion so we could catch up and our spouses could meet each other (that way John wouldn't be too bored at the reunion). Anyway, we had a pot luck dinner at one of my friend's house and it was really fun. There was one slight mishap though. We forgot to change our clocks when we changed time zones so we ended up being an hour late to the party. When we got there Lesa came up and greeted us saying, "We were starting to think the worst happened. Did you drive in today?" I told her we didn't and was completely confused as to why she would think that and why all of my friends were exactly on time. Anyway, someone mentioned the time change and we felt pretty dumb. But, it was still lots of fun. The official reunion was two parts: a daytime BBQ for the whole family and an evening reception for the adults. The BBQ was fun and Ali got her face painted for the first time (sorry no pics). The reception wasn't that great. I am really glad that we went to both, however because there were several people that I wanted to see that went to one event or the other. John started a new job at Yahoo in August. He flew out of Boise from the reunion to California to start training. He is a Training Specialist and is really enjoying his new job. He is so happy to be out of the utility industry and back into a really professional working environment (the free vending machines and bagels on Wednesdays also help). While John was in California, Ali and I went with Bonnie to southern California to visit Kelly and Loren and celebrate Grandma Stevenson's birthday. It was a really long drive but Ali did wonderfully. We had so much fun! Kelly and Loren are really great hosts. My favorite part was the time we spent at the beach. I went boogie boarding for the first time. It was so fun and I couldn't get over how warm the water was! Ali had fun too. She loved running from the waves and playing in the sand with Grandma. Here are some pictures: Here Ali is doing a "sand angle". When she sat up after, you could see the imprint of her curls in the sand. I still cringe when I look at this picture but hey- we're at the beach, right? I gotta let her have fun sometimes. Kelly, Grandma, and Alicyn
Kelly also took us to a fun outdoor shopping spot with lots of fun places to get wet. We had a lot of fun eating way too expensive ice cream and riding on the merry-go-round. Giddyup! There was a really talented balloon artist who could make almost anything you can think of. Grandma bought Ali a Piglet balloon. Ali had a lot of fun pushing him around in her stroller. (I think he looks like the Pink Panther in Piglet's clothes.) Then up to Huntington Beach for the big party. We had a lot of fun with Great Grandma and Grandpa at the park. Here Grandpa is attempting to put the bow back into Ali's hair. It took a little while but he managed it in the end. Check out his hat(s). Then it was off to the pool party at Chrissy and Matt's house. Though Ali is getting pretty good at swimming now, she didn't want to leave the little pool. Kelly and Loren were kind enough to stick close by since it was too cold and windy for me to get in with her. Naturally, Ali spent a long time showing off for Kelly and Loren by diving for sticks. Cousin Emily was kind enough to spend almost an hour blowing bubbles with Ali after swimming. Ali is still talking about this. It was a wonderful trip and we can hardly wait to visit there again.

The drought is over

Well, it's been a really long time since we've posted but we have good excuses. Our August was comprised of vacations and moving and very little else. Some friends of ours told us about a family member who was moving to Missouri (due to some professional conflicts) and was looking for a house/cat sitter for a year. We have been so desparate to get out of apartment living that we jumped on the opportunity. It has been absolutely great! Ali and I have taken up tap dancing and even have some learn-at-home dance lessons on DVD. Ali loves to play and work in the yard and for the first time in 10+ years John is mowing lawns again.

Sports Brainwashing

BYUTV regularly re-broadcasts old BYU football games; games like 1990 Miami, 1994 Copper Bowl, 1985 Washington. As pathetic as it probably is, I try to keep track of when good ones are playing and then watch them if I can on Saturday mornings. (BYUTV.org has an "on demand" feature that allows you to watch anything they have broadcast previously.) Ali loves to come and sit with me while I am watching them, and recently asked "Who do we like?" I recognized it as a great opportunity to continue her sports indoctrination and we had the following exchange:

"We like the blue team. The blue team is BYU."
"Oh. Yeah, we like BYU. Who do we not like?"
"We don't like the yellow team." (They were playing the 1989 Oregon game.)
"Yeah. But we like blue. The blue team is BYU."
"That's right. We like BYU."
"But we don't like the yellow team. Just blue."
"Uh-huh. Just blue. And who is blue?"
"BYU. Let's go cougars!" (She already had that one down from last season.)

Fast forward a couple of weeks. We were at some friends' house and noticed a world map posted on their wall. It has different colored pins for places where each member of the family has been. Sarah was asking who each of the colors were. When she asked, "Who is blue?" Ali got an excited look on her face and yelled "Blue? That's BYU!"

Later that same day, we were in the park and there was a soccer league game going on across the field. One of the teams had royal blue on and when she saw them, Ali yelled out, "Daddy, it's BYU playing soccer! We like BYU!".

The following Sunday, in church, Ali leaned over to Sarah while waiting for the meeting to start and said, "Momma, we like blue, but we don't like the Utes!" (I guess the guy sitting behind them had on a red tie.)

Ah, the moments that make a father proud...

Camping at Clear Lake

We went camping with some friends of ours over the 4th of July weekend. This was Alicyn's first ever camping experience and she absolutely loved it. The first time she walked into the tent she said, "It's just like heaven". (Boy, I hope not. I always thought heaven would have comfortable beds for all.) Ali did a great job with her potty training. I think she LIKED the outhouses because they don't have scary flushers. Of course, we roasted marshmallows but Ali was only interested in the raw ones so Mom and Dad didn't have to waste anytime roasting 'mallows for other people. On Saturday we spent time out on the lake fishing. All though we caught nothing, we had fun casting and reeling. The only trauma we experienced was when Ali discovered moths. She was absolutely terrified of them (think Sounds Oklahoma picnic times 20). She didn't like them flying around her and refused to be anywhere that they were. She was so paranoid that she thought the gnats were out to get her too. We've decided to go again on the first weekend in August so she can start getting over it.

Here are some pictures of the lake as it was on Friday evening. Here are Ali and Sarah enjoying dinner. Here are Ali and Dad chillin' and enjoying a King family camping tradition: red vines. Here we are on the boat. Though you can't always tell, Ali was all smiles.

A fun weekend in Boise

In June (or was it May...I guess that's why you should post when things are fresh in your memory) we drove out to Boise to meet McKinna and witness her blessing. We all had fun spending time with family that we rarely get to see. Ali loved playing with "The Girls". She also was tickled about being able to hold "Baby McKinna". On Saturday we spent the afternoon in Ann Morison park. Jessica and Becky were so good about helping Alicyn on all of the equipment so Mom didn't have to. Here is a picture of Grandma Love pushing Ali on the swings with Sarah Cait. (Actually, I thing she was managing four girls on the swings.) Alicyn quickly learned how talented Grandma is at "punder-dogs". PS. For some reason we don't have a lot of pictures from this weekend so if anyone has pictures of Ali with the boys, we'd be forever grateful if you e-mailed them to us. Also, Dad, I think you got some cute pics of Ali and Sarah swinging- could you e-mail those to us as well?

My how time flies

I can't believe it's been nearly three months since our last post. Boy, have we been slackers. Well, here are a few funny pictures of our little clown.

Ali's 3rd Birthday

Ali had her 3rd birthday on March 27th. It was a lot of fun, as she is now at an age where she has more fun with the presents than the wrapping paper and gets excited about everything. Here are some pictures of the festivities!

Ali and her favorite babysitter/"best friend", Ariel, making a Nemo bookbag. I think this is supposed to be a fish face. Almost everyone is enjoying London Bridges... Oh, just rip into it. Mmmmm...Cake! Any similarities between Ali and her mom or Aunt Jenny are purely coincidental. I don't have a caption for this one. Oh, wait...I guess I do.

Another milestone

Today as Ali and I were preparing to go to Grandma's house, I suggested to Ali that she go into her room and get dressed while I finished doing my hair. At best I thought she might get her pants on and at least she would be out of my way for 10 minutes. Ali exceeded my expectations by dressing herself completely. She was so happy with herself. Little does she know she has just closed the door to me dressing her everyday. He He He

Ali's Playgroup

Ali participates in a weekly playgroup. I think the name is a little misleading. Really, it is pre-preschool. There are five girls in it and it rotates between the houses. Anyway, it is one of the highlights of her week so I thought I'd upload some pictures of her and her friends. From left: Alicyn, Sara Stewart, Gabi Bean, Morgan Warnick, and Taylor Folkman Here Ali and Sara are playing in the "table house".

Ali's Jokes

Ali has been spending time honing skills for a potential future career as a comedian. Listen to some of her favorites and let us know if you think she has a future. Maybe we can enroll her in Chuckles University! :-)

Chicken Joke
Boo Joke
Cow Joke
Carrot Joke
Snow Joke
Orange Joke
Tank Joke

Oops!

Tonight we decided to watch an episode of Friends. As you know from previous posts, Ali likes to impersonate the characters from time to time. Tonight, for no aparent reason, she started talking about the character Janice. In case you aren't a huge fan, Janice's catch phrase is "Oh..my..G##!". So, Ali was saying that over and over. We explained to her that while Janice does say that on TV, we don't say that because it isn't nice. Then she said, "I like to say 'Oh my gosh'. Mama, you like to say 'Oh my goodness'. And Daddy likes to say 'Oh my crap'." I didn't want to encourage her to repeat what Daddy says so I burried my head in the freezer (I was in the process of getting ice) so I could laugh but John could not hold it in. He laughed so hard that it scared Ali. I hope he scared her enough to prevent her from repeating Daddy in the future.