Tuesday (take two)

The Pageant starts today!  

There is an excitement in the air - the girls can hardly wait for tonight.  We started out with district meeting this morning in the grove and went right to the Mullholland parade.  There was a break in the schedule this afternoon and so the girls and I went with some friends to see the Young Performing Missionaries production of "The Promise".  It was fantastic (again - we saw it last week too)!  We grabbed a bit to eat before heading out to all the festivities. 

Our evening schedule starts with company meeting at 6:00.  I love company meeting - it is another devotional type meeting, but this one is with the entire cast.  They have the most incredible speakers and the musical numbers are amazing!

After company meeting we head to the pageant grounds where the pipers warm up while I try to keep up with the girls.  There is a "country fair" that the cast puts on before the pageant were you can participate in 1840ish activities - the girls LOVE it!  Since they are performing with the band this year, they don't have as much time to visit the booths, but they got a good start today.

STILTS - this booth made the top three of all the girls lists.

Another booth has the hoop games that the kids would play in that era.  The girls are quite good at these games too!  I still have the hoop that Opa played this same game with as a kid - it is one of my favorite things from him.

The handcarts  - the girls love to pull them by themselves (for about 50 yards).

The girls helped Morgan teach the highland fling at the dance site.  Here is a short video of the "modified" fling that they teach and dance to.

I probably should have done a video of the log sawing too - you can't tell from the picture, but the twins were quicker then the teenage boys next to them at sawing through the log (they have had years of practice though, and the twin thing helps too).

The pipe band "pipes" the flags up on the stage at the start of the pageant - they have to climb a pretty big hill to get into the seating - here are some action shots.

A new tradition this year - opening night we celebrated with custard from Annie's after the pageant.  We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place!  Tonight was grasshopper - it was delicious!  Piper loves to try new flavors and she got a scoop of mango cherry sorbet with a scoop of vanilla - it was pretty darn good too!

New Years Resolution - take 2 (or 3, or 4, ...)

Well - here I go again.  I am modifying my goal from previous years to try to make it easier to keep - this year the goal is to post every Sunday evening (just once a week, how hard can that be, right?).  This week happens to be a very eventful week and I have lots to talk about.

The new year started with a bang for the Gilmore's!  Miles and Ethan were in California with Frank to seethe Ducks play in the Rose Bowl - dream come true for both of them, best Christmas present ever!!!  Frank flew into St. George and rented this lovely SUV that the boys were excited to paint (they spent hours - okay maybe just one hour - on the windows and then had to redo it when they got to California because they drove through a snow storm outside of Victorville).

Wednesday (New Year's Eve) - they went to a Clippers game with cousin Connor - I am just realizing that I never asked who won the game (I actually don't even know who they played and the boys are asleep or I would ask) - so I don't have much to report about this except they were excited to go to their very first NBA game (unless you count some Blazer's games when they were babies, but I don't).

Thursday (New Year's Day) Frank took the kids to the Rose Parade.  Not sure if you noticed (or if I should point it out even), but Frank made the boys were Oregon Duck apparel everywhere - well, Ethan only has one shirt, so you might see him in the same sweatshirt all trip long.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the Christmas present, don't know what he would have worn without that!!!  Oh, and while we are on the topic of Ethan - he is sporting some new hardware on his teeth.  He got braces Monday - complete with green and yellow bands (of course).

The football game was AWESOME!!! Ducks beat Florida State 59-20.  It was really a fun game to watch though, and it was quite close until 3rd quarter.  Here are the pictures!!!

Friday they went to Six Flags - first time for the boys - they loved it (and have loved describing each ride to their sisters since being home).

They drove all night to make it back to St. George for a very important day on Saturday!!!  Abby's 8th birthday just happened to fall on the same day as the stake baptism.  We have a birthday tradition at our house, that mom and dad leave their present(s) on the floor of the birthday child so they have a present first thing in the morning.  Well, I heard some noises in the girls room and started in to see what Abby was so excited about - turns out that Ethan had snuck his present in her room as well (he gave her a huge stuffed cat, which he put in the cat bed at the bottom of her bed, which is a story for another day) so mom and dad's presents (scriptures and a new leather jacket) both took second place behind Ethan's.  We then moved on to the traditional birthday breakfast - swedish pancakes, and she went out to lunch with her dad at Red Lobster.  

Abby was baptised by Uncle Greg and confirmed by Grandpa Gilmore.  Miles gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  It was a special day!!!

   
I am grateful for Abby!  She gives so much to our family,  I am thankful for her example to all of us, but especially her sisters.  WE LOVE YOU ABBY!!!

Maybe this time?

I have been wanting to start blogging again for a long time - hopefully I will keep at it this time. I was looking through the pictures on my phone today and got a bit overwhelmed with how much I have missed blogging about - I am going to start with today though and maybe (hopefully) I will find time to go back and share more of what we have been up to! Today was the first day of summer here in Washington County - I decided there is no time to waste in tackling the to-do list. Miles helped me fix a few bike tires and remove some training wheels and a couple hours later we have some pro bike riders (and mom has a sore back). Abby was a big helper - she helped one of the twins while I was helping the other and amazingly the only injury on her watch was her own stubbed toe.
 
Here is Paige with Abby - and yes, she thinks that summer means you have to wear a swimsuit every day. I did try to make her get dressed - I warned her that she would probably want some pants in case she fell, so she went in and put on some tights. Yep - tights - not leggings, tights. Since I have learned that I need to be VERY selective in the battles I pick to fight with this particular child - I didn't say another word about it. On a side note - this outfit only lasted until after the bike ride - she went on to six outfits total today (she is not very good at water fights - for some reason she was the only child coming in soaked every five minutes). One more thing and then I will let you see the video of her riding - her hair is pink and blue if you can tell - I didn't get a sitter for graduation last night (first and possibly last time that happens) - I thought Ethan could handle the twins for a couple if hours while Abby was at gymnastics and Miles was at swim team. It took about five hours to clean up the mess that the two of them made in the two hours I was gone - they even found the Halloween makeup that I had forgotten we even had.

Okay - back to the bike riding - Paige didn't like me to let go - she can ride just as good as her sister but when she would realize that I wasn't holding onto her she would stop - so here is a very short clip of her riding.



Here are Piper and Abby - notice she is in normal clothes - her shoes are even on the right feet (although we did have to change them once) - and her hair is untinted (although it is not done for the day yet).

Piper got really good at the bike - she can stop and start by herself even .



They both have their helmets set out by the front door so they can go again tomorrow when they get up. I get to check one thing off my summer list already - yay me!

summer swim team

My boys love it when I sign them up for swim team - honest they do - they just forget that every morning as it's time to go.  This summer has been hit and miss with practice though - since we seem to think that summer is for vacations :)  Even with the not so consistant workouts - both boys have improved tons this year.  In fact - Miles dropped 15 seconds in his 50 free - he went from 53 point something seconds sometime in late June to 38 point something seconds in the middle of July.  Here is his "famous" race.  Hopefully you can tell which one is him - he is in the middle of the pool, but I tried to center in on him.


Ethan is still my backstroker - but the video I took of that was not good - so here is a video of his 50 free as well - he also dropped time - 5 seconds.  I need to get their official times and update the blog with them.  Ethan is the one in lane 1 (closest to the camera)


Both of the boys were the youngest in their age groups this summer - so it will be fun to see how they do next summer (unless Miles earns his lifesaving merit badge before then - I told both boys that they had to do swim team until they got that merit badge, just didn't think they would be old enough for scouting for a long time - it is crazy how quick they are growing up)!

Horny Toad Heaven

My parent's neighbors are AWESOME!!!  They invited us all up to their cabin on Cedar Mountain a couple weeks ago.  It was kind of last minute so the only ones who could go besides my parents were Britt and her kids, Caleb, Courtnie and us.  We drove over on Thursday afternoon just in time for dinner - spaghetti (my favorite).  After dinner (between a few rain showers) Brother Miles taught the kids how to shoot a bow and arrow.  Miles had done it before and picked it back up pretty quick.

Abby even got to try!

And Ethan!

Grandpa even tried to help Paige (their arrow made it about 2 feet).

Then Britt decided to give it a try . . .

and got a bull's eye her first shot - she ended up getting in the circle every time and finished with 45 points (4 arrows).  So my competitive streak decided to give it a try myself - I did get a bulls eye - but only 40 points and was beat by my little sister - we both beat Courtnie though :)

We put the kids down for bed (some took longer than usual), and the adults played games all night.  OK - it wasn't all night, but for someone used to being in bed before 11 - it felt REALLY late.  The next morning we had a yummy breakfast and the kids took off exploring.  Piper has the cheesiest grin right now and is fun to take pictures of so she might monopolize the rest of the pictures this post.  Here she is with her cousin Shawni.

Another Piper/Shawni picture!

All the cousins that came (Devin and Victor - we need you next time, boys were seriously outnumbered).

Now - back to the title of the post - the cabin property was home to a crazy amount of horny toads (or as Abby called them "torny hoads").  When I was a kid - we loved to go up the mountain with Opa and Dad when they went after wood to catch horny toads.  Well - my kids have the same fascination with horny toads (oh and did you know that horny toads are not frogs, nor toads - they are lizards) and spent hours looking for them.  Piper was fearless - honestly the picture looks like she is grossed out by the toad, but it is really her trying to smile.

Paige however was not quite so sure of the little creature.

Piper again - I just love this smile.  She actually named her "pet" - Strawberry Cupcake (yes, we just rented a Strawberry Shortcake movie from the library, but she likes cupcakes better that shortcake evidently).

Brother Miles had also prepared a treasure hunt for the kids and the big kids loved learning how to use a compass.

Here are a bunch of the "treasure hunters".  Some are looking harder than others - or maybe Ethan is just being silly.

Ethan's looking paid off though - here he is digging the treasure chest out.

Most of the kids crowded around the treasure chest to get their prizes.

Not Abby - I had to make her go and get a "treasure" - she was a bit distracted searching for a friend for her horny toad.

Here are some of the group with their horny toads before we made them let them go. 

And yes, there were tears as we left the horny toads behind - lots and lots of tears.  Abby still talks about the fun trip and asks when we can go look for more horny toads (luckily the lizards in the backyard are a bit of a consolation - however they are lots faster then the horny toads).  Thanks so much Miles family for the fun memories!