Suzie Snowflake

We had to hurry back from California so that Aubrey would be home in time to prepare for her debut dance recital. It was a week full of all things dance that ended on Thursday with her stage performance. I was a little worried about how she'd do. No joke, there were little ones that stood up there and cried the whole time. One little girl got one look at Santa on the other side of the stage and had a melt-down. Aubrey just waved at him :)


When we arrived, she was a little nervous and she wouldn't even look at me to take a picture-

but when Aunt Dani walked in, she was all smiles.

Okay, so here's the thing. I don't know who shot this video (except that I do and it was me), but it is terrible. I was too far away and it didn't help that everytime Aubrey waved her arms in the air ("Suzie's come to town") it reminded me of ET (please tell me you know what I'm talking about) so I was laughing. She's adorable, though, right? The smiles and waves are precious. By the way, she's 3rd from the right.

Way to go, ladybug!

Finally.

Our much anticipated trip to California has arrived. We drove down on Thursday and got up bright and early Friday morning to go to the happiest place on earth. I tried to keep it a secret from the girls so they would be able to sleep the night before, but Aubrey is a sneaky little thing and she tricked us into giving it away. As expected, the kids didn't sleep much--but we had such a great day anyway.


Our first stop was the Princess Fantasy Faire--to meet and take pictures with some of Mikayla and Aubreys favorite princesses. Tiana, Ariel and Jasmine were there.



We rode all the classics--Pirates of the Caribbean, Autopia and Dumbo (to name a few),

but we all agreed that It's A Small World was the favorite.

We even learned some fun facts while standing in line--like how they include an additional 50,000 lights on the exterior to light it up for Christmas. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty magical.

Aubrey loved to see the princesses, but as it turns out....Goofy was her very favorite. She thought he was hilarious when he tried to steal Grandma Cori's lunch and walk off with our stroller.

We saw a few other friends during the day--Minnie Mouse and the Fairy Godmother.


It was a cool day and I'm not ashamed to admit that after getting sprinkled on, we actually rode the Monorail to sit down and warm up :)

To end the day, we had to watch the parade and firework show (okay, I may have been the one to insist on it, but everyone agreed that it was well worth the wait for a good spot).

Cute little Aubrey waved at every character that passed. She was so diligent, that when Santa passed way up high on his float, he looked down at her and asked her if she was having a fun day. She was so wide-eyed nodding that she indeed was.

These snowmen were Mikayla's favorite. She thought it would be so funny to see one of them fall over and try to get back up.

What would the end of a long day be without a quick snapshot of the children all worn out? I carried them both to bed and they barely opened their eyes. I'd say that is the picture of a successful day.

Okay, now it's time for a little r&r for me :)

Who has the most amazing brother-in-law? Me! I'm heading out of town this week and I (being the awesome person that I am) destroyed a rotor....so, Mike stepped in to save the day and get my car in safe driving condition. Can I just say that I love him??? (because I do).

Did I mention that it is 30 degrees outside right now? That's right. 30 degrees...and I am inside the nice, warm house blogging about his mad skills.
Thanks Mike!

Mikayla's baptism

My darling daughter turned 8 in October and decided that she wanted to be baptized. I had big plans to send out cute little invitations with her picture weeks in advance, but--well, life happened and we ran out the door at 7:30am the day before to take these pictures at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was so cold, but Mikayla didn't complain as I dragged her around to get as many shots as I could of her in the white dress she was so excited to have :)

As you can see, we were lucky to have so many (many) friends and family members that were able to come and make the day special and memorable for her.

Grandma Cori and Papa Craig

Grandma Debbie, Great-Grandma and Grandpa Johansson

Hugs to you, my sweet little girl. I am so proud of you for striving to keep the commandments and live a Christlike life. It is such a privilege to be your mother.

Aubrey has been watching old home videos of Mikayla's dance recitals when she was 3 and just waiting for the day that she was old enough to start taking dance class. When September rolled around, I got her signed up and she was absolutely thrilled.....up until we got there. As you can see, her nerves got the best of her. Smile, Aubrey:

We sat together and watched the first class, but the following weeks she decided that she was going to "be brave" and just do it. Now she love, love, loves it. Her favorite part? Dancing with the scarves and blowing up a balloon with her class (below). The kids hold hands up close, then stretch out as far as they can. Miss Barbara choses a child to pick what color the balloon will be each time. As you can imagine with a class of 10 little girls, the "balloon" is always pink or purple. Not for my little Aubs, though. Her balloon was turquoise. Naturally. I just love that little bug.

Mikayla has done dance (loved it) and soccer (not so much), but over the summer she was really interested in tumbling, so I signed her up for a gymnastics class--and it turns out she's pretty good at it. Some of the pictures are blurry, because this not-always-prepared mom ended up using her phone to snap some shots.

The above picture is towards the end of a (very long) contest to see who could balance on the beam the longest while standing on their toes. I think the instructor had to finally call it a tie because Mikayla and the other girl could have gone forever!

I sat here in front of my computer contemplating a recap post--for about a second--before deciding to just pick up right where we are. So--this week began school for the girls! Mikayla and I had a girl's afternoon out to do some last minute shopping (because we still hadn't found the perfect backpack) and hanging out just the two of us. There was ice cream involved, too...(of course!)

Some shoes and accessories--and we were set.

Aubrey has been asking me every morning for the last two weeks if that day was the first day of preschool. Finally on Monday, the answer was yes! Here's my cute 3-year-old next to her cubby

...and next to all the daily charts. She did such a great job making new friends and following all the rules--I'm so proud :)

Mikayla started 2nd grade just this morning at our brand new school--Traverse Mountain Elementary (yay!). I had strict instructions not to make a big deal when she left with her friends to walk to school, so I did my best (but it was hard).

Isn't she beautiful? I'm the luckiest mom :)