Double Digits

Ellie is officially a double digit! She turned 10 in March and life has never looked so good. :) Ever since she went ice skating at Madison Muirbrook's birthday party a few years ago, she has been asking to have a skating party! So, 10's the lucky number! Carina, Laurel, Mia, Ellie, Annabella, Foram and Marisa are preped and ready to hit the ice. We had a few girls who already skate well and others who had never been. But I think everyone ended up having a great time.

Marisa and Carina had never met (one friend from school, another from church) but they hit it off and became inseperable on the ice.
Ruth and Hannah give me a pose as they head out to the rink. Thinking?

Cocoa break. Ren and I sat in the warm dining area that had glass to watch the skaters. We talked and sipped cocoa. Eventually all the girls came in for a little refreshment.

Abby and Laurel (I took several of these shots through the glass.)
Foram and Kloie were really nice to help MJ out. She was a first time skater and held her hand for quite a while. MJ had a few spills and tears to go with them. But she wanted to go back sometime!

Ellie loves a good joke or laugh!

Keeping warm.

After skating, we all gathered back at the house for pizza and strawberry shortcake.

Make a wish!

We love Ellie! Can't believe she is 10!

More Disney

Allen, Karen and their family came from AZ for some spring break Disneyland. We joined them and had a fun evening. Natalie and kids came too. We went to the Captain Nero show. Ugh. I never saw that years ago, so I can't tell you what I thought of it, but I certainly thought it was silly now. Maybe in the 80s it was cool? It must of been. Anyway, we saw several AZ families over for vacation. We didn't know Matt and Missy Church were in town and that was funny to bump into them. Their kids are getting so big.

Ellie, Ava, Clara and Karen chill while waiting for Captain Nero, starring Michael Jackson.

These 2 are the cutest! They were cute wearing their 3d glasses.

Bowling, March 2010

We went bowling with the Hynek family. Bumpers were a must. Fun had by all, even the losers. Rusty definitly had a leg up, he took a bowling class back in college. So not fair. The little kids had trouble lifting their ball, but did all right despite that minor draw back.

MJ looks pretty cute in her bowling shoes, eh?

Ren would hardly accept help though he could barely lift his ball. He would sort of toss the ball down the lane. He did get one strike believe it or not.

Marley and Ellie take a breather while they await their turns.

MJ shows her muscles. She didn't want any help carrying around her ball.

Haley and Chloe think they are so rad, huh? And I think they are, but Porter has other ideas.

Chloe just can't resist giving Porter the dreaded hugs and loves...

As you can see, Porter has other ideas...

OCMCO

From January to March, Chloe and I sang with The Orange County Mormon Choral Organization. Chloe has sung with them before, so has Ellie (she was involved in her school play and wasn't able to do both). I have been wanting to sing with them for a while.

This was taken as we were rushing out of the house and obviously we didn't get a great one. Oh well. Chloe's group sang several pieces written or arranged by Brett Stewart, the director, including We'll Bring the World His Truth. That was gorgeous. And the adult group sang an oratorio written by Brett. It told the story from the Book of Mormon about when Christ comes to the Nephites. The music was challenging and spiritual and moving and exciting! I loved it! I so looked forward to Thursday night rehearsals. And the 3+ hours would literally fly by! It was so great.

None of our family is participating this quarter because we have a Broadbent family reunion the weekend of the performances. I hope we will be back for the fall.

Brace faces.

Finally! We've been trying to get these 2 in braces for a while. We are happy to finally start, so we can get it over with! Within a few hours of getting them on they were both in pain. I felt so bad for them. Deja vu.

Here is Porter's fake smile....
Here is Porter's real smile....

Together, they share the pain. I am really excited for them to have straight teeth. It's been about 6 weeks now. They've had one 'adjustment' and they both commented on how good it felt to have the pressure of the rubber bands off. (I do recall that as well.) I feel for them, but it will be worth it!!!

Cute Moments from March

Can you tell I am around Ren the most? The other kids are always gone to school or other activities, but Ren is always around for a little camera time. And he likes (for the most part) to pose. He is a beautiful subject.

Ren looks so good in green. I think the majority of his clothes have been green his whole life.

Here is Ren in another green shirt, that looks like its been through the ringer! But he loves it cause it has a dinosaur on it. Oh boy, time to clean out the book shelves, right? Anything he can reach gets pulled out often.

Ok, this picture isn't 'cute'. But it is pretty. These are my spoils from the farmers market that meets in my area every Friday. I love going there. I even get my honey there. The taste of the honey reminds me of the stuff we had growing up, that Grandpa hived...that's not the right word, maybe just collected from his beehives? Anyway, good stuff.

This is Ren and his little friend, Claire. They are playing barbies. Ren actually does love the pink barbie car.



I love these photos. About once or twice a week, Rusty and I get visitors in the night. (Hey, this is a major improvement from the past of nightly visitors!) MJ and Ren come in and sneak in bed with us, and we are asleep so don't even notice until the next morning when we are sweating and squished from their warm bodies. I had to snap these when I woke one morning and they were so pretty sleeping soundly.

Watch the video with a little laugh. Chloe taught Ren to do this and just couldn't resist posting it.

Concert Time.

Porter had a band concert last week. It was an area concert so all the school bands from around were there. All elementary 5th grade band students, the 2 middle school bands (which Porter was a part) and the high school band. It was a good show. Porter's band did really well. He also had a small solo in one song. He never mentioned it before so after the concert I asked him why he didn't tell me that he had a solo. He said he didn't know. And he explained it wasn't so much of a solo, just the other trumpeters couldn't play the part, so he had to do it alone. He never practices trumpet. The music was all new to me. But I guess his piano practice helps him out.? Anyway, I was a bit sad after the concert. It made me realize how much I don't know about him. During the other performances I could see him laughing and talking with his friends and I just felt so much love for him. I wish he would talk to me more. It isn't that he is quiet necessarily, cause when he wants he talks plenty. Just doesn't tell me stuff. I shouldn't compare, but Chloe tells me stuff all the time. When anything happens she comes home and can't wait to spill whatever is on her mind. Anyway, he isn't like that. I love him anyway. He is such a great kid.

Doesn't he look so handsome in his suit?

At the end of the concert, the high school drum line played. They were quite good! Ren was very jazzed about them. As we were walking to the car, he said when he is bigger he wants to play drums. (I thought it was funny that he knew he had to be bigger.) He then said 'Mom, like this' and proceeded to show me how he would do it by beating his hands on his legs like drumsticks. It was very cute. I used to want to play the drums too. But I played the flute. I liked that a lot too.
I was in the band in 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I also took private lessons from my band teacher. I was first chair. ;) I liked band a lot. I sat by one of my best girlfriends, Trisha Downs. I also sang in choir in junior high. So, I never took any of those 'required' health classes cause I got an excuse or something so I could do both music classes. Those were fun years. Very fun. :)