Megan's Dance Open House

Megan had open house at her dance studio this month. We got to go inside the studio and watch her do her thing. I may be biased, but I think she was one of the best! Grandma Bird and Dad were here visiting and got to come as well. Megan was so happy to have them there. I was very proud of Parker for helping to video tape, until I realized half way thru that the camera was still on standby! Oh well....we still got some great footage!!

The Lights at Ethel M

I love Christmastime! We have so many fun family traditions that are so much fun. One of our first, and favorites, of the season is our annual visit to the Ethel M chocolate factory. Thousands of lights in the cactus gardens, visiting Santa and free chocolate...what could be better!!!

Halloween!!!

Here they are all ready to go!!

Watch out for bumblebees...they spit!!

Our cute tinkerbell fairy!!

Nascar driver Parker!!

Halloween was a fun night for us! Our ward hosted a great dinner and carnival at the church followed by trunk-or-treat in the parking lot. Colton loved the cupcake walk...I swear he wanted to do that the whole night! I borrowed my sister-in-law Traci's idea and went as a jellyfish. No one knew what I was. They kept saying "are you a cloud?" or "are you Mary Poppins? because I made the top of my jellyfish out of an umbrella. Oh well! That's what you get for trying to be creative! The kids got lots of candy and we all had a fun time. Now if they would just get off that sugar high and go to bed, Brian and I could raid their candy and find the good stuff.....yum chocolate!!!

Halloween Fun and Murder Mystery!!!

Scary murder mystery characters...don't you love
Brian's chest hair and chain!!!

Colton and our brownie spiders

Parker couldn't decide between Zombie Virus and Vampire Blood

Megan models our monster fingers and monster eyeballs...YUM!!!

We have had a lot of fun this Halloween coming up with some fun new "scary treats". These were just a few of our favorite. And, of course, it wouldn't be Halloween without a murder mystery..even the costumes are to die for...NOT....I think Brian and I were pretty scary too, even though Megan kept telling me how cute I looked....HA HA!

The Jack 'O Lantern---Vegas Style!

I love Halloween....the decorations, the costumes, the food the treats (ok maybe not the scary stuff so much), but there is one thing I can't get used to since we have lived in Vegas...the early demise of the jack 'o lantern. Every year the kids just can't wait to carve those pumkpins, and every year we wake up the next morning to find "Jack" soggy, moldy and caved in. Ok, so it may have something to do with the fact that our temperatures are still hovering in the upper seventies and lower eighties but I can't handle the tears caused by Jack's rapid demise. Therefore I have come up with a solution...pumpkin pots! We created our pumpkins last night for family night. I fully expect these Jacks to survive until Halloween (barring any teenage shenanigans). See if you can guess who created which pumpkin....they kinda look like us!

Colton's Birthday

Colton opens his presents

Cake and ice cream...yum!!

Colton blowing out the candle on his aquarium cake..

complete with fruit roll-up sea weed, nerds rocks and

schools of swedish fish

Family visit to the shark reef

My baby is now two years old! For Colton's birthday we decided to visit the shark reef as a family and see the "fishies." Colton had a lot of fun as did the other kids. The highlight was touching a manta ray and seeing the giant turtle. Later that night we had a party with a few friends. I made Colton an aquarium cake, complete with schools of swedish fish and gummy sharks. He had a lot of fun eating his cake and opening presents. Happy birtday my sweet boy!

First Day of School!

The two oldest kids started school this week. Parker is now in 3rd grade and Megan started kindergarten. She got full-day and has been excited to start for about a month. It has been an adjustment for Colton and myself to have them gone all day but they are loving it! The house is VERY quiet during nap time. I guess I could get used to this!

Parker's Baptism

Everone who came...my brothers and their families and my mom

The Levanger Family

Brian and Parker ready to go

Handsome boy...we couldn't get him to smile

Parker was baptised on August first. It was a really neat experience. My brothers Jon and Andy and their families as well as my mom drove down from Utah to be with us. We really appreciated them taking the time to come. Parker was very excited and picked out a "missionary suit" to wear to the baptism. He enjoyed the baptismal program, although he said "Mom, those talks were waaaaaay too long." He said it was neat to get baptised and the water was even warm. I am so proud of my son and the choice he made. It was also awesome to see Brian use his priesthood to bless our family. I can't believe my baby is old enough to be baptised!

Summer Fun at Lake Powell

Brian and Parker riding the tube

Megan Swimming in the Lake

Colton's favorite part of the trip...riding in the boat

What Parker did most of the time...build sand castles!

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. It's been a busy summer! One of the fun things we did was visit Lake Powell with my brothers and their families. We had a lot of fun riding in the boat, water toys, swimming, playing on the beach, having a weinie roast and even surviving a sudden downpour of rain...thanks Jon, Andy and Brian for holding the tent down! Colton loved riding in the boat, Megan loved swimming and Parker built many a sand castle.

Megan's Dance Recital

Happy working song...that is Megan smack in the middle...she wouldn't have it any other way!

What a cute girl!

Megan all ready to dance!

We switched Megan to a new dance studio this year and I am so glad we did! The recital this past Saturday was amazing. The girls in Megan's 4-5 year old tap/ballet class got to perform a routine to "Happy Working Song" from the movie Enchanted, and let me tell you, it was enchanting! I was so proud of Megan and she looked so cute up there dancing. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the performance, so we don't have any action shots...but there is a video if anyone is interested!

The mole, the honored and the graduate!!!

Megan and her teacher Ms. Heather

Megan with her class at graduation

Parker recieving his awards

The Mole

The Mole onstage delivering his lines

Sounds like some kind of newfangled Clint Eastwood movie, doesn't it? We are winding down the school year with a bunch of fun activities. First, Megan graduated from preschool...sigh...my little girl is going to kindergarten next year. Her class sang us some cute songs and then they got their diplomas. Short and sweet. Parker received 4 awards this year for honor roll, and excelling in science, P.E. and attendance. Wait to go Parker! We were also able to attend the school play in which Parker played the part of the mole. He did a very good job, although I couldn't figure out why a mole would have a big hump on his back...humpbacked mole??? Oh well!

Disneyland!!!

A couple of weeks ago we were able to tag along on Brian's school trip to Disneyland with his guitar students. Let me just tell you that I would definately NOT have been able to take this trip without my mom. Driving for hours in a car alone with three kids would NOT be good! Anyway, we had a very fun time and were able to ride all the rides we wanted to in 2 days...not bad! Colton's favorite was the finding Nemo ride, in which he screamed "NEMO!" for the entire 10 min of the ride. Megan loved It's a Small World and rode it many a time. Parker really liked Splash Mountain and got VERY wet in the front of the car with mom and dad. The only scary part of the trip was losing Parker in the hotel for about 15 min. It was the scariest time of my life but ended with a testimony of the power of prayer and my mom jumping up and hugging the hotel security guy..a sight not soon forgotten. Fun and exhaustion was had by all, especially me, but we had a great time.


Brian and Colton on the "NEMO!" ride

Parker and Colton trying to get the sword out of the stone

Megan and Colton on the carousel...another favorite

My baby girl is 5!!!

I can't believe Megan is 5 and will start kindergarten next year! Where has the time gone? Just the other day she was my sweet little cabbage patch baby with her cute chubby cheeks! She has grown into quite the sweet young lady. This year Megan decided she wanted a "Princess Tea Party" for her birthday. We had all her little girlfriends come over and play princess bingo, make bead necklaces and play kiss the frog (try to land their lipstick kisses on a paper frog while blindfolded). Then we sent them up to put on Megan's princess dress-ups and get ready for the tea party. The treats included Russian tea cakes, chocolate eclairs, brownie bites and Rasperry Lemonade. Later in the day we played at the park and had cake (in the shape of ballet slippers) and ice cream. Fun was had by all.

He did it!!

The Levanger household went up one degree last week (and it's not just because we live in Vegas). After lots and lots of hard work Brian has received his Master's Degree in Jazz Studies from UNLV! GO BRIAN!! We are very proud of him.

On another note...Colton should get a degree in naughtiness...he dumped all my spices and sugar cookie sprinkles all over the counter and floor...gotta love him. My kitchen smells bizarre!

It's finally done!!!

After months of raking rocks, installing a patio, getting the sprinkling system in (thanks Jon and Andy!), picking out and planting trees and wall borders and what seemed like millions of wheelbarrows full of rocks, dirt and sod, our yard is finally done!! These pictures do not do it justice...it is amazing! We have palm trees and hawthorns on the sides and bottle trees and an ash in the back. It will be so nice once the trees mature. If you want to see the full effect...come visit us!!! I included a picture of Colton, who is very cute, but got in the way a lot, and, on this particular day decided to check out his poopy diaper and paint his face, clothes and the walls with it. Toddler boys...what will we become of us!