Dancing and Dreaming

Last night, Lauryn and I had the privilege of seeing the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble perform in Denver. The dancers and musicians were excellent and it was a fun performance.


I'm usually careful to tell my children that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up, but as I was watching Lauryn's mesmerized face during the performance, I couldn't help but dream of her someday performing on stage. She LOVES to dance. And what little girl wouldn't get swept away by the magic of these great performers? As these thoughts crossed my mind, I leaned over and whispered, "Would you like to do this someday?" She responded matter-of-factly, "I love to dance, but I'm not going to be a dancer when I grow up." Curious, I asked, "What are you going to be?" With conviction, she responded, "A farmer."

Of course! Why hadn't I thought of that career for her?

Early Christmas Surprise

On December 10th, the kids thought they were going to school.


Instead, we took them here -

... and here

... and here

And we all had a FABULOUS time!

Lauryn's First Snowboarding Experience

On a cold December Saturday morning, Lauryn, Noah, and I took advantage of a Boy-Scout Ski Day to snowboard at Copper Mountain. I was pleasantly surprised at Lauryn's enthusiasm -- the first day snowboarding can be quite painful. Noah was equally impressive getting on and off the ski lift without my help.

The day was topped off by seeing all the members of the U.S. Olympic snowboarding team. Kelly Clark, 2002 gold medalist, inspired Lauryn by revealing that she started snowboarding at age 7. Noah was totally excited to get his helmet autographed by Shawn White, 2006 gold medalist.