City Creek with cousins

I like shopping online.  I hate crowds, I like to read reviews, and I like to quickly get exactly what I want in exactly the right size and have it show up on my doorstep a few days later.  But I was curious about City Creek.  I had agreed to go with my mom and sisters back in April but my Father in law was in the hospital and I was helping get him checked out when they were going.  They offerred to take Tessa with them so she went back in April.  Spencer had been at school and after school went to a friend's birthday party at Airborne.  In May we went as a family and Tessa gave us a tour.  She remembered where the Disney Store, Gap, Gymboree, the fountains, and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory were.  Boy am I in trouble when my 4 year old has the shopping center mapped out and memorized after one visit.

In June my sister and I decided to go to City Creek with all the kids to play.  We started out at the fountains and let the kids go wild getting all wet.  The splash pad fountain area isn't very big.  I was thinking more like a Gateway thing so I was a little disappointed but there were only a couple other kids there so they had a blast.  And they got drenched.

 My sister brought up the idea of a person selling towels right by there.  Since there wasn't we walked to the nearest restroom and wrung out and changed clothes on the kids.  Then we did a little shopping as we walked to the other side of the shopping center.  The kids also liked the bridge where they could see the temple.  They get exponentially sillier the more they are around cousins.

At the other side we let the kids play in the dinosaur themed play area of the food court.  There are eggs to climb in, slides to go down, dinosaur bones to climb through and on top of, and plenty of dinosaurs to climb on and slide down.  They played and played and played.  Such a fun day for the kids without having to spend any money.  Of course we did spend money, but we didn't have to. (The picture of my 3 kids on the pink dinosaur was actually taken the last time we visited City Creek as a family but I like it so much I threw it in here).

Swimming Lessons

Spencer hasn't exactly taken to the water.  As a baby he really freaked out if the water touched his head at all.  Bath time was fun until I got to his hair and face.  I learned to be extra careful to make it only feel like a washcloth touching him and not any pouring or splashing water.  Eventually I got him to lay down in the bath on my arm.  He has gradually gotten better since being a baby, but it's been a slow process.  I started him in swimming lessons the summer after he turned 4 years old.  He did leven 1 twice that summer trying to get him comfortable in the water.  I tried to take him swimming a bit that summer to get him more used to it.  He ended the summer being just fine as long as he was no more than waist high or if he was being held.  The next summer I had him take level 1 again and he got to be okay putting his face in the water.  The next spring I started him indoors at Dimple Dell in level 2 along with putting Tessa in level 1.  Then in summer I put him in level 2 outdoors at Crestwood.  He got to be much more brave and would go down to pick up diving toys.  He wouldn't dive but he would go get them.  He was perfectly fine in the water as long as his feet were touching.  But he refused to try to swim or float or anything with his feet not on the water unless he was being held.  That year Tessa jumped off the diving board (her teacher caught her) and Spencer wouldn't even jump off the wall of the pool.

So this year right after tax season I put Spencer in private swimming lessons for 12 times (15 minute sessions).  I put Tessa in for the last 6 lessons as well.  By the end of this time Spencer was swimming by himself for the length of 3 strokes in water that he knew he could touch the ground if he needed to.  He still refuses to go in water where he can't touch the ground, even if he's wearing a life jacket.  Tessa loves the water but when Spencer gets nervous she decides she must be too.  Clara on the other hand has absolutely NO FEAR.  We spent a lot of this summer in the water hoping to keep building on Spencer's bravery and skills.  Here are a couple pictures from swimming lessons:

Chuck E Cheese and tax day

Friday started out with getting Spencer to school 45 minutes early for running club.  Then dropping off the girls at my friend's house to be babysat and I was off to work.  Straight from work to pick up the girls, then pick up Spencer and his friend who was coming over to our house for a playdate.  Then get something for myself to eat since I hadn't eaten since 7 in the morning.  As soon as Spencer's friend left we loaded the kids in the car and took them to Chuck E Cheese.  I'm not a fan of this place.  I really think if it weren't for all the commercials on the shows my kids watch we'd never go here.  It's crowded, dark, half the games don't work, few parents watch their kids, the food is awful and expensive, and it seems to be crawling with germs.  But the kids love going.  I really blame the advertising for this, but I know as a parent I am the one actually taking them.  But no more than 2 or 3 times a year.

So we got pizza, overpriced salad bars for the adults, and drinks.  The kids hardly ate because they wanted to go and play.

Then it was off with the tokens.  That's the one good part of Chuck E Cheese is that you can get tons of tokens for not much money (always check their website before you go for coupons).  Clara's favorite are the rides (car, big truck, carousel, and a few others).  Spencer wants to get as many tokens as possible so Brodie and I put them in the fast games trying to get as many as possible while the girls go for rides.

Occasionally Spencer hops on a ride as well.

Then after a very busy day of work on Saturday Brodie and I actually got a babysitter and we went out to Epic for dinner to celebrate Brodie's birthday.  When we got home we finished up our talks for sacrament meeting on Sunday.  Then I had two more days of last minute tax returns before ending the season.

soccer, IHOP and Karl Malone's pirate ship

Spring Break for the kids.  Of course the first week of April isn't much of a break for a tax accountant.  I did block off my Friday however.  So we didn't do a whole bunch this week.  First we went to redeem our Pass of all Passes so we could attend the Real game.  It was such a nice day we went across the street to the 17th Street River Park to play for a while.

We went to the Salt Lake Real game with our Pass of All Passes.  I do enjoy going to soccer games.  These men are real athletes.  They are running for almost two hours with basically just a half time break.  Seriously not all the time outs and standing around that occurs in the NBA and NFL.  And there are hardly any substitutions so the same guys are out pretty much the whole game.  Also these guys get hit and kicked and tripped and they keep on playing.  Unlike NBA players who fall down crying if someone barely touches them in passing.  I like how high energy the games are, even if the overall scoreboard remains really low.  And I like to see the different plays get set up and all the defensive moves they have to make.  I also love the energy in the crowd.  One day my kids will enjoy watching sports as much as I do.  Maybe.

The kids really enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so.  Then they were a little bored.  And with about 30 minutes to go they began asking if we could go yet or if they could play a game on my phone.  One day...

On Friday I didn't work and instead we all went to IHOP for breakfast.  Even Brodie--since his birthday was in a few days and I wouldn't be able to take him to dinner.  Serves him right for being born a week before tax day.  Just kidding.  The kids love IHOP for some reason.  Of course they have only been for free Scary Face Pancake day around Halloween and on Memorial Day with Grandma and Grandpa.  But this time we went for Friday fun day and the kids got to order off the Lorax menu.  They enjoyed their Truffaluffala pancakes and green eggs.  Well they didn't really like the green eggs as they were eggs with chopped up spinach in them.  But they were excited about the idea of them.  And I joined IHOPs Pancake Revolution.  That was great because within 2 days they emailed me a free breakfast coupon.  And they had me put in everybody's birthday so I also got emaileda coupon for Brodie to have a free breakfast.  Crazy that with 2 free breakfasts our bill was still so high.  I'm used to kids meals including a drink so I didn't think about the fee for all 3 kids to get milk.  And the idea of fresh squeezed orange juice sounded great so Brodie and I both ordered larges, I mean our meal was free so why not splurge?  Then we saw them pour our drinks out of the Tropicana with pulp container.  The same kind I have in my fridge at home (but without pulp).  One glass cost us more than the whole container in my fridge.  But the kids loved it.

After breakfast we came home so I could shower and get ready for the day.  Then I announced as part of Friday fun day we were going to get the oil changed and brakes replaced in the car!  You should have seen how excited the kids got.  I'm serious.  That's why I pay the extra money to go to the dealership.  Because Karl Malone Toyota has free popcorn, televisions, AND a pirate ship to play on.  (Also it is very clean and they wash my car and give me a scented tree for no extra charge)  So I had made an appointment and we drove the van up and got out.  All the workers got a huge kick out of my three kids decked out in their pirate gear.  They wore their hats, hooks, and eye patches.  After all this was our Friday fun day!

We got some free popcorn and water and headed to the pirate ship.  The kids had a blast taking turns climbing the mast, steering, and playing in the living quarters under deck.  Who knows if I'm using the correct pirate terms?  I don't.  They played and played and played.  Occasionally they took a break on the raft to eat some popcorn.  After about an hour they got a little bored and put the Muppets in Manhattan DVD in the television by the play area.  Then they went back to play some more.  Karl Malone was even there in person.  I pointed him out to Spencer and told him that was a real former basketball player.  Spencer didn't seem too interested.  And honestly I wasn't either.  Seriously I was a huge fan until the end of his Jazz tenure when his head got too big and he was criticizing and bad talking the other players on his team and then gave up on his team and went to LA to try to get a championship ring.  I didn't have any reason to go clamor over for an autograph.  Besides Brodie has one of his shoes with an autograph on it already.  And that's been put away ever since we got married. 

The downside to the dealership was that we were there for 2 1/2 hours.  But it was clean and the kids had a lot of fun.  I just wish I had brought my Reader or that my phone battery hadn't been so low so I had something to do other than watch the Muppets and my little pirates.  They were pretty cute though!

Library fun, free In-N-Out Burgers, and Annie Get Your Gun

It's been a while since we've been to the library.  So long in fact that I couldn't even renew our current books online.  Between Spencer being in school all day and me working 6 days a week I haven't had time to go in.  Luckily Spencer didn't have school Friday.  I know I usually gripe at days off of school but I was really looking forward to having Spencer home for a day.  Then I remembered that I'm working Fridays during the day.  In the past I've only worked afternoon/evenings and Saturdays.  So I asked my friend who's watching the girls if she could also watch Spencer.

After picking them up from my friends' Friday afternoon we headed to the library.  The kids all chose some books and a movie and then we sat and Spencer read to himself, Tessa looked at pictures in books, and I read to Clara for a while.  Spencer chose 3 Pokemon books, a Garfield book, a Star Wars book, and a Transformers book.  I chose a few better reading chapter books for him.  Tessa chose a Hello Kitty, Barbie, Princess, and Charlie and Lola book.  Clara thinks every baby Max and Ruby board book is personally hers and she also wouldn't let go of a book called "How to Potty Train Your Monster" that is actually very cute.  Technically she's only one and I only allow the kids to choose as many books as their age, but I chose a couple more for Clara.  Then we came home and the kids turned on their movies while I made dinner.  Spencer chose an "Elmo's World" movie since I said Clara was too little to choose a movie and he's such a sweet big brother that he chose one to share with her.  Tessa chose a Curious George movie saying she would also share with Clara.  What sweet kids I have!

Oh, speaking of the library and reading.  Now through April 14th the Sandy library (I'm not sure if other libraries are also participating) is doing "Books & Burgers".  You have to sign your kid between the ages of 4-12 up at the library.  Then they give you a paper with 3 boxes.  Each box has 5 lines for books the kid reads.  Each group of five earns the kid one free In-N-Out burger.  So your kid can earn 3 free burgers in total.  Spencer always tells me he doesn't like In-N-Out burgers so I offered to buy each of his off of him for a quarter.  I love In-N-Out and have a bad habit of stopping there about once a month after Tessa's school (I used to stop by more like every other week after Tessa's gymnastics but then they made the intersection on 12300 too complicated and it wasn't worth exiting the freeway for).  So Tessa loves the place.  But as Tessa was saying how much she loves In-N-Out and Spencer hasn't been for quite a long time, Spencer decided he "thinks" he'll like it again and doesn't want to sell me his free hamburgers.  Maybe we'll make a Friday fun day out of it!

My two cute little neices have been rehearsing for a production of Annie Get Your Gun.  They had a performance Friday night so we decided to go.  Tickets were $6 but if you bought 4 or more they were only $5 a piece.  My sister bought a bunch for all sorts of people so we paid her back $15.  My mom also came with us.  The play was very well done and they had some good acting in the main roles.  My neices were very cute in their old fashioned dresses.  Then during the "parade" Bailee was an adorable cowgirl and did a cute little dance routine.  Afton was the cutest little gorilla riding on a train and waving with a huge grin on her face.  I left Clara at home with Brodie since it started at 7:30 and she's usually in bed by then.  Spencer and Tessa loved seeing their cousins on stage.  Spencer really seemed excited that his play will be coming up soon.  Of course they didn't understand the story line and at 9:30 when it was intermission we decided we'd better leave as the kids were complaining of being tired and asking when it would be over.

Tired of McDonald's and more Ute gymnastics

The kids have been going crazy ever since they learned McDonald's would be getting Star Wars and Build-a-Bear toys.  And one day we passed by the McDonald's on Highland Drive just South of Fort Union and somehow their McDonald's radar eyes caught from the car window a small glimpse of the music playland and really wanted to go.  They have this same play feature at the McDonald's by the District (although the District one has a bunch of other fun stuff and the Cottonwood Heights one only has the music toys).  After Spencer's school I drove straight to the McDonald's.  Spencer's friend was with us but his mom recently brought Spencer to Farr's for ice cream so I didn't think she'd mind if I brought Eric to McDonald's with us.  Plus Tessa, Clara, and I hadn't even eaten lunch yet.  Of course buying 4 Happy Meals and my own food was pretty expensive.  But the boys got some Star Wars spinner toy and the girls got some little Build-A-Bear toys.  I was pretty disappointed with the toys this time.  And the kids weren't happy with their selection either.  While I typically tell the kids they get what they get the restaurant was pretty empty and I hoped a different toy might be cooler so I took the kids to the counter to ask if we could trade.  The staff was very unfriendly and uncooperative about the idea so the boys kept what they had and only Tessa traded so she didn't have the same toy as Clara.

The kids had a blast sliding down the piano slide and playing on the guitar and xylophone.  They also had fun playing the little touch screen computer games.  Here are some pictures of this McDonald's play area:

I've never particularly cared for McDonald's food and I think I've exceeded my tolerance threshhold.  I didn't even finish my food because it was so bad.  There was hardly any meat--it was mainly fluffy nothing bread.  And when I took a little bite of the thin patty of meat by itself I noticed it didn't taste a thing like beef.  Then I tried one of the kids' chicken nuggets and was really disgusted.  It was mushy and didn't taste anything like chicken.  So I've decided at least for a while I'll just buy the toy separately on occasion and then take the kids to Chik-Fil-A instead.  Really.  The customer service is great.  The staff is always happy, smiling, and friendly.  And they even tell me to go ahead and sit down and they'll bring my tray out when it's ready.  The restaurants are always clean when I go.  They even have the plastic placemats that stick onto the table for little ones.  And if  I forget to get one the person bringing around mints brings me one without me even asking.  They also have little plastic containers of Cheerios to keep the baby happy until her food comes, although someone is usually bringing out our food just as I am opening the container.  And they have coloring pages and crayons.  The one by South Towne has a fun treehouse that is perfect for little babies who can't climb, and even the older kids like it.  I don't remember if the other Chik-Fil-As I've been to have this same set up or not.  And the most recent time I visited I noticed they now have grilled chicken nuggets and squeezable applesauce for the kids meals if you'd like.  And they use real chicken.  Real chicken that tastes real good.  And the most recent time I went I noticed they dropped their prices.  I think the 4-piece nugget kids meal was only $3.49 or something really close to that.  And they didn't even charge an upgrade to a cup of fresh fruit or the applesauce.  And their toys are educational.  The last time I went they had books.  Tessa got one on Helen Keller and Clara got a little board book.  Over the summer they brought Chik-Fil-A sandwiches to the skate park on family skate nights and they were also passing around coupons so we ended up with quite a few buy fries and a drink get a free chicken sandwich coupons.  Plus Wednesday night you can get a free kids' meal with each adult meal you purchase.  I really regretted my trip to McDonald's.  The kids didn't even play with their toys after this day.  But Spencer's really begging to go back on the next toy rotation when they will have the Green Lantern Animated Series.

On the radio we heard an advertisement for the Utes gym meet against Stanford.  We had a free family pass (in the upper seats) from Tessa's gymnastic class so we decided to go.  It was a lot of fun and the U barely squeezed past Stanford for the win.  This time Tessa really enjoyed watching the older girls.  After the meet she said she was going to learn how to walk on the balance beam on her hands so she could win when she was bigger.  I told that to her gymnastics coach the following week.  Spencer also seemed to enjoy watching the cool tricks, but I think his favorite was riding on Trax.  Clara's attention didn't hold so I pulled up some Elmo videos on my new Smartphone for her.  But then all the kids wanted me to get them videos to watch.

Otters at the Aquarium

The Living Planet Aquarium recently added a River Otter exhibit.  For Friday fun day we went to see these little guys.  Boy am I glad they are building a new Aquarium!  The place was packed!  We waited and pushed our way up to the front of the otter exhibit and then continued waiting until they came out of their little hideout.  It was really cute and fun to watch the two swimming, splashing, and sliding.  Then after about a minute they went back to their little cave.  We waited for a turn to pop our heads up in the little bubble into their habitat.  I think they'll be even cuter in a few months when (or if) the excitement dies down and it's not so crowded.  We then went through the rest of the Aquarium.  I've posted a few times on here and nothing unusual happened on this trip other than the otters.  As I'm not really typing this immediately after our day at the Aquarium I don't remember any cute or fun stories about the kids to relay either.  But here is a picture I took of the kids by the penguins:

Oh, but the following night Brodie and I went to a SLOC (Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics) party at the Gateway.  Brodie visited with some people he had worked with while he was at the Olympics.  I ran into an old boyfriend.  Then Mitt Romney came out and spoke to all of us for a while.  I'm sure Brodie was glad we went but I was kind of bummed that I actually had a night out without kids (this only happens a few times a year) and spent it there.  But then Brodie took me to The Bohemian Brewery and Grill for dinner so that made it more worth it.  We had some pierogies for an appetizer (this wasn't on the menu as an appetizer but we asked for some and she said she could give us an order as an appetizer) that were pretty good then Brodie had the pork schnitzel which was actually quite good and I ordered the halibut fillet that said it was crusted with horseradish and parmesan.  It was alright but I didn't taste much horseradish and it was a bit over cooked.  Didn't come close to the halibut in a carrot butter reduction from the Tiburon.  In any case it was good food in a cozy atmosphere, but not worth the price.  And I think we were the only people at the Brewery not ordering any drinks.  Go figure.  The kids had a blast at my sister's.  How wonderful of her to watch my 3 kids while she has 3 of her own (the youngest is just a few months old) while her husband was working.

Princess ball and dinner and a movie

Tessa is my little princess.  She is beautiful, sweet, kind, caring, cheerful, helpful, fun, and all the other things a princess should be.  And she adores the Disney princesses, especially Rapunzel these days.  When she was 3 months old we visited Disney World but she was too little to get anything out of it.  So when I saw a deal for a Daddy Daughter Princess Ball come up I purchased it.  No, I didn't ask Brodie--I told him.  And a roll of his eyes was really the only protest I got so I told Tessa.  She was so excited!  For the weeks leading up to it she was counting down the days.  I got online and found out which princesses they were announcing would be there.  They also advertised that they would be able to ride in Cinderella's coach, which really excited Tessa.  The anticipation was sooooo fun to watch!  So of course when the day finally arrived Tessa was floating.  She wanted to wear her Rapunzel dress up from Christmas and asked me to do her hair like Rapunzel's.  I braided it slightly to the side and then filled it with a bunch of flower bows I had.

Then Brodie got all suited up and Tessa headed out with her handsome Prince to her ball.  "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes..."

When Tessa came home she was all aglow.  She literally had a ball.  She met all sorts of princesses:

 

And she got to have a ride in Cinderella's coach.







Brodie wasn't glowing as much as Tessa.  He said it was a good thing I only paid half the regular price because it wasn't even worth that much.  First of all, I had prepaid so they were supposed to get checked off the list.  He said a bunch of people were going in without checking in or paying at the door and he thinks they had a lot more people show up than they had planned on.  It was way too crowded.  They had also advertised having food.  Apparently there was a very long line for small plates where they each got a small sandwich, a cookie, and a couple pieces of fruit.  And he said the area to meet and have a picture taken with the princesses was very unorganized.  They spent so much time waiting in the lines that they didn't get a chance to dance (that was the only thing Tessa herself had seemed disappointed in).  And the line for the carriage ride was insane.  Brodie wanted to skip it, but this was what Tessa had been looking forward to most of all.  Just before they got up to the front of the line the people decided to just let the girls ride in the carriage and stop letting the dads ride with them to get the line moving quicker.  This didn't bother Brodie at all so Tessa rode with a bunch of other little girls.  I won't do it again, but I'm glad Tessa got to attend a ball while she's still at such a magical age.

Because Tessa was getting a special evening out with daddy, I asked my mom to watch Clara and I went out with Spencer.  I asked him what he wanted to do and we ended up deciding to eat dinner at Training Table (Spencer loves the concept of the phone although I've decided the food isn't as good as it is in my memory and I don't think we'll be going back any time soon).  Then we went to Jordan Commons to watch Big Miracle.  It was a pretty good show.  A good family movie.  Spencer kept asking me what parts were real.  And he didn't believe the baby really died.  My sweet, optimistic boy kept telling me, "I don't think the baby's really dead.  A little later he'll come back up."  Then during the credits they had footage with the real people the actors were portraying and I told such to Spencer but he didn't understand.  He thought Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski were the real people.  It took me a long time to explain the "actor" thing and I'm still not sure he really got it.  My Spencer is one of the most intelligent 1st graders around.  But he's never had a great grasp on reality.  I think I've been so hesitant to let go of the little boy that I've allowed him to live in the imaginary a little too long.  By the way--he's a real spy.  Don't tell him otherwise.  Also he still wishes on a star for Optimus Prime to show up in our backyard and be his friend.  I sure love that boy!  I had so much fun being one on one with him.  That happens so rarely but I really enjoyed talking and being just with him.  What a fun Valentine's date!

Spencer's Angry Birds birthday party at Jungle Jim's

So I have the problem every January of what to do for Spencer's birthday party.  It's winter so I can't do it outside, but our house is only so big.  A while back I saw a great deal for 10 Jungle Jim's passes for $37.  So I bought it and let Spencer invite 10 friends (assuming at least one wouldn't be able to come).  8 friends showed up so I still have one pass left.  Then I bought 100 tokens for $20 and gave each kid 10 tokens.  We also bought a couple pitchers of Root beer and Sprite for the kids.  I brougth the decorated balloons and cake to Jungle Jim's.  We let the kids play for just over an hour.  Thankfully Brodie was able to make it so we could keep a better eye on all the boys.  Brodie stayed in one place, at the table as a base and where he could see the only exit out of the building.  I walked around keeping tabs on the boys and helping them redeem their tickets when they had used up all their tokens.  They seemed to have a lot of fun.  The elephant roller coaster was definitely their favorite ride.  Here's Spencer with a couple of his friends on the roller coaster ride:

After the kids had a good time on all the rides, playground, and arcade games we had them come over for cake.


I feel bad one boy wasn't there when I took this picture


I couldn't believe how many people came over to see the balloons and cake.  Everybody knew Angry Birds.  After cake we opened presents.  Then I gave all the boys an Angry Birds beanbag and a bag of Angry Birds fruit snacks to bring home.  They had a great time!  If you want to see more details on the making of the party go on to the next post.

The next morning was Spencer's actual birthday. We started out the day with a pancake birthday cake:

After lunch we had cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandmas and Grandpas come over.  They played with the Angry Birds Knock on Wood game, and with the bean bags and larger stuffed animals he had.  Then we opened presents, ate cake and cake pops, and hit the pinata.  Here are a couple more pictures:

On their birthday the kids get to choose where to go for dinner.  Spencer chose Planet Play so I got a great City Deals deal and we went there for dinner.  As excited as Spencer was to go there for dinner he threw a bit of a fit about having to leave his new Pokepark Wii game.  But we had a good time at Planet Play and then decided we've been there enough over the last few months that we won't be going again for a few more months.  Happy 7th Birthday to my Sunshine!

Gymnastics

I got pregnant with Clara right about the time Tessa turned 2.  I was tired and just wanted to sleep on the mornings that Spencer was at preschool.  But that wasn't fair for Tessa who was already missing her playmate while he was at school.  So I decided to enroll us in some mommy-baby class.  I tried the Little Gym which was fun, but pricey.  And I kind of had an issue paying all that money for self-esteem and felt I'd rather pay it for instruction.  So I began looking into actual gymnastic places that took little 2 year olds for baby gymnastics.  My friend had her 2 older girls at Bailey's gymnastics (by IKEA) so I tried them out and loved it.  So for about 6 months I took Tessa to gymnastics once a week.  She LOVED it.  Here are some old pictures I have from this class.

 

In this little class the instructor would show what to do at each station and then she would stay at the one requiring the most assistance and the moms would  help the kids at all the other ones.  I liked the equipment, instructors, and the skills that were taught and Tessa had a lot of fun.  But then we quit going for summer as I was having Clara and we do a lot of other things in the summer.  The next year I enrolled her in the older class in the main gym but I also enrolled her in dance.  I couldn't afford to do both at the same time and it seemed she was enjoying dance more so we quit gymnastics and just did dance.  This year she was adamant on doing gymnastics again so we're back and loving it.  Each week they rotate between the bars, balance beam, floor, and then either the trampoline, foam pit, rope swing, rock wall, or a combination of those.  Here's a more recent picture of Tessa at gymnastics:

Back when our neighbor gave us tickets to the U of U basketball game the tickets had a coupon for a U of U gymnastic meet to buy one ticket and get the whole family in.  There is also a get the whole family in free in general admission coupon in the Hometown Values magazine and Bailey's gymnastics has the same family pass coupon so I'm sure it's all over.  We decided to go as a family for Friday fun day.  We drove down and parked at the football stadium.  We then took the free Trax ride up to the Huntsman Center.  I didn't bring the free family coupon since I wanted to pay for a ticket in the lower bowl and get the whole family in free.  However, the lower bowl was sold out so I had to pay $5 to get the whole family into the general admission upper bowl.  Still a good deal, but I could have saved $5 if I had brought the other coupon.  The meet was against Utah State.  I love watching gymnastics and the U has a great team so I had a really good time.  Tessa enjoyed watching the bigger girls doing such amazing tricks on the same type of equipment she does gymnastics on.  Spencer enjoyed watching the uneven bars and the big tumbling runs on the floor but was pretty bored otherwise.  Clara just loved climbing on and off the chairs and my lap.  There was no flash photography but Tessa was having such a good time I took her picture while they were rotating one time.