BENGAL CHEER CLINIC

Burklee wanted to participate in the 2012 ISU cheer clinic with her friends.  The girls were supposed to be four years old but they let us sign her up anyways. The clinic involved a two-hour practice Friday night followed by a halftime performance at the ISU basketball game on Saturday.  During the practice they split the girls up into little groups and then they rotated to each station to work on their dance/cheer routine (I don't know what you call it). At the end of the two-hour practice they put all the girls together so they could run through the routine as a group.  As you can tell...

Burklee was not happy.  For the most part it was because they kept bringing her back to the group every time she ran off. She wanted to be able to roam free around Holt Arena.  One time she ran off and one of the cheerleaders ran over to her, being cute and playful and as soon as they got close to her she pointed her finger and yelled, "NO!" The poor cheerleader didn't know what to do with her...so embarrassing!

The crazy thing about this whole ordeal was how nervous it was making me.  I was stressing out about what she should wear, how to do her hair, what I should do for her make-up (they told the girls to wear some fun make-up) and whether or not she would actually dance. So after a lot of stress I finally got things planned out.  We got to the game and I made sure she was looking good.  Next thing I know Jeff took the kids outside and got their faces painted.  As I saw the kids come back they were covered in black and orange paint.  There went the make-up and the clean white shirt.  I looked at Jeff and said "are you kidding me!"  About five minutes later she wanted the paint off.  We had to scrub it off with a wipe which in turn made her face super red.  To top everything off, she got into some lip gloss and rubbed it all over her face just minutes before they had to perform!  WOW!  As far as I am concerned this girl is going to be a runner...I can't handle this cheer/dance stuff!!!

I was super nervous at this point thinking tha she was going to bolt or start running through the group during the dance. 

 She always seemed to be about ten counts behind the rest of the group.  Her somersault did look nice though.

 She also loved to go up front and stand right next to her friend Ashlee (cheerleader).

Thanks for taking such good care of her.

 I think she is finally on with the group :)

Burklee's Friends

Cami Schaack, Kira Jolley, Burklee Tingey & Kennedy Munns

NOT TO OLD...

TO TRY SOMETHING NEW!

I have been snowboarding since my freshman year of college.  I kept telling myself I am to old to try to learn to ski.  Finally after 12 years of snowboarding I decided I give skiing a chance, especially since Ammon has been learning to ski. Jeff did such a great job teaching me. I immediately fell in love with it and have had a huge desire to get better. I think Jeff is now regretting his decision to teach me because I am addicted. 

JR. JAZZ

This is Ammon's first experience playing basketball.  He has really enjoyed it although he seems a little lost at times. He is very good a dribbling but other than that we haven't taught him a whole lot. When the coach told him he was an animal out there, Ammon said "what kind of animal." After he made his first basket he ran over and said "mom did you see me make a goal."  It has been so fun to watch him lean new things. I love his desire to try everything!

ART FAIR

Ammon was so excited to participate in the art fair this year.  The theme was "Our Colorful World" so he decided he wanted to show all the colors that he sees on Papa's farm during each season. He worked on his project every night for a week. We were about ready to pull each others hair out. Finally I decided to not care so much and let him do his thing and it worked out much better. I was so relieved once he finally turned it in. He didn't know he won until we arrived at the art fair. Once he spotted his artwork he ran over and looked at it and was so excited to see it hanging on the wall. It took him about 30 seconds to realize he had blue ribbon on it.  Once he noticed he turned around and looked at us with a HUGE grin...it was priceless!

JANURARY 2012 RECAP

Lots and lots of Bengal games! 

 The kids finally sat still long enough for me to snap a few photos. It was also pretty amazing that all three still looked decent after three hours of church.  I guess it was my lucky day! I feel so blessed to have three wonderful, happy, healthy and energetic kids in my life. I love these three kids so much!

 This picture doesn't do the sunset justice...it was so beautiful.

 Burklee was quiet for a few minuets so I thought I better go see what she was up to...colored chalk in the fish tank = dead fish! Sorry Ammon, I know how much you loved Disco!

 I had to put this picture on the blog for Kellan.  He loves this picture because it looks like he is going "super fast!" He call his plasma car a "skater boy" so if you ever hear him tell you his skater boy is so fast you will know what he is talking about.

We love our cousin.  We don't get to seem him often but when we do we have a blast together.

NO SNOW SO...

...hit the trails for a January ride.

 We went up City Creek and had a GREAT time.  It was definitely scary coming down because the trail was frozen and snow-covered in a few areas.  All in all it was quite the adventure and I loved every minute of it.

Guess who got stuck washing these dirty bikes...yep...ME! 

SCARY SPIDER

Burklee came in our room one night and told us there was a scary spider in her bed.  She was terrified! I felt so bad for her so I let her crawl in bed.  Well the next day I forgot about the whole incident.  I went in her room to check on her during nap time and this is how I found her.  When she woke up I asked her why she was sleeping on the floor and she told me that the scary spider was still in her bed.  Needless to say, Jeff and I had to rip the bed apart, shake the sheets, move the bed to a new spot and vacume the room several times in order to convince her that her room was spider-free.  Pretty cute how she put all her little dolls next to herself on the blanket and how she made a little bed for her cat on the pillow-pet instead of using it for herself.

MORE DECEMBER FUN

Grandpa teaching Ammon a few drills to get him ready for his first season of basketball.

 Kurt and Joe getting into "Just Dance".

 Taylor and Jean bustin' a move.

While the big kids played basketball the little kids had their own fun. 

CHRISTMAS 2011

All I want for Christmas is a whale pillow pet...forget my two front teeth.  Ammon has wanted a pillow pet for a year-and-a-half.  I know what you are thinking...just buy the kid a pillow pet already.  I thought he would grow out of it but apparently his need to have one grew stronger to the point that he didn't care about anything else but the darn whale pillow pet.  Christmas morning he ran down the hall towards me...

... then out of the corner of his eye he sees his pillow pet. He sprinted over and...

 hugs for the soft, cuddly whale.  I have never seen him get so excited

 Of course they all had to get one!

 The twins had to watch carefully as they each took turns opening their presents.  Burklee making sure he doesn't open something she wants.

 She saw a Christmas tree decorated with barbies a while back and ever since then she has wanted her own barbie. 

Ammon loves to take pictures and he always scares me when he gets a hold of my camera.  Good thing Bonkin and Papa got him his very own camera.  HE LOVES IT! 

In the words of Burklee "oh it's Tangled...she is so pretty." Notice her nails...she has to make sure everyone notices her nails when they get pretty.  Good thing Bonkin painted them so she could have pretty nails for Christmas. 
After we opened our gifts we had time to eat some yummy gingerbread waffles with buttermilk syrup. They make the house smell so good.  After breakfast we had just enough time to make it to church for a wonderful musical program.  After church we changed back into our pajamas and spent the rest of the day with the Tingey clan.  It was a wonderful day.

CHRISTMAS EVE

 We always start off Christmas Eve-day with a yummy breakfast at Elmer's for Kent's Birthday.  After breakfast we open presents and have cake at the house. 

Another competitive game of basketball!

 This year we went to Soda for dinner. We were lucky to enjoy such a beautiful sunset.  The sunset and delicious dinner were well worth the drive.

Kid's table

Once we got back to the house the kids opened their one gift each...we always get new pajamas. After we set out cookies and milk and Jeff read a few stories we were finally off to bed.

FUN IN UTAH

On our way down to Salt Lake for an ISU women's basketball game we made a quick detour to walk around Temple Square and show the kids the lights.  It was so beautiful, as always.

Later in the month we went down to Provo for Uncle Tanner's basketball tournament.  Becky and Caden had just arrived from New York so it was a blast for all the kids to get together and swim.

Say Cheese!

Kellan happy to get some alone time with his daddy.

Having a great time as always.  Jeff and Kristy love the water...which the little kids really appreciate!

Say no to crack!  Skinny Kells couldn't keep his shorts on.

SANTA CLAWS FUN RUN

All bundled up for the Santa Claws Fun run. When they got up the temperature was 7 degrees.

 Ammon was so excited to run the kids 1K this year because he got to wear bells on his shoes.

 Ammon & Benny

 I am not sure why Jeff ran in shorts when it was  7 degrees outside (weird nack). I like this pic because you can see his breath....brrrrrr!

 Ammon was able to chat with Santa while Jeff was running the 5K. There was a silent moment so Ammon says to Santa "well have a very merry Christmas Santa" it was so cute!

After the race the boys were able to ride in the wagon pulled by horses. This was such a fun morning for  Ammon and Jeff.

PRINCESS TEA PARTY

I decided I should take Burklee to her first Princess Tea Party due to her girlie girlness. She has recently got into Beauty & The Beast and Cinderella. So off we went to enjoy an evening filled with girl stuff.