Beauty is Pain

The girls have been begging me for months now to let them get their EARS PIERCED! (Megan has especially been wanting to for over a year now). Since I never had a rule about being a certain age before you could get it done, I told them if they didn't sass me for 30 days straight they could do it. But a few months ago I realized that a goal like that is beyond Megan, so I changed it to a mere 7 days. And lo and behold they had gotten up to 6 (I actually didn't think they'd make it!) So I decided to surprise them after school with a trip to the mall.



WARNING!!! (If you ever want to get your child's ears pierced and they are watching-- You might want to pass on Megan's video clip).

MADDIE'S BIG MOMENT. . .




Here is Madeline After: (She was VERY concerned about anything bumping her ear!)

MEGANS TRAUMATIC MOMENT. . . .

Isn't this a pitiful picture. And she was so EXCITED when I told her we'd go. She told me (this was before she had it done) that this was the best day of her life!!

But it ended well! Here they are admiring themselves in the mirror. As for my title, "Beauty is Pain", that's what I remember the woman telling me when I got my ears pierced as a little girl (although I have NO idea how old I was). I thought it was quite applicable to this outing!

The Sound of Music

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks, but in my usual fashion I'm just now getting to it. But better late than never, RIGHT!!

One SUPER fabulous thing about us being back by family is that my kids have access to the world's greatest piano teacher and she's also their grandma to boot! I love, love, love it that my mom is giving my kids piano lessons. She has an amazing talent for playing and writing music and it's been so neat to see her pass her love of music onto my kids.

And after only 10 lessons Logan, Madeline, and Megan performed in their first piano recital on August 22nd.

Logan was so nervous to get up and play. But when he finished he had THE BIGGEST GRIN on his face.! My mom decided that the only way to get him to stop complaining about learning to play was to give him a piano piece that he could really get into. So she gave him "Raiders March" (the theme from Indian Jones)! His song was really challenging for only having had 10 lessons, but he did pretty darn good!

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I think Maddie had her songs learned from about the 2nd week! She loves playing and needs to practice and practice until it's perfect! She was totally in her element playing in front of everybody! She had 2 songs and the one posted is "Frightful Night." She was so good with her dynamics. (And I have to say she's the one I don't pull my hair out trying to practice with!)

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Of course Megan just gets up there and does her thing. She was the 2nd or 3rd to play and just got up and did it! She had 3 songs, but she played the first 2 so quickly I didn't get them, but the one of her playing is "Macaroni Cha Cha." Her entire song she just kept looking at me! Oh my little Megan!

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Fabulous First Day!

Logan, Maddie, and Megan survived their first day at their new school. They were all so excited heading off this morning. Megan kept giving me the countdown 7 minutes till we leave, 6 minutes till we leave, 5 minutes till we leave. . . . .
They were all smiles when we headed out the door until I pulled out the camera to take their pictures. Then it was the collective groan and whine that if I had to take their pictures they were going to be late! (We had a good half hour!)

Here they are trying to smile!





This was my first school year of having to DRIVE them to school, but it wasn't as horrible as I had been dreading. Probably because their school is right next to a church building and they have permission from the church to let parents drop off and pick up in the parking lot. They even have a gate that goes straight from the school to the church with a crossing guard and everything! So while it's not as convenient as opening my front door and waving them goodbye, it's not that bad!!

When we got their I decided I better take them to their classrooms and I'm glad I did. They all marched right into their classrooms, which made me feel a whole lot better about them having a good first day. Yesterday we had gone in to meet their teachers and check out their classrooms, so I think that helped with the nervousness of being at a new school.

When I picked them up Madeline was in heaven and told me she wished she could go back right now. Megan loved her class because her teacher will let them "chit-chat" during writing time. I held my breath when I asked Logan how is day went, but he told me "It went all right, I do have the best and nicest teacher." Whew!! What a relief!

Janie had to help drop the kids of at school this morning, so of course I had to take her picture with them. After we dropped them off she was got back into the van, threw her backpack on the ground and huffed, "Why do the big kids get to have all the fun!"

And to conclude, I have to say that today I turned 30!! I remember thinking as a kid that 30 was so old, but I don't feel that old! It was a great birthday. I went out to lunch with my hubby, got in a nap, did some Twilight reading, and sent Megan off to school. What more could a girl want!!

I'm back!!!!!!

Yes, I know I'm horrible! After all my begging to friends back in Bakersfield to start a blog so I could see what they were doing, I don't even keep up on mine. Sorry, sorry. Life has been too crazy for me these past few months!
Anyway here's the update on the Norris Fam.
Let me just start off by saying that we had a good plan in mind when we decided to come here. In fact we even had back up plans for our move out here, but it seems like all our plans for this move have died by the wayside. I told Jared, "We started with plans A, B, and C and now we're on plan X!" And I'm sure by the time everyone is reading this we'll have already made it to plan Z.
Okay, so here's what we've been up to. Jared is working for a Charter School in Lindon teaching Health. He is also taking classes at BYU to get the prerequisite classes he needs to apply to Physical Therapy School. Hopefully he can complete what he needs to apply in about a year and a half or two years and then it'll be about another 3 years at a Physical Therapy School. (It sounds longer when you actually type it all out!)
We are still at my mom and dad's. And as gracious as my parents are to us, I'm having a hard time being here. I actually miss my teeny-tiny house back home. Oh.... I won't start thinking about it! Our new game plan is to try and be out by December. (Please, keep us in your prayers!--We so need it!)
The kids are having the time of their lives. Since we're at my parents we tend to see the cousins on my side ALOT! And don't worry there not lacking from Jared's side either. He's had siblings down for the summer and his brother doesn't live too far from us so they are in Cousin Heaven! I love it that my kids are building relationships with their cousins. And I won't deny that I love hanging out with my siblings and Jared's family. We have definitely done some very fun family things this summer!! I love just talking with everybody after a Sunday dinner!


Having said all that, I have to say that I still am very homesick for Bakersfield! This has been a really hard move for me and I'm still adjusting. This summer has been a summer of trials and more trials. But I'm sure Heavenly Father has a reason for it, I just haven't got a clue what that reason could be! I REALLY MISS all you guys and hopefully I'll do a better job of communicating with you!!

Chloe is walking along the furniture and will even stand alone for a few seconds, I'm thinking she'll follow in Janie's footsteps and be walking at 9 months. She's such a good baby despite the fact she'll eat anything off the floor. You have to be pretty quick around her. Janie just loves being here. She loves to play with all the cousins. Everyday she asks me who is coming over and if I tell her no one today, she'll start crying. The kids start school on Wednesday. I'm a little nervous for them because it's at a new school- I just hope they have a good first day!

Here are just a few pictures in case you forgot what we all look like. Maybe I'll do a slide show of everything we did this summer. And I had to add these two really short video clips of Janie going down my parent's water slide. It still cracks me up!






I promise that no child was hurt during the filming of these two short video clips.

These were not the only two times she flew off that thing. I lost count at how many times she repeated those scenes!!

Did You Think I Forgot about my Blog?!!!

Hi Everybody! I've finally returned to the world of blogging! We made it to the great state of Utah last Wednesday and I have to say that I NEVER want to experience moving again. (Unfortunately I'm going to have to experience it on a smaller scale in a few short weeks when we leave my parents house, but after that-- NEVER again!!)
So just for the quick recap. On June 1st we had our last Sunday in Bakersfield. And yes I cried through all of church! It was so hard to leave all of our friends back there, (all of you were (and still are) are family away from family and I'm missing you!) That night we had dinner at our favorite neighbors house, thanks Doll Family! Monday was pretty much a blur of taking our van in to get fixed, getting the moving truck, loading the moving truck (THANK YOU to everybody who helped!), cleaning the house (sorry Sam, I know it could have been cleaner) and trying to fix all the last minute stuff. Tuesday came and we were planning on heading out after the carpets had been cleaned, but our van had other plans! So we just enjoyed hanging out on our front lawn for the last time until it was finally fixed around 2:30 and then we headed off. And excited as I was to get home I cried the whole ride along Highway 58!
We stopped in St. George for the night and finally arrived in Springville in the late afternoon, All the kids traveled so good, especially Chloe! She is such a good little baby.
But even after packing up my house, loading the truck, putting it all in storage here, I still feel like I'm just on my regular summer visit and that we haven't moved. I'm sure it will hit me when we get into a house!

So we've been here for a week and it has been jammed-packed with fun family stuff. We've had Meg's 7th Birthday, a nephew's baptism, a family Sunday dinner, the girls had a sleepover, and so much in between! It is so fun to be around family again!

I know this was all jumbled and I kind of rambled on, but I just wanted to post something! And sorry there aren't any pictures, but our computer is not hooked up yet and I can't download pictures from my camera onto my dad's computer. But I'll figure out something!

And sorry I haven't commented on anyone's blog I WILL BE CHECKING THEM OUT VERY SOON, so keep all your posts coming!

Look Out Broadway, Here She Comes!

A few weeks ago Megan tried out for the school talent show and she made the cut! Today was the big day. She sang "Tomorrow" from Annie and I must say she did a fabulous job! She had to sing it in three different performances and not once did she seem nervous! But that's not surprising considering it's Megan. She has always been a determined little girl and isn't afraid to try new things! We are so proud of our little Broadway star! Way to go Meg!! Ladies and Gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, I present Miss Megan Norris.

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(I know the video's a little shaky, but I had Janie pulling on my legs, trying to get me to hold her, so if you look at it from that angle-I actually did a pretty good job!)

A Little Bonding Time!

This weekend was the Father and Son camp out for our ward! Jared and Logan headed out about 4:00 on Friday afternoon (I'll talk more about them at the end), but as soon as they headed out of the driveway Megan wanted to know when the girls fun would begin!! And I do have to say, we definitely had a fun-filled weekend! Sorry I have no pictures of us girls, but Jared had my camera!

Right after Daddy and Logan headed out to the woods, we headed out to the store for a few snacks and new nail-polish colors! Then we got some take-out and headed back home to eat and get ready for our movie night. We watched High School Musical, danced and sang, painted our fingers and toes, made some smores (this has apparently become the girls tradition during the Father and Son outing!) and finally hit the sack (all in moms bed!)

Saturday morning my wonderful friend (and favorite neighbor) Amy took us out to Denny's for breakfast! It was an all-girl affair with Amy, myself, my 4 girls, and Amy's two girls Machella and Elyssa. We came home and cleaned (not the funnest, but it has to be done)!
At lunch time we took off to the Bramwell's house where another fabulous friend, Marlo had invited us over for pizza. Her daughter Brianne and my girls had hit their girl weekend high and kept acting silly!! But in between all the silliness, Marlo and I still had a good talk!
We ended the day with a shopping spree at Kohls and then came home to find Daddy and Logan there!


Now to Jared and Logan's adventure! Everyone knows that Logan lives for camping and anything related to it, so of course they had a blast!! They camped at Holey Meadow (Jared's not here to ask, but I think that's in the Sierra's?) That morning they participated in a 3 legged race, a tug of war, a potato sack race, and an obstacle course, during which Logan fell into the "swamp" and had to change all his clothes! If you look closely at his picture by the sign, his face still shows remnants of his mud soaked fall!

After all the fun activities the Ward had planned, Jared and Logan took off on a little hike through the "Trail of 100 Giants"! I'm sure Logan was in heaven and enjoyed every moment of being out in the great outdoors!


So there's the recap of all that we did this weekend. And now I'm off to start packing some more! We get the truck 2 weeks from today! Wow!!