Time to play catch-up!

It's been too long since I've documented the happenings here at the Neus house! One of my problems right now is that my pictures won't download to the computer. So I have a camera full of pictures and can't post them on my blog. Hence, this long and boring post with no pictures. Whatever.

October started out with General Conference weekend. Sommer and Sydney were able to go up to Utah with their Grandma and Grandpa Neus for conference. They had such a great time! Brian's parents take their grandkids after they turn 12 on this fun trip!! They came home with so much to talk about and I'm so glad they had the opportunity to spend time with their grandparents!

The next weekend the twins and I went down to Tucson for a Jazz Showcase put on by U of A. It was a lot of fun! Joe Tremaine was there and we were able to take a couple of classes from him. We spent Friday night to Sunday night dancing. What a cool thing for me to be able to experience with my girls. I am sooo lucky!! The twins did such a great job. They were just about the youngest dancers there - and I could always find them up in the front. They weren't afraid to ask questions and really danced hard! I'm so proud of these two girls!!

The next week was fall break and we headed up to Eagar to visit Brian's parents. We had a relaxing week up in the cool country and the kids had so much fun! I think Sue was ready for us to leave by the end of the week! I'm sure it's hard for her to go from a quite, peaceful home to a crazy one filled with 8 noisy kids (Carrie brought up Sawyer, Abby and Matthew, also). We miss having grandma and grandpa Neus just across the street!! Hopefully they will change their minds and come back to Mesa soon!!!

Halloween came and went quickly! We had our friends, the Hunts, over for dinner and trick-or-treating. The kids had a blast gathering up candy and it was fun to catch up with Dave and Autum. I let the kids pick out their costumes on their own this year. I don't think I bought anything. Sommer was a ballerina, Sydney was a baseball player, Chloe was an angel and Lauryn wore one of Chloe's old dance costumes and was "Hannah Montana". Hunter ran the neighborhood for a short while with his friends and then came home to spend time with us. CarrieAnn and Lindy made a special cinnamon roll for him which consisted of mostly salt. It was pretty funny to watch Hunter eat it, not say anything, and politely hide it in the sink. Little did he know everyone was watching him for a reaction. What a polite boy - didn't let anyone know how terrible it tasted! It was funny!

We broke down and bought Hunter a bass guitar off of Craigslist. He's been bugging for one for quite some time now. Since he's playing the bass in the high school orchestra we decided he deserved it. He started private lessons in September and is doing well. He is in a neighborhood "band" with some of the boys from our ward. They get together every Wednesday before mutual for "band practice". He's enjoying it - and maybe some day they'll be famous!!

The girls marched in the Gilbert Days Parade this past weekend with the dance studio. It was a beautiful day - with a little rain around lunch time. We met grandma and grandpa Olsen after the parade at Oregano's for pizza. It started to rain on us (we sat outside on the patio) and they just opened up these big umbrellas and it kept us all dry. The best part was that Brian was able to come home from work early and join us! We love the rain!

On Saturday night we loaded up the kids, sleeping bags, blankets, licorice and goldfish and headed off to the drive-in movies. We met up with the Hunts and had a great time. It was a little chilly - but not too bad! We saw A Christmas Carol - which was really good. We'll go again when it gets a little warmer!!

Chloe and the twins have been getting ready for a big competition weekend. They are doing StarBound on the 21st of November. Chloe is doing a duet with another little girl in her class and the twins are doing 4 group numbers. It should be pretty good!! They have been working hard - extra practices every Saturday for some time now! I have two dances that I choreographed going. (Let's cross our fingers!!)

Sydney is now a cheerleader at Desert Ridge Junior High! She is so excited!! Her and Sommer attended a week of after-school cheer clinics and on the day of try-outs Sommer decided she really didn't want to do it. They take a group of girls to cheer for basketball and the "runners up" cheer at the wrestling matches. Well, Sommer thought she wouldn't make the basketball cheerleaders and didn't want to be "stuck being a mat-maid" so she didn't even try. That's okay - Sydney needed something she could do for herself and by herself. She'll make a great cheerleader and we are so proud of her!! Sommer is actually trying out for the danceline. We'll see how that goes this week!

Hunter went back to school full time! Yeah! We decided that since he was going to high school anyway for three electives he might as well be going there for his three other classes! It's been a very quiet week without him around. I've been so use to having him around - it's kind of weird to have this house to myself. Have I mentioned that my house is too big? Now it really feels that way.

Since I now have extra time on my hands I decided to take a seasonal job at The Children's Place. One of the moms at the dance studio is a manager for them and asked me if I would want to work there until Christmas. Sounds fun to me! I start this week sometime! Yeah!!

And that's about it. Can't think of anything else. Hopefully I'll get my camera situation fixed and download a few photos some day!

Time for school! Time for school!!

Sydney - 7th grade


Lauryn - 1st grade



Chloe - 3rd grade


Yeah, I have two other children. I'm not sure why I didn't take their pictures on the first day of school. I'm sure I did. But I can't locate them right now!!

Hooray - school has begun!! Lauryn started 1st grade and is doing so well. She has started AR Reading and is already at 30% of her goal. Who knew she was such a good reader? Well, we all do now.

Chloe is in 3rd grade this year and is happy to have been elected to be the student council representative for her classroom! She thinks it's pretty cool and so do I. She's a great student and loves to go to school.

The twins started Junior High this year and love it. They are such social girls. They are having a fun time meeting new friends and taking fun classes. They are also working every day in the cafeteria for 15 minutes to earn their lunches. It was either that or bring a sack lunch from home. They were a bit apprehensive about being a "cafeteria worker" until they found out on the first day of school that most of the deacons in our ward worked in there, too. Now it's pretty cool to be a "cafeteria worker".

Hunter is in High School this year - 9th grade! Holy cow! He is taking seminary, orchestra and PE at the high school and does on-line school at home for math, science, language, Spanish and computer. He is one busy boy!

Well, here we go again! Wish me luck!

18th Anniversary!

Wow - we've been married for 18 years. That just doesn't seem possible!! Brian and I celebrated our anniversary on August 17th. We went to dinner at the Melting Pot in North Scottsdale. It was fun. I don't think we'll ever go back - but it was fun. We always have a good time when we're together! I had to teach dance on our actual anniversary day and Brian brought me 18 beautiful roses, truffles and some perfume. It was really sweet! I am a lucky lady!! Can't wait to see what the next 18 years have in store for us!

Neus Family Retreat 2009

This is Maille

Grandma Neus, Grandpa Neus & Uncle Michael

Brian, Me & Matthew

We spent a fun-filled weekend at the first annual Neus Retreat. The entire Neus family got together at the Hilton somewhere in North Phoenix. We spent the weekend swimming mostly and had dinner together on Saturday night as a family. There were about 30 of us in all. Wow, has this family grown!! For some reason it's hard to get together with everyone even though we all live within 20 minutes of each other!! Case in point: Lauryn, upon seeing her COUSIN Maille says to me, "Mom, there's that girl from singing group". Yeah, Lauryn, she's your cousin. Her name is Maille. She's been your cousin for about 5 years now. Pretty sad. We need to get together more often. Hopefully before the Neus Retreat 2010! Thanks, Sue for putting this together. We had a blast!!

Twins' Birthday Party

Mackenzie, Sydney & Sommer blowing out the candles




Yummy cakes (thanks Kristen!)




Sommer and Sydney celebrated their birthday this year with about 20 of their closest friends. They had a great time doing the limbo, playing silly games, dancing (of course), eating and laughing. Brian and I are so glad that the girls have chosen such good friends to hang around with! Happy 12th Birthday, Sommer & Sydney!!!

New Beehives!

The girls were so excited to join the Young Woman's Program! This is what our front door looked like on their birthday. They have had a fun time going to the activities so far and look forward to class each Sunday! We have terrific leaders in our ward! I still can't believe that they are getting so old. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was a Beehive. Time really flies!!

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Our two little girls are 12 today!! Wow - it's so hard to believe!!

We didn't know we were having twins until my 18 week ultrasound. Boy were we shocked! But sooooo excited!! As we were leaving the building after our ultrasound Brian announced to the overcrowded waiting room, "We're having twins"! And yes, we did get applause. It was funny! They have been such great girls. They were perfect babies and have been such a joy to our family. We are truly blessed to have Sommer and Sydney as our daughters!!

Wicked

I went to see Wicked with my sister-in-law, Kristen on Saturday. What a great experience!! I didn't think I would get to see it this year. I really wanted to take all of the kids - but knew what a huge amount of cash that would entail and couldn't get myself to do it. Then I felt guilty only getting tickets for me and Brian - so I didn't do anything. On Friday Kristen called and asked me if I wanted her sister's ticket. Heck yeah! It was great! The guilt was very minimal. Brian of course, thinks this was all planned. Whatever. I had such a great time. And I can't wait to take my family to see it. (Maybe New York next year? Okay, Brian?) Thanks Kristen and Amanda!!

Eagar Week

For the past 3 years I have been able to take my kids up to Eagar for a week during the summer. Every year it's been the week following Intense Dance Camp at the studio. It's just about the time I'm ready to have a nervous breakdown. It's great to go up to the cool weather and just chill out with my kids. It's extremely relaxing and slow paced. The kids generally all get along and have a wonderful time together!

This year we brought along our cousin Courtney, Hunter's friend Mason, and my parents. I gave the kids a little more freedom this year than I have in the past. They got to go search for a mountain they could climb (Sommer got a mile on her crutches before I ruined it and picked her up), walk to Dairy Queen at 8:30 at night, walk back and forth to the candy store and bookstore every day (I know they'll miss us!), build a fire in grandma and grandpa's backyard, stay out late at the skate park, and find random horses to feed carrots and apples to. It was a great week! Thanks Tom and Sue for sharing your house with us!!

Hunter's 14th Birthday

It's hard to believe another year has past! Hunter celebrated his 14th birthday on July 3rd. Wow! Brian and I decided it was time for him to get a cell phone so before his birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse, we took him to the store and let him pick one out. He was pretty exited that we finally gave in and allowed him to have a phone. It really has been nice for me because now I can find him much easier!

Hunter is growing into a wonderful young man. He is very smart and has a great sense of humor! Anyone who knows Hunter can tell you how funny he is! Hunter has never met a stranger. He can talk to anyone and makes friends very easily. We are proud of him and know that he will continue to make good decisions! 14 is going to be a good year!!

Father's Day Weekend 2009

For Father's Day this year Brian took us all to the Pointe South Mountain. We spent the weekend sleeping in, eating and swimming in their super fun water park. These are the only pictures I took the entire weekend. I'm not sure why. Lauryn was so excited to get her very own ketchup bottle - the highlight of the trip for her. It was a lot of fun. We finally convinced all of the kids to go down the slides they have there. All of my kids are chickens! (I think we still owe Chloe $10 for going down the 80 foot slide.) But everyone had a great time and nobody got burnt - which is amazing!!

I love you Brian!! You are the best!! Thanks for the great Father's Day!

Concert Night

We were able to get tickets to the Demi Lovato/David Archuleta concert! What a fun night!! I took all 4 girls plus a friend, Nikole Parkhurst. We had a blast! I love having access to Danny's suite. He's been very generous with our family and we can usually count on getting tickets to all of the concerts that our kids would enjoy. We're keeping our fingers crossed for the Jonas Brothers!!

Yes, that would be Sommer (again)!

Sommer has once again amazed us with her ability to break bones! This time it's her foot. She was "dancing in the kitchen" while Brian and I were out on a date. We got a hysterical phone call (which is really nothing new) informing us that Sommer hurt her foot. So we ended our date night early and headed to the emergency room!

Sommer missed dancing at Intense Dance Camp - which we were so sad about!! She ended up coming and sitting the whole week and watching. At least she was placed in all the numbers and will be able to perform them when she can dance again! We didn't want her to miss out on that because we will be performing those dances next summer in Hawaii.

We go to see the orthopedic surgeon again next week to determine what needs to be done. Hopefully everything is healing okay and she'll be out of a cast when she starts Jr. High next month!

Olsen Family Luau

Billie & Brian

Julie, David & Ryan

Mom & Dad

Lara & Todd

Kristen & Nate

Kyle & Daena

Lainie, Billie & Mom

We had a SUPER FUN Olsen Family Luau date night! It really was a blast! And the food was yummy! It was great getting together with just the adults (baby Billie was the only exception). We played some pretty funny games and got to know each other a little better (some better than we wanted to know)! We usually see each other with all of the kids every Sunday so it was nice not to be interrupted 50 million times by our kids for this one night. We now have 20 grandkids and one on the way (Todd & Lara) - so Sunday nights get a little crazy at mom & dad's house! I have the best family - aren't I lucky?!! Anyway - it was a blast and I can't wait to do it again!

Dance Pictures

It was picture day at the dance studio last Saturday. We were there from 8:00 to 5:00. INSANE!! Actually this year went pretty well. It's hard to be a teacher and a mom on days like these though! Hopefully the pictures all turned out great! These are a few pictures I snapped in between the professional shots! I didn't get all of our costumes - like I said it was insane - we have a family total of 35 costumes this year. That's including Hunter's "Swing" outfit (which really is just slacks, a button up shirt & a tie) and my outfit for our teacher's dance. Crazy day!

Girls Camp

Sommer & Sydney went to girls camp last week! (I can't believe I have daughters old enough to go to camp Lomia! It seems like just yesterday I was there!) They had such a great time and continue to talk about all of the great things they were able to do! (And they are continually singing those wonderful camp songs!) Their camp leaders were the best and were so sweet to them! I am so glad to be in such a great ward with awesome friends for my children! It was such a neat experience for them and they can't wait until next year when they're not the "first years"!

BFF's

Nicole & Chloe ready to hit the road!!

Chloe was invited to spend a few days at Disneyland with her friend, Nicole. When the Parkhurst's asked us if we would let Chloe go with them, Brian and I both agreed that it was such a fun opportunity for Chloe - we couldn't pass it up. They have been planning this trip for weeks and it seemed like forever for it to get here! Now she's been gone 4 days and I am going crazy! I know she's having a blast - and I talk to her several times a day - but I really miss this little girl! She comes home tomorrow night and we can't wait to see her and find out about all of the fun she's had!!

Happy Birthday Brian!

Brian & Hunter playing baseball. Lauryn kickin' it with her 59 cent drink from QT.





Brian got a Wii for his 41st birthday! What a lucky guy! (Don't tell him - but I really bought it for me. This is going to be a long summer with 5 bored kids. I think this should help out a little!) We celebrated his birthday with the Neus and Olsen families at our house for some yummy cheesecake that my sister Kristen made. Fun times!!