Bullwinkle and bellydancing (not both at the same time.)

We had lots of fun with Grams, Grandpa John, and Holly out for about a week-- a visit marred only by its brevity. We tried to fit all that we could into the visit though. During the visit, we celebrated bithdays and Xander's baptism, visited the zoo, saw Kelly do a beautiful dance in the park, hung out--we were even able to attend the Oquirrh Temple Open House.

We commemorated Pioneer Day this year engaging in an activity pioneers got heartily sick of--we went hiking. We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to visit Cecret Lake (in the word "Cecret," the 9 is silent.) The hike was supposed to be less than a mile, with less than 400 feet of gain. That sounded manageable for a family with fairly young children, so we gave it a go. The wildflowers and views were stunning, and we did eventually reach the lake. To the delight of all, it was full of larval tiger salamanders (if you've never seen one, they have several sets feathery external gills--a similar relative is often called a "mudpuppy.") On the way back, we were lucky enough to see a large bull moose, who was grazing perhpas 50-60 feet from the path. We cautioned the kids to remain quiet and not to approach it. We snapped some nice photos and even took a short, somewhat fuzzy video clip. The moose did not seem in the least bothered by the spectators, but when it slowly started to wander a little closer, we decided it was time to leave. Afterwards I told the kids that they were fortunate--that was only the 3rd moose I had ever seen in the wild, and never had I been so close to one. We were also fortunate it was in a peaceful mood.

Yesterday was the bellydance benefit for Viktoriya. It went so well!!! We had a full house, people bought lots of raffle tickets, and the auction went well. I feel like we had wonderfully kind hearted people in charge of this (thank you LaRa and the rest of Barefoot Bellydance!!), and the show was fantastic. Our group did really well-and I think one of my favorite parts of our performance was that Rus was sitting in the front row. It was the first time I felt like I could see him really well during a performance. Anya was so beautiful I cried. Viktoriya's daughter Nikol did a solo. She looked so much like her mother I wanted to cry again. It was really fabulous to see the community come together and work for this. Enjoy some pics : )