Crazy December!

It's been a while and I'm sorry to all of you who have been needing the latest updates from our family.Soooo.... without further ado... THE UPDATE!

Craig has gone back to school and he's got 24 credits left! He'll be finishing by April 2013 for sure! "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" We're really excited for that day! While Craig's been busy at work and school, he still finds time for his church calling and family. He's really amazing! He's the ward mission leader and he's been working on a "forty day fast" for our ward. We're going to pass along a scroll to each participating family, after they fast for a day they pass the scroll onto the next family for forty days. Hopefully we'll have a nice list of referrals to give to the missionaries when that is over.

The kids are growing so fast! Hannah is already 8 months old. She's going to be taller than little Elizabeth in no time at all, of course her mother and father are pretty tall themselves. It's in the genes I guess! Hannah is crawling and eating anything she can get in her mouth. She likes to blow raspberries and sing a lot. She's a happy baby! It's so fun to dress her up and I can even give her a small pony tail (she doesn't like that too much).

Hyrum is turning out to be just as crazy as his mom and dad (once again, it's in the genes)! He loves to run (especially without his clothes-we try to keep that from happening), jump from scary heights (we try to keep that from happening too), and dance. And occasionally he'll sing along with his mother if he isn't yelling "QUIET" at me. He's become a master at cleaning up and he started praying out loud this week! His prayers consist of "Heavny Fader... bess dad... food...Heavny Fader.... dad.... Heavny Fader..... Amen! It's pretty cute.

I've been doing a few things here and there.... actually I've kind of overloaded myself with everything this month. I just finished performing at the SCERA in their "Home for the Holidays" show. I choreographed a dance to "You're a mean one Mr. Grinch" and I of course made myself the Grinch. Then I choreographed and performed a dance to "Breath of Heaven". It was a good show, some of my voice students performed in it too. My voice lessons are going really well too. I'm about to get 9 students (and I think I'll stop there). I made a blog for them so I can elaborate on vocal techniques and update them on any audition opportunities. It's pretty cool. I called it emilysentertainers.blogspot.com. They have their first recital tomorrow and I'm really excited. We'll all pack in my house and have hot coca while the students perform. Then I've got a dance recital that I'll be in too. I joined a ladies dance class in Spanish Fork and it's just like being on a dance team in high school. We bought costumes and we're even going to a competition. I love it. I'm really getting to know a lot of people in Spanish. This is a great place to live. Well, I think that's everything.... oh yeah, I started taking piano lessons again too!

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to having a break and going home for Christmas! We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

One Year Update

I won't be making any promises that I'll be updating this blog anytime soon because I think I am beginning to let people down. Since I don't have all the time in the world I'll simplify things down to a list.

• We moved from North Orem to Canyon Terrace in Summer of 2010
• Craig started his job at US Synthetic
• We moved to Orem to a horrible 4-plex where Craig's bike was stolen and we had mold in the walls (we call it Felon Cir).
• I started teaching jazz classes for Academy of Ballet in Springville
• We bought a house in Spanish Fork and moved in December
• We bought a Hyundai Santa Fe
• Hannah Maree was born April 7th 2011
• Craig is getting surgery on his knee this Tuesday
• Emily will be performing in Hairspray with the Spanish Fork Community Theater

So that's us up to date. Here's some pictures to make it a little more interesting.

It's been a crazy couple of months, so here's my annual apology for not updating the blog sooner. We just had a fabulous time in Idaho with the family for Susan's wedding, which was also very crazy with lots and lots of little kids running around. Hyrum thoroughly enjoyed the running around part. We were constantly looking for him, but he made it out of Idaho without any damage so we're doing good so far right? He's getting so big and is starting to make sense every now and then. He says words like Dad, Mom, Ball, Banana... it's cute.

So now we're almost to the middle of August, where we will be kicked out of our apartment. This wouldn't be such a big deal if we had a place to move to. We have a few options now, but we're kind of waiting to find out about the possibility of buying a townhouse. We'll see. That would be a really big step for us and we don't want to rush into it not having a clue what we are doing. Life is good for us overall, a little stressful here and there, but we're so blessed to be where we are and doing what we're doing. I'm so grateful I get to be a mom and take care of Hyrum. He's a good boy and I really would pick this job over anything else. Sometimes it's tough, but overall the wife and mother role wins out the others!

Here are a few pictures of the 4th and our trip to Idaho.

So I'm a Ballerina Now

I guess I got into it because our Sunday School teacher told me about her adult ballet class. I never really liked ballet when I was younger, but now that I'm older I can appreciate it. I just didn't have the discipline back then. Anyway, I started sewing to pay for the lessons, and I bought myself a pair of pointe shoes. That's pretty much the story. It's really really hard, but I like to see my progression over time. I even got to dance in their June ballet. It was really fun to get a tutu and everything. Even though I was stuck with a bunch of little girls. Oh well, I was in lights again! I also got to be in their Jazz showcase as a soloist in one of the dances. I played the part of the mother. It wasn't too hard since I have a little experience in that field. Enjoy the pics!

One small step...

Can you believe he's starting to walk already!? I can't; he was just born yesterday it seems. It's crazy how time flies; Hyrum is turning one in a MONTH!

Child lock my foot!

Ok, I think we should get our money back, these locks kept our child out for a total of about a month! Oh well, it's pretty funny to watch him get in. In fact, he does it all the time! If you want to see him do it again, come on over! He'll do it as many times as you want! Or you can just play the video again.

So anyway, life with the McKinney's has had its ups and downs, twists and turns. In the end we're still happy and loving life. Especially when it involves sunny weather! We bought a kite the other day and had a picnic at the park. It's fun to watch Hyrum play on the playground and crawl around in the big field. He's getting so mobile!

I've decided to start looking for a job. I'm thinking an early morning aerobics class would work out great since I could leave Dad with Hyrum before he leaves for school, and then one in the evening when Dad gets home again; that way we don't need to worry about who can watch the boy. It would help us a little and we just want Craig to finish ASAP. So if anyone can network me into any job I would appreciate it (It doesn't have to be an aerobics job). Also a seamstress job would be desirable as well, then I can work from home.

I guess some other big news is that I'm going to be returning to the stage since 2006! I'll be performing in June with the Academy of Ballet. I'm really excited to showcase what I've learned in pointe. It's going to be great and I hope as many people can come. Of course I'm not a big star, and I'll probably be put in the back, but hey! I just started this whole pointe thing in February! I'm just thrilled that my toes haven't fallen off!

So there's are life up to date, Hyrum's 1st birthday is coming up! May 1st!