Lindon Community Dance Recital.

 Ruby took a little community dance class from March-May. She was especially excited about having a dance recital at the end.

Ruby was glad to have her VW Grandparents and her Grandma Suzi in attendance. She especially liked the flowers from Grandma Suzi. 

Hank found himself a spot to enjoy his cookie. 

Ruby. Soccer. 2013.

"Soccer Girls" and their head coach, Hugh Van Wagenen.

Esther, Liesel, Jaycee, Ava, Izzie, Ruby, and MJ.

Warming up.

Pep talks from the coach. Hank had to be in on the action.

Ruby had the best fan base around! 

And that fan base was often needed to keep this kid out of trouble!

Once again, Hank in on the action with muffin in hand. 

Hugh was great with the girls. One mom even asked if he was coaching next year and if her girls could be on his team again. Never been prouder of Hugh :).

Ruby loved having Hugh as her coach. Even though she wasn't always the best at listening to him. These two are twins!

Halft-time snacks and breaks quickly became Ruby's favorite part. Especially so she could hang-out with the afore mentioned fan base. 

Ruby's soccer season concluded with a week long BYU soccer cub camp. I loved watching her run around the IPF and make new friends. I especially enjoyed listening to her tell me about the "cute Colin" as she put it, on her team. "He is 3 and so small and cute!" I did clarify with her and she told me he was cute like Henry is cute, not boyfriend cute :). She was also so sweet to walk him over to me one day so I could meet him. I over heard her say, "Do you want to meet my mom?" I love that she wants to include me in her life. 

Taylor Swift.

The mob of people waiting to buy shirts!


























Thanks to Hugh and his awesome birthday gift to me, Ruby and I went the Taylor Swift concert together. Both Ruby and I had been looking forward to this since my birthday back in March. In fact, when we told Ruby about it, she marched to her room and picked out her outfit. And every so often she would say, "Meg, I can't wait until June!" (the concert was on June 1st).

Ruby has loved singing along to Taylor since she was just little. More than anything, I was looking forward to sharing this experience with Ruby. We made an evening of it, and headed up early to get some dinner at The Gateway before heading over to the concert. The place was packed with concert goers and tons of little girls all decked out in their red Taylor gear, complete with cowboy boots, and even red feather flapper headbands. Against this backdrop, I had a hard time holding back tears as I looked down at my sweet Ruby in her fancy Easter dress and jean jacket (the outfit she picked) with her Costa Rica purse across her shoulder. She hardly said much as we waited in line at Costa Vida to order our food....she was soaking everything in. I'm not quite sure why I was so overcome with emotion at this point, I guess I felt so lucky to be Ruby's mom and watch her experience something new.

 We missed the opening act so we could buy Ruby her souvenir shirt, which she put on  over her dress once we FINALLY got it. There was no order to the line for t-shirts, and I thought we would never get to the front. But after much patience on Ruby's part we made it to the front and Ruby pulled her money out of her little purse and purchased her shirt.

The concert was great and I was impressed with Taylor's personality and way with the crowd. Ruby was much more reserved than I expected, but was so cute when she would get up and dance and sing-a-long.  The concert was full of costume changes, dancers, lights, and fireworks...a lot for a 4-year-old to take in. Ruby was a little disappointed that Taylor didn't wear more "fancy" dresses, and that we weren't close enough for Taylor to shake our hands. (Ruby loves to play concert and shake her "fans" hands as she performs :). But overall, it was a success and for me, a great night spent with my darling Ruby. Taylor did sing all of Ruby's favorite old songs, Our Song, Love Story, You Belong With Me, and Sparks Fly. We did end up using the ear plugs Hugh sent with us. At home, Ruby was not keen on wearing them, but once she heard how loud it got, she was all about them. She wanted me to wear them too so she didn't feel silly :). I had forgotten how loud concerts get...and even our little babe in the womb was moving and grooving most of the night.

Ruby, I hope you know how much I love you. I had such a fun time sharing this experience with you, and even now as I write this, I'm fighting back tears. I think mostly because you are growing up right before my eyes. I love watching you grow and experience new things, but it also pains my heart a bit to realize you won't be small forever. I hope you always keep your sweet excitement about life and love of being with loved ones. Here's to making many more memories together!