Let it Snow

Quinn was thrilled with the snow, but he wanted to "clean it up". He loved pushing around the snow shovel and helping Mommy.

Wesley's Dance concert

Click this link to watch Wesley's Ballroom concert on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEiPYeg9ROg

Halloween

Quinton is obsessed with Spiderman. He has been wearing his costume for a couple of weeks now. When his costume is in the laundry, he just wears his hat and tries to climb the walls - a skill that has come in handy now as he tries to retrieve his candy from off the top of the fridge.

The fun starts all over again trying to come up with costume ideas for the teenagers to wear to the youth dances. (Thank goodness for the preschool dress up box and scrubs that we go to wear under our pioneer trek dresses)

The kids have become quite good at their pumpkin carving skills. Here are their masterpieces.

Just like Daddy

Horsey!!

On Conference Weekend, we went up to Logan to visit Amanda. We stayed at a fun little Lodge up Logan canyon which included horseback riding - something the kids have been begging to do. Quinn was too little to go along, so we had to take turns, but he LOVED the horsies!

But I don't want a haircut

When the kids started making his few long hairs into mohawks, I decided, Quinn needed a haircut. Thank goodness he didn't have much to cut.

USU Aggie (and Aggie wannabe)

Our baby girl is in college, and we have missed her terribly. We were so glad to have her home for Labor Day weekend. She seems to be doing well, studying hard, and having fun in clubs and institute and her student ward. We are proud of her.

First week of school

New school year, new schools, whole new world of parenting. Mandi started college at Utah State this week. It is so hard to have her "out of the nest" so to speak. Nothing has fully prepared me for this part of being a parent. We miss her a lot. Speaking of missing people. Quinton REALLY misses everyone while they are gone at school each day. It has been really strange for him to be home alone with Mommy. No one is around to go beg to for help when Mommy says no. Can you say temper tantrum? He certainly seems to have it mastered. I'm seeing little improvements though. Instead of just screaming NO WAY! he will eventually calm down and sob "kay"

Wes started at the new high school and is moaning about all the homework already. Heather and Haylee are doing well. Haylee says she is so glad to be back in school again so she's not bored all the time - except when she comes home.

Mom cried

Haylee has been begging me for over a year to cut her hair. I couldn't imagine why she would want to cut off her beautiful, long, blonde hair. I always dreamed of having hair like hers. Well, as an early birthday present, I finally gave in. I cried.

We Survived!!!!

We spent the last 4 days with the youth in our stake on a Handcart Trek. Here we are waiting to leave--so excited, and looking so clean and dry in our awesome pioneer attire. We had an inkling of what lay in store for us because we had been keeping an eye on the weather forcast. Each of our kids were assigned to different families, and we were Ma and Pa to a group of youth we had only met once.

A glance at those clouds in the background gives you an idea of what was in store for us.

We experienced all kinds of weather: lots of rain, wind, hail, and even one full day of sun (the day we hiked 10 long miles). The first night it rained hard ALL night and flooded the tents. We treked nearly 30 miles over 4 days. The group suffered blisters, a few sprained ankles, lots of heat stroke, a bit of hypothermia, and lots of aches and pains and fatigue.

Here we are on the end of the second day, when the sun finally peeked out, a little worse for wear, but still smiling.

So why do we subject ourselves to this experience, along with all the misery and even agony that goes along with it? In the end, I was completely amazed at the strength of those kids. They worked hard to overcome obstacles. They gained an appreciation, (albeit only a small taste) of the sacrifice and strength of our pioneer ancestors. But the lesson we hope they all learned is they they can do hard things, and overcome any challenge. When they saw a large, steep hill looming ahead, and they thought, "there is no way we can get up to the top of that steep slope", they all pushed together and made it up. We endured it all and successfully reached the end. I personally learned how important it is to be aware of the needs of those around you. We offered help to others on a few occassions, and then we ourselves needed to be rescued on the last day when we suffered injuries. We were grateful to the "angels" along the way who provided an extra push when we struggled. Maybe later, I'll post "The Parable of the Handcart Train" that I wrote after the last day. We are glad it is over, but we are sooo grateful for the experience.

1st official day of nursery

This is a major milestone in any LDS parent's life. Can you believe our baby is 18 months old? He loves going to nursery, and he adores his teacher. Of course it's a lot easier when Daddy is the nursery leader. I must admit he has already attended a few times because of Pam's stake calling, but now he's finally official! Woohoo!

Look at all those A's

Have you ever seen anything like it? When I posted their grades at the beginning of the year, they said, "Mom, if we get all A's at end of the year, will you post it again?" How could I not keep my end of the bargain. I'm so proud of how hard they have worked.

Graduation Day

We are so proud of our baby girl. I can't believe how quickly time goes by. I can still remember her first day of Kindergarten, and now she's finished high school.

She was ranked first in her class, and finished with a cumulative 4.0. You've worked so hard! We love you Mandi =)

Bet you would have NEVER guessed

Well, here is another entry about Wesley. We have a new high school opening next year that Wesley will get to attend. He tried out for one of the teams and he is SOOO excited because he made it. Bet you will NEVER guess what team it is. They didn't even have this class in high school when I was a teenager, let alone a team. Drum roll please...........Wesley is an official memeber of the Stansbury High Ballroom Dance Team (and no every boy that tried out did not make it - it was VERY competitive) They learned two choreographed dances, complete with tricks, lifts, dips etc. He even practiced with his mom (who by the way took two semesters of dance in college, thank you very much), but he wouldn't do the lifts with me, sheesh.

He took social dance this last semester, and he just had his final dance concert. Can you believe there were 4 full classes of kids? Who knew? At the end, they had to take someone from the audience and teach them a dance. Here are a few shots - blurry because they are taken with the camera phone. He's a pretty good dancer too - I'd say the best boy in his class. We were impressed.

Memorial Day

The sight of all the flowers at the cemetary on Memorial Day is a beautiful, yet somber sight. Expressions of love and loss at the same time.

Somehow, it still doesn't seem right to see both of my parent's names inscribed here. We visited on Monday, and it looked like many others had already been to leave flowers. It always makes me wonder who else left flowers. It was nice to see my parent's remembered.

That afternoon, we went to Salt Lake City Cemetary too. We ran into Rose and her family. Then we explored a bit, and found some of the prophets' grave.

Happy Spring

I love the springtime. It's so uplifting when the bulbs put on their beautiful show. I only wish they would last a little longer. For an early Mother's Day present, we got this cute little bridge. Quinn, of course, feels it is just right for him.

Sadly, one morning last week, we had some tulip vandals. It was very distressing to be greeted with dozens of decapitated flowers. They destroyed everything in the front corner of the yard. Several homes on our street were hit - probably over a hundred flowers destroyed. All we could do was bring them in and try to enjoy them for a couple of days in the house.

Tennis

Wesley joined the tennis team this year, even though he had never really played tennis before. It's been a learning experience, and he is having fun. For family night, we watched one of his matches since it was a home game. We are proud of his persistence.

Quinn even enjoyed the game for a minute, but when he realized he couldn't play with the balls, he just had fun running in the big open field.