February 17 - 23

February 10 - February 16, 2013

 

 

This week flew by.

We got ready for Valentines day, which came and went in a flash.  It was a busy week....  I am embarrassed to admit that we fed the kids pizza  THREE nights this week.  Sad but true.  We are all sick of it.

E2 has been taking life-guard classes at six a.m., getting done just in time to be at school.  She danced several times this week at games, going to Orem two days in a row to perform at the boys and girls State basketball games.  She did squeeze enough time in to get her schoolwork done and get her BRACES OFF!!! YAY!!!!!!  If it wasn't for Grandma it never would have happened.

E3 was sick with strep throat this week but is recovering nicely. 

E1 came home for the long weekend. She got here Friday and we are so happy to have her here.

We didn't have our traditional Valentines breakfast until Sunday(today) as we couldn't get everyone in the house at the same time until then. 

Hope you all have a great week!

February 03 - February 09

 

 

What a fun week!

On Sunday we attended church. I can't describe how incredibly satisfying it is to have all four of my children in the bench with me at church. I know I sound like an old fogey but it really is true.

After church Darren was assigned to do home-bound sacrament so the kids helped me chop and dice and stir and make SUPERBOWL treats. Yay!! We are definitely a football family. We don't watch hardly any NFL (we watch college football for the most part) but really wouldn't it be un-American not to watch the Superbowl? I love that my kids know the sport. They talk the talk. They have watched and attended enough games to know that the game this year was really kinda weird and kinda wacky and really kinda wonderful with the 108 yard kickoff return, the safety, the sibling head coaches, and the power outage.  It was a great game.

We all wanted the Ravens to win because of number 88 - Dennis Pitta. He was a favorite of ours when he played for BYU. It was a pretty exciting moment when Pitta scored a touchdown.

E1 got a late start as Darren had to work on her car for a bit. She won't appreciate me telling that she ended up talking the wrong exit and wandered the streets of Springville for a while late late Sunday night/Monday morning. She thought she had lost her phone while on her date last weekend but really it was in her car the entire time. Too bad she didn't figure this out until Monday... AFTER she had already found her way home.

Monday we went to the church to clean it. We cleaned the bathrooms and vacuumed the chapel. I seriously never realized the impact of sparkly clothing. One bench looked like the entire chorus line of Cabaret had been sliding up and down the cushions. It took forever to vacuum it up. The kids were good sports.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed quickly with work and school and Young Women's and dance and piano and etc. You can read my previous entry about E2 dancing at the ball game and N's week long struggle to learn his piano piece.

Friday we followed our normal routine. After work and school we cleaned house, did laundry, and got everything done so we could PLAY. E3 played with her friend Elyse and they let N join in. E2 went to a movie at Katie's house.

 

Today the kids cooked scrambled eggs for breakfast and then scrambled eggs for lunch.... I better go make them a meal before they have to resort to scrambled eggs for dinner.    N and his friend Will were able to get together for an "epic" battle on the computer.  I've been working on my lesson for  tomorrow and doing my Project Life scrapbook.  Darren is at the SVC working all day for State wrestling.  E1 called and said she'd gone to State swim to support her old team.  She was heading to the mall to have dinner with them.   She got to see Grandma and Grandpa this week while they we up north. She has fallen in love with Zupa's and got Grandpa to hook her up. 

 

Have a great week!

E2 and N

We have a hard time getting information out of E2. Not sure why exactly.... I don't know if Darren and I are extremely unobservant or if E2 doesn't think through things. An example of this was in December. She came into our room Friday night and asked for a ride to the school at 6 am Saturday morning. We asked her why.... and she informed us she had a Drill competition in Delta the next day and this was the time the bus was leaving. We were like huh???? We asked if she needed lunch money. She was like, well I guess that would be a good idea.... (ya think???).

Fast forward to a few days ago.  Thursday morning she is running out the door to school and has on her official Drill team "dress-up" outfit consisting of cute skirt/blouse/heels. I ask her what is going on. She indicates they are dancing for half-time that night at the girls basketball game.  Neither Darren or I had no idea this was happening.

The fact the team was dressing up for school should have alerted me more was going on as they obviously don't dress up every school day that the girls or boys basketball team plays.  Darren and I go to the school that night to watch her perform. They are doing a simple little routine they learned back in June at camp (and probably had to relearn as they haven't done it since football season). She performs. She looks great. After they perform their instructor comes out and they honor each girl with flowers and announcing their name to the crowd. We had no clue this was going to happen either. After it was over the team gathered for pictures.  We just had to shake our heads and wonder if we live in the same house as our busy girl and how we miss out on the necessary information.



The video below is of N. His piano teacher is also his primary music leader. She is hands down the BEST music leader I've ever experienced in Primary and that is saying something as I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing women. She does a little activity every year where she "switches places" with the kids for singing time. She randomly picks children to lead the music while she sits in their seat, and the pianist switches as well and has one of the kids play.

Sister Blake ensures that the pianist picks children that are her piano students and who she has preassigned a primary song. The kids think it is totally random so that is part of the fun.

 N has loved being part of the "trick" and has worked extra hard on his assigned song. At the beginning of the week I could hear him struggling with the song. He was really frustrated but kept trying with so much dedication. I didn't know at the time that Sister Blake had asked him to participate in her little "switch-a-roo". I tried to help him for a bit but he just couldn't do it. We were literally doing the first two measures over and over again. As often happens, something "clicks" and by learning the first phrase he could make his way through the rest of the song.

 He has been diligently working on it all week. I am really proud of him and his hard work. And I am thankful for a great piano teacher and music leader that helps inspire my son to learn and grow (and have a fun time doing it).

January 27 - February 02, 2013

Sunday night was the Young Women's "New Beginnings" program.  It was a beautiful night celebrating the new theme "Stand Ye in Holy Places".  This is from the scripture D&C 87:8, "Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen."  One of the Young Women prepared a slide show of the girls standing in their "holy places".... their homes... their schools ...with their friends. It was beautiful.  The leaders gave each girl a cute coral-colored tee (see E3 wearing hers above).  E3 wore hers to school the next day and reported her entire Young Women's group was wearing theirs as well.

 

Tuesday E2 and E3 truly did stand in a holy place as they had the chance to do baptisms in the Manti temple.  E1 is a great example for them as she and her roommates have made it a goal to go to the temple once per week.  They have been fairly successful considering the demands on their time. 

 

E2 and E3 got home in time to help us film N's entry for the Reflections contest for his school. Yes, it was due the NEXT DAY.  For one of his Webelos projects he wrote a puppet show and made puppets for it so we decided to film it for an entry in the contest.  It is a story about aliens, and honestly it doesn't make a lot of sense to us old people but everyone under the age of 12 that has heard the play thinks it is pretty darn funny. 

 

Wednesday was N's last basketball game. He has grown a lot as a player. He hadn't really wanted to play but decided it was pretty fun after all.  Oh I love it when I'm right.  One of the mom's of his teammates approached me about sending him to Jimmer's basketball camp this summer with her son so we'll have to check it out.

 

Darren took N skiing Thursday.  Darren reported this was the cheapest skiing trip he'd ever been on as Eagle Mountain doesn't charge for lift tickets on Thursday, we had the skis already so didn't have to rent anything, we received a $50 rebate on our contact lenses which paid for the gas, and he packed a lunch.    N LOVED the experience and reported his all time favorite sports are now:  FOOTBALL, SKIING, SWIMMING, and BASKETBALL.  The weather was gorgeous, there were few skiiers, and the skiiers they did see were mostly friends and neighbors.  It was a perfect day.

 

Friday E2 left for State Drill. Darren worked at the event center.  N did his chores and then played with his friends. Sonja cleaned house and did laundry.  Can you say EXCITING??  I was actually motivated to get my work done as E1 came home Saturday morning for the weekend.  She is full of energy and just makes things fun at our house.  She took N to a chess tournament (another Webelos activity) and played with him.  She took E3 and N to dinner and bowling while D and I attended our friend Blake Zobell's 50th birthday dinner and party.  His wife Susan and I get mixed up for each other ALL THE TIME and from the picture of the two of us above, it's easy to see why. 

 

I hope you all had a great week!