Issue 154

A Milestone!

Whitney got a nice new haircut, and an invited on her first official date this week. (Yes, I made them endure a photo!) I'm not sure if it was a bigger milestone for Whitney or her mom! Her date is a great young man and they had fun ice skating and playing games. I seriously can't be old enough to have a 16 year old!

Issue 153

Easter Memories

Noreen with Grandma's Easter Egg Tree (and a crying cousin) in 1978

Growing up, my Grandma's Easter Egg Tree was the stuff of legends. I loved each of the beautiful, hollowed out eggs, made into ornaments. Some were made into little baskets with flowers, and others held dioramas inside glittered backgrounds. There were jeweled eggs and scribbled eggs made by 2 year-olds. A class from the local Elementary would take a field trip to Grandma's house just to see the famous Easter Egg tree.

I remember my mom carefully poking small holes with a little nut pick in opposite ends of a washed egg and blowing the insides out so we could decorate them. This is the first Easter since Grandma passed away and I wanted to put up my own Easter Egg tree in her memory. I salvaged a broken tree limb from our corkscrew willow and secured it in a pot with Plaster of Paris. I was fortunate to inherit some of Grandma's ornaments that had survived through the years. It was like a treasure hunt to go through the eggs and see that some were made by my mom and aunts and uncles 50 or more years ago. There were so many eggs, I was only able to hang about a quarter of them. I'm going to have to get a much bigger tree next year!



Saturday we spent the day with Steve's side of the family and celebrated the holiday with a cousin's Easter Egg hunt and fabulous food.

Sunday afternoon we got to spend with Noreen's side of the family and had another delightful egg hunt and more fabulous food! This is the stuff childhood memories are made of!

Steve is always so wonderful every year to tell the events of the Savior's last week to the children, and remind them of the symbols of Easter. We are grateful for our Savior and his Atonement for us. Wishing you a wonderful Easter!

Issue 152

Biking a Marathon

Dad and Daniel went to scout camp this weekend. They found a great biking trail along the Jordan River in Utah County and biked around 26 miles. That equals marathon!

And She's Off!

Ellie took off in a big way this weekend! She's been determined to ride her bike without training wheels. She's braved late snow and taken anyone out that would hold her up while she practiced. Janey was the one with the magic touch, and Saturday the girls went out on a gorgeous afternoon and within minutes Ellie was riding on her own! Within a half hour she had upgraded to a bigger bike than the one in the picture and was riding all the way around the block.

Today, Sunday, Ellie begged dad to let her read something on his iPad. They pulled up the Children's Friend and much to our shock, she sounded out an entire big column of a story! You could almost see the light switch flip in her brain that turned on her reading. It was her shear determination that was the most impressive. Way to go Ellie!

Issue 151

1st Place!

Janey had her second dance competition this weekend. She was in two clogging dances (two different divisions) and both took first place! It's fun to see her dance her little heart out on stage. Besides having to drive an hour in the early morning in the snow (did someone forget to tell mother nature it's April?), and gluing her eyes shut while I tried to put on her fake eyelashes, we had a wonderful time. Here is a very blurry and far away picture of her "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" dance. Iphone probably wasn't the best camera choice. :)

Issue 150

Worms Take 3rd Place!

Whitney entered her High School's Student Showcase again this year. She knew it would be hard to top her first place needle felting entry from last year, but she went for it. She studied the silk making process and raised silk worms for a couple months and harvested their silk. She put together quite the presentation. You are judged not only on your project but on how well you present it to the judges. She came away with third place, $50 and a desire to never see another silk worm again! Way to go Whitney!

Issue 148

A Birthday Down South

Janey had her first Dance Competition in St. George this weekend. It also happened to be over her birthday, so we took the whole family down to celebrate! Janey did a great job in both of her dances.

We took time to visit the Jacob Hamblin home and the Family History Center and did a little family history.

We also explored the gorgeous sand dunes at Snow Canyon. They have miles of amazing bike trails, and we decided we must come back to camp with bikes.

We celebrated Janey's birthday twice. Once with her best friend (also on her clogging team) over Chinese food the night before, and then the day of in Zion's National park. She asked for her own cooking supplies, and is now one outfitted chef!

We've been to Zion's many times over the years, but never in March before. We were surprised by the beautiful waterfalls from the snow run-off. A delightful vacation!

Issue 147

Luck O' the Irish

Janey and Ellie spent a couple weeks making leprechaun traps for St. Patrick's Day. They were very hopeful that they would catch a little green man this year. For their efforts they got some chocolate gold coins, but no leprechauns this year! Ellie's kindergarten put on a delightful program for the holiday and I was especially impressed with Ellie's sign language on a couple of the songs.