Issue 23

Mommy and Me by Ellie age 4

Ellie handed me this portrait of us the other day and said, "Here mommy, will you put this on your blog?" I am fascinated with the evolution of her artistic ability. This week, on her own, she has gone from stick figures to people with bodies, fingers and hair. I know there is a natural progression in the way children learn to draw and now I'm interested in studying the reasons behind it.

Go Cougars!

Andy and Marsha (Steve's parents) invited us to the BYU vs. UNLV football game on Saturday. It can all be described in one word. Perfect. Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect to have my husband to myself all afternoon, and a perfectly suspenseful ending to a fun football game. (BYU won, but it was dicey to the end.) Thanks for the invite. Go Cougars!

Speech Competion

Clubs are an important part of our family's education. Janey participates in Liberty Girls, the boys attend Knights of Freedom and Steve and Whitney participate in Statesman Club. All of the clubs belong to American Youth Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization that seeks to build Statesman. I am privileged to be a co-leader for the SL Statesman Club this year that Steve L. attends. The youth learn public speaking, parliamentary procedure, have book groups, compete in Mock Trials, the Freedom Bowl (Jeopardy style competition on the Declaration or Constitution) and participate in a week long government simulation.

Thursday was our club's speech competition. The youth wrote and delivered two minute speeches on Benjamin Franklin. Our contest was judged by the very gracious president of the SL Toastmaster's Group. Steve L. competed and did a stellar job! He has a natural talent for public speaking and really enjoys himself. The judge scored him 96 out of 100 and said he had "perfect vocal variety." His score won him a spot at the statewide Statesman Club speech competition in Dec. (managed this year by yours truly.) Way to go Steve! (I feel a public speaking merit badge coming on.)

Shallow Leaves by Steve L.

Steve L. got creative while raking our inaugural leaf pile of the season.

L&P and Hot Water Beach by Noreen

Our favorite beverage in New Zealand is called L&P, a Sprite type drink (only much better) bottled in Paroa from their spring water. We couldn't resist a tourist picture with a giant bottle while passing through town. Their label claims "World Famous in New Zealand!"

Our next stop was Hot Water Beach. Because of an underground lava flow you can dig down a couple of feet in the sand and reach positively HOT water. Sometimes you burrow down with your feet and jump back out with singed toes. Come prepared with a shovel and dig yourself a whole. It fills with very warm water and you have your own jacuzzi!

To see a map of the places we traveled so far in this series, click on this link: <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=-40.359103,172.875366&spn=8.067848,12.128906&z=6&msid=116765397961150020384.000451b63510a46db34d4>

Issue 22

Our Family "Staycation"

Whitney had a long weekend off from High School and we had been trying to come up with a family vacation to take advantage of the time. It wasn't enough time to go very far and none of the ideas we came up with really appealed to us. We added up what 3 nights hotel and gas would cost us and decided to follow the national trend and take a "staycation." We invited everyone to pick one activity that they would like to do during the weekend, to make it fun, and took a vacation from the comfort of our own home.

Dad picked touring downtown Salt Lake City. What a great State we live in! We picked Dad up from the airport Friday morning (he was returning from a business trip to California) and we toured the Joseph Smith Memorial building. We enjoyed the view of the Temple from the 10th floor.

Then we toured the Church History and Art museum. This is one of Noreen's favorite paintings there.

From the roof top of the Conference Center. After touring we stopped at the Lion House Pantry for a great lunch.

Whitney picked going to a corn maze. We had never been to one before, and had fun finding all 10 markers (although not in order) in the maze.

Dad spent Saturday afternoon building our family a "Kubb" (rhymes with cube) lawn game. He had played it at the scout Jamboral and it's so fun to have our own set. I think of Kubb as a cross between lawn bowling, horse shoes and chess. We took our new game with us to Steve's parents' home where we spent the night and played lots of rounds. It was so nice to spend time with Grandparents and go to their ward the next day.

Daniel chose Discovery Gateway the Children's museum. Dad had never been, so it was fun to explore it with him on Monday.

Discovery Gateway was Ellie's choice too. Monday was her birthday and it was such a joy to spend the whole day together doing fun things.

Steve L. picked having a read-a-thon, so we stopped at the store for some mostly healthy snacks and the library for piles of books. Janey picked swimming, which we are going to do for Family Night on Monday, because we just ran out of time to do so many fun things.

Mom picked going to The Spaghetti Factory for dinner. It was a fun way to celebrate Ellie's birthday - with meatballs almost as big as her! We had a delightful and relaxing 4 days together and the "staycation" was declared a success!

Ellie Turns 4!

Ellie is so proud to tell everyone she meets that now she's 4! She somehow got magically even cuter and more precocious on her birthday, which I didn't even know was possible.

Ellie is all about princesses. Mom and Dad got her the Fisher Price Castle and Carriage.

Her siblings went in on a Littlest Pet Shop Vet center and Janey made her a pretty fleece scarf in Liberty Girls.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Body Worlds by Whitney

This week, as a school field trip, I went to see Body Worlds. Body Worlds is an educational exhibit on the human body and it has real bodies! What they do is that when people are alive they fill out a form and go through a lot of lawyers and stuff that says they want to donate their body to science. Then years later when they die their body is plastified. Plastification is when all the fluids in the body are drained and replaced leaving behind a perfect replica of the human body. And since the dehydration goes down to the cellular level, it really is just about 100% plastic. It's not really gross at all. They didn't allow photography, so I don't have any photos. Sorry.

Body Worlds has has four exhibits that travel the world. The exhibits are really big! It took us three hours to go through ours. One is in Texas, another in Canada and on in London and of course one in Utah. They all have a different theme. The one I went to was about the heart, so it had a lot of stuff on veins and blood clots and vein structure. It conveys the utmost importance of staying healthy and keeping in shape.

I recommend it to others! I wouldn't put an age limit on it as much as a maturity limit. The body's don't have clothes on, so the mind set needs to be geared to learning, but I would recommend it to older kids. I thought it was fascinating and I appreciate the learning experience I was able to get.

Issue 21

Soccer by Daniel and Janey

(Note by Mom: Daniel and Janey both played fall soccer this year. They were both assets to their teams. Daniel prefers to play defender and is a great goalie just like his dad, and where ever the ball is, you'll find Janey. She scored at least 2 goals this season and was always focused and working hard.)

Daniel in the white socks. I still haven't figured out how large, neon green socks get lost in the wash!

Soccer was really fun. I played goalie and defender a lot. My number was number 2. It was really fun, but I didn't score any goals in the season. My last game is on Saturday. I love playing soccer.

-Daniel

Janey is tenacious number 5. This group plays beehive ball, meaning regardless of positions, both teams huddle in mass around the ball, getting in each other's way and not kicking the ball very far because of the congestion.

Our team won our final game and lots more games. I scored two goals and that made me feel happy. The other team was called blue lightning and our team was called the sliver sharks. It's fun to play soccer. Sometimes it was hot and sometimes it was cold when we played.

Dinos and Trees by Ellie age 3

This is my favorite picture of Ellie's to date. She told me she was drawing the trees (with faces) BEHIND the dinosaurs. I think this is an amazing understanding of perspective for a 3 year old. And the sun - it just makes me happy!

Labour of Love by Noreen

After our whirl-wind 3 1/2 week tour of the South Island we booked it back to the North Island in time for the Labour Missionary Reunion held at the GRB and Kai Hall next to the Temple. We had a delightful time meeting the wonderful Labor Missionaries who had worked with Grandpa B building the temple, church college and chapels in NZ, more than 50 years ago. Many remembered my Dad as a little boy, and all sent love and well wishes to him and Grandma B.

Steve had volunteered his services and they used him almost every minute, photographing groups or video taping missionary's memories and testimonies and was even asked to speak at one of the meetings. The food was wonderful and everyone enjoyed talking to our children. One auntie adopted Daniel for the day and wanted to take him home. He sat by her and helped clear all the tables after meals and another woman gave him a beautiful bone carved necklace. He was so fascinated with the different amulets everyone wore and what the stood for. The highlight for me was the Sunday Night fireside held in the GRB Hall, built in honor of and named after my Grandfather. I was only a few months old when he passed away, but I felt close to him as I sat in the GRB with his handsome portrait smiling down on the proceedings. Steve is was excited about the book he was asked to lead for the Labor Missionary Foundation and we feel like this is one of the main reasons we were able to go to New Zealand at this time.

Our family at the GRB hall. Grandpa B's picture is the largest one in the background.

Daniel and his adopted Auntie.

Some of the amazing Labour Missionaries we had the privilege to meet.



To see a map of the places we traveled so far in this series, click on this link: <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=-40.359103,172.875366&spn=8.067848,12.128906&z=6&msid=116765397961150020384.000451b63510a46db34d4>

Issue 20