Issue 202

Happy April Fools Day!

We enjoyed a lovely General Conference weekend watching from home. It was 80 degrees on Saturday and then Snowed on Sunday. Ah, spring in Utah!

I served the kid's our traditional April Fool's day sushi for dessert. (Rice krispy treats with gummy worm seafood and Fruit by the Foot seaweed. I hope all your tricks were sweet!

Principal's Pride

Janey was awarded the Principal's Pride award for working so hard to get a 100% on her last spelling test!

Happy Birthday Janey!

Wow, Janey is 10! She requested a vanilla cake with jelly beans and gummy bears. Sweet, just like Janey!

Ballroom Dancing

The hardest thing for Analese to give up to come live with us to finish high school, was her ballroom dance team in Idaho. The team was traveling through Utah on their Spring Break tour and performed at an assisted living center in American Fork. We all went down for family night to see them and they had Analese join them in a couple dances that she knew. She did a wonderful job and is a beautiful dancer.

A Star and a Silver Palm

At their last court of honor the boys earned new rank advancements. Daniel earned several merit badges and his Star Rank. Steve also increased his merit badge count and earned his Silver Palm, the highest ranking palm in scouting. Way to go boys!

Issue 201

Young Womens' Broadcast and City Creek

Whitney and Analese got tickets to the Young Womens' General Conference downtown. It was Analese's first time attending an event at the Conference Center and they both enjoyed the messages of the conference.

Steve and I drove them downtown and spent the evening at the new City Creek Center, the gorgeous new outdoor mall and city center across from temple square. We took the girls over after the conference and we were treated to an out door concert by Eclipse, a vocal group we really enjoy. We look forward to taking the whole family downtown on trax to show them City Creek.

Issue 200!

Relief Society Birthday

Laura invited us to a Relief Society Birthday celebration at This is the Place State Park. With both Whitney and Analese getting ready to join Relief Society soon, I thought it would be nice to bring them. We heard faith promoting stories of pioneer women from sisters in pioneer dress and saw an amazing quilt display. Too bad Laura didn't feel well enough to join us. We missed you Laura!

Birthday Fun

Steve and I got away to Southern Utah for a couple nights to celebrate his birthday. We couldn't find any Marriott nights available in St. George so we stayed in Cedar City and then drove into St. George for the day. I mentioned to Steve Saturday morning that I found out why we couldn't get a hotel. I said, "Apparently there is an air show in St. George, the "Angel somethings", so all the hotels are taken." He said, "You mean the BLUE ANGELS!?!" So, we made our way to the greatest air show ever. We parked just outside the grounds in the airport parking area and had the best seat for free, to a really amazing show. Too bad we only had our pathetic iphone cameras to try to capture it. (Got to remember to bring the real camera on vacation!) After an especially amazing trick, I said, "Let's just pretend that I planned this for your birthday, OK?"

We also got to go to the movies, meet his sister Becca (who happened to be in St. George too) for lunch, birthday shop and and have a great dinner.

The best birthday present, I think was how well the kids did while we were away. On the way home we called to check in and they had put dinner in the crock pot, made the birthday brownies, cleaned the house, decorated and wrapped presents and were all ready for church! It's nice to have 3 responsible teenagers in the house. After church we had a nice birthday celebration for dad. Happy Birthday Honey!

Issue 199

Ski Camp

Steve took the scouts to his favorite place to cross country ski on this beautiful weekend. We don't have any snow anymore (it was 60 degrees) but there was plenty of snow in the mountains. I'm so glad he loves to camp and be outdoors with the boys! It's such a great experience for all of them.

Capital Experience

Whitney and her best friend Natalie had the opportunity to be interns for the Legislative session at the Capital for the last several weeks. I'm so glad she had such a great opportunity to see our government in action. It meant LOTS of extra driving for mom, but it was worth it.

"I just finished my internship with the conservative watchdog group Eagle Forum. I went up to capitol hill twice a week to help track bills and shadow professional lobbyists. It was awesome being at the capitol all the time because of all the different people you would meet, from open carry gun men with an opinion, to professional falconers, to gay/animal rights activists to Taiwan ambassadors. It was also pretty cool to be in a committee meeting and then later that afternoon hear the local new station reporting on it. :)"

Little Chemist

Ellie found Daniel's old chemistry set in a cupboard above the fridge. I'm not sure what she was looking for up there, but she's been begging me to let her experiment with it ever since. So Saturday we broke it out and she had all kinds of fun creating different colors with her chemical reactions. She expected to blow something up, and Janey acted like Ellie was likely to kill herself at any moment, but I assured them it was all safe if they didn't sniff, taste or splash in their eyes. Ellie was filled with wonder with every fizz or color change and took her experimenting very seriously.