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.

The Happy Farmer

Janey had her spring violin recital this week, where she played "The Happy Farmer." Mom did NOT accompany her this time, but paid a professional accompanist. Best $20 I ever spent! Janey did a great job and it's fun to hear her talents grow.

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A Little Bit Country

 Finally! There was finally enough snow to go Cross Country Skiing. We got a killer deal over the holidays and outfitted the family in cross country ski equipment for a fraction of the original cost. Since it's one of our favorite winter activities, we were very excited. And then . . . no snow! Can you believe March 3rd was the first chance we had to try out the new skis? The little girls LOVED it and we had so much fun! Hopefully we'll get some more skiing in this season. I just hope it doesn't snow in July to make up for the late start!

Happy Birthday Analese!

Analese turned 18 this week! It has been such a pleasure to have her live with us this semester. She is a delight and working very hard in school. We had so much fun celebrating with her on her big day. She also got many calls from family and friends wishing her well. What a beautiful young woman!

It's Official

I guess once something goes out on Facebook it's official. That's were Whitney announced to the world that she has decided to attend BYU Provo! She had been leaning toward BYU Idaho for it's smaller class sizes and cheaper tuition, and even accepted their offer and chose a track. Then the official acceptance came for BYU Provo and she was much more excited about attending there in the end.

Steve and I drove down with her on Saturday and checked out all her dorm options. It was fun to tour the campus with her and a flood of memories came to me as we toured the dorms I used to live in. Sadly they have torn down the actual building I dormed in with my friends, but we walked into one that still stands and it smelled just the same! Whitney chose a different, more updated dorm option that I believe will suit her well. We are very excited for her to start in the fall. I know she will have a wonderful experience. We are very proud of you Whitney!

Issue 197

For the Birds

Presidents' day we took our 4th Annual excursion to see the Bald Eagles migrate through the Bird refuge in Farmington. We also identified 15 other birds for the boy's Bird Study Merit Badge. My favorite was the brilliant yellow Western Meadowlark we saw. This year we got to show Analese the birding ropes and Steve's sister Emily and her kids joined us last minute, for a very enjoyable day.

For 3 Saturdays every February the boys attend a Merit Badge Pow Wow. This year Steve decided to share his love of birding by leading the Bird Study Merit Badge class. He put a lot into making it a successful and fun class, and both Steve and Daniel were able to earn the badge. I hope Steve will teach it every year and pay forward the love of nature and birding that was instilled in him by a talented and caring science teacher long ago.

Night at the Museum

This is Ellie pointing to her "Reflections" entry, "What Diversity Means to Me." She wrote about her paining: "I like to dance and my best friend likes to sing. Diversity is Fun." Her entry won for the first grade and went on to the district competition.



Janey and Ellie got to show off their art work at their school's "Night at the Museum." Janey's grade also gave a recital on their recorders. I have the chance to teach art lessons once a month in Ellie's class, and the penguin picture above is one of the projects I did with the first graders. The girls are both very creative and talented artists.

Issue 196