Issue 18

George Winston by Steve L.

On Friday I went to a really nice piano concert with my Mom. We went out and ate dinner at a nice restaurant and then we went to a really nice concert hall (The Covey Arts Center). We sat in our seats, in the balcony, and listened to the music. The audience LOVED the music. (Same here!) I thought he played some really fun music and some beautiful pieces too. My favorite piece was called The Mouse and the Elephant. It was really, really fun. I’m excited that I’m starting piano lessons.

Father ‘n Son’s Camp Out by Daniel

We went on a father and son camp out and it was very, very, cool. When we got there we set up our tent and we played some games with the ward and went on lots of hikes. During the night time we made s’mores and sat around told ghost stories. We brought some candy, but we realized there were bears there that would attack you in your tent for food, so we had to put it in our car overnight. We slept in a tent and built a fire in the morning, but it was hard because it had rained. We used a piece of rope as a fire starter. After that we had breakfast and drove home.

The Gift of Music by Whitney

(Note by Mom: Steve took Whitney on a date to The Gift of Music concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony. Actually it was supposed to me my date, but I had food poisoning and Whitney was my proxy. NO FAIR!)



As my dad and I walked into the L.D.S. Conference Center, I almost stopped walking. It was magnificent, with it’s high dome ceiling, the mammoth organ, all the lights, three tiers of seats, capable of holding thousands. We had some of the best seats. I liked the soloist Brian Stokes the best. He was an impressive vocalist, and you could tell he had his breathing technique mastered. Sometimes he would make motions to throw out his voice and you could feel the emotion in it.

Discovery Gateway by Janey

On Steve’s Birthday he wanted to go to the Children’s Museum. We played in a ball thing, and made music (Mary had a little lamb) on the giant xylophone. Then we went and played with some large stuffed blocks. We put them on a crane that lifted them to another spot. Then we went upstairs and we did some fun stuff and then we checked out a helicopter and then it was time to go to Liberty Girls. My favorite part was the ball machine, where you would put a ball in it and it would suck it up and go through tubes and empty into buckets.

Discovering the Ball Machine

Building a city

Piloting the Lifeflight Helicopter

The Big 12!

The roaring inferno!

Steve L. turned twelve this week. It seems he is hitting a new milestone every other day. After attending his first Young Men's meeting with his Dad's scout troop we celebrated with the traditional cake and ice cream and of course a few gifts. His siblings pooled their money for a cool Lego set (I'm so glad 12 isn't too old for Legos) and we gave him a cash lock box (with a little seed money) and a fishing pole worthy of a merit badge. It is a delight to see him challenging himself and entering his scholar phase in school. HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!

Issue 17

Stingrays by Janey

My favorite part of the aquarium is always the stingrays because they look cool and they feel cool. I loved being with my cousins Bryn and Sam for the day.

Jamboral by Steve L.

On Friday I went to the Boy Scout Jamboral. They only do it every 4 years, so I was glad to go.

PIN TRADING

When we got there they gave us some pins & an eagle badge with the eagle missing.

We had to trade our pins for others until we had enough pins to fill the eagle.

The camps were FILLED with scouts yelling:

LEFT WING! DOES ANYBODY NEED A LEFT WING!

I NEED A RIGHT TALON!

DOES ANYBODY HAVE A HEAD?

It was fun.

Lightstashes!

The fire works were AWESOME !

We were so close to were they launching them

they looked like they were right on top of us !

flag parade

TONS of games

Reach for the Stars by Whitney

Last Friday there was a school dance (Called Reach for the Stars) to celebrate the first week of school. It was really fun, and I went with my Friend Aubry.We got there on time and where one of the first 100 people there so we got a free piece of pizza! There where Irish dancers and there were fireworks that we watched that were at the Scout Jamboree down the road. I stayed up till 11:00 and was really tired.

The first two weeks of school have been awesome! I am taking algebra, choir, photography, and world history on "A" day, and leadership, seminary, biology, and English on "B" day.

I was nominated by the school board to be on the school senate! I'm the only freshman in the senate! It is cool and I can't wait for the rest of the school year!

(Note by Mom: We are very excited for Whitney to have the chance be in the school senate. She had to impress the socks off her mentor and the School's Vision Director in order to be chosen for the Senate, because their are only about 15 of them they don't typically choose Freshmen. Way to go Whitney. We know you'll do a great job!)

Me and Aubry.

In our neighborhood they ride bikes in the cul-de-sac. In Aubry's they ride horses!

Ellie loves horses!

Court of Honor

Steve received two rank advancements (Tenderfoot and 2nd Class) and two merit badges (Collections and Family Life) at his Court of Honor this week. This represents months of hard work, especially the swimming requirement. Yeah Steve!

Of course we had to celebrate after with some ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for being there!

One of the many requirements for Steve's Family Life Badge was to do a project that would improve your home. Steve chose to weed our sadly neglected sand box. It took him SEVERAL hours over a couple of weeks to complete. This project not only beautified our back yard but contributed to our heath and safety. The little girls could hardly swing anymore and that is where the very expensive vet bill came from (fox tail seed caught in Cooper's ear.)

Thanks Steve!

Before

After

Space Battle by Daniel

Caravan Life

Watch for the next post in this series next week. (Needs more work and I'm getting sleepy!) If you have missed any of our posts about our New Zealand experience so far, you can click on the New Zealand Memoirs link to catch up.

I am also hoping for an ice cream review next week for all of you who have been asking. First I need Steve in town (he has been traveling for work and doing scout camps) then he needs to buy ice cream and sit down and eat it, then I can get him to write about it. Wish me luck!

Issue 16

My Family by Ellie age 3

Janey taught Ellie how to draw stick figures this week, and Ellie promptly made dozens of family portraits. It impresses me that she not only has the right number of people in our family, but she proportionally represents their heights. I love to see her little brain at work!