Recital for Joyanne

Joyanne did a beautiful job playing her 2 pieces at her piano recital.

She is excelling at the piano, and still loves it so much.

We checked out the animal shelter beforehand.

The kids always enjoy seeing the animals.

The only problem is that we want to adopt all the animals.

The park was close by, so a run in the park helped the kids get out their wiggles before the recital.

Friday nights are often movie nights, so the kids settled down to a movie just before bed.

An adventurous walk

Grant, Possum and I went for a LONG walk in the fields behind our subdivision.

Grant just wanted to keep going and going.

Usually he's ready to head home after a short while.

We were gone for about an hour.

Grant was curious to see where the path went.

We kept going until the trail stopped at a farm.

There were cows mooing very loudly, and they followed us along the fence line.

The walk was the most enjoyable one I've been on with Grant.

Soccer Teams

Jaden and his soccer team

Joyanne and her soccer team

Lehi Fun Center

James had fun blowing up some BIG balloons he got.

He looks like a balloon man at the circus.

We spent the afternoon at the Lehi Fun Center.

The kids had fun on the rides.

Grant was a superstar on the race cars and had a smashing good time crashing into Noah.

Loving Soccer

Joyanne, Jaden and Grant are just loving soccer so much.

It makes for a busy week with soccer practices and games.

Thankfully it's only 6 weeks.

Each week there are 2 games for each Joyanne and Jaden and 1 game for Grant.

But they love it!

We have had a horrendously, crazy busy 2 weeks.

Enough to overwhelm Daddy and me.

Thankfully things seem to be slowing down just a little bit.

We are surviving through it all.

I sure couldn't keep up with it all without Daddy.

That being said, I'm still not keeping up with it all, but trying to prioritize by doing what is best.

Doing Good Things

Dad saw Hiram after school and said, "We'd better take a picture. The men in our family don't grow such great mustaches as that!"

Our lives are very full and busy right now.

Joyanne just had a recital for her students last week.

She has been busy teaching piano, taking piano herself, finishing up her online math course, participating in Comedy Club, doing Soccer and doing play practice for "Fiddler on the Roof".

Noah has been staying on top of school, piano, scouts, Young Mens stuff and babysitting his brothers more frequently.

Hiram also babysits a bit because Noah and Joyanne are not always around.

He earned his Webelos in scouts last month and is now working toward his arrow of light.

 He also is trying to finish reading 10 more 150 page books for this school year, to make a total of 60 read the whole year.

He recently finished all 7 of the Harry Potter books.

Jaden loves soccer and does well.

Scouts has been fun and now Jaden is working towards his Bear.

He is also excelling at the piano.

He is finishing up Harry Potter book 6.

He likes to play around on the calculator and come up with cool math tricks.

James has learned quite a bit of Spanish this year and loves his Spanish class.

He is also a good brother to Grant and plays with him quite a bit.

Grant is learning to read and doing quite well.

He takes a nap maybe once a week.

He likes to be with people and always wants to play games.

He is so excited to be in soccer and is thrilled when it's game day.

Soccer and Family Party

Joyanne and Jaden had soccer games in the brisk, cold morning.

Joyanne went after the ball with a vengeance, trying her best to play well.

She has really enjoyed playing and keeps trying to improve.

Jaden played very well.

He played goalie for the first half and didn't let the ball get in once.

He blocked it from going in 3 times and could kick the ball clear to the middle of the field.

During the second half, Jaden scored 2 goals right in a row.

He knows how to trick his opponents and maneuver the ball right around them.

We had a family gathering in the afternoon.

It's fun to visit and play games.

Can I just say that life has been so busy lately.

Trying to stay on top of it all had been impossible.

But, I've felt the Lord's help as I pray and seek his help.

I've been blessed with the ability to do things I couldn't ordinarily do.

My Hiram, County Delegate Convention

Hiram had a school program with his grade.

He sang so well and had his speaking part memorized.

Way to go, Hiram!

I am a County Delegate for my precinct and was able to attend our County Convention.

Governor Herbert was there along with Orrin Hatch and many others who work for the State.

First we were able to meet and talk personally with the candidates and ask them questions.

They gave us free shirts, pens, water bottles, candy, ice cream, rolls and donuts.

It was quite the party!

Then we sat and listened to each candidate speak for five minutes.

I'm learning a lot about politics and am enjoying learning about the process.

Getting Garden Ready

What a gorgeous day to rake and hoe and rototill the garden area.

Daddy also sprayed the weeds.

Grant worked right beside us, having fun playing in the dirt.

He was fascinated by the bugs and worms, and even the garden snake they found.

Out family is an outdoor family.

We love to do whatever in the outdoors.

The kids play outside every chance they get.

Little Soccer Star!

Grant was thrilled to play his first game of soccer.

His brothers and sister were only too eager to teach Grant how to play.

Grant was a fast learner.

Grant was goalie first.

He did amazing!

He never let the ball get in the goal.

When the ball would come near, he'd fall down on top of it, then pick it up and chuck it way over his head into the field.

It didn't matter what team had the ball.

Grant would zoom in and kick the ball.

Sometimes he'd kick it the wrong direction, but he was good about going after the ball.

I can't believe my little boy is growing up so fast!

I have no more babies or even toddlers at my house anymore.

Spring Break

Wow! What a very fun, memorable Spring Break we had!

After visiting my friend, Elizabeth Spotten, we enjoyed a peaceful evening swimming at Crystal Hot Springs on Wednesday.

The water was so warm and refreshing.

Grant and James particularly liked the waterslides.

But, Thursday was probably the downright, BEST day of our break.

Daddy splurged with some of our tax returns and he bought a new tv.

(Early birthday present for him!) ;)

He also bought a water toy the kids play with outside.

Then, I bought a new device for $40.

(There were some great sales at Shopko that day.)

And, to top it all off, we also got a dual DVD player for our car.

Then at 10am, on Thursday, We all hopped in the car and drove to Thanksgiving Point to enjoy the last day of our pass before it expired.

First we went to Ashton Gardens to see the tulips and other flowers coming on.

They were beautiful!

There were waterfalls to enjoy and green hills to climb and run down.

We also went to the Dinosaur museum there.

Then we watched Kung Fu Panda III to give ourselves a little rest.

Afterwards, we hung out at the Musuem of Natural Curiousity one last time.

Noah and Daddy had fun building a big Lego home.

Thursday night we were all tuckered out, so Friday was a nice relaxing day at home.

But Daddy surprised the kids on Saturday night at 8:30pm with a run in our pjs to Artic Circle for some Sour Patch Shakes.

What yummy fun!

Outdoor Fun!

The weather was gorgeous, so for our Spring Break, we went out and enjoyed it!

Daddy is a great tennis player, so he took the tykes out and taught them a few things.

We all had lots at fun just trying to get the ball over the net.

Later on we went hiking nearby and explored a mountainside.

We had fun, but we were exhausted afterwards.

We're loving this fun Spring Break!

General Conference

We all looked forward to General Conference, but it went by way too fast.

The talks were so inspiring and uplifting.

The kids also enjoyed doing various quiet activities, like Legos, writing and coloring.

Grant had fun seeing me in his butterfly glasses.

We had some friends over for dinner on Sunday after enjoying watching Conference with them.

Happy April Fools Day!

We had a ward Spaghetti dinner/talent show where the young women made delicious desserts for people to buy or donate money for girls' camp.

Joyanne's 2 cakes were the very first to be bought and sold.

Grant was happy to eat out at McDonald's for lunch.

And I attempted to trick the kids by putting a rubber band on the spray nosel at the sink so when you try to turn on the water, it sprays the person.

Yeah, I was the one who got tricked!

I forgot it was there.

After I just barely finished cleaning the floor, I went to fill a pot with water and soaked myself, the ceiling, the fridge and cupboard, and it even broke a light bulb.

So the joke's on me! ;)