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.