Shakespeare At Its Best

Jarom's sixth grade class performed the Shakespear play, 'As You Like It'.  They did a great job with backdrops and memorizing all their parts.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  I was subbing for the other sixth grade teacher that day so I was able to watch with all the other students.  I also got to see other sixth grade classes perform their chosen plays as well.  Wow, lot of work, but they were awesome.

The final scene they all got up and did the Harlem Shake.  I don't know how to get video off my phone and on to here, but it was pretty fun.

Basketball Season

This season we had 3 kids playing Jr. Jazz basketball.  Rian, Jarom and Raegan.  Tarin wanted to be in the school play so she chose that over basketball, more on that mid March.

Trent decided to coach Jarom's team and had a great season.  Most all of the kids are in Jarom's school, so there was already good chemistry. 

Raegan just had a blast.  She's our social one and just all round happy girl.

Her team was a lot of fun.  Most of them this was their first year doing basketball, so it was fun to watch.  Not all were there for the last game, so this was all we got.

Daddy also had his fun with Church basketball...sheesh, these guys get very serious about this game.

Rian had fun, but struggled a little. I think she did a great job for what she was dealt.  This was her first year ever playing, and it was hard for her to keep up.  She knew several girls from school so that helped.  But the coach didn't really play for fun, he was all about winning, sadly, she didn't play as much as she should have.  But I still think she enjoyed being on a team and learning the game.

Best picture I was able to get.

El Clase' de Espanol

When we moved to Georgia, one thing I especially missed from the Utah environment were the community classes offered by UVSC, now UVU.  These classes are amazing.  I learned how to cut my own kids hair, or took a ceramics class...loved them.  So moving back here it was the first thing I looked for.  It wasn't til now that I'm able to take advantage of this opportunity, but I'm so glad to benefit from it.  I've always wanted to learn a new language, and Spanish seemed the most practical and "easiest" to start.  Well, with only the knowledge of one semester in high school and Trent's association with Mexicans in his construction business back in Georgia, I have a lot to learn.  I only have 8 classes (2 hrs each) to soak up what I can...before paying for another session.  Luckily, a few brothers and brothers-in-law and a texting amiga from class, I'm doing my best to learn.

Every morning, I sit at the table to do a little studying, and Leona is right there to help me.  She fights with my pencil and suns on my notebook.  I think she's trying to give me a message.

Activity Days

Things have been a little busy...in a good way.  I'm up to 3 callings in the ward, which they try to discourage, but if they asked me to give one up, I don't know which one it would be.  I'm in the RS activity board, which I love because it keeps my foot in the door with "grown ups" since my other two callings are in Primary.  I teach the 8 soon to be 9 yr olds in Primary, and love it!  Especially since those girls will be in my Activity Days class as they turn 9.  (Three Activity Day groups 8, 9 and 10-11 yr olds) Seriously, I'm having so much fun learning right along with them.  Activity Days is brand new to me, so I'm up for the challenge to learn and be creative.  For a long time I never really knew what Activity Days was or what was really going on, so I took that and decided to be more organized.  (Of course I knew what it is for, but felt in the dark)  The girls are doing reminder calls, and taking turns with the treat.  I also made up a 6-9 mo calendar, so moms and kids know what is coming up.  Love pinterest for all the blogs and ideas!

These last few week, we have been working on serving others.  The requirement is make your own idea for serving others, so my first activity (2 weeks ago) we did service checks.  They had to "write" a check for the service they were doing.  This week we did something for the nursery. we cleaned all the toys.  Germs have been extreme this winter, so I thought this would be awesome.  We started with this poster as girls came in the church building.  "What would you want someone to do for you?"  I used an article given by Thomas S. Monson about Warm Fuzzies of service.  We talked about what other kids had done for service and the poster of what they would like to be done for them.  They each had fuzzies to take home and leave behind as they did services.  Then we broke into two groups and cleaned both nursery toys (other group finished before I could get a picture of them cleaning).

My girls worked hard and did a great job.  There were a lot more toys then I imagined, so they were awesome to accomplish all they did in a short amount of time.

Finally, to finish out the activity, we did "All About Me" bags.  They brought things from home about them and shared with the group.  Some are less active and really... this was for me to know them better.  Noelle brought amazing chocolate chip cookies in the treat basket to share...I thought it went really well.

Early Spring??

Giving Blood

I love doing this when I can. Giving blood isn't fun, but I enjoy doing the service for others.  Raegan wanted to come along and "watch" or get snacks, which ever it was, I think she learned something.  Although, I felt a little light headed that night, I still think it was worth it.

Valentine's Date

 I'm very simple so I'm glad Trent is better at this stuff then I am.  He put together the Valentine goody bags and flowers for the girls.  So this is what the kids saw V-day morning.  Lunches made, goodies, flowers and  bag of candy for the boys...chocolates and flowers for me.

 Yes, Leona wanted in on the action too...

For the grown ups Valentine's, we waited til the weekend to celebrate.  When Trent and I were dating 15 yrs ago, he taught me to snowboard up at Brighton during night skiing.  Cheaper at night for us poor college kids...  Anyway, with Sundance Resort closer and even cheaper (rentals and lift ticket--I don't have a board yet) we went there.  These were the slopes Trent blew his savings on and would ditch econ class for...oh the memories. 

Yep, I know I'm not looking and Trent thinks he looks funny too...that's what you get when you ask some guy to take a picture...

Since it had been 4 yrs since Snowbowl in AZ when I boarded last, then another 8 or so years before that...I decided to hit the bunny hill to make sure I remember my balance.  One time was all I needed then it was up the lift to better hills.

We felt young again.

 

Looking down from the lift...our boards dangling from our feet.

I think Trent would agree that I did pretty good.  I fell a few times and have a few bruises to show, but overall, I was able to keep up and carve up the mountain.  Sadly I had a basketball injury on my knee that was revisited on the mountain a few times, but otherwise nothing major...

Afterwards, we hit a Thai restaurant.  Oh it was so good.  A great night that brought us back to the good 'ol days.

Passing On The Tradition

Trent has been excited to be back in snow country!!  He found a great deal on snowboarding equipment and decided it would be a perfect investment to staying young. :o)  Sundance was the mountain that enticed him initially to skip college classes, so naturally he wanted to revisit his glory days (and I guess it being the closest resort helps too).  

Naturally, you want your kids to like or try things we as parents like.  So Rian had her first try at snowboarding.  Overall it was pretty rough, but I think she enjoyed daddy time and the new experience.  Season is coming to a close, but hopefully there will be a few more opportunities.

Raegan Drawing

Last year came to a close, also meant baptism pictures came down ready for the next batch to go up.  So Raegan was given her picture, and during sacrament meeting she told me she wanted to draw herself.  It has been at least 17 yrs since I've taken drawing classes so I did my best to help her out.  Remember this is a hymn book and a family of 7 squeezed on the pew for movement.  She did awesome...ok, I ended up doing most of it, and remembered how much I missed it.  But I hope it gave her a taste of how fun it can be to see things as shapes, lines and shades...

Jarom Science Fair Project

Oh the joys of science fair projects.  Rian has done her share, now Jarom is in full swing.  Luckily, this was a pretty easy, yet fun experiment.  He worked on Transpiration in plants.  He used celery and carnations to demonstration the flow of water with colored water.  It was pretty cool.

He had two experiments to prove his hypothesis.  Experiment A was water evaporating out of stomata on the leaves, and Experiement B was the pathway water took up the plants.

Experiment A

Not too many green leafy plants around, but we tried this one from a bush out front.  We had to let it acclimate for a few hours before starting...  Putting one bag of leaves in darkness (cupboard) and one in sunlight (window sill) you see results of evaporation from the leaves stomata from sunlight.

Experiement B

Celery and carnations in their red and blue water in sunlight...results turned out ok, but with colder temps outside and less sun peaking out of the clouds, I'm sure things could have been more prominent. Carnations were cool with the blue stripes...red needed more time or sunshine/warmth to really show anything.

Celery did well.  You could see where the water exited the stomata (pores) and left the color behind, making clusters of color.  Cutting open the celery you could see the pathway up the stalks.

Although these projects can be a pain to complete because they have to be a certain way (we are now professionals at this) it was neat to see it all come together.  Nice to have it checked off the list...Good Job Jay.

Happy New Year of 2013

For Christmas we got a game our neighbors introduced us to, Ticket To Ride--Europe.  We really liked this game.  For New Years Eve, I taught it to all of my kids.  It's a complicated game, but I was impressed with how well several of them picked up on it.  It took awhile to play, which was perfect for this night.

We counted down to midnight and enjoyed sparkling cider and treats!  Gave all my kiddos a smooch on the check...even Leona got a few smooches from the kids, then called it a night.

Next morning...

This beautiful sunrise graced us with it's glory.  It has snowed every morning since Christmas...so even though a few flurries still allowed us to shovel the walks, this beauty is what makes it all worth it.  Happy New Year.  A great beginning.

I could name my 'goals' but really, I practically live day to day just getting through kids projects, and achievements, and hopefully remembering to do something for myself now and then.

This is what we saw this morning...kids decided to store it in the freezer.  Don't know why, another has already started to form...

Newest Member

Tarin's Santa gift for Christmas was a cat.  She had gotten all the "goodies" like cat litter, toys and such on Christmas day, and the next day we went and let her pick out the cat of her choice.  She was so excited!  It was priceless to see her excitement.

Leona was the cat for our family.  She is 1 1/2 yrs old and good around kids, house trained and such a beauty.

As you can see she is our explorer.  The shelter mentioned it could take up to 2 wks for her to adjust to our house, but by that same evening, she came out of the laundry room to hang out with all of us.  Her favorites are drawers--climbing behind them--and mom and dads closet.  She is a real sweetie.

Christmas Time

Christmas Eve 2012 we had my brother Jeff and his family and my sister Tana and her family over.  It's so nice to get together with family.  This is what I love about the holidays.

We had a great dinner together and nativity program.  So cute to see these guys altogether.

Then afterwards, we had PJ's and ornaments to open.  Also the kids loved having Secret Santa gifts to each other.  That was a real treat to Ammon this year.  He's fully aware of how things work now.

       Ammon's train ornament                             Jarom's BYU football player ornament               Raegan's fashionista ornament

                         Rian's soccer ornament                                      Tarin's snow globe ornament 

A beautiful Christmas Morning.  Snowed all day yesterday, but today was sunshine and winter wonderland.

Kids traditionally sleep all in one room Christmas Eve, and know that they can't come get us until 7am.  This is what they saw this morning.

After all the fun of gifts, we skyped with my parents in Ghana, Africa.  It was good to talk with them and see their faces.  We love them and cheer them on.

Afternoon was the time we headed over to Gma and Gpa Wardwell's house for food, fun and hanging out.  Gma came up with this brilliant idea to tie the sleds to the ATV's.  The kids LOVED it!  It was a lot of fun.  Cold and wet when they got off, but they wanted more....Ammon was so cute holding on and not wanting to let anyone else have a turn.

I had fun on the other ATV from Gpa, dragging the cousins around.  I like swinging them around and doing little jumps.

Rian                                                             Jarom

Raegan was so adorable.

Tarin is my little snow bunny!

Seriously, family is the greatest gift of life.  We love you all and thank you for so many fun and memorable experiences.  Merry Christmas!