Thursday, May 31, 2012

Another Competition

At the end of April, our daughter had another dance competition.

 We learned a valuable lesson at this one:  not all judges are unbiased,
but that shouldn't stop you from having fun!

Or change your own perception of how you think you performed!  It all comes down to how YOU think you did, not someone else.

Pizza Making

What did the rest of us do while the boys were in Colorado?

 We had lots of home-made fun!

 Reading books, relaxing, and making pizza!

Yum!



Junior Olympics

April 19th-25th was spent at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

 Our oldest qualified to participate in the National Junior Olympics in Air Rifle and Small-bore Rifle.

 We decided that our second oldest should go this year since he is following closely behind...to give him a glimpse of the next level.

 It really is a surreal place, a place of champions.

 The first day was spent checking in equipment and rifles...everything passed!

The boys had to see how they measured up...

 not too far off!

 I begged for a picture of all three of them (Dad and sons), but this is as close as I got!  They had a great week together!

 Air Rifle was the first match and our oldest did very well!

 He shot a new high of 572 and finished 11th in his age group, 41st overall.

 The next match was Small-bore Rifle which is shot with an electronic bull.

 Our son shot his Diana...complete with his new custom-made (thanks to his Dad) cheek piece.

 He also shot very well in small-bore, with a new high of 1107, 14th in his age-group, 46th overall.
This is what his Dad does the whole time....feels lots of stress, tries to relax, and texts me with periodic updates.  We are so proud of the progress our oldest has made and we're so grateful he was able to spend this fun week with his brother and Dad.





Birthday #8

Bright and early, we woke up our birthday boy for his eighth birthday!!


He had a big pile of gifts to open! 

 A few highlights:  money and hand-knitted socks from Grandma!

 Star Wars Battlefront II...which he has been asking for for 9 months!

 New scriptures!

We love our eight-year-old!  He is so excited to be baptized in just a couple of weeks.  We are excited for him too! 

What did he want to do first thing?  Play Star Wars!


Our Guitar Player

Our oldest got a beautiful guitar for Christmas.  He has really been enjoying his guitar class in school.

He has caught on very quickly and is getting pretty good!   




Fishing

The sunny weather recently drew us to our local reservoir.

It was still too cold to swim, but was perfect for fishing! 

We tried worms, powerbait, salmon eggs.... 

 and lots and lots of patience....

We came home with three small trout....not a lot, but enough for everyone to enjoy a bite!  



Happy Easter

We love our family Easter party!

It is a special feast of creamed eggs, asparagus, fruit, and sweets.


 We met at Uncle Beau and Aunt Erin's house.

The food was delicious! 

 The company was the finest!

 The egg-hiders were pretty tricky...

 yet lots and lots of eggs were hunted and discovered.

 Full of goodies!  

The Egg Drop

In connection with a section on Nursery Rhymes, our kindergartner participated in his school's egg drop.

 The goal was to avoid being Humpty-Dumpty.  Each child took an egg and then secured it with whatever they wanted to in order to protect it from a big fall.  
 Our kindergartner chose a combination of toilet paper and styrofoam.  Typically the principal gets up on the roof and drops it down outside, but with the snow, they improvised...

 and dropped them from the gym's basketball hoop.


 There were a few casualties....

but his egg survived the drop!  Each kindergartner also got to dress up and recite a nursery rhyme of choice.  He chose:
To market, to market, to buy a fine pig
Home again!  Home again! Jiggety-jig!
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,
Home again!  Home again!  Jiggety-jog!
My husband often says this little rhyme...he learned it from his Grandpa Black.



From the Islands

Every year our elementary school invites guest artists to come in and work with each grade.  This year the artists were from the islands.  Our kindergartner learned several Hawaiian songs.

 He learned the Hawaiian alphabet and several beautiful songs.

 Our second-grader learned several Tongan dances.  He also learned many Tongan phrases.

His costume was pretty fun...he liked to "show his muscles."


Last Snow of the Year

 Fresh  off our return from sunny St. George for the dance competition, we awoke on this April morning to our final snow storm of the year!
We had been playing outside the evening before...a few of us even got a sunburn.

 Our Spring plants had just started to blossom...

 Our bleeding heart in the snow!  We do love the snow, but we are ready to say "Adieu" for a season.  Welcome sunshine and summer!