Stetson's Class Swim Party (05/16/09)

Still trying to play catch up!! Stetson's class had an end of the year class party at his classmate/friend Brans' house. They were so nice to host a party at their house for the whole class to come and swim in the pool, play in the yard and have hot dogs for lunch. Stetson took Matt along to help chaperone and they both got fried to a crisp (I'm so terrible about remembering sunscreen), they still had a blast though!!!

Stetson, making a big splash!
Mr G. got pushed in the pool, fully clothed.
Stetson throwing Mr G.'s soggy hat around the pool.

(We still need to replace that.)

Playing some B-ball with the boys!!

Stetson got burned so bad that day, that he couldn't put a shirt on for three days...he missed church on Sunday, and school on Monday and Tuesday; I hope we all learned a lesson from that one!!

Matt runs his first 5K

Heritage sponsored a 5K race for it's employees and family members, Matt signed up to run in it quite awhile ago. Well the day of the race finally arrived and wouldn't you know it...Matt had to get sick about a week prior to that. He had come down with a nasty flu/cough kind of yuckiness. If I were the one in his shoes I would have just said "Bag It", but not him...he was very determined to run and give it all he had!! We all headed down there together to be his support team and cheerleaders but of course was a little later than we should've been, we got there about 3 minutes after the race started so Matt just hopped out of the van and took off, trailing the rest of the crowd by a few minutes.

Here he is, on the home stretch.

Sydney and Stetson joined him for the last little bit.

Introducing the kids to a few of the boys he works with.

And getting a high five from one of his co-workers.

Even after his late start, Matt was able to beat his treadmill time by a good 5-10 minutes and take first place in his division, winning an ipod shuffle. Hooray for you Honey, and for Me, since the shuffle will basically be mine. I'm so proud of you for your hard work and determination, way to go!!!

Bobcat, Wolf, now Bear...OH MY!!!!

Stetson has advanced to the rank of Bear in Cub Scouts with the passing of his ninth birthday, above is a photo of him putting his Wolf pin on me. I have been so lucky to be able to take part in the weekly Den Meetings with him, about a year ago I was asked to just fill in/assist while our bishop's wife was unable to do it while her daughter was having serious medical problems and I've been helping out ever since. I am so proud of his determination and hard work to complete not only his Wolf , but to also earn 1 gold arrow point and 5 silver arrow points. That adds up to 60 Electives above and beyond the required Achievements, he also earned 8 or 9 belt loops in addition to it all. Great Job Stetson, we are so proud of your accomplishments!!!!

Wax Museum

The latest project Sydney had to do for school was the Wax Museum. I think it is an awesome way to get the kids excited about learning more about important people from History. Sydney chose to do her research on Pocahontas; she had to read a Biography, write a report, write a poem, and then dress up as Pocahontas and portray her as a live statue at their school Wax Museum. It was alot of fun to go see all the famous people from our American History...there were people like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Sacajawea, George Washington, Betsy Ross, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart and even Elvis Presley. All the kids did such a great job, I had to go through about five times because it was so fun and interesting to see them all.

Good Job Syd, I think you were the most beautiful model in the whole show!!!

Still trying to get caught up!!

Stetson's Birthday was May 3rd, he turned nine years old...already!! I can't believe how time flies, it almost seems like yesterday that I gave birth to that 9 lb. 13 oz. bouncing baby boy. He was the cutest little guy I had ever seen, and still is. He is so sweet and tender-hearted, I know he'll grow up to be a wonderful man one day, just like his Dad!!

We made him go down to Nana's to spend his B-day with family, which he wasn't to thrilled about...already acting like friends are more important!! So, the following weekend we had a few of his friends come over for Pizza & Cupcakes, then Matt took them to Classic FUN Center for some rollerblading and games; they had a great time!!

Seth, Stetson, Blake, Cole

Opening presents!!

He got a Steeler's football, a new Bakugan, a kite, a yo-yo, some Flarp!, and five bucks!!

Stetson, mid-air in a back flip.

Climbing the ropes on the BIG bouncer.

Good friends, Great FUN!!!

Hope of America

A couple of weeks ago Sydney was priviledged to be involved with the Hope of America Celebration at BYU's Marriott Center. She was one of some 6,000 other fifth grade students in the area to take part in this aewsome event. Together they made up a live form of the American Flag and sang a number of patriotic songs. This was the big kick off/opening ceremony for Provo's Freedom Festival they do every year. In addition to the kids singing their many songs, they also had dancers from many different cultures, and videos honoring our slodiers. It was so awesome, it made me so proud to be an American...I got a little teary and choked up all throughout the program.

Here is Sydney before the whole thing started, I had to get a good close up shot.

And this is the Flag that all those students together made...So COOL!!!

Syd is centered in this picture,

One of the shining stars in the field of blue.

If you study this picture a little bit you can see there is a bit of a ripple

going through the middle of the flag. During one of the songs they started a wave

that continued around the stadium four or five times.

The last song they sang is titled "We are the Light of the World"

All lights were turned off and the flag was illuminated by flashlights

held by each student. It was AmAzInG, just thinking about it

is making me get choked up again!!!

Goodtown Gala

As the school year is coming to a close, we have lots of things keeping us busy. Stetson, has been so lucky to be in Mr. Goodman's class this year and a citizen of "Goodtown". They recently had their Goodtown Gala where the students shared some of their work and progress with us, sang some fun songs and received their certificates of acievement.

Stetson shared his Pumpkin Poem with everyone.

Mr. Goodman presenting the Determination Award to Stetson.

And here is Stetson with the Greatest Teacher on Earth!! Not only in our eyes either, he received the KOSY Teacher of the Year Award for 2009. He's also much more than a 3rd grade teacher, he also volunteers and mentors kids in crisis, teaches religious classes at the Utah State Prison, and writes and sings his own music. Just check him out for yourselves at http://www.timothygoodman.com/ or http://www.theiwillproject.com/.

We LOVE Mr. G., he has made such an amazing impact on Stetson,

and has a very special place in our hearts!!

Spring Break

The kids had the week following Easter off school for Spring Break, so we took off Sunday afternoon and headed down to Mom's for the week. We had big plans of cleaning out the basement, seeing old friends, and playing with cousins. Well, we worked in the basement for a couple of hours one day, we did a little scrapbooking, we went shopping for my birthday, we watched a few movies, but mostly we just hung out and enjoyed our time with Nana. The days just seem to fly by us whenever we get to spend any amount of time down there! We had to come back home on Thursday, because we ALL were missing Dad terribly!! Then Friday morning Grammy & Papa called and invited us to go to the Living Planet Aquarium with them, what a treat!! We met up with them, Danelle, Shay & Colt, Trish, Kylee & McKinley(as well as their Grandpa Dan) It was alot of fun, the kids loved hanging out with their cousins and seeing all the fun and exciting things at the Aquarium!!

Shay, Colt, Stetson, McKinley, Sydney

Sadie & McCrae.

Checking their reflections in the wavy mirrors.

McCrae loved all the bright, colorful fish; here he's "Finding Nemo".

I caught Sadie for a split second as she was climbing though one of the cool tunnels.

Stetson letting the little sucker fish eat all the dead skin and germs off his hands.

Notice the mowhak? I caved and let him have his hair the way he wanted it for that whole week!!

Sydney petting the stingrays.

There is so much to see and learn there, it really is an awesome place. I think my favorite thing to see is the jellyfish, the way they are constantly changing color is so amazing!

PINK

& BLUE.

This beautiful red & white starfish was another thing that really amazed me.

But, you must admit, the octopus is just plain UGLY!!

Easter

Easter Weekend came and went just like any other normal weekend, it seems. We usually put in our request to the Easter Bunny to make his visit on Saturday rather than Sunday, with church and all it's just too much of a hassle on Sunday morning. But we were a little late in making that request, so I at least petitioned him to visit our house while we were at church so we wouldn't have to fight the kids to get ready for church rather than hunt for easter baskets! He was very kind to honor my request!!! It's really quite sad to think that we didn't do anything big to celebrate, especially since my Birthday fell on Easter this year, but the cold wintery weather didn't help matters at all. I did spend many hours in quiet solitude, sewing the girls easter dresses, while everyone else in the house was getting precious sleep!!

Pictures were even taken a few weeks later, because I'm such a slacker.


I love this pose, sooo precious!!!

**The best part about their Easter dresses is that the only things I had to buy for them is the pretty sheer pink fabric that drapes around the neckline of Sydneys dress and the zipper. The pink taffeta for Sydney's dress was from my mom's stash of things bought for my called off wedding. Sadie's dress was a project I bought and started for Sydney, which I was lucky enough to still put to use after all these years!!

And, of course I had to stick in some pics of my handsome boys!!

Blog Slacker!!

Okay, I know we all have made confessions of being Blog Stalkers...but, today, I'm confessing of being a BIG BLOG SLACKER!!!! I could make lots of excuses, like I've been so busy with this or that(which I have, by the way) but I am mostly wanting to apologize and say "I'll do better!" I will be doing my best to catch everyone up on the last six weeks so stay tuned.