The rest of April and the beginning of May

Kind of an uninspiring blog post title, but I'm playing catch up again!

 

Farris and I have tried to set up a weekly rotating date night with the kids.  So if we started with Farris and Felicity, the next week I would take Caleb and then and so on until we started over again with me taking Felicity.  Farris and Seth spent their time building with Lincoln Logs and made this nifty fort.  Seth has a whole story about it with Bad Guys and how the Good Guys could trap them. 

He was so happy with it!

 

In our school, the fifth and sixth graders can be in choir, with concerts all year culminating in a huge concert with about twenty schools at the Marriot Center.  It's called the Hope of America and each school is given a specific colored t-shirt to wear so when they are all there it looks like the flag.  Felicity loved the patriotic songs and has taught them to the boys so when the kids are doing chores they will all be singing, "America rocks!" and doing hand actions. 

Where's Wald---I mean Felicity?  She's wearing a white shirt, in the top stripe, bottom row, center.  I got to practice using my zoom on the camera!  Understandably, it takes quite awhile to get the kids in the choirs settled and in the mean time Abby and Seth were getting unsettled, so before too many songs I decided to take the them home and Farris stayed with Caleb and Joseph to see the rest of the concert.  They did a great job while I was there, and next year I'll get to see it all and send Farris home with the kids!  We figure we'll be going to this concert every year for too many years to count.

 

For Christmas, Mom got a grandparent pass to Thanksgiving Point, so she came down and we tried it out during the Tulip Festival.  Actually, we went the day after the festival was over, so there weren't many people and the tulips were still blooming beautifully.  The secret garden is always one of the favorite places.  I love that the camera caught the individual drops of water in the picture with Seth!

Abby had been asleep in her stroller, but she woke up enough to enjoy the water spraying everywhere.  Abby is absolutely a water baby.

Mom, Dad, Aunt Ellen, and Seth and Abigail on one of the bridges.  I love the gardens!  All of us at USU wanted an internship there or at the gardens on Temple Square.

The Koi ponds where another favorite.  The kids loved watching the fish swarm while they fed them.  Abigail wouldn't throw the food, she'd just hold it and watch the fish.  She did try to eat it a couple times, but that's our little girl.

 

Another thing in our school every spring is the Hershey's Track Meet.  This year was Caleb's first time.  He was so very excited, he has decided he wants to be an Olympic runner.  He is fast, we just need to work on the turning around to wave to the crowd action he does in the middle of the race.

He also did the standing long jump.  Farris coached him at it, and he did pretty good.

 

Felicity's best friend Bailey moved to Springville and her mom drove her and her sister back to the school every day to finish out the year.  Felicity was very sad but her personality came through when she decided to throw a surprise going away party for Bailey.  She called it the Bye-Bye Bailey Party.  She invited a bunch of their friends over (I capped the number of invites, she gets a little excited).  The signs say "Bye-Bye Bailey!  We'll miss you!"  The plan was for me to pick up all the other girls while Felicity walked Bailey and her sister to our house where Bailey thought her mom was picking them up.  It was a little slow rounding up all the girls and we screeched into the driveway while Felicity delayed them at the corner.  So the girls ran and hid in the living room waiting for Bailey to come in the front door...and they came in the back door and surprised us through the kitchen.  Heehee.  It was still fun and we still surprised Bailey and her sister.

The girls decorated #10 cans and magnets (I borrowed the idea from girls camp) with stickers, paper and modge podge and giggled the whole time.

Then we played a couple games, including Apple Bobbing (in the air instead of the water).

And I got all the girls to pose on the couch and printed up a picture for all of them to keep.  Felicity is going to miss Bailey, they were the perfect team.  Luckily they are only about ten minutes away so we still can get them together to play.

 

Then it was the fifth graders turn to do the Hershey's track meet.  Felicity is not like Caleb and does not enjoy running, but she gave it a good try.

While we were waiting, Abigail practiced her laps.  She has a lot of energy and is always in motion.

But she loves her big sis, too!

Felicity also did the long jump.  I'm so glad Farris was able to come and help coach both Caleb and Felicity.  Those last few weeks of school, it seems like there is some program or special event that we parents need to be at, and even though it's a busy time at BYU, too, Farris tries to make it to as many as he can.

OK, Abby is almost always in motion.  But what you can't tell from this picture is that it's the top bunk in the boy's room.  She can climb up there lickety-split and I guess this time she used up the last of her energy.  Scares me, that little girl does.

Another end of the year thing.  The fifth graders wind up their reports on the states by having a Wax Museum.  Each of them picks a famous person from or connected to their state, dresses like that person and then has a short presentation prepared so that people can go around and "push their buttons" to hear them tell about the person they are dressed as.  Felicity had the state Arizona and she dressed as a Navajo Woman during the Long Walk.  Yes, I found out about this two days before.  Thankfully, her teacher emailed all the parents because I know I wasn't the only one surprised about it.  I had a length of red velvet that I made into a make shift skirt and then we added a blouse and some of the jewelry we got on the rez.  She also wore the Navajo Rug we got while we were living there and we did her hair in the traditional bun kind of thing the women do.  Whew.  I think it turned out pretty good for having very little time.

 

Caleb's class presentation was the first out of our kids.  I do love these programs, it's so fun to see each of the personalities come out and hear the songs that they have each been singing all year long.  Felicity still has most of the songs from 3rd grade memorized so she sang with Caleb quite a lot.

Caleb and his friend.  They love to play LEGOs together.  It's funny, Farris and I went to USU with his aunt and then we found out through her that we live only a few blocks from each other!  Small world.

Caleb and his teacher.  She did a great job and he really loved third grade. She always looked relieved when it was us who came through the door at parent teacher conference and couldn't praise him enough.  I'm glad we have teachers who love their jobs enough to dedicate so much of their lives to our kids.  I think we've been blessed with many good teachers for our kids and I'm grateful because I know I couldn't have done it!

Joseph's story: Little Red Ninja

Joseph came home from school the other day with a story he had written and illustrated: 

 

Little Red Ninja

It made me giggle, so I'm sharing it here for anyone else who needs a little laugh.

First, I have to share his official 1st grade picture, it was on the title page of his book.  My side ached the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard.  The photographers who come to the school must get interesting pictures, but his is pretty good.  I don't order pictures from the school, we have a neighbor and a sister who are both amazing photographers so I don't feel the need.  This one, though...I almost bought.   

 

Now, back to his story.

(I'm typing it first with his spelling and punctuation, then I'll interpret for you in italics)

 

Once upon a time there was sum wun (some one) named little red ningu.  She was going to her grandmos hose (grandma's house). Her grandma livd in the the for ist (lived in the forest).  Well she was a ningu thou (though), so she cud (could) defeat the Big Bad wolf! But when she got there her grandma was gone! The Big Bad wolf had cupchrd  (captured) her! So She looked and She found her! So she un tide (untied) her and she did! But rite after the Big Bad wolf saw it so they had to go ningu.  It took a long time But they nokt (knocked)him out.  So grandma made her Best Pie and they lived happly ever after.  the end

 

I think my favorite parts where when the grandma and Little Red Ninja had to "go ninja" and how he capitalized Best Pie.  I do have to let you know though, after I read it, his little eyebrows did their jumping up and he said, "But maybe they don't live happily ever after, because they just knocked him out, so he might come back..."  Maybe I can convince him to write a sequel.

 

So go have some pie and avoid wolves, if you want to live happily ever after.

 

 

 

Spring Break at Antelope Island

We planned and planned to go to Goblin Valley over spring break. I went for a day when I was little and loved climbing over all the rocks. We invited some of our family and the kids were excited.  But it didn't all work out.  So we moved on to make up a Plan B.  We would like to be able to say that we've been to all the state parks, and decided on either Fremont State Park (Anasazi ruins) or Antelope Island State Park.  Antelope Island was a little closer so we packed up the trailer and took off on Wednesday.  I hadn't been to the Salt Lake since I was a kid (I think my mom and Aunt Ellen took us all over the place when we were little, some of my best memories are our two families piled into a car or two and giggling with my cousin Amy), so I was excited.  And it didn't disappoint, it was beautiful!  The sky goes on and on until it blends with the water and then raises up into mountains. Because it was spring everything was still green and lovely.  I did not realize the Salt Lake was so big.  I'm not sure how I missed that fact, since it's called the GREAT Salt Lake.  I learned that it's the biggest body of water in the west, in the middle of a desert, but hah, it's undrinkable.  We love Bear Lake too, but the Salt Lake is just huge.

 

 

 And then there's the animals!  The first question everyone asked us when we got back was, "did you see any buffalo?"  Odd, since the island is Antelope Island. We most definitely did!  Within a few minutes of getting to the Island we saw them all over.   We had to look a little more to find the antelope, coyotes, jack rabbits, and there were different kinds of birds everywhere.  In the mornings I could hear killdeer mama birds, which always brings memories of growing up, I love that sound.  We used to try to find the nests with their tiny speckled eggs that the killdeer would hide in gravely areas around our farm.

 The first morning, Farris went for a run and came back with an idea for a good hike with the kids.  We went up to Buffalo Point, not a very long hike but you end up at one of the higher peaks on the island.  At the top there are huge boulders that the kids went crazy on jumping and running and climbing.  I love the look of the lake in the background.  The whole island was kind of like how I picture Ireland (I could be wrong), with the short green, green grass and hills peppered with rocks and craggy mountains over it all with the water, in Irelands case it would be the ocean, in the background.  I'm sure by the time the summer heat hits it won't be green and Ireland-y any more, but it was a wild kind of beautiful while we were there.

 

 

 

 

 It's hard to gather the kids into one spot when there's so much to do and climb!

 

 After the hike we went to the visitor's center, and then Abby fell asleep so we went back to the trailer where I stayed to take a nap, too (by that time I was starting to feel sick, never fun on a campout).  Farris and the kids ran into town to get a few supplies we had left behind at home.  When they came back, they told me about how they had seen a buffalo and an antelope close to the road.  We hadn't seen the antelope on the island before, so we grabbed the camera and jumped in.  After we had taken pictures of those they had seen we decided to go out to the ranch that's on the island.  We drove along for about twenty minutes and then I handed back some snacks.  Felicity turned around to hand them to the boys and said, "Where's Seth?"  Yes, panic overtook the van and Farris turned around and drove much faster on the way back.  We hadn't stopped anywhere, so we knew he was back at the camp.  When we pulled up, Seth was sitting in one of the camp chairs around the fire pit.  He smiled and waved, nothing was bothering him.  We asked him what he had been doing, and he just said "I fell asleep and when you came back I woke up."  Then we asked him why he didn't get into the van, he said "I didn't want to go."  He had been saying that he didn't want to see the buffalo, I think their enormousness scared him, so when we said we were going to go see one, he must have decided he didn't want any of that.  Oh, that panic when we realized he wasn't there, it was awful.  But he didn't seem to think anything was wrong, so I guess no scarring or therapist visits in the future.  Unless it's for me and Farris.

 After that scare we decided not to drive to the ranch, but instead to play on the beach.  The water is fairly low this year so there was a lot of beach and the water is very shallow for a long way out.  The kids loved splashing in the water.

 

 There were a lot of people out on the beach for spring break, and the .buffalo decided to come out to play, too. How many of you have been on a beach with buffalo?

 Joseph set out to dig a deep hole, which eventually turned into a sand castle.  And no moat, just an outdoor swimming pool.  Do kids think differently than when I was young?

 Caleb and Felicity ended up helping him.  Caleb spent a long time throwing and catching the Frisbee with Farris, too.

 Abby loves water, she wasn't quite sure about the mud, but she hated the sand.  She even sat down at one point and tried to scrape the sand off her feet with a piece of the shale rock that's all over the beach.

 Felicity was such a big help with Seth.  She had been plenty worried about him when he was missing and then with me not feeling so good she volunteered to follow him around.  We didn't want any more disappearing.

 That night for dinner we made Dutch Oven pizza.  YUM.  Making it in a dutch oven makes the crust so very yummy.  And since the dough was already made, dinner was ready really fast.  Caleb helped a lot for one of his cub scout requirements, he did a good job.  Here's a link to the recipe: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/DutchOven/Pizza/DutchOvenPizza.htm

I made our usual pizza dough instead of buying some from the store.  We also lined the dutch oven with two big pieces of aluminum foil so we could lift the pizza out when it was done.

 

We had talked about staying over Friday night, too.  And then Thursday night happened.  The kids went to sleep pretty fast after a long fun day.  Then I was sick.  Then the wind storm came up.  Then Seth was sick.  Then the wind came back, this time with rain.  Our trailer was rocking back and forth and the rain was pelting from all sides.  We didn't get a lot of sleep that night.  The wind and rain settled down around dawn. When we came out, the rain had filled up the beaches and the birds were so happy with the rain.  One of Abigail's favorite new words is "birdie!"  She was mesmerized by a seagull that kept flying really low above our campground, waiting for a handout.  Even though it had been a crazy night, we had so much fun.  The kids were begging to come back to Antelope Island again.  We've been warned not to go in the middle of the summer when the bugs are crazy there, but maybe next spring. 

 

As we were leaving, a big bull buffalo was at a stop sign saying goodbye to everyone.  We paused about five feet from him, opened the window to the van, and took a picture quickly and quietly and then took off.  We don't want to get these guys mad!

 

 

All together we loved camping at Antelope Island and would recommend it to anyone!  There's lots of hikes, in different levels and lengths and even bike trails.  Farris wants to bring his bike next time.  So now we have to decide where our next camping adventure will be.  Goblin Valley?  Fremont? the Dinosaur National Park over in Vernal? Too many choices!   

Oh, What fools we mortals be!

I'm...not really sure that's really a quote.  I'm pretty sure Shakespeare said something like that.  Yes, Happy April Fool's Day!
So, April 1st (by the way, happy birthday to my nephew, Michael.  When he was born we weren't sure if Robert was kidding or not) was the first day of spring break this year. And every year, Farris has some fun thing planned to tease the kids.  Remember the fish?  Now our kids start getting jumpy a couple weeks before April and even begin making devious plans to get him back.  Here's the first one of the day this year:

 Felicity put a little puddle of water on Farris' chair before he ate breakfast.  The note says "pay back Dad!  April 1st"  Unfortunately, Farris just happened to pick another chair that morning and didn't even notice it.  But they were undeterred and began planning for when Daddy came back from work.  And then they happily went their spring break fun way.  Little did they know.              

 My kids.  So gullible and trusting.  They love canned fruit, particularly fruit cocktail.  I'm not sure, I think it's the maraschino cherries. So for lunch I brought up a four cans and let them open the cans up.  Caleb was astonished to find it with only water in it.  Felicity was making toast in the background, demanding that we never buy this brand of canned fruit again.

Caleb tried the next can at my suggestion.  Joseph was shaking the cans to see if he could hear the fruit.  We ended up opening three cans with only water in them.  And the kids some how missed the significance of me taking pictures and giggling quietly while they tried to figure this out.  Joseph even was wondering why there was glue all over the bottom. 

And, just like with the fish, Joseph was the first to have the light dawn.  His eyebrows went up very far on his forehead, "MOM!"  I think they were so worried about Dad, they forgot about me.  It was the year of Mom. 
By the way, I found the idea on Pinterest, here's the link: http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2011/03/april-fools-candy-in-fruit-can.html
Except I was cheap and only refilled it with water instead of candy.  And since we don't have one of those handy-dandy take off the whole top can opener, I tried to put the lids back on with a whole lot of glue.  Next time, I'll put the water in a ziplock bag so it still has the weight and the slosh but I won't have to completely seal it off, the water started leaking out of one of the cans half way through this, but the kids still didn't suspect me.  And next year I'm going to have to check every chair for water before I sit down.

Easter Fun

Last year we went to the first ever Cosmo's Easter Egg Hunt, and the kids have been looking forward to it again all year.  This year promised to be even bigger, with blow up slides, crafts, and the Easter Bunny.  And we got to bring along a Flat Stanley from Virginia to introduce to Utah.

Abigail was not at all sure about this weird bunny thing and would not let it touch her.

 

Racing up one of the blow up toys.

 

The boys loved the fire truck and had to measure the tires with themselves.

 

 The easter egg hunt took place in the middle of the track, so while we were waiting the kids were practicing their track skills.  Caleb has decided he wants to be a long distance runner and do the hurdles.  And he's actually pretty good, it will be interesting to see how he does in a few years when he gets into jr. high.

 

 Abby was excited with all the running around and people and candy and once she was out of her stroller, she was happy, happy, happy.

 

 Joseph doing the hurdles in his own way.

 

 They divided the hunt into three age groups.  Seth and Joseph were in the same group and were pretty excited about their haul.

 

 After the hunts we all met back at the fire truck and emptied out the eggs while we were waiting for Farris and Abigail to find us, too.

 

After the hunt, we went to the spring game for a little while.  The kids are always impressed with the stadium and how many people can fit in there.

 

 Then we hurried home and met Grandma, Grandpa, Nicki, and Chad and Tarilynn's family for a yummy lunch and Easter egg decorating and hunting.

 

 We've started giving each kid a colorof eggs to find and then hide the same number of each one.  Farris hid Reid's eggs and he hid them good. 

 

 Joseph happy to find one of the extra big eggs.  We had one for each kid, plus two Golden Eggs with a special prize.

 

 Seth found one of his eggs in the apple tree.

 

 Checking all over for the last few eggs.

 

Abigail was asleep when we started the hunt.  When she woke up we handed her a basket and set her down.  She was half asleep stumbling around, but she knew there was candy in those eggs and she was determined to find them.

It was perfect weather for Easter and we had a good time with family.  Easter blessings!