Last Day of School!!

Summer has officially begun. Today was the last day of school. You know it has been a good year when both of your children come home crying. Neither Alyssa or Ryan wanted the year to end. As a mother I was feeling pretty much the same way (hehe).

Truthfully though I was feeling a little blue myself. The kids had amazing teachers this year and I was sad to think that they are moving on. I respect these teachers so much. I hand over my kids day in and day out for over 18o days. I rely on those teachers to protect them, teach them, and care for them. That is a huge responsibility and I can't help but feel grateful for their dedication and love of teaching. I hope my kids remember how lucky they were to this year.

Alyssa was especially sad saying goodbye to her friends and Mrs. Gurr. She is about to enter a new phase of life and although she is excited there is a lot of trepidation to leave her comfort zone and tread into the unknown. Bye Bye elementary, hello junior high.

Ryan had his best school year yet with Mr. Goodman. I believe Mr. Goodman is somewhat sentimental himself. He sent each child home with a scrapbook. It was over 4 inches thick and weighed a good 8 lbs. It contained pictures, papers, their class motto's and any other significant event or special awards they received throughout the year. I was amazed by the amount of work and money that had to have been put into this project. Maybe I can hire him to come and finish all the rest of my scrapbooks. Mr. G is truly one of a kind.

In order to forget being sad and to start off the summer with a bang we headed straight to the movies. Daddy was able to tweak his schedule a little and met us there. We saw Night of the Museum II and the kids loved it. I hope this is just the beginning of a fun summer to come.

Wolf Badge

Today Ryan progressed in ranks in the cub scout program. He earned his wolf badge. He was pretty excited that he got it as was I since this first year of scouts has been a learning experience for all. I can't say that I have a complete understanding of it all yet but I do know that he loves attending den meetings each week and he is being taught many wonderful qualities and skills. So I now know that it is a valuable program.



One year down . . . only 6-8 years more to go!

6th Grade Dance

For the past couple of months, the 6th graders have been learning various dances as part of their curriculum. This included the Waltz, the Jitterbug, Country Swing, ChaCha, Virginia Reel and variety of group dances. They did this in preparation for the end of the year dance that would be held on the next to last day of school. We were informed as parents that we would not be invited (due to the fact that the kids were skittish about dancing with the opposite sex in front of their parents) and there would be no pictures allowed. This dance was going to be a "big" deal but only for them.

Well I lucked out. The room mothers for each class were invited to help with the refreshment table. Since I was sort of the back up room mom, Alyssa asked if I wanted to go. This sort of surprised me but I felt happy that she was comfortable enough with me to see her in this situation. I jumped at the chance to go. Jocelyn was willing to host Brianna for a play date, with a little help from her mom of course :) , so that I would be free and clear to keep an "eye on those cookies".

It was really neat to be there. You could tell those kids had worked really hard to learn the dances. They were all dressed in their Sunday best and were so cute to watch as they attempted to feel comfortable in this new and strange social situation. The event was really well organized. Each kid had a dance card and their various partners had been assigned before hand.

I loved watching Alyssa have a great time. Once again I was struck by how fast time goes. She was my first baby and here she was dancing with boys. It was so sweet and innocent and yet a little unnerving nonetheless.

They danced for a good hour and half. The kids were red faced and sweaty when it was over but nearly every one of them wore a smile from ear to ear. It was neat.

Since I couldn't take pictures I have included Alyssa's dance card for posterity sake.

Preschool Graduation

This past school year Brianna attended Candy Cane Lane Preschool with Mrs. Jennifer. She also had the privilege of carpooling with 3 boys from our ward (Deklin Clark, Aiden Erznoznick and Tucker Butler). Brianna was a trouper putting up with the boys antics all year long but somehow she survived.

Well today, my baby graduated from preschool. She looked so grown up in her little graduation cap and gown. I just sat there pondering about how time goes by so quickly. I can't believe that Brianna will be a Kindergartner next year. Where does time go?

The graduation was held outdoors on a beautiful spring evening. The kids sang songs and nursery rhymes and showed us how they know all the sounds of the alphabet.

All the kids received a certificate of graduation and just like that it was over. On to the next phase of life.

Brianna has such an appetite for learning, so it was a great experience to be in preschool. Of course she loved the social aspect of it just as much.

I am proud of my girl. I know this is just one of the first of many milestones to come.

Memorial Day Fun

Ever since I was a little girl we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa Hughes' house for Memorial Day. All relatives on that side of the family would come if at all possible. There was always some sort of a BBQ and playing with the cousins. Sometimes we would hike up the mountain to "Hell Hole". It was a strenuous hike to a beautiful waterfall in the mountains above my grandparents house. We would plays games of ball or just sit around and visit.

We would always end the day by going up to the cemetery to put flowers on my Uncle Tim's grave. As the years have flown by more and more family members have passed away including my Grandpa Howard. But at the cemetery it is a time we can reminisce and talk about the great heritage from whence we came.

This year once again we made the trip to Farmington to spend the day with the family. Although things have changed (we are all older now and there is a whole new generation of kids) the feelings of love and strong bonds are still the same.

My kids had great fun playing with their cousins on a beautiful spring day. We enjoyed pizza and cake (for my mom's birthday), played baseball, and caught up with everyone. It was a nice day. I am lucky to have a grandma still here. She is an amazing lady and has raised a wonderful family.

Uncle Matt gave Ryan some pointers on his pitching. They helped alot because the next game Ryan did phenominal.

Sisterly love. Amber and I got in a cake fight. I actually got it much worse than the picture shows. My hair in the back was totally matted down with frosting. My kids got a great kick out of mom having a cake fight.

Food, Friends and Fun!

Roger and I have been feeling incredibly blessed lately in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for and we have so many wonderful friends. We decided to have a dinner party at our house and invite some of our favorites.

The Teerlinks, Millingtons, Hammners, Wheelers, and Longs all came over on a beautiful spring evening. It was threatening rain all day but held out until our get together was over. It was a nice 70 degrees, perfect for visiting and for the children to play.

Roger spent the day smoking pork to make pulled pork sandwiched. He also made three different kinds of barbecue sauces to go along with it. He learned that many people like coleslaw on pulled pork sandwiches so after some research he found a suitable recipe. It wasn't your typical coleslaw recipe. It was vinegar based and it was delicious. Is definitely complimented the sandwich.

Everyone contributed with the wonderful meal. There were pasta salads, deviled eggs, chips, cookie, caramel brownies and peanut butter bars. Everything was so wonderful.

We had such a marvelous time and I just couldn't help but think about how just a few years ago we didn't know any of these people. I often feel that we were lead to Jacob's Ranch to live and now I know it to be true. We are so blessed to live here, to associate with such amazing people and to have our children have so many great friends.

The kids played redneck horseshoes, jumped on the trampoline, played wiffle baseball, swung on the swings and even went horny toad hunting.

The adults visited and laughed and just enjoyed one anothers company.

Baseball fun.

Hunting for lizards in the field.

Poor Scott Teerlink ended up in a wrestling match with the kids. In spite of being outnumbered, I think the swat guy won.

Overall we were pleased with our get-together and Roger thought it was his best pulled pork ever. I hope we are able to do many more of these type of things this summer.

Sage Hills ThunderHawks

Today I attended an open house type thing (sponsored by the PTA) for the new Elementary School. The new school's name will be Sage Hills Elementary. (When we submitted our choice for names we suggested Sage Elementary so we were pleased with the new name). We also found out they will be the Thunderhawks with the colors of navy blue, gold and sage.

We were able to listen to the new principle give updates on the progress of the school and the hiring and so forth. She said she had 1,009 requests for interviews to fill the 33 spots in the school. I hope with those odds that we get some of the best teachers possible. We then were able to ask questions and so forth.

I left the meeting with a much more positive attitude about the new school. I think it will be exciting for Brianna to attend there and many neat things will come from this opportunity.

Go Thunderhawks!!

Hectic Days

These are the best days of my life , right? Here is just a small example of our night life starting at 5:00 p.m.

Alyssa had soccer practice but thankfully it was cancelled (a blessing from above). Brianna has a soccer game at 6:00 which I have to coach. Alyssa will be attending a neighborhood watch meeting at 6:30 to represent our family and learn about personal safety. Ryan has a soccer game at 7:00 which we will probably miss so that he is not too tired for his baseball game at 8:00 p.m. Alyssa will have to get to her own haircut at 8:00 so that Roger can go to the scholarship award ceremony at Lehi High. He is bagging is continuing education class and trying to find someone to head the missionary meeting tonight. He may or may not do training for the ward mission leaders after that. We might be lucky to have everyone in bed by 10:00 so that we can start again tomorrow. Isn't it wonderful?

The 1st scholarship

Yesterday we received a taste of what is to come. Alyssa received her first scholarship. The school was having as awards ceremony for a reading program that has been going on throughout the year. Kids names were randomly drawn for bicycles and other things.

In correlation with this, the 6th graders were asked to write an essay on "Ways to save money during this harsh economy."

Alyssa wrote her essay but was sick the day they had to turn it in. She pleaded with me to drop it off , so I did in spite of the inconvenience on that day. Well needless to say, several weeks later, her essay was chosen over everyone else's to be the winner.

She was awarded $100 to put toward her education. It was exciting. I know that she will do great things with her schooling and have no doubt that this will be the first of many scholarships to come.

Soccer Saturdays

We are in the thick of soccer season and between the practices and games much of our time is spent on the field. The kids are enjoying the teams and I am enjoying the fact that they get lots of excercise. Here are a few pictures from their games.