Wednesday, May 31, 2006


Twins!

Tyler cooking his scrambled eggs (he does it all by himself)

singing at preschool graduation (Alayna is in the middle- check out the kid on the left with a mowhawk)

Alayna at preschool graduation

working on the garden

planting seeds for FHE

Planting seeds for FHE (dont worry- we didn't plant those popcorn seeds)

Planting seeds for FHE

swimming in the lake on memorial day

May 31- last week of school!

May 31, 2006

It’s the last day of May and the last week of school!! Whoo-hoo!! No more having to wake up at 6:30! No more homework. We have such a fun summer planned. Kayla and Alayna are doing gymnastics, Tyler is still doing Tae kwon do, we are doing the free summer movie series on Tuesdays, playgroup on Thursdays, Kayla has band camp, Marisa has girls camp, college for kids, trip to Illinois, etc. In July, we will be traveling out to Colorado for a family reunion and then to Utah for another one. We will get to camp in Yellowstone and go see the Grand Tetons. On the way home we will visit the black hills of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. It will be such a fun, exciting, and busy summer. I am sure we will be back to school before we know it.

This past week, Marisa had her final choir concert. I know she was a bit sad since her choir teacher, her favorite, is retiring this year. Kayla had her band interview. She tried out the flute, the clarinet, and the saxophone. She chose the clarinet. So we signed her up for the summer band camp which will help her get a head start. She is so excited she can hardly stand it. We also found out this week that Tyler earned his orange belt!! He gets it in class tomorrow, so we will take a picture and post it.

Alayna had her preschool graduation this week. They decorated these adorable shirts for it. They had a special program where they sang all the cute songs they learned this year. I forgot the video camera, shame on me. Anyway, they had pizza and cake, etc. It was a fun outing. She will be doing 3 days of preschool next year.

We spent all Saturday working outside. We mowed the lawn, completed the garden, filled the bunny holes, etc. For family home evening, we planted some new seeds in cups and they have already started to grow. We hope to transplant those into our garden in a few weeks.

On Monday, we went to our ward Memorial Day outing. It was at Pleasant Creek about 30 minutes away from here. The weather was perfect and we had a huge BBQ. Then we spent several hours swimming down in the lake. We didn’t know to bring swimsuits, so the kids went in their clothes (someone had an extra bathing suit for Marisa) Bob and I just put our feet in. Until several men from our ward came and grabbed Bob and threw him in!! They wanted him to come play football in the water with them. They had such a great time. That evening 2 families in our ward asked us out to dinner at this awesome Mexican Restaurant. On Mondays, all kids eat for 99 cents!!! While we were there, we saw 3 more families from our ward. Must have been the place to be.

That’s about it for now. Enjoy the week....

Sunday, May 21, 2006

May 21

May 21, 2006

Well, it seems Tyler decided to share his illness with others. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, yet we had to spend it indoors because of illness. Tyler actually missed 5 days of school this week! He was so sad as it was the culmination of their rain forest unit and he wasn’t able to attend the giant open house. I felt so bad for him. On Thursday afternoon, I started to feel bad and by the evening I was very sick. This is an awful stomach virus! I have been sick for almost 4 days now. Just when you start feeling better and start moving around, it hits you again. Even though I was still feeling horrible yesterday, I cleaned the house. There were 10 loads of laundry , tons of dishes, and I had to disinfect the bathrooms. A mom’s job never stops. I was impressed however with how Marisa jumped in to help with the kids and dishes! I am doing much better today. I am so grateful for my normal health!!! Bob and the kids spent the whole afternoon yesterday outside planting strawberries by the patio and corn out by the shed. We really hope this garden actually works.

Marisa was accepted into the gifted and talented program for 7th and 8th grade. That means she will be in an excelled reading class for 7th grade and social studies for 8th. She had her birthday on Friday so she moves into the YW program today. I know she is very excited to graduate from primary.

Well, I apologize this is short, but most of the stuff we planned this week was cancelled since either Tyler or I were sick. Here’s to hoping this week will be a better one and that we can actually enjoy the beautiful weather outside!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006


Happy Birthday Marisa!!!! Ready to eat peanut butter chocolate ice cream pie!!

Marisa at the bday party

Marisa bowling for her birthday

Alayna

Eating Ice cream at Culvers

Kayla's musical performance (in the middle, black shirt and jeans)

Picture of everyone testing and the judges (in the yellow). Tyler is in one in the front leaning over

Tyler tae kwon do testing

Tyler tae kwon do testing

May 16, 2006

May 16, 2006

I am starting to think we should start building a boat here. We have had rain for about a week now. I usually don’t mind the rain, it’s the cold temperatures accompanying the rain that bother me. Our yard also looks like it had a battle with the dandelions and lost...bad. Bob was able to plant new tomatoes last night ( we lost the first crop to an overnight freeze). We hope these do much better. We are excited for fresh garden food.

We had a lot of wonderful things going on this week. Hal and Corey were able to come up for the weekend for several of those events. On Thursday night, Kayla had her end of the year 4th Grade Musical. It was on the 50 states. She did such a great job. It had the cutest songs and you should have heard them whip out all the states and the capitals. It was quite impressive. I taped the first two numbers and then my video camera ran out of tape. I was devastated. How embarrassing! After the musical, we went to her class where the kids showed the power point presentations they made. Kayla and her partner were assigned Arizona. It was a great presentation and it amazes me that when I was her age, I had never even heard of a power point, let alone done one. Anyway, Corey, Alayna and I went to that. At the same time, Marisa had her final orchestra concert so Bob and Hal went to that. She tied for second chair and I heard the concert was wonderful, as usual. At the same time, Tyler had a mock testing for his Tae Kwon Do. It was a very busy night.

The next day, we adults went out to lunch at Biaggi’s for Mother’s day. They have the best Tomato Florentine soup! Then when the kids came home from school we celebrated Marisa’s birthday early. She wanted the family to go bowling. We had such a great time. I must say though that my score was horribly pathetic and embarrassing! When we played the second game, I thought I couldn’t do any worse. I was wrong. But we all had a great time. I made her a peanut butter chocolate ice cream pie. Boy was that yummy!!! She opened her presents too. That night the kids played on the computers and we watched Mission Impossible II.

The next morning, we had to leave the house at 7am! We headed for Clinton, Iowa which is about 1 hour 45 minutes away for Tyler’s Tae Kwon Do testing. He tested for his orange belt. It was held at the YWCA there in a small stuffy room. I think about 60 people were testing and they all had family there. I think he did ok, we will find out the results next week. We did get to see the black belts do some awesome demonstrations breaking boards and bricks. We even saw one guy jump over 3 kids and break 3 boards. Pretty cool stuff. I am sure that is what is motivating Tyler. It was a long day- the trip there, the testing, and back , was 7 hours! That night, we watched “King Kong”. What an intense movie! There were a few parts the kids had to close their eyes. I must say I hate bugs even more now. Anyway, it was fun to watch.

The next day was Mother’s Day. Bob had bought me a beautiful bouquet of coral roses and then they got me new silverware!! Woo-hoo!!! Marisa gave her last talk in primary, next week she starts in the YW. Tyler also gave a sweet talk and then Alayna did the scripture and prayer. It was so cute. She has no fear of public speaking at all. That evening we had dinner with our good friends, the Alands, and then had our Survivor party. It was so much fun. And yummy food included! We are going on a double date with them this weekend to see “The Da Vinci Code”.

That night, Tyler spent the entire night throwing up every where. It was so explosive that one time it covered the entire bathroom floor and 3 walls. Talk about nnaassttyy!!!! He was sick all day yesterday and today. I think he is feeling better, but he hasn’t moved. I hope he feels better soon. At least he can keep food down now.

I guess that catches you up on our family and all the excitement going on here. Until next week...

Sunday, May 07, 2006


lawn mowing "helpers"

Mowing the lawn

Marisa's hair cut

Alayna at ward fiesta

Planting tomatoes in the rain storm last week

Tyler hitting pinata

Kayla hitting pinata

May 7- Happy Birthday to me!

May 7, 2006

Happy Birthday to me!!! Yep, that’s right, I turned 35. Amazing how quickly the time pasts. Next year it will be 18 years since I graduated from high school and only 5 until my first child does. Yikes! Bob bought me an intercom system for the house. It is so cool. Now I don’t have to yell when it time for everyone to come to dinner or go to bed. It is an absolutely beautiful sunny day and I have so much to share about what has happened here with our family the past few weeks.

On Monday, the kids didn’t have school. So, I decided it would be fun to invite some friends and go to see “Ice Age II”. However, when we got there, it was sold out. So, we decided to go to a show starting about 45 minutes later and guess how much it cost us to go?? It was only $6!! I guess it is the theaters 100 year anniversary so all tickets were $1. So, we decided to stay and see “Wild” as well. We haven’t been to the movies in forever, so this was extra fun. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Ice Age II, but Wild, although cute, was exactly like Madagascar. Anyway, for my birthday this month, Bob will be taking me to see the movie I have been waiting forever to see- “The Da Vinci Code”. I am so excited. I really enjoyed reading that and Angels and Demons. In fact, I am now reading a book called “Chasing Vermeer”, which has been called the Da Vinci code for kids.

Anyway, also on Monday, we finally got Alayna in to see the ENT doctor. You would NOT believe the size of wax he pulled out of Alayna’s ear. I have no idea how that beast fit in there. It is no wonder to me now why she kept saying for weeks: my ear hurts, I can’t hear you, I cant hear the TV, etc. We saw an audiologist right after and Alayna finally passed the hearing test with flying colors. She had me very worried. She is a stubborn little bugger, but causing less disasters around the home. She loves to play educational computer games and play in the sand box- thank heavens for gorgeous Spring weather, huh?

Tyler is loving basketball and they won their game yesterday 48-26. He is testing for his orange belt in Tae kwon do this Saturday. We will be traveling to Clinton, Iowa for him to do that. We also got a letter from the school this week saying he has been admitted into the gifted and talented program! That is so cool! His class is studying the rainforest right now, so he is always coming home with cool facts to share with us.

Kayla had her last day of math club this week. I can hardly believe we only have one month of school left. She loves school so much. That’s where my inspiration for teaching comes from- seeing the difference great teachers make in children’s lives.

I took Marisa to get her hair cut this week for her birthday (which isn’t until the 19th). We found out her hair has the same curl mine does. It looks so adorable now, however she looks a bit older, like 14 now. We finally got her college for kids schedule. She will be taking French, Edible art history, and Sherlock Homes (mystery and forensic science, etc). She is so excited. She takes the classes every day for 2 weeks during the summer. She is also getting ready to attend girls camp for the first time and is thrilled to be going this year.

Bob is enjoying the class he is taking for work- ground school (learning to fly an airplane). I finally got a meeting time with the Principal of Oakridge (K-8) for May 15. I am nervous, but hopefully he can give me a good idea of the things I need to be working on before I interview in February next year.

On Friday, we went to the ward Fiesta. It was a bit chaotic, but fun. The kids were able to try and hit a pinata. Tyler ended up hitting the final blow and shooting candy all over the gym. He just sat there with the mask on while all the kids went wild. I don’t think he or Alayna realized there was actually candy in the thing. What a surprise that was! We escaped before they started the Mexican hat dance.

On Saturday, the missionaries came over to help us with our yard. Our lawn has been taken over by the enemy of all lawn enemies- the dandelion! Our lawn seems to be the only one on the block affected. Maybe because we are the only ones who don’t use professional lawn people. So, we had to distribute weed killer and fertilizer, plug up all the bunny holes, plant our garden (squash, tomatoes, beans, onions, strawberries, broccoli, etc), mow the lawn, cut down the weeds by the fence, plaster the yard with bunny deterrent, etc. It was a long yard day, but now it all looks so nice. We are really hoping this garden flourishes this summer.
Until next week....

Utah- Part 4