End of the Year Activities - Jamie

End of the Year - PHEW!  For the 7th Grade Science Fair they have to build a model of something living.  Jamie chose the Rainbow Trout.....

Jamie with her cross-section of a Rainbow Trout.

The outside - It was so sparkly!

End of year Orchestra Concert - sorry, it's IMPOSSIBLE to get good pictures at concerts!

End of Year Choir Concert - also, not easy to get pictures, but wanted it documented :)

Angel Moroni

Gilbert, Arizona Temple, waiting for Angel Moroni 

Here we are waiting - Jamie took a picture of us looking "casual", and Dr. Leavitt had to look "un-casual"  :)  It was SO WINDY, we were really worried they wouldn't be able to place him up there - 

Sweet picture of my almost-8 Kelcie looking at the Temple

Pulling Angel Moroni upright

It was so neat - after they raised him upright, the workers walked him around the fence so that people could see him up close!  Lafe and some of the kids ran across to see it up close, and Jamie got this picture.

Starting up.....

I loved how he was framed so pretty right next to the Temple

At the top - we all cheered when the worker caught the wire to feed down the spire - he becomes a lightening rod for the Temple.

Lowering it down onto the spire!!!  We all cheered when it was finally placed!!!

Perfectly placed - facing East

Jamie, Laura, Kelcie, and Talin in front (well, back) of the Temple with the new Moroni on top!!!  Yes, we took them out of school...... 

And, if you want to watch it happen, this is a video a guy made from the other side, but it's well done.  My video didn't turn out quite this good :)

The kids were so HOT - it was supposed to be 104-106 yesterday!!!  And, of course - did we think about bringing water???? or sunscreen?????  HA!  But, I just kept telling Talin that he may never get to see something like this again!  I remember watching the movie about the building of the Salt Lake Temple, and there was a scene where they were watching the Moroni be put on the Temple.  I remember thinking if I ever have that opportunity, I don't want to miss it!  Although, when it comes down to logistics of getting kids, and getting down there, etc., I almost gave up - especially with the wind being so strong and not knowing for sure if they were going to do it.  But, I'm so glad we went!  It was so fun, and a neat experience - and HOT!

Just fun!

The kids went outside last night to play and ended up making the whole solar system on our driveway!  Ethan went out and took some fun pictures.

Playing outside while it's still cool in the evening - I love that they love to play together!

Chalky hands

This was just so cute!  I love this picture!

This was the picture Ethan originally went outside to get!  Cool, huh?

Triathalon

This weekend, the 14-15 yr old boys (Varsities) in our ward went over to the Gila Valley to participate in a Micro-Sprint Triathalon. Lafe is one of their leaders, and he actually did it last year with them so he was excited to go again. If I remember right, I think it's a 2 mile run, 7 mile bike ride, and 75 meter swim. Ethan LOVED it and did AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! 33 out of 500 in his age group, and 96 out of 1040 over all!

If you see him, tell him to do cross-country :)

The whole group!

Play in a Day

Our Stake out here does "Play in a Day" for our youth, and they usually end up pretty funny! They get together on a Saturday, and are assigned to a group. They learn the little 10 minute play the whole day and then perform it in the evening for the Stake. This year's theme Disney Movies, and they were great! They made each one into a message of good things to do...

Erin was "Raja" in "Aladdin" - only, she was a person instead of a tiger, with speaking parts - she didn't realize that when she volunteered :) She did great, though! It was out of character, for sure, because she was trying to convince Jasmine to wear something immodest to the dance.

This is toward the end of the dance, but you can see Frauke and Nadine, our friend's student - they were good sports to go and do this all day with these kids! I think they had fun, though. Their theme, of course, was Modesty and they set it to the song, "I'm Modest and I know it" - funny!

Ethan was Robin Hood - the main character - I KNOW!!! I guess he kind-of got volunteered to do it and then agreed without really knowing what he agreed to - typical. But, he did really good. Their theme was Service and they had a service competition to see who got to dance with Maid Marion - "Rob" didn't win because he was helping another player (service), but he got the dance anyway. I love this picture because it shows how awkward they felt :)

Poetry Contest

Jamie won 3rd place in the Quad-Campus Poetry Contest this year for 7th grade!!! She's really enjoyed writing this year and has some great stories!!!

Her cousin, Emma, also won for poetry in her grade, and Laura was serving us at the banquet because she's in Student Council this year. Fun evening!!!

And, because I'm her mom, here's her poem:

FRIEND FOR LIFE

The little hands tighten around the small dress,

She loves and adores her, like a boy loves a mess,

Treats it with comfort and a place on her bed,

She rocks her to sleep and kisses her head.

And prays she will have her from morn until night,

For this little doll brightens her life.

Now under the bed is her place in the room,

Hoping and thinking she'll remember her soon.

Then in through the doorway, comes the teenage girl,

Maybe perhaps she'll find her and say,

"Oh there you are my dear old friend,

Come sit upon my bed."

And she'll pray that she can have her from morn until night

For this little doll has brightened her life.

Now shaky and old the girl is,

For her husband has passed away.

Wishing for a friend to lay with her,

On the last day.

She remembers her small treasure, in her chestnut box.

Rises up from the bed and carries herself,

To open the golden locks.

The soft, fragile hands tighten, around the small dress,

Her prayers have been answered from morn until night,

For this little doll had brightened her life.

Ice-Blocking!

For those of you not from Arizona, you might laugh historically at my next post..... But, when you NEVER get snow, you come up with other ways......ICE BLOCKING!!!!!! Some good friends of ours are also hosting an exchange student and called to see if we would go ice-blocking with them - we had never been before, but we had a BLAST!!!!

Lafe pulling Laura down the hill - at first you have to get the ice slippery, so it wasn't working so well.

Sorry, it's blurry (working on that on my camera!), but here's Erin sliding down.

Here's Frauke, our exchange student, on her first try - oh, and Talin in the background. Laura, Kelcie, and Talin had actually done it before with some friends, so they knew what to do.

A Race! Frauke, Erin, and Ethan

WIPEOUT!!! This is usually how it ended - we tried hard to get to the bottom of the hill.

One of the many trains - that was funny!!! On one of them, half of the group left without the back... Great activity! We saved the blocks if any wants to go :)

Easter

This was Easter Morning at our house - sorry, I didn't get the greatest pictures this year. If you notice that we have 7 kids in this picture, it's not a mistake - We have a German Exchange student staying with us for a few weeks, and this was her first day here.

Finding out what's in the baskets...

The HUNT, of course! The Easter Bunny hid over 100 eggs - yikes!

And, did you know that you can dye brown eggs? And, blue eggs? With the chickens, we've had PLENTY of eggs lately, so I wasn't about to go buy 5 dozen eggs for my kids to color. So, we tried coloring our brown and blue ones - who knew? In fact, the color was super-vibrant - but that could have been the kit we used.

Quick Trip

Our nephew, Kyler, was getting married and we all planned to go up to the wedding, but then things came up so that it turned into almost a Daddy-Daughter trip. Lafe took Jamie, Laura, and Kelcie and drove with his brother, Brian, and his daughter, Autumn, up to Provo, Utah. We had reserved a condo because it's cheaper for our size of family to do that than to get a hotel.

Cool sleeping arrangements!

Beautiful blossoms

Same blossoms the next morning! My girls were THRILLED that it was snowing!!!!!! They had never seen snow fall, and were just ecstatic!

Experiencing snow!

Kyler and his beautiful new bride.

While the girls were waiting, all the girl cousins went up to a Beauty School and got their hair done - SO MUCH FUN!!!!

All the girls cousins - that were there..... Can you believe there's a few missing? Yes, we had a girl boom in our family from about 1997 to 2004!

On the drive home they stopped to see some dinosaur fossils...

What a fun trip and great memories! So glad they could go and have so much fun!

The big 13!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jamie turned 13!!!!!!!!!!!! I have 3 official teenagers in my house now!!!

The kids got her a purple, bunny pillow-pet!

We got her new bedding - a down comforter and pillow from Ikea - she's been asking for one and was so excited to sleep in them!

Jamie on her birthday, ready for school! Wearing her new shirt she got from Eric and Sonya, and sporting her new glasses (that I forgot to post about :) ).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMIE!!!!!

We're so glad you're in our family!!!

T-Ball

Talin's playing T-ball!!! He's been going to practice for about a month, and now he finally gets to play the games! He's so darn cute in his uniform that the girls and I finally had to quit telling him how cute he was :)

Very intent in the first inning.....

Up to bat.....

How he felt about half way through :) "When is it over, mom?"

HUGE smile as he got to run all the bases because he was the last hitter!!!

His first game he decided it was long - but I think a lot of that was because he didn't know what to expect or really what he was supposed to do, so it was long because he was unsure. Last night's game he said he had a good time. Can I just say how hilarious it is to watch 10 5-yr old boys??? I feel for the coach! He does a great job and is very patient! And, wouldn't you know there's another boy on the team with his name? He spells it different, but it's VERY confusing.