Kenna's singing debut

Ok, here's a funny.  When I first typed the title, I left out a g so it said Kenna's sinning debut.  He he.  I hope not.  This fall we signed Kennadee up for a singing group called Tavaci.

 Actually, a performing arts group, according to their sign.  Since she is always singing, sometimes just  her sentences, we thought she might like it.  She has, but I"m not sure which she likes more, the singing or the piece of candy they give her each week.  She had her first performance last night.  I hadn't seen one before and I was impressed with what a good job the teachers did with these kiddos.  The video is kind-of long.  I put it on mostly for mom and dad.  The last clip is just what happens when Kenna gets a hold of our video camera on her own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1JFRMCgxSw

Climbing the walls

Last night we FINALLY! took our kids rock climbing.  It's been something they have asked to do for a long time.  First, Mike and I had to learn how to belay.  

We had decided that this trip, we would just let the kids climb, since someone always had to belay.  Once we passed off our knots, the kids were good to go.  I couldn't believe how much they loved it. 

 Connor had an advantage due to height and swimming muscles, so it was easier for him.  Kate wasn't far behind him.  She was fast, maybe because she doesn't have much weight to pull up. 

 Chase loved it, but he had to work the hardest of all of them.  He preserved and made it to the top.  Kenna was pretty scared at first.  She didn't believe the ropes would hold her.

  She did quite well, but never went as high as the others.  Ok by me.  When Mike was on the belay for them, he did Farmer Brown, what will you give me if I let you Down?  Silly.

First Snow

So this actually happened about 3 weeks ago on Nov. 21st, but I'm still putting it on anyway.  We got our first real snow that Sunday.  It was about 4 inches and the perfect kind for snowmen, snowballs, all that.  My girls were so excited, they were first out to play.  Then Mike and I and Connor decided to join them.  

Chase is missing from the first few photos cause he was mad about something.  He cooled off and came out later.  The girls and I made the snowman, while Con and Mike tried to see how big they could get the snowballs.  Our snowman fell on his face that night.  We got another foot of snow later that week.  Now it's about gone because we've had rain.  The good news is Beaver was able to open earlier than usual.  I'm going skiing tomorrow and Mike and the kids (minus Connor) are going Saturday.  Yahoo!!

Story of a Swimmer

Connor made Sky View's swim team this fall.  Go Connor!  We need to thank Aunt Karen for starting us on this path.  About two summers ago, while watching Connor swim across the beaver pond at Wildhorse, she commented on what a pretty stroke he had.  Said he should be a swimmer.  I had tried to get Con to try swimming a couple of years before, but he hadn't been interested.  That comment got both he and I thinking about it again.  That fall he took one more set of lessons, then starting swimming for an age-group team called the Gators.  One year of hard work later, he made the high school team and he LOVES it.  So THANK YOU Karen.  Chase and Katie are both swimming for Gators now also.  Things we love about swimming:
  1.  It keeps you in awesome shape
  2.  You can do it your whole life.
  3.  You mostly compete against yourself.  My kids don't do well with the pressure of a team sport like soccer,
         etc.
  4.  You're still a part of a team.
  5. It's both boys and girls, so you can make lots of friends.
  6.  It's competitive (you give it your best) but not too much.
  7.  It's not about winning and losing, just getting your best time.

It's so fun as a parent to have my kids be excited about this.  I don't have to make him go to practice.  He wants to.  It's a big commitment.  He swims everyday after school and three days before.  He is definitely learning to budget his time and to work hard.

Meet Billy

The first of October, Mike and Chase came home with Billy.  Chase had found him at a garage sale and bought it.  He was giddy with excitement.  He set it all up in the yard, found tent stakes to make sure "he" wouldn't fall over.  That day saw an elaborate game with all the neighbor kids with one team protecting  Billy and the other trying to "kill" him by turning off his power source.  I personally really, really don't like yard blow-ups.  However, I pretended to like Billy-the things you do for your kids.  Chase made sure he was one every night all month.  Sadly, Billy is now gone.  Till next year, Billy.

Halloween

Once again we had some interesting costume choices this year.  My favorite thing about Halloween in seeing what my kids come up with and then figuring out how to make it happen.  I didn't think Connor would dress up this year, he didn't trick or treat.  But a couple of days before our ward carnival, he decided  he would like to be Jack Skellington (think Nightmare before Christmas).  He really likes Jack for some reason.  He bought 2 jack shirts in Disney World.  Anyway one trip to D.I. for a women's blazer that I added tails and pinstripes to and Poco Loco for a swim cap and he was done.  Yahoo.

Next, Miss Katelyn wanted to be a black ghost.  Ok.  So one black sheet and I added white eyes to a baklava.  She ended up looking a little scarier than I thought.  The bad thing was she couldn't cover her face for the carnival.  Instead she wore a black stocking hat and had me paint her face black.  She looked like a cat burglar that night.  She loved it though.

Chase opted for Shaggy for Scooby Doo.  Super easy costume.  The hardest part was finding a goatee.  However, not many people knew who he was so he was a little bummed.  

Last is my perennial princess.  I made the dress for her in June.  She uses it for dress-up also.  Unfortunately,it was  a bit long and took a pretty good spill while running from house to house.  We had to pin it up and the Belle dress has a few holes now.  Ah well.  I guess I can't forget Zombie Mom.

  My Saturday morning Zumba class had a costume contest.  Marianne let me borrow this awesome costume she had made, so of course I won.  It was fun.  

Up to date?

Ah, my long neglected blog.  Why have I been avoiding you?  No good reason.  I stink at writing in my journal, too.  Someday, I'll probably regret both.  Good news!  Connor made Sky View's swim team.  The best thing about this is that he set it as a goal a year ago and has been working really had at it ever since.  I was so relieved he made the team, just so he could learn that hard work pays off.  It's a big commitment. He practices every day after school, 3 mornings a week before school and often on Saturday mornings.  He loves it.  His first meet is this Thursday, just between his team, and the first real meet is in Nov.  I hope it will be a good experience for him.
The pictures of my kids are some my Dad took when we went up for the Bar-be-que and also when he and mom came to visit us here.  I think he gets some pretty great people pictures, too.
Chase is doing awesome at school.  He is also swimming with the club and he has speech therapy twice a week. All of a sudden, we've become one of those families with something every day after school.  I've tried really hard to avoid that, but speech is a must.  Since he got his tonsils and adenoids out, his soft pallet doesn't close all the way.  They are trying to help him train it to do so.

Kate also started swimming this fall.  She LOVES it.  She is also taking piano.  We also like to do crafts and we made some jars with tissue paper and modge podge.  We put lights in the and stuck them on the porch.

Kenna still thinks 1st grade is just too long.  Hopefully, she'll learn to like it.  She is participating in a singing group, called Tavaci.  I thought she might like it, because she is always singing, even her sentences to me.  She thinks the best part is that they give her candy each week.  She also crafted with Kate and I.  We made these eye balls for family night.  They are on tea lights, so we can put them in the window at night.

I got to do this new project.  A lady in our ward volunteered to teach some of us to quilt.  She came up with this project and it was soooo much fun.  I didn't think I would like it as much as I did.  I have now started a couple of other projects.  People ask me what I do with all my "Free time" now that Kenna is in school.  Let me say, I still have to do all the same things.  The only difference is now I'm alone, which makes it sometimes faster and easier, but sometimes just more lonely.  I have substituted a few times and I have one last on-line class to finish my recertification for my teaching license.  Yay.

Mike is alternating his time between work, golf, racquetball and taking care of us. He's great. He also made his first batch of rolls from scratch.  What a guy!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

Katie turned 9 on Labor Day,  Lucky for me she choose cheesecake instead of a decorated one.  Yes, there was a rather large fault line, but it still tasted good.  Kate didn't want to have a friend party this year or even invite a friend or two to do a family activity (which is what we usually do) but she did want to go horse back riding.  About 2 years ago, she saw a brochure for a trail ride in Logan Canyon and has wanted to do it ever since.  It's a little pricey, so we didn't take the whole family, just Katie and I.

She wasn't all that happy to wear a helmet, but she had too.

This is Kate on her house Ajax.  Ajax is quite old and was very calm throughout the ride.

This is one of my many attempts to turn around while on my horse and get a good picture of Kate.  It was harder than it sounds and the picts didn't turn out all the well.  It was really pretty.

Here we are, at the end.  Kate loved it.  She is so serious, she didn't speak or even smile much during the whole hour ride.  She did talk to me in the car on the way home, and of course now wished she could have her own horse.  We love our Katelyn.

Odds and Ends

I want to post, but don't really feel like typing.  So here's to a lot a pictures.  This is Kate and Connor and Chase going off the platforms at Lava on our last fun trip before school started.  Love Kate's attitude.

Kenna is so proud of these sunflowers.  She brought the starts home from Kindergarten last spring.  They are so tall.

This is for Ally.  I make this shirt after talking to your.  Kate has one with peace signs on it.  It was very fun, thanks for the idea.  Also, I cut off a pair of Kenna's jeans and made this skirt to go with.  She loves it.

Connor got his braces off the Monday before school started.  Watch out girls!  Really watch out Connor, because I think he's still to shy to go for the girls yet.  Thank goodness.

                                                                     First Day of School

                                                         First day of school snacks.

Connor's Eagle

Connor's Eagle project actually started about one year ago.  He worked really hard for awhile to organize a project for our church that got scrapped about 6 months later due to funding problems.  In April we were approached about this project, building a bridge for Smithfield City.  I told his leaders that Mike and I WERE NOT Builders, and they said no worries-all three of them were contractors.  We waited all summer for the city to put in the I-beams.      

They did and the boys got started on Saturday.  We had no idea what a big project this was.  Thank goodness for a wonderfully kind contractor in our ward, who knew what he was doing.  He directed the project and provided all the tools.

First they had to cut the planks and bolt them into the metal i beams.

Then they build a railing.  It also had to be bolted in and the boys had to put on and tighten washers on the bottom.  This is them on some scaffolding.

Or you could just lean over the side.

The finished project.

These boys and Dads and Leaders worked so hard.  They were there from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm.  We were so glad they got it all done in one day.  We actually didn't think they would.  I fed them lunch.  I think they are all so proud of themselves and every time they see this, they will know what a good job they did.  Way to go 13th Ward and Connor!