Draper Temple Open House

We went to the Draper Temple Open House on Monday for Family Night and it was a really special experience for our children to see inside of a temple. They asked lots of questions and I sure hope that they will always have a goal to go to the temple when they get older!!

My mom came with us and was a great help with Amber!

We couldn't take pictures in the temple, but in the Church house after the tour, they had refreshments and a beautiful set up of temples, pictures of Christ, etc.

We're expecting number six

A couple weeks ago, Jason and I found out that we're pregnant with our sixth child and we are absolutely thrilled! We weren't going to announce it this early, but I am already feeling sick pretty much every day and we figured people would guess sooner or later what was going on. We feel so grateful that we have been blessed with one more child in our family. We think this is probably the last child we will have so we are going to enjoy every moment of this pregnancy (even the awful morning sickness).

I love a good morning sunrise

One of my favorite things is watching a beautiful sunrise or sunset. I captured these photos one morning when I was seeing Jason off to work. (The camera doesn't quite reveal the beauty I saw.)

72 Hour Kits - Follow up

I'm excited to say that we actually finished what we started last week. Tonight, for FHE, we took the kids to the store and bought all of the items on our "need" list to fill each 72 hour kit. We really enjoyed our time together and when we got home, we put everything in the emergency cupboard by our garage. I'm grateful to be prepared, but I hope we won't ever have to use it.

72 Hour Kits

My sweet Mother-in-law sent a reminder to all of her children to get their 72 hour kits updated and prepared for use. Last Monday, for FHE, we got out ALL of our 72 hour kits and wrote down everything that we currently have and everything that we need for them to be complete. It was a great activity for the kids and they asked a lot of questions as to why we need to be prepared. I was surprised at the stuff that needed to be updated. I thought we were completely prepared and we weren't.

On Saturday, we are going to go to the store and purchase the things we need to complete the kits and then next Monday we will have the children help us put everything together.

I challenge all of you to check your 72 hour kits and make sure they are current. You may be surprised. :)

Solo Festival

Kelsea competed in a Solo Festival last weekend and was chosen as one of the Outstanding performers, out of 180 participants, to play in an Honor's Recital Tuesday night. She put so many hours into practicing and preparing her two pieces and I was so pleased with how well she played. (She nailed her piece at the Honor's Recital and I would have posted the video, but Amber was all over the place and kept getting in the way of the camera - let's just say she wanted to be the center of attention at the moment.)

Parent Teacher Conferences

*Warning*

This post contains "parental bragging" and may cause brain irritation if you have sensitivity to the aforementioned factor. Please do not continue reading if you start to feel annoyed, frustrated, or irritated. These symptoms can cause severe envy and will summon immediate psychiatric care.

So, I went to Parent Teacher Conferences last week and was very pleased that all three of my school children received great marks and great comments by their teachers!!!

Brianna had a problem with talking too much the last time we met with her teacher and I am happy to say that Mrs. Kunze said she is now one of the children that tries to get everyone else to be quiet. She behaves really well, is excelling in her studies, and is reading above her grade level. :)

Corbyn is a delight to his teacher, Miss Eliason. He is reading so much better than before and really tries hard in all that he does. She is really pleased with his success and determination.

Kelsea is doing really well in all of her studies. Sra. Vera said that she is starting to be more confident in her Spanish speaking and is excelling in all of her core subjects. In fact, she surprised us with an award that Kelsea received for being in the top 10 percent in the entire nation in ALL of the core subjects for the Iowa testing. She was very pleased and said it was a great honor, reflective of Kelsea's hard work.

Jason and I are both so pleased that the children are doing well in school. We know that we cannot force them to do well and we know that they are not perfect, but the fact that all of their teachers are pleased with their performances is a parenting payoff!

It's time to say goodbye

After many years of GREAT usage, it's finally time to say goodbye to our wonderful Camry. It has 206K miles on it and will cost more to repair than it is worth. We drove it to it's death and now we have sold it to someone who will probably dissect it - boo hoo!

Goodbye beautiful Camry!

(Could I really sound more pathetic? You don't understand how much I loved this car - it had SO much power and never caused us any problems. Camry's rock!)

For Real?!

For all of you mothers who have adorable children that tantrum, please know you are not alone. I am listening to an amazing and complete meltdown by my cutie Amber and it is quite impressive. The vocals alone are up there with the best of them and the frustration factor . . . on a scale of 1 to 10, she is at about 15. In fact, she just put her hands on her hips and said (well, actually, screamed) "I'm so frustrated!" Good riddance! I could certainly do without a day of tantruming!!!

Kelsea's Piano Recital

Kelsea's Annual Piano Recital was last Saturday and she did such a great job. She played "Petite Russian Rhapsody" and performed well. She was first on the program and was really excited.

Kelsea and Grandma Larson. (We weren't able to get a picture of Grandpa and Grandma Barker because they got their just in time for Kelsea's performance and then had to leave to another family event.) We really appreciate both sets of grandparent's support!

3rd Grade Wax Museum

On Friday, all of the 3rd Graders posed in a Wax Museum at the school. Kelsea was Amelia Earhart. They all did a great job!