Fun Times

This was one Sunday morning the kids grabbed my I touch and Emily had figured out how to watch movie previews with one of the apps. I'm glad she just picked the kid movies!  She loves to listen to my music and has picked her favs.   It's crazy she knows how to use it better than I do.  Jake just loves to play angry birds whenever he gets a chance.  He tries to sneak it to bed at night!

We are so proud of how well Emily is learning to play the piano.  She learned how to play Book of Mormon Stories by herself from the primary book and we have had some fun times for FHE.

Arizona

I'm really behind so bare with me while I play catch up. In March Devo and I went to Arizona for his conference. The night before we left this is what Devon came home to. Emily is very famous for her notes and pictures hanging all over the house. That night there were about 7 or 8 Dad look notes taped all the way down the hall.

On the door was this note. There was also the exact note for mom too. She was a little nervous because the last time Grandma Skinny watched the kids in September Emily broke her arm. I think most of it was that she just didn't want us to go.  Grandma was trying not to take it personally.  Grandma did a great job with no hospital visits this time and the kids had a great time.

We celebrated our 15 year anniversary in March.  We tried to go to pebble beach but the weather is a little cold and it is quite pricey, (one day).  So I tagged along with him to school.  We were able to golf at some really nice golf courses and enjoy the warm weather.  Troon North was beautiful and I played really well at Wekopa.  Devon says he needs to play Wekopa again because that was his third day of golf and he was a bit tired so his game was not quite on.  He also played in a tournament at Talking Stick (which his team won), while I enjoyed time visiting with Diane my roommate from college.  It was a fun and relaxing vacation.

Spelling Bee

At the end of March Emily competed in the 2nd grade spelling bee. 7 kids from each class participated. She practiced more than last year and was looking forward to doing much better. I think mom was much more nervous than she was. I could hardly breathe. After she spelled the first word correctly I settled down a little. Emily was really cute. After round 3 she started holding up her fingers to show us what round she passed. Last year she only made it to the 2nd round. She really wanted to make it to the top five. She ended up with 6th place and we couldn't of been prouder. But she was disappointed and she wears her emotions on her sleeve. Like her mom. She started to cry and lost it when she got to me. I think she was pleased afterward but said she could have done better. But, she was the last one standing from her class! Way to go Emily.

Jake is 6

Jake is finally 6. He waited a loooong time! We were all set for a friend party that he and Emily had planned and then he changed his mind at the last minute. So his birthday started with the traditional donut and candle for breakfast. After school we headed home to open a couple presents. He loves his new bike for the race car sound affects it makes when you rev the handle bar. Next it was off to Wendy's for lunch. Then we headed off to the golf course to walk 3 holes. It was a little chilly but was still fun.

He finally decided to go celebrate with his cousin Tommy. Devo made the cobra cake/rice crispies. He is the bomb. It turned out perfect. Move over there is a new cake maker in the family. Jake was very pleased with it and said it looked real. The rice crispies were hard but the kids didn't seem to mind. The kids had fun with the pinata. (I think this is why he didn't want a friend party because he didn't want to share the candy) Grandma Due ended up decapitating the dinosaur in the end. The kids thought that was pretty funny.

Since he wasn't having a friend party we had to come up with something special to do fast. I had seen a commercial several times from Scales and Tails of UT., and they just happened to be free on Tues. so we booked a reptile show for a surprise for Jake. It was just the 4 kids and he was in Heaven the entire time! Evidence by the smile on his face in the pictures. He got to hold and touch snakes! He tells everyone he meets all about the snakes he held and is still flying high. It was actually a very entertaining and informative show. Well worth the money, and the look on Jakes face was priceless.

He also got to hold a blue tongue skink and turtle. He loved the gopher snake!

The blood python named Mary was a biter so they just got to touch that one. The albino reticulated python was a favorite of Jakes. Sam kept saying "I like snakes." Emily was a little timid holding the gopher snake and didn't want to put it around her neck. But when grandma did it she said she would give it a try. Fun was had by all.

Jake's favorite gift was a bug collector. That he opened immediately and went outside in the freezing cold to go hunting. His first bug was a worm. On sunday in the snow he caught a wasp. Good thing it was so cold it could hardly move, so the danger was minimal?

New Toy

Check out Devo's new snow plow. His dad came up in Jan. and decided we needed a bigger and better way to remove the snow from our entire driveway. We were afraid he would have a heart attack trying to clear our driveway of the ice. By the time Devo got the blade on the the 4 Wheeler there was no snow. Last month we got some snow and he had to try it out. There really wasn't enough snow but he had to use it once before he took it off for the summer.

It was kind of nice. It took him about 10 minutes to clear everything! Bring on the snow next year!

Disney On Ice

Britney wanted to go see Disney On Ice so she invited Emily to go with her. Emily was a little reluctant to go by her self but I think she really enjoyed herself and was glad she went. She loves her snow cone cup and her wand. She bought Jake a wand too. I was proud of her for thinking of her brother while she was out. Wow! She does like him.

She said her favorite part was princess Jasmine and Ariel. She liked the cool tricks they did with the prince. Thanks for the fun night Brit.

Creative Arts Contest

Each year the school has a creative arts contest and this was Emily's first year to enter. The theme was Live well, Eat well, Play Well. She worked really hard and was very creative in her tasks. She competed against the 2nd and 3rd graders. She won a prize in 3 of the 4 categories she entered. She won 2nd place for her sunset painting, 2nd place for her story called The Flying Duck, and 3rd place for a song she composed on the piano called "Playing Outside". She also won a total of $22. I think she may enter all the categories next year. We were very proud of her, and she was very excited.