AR Stars

Kendall was one of the top three readers for accelerated reading in her class. The top three readers from each class were able to go to the park today for a couple of hours. They ate lunch, played at the park and fed the ducks. Kendall, being a shy girl, was worried about not having a girl from her class to play with, but found out that the two boys that went from her class were a lot of fun.

The Circus Is In Town

This is what we have been up to this week. We were being crowded out by all our termite roommates. Another plus is that we temporarily got rid of our garage crickets, but I have a feeling they love us too much to stay away too long! We stayed at my parents house Monday and Tuesday and we had so much fun! The kids mostly played Wii, but did some of their other usual activities they have to do when they visit Grandpa and Grandma. We were spoiled with the wonderful food and great hospitality. I would love to stay at their "hotel" again. We were able to return Tuesday night, but the gas was turned off until Wednesday afternoon, so no hot water until then. Unbagging the food went way quicker than I thought and now we are all settled back in.

Family Portrait

When I went into Kendall's room today to change her sheets, this is what I found. This is proof to me that she was watching us from heaven and came to our family for a reason. Sounds odd, I know, but when I was little, Vicki and Bonnie would organize family pictures with all our Barbies, Kens, Skippers, Midge, Tutti, Francie, PJ, et. al. I remember one time after a "family picture", Vicki and I grabbed as many barbies in our arms as we could and went running downstairs only to find my mom in a meeting with a lady in our stake. I was little, so I thought nothing of it. Vicki, however, was a little older and probably a little embarrassed even though I am sure the ladies were thinking she was just being a good big sister to entertain her little sis. Ahh, memories. It's nice to see Kendall carry on the family tradition.

Mother's Day

This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning. My cute kids got up early and fixed breakfast. Maelen made cinnamon french toast and Jared made his own creation of eggs. It was so delicious and so sweet of them. Kendall made me THREE very cute cards and was telling me all week how excited she was to give them to me.

Another good thing today - we had no meetings other than our block. YIPPEE!! We went home and watched "The Singles Second Ward" which was one of my fun Mother's Day gifts.

In the evening, we got to together with Dad, Mom and the Lockens and had a fantastic dinner. Vicki made an awesome artichoke chicken dish and grilled veggies among other things. Yum! The best part of Mother's Day is being able to celebrate my mom and all the wonderful things she has done for us and has taught us. Yea for Moms!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday and my mom thought it would be fun to surprise him with a dinner at Rodrigo's. The food was yummy and it was fun to be together. We just hope it was a good surprise. I LOVE that the cousins like to be together! Here are Maelen and Emily hamming it up for the camera. Here is our traditional birthday picture. Luckily we were in a room big enough to accomodate our picture and closed off enough so as not to annoy other diners too much.

The Unity Tree

Kendall told me last week that the first grade would be putting on a play the following Wednesday night. My first response was to freak out - how can we go when Jared has baseball and scouts and Maelen has Young Women and it is Ward Temple Day? There is just too much going on! That night when Kendall said her prayers, she said "Please bless that we can be less busy next Wednesday so we can go to my play". After that, how could we not go? We rearranged our schedules and went to learn about unity through a play about cats and dogs getting along. Grandpa and Grandma even closed down the family history center to go support Kendall!! She did a great job and is getting a little less shy in public. Yea Kendall!!

FHE

Last Monday we were able to have Family Home Evening with Mom and Dad. Matt was out of town for work so we did all the things we can't do when he is here. We went to Souplantation for dinner and then went back to our house to play Apples to Apples. Don't get me wrong - Matt would do these things if we asked him, but these are not a few of his favorite things. The kids were in heaven in a restaurant where they can pick exactly what the want. Apples to Apples always gets us laughing. Kendall loves it because she loves games she can actually play, although we noticed she was picking out her card even before the description was read!! Apparently that is a good strategy because she won. Thanks Mom and Dad for sharing our FHE with us!