Speedy!

Rylee had the annual Springville City Hershey Track meet today. She always gets excited for the opportunity to see if her speedy skills are still tops...no worries Rylee, you're good! I get excited for the opportunity to cheer her on! Today she raced the 100 meter race, did the long jump and the softball throw. She killed it! She took 3rd place in the city for long jump, 72 inches! Then she raced the 100 meter, she tied for 1st...raced in the semi-final and took a super close 2nd place, but her time was fast and she made it to the top 6 finalists. She raced again and took 2nd place overall...that makes her the 2nd fastest 5th grade girl in the city!! You rock, Rylee! What an exciting day and I couldn't be more proud of her...she was fearless, gracious to the other athletes, positive and a great role model. I love to be her Mom!

She's the Hope of America

Rylee was our first kiddo to take part in the annual Hope of America presentation at the BYU Marriot Center. The show is a tribute to American Heroes and includes singing and dancing with video clips. She was very excited and practiced often in preparation (much to Spencer's dismay). The kids all did a fabulous job!! It happened to take place on a busy night for our family, so Karlee and I were the lucky 2 who got to go and watch...we both enjoyed the music and the finale was amazing...gave me the happy tears! Great job, Rys!!

Easter 2014

This Easter was an easy-breezy sort of day. We started out by coloring eggs the night before. It was colorful fun!! We enjoyed the plentiful baskets left by the bunny...flip flops, swimsuit cover-ups and lots of Peeps!! The Easter egg hunt was over to quickly...these kids are FAST! Church was awesome...and then we headed over to Grandma Clark's for a yummy dinner and lots of wiffle. I can't imagine an Easter going much better.

He's a Socca Playa!

Spencer loves to play soccer and the rest of us love to watch him play soccer! He's intense (it runs in the family) and fast...which is good because he really likes to score goals. He is playing spring soccer in Spanish Fork and it's been a blast. Go Tigers!!

Spring Break at the Cancun!

The Clark family invited us to a fantastic spring break down in Las Vegas at the Cancun resort...we were in!! It was so fun to pile into the hotel rooms and hang out with the cousins. There were 17 cousins along on this trip. The kids said their favorite part was having 8 kids (Sam & Holly's family shared a room with us) sleeping in the living room together every night...campout!! The pools were huge and heated with water slides...what's not to like?? The temperature stayed right at about 90 degrees for us which made hanging out by the pool our activity of choice. The nights were full of great food and fun company! We enjoyed watching the fountains at the Bellagio and walking through the gardens in the hotel...although the kids were pretty stressed about walking through the casinos. We were bummed when it was time to go and can't wait to do it again sometime. Thanks Grandma& Grandpa for letting us come along!

This Is the Place!

For Karlee's Utah Studies class this year she got to go on a field trip to "This is the Place" monument. I am so lucky that my big girl isn't embarrassed to be with me and actually begged me to come along! How could I refuse?? We had a great time! Karlee enjoyed the woodworking shop and I got to start a fire in the blacksmith shop (go mom!!). We saw lots of cool exhibits, pushed a handcart and tried to ignore the cold and rainy weather. Love spending time with my big girl!

Mother Goose Day

Spencer had a great time with his buddies at Mother Goose Day. The parade was awesome and Spence did a great job reciting the rhyme that he memorized..."This Little Piggy". It was a good thing that Dad was the "swine flu" for Halloween a couple years ago...it's nice when the old costume box is useful!! Great job, buddy!

Dinosaur Museum with Audge!

Jake and I got called upon, last minute, to help out with Audree's field trip and we jumped at the chance! The 3-D shark movie was awesome...Dad especially loved it! It was fun to see Audree with her classmates, they are such great kids. What a fun day!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

During one of this year's cheer competitions Karlee had the opportunity to compete in a Jump Off. She LOVES when they have these at competitions. We paid $5 for her to compete against approximately 40 girls. These were girls from every level, so there were girls competing against her from level 4 and 5 teams. Each girl had to do 3-4 jump sequence followed by a standing tumble. Karlee did a triple toe-touch followed by a standing tuck. It was beautiful and the judges unanimously agreed that she had the best sequence! She was SO excited to win and just as excited about the $20 prize that she won. Her team was also so excited for her and surrounded her with cheers and hugs after she won. Karlee really does have gorgeous jumps and I was excited for her to have a little moment in the spotlight! You go, girl!!

Spencer's got a Great Brain!

For many years we have been able to graciously decline on the opportunity to help our kids with a "Great Brain Project". It's just a bunch of extra work for...the parents! This year Spencer's teacher was adamant that the kids in her class complete a project and Spencer, in turn, was determined that he needed to do one. Jake and I tried to fight it, but Spencer's puppy dog eyes made us give in. We discussed many possible projects...monster trucks was on the list...but eventually we settled on a project Dad could be excited about and help with...Paper Airplanes! The two boys worked hard on a poster and presentation (including a video clip of the world record paper airplane throw). The presentation to the class included teaching the kids how to make the best flying airplane with a contest to see who's could go the farthest. The project was a HUGE hit and ended up creating a bit of a problem at the school and neighborhood with paper airplanes everywhere over the following weeks!! Spencer was a bit of trend-setter and has since become the best paper airplane maker I know!! Anyways, it ended up being a fun project for the boys to work on and something they will never forget! Good times!

Science Fair Time!

This year science fair time was no laughing matter...somehow I found myself at the head of the school science fair. The only saving grace was the wonderful woman I got to work with, Christy Winward, she was a lifesaver!! Other than that, it was a LOT of work. Weeks of preparation and then an entire week spent at the school...luckily we got Rylee's project done before the madness really began. Rylee did a fun project on nailpolish and the girls in our family had a great time helping out with the test! I was glad to have had the chance to support my kids and their school...but that was a rough one. Great job on your project, Rylee!!

A Long Time Coming...

March will be the 10 year anniversary of moving into our home. It's been a GREAT 10 years!! We love this home and plan to stay here for 10 more. Due to the fact that the last 10 years here have been spent, potty training, learning to walk, playing in the backyard and just generally raising 4 kids...it was time to do a little upgrading. The carpet was long overdue for a replacement and the paint and decor was ready for an update. We got to work!! We had some painters come and paint...it took us several days (and about 20 trips to the paint store) to choose a paint color...there were over 12 different peach colors on the wall before we finally mixed 2 colors and got JUST what we were looking for! The carpet was also a project and took some time to choose. I went shopping daily for several weeks to pick out all the new decor...I also painted lots of things, recovered the kitchen chairs, picked out and made new curtains, painted the bathroom and Jake and I tried not to kill each other while we hung everything on the walls and did the finishing touches. Now that it is done I can step back and LOVE IT! I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out, of course I still have projects on my mind, but for now I can just be happy living here and going back raising those 4 crazy kids.