TJ's Spring Show

TJ has turned into quite the little actor. Here he is doing his Spring show for the acting group which he's a part of. He has had so much fun with the whole acting thing! In addition to the show performances, he got to take a day off of school and go on "Tour" with his group to perform at various elementary schools and a resting home. He's been in this group for a year and a half and when I went to see this last show, I couldn't believe that it was the same kid up there as when he started. He smiles through all the songs, and is totally comfortable on stage. You can tell he loves it. I wish I could better describe the skits, but he's in some western skits, a skit about what it would be like if Abraham Lincoln ran for class president, and one about being in a band. They were all really fun!

Planting flowers at the temple

They had the coolest Primary activity the other day. They got to plant flowers at the temple. What a great opportunity! We helped to trim the tulips down and then we planted other flowers. The grounds keeper said that last fall they planted something like 26,000 tulip bulbs. It looked so incredible. The tulips hadn't all died yet, so it was hard cutting them down. We'll have to take the kids back in a couple of weeks to show them how their hard work has paid off!

TJ's field day

TJ had his field day the next day, and it was fun watching him interact with his friends as well. I think he was happy we came to watch him, but he didn't really talk to us much. He did talk to us at lunch, after he was done eating with his friends. So that kind of made up for lack of communication previous to that. I was actually kind of shocked at lunch because we went to this pizza place and he and his friend sat with 5 other girls. I watched him and they were just all laughing and having a great time. Those aren't bad odds either! Way to go TJ! I just couldn't believe that he chose to sit with a group of friends that included girls. He wasn't one bit shy. There was even a bit of flirting going on. WOW! My baby's growing up!

Brody's field day

Field day is always a blast. I love watching the kids compete, but I especially love it when they are good sports and have a good attitude even if they don't win. It's really fun watching Brody because he cheers for everyone and is just so happy. I also love it because he's not too embarrassed to come and give me a hug when he sees me or grandma. I have a funny story about his field day. We try to stagger the day with one of us there throughout the day. My mom and I took the morning, then we all went to lunch. Then Travis went, then my dad spend the last part of the afternoon there. While my dad was there I guess Brody was a little disappointed because he didn't win the 50 yard dash. My dad said it was really close, but he was OK with it. But then he was sitting there with my dad and it was time for the girls to race. I guess there was a girl who wasn't too fast and kind of lost by a lot. Brody got a smile on his face and whispered to my dad, "Boy she's really slow!" It was kind of ironic that he said that considering that he'd just barely lost himself! Oh well! Oh- another thing that Brody did really well at this year was the basketball shoot. He has really improved this year with basketball. He is outside shooting hoops any chance he can get. It's really paid off!

Trey's fieldtrip to the farm

Trey has been looking forward to the fieldtrip at the farm all year long! They went to the farm right before the chicks in their classroom hatched. They had been studying about chicks and all farm animals, so the kids were totally ready to go. I was able to go and I was so thankful for that. We had a great time, but Trey was a little afraid of the animals. I was so glad I was there, because I was holding him most of the time. He didn't make a big deal about anything, or cry, but he couldn't climb up fast enough if the dogs walked by, or any of the animals got too close. There were pony rides, a petting zoo and a hay ride. We just watched for all of the activities except the hay ride. We just kind of kept our distance. Despite everything, he had a great time. He loved riding on the bus, and I loved watching him with his friends. He is Mr. Social this year! When I get him from school every day I have to wait for about 10 minutes while he runs around with his buddies. He totally ignores me until most of the kids are gone. Then he'll come and get in the car. I can hardly believe that almost a whole school year has gone by. I was so nervous about how he would do in school. And this year has been absolutely great!

Movie Night

Almost every weekend we try to have Family Movie Night. We make the yummy pizza (that Kristy gave us the recipe for- THANK YOU KRISTY!) and we watch a movie together. On this night we watched "Mall Cop." We all loved it. My favorite part was seeing how much the kids loved it. They would laugh so hard at things! There is nothing better than hearing kids laugh!

General Conference

I will have to say that being able to go to General Conference at the Conference Center is an amazing oportunity. Travis and I decided that we would do this every time that my Dad could get us tickets. At first it was just Travis, myself and my parents. Now that TJ and Brody can both go, it's even better. I appreciate Travis' parents for watching our younger kids so we can do this. I feel so guilty because I know that aren't getting nearly as great of an experience. I doubt they can even listen with the kiddos running around. Thank you Mom and Dad- we love you! One other tradition we have that is part of the conference experience is going to eat at Crown Burger. I think that most people who go to conference go there because it is soo busy. Busy... but absolutely worth it. We all chuckle at the amount of food that Brody and TJ order. It's a real treat!