A Bear is in the house

Spencer earned his Bear in Scouts, and as a little tradition he had to "Wrestle the Bear" to get his award hidden in the Bear den.  The dad's pretend to be the bear and the kids have such a great time wrestling for their award.

As you can see he came out with a piece of the Bear!!

Preschool Graduation 2010

Ashton went to preschool this year at Mrs. Stewart's home.  He had a great time learning all kinds of new things including how to write his name and letters.  At the end of the year they had a graduation, so here is the little graduate:

Can he please just stay this age. I love you Ashton, I am so proud of you!!

Father and Son's Camp out

Daddy and the Boys weekend at Long Valley Camp ground owned by the church.

The boys love to carve things out of wood

Camping, fishing, hiking...the boys were in heaven

Ashton on the farm

Ashton's Preschool class took a field trip to Marley Farm.  He had such a blast.  He loved feeding and petting the animals.

Yes, my little boy was the ONLY BOY in the class!  There were a  couple more boys, but they moved away.  I don't know that he even noticed.  He just loves playing with anyone who will play with him.

 There was a zonkey (donkey and zebra mix) that was wanting all the attention.  He would bang his back legs against the iron fence and the whole place would shake and echo!  The kids got such a kick out of it.  Thanks Mrs. Stewart

Spencer

Spencer's 4th grade project was the state of Missouri.  He had to do this all by himself!!  It was a project they did 98% of it at school, so parents could not help.  I was so proud of him.  He worked so hard on this and it was ALL him.  I have to admit he has better  handwriting then I do.  He also had to dress up like one of the people he researched, so of course my baseball fan dressed up as a Cardinal baseball player!

Then that night he was in the 4th grade play.

He was a 50's jock...SO CUTE!!

Love you Spence!!!

Student Council Secretary

Spencer wanted to run for 5th grade Student Council Secretary.  He had been on student council as a representative for his 4th grade class and loved it.  He decided this year to go bigger and next year he wants to run for President. 
We picked the kids up from school early Friday and headed up to Gila Valley to see the Temple open house.  As we are in the car Spencer tells us he plans on running for Secretary and has to write and give a speech on Tuesday to the faculty and student body.  So on our ride home Saturday from the Gila Valley, we had 3 hours to kill and he worked on his speech.  He would write a little piece and then ask our advice, and then work on a little more and so on until he was complete.    We had him read it over and over several times in the car on the way home because it had to be memorized.  We got home and he didn't look at it much more until Monday morning when I had him read it to me once just for practice.  I told him he needed to come home today and really work on memorizing his speech so he would be ready for Tomorrow. 
I took them to school and then came to pick them up at the end of the day and Kaden was the only one out waiting for me.  My heart dropped, where is Spencer?  I had this sick feeling they had them do their speeches a day early.  I parked the car and went in looking for Spencer.   The teacher said," They made an announcement at the end of the day Friday telling the students that EVERYONE would be doing their speeches on Monday instead of Tuesday."  Well, if you remember, we picked the kids up early Friday and NEVER got that message.  I was dying.   The teacher said, "it's okay, Spencer said he had it memorized and he is ready."  I said, "can I talk to him before he does his speech ?"  She sent me down the hall where Spencer was coming toward me CALM as can be!  I said, "Spence, are you ready for this?"  He replied, "Mom, I am totally fine. I rewrote my speech this morning in class and I know it."  I said, "okay,  can you say it to me once before going in there?"  He recited his speech and I was left speechless!  I was a very proud and humbled mother all in one moment.  I was so proud of him for having the courage to go out for this, especially without having his speech in hand.  It was a humbling experience for me to trust in him.  He is a smart boy and confident enough in himself to know...he was FINE!

Here is the speech that voted him Student Council Secretary:
       During Elementary school is when children begin to develop the habits and skills that will help them succeed throughout the rest of their lives.  The Student Council's job is to help the teachers and faculty organize and carry out the activities that will help the students develop the character traits that this school has defined.  Student Council can't be effective without a good Secretary who is organized, disciplined,  responsible, proactive, and takes initiative.  As a strait A student, I have proven to work hard and help others a long the way.  My teacher and all those who have worked with me can tell you that I am disciplined and focused at all times.
As the Student Council Secretary, I will use the talents given to me to make sure that the minutes are complete and understandable, the meetings run efficiently, and most of all, that the students benefit from the council's activities.  Don't hesitate to check my references, run a background check, or call my mommy.
Thank you.

Mother's Day

There are many things I could say about why I love being a mother on Mother's Day, but I think my children summed it up best in these drawings and projects from school.  Basically what I'm saying is, the reason I love being a Mother is THEM!!  They make each day brighter, fill it with new experiences and challenges we face together.  And those laughs, those infectious little laughs!! They make me a better person and inspire me to be better, for them.  I love them with all my heart.  I thank my husband for being the Best  most Awesomest man to help bring these precious spirits to our home.  I am a blessed Mother...

 Each of these cards had a beautiful pin at the bottom, they had made themselves.

It was an honor for me to wear them to church!

 Does it get any better!!

Gila Valley Temple

We took a little road trip this weekend to the Gila Valley Temple in Arizona.  It is a 3 hour drive from our house, so Tyler decided we would make a little trip out of it.  So we took the boys out of school early and headed up. 

We got to the temple and began to make our way in the front doors when Ashton stopped dead in his tracks and started to cry.  They had volunteers out front, helping put on big white plastic slippers over our shoes to keep the temple floors clean!  Well, Ashton wanted nothing to do with those "White things."  So Tyler picked him up and carried him through.  Well after we had been on the tour for about 5 minutes Ashton says, "I don't like going to the temple.  It takes to long and you look funny in those white things.  Let's just go back to the hotel and swim, Okay daddy."

So maybe Ashy wasn't so thrilled about the idea, but for everyone else it was truly a Wonderful experience and memory.  All I can say is WOW!!  When you walk through those halls and stand in Holy places, you can't help but be overwhelmed and grateful.  Even though it is not yet dedicated, the spirit is still there so strong.  I loved hearing about the details, how and why they were selected for that temple.  That each room is brighter, a little higher, ending in the unbelievable Celestial room.  This was such a great opportunity to share with the boys the importance of temple and see where we were married and sealed together for time and all eternity.  They looked through the mirrors and loved what they saw.  When we got back to the hotel I had  the boys write down in their journal their experience, and how they felt in the temple.  We ate at a little Mexican restaurant there in Safford, and then came back and made Ashy happy by going swimming!!

What a great weekend, only to be topped off with Mother's Day and all the fun that comes with it!  I love my family and I am so blessed and grateful to each and everyone of them.  They're what I live for and love them more each day!!

For Time and ALL Eternity

Babies...babies!!

What better way to spend a Mother's Day, then to be a mommy for the first time!!  I love all these girls so much and they have made  the last two months so much fun and exciting!

Congratulations!!!

Lindsay and Grant had  Capri on March 8th

 Alex and Ben had Felicity on May 7th

Jared and Jenna had Londyn on May 10th

I am so excited for you all and can't wait to hold all these sweet little girls!

I love you and Happy Mother's day!!

Chandler Stake Fair

Our Stake every year puts on a Fair with hot dogs, drinks, snow cones, dessert, and bounce houses.  They also set up wood booths that people volunteer to work in doing a number of games and fun things.  The kids had a blast!!  They fished and did the ring toss at which Ashton won a 2liter bottle of Root Beer, he was on cloud nine.  They had a basketball toss, football throw, candy land musical chairs, Plinko, face painting, popcorn, darts, and many more!!  It was so much fun and we had a great time together as a family.

Academic Night

At the school the boys are attending they have a "Academic Night" honoring all the kids from 4-6th grade who have received straight "A's" all year.  It is a special Principal's award called the "Golden Scholar."  Spencer was honored in this and we are so proud of  him for working hard and being disciplined  in his efforts at school.

Mr. Hallock...Principal

Receiving his award and pin

Mrs. Dewhirst...4th grade teacher

Very Proud Mom and Dad!!!!

Let's Play Music-piano recital

Spencer and Kaden have been doing a music program called "Let's Play Music" that his Amazing cousin Shelle developed.  The final project is to compose their own piece of music and play it in a recital.  The boys did fabulous.  Spencer's was named "Land of the Lost" and Kaden's was named  "Legos." It has been so fun to watch these boys progress year after year and learn notes, theory, how to read music, rythm, and ultimately play the piano...all while having fun with music!!

 Mrs. Steere was their teacher

The boys received a trophy for their hard work and a nice copy of their song they composed.

Love this little guy!!

Just some random thoughts:

Ashton told me today that they were learning about animals and reptiles in preschool. He said," some babies come from eggs and some from mommies. Like daddy Shamu takes his feathers and puts the baby in the mommy Shamu's tummy, then POOF...the baby comes out!" I said, "Ashton, Shamu doesn't have feathers." He said, " I mean... his flippers" If it were only that easy...LOVE HIM!! If only I could keep him this innocent :)

For family home evening we decided to make a slurpee run to Circle K...via our bikes and scooters. While we were outside sitting on a curb drinking away, Ashton asked, "Daddy, where is your helmet?" Tyler replied, " I forgot it at home." Ashton, "Daddy, Heavenly Father is going to be MAAAD at you!"

The boys were getting out of the car today at school:
Mom: Have a good day boys, I love you...remember to Choose the Right!
Ashton: And Don't give up!!