5th grade Awards Assembly

I haven't posted in a long time, but decided this was worth posting! Today @ a 5th grade awards assembly, Jared received 2 awards. One was for Citizenship....this is an award that his peers vote for a student they think shows outstanding citizenship (being kind, respectful, etc. to others.) Any of the students that I saw said "Everyone except for Jared voted for Jared!" Mr. Walsh said it was 16 of the 25 students! The other award he got was Principal Honors Roll. So far this school year, he has worked REALLY hard! He has earned his grades! He ended up with a 3.59 GPA.....mostly A/A- and one B-. I am proud of him and his efforts so far! They are paying off!!!

Jared w/ his principal honors roll award

Jared w/ his certificate of Citizenship award
Jared and Mr. Walsh--Mr. Walsh is an amazing teacher! He has been great @ working with me to help Jared!

Jared with his friend, Austin....after school w/ their awards.

Jared's room

We have been busy around our house!!! Jared has moved to Jessica's old room; Jessica and Kayleigh are sharing Jared's old room; Kayleigh's old room has been converted to a play room. We have been painting up a storm, and having fun changing rooms/furniture around. Jared's room was the first one completely done! He wanted a light blue room (it used to be hot pink) with clouds painted on the wall!!!

(Matthew painted the cloudsabove his bed)

(2 new shelves that I bought from a YW garage sale this summer)

(Jared has been ready a lot of Farside books lately, so we decided to turn one of his walls into a farside wall using posters Matthew had when he was growing up)

(I made this counted cross stitch when I was a teenager.....I had forgotten about it.....I just happened to find it a few days before painting Jared's room....timing is everything!!! It looks like it belongs in the room!!!)

......now on with the rest of the projects!!!!!

First day of school!

OFF TO SCHOOL AGAIN.....but not before mom gets some pictures!!!

Jessica is a sophomore in High School this year

Jared is a 5th grader....that means middle school....he was a little nervous, to say the least!!!

Kayleigh is in 2nd grade....there are some adjustments this year, as she has been with the same teacher and the same class of kids since kindergarten!!!

Denfeld's came to walk to school with us!

Jared was happy to see his buddy, Austin, at the front of the school!

Kayleigh was first in line....she got to hold Mrs. Klavano's sign!!!

And, that leaves me...I miss my kids when I send them off to school....so I have to have my plan to keep busy!!!.....I am getting back into my walking in the mornings, and trying to get things done on my list of to-do....we have been changing kids bedrooms....so, i will be painting, sewing curtains, etc. in addition to good ol' laundry, cleaning the house, etc!!!

Another Post at last!!!

OK....so, I have been out of the blogging world for a while....actually, looking at my last post, it has been a year!!!....life has gotten busy, I just have not found the time to sit and blog....the longer I don't blog, the further behind I feel, and the more there is to catch up....I have decided if I feel like I need to blog for lost time, I may never return to the blogging world.....so, I will start with where we are at now, and perhaps recap as time goes on....if not, then I will be ok with that!!!----so, that is my re-commitment!!!

A visit to Utah part 1

We went to Utah for a couple of weeks in August. The first week, we spent with Matthew's Dad and Peggy. From there, we did a lot of fun things.....here are some of the highlights: Sally got us in to and advanced screening of the movie Red; We went on a hike at Secret Lake; we took advantage of $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving point and went to the dinosaur museum there; we were graciously hosted for dinners by Sall and Darci a couple of times each; we got to watch Shane open up his mission call....he is going to Carlsbad, CA; Jessica got to spend the whole week at Kevin's and Darci's....a week long sleepover!! It was a great week! Thanks to all of you for hosting us while we were there! Thanks Dad and Peggy for having us!!!

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa C.

Grandma and Grandpa C. came to visit us in July (yes, I guess I took a summer vacation from blogging.....I will slowly try to get caught up!) Here are some of the highlights from the time we spent with them....

1. We went to Bonneville Dam
(above) we were able to see a few fish trying to swim their way through!!
Kayleigh's favorite color is blue....she was wearing blue, and we couldn't resist taking a picture of her in front of these beautiful blue flowers!

After our visit to the Dam, we brought Grandma and Grandpa to one of our favorite hiking spots....Beacon Rock. It was a gorgeous afternoon for a hike!

We made it to the top!!! Gotta love the view!

We also went blueberry picking while Grandma and Grandpa were here. (and of course, we had to make a blueberry pie!!!

Jared was quite a piker, even thought he doesn't even like to eat blueberries!

Kayleigh wanted to see who could get the most blueberries picked.....she would walk around, and see who had the most berries in their bucket, and make up teams.....she was a lways on the winning team!!! she was a great picker....although, I think she ate them just as quick as she picked them!!!

Kayleigh was sooooo excited for Grandma to come visit us.....she kept saying when grandma comes, I want her to do my nails.....so, Grandma and Kayleigh had a "nail date!"

After Jessica had told grandpa all about one of the youth dances she had been to, he asked her if she would save a dance for him.....so, here is Jessica and Grandpa dancing together.

Other parts of the visit not caught in a photo, but worth mentioning:

*a trip to Sheridans for yummy custard!

*Grandma reading to the kids and tickling their backs each night at bedtime

*I have 2 sisters who live close by.....part of their visit to the NW included spening time in each of our homes....on the Sundays that they were in town, we gathered at one of the homes for a Sunday afternoon dinner and visiting.....so fun!!!

Thanks for coming mom and dad!!! It was fun!!

Girls Camp

I have fond memories of girls camp growing up! I just got back from creating a different chapter in my girls camp book, as a leader! It was pretty last minute, as one of the other sisters who was going to go had stuff come up, and she wasn't able to go. I quickly called around, and found some friends who were very willing to help out with Jared and Kayleigh, and I headed to camp! It was a fun week....I especially loved our ward times to spend time with the girls from the ward. Here were the ladies (minus 2) who were up there from our ward! They are so much fun to be around!!!
The cabin I was in would get super stinky by night time....not sure if it was body oder or perhaps some dead rodent somewhere??? Whatever it was, it drove my friend, Angela (other cabin mom with me) and myself outside to sleep under the stars on our "make-shift-beds!"--yes, they are camp chairs lines up that we slept on! Can't say that I had ever slept out under the stars before....you know how bead it was b/c the first night we even saw a raccoon run past/trhough our "bedroom" and i still opted to stay!! Needless to say, I am happy to be home and in my bed with a roof over my head again!--although, it was fun to have had the opportunity to go....it was especially fun b/c Jessica was up there.....we didn't see a lot of each other....just at ward times, but it was fun to see each other when we did!!