Beck Family

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Something to Make You Smile...

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Another Summer has come...

Schools Out! Scream and Shout! :) School is over for my kids and what an adventure it was. Homeschooling turned out to be a great experience for everyone involved. I loved having the kids here with me! Of course, now that school is done, I have to come up with some fun summer activities so that I don't hear "I'm bored!" all summer long! So if anyone reading this has any ideas for simple, yet fun summer activities for a teenage girl, a 12 yr. old boy, a 10 yr. old gymnast and a 7 yr. old munchkin...I'd appreciate you sharing them! Happy Summer, everyone!

Pictures: * the kids at Pigeon Point Lighthouse (tallest lighthouse on the West coast)
               * Avery's 10th b-day
               * Avery's gymnastics team (Avery is 3rd from the left)
               * Maddie's 14th b-day
               * All of us w/ Elder Spjute (so awesome! look for him to play BYU basketball)
               * Easter w/ Great-Grandma!
               * Morgan's 12th b-day

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Holy Cow, Time Flies!

So, once again, it has been several months since I have posted anything on this blog. I need to get better at posting for a couple of reasons... 1- It helps keep family and friends up-to-date on what's going on with the California Beck's and 2- It's good for ME!! Now, I just need to find the time to do it at least once a week. :) We have had a crazy year of changes. Since we moved to California we have started home-schooling. I never thought I'd do it, but after a couple of months of sending my kids to the public school (particularly the middle school--eeeek!!) we decided to try out K12. It's basically public school, at home. They send us all the books and lessons and we, or I, make sure that the kids get their work done. And about once a month we report to a teacher who lives near by. It has been a new and exciting experience with just a little bit of stress thrown in to keep me on my toes. The kids seem to enjoy doing school at home and I love having them here, so I guess it's a win-win!! Back in October we got to celebrate Savannah's birthday in the happiest place on Earth with our good friends the Funk family and with my sister Krista!! That's right, we went to Disneyland! It was so much fun and magical! The kids had a blast and Savannah asked if we could celebrate her birthday (Halloween) in Disneyland every year...hmmmm. That was not all, however. We knew that we were going to be going to Disneyland at least one more time in the next year so we decided to get season passes since it's actually cheaper that way (and we live in California, so we might as well take advantage of the shorter drive, right?!). Long story short, we went to Disneyland again after the holidays! It was fun and warm and perfect! So if anyone is looking to go this year, let us know, we'll meet you there!!! :) Our holidays were so much fun and exciting, as usual. We got to spend an entire week in Utah with family and friends. We are so, so blessed to have such a close family. It was peaceful and relaxing and oh so fun to be with everyone over the holidays. To be honest, I almost didn't want to drive back to California when the time came...
Other changes in our lives? Danny has been serving as the Priest's quorum adviser, Maddie was made the Beehive class president, and I was put in as Primary president. Crazy, huh?! This new year promises to be full of more changes. We are enjoying California and the differences it has brought to our lives. We are closer as a family and we have formed friendships with some good people here that will last a lifetime. We have learned to not take for granted the blessings of close family and friends. Now that we are 10 hours away, we sorely miss that closeness. Life is good, the Church is true, family is healthy and happy! What more can I ask for!?
Pictures top to bottom:
*the kids in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle, all decorated for Christmas
*My kids w/ Janessa & Jackson Funk having breakfast w/ Mickey, Minnie, Stitch & Pluto
*Minnie helping Savannah blow out her candle
*All of us with Mickey in California Adventure!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Savannah makes it through Kindergarten!

She did it! After a tough start to kindergarten, Savannah finished with a bang! I don't know what helped with her change of attitude, but when we got to California, she did an about-face and really started enjoying school! We were grateful and amazed! We even got a Rock On! at her kindergarten "moving on" ceremony! Way to go, baby doll!!

Meet me in Monterey!

We had the chance at the first of June, to go with Danny to Monterey. He had some work things that he had to do all week, and since his work was already paying for a hotel, we tagged along. So while Danny worked, we played! We went to the beach and built a sand castle, we had our imaginations tested at My Museum, we got some sun at the Dennis the Menace park and we had some much needed down time from school just hanging out at the hotel. When Danny finished his work early, we took a trip down the coast on 17 mile drive. It was beautiful scenery and the kids had fun gathering seashells at Bird Rock. I had fun taking pictures of everything and to top off the night, we got Cold Stone Icecream! Yeah, it was cool! Our final day, we all went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium...which was AMAZING! It was the biggest and best aquarium I have ever been to. The sea life they had was incredible, from seahorses no bigger than your thumbnail to a giant octopus, to several different kinds of jellyfish! I will say it again...Incredible!!! To top it all off, we took the kids and went on a Whale Watching adventure! We saw Humpback's, white-sided dolphins and the largest mammal on the planet...Blue whales! It really made you feel tiny when these enormous creatures are swimming right towards your boat, and then under it! Wow! It was a fantastic trip and a great way to kick off our Summer!

Memorial Day 2011

Don't! You! Dare!!

Watermelon Football!

We have met some awesome people here in California! They are so kind and generous, it has been wonderful getting to know them all. On Memorial Day we got to go with the ward to the Boatman's home for the annual B-B-Que, swim party with Watermelon Football. Thankfully it was warm enough and we were actually able to get in the pool. Watermelon football was a new experience and since it can be pretty rough, only the men were allowed to play. Danny was a bit apprehensive at first, but in the end he was having a blast! Everyone had a great time!! We also went to a local park and let off our balloons for Brynnley...we had to do it! It's tradition and my kids would not let me forget it! ;) So even though we were not actually at her gravesite, we had to send up some balloons. It was a wonderful day!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVERY LYN!!

Just yesterday we celebrated Avery's 9th birthday! I am so blessed to have such wonderful kids in my life. Honestly I have no idea how I could be so lucky! Avery is a jewel in our home. She makes us laugh and simply sparkles when she is happy. She loves to be with her friends, but lately she has really enjoyed just being with her family...and that makes me feel good! I love that she is a sporty girl and such a good gymnast. It's her goal to be on the United States Gymnastics team in the Olympics! What a goal! We are so proud of her! Happy, happy birthday Avery!!

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

It was perfect kite-flying weather a couple of weeks ago and there is a huge park not far from where we live, so we took Morgan's airplane kite and had a blast flying it up to the highest height! (you can barely see the plane up at the top of the picture...) ;)

Maddie is a TEENAGER!!!

Yup, Maddie is now officially 13 years old! Can you believe it?! Why do they have to grow up so fast? I remember my parents saying the same thing, but I never really listened. Now their oldest granddaughter is 13 and we are all wondering where the time has gone! Don't get me wrong though. I am so excited for this phase of our lives. Maddie is beautiful inside and out and so incredibly talented! I marvel at her talent in art as well as her ability to sing and dance and act and write poems, stories, songs...you get the idea! She is a vital part of our family and I'm so privileged to be her mom! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

AFTER DAYBREAK Update!!

So my darling husband has had his fingers in a lot of pies. He has been working with After Daybreak's producer in Nashville and they are getting ready to release their first FULL album! It will be out on June 7 and you can pre-order a copy at www.brickmanmedia.com/afterdaybreakstore. There will be about 12 songs on this album. 2 of the songs were on the previous album that came out at Christmas, but all the rest are brand new. It will be worth it to have in your collection!! ;)

Danny has also been working on a new solo album of a more religious nature. There will be about 10 songs on this one and they are all hymns or songs about the Savior. They have done an incredible job...being the wife of the singer I've already heard all the songs after they were mixed and mastered! A-MA-ZA-ING!! You can look for it to come out around August 2nd! Yay! For more info. you can visit Danny's website at http://www.danielbeckmusic.com/.

Avery the Pioneer...

Avery's 3rd grade class has been studying Lincoln's history for the last several weeks and had the opportunity to go to a museum where they got to dress up in pilgrim costumes and be apart of a pilgrim family. Avery "McBean" was 7 years old and enjoyed doing her chores and playing with her family. At the end of it they had a concert where the whole 3rd grade sang and played on recorders a bunch of songs from pioneer time. It was so fun to watch and I was amazed that these kids had about 15 songs completely memorized!