A Fish Tale... er Tail

A friend in our ward called and asked Steve if he wanted to go fishing the next day. Steve was all in. Best of all, our friend - Randy - brought the boat, the car, the gear and the knowledge about where to fish. They (and another guy) headed to Flaming Gorge at 4am. 

I guess they caught Rainbow Trout most of the day and then, about an hour before they were set to leave, Steve caught this Mackinaw. Whoa! They had caught and released all day. Steve asked about keeping this one, but Randy told him that it was pretty old and probably wouldn't be very tasty. Plus, if he let it go, someone else could have the joy of catching it.

Randy is such a nice guy. He and Steve served in the Elder's Quorum years and years ago. He and another guy in our ward - Steve Davis - have been guides for people to fish at Flaming Gorge. I remember Steve Davis talking about taking President Thomas S. Monson out for a trip. Love it!

Well, Steve was pretty lucky to get to go today. It was cold and was a long day, but they had a great time and - clearly - had a successful fishing day.

Way to go Steve!!!!!

The Boys Ski Again

Steve and his youngest brother, Brett, decided to take their boys skiing again.

This time, they opted to hit Alta. We've never taken Reagan or Cole there - we've only skied Brighton with them. However, Alta is where Steve taught his older girls to ski, so, it was fun for them to go back there.

Even though they went on a Saturday after it had snowed, it wasn't too crowded. They were able to get in over 20 runs!

Most of all, they just had fun being together. Reagan and I had a girls' day of lunch, shopping and talking. Love it!

The End of Another Era....

We are having WAY too many "ends" over here. We had another one this week as Reagan lost her last baby tooth. We had consults with two, different orthodontists and both said "Well, she has that one, last, baby tooth. It needs to come out and we are ready to get started." Well, it came out. She bit into a cookie and it just popped out. I guess that means she is no longer a baby - at all.  in any way.  even one bit. no more a baby. Sob......



And while we are on the topic of ends of eras...... still another one hit this week. I posted before about our pediatrician retiring. Well, it happened this week. He had his last day and the clinic held a reception for him. Reagan and Cole each wrote him a note and I typed him a two page note. I'm just so grateful for all he (and his office) have done for us the past 11... almost 12 years. We went at the beginning of the reception and the line to see him extended down the hall - we were actually late for karate. However, by the time we left, the line extended down the hall, out the door, down the stairs and across the first floor lobby. Sheesh - I'm glad we came when we did.

Don't get me wrong - we are happy for him that he and his wife get to go on a mission. It's just that, selfishly, we are sad for us as we don't know another doctor who we trust as much as him. I'm sure we'll figure it out, but we are not happy about doing so :(  Good luck Dr. Schmidt - we'll miss you. xoxoxoxo

6th Grade Science Fair

Yep - it's that time again.... Science Fair time!!!! When we took a tour of APA last year, we met with two of the sixth grade teachers. We asked them about Science Fair. They said that it starts in 6th grade. We were in the thick of it at our old school at that time and they said "You should just use one of the Science Fairs that you have already done - just take it a bit further." Well, that sounded like a great idea and it is just what we did.

Don't get me wrong - we did the work. We re-conducted the experiment and double checked all of our research to make sure they were still good sources and that nothing had changed, but we didn't have to start from scratch. That made ALL the difference.

Plus, we already had our board, so, we just re-did our papers for the board and printed new pictures of the experiment. Done and Done.

Reagan got an A and we weren't chosen to move on to the next, competitive level (which basically means re-doing the experiment again and a ton of extra work). Score!!!! Way to go Reagan!!!!!!

First Pack Meeting of 2018

Yep - another month, another pack meeting. Cole and his den were in charge of the flag ceremony, but this time, he didn't carry a flag or announce the ceremony, so, I didn't include video of that.

They played a game about tools that people use. They had pictures of a hammer, a plumbing snake, an adding machine, a microscope, etc. The boys had to figure out which occupation used each tool. Cole tied for the most figured out.

The Pack Leader then talked about being helpful (one of the scout duties). He had each boy hold one of the letters of the word and read what was on the back. 

Then, he gave out the awards. Cole and his den each received a pin for learning first aid and fire safety. They had Bill Barker (a retired fire fighter from our ward) come and teach them about fire safety, how to treat a burn, a broken bone, how to do cpr, etc. Not sure they could actually rescue someone, but they might be able to help until the experts arrived :)

I'm glad that Cole enjoys scouts and that he has so many friends there. He has a good time each week.  

It's interesting - I had to attend a Scout Council meeting as the Primary President with the Pack Leader, our Scout Commissioner, Bishopric members from all 3 wards and the scout leaders. They were all lamenting how the boys won't wear their shirts, ties and tie holders. We talked about rewards or incentives to get them to do it. Then, Cole's leader said "Your son is the ONLY one who wears it every week." I laughed and told her that it is a fight every week because he says that no one else wears it. Plus, the scout we carpool with insisted that it isn't a requirement and that he doesn't actually need to wear it. Ugh! We need to get these boys (or maybe the parents instead) on board with wearing their full uniform when they come to meetings. Oh well - one more thing to work on :)

Reagan's Primary Talk

Reagan was assigned to give a Primary talk. Because I'm in Primary, the secretary doesn't remind us like she reminds other families. She assumes because I was there when the talk was assigned means that I will remember. She. would. be. wrong. :(  The Sunday of Reagan's talk, she woke up and she remembered. She again told me that she would write the talk - that she is too old for me to be writing the talk for her :)  Her topic was The Earth was Created for Heavenly Father's Children. She found a conference talk and a scripture and a personal experience. (Remember when she wrote her last talk? She told me that those were the elements you needed for a good talk - cute thing!) She decided on what pictures she wanted to show and she was ready. Unfortunately, she read it - there was no time to memorize it. Despite that, I'm really proud of her for taking the initiative to write her own talk and to do it well. Way to go Reagan!!!!!



On a separate note, this may be her last Primary talk ever. She will turn 12 in May and will move into Young Women (sob!). We have so few in our Primary - she may be assigned one more talk, but maybe not. She is growing so big - she doesn't look like she belongs in Primary any more - she is more of a lady than a child, but.... I will miss her when she graduates. She's ready though - she passed off all of her Faith in God requirements and received her award last year. She's ready for new challenges, new experiences and new classmates. Love you Reagan!!!!!

Just for our own, family scrapbook, (and because I want to remember what Reagan wrote herself) here is the text of Reagan's Primary Talk:

My topic for this talk is: Earth was Created for Heavenly Father's Children. Under the command of our Heavenly Father, Jesus created all things. If you think about it closely, the earth is like a heavenly present to you and your heavenly brothers and sisters. Heavenly Father wanted to test us to se if we would stay on the right path to return to him. Each and every one of us came down to this beautiful planet created for all of us to take his difficult test. Adam and Eve were the first ones to come down to the earth. At first they were immortal, but after partaking of the bad fruit, they became mortal like us. Adam and Eve learned to follow Heavenly Father and his commands and to stay on the right path. Each and every one of us needs to try to stay on the right path like Adam and Eve. If you see someone that is not on the right path, give them a small nudge onto the path to our Heavenly Father and the Celestial Kingdom.
In Conference, Russell M. Nelson said "The purpose of construction is truly inspiring to me. From conception to completion, any major building project reflects upon the work of the Master Creator. In fact, the Creation - of planet Earth and of life upon it - undergirds all other creative capability. Any manmade creation is possible only because of our divine Creator. The people who design and build are given life and capacity by that Creator. And all the materials used in the construction of an edifice are ultimately derived from the rich resources of the earth. The Lord declared 'The earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things.' Jesus is the true creator. Creativity is because of Him. All that has been built is because of Him."
In late November, I went to Kauai. My family and I went to Waimea Falls. It was very beautiful. As I reflect upon it, I think of how amazing it is that Jesus created that beautiful scenery. We can all partake of Jesus' beautiful work.
I am very proud to be a child of God. I am proud and glad that I live on this beautiful earth that was created for each and every one of us.
I say these things......

A Snow Cave?

We haven't gotten much snow this year.... that makes us sad. Well, then, we did get snow .... lots of it. I think Steve measured 17 inches of snow on our back deck. Love it! 

Cole was especially excited as he has been lamenting how we haven't had much snow.

It's SO pretty and I love watching it fall as we sit in our warm house by the fire.

Our snowplow guy comes and plows the circle. He plows lots of it and pushes it off the back of our driveway. Cole decided that he wanted to build a snow cave or hut or hole in the mound of snow. He got out his shovel and started digging. 

Not sure that's what he had envisioned, but it was a cave-like hole. He was happy. 

He and Reagan helped Steve shovel our walks and then they packed up and went to help Grandma and Grandpa with theirs.

Let's go Mother Nature - we are loving this. Keep it coming!!!!

Sister Missionaries Come to Primary

Right about the first of the year, I was with our Primary Secretary at the church. We were pulling down our old bulletin board decorations from last year and putting up new decorations for this year. Our theme this year is I am a Child of God. Our secretary came up with the cutest, most colorful decorations.

Well, as we were taking down and putting up, the sister missionaries came by. These two are new in this area - the other ones were recently transferred. They were so cute! One is from Arizona and the other is from Trinidad & Tobago. They introduced themselves and we talked for a bit. They said "We have 20 minutes. What can we do for you?" We let them help us take down and put up the decorations. All the while, we talked about them and their missions and us. They said they LOVE Primary and asked if they could ever serve in Primary. Funny they should ask.....

When our last sister missionaries were here, I was assigned to have visits with them. The people I set up to visit cancelled, so, I took Reagan and Cole and the sisters to McDonalds for shakes. That counts as a visit, right? (It was really cute how as we were in line at McDonalds, like 4 or 5 other people in line tried to pay for the sisters' shakes. I had to fight to pay for their treats. ) Anyway, that Sunday before, in Primary, my Second Counselor - Brenda - had done Sharing Time. It was about the 10 Commandments and she got up in front of all of the Primary and said "Twenty bucks for anyone who can name all 10 Commandments." Not one kiddo could do it. Ugh! Many of them could do a few and then there were others who were adding more. Reagan said "Dress modestly." Yes - good to do, not one of the 10. Alrighty then. So, as I was sort of laughing and sort of lamenting the situation, one of the sisters said "You know there are hand signals for those." What?!? I had never heard of that. She showed us (I should have taken a video because I promptly forgot) and I asked them to come into Primary when they could schedule it to teach the hand signals to the Primary children. They said they would come. Whether they forgot or were just too busy, we didn't ever see them.

Fast forward to now and the new sisters were getting ready to leave. When they asked about Primary, I asked if they could come and teach the hand signals. They were super excited and two weeks later, they showed up. Love it!!!!

They took a long time explaining each commandment and each hand signal. I remembered to video this time. After the first 5, they reviewed quickly and after the last 5, they reviewed quickly. I just included the review parts for our blog (mostly so I can remember).

We told the Primary children that if they could come back the next Sunday and do all of the hand signals and remember all 10 Commandments, we would give them a treat. Reagan practiced all week. Cole practiced a few times, but they made sure to know them well enough to get the treat :)






I had to include a pic of our cute bulletin boards as well. They turned out great! We will take pics of the Primary children and put them in these cute, colorful frames so that they can see themselves all year.

I love that we have a new theme each year and new lessons to teach the children and new songs to sing. I LOVE being in Primary with Reagan and Cole!!!!!

Street Clothes Week at Karate

We tried a new thing in karate this week ..... wearing street clothes. Our sensei said he wanted to switch it up a bit and do something different. Also, he said he wanted the students to know that they can be wearing anything and do karate. If they were attacked, it probably wouldn't be at karate class, so, they should know that they can kick and punch and use their self-defense techniques even if they were wearing something other than their gi. 

It was weird for Reagan and Cole. Reagan said she wasn't as flexible wearing skinny jeans as she was in her gi. That's ok - sounds like the sensei was on to something here. They need to feel their moves in different clothes.

They did all the same moves and drills and forms in class - just in street clothes.

They even did Extreme Training in their street clothes. Love it!

I love that their sensei is always thinking of something to switch it up, to keep them learning and to keep them motivated.

The Game of Life

One afternoon, Cole finished his homework early and Cole and Steve decided to play a board game. They decided on the Game of Life. Cole taught Steve how to play and they set out on their journey of life in the game.

I had to laugh how they would pay money to each other and to the bank, they would get married, have children, go to school, lose a job, invent something and all sorts of life events.

They had to do activities too, for example, one card told them to dance for one minute

I love to see them playing together (and dancing together). These two crack me up.

Second Week Back at Karate

We continued to get back into the swing of things our second week of the year at karate. Reagan and Cole quickly have regained most of their forms and are not yet as flexible as they were when we went "on break", but are getting better each class. I love to see them having "mat chats" with the instructors. This month's lesson was about good nutrition.

Their kicks and punches are coming back strong.

Their self defense techniques and their sparring are coming back. Even Cole's back tuck and Reagan's back handspring are coming back. (They were both a little nervous last week and asked for extra spotting. I think they just need to get their confidence back.)

Yep - I'm hopeful that they will get all the way back soon so that they can start preparing for May's tournament. Not 100% sure they will be ready - time will tell. For now - they are doing great!!!!!

Articles of Faith - Check!!!

As is our usual MO in Primary, the first of the year re-sets on our Articles of Faith memorization. Reagan and Cole passed them off before our first Sunday of 2018. They just looked at each one to jog their memories and then they were pretty much able to just say them. A few of them took a couple of tries to get them perfectly, but for the most part .... they knew them. I know that this is because they have memorized them every year since they were three. It's funny, they each sang several of them. When we give the Primary children a CD of the songs we will be singing that year (usually in January), we include the Articles of Faith songs. I have always thought they were awkward and sort of musically "off", but apparently, they work because Reagan and Cole were able to finish some of the ones they were stumped on just by remembering the song and singing it. Whatever works, right?

So, way to go Reagan and Cole!!! Keep it up!!!!!

Christmas Decor

Our Christmas decor was generally the same this year. I love it and love to pull each piece out from the bins and get it up and on the walls or shelves or whatever.

We did get a new nativity (as we do each year) that was a golden ball - you can see it on the half wall between the kitchen computer area and the dining room. It is like a snow globe and when you turn it on, the glitter inside the globe is lit up. The outside has cut outs of the shapes of the nativity players. So, you see the camel and the baby Jesus in a manger and the star and the wise men, etc. We love it!!!

I think I posted earlier about how we put up most of Christmas before we left for our trip after Thanksgiving. That way, most things were already up when we came home and we didn't have to stress about decorating while doing all our laundry from the trip or getting caught back up in our lives.

 I let Reagan and Cole decorate the tree in the family room this year. They didn't choose to put many ornaments on. I kept asking if they wanted to add some... they didn't. I asked if I could help them space out the ornaments..... I couldn't. Alrighty then, it is a lopsided only partially decorated tree, but it's all theirs. Great.

I SO love the flocked trees in the dining room with the turquoise ornaments and jewels. they just make me so happy and I can see them from the desk in the kitchen - I love them. (I may try to turn them into Valentine's trees and leave them up. We'll see what I can find for decorations.)

We did get a new timer for the trees outside our front door. Cole set it up and it stays on from dusk until dawn. I asked him to set it from dusk to 5 hours later, but he says it makes him so happy to get up in the morning and see the lights still on outside. Alrighty then we will leave them.... for now :)

We actually didn't put up the huge tree for the living room. It has a couple of strands of lights that are out and I've decided I need to take everything off the tree and start fresh. I just didn't have the energy for that all season. So, that is my number one project next Christmas season.

Of course, Reagan and Cole have their own trees in their own rooms. Since we had an extra three of the mini trees, they each took one to school for their locker and Cole took the third one in as a decoration for his classroom. Love it!!!!

I started this last year with these fairy lights strung up on the wall and the Christmas cards we receive being hung from them. I love seeing them. We don't really have anywhere else to put them and this makes me happy. (I'm also wondering if I can extend this wall into another holiday .... with hearts perhaps???)

Yep - I LOVE our Christmas decorations and I'm going to leave them up for a bit.... they make me happy:)