Pioneer Trek June 23-25



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The girls had the opportunity to re-enact the pioneers trek with our stake for 3 days in June. Here they are leaving in the wee hours of the morning on June 23rd. At the stake center with some of their 'family' while waiting to board the buses.

Here is Lindsay, on the far left in the pink skirt and Kenna, on the far right in the blue and green bonnet during the women's pull. The women's pull is one of the things they re-enacted, it represents the period of the trek when the men were called to join the Mormon battalion. They said it was pretty hard!

My three girls hanging out with one of their pioneer sisters, Breanna.

Lindsay, carrying the family baby and her "Ma" Melanie Nelson. Emily is behind them in the turquoise skirt and bonnet.

The pony express came and delivered letters from home. Here is Lindsay reading hers with her pioneer brother, Tyler Nelson.

More pulling of the hand carts along the trail. Lindsay is on the far left with Kenna right behind her. Emily is on the far right, in the turquoise skirt behind her friend, Cassidy Nelson.

Here is Kenna pulling, she's on the far left.

They had plenty of fun too. Here are some of the pioneer games they participated in. Kenna is on the left in a yellow skirt, spitting sunflower seeds into the pie tins on the ground. She said she made it several times!

Here is Emily smiling for the camera while Cassidy has to eat a whipped cream pie for her part of the relay race.

Emily is in the orange skirt and yellow bonnet and Lindsay is in the brown skirt with turquoise bonnet. They're 'trying' to throw and catch the hoop with the sticks. You can see Emily giving it a whirl!

Kenna and Breanna 'milking' a glove for a part of the relay race!

Lindsay doing a gunny sack race!

Getting ready to pull their wagon across the river, Kenna is on the right in a yellow skirt and Lindsay is in her brown skirt looking on.

Kenna in her yellow skirt, helping to pull the cart through the river....

A bunch of tired kids! Lindsay on the far right and Emily is right next to her~

Lindsay, Kenna and Emily with their whole trek family!

What a great opportunity these girls had for 3 days! I was so grateful they had an awesome "ma and Pa" to look out for them and help them. They came home extremely tired and sunburned. They also took family names in who they 'trekked' for. Emily was able to take my grandma's name, Karen Root. She wasn't a pioneer that crossed the plains but she was a pioneer in joining the church and bringing the gospel to my dads family which brought it to me! They have gained some wonderful memories that will last them their whole lives and their testimonies of what the pioneers went through for us has been forever strengthened.

Swing batter batter batter

Jace was able to play on a t-ball team with a group of boys (and a girl) from our ward and from his preschool. He was so excited about playing and for the most part, enjoyed the season. We had a lot of cold windy days but Jace was happy to bundle up and go. Here he is sitting in the dug out waiting for his turn at bat. He's sitting in the middle of two friends, Tyler and Carson. Playing in the grass and dirt is always part of t-ball, right? I guess it was good there was no action at 3rd base.

And now stretching....

He loved playing pitcher. Here he is on the mound

Running with the ball to put it on the t. Looks like he beat the runner. He had several outs this season by out running the runner to home plate. Way to go bud!!

His turn at bat..........NICE swing!

Running down to first........

Every time he made it to a base, he jumped on it! It was pretty funny!

Stopping to pose for a picture with dad, who was coaching 1st base!

Jace had a great season. Even though he was one of the youngest on the team, he held his own. He would tell us that his team won every game, even if they didn't. On the way home from one of the games, he proudly told Lindsay that he was the best one on the team, and the second best! I'm glad he enjoyed playing. I had a great time visiting with the other moms and I was a bit sad for it to end. Can't wait until next year!

Piano recital X4

On Wednesday June 1st, Lindsay, Makenna, Emily and Alison had their end of the year piano recital. It was held at the piano gallery in the nice recital room. The girls have worked really hard this past year to develop their talent and I'm very proud of all they have learned and accomplished. This was Alison's first year taking piano lessons and her teacher says she caught on very quickly. Here she is playing her piece, "Raindrops" by Willard Palmer and Amanda Lethco. It was a short piece and she had it memorized within a week. She played through it twice and then her teacher, Jeni Cutts, played a duet part with her. Emily played "Unchained Melody" by Alex North. (Yes, the one recorded by the Righteous Brothers) She worked hard and played it flawlessly.

Makenna played, "A River Flows in Your" by Yiruma. Lindsay learned this song a few years ago and Kenna liked it and wanted to learn it. She did amazingly well and had a majority of the song memorized when it was time for the recital. She's still my girl that struggles with WANTING to play the piano but she has persevered, stuck to it and is doing great things.

Lindsay played, "Hungarian" by Edward MacDowell. This song was extremely difficult with lots of different dynamics - Her teacher was constantly telling me she couldn't believe how quickly Lindsay was picking it up and what a hard song it is to learn. I'm always pleased to hear things like that and when I looked at the music, I knew there was no way I could pick it out! She has played several times in sacrament meeting this year with different arrangements of hymns Jeni has found her and she even played at Ali's baptism and on mother's day when I was asked to sing with Kenna, Emily and Ali. Lindsay is a great little player and I hope she will continue into her college years.

They were all thrilled when it was over, as they all get really nervous. I was so proud of them and it's always a pleasure to hear them perform something they have worked so hard to learn. I love hearing them play at home, there is something about the piano playing in the background that helps peace abide!

I look forward to the upcoming year to see even more growth.

Jace's Pre School graduation

Jace has finished his first year of pre school! He made lots of friends and is just sure that the minute he turns 5 in Oct. he'll join them in kindergarten. I've tried several times to explain that he has to wait until the following year and that they'll always be a year ahead of him but, after a few times...... Here he is waiting for the program to start, he's sitting next to his friend Noah. They sang several songs that they've learned throughout the year and unlike at the Christmas program, he sang! It was a cute program and Mrs. Natalie had previously asked each of the kids questions about themselves. Jace said that he wanted to be a pilot when he grows up and that his favorite color is blue, yellow, green, and orange! She also had them share something they've learned through the year and she said that something they say at the end of every class is, "Adios Amigos." Jace came to the microphone to tell us that this meant, 'goodbye my friends.'

Here he is being presented with his pre school diploma..........

He took some flowers to give to Mrs. Natalie after the program to thank her for being such a great teacher! Here they are together. We are happy that Jace will be in her pre school class again next year!

Jace has come along way this past year. He started out being a shy little stinker that wouldn't talk to other adults or sing in the Christmas program, to a handsome little guy that talked into the microphone during the program (okay, he's still shy around other adults)! He has learned to write his name and he will always point out on a bag, bottle or anything that has the recycle symbol on it, that it says to recycle! He's learned to count t0 20 in Spanish, by 10's to 100 and can't count by 1's to 56 without messing up! He's well on his way to being ready for kindergarten ~ too bad he's not going with all his friends. shhhh, but don't tell him that!

Egg drop project

Emily's final project before moving on to Jr. High was to create a holder for a raw egg that when dropped, the egg wouldn't crack! I had seen these huge marshmallows in wal-mart and when she was talking about what she wanted to do, I ran to get some! She took a shoe box and lined the inside with these giant marshmallows. In between the marshmallows, she put a large plastic Easter egg, which would hold the raw egg. She lined the inside of the Easter egg with little marshmallows.

and just added marshmallows all over.

She took more of the ginormous marshmallows and attached them to the outside of the box, for cushion on impact. Here she is with her creation, which she named Meggie!

I went to the school to see if her egg survived or not. Here is the guy dropping 'Meggie' from his bucket lift/boom truck. Look closely and you'll see Meggie, just below his hand after letting go.

The moment of impact, all the marshmallows came flying off....... It really hit hard!

Here she is ready to open the box to see if Meggie kept the egg intact.

The moment of truth............ Sadly, her egg didn't make it!

This was a fun little project, even if her egg didn't survive! It was fun to go see all the other creations her fellow classmates came up with. I really thought she had a great idea, what's softer than marshmallows? I think Meggie was so heavy that when it hit, it hit hard and even the marshmallows couldn't soften the blow! People in the audience watching even cringed when it hit, myself included! She did receive the award for most creative 'holder' for the egg and was given a LARGE candy bar!! Nice job, Emily, at least we had a fun time with this one!!

Caught in between 10 and 20

Makenna celebrated her 15th birthday the day after our anniversary and I must say, 15 years ago she was the best anniversary gift EVER! I forgot to take my camera to dinner but she wanted to go to Johnny Carinos, the Italian nachos are her favorite! When we got home, she opened presents and we had cake! Here she is with some of her gifts, she already had a few we brought home from New York. Unwrapping.......

We found this matted print in New York and I found a frame for it. Any of you that know Kenna, knows that she LOVES shoes and the higher the heel, the better!

After opening presents, the little kids all wanted their picture taken with her sitting on her lap. It was amusing when Chris decided he did too!

Makenna doesn't really like cake but loves cookies and cream ice cream. I found the cookies and creamery cold stone ice cream cake! It was delicious!

Blowing out the candles....

It is such a delight to have Kenna in our family. She is a great big sister and she's so much fun! When she gets on a cleaning roll, there is no stopping her (those are my favorite days)! Happy birthday Kenna! We love you!

19 years!

19 years ago, I married the most amazing man ever! I challenge any girl to find a man that's even half the person he is! I am truly blessed to be able to share this life and eternity with him! This is what we looked like 19 years ago.......

How we have changed.............
In keeping with the past few years tradition, here are 19 reasons why I love this man!

1. Lindsay
2. Makenna
3. Emily
4. Alison
5. Baylie
6. Jace
7. He always puts mine and the kids' needs above his own
8. He makes me laugh
9. He loves and serves the Lord
10. He's an amazing dad (and the favorite parent of all 6 kids)
11. Works hard to provide for us
12. He sets a good example of how to live
13. He helps the kids with their math (because they know I can't)
14. He gets breakfast ready every morning, even if it's just cold cereal or toast
15. He waits up for the kids to come home at night (I usually fall asleep)
16. He unloads the dishwasher every morning, so it's ready to be reloaded through the day
17. He is unselfish
18. He treats me like a princess
19. He helps with all the household chores without complaining!

It has been a wonderful 19 years, and I am grateful everyday for Chris (some days I might not act like it). I'm thankful for the man that he is and for the quiet example he sets for me. I am blessed to have found a man that treats me with kindness, respect and one that puts up with me! I can't imagine what my life would be without him in it!