Pioneer children sang as they sewed and sewed and sewed...

In preparation for the pioneer trek the stake is going on this summer, the girls had to make pioneer skirts and bonnets. We spent a couple evenings with the ward and one long Saturday afternoon at home with Cathy. Cathy is a friend that I work with and she volunteered to come help the girls get their skirts sewed. I have to admit I am so grateful for this help since I don't know how to sew myself.
Here is Makenna, cutting out material that will be some of their bonnets. Lindsay is getting one of the 'brims' ready to be sewn to the bonnet.

Emily is stitching around one of the brims.

The girls were able to get their bonnets done while sewing with the ward for 2 evenings. We spent a Saturday afternoon, 6 hours to be exact, with Cathy getting their skirts done. Here is Cathy, seeing where to hem one of Lindsay's skirts.

Kenna is working on one of the ruffles of her skirt. Lindsay is in the background doing some of the sewing.

There was A LOT of ironing that needed to be done. Here is Emily helping with that. I have to admit, that a majority of the ironing was my job, I also got all the ties for the bonnets sewn and ironed.

ALL FINISHED!! Here are the girls modeling their skirts and bonnets. Each girl has 2 skirts and 2 bonnets for this 3 day trek.

I was impressed with how easily the girls picked up this sewing project. Cathy was a great teacher, she didn't just do it for them but showed them how to do each step. I think that Kenna or Lindsay could take material and make a skirt on their own if they had to. They are all excited for this trek and are counting down until it arrives. They have to take a family name of someone to represent on this trek and Emily is going to take my grandma, Karen Root. She was the first person on my dads side of the family to join the church and that has trickled down to the rest of the family and I'm excited that she is able to do that! We all had a great time sewing together and as much as I was dreading it, it actually turned out to be a fun time!

Easter 2011

I didn't do well in taking pictures for our Easter activities. We had a ward dinner and Easter egg hunt on Saturday evening, I forgot to take my camera so no pictures of that. Although I'm happy to report that all the kids got plenty of eggs from the hunt! We went home to color our eggs and the kids had a great time. Lindsay was off with friends celebrating Avery's birthday so she missed out! Here are the rest of the gang enjoying themselves as they color the eggs. Emily getting ready to 'dunk' one

The result

This is the only egg I colored. I put it in the yellow and left it in the color for at least 5 minutes. The kids had tried using the yellow and it just wasn't very bright so I was determined to get one of the eggs yellow!

It wasn't very colorful but turned out cute! I decided it might not be a good idea to purchase your egg coloring kit after Easter the previous year for 10 cents, as this is why I decided the colors weren't vibrant, they sat around for a year!

Ali, putting an egg in.

Our finished products!

Sunday morning I caught Jace with his basket.

We have early church so we didn't have time to thoroughly go through what the Easter bunny brought. Once we were ready for church........... Jace showing off his new Easter tie!

Baylie.....

Ali....

Emily.......

Makenna.....

Lindsay......

Can't forget the group photo

It was a wonderful Easter day. We had Chris's mom, brother and his wife over for dinner after church. We had some great lessons on the atonement, Christ's resurrection and are grateful for this Easter season which gives us the knowledge that we can live together forever because of Christ's sacrifice for each of us!

2nd grade Reader's Theatre - starring Ali

Ali's class had been working on a readers theatre and invited the parents to come watch. Here she is with her group and friends that she read with. Ali, reading one of her parts.

Still reading..........

After they were done, taking a bow.

She did such a great job. Her teacher told me how nervous she was before the parents got there, but you couldn't tell by how well she read!

Ali's group with their teacher, Mrs. Brinton.

Ali has had such a great year this year. Her teacher is fantastic and is always doing fun things, she has some great friends in her class and she is excelling in her school work! I was so glad I was able to make it to this. I was running late and showed up just as Ali's group 'took the stage.' Ali is such a fun girl, keep up the great work! We love her!

Bowling fieldtrip

I was able to go with Jace's preschool class on a field trip to the bowling alley. Since Baylie would get out of kindergarten while we were gone, I took her out of school early to go with us. The kids had a great time and the moms sat around laughing and having a fun time too. Here is the little group we bowled with. Baylie, Tyler, Jace (not paying attention) and Madeline. These two kids are friends in the neighborhood. Baylie picking up her ball,

There is goes...............

Baylie, Jace and Tyler.

Jace, picking out his ball.

At the end of the lane.

And it's off....... I love how he has his hands raised way up over his head! He did this every time!

Best buds!!
Here Jace is with the little group of kids he knows well. They are in our ward and/or neighborhood. Reagan, Jace, Carson, Tyler, Noah and Madeline!

This was a fun field trip for all the kids and moms too! I have loved this year of preschool as Jace knows these kids well and I'm becoming better friends with their moms. All these kids will head to kindergarten next year, except Jace. We talk about next year and he'll say, "then I'll just go to kindergarten with them." If only it were that easy!!

Ali's baptism

Ali's baptism was on Saturday April 9, 2011. She had been anxiously waiting for this day since she turned 8. Here she is right before we left for the church. Ali with mom, dad and Jace at the church.

Ali and dad in their baptism jumpers.

Ali and mom

I am usually good about taking many more photos but things were a little chaotic with all the people we had so I didn't even get a big group photo with everyone. Back at home, her is Ali with her sisters and brother (Jace wouldn't stay in his suit for photos).

Grandma Jackson, Grandma Root and Grandpa Root with Ali

A Root cousin photo, minus a few.

We had a yummy lunch when everyone got back to the house. Here is Ali dishing up her 'I am special today' plate.

Aunt Angie helped cut the 5 foot sandwich.

Some of the group! Uncle David in the back is showing off his 'light' yogurt.

Aunt Anjela and Kyton

Ali looking at the journal Grandma Jackson gave to her.

Aunt Anjela made her some cute 'choose the right' blocks.

And, the long anticipated scriptures...... This was such a special day for Ali. She was beautiful in her white dress. She sang with Makenna and Emily while Lindsay played the piano 'If the Savior stood beside me' during the baptism program and she even had a little solo part. She did so great even though she was nervous. We are so grateful to have so much family and many friends that came to be here with us as we celebrated this day with Ali. She is such a good little girl and we are so happy that she chose to become of member of Christ's church.