Remembering those we love and know and those we love and wish we knew better...

We started yesterday off with a hike.  Scott and Elisa called us and invited us on a hike with them. They found a good half mile hike for the kids.  It was short, but it was a hike, not a nice leisurely stroll.  Kamri wanted to be held quite a bit on the way up. On the way up Kamri said, "I do not wish to fall."  She's usually pretty scared of falling on all the loose rocks.  27 extra pounds to carry was not easy, but we made it.  The ending point looked out over Park City and the surrounding mountains.  It was actually quite pretty.  I didn't bother getting my camera out for the hike up, but we got some shots at the top.  

The trailhead was at a nice open grassy field.  After we got back down, we had a picnic lunch and just played around for a bit.  (No pictures of that either.  I was just enjoying myself.)

When we got back to the city we took a drive over to visit my great-grandparents and two of my great-uncles graves.  We stopped by my grandpa's beforehand and had him tell us a little about each of his parents and both of his brothers.  He already had plans so he couldn't come with us, but we'll have to take him sometime.  He said he hadn't been to their graves for a quite a while.  The kids loved learning about some of their grandparents they didn't know. 

And we actually went out to dinner that night.  We do this maybe once, maybe twice a year.  The kids thought it was extra special that we actually went to a restaurant.

It was a great Memorial Day.  I love it when we get to spend the day together dong something fun. I love my kids - especially when they're getting along.

Putting things in a different light...

We had a great Family Home Evening this week.  We like to give Sara and Evan each a turn to do the lesson.  (We give Kamri a turn to help Ben and I when it is our turn.)  This week was Evan's turn.  We told him we wanted him to give the lesson on Noah.  As I was fixing dinner I told him I needed to finish up something and then I would come help him with his lesson.  I was going to get our Gospel Art Book (since I will NEVER have a Gospel Art Picture Kit - they're discontinued) and see if there was a picture of Noah in it.  But he beat me to it.  He went right to our bookshelf and found the picture himself.  I just reviewed the story with him. 

When it was time to do the lesson he got up there and asked us a bunch of questions to review the story.  He did awesome and you could tell he was trying so hard to do a good job.  I really enjoyed it actually.  At one point he asked, "What do you think they used to make the boat?"  Ben responded with, "Trees."  Evan just looked at him for a second and then said, "Uh..I don't know about that, but..." He was totally serious and was going to keep going, but we just laughed and we all had a good laugh. (Probably much funnier if you had been there to hear his voice.)

After he reviewed the story he talked about how important it is to follow the prophet.  You did awesome Evan.  Good job!

Then for the fun part.  The kids loved it.  

We put an ark (a.k.a. - a bowl) filled with animals and people in the plugged bathtub and turned on the rain (the shower).  We also had other people and animals in the bathtub to represent those who wouldn't listen to Noah.  You guessed it, the ark floated on the water and the animals and people inside were all safe and dry.  

It was a great way to represent the story and thought some of you might like the idea.

I have to give credit to Ben for this one.  He thought it up all by himself.

Now I See

Check out this poem, if you're a parent, you can relate. http://workofark.blogspot.com/2010/05/now-i-see.html

Kamri's turn...

For our third event, Kamri had her end-of-year song performance for pre-school today. There are about 10 kids in her class and a few of them have special needs.  Take that into account along with the fact that these kids are barely three and it makes for an interesting program.  Most were too shy to actually sing.  Kamri was singing but it was almost as if she were just mouthing the words along with the actions.  But it was fun and cute to watch her. 

They gave each of them a certificate along with a graduation cap.  So cute!!

To say the least, it was quite interesting to get all the kids together for a picture.  

 

Kamri had so much fun the last couple months she went.  She is so excited for next year.

Sara's piano recital...

We had another performance last Friday.  This time it was Sara's turn.  She had an "end-of'-year" recital.  She played Op. 27, No. 11 by Dmitri Kabalevsky (if that means anything to you - it doesn't to me).  She did AWESOME!  She had it all memorized.  She also said she made a mistake and missed a note but Ben and I both couldn't tell.  She has come a long way in the last year or so.  She was always way too scared to do any type of performance in front of people that weren't her family.  She wouldn't even play for my mom and dad. 

That's why it was so nice when her piano teacher came up to me after the recital and talked about the confidence she has.  There was while back when I thought the words confidence and Sara would never be used in the same sentence. She (and I) never gave up. We've worked hard to get her to that point and it feels great.  Way to go Sara!  We enjoyed hearing you play.

Evan's kindergarten program

We have been enjoying the chance to attend all the end-of-year performances our kids have had. About a week and a half ago we got to see Evan and the rest of kindergarten perform the songs they've been learning all year.  He's been singing them around the house for a while and teaching Sara and Kamri the words.  But it was really fun to actually get to see and hear him with the rest of his class.  He was having so much fun and I could tell he was so proud of everything going on.

 

He and two others in his class had a speaking part to start he performance.  He was seriously SO cute.  He gets nervous to do things in front of people, but he LOVES performing and cracks me up at home.

Girls' Night Out..

Last weekend the girls got together for a night with NO KIDS!  We had dinner at my sister's, talked, went bowling, and talked some more.  It's always fun to get out without the kids.

They're out...

A couple weeks ago, Ben and I took Evan's stitches out. It was a lot harder to do than I thought it was going to be. If we had had a decent pair of small scissors it would have been great. Evan was a little scared to have us do it. He kept saying he wanted a doctor to do it. But, we finally got them out and it looks really good. Nothing but a red line on his chin.

Twist on words...

I have not felt like blogging lately.  Have you noticed?  Of all the things on my "To Do" list this one seems to be at the bottom.  Plus I haven't had much to blog about.  But, I have neglected it far too long so I decided to do just a quick post tonight (there are still things on my list that trump blogging).

This is something that makes me smile:

Kamri is at the age where she can go "potty" by herself, but still needs help wiping when she is finished. Ever since she was potty trained she yells, "I'm done!" when she needs us to come in.  For the past week we have been calling her "DONE" when we go in, saying "Hi, Done" or "I"m coming, Done".  To which she would reply, "I'm Kamri.  I'm supposed to say 'I'm done'".  So, for the last two days, instead of saying "I"m done!" she yells "I'm Kamri!"    It took me once or twice to realize what she was doing.  I was just so use to going in and not thinking about it.   I still laugh every time. Clever girl!!