Easter 2011

Easter was on April 23rd this year.  As you can see it was still very cold since we had a very late spring.  All the kids had fun as we went to the West Point Easter Egg Hunt the Saturday before.  We've started going to West Point instead of Clinton's egg hunt since that's where all the cousins go.  It's a lot of fun to see how much everybody gets.

Austin had a great time.  Look at that smile!

Here is all the cousins with their "loot".

We try and get a picture with the Easter Bunny each year.  I'm surprised that Austin wasn't scared of him, but his cousin Tre was and WOULD NOT take a picture with him.

Later that night we decorated Easter Eggs.  I love this!  It's so fun to see how everyone decorates their eggs.

Austin got to do his eggs for the first time this year...of course he had some help though.  He had a great time seeing them turn colors.

Here are the kids doing their eggs.

Here is Curt's eggs.

Here are Austin's eggs.

Here are Kaylee's eggs.

Here are my eggs.

Here are Carson's eggs.

Here are Shelby's eggs.

This year the Easter Bunny did something different with the kids' Easter baskets and Easter eggs.  He hid them and then left clues for a treasure hunt.  The kids had a bunch of fun with this.  It was funny because when they first woke up they didn't know what was going on.

As you can see, Carson is not in this picture.  That's because he threw a fit that he didn't get to find a certain egg because it was Kaylee's turn to find it and so he decided to pout and sit out on the swing set in the cold rather than continue with the hunt to find the baskets...but eventually he came back in and life was good again once he saw all the stuff he got.it was a great Easter!

Spring Break 2011

For Spring Break this year we had planned to go to the zoo but the weather was really bad so we decided to go to the Ancient Life Museum down at Thanksgiving Point. We had never been there before and it always looks like so much fun. So we splurged and had a great time as a family!

Science Fairs

On February 15th, 2001 Shelby was able to go to the District Science Fair for the second time. She was very excited. She did the same project as she did in 5th grade when she got to go to District before. We were curious to see if the results would be different. It turns out that they were. The first time she got an honorable mention but we had heard it was because she was in 5th grade and 5th graders couldn't go on to State.

This year she took First Place...a whole lot different than Honorable Mention. She was so excited because now she got to go to the State Science Fair. It was so much fun to see her up there and for the group to get smaller and smaller and then she was the last one standing. It was great and a very proud moment for her parents.

So on March 21st, 2011 Shelby went to State. When she was done she said that there was a lot more competition here than there was at the district level which was a given. The boy next to her had one on rockets which she thought was pretty cool.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera on the night of the awards ceremony but Shelby had said earlier that day that she would be happy with whatever she got and that she was just happy that she was able to go. Well it turns out that the same thing happened at State as happened at District. First they gave out Honorable Mention certificates and then they gave out Excellence certificates, wooden plaques and then the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place awards. As I watched the group of kids got smaller and smaller until she was the last one standing and to her surprise she took 1st place!!!

She got a cash award of $75.00 and a $300.00 scholarship to Weber State for her first year in college. She also got a special award of a membership into the Association of Women Geologists. Now we just have to do some research to find out what that association is all about. At the end of the day she said that she was "emotionally drained" and I can't say as I blame her. It had been a really good day for her. Congratulations Shelby!!!

Shelby's Talent Show

In February Shelby and her best friend Hannah decided that they would try out for the West Point Jr. High's talent show. They decided to do a comedy skit of a ventriloquist and her "dummy" that did blond jokes. This is funny because Hannah is a blond...and a pretty good one, too. Well it turned out that they judges liked their skit and put them through so that they could do their skit in front of the whole school for the assembly on March 11th. I have to give it to them. This is something that I NEVER would have done but Shelby's not like me at all. She goes all out and will try almost everything and it works for her. The school laughed at their jokes and it was a success. They had a great time!

Basketball Season

From December until February was Jr. Jazz Basketball and we had Shelby, Kaylee (who reluctantly participated) and Carson in it. We were very busy but it was a lot of fun to see them play.

This is Carson playing. Curt made them a deal that if they got three blocked shots then he would buy them a drink from the concession stand. It motivated them to play defense and that's what we really wanted them to learn.

Here's Kaylee playing. She was really good at defense especially since she is so tall. She was mad at us on her last game because we trying to tell her what she could have done to improve and she thought we were mad at her. I love this picture!

Shelby showed a lot of improvement. This was her first time EVER playing basketball and she learned a lot and was actually really good for being one of the smallest on the court. She got a couple of shots and was real scrappy diving on the floor and going after the ball and she even blocked a few shots. She impresses me each time she plays a sport with how easy it seems to come to her.

With the Jr. Jazz you get two tickets to a Jazz game for each person signed up. So since the three kids were signed up we had six tickets. Bev was going to watch Austin for us that night while we went but it turned out that Carson came home from school that day with a fever. So I stayed home with the boys and Curt and the girls went with some friends of ours. Because of our extra tickets they were able to go with their whole family so it all worked out.

These are our friends, the Daltons. This is Lea after having been sprayed by the Bear.

This is Danny. Then their kids are Bailey, Tyler and Calie. They are great friends.

Also the Jazz will send a player for all the kids to meet. This is Gordon Hayward. He's a rookie this year but he's pretty good and TALL. He was really good with the kids especially since the day that he came was the same day that Coach Sloan resigned and all that stuff was going down. It was fun to see him though.

February 22, 2011

So this morning this is what I walked in to when I went to get Austin up from bed. Yes, that is POOP!!! He had a habit of stripping himself naked and undoing his diaper however most of the time he would just sit with his diaper undone. But not this morning. He had decided to use his poop as play-doh and smear it on his crib and the wall. It was so gross!

Then that night Shelby had decided to make a cake for the family. We all had some (thank goodness) and later while the rest of us were in our bedroom he decided that he wanted some more. Curt came in and said, "I hope no one else wanted any more cake!" What a stinker!!!