District Science Fair 2012

This year Shelby and Hannah did a project together on Energy Conservation.  They took an emergency blanket and lined a box with it and had also a box with nothing and a box with newspaper and heated them in the oven and timed how long it took to heat to a specific temperature.  They then pulled them out and timed them for a specific time and then graphed how fast or slow they cooled down.  They didn't place at their school science fair but were invited to the District Science Fair on February 22nd.  At the District Fair they were told that when they came back later that night for the open house if there was a gold balloon on their project then they either got 1st or 2nd or a special award.  Well they had a balloon and were SO excited.  Unfortunately we had to wait till the 27th to find out what place they got.  Well they ended up winning first place with an invitation to go to State and to apply for a National award.  We are so proud of Shelby and Hannah.  They did a great job!  Way to go smarty-pants!

Receiving their awards

Here is Shelby shaking hands with all the principals

With her certificate and medal

Blue and Gold Banquet

On February 25, 2012 was our family's first (except for Curt) Blue and Gold Banquet.  It was very cool with all the decorating that our cub leaders did.  If you can't tell it was a pirate theme.  They had a balance beam in the middle of the floor for the "walking the plank" and then they would have others with water noodles try and knock you off.

These are two of our wonderful cub leaders.  The one with the red bandanna is Carson's wolf leader and one of my favorite people in the world, Tere Abney.

He's had a rough day!

This is Stacy Harris and she was the one in charge but had A LOT of helpers.  They did a wonderful job!

Apparently you were supposed to dress up but were boring (mainly because I didn't know) and didn't dress up but these are our friends, the Ritchie's and they looked real pirate-y.

Austin wanted me to take a picture of him...not so much pirate-y...yet!

This is our new bishop, Bishop Jensen.  He was taking a picture of us so I decided to take a picture of him at the same time!  Then there's our friend Katie Edwards.  Her son Josh is the same age as Carson.

Later they had all who wanted come up to walk the plank but you had to say, "Arrr Mateys".  Austin was all over that.  If you look really hard hanging from his neck is an eye patch and when they said anybody could do it he was running up there trying to put his eye patch on at the same time.  He got up there and yelled, "ARRR MATEY'S!!!"  He walked the plank without any problems and then did it again and again and again and again....I think you get the picture.  At the very end of the plank walking there were four people up there and Austin, Carson and Kaylee were three of them.

This is our neighbor Bryce and Austin's very best buddy!  He's also in the background of the last picture!  He did a good job of walking the plank also.

Thanks for all the fun memories to those who planned and pulled off this great event!

Valentine's Day 2010

So for Valentine's Day this year we decided to just stay home and go out on the 16th.  Curt found this awesome Yurt (a Mongolian hut) where you snowshoe or cross country ski (but really you could just walk in your boots because there was a packed path to walk on) 1/2 a mile to the Yurt and then they cook you a 5 course meal inside it.  It was so much fun and the food was really yummy...stuff that I had never had before like polenta and golden beets and leek soup.  It was good!

Here's me in my snowshoes!

Me again!  Curt had the camera!

This is Solitude

Here we are at the Yurt.  See it in the background?  It doesn't look very big but it was big enough to hold quite a few people, maybe about 20 that were eating and then the chef and the guide/server.

This was me falling into Curt because I was trying to show my snowshoe in the picture and lost my balance and you can't put your foot down like you normally can because the back of the snowshoe gets caught on the snow and you fall!  Don't worry though...he caught me!

This was the couple sitting across from us.  They were very fun to talk to!

Again, here we are waiting for our dessert...I think!

This was after our "hike" back down with the buildings of Solitude in the background.

I decided to "chill".  Right behind those mounds of snow was an ice skating rink.

Here's an action shot!  Curt wouldn't do it so I had to.  Yeah...we all know who's the most courageous in the family!

This one doesn't tell the whole story like we wanted it to.  If you look at the lights in the background they are kind of fuzzy.  That was because there was mist in the air from the hot tub behind that fence.  So I was blowing a kiss to make it look like the mist was coming from my breath but you couldn't see the mist...so it bombed!

We had so much fun.  The guide even said that they do this in the spring and summer.  We are thinking about doing it again.  Anyone want to come with?

Jr. Jazz Jazz Game

January 30th was the Jazz game that the Jr. Jazz all got to go.  Since we had all three of the older kids playing basketball we all got to go to the game as a family.  This was the first time Austin and Carson got to go to a game since last year Carson got sick on the day of the game so the boys and I stayed home.  It was a lot of fun except for the INCIDENT.  Warning...this may be disturbing to those who DO NOT know my son Austin...but completely believable to those who do.  Here's what happened:  Note that where we are sitting, nosebleed heaven up at the top of the arena with no one sitting in the row in front of us.  Towards the end of the game they were in the aisles throwing stuff to the crowd and so we were all standing up trying to get their attention so they'd throw us something.  Well Austin decided to sneak behind us and sit in Shelby's seat and then he thought it would be funny to stick his feet on her bum and push REALLY hard.  Well any common sense possessing person would know that that's going to have bad results and that's exactly what happened.  She went FLYING head over heels not into the row below us but into the row below that with her feet in the air and her head between the back of the seat and the lady's back that she fell on looking at me in complete shock!  Thankfully she was not seriously hurt but a little bruised and sore and the lady was uninjured as well.  Needless to say, Austin got in BIG trouble...but it did make for a memorable story and one we'll likely never forget!

Fiddler On The Roof

Also on Saturday January 21, 2012 was Shelby's last performance of Fiddler on the Roof at her school, West Point Junior High.  We went to see it that night.  It was so good and Fiddler is not my most favorite movie but I really like the play.  This is the scene where Fruma Sarah comes back in a dream.  It's kind of hard to see who's who but it was really good.

Here's Shelby.  She didn't have a lead part but made an excellent addition to the ensemble this year.

Here she is ignoring the paparazzi, aka Grandma Nye!

This is the ending scene with the whole cast.

What a cute girl and she's a terrific actress.  So many talents in such a little body!

Here is Hannah, Shelby's very best friend.

Excellent job girls!!! 

It was a very great night.  Thanks to all those invovled!

Grandma Jeannie's 80th Birthday Party

On Saturday January 21, 2012 we celebrated Grandma Jeannie's 80th birthday!  It was so good to see her.  It had definitely been too long since we had seen her.  Isn't she beautiful?  Love the look on Austin's face!

This is Grandma Jeannie and her three kids; Stephanie (Steph), Steve and Christina (Chris).  Chris is the oldest and Steve is the youngest.

This is the kids with their spouses; Steph and Forrest, Christ and Jim and Bev and Steve.  "We are a happy family!"

Carson's Baptism

Since Carson turned 8 years old this past year it was time for him to be baptized.  His baptism date was for January 7th, 2012.  January 7th was the day that I got baptized back in 1984.  Here is his invitations that we sent to family and friends. 

Like the look on his face in this one?  He looks so happy!!!

This is his new suit that he got for his birthday.  He's so handsome!

Here are Curt and Carson just before the program started.  They look so nice.

We were the first ward to use the font.  It was snowing that day (something that it hadn't done for about a month) and for some reason the drain closure didn't work so all the hot water went down the drain.  So by the time they got it figured out it was all really cold water.  So they had to find a hose (see in the picture?) and fill some of the font with some hot water from the utility closet.  It took a little bit of the chill off but not much.  So Carson was baptized in cold water.  Like I said earlier, I got baptized on the same day as Carson but Curt said that he also got baptized in cold water.  So we both had something in common with Carson on his special day.  He was so nervous and when went down in the water he did a little gasp because of the temperature.  Curt said that he didn't want to have to do it again so he made sure to put Carson down really far.  When Carson came up out of the water he did a big gasp because he was so cold.  It made everybody kind of chuckle but we all felt for them.

After the confirmation.  Curt and Carson, Grandpa Moss (90 years old) and Grandpa Nye.

What handsome men!

Big family picture...unfortunately I'm not in there but I'm not sure where I was.

Here I am.  See, there's proof that I was there.  We have a great family and I'm so grateful that everybody came who was able to even in the snowstorm.  What a great day it turned out to be.  We are so proud of you Carson and so is your Heavenly Father!