Logan trip

My Mom made an appointment in the Logan temple for the grandkids to do baptisms and we chose to make the trip up and enjoy some cousin time.  It was so nice to be in the temple.  I had let the kid's recommends expire on accident, so they had to give us temporary ones for the day, but it all worked out.  I loved that the baptistry had a prayer roll station right there. We added some good names for some extra prayers.  So I checked kids out from school early and used the Hill Airforce base as a bathroom stop on the way up.  Seth was in heaven.  Ada took him to explore while I took the rest to the bathroom.  I love the pictures they took together.

Evelyn and Seth stayed with Sharon and Janelle playing with the bouncy house and all the little cousins while we were gone.

Lance, Sam, Devin and several cousins decided to make the dirt pile in the backyard into a volcano.  They put in baking soda and vinegar into a bowl and it did have a reaction.  It just wasn't a big one and they were pretty disappointed.

 

Hope of America

For 11-12 years now, the 5th graders in Utah County get together to do a huge patriotic program.  Ada did it and loved it.  Sam prepared for it and it was cancelled because of the pandemic.  Now it was Evelyn's turn.  They work for weeks learning the songs and dances, then they meet the morning of the performance to practice together.  Evelyn did awesome and was very prepared.  She wanted to try a "cougar's tail".... a very large maple donut. We can check that one off the bucket list.

The pre-show people threw t-shirts out to the crowd.  I saw Evelyn nab one, then she looked at her friend Orson and handed it to him.  My momma heart was very proud.... then Orson laughed and pulled apart what she'd given him because there were two there and he handed one right back to her.

When I dropped her off for her morning practice, I took a few minutes to talk to BYU about renting stuff for Youth Conference in June.... Then I took a glorious hour to walk around the BYU MOA.  They had a contemporary exhibit and one that had "Paintings of the Masters".  Borrowed paintings from 1200-1700 from the European area.

Then I took this little miss out for Ramen.

 

Band

Sam had his band concert.  He's been doing so well and says he wants to keep playing the flute, so that's the plan.  I got him a new flute case for his birthday, but he doesn't know that yet.

 

End of year Choir concert

 

Well done girls!  You both worked really hard!

Ada, Hannah

My parents and Janelle were able to come.  It's always nice to have them.

friends and family

 This week was a week for people. Emma and Stephen came for dinner with their kids. Seth came for a Warhammer game. We also got to go to Riley's baby shower and Tanners bride's bridal shower. I love seeing these people and the good things they're up to.

Seth said, "Sam, I'm more handsomer than you are."

Warhammer with legos

Sam was just sitting on the floor and this baby wanted to see and touch all of him.  It was so funny.

Tanner and Raeley

Riley and (I think his name is Austin) and baby Max.

Jer took Sam and Evelyn to the symphony this week.  It was Evelyn's first time in almost three years and she did great.  Jon Hansen texted Jer to let him know that President Nelson was on the balcony right above Jer and the kids.

Ada and I went to a ballet to support two of our new YW.... they just moved in and do ballet with their homeschool co-op.  Claire is very good.

Our neighbor wanted to say thank you for helping with their sprinklers, so they called us to go to Golden Corral with them.  We haven't been there for years, so the kids don't remember it and had a blast.

Seth officially learned to tie his shoes, so he's been offering to tie anyone's shoes.... Evelyn's, Dad's.  It's cute.

This week, we figured out that Sam is having a reaction to his med for his allergies.... it's called Cushing Syndrome. In this case, the symptoms are far worse than the disease.  What cued me in was the wife of Jer's cousin talking about it with her son.  I looked it up and it was everything that Sam is dealing with that I had just passed off as puberty. Lucky boy.

ADHD

 Evelyn has officially been diagnosed with inattentive ADHD.  It's not severe enough that they're really pushing medication, but it's been offered.  My only worry is that I don't want her feeling overwhelmed, so we'll see if some coping therapies are enough.... then we'll go from there.

This week

 

Ada's soccer game today... they only had 4 players show up, so we combined teams with another two teams that hadn't had enough show up.  It was fun and they meshed really well for not knowing each other.  Ada knew Adam Maya from elementary, so that was fun to catch up a little.

Jer bought us tickets Drybar comedy this week.  It was fun.  And it started at 9:30 pm.... so kids were in bed and we had fun.

Our 70 year old neighbor was frantically trying to fix sprinklers late at night before his sod got laid the next day.  Our kids grabbed shovels and dug up broken pipes. Jer, Larry and Scott fixed the pipes and Marjorie, Ada and I buried and leveled out the sprinklers.  I thought it was fun and Seth especially liked digging in the mud.  He kept yelling, "I found two more broken ones!" and stuff like that.

Mutual was a combined activity.  It was simple and fun. 

We surprised Ada.  The school district has had her painting on display at their offices and they wanted to acknowledge her and the other students on display.  We didn't tell her and she thought she was in trouble as we went into the district office.  It was her first time ever watercolor painting and it was an assignment on surrealism.  She made an eye into a landscape.  The best part is that she went over parts of her painting with a sparkly something, so in person it shimmers.

Ada's principal went to school with Aunt Margaret, so this is kind of a fun picture.

Hannah's been crashing alot at our house. I'm glad she feels comfortable enough to relax and get some rest here.  She's officially moving to Japan at the beginning of June, so we'll soak her in while we can.

It's been really windy lately.  Evelyn made her own kite and had a lot of fun playing in the wind.

Easter Sunday

The Primary sang Gethsemane.  I was in tears.  The music leader's husband died within the last year and she has dived into these Primary songs head first.  She had them following her for crescendos and decrescendos.  She put her heart and soul into teaching these kids and these kids have responded in kind.  I've never seen such an attentive Primary number. 

Our music coordinator for the ward has decided to teach the youth how to lead music.  Sam volunteered for this Sunday.  I loved seeing him up there.