Faith was one of several young women-- including Elinor-- who got their Personal Progress Young Womanhood Recognition Award last Wednesday night. This program is now obsolete as the church has begun the new program for youth, but the deadline was extended for those young woman who were hoping to still finish the old program. Elinor wasn't able to be at the Young Women's in Excellence meeting because she had a water polo game in park city.
Funny girl.
These three were all among the girls who earned it. They are so beautiful!
Abe was happy to be there with her
We have an awesome neighbor who plays wiffle ball baseball with the neighborhood kids on beautiful spring day.
A picture of a screen of Bethany's recent Sinfonietta concert. "I love technology-- but not as much as you, you see..."
Please tell me you caught that Napoleon Dynamite reference.
I sure do miss her.
I apologize if anyone reading this blog gets tired of seeing pictures of the Foxy Ladies, but you know, it is my blog and I guess I can put up whatever pictures I want. These are my happiest moments and I want to be able to remember them.
Abe really misses getting to watch Clark with his high school robotics team-- Prototype X. So he was happy to slip away from work and head next door to the Maverick Center to see his nephew Samuel compete with Provotypes (no connection to Prototype X). Abe was back in his happy place:)
Today when Peter was doing his piano practice, I pointed out the "P" dynamic marking. It means to play softly. Peter said, "Whenever I see those I get offended because they mean to play softly and I am more of a LOUD kind of person".
Truer words were never spoken.
And we wouldn't have him any other way.
This next little video just makes me happy. Kitchen dance parties work wonders to lighten the mood at home and I'm thinking we don't have nearly enough of them. "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen is pretty much my favorite song these days.
Elinor turned 17 last week. I could not be prouder of her and I wish I could slow down time to keep her here at home a few more years. She is a remarkable young lady-- driven, incredibly hard-working, kind, funny, unique, focused, honest, authentic, disciplined, gorgeous, talented. Elinor is never concerned with competing with anyone. She just strives to be her best self and appreciates others for exactly who they are. And I adore everything about her and feel so thankful to be her mother.
Elinor threw herself a birthday party last weekend. Organizing a big group of friends usually makes her nervous and she generally avoids it, so I was a little surprised that she went for it. But I am so glad she did. She had a great turn out and it was lot of fun. There were kids from several areas in her life-- swim team, water polo, childhood friends, speech and debate.
The played dodge ball with very soft rubber balls-- we learned our lesson after Faith's concussion. This is team Riverton-- made up of the kids who live in the Riverton city limits.
The kids who live in cities other than Riverton.
Another round was water polo kids versus everyone else. Man, those kids were vicious!
Sushi tag will be a new favorite game.
Pretty fun stuff.
Cade's shirt got ripped in one of the games-- so it was refashioned into this tank top apron. Ha ha ha! I wonder what his mom thought when he got home!?
At the end of our Sacrament meeting last weekend, a member of the Stake Presidency announced there would be a special meeting at 3:00 at the Stake center where stake boundaries changes would affect our ward. We have about the smallest ward in the stake, so while we were fairly certain they wouldn't put any part of our ward in a different ward, there were some nerves. These four little beauties were anxious that none of them be separated. Their wishes were granted-- our old ward stays completely in tact, and we are getting another part of the neighborhood added to our ward boundaries. Smiles all around (for our ward, anyway).
We were happy to see Clark for a quick visit this morning. He stopped by to grab some camping equipment and "steal" a couple cans of chili and protein shakes. I keep telling him it's not stealing if it is there for the taking. I'm just glad we get so see him every now and then. After not seeing him for two years, it is still a treat to be able to call him anytime and have him unexpectedly show up at the house.
A scooter ride with a ballet boy (George) is never just a scooter ride:)
Aren't little kids awesome? Can you even imagine two giants holding your body this way? I'd be dead. Greta was genuinely willing and happy.
Bethany had her symphony concert up at BYU-Idaho last week. I miss being able to attend her concerts in person, but I am grateful they live stream them. What a marvelous time we live in! One of these days we'll make up there.
And we're back to these two little funnies. They both had a piano recital last night. Faith did not have her best performance-- and "lucky" for her my camera ran out of storage part way through. So when we got home she played it for me to video. She even included her own special introduction😂
Elinor's piece went better-- believe it or not, this isn't the best she can do this, but it's still pretty darn good!
This may be one of the best pictures of these seven gentlemen ever taken. Abe and his six brothers spent the last several days together in Las Vegas on their annual brothers trip. From all reports they had a wonderful time and as much as we missed Abe here at home, I am happy he had this time with his brothers. Since I wasn't there, I don't know all the background of each picture. So, I'll just post them for you to enjoy.
They are great men. Great husbands. Great fathers. Great friends. And greatly blessed to have each other.
They are quite dedicated to one another and quite hilarious and quite weird! Would you believe me when I tell you that when they were younger, they were the two children who got along the least well? True. Nowadays they are attached at the hip!
On this Sunday a couple weeks back they delighted themselves making a cake and chocolate love decorations and they wore their matching skeleton Halloween pajamas.
And then they took it up a notch. May I present a work they call Art Life.
I have no words. Except they are getting weirder and I like it. Even if I don't understand their art.
I don't think I am their target audience. To be honest, I think they are their own target audience!
Peace out.
Faith recently read a book for school called War Boy. When the kids read a book they can write a report about it or complete a project of their own choosing. Faith decided to built bonfires of German soldier dummies being burned on Guy Fawkes Day during WWII.
No words...
...except, I suppose this is what engaged learning looks like?
When I look back at pictures of the clever games and schemes the older came up with, I feel so happy that they had the time to create together. I think of the hours they spent building upon their good ideas till their make-believe worlds became unwieldy and impractical and they moved on to their next good idea. This week, just such an activity took place in our family room -- The Mini-Golf Gold Resort. They made a miniature golf course with blocks. They made golf clubs with PVC pipes. They created various passes based on how many quarters customers could rummage up around the house and in couch cushions.
A contract needed to be signed to ensure a pleasant mini-golf experience for all.
Mini-golf for all!
My girls.
Has it really only been one week since Bethany was home? I'm happy she is happy at BYU-Idaho. I also wish is wasn't so far away.
Greta thinks she is a kitty. She likes to drink her milk from a bowl.
And we encourage her.
Back to these two. They celebrated Elinor's 17th birthday last week with a little T-Swizzle (Taylor Swift) piano sing-along. They may be weird, but they talented little weirdos:)
Okay, now back it Greta. I am thankful for her every single day.
Here are a couple pictures of Elinor's time down in St. George last weekend for USA Senior State.
It's not often that the tallest one among them gets the up on the shoulder spot:)
