Sick Day

This morning, Talie woke up with a fever, a few hours later, I got a call from the school that Dallin had a fever, and then Kennedi woke up from her nap with a fever. It came time to pick up Ashlynn from school, and I was rocking Kennedi in the rocking chair, and announced that I had to get up and go get Ashy from school, and Peyton asked, "Can I hold Kendedi?" So I got up and placed her on his lap. When I returned with Ashlynn, they were in that same position - well, Kennedi had slid off to the side of his lap a little - but he was ready for me to take Kennedi back.

Luckily I had checked out the movies, "Anne of Green Gables" from the library earlier this week, so we have plenty of low key activities for them to pass the time away until they start feeling better.

Summer in March

Peyton and Kennedi are always in the mood to go swimming. When one of them gets the idea to get their swimsuit on, they quickly solicit the other one to join them. Unfortunately - for them, they don't get to swim as often as they dress for it. This particular day, it's like 40 degrees outside, but it doesn't stop them from laying out on their towels on the back patio.

Notice the snow behind Kennedi. With 0%body fat, I can't figure out how she can stay warm.

One Saturday morning, Benson, Dallin and I came back from an early B'ball game and found Peyton and Kennedi in little bins filled with warm water on the family room floor. Talie was babysitting, and this was her solution to keep them happy without letting them get in the hot tub. She simply brought their "hot tub" inside=) - she always was a problem solver. Both Kennedi and Peyton had their own little bin and were as happy as could be.

In first grade, Ashlynn has been learning about our national symbols. At the end of this unit in school, her teacher, Mrs. Kempf, had the children dress in red, white, and/or blue and present a program to the parents. Mrs. Kempf put together a pod cast in which each of the children read a report that they had done on a specific US symbol (Ashlynn reported on the Bald Eagle), and in between the reports, she had taught the children a variety of patriotic songs which they performed. The program consisted of the traditional favorites, such as "America the Beautiful", some cute clever ones about Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington, where they acted out young George cutting down the cherry tree, and they finished with the song, "I'm proud to be an American", where the kids sang with great conviction. I'm sure you had to be there to truly appreciate it, but at the end of the last song, there was hardly a dry eye in the room. The spirit was so strong as everyone felt their love for this great nation. I was very proud of the class, and very grateful to Ashlynn's teacher for teaching the children something that is truly important. Thank-you Mrs. Kempf!

Half of Ashy's cute class, wearing adorable hats and head bands, provided by Mrs. Kempf.

Last Sunday, Kennedi and I were laying down on my bed, snuggling. And I asked her, what she learned in nursery today, and she said, "Toys." Not getting the answer I wanted, I rephrased the question, and asked, "What did your teachers teach you about?" To which she replied, "About Jesus."
"What about Jesus?" I further inquired.
"Umm, Jesus died yesterday. And the angel rolled the rock away."
I was amazed at how much my little two year old understood that her teachers were trying so hard to teach her. Again, I was thankful to my childrens' teachers for the love and time they put into teaching my children.

A Real Tear Jerker!!!

So we were supposed to leave for Idaho Friday, for Benson's youngest brother's mission farewell, but since Dallin's team won their 1st championship game, they were supposed to play at 10:00 on Saturday morning, and - if they won - again, at 2:00 for the final championship game. The boys won their 1st game, so we ran home, packed up the car, and returned for the final game. We were playing against a team we had already won before, so we had hope. The game was going very well, at one point we were even leading by 8 points. Dallin played great defense and swished two sweet shots (my favorite, is watching his confidence grow and watching his Dad's proud smile). But by the end, we were only up by 2 points. I turned to one of the mom's and said, "The worst that can happen, is they make a basket and we tie and go into over time." Well, with 30 seconds left on the clock, somehow a player on the other team sunk a 3 pointer (the 1st one I'd seen all season). With about 15 seconds left, we tried our best, but missed the basket, and the ball game and championship was over. The boys were so cute, about half of the team was crying, they were so disappointed. But, they played great, and we're super excited for the next season!

A Day of Basketball

Today was a day filled with basketball games! I am not a big sport's fan, but boy was it fun - nothing beats watching your kids work hard at something! Talie and Dallin played basketball this winter and this Saturday was the tournament. Benson is Dallin's coach and their team has improved a ton throughout the season! They went from losing most of their games at the beginning of the season to winning four in a row at the end. It is fun to watch Dallin as his confidence and love for the game grows. I like to call him, guard dog. His job on defense is to stand just beyond the center line and guard the point guard coming down with the ball. He has gotten so good at this, that it makes the poor point guard so nervous he just doesn't know what to do, so we usually get a steal and end up with the ball. Today, they played and won their first championship game, and so next Saturday they get to play another championship game, and if they win that one, they get to play the final game and place 1st or 2nd in the tournament - Go JAZZ! It is fun to watch the team work together - they are a great bunch of boys! I also love to watch Benson with the boys! You sure can see how proud he is of them and how much he enjoys working with them. Good-Luck next week boys!

Talie also played basketball this year. She somehow was put with a 4th grade team last year, and this year was bumped up to her normal grade level and Wow! is there a difference between 4th and 6th grade girls on the basketball court! At first she looked a little confused as far as what was going on, and anytime she bumped into anyone, she would say sorry, and give up the ball =), but she worked hard and improved, even scoring 4 out of the final 21 points for her team in the first tournament game. The girl's won their first game and the final championship game later that evening. Talie's team is also full of great girls. For their last game, they played against a team of girls that play dirty (like having fouls called for kicking). So it was kind of fun to watch her fight for the ball and stand up to these girls, she even played most of the last game, and boy was she tired after two hard games in a row! Although her team was ahead by 10 points at one point, unfortunately they didn't win, but they played hard and took 2nd place in the championship - go Comets! It was great watching Talie work hard at something and improve so much - her coach even recognized her as the most improved player.