Spring Break

We decided to spend part of our Spring Break in Arizona visiting Grandpa. On the way, we stopped at Arches National Park and spent a couple hours hiking to Delicate Arch. This was the first time for the kids and they loved it. It was also a great way to tire them out for the remaining hours spent in the car.

Once we arrived at Grandpa's house, all the kids wanted to do was hang out with the horses. They fed and watered them each morning and evening. They even dug the brushes out of the shed to brush down the horses that would let them. There were two older horses that were quite calm and willing to let the kids come near them. The others were just over a year old and didn't like to be touched and wouldn't let us get near; except for one that would only let Ashlyn come up to it (as pictured above). She was very patient and persistent until it finally allowed her to touch him. She was pretty pleased and of course that was her favorite horse out of the bunch.

When asked what was the best thing they did on the trip, most of them said it was riding the horse with Uncle Ric. Each of them had a chance to ride around the fairground arena. Some were a little more daring than others, but they all loved it. It was fun to see their excitement and remember how much we enjoyed coming to Grandpa's house so we could ride the horses-the only chance us "city" kids ever had. Ric was great to spend his morning with us, and was so patient with all of the kids.

It was good to see Grandpa. You would often find Ashlyn snuggled up on his lap answering all of his questions (most of them asked repeatedly), or listening to all of his stories. And in keeping with tradition we made time to go to El Camino for dinner to finish our visit. We love visiting and can't wait for another opportunity to see Grandpa again!

My Kind of Tournament

On Friday we headed over to the "Rock, Paper, Scissors Throw Down," a tournament where no skills are required-only luck. Uncle Mike was in charge of the tournament. His college group was trying to set a Guinness World Book Record with the most participants in a Rock, Paper, Scissor tournament; and we went to support him (the final count of participants was 828). Everyone lined up and faced off against the opponent opposite them-with the winner being the one who won two out of three times. There were Rock, Paper, Scissor judges to judge each throw down. Nate, Caleb and Lauren all made it through the first round. Caleb and Lauren got knocked out in the second round, and Nate was eliminated in the third round. I thought they might be disappointed that they didn't win the grand prize ($3,000), but they were just glad to have beaten a college student at least once. Afterwards Tricia kept challenging them to RPS matches, to see if she could beat them. Keep practicing Tricia.

Updates

I need to add a couple of updates from my previous posts. Events that happened recently of note in our family. The first is Science Fair. Nate went on to the Region level competition two weeks ago. Of course it was a very busy day and so I tried to talk him out of attending the awards assembly at the close of the competition, since I was needed at the stake center all night to conduct Futsal games. I figured he was lucky to make it to the region level, and that would be the extent of any recognition he would receive. Nate's teacher thought differently and talked me into having Nate attend the awards event that evening. Luckily he did, because Nate ended up getting 2nd place in the Junior Division of Medicine and Health. His trophy and certificates are still sitting on the piano, and he is already talking about what his project will be next year.

The other item to update is the Geography Bee. Nate scored high enough on the exam to qualify for the state competition, which took place on Friday. He was nervous the morning of the event, but not as nervous as I was-as I forgot to even take the camera for pictures of Nate in the competition. (Steve couldn't believe that I would neglect something so important, but it was all nerves!) He got through the preliminary rounds and ended up in the tie-breaker rounds to determine the ten finalist. His last question knocked him out of the round, and he still is upset because the first answer he wrote down, then scratched out was the correct answer. Oh well, we think he did great as he ended up being in 13th place out of the 100 kids who made it to state, out of the many thousands of kids who participated in their own geography bees in their schools. (Sorry for the big bragging there, but I couldn't help it.) Anyway, here is the question that ended up taking Nate out of the competition, see how you would answer it:

Which country that is not part of the European Union, and is bordered by Belaurus and Ukraine, recently tightened its border patrols because of problems caused by immigration?

Caleb Turns Twelve

Caleb turned twelve this month and was ordained last Sunday. I think it is perfect timing, since now he will be able to go with Steve and Nate to the Priesthood Session of General Conference, instead of staying home with the girls.

It is hard for me to imagine that it has actually been 12 years since he was born; and Steve and I were trying to figure out what would be a good name for a red-headed boy. Caleb was not our first choice-it was actually #5 on our list. He could have been a Trenton, Preston, Truman or Clayton. A nurse heard us discussing names and she jokingly suggested we watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, since there were seven red-headed boys in that movie and we could pick from seven different names...and that's how Caleb got his name.

Our Own March Madness

This month has been extra busy. Each week there is a BIG project that we need to work on (Science Fair, the Kindy 500, Caleb's Ordination/birthday). This week was no exception. Lauren's Achievement Days group decided they wanted to do a Powderpuff Pinewood Derby race. Steve was adamant that he had already built six Pinewood Derby cars for the boys, so it was my turn to make them for the girls. But the proposition of having a wife with only nine fingers was enough to convince him to help again.

Lauren had a difficult time deciding on what kind of car she wanted. She finally opted for a red Radio Flyer wagon. Steve and David spent half of their Saturday working on cutting out the car. It took four attempts before they had a successful model. The night before the race, as we were working out how to make and attach the handle, a comment was made that the wagon looked like a bathtub. That put a smile on Lauren's face and she immediately changed her mind and decided that her wagon would now be a bathtub.

So, we changed gears and began brainstorming on how to make a cute bathtub. We decided on a white tub with a brushed nickel faucet & handles, a bear with a shower cap & brush, water with a few bubbles, and of course we needed a yellow rubber ducky to finish it off. We put the finishing touches on her car just minutes before the race began. (In fact, the realistic water that we used in the tub, which hardens but has the look of water, was more liquid than hard during the race.) I was pretty pleased with the final project and all the little details we added...until a six year old friend of Ashlyn's looked at the car and commented, "There's no drain." Okay, I completely missed that small detail.

Who is Your Favorite Aunt?

This is a warning to all the aunts...Tricia is making her move to dethrone everyone as the favorite aunt, and make that title exclusively hers. Her recent outings with the kids have shown that she is declaring open war. She is no longer relying on the old grab bag of trinkets and toys to win their favor-nope, she's taking it to a whole other level. Her recent outings have been: the circus (with an elephant ride thrown in for extra points), the Bean Museum, and a sold-out BYU basketball game vs. UNLV.

Kindy 500 Kar

Ashlyn has a wonderful kindergarten teacher who thinks up many creative ways for the students to learn the curriculum. One of her favorite activities is the Kindy 500, where unwilling parents get to help their overly excited child make a vehicle from a cardboard box. All the kindergarten students then come and drive around to different locations to learn about some of the more prominent landmarks and historical figures in our country; receiving a souvenir at each stop.

We've been lucky enough to have this same teacher for all of the kids, so this Kindy 500 was our 4th (and final) time to experience this event. The smartest plan would have been to save Nate's car and recycle it for Caleb, Lauren and Ashlyn. But, each of the cars went in the garbage bin a couple weeks after the event, necessitating that I start from scratch each time. I am now proficient in turning cardboard boxes into: taxis, post office trucks, ice cream trucks, and ambulances.

The best part of the Kindy 500 was just after we visited the Statue of Liberty. We were in the hall, going to our next station, and a reporter from the newspaper was there talking to the kids. He stopped Ashlyn and asked her where the Statue of Liberty was located. She quickly responded, "Over there," as she pointed to the room we just came out of. We'll have to wait and see if those geography genes are dormant or non-existent.