Ice Skating at the Olympic Oval

The #1 item on our "to do" list this Christmas/Holiday season {Holidays because we needed Thanksgiving break to New Years to fit all the "to dos" on the list in} anyway, #1 on the list was 

Ice Skating!

The great Groupon had a discount to the Olympic Oval, 50% off for a family of 5. Bea is free except for skate rental because she is still under the magic age limit.

Today we finally headed up to Kearns for the much anticipated Ice Skating Extravaganza!

They had these neat walker/skater holder uppers {technical term} that little kids with no balance or experience could use. In theory, the child could stabilize themselves and learn to skate like a pro. In reality, the child held on for dear life and mom/dad held onto the child's hands and the contraption at the same time while bending at a 90 degree angle scooting around the oval while the child's legs and feet "went all crazy," as the Boss said.

This is the view I had for most of the outing. The Boss couldn't keep her feet going in the right, or even the same direction.

Apparently Bea, who was with Dad, had the same problems as the Boss and I.

Drama got the hang of it right away.

and Pooh Bear was a pro by the end of the outing.

Ahh, a helmet, a really good idea, considering. 

Why won't they even look at me when I am taking a picture?

In the end we had a great time and the Boss cried most of the way  home because she wanted to go back and ice skate. Of course Mark and I will be bed ridden tomorrow from the bending, stooping, lifting, balancing, steadying, and ice skate induced ankle pain.

Christmas Break

What do you do with 4 kids over Christmas break when it's too cold to go outside? 

(The kids could probably handle the cold just fine but I don't really want to go out with them to referee supervise play.}

You could go the the Church to play basketball, soccer, and run around the gym for an hour and a half...

or

You could head to the Dinosaur Museum and play in the fun hands on exhibits. 

(However, covering yourself with the wet sand is discouraged Ms. Bea.}

Thanks Grandma Tina and Grandpa Phil for the fun ideas and taking us out to lunch and to Orange Leaf later tonight {hint, hint}!

Piano Recital

December 17, 2011

Drama and Pooh Bear began taking piano lessons at the start of summer. We have thoroughly enjoyed enduring listening to them practice. Last night they participated in their first piano recital. They did fantastic!

Drama played

Carnival and Harmonic Blues

Pooh Bear played

Jingle Bells and Indian Dance

Afterwards we went out to Maggie Moos for ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Van Horn.

Mmmmm. Blue cotton candy ice cream. Delicious.

I've been published, sort of...

I recently won a give away from a sweet little running blog called Teacher2Mother2Runner. I won a cute little tee shirt with their motto on it. They asked me in return if I would answer a few questions about why I run. "Sure, why not." I emailed back. Here is the link to my answers to their questions 

{scroll all the way to the bottom of the page}....

http://teacher2mother2runner.weebly.com/stars-of-the-week.html

I must have sounded way too excited about my new found love, speed training, because they asked me to write an article about it! "Sure, why not." I emailed back, again. It was way more difficult that I thought it would be. I over analyzed every little thing I wrote, I'm so OCD sometimes! Anyway here is the link to my 15 seconds of fame. Don't judge to harshly {cough, Billie, put your red pen away}

http://teacher2mother2runner.weebly.com/lifes-lessons.html

Drama's Service Club

October 29, 2011

An ambitious teacher at Drama's school started a Service Club this year and Drama was very excited to be a part of it. To get into the club you had to apply. Drama had to tell about herself, her other activities and commitments and write a paragraph about why they thought they should be accepted into the Service Club. And then a parent (me) had to write a paragraph detailing their child's strengths and recommending (or not) that their child be accepted into the club.

As part of the club they have to serve a certain number of hours per quarter. Once a week Drama stays late after school to help a teacher with whatever needs to be done, tutoring, correcting homework, random errands, etc. They also meet after school once a month as a club to discuss how things are going, upcoming service projects, etc. One Saturday in October they all met together for a team building conference at the school. As part of the conference they, of course, had a service project planned. They were all asked to bring one of their old backpacks and as much food as they could manage. Here in Utah there are some kids that only eat at school. They get a hot breakfast and lunch but have no food at home. Kids that don't have food in their cupboard can go to their school's office and pick up a backpack that had a package of crackers and a can of tuna fish (or similar) and take it home for the night so they have something to eat that evening. Here is the pile of backpacks and food that the club collected that morning to help feed hungry kids.

They also put together alphabet books for children in other countries, had motivational speakers, played some team building games and ate lunch together. One of the motivational speaking groups were the guys that make the "Kid History" videos. If you haven't seen them they are hilarious, go here to laugh pretty hard. They were nice enough to stick around afterwards and sign autographs for the kids and take pictures with them. I was helping with the lunch so I was around to take some pictures of Drama with the guys. 

 Fact!

One of the Service Club girls inquired if this cute boy had a girlfriend! 

I love the Service Club and that Drama loves being a part of it. It's such a great experience for her. I am so grateful that the teachers at her school are so amazing. Not only do they put in all the hours teaching, preparing lessons, grading homework, etc., etc., etc, but they are willing to mentor students in great activities like this one and give up so much more of their time and talents to help the kids learn how to be great people! Thank you teachers, we love you here at our house!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went up to Grandma Tina's and Grandpa Phil's house in Idaho Falls. We had so much fun that the Boss informed me this morning that she wanted to "Stay at Grandma Tina's ever" {forever}.

We drove up on Wednesday and made a quick stop at Grandma Great's house for a visit.

Grandma Tina was the chef de cuisine Thanksgiving day and the gravy was fan.ta.stic! 

Grandpa Phil was the master turkey carver. 

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows? Yes, please!

The left side of the table...

The right side of the table... {hats provided by Drama, who believes that every holiday should be accessorized appropriately.}

and the clean up crew...

Dinner was fantastic and the pie was heavenly. Thanks Grandma Tina and Grandpa Phil for letting our crazy troupe invade your house for the Thanksgiving weekend!

California Vacation Part 1, The Beach

 Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Temps at the beach 100! at Disneyland 104! Holy Heatwave.

We went on a fun little family vacation in October to California, specifically Disneyland, but we wanted a beach day somewhere in the week. As it turns out California decided to have an unseasonable warm week the week we visited. It got up to 104 degrees on Wednesday! I guess it's a good thing I only packed 2 pairs of long pants for each person, we really didn't need those. Or the 2 jackets per person. But I did bring sunscreen, lots of sunscreen.

Anyway, Wednesday turned out to be a perfect beach day. At the suggestion of Grandma and Grandpa Van Horn {who are still sulking because it wasn't their turn to be the Grandparent chaperones ;)}we went to Huntington Beach and it was A.MAZ.ING!

It was Grandpa Phil and Grandma Tina's turn to chaperone this family's vacation - lucky.

Perfect sand with lots of sea shells for the girls to discover. We got there pretty early in the day so it was still pretty chilly, hence the jackets, but we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. The girls loved watching the surfers out on the waves, that was fun.

Drama and Pooh Bear started building a sandcastle with dad but spent most of the time playing in the ocean.

The Boss loved playing in the giant sandbox and eventually had fun playing in the waves.

She was moving sand from one end of the beach to the other - with a plastic spoon.

Bea was the most hesitant about the "big water." She was fascinated by the ocean and the waves and loved marching in the wet sand but wanted me to pick her up if a big wave came close. After a little while she braved all but the biggest waves while clinging to my hand and laughing. When we left she turned and waved good bye to the "big water" several times.

It was a fantastic day! Perfect beach. Perfect weather. Perfect Sand. And playing in the ocean!

The sand didn't taste perfect though, but she had to try.