Our Graduate

Brigham will be moving onto 1st grade! He made leaps and bounds this year. At the beginning of Kindergarten he knew the letters B
& T and recognized the numbers 1 & 3. He could count to 11 and could write his name, but had no idea what the letters were besides the B. he learned so much and tried so hard to get to where is teacher wanted him to be by the end of the year. Now he is counting to 30 and knows all his letters and even some sight words. Brigham is a good student and a good friends to the kids on his class.

Way to go Briggy!

They had a lovely program prepared for their families to show all the things they had learned. Some real cute songs too.
"V is for volunteer- (shouting with excitement)parents & everyone!" The audience loved it!

Grandma and Grandpa Black were kind enough to join us in the HOT cafeteria for the program. Brigham loves their help and support! I do too!

Last Day of School!?!

First Day of School 2012

Last Day of School 2013

This last day of school was a little milestone for our family... this school year I had the most kids together in school for the first time. K-6th, A- 4th, Ty-2nd and B-K. For the rest of Katelyn's school career she will only be in school with Amy. She will never see the boys again at school. I told them this and said they should cherish this moment and they rolled their eyes at me. I suggested to Katelyn that she hold hands with Brigham and Tyler as she walked home with them and remember this time. She did a BIG sigh.

Following in his footsteps....

Tyler participated in his first 5K this morning to raise money for the children that live down at South Davis Hospital. He ran with some of his buddies and had a great time!

scales & tails

For field day this year Brigham and all the Kindergartners walked from the school to Rocket Park to meet some slimy, scaly friends!

The finale was this huge boa constrictor. The snake guy had it laying on the ground so all the kids could see it's length. Then he asked the kids and dads to help pick it up and put it back in its bin. Brigham just happened to be holding the snake's "bum" when there was a major blow out. Brigham was covered in white snake poop! He smelled like a hamster cage! Briggy is our germ-a-phobe so I was a bit worried when it all transpired, but there were some cute moms that jumped right in and said " Brigham that is so coooooll!". We even saw a grandma in the grocery store a week later that said, "Brigham I heard you were a rock star at school. You got pooped on by the snake! That is so awesome!"



Brigham the kid with the white streaked hair that was pooped on by a boa constrictor!

Amy's Mountain Man Rendezvous

Holy Cow! What an awesome event. I don't know where I was when Katelyn did this, but we were sure glad to be involved this year. I was the unofficial photographer so I will share a few out of the some 400 pics I took.



I know I am a little biased, but Amy was one of the cutest pioneer girls there!

They had this huge tub full of rainbow trout and Amy and Brigham got one of their own. Killed the fish and then a teacher gutted it and we have them in our freezer

We got to take some rides on the horse and Christian shared with Jess

Shooting marshmallows at pie tins!

Some of you might recognize this Mountain Man?-- Annie's dad

Amy feeding the horse

They had a kiddie pool filled with tree mulch and bark and then threw BB's in it and the kids "panned for gold"!

Annie's dad had a cool Tee Pee there set up with lots of guns and he shot several of them. The kids were so interested! The shots spooked the nearby horses a bit, but no one got hurt!

Some good old Pioneer games! Stick pull, sack races, Tug-o-war, "drop the pin in the bucket", ring toss

Yee Haw!! Do-si- Do! Line Dancing!

Helping clean up! It was a great, fun Day!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

And we can because Mike is just like that! He is awesome and gave the girls and I a weekend in Denver!  It has been a life long dream of Amy and Riley's to go to the American Girl Doll Store! The closest one happens to be just outside of Denver. So Denver it is!

We had a blast!

It was the dolls first time flying

Katelyn loves the view from the window. Flying over the Rockies

Sitting at the capital- One Mile Above Sea Level

We toured Margaret Brown's house- "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"
It was fabulously restored and we learned a lot about Colorado too. Mrs Brown was a survivor of the Titanic

Our rental Car after we had lunch at Subway


The pool was under construction at the hotel. I said to the receptionist- "Are you serious?!!! You must be joking!" So sensed my disappointment and hooked us up with some passes to the Jewish Community Center's pool. We love visiting an awesome JCC! So we went and swam there and finished with a little hot tubbin'!

Trying to take Katelyn down!

We also saw the youngest baby bunny ever!



And finally...
the much awaited American Doll Store!!!

I love this picture!!
You can feel the excitement!

On this Saturday there were a few activities around the store for the girls to do.

Amy was wrinkling a pretzel bag and it sounded like a crackling fire. When the lady rippled a poster board it sounded like a thunder storm.

Then they did a doll scavenger hunt and made a little tree house book. Fun stuff!

Katelyn was pretty bored but she found her look alike doll!

And she bought herself a mini guitar. Too cute to pass up!



So sad to say goodbye!

Then we headed over to the mall and went to the Disney Store and the Lego store

Amy found a huge moose. She has fallen for moose since her book report for school.

We were close to the Denver temple so we had to visit.

Then we headed back to the hotel for a nice swim with our dolls- I mean dinner and movie.




Denver is a nice city. Nice people, clean and TONS of shopping (where east coast meets west coast). We had a great girl's weekend!

Utah- This is the Place!

Sorry for those of you that do not currently reside in Utah....hopefully you have a warm spot for Utah in your hearts.

We love UTAH!!! This is THE PLACE!!!




In 4th grade the kids learn their Utah history. This year Amy's fourth grade classes put on a little Utah Program and it was fantastic! Made up of all songs that gave the history of Utah. Unfortunetly, we had some audio issues, but here is the link to the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0NOgid8lqU

I always get teary when I hear/sing the "National Anthem" and "Spirit of God" and now I can add "Utah- This Is The Place" to my teary list. This song touches my heart.

State Song Since 2003

Utah! People working together
Utah! What a great place to be.
Blessed from Heaven above.
It's the land that we love.
This is the place!

Utah! With its mountains and valleys.
Utah! With its canyons and streams.
You can go anywhere.
But there's none that compare.
This is the place!

It was Brigham Young who led the pioneers across the plains.
They suffered with the trials they had to face.
With faith they kept on going till they reached the Great Salt Lake
Here they heard the words..."THIS IS THE PLACE!"

Utah! With its focus on family,
Utah! Helps each child to succeed.
People care how they live.
Each has so much to give.
This is the place!

Utah! Getting bigger and better.
Utah! Always leading the way.
New technology's here...
Growing faster each year.
This is the place!

There is beauty in the snow-capped mountains, in the lakes and streams.
There are valleys filled with farms and orchards too.
The spirit of its people shows in everything they do.
Utah is the place where dreams come true.

Utah! With its pioneer spirit.
Utah! What a great legacy!
Blessed from Heaven above.
It's the land that we love.
This is the place

Utah! Utah! Utah!
THIS IS THE PLACE!



Fellow pioneer friends!



Amy and Riley BFF forever!





Cutest audience ever!