Our Walk To The Temple!

I have to admit, when our Young Women's President told us that she wanted to walk to the temple, I thought she had completely lost her mind! I mean, really. That is over 20 miles. Are these girls going to make it? I wanted to remain positive for my daughter, but I still had my concerns. At 5:30 in the morning, we started at our chapel, and headed out to walk to the temple. It was hard for some of the girls, but they all did it. I was totally impressed that the girls did this! This was not an easy task for them. We also had to choose someone who inspired us to go to the temple to walk for. I walked for my Aunt Dot. Obviously the example of my Aunt and Uncle have not only inspired me to join the church, but also inspired me to go to the temple. Aubrey had nobody good to walk for, so she just walked for her mom and dad! (This is exactly what she said. Like we have never encouraged her to go to the temple!) It was a perfect Vegas day to walk to the temple. I am so glad we did it. It definitely drove home the point to stay on the path and work hard to get to the temple. Here are the last moments of the walk! Aubrey and her friend Alina led the way the whole time! I was so impressed with these girls. It was hard for them, but they pushed it and never gave up. No, not once did they get in the relief car. In fact everyone was blaming me for walking too fast, but I was trying to keep up with these girls!

 Aubrey and her friend had a burst of energy at the end and ran up to the temple!

This is staged! It is them crawling to the temple!

 Along the way our Stake President came along to cheer us on. We are so blessed to have awesome Stake leaders! After the girls were done, he took some time to speak to the girls.

This is one of our Young Women. She is waiting for a heart transplant. Some of the girls and leaders in our ward pushed her the whole way in her wheelchair. Here she is finishing and getting a high five from the bishop!

I am very proud of Aubrey. She did a good job. What I am most proud of is that after this was over we quickly got home and got changed to go and attend the General Young Women's Broadcast. I know she wasn't feeling up to it, but she went! It was the perfect way to end the day. In fact, Sister Dalton spoke about a ward that did the same thing in Utah. She really explained it. After she spoke, Aubrey turned to me and said, "Mom I felt the spirit so strong! I know why I did this walk, now I get it!" I am so glad we went to that broadcast. It was awesome. You can see the talk I am talking about here. http://lds.org/general-conference/watch/2011/04?lang=eng&vid=860022375001&cid=4 We did basically the same exact thing. It will really explain it.



Track Season Begins.

Yesterday we went to see Austin run in a track meet.  This was our first time getting to see him run.  Of course, in true Vegas springtime weather, it was cold and windy.  Austin ran the 800 and the mile.  He really does not like running the mile.  He would rather run the 2 mile.  I think he did great.  I don't have the official times yet, but he thinks he improved.  Unfortunately they didn't win the meet.  They came in 2nd.  We can't wait to see him run again.

Pinewood Derby!

Yes, it is that time again!!!!  Pinewood Derby!  Ian and Don worked hard on their, I mean Ian's car!  It came out very good.  Ian's car didn't place, but he did really good in his own individual heats.  Ian had a great time.  He was very proud of his car.

Dad was Ian's pit crew.  He even got a special patch for that!

Ian's car is the one closest to him.

One good thing about Pinewood Derby is that everyone walks away with something.  Ian got a medal for the night!  It's all good!



A Twist On A Old Joke!

I found this idea on a web site, and I have been just hanging on to it.  Then Ian had family home evening.  He wanted to pass off a goal for his Faith In God Award.  So he taught a lesson on service and then we did a family service project.......well, kind of.  We went and "Ding Dong Ditched" some houses.  Look at the picture.  Get it?

LDS Formal

It was time for the LDS Formal again.  I do love this event.  It was done so well last year and I am excited for Austin to have the opportunity to attend this dance this year!  I am so grateful that our stake (a geographic area made up of many wards, chapels) always takes part in this dance.  We had planned on taking pictures outside, but the weather kind of ruined our plans.  It still worked out good!  We went to our club house and took pictures inside.  Why didn't we think of this before?  The pictures came out great.  Don't the kids look wonderful?  I really hope they are having a good time!

These boys have been friends since elementary school.  It is so neat to see them all together again!  I just love John and Dallin!

Austin and his date Natalie.



Spring Flag Football Begins!

For most of the week the weather was wonderful and warm.  Then the weekend came.  The weather turned cold and miserable!  Yes, just in time for flag football to start.  The wind was crazy today.  Well, the game must go on.  So there we were, freezing watching Ian's flag football game.  Ian has a new position this season.  He has been playing center.  After a lot of practise he got it down!  He is doing really good at this position.  Unfortunately, they lost today.  The good new is that Ian did really good.  He made some great plays and was were he was suppose to be!  I think he did great!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I do love St. Patrick's Day.  It really turns my heart to my family.  It makes me think of my relatives and my heritage.  It makes me happy that my children love to hear about their relatives and their culture on this day.  I think my grandfather would be proud that his great grandchildren are proud of their Irish heritage.  St. Patrick's Day was just like a day back east.  It was overcast, a little chilly, and you could feel spring in the air just ready to come out!  It made me think of home and my family back east.  I did cook our traditional Irish dinner.  Unfortunately, we didn't eat together as a family.  We had flag football from 4:30-6:00, dance at 6:00 to 7:00, Austin at track until 7:00, and Don had a church meeting at 6:30.  It was one of those days when I am grateful I demanded family dinners when they were all younger!  I did get a picture of my two leprechauns.  My third leprechaun was running a track meet.

Field Trip!!!!

Remember last year when we took a field trip to the sewer plant?  Oh yeah, that stinky place!  Well this year, Ian's class went to the Three Square food bank.  In his school they have a community inside a community.  Every classroom has a classroom business.  They earn school money, have a court system, and a going to town day where they can spend their school money and have their own business.  Well, Ian's classroom business is Hoops for the Hungry.  They have food drives, and do a lot of fun things for this food bank.  This year they went and toured the food bank and learned some more things about the organization they support.  I have to say this was the most moving field trip I have ever gone on.  It was so humbling to learn about all of the programs in place to feed the children of Las Vegas who need food.  I really think the children learned a lot.  It was good to also see what happens to the food that they get during the food drives.  I am just amazed at how organized this food bank is.  It was an amazing day!

One of the first things the kids did was help to make backpacks of food for children in our city.  Some children in Las Vegas get free breakfast and lunch at school, but they also need dinner.  These backpacks go to those children who need food at home for dinner.  There is also another program where they make cooked meals for children.  This part really got to me.  Just watching these kids work with the volunteers to put these bags together was very touching!

All over the food bank there were these quotes on the walls. 

Ian and some of his friends trying to look tough!!!!

After the field trip the kids went to the park to play.  It was a great day!  If anyone wants to volunteer at the food bank you have to be 10 years old (with a parent) or older.  They also have a lot of Eagle Projects!