Jog-A-Thon

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to sub in 2nd grade class.  The teacher was Ian's former second grade teacher.  I just love her.  Well, that same week was the jog-a-thon.  That teacher told her students that I run marathons and I would be able to give them some good advice about running.  The kids run laps to win awards for their class and then they do it to earn money for charity.  So, I made sure I had my running clothes with me.  I am a big believer in the way you teach children, is by example.  If you want to teach them about getting in shape, you have to set the example.  It was a horrible hot day and these little second graders had to run in the heat of the day.  (That is when they had P.E.)  So I  ran with them  It was so funny to see them get so mad when I passed them, but they kept on going!  I ended up running 28 laps.  A teacher and me had tied for the most laps by an adult!  Today when I subbed they announced the awards!  That second grade class came in first for the 2nd grade class with the most laps!!!  Then I got an honorable mention!  Then the mom who was over it showed up at my class and gave me a trophy for tieing for the most laps!!!  I kept telling her she didn't have to give me it, but she insisted!  We all had a good laugh about it.  The kids in the class were so excited about it!!!  My kids laughed.  Aubrey said we had to take a picture!  Next year....well, who will I sub for next year?  I am going to break my record!!!!

"....When You Are In The Service Of Your Fellow Beings......."

At the being of the New Year, Don felt that our family needed to do more service.  Not just service to our neighbors or friends, but service in our community.  He made a goal that a couple of times a year we would go and do a service project as a family.  This is where the problem comes in.  We would love to serve the homeless and other community organizations, but Ian is too young.  He doesn't make the age cut off.  Then last year, Ian's class took a field trip to Three Square.  They had worked all year for this organization.  You can see Three Square and read about the field trip here.  While I was there I learned that Three Square will let 10 year olds come and volunteer.  It took Don three months, but we finally got an opportunity to do some service there.  Here is a little overview of Three Square:

Three Square is Southern Nevada’s only food bank providing food assistance to the residents of Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda and Clark Counties.The food bank serves as a central collection and distribution center for donated, rescued and solicited food and grocery product. We provide bakery, produce, dairy, non-perishable products and ready-to-eat meals to non-profit and faith based organizations who serve those in need in our community. We also facilitate childhood and senior nutrition programs as well as supplemental nutrition assistance outreach and advocacy efforts. We are a place for members of the community to meet, serve and collaborate as part of the food solution.A national model project, Three Square is a community collaborative partnership with the gaming industry, businesses, non-profit agencies, food distributors, higher education institutions, the CCSD, governmental entities, the media and thousands of volunteers to efficiently and effectively serve food and hope to the hungry.Three Square currently provides more than 24 million pounds of food and grocery product – the equivalent of nearly 18 million meals – per year to more than 650 Program Partners including non-profit and faith-based organizations, schools and feeding sites throughout Southern Nevada. Three Square is a member of the Feeding America network of food banks.

They have many different programs that you can volunteer with.  We were able to put together backpacks.  It was easy and a ton of fun!  Especially with Austin trying to stick barrel of monkeys on our backs without us knowing!  That is another story.  This is some information about that program:

The "BackPack for Kids" Program is one of several under our umbrella of Childhood Nutrition programs. Nearly 55% of children (or more than 170,000 stu-dents) in the Clark County School District are participating in the "free and reduced price meals" program - enough to fill the Thomas and Mack Center eight times. That statistic is staggering enough, but when the school bell rings at the end of the day on Friday, many of those children go hungry until school resumes on Monday morning.

Three Square has joined forces with numerous community partners to provide bags of nutritious, single serving and ready-to-eat food items each Friday to children who might otherwise go without during weekends and long breaks from school.

Each bag contains 11 different items including kid-friendly, ready to eat, pop-top meals, such as shelf-stable chocolate milk, fruit cups, granola bars, crackers, sunflower seeds and 100% juice pouches.

It was great to do this service project.  The kids really enjoyed it.  It was a perfect one for the whole family.  Then we went to the 7-11 that has the wall of Slurpees!!!  Oh, that made Austin's day. We are going to continue to do more service with this organization.  It is hard to believe there are so many starving children in Nevada!  It is heartbreaking!  It is good to do our part, even if it is just giving a little bit of help! 

This is a bad picture of us.  I got it off of the Three Square facebook page.  Big thanks to Ian's teacher last year!  She inspired us!

A Day Of Rugby!

Today Austin had a rugby game.  It was a crazy day with dance, football, and rugby that Don and I had to split up. I headed to rugby.  It really made me happy when Austin told me that he was so excited that I was coming to watch him play.  Not too many parents go.  It is usually us and our Bishop's family there to watch our kids.  It was a hot day.  In the 90's.  That is hot for April.  Austin played three games in a row and his team won them all.  I couldn't believe how good Austin did.  His coach turned to me and said, "I can't believe he has only been playing rugby for 4 months!"  It is amazing how much he has improved!  I was so impressed with his endurance today.  I worried the whole time about dehydration and I would quietly give him reminders to drink.  Austin would just give me a look that said, "I know!"  After the games, we got together with the other team and had a pot luck lunch.  I love the way rugby is.  After all of the tackling and playing hard core, both teams get together to eat, talk about the game, and laugh!  I think that is what makes this sport unique!  In the pictures he is number 15 when he is wearing the black shirts and 8 when wearing the green one! 

Flag Footballl Update!

We are on a roll!  The season officially ended today and we ended on a good note!  We won again.  The score was 46-20.  Unfortunately I couldn't attend the game.  I was at rugby, but Don kept me updated minute by minute through text.  He said that Ian's team did amazing!  Ian even made an extra point.  The boys were so excited. Now we are on to the play-offs.  Oh heaven help us!  Ian is so pleased with this season.  It has been great!

Flag Football Update!

I have been posting for a couple of years about Ian's flag football team.  You know, that sad little team full of the most adorable boys, that always loses!  Well no more baby!  Yeah that's right.  We won again.  The score was 36-12!  Not only did we win, but we are in second place in our division!We have to go to playoff games!  That's new for us!  We are so excited!!!! 



The best part of the game was Ian catching this interception!!!  Oh yeah!  I also think that Don and I are becoming awesome at taking action shots!  I can't believe Don got a picture of Ian making this play!  Awesome!

Happy Birthday Zach!

On the 16th of April my oldest son turned 20 years old.  I have a 20 year old!  Oh my, where did the time go?  This birthday was hard for me.  Not because he was 20 now, but because he is in Russia serving a mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I can't just pick up the phone and call him and wish him a happy birthday!  That really bugged me!  So I spent the day pondering his birth.  I remembered that day like it was yesterday.  It was spring break.  My water broke and I knew immediately there was a problem  We went to the doctors and soon I was on my way to be induced.  I remember driving to the hospital and Don and I looking at each other and thinking the same thing, "Today we are going to be parents!"  We went through some heartache to get our first child here.  We had bad news from doctors, but from Priesthood blessings that I had received, I had faith I would be a mother somehow, someway.  There we were after a year and half of going through everything, driving to the hospital to have our first baby.  Twenty eight hours later Zachery was born.  I was so excited to have this little baby!  He was a great baby, and filled our hearts with joy.  The wait was worth it.  It was just the beginning, because three other little precious babies would follow after Zach.  Each bringing joy into our lives.   I hope that Zachery had a wonderful birthday in Russia.  We love him and we are so proud of him.  

Dance Competition #2

Last Saturday was one of Aubrey's dance competition.  It was an insane day.  We had so much going on!  Don and I once again had to divide and conquer, and we did great!  The competition was fun.  The girls were amazing. I am starting to believe that their contemporary dance is cursed!  Jazz went great, tap was amazing, and then came contemporary.  They did awesome with it, much better than last competition, but they still haven't done it perfectly clean.  I was up in the dressing room helping the girls get ready after their tap number and everything was fine.  Then as I sat down to watch the contemporary dance I noticed  that something was off.  Once again they were missing a girl.  She was fine in the dressing room, where was she?  The dance went on, and to be honest, it looked fine.  It didn't look like they were missing a girl.  Later we learned that right after we walked out of the dressing room this girl on the team started vomiting!  It was bad.  So bad that later she was taken to the hospital.  (She is fine now!) The team went out in the hall and one minute before they went on the stage  they choreographed the number again.  It looked great.  The girl that stepped in and did her part and the other girl's part, was perfect!  Unfortunately, Aubrey fell and another girl tripped!  When I went to talk to Aubrey she was fine.  She was just giving it her all and all of the sudden she was on the floor.  She said to me that she wasn't to make excuses, she fell!  The other girls who perform on the Company were so nice to her.  They told her they were all slipping and sliding out on stage.  I guess the floor is really slippery!  Maybe someday the team will be able to have a performance where they are all healthy!  Lets see!

At the competition, the girls warm up where they can.  Yep, even on a balcony!

Jazz was their first dance.  Here are some of Aubrey's friends!  So cute!

Bad picture I know!  This was their tap performance!!!  It is so awesome!

Aubrey was so excited because she performed the same time as her friends.  It was fun for Aubrey to cheer on her friends who dance on different teams!

Here are the girls waiting for their awards.  There are a ton of girls at this competition.

Aubrey's dance studio dominated!  My goodness, they won a ton of awards.  Aubrey's team earned a superior for jazz, distinction for tap, and superior for contemporary.  Out of the 6 outstanding junior novice awards, they won 3.  Later that evening their tap was awarded a outstanding performance award!  It was a great night!  Aubrey was in charge of collecting their jazz awards.  We took a quick picture of her with it before she brings it to the studio! The best part of the day was that Aubrey's friend Emma came to cheer her on.  It meant a lot to have that kind of support from a friend!

Class Picture!

Ian's class picture came yesterday.  This is the only picture I order from the school.  He is in 4th grade.  In this picture he is standing right next to the teacher.  We love his teacher!  She is amazing.  I first met her when she was doing her student teaching in Aubrey's second grade class.  I thought she was going to be an awesome teacher.  I even went so far as to tell the principal that she should keep this student teacher around.  I wasn't the only parent that went and spoke to the principal!   I am sure my words had nothing to do with the fact that by the next school year she had a permanent position at the school!  I was so excited.  So when Aubrey needed a fourth grade teacher, I requested Mrs. S.  Aubrey was so excited to get her as a teacher.  She was amazing.  She is nice, fun, and a great teacher!  Aubrey loved having her as a teacher.  I have to laugh because she is from New York and has an accent.  The students would give her a hard time about how she says certain words.  One day Aubrey said to her, "You don't sound funny to me."  Mrs. S said to Aubrey, "That's because I sound like all of your relatives back East!"  When Ian was going into fourth grade there were great budget cuts going on in the district.  It looked like Mrs. S. would not be at the school any more.  My heart and Ian's heart was broken.  When I filled out the teacher request forms I put down her name anyway!  I just had to.  I didn't have the heart not to.  We were so excited when the budget was somewhat straightened out and Mrs. S stayed at the school.  Ian got her as a teacher, and we couldn't be happier!  She gets Ian.  She understands him and his funny side.  Plus she is an awesome teacher.  Not only that, but she has become a good friend too.  It's been a great year for Ian.

Easter!

Thank heavens we still have Ian around who gets so excited for Easter, he wakes us up early to get his basket and find the eggs.  He loves it.  The other kids do too and they were so excited to get their baskets left by the Easter Bunny!  It was great to see how happy they were with their baskets.  There were Skylanders, more Settlers of Catan games, make-up, jewelry, t-shirts, and of course, a ton of candy!  Austin was so happy the Easter Bunny got him his barrel of monkeys.  We also got a ton of water balloons.  They are already planning a huge water fight at the end of the school year!

Then the kids headed out back to find their eggs!!!

Aubrey rocked the Shamu slippers while hunting for eggs!

After we all looked wonderful in our Easter clothes, we headed outside to take pictures!  Austin was so excited for that!!!!  We all had to give him a huge hug!

When I saw this picture I was so excited.  Austin smiled so nicely!  We all looked good.  Then I looked closer and realized what Ian looked like!  I give up!  This is the picture! 

After these pictures we went to church to hear the wonderful testimonies of people in our ward!  It was a wonderful day.  We really enjoyed it.  Teaching my Sunday School class is amazing!  I love those kids.  Don loves his calling as the Primary (children) chorister.  The kids just adore him.  Every time I go to church I hear about how much the children love Don.  It is so cute.  He loves his calling.  I am so thankful to focus on the Savior this day, and all he did for us.  I am also thankful for the opportunity to serve him on this Easter morning!

Happy Easter!

Easter Eggs!

While Don was in St. George, Utah with Austin, Ian, Aubrey, Me went to the Albright house to do our Easter Eggs!!!  We love that.  It was so fun.  Elaine pulled out a picture of when our oldest were little and we got together to do eggs.  We have been getting together for a long time to color our eggs.  It made me miss those wonderful boys!  They are both serving missions.  Scott in Canada, and Zach in Russia.  Dang, I miss them!  The kids had so much fun.  It was a bummer that Don and Austin weren't there, but what can you do?  Plans change so fast when it comes to rugby!  The kids loved their eggs.  They did a great job.

Can you see what he wrote on his egg?  This kid is the funniest kid!  I love him!