Last Pinewood Derby!

Last night, Don went to the last pinewood derby we ever have to go to.  Ian's last one.  This weekend Ian was really sick, so he had more than enough time to work on his car.  It was a Thunderbird car.  Pretty cool.  Yes, Ian does paint his car.  Don and I help with the car, but Ian does most of it.

Don said that the race went good.  They sat there and waited to be called up to race.  Then the guy running the race said that this was the last race.  Uh, Ian hadn't raced at all the whole night.  Dad to the rescue.  He told the Cub Scout leaders what had happened and they apologize for forgetting him.  Then they got let Ian pick the people he wanted to race and raced his car four times.  (It is all done by time and a computer, so it works out!) It was a good thing!  Ian's car had the fasted time of the night during one of his races.  Unfortunately it wasn't enough to take the leader.  He won second place.  Ian was so happy with the results!  (Don was too!) It was a great way to end our pinewood derby years!

8th Grade Award Night

Yesterday was one of those days when we couldn't get to everything we wanted to get to.  It broke our hearts.  Aubrey had her 8th grade award night and Ian had his Pinewood Derby.  So I got to go to the awards night.  Aubrey was not excited to go.  She missed dance last Tuesday and didn't want to miss again.  So I told her that she should go and I would get her to tap at 8:00 pm.  Thank heavens her award was given out first.  She received the President's Award For Educational Excellence.  She had to maintain a 3.5 or above GPA and get two teachers to nominate her.  We were very excited for her.  She was also nominated for the Principals Choice Award.  She had to go and be interviewed by the principal.  After talking about all of her service hours, church activities, and dance, the principal asked her what sports she does.  Aubrey looked at him and said, "I just told you I dance!"  Uh, we knew after that we were not getting that award!  She did great.  One more step closer to being out of middle school!

Eclipse

Yesterday there was a solar eclipse!  Yes, there were no werewolves or vampires at this one!  We were so excited because we live in the west so we really got a good view of it!  Well, as Austin said, we only saw it at 98%.  Yep, we were missing 2% of the eclipse.  I think that is pretty good!  So after church we kept our eyes open.  Once we saw the sky begin to change we ran outside!  We saw the eclipse the old school way!

As we looked around our front yard we noticed all of these cool shadows.  The eclipse had caused all of these shadows;.  The trees kind of made a filter, and this is what resulted.  It was so neat.  You could watch the eclipse on the side of the house and all over the yard.

Well, it will be another ten years before another one is visible from the mainland U.S.  Who knows where it will be visible.  I am glad we took advantage of seeing this one.

Last Concert!

The other night we had Aubrey's last concert.  She will not be taking orchestra next year in high school.  She is done and wants to focus on piano.  It is hard for us to see her give this up, but we understand.  She had two concerts to go to, one to play fiddle club and the other to play in the orchestra. On the day we had to go to see her play fiddle club, we showed up at the school to learn that the concert had been cancelled.  The air conditioning had gone out.  Now in Vegas, this is a serious thing!!!  You need air.  Especially when you are all crowded in a gym and it is over 90 degrees outside.  So the next day they did both concerts.  It was a long day for the kids.  They were there until 9:00 pm. that day.  It was great to see her play!  They had just gone to Disneyland to play in a festival and their orchestra and fiddle club won first place!  They were excited about that.  Aubrey has really enjoyed being in the orchestra.  She has made a bunch of good friends.  Her friend Summer is sitting next to her.  It is time for her to move on. There are videos of her playing.  They are not good at all, but what can I do.  They keep going out of focus.  I think the camera gets confused on what to focus on.  Oh well.

Reading Week

Last week was Nevada Reading Week.  I had a doctors appointment that Don wanted to go to with me, so we also made plans to read to Ian's class that same day!  Ian's school does a ton of activities during this week.  It is so fun.  Ian's class is in a portable.  Don and I went out there to read.  First Don gave a little talk about what he does as an assistant principal.  He talks about middle school and what they can expect!  It is always interesting to hear the kid's questions for him.  Then he always reads a Dr. Seuss book.  He loves to do this.  We love Ian's teacher.  She is amazing, and has taught these kids so much!  It was a fun day.  Oh, it was also crazy hair day.  That explains the kid's hair.

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day.  I love this day.  I love going to church and hearing the talks.  I love when the Primary Children sing to their mothers.  Yeah, I think that Primary Chorister is the cutest guy!!!  I love when I get my chocolate CD of church songs from the ward.  I love being a mother.  It is such a huge blessing in my life.  When I was growing up girls were always talking about going to college and getting a big jobs.  I always played along, but deep down, I just wanted to be a mother.  It wasn't very popular to say that in the 80's!  So, when the time came to have children, I was ready!!!  We had our challenges getting them here, but it was worth it.  I have loved and cherished this job as a mother.  It is the best career for me!  Sure, it is changing now.  I have kids leaving home.  I am so grateful that I was able to be home during those early years!  I am so grateful for the sacrifices my husband made so that I could stay at home.  A friend's mother once told me, "It is the hardest job you will ever love."  So true. 

When I came home from church, I received my wonderful gifts from my family.

Aubrey always wants me to smell good, so she got me some wonderful lotion.  I love that gift.  Living here in the desert, lotion is very important!!!

Then the boys gave me their gifts.  I knew something was up.  O.k., maybe it is because Don left a list of things he had to get for Mother's Day on his desk in his office at school.  I went in his office one day while I was subbing at his school and saw the list.  Then we came home one night and Ian's glasses had red paint on them, his shirt was ruined, and his shorts had paint on them.  The most important thing about this gift is that the boys made it.  They had so much fun together.  Ian loved it.  They were very proud of their work.

They made me modern art!  Yes, the filled water balloons with paint and threw them at the canvas.  Then Austin painted a heart in his.  Yes, I did hang these in my bathroom where I can see them every morning while I get ready for my day!

Then Don got me some new running shoes.  I needed some new ones.  He always buys me the perfect shoe with the best fit.  I don't know how he does it!

I was in desperate need of new shoes.  Check out my old ones. They are worn out!

Don always asks me what I want for dinner, but lets be honest.  I don't care about the meal, I care about dessert!!!!  This is my favorite cake.  I really don't like cake, but I love this!!!!  Red Velvet Bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  So good!!!!

Then I ended my wonderful day with a call from Zachery.  I love Skype!  What a huge blessing this is.  I love seeing him and talking to him. (Plus, it is free!)  He looks great!  It was an awesome day and this was a great way to end it.

Aubrey's Poems

The other day Aubrey had to do a school project.  I really don't worry about her doing her projects.  She is pretty good at getting things done and asking us for help when she needs it.  It is nice to see how independent she is.  Anyway, the next day I started to read the poems she wrote.  They are simple poems, but I felt they gave me an insight to what she feels and thinks.  I was touched by them.  I wanted to remember them so I decided to blog them.

It's My Escape

It's a lifestyle

something I love

even though your heart pounds,

your muscles ache,

and your energy feels like it's disappeared into thin air

It's my escape.

You point your feet

straighten your legs

as the teacher barks corrections

you can't help but feel like your flying

weightless

as your turn, leap, glide

It's my escape.

It's a lifestyle

something I love

It's dance.

I Come From

I come from a long line of

smiles and laughs

a line of embarrassing yet funny stories repeated.

I come from a long line of athletes

whether graceful, strong, or fast

we make our muscles work.

I come from a long line of

people who strongly believe in their faith

a line of people that won't waiver

from what they think is right

people who won't step off that line

Is a long line where I come from.

Rugby!

Austin had his last game of the regular season yesterday.  They played thier sevens team.  Their sevens team is amazing.  They won all of the games they played.  It was great to watch Austin.  The best part of the day is when Austin got his first try.  I happen to get a picture of it.  It is the third picture.  Austin isn't done yet.  There are a couple of tournaments the coaches are thinking of having this team play.  We really hope Austin gets that opportunity.  It would be great! 

Should I Be Worried????

Austin came home from school  the other day and showed me what he was doing in psychology.  They had to draw pictures of their subconscious.  So here it is, Austin's subconscious.  He said that some of the kids in the class take this every seriously.  I honestly think that some of these kids view it as free therapy.  When Zach took this class it was learning all about psychology, but this year Austin is on his 4th long term sub, so things are different.  They learn about psychology, but it is different.  Kids got up and showed their picture of a rose with thorns and told about how their life is like the thorns.  But my son got up and told about how Pac-Man and Cookie Monster are having a eating contest, the sun is eating the clouds, there is a unicorn man, and pirate flowers.  Seriously, should I be worried???  I had to laugh.  Don tried to make sense of this, but gave up.  It's Austin, that's all I can say!