Another Graduate from Braces

Ashley got her braces off on April 15th. We were shocked how quickly her orthodontics experience was. She got her braces on Jan. 20th, 2020, then COVID hit a couple of months later and she had to wear a mask in public for the following year and few months. By the time she could remove her mask, the braces were off. It is a good thing that she had them on shorter, because she complained a lot more than Alyssa ever did about the discomfort.

Before

After

 Her teeth were really sore, so she was not pleased about me asking here to smile so big for the camera.

Catch up - Spring Break in St. George

I am way behind on updating our blog, so I am going to attempt catch up over the next few days. I'll start with Spring Break. We went down to St. George. The idea was to get away and soak in sum sun while Alyssa got a lot of time on the tennis court and the other kids spent a lot of time in the pool. We rented a condo in Las Palmas resort. We had access to multiple pools and hot tubs, as well as playgrounds, sports courts, and games. We only ended up using the pools and hot tubs at the resort. 

We chose to play tennis at a nearby park because the courts were much better quality. Alyssa especially loved the the tennis courts had lights so that we could play night tennis. Shortly after we got back from our trip, our closest tennis courts finally made the tennis lights available to the public, so she has played quite a bit of night tennis since spring break.

On one of mornings we were there, we headed to Zion National Park. We failed to secure bus tickets, so we went up to the Kolob Canyon area of the park instead. We went on the coolest day of the week, which we discovered was a mistake once we were there. Kolob Canyon is higher elevation and quite a bit colder than St. George...and we left all of our sweatshirts back at our condo. So it was breezy and cool(like high 50's to low 60's, and we found ourselves seeking sunshine and moving as much as possible to keep warm.

We drove up the canyon as far as we could go and then got out and did a hike. the view at the top was spectacular. We also had a picnic lunch before heading back to our condo. It wasn't as long of a National Park visit as usual, but a nice getaway. And the kids were not disappointed to get back earlier than planned and have more time in the pools.

The next morning we split up. I took the 3 younger kids to Thunder Junction all abilities playground and Danny played a very hot round of tennis with Alyssa. I guess I forgot to take pictures this time, but they had a lot of fun and played for a few hours. They also got to ride the train twice.

The last full day there, we went up to pioneer park and the gardens. It was hot but we still had a lot of fun. The kids especially loved climbing on the rocks at pioneer park. 

And they even braved the super thin slot canyon. Danny didn't even attempt it and I chickened out after about 10 ft in.

We also stopped at the Brigham Young winter home. We couldn't go inside, but we walked around the grounds and peered through the windows. We were going to visit the temple grounds too, but forgot that it would be under construction right now.

That evening we hiked to the rock quarry where they got the stones for the temple. It was the perfect time of day for the hike because most of the hike was in the shade, due to the setting sun.

We had a lot of fun and the kids keep asking when we can go back and stay there again. 

Ashley's Service Project

For school this year, Ashley has been studying the life of Mother Teresa. She has been working on a project all year centered around Mother Teresa and her life filled with service. As part of the project, she was required to organize and complete a 10 hour service project. She knew she wanted to do something like Mother Teresa did - helping the poor, sick, and needy. She would have done a food drive, but the state of Utah did a food drive with in a week of her needing to do her project, so she decided to do a clothing drive instead. She asked for donations from our neighbors and then we spent the day collecting, organizing and then dropping the clothes off at a local homeless shelter. Here are some of the pictures from the day.

Most of the clothing collected. We went out again after a lunch break and brought back another 10-15 bags this size.

All of the clothes loaded into the truck.

The homeless shelter.

Happy to be done with a long day of service and to have made a difference in the lives of others.

 

Ashley's Magnet Ball Cube

Ashley loves to play with these magnet balls that she got for Christmas. She worked a long time on building this cube. Believe me, it is harder than it looks. The pull of the magnets tweaks the shape a bit when you add new balls into the mix. 

 

Alyssa's Painting

Alyssa had to do a project related to the ancient Mayan Civilization for her honors World Civilizations class. She was really struggling to come up with an idea of what to do. So I suggested she paint a picture of their pyramids. We found a picture to model her painting off of and she also watched a you tube video (that was mostly in Spanish) showing a step by step guide of how to paint the pyramid. She was really pleased with how it turned out. It only took her a couple of hours from beginning to end.

 

Dr. Seuss Week

The boys got to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday by dressing according to some of his books for a whole week. The first day was "Cat in the Hat" and they got to wear crazy hats to school. I didn't get a picture that day, but Tyler wore a fireman hat and Camden wore a Viking hat with horns coming out of the sides. The second day was "If I Ran the Zoo" and they got to bring a small stuffed animal. I didn't get a picture of their animals this day either, but they both brought little dogs. The 3rd day was "Wacky Wednesday" and they got to dress in their craziest outfit ever worn. Here they are on the way to the bus stop(they ended up switching one shoe after I took this picture).

The fourth day was "Fox in Socks" and they got to wear silly socks.

And the fifth day was...I guess I don't remember the book, but it was a pajama day. They got to wear their pj's and slippers. Tyler woke up with a slight fever that morning and not feeling well, so he had to stay home, which was unfortunate. But we sent his picture in for his teacher and class to see.

They had a fun week celebrating Dr. Seuss.

Sledding

In February, we finally got enough snow to go sledding. The kids had been begging to go all winter. So we spent a couple of afternoons on the sledding hills. Ashley didn't go with us either day, because she was over with Lula and her puppies on the first afternoon, and she was with her grandparents on the second afternoon.

This hill was fun, but the snow was a little too melted and icy to make it more fun than scary.

They loved making trains and going down together or side by side. 

We never did get another good snow storm after that, so it was our one and only good sledding outing of the winter.
 

Valentines Day Dinner

The kids treated Danny and I to a Valentine's dinner. It was almost called off at the last minute because 2 of the kids were not willing to help clean up before getting started, but they pulled it together and put together a nice dinner for us. Here is their fancy place setting.

Our menu consisted mostly of a waffle bar, with a few breakfast themed sides. The best part was that they planned it all out and made everything on their own.

These little cuties were our waiters and entertainment.