Front and center

Ila loves to be on stage or the center of attention.  She has spent many hours supporting her brothers in their activities so now it was finally her turn to be on stage.

She has been in a acting, dancing, singing class and this weekend they had a recital.  

 I think these pictures show how much this girl loved being in the recital.

Scoutmaster

Adam has been the scout master for almost a year and he has yet to have had a campout with his boys.  Everytime they had a campout my boys had conflicts and couldn't go.  This weekend Avram decided to join Adam on a campout even though he didn't need any camping nights.  I think Adam was really happy to have one of his sons along.  The picture is them in the back of the truck.  They decided they didn't need to pitch a tent.

Big week for Briggs

This week was a big week for Briggs.  1st, Briggs had a birthday!  He is an official teenager, 13.  Briggs is a good boy.  He has a really good heart and he wants to do what is right.  Briggs is a very good balance of Adam and I.  Briggs is the most amazing sibling for Avram.  I know without a doubt that part of Briggs mission on earth was to help his brother.  

Adam and Avram were gone on a scout camp on his birthday so I took him to the new avengers movie.  Briggs loves the avengers so we had a lot of fun.  

 This week Briggs had AMT (Advance musical theater) tryouts.  Each year he has to tryout for the class.  The director is very strict and has high expectation for these kids.  Briggs has been taking some private voice lessons for the past month to prepare a song for the tryouts.  He sang "There are Giants in the Sky" from the show Into The Woods.
He also had to do a one minute monolog.  He had to turn in a resume, head shot and the music he was singing for the tryout.
We found out tonight that Briggs made the AMT class again!  He is so excited.

This past year Briggs had to learn how to tap dance for AMT.  A couple of the numbers they performed were tap dances.  When they start teaching the kids the dances they don't start with the basics of tap, they jump right into the choreographing.  Briggs really struggled to learn the dances so I singed him up for a separate tap dancing class.  He has been working for several month in this class and they ended up having a dance recital this past weekend.  Briggs is really good at dancing.  (He doesn't get that from me.).
I actually signed Ila up for the class also since I was going there to take Briggs.  Ila had a lot of fun.  She is the little one in the picture below.

 Ila is right in the middle of this line, she has a bun in her hair.

The seasons are beautiful...especially spring

Briggs and Zac took advantage of some beautiful weather and went riding up at the B on the mountain.

The Beauty of Spring in Utah

 I love when I can break away and spend some time in my yard.

My Bishop told me today that he plans his route home so that he can pass by our house and see the tulips.  

I hope people smile when they drive by because spring is finally here.

Night at the Oscars

Because it makes me tired just thinking of this I will shorten this the best I can.  

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday Briggs AMT (Advance musical theater) had a show called Night at the Oscars.  It is a fun show to celebrate the kids talent and to say farewell to the 9th graders moving into High School next year.  

 It was a dinner theater and I kind of got myself into the dinner part of the show.  We had Walmart hoagie sandwiches, chips, brownie, carrots and dip with water for the dinner.  We tried to simplify the meal as much as possible but it was still a lot of work especially since it was basically me and one other mom that did all the work.  (I also fed the whole cast dinner last week while they had their tech rehearsals).

 I ordered 66 feet of sandwiches from Walmart to do all this food.  We fed approximately 310 people this week and an additional 40 for the tech rehearsal.

The shows were fantastic!  They performed songs like Poco Loco from Coco, vanilla ice, Im still standing, a couple of disney songs, stone cold,  etc.  There were so many emotions as the kids celebrated the time they had had together and saying their good byes.  

 I wish I could post a couple of the videos of the songs they performed.

A couple of updates

Jared Slocum was ordained a priest so we went down to be part of the occasion 

 My day is always better when I stumble on a note like this:

 And I am thankful that I still have a child that brings home school projects like this caterpillar and butterfly.

Im thankful for Muddy Shoes

 

These are the shoes I wear most of the time.  They are not shoes that I wear in the mud.  I had just gotten the kids out the door for carpool and I was figuring out what errands I needed to run.  My neighbor was getting laser eye surgery that day and even though it is not a surgery that would keep her down she did need to relax the rest of the day.
I got spunky and decided I would take dinner into them that evening.  I looked up some recipes to make sure I didn't need anything at the store.  The morning news was on and the weather man said there was going to be a lot of wind in the afternoon.  I decided I would go out front and move a couple of things off the porch so they didn't blow away.  While I was cleaning up the porch I realized I hadn't watered my flower pots for a couple of days so I better do that while I was thinking about it.  Well if I am watering the flowers on the front porch I better water the flowers on the deck or else I would forget.  So I walked through the house and out onto the deck.  It had only been a few seconds from the front porch to the back deck but I heard a familiar noise.  My sprinklers were turning on.  The city irrigation water had been turned on.  Actually I had sprinkler heads shooting off and water spickets on full blast.  Unfortunately, because I was off my feet last fall the yard clean up wasn't done the same way I typically do it.  I ran back to the main water valve to shut off the water but one of the boys must have knocked off the pipe that we use to turn the water on and off.  I had water/ mud filling up everything.  I tried to find the main valve but between the mud, water and the inability to get on my hands and knees to reach down and dig out the whole I was just getting wet and muddy.  I started running around the yard shutting down the water as fast as I could.
We had one of our window wells filling up quickly so I didn't waste time diving into the sprinkler valve box with the bugs that had hibernated there for the winter.  I got everything shut off and went around the house to check the damage.  Within such a short time frame my craft room in the basement was a little wet.  Can you imagine what would have happened if it had been minutes or hours before I found the water on.   I thanked the Lord that I had been distracted this morning and I hadn't left to run errands when I was planning to.
Actually, I thought the Lord blessed me today because I was trying and planning to "minister"  to others.

April Showers, Not April Snow

I have been so excited to see my tulips bloom.  I planted over 300 tulips last fall.  It takes a lot of work to keep the deer away from the tulips here.  I use a spray that is suppose to last 4+ months.  In my yard I have to spray every few days to keep the deer away.  But it is worth it to see these beautiful flowers blooming.  

 The boys and I spread mulch last week.  I love the beautiful fresh look.

 Each day a few more tulips open up.  The color is starting to come.

 And then I woke up snow this morning.  Boo.

By this afternoon my yard was completely covered. Sigh.

 This evening the snow was melted and the flowers could be seen again.

Sadly, it is going to freeze tonight so I don't know if the tulips will last much longer.

Gotta love this Utah weather.  Don't like it, wait 5 mins.

Party Prep

This past weekend was very important to us.  Ila was baptized!  It is events like this that remind me (my husband and kids) that I still have a lot of my mom in me.
I had two days, after our Vegas trip, to get ready for Ilas baptism.  The boys were big helpers preparing for the party.  Avram complained the entire time but after everything was over I asked him if it was worth all the work to prepare for the party.  He admitted that it was all worth it.
We had big sub sandwiches, veggies, fruit, chips and then an Italian soda bar.

 And of course we had a dessert table.

 I was thankful to have Justin and Crystal both there to support Ila.

 At least three times that weekend Ila said, "I can't believe my cousins came to watch me get baptized!"  It was so cute how thankful she felt that so many people loved and cared about her enough to be there for her.  Adams sister Nicholle also brought her family so we had a little representation from both sides of the family.

 Ila was baptized with her friend in the ward that is just 5 days younger than her.  Jane and Ila have always been good friends so it was fun to have them share this special day.

Sadly I didn't get pictures of those that were in the circle to confirm Ila.  It was hard to gather everyone after the baptism because we had a lot of ward members there which we invited to be in the circle with Adam.  Between the ward members that attended and Janes large family there wasn't room in the class room we were in to take pictures and it was raining outside.

The only family Ila had in the circle was Adam (Dad) and Uncles Chad (Nicholle's husband) , Jake (Crystals Husband)  and Justin.  We had some very good friends and neighbors surrounding Ila so there were many hugs to give once she was done.    

 Both Janes mom and I took a few minutes to spot light the girls.  For several days I tried to figure out what I would say about Ila.  Joanna suggested bringing a few objects in a bag that would help describe the girls.  I loved her idea but when it was time to fill my bag I couldn't think of what I would put in it.  I asked David Adams and Briggs for some ideas.  They had ideas but they were not really on the same page when it came to how I wanted to spot light her.
We got to the church early because I got a call from the new Stake Primary President.  This was the first stake baptism that I haven't been over so the new president called panicking over a few problems.  Because this was the first baptism I haven't been over I sat in the pews and watched a great video about baptism (LOL, I made the video but I have never watched it on the big screen in the chapel because I have always been on the stand and the screen was behind me).  Honestly, I have watched the video dozens of times and listened to it even more but seeing it on the big screen in the chapel (and not stressing over how everything was going, how people were responding to the video and what needed to be done next) without the regular responsibilities of the baptism, the video touched me.  This emotional start to the baptism meant trouble...
I don't know if it was because Ila was the last child or the only girl but Adam was very excited to baptize Ila.  Ila was so excited to get baptized.  She has watched a lot of baptisms the past few years because there were many times she needed to come with me to the stake baptisms.  It was finally her turn.
When it was time for me to spot light Ila I struggled to compose myself as the deep love I have for her rushed over me.  I want to share a few of the things that I felt and said that day:
Ila is our rainbow baby.  I explained what a rainbow baby was (a baby that was born after the loss of another child).  Ila came into our family at a time when we had lost hope.  We had struggled so much for so many years between the loss of our baby Gabe (Adam starting a new business because he the economy had tanked and he was laid off, the short sell of our home in Vegas, diagnoses of autism for Avram, several car accidents, passing of 3 grandparents, and a cousin, watching the suffering and pain that came when Gavin passed away, etc).  I looked at Adam as I spoke and they tears ran down his cheeks as the pain we had buried was surfaced.  I went on to share the miracle Ila was and the evidence she showed us that God was and is aware of us.  He sent us this beautiful little girl to bring back the hope and joy that our home lacked.  I brought 3 items in my bag to spot light Ila.  First, I brought one of Ilas stuffed animals because she loves animals, babies and caring for them and for everyone.  Second, I brought a microphone because Ila loves to sing and dance and Third I brought a little sticky note that I had found in the house earlier that day when I was cleaning up the house.  The sticky note said, "I love you! love Ila". Ila loves writing notes to us to tell us how much she loves us.

Im not sure anyone really understood what I was saying because it was so difficult to talk through the tears.
Adam gave Ila a beautiful blessing after he blessed her to receive the Holy Ghost.  He told her that she must always stay focused on the Lord.