Hashbrown's 5th Birthday

Hash turned FIVE years old!!!

This is a big deal because its his first birthday party with friends. He talked and talked about it for a month before his birthday. He switched from Legos to cars to superheros to monsters to candy. Yes, just a candy themed party. He finally settled on superheros (with a little prodding from me).

Funny, shy boy that he is, when his friends came over, the pressure was too great and he hid behind a chair and had to be coaxed out. These are the friends he plays with everyday, but the pressure of the party was a little too much for him at first. It didn't take long for him to warm up though.

The weather was beautiful and we held the entire party outside. After all the superheros arrived, we started with coloring Avenger pictures.

We also did an obstacle course and beat up the "bad guys," Parker, Camille and Rachel. The girls helped me decorate Bryce's Spiderman cake, topped with dollar store figurines.

All the superheros had a great time, especially my favorite little superhero, Hashbrown. He was smiling the whole time. 

But the best part of his birthday could quite possibly have been seeing this awesome car in the parking lot at Target. 

End of School events

Looking back at these pictures, I feel like I should re-title this post to be Sydney's end of school events. And I guess that's ok, because once you hit Jr. High, life gets busy and you're involved in so many different activities, there are more experiences to keep track of. 

Anyway, let's recap...

Sydney received an award at school for having a 4.0 for the entire year. She received the same award last year too. Here she is with her principal, Dr. Stewart. I'm so proud of her.

I'm awfully proud of her friends as well. They were all awarded as well. I'm so grateful for such a good group of girls Sydney chooses to surround herself with.

Sydney and Sterling participated in a Young Women's Pinewood Derby. It's about time the girls get to use that derby track! I can't remember exactly what was going on that evening, but I do know that Sterling had to skip a meeting and then arrived just in the nick of time. He would and does jump through all sorts of hoops for his kids. That's a dedicated, loving dad for you, right there, in living color.

And then there was the choir concert. Sydney was part of the Songbird group, which is an all girl, audition choir. Next year she will be in the Hawk-apellas, the top audition choir at the school. A couple of friends also made the group. Anyway, the final choir is always a pop concert and is so fun. The kids are also able to try-out for solo numbers between the choir numbers. The solo numbers are so entertaining and really showcases how awkward the jr. high years are. Priceless. We were so lucky to have G'ma and G'pa join us. 

This last semester, Sydney took a foods class. On the last day of school we benefited from all her learning. Sydney made us Crepes with Banana Brule. It was delicious. 

And nothing says end of the school year like Rachel's reading chart for May. Zero minutes out of 330. She read, we just didn't record it. And you know what, I don't feel bad about it at all. That's how we roll!

Just a couple of more things. Hash made a Tardis with his legos. That made me happy!

Also, I went to LDStorymakers conference. It was fantastic. I learned so much and had a great time. I met up with this wonderful lady (Amy Wilson) who was in my morning group last year at the WIFYR conference.

Jessilyn Peaslee was my security blanket and came with me. We had a great time. Jess's first book, Ella, is coming out in December. I'm so happy for her.

May was such a busy month, but a good one too. If May was this busy, what does June have in store?

Color Me Rad

This is the 3rd year in a row that we have done the Color Me Rad race. The first year was just Syd and me. The next year, we invited the boys. 

2013

2014

This year we invited some friends to run with us. This is me with Suzanne.

And Sydney with her friends.

We were a little worried that we would be rained out, but the skies were dry when we ran. It did rain during the early morning, though, and made the course a little muddy and slick (at the Utah Fairgrounds) so we ended up walking about half of it. It was so fun. And these girls. I'll tell ya, you couldn't ask for a better group!

Fun Days in May (and it's only half way done)

Last Saturday, I looked out my window and saw children running toward my yard and soon enough the back yard looked like this. I hadn't seen this much fun happening since some of our old friends moved away to Idaho about 2 years ago. And sure enough, the Bradshaws had come to visit!

I think these two girls were the most excited to see each other. Millie still hasn't found a friend as dear as Shelby. 

We were so grateful to see this family. Every once in a while you cross paths with a person or a family who has a lasting impact and influence on your life and the Bradshaws are one of those families. We sure love them and can't wait to return the favor and visit them in June!

That very same day, Sydney and I made granola. We'd been craving it for over a month and finally made it. It's been one week and half of it is gone already!

We also went to the Payson Temple openhouse. I've got to be honest, I was teary-eyed and emotional by the time we pulled into the parking lot. Walking with my darlings through the temple, explaining the beautiful rooms and sacred covenants we make was just such a beautiful experience and a treasured opportunity. And the temple is gorgeous!!! From the upholstery to the artwork to the stained glass windows. Every inch is just beautiful. More beautiful are the promises of eternal life and eternal families.

On our way out, we saw kids selling refreshments in front of their house. Ster is always a push-over for that sort of thing, so he pulled over and bought warm lemonade and twinkies. $1.00 each. Hmmm. Quite a profit for the kiddos. wow!

We also went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. The kids ran off together and it was almost like date night for Ster and I. This may be my new favorite picture!

4-year-old SPY

A year ago, as a way to try and assuage some of the high energy (some call it contention) in our home, we purchased and hung a boxing bag on our patio, complete with special boxing gloves. 

Although Hash is never, I repeat NEVER, a source of contention in our home, he likes to go at it regularly with the boxing bag. Just to practice his awesome, super-hero, steam-punk moves. 

Our neighbor, Ethan, took some video footage of him and created a movie trailer. I was amazed! He did it in about 10 minutes. Take a gander and bask in the awesomeness of my young son!!!

He made the video on his ipad with an app named iMovie. I think I may need to get it because it turned out so great and the kids had so much fun putting it together. What a fun activity for summer!

And here is another picture of my resourceful hero. Always prepared. He found the perfect way to carry his cars with him where ever he went. Genius!

Book Review: Hurricane Coltrane

I just finished reading a book written by a fantastic debut author, Taya Okerlund. Taya was in my critique group last year at WIFYR. I remember getting her chapters for critique and thinking, "Wow!" I read it through twice with no critiques because the writing was so lovely. When I found out she was under contract for the book, I wasn't surprised. It's been a long wait for me to get my hands on this book.

"Hurricane Coltrane" is a middle-grade novel set in southern Utah. Here is the back cover story:

"Merrill Hinton is a lightning rod in a town named for bad weather. He's an ace in math, but not smart enough to put together the pieces of his puzzling life, especially where finding his unknown father is concerned.

Musical genius Robbie Stubbs was born in nearby polygamist compound Colorado City. He has the chops to become another John Coltrane, but that will take running away from home, and into a firestorm of controversy--the kind his friend Merrill knows best.

Merrill sets Robbie onto a course that could rocket them both onto center stage, but being the focus of wide public attention will create serious issues. Robbie's mother is not well, and the shock of her son breaking the family rules like this may put her over the edge.

And Merrill Hinton? His precarious future will be compromised in ways he doesn't yet realize.

There is so much to love about this book. The setting is interesting and different enough to keep our attention but there are enough familiar details in the relationships to make us feel right at home. The small town feel is so well-drawn, it's easy to feel like you're welcome for an extended visit. Even when the group of kids go to L.A., we get a real sense of place and setting. 

Okerlund does a great job at feeding us motivation and emotion through the main characters, Merrill and Robbie. It is so easy to love them and sympathize with them. For me, it was especially compelling to read and connect with the music part of the story. So much can be portrayed and expressed through music, joy, enthusiasm, sorrow. It's all there and nicely done.

There's not a lot to critique about this story. I felt like it jumped around just a bit to show the passage of time and it left me a little disjointed at times. From a mother's perspective, I like that she didn't ease up on the vocabulary. That's always nice. I also appreciate that there are strong, female characters in Merrill's mom and grandma. The relationships weren't perfect and I appreciated that it provided an avenue to acknowledge that sometimes family relationships are hard and that they take work and compromise. Even Robbie, though we don't know very much about his mother, we know she supported and loved him and tried to protect him. 

Loyalty is a key theme in the story, between both family and friends. The story is set up perfectly for this theme to be explored and expressed at just the right time in the narrative. I really enjoyed this story and feel like I made some new friends. I'm excited to let my middle-graders read this story and talk about it with them. This is a great recommended read or all ages.

Jumpteam with Parker

Parker participated in the school jump team this year and had a blast. When he started, he had hardly jumped rope at all. He could only do 3 or 4 double-unders and was pretty discouraged. But he didn't give up. He practiced and practiced and got a few pointers from Sydney, who was also on the jump team her 6th grade year. But mostly he just practiced. And by the end of the year, he could do double-unders for almost 2 minutes straight! 

We were all excited to see the team at the special Family Performance.

Parker did an great trick where he jump over someone into the swinging rope and started jumping.

Then he exited by sliding out through the rope turner's legs. It's pretty cool!

I'm so proud of all Parker's hard work. He's a great example.

by the way -
Sydney's jump rope (video from ward talent show)
and Camille is already learning how to somersault into the rope!