June!

Hooray! School's out!  It's Summertime!!!!

Actually summer didn't officially start until June 5th which was the last day of school.  We did have a few field trips and last day of school parties to take care of before we could party, but the weather was pretty rainy, so that was OK with us.

We started summer out with a bang!  Some neighbors and I met the kids off of the bus with silly string and lunch.  They loved it!  Then Jenika took shaving cream to a friend's house for a shaving cream fight! Kids are carazy!  

Cousins came over for sleepovers during the first week of Summer.  We always love to hang out with cousins! :) Jenika had a jumprope camp in Idaho Falls and she rocked it.  

Girls camp was the next week, and Sierra and I partied it up in the mountains Wizard of Oz style.  I love the Young Women and the Young Women leaders.  We definitely enjoyed ourselves!  The other kids stayed home with Shawn and he rocked the Mr. Mom thing.  

Bryson and Cutler started a junior golf league this month too.  A parent has to walk with the kids and I went with them once.  It was very entertaining and their personalities sure do come out on the golf coarse.  

The next week Bryson had a basketball camp in Shelly which was all day long on Monday through Friday and Sierra had a cheer camp at ISU Monday through Wednesday.  I brought the kids up to meet her and we all went swimming at Ross Park on Wednesday.  The younger kids stayed in Pocatello for a sleepover and I brought the cheerleaders home.  The next day, I drove back to Poky to get the kids.  

We did a 5k and 1 mile fun run at the Rigby Lake.  Shawn even ran the 5k with me! It was pretty fun!

The wind did blow in Rigby!

Rigby Stampede Days parade

May

I always say that May is as busy a month as Christmas and this year was no exception!

Besides Sierra's sixteenth birthday!?$?@! We did five days of traveling, four football games, three school programs, two holidays, and one fiddle contest.

BIRTHDAY
Sierra turned SIXTEEN on May 9th!  A lot of her friends were out of town, but I still managed to have a little surprise party for her. :) Shawn took her on her first date... and I think he was trying to show her what not to expect on a date! He was on his phone a lot and honked for her to get in the car! Good grief!  She game home to a bunch of friends (the ones who were not out of town), a cake, presents, and a movie.  I cannot believe I have a 16 year old daughter!  I do not feel this mature!

TRAVELING
Jenika had a jumprope competition in Seattle!  So right after the America's Hope concert, Hanna and her mom and Jenika and Brielle and I loaded up the car and drove cross country! We stayed in Boise that night, then got up to drive to Seattle the next morning.  The jump rope competition was unlike anything I have ever seen, and I could not believe the energy of those kids!  Both Jenika and Hanna did a great job and learned a lot.  We spent that evening and the next day exploring the treasures of Seattle.  We saw the Pierre, the Space Needle, and the all famous, but disgusting gum wall.  The next day, we packed up and drove the entire day and made it home to Rigby at about 1:00 in the morning.  It was quite an adventure.

FOOTBALL GAMES
Bryson played flag football every Saturday in May.  He has been playing quarterback and does a good job! He is learning to listen to his coaches (including his Dad! )

SCHOOL PROGRAMS
Sierra's orchestra concert was great!  She doesn't really love orchestra and is going to try choir next year.  I think she will like it. :)

Cutler had a second grade program with all the second graders in the school.  It was huge!  He also did a smaller program just for his class and it was fun to watch how much he is learning and growing!

Jenika was in the America's Hope program this year!  She played the fiddle for the fifty states song and she did awesome!  I love love the music and the concepts of this program, and I am going to miss being part of it.  I do believe it was the best year I have ever seen!

 HOLIDAYS

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo at Cutler's school because he is in the Spanish program.  Brielle and I helped teach the Mexican Hat Dance.  Olay!

We had planned to go camping on Memorial Day.  We went grocery shopping, packed the camper, and was ready to go... about three times.  Shawn got called to work every time we thought we were safe to leave.  So we just gave up on camping and Saturday night, we drove to Pocatello to drop of some equipment, and Sunday we went to Twin to pick up Grandma Noni and took the kids to see Grandpa Ray's grave site in Glen's Ferry.  It was so nice to spend some time together and hear the stories from Grandma.  And Shawn didn't get one call. :)

HOLIDAYS
We celebrated Cinco de Mayo at Cutler's school because he is in the Spanish program.  Brielle and I helped teach the Mexican Hat Dance.  Olay!

We had planned to go camping on Memorial Day.  We went grocery shopping, packed the camper, and was ready to go... about three times.  Shawn got called to work every time we thought we were safe to leave.  So we just gave up on camping and Saturday night, we drove to Pocatello to drop of some equipment, and Sunday we went to Twin to pick up Grandma Noni and took the kids to see Grandpa Ray's grave site in Glen's Ferry.  It was so nice to spend some time together and hear the stories from Grandma.  And Shawn didn't get one call. :)

FIDDLE CONTEST
At the same time that I was in Seattle with Jenika, Sierra signed up for her first fiddle contest in Haley Idaho.  It was exciting. My mom went with her so she didn't have to drive alone, and she recorded it for me.  I heard it almost immediately after she performed.  She was super nervous for her first song and messed up pretty bad - worse than ever at home, but she nailed the second song.  She didn't win, but it was good experience for her, and I can't wait to hear her in the next contest!

April

April must have been a busy month because I don't remember it! :)  That is why I wanted to blog weekly in the first place... my memory is filled up with everything that is happening right now so there is no room for remembering. :)

I do remember some highlights (or lowlights):

Easter and General Conference were the same weekend this month.  We love listening to the words of our prophets and we were happy to spend the weekend in Pocatello with my family.

April was tax month.  :( For the second time in our married lives (last year was the first) we had to pay taxes and it was a lot.  We were a little bummed out.  But we do feel blessed because while we had to drain our savings account to make the payments, we were able to do it.  So Shawn and I sulked for a couple of days, then we picked ourselves up and carried on.

Bryson talked Shawn into getting another puppy.  I did not approve this acquisition, but he is very cute, and we named him Gunner.

I was offered a job teaching fourth grade at Farnsworth.  I actually never finished my application even.  The district called and asked me to come sign a blank intent to teach form and a few weeks later, they called to offer me a position in fourth grade.  I was very excited about the position.  I would be team teaching with an excellent math teacher and the class sizes would be fairly small.  This, however, was not meant to be.... they called back again a few weeks later and said that they had made some mistakes with the numbers and I could either choose Kindergarten, First, or Fifth.  I chose fifth.  I will be at the same school as Cutler and Brielle will help her Daddy during the day.  I hope she eats healthy!

Shawn purchased a golf pass this year and is determined to make it worth it.  So he golfed quite a bit in April and was invited to play on a tournament team.

Sierra tried out for cheerleading for next year.  She new there would be tough competition so she worked really hard to hit her back handspring.  She did her running and her standing during the tryout and she made it!  She will be a varsity cheerleader next year for Rigby High School!

Bryson did a "Riverworld" project in Social Studies.  He built an imaginary city along the Snake River.  He started golfing with Shawn and is actually enjoying it.  He also started playing touch football.  He loves to be busy! :)

Jenika jump roped, Cutler golfed, and Brielle played with Gabby all month too.  We love these kids and love watching them learn and grow!

March

March really was a carazy month!  Most importantly, Brielle turned THREE!  I cannot believe that our baby is growing up so fast!  She is full of determination and personality.  She makes us all laugh all the time.  Because we were going to be gone on her birthday, we moved it up and celebrated on the 12th.  I don't think she minded a bit.  We had such a busy day though that we didn't get to the birthday celebrating until about 7:30, and by the time the cake was eaten and the presents were opened, it was way past bedtime.  Brielle was so excited about everything that I don't think she really fell asleep until 3 in the morning!  Which was a little sad because Sierra and I were leaving super early the next morning.

Backing up... the weekend before Brielle's birthday, we moved my parents moved out of the house we all grew up in!  I thought it was going to be sad and sentimental, but it really wasn't.  Their new house is only a block away, and once everything was moved in, it felt like home.  Audiu Moonglow Lane!

Bryson was pretty sick the day of Brielle's pretend birthday.  I took him to the doctor that day because I was worried that he had appendicitis.  Turns out it was just a bad stomach ache (we think) because his white blood cell count levels were not elevated.  I was leaving town the next day, so he had a Priesthood blessing and he felt fine the whole time I was gone.  I was very grateful for that! We were pretty worried about him though!

I accompanied Sierra to a national cheerleading competition in California! It was pretty fun for sure! The team did great and they won first place in their division (which wasn't too difficult because they were the only team in their division).  We went to the beach and Sierra went to Knottsberry Farms.  It was a pretty quick trip... just three days! But they had so much fun, and so did I!  It was the first time in a long time that I traveled without homework! :)

Sierra had a tough week of school because the very next weekend, the cheerleaders went to Boise to compete at State.  It was a much more difficult competition, and they did very well!  Sierra is definitely the cutest cheerleader out there! I just love watching my kids do what they love!  Sierra drove up on the bus and Jenika and I followed them with Nancy and Alyssa.  Whitney was dancing with her school's, dance team at the same time.  It was another quick trip, but it was fun to spend time with the Love girls!

While the girls were in Boise, the boys were in Shelly all day on Friday and Saturday at a basketball tournament.  They did great!  I really missed watching them play!

At the end of March, during Spring Break, my sisters, mom, and I did a sisters trip.  We went to the Hale theater and went shopping and made a cute craft in the hotel.  It is always fun to spend time with the girls!

This month was so crazy busy, but valuable.  I think we pushed our limits on how busy we could actually get... I think we learned that when life gets too crazy, we need to stop, slow down, step back, and get a perspective on things.  The most important things aren't things or even activities, but people and their feelings.

Cinnamon rolls for the Cheerleaders!

What I did in California

Brielle was so excited to be in a hotel!

March was exhausting!

Cutler at a HS basketball family night

Bryson at a "boy girl" party!