Month of May

Nationals at Lagoon

Hailey's clogging team made it to nationals this year. It is the largest clogging competition in the world. Her team danced 2 dances; mary mack and disco remix, each dance took 3rd place. She also competed in a solo and took a 1st place! Of course, we all love it when they get to go to nationals because that means we get to play all day at Lagoon! We arrived on a friday night and stayed in a "daddy travels so much we get FREE hotels." We went home on a Sunday. It was a great weekend.


Memorial Day Weekend

We never go camping over memorial day weekend. Too many people, and we hate crowds. But as I looked at our summer weekends, there wasn't any free ones, so I booked a camping trip over memorial day.
We took our trailer to Baumgartner campground. It Is a beautiful place outside of Featherville on the beginning of the Boise River. We read a book together! I grabbed Peppertide from my bookshelf and started to read it to the kids on the 2 hour drive to the campground. We were all hooked and ended up reading the book each night before bed and a little during the day as we laid around the trailer. We finished it on our last day there.
We also hiked a lot and wished we had some 4-wheelers as we watched all the other campers ride the beautiful trails. But we didn't let that get us down...we unloaded our running shoes and filled them up with our feet and took off for a 4 mile run! Chloe brought her bike and we all took off together down the road, even Hailey and Caden. Needless to say some made it 4 miles and some didn't.
We also got up early one morning and soaked in the natural hotsprings there. It was lovely.
We played Uno each night and that was a blast. The best part was being together and watching Coelton go through texting withdrawl. Although it was very amusing at 2am when Hailey woke us up looking for the "camping glasses". We realized that she was half asleep looking for the flashlight!




Look who learned how to ride a 2-wheeler

We took off her training wheels and she took right off!


Preschool Graduation

All the kids wore their preschool t-shirts that Mrs. Hart made for them and their adorable caps. Chloe learned a lot this year and is very ready for Kindergarten.



Look who's 40!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Joel's birthday. On his birthday I hung a big banner outside. The girls wrote a scavenger hunt for Joel to find all his gifts. Hailey especially spent a lot of time writing it and making sure it all rhymed. The girls also made Joel a shirt that said "I'm 40". He walked around with a inflatable cane that said he could hit anyone who teased him about his age. He took full advantage of that. The boys blind folded him and put him in the truck and took him to Fast Lanes where some of coelton's friends met them. They all rode the race cars and had a great time.
The next night I took Joel to Fudruckers, where a few friends were waiting to surprise him. We then took in a movie and smoothie afterwards. Great fun!

Mother's Day

I always love waking up on Mother's day and realizing that "Hey, today is mothers day...I get to be pampered a bit today." I use it to my advantage as I watch my family pick up messes, cook dinner and do the dishes.
I always get breakfast in bed, and each of them include a card to me on the cookie sheet with my food.
I sit in bed and read the cards as I eat. It's so fun. This morning we all sat in my room on my bed and floor all morning laughing, talking and wrestling. My heart took a picture. It was a great start to a terrific Mother's day.
My 5 year old came into my room while the rest of the family was getting ready for church. She saw that I was still in my PJ's and said "Mom, since you get to do whatever you want today, are you going to church or not...cause if you stay home I want to stay with you. All's they give you at church is bread and water."
We had a nice talk about the sacrament and that even on Mother's day mommy chooses to go to church.

I miss my own mother a great deal, and hope that she realizes what a wonderful Mother she is. I know that she is watching over us and she is still my mother, even though she is not here physically, I feel her near. Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Prom 2009

This and That

I'm about a month behind, but thought I'd sit down and get caught up. We have been so busy with this and that. Our April FLEW by!!

Visitors
Joel's parents came to our house for a visit. It was nice to spend a few days with them. They came over general conference weekend. We went bowling and Grandma made a fun bunny hutch with the girls.



Kids stuff
We are at the thick of track season. Coelton has been running a lot, and LOVES it. He is trying to find a summer job, with no luck. He also took the ACT test and did pretty good.
Caden is busy mowing lawns and working for a 4.0. (almost there...he has an 88 in one class.)
Hailey is in the middle of competition season for clogging. She has 2 done and one to go...(nationals at Lagoon) She is working hard with her team and they are a great group of girls. Their big "clog classic" show is next month.






Spring Break
Our spring break was low key. We hung around here and did yard work and some cleaning. We tried to get out and go somewhere each day. One day we went to Caldwell and went swimming in the new indoor swimming area at the YMCA.



Dance Festival
In January I was asked to be the ward dance director for the youth 14-18. We just participated in a 6 stake regional dance festival on the 25th. Each stake learned a different dance. Joel and I taught our ward the New York Hustle. We also taught them a dance that the entire region performed for the entrance/finale number. Both our boys performed in it and it was truly a wonderful experience. There was about 1500youth who danced.




Orlando Florida
Joel is the president of the internal auditors in Idaho and was invited to a convention in Orlando. He invited me along...since Sunday was our 18 year anniversary! They put us up in a Disney resort hotel called The Beach club. We were gone 5 days and had a great time. while Joel was in meetings I read my book while laying by the pool and I took lots of walks around the Disney Boardwalk and properties. It was nice to have some peace and quiet and do nothing at all. When the convention was over we went to Universal Studios. We rode the mummy ride about 8 times. We also went to Epcot. It was beautiful weather with 85 degree temperatures. And so far, I think we escaped the swine flu. Dad came over to stay with the kids and he did a great job keeping everything rolling and the kids all taken care of.

A little piece of heaven

My little sister had a baby boy! She has a little girl who is 3, so now they have one of each. They named the new baby Collin and he is a little piece of heaven. He was not quite 6 pounds. My Mother never missed helping out with a new grand baby. Since my mother's passing Collin is the second baby that has been born. I have been able to go and do as my Mom would have done.
This week I flew to Utah and my sister from Pocatello picked me up from the airport and we spent 3 days helping out the new Mom. It was really great and I LOVE holding little collin. My Dad and other sister from SE Idaho drove over for the day to see the new addition. It was a very special time.

E a S t e R

Our Easter was a nice warm day. We colored eggs and ate candy. Our favorite candy is Jolly Rancher jelly beans, hard shell cadbury eggs, and anything Reece's!
We went to our park in the neighborhood for an egg hunt and got a picture with the Easter Bunny.
On Sunday, the kids always get new Sunday clothes, (if they need them.) We went to Joel's brother's house in Nampa after church for a nice easter dinner and a fun easter egg hunt that taught the kids about the Resurrection.

C O E L T O N

Coelton is our oldest. Our experiment child. (poor thing). He came rather unexpectadly 17 years ago. Joel and I hadn't even celebrated our one year anniversary! Although it wasn't the path we would have chosen, someone who knew better gave us the greatest gift.


Joel and I were both enrolled at ISU in Pocatello. However, finding out about our pregnancy in July, by the time school started I was EXTREMEMLY sick and would often joke that there was no way a baby could be inside me...I had thrown up everything inside of me! We realized that I could not go to school and decided that I would work to put Joel through school. I taught clogging lessons and worked at Huntsman's grocery store in Shelley were we lived. I was a checker, and found myself running very fast to the bathroom each time someone bought that awful chicken from the deli.

Coelton was born March 18, 1992 at 4am, during a snow storm. He cried a lot as a baby. He had colic, and would start crying about 8pm and didn't stop until about 10pm. We tried everything and finally realized that turning on the vaccum did the trick. He hated the pacifier and did not breast feed well. He soon became a "bottle baby" and we were all much happier.

Coelton was a very inquisitive little boy. He talked non stop and had a million questions. He also has a tender heart and cares deeply for animals and all creepy crawly things.
He LOVES sports and at age 4 did Tae Kwon Do. He broke a wooden board with his heel and advanced a belt. He also played baseball starting at age 5. Seven years later his team won the championship in triple A.I remember him at age 5 coming to the plate to hit he ball on the T. He would beat the bat on the plate several times before he would hit the ball. His coach called him "The Beast". He played basketball and this sport became a quick favorite. He also played 4 years of optimist football and 2 years of school football. He loves BYU football and places his bets each year for the NCAA BB tournaments. One year he won over $100 because his bracket was the most correct. Coelton has been able to attend 2 NCAA tournaments.
After his Freshman year he discovered Cross Country and has been hooked ever since, in fact today he and his Dad ran 10 miles along the green belt. He runs track too, and this year he runs the mile and last night he did his all time best at 4:55. I get emotional each time I watch him cross the finish line. He puts everything he has into it.
He has learned to snowboard with his Dad and little brother. Togther they go to Bogus Basin several times during the winter months.

Coelton cracks me up, he is very superstitious. He always wears the same lucky, socks, or shorts, or shirt because he did particularly well at something he was doing while wearing them. He tries to re-trace his steps of what he did before winning, so he will win again.
When he was in the 2nd grade we told him that if he got 100% on every spelling test the entire school year we would buy him a new game for his gameboy. He did it...100%on EVERY test!
He has read each New Era magazine cover to cover, and is often found laying in his bed reading his scriptures or For Strength of Youth pamphlet.
He achieved his Eagle scout rank at age 14, and has set a good example for his friends and little brother to follow in scouting.

Coelton is a good student and will be successful with whatever he chooses to do. He also is a good friend and is very loyal and fun to be around. He has a great sense of humor and a contagious laugh. He has been a great teenager! He always wants to do what is right and is a good example to everyone. He will be a hard working missionary.

He works after school 2-3 days a week at Chem Dry and cleans the office and vans and washes pads and towels. He has worked there for over a year now and has proven to be reliable hard worker.

We are very grateful for Coelton and the fine young man he has become. He is a huge strenghth to our family and we love him very much.