Katie and Jared's Voices Holiday Performance

This semester both Katie and Jared have been singing in Voices which is the after-school choir of over 100 kids.  They presented a musical called "I Need a Christmas Vacation" and it was fabulous.  Unfortunately it was the same night as Alyssa's concert (which started 30 minutes later) so I was only able to watch 18 minutes of the show before heading over to Alyssa's school.  Troy and Tyler stayed to watch the whole play.  Katie had a speaking part and was one of the Spanish dancers.  Several other kids from our ward were in the play too, so it was fun to sit in the audience with my friends to watch the performance.  I was so impressed with the comedic qualities of the show.  There are a bunch of hams at Moss Park and I thoroughly enjoyed the part I got to see.  Troy tried to tape it, so I hope to see the rest of it soon.  Jared did a good job of paying attention and singing with the chorus.

St. Augustine 4th Grade Field Trip

Katie and I spent Veterans Day on a field trip to St. Augustine and had a wonderful time.  The weather was perfect and the bus ride was amazingly quiet for 2 4th grade classes traveling for 2 hours each way.  I had Katie and 2 other girls in my group.  We stayed together with the class for most of the trip.  The school rented comfortable buses for the trip - yay!

Our first stop was Ft. Menendez at Old Florida Museum where we learned more about Pre-European Florida and Spanish Florida.  This museum has lots of hands on activities for the kids and they really enjoyed it.  They drilled holes in boards, dipped candles, combed wool, weaved, ground corn, played darts with corn cobs, broke sea shells and role played.

Since I didn't grow up in Florida, I don't know much about the states' history.  I appreciated the amount of information that was shared and the fascinating stories.  I am thankful we live in a country with religious freedom today.  The stories of massacres due to religion were heart breaking.  After our stop at Ft. Menendez, we took a tram tour around town to see the interesting buildings in the area and learn more about Henry Flagler and the history of St. Augustine. It is the oldest city in the United States since they don't include San Juan, Puerto Rico.  When we finished our tram tour, we headed to an old military hospital where we learned about red food coloring (http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/bugjuice.asp) if you're interested in the details - ugh!  They also explained in detail how amputations were performed - not my favorite subject :(

Our small group had about 90 minutes to shop on St. George St.  I didn't bring cash or my Visa, so Katie was out of luck for shopping.  It was fun to window shop and see some of the architecture in the area.  We found a pretty garden at the back of a glass store.

Our final stop was Castillo de San Marcos where we learned how soldiers lived in the barracks and protected the port.  http://www.nps.gov/casa/index.htm  

I am thankful for my comfortable mattress after feeling these that were filled with straw.  They were so tiny due to the small stature of people back then.  Ponce de Leon was considered tall at 4'11".  Wow!

Thanks to all of those who have labored and fought to keep our country free!  I loved this shot of our flag.

School Update

 On Wednesday I finished parent teacher conferences: 


Tyler is working at a 1st grade level in reading, writing, math and spelling, but he is missing some skills like small hand coordination and turning some of his numbers and letters backwards.  He passed pre-screening for gifted placement.


Jared is ready to work on 7th grade math and his teacher suggested I get him a workbook to do here since they can't go that far in 3rd grade. I'm going to have my hands full! It's a good thing I like algebra.  He was disappointed to see a B on his report card because he forgot to study for a science test.  Hopefully he will be more careful this term.  He is so far above grade level in reading and math that we need to find new ways to challenge him...  I'm wondering about space camp or engineering camp this summer.


Katie has straight A's this quarter and is above grade level in reading and math.  Her writing has improved dramatically this year but she still hates to do it.  She is the top student in her class.  Her teacher had no complaints about her behavior - yay!  I wish she was as well behaved at home as she is in her classes...


Alyssa didn't have parent teacher conferences, but she brought home her best report card in years!  She only had one B.  Her math class isn't challenging to her but she loves her classes this year.  After passing her gifted screening this summer, I think she realized that her brain works better than she thought it did.  She has been very responsible about staying on task and finishing her homework.

Our Scary, Wonderful Halloween Trip to Utah

The whole family ventured out to Utah for Doug's ordination and Halloween last week.  The weather was chilly but nice and we loved the chance to visit some of our family out there.  Our kids had the Friday before Halloween off school, so we flew out on Thursday evening and headed back on the red-eye flight Sunday night.   

Our trip went smoothly until we landed in SLC around 1:30 am Eastern time.  When we fly, Troy stays on the plane to clean after we land and I take the kids off by myself.  After I got the kids settled, Katie wandered away from the other kids and when I came back from the bathroom we couldn't find her anywhere.  I was panicking!  After Troy got off the plane, I took the rest of the kids past security to the baggage claim to see if she had gone down there.  Since we couldn't find her anywhere, Troy contacted security and they helped us look.  No one could find a trace of her.  After about 30 minutes, they went through the security camera footage and were able to track her as she walked away from her siblings and went into the middle of a crowded gate and curled up under her dad's leather jacket to sleep.  She was so tired that she wasn't thinking very clearly.  I'm so thankful for the technology that made finding her easier.  Once we got our missing Katie, we picked up a minivan and headed to our Lindon house.  It was snowing earlier in the week and I'm so glad it all melted before we got there.

On Friday, we got to meet Gretchen and the kids loved playing with her and taking her for a walk.  Janell's Carillon bread twists and corn chowder were delicious - of course!  I want to try making the bread twists myself.  I couldn't eat just one...  Now I'm craving them.

CARILLON BELL TOWER BREADSTICKS

24 frozen dinner rolls, thawed but still cold (Janell used her bread recipe with lecithin)

24 wooden chopsticks

1/2 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dill weed

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Roll out each roll about 6 inches long and then wrap around the chopsticks, leaving 2 inches at the bottom for a hand hold. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover with a light cloth and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake twists for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. While they are baking, combine the butter and spices. Remove breadsticks from oven and brush with the butter mixture. Serve breadsticks warm. For a fun presentation, stand the breadsticks upright in a vase. Makes 24 breadsticks. — "Brigham Young University Cougars Cookbook"

The leaves were just turning colors and most hadn't fallen yet.  That meant our yard work at the duplex was much less time consuming than I had anticipated.  It was nice to have more free time to enjoy our favorite places in the area.  

We fit in a stop at the Nightmare Express, The Sweet Tooth Fairy, California Pizza Kitchen (free kids birthday meals), Tucanos (free birthday meal for Katie), and IHOP for their free scary face pancakes Friday morning.  The kids had a blast decorating their pancakes with mini Oreos and candy corn.

Yummy Fudge Sundaes at CPK

I love that Utah celebrates Halloween on Saturday when the actual holiday falls on the sabbath.  Unfortunately the forecast said it would rain that evening.  We enjoyed a yummy dinner with Scott's family and our kids enjoyed trick or treating with their cousins (and they shared their Almond Joys with me!).  The rain stopped around 7 pm so they didn't get soaked :)  Thanks to Jolynne for taking them around with her kids.

Sunday included church, Doug's ordination, cards, more yummy meals, and visiting with family.  I was glad that the kids were able to witness Troy ordaining Doug to become an elder.  We are so proud of Doug for the choices he is making and are looking forward to hearing where he will be called to serve soon. 

Katie's 10 and LOVIN' It

For Katie's birthday, we spent two afternoons at Epcot enjoying her favorite things.  She got a birthday button to wear, so she heard "Happy Birthday Princess"  lots and lots :)  The kids were excited for their first trip to the international soda fountain and each picked their favorites.  Tuesday the 19th Expose was in concert and I wanted the girls to get a chance to see them perform.  Alyssa thought the concert was amazing, but Katie thought it was okay.  Tyler listened to them for a little bit, but...

my phone was more entertaining to him :)

After riding Mission Space, they have a fun game for the family to play.  We've played it several times before, but earned our highest score ever this time.

They only have room for four players up front, but there are support stations behind them where I played too.

We got FastPasses to ride Test Track since the line there is quite long.  Everyone except Tyler can go in the single rider line, so we save the fast passes for him to be able to ride with me.  Trying out the cars on the way out is fun.  We took pictures on Tuesday and then they had different cars on Wednesday.

This GMC Acadia was the favorite!

We only have three more years until our next driver gets her permit.

We stayed at the park until closing because the kids were having so much fun, so Katie got to enjoy the fireworks before we left.

On Wednesday, Katie, Jared, Tyler and I went back to Epcot and the kids spent most of the time playing Kim Possible around the World Showcase.  We also enjoyed watching the Chinese children's acrobat show. They are AMAZING!

This link shows My Favorite Trick!  I took a video but my hands shake too much, so I found the video of the performance on YouTube.

I went to 38 Special's concert too but only knew one or two of the songs.

We are really into all the freebies that you can get for birthdays, so she is still celebrating by using her coupons.  So far she has gotten a free meal at IHOP, and free ice cream from Cold Stone and Baskin Robbins.  She still has a free meal from Tucanos and California Pizza Kitchen to use before the end of the month. 

On Saturday, she and I went garage sale shopping to use her birthday money.  She bought a cute blue and brown Vera Bradley purse for $5 and was also given a free purse that was missing its strap.  That shouldn't be hard to replace.  She also bought some gum, a beautiful dress, and cute gray school uniform shirt.  She also bought a digital camera a few weeks early and has been enjoying it.

Student of the Month

Katie was selected as Student of the Month at school for the value of Citizenship. 

YAY Katie!  I'm so glad you are a good team player and leader.  I can't believe you are almost 10 years old :)  I was sure surprised when you arrived 3 weeks early!  Nothing was ready yet...  I am not sure I'm ready to handle teenage you yet, so don't grow up too fast!

You love to be the boss and are able to tell your siblings exactly what I will say in about 10 seconds!  You hate school projects, but love socializing and learning.  You love to travel and visit family.  You love to read and check your email.  You ask me all the time for a Facebook page.  You like making lists and checking the weather and the calendar.  You love sleeping in and have a hard time going to sleep without music.  I love to listen to you reading Tyler bedtime stories.

I love you!!!!