Primary Water Activity

This year Debbie Hill gave our water day a scriptural twist. For each of the games we had, we told a scripture story to go with it.
The story of Noah was told before our over-the-head sponge pass was played.

The story of the ten virgins was told before the spoon relay.

Debbie drew a large Goliath and the children threw water balloons at it trying to hit his forehead. Soon the goal became getting it to break against him before it hit the ground rather than trying to hit his forehead!

The story of Josephs coat of many colors was told before our wet sweatshirt relay.

And the children had a water fight with the left over water when we had finished eating sub sandwiches, chips and soda. A great activity in great temperatures.

(I didn't take any of these pictures. Our Sunbeam teacher Jerilee Biery did.)

Good Girl

Keddi was the first to receive the citizenship recognition for her class again this year! We are so proud that she is a good girl at school. She asked me to do her hair and insisted on being dressed to the nines for the event!

Video of Tersa's party

Here's some live action of the chicken fights of Tersa's party. NO NIECES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS FILM.

Tersa's 13th Birthday Party

How do ya like my cake?! I was so pleased with the way it turned out. Tersa had a flip flop theme for her party and this was perfect! Mandy helped me out with it (because she is the queen of cute birthday cakes) and we had a good time putting them together.

Tersa's pool party was held at the Hill's house (thanks so much!!) We had a movie planned too but the kids kept to the pool so we let it go. (Tersa said she was waiting for me to call everyone together for the movie.)

One of the favorite games was "chicken" and Gabby and Tersa were quite the formidable girls team. They also dove off the diving board, and dived for diving rings. We ordered pizza and of course had cake and ice cream.

9/11

I am grateful for the opportunity to remember the events of this day seven years ago. I've read some opinions of forgiving and forgetting and letting go of the past. But it is my belief that forgetting leads to making the same mistakes. Though I do not hold grudges, remembering helps us protect ourselves and also reminds us to value the lives and memory of those directly involved. Today I remembered and I am grateful.

13th Birthday Portraits

I decided some time ago that I would have the 13 year portraits done in black and white. Then I decided that I would take them because why would I pay extra for a studio to make them black and white?
So, I took Tersa out and we had a little photo shoot. I figured that if they didn't turn out I could always take her to a studio. But, we got some we liked. This is probably the one I will put on our wall. Joel thought it would be cool to leave the blue because her eyes looked the same exact color as her shirt. (I actually took this one in color.)

This is also a candidate for the wall, but I would need to blur the background because it detracts from her.

I like the lighting in this one. It would be cropped in 8x10 portrait, but some of the lines from the stairs and the wall would still be included. It looks nice.

These smaller ones aren't in the running for the wall, they were just fun. I like to make scrapbook pages with a variety of poses and sizes.

Labor Day

We had the Wilsons over for Labor day and grilled chicken and kabobs, had Mandy's baked beans, some potato salad and watermelon for a late lunch. The plan was to eat, let things settle and then go swimming for a couple of hours. But we didn't start when we planned and the kids got busy so we didn't do cake and ice cream until late. They were held over with promises that we would swim that Friday after school.
Tersa got a gift card from the Wilsons to the Mall and a Nintendo DS (which she paid 1/2 of) from us. (I also bought a case and extra stylus'.) If you want an idea for Tersa for Christmas, she has no games of her own and they are $30. Gift cards to Toys R Us or Wal-mart will aid her in purchasing the games she'd like. (Not a bad idea for Mardi either since she wants a DS too but doesn't have the earning opportunities that Tersa does.)

Middle Child

The other day Joel was asked by a co-worker if Keddi was the middle child. He said no, we don't have a middle child and she said she just wondered because he doesn't tell many stories about Keddi. The other girls are mentioned more often and she said Keddi gets left out. So, just in case it is that way on the blog too, here's to KEDDI!!
She did a great job in this clip and to my knowledge, she's never picked up a bat before!
(Remember, click the title to see the clip.)

Happy birthday Tersa!! (Yesterday)

I have undertaken a huge project to get our pictures from 1994 to now onto flash drive. Whew. Plus, last week was the first week back to school, we had a holiday weekend and Tersa's 13th birthday was yesterday.
Joel went in and jumped on her bed (before she was ready to rise) to wish her a Happy Birthday and to "thank" her for officially making him old. Later we were talking about it again and Mardi told him that he wasn't old. But when Tersa had a teenage daughter, THEN he would be old. Under my breath I said no, he'd be dead. She came up to me and said "NO, no, you have a teenage daughter and YOUR parents are still alive. Then Tersa (also under her breath) said "Barely".
I warned her that my parents (and Joel's for that matter since they are a bit older than my parents) were not going to appreciate that comment and it was a good thing she was already home from Texas and that Grandma Dory was in the MTC and would be gone for a while. I said their memories were long. Then I thought that maybe in their "old" age they would forget easily and she would be safe. We had a good laugh. If only my children could understand how quickly time goes by.
I'll post pictures soon.