BSA Family Award

Do I ever mention we are a hard-core Scouting family? Oh, yeah. We love to do all the fun things Scouting provides for us as a family. If you were not aware of the BSA Family Award, you are now! Look it up! You can get the new, revised booklet at the Scout Shop. I love how Scouting is all about family activities we should be doing anyway, and with the Family Award you get a little bit of character education along with the fun. We earned our award at our last Pack Meeting (monthly theme "Jurassic Pack" no less...so cute!). Check it out.

Build My Testimony!

One of the last things I was involved in with my ward Primary before I was released recently, was helping with a fun Quarterly Activity. We had four rotating stations where the kids made props for a Family Home Evening around the theme of "Building Testimony." At one station they received gameboards and played the game "Build My Testimony!" (Don't Eat Pete! with a gospel theme). At another station they learned about the five parts of a testimony and made a handprint with pictures of the "five" to velcro on each finger. I just sat and bawled in testimony meeting the next day when many of the children stood to bear testimony of real gospel principles instead of just the standard "I love my family" testimony. The third station was making a song-leader's wand to lead the music in FHE (that's Isaac's girlfriend McKenzee in the photo above). Finally, my station was helping the kids decorate a FHE box to store all of their lesson manuals and loose FHE lessons in. An awesome brother in our ward made all the boxes for us and they were perfect!

Over the Hill

Jeremy's mom and dad came to Arizona for Jeremy's 40th birthday on April 23rd (but they aren't old enough to have a son that old, of course). Jeremy took the day off work so he would have time to collect all the free stuff for his birthday. He went for his free short stack at Denny's, his free sandwich and meal at Joe's BBQ and his free dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme. He shared his root beer cake with me and the doughnuts with the boys...what a good man. I had planned a surprise birthday party for him and invited 40 couples (!) to our home on Friday night. Naturally, I was the one who ruined the surprise, but sweet Jeremy let me think I had pulled it off. We had a fun time visiting with our friends and family and feasting on ice cream sundaes and banana splits with all kinds of toppings. So many people brought cute gifts: an adult bib, senior vitamins, an ear phone, a bald man's hair comb, a "40 sucks" lollipop, etc. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and neighbors. Happy Birthday, Honey!

Spring Sing

Twice a year, the choirs from each grade at Franklin Elementary perform at the local high school. We always love the song selections and really enjoy ourselves despite the overcrowded, hot and noisy auditorium. There are always auditions for the solo parts and narrators and this spring, Noah was awarded the boy narrator part! He has such a great speaking voice and did a superb job with the numerous parts he was assigned. Hooray for you, Noah! Jacob followed in his big brother Spencer's shoes and was a big goof-off (the picture above is the only one without him playing around with the girls on either side of him). Oh, well, Spencer is turning out pretty well and we have hope for Jacob, too! (grin)

Fun Van

For the last several years we have participated in the Family Fun Van through the Mesa United Way. What a great program! Every Monday morning we get to play with lots of fun toys, then we clean up and have treats, story time and singing time. Then we have "rec" time (we call it exercise) and then arts & crafts (see the crown Isaac made). On the way out, we get a sticker and a free book. We have loved this free "preschool" with Noah, Jacob and Isaac, but this is probably our last year. Goodbye Fun Van!