Annie Musical

                                 

Sadie wrote and directed a musical for our kids and 3 other families in our neighborhood.

(The Bradys, Cantwells, and Hamiltons).  

The Bradys and Cantwells have been doing a family bookclub with us for the past few years 

and we decided to take a break and do a musical this month.  

The kids took it all on themselves and the parents just got to enjoy.

Sadie learned so much and really developed some great skills 

in organization, technology, management, choreography, time management, etc. 

They did a great job performing it- 

I was happy to see my children "anxiously engaged in a good cause"

Sadie was Miss Hannigan, Packer was Rooster,

Myriam was Annie, 

Holland was an orphan,

 Hunter was a policeman

(and he managed the music/sound)

What great kids!
Here is the link to the youtube video:
"Annie by Sadie"

Monument Valley Trip

Over fall break, I took my family to Monument Valley with some of my siblings and their families.

 We had an indian placement brother, Eric Cly, who was from there.

Donny and Myriam bagpiped "Go My Son" at his grave.

(He was struck by lightning 8 years ago while selling indian jewelry)

 We had a bus tour- this photo is in front of a monument called "3 Sisters"

We hiked to the top of a huge Mesa- 

(it was one of my favorite hikes ever)

On the way there, we stopped at Goblin Valley and had a hay day!

As we pulled up and my kids looked out at the neat arrangements of rocks 

they saw a huge playground and gave a huge cheer in our van.

(They were as happy as if they had arrived at Disneyland)

They took off running- they climbed and played and explored all morning.

It was the perfect time of year to go because it wasn't hot!

On the way home, we stopped and hiked to Delicate Arch.

 During all our hiking, we had a "buddy system"

to keep track of all our kids.  

Myriam had to do a lot of hiking with Benson,

Sadie with Holland, Donny with Packer, and I was with Hunter.

(Hunter got a lesson here about not carving his name at a National Park!)

It was such a fun, quick trip.

Thanks to Lizzie and Charles for drumming it up and inviting us.

2014 4H/Lamb Photos

 This year we enjoyed raising and selling lambs again at the fair.

Sadie's lamb didn't weigh enough to be sold at the fair, so she only earned money for showing her lamb.

Myriam earned a good amount of money because she bribed the sellers 

by telling them she would bagpipe for them afterwards (which she did and they loved it)

Packer's lamb weighed exactly 100 pounds, so he barely made it.  

He and Sadie's lambs weren't that healthy this year- they had prolapsing issues.

This was a tough year to do lambs because we were gone to Nauvoo for 2 1/2 weeks,

but thanks to great friends and neighbors, they were taken care of while we were gone.

Hunter can't wait until next year to be able to have his own lamb. 

(The kids can start the summer after their 3rd grade year)

We are also grateful for a great neighbor, Kip Farmer, who provides all the lambs 

which is an awesome experience for our children to learn responsibility.

Grandma and Sophie were so supportive to come up
 and see the kids show their lambs at the fair.

Myriam is phenomenal at showing her lamb.
She has such great showmanship and lamb control.

Packer and his lamb, "Dandilion"

Myriam and her lamb, "Buddy"

Sadie and her lamb, "Strawberry"

2014 Kid Portraits

My sister, Sophie, took fantastic photos of us yesterday.

She is as good as a professional.

Look at these cute kids!

 Benson

 Holland

 Hunter

 Myriam

 Packer

Sadie

Perfection

"PERFECTION is HANDLING IMPERFECT PEOPLE PERFECTLY."

I have such high expectations for myself and everyone around me, so I am constantly dissappointed.

Elder Uchtdorf's recent talk about being GRATEFUL in ANY circumstance 

April 2014 General Conference

has helped me realize that I can be happy even when things aren't going smoothly,

which I have come to notice is hardly ever!

People (including myself) constantly mess up.

Circumstances are hardly ever perfectly efficient and ideal.

The test isn't whether I can make everything run perfectly,

but if I can PERFECTLY HANDLE all the people and circumstances that don't go smoothly.

(My mom is phenominal at this!)

What a discovery this is for me!  I love things to be perfectly clean, orderly, etc.

But can I love the people around me as I strive to maintain order?

YES!

My temple sealer's advice (Bishop Edgley) was: 

"to be flexible, adaptable, and LONG in patience."

Bagpiping in Nauvoo

A VACATION OF FAITH AND FAMILY

This summer we had an awesome family vacation.

We went to the Nauvoo Pageant for 2 weeks 

where Donny and Myriam bagpiped in the band and

the rest of our family dressed like bagpipers, 

but we called ourselves "singing missionaries."  

Here is a link to our family singing "Abide with Me"

Abide with Me

We learned harmony to some of the bagpipe songs and sang prior to them piping.

We handed out newspapers at the Sunday evening bagpipe concerts at local parks

and daily during the morning parade down Mullhollen Street. inviting people to come to the Pageant.

 

It was so worth our family vacation time because it was so meaningful.

It strengthened our testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ,

it developed our musical talents and missionary skills.

We also got to take a detour to Chicago to visit my sister, Haley,

who went "all out" hosting us.  

When we came home, we sang and bagpiped on (Aug 20th) 

at a local senior citizen center.

Here is Myriam and Donny bagpiping "Steam Train"

Steam Train

Story Telling

I have been making up stories lately to teach lessons to my children. (I got the idea from the Faith in God booklet). It works way better than a lecture and they love it.

Here are 4 of them:

1- Lazy Leo who got turned into a rock. 

(for Packer who has to be pushed to move and is tempted to sleep in)

2- Spanking Suzy who got a million spanks in return when she got to heaven. 

(for Hunter who loves administering justice to everyone else)

3- Dictator Dallas who got her voice taken away from her 

(for me since I am always trying to decide everything and push my preferences on everyone)

4- Shoving Shirley who got buried under a mountain of toys when she opened up the closet 

(for Holland who cleans by shoving things under and in unseen places)