Daisy Garden Party

Valerie loves being in Girl Scouts and has made some cute new friends. Last night, these cute girls finished their first Girl Scout Journey, The Flower Garden. 

 

 In celebration we had a garden party, and released a few hundred lady bugs into the air.  The girls loved the treats and the ladybugs.  I can't wait to start on our next journey. 

Hope of America

Thursday night Joe had the opportunity to participate in Hope of America.  It is a patriotic program put on at BYU every year.  There were 7,000 5th graders involved in the program.  Joe's school was one of the schools that participated.  They have been working on the songs all year.  Thursday morning they went to BYU for a dress rehearsal.  They performed the songs at school that afternoon for an assembly,  and then Thursday night we all headed to BYU for the big production. 

 

 I was not sure what to expect,  but I don't think I was ready for just how big this thing was.  The human flag itself left you a little in awe.  Joe had to be there an hour and fifteen minutes early, so that gave us plenty of time to figure out where he was sitting.   It was a little like playing Where's Waldo.  We knew he had on a yellow shirt,  but so did a thousand or two other kids.  Luckily Joe had told us that he was by the blue part of the flag and I bought my binoculars.  It still took us a few minutes though. 

 Joe's class was sitting just above the top corner of the flag.  Joe is three rows down form the top and four kids in from the left.  The program was really good and the kids had so much fun being a part of it.  Some of my favorite moments were when the entire stadium did the wave during one of the songs.  The final song they turned out all of the lights and the kids did actions with flashlights. It was really cool.  I took a video,  but it is too big for me to download here. 

 .  I am grateful that Joe got to be a part of something like this.  Also did I mention that I love Joe's school teacher.  She is so great,  and as you can see by this picture a really good sport.  The kids love her. 

 The next day there was an article in the news paper with a huge full color photo.  Joe loved being able to see it, and he could even tell who he was in the photo. 

So now he is famous. ;)

A new thing I learned about Joe from our conversation on the ride home:  One of the things on Joe's bucket list is to body surf.  This was revealed when we were discussing the wave. 

April Snowmen

All winter we waited for it to snow.  Now that Spring is here the snow finally arrived too.  Valerie and her friend Mason were happy to go out and play in it. 

 

 

 They each built a snowman. 

The snow will probably be gone tomorrow,  but at least we got to have one snow day!

Staining The Fence - Spring Break Ends

After a week of play, it was time to get to work.  The weather was nice again, and we had a fence that needed to be stained.  The kids were excited to help. 

 

Veronika even enjoyed helping.  She had never painted a fence before and liked doing it.   

I was really grateful for their help.  They painted with me all morning, and did a great job.  It is nice to have one project done.  Now I just need to decide which project to do next, More painting, or put in a vegetable garden? 

Learner's Permit

Emily is our oldest child which means a lot of things are just as new to us as they are to her.  This includes the new rules and laws concerning getting your drivers license.  Way back in the early 1990's when Ryan and I got our drivers licenses, drivers education was a class in school, and they did not even let you get a permit until you were almost 16 and in the class. They made sure you had everything to complete on time so that on your 16th birthday you could walk in and get your license.  Once that happened you were free to drive.   Now drivers education is a separate class that you need to take on your own.  They still offer it at the school, but as a before or after school activity.  Before you take drivers education you need to get your drivers permit by going to the DMV and taking a test.  You are now required to have your permit for 6 months before you get your license.  So a lot of people have their kids get the permit when they turn 15.  We knew that Emily's friends were getting their permit,  but when we asked her about it she was not that anxious to start learning how to drive.   Then a couple of months ago I realized that there was the 6 month law so we started encouraging Emily to go get her permit.  She was still dragging her feet,  so a couple of weeks ago Ryan brought her home a DMV manual and told her to be ready to take the test over Spring break.   Today was the big day!!  Emily was ready to take it and actually asked me when we would be going.  She was a little nervous.  They could take it twice, but she passed on her first try. 

 

She is now ready to start practicing! 

I am not sure I am ready for her to drive yet.  I think this will be a good father daughter activity. At least for the first couple of times out.

Natural History Museum - Spring Break Day 3

At the end of last semester Emily was awarded four tickets to the Natural History Museum.  We decided it would be fun to go over Spring Break.   We planned to make a day of it and maybe even head next door to Red Butte Garden to have a picnic during our visit.  When the day arrived there was a forecast for rain.  By the time we got up to the garden and museum it was snowing.  So we ate lunch in the van and then headed into the museum for some fun. 

 

 

There was so much to see and the great thing for me was that there was plenty of stuff to keep both the teenagers and the kindergartener happy and entertained.  I didn't hear the words "I'm board." at all.  That is really hard to do with that age span. 

 

 

 The boys really liked the live creatures. 

 The dinosaur bones were a favorite too.

 

 There were a lot of things that I did not get pictures of.  We but I think my favorite moment of the day was at the end.  We wandered into an activity room and the kids all sat down and started playing.  I finally had to tell them it was time to leave, so we didn't get stuck in traffic. 

the sky had cleared a little by the time we left, but it was still too cold to visit the Garden.  We will have to go there another day. 

 

Temple Square - Spring Break Day 2

For day 2 of Spring Break we headed to Temple Square.

 

 

       We had gone to see the lights on Thanksgiving weekend,  but I wanted to take Veronika again so she could really see it since the LDS church is a big part of Utah and our life here.  I am so glad we did.  It was a great way to spend the day together, and we always discover new things when we visit. 

We started by taking a tour guided by two sister missionaries.  One of them was from Germany, so it was fun for Veronika to get to speak German with someone.  The other sister was from Switzerland. 

 

They started off by taking us up to the statue of Christ.  No matter how many times I have been to Temple Square or how old I get, this is still one of my favorite things there. 

Then we watched a presentation on the family.  The kids liked it, and it was a good reminder of the importance of family.   Our final stop on the tour was to go inside the Tabernacle.  Valerie was very impressed with the organ.  The sisters had us sit in the middle and then they went up on the stand and spoke to show how good the acoustics are in the building.  I remember going there as a child and my parents telling me that I needed to be extra reverent because every sound could be heard throughout the room. 

 

 After the tour I made the kids pose for a few pictures in front of the beautiful flower gardens.
 

Then we left temple square to go meet Grandpa Bolander for lunch.  On the way to lunch Josh discovered what he would like for Christmas this year, a giant pig statue for his room. 

 

 

 

 Grandpa had been wanting to take Veronika to Siegfried's Deli.  They serve German food. 

 It was fun to experience it with Veronika .  There is also a German market in Siegfried's.  Veronika was happy to see some familiar things,  but she also found it funny that a lot of the stuff on the shelves were the generic brands like buying Western Family or Kroger brand at the grocery store. 
It was a great lunch though and the kids always love spending time with Grandpa. 

After lunch we headed to the Beehive House.  We have been to Temple Square many times,  but I had never taken my kids here.  I thought Veronika might also like to see a Pioneer home. 

 

I think the kids liked the tour.  I know they liked getting a hot roll and honey butter at the Lion House Pantry after. 

We finished out our day by going to see the Movie "Meet The Mormons."  We did not get a chance to see it while it was in the regular theatre.  It was fun to hear all of the stories.  My kids especially loved the Candy Bomber, but I think my favorite was the football coach.  Maybe because I loved seeing him sitting in sharingtime with his primary class. 

On the way back to the car I had the kids stop for one more picture.  Valerie had her own idea of where she needed to stand.  My first instinct was to make her move, but I changed my mind and just took it.  I am glad I did. 

 This was such a fun day.  I love going here with my kids. 

Spring Break Begins!

My bothers, and their families came to visit for the first day of Spring Break.  My kids always love it when their cousins come.  It is a special treat when we get to see cousins from Washington, so having Brent and Amy come for the day was really fun. 

     Ian, Joe, Davis, Josh Jaxson

Emily, TJ, Violet, Valerie

Brevin, Scarlet

 

Brent and Ryan took the boys out shooting.  This was josh's first time going and he was so excited to get to shoot a gun.  Both he and Joe shot a 22.  Veronika also joined the fun and shot a gun for the first time. 

 

It was a little chilly, and Veronika came home pretty cold,  so she opted not to go out and be in the picture when I took it. 

 

The evening we had dinner and spent the night playing games and watching the NCAA championship game.  We knew the kids were having a great time together,  but it was confirmed when we got a text from my neighbor saying that the kids were being too loud. 

 

It was a fun night.  Hopefully we can do it again soon,  and maybe next time Ellen and her family will be able to join us too.  

April Fools

Yesterday was one of our normal busy Tuesday nights.  The boys had cub scouts and scouts, Emily and Veronika had Young Women's and Ryan was at the church for Bishopric meeting and helping with whatever else the bishop needed. 

about 8:30 the kids started to return home from their activities.  All coming in through the front door.  By 9:00pm everyone was home except for Ryan.  I sent the kids to bed and continued working on getting the kitchen cleaned up and updating my blog.  (I am trying to catch up on posts I have missed.)  Around 9:30 my next door neighbor texted me asking if Ryan was home yet, claiming to be looking for the bishop. I texted back no and continued to work on my stuff.  Around 10:45pm I heard the garage door open.  This was weird, because I knew that Ryan had walked to the church.  At first I thought that maybe Joe had ridden his bike to scouts and had forgotten to close the garage when he got home, but then I heard the garage close and Ryan came walking into the house from the garage.  Before I could ask him why he went through the garage, he asked me if I was playing some kind of joke on the kids the next morning for April Fool's Day. 

 

       I had no idea what he was talking about.  So he told me to come look at the porch.  When I opened the front door there were a bunch of balloons caged on the front porch with plastic wrap.  Someone was playing an April Fools joke on us.  I thought it was cute so I took a picture.  We knew we were not supposed to see it until the morning, and I knew that my kids were going to love finding this in the morning. 

 

        At this point I was not sure who had done this.  We noticed little papers in the balloons and so we decided to pop a couple to see what they said.  They each had a number on the paper.  It was then that I had a pretty good idea who it was. 

     Last September for pack meeting we had done a carnival type activity.  My friend Allison Peterson's husband was the cub committee chair and they had donated balloons for decorations.  She had a lot of balloons that she had bought for a fundraiser she did.  The balloons were not blown up, but each balloon had a piece of paper with a number in it so when they did blow them up they were ready to go for their fundraiser.  It was tricky to get the paper back out so we had just left them in and blew the balloons up with them.  When I saw that the papers in the balloons on our porch had numbers on them I realized these were the same balloons.  I also suspected that my next door neighbor who texted me was Allison's accomplice.

     Ryan and I headed off to bed.  I was excited to see what the kids were going to do when they found the surprise.  The wind blew hard last night.  Hard enough that it woke me up a few times.  When morning came I peaked out the window to see if the joke had survived the wind.  Much to my disappointment the balloons were gone.  I guess that Karma decided to step in, because we discovered that the balloons had all blown over to my neighbor's yard (the one that helped)  and popped. 

     That made the joke even better.  I showed the kids the pictures I had taken.  They thought it was great that someone would try to prank us like that.  They also found it very funny to see where the balloons ended up.  April Fool's Day is not something I get really into, but I love these kinds of jokes and we truly feel loved. Thanks Allison and Meredith for all of the fun.  Happy April Fools Day!!!

Jr Jazz

It's basketball season, and both boys have decided to play this year. 

Josh is on team Destroyers. 

This is his second season playing.  He says it is one of his favorite sports.   

 

      His best friend Jared Michaelson is on his team this year and that makes it even more fun. 
     Josh is getting better every time he plays.  He is really good at playing defense and stays on his man.  Sometimes he has to remember to not find his man when he is playing offense. 
 My favorite moment this season watching Josh play was at his last game.  Grandma Bolander had come to watch him play.  She had told him that she was going to take him out to lunch after the game.  Josh was playing really well.  Towards the end of the game he helped his team make a play.  As soon as the basket went in Josh stopped and checked his watch to see what time it was.  Grandma and I both suspect that he was seeing how close it was to lunch time. It was probably one of those moments where you have to be there,  but It was pretty funny. 
Josh had a great season and loves playing sports with his friends. 

 

This was Joe's first season ever playing basketball.  He decided it was time to give it a try. 

 

His teams name was Phoenix. 

Ryan Blair was his coach and he was so great with Joe.  He knew it was his first time and he tried really hard to make sure Joe was learning the game. 

 

 

Sam Michaelson, Morgan, Joe, Addison Rodgers, 

Jackson Blair, Chance Attack, Kaden Westphal, Ethan.

 

I was surprised how fast Joe picked up on playing basketball.  I could see that some of his Karate skills really came in handy in maneuvering around the court. 

He also loved getting to play with his friends. 

  
 Their team had a great season and won almost every game.  My favorite moment for Joe this season was seeing him make his very first basket.  As a mom I was really nervous about him starting in this sport so late.  I am so grateful that his team was truly a team and they helped and built each other up to try to help each other be their best.  It was a great season. 

Even thought the boys were playing in the same league their games were never in the same place.  Many of the boys had brothers playing on other teams.  Grandma Bolander made it to a couple of games.  One of the things she thought was very entertaining was joining the precession driving from one school to the other between games.  She would take the boys and join in the line.  The boys always love having her come to cheer them on

.