No More Braces!

Jonny is so happy now that his braces have been removed!  Our whole family is now done with braces!  Now the boys just have to get their retainers checked periodically.  

Looking great, Jonny!  Love that smile!

Daniel's 16th Birthday

Daniel had a great birthday, even though it was on the last day of school.  We went out to dinner as a family at Texas Roadhouse that night, and on Friday night, he had a party with his friends.

After school, we did our "last day of school" tradition of going to Cold Stone Creamery for a treat.

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Jonny's Piano Recital

Jonny plays the piano so beautifully!  We had fun at his piano recital and we are so proud of him!

Jonny's 8th Grade Awards Ceremony

It's the end of Jonny's time at the middle school.  Crazy!  We were glad to go to his awards ceremony, where he received an award for being on the Principal's Honor Roll.  Great job, Jonny!

Jonny's Final Band Concert

It was pretty strange knowing that this would be Jonny's last band concert--ever!  He is not signing up for band in high school.  It was a great concert and Jonny did a wonderful job!

"The Dark and Sleepy Hollow"

"Enchanted"

"Fable"

"Ghost Riders"

It was fun to have Emily and Nathaniel in town so they were able to go to the band concert with us!

Mother's Day

I had a fantastic Mother’s Day and weekend! Nathaniel and Audrey were in town because Nathaniel was doing some work at the office, so I had all the kids home and it was perfect! Saturday was a really long day. We started out by going to clean the church at 8:30 AM. It took us almost an hour and a half but we got it done. We came back and did a few chores and got ready to go to lunch at Slate Bistro in Trilogy. Jonny went to his friend Reid’s birthday party. Nathaniel and Audrey took Daniel to his swim in-service and he practiced driving. Emily, Audrey, and I went to get a pedicure. That was really nice. Andrew was frustrated that he had so much schoolwork when he just wanted to be spending time with family. I did some chores on the computer and took about a 20-minute nap. That evening was the Young Women fundraiser. We paid for dinner and a lot of baked goods. They had pulled pork for dinner. The kids all went home and Michael and I stayed for most of the live auction and we got some passes for Alta Climbing. We had to get more baked goods as we left because they were pretty desperate to get rid of them. Then we drove over to Jackson Solomon's wedding reception. There were some couples there at the fundraiser. Once everyone got home, we watched the newest episode of Young Sheldon and then a Lingo episode and then everyone went to bed.

Sunday was wonderful, as well. Sitting in Sacrament meeting with my entire family was the best Mother's Day gift I could ask for. Andrew ended up blessing the Sacrament and Jonny passed the Sacrament. They gave out Nothing Bundt Cakes for all the women after church. Michael came home with us so I could get a family picture so that was really nice. Then he went back to the church. When he got home, I talked to everybody about the cruise. Erin came over at 3 PM and Michael and the kids made food. Michael barbecued steaks and the kids helped to make the sides. The food was delicious. Afterwards, I did a few things on the computer while everyone cleaned up. Jonny fell asleep on the couch and the rest of us played Taboo. That's my favorite game. After that, we played two rounds of Quixort. It was Daniel, Michael, Nathaniel, and Audrey on one team against the rest of us. They won two times in a row. Daniel gave us a very nice family home evening lesson. He had an object lesson for us. He asked for volunteers to run a race and Nathaniel and Andrew agreed to do it. Daniel said the prize was two dollars. They raced and Andrew won and Daniel gave them each one dollar. Michael immediately said, hey, why do they both get one dollar? Of course, he was trying to make the point of the laborers in the vineyard and he did a really nice job. Nathaniel commented about how much Daniel has matured and isn't as arrogant as he used to be. He meant it as a compliment but we all had to laugh. He also said Daniel would make a good missionary so that was nice. We talked about what we learned in church and did our manners for the week. After Erin left, I opened presents with the kids. Emily and Jonny got me a cute Lego heart and put it together and it was so cute. They also got me a candle and wrote cards for me. Andrew got me a bag of Kit Kats and Daniel wrote a really nice heartfelt card. He put a line in there about how my faith never falters and I thought that was very nice. I need to read it again because I didn't have my glasses on and he writes really small. Nathaniel and Audrey got me a box of truffles and a card in Spanish. I was able to figure most of it out and then Nathaniel told me that it's in English on the back. He got a kick out of that. Then I opened the presents from Michael which were a shirt and a dress. Michael and Andrew went to the hot tub and everybody else started getting ready for bed. I organized pictures and did a Facebook post and then I got ready for bed, too. It was a wonderful day!

Jonny's Track Season

This is Jonny's second year of running track in middle school.  His events were the 100 meter and 200 meter again, and he also tried discus this year.  He didn't love discus, but we're proud of him for trying something new.

Track meet at Higley vs Payne, 200 M

Track meet at Higley vs Cooley, 100 M

I love how he comes from behind and passes multiple runners!

Track meet at Higley vs Cooley, 200 M

Track meet at Higley, 200 M

Great job, Jonny!