Goblin Valley Campout

Colin carried each of the boys thru this muddy path, so they wouldn't get their shoes and socks wet. He said the water was freezing. What a great leader!
That's from walking through that muddy water!

The goblins!

Joseph Smith Memorial building

Here's the kids standing by the huge Joseph Smith statue. This was at the end of Lisa and Miguel's wedding reception. I'm hoping to get some pictures from someone of the wedding because we left our camera in the car by mistake! Lisa and Miguel had a beautiful sealing in the SLC temple. It was great to be with family and to share in their special day.

Cody returns from his mission!

Manufacturing class

Calvin loves his manufacturing class at Timberline! So far he's made a hammer, and this here very cool hot dog roaster! The handle started out as a plain block of wood, and he crafted it into what is shown here. He got to do some welding on the metal part, which he really enjoyed. The class room has tons of equipment and machinery for the kids. One day I came to pick Calvin up from school, but he was still working on finishing his hammer. I waited outside the class, and watched all the action from the large windows surrounding the room. It was so neat to see all these kids going around using equipment and power tools to make different things. They were all very capable and confident. What a great hands-on learning experience for Calvin! Right up his alley with his interest in building. Mr. Bass (or "Bass" as the kids call him) walked over to me to see if he could help me with anything. "How are you?" I asked. With a big friendly smile he said, "Over-worked and under-paid!" Bass comes to school early and stays late so these kids can work on their projects. Calvin says he is a great teacher- nice, funny, and treats the kids with respect. We are hoping to get Devon into his class next year. It's been a blast! We are thankful for teachers who provide experiences like this for our kids!

Plant on Steroids

Devon did an experiment a while back. He took cuttings from a mint plant. One of the plants he put in water (right) and the other he put in water but added some crushed Prednisone to it (left-over from last summer). He wondered if it would make the plant grow super fast, big and strong. I predicted it would not flourish at all, and turns out I was correct (I have lived it- thus my prediction). The root system became very weak, as did the plant which wilted, and growth didn't happen. The other plant in the clear water grew a very strong root system, and stood tall and strong. So, we figured this visual would be good for people who want to increase their athletic performance by taking steroids. Don't use steroids because they damage the body, immune system, and the mind! I feel bad for people who have to take them long-terms for certain medical conditions. I hope I never have to take them again (asthma). Certainly not planning on it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This week is "family history" week for the youth in our ward. They've been doing indexing (databasing old census and military records), learning about their own family history, going on a youth temple trip to do baptisms for the dead, and writing their own personal journals. Another activity for this week was to make a dinner from a country that's part of our herritage. So, being St. Patrick's Day and all, I decided to make the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner since some of our ancestors are Irish. I also found a great recipe for Creamy Irish Rice Pudding. Let's see what everyone thought of our Irish dinner:
The proud chef.Can you see the building Calvin is making? Bread, corned beef, carrot, and lastly, a potato on the very top.
After a small portion of dinner, I said, "well, I'm ready for dessert!" "Me too!" Colin replied all too quickly. I guess we're not huge fans of corned beef and cabbage, but the dessert was great!

Ty didn't touch his dinner! In fact, the first picture of this blog entry was going to be of him crying. I took a great picture of him wailing about dinner. I couldn't bring myself to post the crying picture though because he looked way too sad. He's a boy who knows what he wants when it comes to food, that's for sure! Almost every night when we're tucking him into bed, he tells us what he wants for breakfast the next morning. He's a constant snacker, and he tells me exactly what he wants. SO, when this Irish dinner was placed on the table, he wasn't too excited about it. He was begging to go to bed because he didn't want any part of dinner! So here Tyrese is, happy to finally be in bed. I bet he'll eat a big breakfast in the morning! I bet I know what he'll ask me to make him too. (oatmeal with yogurt and blueberries, a bagel, eggs, toast, or a muffin)

Calvin got braces!

Lots of Rock climbing and other stuff

Here's us at Momentum! It's a lot of fun!
This wall is 40-50 feet. The triplets love to make it to the top!

Devon wrote "Chi" in Chinese, laminated it, and put it on his door. He's also been making origami, and he has a goal to make one swan every day until his birthday!

Calvin, Devon, Creed, Pierce, (and their cousin) Walker at the South Jordan Temple.