School's Out!

The last week of school wasn't quite perfect . . .

Lucy got sick and had to miss Monday and Tuesday - which was field day, boohoo. But it's been so cool and wet that field day had to cancel all its water games and be inside. That was a little bit of consolation to Lucy, but not much. Lucy was so bummed she had to miss those two days. I sent her on Wednesday - the last day and only a half-day. She wasn't barfing any more, but did still have a fever . . . so maybe that was bad of me, but she really wanted to go and I didn't think it would hurt too much. There had been tons of some virus going around the schools and so I'm sure Lucy wasn't the only one a bit sick.

 Yay, all done (well almost)!

Walking to school - Emmy's last time going to Northside Elementary. Sniff, sniff.

Miles woke up Wednesday feeling "dizzy." He always states that before he gets sick. And, sure enough, he barfed twice that day. But, just like it always is with Miles, he was feeling better by evening-time. (He's bug is more like the 12-hour bug!) Wednesday was Miles' first day of summer vacation as he had finished up all his finals the day before. He did awesome - getting a 100% on his mythology final and a 95% on his geometry. He ended the semester and his first year of high school with a 3.8something GPA. Yay for Miles.

Anyways, we did watch a movie Wednesday night to celebrate the end of school. We watched Stand By Me, but edited it! Man the language is bad in that movie - so thankfully VidAngel cut it out for us. I love that movie! I think the kids did, too!

Thursday we (minus Ben) headed out to St. George. It rained most of the drive, but we made it. The kids swam that night, of course. Friday the kids swam some more and in the afternoon we went mountain biking on some cool trails (Bearclaw Poppy trails). Lucy did great, even coming off 4 days of fevers and hardly eating any food. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. :(

Saturday we got up and headed out early to hike in Kolob's canyon (which is part of Zion's, which made it a $35 hike!). The hike was beautiful - the green plants with the red sand and rocks were so awesome.

The start of the hike.

We got to cross this creek like two dozen times - just one-way. Awesome!

A cool little nook!

A cool little cabin!

 A pretty part of the trail.

 Another pretty spot!

And another, ha!

The hike ended at the Double Arch Alcove - a pretty cool finale!

 Just keeping it real . . . Emmy was mad here.

 So I tried to make her laugh. She's saying, "Stop it!"

 Oh, but what's that?! A little smile . . .

But she went quickly back to being mad . . . :)

After the hike we came home and ate lunch, then headed out to use Jonas' kayak. We went to a spot we went a few years ago, but it looked a little more sketchy and no one was using it, so we wondered . . . Then a car pulled in and told us about a reservoir "only" 12 miles on a gravel road. So we all agreed to try it out . . . Ugh, it was awful! Okay, not really, but to me. The road started out okay - just a big, gravel road, no biggie. But then it started winding up the hills and became a narrow one-way road. I hate those oh-so-much. Anyways, after like 17 miles of driving on the awful road, we found the reservoir. Indeed, it was a cool spot. Unfortunately, seeing as it was in the hills, it was quite chilly and windy. So we all agreed we didn't want to kayak there! Luckily I could take a "real" road out and we found ourselves at Veyo. My parents told me about this town and that we should go and get one of the famous "Veyo pies" at . . .Veyo Pies. So at least that was something good that came out of it! We ended up, after TWO hours, back at the pond where we started. This time the kids got in and enjoyed it.

On our drive home we stopped by the Gunlock Falls. They were so awesome! In fact, we probably could have spent the whole afternoon playing there! Oh well, we still had fun checking them out.

On Sunday we went to church, the kids got mad at each other about Monopoly, etc. :) Then, after another swim on Monday morning, we headed back home. This time my drive was 50% rain - hard rain! Slushy snow even at one point. Even St. George was a bit cool. What a crazy and fun start to our summer break!

2019 Candy Grams

Lucy,

You are now done with 2^nd-grade and that means you move to the “secondary” side of the school – wahoo! You loved school and always thought it was so fun! You are a SUPER writer and blow your teachers away with how much you always write!  You competed in your first gymnastic meets and had many great skors! You looked so good out there in all your events. You always loved going to Grandma’s houses (both of them!) and never complained about the “long” drives to get there – you were just excited to see your grandparents! You are truly just a burst of sunshine and goodness in our family and at your school – we’re lucky to have you around! Have a splendid summer! Love ya!

Emmy,

Your last year of elementary school – and I think it was a good one! Sure, you may have snickered one too many times in your class with Makala and Peyton, but you still did well in your  5-th grade year. You even earned the President’s Gold Award for Educational Excellence. You were one of four winners in your grade – nice job! You continue to think many boys are hot, but narrowed down your crush list considerably this year (from like 40 to 5!). You did awesome at gymnastics this year – learning many a new twix. From kips to back walkerovers on the beam to fly-aways off the bar to back-tucks on the floor. Go you! Finally, you did not need any lucky charm to help you do awesome at your track and field meet – 2^nd place in the mile! You worked hard at it and it paid off. It was one of my highlights to watch you run it! Enjoy your summer – the summer before middle-school! Aiyiyi! Love ya!

Jonas,

Your middle-year of middle-school is all over! It was another great and busy year for you! You become a super-star reader by jumping up three grade-levels in your testing. Wowzers. You hardly every hit a dudnote and actually excelled in your Jazz Band. You made it to the Honors Jazz Band trip, plus you made 1^st trombone for next year’s jazz band! You had a few solos and played great. But when we had you play a solo for our family’s New Year’s Day Talent Show, you were too laffy and couldn’t play! You grabbed some lacrosse sticks this year and tried the new-to-you sport. I think you enjoyed it – especially the practices. And although you were one of the runts on the track team, you were awesome! You impressed us all with the many activities you were involved in this year. Enjoy your summer – taking a 7^th grade science course since your school messed up on your schedule . . . Love ya!

Miles –

You finished up your first year of high school through the BY-whatchamacallit online program. You did really good in all of your classes, and definitely took plenty of time to finish up your first english course. It was a doozy! You also enjoyed your classes at the high school – from art, to mythology, to your year-long class in Project Unify where you were a good buddy to all the special need students. Zero = the times you did NOT ride your bike to seminary or to your high school classes. Come rain, snow, or shine (and darkness) you were out there riding. You loved your seminary class and were usually one of the three musketeers who would be there on time (the other two were your teacher’s children . . . ). You did great this past school – now celebrate SUMMER (with taking your second semester of 9^th-grade english. . . ) Love ya!

Be Loyal to the Royal Within You

My partner and I had already decided to do a daddy-daughter activity for May. As Emmy was working on the value "Individual Worth" in May, she saw an idea for a project - a princess day-camp. So I decided to have Emmy help run our activity and we came up with the theme of "Be Loyal to the Royal Within You."

It was a ton of work for me and a lot of work for Emmy. Emmy has to put in 10 hours for each project, and she got a bit of "overtime" on this one. :) Not much, though.

Anyways, the evening turned out great and we had all 8 of our active activity-day girls there with their dads. So awesome!

 For the craft I cut the boards and Emmy sanded them all (and Ben routered (?) them).

 Emmy punched little holes in the boards so I could then hammer in all the nails.

 This was our "practice" craft - which is now Emmy's. :) Miles showed us how to "string" it. We realized, however, when Miles was doing it that the little girls, even with their dad's help, would have a hard time doing this . . . So we came up with Plan B: dads would make this for their daughters, while the daughters made a little booklet "All About Dad." (Our neighbor/ward member wrote the words for us - she's amazing!)

 We (minus Miles who was getting ready for his last two finals) went on Monday evening to set up the primary room. Ben did awesome with the lights.

 Emmy and I made the pom-poms. I think it turned out really cute!

 Emmy "conducted" the evening and even gave a talk on the theme.

 Sister Burr (lady in black) also gave a little talk/lesson.

 Fun!

 The girls made little foam tiaras and then worked on their little booklets for their dads.

 The dads all did a great job on their string-art craft for their daughters!

 The girls and their booklets.

Then it was on to dancing:

The dancing was adorable. We had Jennifer Burris teach a couple of dances (the waltz and the electric slide). Then Emmy helped with leading "Alabama Gal," which many of the girls knew from school - which is where Emmy and Lucy learned it, too. It was a big hit.

Finally, dessert time! We had a chocolate sauce that everyone spooned in to their own ramekins, and then they grabbed assorted foods to dip in the delicious chocolate: strawberries, angel food cake, bananas, apples, pretzels, potato chips (a favorite among the dads), etc. It was a great night!

Emmy's Continuation Ceremony

Well Emmy "graduated" from elementary school, but "continues" in her educational pursuits. Or something like that. :) Emmy had her ceremony on Monday - during the day (luckily Ben had a one-hour break so he could come!). It was fun and Emmy really enjoyed it. She earned a reading award for the semester's awards, and then earned the President's Gold Award for Educational Excellence. I don't know exactly how you qualify - but I think you have to be in the 90% percentile (in all subjects?!), only have received 3s or 4s on your report cards all year, have good behavior all year, etc. There were only four 5th-graders who earned it this year and so we were super proud of Emmy. (Her brothers both earned it - but in Jonas' year, there were like a dozen of them! I can't remember Miles' year . . .) Emmy was pleasantly surprised by it.

 Her "Gold" award certificate.

 Her Gold award and elementary school Certificate of Completion.

 Our beautiful 5th-grader, soon to be middle-schooler.

 Emmy with Peyton, a good friend this year.

Peyton, Emmy, and Rosa - classmates.

 Emmy couldn't show her teeth much in the photos because she had just eaten a cupcake with dark blue frosting . . .

Oh my! Hahaha.

She's loved her elementary years, but is ready for middle school!