B's Big Week

Wednesday night B was awarded his Tenderfoot rank at the Scout Court of Honor.
Then on Thursday he turned 12. Wow!! I remember turning 12 and what a big deal it was to leave primary and enter Young Womens. I can't believe my son is now that old. We celebrated his birthday opening presents and eating ice cream cake. He was happy to get lots of money for his birthday since he is saving up to buy a new bike.
Saturday morning B and R left with our Branch President and his son for a father-son trip to Palmyra for the boys' Priesthood Preview.
They visited the Smith Family home, the Sacred Grove and the Hill Cumorah. B's favorite part of the trip... rolling down the Hill Cumorah. (A small reminder that these are 11/12 year old boys and what could be more fun than a really steep hill that makes you roll so fast you can't even keep going straight.) B did say that the movie about the Prophet Joseph Smith showing at the visitor center was also really good. (That made me feel better.)
Sunday night B was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a special event made extra special by the fact that his Grandpa was here to participate in the ordination... three generations of worthy Priesthood holders. (And the evening was made extra extra special by the fact that R was ordained a High Priest at the same time.)
What a wonderful week!

Memorial Day

Twice a year I look forward to our trip to the WP cemetery to place flags at the headstones. The cub scouts, boy scouts, brownies, and girl scouts do this before Memorial Day and Veterans Day each year. This is the 4th year that we have participated.
I'm not sure what, exactly, it is that I love about this but it probably has to do with seeing 50 or more 5 to 18 year olds walking through the cemetery carrying arm loads of flags.
I don't usually just wander the cemetery but I love how this service gives me the opportunity to do just that . I don't read every headstone I pass, but I read some.

I find myself thinking about the people who are buried here, how they lived, and how they died. There are WP graduates, veterans of wars and conflicts, spouses, and children... sometimes very young children. The last two times we have placed flags, we have been assigned to a newer area of the cemetery. As we place flags, it has been sobering to read these headstones. They mark the graves of cadets who've graduated during the time that we've lived here, and then went off to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and were killed.
This Memorial Day I remember family members who have left this life...some of them old and some of them very young. And I also think of those who have sacrificed their lives in service for our country.

Gardening and Making a Dirt Angel

We started a new project last week. After 2 years of gardening in my square foot gardens in my yard (I'm still doing them this year too) I branched out and signed up for a garden plot. There is a huge fenced in area here on post with 44 plots that are each 10 feet by 20 feet.

My reasons for doing this garden:
1. Grow the things that don't grow well in my backyard because they don't get enough sun there.
2. Give the kids a summer project. (I didn't share that with them. I told them we were practicing self-reliance, and being obedient, etc., etc. but really I want them to have something that they have to help with.)

Anyway, back to the events of the last week. When I went down earlier in the week, our area had not been rotatilled (sp?) yet and was 90 percent covered by weeds up to 2 feet tall. It looked like it probably wasn't going to get tilled which meant we were going to get to do lots of weeding. I was excitted. (Kind of sick but that means there would be lots of productive work for the kids to do.) When we showed up Friday night, the weeds were gone. Bummer!!! They rotatilled Friday morning.
Here is a picture of our plot as we found it when we arrived. We were hoping to get a true "Before" picture with all of the weeds but they were gone. The tilling job wasn't the greatest though so we got to spend an hour Friday and 2 hours Saturday morning digging out remnants of weeds and picking up/digging out lots of rock. B's favorite part... swinging the hoe.

What would have been the best picture from Saturday morning, I missed because my camera was in the van. We'd finished with the digging, leveling, and surface scraping to get the last of the weed remenants and small rocks on the surface. The plot looked pristine. We had 3 buckets full of small pieces of weed and small rocks with a bunch of dirt mixed in that we were carrying to a back corner of the garden area to dump. When the buckets were lifted up, you could see a ring in the dirt where they had been sitting. Ah Ha!!!! This was inspiration to P. I was in a far back corner of the garden area when I heard C yell, "Mom, P's trying to make a dirt angel." I looked and saw P, laying on the ground in the middle of our plot, moving her arms and legs back and forth. Then she stood up and looked to see if she could see her angel. I wished I would have had my camera. Oh well. Dirty, but clever, idea.

Saturday afternoon and Monday we returned to the plot to prepare our planting areas. (Dig down 6 inches, work in composte and create mounds.) I did most of this as B and C were making me nervous with the hoe and shovel and the small space. We went back again last night to make the area for our cucumbers and put up the support.

Here it is ready to be planted. The majority of those rocks we found while digging up the ground.
We'll be growing, peppers, carrots, zuchinni, summer squash, cantelope, cucumbers, and P is growing sunflowers. We'll be planting this weekend. (And we've got to plant our snap peas, beans, and radishes in our back yard still.) I can't wait. I love to dig in the dirt.

Mother's Day Mac and Cheese

The Characters.....
The Result....
The Story....

I really don't like Mothers Day (and if I tried to explain, this blog would be really long and boring). Thanks to my kids, I had a wonderful Mothers Day this year.

All last week I kept teasing them by saying "Sunday is Mother's Day. Did you get me anything?" P was quick to volunteer that she was still making me something...(she actually made me several pictures and cards over the course of the week.) C let me know that she was making me something too. (More on that later.)
B, on the other hand, informed me that he didn't have anything for me and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was a bit bothered by that. So, I explained to them that I was only teasing. Mothers Day isn't about getting your Mom something, it is about honoring your mother. I told them that the best way that they could honor me is by being good and looking for ways to help.

Getting ready for church Sunday morning had its normal ups and downs but B and C were perfect in Sacrament Meeting. (That was a wonderful Mothers Day gift right there.) Then, as we were walking out of church B informed me, with excitement in his voice, that he "Really wanted to make Lunch and Dinner." When I asked him what he was going to make for lunch he said, "Special Mac and Cheese." I was curious about the special part. He explained that it was going to be special because there was going to be a special ingredient. Now, I was a bit concerned. I didn't want to let on that I might not trust his cooking creativity but I was going to have to eat this so I wanted to make sure it wasn't too bad. He said it was something special that wouldn't change the taste.

So, he and C made lunch. It took them almost an hour but they did it all by themselves and set the table too. It really was quite nice. We had milk, "Mother's Day" Mac and Cheese, carrot sticks, and apple slices. And the special ingredient.... a bunch of red food coloring to turn the mac and cheese pink for mothers day. It turned out more coral than pink but they didn't care. I, on the other hand, had a bit of an issue with the color. I know it doesn't taste any different but the color still played tricks with my taste buds. It didn't taste bad, just not as good as it usually tastes. (Siblings....remember the time that I think it was Byron and I made butterscotch pudding and put a bunch of green food coloring in it to try and gross out Warren and Leah? It back fired. They didn't care, and I was the one that couldn't eat the pudding. It tasted gross to me all because it was green.)

After B and C spent an hour making lunch, I wasn't sure they would be up for making dinner too, but when that time came around, B insisted that he make dinner. And so, with a little help from me, they made sausage and french toast for dinner, washed up some grapes and set the table again. Wonderful!!!! They really made Mother's Day great by doing so much and doing it with wonderful attitudes.

C also gave me 2 candles that she had made, one in Brownies and the other with her Faith in God leader. They both smelled wonderful and are beautiful. The Berry Pie one looks too pretty to burn and it smells just like berry pie. She gave it to me in a little clear plastic clam shell (like you would use to take dessert home from a restaurant). On the outside of the clam shell was a sticker that said, "Fat Free." Cute!

Watch out she's an orange belt now!

We were quite surprised last week when C got invited to test for her orange belt in Tae KwonDo. It surprised us because she has only had her yellow belt for 4 months and she is still in the beginner class. (Students usually get invited to the advanced class a couple of weeks after earning their yellow belt but, after breaking down during an unofficial try at the advanced class, and the fact that socializing during class is SO tempting for C, she had yet to be invited to the advanced class. Consequently we weren't expecting an orange belt test because we thought she needed to be in the advanced class first.)

Anyway, we were presently surprised to find out that she had been invited to test for Orange belt and equally proud of her when she did an awesome job on her test and was awarded her Orange belt at class last Monday night. Way to go C!!!

Dance Recital

Saturday was P's dance recital. I was concerned about how she would do because she was not too sure about dancing on the stage in front of a bunch of people. Thursday night was the first rehearsal in the auditorium and she did wonderfully...better than I had ever seen her dance in class. She was smiling, animated, and doing it all perfectly. (It helps that their teacher is down on the floor in front of them doing it with them.) I was so bummed that I hadn't taken the video camera on Thursday. She danced well at the dress rehearsal on Friday and the performance on Saturday too, the class just wasn't as together. (You never know what you are going to get with 8 three and four year olds on a stage.)

Here is the video of Saturday's performance.