State Chess Tournament

TJ just competed in the state chess tournament for 1st graders....and won 14th place! Not bad, I say, for just starting this year. His school placed 11th overall in the state, and TJ and the rest of his team were honored at a school assembly last week.

It's almost a good thing he didn't place better, because his trophy wouldn't have fit on his shelf....it would be almost taller than him! We are very pleased at how well he did.

Golfing with Alligators

At the beginning of March, I played in the ProLab Classic golf tournament in Hilton Head, SC
. It's a tournament that is for those in the Photographic/Lab industry. It's a team event, and my partner hit the ball off the tee close to a water hazard. As we got over the hill to where his ball was, we found it....about 2 feet from this guy's tail o_O. He's about 10-12 feet long from nose to tail.

We actually saw quite a few of large alligators while there....they aren't afraid of you (obviously), but you don't need to be extremely afraid of them either. Don't bother them and they won't bother you.

Family Home Evening with Jospeh Smith

This was a FHE we had a few weeks ago.  They boys had so much fun I wanted to post it, but it took awhile to get the pictures.  Nate gave our lesson.  He taught us about Joseph Smith and did a wonderful job.  He pretended like he was Joseph Smith.  Told us about his life and then let us ask him questions.  What an amazing guest speaker we had :)!  After the lesson, we cleaned and filled our water jugs and put freeze dried food in a backpack to complete our 72 hour kits.  We've had them ready for awhile, but felt like we should add to them.  Now we are even more prepared.  What a great feeling!

T.J.'s Piano Recital

T.J. recently had his piano recital.  He was very nervous, but did very well.  I think he is an amazing piano player for his age.  With little practice he can really go a long way!  We are very proud of him and his talent.

Wonderful Boys and Brothers

Today during scripture study, we were talking about what it meant to be the seed of Joseph.  T.J's response was, "It's like we are the seed and you are the sun helping us grow rightly."  I loved that and thought it was so insightful of him.  He had parent teacher conferences this week and received exceptionally good marks.  We are very proud of him, especially when the teacher has wonderful things to say about his character as well as his grades.  He is an amazing boy that we have been blessed with.

After school today, T.J. brought home the book "Thomas and the Treasure" for Nate.  Nate really wanted it from the book fair yesterday.  Come to find out, T.J. won a drawing he had entered and got to pick any book.  He chose this book for Nate.  It almost makes me cry thinking of how thoughtful they are to each other.  At Costco, Nate got a sample of three jelly beans.  He carried them around the whole time and as we were leaving he got really upset because one fell on the floor.  I told him it was ok, he still had one left, but he started to cry saying that one he was saving for T.J.  I hope all our children will always have this type of relationship!

Fondue Party

This past Valentine's Day, I bought a fondue pot and recipe book for Alisha.  That was only half the present though...we also did a complete fondue dinner, complete with cheese fondue, broth, and chocolate fondue for dessert.  We didn't get a picture of that adventure, but we did the dessert part again last night!  We cut up angel food cake, bananas, marshmallows, and strawberries.  The fondue recipe was:

2            oz unsweetened chocolate

20         marshmallows, quartered

6 tbsp   corn syrup

2 tbsp   half-and-half cream (we just used milk)

1 tbsp   butter, melted

1 tsp     vanilla extract

Yes, it was loaded with sugar, but man oh man, did it turn out 

good :-)

Thomas tower

McKay and his new Thomas kick is manifest in many different ways....of course he enjoys building Thomas towers as well.  Each block has a different Thomas character, and when the whole tower is built, what does he do?

Knocks it down!

Evening at Nanna's house

Last week Geoff and Janae had come down from Idaho to spend some time, so we all got together and had dinner and a great time.  We love getting together with them and my mom at her house, and boy oh boy, the cousins sure like to play!

Exercise!

Alisha got an exercise ball and has been enjoying doing pilates to a video she got.  Nate got a spiderman bouncy ball (you know the ones with the handle that you can bounce all over the house) that he now loves also to use exercising with mom!