Pizazz Photos

We had a busy Saturday! Courtney had a softball clinic in the morning at Snow Canyon High School. She was a bit nervous until she saw her favorite babysitter (who is on the high school team) and then all was well. She had a great time and even won a t-shirt in the raffle! Lucky girl.


In the afternoon Courtney had team pictures for Pizazz. We got her ready (her hair didn’t cooperate at all) and went to Pioneer Park which is by the red rock that has “DIXIE” written on it. I didn’t realize how large the place was but it was huge and crowded! We parked and had to hike for a while to find the rest of the girls.

The photographer was about 20 minutes behind schedule so we had to sit around waiting. Luckily, I had grabbed my kindle so Courtney could play a game or do something so she wasn’t bored. And we took a couple of photos ourselves of her and the red rocks. It was hilarious because the place was so busy that once in a while an entire group of people would suddenly walk right throw the photo. There was even one time when someone repelled right into the photo! I laughed so hard. The photographer didn’t seem phased at all. She just said, “That’s what Photoshop is for!” But really, repelling into a photo?!?!

When it was Courtney’s turn for her group photo it didn’t take long because there aren’t many of them this year. But I think it will turn out well. I tried to take a photo with my phone but it doesn’t look that great, but you’ll get the idea.

Then it was time for the big group shot. There are A LOT of girls on the team so it takes quite a while to get them all situated. Courtney was told where to stand and then left there for about 20 minutes before they took the picture. This drove her CRAZY!! She really wasn’t happy by the time they snapped the photos but she will live. She wanted to be a girl who got to sit down because her feet were tired, but it all worked out and I think the photos will be nice.

Courtney is on the front rock on the left.  She is the third from the left.

They are home!

Kathy and Don are finally home from their vacation mission to New Zealand. The kids were really excited and wanted to do some special things for them. We had been checking on the Overton house for a couple of months so we decided to get some balloons to welcome them home and then the kids wanted to make a sign. So we made a BIG sign to put on their garage door. When we taped it up, I made sure that they would still open their garage door without having to take it down. Aren’t I nice? ;)


The kids painted the sign before they went to school and then we put it up that evening when we went over to park their car in the garage and make sure everything was ready for them to come home.

We had dinner with them on Sunday night and it was fun to hear about their experiences and all the great things they were able to see and do. They made a huge difference in the family history archives there and I am so happy they went!! Great job!!

Astronomy Night

The kids’ elementary school is a STEM school. That means they focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. So they try to have family nights when they focus on one of those goals. At the end of March, they had an astronomy night where the college science department brought some telescopes and helped with activities that would teach more about astronomy.


It was a really fun night. They first taught us about the telescopes and what we would see. We then went outside to look at the sky. It had been raining so there wasn’t much we could see because of clouds, but the kids got to look at the moon.

We also were able to get in a big air filled bubble thing where we watched a move about Mars and the latest Mars rovers. That was really fun because not only were we in a big bubble thing (I don’t know how to describe it) but we were watching simulations of how the rover landed. It was cool.

The kids wanted to see what the Moon Cookie activity was about and they ended up using Oreo cookies to learn about the phases of the moon. They were taught all about why it is called waning and waxing moons. I learned a lot.  They also were able to make constellations on paper by poking a pin through it. 

Then, of course, we had to watch some of the Bill Nye the Science Guy movie that was showing. There were a lot of people there and it was a fun evening!

The Park

We took the kids to Unity Park in Ivins to play some baseball, football and soccer. The day had been so nice that we decided to have a picnic.


Courtney is signed up to play softball and she hasn’t ever played before. So Bryan taught her how to hit, Ethan was the outfielder, Bryan pitched and I caught. It was a lot of fun. Ethan wanted to try it out too so he hit a few balls. They both did really well.

When they were tired of that, Courtney and Bryan kicked around the soccer ball until everyone got cold and we went home. We really want Spring to get here so we can play outside more!

The Tooth

I seriously think Ethan is going to be a dentist when he grows up…or a surgeon. He loves pulling his teeth. I had just taken him to the orthodontist for another check up to see how soon he will be getting braces on and the orthodontist told us that Ethan only has 4 more teeth to lose before he is ready. Apparently Ethan took this as a challenge and pulled one! GROSS!!
I think once he gets his braces on and see that they aren’t as fun as he thinks they will be, he will wonder why he was in such a hurry. But a lot of his friends have braces on so I think he is starting to feel left out.

Wrestle to the Piano

I can't remember how this got started but it is now a morning tradition that takes less than 10 minutes.  The rule:  Bryan has to find, catch and wrestle Ethan to the piano within 10 minutes otherwise...well, we don't really have a consequence but that's okay because it is the act of wrestling that makes it fun!


I think I have mentioned this game before but wanted to document a hilarious wrestle one day.  Ethan finds the craziest places to hide...under our bed, under his bed, in his closet on the shelves, etc.  One day Bryan just couldn't get him out from under the bed, so he took the bed apart from above Ethan.  It made a mess but I got to clean under our bed!

Valentine's Day!!

I am the roommom in Courtney's class and so it was my job to plan their Valentine's Day party. The teacher asked to just have something really easy.  She didn't want a ton of treats andjust want ed something fun and nice.  We decided to have the kids decorate paper bags for their Valentine's boxes and then we would play one game, pass out acrds and end the party.  Simple enough!

The day before the party, a dad called the teacher asking if he could do face painting, so he came also.

I braided Courtney's hair into a heart that morning and she was so excited.  We had spent the week before making friendship bracelets and putting them on a paper that said, "Our class would KNOT be the same without you."  They turned out really cute.

When I showed up we had the kids decorate their paper bags and then we played Valentine's Day bingo with conversation hearts as the markers.  The kids loved it and we played for about 25-30 minutes while the dad did the face painting. 

The teacher then read a few stories to the class, let them pass out their Valetines cards and then they got ready to go.  It was a simple party with not much to it but the kids loved it!

Courtney's heart french braid.

 Courtney and her friend.

 Face painting

 When Ethan got home from school, he and Courtney spread out all their "loot" to see what they had gotten.  Suckers were the popular item this year and neither one of them got a lot of chocolate (bummer!). 

The kids did a funny thing this year where they asked other kids to be their Valentine.  Ethan had a girl ask him to be her Valentine but just as friends because they are just good friends.  So she bought him a candy bar and he got her one.  Courtney had 3 Valentines and didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that because it doesn't mean you "like like" the person, it just means you are friends.  But she had a couple of cute Valentines cards in her bag when she got home. 

It caused some stress in the 3rd grade though.  One teacher told me she had gotten a phone call from a concerned mother who was told, by her child, that if you don't have a Valentine by Valentine's Day, that you would be called to the office and matched up with other "losers" who didn't have Valentines either.  I had to laugh but the poor kid was really stressed out!

Piano Recital

Courtney had her piano recital and was very excited to be playing on the grand piano at the St. George Tabernacle!  We got there early but she decided she didn't want to practice on the piano, so we sat and listened to previews of all the other students' pieces.

Ethan was in charge of taking pictures so he sat in the balcony so he could get some good shots!

Courtney did a great job!!!  After the students had all played their pieces, the teacher announced the results from the evaluation the Saturday before.  Courtney came in 3rd place in her division!!  She was super excited.

It was also announced that Courtney had earned 2 horseback rides from practicing the piano every day during her piano teacher's incentive period.  Courtney invited Ethan to go along with her.

Piano Evaluation Time

Courtney had her piano evaluation at the same time Ethan was playing his last basketball game of the season.  I took her to the piano store where they were going to be having the evaluations and Bryan stayed with Ethan. 

Courtney was pretty nervous, but after a few times practicing on the piano, she was ready to go.  She had worked hard on her piece but was a bit nervous about the dynamics.  She hadn't been working on those as hard as she should have. 

She was the first student to play for the judge.  Her piano teacher explained that the judge is usually hardest on the first few people and easiest on the last ones to play...because they are tired by that point.  But Courtney did really well.  She got a superior minus, which means she was perect except for her dynamics.

Snow Canyon Basketball

Ethan's season on the Snow Canyon Basketball League is over.  The season ended with a great game between our team and another one that had kids from our neighborhood on it.  The boys had fun and Ethan had a great time.  He is funny because he doesn't want to try things at first but by the end, he loves them.  It was the same way with basketball.  He was on a team with his best friend and was coached by his best friend's dad, who is the head coach for the Snow Canyon High School boys.  He learned a lot .

 Ethan, Braydon and Brennon



Pacman!

I was playing around with my Cricut one day and decided to put a packman sign on Ethan's bedroom door.  He had a paper on which he had written Pacman but I wanted him to have a nice sign.  It was fun to make the ghosts and everything.  He liked it when he got home from school.

Valentine's Month

I wanted to do some fun things for Valentine's Day.  A woman in our ward wanted to do a craft night so she got it all together and invited a ton of women.  I made this cute Countdown to Kisses chart so the kids would have something to count down on. The numbers are kisses they got to eat each day.  The only problem was that the kisses tasted like paint so they didn't really want to eat them, but it was fun to count down anyway.

Then each day from February 1st until Valentine's Day, I would put a little heart on their doors that had something about them that we love.  There were things like:  I love you because you are caring; or I love you because you take care of others.  Then I would leave them a little treat like a ball or a pack of gum.  On Valentine's Day they had 14 hearts on their doors letting them know why they are loved.

It was a fun holiday!