St. George Live Tour

Ethan needed to see a play or live performance for one of his Cub Scout requirements and we needed something to entertain the kids, so we decided to go on the St. George Live tour. If you don't know what this is, it's a historical tour through downtown St. George where they have actors who portray important people in the history of the town. These actors tell stories about each character and how they affected life in St. George. There was Erastis Snow, Brigham Young, a judge, and a few others.

Since it was a Cub Scout thing, I invited a few other boys in his troop to go along so they could pass it off too. And since I was picking up from Safety Town this week, Courtney and one of her friends got to go along too.




We started at 10:30 at the St. George Art Museum and heard from Jacob Hamblin. Then we went to the Opera House and heard stories from an apostle who was sent to settle St. George (I can't remember his name right now). At this one, Ethan and his friends got to help reenact a story and they loved it! Then we got on a bus and went to the Tabernacle where we heard from Erastis Snow (I think) who told us all about building the Tabernacle in those days. We got on the bus and went to the Old Courthouse which is now a museum. The boys had a blast here because one of them was put on trial for stealing water and the other boys were on the jury. Ethan was the "voice" of the jury and loved it! We got back on the bus and went to Brigham Young's house where he told us about sending the saints to this area to settle (he was a very good actor) and then we went through his house.

When I called to find out information about the tour they told me it was 1 to 1 1/2 hours long, but it ended up being 2 hours and the kids were STARVING! But they said they had a lot of fun and I was impressed by how well they paid attention and didn't goof off once. It was fun!

The jury:

At the Mulberry tree that was supposedly struck with lightening behind Brigham Young's home:

Ethan's Piano Reward

Ethan's piano teacher uses the "Reading Keyboard Music" system to teach notes. This has students learn note positions instead of note names. Ethan has been doing so well with it but it has been hard for him because he has to sit down and say the positions when he practices (bottom line, top line, middle space, etc.) and he feels silly. At the end of the book there is a 1 minute test that kids have to work on and pass. They also have to memorize three songs, be able to do 6 exercises without stopping and take a written test. When they do all this, they earn a candy bar from their teacher. Ethan didn't like the choices of candy bar so he wasn't motivated, but I made a deal with him to switch his earned candy bar in for a King Sized Milky Way bar. It was a deal.

Ethan has been working on it and had passed off everything but the 1 minute test. Last week he tried to pass it off and missed it by about 10 seconds so that was the only thing we practiced this week.

I went with him to his lesson and he was so nervous. He told his teacher that, at home when we practiced, he did it with 20 seconds to spare so he was ready to go. She had him warm up with his scales and chords and then let him do it. He did great!! When he finished she said, "Ethan, you have 15 seconds to spare." He slumped and looked like he was deflated. She said, "Do you realize what that means?" He shook his head. He had misunderstood and thought he had gone OVER by 15 seconds and missed out. He looked pretty upset. Then she said, "Ethan, I need you to stand up, put your arms in the air and do a happy dance because you made it!! You had 15 seconds left on the timer when you finished. Great job!" I still don't think it really set it because he was so calm about it, but when she gave him his candy bar he was smiling from ear to ear! I was so happy for him.

We promptly went to Albertsons and bought a King Sized Milky Way bar for him to trade me and then we dropped the other candy bar by Bryan's office. On the way home Ethan ate his candy bar (King Sized bars now have two little bars in them instead of one huge one). He took out the first bar, ate a few bites and then shoved the rest in his mouth and about choked getting it all down since it was so big in his mouth. But he was loving life.

GREAT JOB ETHAN!!



This was AFTER he had eaten most of the bar he shoved in his mouth!

Courtney's Haircut

About once a year I convince Courtney that she is really shaggy and needs a haircut. I made my own hair appointment and she decided she wanted a cut too. One of her best friends just got her hair cut short and Courtney was shocked that she hadn't turned into a boy. So Courtney decided she wanted to go short too.

My friend did a great job with her. Courtney got a shampoo:


Then she told Lori (my friend who cuts hair) that she wanted it short. So Lori began cutting (check out the difference between the right side that is cut and the left side that is not):


And when she was finished, there was enough hair on the floor to make a wig! But Courtney looks so cute! I love the short hair. She said that she will make this her "summer tradition."

Courtney's Mustache

Courtney had a fingernail scratch under her nose and decided it needed a band-aid.

Roadrunner's Baseball Game

Ethan won 5 free tickets to a St. George Roadrunner's baseball game so we decided to use it when everyone was here. Bryan, Courtney, Ethan, Grandpa Pack, David and I went to the game and it was a lot of fun...even though the team lost! Ethan was kind of bummed because there weren't any fly balls that were hit by us but after the game he waved at a player and the player threw a ball up to him. It made his day!

Ethan's Baptism!

He is baptized! On Saturday morning Ethan was really impatient for 9:15 to come when he and Bryan could go to the Stake Center and get ready for his baptism. When it finally came they took off, got ready and then had to wait until 10 a.m. for the service began. It was a packed Chapel with a lot of people there to support the 7 kids who were baptized. Everything went off without a hitch and Ethan loved it! He was so happy to be baptized.

After it was over we went to our house and had a BBQ. I had made a cake for Ethan and he and Courtney helped me decorate it. It turned out cute and everyone had a fun time eating and visiting.

We are so happy for his decision to be baptized!

Poor Fish

Last Friday Ethan went in to look at his fish and it was laying on the bottom of his fish tank. Poor thing was dead. He was pretty sad about it because we ran out of fish food last December and I just kept forgetting to get some more. Yup...this fish hasn't been fed since before Christmas. We are so awful!

We had a burial for it and put it back where the last fish was buried and then set off for the pet store to get another one. This time we bought 2 containers of fish food!

The sign Ethan put where his fish tank was...

The cleaned out tank

The new beta fish called Big Blue: