Day 1

I woke up Wednesday morning at 3:45 am to shower and get ready for our 4:30 shuttle to the airport. Bryan and Courtney got up about 4:00 and we woke Ethan up at 4:20. 

The shuttle dropped us off and we checked our luggage in and went to security. The line to security wasn't too long and the man who checked Courtney, Ethan and my tickets authorized us to leave our shoes on. Bryan had to take his off. 

We got through security and found our gate. We waited until it was our turn to load onto the plane. We got a snack at the airport because we left the hotel before breakfast began.

We loaded on the plane and set up for the long flight to Seattle.

When we landed in Seattle we had about 50 minutes to get to our new gate and get on the next plane to Anchorage. Ethan was hungry so he bought some food. Courtney went and bought some mentos to snack on. 

We got on our next flight to Anchorage. Courtney and Ethan watched movies while Bryan and I watched some tv shows online. I slept part of the time.

We landed in Anchorage, got our luggage and then went to wait for the shuttle to the airport. It was a long wait...

By this time we were pretty hungry but the airport food was really expensive. So we toughed it out.

We finally got to the hotel and found our room.

We walked up the hill to the center of Anchorage and found a Hard Rock Cafe to eat at. Ethan got a huge hamburger (surprise) and Courtney got some chicken strips. We were now happy!

We wandered around downtown trying to find a store to buy snacks at. Courtney had to go to the bathroom and we found a public bathroom. It had some cool art.

We went back to the hotel, Courtney and I went swimming and then the kids and I crashed early. Bryan went exploring and saw a bunch of fishermen at the river behind the hotel.

We were exhausted so the sun being up until 11 pm and then back up at 3 am didn't bother us.

Starts in our vacation

On Tuesday the kids had their last day of school. It was pretty uneventful. Ethan got his yearbook and then they put the kids in the gym to sign yearbooks for the rest of the day. He called me to ask if I would pick him up early, which I did.  Courtney just had a party.

Ethan went to do insulation with the teachers and priests in the afternoon while the rest of us finished getting ready for our trip. 

We packed the van and started to Las Vegas around 5:15 pm. We were just in time to see a bunch of F16 jets flying around Nellis. Bryan and Ethan were in heaven.

The dark spot in the middle is one of the jets.

We stayed at a hotel near the airport where they would keep our cars and shuttle us to the airport. We went to dinner, Courtney went swimming in the pool and then we all went to bed. 

Mr. Hansen

Courtney had a great teacher this year who she just loved.  He is in our Stake so she gets to see him when we have Stake meetings.  He has been really good for her and I was happy he was her teacher.  He has retired once from teaching but felt like someone needed a grandpa so he went back to it.  This sweet note was in Courtney's report card and made her day!

Awards for Courtney

Monday was the awards assembly at Santa Clara Elementary.  Courtney asked me to go because she thought she would be getting something.  I was one of only two parents there so it was a bit awkward, but she was happy I was there so that's all that matters!

They always start the assembly with the "moving up" ceremony.  They ask the 5th graders to stand up and move to the sides of the room.  The 4th graders then move back to where the 5th grade classes sit, the 3rd graders move to where the 4th graders sit, and so on.  The kids LOVE it because they are moving up and becoming the "big kids."

They sang the school song (I tried to record it but they were singing/yelling so loud you can't understand it at all), said good-bye to some teachers who wouldn't be back next year, and were introduced to a summer program to keep kids moving.  Then....

The prizes for the Rockin' Rad Readers were awarded.

Courtney earned hers so she was given a certificate.  They had a drawing for a Kindle and a boom box but she didn't get either of those.

The certificates for newspaper were given.

Courtney was given one of those also along with a rice crispy treat.

This was her last assembly in the elementary school and the last one for our family.  It has been a great school and I am so glad our kids were able to go there.  I'm a little sad it's over.

Ethan's Rocket

Ethan got a couple of rockets for Christmas and it has taken him this long to get them out and put them together.  I think he was afraid they wouldn't work and he would be discouraged.  Well, he was finally bored enough to pull out the rockets and give them a go.

He put one together, got it all ready and we were off to the field behind Lava Ridge Intermediate to see if it would work.  It was pretty windy but not as windy as earlier in the day so we thought it would be okay.

Ethan got it ready...

Connected all the wires.

Backed up at least 13 feet.

And let it go...

...but the cords had come unhooked from the battery so he hooked them up again and...

We were all so happy it worked.  It went REALLY HIGH into the air.  The box claims it will go 1000 feet and it did go really high but I don't know if it went that high.  I do know that the wind took it a good 1/2 mile away from the launching pad.  We ended up driving a little bit, climbing under a barbed wire fence, and searching all over for his rocket.  But he found it and was so excited it had worked.

The launch pad had some burning which we all thought was really cool!

He is now thinking he wants to be an aerospace engineer.  It was so fun to see it work!

Piano Recital

Courtney had a piano recital and she decided to practice doing it for an audience so she wouldn't be so afraid.  Here she is:

Here is the video:

The recital was on Saturday afternoon at Vista.  Courtney had been practicing hard and she did a great job!

Soccer pictures

A couple of weeks ago we had soccer pictures. The photographer called me last night to say they were back from the printer. I was pretty excited. I think they turned out great!

This is the U11 team.

Our cute soccer player.