Week of Fun!

Here's what's been going on around our neck of the woods this past week!

RANDOM LATE MAY SNOW STORM

We looked at the window and what did we see...our poor tent almost flattened.

Monday we woke up to snow, lots of it, and it was HEAVY! We had the tent up drying from the Fathers & Sons outing which was over the weekend. I knew we should have put it up on Sunday but we didn't and due to the heaviness of the snow and the trees that have grown leaves we had a slight mishap. Our poor tent was the victim, which I must say I am glad it was only the tent. While Craig and I were out trying to drag the huge branches off the tent, another large branch came cracking down...we scrambled to get out of the way, and had to wait until the snow stopped to clear it off. Surprisingly we only got one L shaped hole (about 6 inches) and one crushed pole. But considering a huge part of the tree fell on it, the damages weren't as bad as it could have been.

CHARACTER DAY @ KIDS VILLAGE

Storybook Character dress up day...can you guess who I am? The Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George. A big thanks to my cutest neighbor for letting me use this costume. It was a hit. But let's just say, yellow isn't my color!

DANCE FESTIVAL @ GROVECREST

Liberty doing her elephant dance to that elephant march song from Jungle Book. (I don't know the name)

Zach striking a pose while doing his dance to "I Can Fly" from Peter Pan

Zach with his wonderful 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Guerrero

Liberty with her AWESOME teacher Mrs. McKell

WACKY WEDNESDAY

Seriously the things you have to do as a teacher, but it all paid off when I walked into my art room and had all the kids chanting CRICKET! They pretty much think I'm cool! (Not all teachers did this, only 4 of us) Craig just shook his head when he saw me, and wouldn't even help me take some stuff to the car, he was too embarassed. I can only imagine what the guy at the bank drive thru thought of me.

FUN RUN 2010

Liberty after running 3/4 of the track. She did great she placed like 6th. Way to go Lib!

Zach refreshing himself with some Powerade after his run...he came in 6th. Both he and Lib said that they didn't want to run this year! Sorry, not an option! I made them!

EIGHTH GRADE COMPLETION CEREMONY

Caleb heading to pick up his certificates, just missed the handshake with the principal.

He did it, he completed 8th grade with a 3.3 GPA. I am having such mixed emotions ... he is such a great kid, but as his mom, I can't believe he will be in 9th grade! It stresses me out one minute and then I get so excited for him and for what is coming up for him in a few years. AHH this motherhood thing is such a roller coaster! Great job Caleb!

BRIT TRYING TO HANDLE ALL THIS COMMOTION!

Overall he did great, but he did have his moments! If you haven't heard Brit's new way of communication, feel lucky. He has a very high pitched scream, and I am sure that everyone was happy see him at all these events. I keep saying, "I can't wait for him to talk". The scream is crazy!

So there you have it! All this and throw in a few baseball games, meetings, and parties, and that's what we've been up to! Can you say we are SO ready for summer break!

Miss Veenker 2010

Miss Veenker 2010

It's that time of year again...Miss Veenker Pageant took place last weekend. We had to plan it while Jen and Clint were visiting...so it was sort of a quick throw together but as usual it turned out great! This year the men decided while we were having fun they should to, the went and played Laser Tag and Bowling and after everyone's fun we all met up for ice cream sundaes. The girls did great presenting, active wear, evening wear and talent. We had everything from, dancing, piano, singing, violin, poem reciting for talent. The evening gowns were darling as usual. And just watching the girls all being together and involved was the best part. We invited Scott's girlfriend Andrea and her little sister to join us. Andrea is a Zumba instructor, so after the main event we all did Zumba. It was a BLAST! I can't wait to do it again. It was such a fun night, just being with family enjoying each others company. Here's just a few photos of the night!

Grandma crowned all the little girls.

Liberty in her evening gown.

Liberty doing her talent...she didn't just stand there, she is singing The Climb.

Liberty's active wear

One of the funniest things of the night, Mom pulled out her video camera to tape everyone. No need to say it's old...it speaks for itself!

Great job girls...I can't wait for the next one!

Sprouting Simple Seeds of Faith

Back in March my mother in law was asked to prepare a booth for the BYU Women's Conference. The booth would be part of the Sharing Stations which were held Thursday evening. She asked my sister in law Lori and I to help her. Honestly, the timing wasn't ideal but I willingly said yes. I will admit it was a great experience. I had a lot of fun preparing everything and actually having the chance to sit at the booth on Thursday night. We spent many hours compiling ideas of what we wanted to share with the sisters who would come and visit our booth.

We went with a gardening theme, and our topic was Sprouting Simple Seeds of Faith. (I laughed when ladies would walk by and start to ask me about sprouting broccolli...which I know NOTHING about, they just assumed when they saw the gardening things in our booth we were sharing ideas on actual gardening.) We came up with ideas that can be used in families of all ages to encourage and help faith to grow in each individual. We had to make up some handouts,

which can be found here:

http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/2010/sharing_stations/19.cf

They are full of awesome info that I am sure every household could use some of the suggestions. I learned a lot, my eyes were opened to what I could and should be doing in our home, and I loved having a chance to be a part of the whole event. We had a great response to our booth, it looked great, and I am sad that for whatever reason they didn't post a photo of our booth, but luckily I took on of my own, check it out and see for yourself. I wish I would have taken a photo of the 3 of us who worked on it in front of the final product.

The night of the event, I was totally excited. I have been to Women's Conference before and in all honesty there is a strength that I get when I am surrounded by women. I loved the feeling I got talking to women from all over, even seeing people from my ward growing up and just being surrounded by women who are trying just like I am to do what is right.

Many people asked how we were asked to do a booth, and for us my mother in law had a friend who asked her...and at first she was overwhelmed (and I don't really know if that ever went away for her. I think we all were overwhelmed...however, when it came down to the wire, I LOVED IT! I am so glad I had the experience to be a part of such a great night.

Check out the link...there is tons of great info...there were about 50 booths, all with wonderful info...I promise it would be time well spent. Enjoy!

Here's The Scoop

So here's the deal...for whatever reason today while driving down to work I was thinking about growing up. One thing I totally remember doing was walking to Thrifty's to get an ice cream cone. I remember it looking a little like this with some slight differences. Even down to the window being covered by the menu.

(photos found on Google)

The thing about Thrifty's ice cream that made it different was the shape of the scoop. (Maybe no one even has a second thought about the shape of the scooper but I do!) It wasn't the norm...it was way cooler! (I can even remember how the scooper sounded. I know I am strange!) It looked something like this (see photo below)...but this doesn't do it complete justice. It was much more boxy when first scooped.

I remember it didn't cost more than like 30 cents for a double...(maybe I am way off my rocker, but that is what I remember!) If you got a double it was almost a balancing act to keep the second scoop secured on the bottom scoop. A triple was a joke, if I do say so myself...it wasn't uncommon to walk out of Thrifty's and see dropped scoops of ice cream of all flavors, because someone wasn't paying close attention to the top scoop.

I'll never forget my favorite flavors...Chocolate Malted Crunch and Pistachio Cashew (it was green). I don't even know if Thrifty's is still around, and if it is if they sell ice cream. Those days are long past maybe, but for some reason I thought about it on my way home.

After thinking about it for awhile, I somehow (in my own crazy way) tied it into how I have been feeling lately. We are SO busy around here! It isn't uncommon for our family to have multiple things every day and night of the week. Everyone is involved and I love it that way, with baseball games and practices (Caleb playing on one team & Zach playing on 2 teams), gymnastics for Liberty, church callings, work, Caleb's quarterback clinic at the high school, and just everything thing else that is thrown in, we are CRAZY BUSY! But I can't complain too much because everything we are involved in is good and fun. We are happy. But for whatever reason, I can't seem to find time to complete laundry, mop my floor, you know just the general house cleaning stuff that should be getting done. I sort of feel like I am living a Triple Cone life right now....where I am having to balance it with everything I have to enjoy it. (There I finally got to the tie in). Oh, just like the ice cream, life is great, but I am having to seriously concentrate on keeping it all together. There that is my deep thinking of my drive home today, I know it is as crazy as could be. But just like all the many times I went to Thrifty's with my family or friends and loved it, I will look back on this time of life and love it too....RIGHT???

So there, that's my scoop!

Liberty's Birthday

It wasn't long after Caleb's b-day that we had another birthday...Liberty turned 7! I really don't think it is fair that my kids have to grow up so fast. Months ago Liberty planned a daddy daughter date for her big night. Her plan, go play tennis and then go for ice cream. Oh, and don't forget Dad had to give her roses. The night was exactly what she had hoped for. They went and had a great time! She also had visits from Papa (Grammy was in Idaho), and Grandma and Grandpa, which made the day even better!

Tennis Anyone?

My Birthday Girl!

Cutest picture of Lib and Papa!

The day after she had a party at the park with some friends. We made notebooks, decorated cupcakes, and did karaoke. It was fun (at least I think it was!). She had a great day!

Happy Birthday Liberty!Check out the frosting!