Wedding, Art, and Missionaries

This week included (as mentioned above) wedding, art, and missionaries.

On Wednesday, my cousin Emily got married to Brandan Shelley.  They got married in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and there were quite a few members of the Huber and Stapley families there, though no Shelley's.  (Note to self: I hope and expect that my kids choose to get married in the temple. However, if they choose something contrary to what I would have chosen for them, I will still show up and support as much as I can.)

The weather was a bit cold and windy for a day in May, but it was still a nice morning.

I dropped the kids off at school and taught my first class, then left to head to the wedding and returned for my last class.  The wedding was short enough that James and I had a chance to go out to lunch before I had to be back to school.  That never happens.

The reception was at the Old Meeting House and the kids had fun dancing around.

On Thursday night we went to the Ward Barbecue.  The kids decided to ride their bikes.  This was the first time Molly has been out of our cul de sac on her bike.  It was a bit challenging for both of them to get to the church and back, but we made it (with lots of pushing from mom).

On Friday, Murray High hosted the annual Arts Fest.  It's a fun time with a ton of work put into it, but I like it because I get to go find my own kids and hang out with them for part of the day.  We tie dyed shirts, made buttons, ate food, played with clay, made first aid kits, got free stuff from the national guard, and probably a few other things.

The kids really wanted to play on the pottery wheel and waited very patiently to have their turn.  Jack was finished in just a minute or so.  He was kind of weirded out by the texture of it and mostly just like pushing the gas pedal to get it to spin.  Then, of course, in true Jack fashion, he biffed it and hit his chin on the wheel.  He survived.  Molly, on the other hand, thought this was the coolest thing in the world and probably could have sat for an hour at the wheel.  The guy running the booth got her started, but then she kept pressing her fingers into the clay and shaping her pot until it was so thin that it broke.  They had fun.  

Here is the finished product of our tie dying.

On Saturday morning, we helped pull some weeds and things at my Grandpa's house.

On Saturday night we joined my parents for a quick jaunt to Fruit Heights to crash the reception of a missionary companion of my brother.  Willie had asked that we try and go to the reception.  I contacted the groom, Elder Stuart, via Facebook and he finally responded later in the week with details of the reception.  While there, we also met another Lithuanian missionary, Elder Morgan,  Not to discredit other missionaries or other missions, but there is just something unique about all of this crazy kids in Lithuania.  They are all extremely smart, extremely well spoken (my mom would call it social capital), and very responsible.  I think they have to be.  The language is very difficult to learn and they are pretty much on their own as far as interaction with their mission president and adults in charge.  I believe all missionaries are sent to where they are supposed to go for a reason, but there is just something special about these crazy Lithuanian kids.  

Happy Birthday Molly!

Happy #5 Birthday to my #1 Daughter!

This week Molly turned 5 years old.  She is growing up so fast and I love her very much.  She is a little crazy and dramatic and I still never quite know what might set her off (though she is getting a little better), but she is also a sweetheart who likes to share things (just not with her brother) and is concerned about other people.  She loves to draw and color, make notes for people, play outside, find bugs and make habitats for them, dance around, cook things, and be in charge.

James and I decided that she needed a big kid bike for her birthday.  Jack was pretty excited, too, because that means he gets to take over full reign of the red tricycle without having to fight for a turn.  Unfortunately, we've had a lot of rain since the birthday so the bike hasn't been out for much more than a few circles in the garage, but so far she seems like a pro.

We celebrated her actual birthday by going to Chick Fil A and taking Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies to school, but that's about it.

We decided to let Molly have a "friend" birthday party this year.  She has been talking about it and inviting people to it since last fall.  We invited just her friends from school (all the 4-5 years olds) and our neighbor Asher.  We had 15 kids total and it was honestly an insane 2 hours of somewhat organized chaos.  My mom came and helped me out which was wonderful, but I think had any of the kids had ill intent, they could have tied us up and taken over at any point in time.  

We played silly party games and whacked a pinata.  We opened presents and ate cake and ice cream.  Molly picked a "fish & shark" theme and then a My Little Pony cake (great combination, I know).

It was a fun time!

On Sunday, we continued the celebration but decided to let Jack join in as well.  We celebrated with both sets of grandparents, Annie, Ross, and family, and Jason.  The kids were wild and crazy, but had a lot of fun.

Kindergarten, here we come!!

T-ball

Kearns Oquirrh Park T-ball 2015 is finished!  It was just over a month long, 8 games, and two rain outs.  We had a solid 7 kids on our team and they were all pretty happy to be there and excited to come each game.  We were the red team.  We, of course, won every game (as did our opponents), because that is how T-ball works.

There were tears, there was grass throwing, there was throwing of shoes and refusal to wear mitts or helmets.  There was rock collecting and dirt moving.  There was a bloody nose that went awry when Molly shoved the klenex plug up too far and began to panic.  I was worried that game might end in a trip to instacare, but eventually we got it out before the klenex was lodged in her brain.  There was the time I lost track of Jack and found him laying down at 2nd base with his hand down his pants.  There was the time Molly ran into the outfield and yelled all sorts of yells at whatever blades of grass were listening to her.  There were bumps and scrapes and crashing of heads.

There were lots of high fives, lots of after game treats, lots of serious kids at bat ready to whack that ball to outer space as if they were ready to win the World Series (as if they knew what the World Series was).  There were giggles and smiles and running right past the bases.  There were cheers to say "good game [insert color] team."  There were lots of home runs.  There was overall of lot of little kids having fun.

Here are some pictures of our season!

Spring In Review

The end of April and beginning of May have rushed by in a whirlwind.  We've had t-ball.  School has been crazy.  James had some semester end projects to finish.  I don't really even know where the time all went, but it did.  Here are a few things we've been up to.

Every year our school holds an annual Service Day.  It's cool!  Every advisory class participates in a service project.  My class has done a variety of things over the years, but this year we got to go help out at the daycare.  The little kids (and my big kids) were divided into 3 groups that rotated every half hour or so.  Two groups went around the school giving out cookies to other classes of high school students who were working hard.  The third group stayed to do some service for the daycare by tearing down an old rotted garden box and building a new one.  I stayed with the kids as they rotated through the garden box project because I wasn't sure if it was actually going to get done.  Eventually it did (though I sent some of my students later in the day to finish it off).

I didn't get a picture of Jack at work, but here is Molly with her shovel.

Here are three of my students - Jamari, Mason, and Sam.  I've had these kids in my advisory class since they were sophomores.  Unfortunately, Jamari is not going to graduate and doesn't have much of a plan for things after June 3rd.  I'm not sure what he's going to do, but I hope for the best for him.

Jack finished out the dirt project by getting between a 4 year old with a shovel and his teacher.  It wasn't his first black eye and probably won't be his last.  The shovels were put away shortly after the incident.

These two boys are best friends.  Individually they are both super cute, but together they are just nutty.  I hope they always stay friends.

James bought one of those patio fire pit things and has had a couple of bonfires already, though we haven't broken out any hot dogs or marshmallows yet.  Summer has yet to begin.

Parkie Warkie got his mission call!  He is headed to the Texas Houston East Mission and leaves in September.  His mission covers the gulf coast part of eastern Texas and then western Louisiana.  He will be gone before Willie gets back and I'm not sure what we're going to do during those months without a big iggy to keep us entertained.  I'm proud of this kid and his choice to go on a mission.  I think he'll be a great missionary and have a lot of fun getting to know people in that part of the world.

My kids looked really cute for church one Sunday so I made them sit for a quick picture before church.  They are both so grown up when they choose to be.  Jack loves to play with his friends in nursery, though he otherwise hates Sundays because he has to wear pants with a button.  Molly is a smart fart who is always so excited to tell me what she's learned in her primary class.  Last week she came running to me after church exclaiming that "Moroni is a real human!"  She continued to tell me that he wasn't just the statue on top of the temples, but that he was really a guy who lived and he buried the shiny gold plates.  It was pretty funny.

That's it for now.  Stay tuned for a full t-ball and house selling report coming up next.

We are looking forward to some birthdays coming up, sun, and summer!

Snow in April.

My tulips in the front of my yard FINALLY decided to bloom on a nice, warm Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday they were blown away by a major muddy wind and rainstorm.  By Wednesday they were covered by nearly a foot of snow.  By Saturday the snow had melted and my bent over tulips were creaking their stems for survival.  Insanity!!

Here is the beginning of the snow on Tuesday.

Here is the end of the storm on Wednesday afternoon.