Liev Art Projects

Liev makes the best art projects in his class at school!  He loves drawing, coloring and doing all things art so it has been so fun for him!

Jordan River Temple Open House

The Jordan River Temple has been under construction for the past couple years as it is getting updated and will be rededicated in a few weeks. We took the kids to the open house today and it turned out so beautiful!  It was neat for the kids to be able to see inside too and look around the temple and the grounds.  Even Desh got his own pair of booties to wear inside - so cute!  We had a great evening at the temple and were so glad we could be there as a family.

Collecting Eggs

McKay and Dixie our next door neighbors asked the kids to be in charge of collecting their eggs while they are out of town.  We got back from our week and the cabin and the kids found a jackpot in the chicken coop! Omelets are on the menu tonight!

Spring Break

We stayed at the cabin for Spring Break this year.  We had the best time just being outside and doing what we wanted.  We went to the park, rode bikes, climbed mountains, rollerbladed, roasted marshmallows, visited Krispy Kreme and all things that spring time requires.  It was warm enough to at least be outside which makes us all very happy!

Easter Week

We celebrated Easter this week and this week has become one of our favorites of the years.  The kids love learning about Christ and his last week in Jerusalem and it is such a spiritual week for all of us.  

Palm Sunday we remember what we are grateful for...

 Mad Monday we remember how Jesus cleansed the temple and how important and sacred they are. 

 Teaching Tuesday is always my favorite - I love seeing the kids teach of the Parables of Christ.

Spy Wednesday we learn about how Jesus was betrayed and sold for 30 pieces of silver.

 On Passover Thursday we try and watch the Prince of Egypt and remember how the passover started and why it was celebrated.

 I love Good Friday as we remember how Christ died for each one of us and how He loves us individually.

 This year Easter Sunday fell on General Conference as well and it was SOO special to have them both the same day.  It was a first for me as well as we all got to participate in a Solemn Assembly and sustain our new prophet President Nelson.  It was a wonderful way to end our week and I am so grateful for each of my kids and the testimonies they are developing.  They are strong, happy and spiritual little people that I love having in my life!

Math Fact Ninja

Keen has become a Math Fact Ninja!  He has been working so hard on his math facts so he would be able to pass this off and he did it this week!  

Ski Cabin

This year we were once again lucky enough to stay at the fabulous Brighton Cabin.  Our friends let us use their cabin last year and again said we could have a week this year.  It is our favorite week of the winter by far!  We love skiing in and out, stopping for hot cocoa, waking up to the snow cats running all night and hanging out with good friends and family!  Uncle Chad and Graham joined us this year which was a blast! And Bishop Brown and Ethan came for a night as well.  We love this family time we get and are so grateful to the Robinson's for letting us crash here another year.  

Sleepy baby with his milk

Desh LOVES his milk.  He just sips on his cup and almost falls asleep while he's drinking.  Love this little guy!

Car full

It's not uncommon for our van to completely fill up with kids.  Today we had a few extras and it was awesome to load up and see all these happy, shining faces smiling at me!

Rhen and JT

We have basically seen the Hammer and Beutler kids grow up together.  JT and Rhen were 4 when we moved to Herriman and now look at these 9 year old kids!  Rhen is growing faster than JT but I'm sure it won't be long before he catches up with her!  I love these two cute friends :)

Art Show

BCE had a little art show tonight and we could walk around the halls and see all the projects that the kids have been working on throughout the year.  Such cute and creative art was done by these cute kids and we loved being able to see what their hard work has taught them!

Keen parent teacher conference

Miss Buker said that Keen is very polite in class and works really hard.  I am so happy to hear that about my boy!  He has loved being in Kindergarten and really has come a long way with his math and reading.  Even his left-handed handwriting has improved!  Love this boy!

Rhen parent teacher conference

Mrs. Workman has been such a great teacher for Rhen this year!  She makes her students work so hard and Rhen has learned so much from her.  She has been working hard with her reading to get her reading level up and has also improved so much with her writing.  Her handwriting is getting so neat and clear!  Mrs. Workman said she loves having Rhen in her class.

Liev parent teacher conference

Liev has loved 1st grade and has made a lot of good progress this year!  Mrs. Hernandez has worked really hard with him and he has done awesome with his math and spelling.  He works hard every week to get his sight words down and make sure he practices his spelling words.  We're so proud of him and his hard work!

Rease parent teacher conference

Rease has had a really good 5th grade year and has worked hard.  She is getting so good at math and continues to love reading and writing.  Mrs. Chambers always has amazing things to say about this girl and I am not one bit surprised!

Kauai

We just took the funnest trip with a group of friends to Kauai!  We went with the Browns, Chalks, Flints and Aguirres and had an absolute blast!  Thanks to everyone at home who helped all of us with our kids so that we could get away for a week.  Here are the highlights of our trip...

After a long day of traveling and trying to sleep on the plane, we finally made it to Kauai tired but excited to be there finally! 

 One of the things we all wanted to do was hike the Hanakapi'ai' trail on the Na Pali coast.  We stayed in Hanalei on the north side of the island which is really close to the trailhead and the Na Pali coast.  The first full day we had in Hawaii we went out for our hike.  It was a little cloudy and cool but great weather for hiking.  Throughout the week we kept finding notes and pictures from Rease and Rhen that they had stashed in our suitcase before we left.  Love those girls!

The hike along the Na Pali coast is some of the most picturesque scenery in the world.  We could not get enough of the view from up there and the mountains plunging into the ocean.  Gorgeous.

Once the trail turned up the mountain and away from the coast we saw different terrain.  Lots of tall bunches of bamboo, huge old trees and also lots of rain and mud.  The clouds that we had in the morning finally broke open and we basically hiked the rest of the way in a downpour.  It wasn't too cold but we sure did get wet.  At first we tried to wait it out and stay away from the rain and mud, but finally realized we couldn't and might as well just embrace it.  So we did!

We made it to Hanakapi'ai falls and rewarded ourselves by jumping into the frigid water and swimming out to and around the falls.  It was amazingly cold but beautiful!  The hike back home was just as rainy as the way up, but definitely produced some of my favorite moments of the trip and unforgettable memories.  One of which, Mark compared Aubrey to a blind person up on the trail because she couldn't take off her prescription sunglasses (even though no sun was in sight) and she had sprained her ankle so was basically being carried down the mountain by Sim and Jared.  I can't look at pictures of her on the trail or think about hiking that day without cracking a smile at the "blind person on the mountain."

The next day we took a boat trip out to see dolphins, whales and the Na Pali coast from the ocean.  I will say, it was a really pretty view but the ocean was not super calm and a few of us got pretty bad seasickness despite the dramamine and ginger we took before hand.  I fell asleep on one of the benches inside the boat and slept off my seasickness luckily.  But we did get to see lots of dolphins and whales which were really awesome.

Part of our boat tour was a snorkeling stop.  It was fun and nice to get off the boat for a bit and see the sea life.  We saw and followed a sea turtle around for a while and that was pretty amazing.  

And one of our favorite places to eat was Duke's and we hit that restaurant 2 or 3 times while we were there for the week.  I could not get enough of the fresh fish that was served and we all treated ourselves to Pina Coladas at each meal.  Hey, we're on vacation right!

One day we kayaked along the Wailua River and hiked up to secret falls.  That was SOOO fun!  The kayaking was surprisingly fun/challenging and I will never admit to tipping an unsuspecting stranger over while we were racing with the Flints and the Browns.  Somehow Josh and I got the blame for it though and were left to help them pick themselves back up amidst their swearing and cursing at us.  I still think the Flints boat nicked them but who knows?

The hike to Secret Falls ended up being much harder than I anticipated, mostly because it was super muddy.  I ended up just taking off my sandals and walking in the mud in my bare feet.  Nicole and I looked like we had on hiking boots!

But the hike was totally worth it and we had so much fun playing in the waterfall (once again - frigid) and the pool.  

We loved staying in Hanalei.  It's a quiet, sleepy town on the north side that is almost the very last stop along the road.  But the quaint little place was home for us for the week and we loved it.  We had fun shopping at the farmer's market, running along the pier, eating shaved ice at the local stand and just enjoying the amazing and beautiful place we were in.  

Most of the week was pretty rainy and cloudy but we did wake up one morning to sun and warm weather.  So we took that day and spent it at the beach at Hanalei Bay.  You could not ask for a more beautiful beach.  It's surrounded by green mountains and hills and perfectly blue water to swim in.  We had a blast on the boogie boards and just hanging out for the day.

The house we stayed in was right next door to the church.  Sunday morning we got up and walked over to church and enjoyed the meeting the members and visitors in this little branch.

I won't admit how many cups of shaved ice I had during the week.  But I do know that I had more than the number of days we were there.  Is that bad?

We drove around the island and spent an afternoon in Waimea Canyon.  Again - gorgeous, breathtaking, amazing views.  How many places on this island can I say that about?  Such different scenery depending on which part of the island we were on, but all equally beautiful.  We had a blast exploring around the canyon on one of the last days we were there.

Our very last day we spent doing some last minute sight seeing.  Our flight didn't leave until late that night so we had the day to do a few things.  Josh and I got our hammocks out and relaxed, Chalks rented bikes for a couple hours, we ate at Duke's one last time and we all said goodbye to a little piece of paradise that we were able to be a part of for a few days.  We had the best time and had great company to enjoy it with!  Can't wait to go back!

Rhen's 9th Birthday!

Our birthday girl requested abelskievers for breakfast today.  It must be a special occasion because it is not a quick or easy breakfast to make!  But it's totally worth it for our Rhenner girl!

Her next request was to swim at the rec center.  So off we went along with Izzy and JT to swim for the morning.  The kids always have such a fun time swimming and we don't go near as often as we should.  It was a great thing for her birthday.

 Rhen wanted really cute cupcakes and bright colored frosting for her cake.  So she picked it all out for me to frost and this is what we ended up with!  She is so cute and was just happy to celebrate today! We had a small family birthday party with some close neighbors (Debbie and Bill, Hammers) and family (Grammie and Papa, Aunt Hayley and family).  It's always fun to make the birthday kid feel special and I hope she did!  We love her so!

The best present? 20 one dollar bills from Grammie and Papa to spend any way she wants!

My favorite things about 9 year old Rhen:

1) Rhen is as sweet as can be.  She is always concerned about others and their feelings.  She never likes to hurt or disappoint anyone around her and is very thoughtful in all she does.  She is the kindest soul I know!

2) Rhen is a great older sister to her brothers.  It's not uncommon for Rhen to be organizing a game or a plan or an activity for the boys to do with her.  She loves playing in the hammocks downstairs with them and has created "levels" for them all to do together and pass off.  She is the best and I know those boys have a great one to look up to!

3) Rhen is very quietly smart.  She is not very often outwardly praised for her hard work at school and I know she is not in the limelight much, but she has a perfect report card every semester and always has high remarks from her teachers.  Every year she has been in either School of Rock or Sunshine Math which are both classes for the most advanced students in the grade.  She is a smarty pants and I know she loves to learn!

Stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 4'9" - 96%

Weight: 66 lbs. 13 oz. - 57%

We sure love this tall, lanky one and her sweet spirit in our family! Happy Birthday girl!

Skeleton Shirts

These skeleton shirts are the first ones chosen out of the pile as soon as they are washed.  Silly boys love their "scary" shirts and think they are really tough.