Last Day, HOORAY!

Gavin's last day of first grade was May 30th.  It was a short day - only 1 1/2 hours long.

His teacher fed them breakfast and passed out report cards.

This school year was challenging.  I was going through chemo treatments the first 3 months of it, and Gavin struggled with music, PE and writing due to his sensory processing disorder...  But somehow we made it through and are better because of it.  I love this boy of mine.  Watching him grow up is exciting, terrifying, wonderful and sad -- all at the same time!

Moments in May

Just a few pictures to capture some of our moments in May:

My Mother's Day gift:  a garden!  I planted tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, spaghetti squash, zucchini, 2 raspberry bushes and a blackberry bush.

On Mother's Day, the kids made me cards and Matt made me crepes - breakfast in bed - even though I was already dressed for church, I still got back in bed to eat the yummy crepe!

May 13: Laynie and Atley playing dress up.

May 22: Laynie's artwork:  Rainbowa the Mermaid.

(Notice the lipstick in her hand.)  Gavin also played the resonator bells in his music class for Performance Day.  He chose to play 2 Star Wars themed songs and did a great job.  I forgot to take a picture!

May 25: Going grocery shopping.  (Had to get the 10c/pound watermelon!)

Wed., May 29: Gavin had Field Day.  To kick it off he ran in a mini marathon with 2nd and 3rd graders.  He was one of the first 1st graders to make it back.  I was proud of him.

Fri., May 31: Went for a walk along the Jordan River Walkway.  The scenery was beautiful, but the bugs were swarming everywhere.  My kids saw stinkbugs for the first time.  We tickled their bums so they were spray their stink.

This is the Place Heritage Park with Cousins!

For Memorial Day weekend, Tyler and family came up and stayed Sunday night.  We played games and had a good ol' time.  Then on Monday, we went to This is the Place Heritage Park.  I LOVE this place.  There's soooo much to do!

We were serenaded by some Folk Singers,

Rode the Betsy Jane,

This is the Place monument

Tyler struck up a conversation with Ben Franklin.

Stamped leather.

Tyler and his boys were sooo into the leather stamping.

Visited so many little homes and shops of the Pioneer era.

Carpentry Shop

Pottery Shop

Learning to play marbles.

Pioneer children games

Doing the laundry.

It was fun spending time with Cousins!

Water Festival - Harry Potter Style

Last Fall, we went to a Pumpkin Walk the Central Utah's Water Conservancy District hosted.  It was amazing.  When I saw they were doing a Water Festival, we were all there!

They had a magician.  And I was called up out of the audience to how some metal hoops.  (I still don't know how he connected them.)

There were kid activities like riding a broomstick through a course.

Laynie was too shy to do it so Daddy lifted her up and flew her through the course.  Both Dad and Laynie got a box of Bertie Bott's jelly beans for participating.

Balancing a goblet full of water on their heads.

Got thrown in Azkaban

(Naughty little wizards!)

Saw some pretty owls.

Learned about some fantastic beasts - tarantula, toad, snake, lizard!

Made some magic bubbles.

Other things not pictured:  Made an owl windsock with Professor Trelawney, ate free hotdogs, and the kids each got a bag full of prizes.

1st Grade Field Trip to the Farm

I got to help chaperone Gavin's class when they went to the Rasmussen Farm.  The farm is between Westlake High and Redwood Rd, so Mrs. Schiess's class walked there and back.

We saw a goat,

long-horned cattle,

a miniature pony,

and horses.

Ben, Sam and Gavin

Mrs. Schiess's Class

Back: Josie, Lydia, Isaias, Jaden, Monroe, Ben, Finn, Caleb, Gavin, Ellie, Jessica, Mack, Sam, Alyee, Kolby, Jax, Linley

Front: DeAnndra, Dae'la, Annisyn, Zac, Aliya, Peyton, Conner, Bryken, Tai,

The Good Shepherd

On our way down to Mt Pleasant for dental appointments, I told Matt it would be fun to visit some sheep since we had been learning all week how Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  So I asked Brian if he knew of anyone that wouldn't mind us going to see their sheep.  Would you believe that one of his dental assistants (Shannon Mickel) lives on a sheep farm?  She gave us directions to her farm in Spring City, told us to talk to her son, Shane, and let us know that they were shearing all day and we could watch them shear and then go and see the baby lambs.  I asked Karen if she wanted to come along with our kids so after we ate lunch, we headed out to their sheep ranch south of Spring City.

I explained everything to Shane and he let us go near the sheep 

and watch how they herded them into the chutes to be sheared.

About 8 sheep were done at once in a long trailer.  

The wool was then pushed through the holes shown here

then packaged in these cloth bales that were tied together then placed on a semi truck.

We thanked Shane then walked across the road to go see the lambs.

When asked how many head of sheep they had, Shane said, "Too many in the Spring and not enough in the Fall!"

As we were heading back to our cars, we saw that Shannon had arrived on the ranch.  She showed us their sheep dogs and the ever-so-cute Pyrenees pups.  They looked like little snow balls!

Come to find out:  Shannon's son and brother-in-law were a bit leary of us being there!  Shane had called his mom asking if she really sent us.  They were wondering if we were really people from PETA!! Apparently, something similar happened to the Moroni Turkey Plant a few months prior.  LOL!  (And I had been taking pictures of everything!)