Joshalyn and the Violin

Joshalyn has decided she wants to play the violin in orchestra this year at her school. She has only had the instrument three weeks and hasn't learned to play yet except for a friend of ours who plays the violin and showed her a few of the notes and taught her "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She was so excited that she couldn't put it down and taught herself "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "I Am a Child of God." She has a good ear and I believe will do well this year.

Sorry about the lighting. It really is Joshalyn even if it is hard to see her.

First Day of School

The kids' first day of school was on August 25th.  Joshalyn  is in 5th grade, Hyrum in 2nd and Shadrach in Kindergarten.  They are all very excited about school and love their  teachers.  We are looking forward to another great year.

Joshalyn's 10th Birthday

Joshalyn turned 10 on August 7th.  I can hardly believe that she is 10 and starting 5th grade.  She is a very happy girl and had a fun birthday.  She wanted to make this phone cake shaped in the number 10 so she picked out the colors and candies and I helped her decorate it.  It was fun explaining to her that we used to have rotary phones like these that had cords on them.  It was hard for her to fathom that we had to stay in one place or could only walk as far as the cord would allow when talking on it.   I wish I had an old one to show her because it took some explaining the way we had to dial a number as well.  Anyway she had a great day and she received lots of nice and fun things.

E.R. for Independence Day

Our good friends Jim and Anita Smith always invite us out to their place for their annual Independemce Day Celebration in Fruitland. If you recall last year Hyrum was severely burned on his foot from a bamboo sparkler(needless to say we didn't buy those this year). So we are out having a BBQ, the kids are playing on the slip-n-slide and Shad wraps up in his towel and heads up the stairs on their deck and he falls on his face and of course his hands don't catch him because they are wrapped in his towel. He gets up and says he's okay and the next thing we see is blood gushing out of his lip. Anita picked him up and brought him inside and we put ice on it and checked it out. Sure enough his tooth went through the inside and the outside of his lip hit the stairs so the pressure of that caused it to split open. It almost went all the way through. Jim and Joshua rushed him to the E.R. in Ontario. He was a tough kid. He sat there very still and watched the doctor put 2 stitches on the inside of his mouth and 6 stitches on the outside and didn't move a muscle. Jim gave him 1,000 man points and Jim's son who is Hyrum's age gave him 1million man points for being so tough. They were only gone about an hour and a half and when they got back we set off fireworks and Shad didn't miss a beat. He was out doing sparklers and snaps and snakes and the whole bit as if nothing happened. We had quite the eventful 4th, but realize it could have been much worse. He got his stitches out on Thursday and it looks like he will have little or no scarring. This kid has been to the E.R. 3 times in his 5 short years of life. We hope it is the last.

Kayla turned 3

Yes it's true our baby is 3 years old believe it or not. She doesn't look to happy in some of the pictures, but it is because she doesn't like her picture taken usually. She had a fun birthday and I thought it was sweet that each of her siblings made a card for her and read it to her. I made her a doll cake just like my Aunt Becky did every year for me growing up. In fact my Aunt Becky sent me a picture recently of me with two doll cakes she made me when I was 3. Fun memories!!

Softball/Baseball

The kids enjoyed playing softball and baseball this spring in spite of the rain and cold. They each had a good season and did very well. It is enjoyable to watch them learn and grow. Joshua kept busy umpiring and helping coach. I just took pictures and hung out with Kayla.

The Golden Spike

We went to the Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah on our trip back to Boise with Rich and Jimmie in May. It was pretty cool and the kids had a great time with Gramma and Gramps Harris while they were here with us.