Memorial Day: We went up to visit Grandma and Grandpa S. for Memorial day. We visited family graves in two different towns, left flowers and flags and grandma shared her memories with us.




Ruth Soccer: Saturday was Ruth's last soccer game. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera so we took some pictures in the backyard.




Kaitlin's Catapult: Kaitlin designed and built this catapult for math class. Watch the video to see it shoot.

Temple Celebration:

Saturday was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Celebration. I and the younger kids watched it on satellite broadcast at our church building. Chuck and the older ones went to the Conference Center. It was a huge pageant with over 5,000 dances and a 2,000 member choir. Kaitlin and Chaz danced in a baseball dance. Here is from Kaitlin's blog:

"yeah it was so cool. the Prophet was there, along with Pres. Eyring. it was way fun to see all the dances. they said there were like, 7000 youth participating. the choir was all singing and they were a lot of them. there was 4 pioneer dances, our baseball dance, the 1921, 1940's, and the 1950's.there was also a tribute to the war veterans, and a specialty dance, which consisted of girls and boys doing flips and standing on kid's shoulders and doing fancy stuff. there was a Polynesian, Mexican, and Chinese dance as well. then the temple came out of the set and it was so beautiful."

Our Week in Video

Here is a little video I made from some events from this week. Unfortunately I don't have anything from the temple celebration. They are supposed to release that on DVD so we'll look forward to that.

Family Members Help Each Other


For our family activity on Monday night, it was my turn to choose, so I chose putting together Jared's bionicles. A couple of weeks ago Jared took apart a bunch of bionicles and I've been nagging him to put them back together so the pieces don't get lost. The task was overwhelming to him. So Monday night found us all sitting around the kitchen table with a pile of pieces in the center trying to assemble the figures. After about an hour we completed all of them (though we were missing some pieces here and there). I then asked Jared (being the wise mother I am), "What did you learn from this experience." Jared looked at me and answered, "Family members help each other."



Soccer

We only have two more games left in the soccer season. If I can remember to take the camera to one of Ruth's games I'll make a highlight video for the blog. I bet you can't wait!

Becky's Birthday

I had a great birthday this week! We had pizza and played some games. I went to the park with the kids. Nothing special, but it was a special day for me.

I'm including this picture from my birthday because of Jared on the left. So funny!



Temple Openhouse

This was our first week were we got to work at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Openhouse. Make that I got to work at the temple openhouse. Chuck was fired. Well, not really fired, they just called at the last minute and said they didn't need him. I went to do my volunteer hours and got to tour the temple. They ended up sending me home early because it wasn't so busy. The next two weeks are VIP tours only at the temple. We will be serving again in a few weeks when the temple opens up to the general public. I wish all you Minnesota relatives could come out and tour the temple with us. It really is a rare opportunity.

Other Stuff

Chaz had his last band concert this week. It was pretty good. He starts acapella choir next year. I hope he likes it better than he did band. I think he will because there are all those girls there. *I continue to be busy with Music Man rehearsals. * I had a Stake Primary Activity this last Saturday where our Ward ran a display and games. I made a video about Temples Around the World. It was a big success. * I told ya'll about the Chuck FanFiction Awards my story was nominated in. My story got second place in the Best Overall Category. I finished the story on my birthday. In the end it was 54,000 words. For those of you that are interested, the first Harry Potter book was 76,000 words. So my story was about 3/4 of that book. In the end it was 125 typed pages (12 pt font). The idea of writing a book has always been very daunting to me, so it's nice to know that I have it in me to write something that long. Now I'm just working on honing those skills.

Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of mother's day I'm adding some pictures of my maternal grandmother Irene. The photo was taken in 1925. Don't you love that finger wave in her hair!

Below is a picture of my mother, when she graduated from high school. And another picture of me with my mother when I was a little girl.

I'm grateful to be a link in a long line of woman who have valued family and motherhood. They were also well educated and passed down many talents and good morals to their children.

Do you see any resemblance???

Better Late than Never: Ruth Science Fair Winner!

We got a phone call this week from the District Science Fair people telling us that Ruth won 3rd Place at the district science fair. They told us that they had made an error and apologized. They are sending her 3rd place ribbon in the mail. Congratulations Ruth!!!

Kaitlin: Singing Sensation

Kaitlin and a couple of her friends were asked to sing at the 7th grade awards assembly. They will be singing "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus.

Jared Scored a Goal!

Jared scored his 2nd ever goal at soccer this week. After his goal he didn't jump and down or anything. He just made a fist and whispered fiercely, "YES!"

Temple Training

I went to training on Saturday morning to be a host for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Openhouse that begins next week. I will be working as a host on Tuesday ("Hello and welcome to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. We'd like to show you a short video about the purpose of temples in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.") and Chuck will be working out in the parking lot.

Grandpa B's Visit

We had a great visit with Grandpa B this week. We look forward to his yearly car trips when he stops by for a layover at our house.

The kids enjoyed showing Grandpa B how to play on the Wii, we had a fun trip to a Farm to look at the animals and we all enjoyed a night at the "fanciest restaurant [Ruth] had ever eaten at!" (Applebees).

Grandpa B was amazed at how big the kids had grown. Here are some pictures.

Woman's Conference Photos

Here are a couple of photos from BYU women's conference. The first two are service projects we worked on. The last one is from the concert we went to. Because they had made a mistake with our tickets we got to sit on the second row from the stage on the floor. It was way fun!

This first picture is of the freakish hail we got today. The second picture is just some pretty spring flowers in my garden.

BYU Women's Conference

I had a fabulous few days at BYU Women's conference. This is a two day conference that has workshops by members and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dealing with women's issues. I stayed in the dorms with three friends (Hi! Lisa, Amy and Annette!) and we had a great time. Some of my favorite speakers were Sister Beck, the General Relief Society President (always a favorite); Sister Olsen, BYU Dean of Ancient Scripture (who gave a very thought provoking talk on the Parable of the Unprofitable Servant and our total reliance on Christ's Atonement); Sister Mary Ellen Edmonds (a LDS humorist), and Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (he told us that we needed to strengthen the image of the church by talking openly about our faith and how we are Christians. He encouraged us to add the LDS widget to our blogs so I did.) In addition to the great speakers we were able to take part in several service projects. My friend Amy and I colored a large mat for matchbox cars, I also knitted a hat and made a pocket doll. Of course the funnest part was being with dear friends. We went out to eat a couple of times and found ourselves laughing our heads off at 11pm at the BYU Creamery while we enjoyed very large scoops of icecream. I post some pictures when I get them.


The Music Man

Rehearsals have begun. What I failed to mention last week is that Ruth is also in the Music Man with me. She's in the chorus numbers. I asked Ruth if she wanted to try out for one of the speaking rolls (Amaryllis) and she said that being in the chorus took her "maximum bravery."


The Power of a Lone Man

Chuck held down the fort for me while I was away at Women's Conference. He did a swell job of taking care of the kids. He also replaced the axle on the back of my van, drilled a hole in the picnic table (so that it now supports an umbrella) and refinished it, planted a nectarine tree, & cleaned out the entire refrigerator. What a guy!


Fanfiction Nomination

Two of my stories have been nominated in the Chuck Fanfiction awards at fanfiction.net! My story, "Revelations," has been both nominated as Best Overall Story and best "Charah" (that's Chuck/Sarah Relationship) story. My story "How Sarah Bartowski was Banned from the Family Fun Center" was nominated for Best Short Story. I'm pretty excited just to be nominated and don't expect to win anything. It was just a total surprise. If you like the TV show Chuck and would like to read these stories let me know and I'll send you the link.