What A Tripp!

Mardi Gras

The kids enjoyed a small Mardi Gras celebration last week. I made a super yummy king cake and the kids made some pretty cool masks. We even had jambalaya for dinner and the kids paraded around the living room with their masks. Well, all but Tyghe. He fell asleep late in the afternoon and missed it all.

I took Ada on a date last week to see Sleeping Beauty (ballet) and she looked so cute, so we had to snap a few pics. She’s really quite the poser.

I’ve also been busy lately crocheting up a couple more blankets for new babies. Since the last one just went out in the mail today, I don’t want to post them here and spoil the surprise. You can see all of the blankets I’ve made here. These last two were definitely more intricate than most of the others I’ve made. I was very pleased with how they turned out though, and hope the recipients enjoy them as well.

another update

The past several weeks have been quite busy, and I just haven’t made time to post an update. So, hang on, this could take a bit.

At the end of January, I took Caemlyn to our local ski hill where she had her first ski lesson. She did great, and we spent the afternoon skiing down the beginner slope together. She was quite nervous on her first run down (and fell several times), but after a break and the realization that she could do it - she had several more good runs. As for myself, I’ve never been much of a skier, but didn’t do too bad after a 17+ year break.

Also at the end of January, the 5th graders participated in a wax museum. They had to learn about an explorer and put together a poster on that individual. Then they got to dress-up like their explorer and had a wax museum in the school gym. Everyone that came to see them got tickets that you could put in their box, which would trigger the student to give a brief speech on who they were. Both Caemlyn and Zephram did an excellent job.

Caemlyn was Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, 2nd woman to work for the Department of Fish and Game, and the woman that discovered that DDT killed not only mosquitoes, but the environment as well.

Zephram was Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and source of the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the beginning of February, my parents came for a visit. We had lots of fun with them here, and Justin and I even got to use the available babysitting for a night out. One of the highlights of their visit, was a “trip” to a sledding hill at a local park. Everyone (except grandpa) had lots of fun sledding down the hill over and over. I didn’t take my camera, but my parents did and got some great pics here.

The week leading up to Valentine’s Day, we participated in a secret valentine exchange with other families in our ward. We had lots of fun coming up with fun things to give our family. I was particularly pleased with a couple of the things I made.

I crocheted a heart garland and sewed up a love note pillow.

On the last day, we took them a heart shaped pizza (chicken, cashews and green chilies - yum!) and homemade fortune cookies. One of the cookies contained a fortune that let them know everything was from our family. We also gave them homemade sugar cookies, hot cocoa mix and a book.

The kids got a 5 day weekend out of President’s Day, so we took advantage of some temporary nice weather and went on a hike. We headed down to the Cochiti Pueblo and hiked the Tent Rocks National Monument. Perfect day for a hike, but there was still enough snow and ice the higher we went that it got pretty slippery. The kids handled the slippery slopes better than Justin and I, but we won’t go into detail about that.

Before we hit the snow, there was a cool Pinon Pine that had many of its roots above ground. Very cool looking.

The path got quite narrow in some places, and we even had to duck under a huge boulder.

But, we made it to the top of the mesa, and the view was beautiful, even for this not so beautiful time of year in New Mexico. 3 miles round trip, and the kids did a great job hiking. Tyghe even hiked all the way to the top, but got carried most of the way back down.

Music and More

The 5th/6th grade music performance was yesterday, so I got to go and watch both Caemlyn and Zephram sing, play the recorder and dance the electric slide.  Their music teacher is our Ward Choir Director and does a wonderful job.  After I upload the video, I’ll see if there’s anything worth sharing - until then, here’s a pic of each of them.

Pack meeting was also last night, and Zephram earned his Faith in God/religious square knot award. He got lucky and the bishop was able to come and present it to him.

And I just have to share this quick project I just put together. I decided to make these washer key chains for our Primary teachers’ birthdays this year. They’re not perfect, but I’m happy with how they turned out. Of course, this is just the first set - I still have several more to make.

Primary 2010 Theme

While my calling is certainly overwhelming at times, I am looking forward to teaching the Primary children about this year’s theme, “I Know My Savior Lives”. I am thankful for the knowledge that my Savior does live and that He loves each of us. I hope I can adequately share this knowledge with the children, and come to know my Savior better as well.
I think this video is a beautiful representation of this theme.

I hope I can stay focused on this, and not get bogged down by the details.

Goodbye Big, Red Beast!

We decided to take advantage of our New Year’s trip to CO to purchase a new family vehicle.  Our 1996 red suburban served us well enough, but we decided we needed something newer and more reliable.  We were able to trade it in for a slightly used, 2009 silver suburban.  Our car is no longer easy to find in a busy parking lot, but the ride is so worth it!  It’s truly like trading a beast of a car for a luxury SUV.  I’m loving it!  While the car has many nifty features, I think my favorite “toy” is the built-in bluetooth.  I think I’m finally getting used to “talking to the car” without giggling.  While I don’t seem to have pics of either car - this should give you a pretty good idea of what we had/have.

Pretty accurate representations, but we certainly didn’t have the rack on the front. lol

Happy New Year!

We were lucky enough to be able to drive up to Denver for a few days and spend the New Year with my sister Andrea’s family (the Runyans). A huge thanks to Cory’s parent for allowing us to stay and play at their cabin in the mountains. The kids all had so much fun playing together. Here are a few of the highlights from our visit and New Year’s celebrations.
Sledding…I think Caemlyn and Sara spent more time out there than anyone.

We all took a hike further up the road with our sleds, looking for a good hill. Tyghe was so tired, that he fell asleep early on and stayed that way past our return and beyond.

There was some cousin love…

And LOTS of creative games for the kids before ringing in the New Year (at some random time, before they were sent to bed)…
candy/spoon relays


balloon relays

balloon volleyball (boys vs. girls)

There was even some hokey pokey, but I’ll spare you the pics of that.

Thanks for such a fun time, Runyan family!

Christmas 2009

I’m going to do my best to get my blog updated from the holidays, so bear with me.
We had a very nice, low key Christmas. Traditional Chinese food for Christmas Eve dinner, and the opening of jammies from the cousins.

Thank you!

Santa came and left plenty of gifts for everyone, except maybe for daddy. I got spoiled the most though. These pics don’t show it, but I got a fancy new lens for my camera. I’m excited to learn how to use its potential and take better photos. As for the kids, they all ended up happy. Tyghe got a fancy new bike.

All of the kids got fun new sweaters from Grandma and Grandpa Stubz. Tyghe’s is a vest, and I didn’t get a pic of him wearing it.

We tried something new for Christmas dinner, just for a change. We had a shrimp and lobster boil. Covered the table with freezer paper and poured the food right onto it. No utensils, just hands. Definitely a warm weather thing, but the kids enjoyed it and thought the food was yummy.

and a closeup

You may notice there are no real pics of our tree. We were quite lazy about the holiday preparations, and didn’t buy our tree until 2 days before Christmas. Bought it for $20 from some guys basically selling them (cut from the local forest, I’m sure) off the back of their trucks. Didn’t turn out too bad, all things considered. lol

Fifth Grader

From the title of this post, you might think I was going to have a bit to say about Caemlyn.  However, in this case I have a bit to say about Zephram.  Yesterday was his first day of school - as a fifth grader.

Yes, he and Caemlyn are now in the same grade.  The school felt they weren’t able to meet his needs in fourth grade and that he would be better served to advance a grade now. Justin and I were hesitant to take this route, but in the end, it’s what Zephram really wanted to do. Let’s hope it was the right thing to do.

Merry Christmas!

I did get cards in the mail, but not until yesterday…so maybe they’ll all arrive by New Years! lol

Long Overdue

Guess I’m long overdue for an update here.  Life has been crazy busy, so I’m not even going to attempt to cover everything that has been going on.  However, here is a sampling of what we’ve been up to, in reverse order…

The kids all dressed up for church on Sunday. I’m absolutely *loving* the girls’ new skirts. Made them myself.

Caemlyn had her first band concert, playing my old flute. They did quite well for just having started in September. I didn’t take any pics, but will attempt to edit and share (eventually) some of the video I took.

Annual breakfast with Santa. No one cried this year!

Huge snowstorm at the beginning of the month - dumped a foot of snow.

I made another crocheted nativity (well, the most important pieces) for my sister.

Crocheted baby blankets for both of my counselors that had babies this year. One was just born last night.

Tyghe helped daddy build his model boat…finally! I think he got the kit from Grandma at our family reunion in 2008. He’s so proud of his boat!

I got to go to California for a few days at the end of November to celebrate Grandma Hawley’s 90th birthday. It was so nice to see so many cousins and their families. I was bummed that I wasn’t able to take my own family with me, but glad I got to go anyway.