I love my Grandparents!!

I really enjoyed being able to visit all my Grandparents the week of Valentines!  The kids made them Valentines and I baked some cookies.  It was fun to spend a whole afternoon talking with my Grandma Smoot.  I am fascinated by all the stories that my Grandparents share with me about their lives.  My Grandma told me she was Mckenna's exact age when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  Her Father, (my Great Grandpa) was in Hawaii at the time of the attack.  He was there on business and was unharmed.  He did get stuck over there for two years before he was able to come home.  My Grandma told me about the sweet letters her father wrote her from Hawaii.

We were able to visit my Grandma Rosen in the nursing home for family night.  We just showed up and surprised her.  She was almost in tears when she saw all of us at the door.  The kids each took a turn giving her the Valentine they made.

 I also enjoy hearing the stories my Grandpa tells me from his childhood.  He told me about how he was led by the spirit to attend BYU.  He had never even been to Provo before but read about it in a magazine and applied. His decision to come to Utah has impacted our whole family.  I learned so much about my Grandpa through listening to these stories.  My love and respect for him grew even more.

 

I am so blessed to have faithful, loving, and kind grandparents.  They are such a great example to me and all my kids.

Valentines Day!!

 Hayden worked hard on his Valentines for preschool.  It was great practice writing his name.  Addy wanted to be up close to see what was going on.  These two are my little sweethearts!  I am glad I have them home with me.

Mckenna and Parker both made their Valentines boxes this year with very little help from me which was nice.  Mckenna made a microwave that you open up and put the candy inside.  Parker made his all about BYU with a #3 for his favorite basketball player Tyler Haws.  Halle looked very cute in lots of pink for V-day unfortunately, I didn't get a good pic.

 

Kev and I went to dinner and a movie to celebrate.  We decided to try the Red Iguana.  Kev had heard a lot of good things about it from other guys at work.  I was very happy with a bowl of Guac all to myself.  I did share some with Kev.

My handsome husband!  The food was really good!  We were impressed! Kev had a steak dish with bacon and Jalapenos.  I had a pork dish that was marinated in lime juice with delicious spices.  We liked the salsa and the plate of Mole they brought out for us to try.  It had several different kinds on one plate. It was a palette of colors.  I liked the mango mole.

 

We also went to see the movie The Book Thief (free movie tickets with our POAP's).  We both really liked it.  Kev loved hearing all the German.  I loved the powerful story line.  It also is a book and now I want to read it.  A big thanks to Mckenna for watching all the kids so we could enjoy the night out together!

Snow days at the cabin!!

We have had the chance to stay overnight at the cabin twice in the last few weeks.  We always enjoy getting away and playing in the snow.

We invited my family up with us the end of January.  My Dad, Loni, Kayley, Mike, Amy and their kids all came up.  It was Amy's first time snowmobiling.  It was fun having them come up.  Amy and I stayed up until midnight just talking one night while are husbands fell asleep on the couches.

The kids had fun riding on the big tube with their Uncle Mike.

 

The kids also decided to try out the big tubing hill.

 

Hayden and Hailey making snowballs with Uncle Spencer's awesome snowball maker.  I thought it was funny how Hayden was lining them up all in a row. It was a beautiful sunny day to enjoy outside.

 

We went up again to the cabin this last weekend to spend time with the Grant side of the family.  It is always fun hanging out with all the cousins.  We had fun watching the Olympic opening ceremonies on Friday night.  It snowed the whole time we were up there.  We woke up to about a foot of new snow.  Kev with his cousins Brian and Ryan ready to get out the snowmobiles.

 

It was great having all that fresh POWDER to play in!  Cousin Brian was one of the first ones out and made new tracks in the field.  You can barely see the snowmobile with all that powder he was kicking up. 

Mckenna with all the tubes piled on her.  The kids all wanted a turn.

 

Halle really wanted to make a snowmen.  It might have something to do with the fact that she has the movie "Frozen" on the brain.  I helped the girls build one with cousin Aubrey.  We used anything we could find around the barn.  The eyes are made of old spark plugs, the nose an icicle off the barn, a twig for a mouth and arms, and Addy's scarf to complete the look.  It was the first one we have ever built at the cabin.  Some of the cousins also built one and by the end of the day there were three.

 

We also had a good time warming up inside of the cabin.  Halle, Addy, and cousin Alice found just the right place to hang out in the blanket closet.

A big week for Mckenna!!

Mckenna had new beginnings night this last week.  They were welcoming all the new girls coming into beehives this year.  We learned that the theme for this year is Come unto Christ.  They talked about goals and the activities they will have for the year.  I am so excited for Mckenna to get to experience The Young Women program.  Two of my good friends are leaders in the program.  Mckenna will turn twelve just in time for girls camp.  She is really looking forward to that!

The next night was the sixth grade science fair.  Mckenna had been working hard on her project for the last month.  She decided to use Glowsticks for her experiment.  Her hypothesis was, how does temperature effect the brightness and duration of a Glowstick?  She put a Glowstick in a cup with boiling water, one at room temperature, and one in cold water.  She repeated the process several times for her results.  Kev was a huge help with her research and helping her chart the results.  I enjoyed helping get her display ready.  We spent several late nights helping her get everything ready.

There were lots of great experiments at the fair.  We knew she had had done her best but didn't know what to expect.  We were all surprised when her science teacher announced she had WON FIRST PLACE IN THE WHOLE SIXTH GRADE!!

These are all the kids that were chosen to compete in the district competition.  There is one boy in the group that is not in the picture. 

Mckenna was so happy!  She literally was bouncing up and down with excitement.  We are so happy for her!  She really worked hard and did her best.  She will compete at the district competition on February 18th.  The week did not end there.  On Saturday she took a nationwide test.  It was to test her knowledge in English, Social Studies, and Science.  This test will help place her on the right track for honors classes in middle school.  She finds out the results from the test the end of March.