It's a Girl

Jere and I went and had an ultrasound yesterday. We found out we are having a baby girl.  The tech was pretty sure.  We brought home 2 balloons: "Little Girl" and "Little Boy"  written on them and  we had the kids cover their eyes and we popped the boy balloon and had them  see which balloon was left  and look at the Hershey's bar with the "SHE" colored.

Olivia was really excited that she will get a sister.  Devin's response was, "ah Man"  Garrett didn't seem to care one way or the other.

Devin at Dinner prayed that the baby would be great!  Today he was happy that we were going to have a baby even a girl baby.

Graduate of Year 2026

Yep, He finally started Kindergarten. He was so excited. He starts at 11:30 and he didn't want to go to the sitter and wait. The sitter, Brittany, said that when she dropped him off he ran to the school.

A lot of the other students came to greet the Kindergartens as they arrived and gave them high fives.

He picked out his own superman backpack.

And he picked out his first day of school outfit too.  He was super excited to wear his pirate shirt.

When I got to the school to pick him up,  he ran right past to me to get to Garrett. 

Lego Team Field Trip

We got free tickets for our Lego Team members to go the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake. It has a section about Natural Disasters which goes along with our theme "Nature's Fury." Six of our eight team members were able to come.  It was a pretty awesome museum.  It was big with lots displays and hands on things to do.  There was even a Dinosaur section.

Our Lego Team: Olivia, Alexa, Matthew, Anders, Landen, and Garrett.  Michael and Wesley couldn't come. 

First Day of School

 Olivia started her first year at the Junior High.  She has 8 classes. 4 a day.  She has a locker which she can sometimes open.  She seems to like all her classes.

Garrett started 4th grade this year.  He is no longer considered in the lower grades.   His teacher is Ms. Lish.

Devin will start soon.

Kindergarten Assessment

Devin went to meet his teacher on Monday.  He was so excited to meet his teacher, see his room, and start school.  Then when we got into the classroom, he became shy and would hide behind me and not talk to his teacher.  If you know Devin he is never shy.

We signed up for his Assessment for today.  Devin didn't want to practice for the assessment, he even told he didn't want to go.   When we got to the assessment I was nervous for him.  I wasn't sure what he would do or how he would act.   I have been working with him on reading skills like learning some sight words, and blending words to read.

When we got in the classroom the teacher took him over to the table and I sat in the back and filled out some papers.

Here is how part of the assessment went:

PART 1: Counting
Teacher: See the numbers on the board, I want you to count  as far as you can.
Devin: I can't really see. (Then he moves farther away) and counts to 29 flawlessly.  I don't know what comes next.
Teacher: That's ok.
Devin comes back to the table.
Devin:  Wait I remember now 30.  31, 32, 33, 34,

Part 2 Estimation and Counting
The teacher puts some things on the table and said how many do you think are here?
Devin: There is over 100
Teacher: Now let's count them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 8. 9. 10. 11

Part 3 Letter Recognition
Teacher: I am going to point to a letter and I want you to tell me the name and the sound
Devin: Ok. and as she is pointing, he is getting the letters right.
Teacher: What is this letter?
Devin: I haven't learned the letter H yet.

Part 3: Sight Words
She pulls out a list of sight words and asks him if he recognized any of the words.
Devin:  I have blue book at home that my mom makes me read.
Teacher: Can you read any of the words
Devin: He starts pointing to the words he knows but doesn't say them out loud
Teacher: Can you read the words.
Devin: I said I know them.... like and, I , a see, to


Glad he got over his shyness.  He is so funny and he is so ready for Kindergarten.  His teacher seems really nice.  He will start on Tuesday.

 

Bridal Veil Falls

I went back to work on Thursday. Jenn decided that wasn't a very fun way for the kids on their last day before school to be home. She decided to take the kids to Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls. I wish I could have been with them. I have been to Bridal Veil but I didn't realize that you could actually play in the water, I thought it was just a scenic overlook. The kids really had a good time.

Seven Peaks

We bought a Pass of all Passes this year. It was 29.99 with a 20 dollar Walmart gift card per pass. It really it was only 9.99. The pass gets you into fun centers, water parks, and other activities.  We have gone to 2 fun centers, and been to the water park 4 times.  I think we got our money's worth.  Without the pass it costs 24.99 per person to get into the park. 

The kids love going.  Devin is tall enough to go on all the rides and Garrett loves going on the really fast ones.  We usually try to go on Tuesdays when Jenn can come with us.

We took Olivia's friend Celestine with us on one trip to Seven Peaks. She has a pass too.

Camping

We went camping this past weekend. We spent two night in Spanish Fork Canyon.   We made some yummy meals over the fire.

Foil Dinners

Pizza cooked over the fire. It was good even though I burnt the bottom.

Orange Brownies

Banana Boats

It is such a pretty place to camp.  We brought the telescope and and had a nice view of the stars.

Olivia brought her candle that she made in Young Women.

Saturday afternoon, we went to Price to go see the Dinosaur Museum.

Then we came back to the campsite for another night of camping and s'mores.

We brought Jack with us on this camping trip.  Olivia loved having him there.

Garrett brought his pocket knife and was whittling on a stick.

Jeremy whittled a walking stick for Devin.

But everyone especially loved the s'mores.