Traditions Ball, Robotics Class, Dr. Seuss Week, and the yard

Here are some other things that have been happening in our family in the last month.

The elementary had Dr. Seuss week as they do each year.  The boys were all decked out for Wacky Wednesday, so I took this picture.  Another favorite day was Crazy Sock Day.

Cherilyn went with Jaron to the BYU Traditions Ball.  The Ball was in the Hinckley building.  Cherilyn said it was really fancy.  Grandma Elder adjusted this prom dress for Cherilyn and she loved wearing it.

Ethan and Eli paricipated in an after-school robotics class.  They thought it would be fun and Ethan earned the Robotics merit badge for participating.  In the class they learned how to program a robot to do certain tasks.  For the showcase, they "drove" their robot through an obstacle course, where it had to turn corners, turn around and lift something up.

Here is their robot.

Here are the boys with their robot.

We decided to transform the lower area of our yard.  It was originally a play area with a swingset and slide.  When we took those out we moved our shed down there.  After we got Jake, our dog, that area was his and it looked like it, with various chewed up toys and branches scattered around. The first part of April, we decided to move the shed up by the garage door, which makes more sense for storing outside tools and the lawnmower.  After some discussion of what to do with the area, we decided to put in a garden.  (The boys liked the idea of a pool, but they were overruled.)   To start the process, we, meaning mostly Charles, dug a sprinkler trench through our rocks, or is it dirt?  We borrowed a pick to make the process a little easier.  We did this in between sessions of  Saturday's General Conference.  That week we had 14 yards of dirt delivered.  It was a large mound of black dirt covering a large part of the driveway.  Charles rented a Kubota backhoe to move the dirt to the back.  It saved us a lot of shoveling and pushing of the wheelbarrow.  Eli and I, worked at leveling out the dirt that Charles dumped over the wall.  The dirt piled to the top of the wall so Charles came down and helped shovel and rake the dirt across the area.  Joshua and his friends also helped for a few minutes.  When we had the dirt off the driveway and leveled out, Charles used the backhoe to dig a hole for another tree.  With the backhoe it took about half an hour.  The last hole for a tree we dug, took five hours because of all the rocks. When we were done, it looked good and Charles, Eli, and I were worn out.  On Saturday the girls and I bought a chokecherry tree and some strawberry plants, while the boys were working on sprinklers.  We got the tree and strawberries planted and then rested. The next weekend we went to the nursery, and loaded up two carts with over 40 plants.  We layed out the plants where we thought they would do the best and then planted.  We had a process set up -- Charles dug the hole, I spread out the roots, Eli poured on root stuff and Ethan helped fill in the hole.  It was satisfying to have all those new plants in.  We look forward to when they fill in the area.

 We also moved the rocks from this area at the back of the house, under the apple tree.  We filled in that area with more dirt and new plants. 

Easter 2016

Joshua really wanted to decorate eggs on Saturday before Easter.  He was excited and kept asking when we could do it.  His enthusiasm was contagious. For something new, we used Sharpies to decorate the eggs before dying them.

Erica decided to decorate three eggs before we put everything away.  Allison decorated two before she left somewhere.  Cherilyn didn't mind missing out on decorating.

After the women's conference we made Easter cookies.  Allison read the scriptures from her new iPhone, while the boys helped pound the pecans, and add the other ingredients.  The Easter cookies sit in the oven overnight and cook with a hollow center, like the empty tomb.  Ethan ate thirteen cookies Easter morning.  There were none left for Allison and Cherilyn by the time they got up.

Pictures of the Easter egg hunt:

Later in the evening, the boys hid eggs for Cherilyn and Jaron to find.   (Jaron was Cherilyn's boyfriend at the time.)  They had more fun hiding them and watching Cherilyn and Jaron find them than they did finding their eggs.

This was their pose while waiting for Cherilyn and Jaron to come out.  I don't know why.  :)

Sweethearts for Allison (ooh la la)

In February, Allison was voted by fellow students to be part of the Sweethearts royalty competition.  Sweethearts is a girl's choice dance put on by FFA.  After being nominated, as part of the competition, she made a poster to advertise the dance (pictured below). She also had to milk a cow, rope a cow, and make a cake.

Because Allison doesn't love traditional cake, likes to keep things simple, and likes to eat rice crispies, she made this rice crispy cake. (EDIT from Allison: Though all of those are true, really it's just cause I don't believe in stressing myself out over a stupid competition, so I figured I'd have fun with it.) We enjoyed her trials of cake mix rice crispies, butterfinger rice crispies, and chocolate rice crispies.  The butterfinger and chocolate won overall.  Here is her finished cake.  She didn't win (whaat?) but her cake raised some good money, thanks to the choir kids who bought it.  They said it tasted really good. For participating, she was given free tickets to the dance.  She enjoyed being nominated and the chance to try new things.

Her date was a boy from Salem High School. He went to junior high with some of Allison's friends, so they suggested she take him. (EDIT: Really it's cause I ran out of good choices from Payson High. Haha jk.) She had a great time making a new friend and having fun with so many others.

His name is Nathan. Aren't they cute?

This is Allison's typical group, these six girls.

As part of their date, they made their own boutonnieres and corsages out of fake flowers and candy.

Eli's final pinewood derby race

Eli made his final pinewood derby car this year.  He drew how he wanted it cut from the top and side.  After it was cut Eli and Dad added weights until it was just right.  Then Eli painted it, first with silver spray paint.  After the spray paint dried he added stripes and head lights with paint.

When they went to the weigh-in Eli was impressed with the many cool looking cars -- a Star Wars ship by Jacob (our neighbor), a remote control car, and many others.

The next day at the race we learned there would be 72 heats, so that each of the 36 boys would race twice in each of the four lanes.  They had a computerized track that calculated the winners at the end.

Eli's car is in the far right lane, facing backwards.  He tried backwards to see if it was faster.  It was a very similar time to the first, forward facing race, so he left it forward for the remainder of his races.

Eli came in first twice, second four times, and third place twice.  He ended up in 11th place overall.

Ethan's Science Fair

For the science fair Ethan did an experiment to see which bridge of pencils would hold the most weight.  It was a fun experiment to do.

Here are three bridges, each with three pencils.  There is rope around the test bridge with a bucket tied to it.  (He also tested bridges with 1,2, and 3 pencils in a row.)

Here Ethan is adding more water to the bucket to see which one holds the most water/weight.

He discovered that the pyramid bridge held the most weight.  He typed up his notes and put together his display board with the information. 

 

The day of the science fair he presented his experiment to two judges.  Each student was scored by two judges according to a given rubric.  Ethan received a trophy for being in the top 40 at his school.  He was a little disappointed that he didn't go on to the district science fair, but decided it was okay because he didn't have to present again.

I was asked by the PTA to chair the science fair committee, so I was very involved in the process.   With the help of Cherilyn and Allison I edited the science fair packet that went out to the parents and had it printed and delivered to the teachers.  I helped to recruit judges for the day of the science fair.  The kids liked helping with the treat bags for the judges (and receiving the extras).  After it was over, and throughout the process, I kept notes of what could be done better or how it was successful.  I also rewrote the rubric used by the judges.  I think it is less subject to personal opinion than this year.  The notes were passed on to the PTA for whoever is in charge next year.  It was a fun challenge for me.

Erica Turns 16

Erica had her sixteenth birthday this year.  Unlike many sixteen year olds she isn't excited about driving or dating.  She thinks both are scary.  

We celebrated her birthday a day early because Ethan had a campout the night of her birthday.  She didn't mind choosing the meals to eat for two days or opening her presents early.  On her birthday she had her best friend over for the evening.

She received two Hank Smith CD's.  Hank Smith is an inspirational speaker that Erica likes.

Erica's favorite soda pop is Fanta. 

Her favorite candy bar is Baby Ruth.  She was excited to be given four of them.  She kept them for herself but didn't eat them all in one day.

Her last present (because it was the biggest and the boys save the biggest for last) was this Inside Out pillow.

Gingerbread Houses 2015

Christmas 2015

Ethan and Eli got each other the same gift, nerf guns.  Ethan opened his second.  That is why they are exchanging grins.

Erica gave Cherilyn her camera.  Cherilyn really liked it.

Allison made this for Erica.

Eli got Joshua a soccer ball.  He really liked it.  It is in his hands (but didn't make it in the picture, oops).

Allison got Dad a jar of nothing because he said he wanted nothing for Christmas. (She also got him a t-shirt "Best. Dad. Ever.")

The only picture from Christmas with Allison in it.