Mr. Smarty Pants!

Kindergarten graduation. Mixed feelings. For me, not McKade. He's getting so big! The school my kids go to have theirs during the daytime, McKade's started at 9 am. Good grief what a busy day! Cauley's school had ended/graduated the night before so the teachers had to be there, but he got permission to come late so he could go to McKade's graduation. He got to take Dallin to his last day of school and be there for Flag Ceremony, and then he hung out until we got there. It was super cute!!! Seriously, I can't begin to tell you how well done this school's kinder graduation went! The principle started with welcoming, and then they gave out a few awards. McKade got an award for getting all 70 phonograms correct, and another award that was a huge surprise to he and I...STUDENT OF THE YEAR!! His teacher had such nice, kind, and encouraging words toward him as he was presented the award and given a t-shirt. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as he had perfect grades on everything all year long, except handwriting, which was still good. He is so funny as he was all serious the entire graduation (I had warned him not to goof around before and I guess he took it to heart.). After awards, they sang the cutest song EVER!!! Seriously, I have a copy and it was to die for! We also have it on video, but I can't get it to load on blogger. I think his teacher wrote it? Then they recited the Preamble to the Constitution. After that, they received their diplomas which were a graduation picture, certificate, DVD slide show we watched later, and another picture their teacher took. We then got the privilege of watching the slide show we all received a copy of and I will admit, I cried. It was too cute, definitely a treasure! Each child was shown individually telling us what they wanted to be when they grew up (McKade said he wants to be an army man) and then they had a little slide show of each student's picture to the song "Let Them Be Little." That ended graduation and Cauley left for his final hours of work for the school year while we took pictures.

McKade receiving the Student Of The Year award.

Ms. Wilcher- aide. She does SO much!! What an amazing lady!

The supermodel teacher

I seriously cannot say how much I love this lady! This is McKade's teacher, Mrs. Valenzuela. I had the privilege of helping in the classroom this year on multiple occasions and I learned so much from her just by being there. She is so kind, patient, loving, funny, eccentric, and I was sad for her not to be McKade's teacher any longer. I had hope Tyli would have her next year, but sadly, she isn't going to be teaching next year. :(

State Champs!

It was a late night so this is what's left of the boys team and coaches

Congratulations to the Higley Boys Track Team- State Champs (Division 3A)!!! The Girls team came in 3rd which is pretty good too! I was in suspense as I wasn't at the meet so Cauley would text me every now and again with updates. At one point he said it was either between us or Williams Field (our rivals in district) and I about went berserk with anticipation as I had no other details of what was going on or what we needed to do to win. He finally let me know we had won and told me he'd call me later (it was already 10:30 pm!) and so I waited. and waited. and waited. He finally got home around 2 am Sunday morning.

 It is tradition that Cauley started that they have a giant slip and slide on the football field after the awards banquet. This year did not disappoint. Not only do my kids LOVE it, but the coaches (ok, mostly Cauley) and the track kids had a blast too! I loved watching and taking pics. (still trying to figure out the camera at this point.) Here are a small fraction of what I took.



superman!

Seconds later, they were "bowled" down!

lets not all go at once....

or do. Wait, where are the girls?

2012 Cub Annapolis!

Dallin getting 5th and 6th arrow points

 Last week our ward's cub scouts kicked off our first annual Cub Annapolis! SO MUCH FUN! The boys were in charge of making a "car" out of a cardboard box. (think Flintstones cars!) Then, they brought them to pack meeting and they raced! Cauley, who is the Assistant Cub Master, ended up being in charge as the other guy was working late. Cauley set up the race course in the parking lot with orange cones and then the boys got ready. They had to have helmets of some kind (people wore bike helmets, motorcycle, football, batting helmets, etc.), eye protection (sunglasses, goggles, etc), and lace-up shoes. Every lap they were required to make a "pit stop." (The pit Crews were parents and other who were there to help out.) The first lap's pit stop required a tire change where the kids had to take off their shoes and sock and put them back on again before continuing their lap. Can you say stinky, SWEATY feet?!!! The 2nd pit stop they needed their windshield washed. When coming into the pit, a leader would spray them in the face with a spray bottle and the parents had to wipe their eye protection down. The 3rd, they needed gas, which was water handed to them in a paper cup that they had to chug. Then they had to do 1 final lap before crossing the finish line. The boys all had SO much fun! Once that race was complete (and yes, there were a couple of crashes!) Cauley made an off-road course that the boys did. The night ended with Popsicles. I didn't get many good shots as I was trying to watch the 3 younger ones, take pics, and be the pit crew all at the same time.

 So, you can't tell obviously from the picture, but Cauley had installed a mp3 player and speakers in Dallin's car which blasted music all night long. (he's the pointed black car with the blue bike helmet.)

Tyli's Dance Recital

McKade's "girlfriend" along side Tyli. She is in his kindergarten class
 and they really like each other!

 Tyli did dance again this year with Miss Kegan at Flower Patch Dance. I love it because it's super low key, not expensive, and Ty LOVES to dance! Kegan (a YW who recently moved out of our ward with her family) does such a great job with these girls! The white shirt costume was for the dance "Jessie's Girl" and the black polka dot was for "Freeze Frame." With us playing with our new cameras, we made the mistake of asking Dallin to video it. Most of the video is of the grass with the music- he wasn't paying attention to the camera! The theme this year was "The Rockin' 70's.

At the end, for the finale, Kegan invited all siblings to come dance too and Halli was more than happy to jump up and run to the "stage" to dance too!

New Camera!

I mentioned in Halli's birthday post (below) that our camera decided to break on Halli's birthday. Truthfully, it was breaking before and it was hit or miss getting a picture from it or not. The clasp that hold the battery in decided to break off, and honestly, it was getting old for a camera. Cauley surprised me and got me 2 new cameras! (one every-day one, one I can toss in my purse and take everywhere that is the canon sure shot, and the other, an upgrade from our old canon rebel G- the Rebel G T3!) We didn't know how to work either one yet, but needed a camera to take pics for Ty's dance recital. Here's Cauley playing around before with the Rebel G...

CTR FHE

Our ward primary did something really cute this year and each family will get a turn sometime this year to take home the CTR FHE binder. In it, there is a lesson, and activity, and then a recipe to make CTR Pretzels. We got our turn in late April, and had a blast doing it! (although we changed a few things.) CTR stands for Choose The Right and FHE is Family Home Evening. We do (or at least try! sometimes it's VERY short!) FHE every Monday night- a time we have set apart for our family and having a gospel-based lesson. This one was on... Choosing The Right!

Playing the game. The dices had scenerios on the sides and the kids had to tell us if it was a good choice and if not, how to make a good choice out of the situation.

 Instead of pretzels, we decided to make sugar cookies and take them around randomly to people in our ward. Sorry there are no pictures of the final products, frosted in green. Cauley decided that instead of a plate of cookies that said CTR, we made plates that said CTR YO! Some plates, depending on the size of family, had dinosaurs added.

Mom made the cookies, Dad rolled them out, and the kids cut them out.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

I can't believe she is already 2!!!

On her actual birthday- our camera decided to break at this point, so this is the best you get.

 Halli's birthday came during one of our busiest weeks of the year and so we celebrated early with the Clark Family. Everyone came over for dinner and then cupcakes and presents.

Halli is such a funny, sweet, loving little girl. She seriously makes us laugh constantly. You would be amazed at how much she talks. She can say most words, but some I still have to guess at. She still calls milk "coke." :) Halli loves to dance, and will follow her big sister around mercilessly! (especially when dancing!) She loves the color purple (pooopil!), eating consistently, coloring, and playing in water. She LOVES to sing and some of her absolute favorites right now are "I Am A Child of God," "Popcorn Popping," "Do As I'm Doing," and "Spot!" Her 2 year check-up went perfect, and she is in the 95th percentile for height (shortest kid at this point!), 30th for weight, and 45th for head. I think we'll keep her!

Easter Pageant

Although I've now lived in AZ for over 8 years now, this year was my first year ever going to the Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant. I was not disappointed! Kathy (my mother-in-law) came with us and Mike, my father-in-law, showed up just in time for the pageant to begin. For those who have never heard of it before (family and friends in ID!), it depicts the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, from birth through death. It is taken from the scriptures with many of the parables found in the Old Testament. It is such a wonderful way to kick off the Easter season for it teaches of our Savior and testifies many times of him! We had some pretty nice people around us, none of which were from Arizona! 2 different couples sat behind us, both nonmembers, and both had traveled far just for the pageant- one from Illinois, the other from Missouri! The nice family in front of us drove all the way from Logan Utah! Before the performance, actors and actresses from the pageant along with many missionaries walk amongst the crowd talking with spectators and taking pictures. Here are a few...

Um, they were a little bored!

Waiting..... we actually had amazing seats. There are many thousands of people behind us and to the sides both in chairs and on the grass on blankets. The East side of the temple grounds are literally FULL of people! oh, and that is the stage behind us where the pageant takes place. My mom thought it was the temple, but the temple is to our left.

Dallin holding the whip that this Roman soldier flogged the Savior with

Tyli was SO happy to get a picture taken with this sweet girl, Kaitlyn. She was one of the 10 virgins who danced.

Cookies!

Many of you don't know that I started a Sugar Cookie Company in February called Sugar Bites. It has been SO much fun! I LOVE making sugar cookies and enjoy seeing how happy they make other people. My first job was a big one- 550 cookies for Higley High's MORP dance. That same week was Valentine's Day with 3 orders coming in for those the day before, and ended with another order for 150 for a baby shower. I have been bad about getting pictures of my orders, but need to do better so I can put them on that blog. (sugarbitescookies.blogspot.com) Really, I'd like my own website, but have NO idea where to start. For now, it's just making cookies. Frosting and decorating has been fun, but I'm not artistic so it's been a challenge in a way. My friend, Charai, told me not to worry as they are cute, but even more important, they are delicious. If you have any suggestions, advice, or questions, please feel free!

HHS MORP cookies

Birthday party cookies

Bridal shower cookies

Forward HIKE!

Tuesday of Spring break Cauley took me on a date. (a movie and dinner.) Wednesday was hike day. Cauley got up and went to Higley to load up his track team on the buses. I took Tyli over to Steph's house to play and then we went and met the buses at the San Tan Mountains to go hiking. I think everyone excpet McKade had a great time. (He wasn't feeling so well.) It was warm and sunny. Dallin kept up with the guys up front running most of the almost 5 miles. Cauley, Halli and I took up the rear. Halli LOVED the buses!

Halli ended up falling asleep at the end.