Talent Show

Miranda and Ari were both given the opportunity to perform in the school talent show. This was Miranda's third year, and Ari's second. They have fun doing it (even if it is lip-sync :)-why am I paying for singing and piano lessons?). (I'll add the video later when I'm away from the computer and it can download while I'm doing other things. I'm just bookmarking this in our schedule of events.)

Miranda's Reflection Night

April 18th we were invited to Salt Lake to honor all of the State Reflections contest winners. There are a lot of talented kids in this state! We sat through a long presentation of all the awards, but it was fun to see the imagination these kids posses. We were so proud of Miranda! Her picture sat with the other participants who are headed to a National level. As of today (I'm posting this on June 5th) we still haven't heard from Nationals. From what we understand, no news is good news. The higher up you go in the competition the longer it takes to hear. Miranda is really anxious to get any news, though. Way to go, Miranda!

Here she is with the other Visual Arts winners.

Spring Break - Day #1

When we looked at the calendar and realized that Rory had taken off all the same days the kids had off for Spring Break, we knew we had to take advantage of it. We wanted to go camping, but assumed since we still have snow in the mountains that all the campgrounds would be closed. We found a KOA in Salt Lake and decided we'd be tourists for the weekend! We took our trailer down to Salt Lake on Thursday. We were all so excited just to be able to get away. I'm sorry for the amount of posts. Hopefully we can keep them somewhat concise!

After we got our trailer set up we took off to hit our appointment at the Sweet's Candy Factory. They do a free 40 min. tour there. They hold your cameras so I wasn't able to take pictures. But this was definitely one of the highlights of our weekend. After putting on our "candy maker hats" (and attractive blue hair-net), we were taken through each of the steps of making the candy. They even gave samples along the way. And we each got a small bag of candy at the end!

From there we went into Salt Lake to the Clark Planetarium. We looked around the displays then went into a 3-D movie "Under the Sea". This was our first experience in a 3-D movie. The kids had a blast with it. It was almost just as much fun watching them reaching out in front of them as it was watching the actual show. The little girls insisted the fish were eating their toes.Perhaps Ari has a future as a Weather Forecaster!

They posed themselves like this. What a bunch of silly geese!

Day #2

We started Friday at the Tracy Aviary. The kids had a blast. It was quiet, peaceful, and a nice morning.

Sabrina, Ari and the Flamingos

Miranda talking to the birds. Aren't the birds supposed to be in the tree, and the kids on the ground?

Miranda said the Eagle was giving her the "evil eye".

We loved the pelicans!These two ducks followed us around half the park.

Here is one that ate out of Jake's hand. They also ate out of Ari and Miranda's hands too.

Just a fun video clip of the kids!

That afternoon we went to the State Capitol. They have a tour that takes you through it. While Miranda, Rory and I really liked it, Jake thought it was totally boring! They did love going up and down the glass door elevator. It was a really beautiful building and they've done an amazing job on the renovations. We even got to see under the building where they put the footings (I don't remember what they're called) to allow the capitol to sway 2 ft. in every direction without falling. Wow! My brother Jordan worked under there. I think you're even more amazing then ever, Jord! A funny side note - Our tour guide was Japanese and very hard to understand - but a nice and knowledgeable guy!

Day #3

We had planned long before, to go to the Zoo on Saturday morning. Unfortunately the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate. We decided to brave it anyway. Grandma and Grandpa Farr met us there. It was cold and rainy to begin with. But the rain only lasted 20-30 minutes. After that it was great. The weather scared away all the other zoo patrons, so there was hardly anyone else there. It sure beats the heat and crowds of the summer!

In the afternoon we went the Church Museum. The younger kids were a little bored, until we got to the end for the kids area. What an amazing place! Rory and I want to go back when it's only the two of us just to spend a few hours reading all the interesting facts they have there.

Grandma and Grandpa Farr took us all out to Cafe Rio for a be-lated birthday dinner for Rory. It was fun spending the day with Grandma and Grandpa. We figured we had better call it a day after all 5 of our kids got hurt! Kali started the day at the zoo by catching the asphalt with her face. This is the best picture I could find (I think Grandma and Grandpa have better one's if I get them I'll update). Her nose, forehead, and upper lip took a beating. Then Ari, Jake, and Sabrina all took turns falling at the zoo. The day ended with Miranda smashing her hand in the car door! Enough fun for us! We headed back to our trailer for a movie and bedtime.

(These are the EMTs that came to make sure that Kali's face was okay. Thankfully, no lost teeth!)

Day #4 - Easter Sunday

On Sunday, we went to a Sacrament meeting that was near our campground. It was very culturally diverse and a nice change from what we see in Cache Valley. Grandma Farr made the girl's beautiful new dresses and gave us Jacob's snazzy church clothes.

After some lunch (I don't think I've ever had hotdogs for Easter dinner) and a good nap we took TRAX up to Temple Square. The kids loved riding on Trax. I'm sure the on-lookers thought we were country bumpkins, but it all didn't seem to matter watching the sparkle in their eyes.


Temple Square was breathtaking. The flowers were all in bloom and the spring weather was beautiful. Even the children were able to quiet themselves long enough to feel the peace near the temple.
That only lasted for a minute.


They have a new (or at least new to us), beautiful display called "Our Heavenly Father's Plan" it goes over the Family Proclamation. It's in the North Visitor's Center, if you have a chance to see it. It was beautiful!

Day #5 - On Monday, we just took it easy in the morning then packed up the trailer and headed home. Now, if I could just catch up on the wash. What a fun week! None of us wanted to come home, we figure that's a good sign of a good vacation!

Thank you, Easter Bunny!

Thankfully, the Easter Bunny knew that we were going out of town so he came Wednesday during the night. It was raining and cold outside so he must have opted to hide the eggs inside the house. This is a pre-hunt picture, our other's didn't turn out so well. Kali already found her chocolate bunny. (The roll around her middle is her swimsuit ruffle under her ballet costume - not the result too much candy!)

Earlier in the week we colored Easter eggs.

This is a picture of Miranda taking pictures of each of the eggs. They had to do this in order to eat the eggs. I'm grateful we've come this far. This story might embarrass Miranda, but when she was little she wouldn't let me crack her eggs, nor anyone else's for that matter. I'd have to tell her they were extras in order for her to eat them! Our eternal artist didn't want her masterpieces cracked and discarded!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:
Sabrina is such a tenderhearted little girl. She is the first on the spot when anyone is hurt. She always offers her most treasured possession, her monkey, to the injured person. She constantly wants to know when she'll be a mom - she'll be a great one! (Although, she did say she doesn't want to grow up because she doesn't want to have to get her ears pierced.)

Two different things happened just in the last week that I had to journal. We were in Walmart, and like all the other mothers there, I was in a hurry just to get to the checkstand. I came around the corner at the front and there was one of those tables where the lady stands ready to give you a 2-liter of pop just for signing up for a Sam's club membership. I don't know about the rest of you, but I try not to make eye contact and walk as quickly as I can so I don't have to tell them NO for the 100th time. We were just past her when Sabrina says, "Mom, I think we should go back and talk to that lady. She looks like she's all alone. I think she's lonely!" Wow! How do you talk your way out of that one?!?!?!

The same week she came running out from preschool, obviously distressed. When she reached me I could tell she'd been crying. "What's the matter, Sabrina?", I asked. "Olivia is sick!", she replied. I looked to her teacher for an explanation. Her teacher went on to explain that Olivia (her classmate) was home sick. She said Sabrina had asked if she could say a prayer for her, which she immediately did. All the ride home I had to convince her that Olivia would be fine and her prayers answered.

The Bad:
Sabrina has suffered for about a year from Kidney infections. They have come and gone, but when they arrive they hit her hard! The last few months we have had to keep her on an antibiotic just to keep the infection away. Her pediatrician suggested we take her in for further testing. She had a Renal Ultrasound and a VCUG (which is just a fancy word for a horrible procedure including a catheter and a screaming child). We found from these tests that Sabrina has Grade 4 Renal Reflux. In simple terms this means that the urine is going back up into the kidney instead of out of the body as it should. We took her last week to Primary Children's Hospital for a consultation. They told us that this small birth defect is more common in blonde girls of Scandinavian decent. She fits all of those. After going through the options there was no question that surgery will be our best option. It has a 95-98% effectiveness rate and we don't have to go through all the horrible testing again. It's an outpatient procedure and she should be up and running in a week or less. We'll take her in the first week of May. We haven't really explained the whole thing to her, since she'll be sedated for all of it. But any prayers offered her way would be greatly appreciated.

The Ugly:
Lest we think it's all princesses and ribbons around here, this is a conversation I had with Sabrina on the way home from preschool one day...

Sabrina: "What's your hair doing?"
Me: "What?"
Sabrina: "You're hair looks weird!"
Me: "I curled it instead of wearing it straight. Do you like it?"
Sabrina: "NOOOOO. You should change it, it looks funny."