Easter Weekend & Spring Break

I am going to try really hard to get everything caught up on my blog. These pictures were taken during Easter weekend. It fell at the same time as General Conference which made for a very memorable weekend. We were lucky enough to have Mitchell & Janessa come and visit on the Saturday, April 3rd. They wanted to see General Conference, so luckily they were able to get enough tickets for the 4 of us. Byron & I met them up at the Conference Center around 9 a.m. We were lucky to find parking pretty close and Janessa & Mitchell took trax from their hotel. It was great to see them. We sat in the 2nd balcony directly in front of the speakers. When we got our seats, we found out that Melissa and some of Byron's cousins were seated a few rows in front of us. It was fun to see them.

Conference was such an emotional session for me. The talks seemed to hit me and I felt like I was being directly talked to on some of the talks. It was also awesome seeing President Monson there with his sweet wife. After the session was over, he pushed her out while she sat in her wheelchair. I'm sure we could learn a lot from the First Presidency if we just sat and observed them.

After conference, we walked a few blocks to eat lunch at an Italian Restaurant. The food was so delicious. We also loved being able to talk with Janessa & Mitchell and spend time with them uninterrupted.

We went up to Byron's parents house that evening while for the Priesthood session and spent the night. Since we hadn't decorated Easter eggs yet, we decided to do that while the men were gone. Sharon had received some eggs that were brown. We decorated with the darker eggs and white eggs. I was so happy to see what brilliant colors come from the darker eggs. We got shades of colors I had never seen before. We had a great time. Melissa & Sharon participated with us. Sharon also wrote the kid's names with calligraphy on one of their eggs.

Johnathan being crazy!

Some of the eggs we dyed.

Sharon writing on some eggs while Carter & Camille watched.

Sunday morning the kids were very excited to see what the Easter bunny brought. Here they are lined up youngest to oldest.

Bradley hadn't remembered much about the Easter bunny, so it was fun to see his excitement. He caught on quickly, though and loved finding all of the candy and treats that were hidden.

My crazy boys before we began looking for eggs.

The kids after finding their loot. Johnathan, Bradley, Tanner, Carter, Parker & Camille

We enjoyed watching Conference and spending the day reflecting on the Savior's life. How awesome to enjoy Easter and Conference on the same weekend. We were truly uplifted.

Every year Grandma Beck does a treasure hunt for all of the grandchildren. She is so talented and comes up with such fun clues. The kids always look forward to this and love running from area to area to try to find the clues first.

Spring Break followed Easter this year which made for a fun week. We rolled our Easter eggs the next day, Monday, with Allyson and her children. The weather was pretty cold, so we didn't stay at the park for very long. The kids love having reasons to throw things and had fun seeing how far they could throw their egg without having it break. It always surprises me how resilient these eggs are.

Johnathan, Parker, Bradley, Carter & Tanner with their eggs before we started.

Bradley & Myles having fun together.

The whole clan including Myles and Rose.

Spring Break didn't exactly end up like we had hoped. Byron & I got sick for 2 days which threw a loop in what we had planned. Instead we stayed home and relaxed for much of the break.

Byron ended up taking a day off work. We went fishing at Highland Park. We didn't catch any fish, but had a great time trying. We were able to see some pretty big white fish keep swimming by, but they either were already full or didn't like what we were trying to feed them.

Byron & the kids trying to find the perfect location to fish.

Carter, Bradley & Johnathan

Camille & Johnathan being so patient!

Byron was great to spend so much time getting the kids lines ready. Since we didn't have enough fishing poles for everybody, Carter & Parker found a long stick that Byron attached a line with a hook and worm. They were so proud of their fishing poles.

Byron & Camille

Bradley & Parker

Carter

I got a laugh out of Bradley. For Christmas he got a small fishing pole that had gumballs attached to it. He had to make sure he got his fishing pole before we left home. What a cutie!

YW General Meeting

Camille had the amazing opportunity to sing in the General YW Meeting on March 27th. Unfortunately all of the YW in our ward weren't able to sing - Camille was one of the lucky ones. The choir was made up of 3 Stakes from Lehi. The practices started on February 21st and were every Sunday until the performance for 3 hours long - she had 5 Sunday practices and 2 Saturday practices at the Conference Center. They usually started out with a devotional and then ended with their song practice. Sister Merrilee Webb, the choir director, was absolutely amazing! She has such an amazing energy and Camille absolutely loved being taught from her. The choir sang 4 songs: High on the Mountain Top; Dearest Children, God is Near You; O Thou Rock of Our Salvation; and How Firm a Foundation. Many of her school friends were in the choir - Camille loved spending time with them. Victoria Stewart was also in it.

Sister Dalton, the General YW President, came to a few of Camille's practices. She was able to speak to all of the girls and her husband even spoke once. She is just amazing! I was able to meet her at the Conference Center practice and she just radiated of goodness. She took the time out of her very busy schedule to be with the choir. Not only was this an amazing experience for the girls, but their testimonies were strengthened in the process.

Bradley & I went with Camille to the Conference Center practice one week before the meeting. Families were invited and it was an amazing experience. They had all of the girls line up from shortest to tallest in their part (Camille was a Soprano). Camille made sure she had high heels on, so she wasn't in the front of the line. She ended up sitting on the third row back, on the far left side next to the aisle. The practice went great and it was so fun to see Merrilee interact with the girls. She had them singing "Popcorn Popping" in a very silly way. Bradley loved this part:).

The day of the broadcast, Camille met at the Stake Center at 11:45 a.m. She had a long day, but so worth it! She had a practice that afternoon, lunch was provided, then the broadcast that started at 6:00 p.m. Shamae Mickelson & I rode trax together from Sandy. It was so relaxing to not have to drive and figure out parking issues. We arrived at the Conference Center around 4:15 p.m. - We quickly ate some dinner then met up with Melissa & Mom Beck who were coming to watch it also. The doors opened at 4:30 p.m. We were sitting about 12 rows back from the podium - they were awesome seats!

About 5:30 p.m., the choir started coming in and I got such a huge rush of emotions over me. I was pretty emotional the whole conference. The talks were amazing and the choir sounded so great. President Monson was really cute. After coming into the Conference Center, before being seated he looked up at the choir and gave them the thumbs up.

This whole experience was made a huge impression on me and I really wasn't involved in the whole thing. I'm sure this will be one of those life changing experiences for Camille that she will remember her whole life. I would have given anything as a youth to have had an amazing experience like this.
Sister Dalton talked with the choir with Merrilee Webb next to her at the practice in the Conference Center.

Bradley was pretty bored, but realized it was pretty cool walking up and down these long rows of chairs.

Camille is in the 3rd row up on the end.

Camille with Jaedee Slaugh.

The day of the YW General Meeting - me, Shamae Mickelson & Becki Wilcox while waiting for the conference to begin.

Shamae, Tia, Camille & I after the performance.

Camille & I - boy do I love this girl!!!

Mom Beck, Melissa, Camille & I - so fun having them meet us at the Conference Center. Thanks to Melissa and her connections we got some pretty amazing seats.

This picture was taken from the Church News - Camille is in the corner on the bottom right. Below is the article that she is found in - pretty cool!
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59101/President-Uchtdorf-promises-happily-ever-after-to-young-women.html

March Happenings

Back in September 2009, seven members of the Beck family started the "Biggest Loser" competition to see who could lose the largest percent of body fat. Byron & I both participated in this competition which lasted for 6 months - ending on March 1, 2010. It was a great opportunity to realize what foods I was eating that weren't good for my body and to also exercise more. I also loved spending time with Byron exercising more and taking many walks together. Byron ended up winning the "Biggest Loser" Competition. I am so proud of him and all the hard work he put in for 6 months. To celebrate, we went out to eat at Sweet Tomatoes with everybody that participated. Now the hard part has been trying to keep the weight off, eating well and exercising without the competition to keep us going.

I am so lucky to be able to work with the Bears right now - especially since Johnathan is in my den. We went bowling in March and had a great time. Here he is with 3 of the boys.

Lehi holds a Gala every year to help raise funds for the library. When I found out that Jon Schmidt would be performing along with a nice dinner, I wanted to go. Camille was excited to be my partner so we decided to have our "Night Out" that I go on with each child throughout the year be this activity. Melissa heard we were going and wanted to go with us. We had a great time together. We were in the far corner of the room, but still were able to see fine even though we stood through most of the performance to have a better view. We had all seen Jon Schmidt perform a few years ago at Thanksgiving Point Gardens but can never tire of him. He was amazing! He had a base player perform with him and the songs sounded so awesome together. Jon is such an awesome entertainer and is hilarious. We had such a great time!

Camille has so many creativity juices flowing through her all of the time just ready to come out. She created this awesome balloon hat one evening and I couldn't not take a picture. It reminded me of those women who wear fruit baskets on their heads - the balloon hat was so colorful and fun. I don't know where she comes up with these things, but maybe it has something to do with being the only girl in a family of boys.

Tanner & Bradley were enjoying the backyard when the weather was pretty stormy outside last month. Tanner is so cute always taking great care to make sure Bradley spends plenty of time outside and is well taken care of.

On March 15th - Byron calls me around 3 p.m. asking if I want to go to a Jazz game with him after he received 2 tickets. How can I pass that up when he says it is either me or he will invite a brother or his dad? I quickly made arrangements and we were off by 5:15 p.m. We had such a great time together thanks to the generosity of Nu Skin. The food was fabulous and the game was really awesome also. We sat in the first row directly behind the opposing team. We would have had better seats had the players of the team not been so tall or standing up so much. Nu Skin is spoiling is us way too much lately:).

While waiting for the game to start - Byron looks over and sees one of his old bosses that he worked with at IGA (a grocery store) while in High School. His boss, Terry seemed excited to see Byron. Terry's daughter - who worked with Byron also - was there with her two children. They had fun reminiscing for a short time before the game started.

Here are Byron & I during the game with our awesome seats!

During the half-time game, we were entertained by the Jazz Bear shooting hoops while doing flips in the air - it was really cool. This is a fun shot I capture of him.

Byron was making dinner one evening when the kids were saying how good of a cook dad is. Then Tanner pipes up and says, "Well duh, dad's the one who taught mom how to cook." Byron & I got a great laugh out of this. Little do the kids really know, right?

Last month Byron went to a 4 day training in Las Vegas. While he was away, we went to Classic Skating in Sandy and enjoyed the bouncing slides for 2 hours. We had never done anything like this before and it was a lot of fun. Bradley was pretty nervous at first, but quickly got the hang of it. The above picture is one of my favorite. I love seeing the kids working together to show love and help each other. Here Camille & Tanner are helping Bradley make it up to the top of the slide.

This area was a huge bouncing trampoline. This was Bradley's favorite place to play. Here the kids are trying to stay on top of this blown up thing that kept on turning and dumping the kids off. We survived with only one crying episode from falling off and getting kicked in the head.

Bradley enjoying the slide.

Parker, Carter & Johnathan

While Byron was away in Las Vegas, we had Pack Meeting where Tanner earned his "Arrow of Light." We wanted to wait for Byron to be at this awesome ceremony, but due to conflicts in scheduling and Byron's upcoming trips, we would have had to wait until June. So we opted to record it instead and go ahead and let him receive it. Tanner's Grandpa & Grandma Beck came down for this special occasion.

During the ceremony of Tanner and his friend, Brett Roberts. My favorite part was when Tanner's face got painted. He looked pretty cool.

Here is Tanner pinning on my mother's pin.

Tanner worked really hard to receive his "Arrow of Light." I am so proud of him and this huge accomplishment.

Johnathan also received his "Bear" this same Pack Meeting. He was so excited to have his Grandparents here when he received this award.

On March 27th - Tanner went to Wheeler Farms with the 11 year old Scouts for a wood carving festival. While there, a man that was selling these cool neckerchief slides that he carved asked the boys to come over and talk to him. Tanner was the first boy to come over. This man had Tanner go over and pick out the bolo tie/neckerchief slide he liked the best. He had him put it on and then gave it to him - boy was Tanner one happy Scout. This normally sold for $50 and Tanner couldn't have picked a more appropriate one for himself - a cool BYU player. The details are just amazing! On the back of the carving this man wrote how many times he had shaved with his knife to create this cool masterpiece. He wrote "48,156." - This will be treasured by Tanner for quite some time.

On March 30th - Bradley & I went on a 5 mile bike ride. Little did I think that he would be falling asleep at 10:30 a.m. The last 1/2 mile to my house his poor head was nodding back and forth. I felt so bad for him. He must have needed a nap:).

Each year in 5th grade - the kids put on a Wax Museum where they are able to pick an important person from history and act them out. Tanner became "Patrick Henry" for a day and did an awesome job. Thanks to some neighbors he was able to get this costume that ended up working perfectly.