the beck family

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Cousins, Scouts and Sego Lily Teachers

We always look forward to having family come over. For Christmas Byron & I had Allyson's family. We gave them a day away with some gift cards. It was fun to have their children over. They were all great to watch and so delightful to be around. Myles spent about the whole time clearing the trampoline of snow one shovel full at a time. Eliza and Rose had fun doing stickers and other girl stuff - which isn't very common in this house. Cute Briant was so fun to be with and the kids loved taking turns holding him. Eliza or Rose had the idea of putting snow in bags. This kept all 3(Bradley, Eliza and Rose) entertained for quite some time.

Carter and Parker attended a Webelos Day Camp at our Stake Center. They loved being able to make different things. They did Showman and Craftsman activity badges.

Carter with a cool instrument he made and Parker with his rocket.

For Parent Teacher Conferences I always look forward to hearing how my kids are doing in school. Bradley has progressed so much the past year. He loves school and has the most amazing teacher - Mrs. Narvaez. He has taken off on reading and really enjoys doing math. He is also a great friend to those in his class. His teacher sent me an email recently about a kid in his class who was struggling every day with having his mom leave. This is the email from her, "Hi Tricia. I wanted to let you knowhow wonderful Bradley is! One of my students has a hard time this past week. As we were lining up for recess I heard Bradley invite this student to play with him. I am so proud of him for being so kind to this other boy." I am so glad Bradley notices those around him and jumps in to help if need be. This kid and Bradley have become really great friends this year. Below is a cute penguin that was on the wall outside of his classroom.

I cannot say enough about Mrs. Knutti - she is such an amazing teacher also. I am really not sure how I got to be so lucky but my kids truly have amazing teachers. She is so great with Carter and Parker and knows just how to help them enjoy learning. She makes me laugh every time we talk about how fun it is to have these two in her class. She said that most twins will help each other out with assignments but these two act like each is on their own in class. They typically don't help each other which I would actually consider good. It is great that they are their own separate being with different strengths and weaknesses. Carter with blue stripe in shirt. Below was a paper they both worked on together that was hanging in the hall at school.

Bradley celebrated his 100 days of school and was so excited to earn more spirit sticks. He had a party at school and loved it.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Byron Singapore trip

Byron once again had a business trip to Singapore. He left on January 29 and returned on February 3. He was able to escape the cold frigid temperatures to enjoy a very nice 85 degree weather with tons of humidity. Below are some cool pictures Byron took while there. I cannot believe how crowded it is - He also was able to attend a Night Safari - he had never done this before. He drove around in a safari bus enjoying the night life of different animals. He really was glad he was able to do this. He took a lot of pictures, but they all turned out pretty dark. He also saw a show that he called absolutely amazing!

Never Ending Snow

Ice Fishing - January 26 - The 12 year old scouts went to Utah Lake to experience ice fishing. Tanner and Johnathan enjoyed going. It was on a very cold day, so a little chilly. Johnathan was hoping to catch a fish, but only Brother Hodge (who was teaching the boys how to do it) ended up catching one. Byron was able to go along with the boys for this fun activity.

Snow - January 29 - We got hit with a huge snow storm and it just kept on coming. We had quite a few days where it kept on coming down. We didn't see our street for about a week as the temperatures didn't get above freezing. Byron was lucky enough to be in Singapore during this time. He was in 80 degree weather living it up. Below Bradley was enjoying playing in the snow with Luke Lavery (in burgundy) and Logan Lane (in green). I measured 10 inches of snow for this day alone. The kids were all so excited to come home knowing that they would have a lot of fun playing in this fun stuff.

More Snow - January 30 - It kept on coming down and here Bradley is walking through our yard on his way home from school. It was up to his knees deep and he was having such a fun time. Logan came home with him after school and was having a ball playing in it also.

More snow fun and mess time - January 31 - Tanner made goo at school and came home to make some again. It was mixing the cornstarch with water and adding food coloring. Bradley had to get in on the action. Then I went outside with Tanner and Bradley and made a fun slide where they could go down with their sleds. It was a hit, but pretty small since it was in our front yard.

The eating is always the best with fresh snow.

Tanner being silly.

Carter and Parker needed to make a shoebox decorated with a book they recently read. Parker and Carter are so great at getting all of their homework done without being asked. They took this assignment seriously and spent a lot of time doing them. They both turned out awesome!

Parker in white and Carter in blue.

Bradley with his snowman that he decorated at home.

February 2 - I was looking outside as the boys were walking home from school and this was as far as these 2 got - Parker was eating the snow and Carter enjoying a slippery part with ice. What it would be like to be a kid again:).

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mission call

Dad and Mom Beck sent in their mission papers around the first part of January. They were so extremely excited to find out where they would be sent. They had been preparing for a mission for so long - especially since it had to be delayed 5 years while becoming Bishop. The mission call finally came on Saturday, January 26. We got together that evening with all of the siblings (minus Eric who was at work) and enjoyed this special time with them. They got the call to serve in the Atlanta, Georgia mission leaving on May 6th. It was pretty emotional for them.

What a great example they are to my 6 future missionaries!!! Serving a mission is such a huge sacrifice and they are so great to go even though it isn't the most convenient thing to do. I know that their family will be blessed while they are serving also. So excited to see what the next 18 months bring.

The very long awaited day!

My parents purchased a home in Taylorsville back in December. It was so exciting to start the renovation part since that would mean we were that much closer to them moving. Byron and I helped pull out all of the carpets in the house while Miguel came in and retextured, painted and added some great improvements to update everything. There were so many bright colored paints through out the house that this transition really did make a huge difference. The carpet was also covered in dog hair and very dirty. After about 3 weeks of remodeling, it was ready to move in. Miguel did a fabulous job. The first couple of pictures were taken with the old owners things. Then Dad and Mom wanted to remodel the bathroom completely to get rid of the bathtub and put in a walk in shower (thinking ahead to when Dad might need that accommodation). The bathroom turned out beautiful.

Luckily Dad and Mom were talked into using U-pack so they didn't have to drive the moving truck across states. I think this was a great choice for both their stress levels. The moving truck arrived in Corcoran on January 11th. Luckily the branch was great to help in any way since my dad had just gotten over pneumonia and wasn't doing very well. After the moving truck left, Dad and Mom came to Utah and stayed at my house until they could get into their house. It was really fun having them so close for that week and get to visit with them every day. The new carpet was installed on January 16 and the move in began on Friday the 18th. We were so lucky to have Eric, Jeff, and Cooper come to help from the Beck family. They were amazing and such amazing troopers - we seriously couldn't have done it without them.

The kids all had a great time helping unpack at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Byron was excited to get up the shelves that had been sitting in their garage in Corcoran for many years. We tried our best to put together their food storage room with all their food and the shelves. It looked awesome. Dad & Mom have never had a room like this and were so excited after seeing the shelves up and food on them.

Since they have moved up here it has been so awesome to have them attend different activities that my kids are in or just to have them stop by unexpected. I am feeling completely spoiled having them so close. They have talked about possibly moving to Utah after they both retire, but it was one of those things I had to see to believe. I told my mom the other day that they have probably seen more family in the 4 months they have been here than the total time they lived in Corcoran. It has been so fun to drop by on a Sunday evening to visit or go up on a weekend to help them with a project.