Thursday, October 3, 2013

Odds and Ends of May

The end of May is always really crazy as we have all of the last concerts and school activities to go to.  The last 3 weeks of school seriously had something every night.  I love attending my children's things, but it gets pretty crazy when there isn't any break at all.  It was fun to see my kids shine during their different activities. 
 
Johnathan band concert - Johnathan did a fantastic job at his band concert.  He is really getting good at playing the saxophone.  I think the beginning band sounded fabulous and nothing like boys who are just learning.  Mr. Summers does a great job with these boys and it definitely shows.  Dad and Mom Adamson were able to attend.  It was fun to have them come.

Encore - Miss Nudd chose Camille as the Encore President for next year.  Camille was really excited to have this responsibility.  She got to school on this particular day and had to wear this cool hat and name tag around her neck for the whole day.  She was a trooper and survived :).  She loves Miss Nudd and is so excited for this opportunity.  Her good friend, Cara Sabin, will also be in Encore next year and Camille is really excited about that.  Cara was initiated in also that same day.
 
Tanner band  concert - Tanner's last concert was on another day than Johnathan's unfortunately.  He did do an awesome job also and was able to play some really fun songs.  His favorite was a medley from "Jurassic Park."  He is really good at the trumpet and has progressed so much these past 2 years.
 
Dad false alarm - Since Dad is at the top of the kidney list, he can be called in at any time and told that there is a kidney on the way.  This particular time, he thought he would get a kidney as they had him stay in the hospital all evening and till early morning.  He finally found out at 5 am that somebody else would be receiving it.  What a hard thing to go through!  Byron and I went up to the hospital that night.  Byron and Dallin were able to give dad a blessing.  It was great to see how he was doing.  He was in really good spirits.  After much poking, blood drawing and medications, he was told that the kidney was a better match for somebody else.  I am so grateful for both of my parents.  I love being close enough to be around during these very hard and trying things in their lives.  Heather actually got half way to Utah and ended up turning back after finding out that Dad went home.  Poor thing - I guess she got a good one on one time with her children that were with her.
Camille concert - Camille's last concert was on May 21.  Everything was so well done and impressive.  Miss Nudd does such an amazing job with the music program.  Camille sang "Don't Rain on My Parade."  She was amazing as usual.  I love hearing her sing.  Here she is with her good friends Emily Wirick and Cara Sabin.
 
Camille also performed at the Evening of Excellence that is for the seniors on May 22.  She sang wtih these 5 from Encore - Jamie Corbett, Camille, Trevor, Emily Wirick and Robbie.
 
Cameron - We found out that Cameron's appendix had burst and he was at the American Fork Hospital.  Poor guy - right before school ended this happened and he wasn't able to go the last week of school.  His appendix had actually burst 2 days before going to the hospital, but because his appendix is hidden behind other organs he wasn't experiencing the typical symptoms.  It was actually quite scary how easily something terrible could have easily happened.  He stayed in the hospital for a couple of days and then eneded up going back after a few days with infection.  What a scary thing for a 13 year old to experience.  We went up and visited him and it was hard for Johnathan to see him this way.  We did get a little smile out of him during the visit.  Poor guy was in so much pain and was not happy that he had to walk the halls.  Johnathan was very happy once Cameron left the hospital and made his full recovery - he definitley wasn't himself for a couple of weeks and this made Johnathan sad.  He was happy once the old Cameron was back!

Parker, Carter, Tanner, Cameron, Johnathan and myself.  I don't think Cameron was up for picture taking, but was a great sport about it.

Yard work - Spring is always such a hard time to do yard work with all of the weeds that seem to take over.  My boys were so awesome to help me with clearing out some flowerbeds so we could get ready to plant some flowers.   Johnathan, Tanner (in red behind), Carter, Parker and Bradley.
Dance Festival - The dance festival was amazing and I loved seeing each of the boys perform their songs.  Bradley did the Penguin dance and made the cutest penguin.  He was a little shy, but did a great job at remembering everything.  Carter and Parker also had a really cool dance.  They have quite the moves - maybe I should get them into dance:).  They did a fabulous job!


Carter left and Parker right
 
Field Day - I helped the older grades for field day.  I helped Raylene Custer with a water bottle game.  We had a great time.  I loved it when Carter and Parker's class made their rotation.  They had a fun time out there squirting other people.  Carter is in green and Parker in red.
Kindergarten Graduation - Bradley was so excited for me to see his kindergarten graduation. They had been learning songs for it all year and were going to perform them.  Byron unfortunately wasn't able to attend, so I took a lot of pictures and video.  He looked so sharp - where has my little baby gone.  His teacher, Mrs. Narvaez has been absolutely amazing!  I couldn't have picked a better teacher for him.  She is so nice and yet requires obedience in the classroom.  He has so many of his friends in his class.  I think there were 8 from our ward in his class.  He also became really good friends with Timothy Windsor.  The kids sang many songs and had some cute speaking parts.  My favorite song was "God Bless the USA."  Bradley loves this song and practices it all of the time at home.  I love hearing him sing the songs he is learning in school.    After the graduation, we were able to go into his classroom where Mrs. Narvaez presented each child with a diploma.  She said some really nice things about Bradley - how he is a really fast runner and very kind and nice to others in class.  He is excited to move on to first grade and is most excited to have school lunches.





Tanner drawings - Tanner is taking the Art 2D class in school and is really liking it.  I can't believe his artist abilities.  He is really good at it and has loved the class.  I love walking into his bedroom to see him with his headphones on listening to music and drawing.  Below are some of his last projects he finished.




Camille's hair - Camille and I both got a much needed haircut at the end of May.  I had to take a picture as two women were blow drying her hair at the same time.  She has such beautiful thick hair. 
 

Pinewood Derby

The time had come for the pinewood derby.  Carter and Parker were so excited to be able to do it.  Last year we were just coming back from our trip to Florida so they didn't get to make them.  They decided to paint twin cars.  I love how much time and thought they put into making these.  Many hours were spent in the garage sanding them just perfectly.  Byron is always so great to let them come up with their design and make it work for them.  I love seeing them all huddle around Byron as he pulls out his tools and goes to town.  I helped in the painting realm.  We decided to spray paint them this year and it was so nice and quick.  On the day before weigh ins, we went looking over by a tire business for the weights that are put on tires.  Byron melts them down under the cars for weight.  We found the weights quickly and hurried back home to finish them. 

Byron has a system about the cars after doing them for so many years.  He gets the small scales and adds everything onto the scale including tires, nails and weights.  After he reaches really close to 5 lbs., then he will start boring holes in the bottom of the cars and adding the weights.  Both cars weights were exactly 5.0 lbs. before everything was assembled.  Then they loved watching Byron melt the weights and add them into the holes beneath the cars.  Sometimes the weight would go over a tad so they would have to drill out some of the weight or file it down.  After many hours the last of the cars were finally completed.  They looked amazing and there were 2 very happy boys equally happy with the results.
 
The day of racing finally came.  It is hard with more than one kid racing.  One of the cars always seems to do better than the other.  This year was just like that and Carter was a great sport to root for his brother.  Parker ended up taking 4th overall.  His car average time was 9.3560 and the average speed was 201.1.  He was pretty darn excited.  Carter got 12th overall with 9.7620 as the average time and 192.8 as the average speed.  Carter was so good to cheer on his brother and be his best supporter.  I know it was hard for him, but it is always great to see that sibling unity between them.
 Carter white, Parker blue
 

 Carter in yellow and Parker in blue.

Byron after melting the weights underneath the cars.
 Parker with his neckerchief on.


Carter and Parker on the floor next to the chair with all of the other happy boys.  There were 26 boys who raced this year.
 Carter got the "Orange Bang" award.
 Parker got the "Orange CREAMscle"

Soccer end of season games

Soccer is definitely our family sport.  I love how the boys can excel at it no matter their height. We had all 4 boys in soccer in the spring and it was a bit crazy at times.  Luckily all of the games weren't the same day which made it easier.    The boys have all been on fabulous teams and have loved their coaches.  They have also made some great friends and improved so much this past year.  Tanner's team was really struggling with winning games in the fall, but the spring was a totally different story - they all came together and were an unstoppable team.  We loved watching them each week.  Johnathan's team definitely has struggled with some inexperienced members, but it was fun to see how much Johnathan has improved as the lead defender on his team.  He will talk to the other defenders during the game and keep them all in line.  We have to laugh as we listen to him doing this during the games.  Carter and Parker have also done awesome this season.  They have become such great forwards and work really well together.  It is also nice to finally see them passing the ball to other teammates and not trying to keep it to themselves.   

Carter lounging at one of Tanner's games up in West Valley.
Tanner is number 51.



Coach Scott Hazard, Joe Shawgo, Brendan, Cadan Hazard, Chandler North, Bryson, Lance Shunn, Peyton Hall, Colby Boyce, Coach North, Trevor Duke, Brian, Landon, Hunter Winward, Tanner, Colton, and Luke

Coach Scott Nicholson, Ethan Nicholson, Tyson, Carter, Parker, Jett Kasch, Jared Brown, Tyson's mom, Jared, Cole, Nick, Ian, Colby Eastmann, JJ
 (Left-right) Carter, Parker
Carter on the left and Parker on the right - Carter is number 2 and Parker is number 3.
Parker with the ball
Johnathan is number 2.

?, Jake, ?, ?, ? Johnathan, Braden, Crosby, Gray, Mason, Jackson - Coach Kyler Prettyman on the left

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Mother's Day weekend

John and Sharon entered the MTC on Monday, May 6.  They were down in Provo for 5 days and then had the weekend to be with family before heading out for Atlanta.  It was really fun to have them at our house on the Saturday through Sunday.  We loved sitting down with them and hearing about their cool experiences in the MTC.  There were some amazing stories they told us along with many tears.  I could tell that it had been an amazing yet very emotional week.  They had met some amazing couples that they would be serving with while in Atlanta.  We also loved having a BBQ with them along with game time. 
 
Sunday was Mother's Day - what an awesome opportunity to see both sets of parents.  We were able to have Dad and Mom Beck come to church with us.  Byron was teaching his lesson in Deacons on missionary work and was able to have them come and tell of their experiences so far.  We loved having them, but unfortunately had to say goodbye.  What a memorable weekend to have them in our home.  We love them so much and are excited to see what amazing opportunities they will find.
 
After church we headed up to my parent's house to see them.  I have never seen my mom on Mother's Day since I have been married.  What a treat it was to see her.  I am so grateful they moved up to Utah.  I feel very lucky and spoiled to have them so close. 
 Carter in grey.


 I love Bradley's cute smile with his burnt marshmallow.  Johnathan with his perfectly roasted one.



 My cute boys and their gifts to me for Mother's Day.   Bradley made me a cool plate and Carter and Parker these cool packets.  I'm not sure why I only got one of Carter.  I sure love these boys.



 Carter red tie, Parker orange tie