March Madness

March has been an eventful month and a crazy weather month as well.  To tell you the truth this has been a crazy weather year.  Here we are at the end of March and there is still so much snow outside.  Usually it has melted by now.  Well not this year!

To start off, Emily participated in the Young Artist and Writer's Fest again this year.  She submitted a story she had written to her English teacher and was selected to read a portion of her story at the Festival.  Her friend, Raegan, was selected to read as well.

She had a good time at this event and was given a lot of good pointers to make her writing even better.  Emily also got to meet and listen to Brandon Mull, one of the authors she likes.  He even signed a book for her.

Colby has had a fun month too.  On March 9, the sixth grade got to have a ski day up at Beaver Mountain Ski Resort.  This was the first time Colby had ever been skiing so this was a learning day for him.  Colby decided to try out snowboarding instead of skiing so that was something new as well. Russell was able to go along with the field trip and hang out with Colby on the slopes. 

Colby had been looking forward to his first time snowboarding for quite some time, and for his first time he tore it up. For all new skiers/snowboarders the resort had each student do about a 2 hour learning course. Colby was fun to watch. He caught on really fast and that sped up the time to get on the slopes faster. It was fun to watch him learn and fall. As he was learning, I was relearning how to ski myself. I was a little nervous about my first run down, but I did okay. After the lesson on Little Beaver, we got on the lift and headed up to the bigger slops. 

Colby was stoked to get up on the slopes and snowboard down. He had to show he could break really good before he went to the top. Once we were at the top, Colby understood why he needed to learn and feel comfortable about turning sideways and breaking. The first hill was steep for us. I watched him and his friend Jace go down and they only fell a couple of times. I was watching Colby too much and lost control of my skies and took a tumble down the hill. I was excited to get it on my GoPro. It looked awesome. After a few solo runs without the instructors, we took a well deserved lunch break. We rested for a bit and then headed right out again. There was no stopping Colby. He told me that the Goat trail was boring and he kept loosing momentum at the end. I saw one of my co-workers at the lodge and he told us the other slopes on the other side are just as good and to try them out. Of course Colby wanted to and we did it. 

Russell said Colby picked it up pretty quickly.  Of course he crashed a few times but he had a great time going down the hills. It was fun to watch us both crash and get back up. Thank goodness for soft powder to fall in. Colby decided to get a little adventurous and asked if we could take the lift to the top of Gentle Ben? I said let's ride the other slopes a couple more times and we will do it. As we got to the lift, I was a little nervous. I had never been to the other side of the slopes and it was clear up to the top. The lift ride took about 5 minutes to get up there. Once we were up there, I looked at Colby and said here we go no turning back. It was fun and also frustrating for both of us. The powder was deep enough for us that we struggled a little. The whole slope took us about an hour to get down. I was crazy and learning at the same time. I watched Colby get better and better as we went down. I wish we had a longer time to stay up there. He wants to go back and do it again. It was a great day for skiing. The weather was perfect and the slopes were great. 

This was a fun day for both of them.

That Saturday, March 11 we took our Activity Day boys sledding at the park near our house.  This was such a nice warm day we didn't even need coats.  It was the perfect day to go sledding.

I even tried out my snowboard for the first time.  I got this snowboard free from someone giving it away.  I have never snowboarded before but I thought, "How hard could it be?"  I took it down the little hill a couple of times and it was so fun but so scary.  Luckily I didn't crash too badly.  Russell and Logan also took the snowboard for a ride and did really well too.  Maybe we will have to take up real snowboarding?  

So the snow started to melt and we thought it was finally turning Spring but then this happened:  

More snow...  We did have about a week or so of good weather and sunshine though so that was nice.  We even got the solar panels uncovered and we were able to generate some power from the sun for the first time since having them installed back in December.  But then it snowed again...

On March 25, Colby was able to go to the temple for the first time and do Baptisms for the Dead. 

It was another fun son and Dad time together. Colby has been looking forward to this for sometime. When we got in the temple, I was able to show him some cool things and talk to him for a minute. I asked him if he was nervous, and he said, "I am not nervous." He was a trooper. We got our whites on and went out to the waiting area. I was an excited Dad to have my oldest son with me in the temple and getting to baptize and confirm him for those who have passed on. It all happened so fast. After we got done, I was able to show him the routine on what to do after he was baptized. You could tell he was trying his hardest to understand and hopefully remember when he goes with the Young Men. After the temple we went to the traditional place for an ice cream cone. We sat and talked while we ate our ice cream. I can't wait to do it again with him.  

He was pretty excited about this new experience and said it was really fun.

Logan was selected a student of the month in his class this month.  

His teacher said she was very proud of him for being a hard worker.  She said she appreciated that she could count on him to do his best all the time.  He was recognized along with his friends, Gage Hamblin and Gentry Simms.

March also marked the end of another AIM year!  The boys have been working really hard on their piano skills the last few months and were able to pass off another level of AIM.  Emily decided to take a break from AIM this year but she has still been working really hard on her piano.  Their performance recital was on March 27.

All three of these kids did a great job performing their songs at the recital.  Emily played "Spanish Dancer."  Charlotte and I liked to dance to this song every time Emily practiced it.  Colby played "That's Cool."  This song was so quick and fast and pretty cool.  Logan performed "Angry Alligator."  This song really did sound like an alligator was sneaking up on you getting ready to snap.

Colby passed off level 4 in AIM and Logan passed of level 2.  They both got really high marks from all of their judges in the areas of performance, sight reading, theory, technique, and ear training.  Good job kids!

Charlotte is also learning a lot from her music class. She will soon follow in the big kids' footprints and be a great piano player.  She likes learning to play the piano and has learned a bunch of fun songs and the C Major scale.

Charlotte also had fun playing with her friend, Sophie Neville, a few weeks ago.  These two girls had a blast hanging out.  This was nice for Sophie too because she is the only girl in her family so it was fun to play with another girl.  I was grateful for this play date as well because that morning I got a flat tire on the van.  Russell was working so thankfully Tyler was able to come take the flat off and put on the spare.  While Charlotte was playing, I was able to take the tire to the tire store to get it fixed. 

Brooklyn is still being her cute self.  Nursery has been kind of hard for Brooklyn but lately she has started looking forward to going.  She loves "Class."  But mostly she loves seeing her friend Harvey and Harvey's mom!  Recently though she has made a new friend named Luke.  Luke's mom took this cute picture of the two of them holding hands while eating their snacks.  It was so cute!  She loves going to Nursery now because she has two boyfriends. 

Here are some other cute pictures of Brooklyn taken through out the month.  First she is eating a tomato she found on the counter.  Its not like I needed it for dinner or anything, she just ate it!  Next, she doesn't like her bed so more often than not she ends up in our bed and this is how she sleeps, right on top of me.  Next, Emily wrapped Brooklyn's baby up like a burrito and then Brooklyn wanted to be wrapped like a burrito.  So there they are twins unable to move.  Finally, Brooklyn found one of Russell's shirts and put it on and said, "I'm Daddy!"

This month has also been an expensive one for the tooth fairy.  Charlotte lost her second front tooth so now she is toothless.  Logan lost one of his back molars.  Colby had one of his big molars pulled because it was infected.  The roots on that tooth were huge!  Anyway that is three teeth in a week that the tooth fairy had to pay for.  Each of the kids received a silver half dollar and were so happy.

March was a good month. Now let's hope April brings spring...