May

May is always a busy month for us with school winding down, summer plans being made, and all of the year end school activities.  The kids started out the month with the Canyon Colt Leadership Run.   This is a one mile run around the school field and all of the students participate to raise money for the school.  This was Charlotte's first time running in the Leadership Run and running that far.

She did so well!  She ran the whole way and was so tired at the end.  Her face was so red but she did it!  The kindergarteners didn't run the whole mile, they probably did a little over a half a mile.  Charlotte did her race in 6:13.  

Logan is a runner, he can just go.  If I can get him into it, he will be a good cross country runner.  Logan was the third kid to cross the finish line in his grade.  He ran really well despite having a side ache the whole time because he had just eaten lunch.  Logan ran his mile in 6:36 which is way faster than I could ever do it!  Nice Job Logan.

 

Colby is also a runner but he likes bikes better than foot races so it is what it is.  This was Colby's last year to participate in the Colt Run so he wanted to do his best.  He paced the whole race with his friend Hunter even though Hunter's legs are about twice as long as Colby's.  Because of this, the sprint to the finish was won by Hunter...  It was still a good race though and the boys placed in the top 5 in their grade.  A 7:32 mile is a pretty good pace if you ask me.  Way to go!

I liked racing around the course cheering for the kids.  I hope someone chooses to do cross country because I would love cheering at those competitions.

Charlotte also had her end of year recital for Let's Play Music.  This is always a fun thing to watch.  Charlotte's class sang songs and also performed some piano accompaniment for the singing.

Charlotte played the C Major scale in Do, Re, Mi, as well as one other song.  She likes learning the piano and is really picking it up.

Here she is with her teacher Miss Ashley and the rest of the second year students.  It was a good recital.

On May 4, we had a fun "May the 4th be with you" Star Wars activity for our Activity Days group.  The boys had a blast building and decorating light sabers out of pool noodles and then having light saber wars.  I think Bennett and Colson were the ultimate winners but all of the boys had a good time playing.

Colby is part of the SEM program at the elementary.  This is like a "gifted and talented" program where the kids learn about and do different projects throughout the year on top of their normal school work.   They meet once a week and work on group projects.  For the end of the year project, they became entrepreneurs.  As a group of three or four kids, they had to come up with a product and then design and market it.  They presented their idea and product at an entrepreneurs night with other students from the SEM programs in other schools.  It was a pretty big deal.

Colby's group designed a product called "Button Buddy."  What this product did was alert people that someone was coming. This is especially helpful they said when you are trying to go through a door and someone is blocking your way.

The video and presentation of the product was pretty funny and hearing them talk about their design, marketing, and financial plans were pretty smart.  

Well Spring is finally hear and the mega snow has melted!  Look at our beautiful tulips!  Bring on Summer!

Brooklyn is getting big!  She has now moved into a big girl bed and out of the crib!  She loves her new bed but only in theory.  She still refuses to lay down in it to sleep.  She still has to be rocked to sleep by me which, okay, is not too bad.  But we will work on that eventually.  The crib is now a thing of the past which is kind of sad but kind of freeing. It means no more babies which is sad but also freeing because we are moving out of the baby stage.  (But also sad...stop growing up...)  We sent the crib to Clint and Haley for their baby coming soon.

During May I attended my first PTA Convention.  I am the President-Elect for our elementary PTA which is like the Vice President or President in training.  So the PTA convention was good to go to because I got a lot of good training.

I also go really overwhelmed... I think the PTA is a great program and they do a lot of good in the schools and for the students.  This is why I like being involved with them but I also got thinking am I really good enough to be a leader in this organization? Do I have the leadership skills and good ideas to move this group along?  I don't know yet but I guess I will find out.

The end of the school year also means end of year concerts.

Emily had her end of year band concert and was able to play the drum set for a couple songs.  This was so cool to watch and hear.  She really has a talent for playing the set as well as the other percussion instruments.  I was amazed at how well she plays.  Nice Job Emily!  She also tried out for her school talent show and made it into the program.  She played "Eye of the Tiger" on the piano and it totally rocked!  She did so well and everyone was cheering.  

May marked the end of the year for the Hyrum City Royalty.  Emily and Charlotte loved being part of the Royalty this year and especially liked riding on the parade float and waving to everyone.  

They took their final walks as Princesses and talked about everything they liked about the Royalty during the pageant.  The girls really like taking part in the crowning of the new Royalty.

Charlotte got to put the crown on the new Little Miss Attendant and tried to be so careful.  As the Jr. Princess, Emily was able to Crown the new Princess as well as an attendant.  They were so excited for the new girls.

We took a quick trip down to St. George for a weekend in May.  Brooklyn loved playing with Fynnlee.

That is after they had their baby fight to establish dominance.  Ha ha they really do get along pretty well until one or the other takes the wrong toy.  We went down for Cassie's baby shower.  Her new baby is due in July.  It was nice to get some warm weather too as well as hang out with cousins.

When we got back home, it was back to business.  Or playing whatever you want to call it.

First we took the Activity Day boys to the Hyrum Fire Station for a tour.  They loved it especially trying on the fire gear and spraying the big hoses.  Russell and I really do like hanging out with these boys and having a good time.

Can you believe it is already time for Kindergarten graduation!  It seems like Charlotte just started kindergarten and now she is graduating.  As part of the graduation the kids performed some reader's theater plays to show off their reading skills.  Charlotte was the Narrator in her play and did a great job reading all of her parts while keeping the play moving.

Then all of the graduates were presented and received their diploma.  These kids are so small but so smart!

Charlotte absolutely loved Mrs Stoker.  She is one of the best teachers!

Here is Charlotte with her best kindergarten friends, Adelaide Johnson, Sophie Neville, and Everett Sunada.  These four were great friends throughout the year.  Charlotte is very friendly and really was friends with everyone in her class.  It seemed like there was always someone wanting to get her attention. Now on to first grade!

The last day of school is always the best because it is Super Kids Day!  This is a day full of water and fun.  Once again Russell brought out the fire hoses to fill water buckets and spray kids. (okay mostly to spray kids!)

Brooklyn loved hanging out with us and getting wet.  We had to confine her to the stroller for a while though because she kept running off and exploring the playground.  Charlotte and Brooklyn liked sunbathing to warm up from the water. Nothing is better than a Popsicle with a friend.  Sam was happy to eat his Popsicle with Brooklyn.

Russell and I were in charge of the water fight again this year.  We love it and do it every year because no one else wants to do that station.  We were not in charge of the day this year so we just got to play.  The water fight is the kids' favorite station.

The dunk tank was also a big hit last year so we brought it back again this year.  This year we let some of the 6th graders in the tank.  Colby took his turn early in the morning and I missed getting a picture of him but a teacher did get a picture of Russell in the tank and sent it to me.  This dunk tank just might become a new tradition.

At the same time, Emily was celebrating her last day of middle school at South Cache.  She and her friends took a bunch of fun pictures. 

Most of this group of friends will be going to Mountain Crest next year but poor Hahna will be alone at Ridgeline.  We are trying to convince her to go to Mountain Crest but its not going to happen.  Emily and Hahna are besties and do everything together.  It has been fun seeing their friendship develop.

On the weekend of the last day of school, the kids had some fun parties to celebrate school out.  Charlotte went over to Adelaide's house for a party.  They made homemade pizza and watch movies.  Charlotte said it was the best party every.

Emily invited her friends over to our house for a fire and s'mores.  While roasting marshmallows, they decided to roast all of their old homework and school work as well. We had so much paper in the fire pit!  

Brooklyn just liked being the center of attention with all of the friends.  But mostly she like eating all of the s'mores and getting so sticky!

Traci had her baby on May 26, 2023.  Kaleb Sean Cardon.

He is a chunky little thing weighing 9 pounds or so.  He looks just like Ezra and Johnathan did when they were babies.  Everything went well.  We can't wait to meet him.

Colby had a great time with his Young Men group hiking around looking for geocaches.

Colby has really enjoyed being part of Young Men this year.  He is the first counselor in the Deacon's Quorum.

For Christmas we got Season Passes to Lagoon and we took advantage of that for the first time over Memorial Day.  This was so fun.  The kids rode every ride they wanted to but we spent most of the time in the kiddie area with Charlotte and Brooklyn.

Brooklyn loved everything about Lagoon and loved all of the rides.  Her favorite was the fire truck ride.  Charlotte is just small enough to go on all of the kid rides but also big enough to go on the big rides too. So she can do any ride. The older kids like the fast going rides the best and don't even get sick.

The one ride we do get sick on though is the teacups!  We get really dizzy and Russell won't even ride on it.  We did threaten Logan to not spin the middle part and make us even dizzier.  Brooklyn liked the Carousel too.   This is just one of our many trips to Lagoon this year.

Our Spring tradition is to get baby caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies.  We love watching the caterpillars climb around and grow but our favorite part is setting the butterflies free.

These butterflies were fun to watch because they let us hold them for a while before they flew away.  Everett and Maverick liked helping us set them free as well.  Brooklyn was kind of scared of the butterflies and didn't want to hold them.

I am so glad spring is finally here.  I love seeing all of the flowers growing and the butterflies and things coming back.  May was definitely a busy month but it was full of fun.  Now on to summer!