Here we are creeping up on [actually more like bounding toward] the end of the school year, and before we leave it all behind I want to make mention of a few notable items. April and May have been particularly busy and eventful. Caleb: Starting in December, Caleb participated in the winter drumline. This was new to me, so if you're also wondering what that is, let me briefly explain. It's basically like a marching band field show minus all the wind instruments -- percussion only here -- and is performed indoors. They practiced many hours during the week and on Saturdays, which practice ultimately payed off. They took 2nd place in the state competition for their show titled "Dante's Inferno." If you want a sampling of what they looked like, here's part of it. This is early in the season, so they still had some work to do. Caleb is the lanky hooded figure in the front row on the left side.
Marissa: The last few months for Marissa were filled with basketball and track. She has been practicing with the high school basketball teams and participating in some tournaments with them. Her time to shine, however, was at the regional track meet. She competed in the shot put and 4 x 100 relay. Her relay team came in 4th place. But best of all, she won the shot put for the 8th grade girls with a distance of 32' 11"! And ... even with her busy schedule she has stayed on the honor roll and looks like she'll get a 4.0 this term. Aiden: It's a good thing we like to watch basketball, cause that's what we do. Aiden finished up the regular season well, winning the championship game for 5th graders, and has since been focused on his traveling team. They had some polishing to do since they hadn't really been practicing together, but after a rough start they picked it up and started playing more like a team. In their most recent tournament, they finished in 1st place for their bracket. For school, he had to give an ancestor report in Spanish [that means using mostly past tense!] and got an A+. Morgan: It may not seem like a big deal to some, but Morgan overcame some anxiety and trepidation to perform two songs in her piano recital. I tried to convince her to perform an original composition she titled "Follow Your Destiny," but she decided it was too personal to share with an audience. She did a wonderful job and was very poised in spite of her butterflies. She also mastered 214 out of 217 spelling words for the 2nd grade and has lovely cursive penmanship which she practices in very sweet letters to all the members of our family. So there you have it. Sometimes a mom just has to brag. Better than all this, though, is that they are just genuinely good kids. They help me and are kind to each other. We laugh a lot together. I'm not sure how I got to be so lucky!
I took a late nap the other day and was accidentally awakened by Morgan. When she apologized I assured her it was just fine and that I needed to get up anyway.
"Why?" she asked.
"I can't sleep all evening long," I replied.
"Oh. And you need to take out your taxes... Wait, I mean islands." The frustration began to mount. "I don't remember what they're called!"
All I can say is that at our house from here on out contacts will be known by a couple new and much more inspiring names.
Here's something that gave me the giggles the other day.
I was driving Aiden and one of his friends to basketball practice and could hear them in the back of the van playing "Go Fish" with Morgan's set of Lalaloopsy cards. It sounded a little something like this...
Aiden: Do you have Crumbs Sugar Cookie?
Friend: No, go fish. Do you have Mittens Fluff'n'Stuff?
Aiden: Oh man, yes!
This went on for the entire 20 minute drive. Something about these 11-year-old sporty boys talking so seriously about characters like Jewel Sparkle and Dot Starlight made me laugh. I guess they're really softies at heart.
As per tradition, here's my list of books read during the year. A nice, varied selection in my opinion. The one that had the greatest impact on me was Merrill's Marauders. My grandpa -- Paka -- served as a Marauder captain in World War II. He wasn't one to talk much about his experiences, but he started to dictate his memoirs many years ago at my dad's request. Unfortunately, he put the project on hold as my grandma's Parkinson's disease progressed and she required more care. When Paka suddenly passed from an aneurysm, the rest of his story remained untold. I'm not sure how it all came about, but my dad learned about Gavin Mortimer's research and shared what he had collected of Paka's memoirs. Mortimer included some of Paka's memories and quotes in the book, which made the reading very personal. Even though Paka's contribution to the bulk of the book was minimal, I knew his actual contribution to the war effort and participation in the struggles and horrors in this part of the Pacific theater were absolute. I didn't need to see his name in every battle scene or hear his direct reaction to events to realize he was there -- that he watched his friends die, that he suffered from heat and bugs and hunger and fatigue, that he wondered whether or not he would make it out alive. I already had a great deal of respect for my grandpa, but this book expanded and deepened those feelings.
My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis
Cress by Marissa Meyer
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen
The Pigeon Pie Mystery by Julia Stuart
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
Merrill's Marauders by Gavin Mortimer
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
Need I say more? Our memories of 2014 are definitely
dominated by our trip to California this summer to celebrate Mom and Dad
S’s 50th anniversary.
Jeremy and I loved seeing the smiles on the kids’
faces even after spending long days on our feet. Morgan took two trips to the
instacare – first for croup and then for an ear infection – and yet she plugged
along and hardly complained.
Some favorites: Thunder Mountain Railroad, Cars
Land, California Screamin’, World of Color, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana
Jones.I personally got a kick out of watching Jeremy and Caleb on the Winnie
the Pooh ride. We needed it after taking the plunge on Splash Mountain. We also
enjoyed a day at the beach and good food.
We say regularly that we want to go back,
and I hope we can someday.
We decided to take advantage of being in southern California by
extending our trip and spending a few days in San Diego. I don’t think any of
us regretted it.
We tried to hit as many attractions as possible including Old
Town, the Mormon Battalion museum, the beach, the San Diego temple, the USS
Midway museum, and of course Sea World.
I solidified my crazy mom status by
dragging everyone to a park with an awesome view only to find out it would
close in about five minutes. Not wanting to pay admission, we turned around,
found a spot to take a picture in the middle of a cemetery, and drove back to
the hotel.
The summer also included a trip for ⅔ of the family to Oregon and then down to the cabin, partly for my
20th high school reunion [really?!?] but more to visit Mom and Dad B and see their
new home.
One of the most memorable and hysterical parts of the trip was going “clamming” on the coast. I will
forever have the image of my parents and the kids squishing through the mud
with shovels in hand.
The cabin was of course refreshing. The morning we left I
could see that Aiden was struggling. I asked him if he was okay and he started
to cry, which is not normal for him. He said he didn’t want to leave, and I
could totally relate.
The reason the other ⅓ of the family stayed behind was because Caleb had committed to
marching band. This was his first season, and he had a great experience.
He
wasn’t overly fond of the parades, but he really enjoyed playing the
synthesizer for the field show as well developing friendships with his fellow
pit members.
His high school took 3rd in state and 4th in the region, which was
remarkable for being their first year as a 5A band. He liked it enough to
decide to sign up for the winter drum line, so we’re back to fun practice
schedules. By now we should be able to drive to the high school with our eyes
closed.
We’ve watched a substantial amount of basketball this year.
Marissa was assigned to the 8th grade B team, but as the coaches watched her
during practice they decided she would benefit from playing with the A team as
well.
Aiden plays with a competitive team in addition to being on the 5th grade
A team.
Caleb played with city recreation. That’s a lot of basketball.
In other activities, Marissa gave track a try in the spring and found
she has a knack for the shot put. She took 3rd in regionals. If you consider
her skinny arms, that’s pretty impressive.
Morgan took another year of dance
but is taking a break right now. I’m still trying to figure out how to convince
her to sing in front of other people. Caleb got his driver’s permit.
We said
farewell to our old blue van after 13 years together, replacing it with a
new-to-us-but-not-really-new-at-all red van. The first thing we had to do after
we bought it from our Ute fan neighbors was to remove the Utah sticker on the
back window just so Aiden could breathe again.
We’re all busy with church
responsibilities as well. Jeremy perseveres as 1st counselor in the bishopric;
I am still Laurel advisor and went to girls camp as assistant director; Caleb serves
as his teacher’s quorum president, and Marissa is 1st counselor in her Beehive
class. Aiden goes to scouts, where he just received his Webelos badge, and
Morgan gets dragged all over the place.
School work keeps us hopping, as does
work-work.
Life is good, and we count our blessings every day.
P.S. Please pardon the formatting issues. I think Blogger was feeling neglected and decided to act out. Either that or I'm way out of practice.
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