April 23-April 29

     One week down, one month to go!  We made it through our first week without the Papa.  The real test will be the weeks that follow.  This past week I've been packing.   It's coming along.  I made myself a master plan and I'm only a little behind schedule.  I have some buffer days planned in, so, I'm not worried.

    Our house is getting a makeover!  We hired some help to fix all our stucco and paint the house.  It should be done by the end of this week!  I can't wait to see the end result.  I haven't taken any pictures yet, I'll try to get some for next time.

 Here's what the kids have to say about this past week:

Ethan-  I made a hydra out of clay for a project in history.  I also got into Jazz Band playing piano.  It is very hard. 

Olivia-  I went to group lesson for piano and I got to earn stuff.  I earned prizes.  I helped Mom pack.  I went over to Maggie's.  I finished testing in school.  That's it!

Phoebe-  We finished testing.  I miss Dad.  School's almost over.  I went to Maggie's and had fun.  That's it.

 Gina-  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....I'm just kidding.  I went to Joyschool.  That's all I want to say.

April 2- April 22

Wow!  We've got a lot of catching up to do!  Let's get to it:

      After Spring Break we had a quiet, yet, meaningful Easter.  The Saturday before Easter we dyed eggs and Derek hid baskets for the kids around the house.  The kids loved looking for them.  On Easter Sunday Derek and I spoke in sacrament meeting.  After church we watched some of the Bible videos from our church about the Savior's atonement, made paper lilies, and later joined our friends, the Anderson's, for dinner and a game of hands on table.  We had a great time and felt a great spirit about the day.

  Many of you probably know by now that Derek and I have been in the application process for buying a franchise from Great Harvest Bread Co.   The weekend after Easter, Derek and I traveled to Dillon, MT(15 hours to and from, ugh!) to attend a Discovery Day for Great Harvest.  This was the last step in our application process.  We had a great time and felt very good about our day with them.  On Monday, April 16th, Great Harvest gave us the good news that we can join their team in Twin Falls, Idaho!  We are so excited!  We've dreamed about doing this for years!  We are making plans to move to Twin Falls during the summer.  Derek will be working in Utah for a year until we get the bakery going, and then He and I will run the bakery together.   There are still more details to work out, but, we'll keep you posted.

   

      Gina turned 5 this past week on April 20th.  She was so excited.  We had a Robin Hood friend party in the morning and a family party with the Bal's in the evening.   We can't believe she's that big!  She starts kindergarten this fall!  Yeah Gina!  All the kids are jealous of her bow and arrow set ( the arrows have suction cups, don't worry:).

     More recently we have been working on finishing projects around the house.   Derek left for Utah yesterday and starts his new job on Monday.  The kids and I will pack the house up and finish school.  It's crazy, but, we feel it's right and things are falling into place.  We are grateful for all that we've learned here and the relationships we've built here.  However, the winds of change are in the air.... Here's what the kids have to say:

Ethan-  I made an account on Pottermore, played in the band for an assembly at school, got a hair cut, enjoyed my chocolate egg for Easter, and I'm generally having a bad time at school.

What Ethan has to say about the family changes:  I'm 50/50 about moving.  I'm glad we have the bakery, but, I'm sad to be leaving.  I'm happy that I'm leaving school, but, I'm not glad that Daddy's gone.  I'm also excited about the big library in Twin Falls!

Olivia- Just finished a week of testing (whew!),  I made a family album at achievement day, Easter was fun because we dyed eggs and found our baskets together and just had fun together, I liked church and how we went to the Anderson's for dinner, I liked Gina's family birthday party.  Oh yeah, I made a Pottermore account too!

What Olivia has to say about the family changes:  I really liked that we got the bakery and that we're going to Twin Falls.  I want to leave sort of, but, I don't want to leave my friends.  I am happy about leaving school.  I'm also excited about the library in Twin Falls, but, I don't like that Daddy's gone.

Phoebe-  Testing this last week was most important, I won glow-in-the-dark bubbles at school, I had fun with the Hazel's when they came to watch us while Mom and Dad were gone, I had fun at Easter because I got a candy carrot thing.

What Phoebe has to say about the family changes:  I'm  feeling ok about it.  I don't want to leave my friends, but, I want to see Twin Falls too.  I don't like it that Dad left.  I really want to move to the bakery because, well, first, Mom said that we could take a basket and put bread in it and take it around our neighborhood or something and deliver it.  I think that is cool.

Regina- I had really lots of fun at my birthday and at Joyschool.  And I also liked Easter.  It was fun and I really like how Enoch was playing with us.  It was really fun and we had a lot of fun too. 

What Regina has to say about the family changes:  I like how we got the bakery.  I really wanted to give some bread to Annalee's Dad, so they can try our bread that we make.  I love you Dada, I miss you so much.  I hope you like my blog and I really like you when you helped me with my chores.  I feel really happy about moving for the seasons.

March 19-April 1



      My favorite part of our spring break was seeing my sister's babies!  They are all so cute!  However we did some other great things too.  The kids got to play lazer tag with cousins, watch movies, fly a kite, see a snow storm, play video games,  and ride the UTA Trax to Gardner Village.  Ethan had the opportunity to go with his Opa to rehearse with the Jordan Youth Symphony.  He got to play timpani and base drum.  They played Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory, Super Man Returns, Phantom of the Opera, and Mission Impossible.  Mom had the awesome opportunity to go to the conference center with her 12 year old niece and sister-in-law to see the Young Women General Broadcast!  Wow!  That was awesome!  We had a great break.

      Getting back into school is always hard after so much fun, but, we managed.  Olivia had her 4th grade field trip to the Sand Canyon on Tuesday.  I got to go with her!  She had all sorts of stations to go to from birdwatching to aquatics.  She loved looking at critters from the creek in the microscope.

     That night the kids had Karate and earned their yellow belts.  They have been having fun doing this at our church learning from a friend of ours.  I was amazed they rememberd their katas even though we had missed karate during spring break.  Way to go guys!

     Gina was excited to get back to Joyschool.  She mixed play dough colors togther to make new colors.  Amazing! 

      Derek worked on our deck this weekend.  It's coming along nicely.  We just have to get more supplies to do the railing.  Way to go honey!

          

       Watching General Conference was a nice ending to our weekend.  We loved seeing our Prophet and hearing his messages to us.  Conference goes by so fast!  The last session we watched together at the Stake Center.  That was a first for our family.  We normally watch it at home.  I'm glad we did that.  We are looking forward to studying the conference in more detail these next few months. 

     Easter is approaching.  What a wonderful time of year to think about our Savior and all that He has done for us.  We have truly been blessed as a family because of the gospel Christ taught and the church He restored in these latter days.  Until next week!

March 6-18

     It's been quite the week!  Ethan had his band concert this past Wednesday.  I asked him how it went and he said,"Awesome!"  Phoebe had her egg drop project at school on Friday.  The teacher starts the contest by dropping the protected eggs from a chair.  They eventually end up dropping them off the school roof.  Phoebe won!  Her design was a simple box with foam inside.  Olivia also had a big day on Friday.  They had Junior Olympics.  She competed in the 100m dash and the discus.  She had a great time.  We are now in Utah visiting family for spring break!  We took off after school on Friday and drove through the night. Ug!  
     Saturday we had an early egg hunt/St. Patrick's day feast.  Since the whole family was together we took a picture.  Today has been nice.  We had a relaxing morning and then we went to church. After  that we had a nice meal with Grandma.  The kids are hoping for a little snow to come along too.  Ok, that's all for now!  Hooray for spring break!

March 5-11

     This is our friend Josh.  He's spent a lot of time with us the past two years.  His family moved to Las Vegas.  This past Monday was our last day with him.  We are grateful for the fun times we've had.

     Here are some of our highlights this past week:

Ethan- I've almost mastered "Linus and Lucy" on the piano.  It's the theme song for Charlie Brown.

Olivia and Phoebe- We went to our friends house(Bal's) and they had an adventure for us!  They also had popcorn for snack.

Gina-  She's had a rough end of the week.  She's been sick with a low grade fever and a horrible cough.

Dad-  I tiled the little hallway leading to our family room and took a bunch of junk to the dump!

Mom-  I cleaned my craft room and went to our Stake R.S Conference!  The conference was awesome!  We have the missionaries coming for dinner tonight, we love it!

That's all for now!

2011 In Review

Hello there!
I know I said I would blog...well, better late than never right? Here are the highlights for 2011. I'm not going to make any promises for this year and maybe it will happen. Enjoy!

Ethan's 5th grade trip to Santa Cruz

Family Hike to Needles Lookout

Mom at Camp. We only had the Beehives this year because we also did a trek!
Hope, Believe, Endure

Ma and Pa Bates on the trek : Remember

Family Summer Vaction: Bear Lake and Yellowstone

Ethan's Highlights: Started Middle School and is the beginning band percussionist, received his Arrow of Light and crossed over to 11 year old scouts, piano recitals, received perfect scores on his star testing in math and science!

Olivia's Highlights: Piano recitals, scored well on star testing and went to Night of the Stars at her school, had her birthday in Utah for the 1st time, and rode our friends horses!

Phoebe and Gina's Highlights: Joyschool, being creatve, singing for 4th of July, learning to ride bikes and scooters, having fun!

Happy New Year!

After an eight month blog hibernation, we are back! We had a great Christmas and New Year's holiday. Here is what happened this past week:

Monday: Snow Day! The kids were supposed to start school, but, it snowed so much on Sunday and Monday that school was cancelled! Only in California, right? We don't mind. The kids played to their hearts content.

Tuesday: Back to the regular routines of school and work.

Wednesday: Piano lessons started again! Yeah!

Thursday: Pack meeting for the family.

Friday: Game night with friends! Whoo hoo!

It's been a great week. Over the holidays, my Husband and my Dad installed in my kitchen a new sliding glass door and a window! Our outlook is much brighter and it is very nice to watch the kids in the back yard. Thanks so much!