May 2014 on FB

May 1: My last elementary student play was today: this 4th grade class did "Annie Jr.". They were truly phenomenal and I could NOT stop crying during their performance!!! I am so proud of them!!! They've come so far in the 4 months that we've been working on it! I know I've said it before, but I just love moments like this at my job!

May 10: I think the ONLY place I like ugly old peeling wallpaper is at my Grandma's house {because I like going there and seeing that the house is still the same and nothing has changed}. 

May 11: Happy Mother's Day to my fabulous mother Ruth Perkins! She taught me how to love, forgive, serve, and raise a family in righteousness. Thanks mom for being a wonderful example to me. I love you! 

May 13: Oh my goodness, what a beautiful day!!! I needed to do laundry and some college homework this evening, but all I wanted to do was be outside. So that's what I did. I may not have clean clothes tomorrow and I may not have a smarter brain tonight, but I for sure have a happy heart. The sunshine warmed me inside and out, and I just know that I made the right decision regarding tonight's plans!

May 15: I will be SOOO glad when the primary elections are over on Tuesday! EVERY day for the past few weeks, our mailbox has been full of political flyers. And EVERY night, the phone rings constantly with politicians' recorded messages. And of course, it's all over the TV ads too. I'm just getting tired of the "in your face" approach.

May 19: Please make sure to vote tomorrow!!! The levy is SOOO important for the children in our school district!

May 23: Yesterday was my friend John's birthday, so in the morning I gifted him a small cactus and some malt balls. Last night was the spring concert (he's the music director), and he gifted me this beautiful large bouquet and Lindt balls for all my help this year. I was blown away with his generosity--I definitely had the better end of that deal! On his birthday, he made me feel like a queen. Thank you John!

May 24: Happy Happy Joy Joy! Sunshine, flowers, karaoke, dancing. I love today!

May 26: Our annual Memorial day plans always include planting the pumpkin patch. CHECK! What a gorgeous day to be outside today!!

May 28: Only one more day of school left!!! I'm directing Kindergarten Graduation in the morning, helping make food at Jonah & Micah's class brunch, and attending Ammon's 8th grade Graduation. It's going to be an awesome day!!! I just love year-end school events

May 29: I love being a guest reader in my boys' classrooms! I like to use some of my theatrical voices for different characters, so I'm always very grateful when I get the chance to read to kids! I've been reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to the twins' 4th grade class at school the last 2 months (I love Roald Dahl's books!). Today, we finished it, and I shared with them some bits of chocolate bars (just like Charlie would eat his birthday treats) straight from England. Thank you Samantha Johnson for supplying the chocolate! The kids loved it!

May 31: I'm so happy that summer is here, although I'm actually a little sad that school is over (that's a first!). Goodbye spring! And hello summer!

Spring 2014 Top Ten

Today is the last day of May, and it's the 1st day of summer vacation to us. To greet the summer properly, I'm bidding farewell to Spring 2014 with our Top Ten List. 

I love my Top 10 lists! They're a way to look forward to events in the upcoming season, and a way to recap highlights at the end of each season!

1. Go to Kanyon's wrestling meets

Completed 3/26. This was his first year wrestling. He competed in 3 meets, and he did so well keeping cool and focused!

2. Visit Great Grandma Rose

Completed 3/23. We visited her for a few hours at her home in Pleasant Grove. I love my grandma so much, and I have so many fond memories of being at her and Grandpa's house when I was a child. She is so loving and selfless and I am so grateful that she is my grandma. 

3. Take a family spring break vacation to Arches National Park

See the heart shape in the rock? I was feeling the love!

Completed 3/24. We had a fabulous trip to Arches and Goblin Valley and the Moab sand hill over spring break. It was gorgeous weather, and we had such a great time!

4. Go camping

Completed 5/3 and then again 5/17. Josh and the boys went camping to Williams Lake Campground for the ward Father & Son Camp-out on 5/3. Then we went as a family over Stake Conference weekend up to Agency Creek (I didn't take any photos of that one though).

5. Celebrate Easter with the Perkins family

Completed 4/20. We had a lovely Easter afternoon at my parents' home. We ate a yummy meal and dessert, had a kids and an adult egg hunt, and spent time together as a large family!

6. Kala & Ammon go on band tour to Seattle

Completed 4/28. This was such an incredible 4-day trip. There were 44 high school and middle school choir & band students, and we all had a memorable trip together. I can't to blog about this!

7. Watch Jonah & Micah's spring play

Completed 4/21. Their 4th grade class performed the play "Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr". They both had multiple parts and it was so fun to see them perform together!

8. Plant our Garden

Completed 5/26. We planted our vegetable garden, main pumpkin patch, and supplemental pumpkin patch all on the same day (Memorial Day). We've never done it all in the same day before, but it was great to work together and accomplish this task!

9. Go on school field trips

Completed 5/28. I was fortunate enough to go visit Jonah & Micah's class at the local Sacajawea Center, I went with them to the Big Hole National Battlefield in Montana, and I got to go visit Kanyon's class at their 1st grade picnic at the CDC school park.

10. Attend Ammon's 8th Grade Graduation

Completed 5/29. Ammon was one of his 3 class valedictorians who's had a 4.0 average all 3 years of junior high, so he was a speaker at 8th Grade Graduation. I am so proud of him!!

Easter 2014

Easter morning, we got up and the boys found their Easter gifts on the dining table at Grandma's house: 

Micah's gifts

Jonah's presents

Kanyon's stash

Ammon's pile

I went to church at my old home ward with my mom and dad, and Josh brought the boys over to Sacrament Meeting. After the church services were over, we went back to my parents' house, and the rest of the family (that all live in Utah) started arriving.

Tawna & her fiance Bryce
wearing their funny Easter shirts.

Mick's wife Jen and their girls
wearing the Easter skirts she made

Trina & her fiance Dan with the decorative toothpicks
that are remnants of the tray of my mom's annual Easter
pickle-cheese-olive appetizers on a stick.   

I kept following Cody & BreAnne's son Brendan
around with my camera, and it kind of scared him!

When everyone was gathered together, the blessing was said on our Easter feast, and we all started to dish up the annual meal (which is always my favorite meal of the year!).

It was a beautiful day, so my mom set the table for the kids to eat outside on the back deck.

After the delicious ham & potato lunch, we went out in the front yard for the kids' Easter egg hunt.

And away they go! They were allowed to each pick up 10 eggs.

And then they hunted for the kids' golden egg (worth $5).

Jonah came out the victorious winner! (again!)

We took a break in between the kids' and adult egg hunts to have a family religious service. We told the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ through scriptures and symbolic items that are placed inside a set of numbered eggs that my mom has.

Then it was time for the adult Easter egg hunt in the back yard. 

I have NO idea what they're all looking at,
but I think it's funny that nobody's looking at the picture here!

This is the starting line, so that everybody starts at the same time...

Except this year, my mom let Cody have a head start because he is supposedly the only sibling who has never found a golden egg before...

The adults, like the kids, could each pick up 10 eggs, and then we searched for the elusive $10 Silver egg and the $20 Gold egg hidden somewhere in the backyard.

I like this photo of all the tall guys wandering total different directions!

Some of the ladies are combing the fenceline looking for the top eggs!

My dad got a kick out of watching us adults frantically search for the coveted eggs!

My mom made a rule that when the kids turn 13, they can join the adult hunt.
So that included both Ammon AND Aspen this year!

And Aspen found the Silver Egg in her first adult hunt, which she was so excited about!

Cody ended up finding the golden egg! (So no more head starts for him next year!!)

We all went back inside and tallied up our egg totals (each egg is numbered and is correlated to a certain money amount). It's so wonderful that my parents host and organize this event each year to bring us all together for a day of celebration and fun!

We ate desserts (and there were plenty of good choices! yum!), and then everyone began leaving. Although we were all only together for a few short hours, it was a very pleasant Easter Sunday, and I'm so glad that everyone was able to join us this year. We said our good-byes, and Josh and I headed back home to Salmon that night. It was a short trip to Utah, but a good one with happy memories with my family.

seek, then ye shall dye

Our Easter festivities began on Saturday, April 19. That morning began with the Salmon Easter Egg Hunt at the City Park. This year, Kanyon was in the same age category as Jonah and Micah (7-10 year olds), and their area was fairly large. We picked spots behind taped-off ribbon around the area, and when it was 10:00, all the big kids went sprinting around the grass picking up eggs and then all the candy that was covering the grass.

The boys came out of that 5-minute spree with buckets FULL of candy and eggs. It was awesome! We are so grateful to the Rotary for hosting this event!

Inside the plastic eggs are money or coupons for free items or tickets to receive money at local merchants' businesses. The boys opened all their eggs to see what goodies lay inside. They were so happy to see that they'd all received several dollars!

After the city egg hunt, we headed over to the church's stake primary activity. The theme was "Forever Families". Our Stake Primary President is so organized and fun and comes up with awesome activities for our youth. They had a great time at all the different stations and having snacks. The boys liked this maze of boxes/obstacle course in the middle of the church gym that led to the temple! They came away with bags full of goodies, too! 

When the activity was over, we picked up the boys and headed to my mom's house in Utah. My mom was prepared with items for her annual event of dying eggs with my boys. They look forward to it every year. I appreciate that my mom is always willing to get extra items to make it a fun and new and creative experience for them. 

Grandma tying the egg apron on Kanyon

Initially, Ammon said he was not interested in dying eggs with his brothers. But, after seeing all the fun they were having with Grandma, he decided to join in, too.

I like seeing the different styles of my 4 sons' eggs. These are Ammon's eggs (all practically identical!):

Micah has really had an artistic outlet recently. These are some of his colorful creations:

 
Jonah used a variety of decorations: stickers, markers, wax:

These are Kanyon's eggs. His favorite part is the dying process. He could care less about stickers!

Josh and I went shopping that night and my mom put the boys to bed for us, which was so thoughtful of her. Our first day of Easter festivities had been a fun and successful one!