Cousin love

It's so nice for the girls to have cousins their exact ages.

These two are the more gentle ones.  They want to go to college together and become doctors.

 And these two:

Just want to make it thru the next 4 years of high school.

 Ahhhhhh, family.

Now if we could only get Brockie (Ansen's closest cousin) to move to the west coast THAT would be awesome.

Golfing

He golfed in a tourney in Colorado last week during a convention and had a great time.  He insists that he has mad golfing skills now with his new fancy clubs and I can't argue too much be they took 2nd place.  Not too shabby for only playing for about 10 weeks. So glad he had fun and the weather was good.

Play ball....urrrrr.... foreeeeee.....whatever they say in golf.

Lei making

If I could I'd make a lei's all that time.  The trouble is there really isn't a market for it.  Stinking mainlanders just don't get it.  We put together some lei's for Kahau's graduation and I feel like they came out really well.

I made a burgundy and white carnation lei to match her skirt and Jason made her a candy lei.

 Together we made her a variegated carnation lei.

 They were nice and thick, really pretty and they smelled so good.

 Anybody need a lei?

Wayyyyy back

We were out at Jason's parents house on Father's Day and the girls were looking through some old binders Jason's mom had lying around.  In one of the binders was a family letter we sent out in 2000.  This particular copy belonged to Jason's grandfather, Grandpa Farmer.

Nomads?  Us?  I guess we were at that point.  It makes me laugh that that is what he thought of us.  I guess people of his generation stuck a little closer to home.

Tuckered out

I'm not really sure why he crashed but he did.

That never happens anymore.

Teacher treats

Teacher treats were time consuming this year but worth it because there were extra for us to munch on.

If I were on top of things I'd actually make the caramel I dipped the pretzels in (I have an awesome recipe) but instead I discovered these caramel melt things that you melt down in a sauce pan and viola! in about 10 minutes you have caramel!  Don't taste as great but whatcha gonna do? Totally still yummy.  And I should know....I ate 5.

Summer reading

She's more than 1/2 thru the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series and I really love that she loves to read as much as she does.  She gets lost in any book you give her and she's like a little sponge just soaking it all in.  I love when she tells me about the stories she's reading because she lights up and tells me every detail.

And I love that she has a reading buddy.

8th grade graduation

Here on the west coast they have a lil' thing called 8th grade graduation.  I'm not really sure why...because you still have 4 years to go, but it's fun.

Coming in: (not gonna lie, got a tad teary eyed because we only have 4 years left with this girl).

 It's hard to see but she's standing there in the back row to be rocognized for academic excellence.  Everyone who maintained a 3.5 gpa and above for the duration of middle school stood to be acknowledged (there were 14 for her grade). That's our girl!  So proud!

 Getting her diploma.

 Celebrating with friends and family:

(ps--Jason and I made her lei's.  More on them in another post. But if you need one, call me. I ***love*** making lei's)

 One of my fav. pics from the night because she's so cute and because our friend Dallin is creeping our photo (look between Jase and Kahau).  Well played Dallin, well played.

 Grandma and Grandpa came:

Fact: these 3 are awesome.

 Kahau and her favorite teacher, Mr. Lidke.  She LOVED this guy and would come home everyday with a Mr. Lidke story. He is a hand-talker and her impression is spot on.  As we talked to him after graduation he told us, "She and Devony (her friend) can get on my nerves without even saying a word but I'd just remind myself shes a Red Sox fan and that made her bearable."  Then he said some really nice things about great personality, good participation and strong work ethic....who cares?  What important is that he's a Red Sox fan.

 Kahau and Devony doing their best "Mr. Lidke."

She was blessed with fun friends and for that we are grateful.

She was also awards 8th grade Excellence in Writing student of the year. Here she is in her jammies with her award (the next day).

After celebrating she hung out with her friends at a dance for only 8th graders and came home with some fun memories.

Congrats Kahau on being awesome.

Last day 8th grade

Oh man.  I have to admit that when Kahau started middle school 3 years ago,I was just praying she'd survive.  I don't remember hating middle school but I didn't love it either. But this girl?  She loved it.  A lot.  She had a great 3 years and she really took every opportunity that came her way.  I'm so glad she had the friends and teachers she did.  I know they made everyday a good one.

You made it thru middle school Kahau! Way to go! We love you!

Last day of 6th grade

We can check the first year of middle school off Miss Braley's To Do list.  And we can defiantly count it as a success.

She made great friends, she got involved in school activities, her grades were awesome, her teachers had nothing but good things to say about her disposition and her work ethic. She nailed 6th grade. It was a good year.  

Great job Braley! We are so proud of you and the year you had! We love you!

Flag football season recap

Honestly guys, this season has been so fun.  I think partially because its a new program thru parks and rec and the numbers were low so the kids got TONS of playing time but also because the kids killed it on the field.

Really. A ton of playing time.  Like almost the entire game every week. How awesome is that? 

(And a few times Kahau even go to play...which she loved.)

 Ansen and Braley scored touchdown after touchdown and ran a ton of yards.

Great job you two!  It was so fun to watch you guys this season!

Father's Day '14

Happy Father's Day to this guy!

 These kids sure love their dad and I love that he is such a great dad to them!

Aunt Cheryl

 We had the blessing of being able to attend the funeral of (Jason's) Aunt Cheryl this week. It was too soon for her to go and words can not express how sad it is that she is gone but the celebration of her life was beautiful and wonderful to be apart of.

Aunt Cheryl was cremated and then placed in a beautiful white casket.  Uncle Bill and the kids asked everyone to bring a memento/remembrance of Aunt Cheryl to place in the casket with her. It was fun to see how she was remembered by everyone that loved her.  Some brought flowers, others notes of love.  Then there was the stuff that was "so her" that you couldn't help but laugh.  For instance: fireworks...because her birthday was July 3rd and she was sure the 4th of July fireworks were just for her.  Quarters and casino chips....because she LOVE to gamble.  What did we bring? It's in the back center with the pink bow and note wrapped around it.  Can you tell what it is?  It's a jar of her homemade pickles.  Ohhhh, they are so yummy!

 Uncle Bill hired a horse drawn carriage to bring her to her resting place.  Isn't it just beautiful?

Once there everyone present was encouraged to write Aunt Cheryl a love note on her casket.  Admittedly at first I thought, "Oh No! Don't!" But you know what?  It was so cool to see the little love notes to her from friends and family. It was even more beautiful to watch her husband and children express their love for her like that.  Take note: I think I want that done on my casket. 

Winnie the Pooh said, "I'm glad that I have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

That's a wise ol' bear.

Spring concert-FPMS

French Prairie had their Spring concert last night and these two:

 did a great job.

They sang great songs and they looked so pretty. It was a win-win.

 I'm grateful the ladies don't mind performing in front of people. You really have to be pretty brave to stand up there and sing your little heart out and they do.  They get that from their dad.

 After the program there was a little awards assembly type thing.  Because Kahau has been in choir for 3 years she got a certificate saying she survived choir.  She was awfully proud of it, can't you tell?

We have wrapped up all our concert for this year now and we are just waiting until next Tuesday when the ladies are released for summer break!

Great job last night ladies!

Love you!

Last day of 3rd grade

CAN you believe the school year has come and gone?

I really can't and, I can, at the same time.

It was getting bad there towards the end of 3rd grade.  Have homework?  Eh, we'll do it in the car....on the way to school.  Spelling test? Don't worry, every computer/phone/tablet has spell check.  Report due?  What does wikipedia say?

Okay...maybe it wasn't that bad but we are sure glad elementary school is out for the summer.

 Can you believe the difference September to June makes? He looks so..so....soooo BIG all of the sudden.  Yes, I realize he's 9 but, wow.

 They had a knights tournament and got to do a whole bunch of fun things like capture the flag, jousting and castle building.

 And then there was picture taking....

Ansen had a great year.  He grew (inside and out) tremendously.  He had Mr. Crawford for the 2nd year in a row and as much as he loved having him twice I think he's excited for a new teacher this next year.

As we were leaving school this afternoon his little chin started quivering and he had some crocodile tears.

Me: "What's wrong."

Ansen: "I like my friends. I'm going to miss seeing them everyday."

Poor guy.  He may not love sitting thru math and reading but he does love his friends and loves being a friend.

Great job this year, Ansen!  We are so proud of how well you did in 3rd grade and think that 4th grade is going to be just as awesome!