Achieving great heights

Everyday, just about, when I pick the kids up from school, I let them play on the playground for a while.  And everyday Abby has been trying to go across on the monkey bars.  At first she could only get to the second bar, but now she can go all the way to where the monkey bars turn. (The monkey bars go in a semi-circle.)  I'm so proud that she wants this so much that she tries everyday.  Someday she will get across the whole semi-circle.

Elsa likes to try too. 

Love the tongue!

I didn't get her going all the way to where they turn, but you get the idea.

We also went to the library to let the kids pick out new books.  The boys got new library cards. (Their's were expired.)  and the girls had fun looking at books and doing puzzles.  Then, we checked out a huge mountain of books, and came home ate dinner quickly, then Calvin, Abby and me went to our old ward's pack meeting so that Calvin could receive his awards.  He earned the outdoorsman, athlete, and geologist pins for webelos scouts.  Yea!  We are proud of his hard work.  

Lately Abby had been the only one that is NOT camera shy.  Although I did take some great photos of them at the Springs Preserve.  I'll post those later.

Our trip to the Lonestar State part 2

These pictures are just what I took at the baptism.   My Sister in law, Jamie (Regan's mom)had a lady in her ward take pictures of the girls and I'm still waiting for her to email them to me.  So for now enjoy these....

This is Elsa's Grandpa Anderson (Papa)

It was so nice to have him there.

This is the beautiful bracelet that a lady in Regan's ward made for Elsa, she also made one for Regan, of course.  

 This was Elsa's hairstyle.  This was after she got dunked, so it was a little messy.  The flowers added that special touch,  and it helped to hide those messy parts.

 

This was the special girl.  Even though she wasn't feeling well, I think she knew she was special that day.
More photos......

Our trip to the Lonestar State

A couple of weeks ago, we made the trip (by car) to Wichita Falls, Texas.  Clint's brother and family just moved there from Sparks, NV about 5 months ago.  We were going to go for our niece, Regan's baptism and thought it might be nice to do a double baptism and baptize Elsa as well.  It was a lot of fun and we loved seeing and being with all the Singers for that week.  (Except Aunt Lisa, we missed her.)  My dad came all the way from Sparks to attend and speak at the baptism.  It was so special that he made the trip and we are so very thankful for him.  It was also special that both Clint and his twin brother, Jake got to baptize their first daughters on the same day.  Elsa and Regan were very happy that day.  Poor Elsa was sick, so she was a little out of her element, but when her and I were in the dressing room right after she got baptized, I asked her how she felt and she said she felt good and clean.
Before they got baptized they had their pictures taken and Elsa did not smile in any of them.  She was not feeling well, so I guess I don't blame her.  Her dad got her to smile, however.  He has a way with her and Abby.  They love their dad!
The rest of the week she was feeling a lot better and had more fun.  Abby loved playing with Regan and they got along well.  Elsa was still a little bit shy with Regan and just kept to herself.  Maybe next time we see them again, hopefully soon, she will be more social and outgoing.

Some of the activities we did were;  rollerskating, which Elsa tried once and sat out the rest of the time after she and I had a big fall.  Abby was a little champ and kept trying.  Dallin was a champ too and kept trying.  Calvin went around once, only because I bribed him.  He didn't like it to say the least.  Clint had to miss out on that because the truck needed to be fixed and he tended to that.  A part went out on it and thanks to him he just happened to bring that same part (just in case).  When we were packing to go, I asked him if he wanted to bring that part as well as the other two boxes of tools.  He must have been guided by spirit because it was the same part that went out and would have cost us over $1000 to replace it.  Instead it only cost us $190.  He actually put the part in himself and then had to take it to the Ford dealership to get it reprogrammed.  Whew!  Thank goodness for a good husband who follows his instincts, (and the spirit) and who is handy with cars.  Gotta love that!  Here is some pictures....

 Here are the kids enjoying Jake and Jamie's scooter.  So much fun even I took a turn.  Well, someone had to take Abby for a ride, right?

 Here is Abby and Oliver (Regan and Connor's cousin) eating their lunch outside.

 Here is Connor, his neighbor friend (can't remember his name), James, and Abby playing 4 square.  What's quality cousin time without a game of 4 square?  

On Sunday, we decided to take our lunch to the park. The cousins had fun playing and running around and the adults had fun playing a little baseball as well as the cousins.

What's cousin time without a little video game time!

Here's Regan showing us her funny face

Cousin time!

Regan was doing great!

Here's Connor tearin' it up!

Abby wasn't too sure about this, but then as the day went on she did great.

This was Dallin before he tried.  He was happier when he tried and was doing pretty well at skating. I thought I got a picture of him skating.
Well, blogger is telling me that I'm out of space and asked if I want to purchase more.  Well, I am not going to do that so I will post pictures of the baptism in part 2.  

The catch up game

Wow!  I have not posted any thing for a long time.  Now I'm playing the catch up game.  (Story of my life.)
Well, first let me talk about Elsa's birthday.  She turned the big 8 this year.  So we thought it would be nice for her to have a friends party.  So we got invitations and she invited some of her friends.  It was simple and fun.  Just the kind of parties I like.  We had a pinata, face painting, games, and of course cake and ice cream.  Here are some pictures....

Abby was very excited for her party....can ya tell?

Eight things about Elsa that we love...

8.  You make us laugh.

7.  You love to draw and are quite good at it.

6.  You love your brothers and sister...even though you tease them to no end. (I guess that's how you show your love).

5.  You love the gospel and couldn't wait to be baptized.

4.  You're very imaginative!  We love watching you play!

3.  You are definately Daddy's girl!

2.  You also love your mom!

1.  You love to do crafts and things right along side Mom.

Elsa, we love you and wish you the best this year!

Firsts and Lasts

First of all I'm going to talk about the "lasts".  Last night we went to Calvin's pinewood derby.  Yes it was his last one.  The last one for our family to attend.  (Until the kids have boys of their own, but that's way off in the future.)  Being in a different ward, (because of boundary changes).  Calvin had a lot more competition this year and there were some pretty cool looking and FAST cars.  The whole time making his car, Calvin kept saying that he wanted to win 1st this year, when he said the blessing on the food for dinner that night, he blessed that he would win.  Of course, we kept reminding him that he has more competition and that the purpose of the race was to have fun.  Well, his car did really well and he won 3rd.  He was happy and we were so proud of him.

 

 

 This is one happy kid!  He got a dog tag with a #3 on it. (Made by a woman in our ward.) and a 100 grand candy bar. 

 I realized that I never took a picture of the car by itself with the wheels on it.  When I did the license plate, I  super glued the word on it and got it crooked.  Oh well, Calvin didn't seem to mind.

(He painted it and wanted me to do the details)

Here is Clint putting graphite on the wheels right before the race.

This last one was one of the final run of the night.  

Their were three final runs and they were all very close like this one.

That same night, Dallin had his first Court of Honor.  He received 4 centennial merit badges.  What makes these special is that last year, being the centennial year of Boy Scouts, was the only year to earn these merit badges.  We are so proud of him and glad he loves scouting.  We are also very appreciative of his and Calvin's scout leaders.  It really does matter when there are good leaders out there. 

 This is one proud and happy kid!

This is one silly kid!