Musuem of Science and Natural History

My dad scored some awesome tickets the weekend of my birthday. Had a great time, but you know me--I don't take a whole lot of pictures.

Is it Spring Yet?

Two weeks ago was our first sunny day in a long long time. Although it was a mere 45 degrees and there was still snow on the ground, it felt so good. After church, the kids decided to sun bath while I made lunch.

The Brontosauras

I had a really weird moment the other day. When I opened the garage door, I saw this car parked in front of my neighbor's house. For a split second, I thought, "Oh, Mom is here to pick me up." Totally bizarre, but funny. For those of you who don't know, this 15-seater commuter van was our family's mode of transportation for the last 10 years of my childhood. Some days, I drove it to school when the maggot was out of commission.

Do you know what it is like to back out of a high school parking lot driving this?! And I was grateful because it sure beat what I usually drove. I remember being really disappointed my senior year when I didn't win the "Ugliest Car in the Lot" yearbook competition. For once, I thought I had something in the bag.

St. Patrick's Day 5K Run

A few weeks ago my girl friends and I ran the Shannon O' the Green 5K. We looked pretty silly, but had a blast. Despite the obnoxious head gear, cold weather, and heavy layers, I was able to shave two minutes off my time (compared to when I placed 3rd in Seth's school meet last fall).

Ben's New Room

I started this project after Christmas. Ben started moving in as soon as I put in the lockers, but I didn't move his bed in until today. He feels pretty special.

Most of the squares are cork so he can pin up his pictures, but I put a few mirrors on this side.

Ben added all the "finishing touches" (super soaker, handcuffs, etc.).
This is the "before" picture (well, after I put in the fan).

Blue and Gold Banquet

I don't know but I've been told,

It is time for Blue and Gold!

Sound off...

What can I say? We rocked the house. The BSA's theme was "Light a Candle." Huh?! So we changed their lame theme to something more macho: The Military. The CSU ROTC came to do our flag ceremony. Some people got teary eyes. All of our in-active boys in primary were in attendance --with the exception of two. We presented dog tags to all the boys (while playing the Top Gun theme) and served MRE desserts.

Sitting on camo blankets.

Tribute to soldiers in the background.

The kids pose in front of a WWII tent.

An awesome group of leaders.

St. Major Olsen gives us the game plan.

The ROTC guys prepare to present the colors (while the Young Women swoon).

A talk about why we do a flag ceremony.




Tug of war. When it was the adults' turn, the rope broke.

Camo face paint.

Camo cookies.

Pizza pot-luck.

Part of our obstacle course.

Hello, Sailor!

Crawling under barbed wire.

Experiences from a veteran.

The presentation of the dog tags.

Some happy Cub Scouts.

What We've Been Up To

We've spent the last two weeks very sick with pink eye and the flu. Spending so much time at home, however, has afforded some of us a little extra time for creativity. Pictured below:

Marie-"The Blue Girl Musketeer"
Ben-A picture says a thousand words
Grace-Found herself an adhesive alternative to band aides.

Christmas

Admittedly, the frequency with which I post pictures is entirely inadequate. I like to tell myself it is because I'd rather spend time doing more important things, such as reading to my kids. Shamefully, here are the two pictures we took at Christmas.

The first is a chair that James and I re-upholstered. It was my mom's when she was little. The second is a picture of Marie and Tessa in their indian wigs. Marie is Pocahontus, Tess is Princess Tiger Lily. Grace's bare chest is part of her costume.

Why Allie Hasn't Posted in a While

Reason #1

Grand Valley Marathon, May 8th. Anyone who wants to do the 5K, 10K, full or half marathon can let me know and I'll e-mail you the training schedule.

Reason #2

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet, February 3. Military theme. It's going to be intense. Anyone know where I can get a tank for the church parking lot? (You only think I'm kidding.)

Believe

Never exactly sure how we do it, we pulled it off again this year. Please enjoy our Christmas video. I recommend hitting the full screen button (between the progress bar and the volume control).

Previous episodes can be found here:

2005 Nativity

2006 Grinch

2007 Sunshine

2008 Christmas Carol

Tessa's Holiday Concert

The music teacher at Pioneer Ridge Elementary plans a different Christmas program for each grade level. This year, the first graders performed "Forty Winks 'Til Christmas." Tessa volunteered for a speaking part, and when she was done, the entire audience said, "Ah" because she was so cute. Who can blame them? Just look at those curls. I will post the video as soon as James can tell me why Windows isn't recognizing the file.

Halloween

James manned the Elder's Quorum donut-eating contest.
The girls each brought a friend from school. Pictured below is Tessa's friend, Jacob.

Grace ate a chocolate cupcake while waiting in line during the trunk-or-treat.

James and I were very busy at the ward party, so our pictures are sparse. Marie was a snow queen, Tessa was a witch princess, Ben was a monkey, and Grace was Charlotte.