Primary Talent Show

Last Day of School

Whitney finished the first grade today at West Jordan Elementary. I can hardly believe how quickly time seems to go by sometimes! Feels like she just began Kindergarten. (Though I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing each and every year until she graduates high school.)

Some first grade facts, according to Whit:

Her teacher: Miss Gardner
Favorite subject: Art
Favorite book: Junie B. First Grader
Favorite activity: Four square (this is a middle school memory for Kristen, "For Pete's sake, it's only four square!")
Favorite cafeteria food: Chicken nuggets
Favorite boy: Brandt
Favorite girls: Braelyn, Emily, Adrienne, Alissa
Favorite memory: Meeting friends
Most embarrassing moment: boys making fun (mean boys!)
Favorite holiday: "I loved Halloween, but my favorite was Valentines."

One achievement Whitney had was in spelling. With each test on Friday, they had a bonus word, and there wasn't one test throughout the entire school year that Whitney did not get "11 out of 10" on her test! We are so proud of our little speller!

I think the biggest academic improvement Whitney made was in her reading. She's been a good reader for a couple years now, but her reading level soared this year. She really enjoys reading chapter books on her own now. She also did well in math. We had fun doing math homework at our house this year.

She's a social butterfly (don't know where she gets it) and was able to make a lot of friends. I was actually surprised when at conferences her teacher didn't say "Whitney is too talkative." I guess she's not exactly like her mom!

Bring on the second grade, we're ready!

Level II

Congratulations, Whiterney!!

Today she advanced to level two gymnastics at Academy West. She's been going there for about a year now and has made great progress. We love watching her improve upon her skill, and are amazed at her talent.

Way to go Whit!

Color Me Pretty

Whitney has been attending an art class for kids at Robert's for the last couple months.

We just happened to be checking out one day when Brian saw the sign advertising it, and I'm so glad he did! It's been held every Monday, and the cost was just $5 per class.

Whit has loved it! She has drawn some pretty impressive pictures and they have painted with water colors too. For the last class today, they had their faces and arms painted.

She also got to showcase a couple of her favorite pieces at their Art Show, May 12. We invited grandparents to come along, and treated us all to ice cream afterward.

This may be something we do again in the future, and we'd recommend it to those with kids ages 5-12.

Very Important Person

Whitney was the V.I.P. in her class the week of May 5-9. She was elated!

Here is the cutie with the poster we made for display in her class. (Yep, we used the Cricut. Love it!)

Do you remember doing this in elementary school? I do. Man! I'm getting older.

Grandparents' Day

Today was Grandparents' Day at Whit's school. This is where grandparents are invited to join the kids for their lunchtime, eat with them, and get a picture.

Needless to say, Whitney was very excited to have Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Vardell go to her school. They were so nice to attend, and even though my mom didn't want to eat what the school was offering, it still meant so much to Whitney to have them there.

Extension Cord

Today we had planned to go to my parents' house for Sunday dinner.

We were getting everyone ready to go, and while dressing James, noticed his umbilical cord had fallen off. We had been anticipating this, since he's a few days over two weeks, and in all the excitement Whitney exclaimed, "His extension cord fell off!"

Classic.

The Cutest Room In The House

We finally finished the kids' room. Good thing too cuz I don't know how much longer Steph can hold out with this baby poking her in the ribs.

I made the cubbies because those we bought from Target were particle board and falling apart before I got them out of the box. These are solid wood with a custom paint job. They turned out great. With the projects now done, I'm up for hire for any of your custom furniture needs.




Steph ordered this more "gender neutral" valance. Does she have a great eye for design or what?!?

They're Done! They're Done! The Beds are Complete!

After three+ months and A LOT of hard work on Brian's part, along with countless trips to Lowe's (we kept them in business 4th QTR), we finally assembled the BEAUTIFUL furniture Brian made in Whitney and Taylor's new room. We painted the pretty purple walls 'toasted wheat' (after three coats of primer and two coats of color). I washed the bead board on the walls, Brian put up shelves, and we had the blinds cleaned. The room is coming together perfectly. (Just a few more things to complete.)

Here are some pics of the beds and dressers:


Tay got new 'dinosaur' bedding. This whole transition is especially big for him, since he has been in the crib to this point. One thing he still did that most three year-olds would not is stay in his crib (even though he has the ability and permission to climb out) until Mommy or Daddy got him out. We wondered how the 'big boy' bed would change that, if it would at all. It didn't. At least not yet. He still sits on his bed and yells for us, "Mommy, Daddy, I awake!"



Here are the kids enjoying their new beds:



Brian is amazing! He really had never built anything like this before, but this guy puts his mind to learning something, and it turns out like this! I'm very blessed with such an ambitious and talented husband.

Brian says "BIG thanks" to my dad, Vardell for lending his table saw for an extended period of time, as well as his truck a couple times, and to his brother, Steve for a few other tools, help, and countless hours of advice!

We are so excited that this BIG project is complete. This Saturday we'll put the nursery together. (Luckily, not much to do there.) Being this close to D-day, it helps to feel more organized. Yea!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITNEY!!!!

Yesterday was Whit's 7th birthday. We had family over for cake, ice cream, and karaoke (in honor of the Hannah Montana theme of the party). Here are a couple choice moments:

Taylor started asking for cake and ice cream the moment he and Steph returned from the store ... at 2:30! Then, after dinner, he stood on this chair, fork and cup in hand, asking for some until we finally cut the cake.

Jenny got her Gwen on with some rockin' karaoke.

Eric got into the fun too!

All in all it was a fantastic evening. Most importantly, Whitney had a ball. "Mom, it was the best birthday ever!"

Alive and Kickin

Sorry for the brief hiatus of our posting. I've been very busy and Steph has been very sick.

I have been working hard in the garage day and night on the bunk beds and dressers for the kids. The dressers have been a particular challenge since I had to come up with the plans myself but I'm finally getting close to having the large dresser done. I've started to do some staining as well, which is a lot of fun despite the high and headaches the fumes give me.

Here I am sporting one of the foot boards with the dresser behind.


Steph has been struggling a lot with this pregnancy, as is typical unfortunately. We were just at the doctor's office this week and he says the heartbeat is very strong and that everything seems to be progressing normally for baby so YEA! And talk about strong, this baby has some serious kicking skills. Watching Steph's belly move has become our favorite family activity.

The kids are also doing well, loving the Christmas season. They got to meet Santa today and tell him what they want for Christmas. We'll post the picture when we get it. Since we got pounded with wet, heavy snow today Whitney and I made a snowman. Good times.

Giving the needed features to our snowman.

Whit and her toothless grin with our snowman.

Halloween Catch-Up

Yes, we realize Halloween news is 'so last month', but when you're pregnant everything moves a little slower (except your need to urinate, that speeds up). Anywho, here's what we did for fun:

Pumpkin Patching: After seeing Grandpa Vardell's meticulously carved pumpkin, which you can see on Jenny's blog (I'm told he did it under duress, and I'm sure he'd be embarrassed to admit this is what he was doing at a Scouts activity instead of hunting God's creatures.) the kids were ready to find their own perfect pumpkins to carve.

Off we were to an overwhelming pumpkin patch, most likely the same one Kristen and Shayn took Alpine to. And we thought we were off to a pretty good start when early on we found what Brian and I, and Taylor for that matter, considered Tay's perfect pumpkin. Later on down the row, though, Whitney convinced Taylor that there were others even better-looking, and Tay's pumpkin was traded a few times... Whitney was sure she had to see every pumpkin in the patch to know she was getting just the right one. (If this is indicative of her future, we may be in trouble...) She was very insistent on certain characteristics her pumpkin should have. We finally coached (not persuaded) her into finding one that worked. Unbeknownst to us, Taylor also grabbed two mini pumpkins on the way to the pay counter. It was so cute, and since they were like 70 cents each, we let him take them as well. So off we were with our four perfect pumpkins.

Then the Carving: We allowed creative license to the kids, although Tay's should have been first, because by the time Bri got to his, he was happy that it had eyes, nose, and mouth - didn't much care the size and shape. Whitney on the other hand (if you can imagine) was very adamant about exactly what her's would look like. She drew lines on the pumpkin where Brian was suppose to cut, and stood by, supervising the effort, and correcting any mistakes. He must have done a satisfactory job, because everyone smiled for the picture:

School Parade: It's just a little nostalgic to return to my old elementary to watch our little princess fairy parade around with her classmates. I guess more than anything, though, it makes me feel a little older than I should, and everything seems a little smaller than it was back when... Whitney was so cute in her costume, and this was no secret to our sassy first grader. Tay had mixed feelings about going to the school to watch his big sister, and at last minute decided he would put his costume on for Whitney to see! (In his defense, we did have to wake him up in order to go, and that's almost never a good thing.)

Treats and Tricks: As you can see, we had an adorable fairy and a huggable little Elmo, and all we were lacking was more candy! So, Brian took them around the neighborhood while I answered our door for other treaters, maybe four times. We also visited grandparents and a couple other lucky people so Whit and Tay could flash their charm for sugar. (I think this is the first time I have likened this tradition to exploitation of one sort or another.) Anywho, Taylor was so cute as he said all on his own, "Trick-or-treat", and Whitney informed us after sorting her candy that "Occasionally you can ask for a treat from my bag, and you can grab whatever you want out of Taylor's."!!

Firsts

Well this is a big week of firsts for our family.

On Tuesday Whitney had her FIRST day of FIRST grade. She has been so excited to go back to school but nervous about being there "all day". On Monday we met with her teacher for a few minutes. She is very nice. Tuesday Whit went to the wrong door for the first time. On Wednesday she had her first sick day. She's feeling better today. Here she is in front of the wrong doors into class.


This weekend is also our FIRST wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe a year has already gone by. Time flies when you're having fun. In honor of the event I'm posting our wedding video which didn't get finished in time to show at the reception. Thanks to Jeff who shot the video at the luncheon and temple. You can see his latest work here. This video is kind of long so it may take a minute to load. Enjoy!