Family and Freedom

After hiking the Y, the local extended family members gathered at The Homestead (Derek's parent's house) for a barbecue, and a Memorial Day program.  We do this pretty much every Memorial Day. We come together because we love each other, and because this is a chance to remember how blessed we are to live in this free country.  We are thankful for those who served, and continue to serve to preserve those freedoms, and we know that we need to do our part to keep them.

We are also thankful for our family members who lived before us, who worked hard, and who loved us well.  We have been blessed by them!  We go to our local cemetery to visit the graves of Derek's brother Alex, and Grandparents Christensen.  Always, on the way out, I look for my Great Uncle Don's grave and remember the blessing of having him in our ward (church congregation) before he passed away.  He was a bombardier on B-17 bombers during WWII.

Then we go to Santaquin's Cemetery and visit the graves of our beloved Grandparents Heelis (Derek's maternal grandparents).  And, this year we added a visit to Aunt June's grave.  She passed away this year and we can no longer go to her house to visit, and see the difficult puzzle she is working on, and have treats.  We love Aunt June!

I had a happy Memorial Day

I hope you did too.

I'll Never Do That Again!

One of my in shape, adventurous sisters-in-law arranged for a group of us to hike to the Y on Memorial Day morning.  I remembered thinking, after hiking the trail last time, that I would never do that again.  But I did.  The only reasons I made it were: 

1.  Derek stayed with me the whole time.  

2.  I packed a granola bar which gave me a boost of energy when I needed it.

3.  I was hiking back near my niece Tessa -- who is 3  -- and she said, "Let's run Mom!"  We were probably half way up, and I already wanted to be done.  I felt like a wimp and decided I'd better keep going!

That being said, I did have Kayli take a couple of pictures of me so that I could prove I made it, just in case I really follow through with my "I'll never do that again!" this time around.

Dan in the Spelling Bee

Dan in the 3rd Grade Spelling Bee

Dan was one of three students in his class that got to participate in the 3rd grade spelling bee.  There were nine participants total (3 third grade classes).  That was a nerve wracking thing to watch!  Dan was putting on a show for his mother.  He would spell words behind the other third graders backs -- not out loud but with exaggerated mouth movements.  He would jump dramatically down to the microphone.  He really couldn't sit still, and was constantly making sure I was watching him!

He did a good job.  I was impressed.  Our practices hadn't gone well.  When I practiced with him at school he missed almost every word and finally said, "Mom, can we just practice at home?"  When we practiced at home he got grumpy, and so we quit.  He does well if he concentrates, but sometimes he just doesn't want to do that.  He made it through about 6 rounds though (I don't know exactly how many). School ended before the spelling bee was over, so I never knew who won.  There were three girls left who just weren't missing any words.  I was proud of all of those kids.  I think that being in a spelling bee in front of all of your peers is really brave.

Temple Tour

On May 12th, before the Payson Temple was dedicated, our family (except Trisa, and Travis) went on the temple tour.  It was windy, and a bit rainy outside, but the temple was lovely.  As I walked through I had a strong feeling of gratitude.  The temple often affects me that way!  I am very thankful for the sealing power of the Priesthood, and the opportunity I have to be with my family forever.  I am thankful for our Savior, and the atonement He made so that we could repent, and become more like Him, and so that we can all be resurrected one day.  The temple makes me happy.

Dan and Jake did think we were a bit slow walking through.  They probably would have been done in half of the time -- but they were good, and Dan asked about the alter in the sealing room so I got to tell him about how people will get married there -- sealed for time and eternity.  Trisa came the day after we went through, and so Kayli and I went with her a different day.

Now our temple is dedicated, and I am looking forward to going inside again, this time to do temple work, and to feel again the peaceful feeling that is there.  I am thankful for temples.

New Puppet Shoes

A few years ago I posted pictures of my puppet shoes.  My sister-in-law Tonya, my son Connor and I had drawn pictures of my puppets, and some of my kids' puppets on plain white shoes.  Those are pretty worn out by now, and I wanted a new pair.  This time I did them all by myself, and put only my puppets, and a couple of Derek's puppets on my shoes.  My art skills aren't great, but I sure had fun making them!  I am pretty proud of my pig puppet picture!  Here you can see them for yourself!

The pig picture is on the back of the shoe pictured on the left.
It's not a very good angle for you to see my masterpiece -- but that's ok :-)

Derek's Happy Birthday

After our anniversary trip, but before our anniversary, was Derek's birthday.  Cinco de Mayo.  My brother Ray and his wife Lori stopped by on their way back from St. George and so they joined in the evening birthday festivities -- which really just consisted of dinner, dessert, and presents.  Here are the pictures.

Derek's favorite:  being surrounded by family -- especially his kids.

Ray and Lori (I have a knack for blurry pictures)

Guess how old he is :-)

A little dorky of my Derek, but Tia worked so hard on his "wrapping paper"!

I like that Jake is helping Derek blow out his two candles.

Just for the record, dinner was french bread pizzas (Mmmmm) and salad (so we could pretend to like healthy food).  Dessert was ginger cookies and homemade peach ice cream.  I had a particularly fun time wrapping Derek's presents in newspaper and plastic bags in an imitation of his style of wrapping. Derek is good at helping us all be happy, and we enjoyed celebrating his happy birthday with him.

Anniversary Trip

As of yesterday (May 11th) Derek and I have been married for 27 years.  We celebrated early this year by having an adventure in Southern Utah.  We hiked at Red Cliffs on the way to St. George, and went that night with my sister Jenny and my brother-in-law Jeff to the beautiful Tuacahn theater to laugh really hard at Brian Regan.  That was April 30th, and Brian Regan is a comedian and so he liked it that we were laughing.

Friday we went with my parents to visit my Aunt Vanda and Uncle Carl.  We got a tour of their beautiful home and yard and had a good visit with them, and then went to lunch.  My Dad loves the lunch deal at Dairy Queen and so we went there.  Free dessert!  I  would have enjoyed my ice cream better if they hadn't kept the restaurant at Arctic temperatures.  On the way back to my parent's house, Dad drove us to see their favorite golf course.  They don't golf, but they like the view!

St. George was hosting the Iron Man race that weekend, and so Friday night Derek's brother Quinn drove his wife, and us to Mesquite to eat at a buffet at a casino.  The food was really good, and the restaurant didn't smell nearly as bad as the casino itself.  The company was great.

Saturday we went to Cedar City and picked up Tia's stuff for her move back to the Provo area.  YAY!  It was a great weekend.  The only problem with it is that it wasn't a little longer.  Happy Anniversary to us!

Spring Break

The boys got a whole week off for Spring Break again this year.  Unfortunately, Derek had a Convention for work, and spent the week in Anaheim without us -- but he wasn't at Disneyland and so we had more fun.  We spent a lot of time just being at home, or off in the neighborhood with friends.  Jake and I had a Lord of the Rings marathon.  ***spoiler alert*** The good guys eventually won against all of those scary, creepy looking characters.

Uncle Jordan was in Anaheim at convention too and so Angela and her kids were good enough to have an adventure with us on Wednesday -- the cold day of spring break.  We went to Hang Time -- a room full of trampolines.  I have one picture, but it's so blurry it's not worth posting.  The kids did lots of awesome tricks, and Connor went on a hot streak with a basketball.  His dunks were great.

Thursday Angela and I ditched our kids and went out to dinner -- since there wasn't going to be date night with our husbands!  I suggested we go shopping and buy matching shirts, but we didn't do that.  It was nice to have some good company for the evening!

Finally, we had an adventure with cousins at the park on Friday (Angela and Megan's kids).  It was a really pretty day, and I managed to get two pictures -- both of Dan.  We all played tennis, Dan went on a bike ride on the bike trail, Connor played soccer, and Dan and Jake enjoyed some playground tag.

Spring break was after Preference, but before Jake's concert :-)  I forgot to mention that I found out about Jake's concert the day before it happened from his teacher.  We're working on that communication thing!

Jake's Orchestra Concert

Jake and his violin, ready to go home after the concert!
This was taken by Kayli.  I kept being impatient and taking blurry pictures.

Me (Sherie), Jake and Kayli -- a selfie on the way to find Derek and Dan

Preference

Everyone else has been posting pictures of Prom.  I'm behind.  Connor was asked to Preference by Natalie.  They didn't actually attend the dance, but their group had dinner and played some games and generally had fun.  She asked him by making a Panda cake with a note in it (Connor likes Panda Bears).  He had just had his wisdom teeth out and so the cake sat for quite a while before he got around to being able to eat it!

Palm Sunday, Monticello, and the Canyonlands

Yesterday was Palm Sunday.  Usually, we color pictures of palm leaves and talk about why we are thankful for Jesus.  Most of the family did color palm leaves, and watch some videos portraying Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  I was really, really tired yesterday, and I never managed to color my palm leaf, or write down some things I'm thankful for. 

I am thankful for many things.  Two of those things are my family, and the beautiful world we live in. Here are some pictures of both -- though Tia is missing in the pictures, and I am thankful for her too. This is a trip we took a little over a week ago to see Trisa and Travis' new house in Monticello, and to hike in the Canyonlands.  It was a beautiful weekend!

Derek, Jake and Dan by Newspaper Rock

Dan by a bush of "Mormon Tea"

Jake, Derek, Trisa, and Connor (who is easiest to see)

Trisa, Jake, Derek

Derek, Kayli, and Trisa

Derek and Trisa

Kayli

Connor, Chewy, and Kayli in Trisa and Travis' new house.  Too bad I forgot to take pictures of their nice house!

Travis.  I had to take a picture when he was busy playing Connect 4 with Dan so he wouldn't hide his face.

As always, Trisa and Travis were excellent hosts and we were taken care of very well!

Hawk Snacks

This is a picture of our bird feeder in the back yard.  It usually has a lot of little birds eating from it and we all enjoy watching them.  Big doves come and eat what falls from the feeder, and in winter we get some woodpeckers in the yard.  Three times in the past year or so I have seen a hawk sitting on a wire that is strung right by the bird feeder.

The last time he came was a couple of weeks ago.  Derek said, "What bird is that?  It's big!"  It was a hawk, and I told him that I had read that it is bad to have a hawk by a bird feeder because they eat the little birds as snacks.  The whole family happened to be in the room, and they decided they'd better scare off the hawk, even if he was fun to watch.  We like the little birds.  They banged on the window -- no response, Connor opened and slammed the back door to go along with the window pounding -- the hawk just turned to watch.  Connor went outside figuring maybe that would scare it.  The hawk took off toward Connor -- and swooped and grabbed a little bird from the bush by the porch.

Connor yelled, and Derek commented that it was like having the nature channel in our back yard. Thankfully, the hawk hasn't returned, at least when we were looking, and plenty of birds have eaten from our bird feeder since then without becoming hawk snacks.

Dan's Visitors

A few weeks ago Dan had some visitors.  One was the Primary President in our ward and one was from the Stake Primary Presidency.  Dan is pretty new in our ward, and they thought they'd like to get to know him better.  He loved it!  That night at dinner when he was asked what his favorite part of the day was he said, "The weird visit with those ladies".

Dan played them a song on the piano, showed them some of his art work, and told them all about playing soccer with the 6th graders at recess -- along with the players names.  He absolutely loved the attention, and I thought it was really nice of them to come.