Ben's 8!!

I just can't believe my boy is 8. He is going to be baptized in just a few weeks. He will be starting scouts next week. The next thing I know he will be out of the house and on his own. Time goes by so fast, yet after looking at these pictures, it seems like a lifetime ago that he was so little. What you see is what you get with this kid. He wears his heart on his sleeve. His sensitivity is something that may be a challenging characteristic for him now, but I have no doubt it will pay off with big rewards in the future. Ben loves to be silly and have a good time. The most endearing thing I have noticed this past year is how much his relationship with his dad has grown. His dad is his best bud. He would rather spend time with his dad than anyone else. It warms my heart and I cherish the moments when I walk by Ben's room and hear the two of them laughing and playing together. It's funny, it's Ben's birthday yet I am the one that has received the best gift...an amazing son!

Happy Birthday Ben! I love you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My Little Leprechauns wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Juab County

Early in the school year, Eva found out that she was going to be doing a project on Juab County in her class, due in May. We knew at some point we would need to visit. Yesterday, we woke up and felt like it was a good day for a road trip, so off we went.

"Juab" is of Ute Indian origin and means flat, or level. Boy, those Utes weren't kidding. There wasn't much there but flat and level terrain.

We went to the Tintic Mining Museum but it was closed. The nerve. We discovered that at one point toward the end of the 1800's Juab County was the richest mining district in the whole nation. Pretty cool.

The Eureka City Hall was built in 1899 and they still use it as their City Hall to this day. My kids were afraid of this building. They were convinced it was haunted.

Porter Rockwell's log cabin was pretty neat. The kids got a big kick out of peering through the windows to see all the furnishings and knick knacks and stuff.

By far the biggest hit of the whole trip was visiting the Little Sahara Sand Dunes. The kids had SO much fun! We could have stayed all day. I should have taken a picture of our car when we got home though. I think we took half the sand dunes home with us.

Towards the end of the day Lee was growing a little tired of Emma. Let's just say he took care of her...

It was getting late but we decided to try to drive to Topaz Mountain before it got dark. There you can dig for real topaz and keep whatever you find. The only thing was we didn't realize you had to like actually hike into the mountain and use actual tools to find the topaz. It was getting dark and we had a LONG journey home so we abandoned that idea. Speaking of abandoned, the trip out to Topaz Mountain was so remote and in the middle of nowhere I almost had a panic attack. I kept picturing our car breaking down, starving to death after weeks of being stuck out there and vultures eating our carcasses.

Despite the grim thoughts near the end of our trip, I thought the day was a fun little adventure, except that we didn't have enough time to do all that we wanted to do. I will even go so far as to say that we could go back one day, maybe next time with 4 wheelers.

Happenings

Wow, I cannot believe it. I am actually blogging. I just don't know where the time goes these days. Just when I think things cannot get any busier, somehow they do. I am REALLY looking forward to the lazy days of Summer when we'll have more time and less activities to get to. Here are just a few things that have been going on lately...

Ben's 2nd grade class celebrated Chinese New Year by making giant dragons and parading around the school. They all got to take turns being different parts of the dragon. This is a super fun activity that the kids always look forward to.

Emma is now En Pointe in ballet. She has been working very hard these past few weeks. She has received much praise by her teacher. Every week her teacher awards a "bonus five" to students that look like they have been going above and beyond her expectations for them. Emma has been awarded a "Bonus Five" these past two weeks in a row! It is normal for the girls to get awarded a few times a year, but two weeks in a row has never happened to Emma. I am very proud of her and for all of her hard work.



Lee sprained his ankle playing indoor soccer a few weeks back. This picture is what it looked like immediately after the injury. It is nothing compared to what it looked like in the days following. He ended up having ruptured and torn ligaments and a badly bruised bone. It will take months to heal, but we are glad that he is now able to walk around with help from his cute little boot. What I was most thankful for during this time was that Lee could literally lay in bed and still work from home. He would not have been able to go to an office for a few weeks which would have been very hard financially for us.

Ben has been very busy with Karate lately. He was promoted to orange belt a while back and he was even invited to try out for "Black Belt Club" This is an extra class that focuses on leadership training and using weapons. He made the class, got his blue gi, and has loved using the staff, which has been their weapon of choice lately. Recently, he was promoted to purple belt which means he has been able to start sparring. He loves every minute of Karate and I love to see how much he has grown. I have seen such a difference in this kid!


Now if time could just slow down a little...