First Place English Quest Contest

Congratulations to Janika Jensen, Kade Derrick, Kiara Christensen, and Cassidy Edgington for getting First Place in the English Quest Contest for their Movie Trailer of  "The Maze Runner!"  No surprise -- they did a great job.  The first place winners got a certificate and a check for $25.00.  Since there were four of them they each got a check for $6.25.  Ha Ha!  Way to go kids!  They also showed the trailer to the whole school in an assembly.  Only Janika said they accidentally started it part way through and didn't fix it so they were a little disappointed in that.  Here is the link:  The Maze Runner

After finishing the book, however, Janika says that she does NOT recommend it -- too gory and graphic (or something like that). 

Baptismal Service

This weekend we went to Stake Conference and then Sunday evening Rick and I had the awesome experience of attending the baptism the Brandon Lopez, his brother Gabriel Lopez, and Eva Portillo.  The family has been attending the Spanish Branch and Brandon (who is deaf) has been coming to the Deaf Branch with his mom.  The baptismal service was done all in Spanish and then Bryce Tadd, who served a Spanish Speaking mission, and who is now attending the Deaf Branch and studying to become an ASL interpreter, interpreted the meeting from Spanish to American Sign Language.   It was really neat and the spirit was so strong.   Brandon was so excited to be baptized -- he was simply glowing.  We were thrilled for him and his family.  We are also delighted that Elder Lee finally got to do his first baptism!  I am sure this is one of the highlights of his mission.  He did help teach Natalie who was baptized last year, but this is the first one he was able to do most of the teaching and also do the actual baptizing.  He was glowing too!  After the baptism I finished interpreting the rest of the meeting.  A Spanish/English interpreter (Bryce's fiance') whispered to me in English and than I interpreted it into ASL.  We are excited to have Brandon in our branch!

 

 

President's Day Outing

I wanted to do something fun with the kids today since they were out of school for President's Day.  Plus it is always easier to get them to do their jobs and clean the house if we have an outing planned at a specific time so that have a deadline to finish their work.  I decided to take them all to a movie.  We went to the dollar theater but it was still expensive with that many kids.  The price had gone up to $2.50 a person -- what happened to our $1.00 theater?  Plus I had also promised to take everyone to the dollar store so that they could pick out a treat.  I took all of the kids plus three of their friends and so the van was filled to capacity.  We went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks get "Chip"wrecked.  It was okay but we were a couple of minutes late and then there was a long line and crowded theater so couldn't all sit together.  Next time I think I will just take all of the kids to the park instead -- that is free -- and probably more fun!

Presidential Penny Portrait

My little brother, Shane, made this masterpiece all out of pennies.  I think it is absolutely amazing.  You need to look at it from far away to truly get the full effect.  Here are some random facts about the picture from Shane:

• Made from 1,638 pennies (1,612 whole pennies and 52 half pennies).
• Each row has 31 and 1 half pennies.
• There are 52 rows.
• The pennies are staggered (so the second row is offset from the first row so each row “fits” into the neighboring row), resulting in the need to have a half penny on each row.
• There is at least one penny from each year from 1909 to 2009.
• There is one 1943 steel penny (lower right-hand corner).
• The US mint is making 2009 pennies with new designs on the reverse – there are 4 different designs: Birth and Early Childhood in Kentucky (aka “Log Cabin”), Formative Years in Indiana (aka “Rail Splitter”), Professional Life in Illinois, and Presidency in Washington, DC. I wanted to use at least one penny with each reverse design (although all the pennies in the picture only show the front); but only the first two were available when assembling the picture, so I’ll swap out two pennies for the other 2009 designs later.
• I tried to find enough dark pennies, but ended up coloring some pennies (using different methods) to have enough dark and mid tones.
• The pennies are fastened to a piece of pressed wood (masonite).
• The pennies were fastened primarily using contact cement; although I did experiment with gorilla glue and liquid nails as well.
• The picture is fairly heavy, and so I will craft a special mechanism to hang it (once I get it framed).

Pretty cool, huh? 

Jared's Play

I got a babysitter this morning and went to watch Jared in the play, "The History of the Trojan War," put on by his drama class.  Jared had one of the main parts (the Prince of Troy) and did a good job.  Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures since I was video taping, but this gives an idea of the cast.  Jared is the one in the paper crown and gray toga. 

 

After the play I went to a work meeting/luncheon (they even provided me my own special gluten free pizza!)  Then I checked Jared out of school early for a scout fieldtrip to the courthouse (which unfortunately he thought was terribly boring).   Rick and I usually go out on Friday nights but I had been running around all day and opted to stay home and work on a project I was involved in.  But we did get a date Wednesday night.  In order to keep up on our interpreter workshop hours, Rick and I have been taking a Deaf Culture class together on Wednesday nights which has been a good mid-week "date" for us!  

Valentines Day Breakfast

Rick woke up at 5:00 a.m. to fix his traditional Valentine's Day Breakfast.  He made it really early this year because Janika had Madrigals at 6:30 a.m. and then she was sick and didn't even get out of bed.  She was supposed to do singing valentines with the Madrigals all day today.  Valentines is usually a fun day at High School with little surprises being delivered here and there (especially if you are one of the recipients!)  So I felt bad that she missed school today.  Anyway, here are the kids looking tired for their breakfast.  It was fun though and the kids were excited and had lots to say.  Jaiden dressed all in pink and red -- a combination you can only get away with one day a year!

Preference is coming...

Janika went to Josh Mecham's birthday party and gave him a little monkey named "Abu" with a note to take very good care of him and keep him in a special spot on his bed. 

  

A couple of days later she kidnapped Abu with this ransom note: 

Last night she received a little bouquet or roses (two real and two fake) with this note:

 

These kids are so creative! 

Family Night

Elder brought us this yummy chocolate gluten free cake, giant balloon, candy hearts for the kids, and a valentines stuffed frog for Jenna.  He is so good with our kids!  After a delicious dinner of Shepherd's Pie (made by Janika) and fresh corn on the cob, asparagus, biscuits, and salad, Jaiden gave the FHE lesson (the "warm fuzzy" story that was given to her at her Valentine's Party Saturday night), and Janelle headed up an activity (putting together a Valentine's puzzle that she made at school).  Elder Lee and the kids cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes.  Elder Lee even scrubbed our sink until it looked like new!  I took Janika to perform at Hayden Anderson's benefit concert.  The benefit concert was for his Eagle Scout project to earn money for infants in Bolivia.  They raised over $750.00 tonight! 

 

Parties!

Since we started attending the Deaf Branch, our kids go to primary in the hearing ward that meets in the same building as the Deaf Branch.  They overlap their class times with our branch for that very reason.  Janelle has been involved with their Achievement Day program and has loved it.  I decided, however, that I would also like to get her involved in Activity Days with our neighborhood hearing ward in order to keep that connection with the girls in our area.  The leaders said that would love to have her and so she started a couple of weeks ago.  She has loved it since she is in with with several of her good friends.  I like it because I know I know the leaders well and one of them is our next door neighbor, which makes it nice!  Friday afternoon they decorated cookies and delivered them.  She will still attend the other ward's activities too but this will allow her to get to know even more girls.   

Friday morning Jenna and I helped out in Josh's classroom for an hour and a half.  That night Rick and I went to the Deaf Community's "Sweetheart Challenge."  We even won free movie tickets -- yeah!  Rick and I went out to eat afterwards.  I really do love spending time with my hubby!

Saturday Josh went to a birthday party for his friend, Kyson and Jaiden went to a "Valentine's Tea Party" for her friend, Amber Putnam.  Amber's mom is Teresa Putman (Jaiden's dance teacher) and so all of her friends from dance were there.  They were asked to dress up and bring their favorite doll.  Jaiden was SO excited and had a great time!  I took some pictures of her before she left and Jenna wanted to join in even though she was covered in chalk and cookies.  Rick went to the World Wide Training meeting at the Stake Center. Janika went to a party, Jase, Jared, and Janelle were off playing at friend's houses and so no one was home but me and Jenna!  And we were pretty much running all of the kids around to their various parties.

Janika went to a combined surprise party for four different kids at her school (Kade Derrick, Nate Gottfredson, Will Durante, and Kaylee Brooks) who were all turning 16.  The party was put on by their parents.  Kaylee's dad is the principal at their school so they were able to have the party at the school.   They played all of those awkward games that forces kids to come in close proximity to each other -- like passing oranges with your necks, and transferring lifesavers on toothpicks held in the mouth to one another (aahhh, brings me back to the good old days in LD's at Snow College where we played both those games).

 Janika said the most embarrassing one was passing a spoon attached to yarn down their clothes and on to the next person.  She said that they were all hooked together stretching out clear across the commons area.  They also played the "dating game" where each of the birthday kids asked three mystery kids of the opposite sex "get to know you" and other random questions and then chose one lucky winner for a combined group date to be held next month.  Janika was one of the girls' on the panel for Kade Derrick and he chose her for the date.  (maybe it was the description of her killer eye-lashes that won him over).  They are already friends so they are both excited about the upcoming group date!

 


    

Family Week

This week was family week at the elementary school.  Tuesday morning before school the gym was packed for "Mom's and Muffins."  Thursday a Zumba instructor came to the school and taught the kids Zumba during lunch.  Parents were invited if they wanted to join in.  It was a gorgeous spring day -- in fact we had to take off our jackets after dancing for a bit.  Janelle and Jaiden had fun with the Zumba dancing and Jenna had fun playing on the playground with her friend, Clarissa.  It was also "Dining With Dads" this week.  Rick surprised the girls by buying two pizzas and joining them for lunch! 

Region Math Counts Competition

Two of the Math Counts team from Jase's school qualified to participate at the Region Math Counts Competition at Dixie College today.  Jase was on the top team along with three other students: Conner Morris, Emily Bryan, and Kody Hafen.  Their team won third place overall and they now qualify to compete at the State Competition in Salt Lake!  Jase is really excited!  Way to go Jase, Conner, Emily, and Kody!

Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts

A few months ago Rick had mentioned to me and Janika that she might want to look into attending" Tuacahn School for the Performing Arts" next year.  She protested the idea and said she loved her current High School and all of her friends and activities there.  Recently, however, Rick suggested that she just attend Tuacahn one day and shadow a student just to check it out.  So she and her friend, Kiara, both went one day last week and they BOTH loved it and want to transfer there next year.  Going back to her regular high school the next day confirmed that she really did want to make the switch. 

She and Kiara are really excited.  Now we are just praying that they get chosen (it is a lottery and they only have a dozen or so new openings for Juniors).  Tuacahn is a charter school that offers all of the regular required courses that prepare a student for college such as English, Math, Science, AP classes and so forth and also has six different specialized academies:  Musical Theatre, Actor Training, Theatre Tech, Music, Visual Arts, and Dance. Janika is choosing "Musical Theatre."  It will be really different.  The student population is only about 350 compared to her school now which probably has over a thousand.  They also require school uniforms.  Janika isn't thrilled about that and said that they are really unattractive but she didn't seem overly concerned over it either.  It does seem to help unify the students.  Everyone we have talked to who goes to Tuacahn says that the students are really unified instead of the many cliques that most high schools have.

There are some disadvantages such as distance and gas money (at least she will be driving by then and can also carpool with friends), no school lunch (she doesn't see that as a disadvantage but I do), school uniforms, a little more expensive overall...  and many advantages --  less students, smaller class sizes, a unified student body, excellent teachers (we have heard anyway), specialized field trips, and a strong music and drama program (which is a huge advantage especially since her current high school does not have a strong drama program).  She can pursue her interests in music, drama, and dance as well as continuing in her Honors and AP classes.  Since the school is affiliated with the Amphitheater they get to rub shoulders with many professionals both on and off stage.  She is excited!!  For more information go to:  Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts     

Frosty's!!

Thanks to Gerilyn for the Wendy's Frosty Coupons again this year!! 

A Young Man Prepared

I went to Jared's "A Young Man Prepared" Scout meeting.  His Scout leader called me ahead of time to say that their troop was doing the flag ceremony so could Jared please find the missing pant leg that zips off his pants and could I please sew on his patches?  Sometimes we need a kick in the pants like that.  I know I do because I do NOT like to sew and sewing on scout patches takes me FOREVER.  So I always put it off.  But this little push motivated me to take our sewing machine in to be fixed (but I ended up sewing everything on by hand anyway -- mostly on the arm sleeves so you can't see them).  There are still a couple of patches from his blue scout shirt which need to be transferred over but of course I couldn't find it.

We did find the missing pant leg though.  Right there in his drawer along with his missing swimming suit.  Jared's troop did an AWESOME job on the flag ceremony -- it was very professionally done!  After the uniform check only three boys from the entire Stake had FULL uniform, clear down to the socks. All three were from Jared's troop and Jared was one of the three.  So -- good job, Jared!  And good job to me for making him wear it, and good job to our scout leader for making me make him.  I guess I should say "encourage" instead of "make."  The leaders did a good job with the program and presentation.  When we got home Jase said to Jared, "So...are you a young man prepared?"  Only it was in a mocking voice, but I guess I will let that slide, ahem.  Jase and Jared are always crazy and annoying and like to make me nervous  but they really are good boys and I can totally envision them as wonderful missionaries some day.  (Hopefully they mature a little by then!)