Rhiannon makes an announcement!

In January Rhiannon decided on her university of choice!  She has put so much thought, prayer, and time into this decision--we are very proud of her and excited for what's to come!

She has chosen to attend the University of Nevada in Reno!

And here was the quiet picture I took capturing that moment she "announced" it on social media.  It was a poignant moment for me, looking at this beautiful young woman and enjoying her confident excitement.  University of Nevada Reno is a great fit for her!  

It's been a few weeks now, and Rhiannon is still very, very busy.  Jason has given her a lot of help with financial aid documents, and she has spent a lot of time on scholarship applications, along with enjoying and thriving in her senior year.  She keeps mentioning "senior-itis," but she is doing a great job staying on top of it all.  So hard to believe that she'll be 18 in 3 months and off to college in 6 months!!!

Playing catch-up: Wade's winter band concert!

We love watching Wade play during band concerts!  Here are a few videos from his winter band concert in December.  He hits those keys with confidence!









I had to snap a quick picture of Wade with Mr. Simon Austin afterwards, too.  This man is such a wonderful band teacher--he taught Rhiannon for 3 years before moving to Murray.  We're glad both kids have had the opportunity to work with him!

A special stake conference!

Last Sunday we had a special 90-minute stake conference with an important visitor, the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bishop Gerald Causse.  It was a great meeting, and I appreciated his message about being witnesses and being instruments in the hand of the Lord to bless the lives of others, simply by loving people and being close to the Spirit.

Rhiannon and Wade were "strongly encouraged" by their mother to participate in the youth choir for this meeting.  They practiced for several Sunday nights in a row, and, in the end, it was a great experience for them and they did a fantastic job, not just with their singing but by inviting the Spirit into the meeting with their music.  We were so proud and happy for them!

Another fun, crazy thing was that Rhiannon was asked last-minute to share her testimony.  Bishop Causse was given a list of youth from our stake and picked her from the list.  She got up and shared about how she knows Heavenly Father answers prayers because she'd prayed for ways to give service and had seen that happen again and again that week at school.   She also got the whole room to laugh, telling them how that very morning at breakfast she'd been complaining about being in the choir, how she'd rather speak in stake conference any day than sing, and, well, there she was, doing both!   This marks the third time Rhiannon has spoken in stake conference--pretty amazing!

Wade rocks it at a math competition

Back in February Wade participated in a HUGE math competition in Bakersfield called Math Counts.  He'd attended a math club at his middle school nearly every Monday afternoon for months to prepare for it.  I drove him and a friend, Ben, to the campus of CSUB, where he met up with other kids from his school and his math club sponsors and did some hard math for a few hours.  His hard work paid off!  Wade's team got 5th place out of 12, and he found out a few weeks after that about his individual achievement--he tied for 22nd place out of over 120 students.  We were pretty excited about this!!!!

I was especially grateful because I'd not been excited about traveling to Bakersfield that day because of the crazy weather, covering a large area of the state.  This was the map I woke up to very early that morning:

And the weather on the way home was some of the scariest I've driven through in my entire life.  But it was WORTH it for Wade!!!

Proud of our mathlete! WAY TO GO, WADE!!! 

Love that smile on his face!!

This makes my heart sing.

Boys.  On their way to last night's General Conference priesthood session (Wade's first time).

They enjoyed it and got Jack-in-the-Box for dinner afterwards.

About an hour later, I got a text from a friend about Wade.  We are happy parents!

First day of 10th and 6th grade!

The next school year has begun after a super-fast-and-fun summer!  10th and 6th grade, here we come!  Both Rhiannon and Wade did a great job getting up and were ready for the day by 6:00 am!  We rushed out to the backyard to take our traditional pictures before I took Rhiannon to the high school for her band class (which starts at 6:35 every day).

Cuties!

She loves that "Hello" shirt--super soft and comfy!

And if you're an Avengers fan, you can imagine how Wade felt about his Jarvis t-shirt!

Rhiannon and I saw the most beautiful sunrise on the drive.  As soon as I dropped her off, I zipped into a parking lot so I could capture it!  

After I got home from that, Wade and I killed a few minutes before we had to leave to get him on base to Murray Middle School.  Most days he will catch a ride with our neighbors, but I told him I wanted to take him on the first day!  Wade was so excited that we left 5 minutes earlier than we planned and got to the school so early we had to sit for a few minutes.  (Classes start at 7:20; students are allowed on campus at 7:00).

The rest of the day flew by while I waited for their school day to end.  I messed around on Facebook, got groceries, and went to a disaster preparedness class offered on the base.

Wade walked in the door happy and content at 2:30 pm; then I left to pick up Rhiannon and some friends at 2:40.  

Rhiannon already had Spanish, chemistry and history homework.  Wade's only homework was to get his mom to fill out school paperwork.  They both said it was a good, fast day, with no problems.   YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for fun, here is something I made yesterday when I found myself with a bunch of extra time in the morning.  It was fun to see how much the kids have grown each year!  11 years of first-day-of-school photos! :)  We love these kids and know they will be successful and happy if they try their best, work hard, and show kindness!

Wade spells his way to 2nd place at the district bee!

January 28th was a really fun night for Wade!  He participated in our district spelling bee and came in 2nd place after 17 rounds!  We are really happy for him--and you can see how happy he is in the photos below!

With our wonderful Richmond principal, Mrs. Glennon

Last year Wade got out in the first round and was pretty disappointed.  This time, without him knowing, Rhiannon and I put together a fun list of "prizes" for each round Wade passed.  He was pretty excited about this list and made sure we came up with 6 more prizes for the 16 total rounds, haha!

Wade made it into the paper twice--this was two days after the event and he made the front page!

Wade got great support from his sis and his lovely teacher Mrs Kyte.  Mrs. Kyte's son left his pack meeting early so that he could come, too--what a nice kid!!!

Jason was on travel for work in Arizona, so I was texting him the play-by-play.  I thought for sure Wade would get out on "susceptible" and "rendezvous," but he didn't!  And the crowd was audibly impressed when he got those right!

Look at that cute kid, smiling for his mom's camera! :)

Two weeks have passed and Wade is still feeling the love from this accomplishment.  Mrs. Kyte brought his favorite treats (Doritos) to share with his class the next day, and she presented Wade with his favorite candy bar (Milky Way).  His principal recognized him in front of a huge school assembly.  So many people have dropped off their newspaper copies, too!  He got a sweet card in the mail from his former Cub Scout master, Karen Grant, and the funniest of all--Mrs. Knehans, another fifth grade teacher at his school, bought some "sarsparilla" online and gave Wade a 4-pack to share with his family.  We had fun with that!  Sarsparilla was the word he got out on--he will never forget how to spell it now! :)

Way to go, buddy!

Touch of Class Dance

Last Friday Rhiannon went to the last middle school dance of the year, a "fancy" one called Touch of Class. Her parents had two stipulations:  her dad said she needed to find some friends to go with, and her mom said that she had to have a modest dress.

Lovely ladies!  Rhiannon with her friends Sydney Marler and Emily Haugen

Ready for the dance!

Say cheese, Daddy!

We had the girls over for pizza before the dance and then I drove them over.  It was a special moment for me, watching my beautiful daughter walk into the sea of strapless, mid-thigh dresses.  I asked Rhiannon later if anyone else had worn a dress like hers, and she said no.  We're so proud of her for keeping high standards!  She had a really great time with her friends and was glad she went!

Math Wizard

Congratulations to Wade

for completing all the 2nd Grade math objectives in Accelerated Math!!! 

We are so proud of you!!!

(and thanks to Daddy for getting off work to come to the assembly, too!)

At the Super Star assembly, a long red carpet is rolled out and kids get to walk across it when they complete HUGE goals in the Accelerated Math and Accelerated Reader programs.  Wade's friend Nick went across last month and did this super cool karate kick as he was walking the red carpet.  For a couple weeks Wade said he was going to try breakdancing across, and he was really excited about it, even practiced some moves.  But the morning of he came downstairs and said he'd changed his mind--he didn't want to do anything embarrassing.  I seriously begged him to reconsider and gave him my best puppy dog face, but he insisted.

He surprised me.  Check out the fuzzy video and see what the first boy in the blue shirt to cross does--I wish I'd gotten closer to see his actual moves, but I could still tell he was breakdancing with the best of them!

You can imagine how happy I was for him to do something brave, silly, and cool when he finally got to walk across!!!  (Notice the other kids just did the plain jane stroll, ha-ha!)

Way to go, Wade!