Yeah, we survived the Renaissance Fair

Sage, Andrew, Darian, Darren, and Calvin in front of their booth.

Calvin's 6th grade class.

All the projects were displayed in the middle, for all to see.

All the banners really helped to create a great time.

Calvin and the Monk, oh I mean Mr. Whimmer, Calvin's teacher.

Calvin and his Renaissance supporters.

Calvin, the Falconer, what a costume!



Calvin's coat of arms, I love his motto: "your promises kept."

What a great manor! Good job Calv!


The medieval tarts.Calvin called them his BYU tarts because of the "Y" in the middle.

Calvin has been working on many, and I do mean many, projects for his Renaissance Fair that was held on Friday. He made a manor out of homemade clay, and painted it. He drew pictures of weapons, manors, and castles. He made a chart of the feudal class and made cherry and apple tarts and dressed up as a Medieval Falconer. Each kids made their own coat of arms and banner to hang at the fair. On Monday, each group made their own stand to sell their items from and it was fun to see all of them and how creative the kids were. Calvin's group sold: pie delight, dragons blood juice, pixie dust, chocolate gold coins, Burger King crowns, dragon claws, royal gumballs, swords, and shields. The kids had to each bring 150 items to sell for a quarter. The boys sold 500 items and were so excited! The whole school and community can come certain times of the day and the money goes to the sixth grade school fund. It was by far the most elaborate fund raiser I have ever been involved in but the kids definitely had fun doing it. I have to give myself kudos, because we saw the falconer costume in a book and just replicated it. I even impressed myself on reproducing the falcons on the red cloth. I busted out the sewing machine and sewed a bag for the "bird seed", actually he carried quarters in it, and Eric, sprayed a white dove to look like a falcon and attached it to a work glove. Calvin definitely looked awesome. It was a great day and fun to help the kids barter and sell their products.

What cute girls!

Kenzie & Corbyn had a friend's party the other day. It was a "Diva" party. They had cake, dancing, singing, decorated picture frames, and the host had her cousin, who is a photographer, come take "Diva" pictures. The pictures were so cute I had to post them. My little girls are getting so grown up!

Chloe is 9 months!

Chloe turned 9 months this week and she is still "inch worming" away. In the last couple of days she has learned to used her hands and crawl like most babies do. She is so cute and still little, but that doesn't stop her from trying to pull down the lamps, chew the computer cords, and try to get all the wires under Dad's desk. She is a busy one, but for now I am still faster. Can anyone say, time to baby proof! Sorry for all the videos but for Grandparents far away, these are for you.

Skiing- We love you Aunt Stephanie & Uncle Joe

We love winter, epecially when Uncle Joe & Aunt Steph come into town. We were lucky enough to be able to attend Annie's wonderful recital, the girl has crazy talent. We had a sleepover and lots of fun. The best part, according to Corbyn, was the skiing. I mean, how can you not love it when you have a personal ski instructer teaching you to ski. (Thanks to Uncle Joe who taught Corbyn this year adn Calvin 2 years ago...Chloe will be ready in a couple of years. Ha! HA!)According to Corbyn, she got off the rope in no time! She is so fast that she pasted Uncle Joe and he told her to pie, to slow her down. It is amazing she can go from beginner to pro in one day. Kenzie and Calvin both had a great time, too. They brushed up on thier skiing skills and Kenzie has learned how to turn quite well. There was only one big crash and that was when Corbyn skiied right into Kenzie, but they survived. Eric had a blast skiing with the kids. Chloe and I stayed at home, wishing we could be there but Chloe was sick all week, but we are glad they all had fun! Thanks Joe Elmer's we love ya!

Calvin and the Science Fair

Calvin entered the school science fair and out of 300 kids at his school, only 17 were chosen to move on to district and Calvin was one of them! He was so excited! Calvin doesn't get too excited about really anything, well maybe catching big fish, so to see him so excited was a real treat. He went and competed at district with his best friend, Andrew, which made it really fun! The competition was a PG High School and they were interview by the judges and presented their projects. Then they announced the winners, who would be moving on to the State Science Fair at BYU. I have never seen Calvin this anxious and excited. Well he was one of the last names read but again out of almost 300 he was one of the 60 kids moving on. His friend got honorable mention, which was still awesome because only 30 kids received a medal who weren't going to state. So they were both excited, plus Andrew was relieved because he's a Utes fan and tries to stay as far away from BYU as possible. So a couple of weeks ago Calvin and I went to BYU to set up his project and the next day he got to miss school for an all day science fair. He had 2 hours when the judges come around and ask questions, with only the kids, they had pizza, and watched a space rover movie about landing on Mars, he got to try to shoot enemy planes in the BYU Airforce Flight Simulator, and saw a live show of the Mad Scientist, of which his two sisters got to be Mad Scientist Assistants. They had a raffle and fun science facts to learn about and did the awards ceremony. He didn't win anything at State but there were about 12 kids that advanced to the National level so that is his goal next year. The kids that go on try out for the semi finals and, if they make it, they go to DC for a week. This is a lot more than I ever knew there was to Science Fair. It was so fun and a great experience. Calvin already wants to start figuring out ideas for next years project. Let us know if you have any good ideas. Thanks Calv for letting your Mom continue to experience new things, even in her old age.

Baby Chloe, A face only a mother could love!

Chloe really loves meal time! She not only likes to eat it, she loves to wear it more! She is so cute and fun right now. She is crawling, well she is "inch worming," thats what we call it. She loves to eat anything she can get her hands on, including the fuzz on the carpet, which we try to keep to a minimum. She still doesn't have any teeth yet but that doesn't keep her from chewing everything. We love you Chloey-bo!

What a wonderful experience at the temple

I meant to post this much sooner but it has been a crazy time and all of a sudden two months hav gone by. I guess that's what four kids does to ya! Well we took the kids to the Draper Temple Open House a couple of months ago and it was a great experience. Aaron and Teana came with us and we drove to one of the church buildings and then watched a wonderful movie about temples and their purpose. The kids were loving it, even Chloe watched the whole thing without squealing. Then we rode a charter bus to the temple, ok the kids were in heaven just riding the cool bus and getting to sit where ever they wanted, which is of course the back. As we were driving up to the temple, Corbyn asked Calvin and Kenzie, "Have you ever been inside the temple?" They reply "No" and Corbyn looks at me and says, "Mom, Calvin, even though he is 12, hasn't been to the temple, and Kenzie and I haven't been to the temple...Mom, this is going to be an experience!" As we drove into the neighborhood, the kids (& Aaron), started commenting on the big and beautiful houses that back up to the temple grounds. Corbyn asked how come we didn't buy one of those houses and I replied, "a little out of the price range." Corbyn kept saying how cool it would be to have the temple in the backyard. She then turns to Calvin and Kenzie and says, "Hey, I bet if we would of moved there I would get baptized at the temple, it's closer than the church." (Side note: Corbyn gets baptized in September and it is all she talks about, she is so excited.) Calvin looks at Corbyn and says," Are you dead?" Corbyn says, "No," and he says, "Corbyn, baptisms for the dead. You don't get baptised there you do work for other people." I guess Corbyn will have to settle for the church, but she really did enjoy seeing inside the temple. When we were in the sealing room she said, "Mom, I love this room, its so pretty and you can really feel the spirit in here." Out of the mouth of babes. For any of my non member friends I would be happy to explain about the temple and the beautiful things it represents. I would really encourage you to attend an open house if there is ever one in your area. We went on Feb 18 so it was the best Anniversary day ever! The only bad thing is because of the tour buses I couldn't get a picture of the kids in front of the outside of the temple, plus it was quite cold.