Last Day of School

First and last day of school....

7th grade

5th grade- Ms. McNeil

3rd grade- Mrs. Terry

1st grade- Ms. Dean

1st grade- Ms. Dean

We celebrated the last day of school with brunch at Waffle Love. Mmm!

We are so excited for summer vacation!

Dance Festival

Kaden danced to "Get Back Up Again" from Trolls. His grade wore bright colors. He told us he didn't know the dance but he must have been teasing us. He was on the front row and did a great job with the whole dance.

 

Lynnlee's grade wore tie dye and danced to "Firework" by Katy Perry. It's like a Where's Waldo trying to spot her in this photo. She is in the center and to the left of the girls with the yellow bow in her hair.

The minis were suppose to dress like hippies. We did our best with what we had. They danced to "ABC" by The Jackson Five. It would have been nice if their teacher had them stand next to each other so it would have been easier to get a picture of them at the same time. Sienna is on the left in a flowery dress. Taggart is on the far right in a tie dyed t-shirt.

Clear Creek Day

Covid has changed a lot of traditions at school. One thing is Clear Creek. Normally fifth graders get to go to Clear Creek and camp overnight. They didn't get to go to Clear Creek so the teachers brought Clear Creek to the school. They did all of the same activities throughout the day and rotated through different stations. I got to help with Lynnlee's group. 

Team building...

Geocaching...

Roasting marshmallows for s'mores after making paper airplanes...

Dissecting owl pellets (owl poop). 

 

Soccer Team Pics

Spring soccer is officially finished. It was a great season for James. They had some wins and learned from their losses. James learned a lot from his coach, enjoyed playing with his friends and is excited for what's to come. Arsenal announced a new program called Elite Academy. It involves more travel outside of Utah to compete against other clubs. There will also be more training and games overall to help develop the players to be ready for a higher level of soccer. James thought a lot about this change and decided it wasn't right for him. His friends were also feeling the same way. He participated in tryouts last week and turned down an offer from the "A" team/Elite Academy and accepted a spot on the "B" team with Coach Al. We are excited because Al coached his team this last year and it was a great experience.

James has been playing with McKay, Ben, Jace and Ryan since he was seven-years-old. They are great friends in soccer and outside of soccer. We are so grateful for good friends!

 

Lynnlee had a really great experience. She made a lot of new friends. They improved a lot as a team. She has decided to try the next level of soccer which is AA league. She tried out and made a team in Lehi.

 

Kade has played with his team for two years and hopefully most of them will stick together for this next year. They are moving up to the AA league. They are a force to be reckoned with. They are starting to understand the game better and positions. It has been really fun watching his games. They went undefeated through the spring season. 

Taggart has had the same coach for two years. He knows his stuff and Taggart's team improved a lot.  There were eight kids on the team but most of the time only five or six kids were there so Taggart got lots of playing time.

Our Saturdays through April and May were filled with back to back soccer and I loved it!

Spring Band Concert

James performed in his final band concert for the year. He started playing the French horn in January and he has picked it up very quickly. He auditioned for Wind Symphony for next year and got in. We found a French horn teacher for him to take lessons over the summer. The first lesson went really well.  The teacher was really impressed with how well he plays for only playing since January. 

Class Play

Kade was chosen to be in a play with some of his classmates. It was called, "The Fox and Grapes at Belleville Elementary." Mr. Felix who helps out with his class was in charge of the play. Kaden forgot to tell me that he was in the play. So the day came when they performed it in class and I was not there to watch. One of the other moms text and asked if I was coming. I was in an aisle at Walmart with a full shopping cart when she called. The play was starting right then and I had no way of making it. Thankfully my friend recorded it and we were able to watch it as a family that afternoon.

 

Spring Recital

Lynnlee and Sienna had their spring dance recital. They did a great job and remembered their routines. We'll see if this was their last dance recital. Sienna has been asking to be done with dance for the last month. Lynnlee's best friend decided to tryout for competitive dance. Lynnlee enjoys dance but not to the extent of trying out for a competitive team. She liked taking dance with her friend but since they won't be in the same class, Lynnlee is good with being done. I am happy to support Lynnlee and Sienna is they decide to take dance classes but I'm not going to lie. I'm not a fan of dance and I can't see myself as a dance mom.

Marshall had a soccer game at the same time as the recital. He asked Lynnlee and Sienna if they were ok with him going to his game. They said it was ok. James, Kade and Taggart decided to stay home. We watched a recording of their dance recital later that night as a family.

Jamaica!!! Yaaman! Part 5

We had to get up really early to get to the airport. There was a beautiful rainbow out our window that we enjoyed as we packed up and had breakfast in our rooms. 

We got the nice, comfortable bus for our drive to the airport. I slept the whole way. We had so many late nights and I got up early to exercise every morning. You can't burn the candle at both ends for very long. I slept a lot on the way home to make up for it.

The boys and Lynnlee bought fun Jamaica outfits while we were there. They were so excited and couldn't wait until we got home to wear them.

We had a long layover in Ft Lauderdale. The good thing was that Marshall and I got to eat at our favorite Cuban restaurant there- Casavana. It was just as good as I remembered it. 

We didn't land in Salt Lake until close to midnight. We pulled up to our house around 1:00am. It was a very long day of travel. My kids did very well. They were so happy with having endless screen time on the planes. It was a very long day but a successful day. I would take them traveling again any day. 

Jamaica!!! Yaaman! Part 4

I started off the last morning with lap swimming in the ocean. It was really fun and different than swimming in the rec center pool. I did scare myself for a second about a shark coming but thankfully I quickly got that out of my head so I could enjoy it. It was relaxing and I felt so free. The salt water was challenging and made my mouth feel really weird after.  As much as I enjoyed it- I am grateful for fresh water lakes and reservoirs.

The resort's flow rider opened at 9:00 every morning. My family was there Monday at 9:00 and did it as much as they could. Tuesday was our last day and we wanted to enjoy the resort as much as possible. We got to the flow rider at 9:00 and then swam in the pools, went down the slide, snorkeled, and ate whatever we wanted when we wanted. Also throughout the trip we enjoyed pina coladas, mango smoothies, strawberry daquaris and mixtures of all three. While we were at the pool that afternoon they had a churro cart with fresh made churros. Mmmm, they were amazing!

Marshall couldn't wait to sail as much as possible. The first day he had a fail when the wind was blowing the opposite direction and he couldn't get back in. The resort staff had to go out and rescue him. It was a little humbling but didn't stop Marshall from learning and going out again and figuring it out. He gave lots of rides during our trip. Jason, the resort staff over the boats and flow rider was also there in the fall. He was so nice and took Marshall, Miranda and Olivia out to snorkel on the reef. Normally you would have to pay for a snorkel tour to do that but it was free with him.

 

Also in the picture above was the aqua cycle-water trike is what I called it. I took kids for rides on that and got a good workout. It was harder to pedal than it looked. We were definitely way more active on this trip compared to last time. I'm pretty sure I didn't gain any weight because we were always moving and playing.

Buried Gavin and then James in the sand ✅

I love the color of the water!!

That afternoon the entertainment staff had a scavenger hunt. We teamed up and had to find things around the pool like sunscreen, cup, straw, tank top, etc. Sienna and Miranda were the winners! 

We swam as long as we could and ended with pina coladas in the hot tub.

We went to Pier 8 for dinner. The kids had a table and the adults had a table. They were all so good and polite. It was so nice! Every night I would thank all of my kids for being on their best behavior. They exceeded my expectations.

After dinner we saw the very end of the Jamaican dance show and then went to the arcade. We stayed up late and did every last thing one more time. Boulangerie was on the way to our rooms so we had to stop and get ice cream and chocolate. It was a great last day at Moon Palace!

Adelie was Taggart's favorite! He loved spending time with her this trip. It was so fun going with cousins! Everyone had a buddy.