Spencer's A Great Kid!!!

We always knew Spencer was great. When we lived in American Fork, I nominated him to be the Junior Grand Marshall of the Steel Days Parade because he is such a great brother to Brayden. He was awarded the honor of leading the children's parade and got an position of honor in the grand parade also.

Now, he has been honored with a Great Kid Award from the Provo-Orem Chamber of Commerce. A few weeks ago, we received a letter in the mail saying he was being honored, but we weren't quite sure why he had received the award.

After some sleuthing on our parts, we found out that all of the elementary schools in Provo and Orem honor one boy and one girl for this award. We still weren't quite sure WHY he got the award, but it sounded pretty cool to us.

Tonight at the award ceremony, we found out that the chamber sent a letter to the school asking them to recognize a student who was doing their best. They weren't looking for a child who was only focused on one area of their life. They wanted someone who had some balance in all of their activities.

Ms. Seedall said she nominated Spencer because he is such a good kid and doesn't do anything to bring attention to himself. We are so proud of him. It is great to see him get recognized!

I'll post pics ASAP!!

Moab

We had a wonderful Spring Break in Moab, Utah with our kids last week. My brother, Mike, and his wife, Shannon, recently moved to Moab, so we were really excited to see the great scenery and visit with some of our favorite people.
The kids had a great time hiking, swimming, and especially chasing Mike and Shannon's dog, Oliver.
This first picture is of Double Arch. It is famous for being in an Indiana Jones movie. Our kids LOVED this arch. It was a very short walk. Brayden hated the walk, but loved scampering around on the rocks. He giggled the entire time. Spencer and the girls all did great! They were real troopers. And great rock climbers!

This next picture is of Delicate Arch. It is the arch pictured on the Utah state license plates.

This is a really beautiful tree that we passed on our hike to Landscape Arch.

And this is Landscape Arch. It would span a football field. Wow! That's big!! This hike really wore out our younger kids. I'm glad we did it. The view was really worth it. Andraia met many friendly people on her hike. She showed everyone her 'baby' rocks that she was collecting. She can't wait to take her collection to school for show and tell.

And these are our tired girls on the way home. Peaceful and sleeping. Everyone did really great in the car this time. Its about a 3 hour drive one way. Not even close to the long drive to California, but it does give me hope for a smoother trip to Disney in July!

Thanks For Tuning In!

We're in the midst of ANOTHER crazy week. Do you ever feel like you're on a treadmill, or better yet, in a hamster ball, and you can't find your way out? It gets that way sometimes, but we wouldn't be having as much fun if we weren't so busy. Right?

Spencer had a great Court of Honor last night. We had so much fun. All of the scouts in our ward are hilarious. And their leaders are just as great! Spencer received his Tenderfoot and Second Class Scout advancements last night. He also received a merit badge (Public Health). We are so proud of him. And he didn't even poke me when he was pinning on the 'Mother's Pins'. Good Boy! Maybe I didn't need to threaten him with being grounded...

This week has also found us being VERY grateful for employment. Several friends and ward members have suffered lay-offs. Earl's company is implementing a company wide pay cut, but we would rather lose a little bit of money than our whole income (or have Earl out of town all of the time to keep the same salary)! The company would rather do this than lay off people only to have to shell out the money to rehire and train new people when their business picks up again, and I totally agree. So, we're counting our blessings.

In other happenings, I have to opportunity to help with a fund raiser for Friday's Kids. This is the place that provides respite care 2 times a month for Brayden. They are having a silent auction to raise money and I am on the committee to collect the donations. We are having a great time contacting people in the community. Everyone is so generous!

And in the "Good News" category...Earl's brother, Bill, is graduating from college!!! We are so proud of him. His graduation is in May. It will be so cool to see him get his degree! He has worked so hard. Unfortunately, this conflicts with the Utah Autism Walk on May 2nd, so I won't be able to do that this year, but this graduation is once-in-a-lifetime. I'll for sure do the walk next year!

We can't wait for Conference Weekend. We really need that boost.
Have a great day!