Graig's Date with Whitney

Graig had his first date with the lovely Whitney, our neighbour who has been his lifelong friend.  They went on a double date with friends, Xane and Margaret.

The date began at WalMart where the couples shopped for ingredients to make dinner.  They then went to Graig's Grandparents house where they turned those ingredients into dinner.  I'm told the dinner was corn chips with guacamole dip, fettuccine, with ice cream for dessert.

The date then moved to Trafalga where they played games in the game center and  9 holes of extreme mini golf.  (The Mormon Bachelor has some great creative date ideas.)

Xane, Margaret, Graig, and Whitney

Graig and Whitney playing golf while handcuffed.

Blowing the ball to the hole.

I'm glad I let him take my camera on his date.

I'm told they have plans to finish the other 9 holes of mini-golf on a follow up date.

102.3

This is Melanie, who hasn't missed one day of school until this week.  The Melanie who is supposed to be at Clear Creek right now.  She came down with a nasty virus and fever on Monday afternoon and we kept trying to get her better so she could go.  Yesterday, Dr. Weipert confirmed that what she has is just a virus and told her if she woke up with a fever of less than 100 she had his blessing to go.  No such luck.  This morning the thermometer read 102.3.  So it is jammies, fresh mangos, movies, and snuggling with mom for this girl.  She is hoping to catch Clear Creek during their summer program.  What a bummer.

President's Day

We had a fun President's Day.  We started off the day with a little exercise...

 At the beginning of the race...

 All finished...

Melanie did walk the whole way by herself.  She came down with a fever later in the day and blames it on the brisk walk in the cold morning air.  She has sworn never to do that (a 5K) again.

 Tyler had us pose for this picture in our shirts later at home.

Next was breakfast and yes, the eggs were really green.

 Tyler, Warren and Graig

 After breakfast there were activities set up in the gym.  Melanie got her face painted.  She was sorry later that she got her whole face painted when she was trying to wash it off.

 There were also three big blow up toys to play on.

Jessica and her room mates came up to eat breakfast and participate in the Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament.  None of us made it past the 2nd round.

 Jessica, Tyler, Melanie, Mara and Jill on a blow up toy.

Jessica

 Tyler

All of these fun activities is a fund raiser for the Lehi Literacy Center where Tyler was a volunteer last summer.  He put in more than 50 hours of service and earned a bronze Presidential Service Pin.

 Tyler getting his award from Lehi's Mayor Wilson.

r.a.d. KIDS Graduation

r.a.d. KIDS is a personal empowerment and safety education class that Melanie took at school.  It is a great program that teaches kids to tell if someone is hurting them and to fight and put up a fuss if someone tries to take them.  At the graduation they have to show what they have learned by fighting off a "bad guy", who is really a police man in a padded suit (so he doesn't get hurt).  I love this program.  It was Melanie's second time through and Jessica and I went through the r.a.d. Women program a couple of years ago.

Sweetheart Dinner

We have a fun family tradition for Valentines Day.  We eat a nice dinner on the fancy china by candle light.  This year Tyler and Melanie were a lot of help getting everything ready.  They rescued the china from the top of the cupboard, washed it (it gets a little dusty up there), and set the table.  We used three forks and three plates. After dinner Tyler and Melanie again washed all the china and Warren and Graig put it away.

I sure love these guys...

Valentines Dinner Dance

 Warren and I decided to attend a Valentines dinner that we were not in charge of this year.  Our friend, Susan Glenn, plans date nights for couples and then sells tickets.  The Valentine date she planned was a dinner and dance at the Talon's Cove Golf Course clubhouse in Saratoga Springs.  There were about 100 people in attendance.  The clubhouse is beautiful and has a great view of  Utah Lake and Utah County on the other side.  We could even see the Provo Temple.  Dinner was nice followed by dancing and games.  We danced to a live band, No Limits, who was fabulous.  Throughout the night Susan had us play some fun games.  First, when we arrived she gave us three red strings and later explained we were to give a string to any couple that we thought looked especially romantic or in love.  (We must not have been too lovey dovey because no one gave us any strings.) The couple with the most strings won an overnight stay in Park City.  There was a dancing contest and a game that involved tangling and untangling strings.  Our favorite game, because we were a winner, was called "Cinderella".  All the ladies took their shoes off and put them in a pile.  Then all the men had to one at a time find their ladies shoes and put them on.  We came in second place and won a round of golf for two including a cart at Talon's Cove Golf Course.  Warren said it made it a lot easier that I wore tan shoes instead of black.
Tyler took some pictures of us before we left.  Yes, that is a new hairdo and a new dress.  My friend Karen, cut my hair and showed me how bring out my natural curl.  I got all that curl with just a little gel, no curling iron!  It was a fun night.

Making My Mermaids Modest

Melanie wrote this up and asked me to submit it to The Friend magazine:

"I was drawing mermaids like they are in princess books (immodest).  When I showed my mom my pictures, she suggested making them modest.  I liked that idea.  I could say they found the clothes in a shipwrecked boat.  I decided to draw them modestly.  I'm glad to have parents who live the gospel as well as teach it to me.

Melanie Henrie
Age 10, Utah

Melanie's Field Trip

Melanie's 5th grade class got to go on a field trip to Salt Lake City yesterday.  They began at Abravanel Hall where they saw the Utah Symphony Perform.  They all dressed up to see the symphony.  Then they got to eat their sack lunches at the Energy Solutions Arena, home of the Utah Jazz.  They got a tour of the Arena and even got to walk on the basketball floor.

Melanie's Parent Teacher Conference

Warren and I went to visit Mrs. Mangum last week for Melanie's Parent/Teacher conference.  Mrs. Mangum has the kids write letters to their parents telling them how school is going.  Here is Melanie's letter.