I love finished projects

Several years ago Warren did a beautiful job tiling a back splash in the kitchen.  When he got to the section over the stove he decided he wanted to do something special so he tiled in a frame to put around something but he wasn't quite sure what.  And that tile frame sat empty for years while Warren waited for the Tile Fairy to inspire him as to what was supposed to go there.  Well, last Saturday Warren decided it was time to finish the back splash and started looking at the tile he has collected over the years for inspiration.  He and Tyler decided on a piece of natural stone that has a picture of the Henrie mountains sand blasted into it.  The piece of natural stone that has been on the basement window sill for years waiting for a home.  Once it was decided what to put there it was pretty quick to cement in place and it looks beautiful.

 

Excited to play outside

It wasn't exactly warm outside on Saturday but Melanie decided she couldn't wait any longer to get outside and play in her sandbox.  She took some toys outside and started to dig and create between homework sessions.   She is really looking forward to some warmer weather.

Piano Festival

Tyler played in the Utah County Piano Festival this  morning.  

He got a 39 out of 40 from the judges.

He will move on and play in the play off round.

Great Work Tyler!!

Here is one of his pieces.

Way to go Tyler!

Tyler earns his Star

Boy Scout Troupe 682 had a Court of Honor last night and Tyler earned his Star Rank and five merit badges, two of which are required.  He attended the merit badge pow wow at BYU this month which helped him add to his merit badge count.

 I came right home and sewed the new badges on his sash and his rank badge on his shirt.  He earned Citizenship in the Nation, Citizenship in the Community, Coin Collecting, Life Saving, and Crime Prevention.

Way to go Tyler,  this represents hours of work.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

 We aren't Irish but we like to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  Melanie has been planning her outfit for weeks.

 Today is the first day of Graig's spring break so he had some of his friends over for a waffle party this morning.  When they were finished eating they went to Trafalga to play laser tag and other games.  They are hoping since everyone else is in school they will have the place to themselves.

 The healthy part of breakfast.  Little green eggs and ham quiches.  (The green is spinach.)

 I made some waffle batter and then let Graig's friends cook their own waffles.  I had several different toppings for them to put on the batter before they cooked their waffle.  They made ham and cheese waffles, chocolate chip waffles, blueberry waffles, and craisins were available but I don't think anyone used them.

 The unhealthy part of breakfast... doughnuts with green frosting.

(They were half off at the grocery store last night and I couldn't resist knowing I was feeding breakfast to a bunch of teenage boys in the morning.)

 The girl sitting next to Graig is Margaret.  It is not unusual for Margaret to be the only girl in a group of boys. She handles those boys well.  Graig plans to ask her to prom.

Oh Tyler!

Warren and I snuck away to attend the temple for a few hours on Saturday and while we were gone Tyler and Melanie were supposed to be doing their home work.  

This is what Tyler looked like when we got home.

Needless to say, not a lot of home work got done...

 Tyler's self portraits before leaving for church on Sunday morning.  He wanted to prove he could get his hair to lay down flat again after all those ponytails.

Monday morning I got out the buzzers and shaved his hair short enough it won't be going in ponytails for a while.  I sure love that Tyler and his fun personality.

Tyler's Second Orchestra Concert

Willowcreek Middle School had their second orchestra concert last night.  Tyler has figured out that being a boy in an orchestra of mostly girls has its advantages.  All of the bass players are boys but that isn't who Tyler was hanging out with before the concert.  He was hanging out with the violinists (all cute girls).  Go Tyler.

Tyler is on stage below.  He is hiding behind a music stand.

Tyler is really enjoying learning to play the bass.  He wished the class moved through the music faster.  We may have to look into getting him in an extra curricular orchestra in the future.  He is signed up to be in the advanced orchestra at school next year.

Happy 13th Birthday Tyler

Tyler decided to go with a Fiesta theme for his birthday party this year.  He asked if we could get some crepe paper streamers so he could really decorate the house and he did.  He did all this decorating himself.  The house looked really good.

Tyler even helped decorate his cake.  He loves to use my frosting bags.

Tyler had 10 friends come over to help him celebrate his birthday.

The first game they played is similar to "Fruit Basket" only they played it with pictures.  Each kid had a picture of something fiesta related taped on their shirt (ie a sombrero, a cactus, etc) and then one kid in the middle would call out a picture or picture(s) and if your card got called you had to switch chairs.  This game got a little dangerous so we moved to the next game.

Game #2 was a relay game with soccer balls and cones.  Thank goodness for a big grassy field behind our house.

Game #3 was similar to "Duck, Duck, Goose" but in Spanish and with a sombrero.  They played this game for a long time.

Next up was dinner.  A Cafe Rio buffet.  I thought a bunch of teenage boys would eat a lot more and we had about 3/4 of what I fixed left after they ate.  It was good.

Game #4 was the Limbo.

Game #5 was a pinata.

Grabbing the candy once the pinata was broken...

Next up was singing "Happy Birthday"

and opening presents...

After the party we took 6 of his friends to see the musical "Beauty and the Beast" at Willow Creek Middle School.  Several of Tyler's friends were in the play.  It was very good.  Our neighbour, Sierra Richins, was an awsome Belle.

Sunday morning was Tyler's "real" birthday.  He woke up to traditional balloons and gifts.  His big gift this year was a year pass to Trafalga and Seven Peaks.  He also got a headlamp to take camping. 

Our family was assigned to help with Church Services at the Developmental School in American Fork.  Tyler and Graig helped to pass the sacrament.  Tyler and another boy were assigned to help a handicapped man "pass" the sacrament.  Tyler pushed his wheelchair while the other boy held the tray for him.  He was really glad to be able to perform that service.  After sacrament meeting we attended their Sunday school.  

Jessica had plans to come home for dinner and to help us celebrate Tyler's birthday.  When her ride fell through, we decided to take dinner to her apartment.  We loaded up the car and drove to Provo to eat dinner as a family.  

Creative Play on a Sunday Afternoon

Sunday afternoon will often find Melanie and Tyler working together on some creative endeavour.  A few weeks ago they made this "city" for some of their toys.  It all started with a drawn up plan and then proceeded into the construction phase.  They collected recyclable materials from around the house and got to work.  They were sad when I told them the fun was in the making and we don't have room to store it long term.  The compromise was to do a photo shoot to remember how great it was.