A Very Special Temple Trip

Saturday, March 29th was a very wonderfully special day for our family.  2 days after Kayla turned 12 and is old enough to go into the temple now, the youth had their Temple Trip.  What great timing.

As a mom, this day goes down as one of those most memorable days that I will never forget.  Today, finally, after many times to the temple with the youth, Kayla was able to go to and we could make it a family day!  The only thing that would have made it better was if Tyler was here.  But what a great day for our family.

Karl was able to baptize all 3 girls.....still get emotional when I think back on it....while I watched and waited to hand them their towel when they were finished.  Megan went first and then Jenna and then Kayla.  It was quite the emotional moment when Karl started and had to stop as he was trying to hold back the tears.  It took him several minutes to get control of his emotions and start.  Of course, there was no holding back my tears as I witnessed this "first" for Kayla.  The Spirit was very strong and I got a glimpse of what heaven might be like with all my family gathered together.  It was a wonderful experience and I am so glad that we could all be there together.  So grateful for the knowledge of eternal families and for the covenants that Karl and I have made in the temple to make that a blessing in our lives.

It was the most fabulous day we have had as a family since Tyler went through for the first time in preparation for his mission.  BEST DAY EVER!

It was so fun to see the excitement in Kayla's eyes and voice as she was there.  She didn't know what to do or where to go and was always asking questions and wanting to know things.....it was absolutely the best.  I know that she loved it and is looking forward to going back again.  She just soaked it all in.

Afterwards, the tradition is to go to CiCi's for lunch....all you can eat pizza, salad, and the yummiest cinnamon rolls ever (OK, so besides mine)  I often wonder what the other people eating there think when so many of us show up in suits and dresses to eat pizza.  We are quite the sight.

There is a long standing contest with the youth....who can eat the most pieces of pizza.  Of course, it is always a boy who wins.  Tyler has held the record for quite some time now with 21 pieces.  That record was broken by Michael Lane this trip with a total of 28 pieces, including the crusts!  He wins the famous CiCi Cup as the trophy! AND that was even the day after getting his wisdom teeth out....nice job Michael!

It was a great time and a gorgeous day to boot.  Can't wait for the next one!

12 and a YW!

Kayla turned 12 this year.  Oh....my....gosh!  My baby is no longer in Primary...she is finally in Young Women's.  She has been counting the days until her birthday for months now.  She could hardly wait til she was old enough to be in YW.  She was so ready to be done with Activity Days and Primary and get on into the big leagues! 

The day before her birthday the Beehives totally surprised her.  They heart attacked the house and then rang the doorbell.  When she got to the front door she saw all the hearts and no body there.  She ran out to see if she could see who it was and they all jumped out from the side of the house to yell "Happy Birthday".  She was so surprised and thrilled and happy and just in heaven.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of her reaction...it was total surprise and happiness!  Then they kidnapped her to go back to the leader's house for games and ice cream. (A few were missing that night) She came home beaming and so excited!

Then the next day was her birthday.  It is cool she was born during Spring Break so she never has to go to school on her birthday.  Besides, this is a special birthday.  12 is the age when ears are pierced, so she wanted to spend her birthday at the mall getting that done.

She was beyond ready and not nervous at all.  She was surprised that it didn't hurt very much and was so happy to finally have it done.  She can now check that off her list of wants!

Next up, we played Glo Golf.  Us girls had a great time mini golfing in the dark with the black lights.  We loved how the highlights in our hair glowed, as well as the stitching in our shoes, not to mention our teeth and anything else white.  We had a great time.....did both courses.

That night after Daddy came home, we went to Red Robin for dinner.  We were happy to get our normal circle booth in the corner and it made us miss Tyler that much more as that is the booth we always got when he was with us.  It was yummy and fun.

Then home to open gifts.....

And eat chocolate cream pie!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

How exciting that you are 12 and moving on to more adventures in YW.  You are growing up and I can't believe how tall you are getting and how much you are not looking like a little girl anymore.  Have them best time in YW!

Girl Party

Jenna wanted to invite some friends over one night just for fun and games.  I love that she has so many girls her age.  We also invited a few girls over for Kayla too.  Not sure why we didn't invite girls over for Megan?????  Anyway, it was a fun night. 

We had the girls come in their jammies cuz it was going to be a watch movie and eat popcorn kind of night, but they never even turned on the movie.  They chatted up a storm, munched on junk food and then we went outside and took a ton of pictures.  Studio C was having a contest....take your best "C" picture of you.  So Jenna wanted to do a group C.  These are the best ones we came up with (the lighting was bad so they are not as clear as I would want).  I got out the ladder to get them all in from above.....

Then they wanted me to get on the roof and take some from up there.....

We didn't win...but the girls sure had a fun time!  I sure love all these girls.  They are awesome!

FIRST SOLO!

Jenna is in choir this year and made the Women's Ensemble group.  It is fun to go to her performances as there are several youth from our ward in the various groups.  But part of her class requires her to do a solo in front of a judge.  She chose "Danny Boy" to sing as this was one of her Granddaddy's favorite songs.  She was so nervous, but wanted to do well so that she could Letter in choir. 

She didn't want me to come watch her, but I did anyway hoping that the lights would be down in the auditorium and she would be able to see anyone in the audience.  They were not and so she saw me sneak in.  Darn it!  But I thought she did great for a first time.  She was much louder than I thought she would be so that was great.  She did forget some of the words and so that freaked her out even more.  She said she wanted to cry when she put her face in her hands, but she held it together and found her place and continued.  She was upset with herself as she had been singing that song everywhere for several weeks and knew it like the back of her hand.  It was just nerves and so when she finished, she started crying. The judge asked why she was crying and she said relief and sad she messed up.  The judge was so great to validate her feelings and told her it was ok.  She gave her some helpful tips on how to do better and really encouraged her and made her feel better about her performance.  She said she looked great in her outfit....and she did.  What a gorgeous girl she is!

She needed a 1 or 2 in her score to letter and she found out later that she scored a 2.  She was so relieved and so happy to have it over.  She said she never wanted to do that again.  Well, we will see.  I was so happy and pleased that she got up there and did it and overcame her nerves and shyness.  She is awesome!  I took a movie of it so the rest of the family could hear her beautiful voice.  Keep singing Jenna....

Track Season AGAIN!

Track has started again.  It seems just like yesterday that it was that time...it seems to come around so fast.  And it seems to be never ending once it gets here.  Our Saturdays are gone when this season hits and so it is now.  Either every Saturday or a Friday Night and we are at a meet.

March 15 was the first meet....and it was in Pueblo....and it lasted ALL DAY.  Megan is only in 2 events, but they seem to start late, take longer than expected and so we are there for the duration.  But we are happy to be there to support her and are always cheering her one whether it is warm or chilly.  As you can see, it was chilly that day and just got worse and worse as the day progressed.

We were chilled to the bone and starving by the time we left mid afternoon.  I was just glad the other girls were not with us as they would have been frozen too.

This meet the girls team all together placed 3rd, so that was amazing!  Megan placed 9th in Discus with a throw of 93' 5" and 11th is Shot Put with a distance of 28' 5". 

She wants to throw 100' and 30' before the season is over, so we will see how she does.  She can do it as she has thrown those both in practice.

The next weekend we were back in Pueblo for the 2nd meet....still chilly but not as bad thank goodness.  This time, Jenna was also competing in her first High School Varsity Track Meet.  It was pretty exciting and she did well for a first meet. They are twiners!

She was jumping high jump and clear 4' 4".  Not her best, but she will get there.  That girl can jump!

Megan came in 7th in Discus with a throw of 99' 3"....oh so close!

In Shot, she threw 30' 6".....yes, she made it over 30 feet.  You can sure tell by the smile on her face in the last pix. Now to just be consistent with that.

It was fun to be down there with these 2 girls of mine, ok 3 Kayla was with me too.  Love them to pieces and I am their best cheerleader for sure!