Valentines Day

Today for Valentines Day Dallin's 4th grade class had an etiquette breakfast.  I am so grateful for teachers who go the extra mile to help my kids love to learn.  Dallin was NOT excited about having to wear a shirt and tie, but he was excited about who his partner ended up being and the food, of course!  He is sitting across from Kaylyn.  She is my cousin Kyle's little girl.  We love Kaylyn and her sisters and her sweet mommy.

 Dallin told me a week ago that Kaylyn picked him to be her partner, but then Mrs. Mackay decided to draw partners out with sticks and she just happened to pick Dallin and Kaylyn to be together.  Funny the way things happen.  They are fun kids and get along great.  I am sure the food was delicious and the morning was filled with fun!

 My friend Hollie's daughter Savanna is in Dallin's class and she said to the girls, "how about an all girl picture?" So all the squeally little girls lined up for their picture and after they went and sat down the boys jumped up and lined up.  I thought it was funny they wanted their picture taken too.  They are such handsome little guys!

In other news at the Hawkins House.....Oakley got inducted into the Honor Society of her jr. high on Monday night.  She was invited to be a part of it because of her good grades and doing so well in school. 

She is in the orange....kinda hard to see.

 Her three best friends are also new members of the Honor Society.  What amazing girls they are!

Katie, Alicia, Lauren and Oakley. I am so proud of her and her besties.  Congratulations girls!

A couple Funnies!

Last Friday I was headed into town when I got a text from Rhett's teacher.  I thought it was kind of weird to get one from her during the day and it made me a little nervous.  I laughed though when I opened it.  It read:

Your kid *Rhett* just did the SPLITS for us during show and tell!!!!!

When he tells people he can do the splits I think they are always a little amazed and blown-away that he REALLY can do the splits. :)  He usually jumps into them which makes it a little more dramatic too.  Ha, ha! It makes me laugh that that was his show and tell and that his teacher was so shocked by the fact he could actually do them that she text me!

 This is an old picture of it, but for those that haven't seen his trick here it is!

Everytime somebody new comes to gymnastics I hear them whispering about my boy that can do the splits.  It shocks most people.  We seriously have NO IDEA where he came from.  He did not get this from his parents thats for sure!!

Laiklie has been saying some strange things lately that crack me up.  On sunday she put on a pair of leggings after church that had a hole in the knee.  When I commented on them she saids, "Do you want to know what I call it?" Of course I said I wanted to know what she called the hole....she says, "THE FUTURE!" Very dramatic with arms and everything!:)

Yesterday I was cutting up an orange for her that came from Gramps and Grams Romrell in AZ (THANK YOU!!! Sooo yummy!) I cut the ends off and she asked if they needed to go to the garbage.  I said they did and she said, "no, I think I will keep them.  I will call them clammy!"  Ha, ha! Where does she come up with this stuff?  I found *clammy* on the floor awhile later and threw it away.  When she found out she was mad at me and told me that her and clammy were friends! :)What a crack-up!

Today I helped in her class with PE.  I help every week and have been avoiding teaching the kindergartners how to play dodge ball.  I knew it would be confusing for some of them.  I taught them today though and it was DEFINITELY a challenge to help them understand the game.  The very first time I said go and they ran to the center to get a ball one little boy named Ryan got hit and was out within the first couple seconds.  He cried and cried.  I kept telling him we would play another round but that he had to stop bawling.  The next round poor little Ryan was only in less than a minute before he got hit and was once again in tears.  Poor little dude! But....by the end of PE as they were lining up Ryan was next to Laiklie and I heard him tell her, "Your mom is the BEST MOM EEEVVVVEEERRR!!!" Laiklie kind of looked and me and grinned.  I thought it was so funny that a good game of dodge ball gives you best mom ever status!  Who knew?!

D on Ski's

Our elementary offers a skiing program each winter.  Dallin was old enough to try it out this year.  Oakley never wanted to do it - her friends didn't....therefore she didn't....you know how that works! :) So we are new to this.  Dallin wanted to try a snowboard at first and so the first week he snowboarded.  He didn't love the snowboard bunny hill combo, so the next week he wanted to ski.

 This is Dallin and his friend Nathan trying out the new ski's.  He ended up loving the skis and I don't think will go back to snowboarding until he is a little better.  One of the things I love about the program is that for the 1st two weeks they teach them a ski lesson.  It helped him learn the basics.  Yay! Because Ryan and I are NOT skiers and wouldn't even know where to start!

 Slow and easy at first.

And this was one of the last runs of the night.  Dallin is the black blurry spot on the left.  They got to where they would fly down that bunny hill.  They even found a little bump that they could catch a little air on.  Ha, ha! Boys!! 

Pinewood Derby - Egg Style

This years pinewood derby had a little twist.  The cars had to be able to hold and keep on (without breaking) a hard boiled egg.  Our boys decided they wanted to put their hard boiled egg safely inside a padded (with cotton balls) easter egg.  It worked great!

 Dallin's black limo.

 Rhett's crazy 8's pick-up.

 Here they are after the derby with their awards.  They both won some and lost some.  Perfect!!

 And I had to post this picture because it is just SOOOO real life! Dallin super annoyed by Rhett being the funny little brother! Ha, ha!! These two crack me up!!

Rhett also got his Bobcat award at pack meeting that night.  He earned it back in October, but they forgot to give it to him at the November pack meeting and we didn't have a December pack meeting.  So here it is the end of January and he is finally getting it.  Poor kid.  We was excited to finally have it though!

Nerd Herd

I have NO IDEA what this was all about.  For some reason they decided to tuck their shirts into their jammie pants.......and their jammie pants into their socks! They were doing some sort of handshake/belly bump thing! Hilarious!!

 Such FUN and FUNNY little NERDS!!

And here is another group of "nerds!"

Oakley, Lauren and Katie.  These 3 (plus MIA Alicia) have been best friends since 1st grade.  We count these girls as some of our greatest blessings.  They are GREAT girls and Oakley is blessed to be surrounded by them!  They sure are growing up fast though!!!

The In's & Out's of the New Year

We have been busy - even though I don't have any pictures to show for it!

I have been chasing kids lately and occasionally sitting with my grandpa at the hospital.  He was put in the hospital a few weeks ago with a blood infection and lungs full of fluid. He was in ICU up until a few days ago.  I had the opportunity to go and sit with him some days so that he wasn't alone.  It was HARD! It was REALLY HARD to see him with tubes down his throat, and up his nose and all over in both arms.  It was hard to see his swollen hands and feet and his poor lips broke out in cold sores.  It was hard to watch him as he would try to move his tied down arms (they had to tie them down so he wouldn't pull the tube out of his throat) It was SO HARD when he motioned for me to untie him or for me to take the tube out.  It was hard when he would try to mouth words to me around the tube and I would not have a clue what he was saying.  It was all VERY HARD! I am grateful to say though that we are past that point.  Thankfully! We took the kids into see him last night for FHE and it was SO GOOD to see my sweet grandpa looking mostly back to normal.  His lips have healed.  The tubes are mostly gone and he was able to talk to me.  I didn't understand it all, but I could hear his voice and I LOVED it!

Oakley had club volleyball tryouts this past Saturday.  She has been working so hard at volleyball these past 2 weeks to get ready for the tryouts.  She had a great day at tryouts.  I sat and watched.  She got most of her serves over...she bumped (for the most part) really well and she even got a few good spikes.  I was very proud of her.  She came out of tryouts in tears though.  She watched them place her best friend on the #1 team and sent her back to the other side of the court in limbo with several other girls.  She was heartbroke.  We still don't know which team she has been placed on.  We should find out in a few days.  She is happy for her friend.....just bummed that they didn't see in her the same things they saw in Lauren.  That's okay though.  Oakley is a good little ball player and I am not worried about her at all.  We worked to build up her confidence again over the weekend and I think being knocked down a little bit is only going to make her work harder to prove to them that she wants it!  She has also been crazy with clogging.  One of the clogging teammates is traveling to Europe in a couple weeks for an entire month so they are cramming a new dance in before she leaves.  They have to have it learned...with formations...and everything.  They AMAZE me!! The steps they are doing are INCREDIBLE! They learned the 1st part of the dance last week and the 2nd part yesterday.  An entire dance in two weeks is crazy! But they do it and they do it well!!  She is a hard little worker for sure!!

Dallin started basketball again just after the new year.  He loves it.  He team is still undefeated and he is very proud of that.  We are still working to get him to be a little bit more aggressive.  He is just too kind.  He gets that from his momma!:)  He has also started math camp........and dropped out of math camp!  He tested high enough in his science and math portions of his state tests that they offered Science Camp (back before Christmas) and Math camp to Dallin.  He did the science camp and actually enjoyed learning how to blow things up in the microwave or make things explode with vinegar.  He didn't want to do the math camp, but I put him in it anyway hoping that they would teach them how to do some cool math tricks.  They didn't! Not so far anyway.  And he is MISERABLE!! He hates it so much! We decided that it is a waste of his time if he isn't going to get out of it what we were hoping he would, plus he is GREAT help to Ryan with the cows and would rather be home doing that after school anyway.  So we let him drop out. Dallin also tried snowboarding for the first time last week.  The bus was late getting them there and we had to leave early....so we didn't even get to see him try it! What a bummer! He really liked it though.  The school takes them up 3 more times and he is excited to try skiing next time instead of just snowboarding. 

Rhett is back in full force at gymnastics.  He got a gym mat for Christmas and has used and abused it already!  He is STOKED about his 1st pinewood derby that is coming up next week.  I wish his dad were as excited.  We have 2 cars to make and both have to keep an egg safely attached as they fly down the track.  Not a last minute thing to be worked on!  Ryan is kind of a last minute guy though. :)  Rhett also has this little fire inside him and has been wanting to share the gospel with about everyone he knows.  He asks constantly if he can take Mormon.org cards to school to give to people.  I am SO happy he wants to share the gospel.....I am just a little worried that the school won't be so happy about him doing it on their turf. 

Laiklie just had her 1st late over.  Friday night we had SEVERAL little girls her age (and several little boys Rhett's age) over for pizza, games and a movie.  She was in heaven surrounded by her best little buds.  She brings us so much happiness.  I LOVE watching her tease her dad!  She is a light in everyones lives!

The weather has been SOOOO COLD here lately.  We had our 1st snow day yesterday since I think Oakley was in kindergarten. Crazy!! It wasn't even cancelled because of snow.  It was cancelled because it was -25 outside.  That is COLD!! The pipes froze at the rental house so Ryan and I spent yesterday taking care of that.  He is at the rental house again today helping get a new heater put in.  It is too cold of a winter to heat such a big house with only a wood stove.  It will cost "just one big check" :) and we will hopefully be able to afford it on top of everything else we have already put into that house!!

We are 2 weeks into a new year and have started off nicely!  We are blessed in every way!

Final Event of the Year

We tried over and over during the Christmas break to find a time to take the kids to Salt Lake to see the lights at temple square.  We finally decided Monday that it was our last chance.  Monday morning we woke-up to new snow and debated about going and finally about 5:30 that evening headed out.

 We got to temple square just after 9pm.  Just in time for them to lock both visitors centers.  We were bummed!  They did however have the tabernacle open.  We didn't know what was going on inside, but the missionaries were welcoming people in and it was so cold outside so we decided to go in.  Besides that, we wanted the kids to see what the Tabernacle looked like.  It is the building they had conferences in when the church was first brought to Utah and a great piece of church history.  When we got inside I recognized the music INSTANTLY......

 It was a group called Octapella.  They are SERIOUSLY my FAVORITE!! I bought their Christmas CD last year because it was cheap at Seagull book and I was looking for songs for a Christmas lesson. It immediately became my favorite and I have been listening to it this year since before Thanksgiving.  WHO KNEW A FREE OCTAPELLA CONCERT THE SAME NIGHT WE HAPPENED TO BE THERE!!! I was ECSTATIC!!! 

 The kids wanted to sit up in the balcony and the only bench that was open was the very top bench.  We LOVED it!! The view of the tabernacle was incredible from the very top row!

 We seriously felt like we could reach out and touch these gorgeous lights.  They were right above our heads.  What a great opportunity for our kids to get to see such a beautiful building built by those who crossed this land for the love of the Lord and His church!

We left temple square and headed to the hotel about 10pm and  let the kids swim until 11pm when the pool closed.  We then snacked and cuddled in together to watch the ball drop to celebrate the new year.  Even Laiklie stayed awake til 12!

That was about the end of the super fun trip we had planned.....

We woke-up the next morning to a flat tire on the suburban.  We were across the street from a tire center.....but they were closed because of the holiday....OF COURSE!!  So lucky my sister lives about 5 miles away and her, her husband and son Jake came to the rescue.  The kids and I jumped in with her and headed to play at her house while Ryan and Jake headed to get the tire fixed.  They told us it was a 2 hour wait.....by then it was 11am and we knew we needed to head home by 1ish...the same time the tire would be fixed.  So the kids played with cousins instead of the other things we had planned that day.  They were bummed we didn't get to go to the Visitors Center or Church History Museum.  I was bummed we didn't get to go either. :(  We tried to make it better by telling them we would stop at Smith and Edwards.  They were closed.  So they got treats at Maverik and that was how we spent the New Year holiday.  Thank goodness for close cousins or we would have spent it at Wal-Mart!  We had a great time seeing cousins and will have to make another trip to Utah to catch-up on the other things we had planned.