Rainwater Regatta

Jonah's pack meeting this month was dedicated to the rainwater regatta. Instead of the usual wooden boats that are worked on individually at home, the leaders came up with a really ingenious idea to do instead. The boys were able to carve their own boats out of styrofoam, color a sail to be stuck on by their choice of one or two sticks and pick from a variety of mascots (ranging from trees to cheetahs to cockroaches) to lead their boat to victory. Amazingly, siblings were allowed to also make and race their own boats, so Sariah and Katie John happily carved and colored.

Jonah says,"The rainwater regatta was SO fun because we got to carve our boats and that I won!"

WELL, actually we had two winners in our family! Katie John took the silver and Jonah took the gold in best boat design. Jonah didn't make the finals in the races, but did miles better than last year so we are super proud.

Too Cute Not to Post

Dear Missionary Jesse,

We've sent you a package... it looks like this!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day Monday started out early with a huge pancake breakfast complete with homegrown bacon, blueberry waffles and very delicious strawberries. John and my brothers James & David went to see Star Trek while a few of us went off to Pleasant Grove Cemetery to scrub headstones of Grandpa's buried there. Christina & Justin got there first and had already started scrubbing Justin's Grandpa's headstone. Katie John & Sariah helped with Grandpa Kermit's headstone with much enthusiasm.

With the pool freshly filled, Christina & Justin invited everyone over for a swim. All the kids had a blast and the "big boys" had a good game of chicken going on with Anna and Julie. Sariah kicked around the pool testing her knee out. She seemed to be doing fine which gave her the green light to start swim lessons the next day.

The final activity of the day was a potluck wienie roast at Uncle James and Carie's house. The kids enjoyed roasting hotdogs over an open fire as well as eating chips and more tub-o-roni. Immediately after dinner marshmallows were made available for roasting. What a nice end to a very busy weekend!!

Congrats to Shaun & Katie!

Saturday May 23rd was a very special day as my brother got married to his sweetheart Katie! We are wishing them all the best in the coming days and years!

Other good wedding photos....

Christina and I awaiting the happy couple.

Awe! Look how pretty she looks and of course my brother looks all handsome!

Sariah and Katie John smile as they eat ice cream sundaes at the reception.

Sariah spends most of the reception here, as we worry how bad her leg injury is. (unfortunate trampoline accident has Sariah getting her leg landed on) Good thing she is such a happy girl and was a real trooper.

Shaun and Katie on their way up to the balcony for the boquet toss!

Sticker Shock

As we were driving to school the other day Sariah tells me that she found the "price tag" on our car. I said, "What are you talking about, Does it have numbers and letters?" (I was thinking that she was talking about the license plate). Her reply was simply, "No, just numbers." After a few more questions from me, and a few more questions from her about the price of our van, I still couldn't figure out what she was talking about so I just let the subject drop.

Later that day I found out what she was talking about, apparently our van costs 2009. John came in from work and asked why our registration sticker was on the ground behind the van. I had no clue until I remembered my conversation with Sariah earlier. She had peeled it off thinking we had just forgotten to take off the price tag when we bought the car. What a funny, funny girl.

Happy 5th Birthday Sariah!!

With the long awaited day finally here, Sariah is just tickled to have all her friends over to "sing happy birthday to me". The jumpy house was the big hit, all the kid took turns bouncing away for at least 30 minutes. After a bit of bouncing the kids all came in and ate a lunch of hotdogs and chips. After lunch each guest decorated their very own cupcake to take home. The kids were super excited and actually made very little mess during the whole process.
Directly after that we fullfilled Sariah's expectations with a loud singing of Happy Birthday. She was just giddy with happiness with all the attention and the knowledge of yummy cake and ice cream coming. Before I knew it the presents were opened and parents were picking up their kids. Happy Birthday Sariah!

Jonah the Bear

Jonah has been working really hard these last few months to pass off all his wolf requirements so that he could advance to Bear Cubs on his birthday. This last pack meeting he received: Wolf Badge, 2 silver arrow points, 4 progression beads and several beltloops: chess, bowling, bicycling, table tenis, soccer, fishing and basketball. We are really proud of the above and beyond effort Jonah is putting forth in his scouting adventure.

Temple Day

My BFF Christy and I took a 1/2 day off from kids, schedules and basic life for a few hours of nice peaceful calm. Here we are posing for a picture in front of the Sacramento Temple.

Sariah's Birthday Song

Grandma Myrick sings Twinkle Twinkle little star to Sariah for her 5th birthday! (with the help of Keira)

Earth Day!

Today Sariah and I had a garden project. We planted some flowers in the front of the house in honor of Earth Day! We put in yellow and orange marigolds, alyssum and also pulled some weeds. Unfortunately, the sun was very hot and Sariah quit on me very quickly. She prefered the "shade" of indoors. I finished up without her, swept the walk and went inside myself. What good green project for Earth Day!

*side note: these are NOT the flowers we planted today. These looked nicer for the photo shoot though, so that's what you get to look at!

To Jonah

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Love,
Grandma Myrick

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Jonah turns NINE years old!! I know, we can't believe it either! Apparently time passes while you're not paying attention.

The long awaited day has finally arrived, Jonah is king for the day, crown and all! The day started with a special request for a family favorite, rice patties, for breakfast along with pizza for lunch and finally burritos (without tomatoes) for dinner. All week we prepared for his party, gift bags, game prep, guest lists and errand running. It was finally time to greet guests and have a great time!
As the guests arrived we shuffled them out to the backyard where Jonah entertained them for a few minutes while everyone got there. Our first activity was a relay race balancing and transfering a chalk egg from spoon to spoon. Jonah was tickled to be on the winning team twice. The next activity was a bit more active. Each child partnered up and tossed water balloons back and forth. Before he knew it, Jonah was the target of all the extra water balloons! He ran away fast, but he was plastered still the same. His dad threw a few at him and amazingly he caught one! In the end Jonah was quite wet and his friends celebrated their success!

After a very yummy pizza lunch it was time for cake. Jonah blew out the candles and ate his cake with gusto. I could tell he was having a wonderful time. As the kids ate their cake, I chatted with one of the moms. She told me it was so nice to see the kids having fun at such an 'old fashioned' party. I was amazed she thought our party was old fashioned!

With time running short and parents starting to arrive we whizzed through presents. Of course the unpredictable makes for the best memories, as you see Jonah here peeking out from gift tissue that was dumped on his head shortly after all the gifts were opened!

Efforts to be Acknowleged!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Jonah is officially done with his Wolf! He will be receiving his Wolf badge as well as another silver arrow point and 6 belt loops at the next pack meeting. As soon as we get his Bear book, we'll get started! We are really proud of our Cub Scout!

Happy Easter

This year with early morning church, our easter egg hunt happened a little later than usual. But that didn't hinder their spirits at all. The kids had a really great time, even Keira who got the hang of hunting eggs very quickly. With very few 'hey she's got more than me's" the egg hunt was successful. Katie John, Keira, Jonah and Sariah pose for a quick picture with their candy bounty.