A report and tournament for Porter….

Porter has been working for days on his 4th grade history report.  He chose to do it on "Nessie" the Flathead Lake monster.  This was such a huge deal for all the 4th graders at the school.  Porter was asked to write a one page report and to make a three dimensional diorama of the flathead lake and monster.  It is one of those projects that us as parents despise, but once it's all over, it's fabulous!  I was again, so impressed with Porter's creativity and excitement.  I thought the whole thing turned out great! Us parents were able to go to the school and see all the projects that the parents, oops, I mean the kids, had worked on, there were some pretty amazing things.  Everyone involved really went above and beyond.








After school Porter headed to his first ever TKD tournament. It was only people that go to his TKD school, so it was less intimidating and a perfect first time experience. It took FOREVER for him to get to his turn and then to do the sparring, but it was worth it. He took first place for his belt! I love seeing how committed Porter is to getting his black belt.

 

Carlee's Cheer Banquet….

Cheer season is over for Carlee for a while and at the end of the year they host a cheer banquet for the girls and the families.  We had fun dinner and then the coaches got up and talked about their teams and handed out awards.  Carlee's coaches Kendra and Allie were so great this year, they really did a great job of handling all the girls.  Kendra and Allie gave Carlee the #1Teammate Award.  They said that she was always so kind and a friend to everyone.  They also talked about how she came to every practice and participated as much as she could even though she had a broken leg.  I was so proud of Carlee and totally not surprised that she received that award, she is such a sweet girl.  After awards we took pics of the girls together as a team and they all said their good-byes.  It was a great night and way to end a fun season!

Easter….

Easter was a little different this year as Porter was a little more involved this year (if you know what I mean, wink wink).  We had our Easter egg hunt after church because our church is so early this year,  which I love because it starts the day how it should, focused on the Savior, and when we got home from church there were so many eggs and fun baskets for the girls!  It is always so fun to see the joy in the girls as they are running around finding eggs and fun surprises.  After we found all of the eggs and went through baskets, it was time to color some eggs!  We just haven't had the time before Easter, so Andy was sure that we did it today!  That evening Gramps and Nana came over with more Easter treats for the kids  It was a great day and the kids all looked so cute, especially the girls in their new dresses!

Anna's Sealing….

This weekend was so wonderful!  We had the opportunity to head down to Idaho Falls and to Rexburg, Idaho to be with our friends as their family was sealed to their daughter Anna.  We left on Friday night and went to IF and of course had to have dinner at Olive Garden, it is Carlee's heaven, actually we all love it.  Then after dinner we went to the mall and did some fun shopping at Old Navy and some other stores.  Of course we could not be at the hotel without getting in some swim time, so we did that too, actually I forgot my swimming suit!  The kids had a blast in the pool and of course Carlee had to do some high V action.

The sealing was the next morning so we got up and ready and went to Rexburg and met everyone at a church.  The kids were staying there and getting babysat while us adults went to the temple for the sealing.  It was so cool to be there with the Christensen family and other friends for this special event.  Little Anna was so adorable with her personality and her pretty dress.  She handled the whole thing so well and she was just so happy to be there.  It was also so touching to hear Nichole tell the story of the entire adoption process, from deciding to be foster parents, to waiting years to have a final adoption.

It is so amazing to think about how our Heavenly Father truly has a plan for us and things just have a way of working themselves out.  It is so clear that Anna belongs right where she is, she even looks like Nichole, Micah, and Dallin!  They are just the cutest family and I am so happy for them and their promise of eternity.

My home at Warren….

On of the cool things about the kids school is that you can go and eat with the kids anytime you want.  Porter really has no interest in Andy and I coming to eat with him, he gets too embarrassed, but the girls love it, Tessa's friends really love it.  The kids really love any parent that comes to the school, they just swarm around us and beg for attention.  It is fun to see your kids play and to see who they play with.  Tessa has this cute friend names Broc, they really play together all the time!  And Carlee has some great girls friends herself!  And the kids love to show us their cool tricks on the equipment.

Fishin' with Gramps….

My Dad called and asked if I wanted to go fishing with him this week, I was so excited!  So I decided to take Porter out of school and take him with us.  It was such a pretty day, especially for April, we really lucked out.  We decided that we would float the Missouri River, which really is Gramps home away from home.  I felt a little out of place at the out in because I clearly was the only woman there out of all of the men that were putting their boats in the river that morning.  It was fun to see my Dad in his element and to hear him talk to Porter and teach him what to do.  We had a great time floating and we didn't catch a darn thing, just a Goldfish cracker or two.  When we got to the takeout there were no other people there, so my Dad started the couple mile walk back to the truck.  After my Dad had left, Porter decided to go with him, so he ran and caught up to him.  I know that walking back and hitch hiking is all part of the fishing thing, but it still makes me nervous…..but they made it back to me alive thanks to a truck picking them up and giving them a ride.  It was such a great day and I loved spending time with my Pa and Porter.