Awards, singing, and a Mural

 

 Kara had a voice recital on Tuesday, May 28th.  She did fantastic.  My camera will only let me take a video for one minute and the song was 4 minutes, so here is the beginning.   Kara just started taking voice lessons in April and is loving it.

In Kara's honor's Geography class she was the top student out of 40.  She has a 109% in the class.  She always does so amazing at anything relating to history.  Mr. Flake, Kara's favorite teacher likes to give out awards and he gave awards to his three highest students in the class.  Kara was able to receive it with some of her friends, Rachel and Eliza Moore who were second and third in her class.

Here is her certificate  that she received, stating that she got a 100% on every assignment in class.  I think that is just super duper.  Kara is smart, but she also works super hard on everything she does.  She is so self motivated, you never have to get after her about her grades or homework.  I love it!!!

Here are just two of her big reports she had to do for her classes and she got 100% on them.  She has a 4.0 again.  She makes it look so easy.

Spencer painted a mural with his friend Anne.  It was in the city of Sigatoka, which is quite a distance from there home.  They also had an assistant that helped them who was super nice.  

Doesn't it look great!  WOW!  I didn't know Spencer could paint this well.

Bachelor party, company, and FUN!

We had a fun,  busy weekend.   Coby had a bachelor's party for his friend Dan Jones.  He is getting married this Friday. He is such a fine young man and it has been great to have him at our home for the last ten or more years!

My niece Jessica and her husband John spent the night this weekend too.  They were on there way to Vernal, Utah following their honeymoon.  It was nice to be able to visit with them.  They are such an adorable couple!

Our family went and saw the movie Battleship.  It is definitely Matt's kind of movie.  I liked it more than I thought I would. 


Colton started his first day of work.  And he LOVED it.   He is feeling so much better after getting his wisdom teeth out.  I am so happy that is done and over with. 

I gave a lesson for the Beehives.  I have the cutest girls ever.    My lesson was on Supporting Family Members and I learned a thing or two.  I love getting hand outs on Sugardoodle.  It makes being creative so EASY!!!!


Kara has only 3 more days of school.  I will no longer have anymore kids in middle school.  It is hard to believe!   I am excited for the summer.  I love having more lazy days and spending time with my kids.  We have a lot of fun things planned too. 

We had a barbecue Monday night.  Both my brothers families were out of town so it was just our family.  Coby and Colleen came over.  It was so fun to get to know Colleen better.  She is such a fun, cute girl.   We had a good time visiting with them.  

 

 

 

 

Spencer has almost been in Fiji for a month now and he is loving it.   He has been building a well, and teaching literacy to children in need there.  It has been great hearing about his experiences there.

My new nephew, Abe

I have a brand new nephew--------Introducing, Abraham William Owens, born on Saturday, May  19th, 2012.  He weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and he was 20 inches long.  My sister Katie had to have a C-section after being in labor for too long.  

I am so excited to meet him next month when I am in Seattle!!!  

Congratulations Katie and Tyler.  He is so precious!  Katie you will be the best mommy!!!

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad

I tried this for dinner last  night and it was a hit!!!!   I used the fat free mayonnaise and I didn't add the cilantro.  Everyone loved it too and it was super easy,  who can't  love that.  Yummy!!! 

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad
recipe adapted from Lauren's Latest
serves 4 for dinner salads


salad:
2 cups shredded chicken
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can sweet yellow corn (or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed)
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
4 green onions, sliced
1 head ice berg lettuce, washed and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 ripe avocados, diced
1 cup crushed tortilla chips


dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 tbsp ranch seasoning
1 tbsp taco seasoning


Directions:In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients together, excluding the tortilla chips.  
In a small bowl stir all dressing ingredients together.  Pour dressing over salad, starting with about half of the dressing.   Toss to combine, then gradually add more dressing until it is dressed to your liking.  Top with tortilla chips.  Enjoy!

Mission papers, root canals, MRI's, wisdom teeth and a new job

 Colton met with the bishop at the end of March to start his mission papers.  We  kind of figured we would have the mission papers all  filled out in a couple of weeks.  Incidentally, from the time Coby started his mission papers until the time we got his call it had only been 6 weeks total.    So, I kind of expected the same, but unfortunately, it hasn't gone as smoothly with Colton.  He had his extended health exam on the 2nd of April and we have hit one road block after another since. 

The specialists have done a lot of tests   The biggest test he took was one that they injected dye throughout his body and interestingly enough, this test cost a whopping $8 thousand.  Wow!!!! Isn't there a cheaper way to find out what the problem is; apparently not.   Since Matt has a new job, we also have new insurance and I have learned that it isn't as good.  We have a $2500 deductible per person, per calendar year and then we still have our 20%. Ouch!!!!  If this was the only test I think I could be happy , but it isn't. We have been really spoiled with our last insurance, but we just didn't realize it until it was too late.  We have had several more additional tests and many doctors appointments, but we still are waiting.  We had thought that he would be able to turn his mission papers in by now, but now we will still be waiting and possibly be waiting  till August before he can even turn them in.  I just want him to be healthy!  But what we do know is that his kidneys aren't functioning at their best and we know he has many infections throughout his body.

Yesterday I took Colton in to get a few root canals.  When he was in the 8th grade he ran into a dumpster which resulted in three new teeth and  a lot  of stitches on his face.  We have had this tooth  repaired twice, but the dentist said that  he needed a root canal. before he would sign his mission papers. They weren't able to finish his root canal yesterday because the infection in the teeth was so bad and it was draining so much that he wanted to wait 2 more weeks to finish it.  I was expecting Colton to be in a ton of pain after this, but he wasn't, which was very nice!

Today I took Colton to get his wisdom teeth out and he was sure a trooper  going in.  I loaded up on tons of popsicles,  yogurt, pudding, jello etc and got a lot of movies at Red box.  He was in and out of the appointment in under twenty minutes.  Boy was that fast.  As I was walking out of  the office room there before he was completely sedated,  he wanted to give me his  last message if something were to happen.  He let me know he loved me, but that he loved Kara the most.   I thought that was hilarious and so true. Kara is all of her brother's favorite!  

Getting the wisdom teeth out was a lot more painful then the root canals.  He has been in a lot of pain, but he has handled it very well and he has caught up on a lot of movies.  And the bad  news we have learned is that our dental insurance only pays out $2k a year before you are responsible for the rest.  Guess, what I learned,  root canals are extremely expensive.   WOW!!!!!   Fun times!!!! 

 

But one good thing is Colton got a new job.  He won't be taking the bus anymore to his job in Orem at UVU catering.  He now as a job at Chick-Fil-a!!!  He works at the Chick-fil-a at the District!!!   And this is a win-win, because he gets free food and discounts.  Yum, we all love Chick-fil-a

 

It Had to Be You-----Kara's solo

Here is the one and only picture i took of choir acting as the choir president of 70+ students.  It was a busy job for her this whole year.  She had a lot of responsibility and she did a fabulous job. The only reason I mention this is because Colton came to the concert with me.  Matt was out of town,  Coby had a meeting in Provo, Spencer was in Fiji etc.  Anyways Colton was bugged  that he didn't know his sister was the choir president until he looked at the program.  Apparently, I need to do a better job communicating what everyone is doing in our family.    I also tried to record her solo that she did with Tom and hopefully you will be able to hear it. If not you can copy the link and then go on YouTube to watch it. 

http://youtu.be/N0HQkNiRdbE

End of the school year.....

 Thursday, May  17th was my last day of working with the children at the school I teach for the 2011-2012 school year.  It was an emotional day.  I have grown to love all of my students and it is so sad to know that next year I won't be working with all of them.  Most of my kids wrote me some cute little notes thanking me.   Here are just a few of them for me to treasure. 

Above are some of the teachers and staff I have the pleasure to associate with. Our Principal is leaving this year.  I am truly going to miss his calm demeanor, kind spirit, and smile he gives all.  I truly admire him and how he goes about his life.  Two year ago he got in a horrific car accident that left him in a coma for months.  There was a HUGE concern that he might not ever wake up from his coma or that he would have brain damage.  He rose above all odds and 6 months after the accident he came back to school a better man.    It was truly a miracle. 

I thought it was so cute that this student gave me a game to work on.

A very bad picture of some of the kids I work with, but the best I have to remember them since I can't take personal pictures of the students.

I am going to miss each student and I hope I get to work with some of them again next year.  We are a Title One school so there is a chance we might lose our funding.  Working with the students is such a rewarding job that has blessed my life.  I also work with some amazing ladies.  It is amazing how close we have come and how many of them feel like a sweet sister to me!!!!!!