Night at the Beach

Gingerbread House

It has been quite some time since I have posted and I thought the Owsley annual gingerbread house contest was a great time to jump back in. Last night was lost of fun. This year we had all different types of houses both residential and commercial.

Pat and Kari's house was party in the front....
and a manger in the back.




Tia and Charolette's igloo
The football field
Paige and Sarah's classic house

Mimi's..not bad for someone in a walker...sorry momMaggie and Emily's Starbucks


The firehouse by the boys



In-n-out complete with palm trees and a crowded drive thru.

All of the finish products together.

Thanks everyone for a great time.

8th grade field trip

2 weeks ago I had the wonderful privilege of going on an 8th grade field trip with Emily to the Midway Aircraft Carrier. Big yellow school buses with no seat belts, teachers that threaten you with everything if you are not 100% perfect (I missed my calling) and lots of kids that have changed boy or girl friends by the time that the day is over. Boy I do not miss those days. I did have fun spending time with Emily and I was the coolest dad because I knew so much about the Midway, Emily told me that the boys in our group never listen to anyone and that they were hanging on every word that I said. It may have also been the fact that I let them touch every knob and button that we went past, about 12,981,936... I counted. Sorry not a lot of pictures battery died.

Guess Who?

I have one sister that I loved to play outside with.
I was born in1897.
I lived in Kansas.
On my first airplane ride we fly over the Santa Monica Pier.
I was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic ocean.










I am Amelia Earhart or at least Sarah dressed up as her. This was a great project that they did in her class. They had to research someone famous and then do an oral report.

Weekend with KC & Emily

A couple of weeks ago we went up to LA and spent the weekend with KC, Emily and the gang. We went to Hollywood and walked along Sunset blvd and saw the walk of fame. The kids got to put their hands in petri dishes, I mean hand prints in front of Chinese Theater.




We then went down to the Santa Monica Pier and had some fun.

General Conference

Saturday we had our annual general conference activity with the youth in the ward. Every year in April we all get together and watch conference together and eat a lot. It is a great time and I enjoy the opportunity to spend time with the kids.

A note on the pictures...remember don't judge, every listens in their own way.

Spring Break Part 2

Monday was our last full day in Tennessee and we all thought it would be a great idea to go to the Smokey Mountains and go on a hike. We were going to go on a fairly easy hike, only about 2.5 miles round trip, to visit a waterfall. When we got up in the morning and started to get ready to go it started to snow lightly, it was not even staying on the ground but to be safe we made sure that everyone had good hats, jackets and gloves. Matt was not able to go due to work so I drove one car and the Paige and Kari piloted the other one. It was about an hour drive to get to Galveston and right before we got they we had to go by Dollywood. This town must have about 25 miniature golf courses it was crazy. As we finally headed up the mountain it started to snow again and when we got to the national park the road turned into a one-way single lane road on a steep mountain side. At this point let me remind you that Kari and Paige are in the car behind me and both are afraid of heights. Kari was driving so close to the side of the side of the hill that she might have bumped it a few times. We finally arrived at the hiking trail everyone filed out of the car and started breathing again.

The walk to the falls was not too bad, we had to cross a couple of little steams and just as we start to get to the falls it started to snow again. The falls were great you could walk behind them and around to the other side it was worth the hike in. We took some pictures and had a great time. The unfortunate part is that by now many of kids have very wet shoes and it has started to snow pretty hard. We turn and start to head down the hill…that's right down hill in a snow storm with wet, cold and frozen shoes. Yes this was the perfect storm. It did not take too long for people to start slipping, sliding and falling on their behind. Kari was carrying Kate in a backpack and when she finally fell Kate had had enough and lost it. When we finally got to the bottom butts were sore, ankles twisted and many many cold and numb feet and fingers. At this point Paige and Kari were sure the kids were going to have frostbite and were definitely bad mothers. But soon we all defrosted in the warmth of the cars and there we no scary cliffs on the way down. It was however an amazing beautiful hike and drive in the snow of the Smokey Mountains an experience I hope the kids remember. Sometimes the craziest adventures turn out to be out greatest memories.