Field Day

Field Day - McKenna and Brooklynn both qualified for the finals. Brooklynn came in at 4th place for 1st grade and McKenna came in 5th place for 4th grade. 

 

 

Awards Assembly

This year I was a total loser of a parent and didn't go to the awards assembly. Most of the awards are for the graduating 6th graders and it is really long and I feel like I live at the school in May and I really had to finish a project for McKenna's birthday so I didn't go. There. I said it. So both girls came home disappointed that I hadn't come to see them get their awards. Fortunately, I have awesome friends who took pictures for me. See, it's just like I was there!

Both McKenna and Brooklynn received the "Hall of Fame Reading Award" and Brooklynn got an award for the "Gold Medal Mile" club for walking laps at recess.

 

 

Congratulations girls and I promise, next year I will be there no matter what!

January at a Glance

January has been a pretty interesting month to SAY. THE. LEAST! We started off with tons of this stuff:

 

 

Which meant the kids spent LOTS of time outside:

This one has spent lots of time obsessing over all things Harry Potter: 

Watching the movies, over and over and over...

Lauren had a choir concert at school:

She is smack dab in the middle, turned sideways with a long, blonde ponytail with her arms folded.

Which was probably the best one we've been to in three years.

Sorry the quality stinks but it was my phone and I was in the nosebleed section.

We checked out a new store in town (Scheels) and got silly with Abe Lincoln and a Bear but broke all the children's hearts when we refused to stand in line for over an hour, in the middle of the store, to ride the ferris wheel. Yes, we are mean like that.

 

 

 

 

 

We squeezed in a birthday party for this little cowgirl:

 More on that at another time.

Lauren was student of the day for her Jr. High:

 She will be so mad I posted this. It's a random drawing so she feels like there isn't any thing special about it. However, her name was on the marquee so I did what any good mom would do, I took video and posted it!

Sorry Lauren. :0)

We also spent a LOT of time in the evenings and nearly every weekend watching this:

 

 

And enjoyed some victories:

 

 

And no sport would be complete without a few of these:

 

 

 

Lots of free time at the tournaments led to this little accident:

 

(See Previous Post)

And now this guy is struggling with some health problems too...

more on that another day.

Whew! We made it through the month. And those were just the things I actually took pictures of. 

Here's to hoping February is a little calmer...it hasn't been looking to good so far though.

And the award goes to...

The girls each received at least one award. Brooklynn received her Hall of Fame Reading certificate for finishing three reading posters. Each poster represents 35 books in 10 different genre's. You only have to finish one poster a year to receive your certificate but you can do as many as you'd like. This year Brooklynn finished three. Because there are so many kids (137 this year) they just have the kids stand up rather than have them all come up.

McKenna also received her H.O.F. certificate for finishing two posters. For her age they have to read 24 books, over 75 pages and in 12 different genre's. We struggled getting her to read this year for some reason so we were very proud of her achievements.

Lauren also received her H.O.F. certificate and also received a plaque for completing the Hall of Fame all seven years at Hillcrest. In 6th grade they have to read 24 books, over 125 pages I think in 14 different genre's. She also received the President's Outstanding Academic Achievement Award which is maintaining 80% and above the whole year.  She also received the Hillcrest Talon's Feather award again this year which has several requirements that focus on Respect, Responsibility and Service. You have to memorize a bunch of things, give 5 hours of service, write an essay, participate in extra curricular activities, etc. Since she has earned this all three years in the upper grades, she also got a plaque for that. We are very proud of her for all her accomplishments. It has been a good year!

 Talon's Feather Recipients

 President's Outstanding Academic Achievement Recipients

 Hall of Fame Award

 Hall of Fame Award - All 7 years

Pin, plaque's and certificate

Life to Eagle Trail

 Tyler recently had a Court of Honor where he received his Life Rank and 7 more merit badges. He actually had his board of review way back in September for his rank advancement but with some changes to our scouting program, he just received it this month. He only has two more required merit badges to finish up for his Eagle requirements and is so close to getting both of those. Just a couple of small details. All he has left is to figure out his project and get it done. We are hoping to have it all wrapped up this summer. We are proud of how much he has done and how close he is to finishing! All I can say, is that while I fully support Scouting and think it is a wonderful program, I am SO glad I only have one boy!

You might notice that Tyler has grown a bit. Chris and I aren't exactly short. He has been growing like a weed the past 6 months. And, if you ask him, he'll tell you he is taller than me. I'm not conceding yet!

Golden Apple Award

Each year, all the PTA's in Utah nominate an exceptional teacher, a volunteer and two outstanding students from each school for the "Golden Apple" Award. This year, Lauren's teacher nominated her. Last week we attended the district "Golden Apple Gala" so she could receive her award. Lauren is really helpful with the special needs students in her class. She loves working with them and advocating for them. The kids really love Lauren too. We are grateful for the opportunities she has to serve and are very proud of her.Lauren receiving her award and listening to the nice letter her teacher wrote about her.

(L-R) Outstanding Teacher*, Principal, Lauren and Outstanding Volunteer
(The other boy who was nominated had to leave early)

*My Oregon relatives may recognize our outstanding teacher, Joy Edwards, she is from Gladstone. She is an AWESOME teacher at our school. Her brother Jason and his wife live down here too and he started a hot dog restaurant, J Dawgs, a few years ago that is really popular.

A few days before the event we had to submit a picture for the slideshow of the recipients. We didn't have a nice/current picture of Lauren so we called in our resident expert photographer, Pene, to save the day. She took some beautiful pictures of Lauren. Thanks Pene!