March Mayhem

Savannah's Baptism

Our cutest little niece, Savannah, turned 8 in February, so she got to be baptized on March 4th. It became a huge family event with everyone making the trip to Price to attend. With so many people coming, we needed more space, so Mom rented an AirBnB right across the street from Joe and Kym's house where everyone could stay. It was a great option and helped everyone feel less cramped. 

Savannah asked me to give the talk on baptism. I was honored that she would want me to do that. She is so sweet, and I am glad they live close enough that I know her well. She loves little stuffed animals, so I knew I had to do the talk about the "Three Bears of Baptism." It is a cute little analogy that relates the covenants we make at baptism to bears. 1. Bear the Name of Jesus Christ, 2. Bear one another's burdens, 3. Bear Testimony. I bought three little stuffed bears and tied on a little tag with a ribbon. They turned out really cute, and I hope it was memorable for Savannah.

After the baptism, we ate a yummy lunch prepared by Kym and then played games in the gym. While we were playing bump, Andrew accidentally hit me in the head with a basketball while I was shooting. It knocked my glasses off, knocked me to the floor, and very nearly knocked me out, but after taking it easy for a few minutes, I was ok. It was definitely scary though. 

That night, we went to the Price swimming pool with everyone. In between swimming, we did a gender reveal for Hannah and Jake's new baby. Ally made a cake and cupcakes with the surprise color inside. Hannah and Jake both thought it was a girl, but it turns out they are having another BOY! Yay for boys. It was cute to celebrate them and their new baby with the whole family. 

During the trip, we also played a lot of games, enjoyed chatting with everyone, and had too much yummy food. We went to Sacrament meeting with them on Sunday morning and then headed home. There was a big snow storm that morning, so the driving was slow and treacherous through the canyon, but thankfully, everyone made it home safely. 

Junior Achievement (JA in a Day)

This year our school participated in a program called Junior Achievement. It is a program set up by the private sector through donations from various companies with the purpose to teach children about finances and entrepreneurship. It is usually a 5 week program with one class per week, but our school chose to do it all in one day to not disrupt too much school. All of the program materials were donated, but we had to find volunteers to teach the classes. My friend, Kristin Palmer, was in charge, but as a member of the PTA, it was my job to help as well. It was so difficult to get the needed volunteers. Kristin worked tirelessly on the event, and I helped as much as I could by distributing the kits and working with the school aides who were also assigned to help teach because we couldn't get enough help. 

I was assigned to teach Hyrum's 4th grade class. They said it would probably take about 2 hours to prepare all 5 of the lessons, but it took me well over 10 hours to feel comfortable to teach it. I probably went a little overboard with my preparation, but I wasn't about to give boring, chaotic lessons. The 4th grade curriculum focused on entrepreneurship, so we learned vocabulary words, played games, thought up and designed new products, watched advertisements, and talked about famous Utah entrepreneurs. I thought the day went really well, and the kids seemed to have a great time. I was completely exhausted at the end of the day, and I think the kids were too. Other teachers and classes were less enthusiastic about the program, so we will see if things change next year. Our administration didn't realize how much effort it would take to pull this off, so they gave us a small pay bonus at the end of the year to help cover the extra hours we put in.

Utah History Program

Of all the end-of-year school programs my kids have been a part of, the 4th grade one is by far my favorite. The 4th grade year is focused on Utah History, and the teachers have planned and presented an amazing 4th grade program for many years. The songs, costumes, and staging are all fantastic, and Hyrum has been looking forward to it ever since Andrew was in it 4 years ago. 

When the time finally came, Hyrum was chosen to be a railroad worker. He and his good friend, Ridel, got to carry the train as they sang about "the wedding of the rails" when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met in Promontory, Utah and drove in the golden spike. He was so cute in his train conductor uniform. The program starts with the time of dinosaurs, and then goes through Native Americans, Catholic monks, fur trappers and traders, Pioneers, the Railroad, the counties of Utah, and the Utah state song, which symbolizes modern-day Utah.

Never Ending Winter

This winter was one for the ages. It started snowing in October and never seemed to stop. We got more snow this year than any year in recorded history. The ski resort in Alta got over 900 inches of snow and had more snow than anywhere else in the continental U.S. There was so much snow that the whole state of Utah was under a flood watch at the end of April and beginning of May. Parts of the Weber River spilled over its banks and caused quite a lot of damage and avalanches closed parts of Provo canyon and other areas.

To be prepared for flooding, the city of Provo asked residents to help fill sandbags. Since we are really close to the river, we were a bit nervous about flooding problems, so we pitched in and spent a Saturday helping the sandbagging effort. Thankfully, the dams and levees on the Provo River held up great, and there was no flooding in our area. Probably the hardest part of the long winter for me was playground duty in the snow every morning. It was so cold and so wet all the time that I got tired of it really fast. Week after week, we kept waiting for Spring to arrive. By the end of April we were starting to finally get some nice days.