Bitter Sweet

Today is the kids last day of school. It has been a busy week:

FIELD DAYS,

AWARD CEREMONIES,

WATER DAYS,

FIELD TRIP,

READ-A-THON...

I am ready for the upcoming break. Yesterday was my last day at Elk Meadows and I spent it making SnoCones for the children during the Field Day. Although I am looking forward to having all the kids in the same school, I am sad to be leaving. I have enjoyed being on PTA. There is a group of women that I have gotten to work with and I am really going to miss seeing them. My friend Wendy has been President for the last year and half and I am in awe of her commitment and dedication. Then there is Cyndi, who was not planning to be President next year, but because of the change of schools, has taken over for me. If you look up PTA Mom in a dictionary it would show a picture of Cyndi. She loves every aspect of volunteering in the school and does it all so well. I learned a lot watching both of these women. One of my favorite responsibilities in PTA has been going into the children's classrooms once of twice a month and drew "blue tickets" and handed out prizes on Fridays. It was a neat opportunity to observe the teachers and see the children's excitement. I wish I had a photo of all of us, but I rarely brought my camera with me when I did my PTA stuff.

Last Couple of Days

Tuesday Zack and Belle both had field trips to the Hogle Zoo. Instead of volunteering to chaperon, Steve and I decided to make a date of it. We went to the zoo and walked around. We looked around for our kids. We found Zack and watched the Bird Show with him and his group. That was very cool. We watched different bird swoop down over our heads. The best part was the BEAUTIFUL bald eagle we saw at the end. They truly are a magnificent bird. After the show we left Zack with his chaperon and wen t to look for Belle, but never actually found her. We did see some neat animals: Rhinos, orangutan, Zebra, Bears, Giraffes, Meerkats, different primates...

Once we were done at the zoo, Steve and I left to go and have lunch. We found a TGIFridays and gt and outside table. As we sat there and talked, I realized how much this setting reminded me of lunches Steve and I would have when we were first dating and Steve was living in PB. It was such a pleasant lunch and probably was the best part of our date. I just love hanging out with Steve and talking about nothing specific, but sharing our thoughts.

Wednesday was an exciting day for Belle. She has had one of her front teeth that just would not fall out. We had seen the dentist a few months ago and had told us to come back if it did not fall out. So we returned to the dentist's office at 10:00am and he pulled out that stubborn front tooth. Hopefully the adult tooth will fall into place soon. After getting that tooth pulled we visited Steve at work to let Belle show off her hole. Once we left KMart I drove Belle to a nail shop and we both got PEDICURES. She was so excited. I told her she could choose the the color so we could have matching nails. She chose BLUE...HOLY COW!!! I don't think I have EVER had blue nails. We even had little pink flowers painted on there too. It was a fun thing to do with her and I think she enjoyed the Mommy and Daughter time.

FATHER'S DAY 2007

Just thought I would fill you in on what we did for Father's Day.
Steve was off for Father's Day weekend. We spent Saturday going to Soccer games, running errands and watching the kids swim in the pool. Then Sunday morning the children presented Steve with the school made cards. I had gave him a camping stove and had made a cute scrapbook project (of course). We had breakfast and began to get ready for church. While everyone ran around doing hair, finding church shoes...I packed up a picnic lunch. And left it in the fridge. We then left for church. At church the kids made daddy another card and got to sing in sacrament meeting. Once we got home we changed clothes and drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We took a little walk through the woods to a little stream where we proceeded to eat the picnic lunch I had made.

We hung out at the stream for a while. I read my book and took the occasional picture. The kids explored the stream and made their own dams. Steve set up a log that kids could walk on to cross over a deeper part of the stream. Then the children began to throw rocks in the water to watch the splash. Then Steve got a little splashed, then again, and again and before I knew there was a full fledged splash war going on Daddy vs. all the kids. It was fun to sit there and watch them. Once we got home, I surprised Steve with his Father's Day dinner....

CEREAL!!!!

I lined up 8 boxes of different cereals and a gallon of milk and we ALL had cereal for dinner. I think Steve was happy with my attempt to make his Fathers Day a special Day that is about him and things that he loves. This is the "TRADING CARDS" I made for Steve. I found this project in Paper Crafts magazine and thought it would be perfect for Steve. I made 1 card for each person in the family with their picture and statistics. Like I am listen as Team Manager the kids are listed as 1st born, 2nd born instead of 1st base and 2nd base. Then there was their birth dates, weights and heights. I even included Daisy in the group. Then they are all stored in the little metal band aid like box.

Zack's 11th Birthday

Last weekend celebrated Zack's 11th birthday. We had planned a "BEACH PARTY" themed celebration, but unfortunately the weather did not get the memo and we barely made it to 70 degrees. This did not deter the group of boys Zack invited.

Steve set up the volleyball net in the yard and this gave the boys a couple of other games to play in case the pool was too chilly for them. We had a did manage to play a couple of volleyball games and the badminton set was also used...a couple of times as swords, but eventually for the purpose they were made for.
The boys did make it into the pool. They swam, splashed, and cannonballed.

Once the boys had played so hard they had worked up an appetite, Steve fired up the grill. We had HOT DOGS, HAMBURGERS, CHIPS and SODA POP. Which the 8 boys managed to devour.

THE BOYS:
back-Austin, Braden, and Aerik

front- Bradin, Jake, Zack and Ethan

Next came the time to open presents. It became quite evident that Zack's friend know him pretty darn well. Each boy had brought a LEGO product as a gift. Zack was in LEGO HEAVEN!!! Grandma and Grandpa Sansevero supplied Zack with BYU paraphernalia. He has talked about going to BYU someday, so this seemed quite appropriate. He also got a new bike helmet which he has needed for sometime.

The biggest hit of the party was a book that Grandma and Grandpa Sansevero gave him titled "THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS" The boys climbed up on the swing set and gathered around Zack as he read aloud different sections in the book. It was cute to watch the listen so intently.

Steve Yellowstone Trip

Steve took his brother, who had not been backpacking since they were children and their way of transporting their gear at that time was tying their gear together and would haul it into the woods.

They shortened their original plan from 3 nights in the back country of Yellowstone to 2 and then spent 1 night in a campground of Teton National Park so that they could see more of each park.

THINGS SEEN AT YELLOWSTONE/TETON:
31 elk antlers
5 black bears
3 grizzlies
Many elk
Lots of bison
A few deer
Marmots
2 eagles
A pair of wolves at a den with pups

They even came upon a grizzly cub off-trail on Buffalo Plateau. I think their main focus at that point was making sure that the mama grizzly, whenever she was, knew that they were no threat; instead of taking photos.

One of the most exciting things that they got to see was a mama black bear grazing and then Steve and Scott got to watch her two tiny cubs run to her and then scamper way up a tall pine tree. I can't even imagine how excited and slightly nerve racking that might have been.

They had a bison run along side the truck as they drove and it made some aggressive gestures, shortly after Scott saw it and called it a buffalo. Scott learned to NEVER call a bison a buffalo again.

They had another bison follow them and proceeded to stare them down as they walked by. There were lots of wildflowers which made for some great shots of the scenery. It was a great trip that the Brothers Weber will always remember!

ARROW of LIGHT

Last night was a big night for Zachary. He has been a cub scout since he turned eight years old. And now that he has turned 11 years old he has progressed from a CUB SCOUT to a BOY SCOUT. In the cub scout organization once the 1o year old scout completes certain certain achievements he can receive his ARROW of LIGHT.

Zack and his friend Bradin both turn 11 this month, so their Arrow of Light ceremony was last night. The theme was Indiana Jones. Our friend, Ryan, dressed up and Indy and entered the room as the theme song played. He had both boys come to the front and had them open clues that would lead them to some feathers of different colors. Indy asked the boys what their favorite badges were that they had earned as Webelos that year. Zack's favorite was his NATURALIST pin because he, "likes studying bugs and nature". Each color represented different character traits.

ORANGE.....courage

YELLOW.....wisdom

RED........love

WHITE......faith

GREEN......self-control
PURPLE.....justice
BLUE.......hope

Then it was discussed that these are the character traits that all scouts should have. Once they read of the meaning of each feather, the WEBELOS leader, who happened to be Steve, and the primary president, Stacey; stood and talked about each boy. I was so proud of Zachary as I heard the things that were said about him. Steve talked about how cub scouts isn't so much about camping ad building fires, but about building good character traits, which both boys have done and have shown their character by working so diligently on achieving their Arrows of Light. and Once the kind words were concluded, Indy tried to find the arrows. The whole skit was quite entertaining.

My favorite part of the ceremony was having Zack pin the mother's pin on me. I came to the pack meeting with all of the pins that Zack has pinned on me since he became a cub scout. Kind of corny...I just couldn't help myself. Then, he had to give me a kiss on the cheek. Can you believe that Zack is 11 years old. He is becoming such a young man.

My 35th Birthday

Steve asked a few weeks before my birthday what I wanted to do. His parents would be here for the weekend before it and his brother, Scott, was coming the day after it. I had said I would be happy with anything. And then he asked if I would like to have a parent and he mentioned bowling. So he printed out some invitations and delivered them to a few of our friends (left-right: Derek and Stacey, Wendy and Ken, Sandra, Me and Steve, Ryan and Dayna) right and planned the whole thing for Tuesday, May 29 at the All-Star Lanes in Sandy.

He was even thoughtful enough not to just get some plain birthday cake from Albertson's, but ordered a cake from Cold Stone with cake batter and Heath Bar...YUMMERS!!!!!! He stashed in a cooler and even brought a large knife and paper plates to serve up the delicacy.

The men enjoyed seeing just how fast they could huck the bowling ball down the lane. Derek even took a running start to send his ball down the lane. I think the fastest we saw was about 23 MPH...it is definitely not a very accurate way to play, but quite entertaining. It was a fun way to spend my birthday. They are all great people and I a so blessed to have such great people in my life.