Jared's Art of Rex

This is a drawing of Jared's Leapord Gecko "REX" He has had him for 6 yrs!!

 He drew this picture in about 15 minutes

Rebekah's Art

Art in November 2011 Preschool

Here is a picture Rebekah painted in school in September. She loves anything artsy but I am amazed at how well she paints for a 4 yr old!!! I will put more of the kids art on the blog soon, not just Rebekah's!!!

Ryan and Jeri Cruise for 15 yr Wedding Anniversary

 Ryan Relaxing in the shade:)

 Tyra and Matt

 Ryan and I with Mickey

 St Maarten-View from our room

 Read the sign then look at the piture below. It was so close!!!!

 Dinner on pirate night

 St. Thomas-View from our room

 Tyra and I after Underwater Sea Helmet Dive!!

 Ryan and I after dive

 Guess who would have loved this, yep Jared!!

 Ryan and Matt snorkling at Castaway Cay

 Wow isn't he Handsome!!!!!

 Castaway Cay

                                  
 Our room server made awesome sculptures out of blankets!!!

 Luke getting his surprise when we got home

 Rebekah with her getup

 Jared and there is his iguana

Erik doesn't he look surprised

Well Ryan and I were so lucky to be able to go on a Disney Cruise with my cousin Tyra and her husband Matt. We went to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Disney's Castaway Cay!!!!What a wonderful, stressfree week we had. We are so greatful to Nana and Papa and the Wedikinds for watching our kids so we could take some much needed time for the 2 of us. What an amazing week and I want to do it again really, really, really soon!!!!!!!!!!

Rebekah turns 5!!!!

Wow I can't believe my baby girl is 5. She is in preschool and loves every minute of it. She is a very wonderful artist, loves to color, play with playdough, create amazing things in the kitchen when mom isn't looking and loves to be our little princess. She is such a girly girl but will rough house with dad and the boys! She is a great little sister and an even greater big sister!!! We LOVE you to pieces Bekah Boo!!!

Luke's 3rd Birthday

Well he made it to the big 3. He is such an awseome little man and we love him to pieces. His brothers and sister know just what to do to make him yell and scream at them. They have it down to a science. I can picture Ryan being the same way:P We can't even image our family complete without him. I hope this year brings a potty trained little boy and maybe just a little less yelling:)Love you Lukie!!!

Family Pictures Summer 2011 by Jessica

Well since it has been so long I thought I would give you a little update.
Erik is in 8th grade and taller than his dad:)He is doing well in school and scouts and is making new friends every day. He is excited about starting seminary next year "YIKES" He is also the tallest Deacon in the Ward, Just to give you an idea of his size he is wearing size 12 1/2 shoes. I am thinking I am in real trouble!!!
Jared is in 6th grade and still the jokester in the family, he is struggling with being a 6th grader and trying to turn his homework in on time but is loving being back with his buddies.He has a friend Christian who is so much like Jared and they love being together. He enjoys Art and Drawing and is always making games up on the computer and printing them out for he and Erik to play.He is very creative and I love it.
Rebekah is in Preschool and the family Princess, She will be 5 next week and is so smart. She is such a good big sister and loves to play with Luke. She also loves Art and Drawing and has turned her bedroom door and the empty wall space in the living room her Art gallery. She is very happy and loves to play outside in the dirt with Luke making mud pies and getting wet and dirty but also loves to dress up like a princess and have tea parties in her room with whoever will join her!
Luke is now 3 and all that comes with being "3". He is talking like he is a teenager already and trying to keep track of what he is up too is a full time job:P He loves to play with Rebekah and also loves cars, trucks, tools and MUD.
Ryan is working hard to support our family and is the 2nd counsler in the Bishopric, he loves getting up early to excersice before work and then play like crazy with the kids when he gets home.He is such a great husband and I am so thankful for him.
I am at home running kids around and trying to stay on top of the Laundry for 6 people. Wow I am so lucky to be the mom of such great kids and be a part of raising them in the gospel. They know so much about the scriptures and love to learn about the savior and his teachings. I don't know how it could get any better than that. I love that they teach me how to be patient.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Husband!!!!

Ryan is such a great husband. I am so thankful the Lord put him in my life. He is such a great provider for our family and is always trying to think of more things to do with us. He is great at his church callings and is very good at scripture study and prayer with our family. He is so great to have personal prayers with the kids, which they love.He is kind to his patients and a great DENTIST:)I am so greatful to know that I can depend on him to be there for me and the kids in all we do. He is such a great supporter of anything the kids want to try or do. Thank you Ryan for being such a great friend to me. Have a great Birthday!WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Jared is going to the World Finals for Odyssey of the Mind

Jared is in the back holding the sign CHICKEN OF THE SEA


Daddy trying to keep Bekah and Luke HAPPY!!!
Ring a round the rosy always helps

Jared has been working with a team of 6 kids on Odyssey of the Mind and placed 3rd at Regionals and won the OMER award, then went onto State and tied for 1st place. They have worked very hard on this competition and are now on their way to the World Finals at Michigan State the end of May. They are such a great group of kids and they have worked so hard with their set and script. Jared holds up a sign behind the scenes that says Chicken of the Sea and makes a chicken noise and the whole audience laughs. He is also a cracker that runs out at the end to taste the tuna. We are so proud of Jared for this accomplishement. WOW is the only thing I can say to the time he and I have put into getting him there for practices.

Heres a little background about OM.

Odyssey of the Mind,

Often called OM (although the official acronym is OotM, since "OM" has been otherwise copyrighted), is a creative problem-solving competition involving students from kindergarten through college. Team members work together at length to solve a predefined problem (the Long Term problem); and present their solution to the problem at a competition. They must also generate spontaneous answers to a problem they have not seen before; this is the spontaneous competition.

Problem 5: Food Court

Divisions I, II, III & IV
The problem is to create and present a humorous performance where a food item is accused of being unhealthy and must defend itself among its food peers. All characters are food items and will include "the accused," "the accuser," a jury that is not portrayed by team members, and additional team-created characters. The jury will reveal its decision to the audience.

Spontaneous problems

The Spontaneous problems are the part of the competition that encourage quick, off-the-top-of-your-head thinking. While up all team members may enter the spontaneous room, only five team members can actually participate in spontaneous.[6] Spontaneous problems fall into three categories:

Verbal problems involve responses to a question, statement, or picture; team members' responses are scored on wittiness and creativity (With common responses receiving one point and creative or humorous responses receiving greater amounts, depending on the problem.). Usually, team members have one or two minutes to think of responses and then two or three minutes to give the responses. The order of responses is often random or sequential. Recent problems have also involved a limit to the total number of responses. (Each team member is given a set of colored cards and must turn in a card when they give a response. When they are out of cards, they are out of chances to respond.)
Verbal hands-on problems are similar to verbal problems, but they usually involve manipulating a physical object in some way. This may include using an object as a prop, or taking clay or aluminum foil and making characters, which then participate in a story made up by the team members. Scoring is based on team work and creativity of responses.
Hands-on problems rely almost entirely on the manipulation of physical objects; these problems usually take longer than verbal problems, and team members may sometimes only be able to communicate non-verbally. Scoring is based on team work, creativity, and problem-specific goals.
Although an Odyssey team can consist of up to seven members, only five can participate in the Spontaneous problem. Team members that do not participate must either leave the competition room or stay in the room without communicating with the rest of the team in any way. The team members usually decide in advance who will participate in the different types of Spontaneous problems; after the judge announces which of the three types a team will be given, the other teammates will leave or stay as the case may be.