First soccer game!

Savanna was so excited to play soccer this year for the first time. She kept begging to go and her practices kept getting cancelled due to bad weather. So her little team ended up having one practice before their first game. Talk about on the job training! So, here she is with her team, the Blue Jays.

She kept telling us she was nervous, so I guess the fingers in the mouth are a sign of the nerves: She turned out to be a pretty awesome defender, so she was put in front of the goal for two quarters. Then she ended up scoring 2 of their 3 goals. Go Vannie!! Hopefully she'll take after Brooke on the soccer field.

This is once of Vannie's best friends from school.

Prom 2009

We can't believe it's prom time again! That means the school year's almost over. Goodness, it's gone by too fast again. Brooke was on the prom committee this year and had a great time planning and decorating for prom. It turned out really nice. Here Brooke is waiting for her date to arrive:

It's hard to find modest prom dresses out here in the east, so we found Brooke's dress on the internet and she looked so beautiful! Brooke's friend, Randy, came down from State College to be her date. He's a great guy and they had a really nice time.Here at our school they have a Grand March before the prom in the auditorium to a standing room only crowd. Everyone is announced and they walk out on stage, down the steps and up the aisles. It's a nice tradition.Brooke and her two gal pals, Joanna and Caitlyn.

These are the girls who work at the Ice Cream Station in town.

After prom Brooke and Randy and a bunch of friends came back to our house and we made a fire. They played on the trampoline and roasted marshmallows and laughed and laughed. I could hear them from in the house. Kelsey and Jacob hung out with them, too. Everyone left at 1a.m. I just love having kids at the house and I love the sound of laughter. It makes me smile.

The Temple

This was a day that we, as parents, had long awaited - going to the temple with our first child. It was a quiet day at the temple and we felt so at peace.

For those of you who are not familiar with the temple, I would like to offer a bit of insight. Prior to going on a mission, a young man or woman goes to the temple to take part in special ordinances. These are ordinances much like baptism and confirmation. The temple we are closest to is the Washington, DC Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is one of nearly 200 temples throughout the world. Temples differ from regular Church houses of worship. They are unique in purpose and like temples of old, are not used for regular worship, but for special purposes. They are set apart from the world in their holiness and peace.

For the most part, temples are all about the eternal nature of man and our earthly and eternal family relationships. As part of God’s eternal family, parents are partners with God in fulfilling His purposes for His children. This makes the family the most important institution on earth and for eternity.

A man and woman who come to the House of the Lord to be married are joined not only by authority of the law of the land until death, but also, through the eternal priesthood of God which binds them for eternity. This is very important to us.

Prior to the dedication of a temple, the Church invites the public to tour the building and enjoy its beauty and serenity. But when it is dedicated it becomes so sacred to us that only members of the Church in good standing enter.

This is to preserve the holiness of the temple and keep it free from the negative influences of the world. We so appreciate the peace we feel when we attend the temple.

Guys and Dolls!

A couple of weeks ago, three of the kids were in our school's annual musical "Guys and Dolls". That musical was one I was not familiar with and when we tried to watch the DVD of the Frank Sinatra version, we all fell asleep. So, we were worried that it was going to be boring. Boy, were we wrong! It was awesome and all the kids involved did a great job! We thoroughly enjoyed it. Out of our three kids, Jake had the biggest parts and he did tons of dancing which cracked us up but he did a great job. We love to see the kids in these kinds of things just as much as their sporting events.

Brooke has been in "The Music Man", "The Sound of Music", and she and Kelsey were in "Beauty and the Beast" last year. What a great thing for kids to be a part of. We have a wonderful music program in our school and are grateful the kids can be a part of it along with all of their other activities.

Well, today is the 22nd of April and what a funny day it's been. It any given time that I would look out the window the scene was different. It went from fog, to sun, to blizzard, to rain, to sun, to hail, to light snow and back again. I actually thought it was a very interesting day, even though we're ready for some steady sunshine and warmth.

I think that kind of reflects the way my life has been lately. Most mornings I wake up feeling a little foggy to begin with but then I being to feel pretty happy and content with a sunny outlook, but then BAM! the blizzard hits and who knows what's going to happen next. Just when I feel like I have things under control, I realize I'm not the one in control.

We have been getting Seth ready to go to Brazil. We've just about gotten everything bought or collected. We still need to go to Pittsburgh to get his Typhoid and Yellow Fever shots because they don't do it around here. We need to go get a nice missionary photo taken at Walmart, although he's balking at that. And we need a few odds and ends. We took Seth through the Washington D.C. Temple (which I'll be posting about soon) and it was wonderful. So, for the most part, things have been just swell.

However, about a month ago, Seth hit a patch of ice on the road on his way to work in the morning and flipped his (Grandpa Phil's) truck on it's side. He wasn't hurt, but the truck was and the fire trucks came, etc. Well, since Brooke had wrecked our suburban in November, we decided not to turn it in to insurance and have Seth fix the truck the best he could. So, he did that, put a new window in, new tail light..... Got it looking pretty good except for a few scrapes along the side.

Fast forward to last Thursday. He was late getting home from work and when he walked in I could see it on his face. Yep, you got it. He wrecked the truck again. This time he wasn't looking and ran into the side of someone's car after stopping at a stop sign. No getting out of this one. Aarrgh! Teenage drivers! I'm trying to remember that I once was one. That's really hard when I know my insurance is going to skyrocket this time. Yay. The maddening thing is Seth seemed to be a really good driver and had a perfect record. We are thoroughly being tested this last month. But, he's getting to Brazil if I have to row him over by rowboat! I wonder if it's going to be easier to see him get on that plane now. Hmmm.

Making chocolate-covered pretzels

Brooke

Kelsey

Savanna

Karly and Kayla

This pretzel was picked the best.

They turned out great!

Hello world! This is Kelsey! It has been forever since my mom has blogged so I thought I would give you a little reassurance that we are all still alive. Mom and Gideon are at Jake's basketball tournament an hour away right now. So Seth, Brooke, Savanna, and I are all home. Our cousins Kayla and Karly are also here for Easter weekend. We just got done with a fun project, making chocolate-covered pretzels. They turned out pretty well! We'll be dying eggs later tonight. Hmm, that should be interesting with two hyper little girls and no mom, but at least Gideon isn't here! :) But anyway, this is how they turned out!

Ok, so I guess I went on haitus from the computer for the past month. Sometimes I feel that way about the computer - I just don't want to mess with it. I'm not sure why. I just feel this resistance to all this modern technology at times. But, I'm feeling ready to enter the waters again. So, I guess I need to add an update on our family:

Steve is doing the same old for the feed mill, but he has been gearing up to coach Gideon's Little League team. This is the first time Steve has gotten to coach one of the kids' teams. He has always been swamped with farm work in the spring. Since we are not growing produce on a large scale anymore, he'll have the time and is very excited.

I have finished up subbing in Savanna's Pre-K class and have started subbing in the school again. I spent a day in the high school office and really enjoyed that and a day with an autistic boy and enjoyed that as well. I've really been learning a lot about the schools and what goes on there. Our church has entered the Daily American (local newpaper) fitness challenge for the next 12 weeks and it has given us a reason to exercize and lose weight. We are trying to win the pastor's cup. I lost 3 pounds last week and 3 pounds this week, so hopefully I can keep going. My favorite exercize is Namaste Yoga on FitTV.

Seth turned 19 and has been busy working for a ski resort making snow but he just got laid off so he's trying to get another job for the next couple of months. We've also been doing a LOT of paperwork to get him ready for his mission. We got his passport back already and we have to go into Pittsburgh to get his yellow fever and typhoid shots. We looked up Rio de Janeiro on Google Earth and it sure looks like a HUGE, lively, beautiful city. During fast and testimony meeting today, he leaned over and said "In three months I'll be listening to testimonies in Portuguese and won't understand a thing."

Brooke has had an exciting month of basketball. They won all their District 5 playoff games to make it to the championship game last thursday. They ended up losing by 2 in double OT and it was a heartbreaker, but the best game we've seen in a very long time. They play a state playoff game on Saturday. So, that was on Thursday, and then on Friday her dodgeball team won a big high school dodgeball tourney, so all was right with the world (for a moment). The team was Brooke, her best friend and teammate Caitlyn, and three boys. The two girls were the last ones standing. Girls Rock!

Kelsey has also been playing basketball in a community league and they lost their playoff game last night by 2 - also a good game. Her regular season started practices this past week and games start soon. She always seems to be doing homework. She has a lot of it this year, but she always does well.

Jacob is also starting his basketball season. The gyms are all being used in the evenings this week, so his team has to go in from 6-8a.m. this week for practice. Out of all the kids, Jacob has the hardest time getting up, so it'll be an interesting week.

Gideon just finished up his basketball season and he's fun to watch. It's a good thing we love basketball. He's a crazy kid, though. Today at church, he ripped a hole in the knee of his khakis and then went outside after church to play (without asking of course) and fell in the mud and came in covered in mud. We had to throw is pants in the garbage and we're working on his shirt. (I'm shaking my head with a huge sigh. Sometimes that's all I can do about Gideon).

Savanna is a trooper about all these basketball games. We get home past her bedtime, but she LOVES school and always gets up great. She can't wait for kindergarten and asks if she can go next week all the time.

This seems like a Christmas letter or something, but it's what we've been doing lately, so there ya go. There aren't too many dull moments around here. And as my family laughs and oohs and ahhs in the background as I type this because they are watching Funniest Home Videos, I feel like I am missing something so I better go for now.....Bye