Spring miscellany

Ginger: Saturday, March 26

Winnie looks at Ginger, our Djungarian sunfire hamster that she got to pick out and name. We had found the cage at D.I. earlier and promised that we could get a family pet after we got back from our trip to Moab. We had assumed the pet store would have only male hamsters, so Winnie thought she would be naming it Gyllenhall Chungus Grover. After picking out a female, she settled on the name Ginger.

The entire family watching Ginger check out her new home in the playroom upstairs.

Hawk: Saturday, March 26

Seth holding up a dead hawk that Rebekah had found in the yard while mowing the lawn.

April Fool's: Thursday, March 31

Andrea posing with the April Fool's joke we set up in the music room closet. Seth and I had found the head at D.I. months before and held onto it for just such an opportunity. On April Fool's Eve, we set it on a mic stand with some accessories and placed it in the closet so Rebekah could chance upon it the next morning while getting ready for school. She reported that Dylan (as he is named) did his job and scared her witless. She then moved Dylan to the top of the stairs so he could get her sisters.

More Ginger: Sunday, April 3

Ginger climbs on Seth while he sits in the couch in the great room. Seth wanted to say hi to our pet after getting home from our General Conference trip with Winnie that same day.

Nap time: Tuesday, April 5

Ana takes a nap on the couch in the great room. She hadn't been feeling well and needed some extra rest.

Fatherly love: Wednesday, April 6

Seth hugs Rebekah. Rebekah is not a touchy-feely person and will generally only allow side hugs or a kiss to the top of her head. Seth decided he needed a full-on hug. Rebekah (good naturedly) resisted.

Changing the oil: Saturday, April 9

Rebekah tries to loosen the oil filter on the Lumina to replace it while Seth teaches her how to change the oil. Several weeks later, the head gasket on the Lumina blew, and we ended up replacing the Lumina with a new (used) 2006 Dodge Stratus.

Bishopric released: Sunday, April 10

Klair Hall (1st counselor), Gary Shenton (bishop) and Seth (2nd counselor) pose after being released as the Parri Ward bishopric. A few weeks later, Seth was called to be a boys Primary activity leader.

Easter dinner: Sunday, April 10

Grandma Scott lets the girls look at her stuffed elephant she kept as a child. Easter wasn't for another week, but people had other plans then, so we celebrated the Scott Easter with dinner and an egg hunt a week early.

Winnie finding eggs on the front porch at Grandma's.

Ana freezing in the cold wind at Grandma's.

Miriam and Grandma by the side porch looking for eggs.

T-shirt quilt: Wednesday, April 13

Andrea made this T-shirt quilt for the Bonneville and Hillcrest band fundraiser. We got T-shirts from thrift stores, neighbors and band, I pieced the top together, and Frances Merrill quilted it before I finished it and sent it to the silent auction. It ended up raising $250 for the band.

More nap time: Wednesday, April 13

Rebekah takes a siesta in her bed.

Thank you: Saturday, April 16

At the combined youth activity following his release from the bishopric, the kids signed a poster of appreciation.

Lizzie: Saturday, April 16

Ana gets some love from Grandpa Dennis' new dog Lizzie in their basement. As a young pup, Lizzie enjoyed chewing on Ana's hoodie strings.

Bible: Tuesday, April 19

While reading the Old Testament together as a family, Ana uses a four-translation copy to read from.

Dice roller: Wednesday, April 20

Seth's dice rolling contraption for Dungeons and Dragons. Made from PVC, zip ties, a poker chip, nails, scrap wood and other sundries.

Learning to tie: Saturday, April 23

Seth teaches Miriam how to tie a tie. Miriam asked Seth for appropriate ties to wear to her mock trial for GATE. Miriam was prosecuting John Wilkes Booth for treason.

Learner's permit: Saturday, April 23

Ana drives the family to the Paramount theater to watch the newest Fantastic Beasts movie. She had just received her learner's permit after completing her driving instruction.

Water poem: Thursday, April 28

Miriam's name on display as a "special merit" winner for the area water poetry contest.

Miriam's poem. All entries were on display at the Idaho Falls Public Library.

GATE night: Thursday, April 28

Miriam and other members of her group talk about their toy invention. It was a fidget toy connected to a book so you can fidget while you read.

Miriam's group's bridge. She was the architect. The following day (her last GATE class), they tested it to see how much weight it would hold before it broke. Her bridge took 3rd place out of five teams.

Teacher appreciation: Friday, April 29

The Resource Room door decorated for teacher appreciation week. One of the PTO moms arranged for every teacher's door to be decorated. I volunteered the student council to do this door. They decided what to do, then helped put it together.

Mrs. Jenkins' door. This one I decorated by myself. Each student in her class got to put a handprint on the door.

Cutting trees: Saturday, April 30

The girls get ready to direct one of the pine trees we cut down in the front yard. We had four dead trees that we took out that day.

Star Valley date: Friday, May 6

Seth poses in front of a sign on the way to Star Valley. Seth had the day off, so I made a reservation for us to do an endowment session there.

Couple selfie before our session.

Hiking back from Intermittent Spring. At certain times of the year, the water will stop and then come gushing down before stopping again. Because of the runoff, the stream didn't ever stop running, but it certainly got bigger and louder from time to time. 

Monster truck cake: Sunday, May 8

The monster truck cake Ana made for Easton's birthday. Their family ended up being sick that day, so instead of eating it for dessert after Sunday dinner at Grandma Scott's house, we ate dinner without them and then dropped off leftovers and Easton's cake at their house.

Cute Ana: Sunday, May 8

Ana wearing her onesie jammies and crocheting her temperature blanket.

Doggy playdate: Tuesday, May 10

Lizzie plays with Peach in our back yard. Or maybe Peach tolerates Lizzie while she tries to play with her. Ana borrowed her grandparents' puppy for a pet show-and-tell activity. Seth reassured Ana that Lizzie wouldn't/couldn't escape the back yard, but then we later realized that she went missing. We started searching up and down the road worrying that we had lost Grandpa Dennis' dog. Seth tracked her down. She was sitting on the back porch at his parents' house. Lizzie had gone home.

More tree cutting: Saturday, May 14

Seth and Andrea pose next to the two dead poplars we cut down in our front yard. Seth cut them precisely so they fell down across the road. We then spent the next few hours cleaning up the mess.

Conchas: Sunday, May 15

Ana and the conchas she made to go with our Mexican dinner. We made carne asada.and Mexican rice, so Ana asked if she could make a Mexican dessert to go with it. And boy, did she deliver.

Baby bunny: Monday, May 16

Miriam holds a baby bunny we caught in the front yard.

Winnie with the bunny. Winnie chased the bunny to the front yard, and it tried to hide behind one of our barrel planters. Instead, it just cornered itself so we were able to pick it up. Miriam relocated it to the opposite end of Kathleen Drive.

Cleaning Ginger's cage: Wednesday, May 18

Winnie cleans out Ginger's cage and gets her new bedding and food.

Date selfie: Friday, May 20

Andrea and Seth pose for a selfie at the Egyptian Coffee House in downtown Idaho Falls. I was looking for events that evening so we'd have something to do for our date, and I read that a local musician would be performing at the house. We bought Italian sodas and listened to her 2-hour set. The next day, Seth emailed the owner and asked if he could come play sometime. He did it once and is scheduled to go two more times.

Cemeteries: Saturday, May 28

Winnie places a stone on Grandma and Grandpa Wirkus' headstone at the Lincoln Cemetery. Since the weather in Island Park was bad enough that we didn't go fishing on opening weekend, we instead went to the Ammon, Iona and Lincoln cemeteries to remember our ancestors with plans to go to the Archer, Annis and Ririe cemeteries later.

Elementary school end-of-the-year events

4th grade rockets: Monday, May 23

Winnie didn't catch hers either time (I think the smaller rockets that the 4th graders have are harder to catch), but she had a grand time launching and chasing after her rocket.

Watching her classmates' rockets launch and waiting in line for her turn.

All four of these kids did this little excited hoppy thing after placing their rockets on the launcher.

Liftoff!

Chasing.

6th grade track meet: Monday, May 23

After watching Winnie's two launches and running inside to see Ana perform with the ballroom team for the Fairview students (see earlier post), I drove over to Thunder Stadium at Bonneville High School, saw that no one was there, rechecked the flyer and then drove to Thunder RIDGE Stadium at Thunder Ridge High School (seriously ... how is Thunder Stadium still the name of the stadium at BHS when we have a Thunder Ridge in the same district?!?) to see Miriam run the 200 and participate in the softball throw. She didn't place in either event, but I brimmed with pride because (1) she did her best and (2) a mother told me that Miriam had been cheering on all her classmates and checking in on them to make sure they were doing well. I responded to her compliment by telling her that Miriam has a big heart, and she readily agreed.

Running the 200.

Sitting with her classmates to receive instructions for the softball throw.

Throwing the ball.

6th grade rockets: Thursday, May 26

Miriam caught her rocket after both launches and had a grand time with the whole event.

Miriam smiles at the 4th graders who had been calling out her name from behind the backstop.

Liftoff!

Patting the head of her friend's baby sister.

Catching after her second launch.

Giving Winnie a hug and a kiss before heading back with her classmates. I'm going to miss having those two in the same school together.

AR assembly and field day: Thursday, June 2

I got to see Winnie and Miriam (and a bunch of other kids) acknowledged during the Accelerated Reading assembly, then volunteered at field day.

Winnie in the 200 point club.

Miriam in the 1300 point club.

Miriam headed back to sit with her class after receiving a candy bar for earning the most AR points in her classs.

Winnie sitting her her class during the assembly.

Miriam hula hooping at the field day obstacle course. I helped with nine square during the 5th and 6th grade portion of field day, but someone else took over for the 3rd and 4th grade portion, so I helped a little with kickball and got plates of whipped cream ready for the kids to smash in the principal's face because the school met their fundraising goal.

Winnie running through a hula hoop during the obstacle course.

Field day selfie after someone took over the nine square.

Miriam and her classmates play tug-of-war against the other 6th grade class. The other class ended up winning.

Miriam and her friends getting sprayed by the fire truck.

Winnie getting sprayed.

Ringing the bell: Friday, June 3

After seven years of being a Falcon, Miriam graduated from Fairview and got a turn to ring the bell in front of the school. Then she made sure to say goodbye and hug all her former teachers (some have moved on, so she didn't get to hug them) and get every single staff member she could find to sign her yearbook.

Miriam rings the bell.

Miriam gives fives to all the students lining the path for the 6th graders.

Miriam hugs Mrs Jenkins as she goes down the line.

Miriam hugs her teacher, Ms. Moore. Miriam had hoped to get Miss Johnson for 6th grade (everyone wants Miss Johnson because she's loads of fun), but I assured her that she would love Ms. Moore just as much. And I was right. I had confidence in Ms. Moore because Rebekah also had her for 6th grade, and she loved her.

Miriam posing with several of her classmates after the bell ringing.