Grandpa's beard

Grandpa Dennis has been growing out his beard for a long time. But when the time came for him to shave it, he let us have a little fun.

Seth starting the variations.

Grandma Susan and Seth braiding the sides. (Seth braids very well, by the way. That's what happens when you have four daughters, I guess.)

Seth's different creations. I say he missed his calling in life. Instead of being a software engineer, he should be a facial hair sculptor.

Using the last of the facial hair for photo ops.

The last of it.

Winnie with a pile of hair.

A beard hair toupee.

Mud

When Grandma Scott tells you you can play with the hose if you keep it by the apple tree but you bend to the request of your little sister and put it by the dirt pile, madness ensues. (The following images were shot through the sliding glass door.)

It's almost impossible to tell, but Winnie is actually wearing leggings. I promise they're there under the mud.

Winnie was kind enough to share her mud with Miriam's backside.

Mud swimming.

Which, of course, is going to result in all the participants being hosed off.

Miriam, having less mud, endured the hosing well.

Winnie started out like this:

And ended up like this:

"How?" you ask? Because of this:

I regret nothing.

Memorial Day weekend

As usual, we traveled north for opening weekend at Henry's Lake. We had some of the usual: cold weather, swarms of bugs, 2,000+ people at church, Big Springs. We also had some new experiences: Coffeepot campground, the Wildes' cabin, Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin to ourselves.

The weather was pretty nice on Saturday. But the fish were busy elsewhere. The only thing caught by our family was a fish that flopped up onto the rocks that Bekah netted.

Seth holding Bekah's fish while Winnie, Tav, Analee and Rebekah observe.

Four girls and four fishing poles.

Saturday afternoon was spent at the Wildes' cabin on the north side of Henry's.

Triplet cousins playing a game. Emma, Winnie, Kelsey.

Aunt Anne supervising Analee, Bekah, Tav and Mack as they play Munchkin and Cooper watches.

On Sunday, we attended church as part of a congregation of 2,006 (as reported by the bishop at the end of sacrament meeting) and then divided and conquered. Aunt Anne took Mack, Tav, Bekah and Ana to Coffeepot campground on a hike while Seth and I took Cooper, Miriam and Winnie to Big Springs.

This kid cracks me up.

Cooper, Miriam and Winnie holding hands and headed to the bridge.

Miriam and Cooper on the Big Springs nature walk.

On Monday, we tried fishing again. Aunt Anne, Uncle Jim and Grandpa Hendricks took Mack, Tav, Bekah and Ana on the boat. When we got to the lake, the weather was incredible. Then the clouds and wind came, and the womenfolk and children ended up taking refuge at the Wilde cabin while the menfolk stayed and caught nothing.

Miriam and her pet worm on the shore of Henry's.

Winnie got her pants wet and opted to take them off. I don't now how she could stand being in her skivvies. I was cold. Lest you think I'm an abusive/negligent parent, she borrowed some of her cousin's pants shortly after this picture.

Because of the Wildes' cabin and people bringing up trailers, it was just our little family in Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin. But the whole troop got together for meals, and thus we enjoyed together time and delicious food. It more than made up for the lack of fish.

To see more pictures, start here.

End of school goings-on

I swear, 90 percent of the school activities occur in the month of May. It made for a busy month, but we enjoyed it and retained most of our sanity.

Bekah and Ana both got to go on a field trip for conflict managers. They swam at the Aquatic Center and ate lunch at Kate Curly Park.

Bekah had a 5th grade bike ride that I got to go on with her. I failed to photograph it, though. We rode our bikes from Ucon Elementary to Iona Square. The weather was perfect, lunch was provided, and we both got free T-shirts out of it. Good times.

Analee's class went to the Paramount Theater to watch a movie and then to a park to eat sack lunches and play.

Then we had the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade rockets. Bekah's first launch was a success.

Blast off! 

Kids who catch their rockets before they hit the ground earn bragging rights. Two less fortunate kids watch Bekah catch her through the fence where they are retrieving theirs.

Victory!

The second launch wasn't quite as successful.

Marshall, Conor and Rebekah get ready to push the buttons.

Rather than going out into the field, Rebekah's rocket shot back behind the launch pad. There was no way to catch her rocket as it fell onto the school roof. (You can see the rocket about in the middle of the frame.)

The custodian got the rocket off the roof, so it all ended well.

While I attended a field trip with Rebekah to Roberts Pond to go fishing, Grandpa Scott attended reading day in kindergarten.

Miriam's face and name appeared on the screen along with the total number of AR points she earned her first year of school.

Mrs. Schuster and Miriam in the kindergarten classroom. Mrs. Schuster is an amazing teacher and a saint. We're lucky to have her in our ward. (And I'm lucky to get to work with her in Young Women.)

Miriam next to her coat hook in the hall. She lost that front tooth shortly before the end of school. I love cute tooth gaps!

Rebekah and Conor getting their pole and bait from the Fish and Game officer.

What most of the field trip consisted of. Although other kids caught perch, Bekah and Conor didn't get a single bite.

We also got to see the girls in the end-of-the-year AR/AM assembly.

Analee earned over 200 AR points this year. 

Rebekah earned over 500.

As the school year ended, I breathed a sigh of relief. After all, three field trips in one week is a lot for me. And then baseball started with three practices and six games a week. No time for slowing down!

To see more end-of-school activity pictures, start here.

Analee is 9

For a first time in years, Analee's birthday didn't fall during Memorial Day weekend. We actually had her birthday party on her birthday! (She also had to go to school on her birthday.)

First we had dinner.

Pizza, chips, veggie tray, fruit, etc. It was too cold and rainy to eat outside on her birthday.

Then we bashed in a piñata.

Rather than our usual paper mache, we used a Corn Flakes box wrapped in paper. It proved quite sturdy. Analee got to do the final bashing after everyone else got a turn.

Followed by birthday cake.

Analee holding her breath so she doesn't inadvertently blow out the candles before we finish singing. She chose a German chocolate upside-down cake this year.

And presents!

Grandpa Dennis fooled her by saying their present was very fragile. It was $20 rubberbanded to a rock and wrapped in tin foil.

Unwrapping a pop can robot kit from her parents. Analee received Beados from the Wildes; water guns and a coloring book from the Scotts; a ribbon bookmark from Aunt Jessica; a book of optical puzzles, a coloring book and the movie Holes from Grandma and Grandpa Scott; and a couple of Minecraft-related books and an origami book from her parents.

I think it's safe to say that everyone had a fun time at the birthday party.

Analee is a fun and studious girl. She is constantly reading or "reading" audio books on her Kindle (her current favorite is The Kane Chronicles). She plays the piano and baseball and loves to help. Her third grade teacher told me countless times that she relied on Analee for help in the classroom and referred to her as a "gem." She also loves to help Grandma or her mom in the kitchen.

Analee loves playing with her girl friends and invites them over to play or watch a movie from time to time.

A current passion is origami. Since we gave her the book on her birthday, she has made more than 100 origami items. She even made 30ish trinket boxes for her teacher so she could give one to each student on the last day of school.

Analee with a confetti head and balloon mouth.

To see more birthday pictures, start here.

Miriam's dance recital

Just like our other girls, Miriam started dance class during the fall of kindergarten. Unlike our other girls, she took dance from a lady near our home instead of a studio in town.

As a dance parent, I was able to observe lots of differences between the two. Although each has its strengths and weaknesses, I'm kicking myself over not having the older girls do this program over the other. I've loved every aspect of Miriam's dance this year (including the laid-back attitude about how to style the girls' hair for the recital.)

Back on May 11 and 12, Miriam had her first-ever dance rehearsal and recital at Rocky Mountain Middle School. She loved every minute of them.

(At the rehearsal, they wore the same costume to perform all three of their songs.)

Dancing with a "cane" (PVC painted black) during her piano mix.

Joining hands with the other girls in her group during the princess mix. (Notice how tall Miriam is compared to the other girls.)

Not sure what she's doing here, but I think it's adorable.

Dancing with a scarf during the princess mix.

Singing along with the "Once Upon a December" part of the princess mix.

Her teacher dancing with her during the partner part of the princess mix. 

Still singing. Gosh, this kid is cute.

Miriam in her piano mix dress before the recital.

Miriam in her princess mix dress. The girls could have any Disney princess dress they wanted; Miri chose Rapunzel.

Curtsying in her red balloon mix dress.

Each girl was given lights to pin/sew to her red dress that would show up when they dimmed the lights during the red balloon number. Instead of having random swirls and designs, we wrote a message.

Performing at the recital.

The girls were supposed to join hands and extend them into the air. I told Miri she could only go as high as her neighbors' arms reached. That prevented shoulders from getting dislocated.

So many princesses! (Miriam's eyes are visible behind the right-most Cinderella's shoulder.)

To see more pictures from the rehearsal/recital, start here.