Spring Break: Capital Reef

We spent part of our Spring Break in Canyonlands National Park! We stayed at a hotel right outside the canyon and loved the time we spent there. Mitchell was over-joyed to see lots of petroglyphs and our boys were good sports to go on some magical hikes!  One of our other favorite things were the little places to eat.  Our first night there we ate at the Patio pizza cafe and for lunch the next day we ate at Slackers!  It was worth the drive just for the yummy burger and shake!

Spring Break: Picnic at the Park

I love picnics.  They make me happy.  

Our first day of Spring Break we had a picnic at the park and spent the afternoon soaking in the sunshine.  We even had some surprise visitors come galloping through the hill side!

Mitchell's Dream Come True

Mitchell has the perfect first grade teacher for him.

"She just gets me" he says.

For weeks and weeks Mitchell  begged to have a play date with Miss Olson. 

He even wrote down a list of things he would do:

1.  Arrange the day

2.  Show souvenirs

3.  Read books

4.  Watch documentary stuff on Netflix

5.   Play games

6.  Talk 

7.  Color

8.  Do the Egyptian dance 

I tried to distract him and explain that teachers are really busy.  While I was helping in his class, his sweet teacher said, "I know Mitchell wants to have a play date... I do home visits and I'd love to come by...! "

So She and I arranged a date, and Mitchell was over joyed! 

When she arrived, Mitchell opened the door and said, "My dream has come true!" 

He showed her his favorite souvenirs and rocks.

They looked at his favorite books.  

They talked and had a special snack together,

and yes, they did the Egyptian dance. 

How do you thank a teacher for making a memory that will last a lifetime?  She is a treasure, and Mitchell has treasured each day he has spent in her class.  She has taught him wonderful skills in Math Reading and beyond... but even more importantly- that he is valued.

We love you forever Miss Olson.

Spring is on it's way!

Spring is coming... the sunshine is peeking through the clouds and the boys are snatching every bit of it!

A Fort with Dad

1 seven year old boy + a cold= a broken heart because he didn't feel well enough have an outside sleep over at grandmas.  

1 awesome dad + a couch cushion fort = 2 happy campers who watched "Finding Big Foot" in their fort until they fell asleep. 

Wax Museum

Matthew was Sir Isaac Newton for his 6th grade Wax Museum!

Isaac Newton: A Mathematician, a Physicist, a Scientist (1643-1727)

By Matthew Moody

Have you ever wondered about our world and universe?  Well, Isaac Newton did and learned a lot.  Isaac Newton was a mathematician, a physicist, a scientist.  Isaac Newton was an extraordinary scientist.  Newton discoveries told us lots about our world and universe.  He made laws of light, gravity and motion.  He taught us that white light is really every color combined.  Isaac was an amazing person.  We can still benefit from his discoveries today.

Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643 in Lincolnshire, England.  His father, a prosperous farmer, died three months before Isaac was born.  As a child Isaac hated farming, but enjoyed making sundials and wind mills.  When Isaac Newton’s mother married again he left to live with his grand parents.  This make Isaac feel insecure.  newton went to school though he was poor.  He knew the importance but returned home when a plague broke out.  While at home he made wet important discoveries about light and gravity.

Isaac had an interesting personality.  He liked to be alone and didn't always share his discoveries at first.  in 1696 he became head of the  coin mint in which he was in charge of collecting coins and remaking them.  Lots of the coins were counterfeit.  e dressed up in disguises and caught the counterfeiters himself.Some say that Isaac Newton was not the best (some say) because he spent half his career trying to find the Philosopher's Stone.  Newton predicted that the world would end no sooner than 2060.  “This I  mention not to assert when the end of time will be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end and b doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.”  Isaac never married but was kind to his family and to the people he worked with.  just like some modern scientists Isaac was a Christian but didn’t let that affect his discoveries.

Isaac Newton was an excellent mathematician and physicist.  He invented the math form called calculus. He described laws about light and gravity.  Gravity, he said, was the attraction of the mass of two objects.  He said that light was made up of many colors as long as it was white.  Isaac said that something like a tree is green because it absorbs all of the colors but reflects only green light.  Of course he wasn’t rich so  that shows that anyone can make a discovery.

In conclusion, Isaac Newton was an amazing scientist.  Even with his interesting background he still went to school.  he shows us that you need to go to school.  He worded hard for money to get an education.  On March 31, 1727 Newton died.  Some said that he got mercury poisoning in one of his experiments.  Although he is not here we can still benefit from his discoveries.

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's day! 

Each year I like to give Dallan and the boys a little something special.   This year I wrote a letter to each of them with a book I created with pictures and memories from the previous year. Each book turned out great; I think I'm going to make this gift a Valentine's day tradition.   

Matthew and Mitchell enjoyed celebrating at school, and I helped with the Valentines party in Matthew's class!  

Brian Regan

For Caleb's birthday he gave his brothers tickets to go see Brian Regan! They were so excited and counted down the days until the big night! We ate at 5 Guys on our way and enjoyed every minute of Brian's performance. Watching my boys laugh the night away absolutely delighted my heart. We did get rear ended on our way home from Salt Lake, but luckily we were in good spirits and nobody was hurt!

Thanks for the great gift Caleb!  We hope you got a good laugh in heaven! :) 

 It was a sold out crowd that night, we just got there a wee bit early! :)  

Science Fair: Rock Salt VS. Ice Melt

For the Science Fair Matthew and his best friend wanted to figure out which product was better: Rock Salt or Ice Melt. They tested each product over 24 hours on ice blocks. On half of each ice block they sprinkled the product and on the other half they used a more concentrated dose. They found the ice melted quicker for each product when it was more concentrated.  They also found that Ice Melt worked faster for the first several hours but at the end of 24 hours the Rock Salt actually melted more ice.