Dance

This beautiful young woman is going to her first youth dance!  

Golly, she is gorgeous and growing up fast!

Ha Buhday!

Happy Birthday Daddy!  We love you!

Superhero Sc"Avenger" Hunt

What a creative, fun, and "SUPER" activity we had today!  

The twins and Micah came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt for superheroes.  

We searched the yard for evil villains, 

and then conquered them so we could earn the ingredients for super yummy cookies!  

Thanks boys!

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We are so thankful for the real superheroes of our lives... those who have given their very lives serving and protecting our country and mankind.

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Piano Recital

The kids had their first piano recital on Saturday.  They are awesome.  I have videos and pictures galore of them performing, but I really love this picture of them with their teacher, Cathy Lumi.  She is awesome.  In just 4 months, she has encouraged them to play songs from Star Wars, The Hobbit, Mozart, hymns, and original compositions.  The kids love the piano!

Leslie, Jonas, Cathy Lumi, Owen

Troy, Micah, Gavin Stone (close friend)

Evelyn

(Not pictured is Reuben, who learned "Jingle Bells"...)

Plus also... how cute are these KitKat keyboards! 

Thanks pinterest, for an idea that I can actually do...

Fun writing

Day and Night

Adapted from “Like Butter on Pancakes” by Jonathan London

By Dresden, Leslie, Owen, and Troy Bush

Spoons sleep nestled in kitchen drawers

The sun melts like butter on pancakes

Light spreads warm and yellow

A cloud drifts by dragging a shadow

The cat stretches in a puddle of sun

Slippers whisper across the kitchen floor

Flip-flops slap on the sidewalk

The cat swats at dancing fireflies

Grass pokes, pricking the shadows

Darkness swirls like hot cocoa

The moon spills milk for the cat to drink

Spoons sleep nestled in kitchen drawers

When I grow up, I want to be...

These last couple of weeks, the subject for school is our dream jobs. everyone choose a job, researched it, interviewed someone who did that for a living, and did a project.

   

Mom's dream job is being a Mom. She does a wonderful job at it. She showed us her AWESOME skills of cleaning, cooking, teaching, fixing arguments, taking care of Gideon and just being a fun Mom!

Jonas wants to be a Chemist.

Leslie wants to be an author and has actually written a novel.                            

(If you would like to read any of her work, you are free to ask and she can email you.) 

Owen wants to be a doctor like Dad. He preformed surgery on Jonas...

Troy wants to be a construction worker. He demonstrated fixing a dresser.

Micah wants to be a football coach. He made us all do some fun drills!

Evelyn wants to be a Librarian. She did story time with us.

Reuben wants to be Captain America and is already saving the world!

Palmyra

For Mother's Day this year, I requested a trip to Palmyra NY so we could visit some of the sites of the Restoration.  We enjoyed an 8 hour drive, a stay in a hotel, visits to the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, and the Book of Mormon publishing site, Martin Harris farm, and the Palmyra temple.  Then we drove another 8 hours home.  Some might say we are crazy, but it really was worth it to spend quality family time together in a confined space.   We loved visiting the beautiful areas of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
My favorite memories are not captured by photos: holding hands with Owen as we walked through the Sacred Grove, seeing my children reflect and pray, seeing muddy knees proving that prayer was part of their ponderings, being patient...  Thanks for my wonderful Mother's Day gift, my dear family!

Bob was able to visit the Palmyra Temple for an endowment session, 

#53 of the temples he has visited!  

Trying to figure out how a family of our size could fit into Joseph Smith's home..

Evelyn would pray and then run...

Bob and Gideon

Smiling children

Moments of reflection 

and muddy knees to prove the power of prayer...

The Hill Cumorah

Reuben 

Leslie's laughter

Original paintings at the Book of Mormon publishing site

So much work to receive the Book of Mormon: revelation to prophets, engraving on golden plates, burying the plates, receiving the plates from Moroni, translating them to English, placing the letters one by one for printing, copying...

I'm so thankful to be able to read the Book of Mormon and be connected to my Heavenly Father.

Alma 37:6 By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Small and simple things are great!

Leslie and Jonas were able to perform baptisms for the dead in the Palmyra temple

Gideon loved playing while waiting for the drive home!

Washington DC Trips

We've enjoyed a few trips to Washington DC this year...

However, due to two parking tickets, and a near-miss towing of our van, we will not be returning....

Thank goodness we saw a lot of amazing sites on our visits!

Cub Scout Graduates!

POEM
By Troy

When you go to boy scouts,

Don't have any doubts.

When you graduate,

Just hope you aren't too late!

When you go away from the little guys,

You won't break any ties.

;)       :]  [:      (;

Owen:

It is awesome to be a boy scout. Because you are more mature and you can go on overnight campouts, however, Troy and I can't do that yet 'cause we're only 11 year old scouts. The weird thing about 11 year old scouts is that they are right after cub scouts and right before boy scouts, so we really don't exactly have a name. People just call us 11 year old scouts :). I'm really happy that I got my Webelos badge and my arrow of light. :) 

Lots of fun at this year's Pinewood Derby!