Blue and Gold Banquet

Father and son cake off at the Scouts "Blue and Gold Banquet". The theme was "American ABC's." So Jason and Dillon made a volcano with red, white and blue lava coming out of it. They had a good time making it together.

Dillon got an award for his cake and it said, "Most Eruptive Cake."
Dillon piling on the layers of cake. The volcano was six layers high. It was good too.

Jason trying to shape the cake like a volcano.
Lookin' Good!

Look at Dillon GO!!!
The finished cake at the Banquet. They cut a whole on the inside of the cake and put a candle holder inside with dry ice in it. Doesn't it look good? Good job boys! You can see some other father and son cakes in the background.

New Beginnings

Here are our new Young Women.

New Beginnings is when they honor the girls who are old enough to begin in Young Women's, which is a group for 12-18 year old girls. So they were honoring the new Young Women who have come into Young Women's this year. And Kate is one of them. It was a fun and spiritual night. Her teacher called me two nights before this night and asked me to tell a little about Kaitlyn that others might not know about her. Her teacher had to talk about each girl for 2 mins. I told her that Kaitlyn writes songs and poetry. Her teacher was so excited and wanted me to bring a poem of Kate's and I did. She wanted Kaitlyn to read it because her teacher said she would cry if she read it. I was so proud of the beautiful poem that she had written. Everyone thought it was so good. She did so good! It was a beautiful poem. This is her teacher telling a little about Kaitlyn.

This is Kaitlyn with Taylor and Taylor's sisters, singing, " I Seek For Truth." They sounded beautiful. ....................................................................................................................................
Here is the poem that Kaitlyn wrote and read and she made it all different colors.......
Colors of the World
Written By: Kaitlyn Hooley

Red for Roses,
Orange for oranges,
Yellow for the sun,
Green for the earth,
I’m so glad for Jesus’ birth.

Blue for the sky,
I’m so glad there’s you and I.

Purple for a violet,
At night we watch the day disappear,
As the sun goes down,
The sky is now starlit.

There are so many colors,
Throughout the world,
So just be thankful,
For God’s world.

That you were put here on earth,
And will be able to go back,
After death,
All because of Jesus’ birth!

Maddie's 1st Birthday

Maddie (Jason't sister's baby) was so cute at her party. She had a lot of fun and so did we. Can't believe she is 1 years old already.

Where did Lexie's teeth go?

Poor thing has lost 5 teeth so far.

Scout- O- Rama

Dillon's Pinewood Derby

Look at all these cars Dillon had to compete against. Wow!!! All these cars won in their packs just like Dillon did, so all the winners get together at the Scout-O-Rama and compete against each other. So Dillon was proud to make it to this race.

He got 2 -1st places and 2 -2nd places. He did so good but because of his times he got, he didn't make the top 12. We were really proud of him and he was just glad that he got 1st and 2nd places. He had a lot of fun and that is what counts. He can't wait until next year!

This is a race that Dillon got 1st place in.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are some pictures of Lexie's Preschool Valentine's Day Party!

Awww... The Memories! Why can't they just stay little?

Feb. 2005~ Dillon almost 5 and Kate 8 1/2

(wow, that is the ages of Dillon and Lexie right now)

Aug. 2004~ Kate 8 years old and Lexie 9 months old

(Aww... Sisters! They were so tan.)

Dillon 3 1/2 years old and Lexie 3 1/2 months old

(Awww, how cute!)

SoMe Of My FaVoRiTe PiCtUrEs Of My 3 KiDs ToGeThEr!

Carmel Feb. 2005 Kate 8 1/2, Dillon almost 5 and Lexie 15 months old

Lodi Lake Nov. 2004 Kate 8, Dillon 4 and Lexie 12 months old.
Lodi Lake Oct. 2006 Kate 10, Dillon, 6 and Lexie almost 3 years old.
Lodi Lake Nov. 2004 Kate 8, Dillon 4 and Lexie 12 months old

WOW...Kaitlyn Is Eligibile To Participate In The Catalina Island Field Trip In 8th Grade

Kaitlyn was so excited when she came home from school today because she received a paper saying she gets to go to Catalina Island in the 8Th grade as a special award for those with high grade point averages. She has been working hard so she could qualify for this trip.
It is a week long vacation with others kids that are eligible too. The cost is around $700.00. Wow! But they do fundraisers and I will learn more at the parent information meeting next week. I really don't think that she is going to go, not just because of the money, but because if I was going than that is one thing, but she is going to be by herself. Sure some teachers are going and her friends are eligible to go too, but come on...........On an Island hundreds of miles away. I don't think so. Maybe if she was 18, but she will only be barely 13 when they go in August. She will be gone for a week. Going to girls camp is one thing, but this is totally different. They should do this for high school kids. But how fun would that be to go to Catalina. What an honor!!! I could always go with her as a chaperon but than that is another $700.00 for me. I would rather use that money and take all of us to Disneyland. She is just really honored that she qualified for this and we should just do a fun family vacation for her. We will see. Good job Kate. We are proud of you. Only 140 kids qualified for this and I think there are around 400 7Th graders. But only 85 get to go. I am sure many kids parents won't let them go.

Lexie riding her new bike from Santa

She likes riding bikes with Dillon.

She really wanted Santa to get her a bike for Christmas. She was so excited Christmas morning when she saw her new "Little Mermaid" bike in front of the Christmas tree. It was really cold and rainy Christmas morning so she rode her bike back and forth in the kitchen. Poor thing! So these pictures and video were taken a couple days after Christmas when the sun finally came out.

Christmas 2008

Wow! Christmas came and went so fast. Here are some pictures taken at our house with the kids in front of the Christmas tree, pictures from Christmas morning at our house, pictures with the Hooley cousins taken a couple days before Christmas at Jason's parents house and pictures from Christmas day with my mom and Stan. Jason's parents and my parents went in on a present together for us and got us a new digital camera. Just in time for all those Christmas Pictures. Thanks guys so much, We love it!!! Carefully touch the pictures on the slide with your mouse, but don't click on it to see what the picture says.

Kenzi's 3rd Birthday Party

Those of you who don't know Kenzi, she is my brother's daughter. She had a great party. Annie (brother's girlfriend) did great at planning the party. You would of never known this was Annie's first party she ever planned for a child. Good job Annie! The party was at my mom's house. My kids and my brother's kids played pinned the tail on the donkey, hit a pinata with lots of candy, ate dinner and had a yummy cake. We all laughed and had a good time.

Don't they make a cute family? You would never know that she wasn't Larissa and Kenzi's real mom.

7th Grade~ 2nd Quarter Honor Roll

Way to go Kate on your 3.4 GPA again.

Kate's Children's Choir Solo At Her Concert

She looked so pretty. She sounded like an angel. She is so brave. A few weeks after this solo, she sang this same song in sacrament at church. She did so well.

Sounded like an angel again. She got a lot of compliments and they want her to sing again in sacrament. This is the whole choir. The older kids are in the back and the younger ones in the front. They had many weeks of practice and they sounded so good. The younger kids are so much fun to watch. They didn't have uniforms to wear because the uniforms were lost some where on a truck that was shipping them. We were told this 4 days before the concert. so everyone had to go out and buy a christmas outfit to wear. No big deal since everyone needed a christmas outfit to wear for christmas anyways. They still looked nice and sounded great!

She sang, "What child is this?" Can you believe that she didn't complain about being nervous. She sang in front of about 200 people. Wow! This is her 5th year in the choir. She did it 1st in Kindergarten and then in 4th, 5th, 6th and now 7th grade.

Here is the solo! Sorry it isn't a very good recording. My digital camera was broken at the time and so I recorded her on my camcorder. But now I have a new digital camera and I played her solo on my T.V. here at home and recorded her on my digital camera. So this is a recording of a recording. Also I was hanging off my seat to get around the guys head in front of me at the concert.

These are the older kids singing from the group.

Christmas........What.....already???

I was trying to use up the pictures in my disposable camera, so I took a couple of pictures of the Christmas decorations and my tree that I put up. Yes, everyone knows that I love Gingerbread Men and my house is covered in them and candy. I didn't take a picture of all the decorations but you get the idea. Not really in the Christmas spirit yet, as Jason has been laid off from work (thanks to our lovely economy), but hopefully it won't be for long. Just keep us in your prayers. Thanks!

Dillon won the Pinewood Derby!!!! Can You Believe It???

Dillon Our Pinewood Derby Winner!!!! Jason and Dillon put a lot of time and thought into the car. Dillon drew up what he wanted it to look like and Jason cut it for him. Dillon sanded it and then Jason and Dillon both painted it. They were so proud of the car.
Taken before the races started.

Dillon and his dad waiting anxiously for Dillon's turn to race.

This is Dillon and Derrik waiting at the end of the track for there cars. Dillon had won every race and so had Derrik Weeks. So, after everyone had raced each other, it ended up being that Dillon had to race against Derrik, the other boy in 1st place. This was to be Derrick's last time doing the Pinewood Derby, as he is in the 5th grade and also his dad's last time too, with Derrik being his last son to do the Pinewood Derby. So his dad really wanted to win and they told Dillon that he was going down at the begining of the race. Dillon was funny and just said, "We'll See!" So this is the 1st race against Derrik and Dillon won. Then Dillon and Derrik had to race again and switched tracks.

And Dillon won Derrik again and then the Pinewood Derby was over and Dillon was the Big Winner!! We couldn't believe it. This was our first time doing the Derby and I thought it would be great if he could win at least one race, but didn't except him to win every race. I'm not sure how many boys he raced against, but there was about 10 races or more that he raced in. He was so excited. Now he gets to go to Nationals in February and race against the other 1st and 2nd place winners in the area. He can't wait!

Thanksgiving Feast at Lexie's Preschool

Lexie was an Indian! All the girls were Indians and the boys were Pilgrims. She cut out her own hat. They had a Thanksgiving Feast at school. Jason and I went and ate with her at her preschool with all her friends, all the parents and the teachers. It was so crowded so I didn't get any pictures of the feast. We had a good time though and she was happy to have both of us there.

Lexie was the line leader that day at school. What a happy girl! Her teacher, Mrs. Susan, was trying to avoid being in the picture.
See Lexie at the end? She did so good singing and doing the hand motions to the songs. She was the best of course!!! Before we ate our feast, the kids all sang songs that they have been practicing. I was so sad because my camera broke the day of Lexie's birthday party, but I was lucky I was able to download the pictures of her party onto my computer before the camera completely stopped working. So I had to get a disposable camera for her feast and I didn't bring my video camera to record them singing. But at least I got some pictures.

They were so cute! Notice how tall Lexie is? The tall Indian hat didn't help either.