Excuse the shakiness and weird angle -- Todd and I were at the sound/video table. At least you can hear her -- SHE WAS AWESOME!
It's become a yearly tradition -- the Sounds of the Season. I'm in charge of this benefit which takes place at the Wilson Theater each December. This year we're having "A Hollywood Christmas" featuring movie clips and songs from favorite Christmas movies. It should be great fun. The proceeds benefit the theater restoration project as well as the scholarship for our summer music camp. I hope the community will come out and support us. Lots of hard work has gone in to it -- it will be a great night!
Holy cow!!! Somehow the Gary and Dorothy Rose family has grown to epic proportions! We still manage to have a fabulous party every year and this year was no exception. We had the party in Tremonton so Grandma could come. She is living in an assisted living center in Brigham City right now, so we enjoyed having her with us for the day. Later in the evening we went back to Grandma's place where we put on a talent show for all the residents. It was such a great opportunity to be with Grandma. She seemed so proud!!
I'm back in the blogosphere ... I hope! Just wanted to ask a favor, that everyone say a little prayer for Todd this week. He's trying out for the basketball team and could use your prayers to calm his nerves. He doesn't act too worried about it, but I know he is nervous. I'm praying that he'll make the team. It would be such a great experience for him. He's been practicing and is getting so much better. We're so proud of his efforts!
Update: Todd didn't make the team. :(. It was a sad day, but he has bounced back quickly. He is determined to work hard this year and improve his skills for next year. We're totally proud of him. He is taking this disappointment in stride and will hopefully use it as fuel in his quest for betterment.
Last weekend we spent a perfect afternoon in Blackfoot at Grandma and Grandpa Rose's house. We had our traditional clam chowder and breadsticks, a spectacular grandkid talent show, the Nativity, a fun and thoughtful gift exchange, and topped off the night with a Skype session with Matt, Sara, and the kids! What a perfect day. I truly have the best family.
I also have to share that my parents gave us a Christus statue for Christmas!!!! It is so incredibly beautiful and has added such a warmth and focus to our home. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Mom and Dad!
Kate was thrilled to be able to play a town girl (one of Gretel's friends that gets turned in to candy by the witch) in her ballet company's production of Hansel and Gretel this year. She was also a ghost! She is improving by leaps and bounds and gaining so much confidence. She decided this year to start attending classes twice a week in the hopes that she would start to improve faster. Success!!
A huge "thank you" is owed to my sweet and talented sister, Julie, for taking some family pictures for us this fall. While she was fun and efficient and it was pretty painless, this face really sums up Jack's feeling about the whole day.
Lucky us! We got to spend a glorious 5 days in Jackson Hole with our best friends, Mike and Amber Tribe and family! We LOVE this annual tradition and I'm counting the days until next year. :)
How in the world did I become the mother of a TEENAGER???? Good thing he's such a super guy. Todd is intelligent, kind, happy, funny, a voracious reader, obedient, and just plain good. We're lucky, lucky parents...
Hope you'll enjoy some fun videos of the kids performing their solos at music camp this year!
Kate sings first, then her bud, Sadie, then Morgan! It's a long one, but worth it!
Jack is second from the righthand end, Kaleb is to the far right. Emma Tribe is the tall little girl in the middle. :)
Kate had a GREAT baseball season this year thanks to awesome coaches (thanks Bro. and Sis. Tribe!) and her best bud, Sadie, as her teammate! She made great strides this year and really learned to be a much better batter and ball handler.
All was going well until her last at-bat of the season... you won't believe it when you see this video ... all I can say is prepare to cringe.
Poor kid! She's got a giant goose-egg tonight, but I'm sure it will look better in the morning. Our family doctor happened to be coaching the opposing team, so he looked at her and made a quick makeshift ice pack -- better than a housecall! I wonder if I'll get a bill. :)
Nothing beats the 4th of July in our little town. A whole week of fun, food, and festivities! Thought you might enjoy a few pictures and a video of Todd playing in the summer marching band. He's the snare drum player closest to the camera. He looks so little with all those big high school kids!
Just a little video of the kids singing at the town's Patriotic Program last night.
We took an impromptu drive yesterday afternoon. We visited many fun Southern Idaho sites including the Twin Falls, Shoshone Falls, Cauldron Linn, and the Milner Wind Farm. It was so much fun to explore our little neck of the woods and have a chance to truly appreciate the beauty of this beautiful earth. I especially enjoyed a Mother's Day nap as we drove!
I was completely spoiled by my sweet husband and kids -- a lovely breakfast, thoughtful gifts and cards, lots of time together, and a nap! What more could any mom ask for?
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I hope Kate doesn't expect every week to be as great as the last one. That would be a tall order!! Besides winning 2nd in the PBS Kids Young Writers and Illustrators Contest, she also won 2nd place overall in her school science fair -- and 1st place in the 3rd Grade age group. Science day and the science fair were INCREDIBLE!!! Such fun and amazing activities. She learned so much and really understands that science isn't scary -- it's amazing and interesting!
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Kate-a-roo got some exciting news... she won 2nd place in the 3rd grade division of the Idaho PBS Kids Young Writers and Illustrators contest this year! She is invited to an awards ceremony this Saturday in Pocatello and is one HAPPY little girl!! On June 1st you'll be able to read her story online, but for now, you can just follow this link to see her name listed among the other winners. :) If you're in Pocatello on Saturday let us know, we'd love to see you there!
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Kate is such an interesting child. She is sweet, thoughtful, deeply caring, sensitive, smart, quirky, and unique. She recently decided to research "brain freeze" for her school science fair project. After some research and study she was able to focus in on the question "Does brain freeze go away faster if you put your tongue on the roof of your mouth?" An incredible local frozen yogurt store called "Kiwi Loco" let her come to their store one night last week and subject willing customers to "brain freeze". They donated 50 little cups of yogurt and even posted a Facebook invitation to help her out. Talk about generous and supportive. Wow!! We are so grateful! Her science fair is next week, but we though you might enjoy seeing some of her pictures...
Life will soon be very different as I send my baby boy out the door for school next year. It's hard to believe that he's already 5. He is such a tiny little bean that I still carry him around like I did when he was two. I will truly, madly, deeply miss these days of my life. He has been a joy -- and well worth any effort it took to get him here.
Don't tell Brad I told you this because he is SUPER embarrassed ... Last Saturday he was trying to fix a problem we're having with our phone lines on the main level of our house. He was checking relays, etc. and needed to get up on the roof. He crawled up on his ladder and was about to step on to the roof, when the ladder completely slipped out from under him. His first thought was, "Oh no, I didn't make it on to the roof!" Followed quickly by his second thought, "OH NO, THIS IS GOING TO HURT!!!" He fell nearly 10 feet on to the concrete and the ladder on his right side. Kate was in the kitchen mopping the floor and I was upstairs working on my YW lesson. I just heard her howl "DADDY!" in that awful, 'something is really wrong' tone of voice you hate to hear. I flew down the stairs yelling "what happened? what happened?" All I could hear was a wild wail of fear and "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" I got outside to find him doubled over and hardly able to breathe (the fall completely knocked the wind out of him) and white as a ghost. After an eternity he started to breathe again and we started to take stock of his injuries. His right leg felt weird and disconnected, and he couldn't put much weight on it. I talked him in to going to the emergency room, just to be sure no permanent damage or hidden injuries were lurking. He was SO embarrassed, because, in a small town you know everyone and everyone knows you! We literally knew all but one person on staff at the emergency room that afternoon. Not his proudest moment having to recount the afternoon's events to them! I was relieved to learn that his leg was not cracked, just deeply bruised. We did figure out, though, as time passed, that he had definitely broken some ribs. The pain was a little late in registering, but progressively got worse as the hours passed. He has been one sore guy! Breathing is not fun, and laughing, coughing, and sneezing about bring to his knees. I feel so sorry for him! But in true Brad form, he hasn't slowed down one bit -- he even got up Sunday morning for his early meetings (even though the Bishopric gave him a pass the night before). He is Frederic, a slave of duty, if there ever was one (hats off to Gilbert and Sullivan!). I've begged him to come home from work a little early every day this week, and tonight when he walked in the door at 5:57 he said, "Hey, I got home a little early today!" WHATEVER!
The craziest thing happened to me tonight while I was driving to Burley for Jr. Miss practice. My friend Amber was in the passenger seat and Kate and Amber's daughter, Sadie were in the back seat. The weather turned nasty all of a sudden and a microburst blew through. We just happened to be on the highway between Rupert and Heyburn as it passed over us. The wind was blowing SO hard and giants sheets of rain completely obscured the road. We were kind of floating back and forth on these massive waves of water. It felt so strange. Then the lightening started -- GIANT, bright, and CLOSE. About 50 feet to the side of the highway we saw a huge flash of light, then the power pole to the side of us fell down over the train tracks! That started a little domino effect as 3 or 4 more power poles came down one after the other. Each topple was followed by a big splash of sparks and fire. It was so surreal that I couldn't do anything except say "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh" every time another pole came down. I didn't even think about slowing down in case the poles kept falling and eventually crashed down on the road! I am ridiculous in an emergency. It honestly took me over a half an hour to process how weird and dangerous the whole situation was. Thankfully we're all safe and sound -- and one exciting story richer!
My little girl is growing up! How the years have flown with this angelic, spunky, creative, beautiful little whirlwind we call Kate. She has been such a joy to raise. She is a tender-hearted, snuggly little redbird, but she manages to hold her own with her two brothers in a most impressive fashion. I love that she ADORES animals of any and all kinds (be they stuffed or otherwise). I love that she loves to dance and sing and play dress up. I especially love that she and her best friend, Sadie, dream up crazy make believe games like "Scientist Princess"! I love? that she is so naive and tender that she gets absolutely scared to death during Scooby-Doo! She makes me laugh so hard when she gets up in the night to go to the bathroom -- she never remembers a thing -- but she is highly entertaining!! What a blessing to have been entrusted with one of the most angelic little spirits to have ever graced heaven's planes. We are truly blessed. We love you, Katie-bug! Happy Birthday ... and many more.
Todd also had a HUGE writing assignment this year. It was extremely painful at times (for both him and his mother), but we persevered and the result is a beautiful 13 chapter memory book all about Todd. I learned a lot of new and interesting things about him and truly treasure this keepsake/history of the first 12 years of his life. He is a multi-faceted guy!
If you'd like to browse through it, you're welcome to. If not, we're not offended! It's 13 chapters, after all! And admittedly, it will be most interesting to Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa!
For the abbreviated version, you might just want to look through the title pages for each of his chapters. You get a pretty good idea of the content just from the picture choices. As a side note, may I just mention that kids today are exceptionally adept at using the computer! Wow -- go Todd!
** Editor's note: I think I've got these files embedded correctly now, so that you don't even have to log in to Google Docs to view them. They should (cross fingers) just pop up when you click on the hyper text. Let me know if you're having troubles. I'm at the extreme novice level still! **
In January, Todd was asked to give his first talk in Sacrament Meeting since receiving the priesthood in November. We brainstormed together to come up with some key points and create a kind of "web" from which to work. We also helped him mine some relevant scriptures, and then turned him loose to write it on his own. With just a few minor edits and a bit of clarification by mom, he finished it and he did a fantastic job! He was pretty nervous about the actual delivery of the material, but he came through with flying colors and received many kind and supportive compliments. I am so thankful for such a sweet, righteous, and obedient son. Could not ask for better. Period.
**If you'd like to read Todd's talk on Agency and Accountability, here's a link. :)
