National History Day 2012

Kate and her friends Sadie and Preston wrote a fantastic play for National History Day!  They performed at both the regional and state level and were fortunate to win 1st place in both!  Their play was entitled "What Makes Us Sick: The History of Germ Theory."  They told the story of what humans used to believe caused illness and how that has changed over that past 2000 years.  It was so interesting and entertaining!  Here's a video of it in case you're interested (beware, it's over 6 minutes long -- and the audio is not the best...).

2012 Science Fair

Kate and Sadie's awesome, award winning science project!  "Squishy Circuits" was a hit!  The girls learned all about electricity and different types of conductors and insulators.  They learned to build all different types of circuits and learned to really appreciate and respect electricity. :)

Jack's super fun science project on friction!!  He raced a Hot Wheels car down a track with different kinds of things on the track like water, oil, dirt and salt.  He observed and measured how far his car traveled on each of the substances.  He learned that dirt and salt increase friction between wheels and the track.  He told the judges that he learned that oil and water are not good things to put on a road to make it safe to drive on!!!  They thought he was super cute and smart!

Kate Singing at the Wilson Theater

Excuse the shakiness and weird angle -- Todd and I were at the sound/video table. At least you can hear her -- SHE WAS AWESOME!

Video of Rose Party

The Annual "Sounds of the Season" Concert is Tonight

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!

Big, giant, crazy fun Rose Family Christmas

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!!

Say a Little Prayer

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.

Fun Family Christmas Party at Mom & Dad's

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!

 

My Gorgeous Little Ballerina

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!!

 

Family Pictures

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.

 

Jackson Hole 2011

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. :)

 

Todd's 13th Birthday

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...

 

Finally... Videos of Music Camp!

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. :)

I Can't believe I Caught This On Tape

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.

Here are the results (complete with an imprint of the baseball laces!):

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. :)

Darn cute kid, if I do say so myself!

The End of the Season :(

 

 

Darn it! Todd's team lost their tournament game tonight, so they're out of the running for champion. It's bitter-sweet, but it's been a great year for him. He's played well and learned a lot. We are truly grateful for the WONDERFUL coach he had this year. It's been a fabulous experience.

4th of July Fun

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!

Happy 4th!

Just a little video of the kids singing at the town's Patriotic Program last night.

Aren't we blessed to live in this great nation? I am so thankful to the founding fathers and mothers who gave everything that we might have the lives we have. I pray that we will have the strength and courage to preserve that gift for our posterity.

Happy Independence Day!

Family Vacation 2011

Prepare yourself for a barrage of pictures from our 8 day vacation.
There's no way around it.

We took just shy of a million pictures, I'm pretty sure.
So grit your teeth and.... ENJOY! (or just push your down arrow really fast a bunch of times.)

Kate fell in love with photography on this trip! She especially loves photographing flowers, bugs, birds, and other creatures.

Cove Fort, Utah was a huge highlight of our trip. We stopped on our way home with the intention of staying for about an hour. 2 1/2 hours later we were back on the road! Thanks, Elder Haney, for a wonderful tour!

We also loved our time in St. George. The Tabernacle, Temple, Visitor's Center, and Brigham Young Summer Home were just beautiful and spirit filled. Hot... but spirit filled.

Another highlight of the trip was a chance encounter with the Carroll Shelby World Headquarters and Classic Car Museum. On our way out of Vegas we stopped at a gas station by the Las Vegas Speedway and happened upon this museum. Jack, if you didn't know this, is capital C - CRAZY - about cars, trucks, motorcycles, semis... So you can imagine his immense happiness. He took a million pictures and came away with a bunch of fun Shelby posters and a little keepsake Shelby Spider car. Happiness. It's so easy when you're 5. :)

Some of our fun Las Vegas Strip adventures while Brad was in meetings and classes. Our favorite stops were The M&M Store, the Coca-Cola Experience, New York-New York, The Mirage, the MGM Lion Habitat, the Jelly-Belly Statue of Liberty, and especially riding all the escalators and elevators all over Vegas. We are SO small town, and SO easily entertained!

It was darn hot (in the low 100s most days), but we all did well. One benefit -- 90 degrees in Rupert today feels downright balmy!

Zion National Park is a must-see if you're in Southern Utah and have a day to kill. Wow -- we LOVED it here. The hiking was gorgeous.

One fun little happening... we looked up a church to attend on Sunday morning and showed up at a random (and very lovely, friendly) ward. While taking the kids to Primary, we ran in to a sister from Brad's mission. Even 20 years later they immediately recognized each other and we had a wonderful time visiting and reconnecting with her and her sweet family.

We are so blessed to have had so many days to spend together as a family. The trip could not have gone more smoothly. The kids traveled well and quietly (thank you iPad, iPods, and iPhone!). The car ran well (thank you new car). We spend lots of time together and created many wonderful memories.

We are blessed.

End of School Busy-ness

The end of school brings 'fun and frantic' to our every day vocabulary. I'm pretty sure we were at some event or activity every night of May! Some of the highlights were 1) Piano Recital, 2) Ballet Performance Awards, and 3) End of Year Middle School Band Concert. Each year our kids are getting more and more involved and busy, which adds new dimensions of craziness to our lives! But crazy is good, right?

FYI: in the following video Kate is the ballerina on the far left, and Todd is the percussionist in the band videos.

And, truly, as I watch these videos I say a silent and heartfelt "Bless Your Hearts, Dear Teachers"! What patience, what kindness, what near deaf- and blind-ness they must all possess! We love you, dear people. :)

Jack Wilson: Baseball Boy!

All the kids played ball this year, but I somehow only managed to get cute pictures of Jack. I guess t-ball moves a little more slowly and there's much more time for posing! Kate and Todd have tournaments next week, so I'll get some pictures of them then, hopefully...