Porter's Grandparents Day - April 12, 2011

                        Waiting in the classroom for the program.  Grey, Brinlee and Seth are behind him.

                                                         Porter is right in the middle

Porter and Mrs. Swain

Piano Festival - April 15, 2011

Cady and Porter at the old Theater in Preston, Idaho

Cady and Porter are taking piano lessons in Montpelier, Idaho from a very wonderful teacher, Shirley.  She encouraged them to participate in a piano festival in Preston.  If you place in the top three of your category you will receive a trophy.  That was enough encouragement for Porter.  They play for a judge in the morning and then at a recital in the afternoon if you are in the top 3.  They had a web site you have to keep checking to see if your name is listed or not.  Both of them qualified to play, but we didn't know until during the recital where they placed.  Cady got 2nd in her category and Porter got 3rd.  He was glad to get a trophy, but bummed that it was third place.  They both did very well.  There were a lot of people in that theater for that recital.  This picture is right before the recital - before they got their trophies.

Cady's Dance Recital - April 30, 2011

The older sisters helped her get ready

The Cheer Routine

Ballet

 

 

We were sitting on the exact wrong side for taking pictures of Cady.  She was about as far away from us during each dance as she could be, so I didn't get very many useable pictures.  Plus, it was in the high school gym, so they were very spread out during their dances.  She does really well at dancing and seems to enjoy it.  {Next time I will be sure to figure out a better place to sit.}

A Cold But Appreciated Sunny Day

                                                           Leah  -  riding Cady's vespa

                                                          Cady and Porter on the John Deere

                                                                  Leah and Ranger

                                                          Leah attempting to skateboard

This was May 15th.  We have only been without snow for a couple of weeks now.  It has been a very cold spring.  I think everyone was excited to be outside in the fresh air.

Porter's School's Fun Run

                                             The class getting instructions and rules

                                             Porter - coming around the bend at about lap 15

                                          The snow cone was a favorite!  You can kind of
                    see the black eye he got (on his left eye) from the crash with the kindergartener.
                                  

                                                Porter and Mrs. Swain... The Best Teacher Ever

The fun-run has been very successful at our elementary school.  This was the 3rd year they have done it.  Porter and his friends like to get a little competitive with each other occasionally...like how many laps they can run.  They were all pretty close - about 16-18 laps.  Porter lost one lap because one of the little kids hanging around the track ran in front of him and they collided...a little head collision.  He was fine after a couple of minutes and got back right into the race.

Kayla Is Home...And Baking

                                                                Peach Cobbler

                                                                  Apple Pie

                                                       Amazing fruit-topped french toast

Jr. Miss Top 5 (from 2010) Performance at 2011 Show

I do not know why I love this so much, but it was very fun to watch Leah do this skit.  They were each going to choose a performer from a difference era, but 2 ended up being from the '80's and 3 were recent.  Leah was Cydi Lauper. The others in the skit are Brianne Yamauchi (Beyonce'), Jaycee Ionelli (Pat Benetar), Marie Stettler (Lady Gaga), and Kaytlyn Crandall (Jimmer Fredette's brother;  a rapper).

Levi's First Orchestra Performance

Levi was invited to participate in the Pocatello Youth Orchestra.  They performed on April 8, 2011; he did a terrific job.  Kayla and cousin Stephanie drove up from Provo to watch the performance.  It was wonderful

A New Thing For Me

I am going to try blogging and see how it goes for me.  Mostly this is for myself and my family... a place to post videos and little tidbits of our life to share with those we love.  John and I have been married for about 21 years.  That seems amazing to me... like it couldn't possibly be that long ago we married.  We have 5 children: Kayla 20, Leah 18, Levi 16, Cady 11, and Porter 7.   Leah graduates from high school on June 3rd.  Five days later she and Kayla are leaving for Belize on a humanitarian trip for 6 weeks.  Levi has his drivers license and can now drive at night alone.  Cady made it onto the cheerleader squad for 7th grade.  Porter is into soccer...he has Dad go out and play with him in the evenings as much as he can.  Otherwise he plays alone in the yard and at school recess.  We have way too many animals, but we love them.  I'm sure there will be pictures of them along the way.