Our Thuernagle Track Stars

 

I love spring track...and this year was even more busy and fun because both Rachel and Taylor were on the middle school team together.  They had me hopping at the meets to try and get to all the best viewing spots for their different events!  This is Tay's last year of middle school...and Rachel's first.  And it's the last year they'll be wearing maroon and gold.  Next year they'll be in Navy and white for Skyview High and South Middle.  Crazy!

These two are only 18 months apart in age.  They have always had a "love/hate" relationship...but as they've gotten older, I've noticed that most of the time they are great friends and show each other a tremendous amount of support.  This year especially...where Rachey was a new 6th grader, I noticed how Taylor (the big 8th grader) did so much to let her know how awesome she is.

 

This was Rachey's first year in track.  She competed in the 100M hurdles, 200M hurdles, 100M run, and 200M run or the 4X100 relay depending on the meet. 

 

Rachel is in maroon on the inside lane.  We were so proud of her, she was only 1 of a few 6th graders who even competed in the hurdles.  Here she is in the first heat against all 8th graders, and although she always finished 5th or 6th...she was never far behind, and she never gave up. 

Throughout the season, I just kept telling her to forget about how she placed, but to concentrate on her times and try to improve...and to remember that she was running in the 1st heat each time, which meant she was running against the best!  She had a great attitude...even though she never won or even placed in the top 3, she just kept trying and didn't quit.  She had a bad hit on a hurdle early in the season, but she didn't even let that make her quit...she overcame her fear of hitting another one and kept on going. 

She was so disappointed at this meet...because the timers somehow lost the times before they were recorded...and this was her last meet of the season, so she didn't find out how much her total improvement time was.  But I am so excited to see what the next couple of years bring for Rachey...as a 6th grader to be keeping up with the 8th graders....she's amazing and I'm sure she'll have her turn "on top."  As it was, I couldn't have been more excited or proud to watch her compete, she is awesome!

 

Taylor had the best season any graduating 8th grader could want.  He had so much fun with his friends from his own school, and met a lot of other kids from the competing schools.  In fact, he kept having girls from other schools tell him, "you have pretty eyes."  ha ha!  This made me laugh!  He kept asking me, "mom, why do they say things like that anyway?  Isn't that strange?"  I couldn't decide if I should leave him in the dark, or let him know that um...duh...they were flirting with that cute tall blond guy from East Valley.

This was Taylor's first year doing hurdles too.  He competed in the 100M hurdles, and ended up taking 4th place at District in them!  He was super excited about that and plans to continue with them next season.

And he had a great season on the "runway".  He improved from last year by 4 feet in the triple, and 2 feet in the running long.  And all of that improvement with no coaching.  East Valley doesn't have a jumping coach...so Taylor is so excited to be going to Skyview next year where we hear they have an amazing jumping coach.

 

I love watching him launch, it is amazing...and stressful too.  Its so disappointing if they "scratch" which means they launched after their mark...so each jump I'm silently praying, "please don't let him scratch, please don't let him scratch!" 

 

These two shots show how pretty much ever single muscle is involved in jumping.  The jump is over in a matter of seconds...but it's just amazing how it takes every bit of physical effort to fly that far.

Tay's best triple jump was 36 feet, 7 inches...and his best running long was 17 feet, 6 inches.  He took 1st place in both jumps nearly all season, and took 3rd place in the Triple at Districts, and 5th place in the running long jump at Districts.  (He had a really "off" night on his long jump, but stuck with it for a medal.)

 

After Districts, Tay's head coach told me something that made me even prouder of my son than any of his awards or medals.  His coach said, "I wish every member of this track team had an attitude like Taylor's.  He has been so positive and such a hard worker all season long.  I've never met a kid like Taylor, he has a personality all his own, and he's a natural leader.  He's going to go far."  Wow.  Now that was an awesome "Mom" moment. 

 

I love these two!  They are the best! 

Spring Planting

We planted our garden last week...

Not sure if everything will grow...but Matthew and Lainah had a blast planting all the seeds...

And I'm not even sure if we got the seeds into their own rows, or if we have corn mixed up with beans!  This should make for an interesting harvest!

Addy helped sow seeds too...she kept finding dandelions and blowing "wishes" all over the yard.  She is so thoughtful that way...I'm sure Andy really appreciates that so much. ;)

After propagating dandelions...she jumped on the trampoline while the big kids worked...

And took a turn on the swing too.  This is going to be a fun summer with this little one running around!

No pictures yet...but we got the pool set up this weekend too...the kids cannot wait for school to be over this Friday!  We are SO ready for summer!

Brooklynn's Awards

Brooklynn has had a great 4th grade year!  She is a great student, and loves being involved in just about everything.  She's earned awards throughout the year for academics, and for perfect attendance...and here she is receiving her Fractions "Wizardry" award!  She didn't used to like math, but this year she made it a goal to get her math grades as high as her reading and spelling grades, which are always near 100%.  She met her goal, and we are so proud of her.

 

I love how dedicated Brooklynn can be to whatever goal or project she chooses to do.  Even though she is so young...only 9 years old, she is an inspiration to me in so many ways.  She loves to learn new things, and I hope she never lets go of that eagerness to learn and grow.

 

Each year the 4th and 5th graders also have a track meet.  Brooklynn told me a few days before the meet that she didn't like to run and didn't want to do it at all, but it's part of their P.E. grade so she had to.  I just told her to do her very best, and that it was okay to not like running!  Just to have fun at the meet and not worry about anything else! 

Brooklynn passed this runner and one other to take 3rd place in the 400M run.

 Well...for someone who doesn't like to run, she did a fabulous job on a really hard race.  She won 3rd place in the 400m, and she took 2nd place in the running long jump with a jump of 10 feet, 6 inches.  Looks like she just might be taking after her older brother in the jumping events.  She was a natural!

Taking a flying leap for a 10'6" jump

She qualified in both events to go to a "cluster" meet, with all the top winners from the 6 district elementary schools.  But there was also a Mother/Daughter Tea night scheduled for that same night at the same time...and Brooklynn chose not to compete at the cluster meet but to instead spend the evening eating little desserts and sandwiches and sipping "tea" with me.  We had a great time.

 

So proud of this cutie!

Shopping Is More Than Spending Money

It might seem cliché that for my date with Rachey last week, that I took her shopping.  But...if it's one thing I know about "tween" girls...it's that if you want to get to know about them, and have them open up to you...you take them shopping.  What is it about gazing at clothes that you'll never buy, or laughing at bizarre-looking jewelry that you'd never get caught dead in...or trying on crazy shoes that again, you'd never really wear that opens up those lines of communication between a mother and daughter? 

 

We had a blast together...I learned all about a few of the boys that she "kinda sorta" likes, but hasn't told anyone...she told me about what was going on in some of her classes, and why she doesn't like a couple teachers...and we talked about her first year of girl's camp, which is coming up in a month. 

 

Rachel keeps so many of her worries and concerns locked away from the view of others, and so if you didn't know that about her, you'd be fooled much of the time.  You'd think she never worried, that she was always confident and happy...and always had everything under control.  She's a lot like me in that regard...maybe that's why I "get it" so well.  I love that we were able to talk through a few things, and just have a lot of fun together while we were at it.

 

and....we did buy a few things.  I needed a helper to help choose the Mother's Day gifts... 

And...we also ended up leaving with a few new tops for Rachel.  Not quite sure how that happened...ha ha!  I owed her for babysitting...she likes the way I pay. :)

So see?  Shopping is SO much more than just spending money...in fact I'd say it's a lot like guys going fishing.  Except different.  (Wink)

Kindergarten Registration!

It's hard to believe that my little Lainah will be going to school next year.  The years have flown by, and I'm really not ready even now to let her start going.  She is more than ready though...and I can't believe how tall she has gotten in just the past couple of months.  She had Kindergarten registration last week...it made the whole "we're building a house and moving" thing seem a lot more real.

Lainah all ready for registration...I told them to smile, and Addy did her "Wanna build a Snowman?" face instead.

Our Elementary school kids will be going to a new school in the fall because of the house build...they'll be attending Lake Ridge Elementary.  The school sits up on top of a knoll above Lake Lowell...and from the playground, you can see the knoll about a mile away where our new house will be.

Lainah was SO excited to go see her new school...and since she was the first to go into it, she got to tell Matthew and Brooklynn all about it.  Their mascot is the Leopards, and she liked all of the trees around the school.  She met another little girl who would be in Kindergarten with her, and they hit it off immediately.  While I filled out paperwork, those two were sitting on a little couch talking about...Frozen, and My Little Ponies...and their SHOES.  Sheesh.

So it's official.  My little girlie is growing up.  She is so beautiful, and spunky, and smart, and eager to learn, and eager to meet other kids...and with that cute little giggle of hers...I'm sure she's going to have a fantastic Kindergarten year!

Design Winning Car

Taylor took a beginning engineering class this year and has thoroughly enjoyed it.  When we ask him what he'd like to do for a career, lately it's been centering around some sort of engineering...biomedical, and aeronautical specifically. 

 

The students have been learning to use the CAD program this semester, and one of the projects was to design a car.  Each student had to design it, using the computer program...and the top two student design winners got to have their car design brought to life.  Taylor's car actually took second place in design...but we think it's interesting that the winner's car actually broke the first time being tested out and the Engineering teacher had to fix it...so I know we're biased...but Andy and I both agree that THAT means Taylor's design was actually the better of the two.  I mean...it's not rocket science.  (ha ha!)

 

Side view of Tay's car

Top view

and the "oh yeah" view...

I haven't told Tay yet...but hey, Matthew turns 8 next year and guess who is going to get nominated for helping little brother with his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts?  Oh yeah.....

Lip Gloss Date

I had my date with Brooklynn two weeks ago, and we did our date at home, locked into my bedroom.  It was fun.  We made lip gloss!

 I bought a kit that had all of the scents and coloring so it was really easy to mix up...hooray!  We talked about what book she was currently reading, which is "Disney in Shadow," one of the Kingdom Keepers books.  She loves them, and told me all about what was going on in the book.  She is my little bookworm, and loves to read.

 

 We also talked about some of the things she wanted to do this summer...and at the top of her list was to go boating as a family again.  Its a good thing Andy already has the boat ready to go for the season...now if it will just warm up a little more...we'll be out on the water having a blast!

 

Brooklynn is finishing up her 4th grade year, and is doing so well in school.  She is my one that I never have to ask to do her homework, she stays on top of her homework and projects all on her own, and I love it.  Now if we can just get her to clean her room without being asked...

When we were all done, she had 5 different flavors of lip gloss in a cute little carrying case.  She had a lot of fun mixing the flavors and colors, and decorating the little containers with stickers.  I love how creative she is...I love my beautiful 9 year old Brooklynn Belle.

Beware the Evil Behind Smiling Eyes...

My church calling right now is to teach the 13 year olds' Sunday School class.  I love it.  I have a great group of kids...16 if they all come, so most of the time we have a full class, and takes a lot of planning to keep them all engaged and interested. 

 

A few weeks ago, the topic I chose to teach about was how the adversary uses deception to hurt us or make us stray...and how we can use the guidance of the Spirit to help us see through his tactics and stay close to Heavenly Father. 

 

Once in a while, I have a stroke of creative inspiration come to my mind and come up with a fun opening activity to introduce the lesson...this has got to be one of my favorites so far.  It was really...potent...and the point was made very clear.

 

I brought this lovely caramel "apple" to class, and had it sitting on my table as the class came in.  It was noticed immediately...and I could tell that several of the boys really wanted it.  It was hard to keep a straight face.  The kids were asking me which one of them got to have it...so I explained how much care I had taken to make this caramel apple just perfect, putting sprinkles on it, and milk chocolate...and then the bow to make the presentation beautiful.  The whole class wanted some, so I suggested that we cut it into pieces to share, and invited one of the kids to come up to make the first slice. 

 

I didn't get a picture of it...but as we sliced into this lovely concoction...it wasn't a big juicy apple that was inside...it was a big stinky, juicy RED ONION.  Crazy...but no one wanted it after that!?!  The looks on their faces was priceless!  They were wrinkling their noses because it immediately smelled horrible!  We then had a good discussion about how Satan will disguise things and use all manner of deception so we have to always be on our guard and rely on the Spirit to see the true nature of things. 

 

The onion kept stinking...even after I put it into a ziplock bag.  Ick.  Gross.  It truly was a great illustration of how Satan can make some things seem so appealing and good and beautiful, but really they're just a gross, stinky, foul tasting mess that is hard to wash away.  We had some great laughs about it all. 

 

But don't worry...I was nice...

 

 I also brought these yummy caramel apple suckers for them to enjoy. 

I may have traumatized some of them though...I brought brownies this past Sunday...and had several ask if I had put any ONIONS into them, and I've had one boy pray that we won't get food poisoning from the refreshments.  I LOVE it!  I have the best Sunday School class in the ward.

Night cap?

The other night I came into the bathroom to help Lainah and Addy brush their teeth...to find Addy like this.  She is hilarious!  She had taken a swim diaper out of her dresser and apparently thought it would make a great hat.

This little girl has such a fun personality, we all love her so much.  She is constantly doing funny little things like this that make me laugh!  

 

She didn't want to take it off, so she wore this "night cap" throughout the teeth brushing, and family prayer...and then wore it to bed.  I went in later and took it off...stifling giggles as I did.  She is too precious.  

Date with Matthew

Last week I got to take Matthew out for a date.  We decided to go use one of his Book It Pizza Hut certificates that he has earned but instead of just going through the drive-thru like I usually do...we ate in.  He thought that was awesome.   We had the whole place to ourselves.

While he ate, I asked him a bunch of questions...one of the things I learned about Matthew is that someday he'd like to drive a dogsled...and that he wants a Husky.  His favorite color is still blue...and his favorite thing to do at recess is play soccer with his friends.  

 

He also talked to me about when he turns 8 years old next year.  He's already telling me what he'd really like for his presents.   One thing that he really wants is a suit for church.  (He doesn't know this, but we were already planning on getting him one when he turned 8, so this is good news...that he actually WANTS one.)  He's excited to get baptized and to start cub scouts too.

 

 

A little "selfie" of the two of us...I love this boy, he is a sweetheart.