Bladen's Baptism

We are SO proud of Bladen.  He has chosen to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He's been waiting for his baptism for a while now & he's really excited to be the first boy in our family to be baptized.

My parents flew out from Utah for the occassion & Trek's parents drove up from Canyon Country to be with us as well.  My dear friend Luti made 2 candy lei's as well as a beautiful flower lei in celebration of his special day.  He felt pretty cool in it all.  Isn't he a handsome young man?

I was a proud mommy that entire day.

It was SO wonderful having my mom & dad there with us.  My mom's health has been SO much better lately since her newest surgery.  She is able to get out more & is loving the fact that she can travel now.  We are SO proud of her courageous progress as well.

And Opa & Oma are always wonderful to have around.  It was such a wonderful thing to have both sets of grandparents here.

Opa & Oma gave Bladen his very first set of scriptures for his baptism.  And Mimi & Baba got him his very first suit for church.

Trek was very proud of Bladen as well.  Trek baptized him as well as conferred the Holy Ghost on him as well.

Bladen got to share his special day with one of his very best friends from church.  I think it's wonderful that Luke & Bladen got to share their special events with each other.

After the baptism, Luke's aunt made the most amazing pies I've ever had & everyone celebrated with the boys.  It was SO MUCH FUN.

After the baptism & pie, we drove to Red Robin (Bladen's favorite) for a celebration lunch.  Along the way we found Cadence Street as well as a company called Cadence.  Cadence thought that was pretty cool.

Bladen loved his HUGE BURGER.  That kid loves hamburgers.  What a cutie.  It was really nice having dinner with the entire family together.

Congratulations Bladen.  We love you.

Family Fun

My family flew in for Bladen's baptism & Cadence's graduation & we had a blast while they were here.  They flew in on Dad's birthday so we took him to The Cheesecake Factory for his birthday, then shopped at the mall for a bit.

My mom had a blast spending time with each of the kids.  Lorien loved having Mimi do her hair, face, & nails all week.  She was in heaven.

And Canyon LOVED hitching a ride in Mimi's wheelchair all week.  He was one happy kid.

It was SO nice having them here for the week.

Cub Scout Service Project

Bladen is loving being in cub scouts.  He's making new friends & doing some amazing things.

For Memorial Day weekend, his cub scout pack went to the Golden Gate Cemetary & placed flags on all the tombstones.  What an amazing service project to honor those heros who risked their lives for our very freedom.  I'm SO glad he got to take part in this.

He rode there & back with his 2 buddies.  They went out to eat for lunch & played wall ball for most of the afternoon while Trek & I were doing my camp hike.  I'm so grateful for good friends for my kids.  We love living in this area.

For the last cub scout pack meeting before summer break, Trek was the guest speaker & spoke about freedom & what it was like being in the military.  Then he put the boys through a miniature boot camp which was hilarious.  The boys LOVED it.  It was a great pack meeting.

End of School - Stake Dance

Cadence has been waiting several months for this multi-stake dance.  8 different stakes in our area have teens ages 14-18 go & they always have so much fun.  This was one of the few formal dances they've had so she was excited to dress up a bit for the fun.

Doesn't she look beautiful?

She went with her sweet friends & they had a blast.  Cadence said she danced a lot which is great.  Dances are for having fun & she had a blast.

Gearing Up For Girls Camp

I can't believe summer is already upon us.  It's CRAZY.  The week after school gets out, I'm going up to Camp Lehi for a week with both Cadence & Lorien for our church's weeklong Girls Camp.  I'm the 1st year (12 year olds) certification leader again this year so I'm busy trying to get all my food, stoves, hiking gear, first aid knowledge, etc. ready to be taught again.

Part of the certification for the girls is a 3 mile hike.  Trek & I went up 2 weeks early to clear my trail of poison oak & anything else deadly so it's ready to go for the girls when we get up there.  It's a beautiful hike, but boy is it hard.  Going down is awesome, but going back up that mountain is enough to give you a heart attack.  I don't know why I love it so much.  

This year was extra crazy since I've been battling a viral ear infection that actually caused nerve damage in my inner ear.  I have vertigo really badly right now so the hike was slightly terrifying for me.  But the doctor assured me that my body would adjust to the new balance until my nerve endings hear by the time girls camp actually comes.  THANK HEAVENS.

We saw snakes, salamanders, moles, & all sorts of fun creepy crawlies on my pre-hike.  It was gorgeous up in the Santa Cruz Mountains too.  And I had my favorite hiking buddy with me too. . . he's really cute.  I kind of love him.

I'm SUPER excited for girls camp this year.

I also finally finished my homemade 1st aid kits for my 1st year girls.  I have 15 girls this year & part of their certification is learning basic first aid & what goes inside a personal first aid kit.  So of course I made each of them one, complete with jewels & glitter rik rak.  Inside is everything needed in a personal first aid kit.  They are small, cute, & perfect to carry everywhere.  And heaven knows it's nice to have bandaids on hand when you need them.  I hope the girls like them.  I think they turned out adorable.

Cadence's Genius Hour Project - My Music Helper

For Cadence's Exploratory class at Crittenden Middle School, each member of the class had to create a "genius project" during the length of the entire school year.  It had to be a project that took a LOT of time & it had to be something they had never even attempted doing before.

Of course Cadence chose the absolute most difficult thing she could possibly do for a project:

Learn a programming language

& code a music app for ios devices.

I just about died when I found out that's what she wanted to do.  I knew I couldn't help her with that at all & I was worried about how hard it would be for her to learn.  But she insisted & she worked hard. . .

VERY HARD.

She read a college level text book on coding in the Swift language & started a coding tutorial course online.  The entire process took well over 100 hours.  It was incredible.

By the time the presentation came the last week of May, the app was not fully completed, but she was proud of what she had done so far.  The hardest stuff was done, she just needs to fine tune it all before she can sell it.  She has a goal to complete her app by the end of summer & have it for sale on the apple app store by September.

She presented her project in front of the school, parents, teachers, & community leaders & was awarded "The Future Googler" award for the hardest & most amazing project this year.  That's my girl.  She makes me so proud.

Watch her presentation by clicking on the link below.

My Music Helper Genius Project Presentation