What a fun day!

*  Crazy Hair Day  *

 

This week has been Red Ribbon week at the elementary school.  Each day this week the kids have had the opportunity to do wear their hair crazy, wear their clothes inside out, and wear red.  Well today was crazy hair day and Trey and Ally were so excited to school with their hair all funny.  I worried that days like this is hard to do something crazy for a boy because normally their hair is too short to do much with, but we were fortunate enough to pull pony tails off for Trey.  To save us time, we started a few pony tails the night before,  this way we were not under a lot of pressure to do them all before school.   Allyson, she decided that instead of a whole bunch of ponies, she just wanted a lot of braids.  So we did a whole bunch of braids really quick before school.   They both were really excited to go to school to show off their new do's and see all the other crazy hair in school.

 

 

 

 

 

*  "Why I Love My Community" Writing Contest  *

 

I received a phone call about 11:45 this morning at work, it was McKenna calling with all sorts of excitement in her voice.  In her fourth hour English class, she had just found out that she was one of the four top winners in the entire seventh grade class that will their story will going on to compete at the state level in a writing contest called 'The Reasons I Love The Place I call Home'. 

 

This contest is a competition amongst all seventh graders in the state of Utah and McKenna's great story is going to compete at the state level.  There are 96 kids that all wrote a story in her grade and Mrs. Stella Hill picked McKenna's, Taylor Anderson, Julie Snyder, and Paydenne Mortenson. These girls will be going represent Gunnison Valley Middle School.  Each of them received five dollars for winning the entry at the school level, with hopes to win first place for $100 at the state level. 

McKenna's story was great and described the fun these that she likes to do while living in Gunnison.  The night before she turned her entry in, she brought a copy home so that we all could read it.  In her ending paragraph, it says, "I know when I have a family of my own, I would want to raise them here, the place that I call home."  When Jeremy read that, he said, "Really Jo, you want to live in Gunnison when you raise a family?".  McKenna's quick response was, "No, I want to live in Texas" and I quickly replied in saying that she only put that ending because she wants to win the hundred bucks!  We all laughed, knowing that was her true intention of putting that in her writing.  I am proud of McKenna for her accomplishment, she has put a lot of thought and creativity into her story and I can't for May to hear how she did at state.

 

 

*  Piano Festival Competition *

 

Later that evening, McKenna and Trey had to be to the Stake Center to participate in the local piano festival competition.  Each of them had to play their two piano pieces in front of two judges.  When it was their turn to compete, they stood in front of the judges, told them what their piece was called and by whom wrote it.  Each of them went and sat at the piano, patiently waited for the judges to tell them it was okay to play and then they began their first piece.  When they were done with their first piece, they waited while being judged and critiqued and then were told they could play their second piece.   Both of them did really well, even when their nerves got the best of them!  They both did so well that they both received a SUPERIOR rating from the judges!  McKenna and Trey have been working on their festival pieces since Christmas, so it is always rewarding to see it all pay off!

 

 

*  Cody Teel Day  *

 

In December 2012, Cody Teel won the World Champion Bull Rider at the NFR.  On March 5, 2013, his hometown of Koontz, Texas dedicated this day as Cody Teel Day.  They recognized Cody that day at the City Court House and in his honor, they placed a large sign on the outside border of town. 

Well since December of 2013, when we went to the NFR as a family, McKenna has been obsessed with Cody Teel.  She has replaced all her photos of Justin Bieber with Cody Teel.  She has had fun reading about his childhood and following his rides online.  She found out that March 5th was Cody Teel Day, so we have had it on our calendar for months.  As the day soon approached, she spent some time and made herself a Cody Teel banner to hang up.  She has been so excited for this day, plus we decided to recognize her for her accomplishments on her story, and reward both her and Trey doing so well with their piano competition, that we took everyone out for ice cream.  All made for a very fun and memorable day!