September Highlights

SEPTEMBER 2014

*  Trey was invited to Chelsi Helms bowling birthday party. He was excited to go Chelsi's party because they had the party at the Richfield bowling alley.  Trey scored the most boys out of all the boys that were there at the party.  He has always been good at bowling, especially the bowling game on the wii!  They played arcade games and ate pizza, he had a fun time.

*  Trey started back on the regular schedule of scouts this month.  He goes directly off the school bus to the stake center where the scout leaders meet them there and do activities there for them to pass off in their scout book.  With this schedule change, it would leave Ally coming home off the bus alone.  I am not ready for than

*  Tyra started junior preschool this month.  She has been excited to go to school just like McKenna, Trey and Ally. 

*  Jeremy and I advanced to Pro 1 in the LifeVantage business this month.  Pro 1 may not seem to exciting, but to us it means we are off to a great start in making this a go for our family!  Pro 10 here we come, we are off to a great start!  Okay, sorry before the months end, we did advance to Pro 2.  What awesome progress we are making!

*  McKenna's crazy schedule started the week of the 15th.  Her day started with play practice at 7:00 am, then a full day of school.  After school she walked to Diamonds dance class from 3:30 to 5, then Sr. Hip Hop from 5 to 5:45, then volleyball from 6 to 7:30.  Not all days are this crazy, luckily she is a good student and organized to be able to stay on top of everything to handle all of this!

*  Allyson missed a day of school this month with an upset stomach.  Mrs. Blackburn text me to check on her and after I told her that Ally was sick, she said that all Ally's friends are missing her today and wished she was there.  That definitely perked up a sick little girl.

*  The grass is coming great!  Jeremy even had to mow the piece out by the big rock to make it look better.  It is finally all coming together.

*  It's amazing how quick kids learn.  Lottie has only been to school probably a dozen times and already knows the Pledge of Allegiance.  It is so cute to watch her put her and on her heart and her other hand to her side and she recites the Pledge of Allegiance.  So stinkin' cute!

*  Allyson celebrated Johnny Appleseed Day on the 26th of this month.  Each student was to bring an apple to school that day plus all their math and reading activities involved this big celebration.  Allyson was pretty excited and loved all the fun that had at school.

*  It was our ward's primary program this month.  This is always one of my very favorite sacrament meetings.  Nothing makes me laugh more than to watch those little faces up on the stand.  It is always so entertaining.

*  Trey and Ally did not have school on the 18th and 19th of this month for Parent Teacher Conference.  I always love the opportunity I have to go and sit down with each of their teachers.  It is so fun to hear what good students they both are, not only academically but overall good kids.

*  Jeremy, McKenna, Trey, and I were able to attend the Ogden Temple Rededication meeting held broadcast at the Stake Center.  The program consisted of music and great speakers.  I loved that the kids were able to witness church leaders talk about temple and how important they are in our lives.  JoAnn, since just recently recovering from knee surgery was able to tend Ally and Lottie for us so we could go.

*  JoAnn, Jenna, Kallie, McKenna and I were able to attend the Tuachan's play "Wizard of Oz" in St. George.  It was such a fun weekend to spend with just us girls.  Jeremy stayed home to tend Trey and the two little girls.  The weather was nice, so fortunate enough, they spent the weekend outside.

*  The Okerlund Girls also had a girls trip that next weekend.  We left Friday afternoon and went to the Tuachan's "Little Mermaid" play.  All the girls loved it!  We got up Saturday, let the girls play in the water and then shopped the afternoon.  So much fun!

*  Dance started this month!  Ally is taking Mini Jazz with classes on Wednesdays and McKenna is taking Diamond Dance Competition team and Jazz.  She did change her mind after a few lessons and moved to hip hop.

*  As always, we labored on Labor Day.

Diamond Team Captian

McKenna called me from school today to remind me that the Diamonds Dance teams was going to do their voting for the team captain, reporter, secretary, etc. today at dance.  We had completely forgot and so we had to put something together quick for her to take to dance.  I went and grabbed her from school and ran with her to Family Dollar. She quickly picked out Extreme Airheads, Super Bubble Gum, Air Heads, and Ring Pops that she could use in a speech to present to the other girls.  I ran her back to school and Allyson, Lottie, and I prepared 17 treat bags for McKenna to take to dance. 

 

 

 

 

I was quite impressed with the cute speech she came up with so quick. Here is what she presented:

 

I have a bag of candy for each of you, so look inside the bag and follow along.  I am McKenna  and I am EXTREMEMLY excited for this year's Diamond Dance team.  In order to make this year SUPER amazing, don't be an AIRHEAD and vote for McKenna for president.  If you do, this year will . . .(lick ring) POP!



The girls were all able to vote and the ballots were counted while at dance practice.  And the results are McKenna as the new Diamond Dance Team Captain!

 

McKenna was super excited that she was voted in as Captain.  With this comes extra responsibility that she will get to oversee, like team parties, team treats, extra things at competitions and the Diamond Dance Instragram account.  Way to go Jo!

Creative Corrals

Trey, Allyson, and Lottie have been quite into rodeo playing, corral building lately.  Most days we can find horses and cows laying around the family room from the latest rodeo.  Well, needless to say the creativity here is endless.  I was quite surprised to look back behind my recliner to see what these three had been busy up to.  They used Lottie's blanket as their field and then crayons as fences to separate the cows from the horses.  Who would have thought that crayons could replace fence?

 

 

 You gotta love their creativity and how they use their resources.  Sure made it fun for them to play!

Primary Program

Today was the Gunnison 5th Ward Primary Program.  The annual primary program is always one of my favorite Sundays of the year, the spirit these sweet kids bring to the meeting is undeniable!
The 2014 Primary theme is "Families are Forever", so the songs and talks all tied into how our families can be together forever.

 

Trey and Allyson each had their own part to memorize so they could speak it over the pulpit.  Their part in the program consisted of:

 

Ally - I can show respect to my Savior by being reverent.

Trey - Scripture study gives me and my family spiritual strength.  When we read the scriptures together  it can bring the spirit into our homes and help us to want to do what is right.

 

Trey - Heavenly Father has a plan for his children.  In 2 Nephi 9:13 we read, "O how great the plan of our God!"

 

 

I love my family and I too am grateful that Families can be Together Forever.

Saturday Night Lights!

After ten plus years of storing these large street lights, the day has finally arrived that they are up and lighting up the entire neighborhood.  Having the ability to rope all night in your own arena is truly every team ropers dream.  This will truly be an attraction for ropers for years to come.

 

Okerlund Girls Trip

Yes, look at us, in St. George again!  Yes, that is two weekends in a row!

We are so excited for this Okerlund girls trip in sunny St. George.  My girls have looked forward to this trip for weeks.  Not only to hang with all these cute cousins of ours, but to see The Little Mermaid live!  We left Friday after lunch and rushed to Morgan's house to get ready before the play started.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat and to the Tuachan we went.

 

 

Everyone loved the performance, they loved it so much that they could not wait to go and meet the characters.  It was fun to get the girls' photos with the mermaids, Ursula, Prince Eric and of course, Princess Ariel.

Afterwards, we went back to Morgan's house and had one big sleepover.  Talk about crazy, that is a lot or work getting that many girls to be quiet long enough to get them to fall asleep.  Saturday morning came quick and they were all up ready to go!  It was full day of fun at the pool, lunch and shopping! 

 

Shopping was fun, the girls picked up some new friends in all our adventures!

 

 

Such a fun weekend!  Can't wait to do it again next year.  We are so lucky to have such an awesome family and blessed that there are so many cute girls to share memories like this with!

Peter Pan Tryouts

After two days of auditions and one pretty intense day of call backs, the final decisions were made and the names were announced.  Yes, McKenna did it, she was called to play the part of WENDY in the upcoming school play, Peter Pan.

 

 

She just beamed from ear to ear when she got home to tell me what part she received.  And do you blame her, Wendy is the main role for females in this year's performance.  This will be her time to shine, singing and playing the roles of Wendy.  But note that this will not be easy, she will have six hard weeks of memorizing parts for ten different scenes as well as singing ten different songs, some of those she will have solo parts to perform.

 

 

 I couldn't help but look back at last years play of Annie and in that post, I noted that even then,10 months ago, she knew what she wanted and she would do all she could to play that main part.   McKenna is definitely one who puts her mind to something and follows through to make it happen. 

 

Great Job McKenna, aka Wendy!  We are so proud of you!

Taylor Girls Trip

 

We finally made it on our second Taylor girls trip this weekend.  I was especially excited about this trip because McKenna was able to join in on the fun.  We got up early Saturday morning and headed to St. George.  We let McKenna pick out where to each lunch and of course she picked out Café Rio, which it worked out great because Rick and Kallie were able to meet up with us to eat and visit.  Afterwards, we squished in as much shopping as we could before we went to the Tuachan.

 

 



Tonight's performance of the Wizard of Oz was nothing short of amazing.  It was so fun to see this show performed live with such an amazing backdrop and awesome characters. 

 

This picture of McKenna with the flying monkeys is for Jeremy.  Ever since he was a little boy, he has hated the Wizard of Oz movie all because of those monkeys, so Jer this one is for you!

 



 

This was such a fun weekend with all these cute ladies.  I feel so fortunate to call them family.  It was a weekend filled with laughter, good food and lots of shopping. 

First Day of Preschool

It's hard to believe that my baby is old enough to start going to pre-school.  Because she is only 3, she is fortunate enough to take two year of preschool.  She was looking pretty cute in all her excitement to go to school.  The preschool schedule is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from noon to two-thirty.  I can't wait to see how much she will learn through this upcoming school year.  I have to laugh, I wanted to get up and curl her hair for this big day but she insisted that we pull it back!

 

She was pretty excited to come home from school to show off her stuff.  She colored a picture of a rainbow and was most excited about her Star Student sticker that she received today!