Devree's Concert, Pack Meeting, and Seminary Graduation

Devree at her Advanced Choir final performance. They sang two "Glee" songs and Devree had a small solo. We are awfully proud of her.

Dane was so excited to get one gold and 2 silver arrow points at Cub Scouts by Sister Neumeister.

This week has been another busy, busy week. Monday was a baseball practice for Dane. Tuesday was a temple trip for Baptisms and fundraiser dinner at a local restaurant for Dane's school plus Devree's concert. Wednesday was the pack meeting for Dane. Thursday another game for Dane, award night for Noble where he received 9 more awards plus a book group for Devree and I. Friday I took "dirt dessert" with gummy worms for Dane's school to celebrate his birthday because his birthday is in August when there is no school. Dane also received a student of the month and Devree received "Sophmore Girl of the year" award. Between all of our kids, they received 19 awards. Yesterday we helped a lady in our ward move. Todd and Noble helped her move while we watched her two darling boys. Tonight was Seminary Graduation for Noble and he has a certificate with President Monson's signature on it. That is pretty special.

This week is finals, fun and Noble's graduation. I will help with "Fun in the Sun" at Dane's school on Wednesday and Thursday is the big day for Noble. Saturday will be his party with his other 5 friends.

Senior Awards, Musical and Music

Noble at his last band concert.

Noble the smiling senior.

Listening to the multitude of band awards with Beth on the other side of Noble.

Manny got a special"Pirate" nutcracker for being the "Pirate" drum major.

Noble receiving one of his 8 awards from Mrs. Julie Bumgardner. Noble recieved awards for playing concert and jazz band for his 4 years of high school. We are very proud of him and his musical talent.

The 16 seniors from the 2 bands. Each senior had a rose with a sentiment attached to it. They read Noble's first and it was very touching about Mrs. Bum being a second Mom. I was crying and I think she got misty eyed.

This was a scene of "Into the Woods" the after school musical that Noble and Devree worked so hard on. Red Riding Hood was Alana Staggs, the friend that came clear to St. Jude's to see Devree. Lana was so awesome and has a great singing voice and had to scream one time in the play and was perfect.

Manny was one of the leads as the "Baker" and he and his play wife had to go through all of these fairy tales to finally be able to have a baby.

Devree played Jack and the Beanstalk's mother. She is here with Jack and the cow. Devree had a solo and she played her part very well.

Noble played a "conceited" prince that was after Cinderella. He had a solo and so many people came up and said "I didn't know you could sing Noble." When he acted so pompous our little neighbor girl started giggling because Noble did such a good job and he is so not like that.

Emma O'Barr got "Most Outstanding Musician" for the 6th grade. The students vote on who they thought was the best.

Shay "campaigned" and got "The Most Improved" award for the 7th grade. Todd and I guffawed when we heard about our little politician.








As you can see our week was very full. This next week will be busy too. I am ready for school to be out.

Beth came to church again today and we got a Book of Mormon for her and Devree, Todd, Noble and I wrote our testimonies in it.

Spring has not sprung here yet and I hope to put in our garden very soon. But there was slushy snow coming down today for a short little while. Oh well. I hope everyone will have a warm spring week.

Devree's PLAY

Devree doesn't like to play the "old woman" all of the time but she does get lots of lines and this is one proud mom that knows for a fact that Devree stole the show. She may only have "half expression" but she plays it big. She played Beauty's mother in this version of "Beauty and the Beast". She had to act frightened and she did and she had to play a mom and she did.

Devree said something funny yesterday morning. As only Todd, Dane, Devree and I were at the breakfast table, Todd pulled the pitcher of juice over and it made a grinding sound on the table from dried on food. Todd said "There must be braille on the table". Devree said "Yes it says WET PAINT".

I forgot to tell you one funny thing about Mother's Day. Todd always traced the kids hands when they were little, inside the card and wrote their name and age inside the hand. This Mother's Day Noble traced his hand on the inside of the card and wrote Noble 18 years old!

This week Dane had another wonderful baseball game while Shay went on a Scout campout and Noble was at his last track meet. Noble had to sweat off 3 pounds so he could qualify and still scratched,... poor guy. Todd was ready to go on a teacher's scout campout but one of the boy's dad passed away unexpectedly this week. So in the last couple of months we have had a Mom pass away unexpectedly and leave a 16 year-old daughter and now a Dad that left a 17 year-old daughter and 14 year-old son in our ward. The funeral is Wednesday. It really goes to show you that you never know when your time will come. Make the most out of everyday.

Noble's PROM and Mother's Day!

2010 Senior Prom with from the left, Manny, Caylynn, Beth Clark and Noble. Noble said they had lots of fun having dinner, than the prom and left early to go bowling. Manny was crowned "Prom King".

Isn't this a cute picture of Beth and Noble?

The boys!

The girls.

Emily came with her 3 darling boys for Mother's Day. Her husband is working over seas.

Cheryl came with her 2 sons too and took our picture. Dane was not feeling well and fell asleep.

Cheryl and her two active boys. Cheryl will be having a girl in 8 weeks or there about.

This week was another flying week. Dane missed school because of being sick and I had to take him to the doctor for steroids because he was up one night where he couldn't breathe. He still can't talk too well. He missed out on the tryouts for the talent show. He was going to have 3 friends help him out with "Squirrels in my Pants." Dane did feel good enough for his baseball game on Saturday and he didn't strike out. He loves baseball.

Shay loves soccer so much that when we went for his game at 8 am and his team lost badly, he stayed to play the next game for the team that didn't have enough players. He had a sleep over the night before and had stayed up all night too!

Devree has one of her plays tomorrow night. It is the school play and the musical is coming up. She is a little bit nervous about her lines.

Mother's Day was awesome with breakfast in bed and beautiful flowers and cards. I also get a massage from my new favorite masseuse. I am so fortunate that she lives down the street and is in our ward.

I am very glad that I have a Mom that taught me how to be a great Mom like her. Someday I hope to grow up and be just like her.

20th Anniversary!

Noble playing "Dark Horse" at the talent show at the high school.

As soon as we got off the plane, there was Michelle clapping that we had arrived. As you can see,...her cardboard of a husband is behind her.

Sara Palin was there to say "Hello" too.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of a Washington, D.C. plate. Notice the "taxation without representation"?

Todd and the White House. Boy they don't let you get very close and we would have to write our senator to get permission for a tour on the inside of the White House.

As close as my zoom lens could take us.
Trying to put our automatic shutter on and holding the camera. I was telling Todd, "smile" and he is saying "I don't think it is going to work". My head was right in front of the Lincoln Memorial I was trying to picture.

Todd with the Lincoln Memorial. You can see a high school band playing beautiful patriotic peices at the end of the reflection pool.

I am showing you how big the Washington Monument is at the other end of the mall.

The Lincoln stature was so impressive and so very large. It was a beautiful tribute. Downstairs it showed pictures of Martin Luther King where he made his "I have a dream" speech at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Todd said "It might take this country that long to get used to Obamacare." He was talking about the years from Lincoln to equal rights for all. I was filled with such deep appreciation for our country when I heard the patriotic music and saw the impressive Lincoln statue.

The highschool band laid out all of their instruments on the grass and had a picnic lunch under the trees by the reflecting pool.

The World War II monument was very beautiful with all of the states surrounding the fountains. We found Nevada.We went to the Smithsonian Museums and this was the sculpture garden. This is a massive spider.

This tree was about 20 feet high and made of aluminum.

This marble sculpture was intricate and fine. The marble book had individualized pages. I said to the museum helper , "Oh yes! Everytime I read a book I expose one breast." Without skipping a beat he said "Yes and notice the intricacy of her necklace." The sculptures were all done in the 15th century.

This looks like it could be George Washington, but it just said "Man facing a storm. This was a bronze about 18" high. I love how the horse is bowed and the cape is flying behind.

This was my favorite piece. It was called "The Adoration of the Shepherds". I loved that even the cow and donkey are adoring the Christ Child. This artwork was about 4 feet tall.

This is the bed that Lincoln died in. It is a little house across from the Ford theater where he was shot. They took him to the house across the street and he died the following morning. This room was so tiny that Todd and I's 4 poster log bed would not fit in this room.

This was the room Lincoln's wife waited in.

A silly rendition of Manny and friends for the talent show while the judges tallied the finals.

Well Todd and I were married for 20 years on April 29th. I arranged for us to fly to Washington, D.C. Todd had been there years before and wanted me to see it. I was so thrilled to find a good deal. We enjoyed the beautiful sights, history and weather. Everyone was so kind and answered our questions. We tried to find a nice restaurant for dinner on Friday night and a kind cab driver had us follow him about 7 miles to this wonderful conglomeration of restaurants. We chose a little steak place called M&S and it was probably the finest meal that Todd and I have ever eaten. What a wonderful memory of a kind cab driver.

The next day our plane did not leave until mid afternoon so we traveled to the temple. It was wonderful to see and do a few sealings. I loved the style and it reminded me of the Portland one and the LA one a bit.

Kalene, Cody and Carson came this weekend too. It was sad that we had already planned to go to D.C. but wonderful that they could stay at our home and attend Bill's Baby Boy's First Birthday. (Say that 3 times fast.) We loved having them and the kids hated to see them go because they were so fun. Alas Todd and I only saw them for a few hours before we flew out and when we arrived back home.