Easter 2011

Easter really snuck up on us this year. We didn't even color eggs until 7pm on Saturday night but the kids still had a great time. On Sunday we went to Stake Conference and heard some great talks that helped me to remember why we celebrate Easter. It was a wonderful weekend!

Thanks Nana for the Easter outfits!
Most of the Larson cousins (missing Kris' kids).

Pine Wood Derby

This was Adam's last year to compete in the Pine Wood Derby (that is until he is a father-wink). We have a small pack so of course he come out on top but Dave was disappointed that it didn't go as fast as last year. Adam was perfectly happy either way...such a good sport!

After the pack's derby our Elder's Quorum had a race. There were lots of interesting cars, some faster than others. Dave had a blast!! It was a requirement that the women help in some way, my contribution was the paint and the title..."Hot Mama".

Home Renovations...UGH!!!

We've been a little busy around here. We've decided to put our house on the market in hopes to build a home of our own. The week we decided to do this our hot water heater went out, which prompted a entire laundry room renovation. It was the only room that we had never touched and were kind of hoping to get by without doing so, but I'm glad that we did. In addition to that we've been painting our bedroom, installing new baseboards though out the house and updating our master bathroom vanity and counter top. None of this would be possible without the efforts of Gary Wright, my amazingly talented (and single) brother in law. We are so thankful for him!!Our master bedroom. Newly painted, new baseboards and window coverings.I'm so proud of us for building these. We're not that handy but we figured out how to do them. The problem I had was one window had the blinds on the inside and the other one had the blinds mounted on the outside because it's an odd size. After building the cornices and hanging the curtains they look exactly alike and you can't tell they are different and they make our room look "fancy"!

4th Grade Play

Back in March the 4th graders of Dorothy Stinson Elementary School presented their play. It was called "Get In The Game" and Adam was front and center for most of it. He loves to sing, dance and preform and he gets lots of opportunities to do so in school.

Star of the show...Adam!

Adam and his BFF Amanda...aka "the twins".

Love of Reading Week

I know this is going to be a strange post for my family blog but I thought it was important to get out there. You see I am the PTO president at the boys' school and I was asked to head up the Love of Reading Week activities this year. I immediately "googled" it and found next to nothing to help me. No official website, no official date, no activity examples...nothing. So I went ahead and come up with my own activities and not to pat myself on the back but I think they turned out really great! So if you have come upon my blog by searching for Love of Reading Week...welcome and I hope you can find something to help you. We have a k-6th grade school.

My principle and I decided to do it during the week of Valentines...you get it...LOVE of Reading. I was very aware of planning activities that did not interfere too much with instructional time, I wanted the teachers to like me when the week was over. Here is a break down of what we did. Good luck with your planning.

Monday

Decorate Door Day

Read your Valentines

Instead of decorating the doors the teachers opted to decorate a poster and hang it in the cafeteria for the other kids to see.

Tuesday

Guest Reader Day

I invited local "celebrities" to read to each grade...the mayor, the sheriff, pageant queen, cheerleaders from local college, ER doctor, police man. They read to a class or two at time for about 25 minutes.

Wednesday
Hat Day

The students paid a $1 to their teacher for the privilege of wearing a hat in class. We donated the money raised to our public library.

Thursday

Donate a book day

Students and teachers donated new and used books. They were given to our local hospital for children being treated. I printed a label and put it in the front cover telling where the books were donated from.

Friday

K-3rd grade met with a local children's book illustrator, Wes Hargis. He had just published a book with Al Yankovic. He had a power point presentation that was AWESOME! The kids loved it!!

4th-6th grades got a treat. I bought packages of the large smarties and wrapped a label around it that said...Reading is Sweet. Simple and easy. Many of the teachers were bummed that they didn't get to meet with Wes Hargis so he agreed to come back to the school another day and meet with the older grades.

Here are the books that Wes has published, they are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Where to even begin...

My apologizes to all of our adoring fans. I don't know what my problem is, I just haven't been interested in blogging lately. Today I plan to remedy this. So sit back, relax and get ready to catch up with the Wright family!

The week prior to Christmas we celebrated Carson's 7th birthday. It's not really fair that the kids get cheated out of a real birthday every year because we are so caught up with plans for Christmas, but he takes it all in stride and hasn't complained yet. This year Dave and I planned an intimate party at home. I'm glad we didn't do something more extravagant because most of the guests ended up sick and couldn't come. I called the neighbors an hour before it started just we would have some guests.

The menu was taken from a restaurant we went to in Tucson called the Cereal Boxx. We had several different types of cereals and toppings for the kids to eat. They loved it! We then played a few games, opened gifts and had carmel apples for dessert (Carson choose this). The evening ended with the kids watching 'Despicable Me'. It was very low key but I think the kids had a good time. Carmel Apple with candles?? Yep!!

Carson got to preform in a school Christmas program. Only the younger grades put on the Christmas show. He was a cute little elf!

Next came Christmas. As usual we spent Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house. We did the nativity, Santa visited and we played a crazy game of white elephant. Then we hurried home to get in bed. Dave had to work this year which was a bummer, but we made it work and Christmas turned out great! The boys got up Christmas morning, played with their Santa gifts and stocking gifts. Then I allowed them to open one specific present...the Wii. I got that set up and working for them, then we got ready and went to my parents house for breakfast and more gifts. Dave got there about 11am and we headed back home to open our gifts. It was kind of nice because it made the day last longer. We all got some great gifts! The older boys got Paper Jam guitars, bikes and basketballs. Brady got lots of toy tools...just what he wanted! Daddy gave the family a big popcorn machine. Mommy was given a Silhoute machine and a indoor grill. Daddy got a iPod full of songs and conference talks.

Thank you to everyone who helped us have a wonderful Christmas!

The Polar Express 2010

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It's our family tradition to go on The Polar Express train ride in Williams, AZ every year. This was our 5th year to go. It's always so magical and always gets us in the mood for Christmas. This year was no exception, it was wonderful!! Enjoy a slideshow of pictures from our adventure to the North Pole.

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