Julie Comes To Town

 Julie, Jacob, Ammon, and Ashley came to Utah for their spring break. We all love it when they come to visit, and spend as much time together as possible. :) We had a family dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's on Sunday to celebrate Cailtyn and Grandpa's birthdays.

On Monday I checked Rockwell out of school early so he could go hang out with Ammon and Wyatt. They rode scooters to a store, played at a park, and hung out at Al's house. He loved that! That night we went to play pickle ball, which was a lot of fun even though it was windy and freezing! Grandma Ham played too, which we all thought was so awesome! She had left before we took a group picture (I was taking the picture), but I want to remember that she played with us. :)

Damon, Tessa and Hallee came and played at the park. They didn't seem to mind the cold at all.

After pickle ball, we went to Leatherby's.

Al, Julie and I were all sitting in a row and it was hard to visit, so I crossed to the other side of the table. Jonah greeted me with a, "Hey bestie." Haha!

I kept the kids home from school Tuesday, and we went to Lowe's Xtreme Airsports that morning. The kids all loved that!

We spent the afternoon hanging out at Al's house and then the sisters and Grandma & Grandpa went to Guru's for dinner and Hale Center Theatre to watch Bright Star. Kyle & Paige met us for the play too. I saw Bright Star at the Sandy Hale Theatre a while ago, and was so excited to see it again. It's one of my favorite plays I've ever seen.

We love love love it when the Ham Family comes to visit!

Accent on Excellence Award

 Paul received the Accent on Excellence Award last week. He also received the Timpanogos Teacher of the Year this year. (Last year, he was awarded the PTA Teacher of the Year.) Principals can choose to further nominate their peer-chosen Teacher of the Year to receive a District Accent on Excellence Award, and Joe nominated Paul. There will be a banquet for the winners of this award in May, but the district stopped by the school to surprise Paul with the award and a gift basket.

Joe could talk about how great Paul is all day long. :) 

He took the group to the workroom of the library to have Paul show them the Professional Development Library he's created for the teachers/staff, as well as the S.O.S. program (Send Out Sustenance) and the Feel Good Friday forms.

It was so fun to go spend a half hour just listening to people recognize and appreciate all that Paul does for the Timpanogos community. Joe said that Paul has done more for the morale of teachers in the last year and a half than anyone else could have from any other position. It's been a really tough couple years for teachers, and Paul has helped the THS teachers feel appreciated and important and valued, which leads to better results and influence on the students. Here's what the District shared about Paul's award:

So proud of you Paul!!!

Everyday Adventures

 The kids had a day off school for a teacher work day, and asked if we could hike Upper Falls again. That was an easy yes for me. :) Damon led the way up the trail this time and the rest of us had a hard time keeping up with him.

A lot of the snow had melted from when we were there 2 days earlier, and it was much more slippery on the trail. Tessa and Rockwell found some hiking sticks to help them.

We were able to get closer to the waterfall this time though, so that was fun.

We got in the hot tub after the hike. It was a fun day off school.

Tessa and Damon got all decked out in green for St. Patrick's Day.

Grandma and Gramps are home from Europe and came over to visit on Saturday. It was great to see them and hear about some of their experiences on their trip. It sounds like it was amazing! They brought each of the kids a gift. Tessa loves her mask from Italy!

Damon loves his troll from Sweden. It's supposed to bring good luck. Damon says that since the troll has been in his room he's slept much better. :)

And Rockwell loves his Lego's from Denmark, where Lego's were invented.

Grandma and Gramps took Rockwell to Barnes and Noble to choose a birthday gift, and then to Dairy Queen for a birthday lunch.

He was so excited to pre-order the new Wings of Fire book, as well as get the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and a dragon. They spoiled him for sure!!

Around Our House

 We've started reading Harry Potter as a family. Paul reads it, and we all love listening.

The kids' school had activities for Read Across America Day. We walked over to the school and read books in the library and then went out and got Kona Ice. The line was really long, and so the kids went and played with their friends on the playground and I waited in line and visited with a friend. The weather was beautiful that day, and so it was a great way to spend the afternoon.

We got a new picture of Fahima. It's always exciting to get a new picture.

Tessa was able to pet-sit a cat named Tiki. She is Roxanne's daughter's cat, and she stayed at Roxanne's house while their family went on a trip. 

She went over twice a day to fill her water and food bowls. She does such a great job of taking care of these animals.

Damon liked to come along and see Tiki too.

Damon is officially a Word Wizard! He passed off all his words and phrases for the year. Great work Damon!!

We went to a benefit concert at the high school that supports the Life Skills kids. It was a really fun night with some amazing musical talent. The kids each ran into a friend from school and so they all had a friend to sit with. It was a fun night!

I took the kids to hike Upper Falls. It was so good for us to get outside even though it was cold. The kids complained about going, but once they were there they had a blast. They immediately started a snowball fight.

They wanted to stop for a snack break. :)

It was pretty slippery right up by the falls. Tessa didn't want to get too close.

When we got back down to the shack the kids had a snowball fight over the top of it. They each had a different platform and had a great time trying to hit each other.

And the snowball fight continued the whole way back to the car. :)

That night we had a game night with Katie & Ben, Audrey & Jason, and Al & Keith. We all had fun trying out the Virtual Reality game that Audrey and Jason brought.