Megan's talk

On Sunday Megan had a talk in Primary. She chose the pictures and stories she wanted to talk about and most of the words are hers. I wrote it down for her but she read it all by herself in front of the Primary. Go Megan!

Today I want to talk about choosing the right.  Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  He tried to tell people about it.  He tried to do what was right.  He was praying and an angel named Moroni said that at the top of the hill Cumorah there were golden plates for him to translate.  Joseph was blessed for doing the right thing.  If you choose the right, the blessings will come down to you.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Let's talk science!

On Saturday, Me was feeling pretty under the weather.  We had planned to go to the Arizona Science Center but she just wasn't up to it.  They decided U would take all the kids.  Sarah opted to stay home and take care of mom.

When we got to the museum, we couldn't get to the parking garage.  Apparently we just happened to be there the same day as the Matasuri Festival so there were Japanese food stands, cos-players and lots of kimonos around.  We eventually figured out how to get through and went in to the science center after watching a little shrine being carried around the festival.

Once we were inside, we found out that it was Engineering week and there were a whole bunch of engineering activities to do.  First we went up to one of our favorite rooms and found we had it completely to ourselves.

Megan on the bed of nails

Matthew building circuits

Taking on Dad in tug-o-war

Matthew wants to try beating dad on his own

Lots of room to build on the ball wall

Next we headed to the body rooms and enjoyed wheelchair races and watching open heart surgery.  We also put together a person's internal organs and only had one extra part.  Med school here we come!  As we were heading to the planetarium for a show, we stopped at tables for some engineering crafts.  The first one had us rolling papers to show how they could then hold textbooks.  The next table was making bridges out of straws, paperclips, ribbon and tape.  The kids and I were having a lot of fun but we had to stop to go see our show.  As soon as we came out, everyone wanted to finish their bridges.

Matthew with an arch, U with a cable bridge and Megan with a truss.

We then went and ate some lunch before  doing some more demonstrations.  The kids made bracelets with UV and glow-in-the-dark beads.  We then made structures out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.

M&M with their constructions

Why not combine the two?

We visited a couple more rooms before heading home.  We had a great time.

Matthew and his contraption

Last Running Club Race

The kids had their last running club race of the season. Our school was one of the schools in charge of the race so U helped out along the course while Me ran around trying to get pictures of the kids.

And they're off!

Matthew running a bit into the race.

Here comes Megan!

Sarah running hard as she nears the finish line.

Megan closing in on the finish line.

Matthew running near the end of the course.

Sarah ran hard and got 3rd place for 6th grade girls.

She was excited!

President's Day Trip to Zoo

For President's Day, we headed out to the zoo. It was a sunny day after a rainy weekend and we were happy to spend some time outside. For Christmas, each kid received an activity gift. Megan's was that she got to chose a couple special activities at the zoo. She chose to do the pedal boats and to pet the stingrays.

Megan and I went on one boat together. She was happy to help pedal, although she really had to stretch her legs to reach the pedals (as in her back was on the bottom of the seat).

Sarah enjoying being whisked around the pond.

Matthew and U in the front. Matthew was too short to pedal but he was able to steer!

Halfway through, Sarah and Matthew switched spots. U said it made a huge difference to have a four cylinder engine!

Matthew enjoying the ride.

We saw a few birds during our time on the water.

It's always fun to play on the tractors!

Me, Megan, Sarah and Matthew.

Leopard pacing around its enclosure.

Some baby ducklings.

We saw Wynter, from Matthew's school class, at the zoo.

At Stingray Bay.

We enjoyed petting the rays. Megan got quite wet, partially because she stuck her arm in the water without her sleeve rolled up and partially because one of the rays liked to come around and splash everyone. It was funny to watch that ray swim around splashing people. It reminded me of Shamu at SeaWorld doing something similar.

We believe...

Our stake had a challenge to the primary kids to learn all the Articles of Faith and pass them off in December.  The reward for this was an ice cream party.  Sarah finished them all and we all came to the stake center.  Sarah collected the program and saw...

Sarah looked at all the speakers and said "This is too long. I just want to have ice cream!"

The program only took half an hour so she didn't have to wait too long.  Good job Sarah!

The end of the magic...

This isn't a post about losing childhood innocence or anything like that.  This is about real magic.  Specifically a magical item.  This item:

You may think this looks like an ordinary microwave oven, but you are wrong.  This microwave is MAGIC!  You want to cook potatoes?  Push the potato button.  Fish? Push the fish button.  What if the fish is frozen? The microwave can handle it.  Soft veggies, hard veggies, frozen veggies, there were buttons for them all.  Just put them in and push the button and they would come out cooked just right.

One might ask how we came into possession of such a magical artifact.  It happened just like in a movie.  We wandered into a small shop (Best Buy) in search of a microwave.  The proprietor showed us his wares but then pointed to a slightly dusty one over in the corner.

"I can see that you are only interested in the exceptionally rare. You would be most profited to examine this!  This is no ordinary lamp, I mean microwave.  Do not be fooled by its bisque exterior, like so many things, it is what is on the inside that counts. Yours for only $100."

We considered the microwave.  It looked similar to the others on the aisle but was definitely bisque where all the others were white.  It would save us $20 but we weren't sure if we wanted bisque.  We hadn't said anything but the clerk approached us again.

"You drive a hard bargain, I am sure that we could lower the price some more.  Why don't we make that microwave $50?  I can see that you are the type that would appreciate its... worth."

Now we were very interested.  $70 savings was a lot to a couple just starting out.  We debated quietly with each other and were about to take it when the clerk cut in again.

"$25!  I think that is as low as I can go."

Now things were just getting suspicious.  Why would he offer such a discount on what he said was a perfectly good microwave?

"Listen, I'll tell you, this microwave is destined for you, an ancient prophecy decreed...  Actually, if you buy anything else from this aisle, I'll have to reset the aisle.  If you buy this I know I can do $25, but I don't know if I can go lower."

We decided to take the microwave.  When he came back with the written order, it was listed at $24.88.  That is what we paid for our microwave (plus tax).  For over sixteen years it has been with us, cooking food, boiling water and heating rice bags.  But sadly, the magic has gone.  No longer will it heat anything, even if the magic is invoked by pressing a button.  What will we do now?

Mommy/Son Date

While U took the girls to the daddy/daughter dance, Matthew and I had our own date. We went to MOD Pizza for dinner, to Kneaders for dessert and then watched some episodes of Chuggington at home. All this, and we still managed to be asleep before the others arrived home (remember those early mornings with Indy Bear???).

Valentines Day Dance

As per tradition, I took Megan and Sarah to the Daddy Daughter Valentines dance.  We had a lot of fun!  We had an Italian meal, did a couple of crafts and had fun dancing.  Megan really liked learning some of the dance moves and Sarah enjoyed seeing her friend.

Ready for our date

Megan was excited that one of her pre-school teachers, Miss Kat, was there helping out.

Sarah and her friend Lucia

They had a fun photo booth. Here's the strips we got as well as close ups of a few of the photos.

Matthew: Student of the Week and a Visit from Indy Bear

This past week, Matthew was Student of the Week for his class. Here's the poster he made with his dad to tell his class about him.

As Student of the Week, he got to be line leader (which is a big deal!). He got to fill a guessing jar for his class (no picture). He also got to take care of Indy Bear, his class bear. He was super excited about this. In fact, he woke up early (5 or earlier) each day so that he could have extra time to play with Indy.

Drawing with Matthew.

Playing at the park.

Helping Matthew put together a Mixel.

Remember those early mornings? It meant we had an exhausted boy each evening!

Matthew's journal page for Indy Bear.

Collage with a few more pictures of the week's activities.

It was nice to have Indy Bear come visit!