Public Performance!

 Karianna has been taking voice lessons this year from a gal in our ward, and they were able to perform the National Anthem today at an ALA high school basketball game! Karianna was on harmony as she's able to hold it really well, and I was super impressed with how good and well-blended they sounded!  Such an accomplishment, in my opinion, to sing in front of your peers-at least in Karianna's case, as this is her school.  Super proud!

Science Projects

 This is just a crazy week with Jared gone.  We have to finish up science experiments this week, so we hit it hard today.  JD's experiment this year is all about dehydrating food.  We were able to borrow a food dehydrator from a family in our ward and interview the Dad, which I thought was GREAT research for JD.  He decided he wanted to dehydrate bananas, strawberries, an carrots.  He weighed them before and after with the goal of determining how much weight is lost in the process, which is essentially water weight. Here's the visual results, which I thought were pretty cool!

 Karianna's experiment was researching acids and bases, and then using that info to test different liquids in terms of how well they cleaned pennies. We ordered litmus paper online, and we really enjoyed testing different liquids, including others that were not in her experimental design (as well as some weird concoctions she created!  Her experiment showed vinegar cleaned the penny the best by far, which of course is very acidic, whereas bleach left the penny majorly discolored.

 Just an interesting shot of the chemical reaction of the bleach!

Jordan's 9th Birthday!

First Day Trip of 2017

We took the chance today to explore a different part of AZ.  We sure do enjoy our daytrips up to the Payson/Flagstaff area, but being in STV makes those a little more difficult.  So today, we drove the other way until we high ShowLow. We stopped for a family hike aside the lower Salt River and up through the canyon-it was BEAUTIFUL! Certainly a place to explore more in the future! We were able to see snow in ShowLow, which was a treat for the kids and will perhaps be our only snow trip this year-granted, we didn't play in it, but it was nice to see.  We treated the kids to dinner at Dennys before heading home.  It was wonderful to get out of "the city" at the beginning of a new year and just enjoy each other before school starts again! 

December Tidbits

Additional details from this month...

December 8th was James' heart check up day, and I'm proud to say he is doing GREAT!  His numbers were in the mid 20's, which is pretty much where they have been since his last surgery. No issues with his mitral valve or his aortic arch-just watching the pressure through his aortic valve. Thankfully James is always super excited to get an EKG and an echo-he does so good for all of these tests!

December 15th marks five years since James had open heart surgery when he was six days old. Such a heart-wrenching time period for our family, as we didn't know he had three heart defects until he was two days old and rushed off to PCH. We learned so much through that experience, including the amazing resilience James has always possessed. So amazing how this little boy has grown!

December 22nd found Karianna and I doing baptisms for the dead in the Mesa Temple-first time there for Karianna since we went to the Gilbert Temple last month.  I got to be in charge of the towels, and it was just so much fun to watch the girls performing a very special ordinance. 

Loving the picture collage Suzanne got us for Christmas!  I had to find a place for it right away-love that all our special beach memories are captured on it! 

December 25th: You know, Christmas in AZ is not typically white, but we experienced a pretty white hail storm around 1:30 am that didn't melt away by the time the kids woke up. For these AZ natives, it was a pretty cool sight to see "snow" lining the wall in the backyard! What a great start to Christmas morning! Time to get our breakfast spread on the table and dive into a packed day full of family and gratitude for Jesus Christ. 

December 26th: Here are the things Jared and I learned today: 
1. What NOT to do when putting up a trampoline.
2. How to take down a trampoline upon realizing the entrance was in the wrong place. 
3. How to correctly set up a trampoline.
Conclusion? Several mistakes, over 5 hours, and ultimate success later, we are 100% positive we can disassemble and reassemble a trampoline whenever we opt to move again...mostly because that's what we ended up doing yesterday ;) It was all worth it though to see the kids taking turns over and over on the trampoline today! 

And just a few days later....We spent several months trying to determine if we wanted to do a trampoline or a Wii for our family Christmas gift. I am SO utterly glad we went for the trampoline. It has been wonderful the last few days seeing the kids out in the backyard playing rather than fighting over screen time. The games they are coming up with and the amount of time they are spending playing together-kindly-is so amazing. 

December 31st--New Year's Eve: We are never huge party animals on New Year's Eve, but we do like to stay up late with whoever can hack it and just play.  Tonight was great-we had a huge Nerf version of Capture the Flag--so, so fun!  The proudest moment was when Sara snuck upstairs and managed to grab the other team's flag.  Everyone underestimated her--probably not the best choice on their part! We had treats, did sparklers and some low fireworks in the front yard, chatted with our neighbors, jumped on the trampoline, and did a fire.  The entire evening was a blast, and every single person, including Jackson, stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop.  Excited for another grand year!

:D

December🎄