Our 12th Anniversary

The kids decided to continue the tradition they started last year by making us dinner on our anniversary. This year they completely planned the three course meal and made me a grocery list. The first course was fruit kabobs. The second course was a pasta salad. The third course was pretzels with a melted Hersey's kiss and M&M in the center. They also made raspberry lemonade served with a strawberry on the side. They were very sweet to us.

Otherwise, we spent our anniversary relaxing on separate couches. The kids and I watched our wedding video while Trevor watched a "less cheesy" show. We are getting more romantic as time goes. All joking aside, we are very blessed!

Zone Quiz Meet

All five of our quizzers made the zone team for Districts!

The girls competed in the zone quiz meet today. It was over everything they have studied since September, which is basically the entire book of Exodus. They tied for first place each getting 59/60 correct. Their scores qualified them to represent our zone at the district quiz meet next month. We went out to Olive Garden afterwards to celebrate! Way to go girls!

Fondue Party

In honor of our 12 Anniversary, we decided to host a couple's only fondue party. We invited The Johnson, The Mudrows and The Marlatt's to join us. I was in charge of the fondue and our friends each brought the yummy things to dip. It was a three-course meal. The first course was the cheese fondue. The second course was the beef broth to cook the meat and potatoes. The third course was the chocolate peanut butter marshmallow fondue. We had a great night with our friends with lots of laughs.

China 2015

He saw Tristan, who stayed with us for five days in February.

Trevor just returned from a 10-day business trip to China. The purpose of the trip was to promote our International Program and spread the word about a Summer Camp program. He went with Joy Carl, the lady in charge of the International Program at LCS. They also met up with a a group from Huntington University in Indiana for part of the time. He traveled to Shanghai, Changsha, Xiamen, in addition to two other cities.

It was an action packed trip with lots of meetings and interesting food. Back in the states we kept getting pictures of food he was eating. The most interesting foods were the thousand year old egg, which is basically a duck egg that is left to ferment in a plaster-like substance for weeks to months. When served it is black inside and nasty to taste per Trevor, although they view it as a delicacy. He also ate fish, birds and pigs with the heads and limbs still one. He ate snails still in their shells, requiring a toothpick for removal, as well as, a slimy sea cucumber.

We were able to FaceTime with him almost daily despite the 12 hour time difference. Isn't technology great!? The trip was productive. One Chinese student he met immediately enrolled at LCS for this Fall. He also saw a big interest in the Summer Camp Program. Mission Complete.

The Grandmas and Rylan's Visit

My mom, Grandma Carie and Rylan came to Michigan for the weekend to keep us company while Trevor was in China. It was Rylan's first time to our house. She loved swimming at The Centre's pool, playing with all our toys, playing outdoors and especially enjoyed playing with her cousins. Our kids loved playing with Rylan and visiting with the grandmas. Kaylee and Kianna enjoyed doing word find puzzles with Grandma Carie. We took them all to Spotted Cow for the first time, which we all enjoyed thoroughly. It was a nice visit!

Kaylee's First Basketball Tournament

I put together a team of LCS 4th grade girls to play in the Morenci Basketball Tournament. We ended up having nine girls on our team: Maddie Shaw, Kaylee Cook, Lauren Swiggum, Josie, Isabelle Kirkendall, Carlie Breckel, Ella Marlatt, Makaela Hauer, and Makenna Tripp. The girls were guaranteed three games. The first two games we blew the other teams away and the third game we were blown away. We ended up getting 2nd place in the tournament out of six teams. The girls were really proud of their medals. I was very proud of all the girls. They worked hard preparing for the tournament and improved a lot over the two weeks we prepared. LCS has some promising basketball players in its future...

Science Olympiad

  

Kaylee decided she wanted to participate in the Science Olympiad this year. She signed up to study three difference subjects: paper rockets, owl pellets, and simple machines. I don't think she realized what a time commitment it would be. She soon learned that Simple Machines would meet every Tuesday and Thursday for 30 minutes after school, Owl Pellets met during recess once a week, and Paper Rockets during lunch once a week. She was paired up with her classmate, Carlie Breckel and competed last month against other 4th graders at LCS.

Together they qualified to compete in the Tri-County Science Olympiad in Paper Rockets. Today was the big competition. The girls were each given a straw, a piece of paper, a ruler, scissors and tape. They were then given 20 minutes to create a paper rocket. Once the teams were done with their rockets each person on the team was given one shot to reach the target 4 meters away. The distance from the tip of their rockets to the target was measured and added together. The lowest score won. The girls built a great rocket. Unfortunately their rocket didn't fly as far as it could have. They ended up placing 6th out of 12, which they were happy with. Overall, the LCS 4th graders got 1st place taking home a trophy. Kaylee enjoyed the experience, but is excited to have some more free time again.