It's been a good day!

Arizona First Lego League Competition, getting ready for round 1

Jared the robot programmer

Sara playing Let it Go and Up on the Housetop

Sara with a few of her recital pals

Daniel getting picked up from Double V after completing his Order of the Arrow Ordeal (think Boy Scout honor society)

A new appliance

Hooray for a new dishwasher!!

It's so wonderful to have handy man Bryan and his assistant Daniel.
They did a great job removing the old dishwasher and installing the new one.

Out with the old

In with the new

Rincon Stake Trek 2014 slideshow (long)

Rincon Stake Trek 2014 slide show (short)

Sunday Night Dinner

Daniel helped us celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a themed dinner.  He prepared corned hash beef atop an open faced muffin topped with cheese.  His sides were roasted brussel sprouts, roasted asparagus, and a veggie tray.  For dessert we enjoyed a fluffy lime jello pie.  I especially enjoyed the very clever straws by which to enjoy the root beer and the very green napkins.  Way to go Daniel!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Sunday Night Dinner

Daniel made a great roast 'beast' tonight!  His sides were baked potatoes, green beans, a veggie platter and brownies for dessert.  Yummy!!  There were zero leftovers.  I'm definitely enjoying this new Sunday Night Tradition!!

Family Home Evening

Daniel did a bang up job of teaching family home evening tonight.  The new youth curriculum, "Come, Follow Me" is fantastic!  As a family, we are truly enjoying the more in depth discussions it invites.

Missionary Farewell

Tiffany Trejo is a dear dear friend. We meet the Trejo family when we first moved to Tucson.  Over the years our families lives have intertwined.  She was our Daniel's very first babysitter.  In fact, aside from her siblings, Daniel was the first non-relative she every babysat.  Her mother, Malia, taught preschool to all three of our children.  Oh how we love the Trejo family!!  Tiffany is heading to mission field and we couldn't be happier for her.  She'll be an amazing missionary!

Got Milk?

Daniel sporting his 'new' milk mustache.  

Great silliness!

10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001

This afternoon we had an opportunity to thank our local first responders.  It was a great community event.  I'm grateful our family could attend and participate in the ceremony. 

 

A day to never forget ☼

 *photo of the scouts holding the thank you banner coming soon*

Battle Hymn of the Republic ☼

Bryan ☼

☼ Photos courtesy of Reyna's photography, used with permission.

Hummingbird Triathlon

THEY DID IT!!!!!

All checked in and ready to GO!

 

getting ready for Daniel to enter the water, in the 2nd heat

goggles on and ready to swim

Check him out!  He's not at all intimidated to be in the pool with a bunch of adults!

Breaking down their transition area, tired but happy!

2nd place in the Male Relay Team Division

Hummingbird Triathlon in Sierra Vista

August 20, 2011

combined time of 2:44.59

Daniel swam the 800 yards, Nate biked the 13 miles, Jared ran the 5K

Nate and Jared just zipped right by that I couldn't get a decent picture of  them in competition.  I'm so incredibly grateful these little boys had a positive experience.  They each hit 'the wall' during their leg of the race, yet they continued to move forward.  They never lost sight of their goal.  They were amazing!!!  My favorite part of the day was watching the look of shock on their little faces when they realized they were getting 2nd place trophies. Such a sweet moment. They were also recognized as being the YOUNGEST competitors in the race. All the competitors gave them a HUGE round of applause and cheered really loud for them. After the awards ceremony, we headed to Golden Corral to celebrate.  Over lunch they started planning for their next team triathlon adventure!  Wow!!  They are amazing little boys becoming amazing young men!!  In my opinion it's all about the process of becoming and they are!  

Way to go Lightning Bull Shark Team!!!

Your families are very proud of you!!

Cookies?

Typical Sunday afternoon at the Kemps...

Daniel: Mom, can I make cookies?

Mom:  Sure kiddo, knock yourself out.

    30 minutes later

Daniel:  Mom, wanna cookie?

Mom:  Wow!  Thanks Daniel!

 I love that handsome guy!!

I'm grateful for self-reliant kiddos!!

Growing Up

I can hardly believe how fast the boys are growing up.  When we moved into this home, our little Daniel could barely walk and Jared was a hope in our heart.  Look at them now, mowing the lawn and caring for our home.  Where has the time gone?

Jared cleaning up the back porch

Daniel mowing the lawn

Rube Goldberg

Inspired by all the Rube Goldberg contraptions at the OM competition, Daniel decided to build his own.  This contraption is designed to put his marbles in their proper place.  He is currently working on another machine that will enable him turn off the bedroom light without getting out of bed.  Pictures of that machine will be posted as soon as he's done with it. 

I really do love to see the imagination and creativity of our children at work.  It's a beautiful thing!

OM State Competition

This is the first year CWE has had a team advance to the state competition and they did 

G R E A T !!!

The judges were most impressed with how the team worked together.  They kept their cool, they never gave up, they did some quick thinking, exercised great communication and really let their teamwork carry them through.

Way to go OM team!!!  

Don't know why Daniel is upset and he can't remember either

 

cake to celebrate Jackson's birthday

the team receiving their award

Daniel with his 5th place ribbon

The CWE OM team and Coach Stanfill

 Here's the story...
The team had created a slide show as part of their set.  Unfortunately, during their set up when they were connecting the cable for the projector a pin bent.  The cable would not connect properly so they had no slide show.  Regardless of the lack of slide show the team forged ahead.  Next when they were setting up their cruise ship prop, they realized they'd forgotten the chairs that held the ship in place.  The team did some quick thinking and precariously propped up the ship.  The ship wasn't quite steady but the team forged ahead.   They did a little ad libbing when the ship fell mid-performance but they stood it back up and kept going.  The circumstances weren't ideal but the team was quick on their feet and really let their true colors shine through.  The performance part of the competition is timed so the team had to work together quickly to solve their technical challenges while doing their best to keep the performance rolling along AND staying within their allotted time.  They did great!

They also did a great job during the spontaneous portion of the competition.  During spontaneous the team is isolated with just the judges, no audience, no parents, no coach.  It's just the team.  They are given a challenge and they have to work together to come up with a solution.  Again this portion is timed and points are given not only for the solution but for the team work, creativity, and effectiveness.

As a mother, I'm really grateful the judges recognized and rewarded the kids for how well they did in the face of their challenges.   More than anything, I'm so proud of each of the team members.  They had great attitudes and really came together as a team.   

They are amazing children!!!

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet

Daniel made a F A N T A S T I C cake 

for the cub scout blue and gold banquet.  

Not only did it look great but it tasted good too!!  

End of Day 2

The whole process took him 2 long afternoons of work. The cake is modeled after a Pokémon ball (ball used by the Pokémon character Ash Ketchum).

Great Job Daniel!!!

OM regional compettion

The OM team did a F A N T A S T I C job at regionals!! 

They did so great that they are  

G O I N G   T O  S T A T E!!!!!

Y  A  H  O  O  !!!!

The team waiting for the spontaneous portion of the competition.

Daniel aka Harry Potter with Coach Stanfill

Daniel aka Harry Potter

Daniel and Stevie with their 2nd place trophy!

Bryan and Daniel

OM Dress Rehearsal

Tomorrow's the big day!  The kids have worked their little hearts out.  They've been mentored, they've studied, they've built, they've scripted, they've practiced and now 

 I T ' S   S H O W T I M E!!

Dress Rehearsal in the school library.  Prepping for intro.

double checking the set up

Harry Potter signed up for Peter Pan's Tour

Harry Potter & Santa Claus paying Peter Pan at the close of the tour

GOOD LUCK CWE OM TEAM!!!

**To learn more about Odyssey of the Mind and this year's competition visit http://www.azodyssey.org/

Arizona Odyssey of the Mind Association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote critical thinking and creative problem solving skills for students from kindergarten through college in a competitive setting.

Pinewood Derby

The church building may have had no water or heat but the

Pinewood Derby was a hit!!

Daniel with his 'futurist' pinewood derby car

Daniel telling us all about his car as Bro. Bell looks on.

Daniel working on his car.  (picture  Jan 29, 2011)

In fact, most of the families in our area didn't have heat and few didn't have water.  Don't you just love it when a huge freeze hits a desert town?   Talk about a great opportunity to test our emergency reserves.  

School Fundraiser

Papa John's School Night

When the teachers do the delivering!

Mrs. DeBono, Daniel, Mrs. Miller

Daniel was thrilled to have his 5th grade teacher 

deliver to our home.