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.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday we enjoyed a yummy dinner of green eggs & ham and truffula fruit (aka mangos & pears).

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

Snow?!?!?!?!?!?!

What's it doing snowing in February?!  

Oh well, at least the kiddos had a great time playing in the snow before church.

beautiful blanket of snow

I sure hope our little grapefruit tree survives!

Snowball fight?

Sibling love

hard at work

The little ones had long since gone into the house for hot cocoa but Daniel continued on until Mr. Snowman was done.  Way to go Daniel!

Mr. Snowman

It's a Birthday Party!

 Eight happy little girls = a great birthday party!!

dancing & playing

decorating gingerbread cookies

enjoying their cookies

the birthday girl

trying on her new headband & necklace

make a wish

Happy Birthday Princess!!

Happy Birthday!

The Princess is 4!!!

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at the little party favors for Sara's upcoming birthday party.  So easy and cheap!!  It just takes a little patience.  However, I'm not sure I'll be making 9 tutus in less than a week EVER again.  Although, the hair clips were pretty fun.  I might try those again!

Gingerbread Houses

Every year we have a hard time saying farewell to our gingerbread houses.  This year the houses made it until mid-February before they were tossed.  We are already looking forward to making more houses in December!

Jared ate most of the candy off his house long ago

Daniel house is full of interesting  little details

I think Sara ate more candy than she used to decorate her house.  But she sure had fun with the process!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day!!!

Crepes for dinner = Extreme Yumminess

Friday Night Pizza Night

We're getting ready for Valentine's Day!!

Dance Class

 Sara just loves her dance class!

Love, love, love that smile!!

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 Project

Sara was so excited to show off her preschool project.

Frozen paper, sugar, and paint

More than friends, they are family!

 We have the absolute BEST home teacher ever!!!  The kiddos love it when Bro. Simon comes to visit.  As a family, we could not be more grateful for Phil and Loretta.  They are so dear to our family in so many ways.

Many years ago, Bryan when served as a counselor in the bishopric and I was serving in the Relief Society Presidency.  We both needed to attend an early Sunday morning meeting before church.   It was a challenging time.  But it was Phil and Loretta that came to our rescue and would faithfully come to our home to help the boys get ready and drive them to church.  There is no way Bryan and I could have served in our callings without the love and support of Phil and Loretta.

They are more than friends, they are family.  I don't have the words to express the great gratitude that I feel in my heart for them.  I'm so grateful they are a part of our lives.

The Big Freeze

The big freeze we had this season really hit our lemon tree hard.  It's not looking too good.  Bryan and Sara are checking out the fruit to see if we could salvage any of it.  So sad.  How we love our little lemon tree!

The dancing princess

Sara started her first session of dance.  

She loves it!!!

Sara with Mrs. Julie of Ballet Belles

Sara the ballet belle

New scarfs

Thanks Lydia & Lulu for the wonderfully warm new scarfs!!

Wanna Twist?

Nothing brings a family closer together than a good 'ol fashion game of 

TWISTER!

Family Scripture Study?

Sometimes this is what family scripture study looks like at the Kemp home. Children faking that they are asleep.  Silly kiddos!

January's Family Reading Party

Family Reading Parties are the BEST!!!

I can't think of a better way to start off the new year!