Busy Nights

Tuesday we were double booked at the church.  Hayley and the Activity Girls had a Christmas program/dance to perform for their families while Michael and Trevor were down the hall at a Court of Honor.  I went to the Court of Honor while Don and the younger boys watched Hayley's show, then we met together for refreshments in the gym. 

Hayley and her friends did a Native American dance and Christmas in the America's program. They each danced and had speaking parts. They had a lot of fun, and the crowd loved it!

Both Trevor and Michael received a couple of merit badges, as well as a rank advancement for each of them.  Trevor received his rank advancement to 1st Class that he earned a couple of months ago, and Michael received his rank advancement to Life.  Next stop, Eagle!  We are proud of both of our scouters and all the hard work they do.

Trevor advancing to 1st Class

The Best Christmas Pageant EVER!!

The youth group at church put on "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" earlier this month. 

Michael got to play the part of Leroy Herdman, aka the Wise Man who brought the ham as a gift to the Baby Jesus.  It was a lot of fun working with the youth and getting this all to come together in just 3 practices was an amazing feat. 

Hayley and her friends got to make a special appearance as the little angels in the last act.  They were so cute!

Sunday Best

A few weeks ago some of the kids participated in the annual Primary Sacrament Meeting Program at church.  The theme the children have been learning about this year is "I Know the Scriptures are True".  Hayley and Jake both did great on their parts and Trevor was a fabulous narrator throughout the program.  After church I snapped a couple of quick pictures before the ties came flying off.

Jake

Hayley



Trevor and his bow tie



Michael

Luke wasn't interested in smiling at the camera

Water Balloons

Last month we had a church social at the park. It was a perfect day for visiting and playing with friends outside. There were great treats and fun water games for the kids. The water balloons were the hit of the evening.

Hailey H. and Hayley M. doing the water balloon toss

Jake catching the water balloon!

Action shot by Trevor, saving the water balloon.

Michael looking for the perfect target.

Luke testing the elasticity of his balloon

After the water balloon toss was over,Trevor hoarded his last water balloon, biding his time patiently, waiting to ambush some poor, unsuspecting girl.  Unfortunately his first target had left sick, so he went on the prowl to find someone else worthy of his balloon.

Not so innocent

It was a fun social, mainly just catching up with friends.  Luke was playing while a friend and I sat on a blanket chatting, enjoying the perfect almost bugfree, low humidity day, when all of the sudden I feel someones hand on my hat. As I start to turn around I see some of my kids laughing as I feel a pressure on my head, and whoosh, a ginormous water balloon explodes between my hat and my head, soaking me all the way down my legs. 

Apparently, I was the perfect target, and because Trevor had somehow lifted my hat up and stuck the balloon in it, only I got the force all the water.  I have never seen that boy run so fast in my life!  We all laughed as I picked pieces of balloon out of my hair.  It was a great shot.  Lucky for me, I know where the water balloons are kept at home and where Trevor sleeps.  I don't know when or where yet, but Trevor is in for a real treat someday soon, when he least expects it!  :)

Who are YOU?

This is Luke's new favorite video to watch on the computer.  He likes to play it over and over, so much that Trevor and Hayley said we should just put it on the blog for easier access :)

Enjoy!

Conference Wall

General Conference week-end is always a lot of fun.  Lots of family time, yummy treats and listening the counsel of our church leaders.  We had the normal bingo and talk worksheets for the kids.  This year we did something a little different and also made a Conference Wall.  I put lots of different topics on the wall, like Prayer, Scripture Study, Jesus Christ, etc.  Every time one of the members of the First Presidency or Apostles spoke about one of the topics on our Conference wall, we taped a picture of them on the topic on the wall.  It was fun to see how many touched on the same topics as they gave us great counsel.  The best part of the wall was that by the end of the week-end, everyone who spoke had their picture on the Jesus Christ card.  We were able to use that as a teaching moment about the Apostles duty to testify of Christ and the kids were visually able to see that it had really happened.  It was great.

Of course, it wouldn't be General Conference without yummy treats to enjoy together.  This year I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast Sunday morning.  Luke and Hayley were happy to help taste the icing to make sure it was sweet enough!

 

I love this video highlighting the talks we listened to over the week-end. 

The Story of the Mormon Pioneers

Trek

Over Spring Break, Michael went on Trek with the youth group at church.  Trek is a reinactment of the Mormon Pioneer Handcart Company.  The theme for this trek is "Faith in Every Footstep".

The actual Trek began early. Michael had to report to the church at 4:45 am to load on the buses which would take them to an undisclosed location about 4 hours away. They had a specific list of sparse supplies to bring with them in a duffle bag and wore the pioneer type clothing of the 1800's.

Once they got there they had to assemble the handcarts.

For the next 3 1/2 days, Michael treked across deep east Texas, sleeping under the stars, pulling a handcart and living and eating like a pioneer. 

Dawn rising at the campsite. 
They slept under the stars on top of a tarp.

One of the snakes they encounterd on their Trek.

 

They were divided up into "families" of 10-14 people, including a "Ma and Pa" to lead their group.

Michael's Trek family, the "Bunkers"

The first day they didn't stop until after 10 at night, finally stopping for the night, gratefully eating a meager meal of broth and a hard roll. 

They ate food like cornmeal mush, cracked wheat, stew and chili.  During their "down time", they also did Pioneer themed activities like an evening hoe-down dance and doing things like a stick pull game, learned how to make candles, threw horseshoes and pulled taffy. 

Cornmeal Mush for breakfast

Learning to dance

Tasting the taffy

A large portion of their time was spent  pulling the handcarts over ravines, making bridges to cross creeks, etc.  They learned a lot about teamwork and a lot about themselves during this time.

Don was able to go pick Michael up at the end of the trek and bring him home to us. 

End of Trek, running towards their families

Michael & Don

Michael had a great time, learning a lot about himself and the pioneers.  He made some great friends and was grateful to be home.  (And of course, he was happy to hear that BYU had won their playoff game earlier in the week and was going to be playing that night!) 

Brothers Mosies and Michael at the end of Trek

We were happy to have Michael back and his brothers and sister had made him a sign to welcome him home.  I love how they put different things on the sign that they knew were significant to to Michael, especially the BYU basketball and Trevor's classic line, "Welcome to the 21st century!"

Below is a video of the theme song of Trek, "Faith in Every Footstep".

We are grateful for the legacy and sacrifices of the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about the Mormon Pioneers, visit: http://lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/pioneerstory.htm.

Sister Meier

Some of the great family we have here in Texas are Don's cousins, the Meiers.  We love hanging out with them and of course, playing with their fun dogs :) 

One of them (a cousin, not a dog!) is a sweet young lady named Brittney, who I've known since she was about 4 years old.  It has been so great to see her & her siblings grow up into these amazing people. 

Brittney recently received her mission call to Korea Daejeon Mission where she will serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the next 18 months.  She entered the MTC this week and we are so excited for her. 

A couple of weeks ago we got to go to Brittney's missionary farewell and an open house. It was fun to see Brittney one last time before she left and have fun with their family. Jake even brought his Book of Mormon Guess Who game for a Meier rematch from Christmas time. It was fun to watch the geniuses at work!

Chelsea & the Guess Who game genius Jared

The big daddy Meier, Kev *

Jake and Tracy playing Guess Who

Luke and his best buddy Ashley

Luke checking out Grammy's plate



Sister Brittney Meier! *



We love you Brittney!

Brittney & the Mangum gang

* pictures by Jake