Landsharks Running Club

Kyle is doing Landsharks Running Club through school.  Monday was his first meet.  It was the middle distance meet and all the kindergarteners ran a 400m race.

 Here is Kyle getting ready to start. 

Here is Kyle at the homestretch.  His coach is cheering him on.

 Afterward, Kyle wanted Steak n' Shake for dinner.

Something New

Notice anything different about Kyle?

He got glasses!  We got a notice from the school that the testing they did indicated he needed to visit an eye doctor.  We took him to pediatric eye doctor and they told us that he has 20/20 vision in his right eye and 20/70 in his left eye.  His left eye has the potential to be 20/20 but it is not working and his right eye is compensating for it.  If left unchecked it turns into lazy eye, yikes!  But we caught is early enough that the doctor is confident we can correct it.  He has to wear the glasses all the time and we have a follow up appointment in June.  Hopefully there will be improvement, if not he will probably have to wear a patch.  Not what a mom wants to hear!

Henry is out of town for a trade show in High Point, North Carolina.  Kyle had his second game of the season on Saturday.  And as luck would have it it was against his friend from school's team, the Mud Hens (Kyle's team is the Storm).  Kyle got to play catcher for 1 inning.  He even caught a couple of the balls.  Kyle's team won the game and are now 2-0.  GO STORM!!!!

This is a picture of Levi, Kyle, and Chase.  They are in the same class at school.

Play Ball!

Kyle is 3rd child past Dinger

Kyle's first baseball game was on Saturday. He is playing his first year of coach pitch baseball. He really likes it and has an awesome coach! No it's not Henry. His team is the Storm.

There were opening ceremonies at Clement Park. Dinger, the rockies mascot, was there and Jake Schroeder, lead singer for Opie Gone Bad, sang the national anthem.

For Kyle's first game he batted twice but got out on 1st base.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! We had fun decorating eggs yesterday. Kyle picked out some camo eggs. You dye the eggs then put camo stickers on the eggs.

Then today Kyle woke up and came down to see what the Easter Bunny left for him. He got a basket with candy, of course. He also got a monster mutt monster truck (a big one), A bat filled with gum, a mini pillow pet (Fiery Dragon), and a kite. Kyle likes looking for eggs too. He was not real excited that we had to hurry and get ready for 9am church instead of playing with his new toys. Heres a picture of Kyle in his Easter outfit.

Spring Break in Arizona

We went down to Arizona for spring break this year. It was Henry's 20 year high school reunion and they decided to do it over Founders Day weekend in Joseph City. As as luck would have it, Bevan and Faye had some baby goats for Kyle to play with. He spent hours in the goat pen! He would hold the baby goats, give them kisses and boss them around. He would have to take a shower each night because he smelled so bad, he smelled like the goat pen. He also loved to collect the eggs each day from the chickens.

It was Founder's Day while were there. Henry has always wanted to go back for it. There was a tractor show with rides for the kids (Kyle was in heaven), there was a craft boutique, a BBQ put on by the fire department as a fund raiser, and a town dance. We did not go to the dance though. Joseph City was the first Mormon settlement in AZ. It is also Arizona's 100th year as a state so there was a big trail ride from Page, AZ to Winslow, AZ along the Mormon trail and the riders came into Winslow on that Saturday. So there was a lot going on. Kyle wants to go back, and if it falls on Spring Break again, I think we will.

One activity we always do is go out to the badlands and shoot. Kyle brought his .22 and we brought the pellet gun. Kyle of course runs up and down the hills and explores. He did get to shoot a bit. He is always excited when he hits his target.

One of our favorite places to go while in Joseph City is the Rock Art Ranch. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend visiting (advanced reservations are required). It is owned by a guy Henry knows, it is a working ranch and has been in the family for generations. There is a lot of history on the ranch and the guy who does the tours, Brantly Baird, is a real character! This was the first year we did the tour. He has pottery that has been found on the ranch, there are original out buildings, indian dwellings and a ton of petroglyphs on a canyon called the steps. They even have archeologists come out for 5 weeks at a time to study the buildings and petroglyphs, They have radio dated the petroglyphs and found them to be 6000 - 7500 BC. The BBC even did a story on the ranch. It is on the historical registar so they are protected now. We learned a lot on the tour.

Kyle with some of the pottery from Rock Art Ranch.

It was a lot of fun and nice to get away for week. Now to unpack and clean up!

Tubing

Kyle had Friday off of school for teacher in-service, and we had been wanting to go to this really cool tubing place. So we decided to go (we figure it would be less crowded on a weekday when others were in school). And we were right, there was hardly anyone there.

We went to Frisco Adventure Park. It is an hour and a half from Denver up in the mountains, just before Breckenridge. Its a place that you pay to use for an hour. They have tubes for you to use, they have a magic carpet (you stand on it and it pulls you up to the top of the hill), and there are 5 or 6 groomed runs. By the end of the hour, were were tired and ready to head home. Kyle had a blast and laughed the whole way down!

Monster Jam

On Feb 11th we went to Monster Jam. Kyle looks forward to this day 364 days out of the year. It was Grave Diggers 30th anniversary so they they had a special paint job and made a big deal of it. The trucks that were at our Monster Jam were super heros: Batman, Iron Man and Spider Man, they also had Monster Mutt (one of Kyle's favorite's), Monster Energy, and of course Grave Digger. Kyle said it was one of the best nights ever!

SNOW DAY!

We went to bed on Thursday expecting a bad snow storm. It was forecasted that schools would be closed, and we were hoping. We woke up Friday morning to about 6" of snow and school was closed. We had done our shopping the day before and had plenty of food. We just hung out, watched TV, and played Wii. When it was all over Sat. morning, we had almost 2 feet of snow (we measured 21" in our yard). It was the most significant snow fall in Denver in over 106 years!

I had just joined Pinterest and found this cool idea, snow paining. Kyle loved it. Here he is trying to figure out what he wanted to do. And then his finished work. This was after sledding and a birthday party so he was wiped out and didn't want to move in the snow too much.

Here are some pics that show how deep the snow was.

Kyle's Been Busy

Kyle has a full week!

Of course he has school each day. But this week he stared a pre-engineering LEGO club after school. Each Thursday, for 6 weeks, he stays after school and has lunch. He also gets to play on the computers in the tech lab. Then he gets to go to the library where the LEGO club is. He and 15 of his classmates get to build things out of LEGO's for an hour and a half. This week they built a moon crawler. He loved it and talked about it all weekend! He can't wait to have class again.

Saturday morning Kyle had a birthday party at Jump Street. For those of you not familiar with it, it is an indoor trampoline place. Kyle had fun as always and wore himself out! After the party, Kyle and I went with Dad to pick up Brian from the airport (he had a grad school interview at UNC). Kyle fell asleep in the car and slept for close to 2 hours.

Henry and I went out with our favorite couple, Mike and Cori Holloway. We went to Outback for dinner and then to a movie. We were supposed to see Sherlock Holmes 2, long story but we missed it. So we had 2 choices, We Bought a Zoo and The Artist. Henry has NO desire to see We Bought A Zoo (and Kyle would kill us if we saw it without him) so we saw The Artist. Critics said it was a must see, I would beg to differ! It was 100 min. of black and white (which I don't mind) and silence. There is noise at 2 parts and that is it. It was painful to watch it. We were the ones in the back of the theater that people hate, laughing and whispering. We were checking our watches and facbooking back and forth. Cori checked her clock 17 times. It is a great story and memory now ;)

Henry left for Las Vegas yesterday morning and will be back Wednesday evening. It is his trade show and Kyle really wished we could have gone with him. We will try to go with Henry in July/August.

Update

I know it has been almost 2 years since I have updated this blog. Here is an update and I hope to do a little blurb each Sunday.

Kyle: Kyle started kindergarten this fall. I can't believe he is already in school. He is going to a charter school that I am on the board for and helped start. He loves his teacher and has made some good friends. He also played on a flag football team. He did really well and enjoyed it. He can't wait to start baseball this spring. He is going to take a 6 week lego pre-engineering class at school. He is so excited!

Staci: I have been swamped with the charter school stuff. I am just now getting a little break. I am still teaching piano lessons and have 10 students. I am busy driving carpool from school. I am now a ward missionary and have weekly meetings and visits.

Henry: Henry has been busy with work. He was on the road 63 days in 2011. He went to Vietnam 2 times, had 4 trade shoes, and sales training trips. He still has time to shoot his bow. He doesn't get to tournaments often but he still hunts. He shot a deer and an elk this fall. Our freezer is full! He is still the Young Men's President. He has been busy with weekly activities, dances, firesides, campouts, church meetings, etc. We are hoping this year will be much more relaxing, but it is not looking that way.

Family Reunion

We just got back from a little family get together in Wyoming. We had a fun time, but are glad to be home. 2 days in a car for 2 days to hangout is just crazy! Kyle had fun though.

Kyle rode the 4 wheeler with Grandpa

Kyle went bowling for the first time.

We played with the Human Slingshot (so much fun!!!)

The kids even got to play with a parachutte.

We watch fireworks. This is Kyle with a few of his boy cousins.

We went to Jackson and Teton National Park. This is Jenny Lake in TNP.

April and May

I have been soooo busy! Sorry I have not been beter about writing on here more often.

I have been helping out a new charter school getting started in our area. I am now secretary of the founding board. I have board meetings every week and community meeting a few times a month. I am learning a lot about eduaction and all the curriculums and the business side of it all. I have a lot to learn still. Our web page is www.benfranklinschool.org/ we are really excited and are planning on opening in time for Kyle's kindergarten year.

Henry is slowly recovering. He still gets really tired and is ready for bed by 7pm. He is getting old :) If he does to much lifting his stomach still hurts too. Our garden plot at the community garden has not been pllanted yet because of it all. A friend of our from church went and tilled it for us so we wouldn't get kicked out. Thanks Lori! We owe you big!!!!

Kyle has been busy too. In April he took a kinderbaseball. It was just an intro ro baseball. He had fun. He missed a week becasue he was sick (which he passed on to me). At the end of the session he got a medal. He is so proud of it!

We had a busy past week. Wednesday we had our fundraiser for the YW/YM, it was a carnival and silent auction. Kyle had fun for about an hour. We discovered he has a fear of clowns! Dad took him home so Henry and I could work and bid. We won a lot of yard work, babysitting, horse ride for Kyle, learn to play sport with some YM for Kyle, and a dinner. It was all for a good thing and Henry benifits from it :) The ward seemed to have a good time too.

Kyle had his last day of preschool (until August). They went to Littleton Historical Museum on Tuesday for a field trip. It is a little working farm in Littleton. It is free and one of our favorite places to go. Then on Thursday it was preschool graduation for those going to Kindergarten next year. They went to the park to play and had a little ceremony and those staying next year, got a bag of goodies. Then they all had cupcakes.

Kyle with his teacher, Ms. Holly

Kyle and Henry went to the Father/Son campout tonight. I have my piano recital tonight too. I will post pictures of the Father/Son campout if Henry takes pictures.

Update

We really haven't had much going on the past few months. We are just trying to survive right now. Henry is having gall bladder surgery as I post this (trying to keep busy). So here is what we have been up to over the past month and a half.

March:

We had a leperchaun come and visit us on St Patty's day. He left a mess! Kyle was all to happy to clean it all up when he discovered the leperchaun had left chocolate coins at each mess.

Kyle had a sleep over at Mama and Papa's with his cousins

We had a snow storm and Kyle was finally able to use the snowman kit he recieved for Christmas.

April:

Easter of course. His cousins were sick so we only saw Ashlee on Sunday. We dressed Kyle up in his Easter outfit and took pictures even though it was General Conference. He loved looking for all the things the Easter bunny left behind.

And finally Henry had his gall bladder removed, well, tonight. Kyle had fun hanging out at the hospital today. He had a Rockies lunch (foot long hotdog, a rockies cookie, and cracker jacks for later). He laid in bed with Henry most of the day and just cuddled.

That catches us up for now.

Monster Jam

We bought tickets to see Monster Jam. Kyle LOVES monster trucks and watches it on Speed. He had a blast! Henry, Kyle, Dad and I went. Kyle's favorite part was the Motorcross exhibition durring intermission and the freestyle competition. There were 6 monster trucks there; Scarlet Bandit, Bounty Hunter, El Torro Loco, Monster Mutt, Teenage Mutant Turtle, and Grave Digger (always the most popular).

Grave Digger, one of Kyle's favorite!

TMNT - Took this picture for Brian (loved TMNT)

When we got home he pulled out his monster trucks and pulled out the ones that were there and replayed the whole night.

FHE Board

For our Relief Society meeting in April we wanted to do a craft project. Cori took a picture of an FHE board her cousin had in her home that she wanted to make. I made three of them trying to see how hard they would bee to make and how much it would cost. I really like these boards. They are easy to read and if you have a big family, all the names are easily seen. With the heart hanging FHE boards if there are two names on an assignment, one is hidden behind another. The original had metal work at the top held on by two bows. Henry thought the bows were lame so I didn't do the metal or bows.

Dinosaur Museum

Henry left for Las Vegas early Sunday morning so we spent friday hanging out together. We took Kyle to the Denver Musem of Nature and Science, or as Kyle calls it the Dinosaur Museum. Kyle loves to go there! We didn't even get to the dinosaurs this time. We looked at the animal exhibits (of course), and then we saw an IMAX movie called Wild Ocean. Kyle fell asleep the last 10 min., we really wore him out!

Kyle's Pump It Up Party

We had Kyle's birthday pary at Pump It Up, an inflatable bounce house place. The kids had a blast, the adults did too!

Happy Birthday Kyle

Yesterday was Kyle's 4th birthday. He woke up and we opened his birthday gifts. He got a Lightning McQueen bike, a monster truck, cars, and a game. After we had train and plane pancakes then we went to church. After church Michael, Mary, Ashlee, Kristen, Melissa, Mom, Dad, Brian, and Kim came over for a birthday dinner. Melissa's birthday is today so we had the combined birthday yesterday. We had hamburgers and hot dogs, opened family gifts, and had cake.

Today Kyle and I made treats for him to take to preschool. We made chocolate suckers shaped like ice cream cones. They turned out really cute.

Kyle took his first bike ride on his bike today. He was so exited! He took 1 little spill. He was riding on the sidewalk and was looking down at the pedals and steered right off the sidewalk into the street and tipped the bike over. He got right back up and kept going. He did great riding down the street but coming back up I had to push him (it is a little bit of an incline).