"Are you Sadie Robb's dad?"

Sadie had to write and illustrate a story yesterday. It was called "The Princess Ninja goes to the ball". (The Princess Ninja is a character in a bunch of bedtime stories that I have been making up for her for a long time.) But this story was all hers. In the story the Princess got invited to a ball. The King told her she needed to do her chores before going. Rather than doing the chores, the Princess snuck out and went to the ball. The king found out and went to the ball to pick his daughter up. She was grounded until she learned to do her chores. The best part was that the Princess missed the next three balls learning her lesson.

Today was the first day of the new semester and I got new students. One of my new students said, "Are you Sadie Robb's dad?" I said, "Yes, how do you know Sadie?" She said, "my little brother is in her class and has the biggest crush on her. I hear about Sadie Robb every day." I always knew this day would come. I didn't know it would be this early. I told her, "tell your brother to come back in 10 years."


Here is Colby being promoted to his 'high-white' belt. We are very proud of him. He has worked hard and learned alot. He is fearless and will step into the ring with anyone.


We are also proud of Tanner because he recently made a big decision. We needed to figure out which Junior High to go to. We had a FHE from D&C 8-9 about making decisions. We 'studied it out' and sent Tanner off. A couple of days later he said he had made his decision, prayed about it, and felt good about going to the Arts Academy Junior High. We are very proud he followed the steps and got his answer.

Yes we can

Kerry has a new toy. One of those vacu-sealers. She has been canning candy. (If the end of the world happens you can come to our house and have some candy with us.) The list of things I want to "put up" is endless, like cashews, Swedish fish, comic books, awesomness, money, bullets, etc. A few months ago Kerry got a pressure-canner, and if we can figure it out we are going to can meat. Meat and chocolate. Nutrition.

PS: I forgot to take pictures of Kerry in her Tim Tebow jersey as she anxiously watched the game this week. She was screaming and yelling and scaring the children. Kerry wore her Florida gear all week to build up the karma for the Gators, apparently it paid off. She was very nervous during the game, but is now very happy that her team won the bsc championship.

A diorama to die for

Welcome to Cliff Palace. Colby had the assignment to make a diorama over the break. I was so glad his assignment was to recreate the Anasazi ruins of southern Colorado. We got lucky on that one. We were just there last summer so he could still remember it and we had lots of pictures to use. (I think he might have eaten more sugar cubes than we actually used but he did a great job.)

UPDATE: Colby has been chosen to be interviewed on his school's TV channel. He is going to show off his diorama and talk about the Cliff dwellers and how he made his display. We are proud of him.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

Sadie actually lost the tooth a day late. We tried to talk her into letting us pull it so she could sing the song, but no dice. It has been barely hanging on for several days. Finally today I saw my chance and reached over and grabbed it out. I hope the tooth fairy doesn't forget to come as he/she is prone to do.

Christmas eve and day...

None of these pictures came out too great, I think it was too cold or we were too tired to pose. We went with Grandma Robb and the Changs to see the lights in Ogden. It was cold, but a nice tradition we have done three years now. The next morning we opened presents and ate so much food. We had a nice Christmas with friends and family, but apparently did not take many pictures.

Sweep the leg!

Kerry and I have been encouraging the kids to find something, a hobby or sport. We don't care what they choose as long as they have something. We started years ago in Tae Kwon Do. Their interest faded. Meanwhile, I continued to go to karate until now I am a 2nd degree Black Belt and am teaching the kids class. When I became the teacher I thought it might be easier to get them to like it. So we started again and they have loved it. Here are some pictures of the kids (plus Caleb) sparring.

Merry Christmas

Our neighbors have a tradition of a live nativity scene. It was very cold. We stood there long enough to get our picture taken.