Some Quiet Time

During nap time, we try to find quiet things for the boys to do, especially since Donovan is now home for the summer.  Today they got a special treat by having Nama & Papa Earl help them work on building dinosaurs.

It was tough finding the correct "bones" to put in a specific spot. 

And then the bones kept popping back out of place.

The best part was spending quality time with grandparents, the sad part was that we couldn't finish the dinosaurs because the parts wouldn't stay and it was getting too frustrating.

Happy 9th Anniversary, My Sweet!

Today Dan and I celebrated our 9th anniversary!  I love this man so much!  I'm so glad I was able to marry my best friend.  :)

A trip down memory lane:

I always crack up at this picture!  We were up in Snowflake, AZ with my friend Roni trying to take some engagement pics while we were visiting.  We tried being nutty with some poses.  Here was one.  The funny thing was that my arms were shaking so bad holding Dan in that wheelbarrow that as the picture took Dan was tipping over.  He landed flat on the ground.  I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants before asking if he was ok.  He was ok, and suggested that maybe he be in the back.  We didn't end up using the wheelbarrow at all.  :)

We were married in the Mesa, AZ LDS Temple.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

Last Day of 1st Grade for Donovan

Donovan had a very successful year in school.  At his awards assembly he got many awards to show that he is a smarty.  Here are a few pics showing him with his awards.  His class also won the most miles walked for their school wide mileage club.  They got a nice plaque for walking over 1,400 miles.  Donovan contributed 66.6 miles.  He earned a water bottle and a nice shirt for his hard work!

Dono and his teacher Mrs. Tower-Walacavage (but she's just Mrs. Walacavage to everyone).  We enjoyed being in the all-boys class this year and will continue in an all-boys 2nd grade class with a male teacher - Mr. Vacca next year.  On to summer!  Hurray!

Donovan's Field Trip To Fitzgerald Park

 Donovan went on his last 1st grade field trip to Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge.  They were studying Geology and this is a great place to see that kind of stuff.  Dan the geologist went with Dono.

Donovan's class of "mighty men" at the fish ladder.

At the ledges. 

 Not sure what they're doing here.

 Playing at the playground.



 Getting ready to go in the cave.

 Dono coming out of the cave.

 Learning about poison ivy.

Lunch break. :) 

Touching animal bones. 

Touching lichen.

Donovan had a great time.  

Happy 32nd To Me!

I had a very nice birthday this year.  Dan took a half day off at work and pampered me.  So did the kiddos.

 The yummy cupcake cake that Dan made for me!

 My chorus of singers.

Avery helping me to blow out my candles.

Branch Activity - Minute to Win It

For out latest Branch activity for Church, we had a fun Minute to Win It game and potluck.  Minute to Win It is a show played on tv.  You have a set task and have to do it within 60 seconds.  It was so fun and very well set up.  Here are some pictures of the crazy fun games played.

Having to get 10? ping pong balls out of a tissue box that is tied to your back using no hands.  It was fun to see President Draut and Mike Wessman jumping around.  Mike won by doing a head stand with his elbows.

Mikie King and Becky Draut pulling the cups on top of each other one by one to see who could get to the starting cup the fastest.

Missionaries blowing cups off the table by using the air from a balloon.

Hyrum Burleson shaking the rattle to see who could shake all the gumballs from the top bottle into the bottom the fastest.

Sue Draut shooting marbles through a swim noodle to knock down pieces of chalk.

Jesica Wilcken stacking baby blocks on top of her head.

Mindy Bischoff knocking over full water bottles with a baseball in pantyhose tied around her neck.

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And to risk embarrassment, Dan taped me trying to get an oreo from my fore-head into my mouth without using hands.

Such fun activities to do amongst friends!

Laingsburg 5K and Parade

Dan got to run his 1st solo 5K at the Laingsburg Lions Festival.

Pre-race

 getting ready and listening to his tunes

 and he's off!  We could pick him out because of his nicely chosen bright yellow shirt!

 Our cheering squad.  Avery was cheering too, she's just covered by Roswell's sign.

 Dan placed 4th in his age group with a time of 29:42!  That's awesome!  He shaved almost 20 minutes off of his time from his last 5K.  I was amazed.  His morning runs have paid off!  He said his back was spazzing from the rototiller that landed on him that morning or he could have gone faster.  Great job Babe!

 Our friend Kate Rathka and her mother-in-law also ran/walked in the race.

 Our group of friends (Burlesons and Rathkas) watching the parade after the race.

 Veterans showing our colors.

 An awesome old-time fire truck.

 Allison Burleson saving the marching band with her cow bell!

And these little planes were awesome!  The Air Force Vets that drove these had water guns attached and were spraying the crowd.  So fun!

Gardening Night

The weather finally allowed us to start our garden.  Last year, because of Avery's impending birth, we never got around to growing anything.  We've missed the fruits of our labor, and labor we have this year.  For family night, we decided to involve the kids and let them help plant.

Donovan getting his seeds (carrots) and directions.

 Elliott got his row of carrots to plant.

 Roswell just kind of tossed his seeds (we'll see how those ones grow).

The boys loved that I got them matching Gnomio gloves so that they can touch anything in the garden, even worms!  (Avery and I took pictures and watched - or else all would have ended up in Avery's mouth.)

Spokesman Dan

Dan was chosen a while back to represent his work team for "Rev" - a way to motivate other employees to make healthy choices with eating, exercising, etc.  We don't know how common it is, but he was personally asked to work with the president of University of Phoenix in writing for the company blog.  I think that's awesome!  To bad it's only for employees to read!  This is the picture they asked him to send.

Skinny Dan with his old fat pants.   Now it is really hard to imagine that he actually fit snuggly into these jeans!  He went from size 52 to the 36/38 that he wears now.  I'm always amazed at Dan's accomplishment!  No wonder he's getting recognized throughout his company.  :)

Spaced Out 5-12-11

Donovan's school put on a musical with the first and second graders.  They've been learning a lot about space in science.  Their music teacher had them sing lots of songs about space and it was a great production.  Donovan even got to have a few lines in the speaking portions.

Here's a clip of Donovan's speaking parts.  He is the first speaker (the short one).  Sorry for the quality, my camera had to be raised in the air to clear parental heads and I didn't know it was so fuzzy.

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Donovan did such a great job!  We video-taped the whole thing, but it's on VHS, so once I convert it to DVD and can download it, I'll put it on the blog.

Dance, Dance, Ya! 5-11-11

One thing our kids love to do is dance.  On mornings when Dan doesn't have to work until later, such as this, Dan will play our favorites off of pandora.com and the kids will get their groove on.

It's fun to watch the boys get crazy.  :)

The girl thinks they're crazy too, but she'll bounce along too.