Last month Tyler came home from school with a paper, It was about an essay contest and they wanted our children to write about their "Everyday Hero" Tyler expressed that he wanted to write about his hero but wanted some ideas as to who he should write about. I kind of passed it off by telling him to think about it and I would think about it too. I thought for a little bit and then got distracted and forgot all about it. A week later he came home with a Blue First PLACE ribbon and an invitation to a Reception in honor of all the First place essay winners and their heroes. I was SHOCKED! I asked him "Who did you write about?" He said "I wrote about Grandma Jones". I said "Really? What did you write about grandma?" He said "I wrote about how much I love grandma and that she teaches me to choose the right and she always does stuff for us". I thought "wow" and started tearing up. I knew my mom (grandma) would be touched and so I called her right away! I told Tim about it later in the evening and he was so excited. I found out that he had helped Tyler with coming up with the idea of writing about grandma. Tyler loves his grandma dearly and would live with her year around if he could. I think she is the main reason he misses Arizona. He is very close to my mom. I love it! 
The reception was on Tuesday. It was neat. It was a district wide essay contest so there were kids there from all different schools. One child from each grade at each school won. It was neat to see that out of hundreds of kids Tyler's age, he won first place. Sadly, grandma couldn't be here for it.
They got their photo taken for the paper. 
This is what the paper article says:
The Forsyth County Council of PTA’s launched a new writing program called “Honoring Our Heroes” this year. Any student enrolled at a Forsyth County school with a Parent Teacher Association was encouraged to enter an essay about their favorite hero. Local school PTA judges could then submit 6 essays to the Council. These students would then be recognized at a special reception and receive a commemorative book with all the Council essays. The students were encouraged to also invite their hero to the reception to receive a certificate and a book. Over 30 students and their heroes were recognized at the reception held at Midway Elementary school.
According to Jodie Barger, Council Coordinator, overall the students recognized family members. She said "This is one of the most rewarding positive projects I’ve worked on in awhile. The voices are fresh, honest, and truly filled with love and just reiterate all the goodness found in our community and the world. We are thrilled that these students went beyond their normal school work to enter the program and show their appreciation to a hero.” The program was well received and hopefully will be offered again next year.
The Council would also like to thank some of the cast members of “Beauty and the Beast” from West Forsyth High School for the entertainment and Midway Elementary PTA for their hospitality at the reception.
Friday, February 26, 2010
My Everyday Hero...Shirley Jones
Monday, February 22, 2010
Zip Line
Do you need a good laugh? Here ya go.... feel free to laugh at me. I got in touch with my adventurous side last week and I gave into peer pressure. What was I thinking?
Our neighbors put up a cool zip line in their back yard. I have been wanting to try it out since they put it up. Tim was working from home last Thursday and so was Shane (our neighbor) so he invited Tim over to go down the zip line. I was heading out to go Visiting Teaching and I stopped over there first. Tim asked if I wanted to go down. "Yes, of course I do" But then Shane said that they needed to fix the breaks first. So I was happy to wait. But then Tim said I could do it with out breaks, I just needed to put my feet out when I got to the tree to stop myself. I said "No, that's ok, I'll wait". Then Tim called me a chicken and said I could do it no problem, after all... he just did it a bunch of times. So I gave into peer pressure said ok and I went for it. It was so much fun!!! Until I got to the tree. I didn't have a successful stop and smacked right into the tree! Like George of the Jungle. I got a couple cool bruises out of it though. They are proof that I have an adventurous side. Here is the video...feel free to laugh at me. I do every time I watch it.
Shay on Strouds Zip Line
I did it again two days later on Saturday after the breaks were fixed. It was fun!
Check out my sweet bruise... My brothers will be so proud! I have a matching one on my bum... You don't want to see that one though. :o)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
More SNOW!
According to people that have lived here in Georgia longer than us...this is the most snow they have seen in years. It only snowed lightly once last year in March when I was in Arizona visiting. It just snowed a good amount a few weeks ago in January and then we got even more snow this weekend (Valentines weekend) We were planning on taking a trip to the Temple this weekend, but because of all the snow and ice it wasn't safe to drive to South Carolina to go to the temple (the Temple here in Atlanta is closed for reconstruction) we had to stay home and have fun playing in the snow! It was REALLY fun!
I didn't realize there would be so much snow so fast. I took a picture when it started snowing because it was coming down fast and looked so pretty but it didn't look like it was sticking to the ground.
And then 10min later, I looked out side and the snow was actually staying on the ground...
Then 15 min later I looked outside and there was alot more snow on the ground! It was so cool! Look at these trees with all of that snow. It's beautiful!...
Tim's truck...
The neighborhood...
Neighbors snowman...
Snow on our Baskeball net...
The kids were outside as soon as they could see snow on the ground on Friday (they didn't have school) and stayed outside until they were frozen and had to come in for dinner. Then they were outside again the next morning on Saturday playing in the snow all day! And then Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church, I realized I hadn't seen Katrina in a while. I hunted everywhere in the house for Katrina and couldn't find her. Then I looked out the window and there she was in her pj's and snow boots.. no hat, no gloves, no jacket, just pj's and snow boots, playing in the snow! It was cute... I wish I took a picture, we were in a hurry so I didn't think about it. 
Tyler, Kenna and Katrina sledding down the hill all together. Weeeee!
Tim sled skiing....
Tim and Katrina sledding...
Our house...
Katie and the kids...
Tim, Tyler and Katrina making snow angels. Kenna had given up by this time and gone inside she was soooo cold!
KATIE
She's a pro...
She is sitting up like a pro...
She holds her bottle on her own like a pro...Yay! That free's up so much more time... :o)
Kenna loves making a soft bed for Kate. She is her little baby doll. Tyler loves playing with her too. Katie was getting fussy and so they made her a bed to sleep on. :o)
Stylin' with a cute pair of Minnie Mouse sun glasses...
Daddy Daughter Dance
Every year the Elementary School's in our area have a Daddy Daughter Dance. Kenna was so excited about this! She LOVES going on dates with her daddy! She is totally a daddy's girl. They got all dressed up, Tim got a boutonniere and got Kenna a wrist corsage. They went out to dinner and then to the dance. It was so cute! I can't wait for the Mother Son bowling night. I love that the schools do this. I remember the ward I grew up in doing a daddy daughter date once every few years but not nearly often enough.
Tim and Kenna
Sweet!
Cutie!
Dancing...
Kenna dancing her little heart out! She was trying to win a prize.
Kenna is right there in the middle ^^^ of the crowd
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Pinewood Derby
It's that time of year again! Tim and Tyler working on the pinewood derby car. They had lots of fun with it this year and mom helped a little too using her creative tools. She even suggested putting the weights through the center of the car so that they didn't take away from the look of the 'Lary Mobile' it worked out really well! She even found the perfect weight shaped like a bullet which is what we needed for the front of the car to look like a bullet. It was lots of fun!
A few Christmas vacation days spent working on the car....
Racing day...we had to do some modifications to get it to weigh 5.0 oz. It was .5 oz over but we got it down to 5.0 and it worked out well....
Tyler racing his bestfriend Zack...
We didn't win but Tyler received the 'most original award' for his car the Lary Mobile. For those of you who don't know... it is from the cartoon Veggie Tales. :o)
