Random Catch-Up

***Warning. Long post ahead. Only those truly interested in the boring inner workings of the Reynolds family will be interested. Like my mom.***

Stray pictures bug me, so I need to get these out of iphoto and onto the blog.  Then it's back to Arches and our painfully blissful anniversary trip to California.

The three older children had a piano recital, but I only have pictures of the older two getting their awards from the AIM program. (Brandon couldn't make it for some reason, so I was trying to video and take pictures with Rachael crawling all over me.) Don't they both look so thrilled and proud of themselves?  Especially Will--where does he come up with these faces?

Next up: the elementary school's big fundraiser, the Renaissance Fair. What a difference from the end of the year fundraiser in California! While the "Springamajig" in California was a really big event that made gobs of money (partly because they needed it--BAD), it was put together and run completely by the parents. In contrast, the Renaissance Fair at the elementary school here in Utah was put together and run completely by the 6th graders. I was impressed! These are iphone pics, so not the greatest quality, but here are the banners and castles made by the 6th graders for the decorations: 

The periphery of the gym was lined with booths selling things such as Dragon Eggs and other creative stuff I can't remember, and EVERYTHING was 25 cents!  This one cracked me up:

You can see here that they are selling dragon spit, blood, and eyes among other things:

Even face painting was just a quarter:

Rachael really wanted a moustache. How could I refuse?

These girls always have such a good time together:

One of my favorite castles:

Of course, by the time Will is in 6th grade I may wish we were back in California just forking over the cash so my kids can attend the event that all the other PTA moms slaved over!  Hee hee . . .

On to the end of the year patriotic orchestra concert: 

His cello teacher in California would die if she saw his elbow hanging like this! I've been on a waiting list all year for a really great teacher who has openings this coming summer. Not that public school orchestra programs are inadequate, but I'd like to increase my chances of having a little Yo-Yo Ma in the house as much as possible.  If this little man is willing to give it a go, that is:

 A random ski trip with Dad:

The annual "New Beginnings" program for the young women in our church.  It's a time to spotlight all the incoming 12-year-old girls or new move-ins, which includes Kate. They had a "Happily Ever After" theme and each girl was walked down a little red carpet by a special man in her life. In Kate's case, it was her dad:

I think Kate looked so pretty, even though she is SO uncomfortable being in the spotlight! An older girl was doing a little introduction of Kate at this point, and one of the things on the questionnaire they used for the introductions was who their favorite princess was and why. Honestly, Kate never ever got into princesses (especially Disney Princesses, unlike her younger sisters . . .) so she chose Queen Esther from the Bible and said it was because she thought of her people more than herself and had a lot of courage.  Strong answer, Kate!

Love this picture.  Wish it had come out clearer:

I think Kate is just gorgeous in this picture! Looking way grown up.  I'm really sad it was a Wednesday--our crazy busy day--because then I might have done something nice with my hair and taken those sunglasses off my head and maybe this picture would have been frame worthy! (Do-overs on Mother's Day, remember?)

I only heard about the table display late the night before, so this is all I could pull together at the last minute (and on my busiest day of the week).  It's all of Kate's favorite things in a nutshell: art, nature, music, reading.

Why do we suddenly look like older, middle-aged parents of a teenager?  What's happening?

I could have sworn I already posted these pictures, but apparently not.  The week before our spring break Arches trip, our California cousins were in town. (Brandon's brother's family that lived a block over from us in California--yeah, we kind of miss them. A lot.)  They came here for their spring break to ski, because when you live in California snow is pretty and fun and meant for skiing in once a year at spring break.  (Do you sense bitterness in my voice?  I'm working on it, really am I.  And I only have 6 months to go before the stuff comes back again, so I've got some work to do.) Anyway, here are the few lame pictures that I took of our too-short time together:

The best part of that day was when Shauna and I took Rachael and went out to lunch and shop while "the boys" took all the other kids skiing. We talked, and talked, and talked, and talked.  It was so fun!  Did I mention how much we miss them?  

That's it!  I'm officially almost sort of caught up!