April: Spring Soccer

Spring was here again and so was soccer. Vicky and I coached the U7 girls. They were a very fun group of young ladies.


Our team went 17-0 in fall/spring play. We know it was all about our amazing skills as coaches.




Lizzy had a rockstar season getting many goals and really enjoying herself. She definitely wants to play next year and I am willing to coach if she wants.


Sophie said in no uncertain terms that she would never put on another soccer uniform in her life. And made a statement during the season by begging to be taken out any time she could.


Most of the time the girls were split on the field. One on, one off, largely because if not they were bickering on the sidelines...


Or enjoying themselves as cheerleaders and we can't have that in our family!


Andrew had a stellar season too. They ended up losing their first ever game this year but they beat that same team later on in the season. Andrew had several goals and played amazing as a midfielder.


In the U9 tournament they took 2nd, losing in the championship game to that pesky team that beat them the first round. It was a great season and his skills improved greatly. He will have a great time next fall as his buddy Andrew M's dad is coaching again.

April: Andrew and Flag Football

Andrew wanted to play football this year. I was reluctant to let him try it as he had never done it before and didn't have the strongest arm. He came home after the first practice and told me he loved it and that he was going to be the Quarterback on their team. I laughed and said, "Sure Andrew."

This team was made up of 1st-3rd graders, Andrew was one of 3 third graders on his team and he really was the best arm, which wasn't saying much (I thought). We showed up to his first game and on the very first play he threw a bomb to his best friend for a touch down.


Take that Mom! I could hear him saying. Anyways, his little team ended up 4-4. He was a star on the team and his favorite part of the game was the chocolate chip pancakes at Black Bear Diner afterwards.

We were sure proud of him. Now he tells us he wants to play tackle football next season. We informed him he wouldn't be allowed to cry....ever....he is reconsidering.
He even was the safety on the team and had the majority of the "tackles" of flags along with his buddy Andrew M.

April: Haircuts for DQ

The boys, believe it or not, got their hair cuts. I think it was left a little long:) I had promised them a smoothie to share amongst the 4 of them after their cuts because the smoothie place was right next to Great Clips. Unfortunately it was closed, and off to DQ we went. I told them we would get one ice cream to share, and as it was our luck, it was a buy one get one free day. They knew they could negotiate for more than one treat to share. You know they do have Martin blood in them, therefore SALE + ICECREAM = Quadruple the normal purchase.

April: Hunt Family Visit

Jason and Christina came to visit and run the Pear Blossom.


Anne and Christina are like sisters. They went to highschool together. Rozanne loves Christina like a daughter.

Delia was all smiles and personality on this trip.


Eliza was a lot of noise! She should be an adopted member of the Hall kids club.


Jason and Joshua let the women take center stage and were the biggest helpers!

April: Harvesting Honey

Brian gave my parents and grandparents some great lessons on beekeeping. The final lesson came the day prior to their departure. He extracted some of the frames of honey he had saved and showed them how it is harvested. We just did three frames to give them a good lesson in how this is done.


First you scrape off the wax comb coverings to the honey.


Then you place the frames in the drum.


Then you take turns and make the drum spin....


And spin....
Then out comes the honey and some wax fragments. The honey drips onto a filter leaving just the honey in the bucket.

My family loved the show and tell.

That next week we finished harvesting the honey on the rest of our stored frames. We invited the Cannon family to come try it out.



The boys each scraped the honey comb wax coverings off the frames.


And Ethan just scraped...and scraped.

Then they spun the honey....

Then the filtered it.


We ended up with about 2 1/2 gallons of honey from our first years harvest. Not too bad!

April: Pinewood Derby Night

The big night finally arrived for Andrew's car to find out how fast it was.


This year the track had a new laser tracking system and could tell which car was first down to a nanosecond. For all the dad's in the audience, this was a big deal.


We even had it computer charted. So fancy!


The scouts each took their place waiting for their car to be called.


We family members waited and waited as the races took place. As was expected, this was a 2 hour event.

Brian would have rather been having a root canal.


Here's Andrew's car. He even went on line and found his name written in Chinese characters and glued it to the top of his car.


There were quite the colorful creations this year in the derby.


Andrew's car ended up being super fast. He won 2 of his heats and finished in the top six.


He received his reward and was all smiles. Even his buddy Andrew M came to watch.


Immediately Andrew had to show his dad. He was so excited, so was Brian at the results! Quite an improvement compared to the slower than molasses car from last year.


Here are our ward's troop members. What a handsome group!

April: My Favorite Image

This is a pose I always see my dad in when relaxing, which isn't very often.


This is a pose I hope to never forget of my kids with my mom. It's pretty obvious they love her.