Look Out Broadway, Here She Comes!

A few weeks ago Megan tried out for the school talent show and she made the cut! Today was the big day. She sang "Tomorrow" from Annie and I must say she did a fabulous job! She had to sing it in three different performances and not once did she seem nervous! But that's not surprising considering it's Megan. She has always been a determined little girl and isn't afraid to try new things! We are so proud of our little Broadway star! Way to go Meg!! Ladies and Gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, I present Miss Megan Norris.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
(I know the video's a little shaky, but I had Janie pulling on my legs, trying to get me to hold her, so if you look at it from that angle-I actually did a pretty good job!)

A Little Bonding Time!

This weekend was the Father and Son camp out for our ward! Jared and Logan headed out about 4:00 on Friday afternoon (I'll talk more about them at the end), but as soon as they headed out of the driveway Megan wanted to know when the girls fun would begin!! And I do have to say, we definitely had a fun-filled weekend! Sorry I have no pictures of us girls, but Jared had my camera!

Right after Daddy and Logan headed out to the woods, we headed out to the store for a few snacks and new nail-polish colors! Then we got some take-out and headed back home to eat and get ready for our movie night. We watched High School Musical, danced and sang, painted our fingers and toes, made some smores (this has apparently become the girls tradition during the Father and Son outing!) and finally hit the sack (all in moms bed!)

Saturday morning my wonderful friend (and favorite neighbor) Amy took us out to Denny's for breakfast! It was an all-girl affair with Amy, myself, my 4 girls, and Amy's two girls Machella and Elyssa. We came home and cleaned (not the funnest, but it has to be done)!
At lunch time we took off to the Bramwell's house where another fabulous friend, Marlo had invited us over for pizza. Her daughter Brianne and my girls had hit their girl weekend high and kept acting silly!! But in between all the silliness, Marlo and I still had a good talk!
We ended the day with a shopping spree at Kohls and then came home to find Daddy and Logan there!


Now to Jared and Logan's adventure! Everyone knows that Logan lives for camping and anything related to it, so of course they had a blast!! They camped at Holey Meadow (Jared's not here to ask, but I think that's in the Sierra's?) That morning they participated in a 3 legged race, a tug of war, a potato sack race, and an obstacle course, during which Logan fell into the "swamp" and had to change all his clothes! If you look closely at his picture by the sign, his face still shows remnants of his mud soaked fall!

After all the fun activities the Ward had planned, Jared and Logan took off on a little hike through the "Trail of 100 Giants"! I'm sure Logan was in heaven and enjoyed every moment of being out in the great outdoors!


So there's the recap of all that we did this weekend. And now I'm off to start packing some more! We get the truck 2 weeks from today! Wow!!

She did it again!

If you read my mother's day post, you know my wonderful husband gave me The Host! And I have to say. . . I LOVED IT!!! I pretty much ignored my children (I'm so sorry kids, mommy will pay attention to you now!) and finished it last night! I do have to say it does take a few pages to get into it and I did think, "Okay Stephenie, how in the world are you going to pull this off?" But she totally does and it is a fantastic read!
I just needed to tell everyone out there who might be a little skeptical about this book (I definitely was) that it's okay, it's more than okay, it's fabulous!!!!
I'm already thinking about the movie!!

Wonderful Weekend!

I had such a great Mother's Day Weekend! It all started Friday night when our fabulous friends Sheridan and Torrie took Jared and me out to dinner! It was great food and even better conversation! I wish I would have taken my camera, darn it! Jared and I had such a great time, Thanks Torrie and Sheridan, we are going to miss you guys, (but at least we see visits from you in our future)!

Saturday was spent mostly packing. Definitely not the funnest thing, but it's a great feeling to look at all those boxes stacked neatly in the garage. The kid's rooms are mostly done and I love putting a check next "pack the kids rooms" on my to do list!

My mother's day was wonderful! I even got pre-mother's day flowers on Saturday night from Jared. Very thoughtful. And of course I knew I would enjoy Sunday. It was our first Sunday together since the release and we thoroughly enjoyed it! No meetings, we all drove to church and home again in the SAME car, and we all sat together in the same pew. What can I say... I loved it!

Jared was home to help fix the kids lunch and then the kids couldn't wait any longer. They had to give me their mother's day gifts! See below!

Jared surprised me with "The Host" (I'm too excited!) and gave me a 3, yes 3 hour nap! And then we all went for a little drive and then came home to eat some cheesecake! I have to say it was a great weekend!

It's That Time of Year Already?

Last night was Open House at Berkshire Elementary. I still can't believe that this school year is almost over. But there we were, walking through each classroom, and looking at all the fun stuff the kids had done throughout the year! They all had quite the haul to bring home.

Megan's teacher had made a bound book that had a pocket for each month filled with things they'd written or drawn. She couldn't wait to get home and look through it and show us EVERYTHING! She was quite devastated when we told her that it was taking a little long to go through the entire book and that we'd have to do August through December tonight and January through May tomorrow.

All year Madeline's class has been "traveling around the world visiting all the different countries." Maddie didn't want us to miss anything and was quite the professional tour guide taking us around the class. Her tour ended with a fabulous demonstration of a volcano erupting!

...

Logan is getting older and acts like it would be fine if we skipped open house. He isn't too much into showing you all his projects, although it wasn't hard to spot something of his on the wall. It was usually the longest story and had key words like Lord of the Rings, Davy Crockett, camping,or the Alamo embedded somewhere in it!

Janie was fascinated by the silk worm cage in Madeline's classroom and kept getting the magnifying glass out to look at them.

The following is just a little look at all the kids projects that were hanging up throughout their classrooms. Megan's class had an ocean theme, Maddie's class had an around the world theme, and Logan's class was themeless, but you can spot his artwork just look for those key words: Davy Crockett, Alamo, Lord of the Rings, ........

Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Servant

Today was a bitter-sweet day for Jared and myself. He was released as Bishop of the Panama Ward. He served for 3 1/2 years and it was a little sad to say goodbye. He gave an awesome farewell testimony and I felt so blessed to be the wife to this fabulous man.

I've actually been waiting to post this since February when we let the Stake President know that we'd be moving. So in honor of Jared I thought I'd give you a little more insight into my better half!

Here are 50 fun facts, things, or reasons why I love my husband!
1. He never complains about dinner, even when it's Tuna on Toast or Spam Casserole
2. He carries his daughters to their beds at night like princesses
3. He doesn't mind getting up at night with a hungry baby
4. He's never made me feel bad that I don't breastfeed and we have to spend so much money on formula
5. He's my watching "24" buddy
6. He understands my need to eat out
7. He often surprises me and I wake up to a super clean kitchen
8. He is very good at not judging people
9. He has a deep knowledge of the scriptures and helps me understand things when we read together
10. He likes the Celtic Women (this should bother me, but it doesn't)
11. He has been known to enjoy a good bath now and then (or maybe a little bit more than that)
12. He is a very, very, very hard worker
13. No job has ever been beneath him. He'll do whatever it takes to support his family
14. He's really good with numbers
15. He's never gotten mad the 3 times I locked the keys in the car and made him get a sub to come and rescue me!
16. He gave me 5 beautiful children (maybe, one day he'll give me 1 more!)
17. He kept his promise and made our lawn come back to life
18. He's very athletic, (the missionaries were over for dinner and they told me "So, I here your husband is the Kobe Bryant of the ward's basketball team!")
19. He doesn't like to be the center of attention (I don't know how he'll feel about this post)
20. He never complains that it always seems to be him in the pool swimming with all the kids, while I sit on the sidelines
21. He goes out of his way to try and get me through my 9 month pregnancy breakdowns
22. He's worthy to hold the priesthood
23. He has canceled Bishops Youth Discussion when he didn't think I was up to having all the youth in our house
24. He loves to watch BYU football
25. He trusts me to cut(buzz) his hair (probably because he can't see his neck line)
26. He always gives me a kiss before he leaves for work or for his many church meetings
27. He doesn't complain when I keep taking a picture of the same pose, even if I'm on my 50th shot
28. He loves to make his "homemade" sausage egg mcmuffins for his kids
29. He takes his kids on bike rides (they don't think I can ride a bike because I've never gone with them)
30. He just laughs when I can't find my key, since I tend to lose them more than the average person.
31. He opens the door for me
32. He helps me out to the car after church even though there are a ton of people waiting for him to talk to them
33. When he gives me a nap they are long naps and he never comes in to bother me
34. He's never complained when I've left him to go on a scrapbooking weekend
35. He set up the DVD by the treadmill so I can watch my movies while I walk

36. He never holds a grudge

37. He still attempts after so many tries to explain to me how long it will take us to go 60 miles if we are traveling at 75 mph
38. He always starts an interesting spiritual conversation while we are driving home from the temple.
39. I love it that he reads books like "The History of Mathematics-Probability & Statistics, The Science of Uncertainty," just for a fun read.
40. He's can lyp-sync a song like nobody else
41. He's made his children Wheel of Fortune addicts
42. He patiently sits and listens as I tell him the entire story, line by line, of Twilight, New Moon, & Eclipse and my own version of what I think Breaking Dawn is going to have in it.

43. He read Chasing Paradise for me, so I could discuss it with him.

44. He doesn't like talking on the phone, but lately he's been keeping the conversation going just for my benefit, even though I know he really wants to get off the phone.

45. He's an optimist

46. He is a very determined person. When he puts his mind to something he gets it done!

47. He loves to eat cereal

48. He doesn't hesitate to share the gospel with people

49. He never tells me I can't stick to a budget (I try, but I can't)

50. He's my best friend

Jared,

I am so fortunate to have found such an amazing man to marry. You constantly amaze me with all that you do and all that you have done. I still can't believe that you were only 29 when the Lord called you to be a Bishop. You have had to carry such a load and I know that at times it seemed like too much, but I am so proud of how you served your Father in Heaven. You truly gave it your all. These past 3 1/2 years have been trying, but I know we are going to look back on these days as some of the best in our lives. Thank you for always putting your family first. You have been such an example to me, to your children, and I know to many others. Thank you for being the love of my life and my love for all eternity.

I love, love, love you,

Me

P.S. Hopefully now with a little more time on your hands, you'll have some more days like these!

It's Derby Time!

Yes, I know I have been blog slacking, but life seems to have been just a bit busier at the Norris home these past few weeks! So I'll try to do better!

Most of our time (especially Jared's) this past week was spent on Logan's pinewood derby car. Last year wasn't such a success for Logan. He built a canoe affectionately called, "The Crockett." Unfortunately "The Crockett" never could get across the finish line. It wasn't good times for us last year at the derby.

This year we were determined to have a car that would at least cross over the finish line. So after a lot of hard work by dad and several silent prayers from mom mostly consisting of, "Please, he doesn't have to have a fast car, just let it cross the finish line!" and "I know I said I hated the pinewood derby & I'm sorry, but please don't let his car just stop right before the finish line!"... We are happy to report that the little car that Jared hand cut and Logan sanded (A LOT), "The Blue American," won every race, but one!








I was so excited that my Loag had something to cheer about! He was bouncing around (more than usual) and you couldn't wipe his grin off for anything! So while I still have some unkind feelings towards the pinewood derby, I'm not quite as cynical as I once was.