Happy Birthday Grandma!

We are so glad that we could celebrate Grandma's birthday with her. Amber presented her with a masterpiece of a cake, literally. She decorated the cake to look like Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. It was almost too beautiful to eat.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Minnehaha Falls hike

We took Grandma on a hike around Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis.

Checking out the Falls

Marissa and Amber with the Mask of Chief Little Crow

The Falls

The hike (why are they hiking barefoot?)

Temple trip

Marissa, Mom and Grandma went to the temple for an Activity Days picnic. We had gorgeous weather. We are so blessed to have a temple close by.

Preschool Graduation

David graduated from preschool last week. He looked so handsome in his nice clothes. He told me he wanted to wear his nicest shirt with a tie. Here is his class.

What do you do with your preschool certificate? Turn it into a spyglass or a megaphone, of course!



David and some pals.
David loved Ms. Connie.

Kindergarten here we come!

Stake dance time

This is a picture of the good looking bunch of girls that we took to the stake dance over the weekend. Three nonmember friends came. Now if we could only convince the boys to go!

Father and son camp out

Kelly took the boys to the Father and Sons camp out over the weekend. They had a great spot right by the lake. David actually came home in a different outfit (only because he fell in the lake shortly after arriving!) The boys loved fishing. David got pretty good at casting, but didn't catch anything. Steven had a lesson in fly fishing. They can't wait to go fishing again. Kelly is still trying to recover from lack of sleep. In the middle of the night David decided that his foam pad was not comfortable enough and talked Kelly into giving up his cot. David has multicolored hair left over from the school carnival the night before. I figured we would let him get as dirty as possible and wash it all out at once.

New Driver on the Road!!!!

Megan got her permit last week and wants to practice all the time. The DMV actually sent a tester to the school and Megan passed it in her drivers ed class so all she had to do was go to the DMV and have her eyes checked and get her picture taken. She did it that afternoon! She was a little uneasy and nervous at first, but is getting the hang of driving. Here is a picture of Kelly in the passenger seat, risking his life? Nah.

Megan and Marissa in Les Miserables

Here are some photos of Megan and Marissa in the high school production of "Les Miserables" from May 6-9. It was very busy, but the girls had a great experience and the production was amazing!

Marissa as a street urchin and Megan as a beggar

Some of Megan's friends came to see the show!

Middle school is a heavy load

This is how Steven looks when he walks out the door to catch the bus. Along with his backpack full of books and his lunch, he has his trumpet for band, track clothes (his newest sport) and a waterbottle. Let's hope they all make it home!

Amber's newest wearable artwork

Amber made these for Megan for her birthday. She loves them! Pretty cool, huh.

Megan and Steven celebrate birthdays

Megan celebrated her 15th birthday on the 15th. Amber decorated a very colorful cake for her.

Megan was excited about getting the newest Fablehaven book.

Megan's YW leaders gave her a nifty light up ring and Dad gave her some gorgeous lavender roses.

Steven is now an official teenager. He turned 13 on the 18th. he was thrilled with his new mp3 player and team apparel.

We celebrated at Red Robin to get their free sundaes and to get sung to.

We now have 3 teenagers! How fast time has flown!

Easter

Amber and Megan hid about 80 filled plastic eggs all around the backyard. Everyone went out in their pajamas and Steven, Marissa and David had a great time trying to find all of the eggs. We are still finding eggs!

March update

I know it has been a while, so here is an update of what has been happening in Minnesota with the Stotts family.



Steven tried a new sport, swimming. He has never been on a swim team before. He enjoyed it and really improved and learned some new things.

Amber was honored as one of the top art students in the district. Her piece, Treasure Map, is now on display at the local community college. Way to go Amber!

Megan had another symphony concert. They played the theme from the 3rd "Pirates of the Carribbean" movie, and even sang a little.

Mom and David enjoyed a fun day at the zoo seeing the baby farm animals.

Steven and his fellow deacons Matt and Brigham made homemade pizza dinners for a service project.