The dancing duo

Callie knows how to get her brother to dance with her when she wants to. :)  He acts like he doesn't want to, but then she grabs his hand and will make him start dancing with her.  He gives in and dances along.  She even gets him to dip her!  It is so funny and precious at the same time.  I think even though he likes bugging her, when they get older, he will be there in a second to defend her (or I hope at least!).  They definitely can argue and fight, but sometimes they are the best of friends and get along great.  Callie has even said Harrison is her best friend and when she needs help with something and everyone is volunteering to help (like saying prayers for example) she will usually pick Harrison over Morgan or Tyler.  Although I must admit, she has a pretty special bond with Tyler too.  And she loves to be just like Morgan and do what Morgan is doing.  So, all in all, Callie loves her older siblings and has a unique bond with all of them in different ways.  She is so affectionate, smiley, and her laugh just makes us all giggle.  We are so blessed to have her as part of our family!

What a sweetie!  Love this big smile of hers!  Too bad I didn't get the other side to show her cute little dimple.  You can slightly see it on her left cheek in the first picture.

First Day of School!

WAAAAAY back on August 5th, they had their first day of school.  This is the last year they will all be at the same school.  I think I started the tradition of holding up the number of fingers for what grade they would be in because I am always so frazzled and unprepared the night before/morning of that I just am not organized enough to remember to write the famous "First day of ______" on a piece of paper and have them hold it up for a picture, so last minute I just had Tyler hold up 1 finger back when he was in 1st grade, and I still haven't been organized enough to do it, so the finger holding up has stuck.  The question is, what happens when they are in 11th grade? :)  Maybe then I will be more organized.

Tyler's last year in elementary school!!!

Morgan is in the grade that Tyler was when we moved here!

And little man Harrison wowed us with how easily he got on the bus and didn't cry ONCE! :)

Ready for a great year!

Committed to Serve

The youth in our church decided to do a 40-day project called "Committed to Serve". We don't participate in Lent, but they decided to do this during the time of Lent. We decided to make it a whole congregational activity, so they made these bracelets and passed them out to everyone - including the young children - along with a calendar to fill in what we did each day. We are suppose to pray each day about how we can serve and who needs our service and then follow through. We started on Leap Day and will end on Easter. It has really helped all of us think more of others, especially in our family, than of ourselves. Even Harrison has been finding ways to think of others and put them above his wants. For example, I had to take Callie and Harrison to the Brownies meeting with Morgan and me and they had fruit snacks and pretzel sticks with cheese for a snack. Harrison didn't get any pretzels, so I asked Morgan if she would share with him and that it would be a good way to show service. She did and I was pleased. Then Harrison got a package of fruit snacks and I asked him if he needed me to open it and he told me that he was going to keep it for Tyler and Morgan. At first I was confused because Morgan already had one, but then I realized what he was doing. I asked him if he was doing that for his service and he got this shy little grin on his face and said yes. It made my heart melt! What a sweet little boy! What a blessing it is to have these opportunities to serve and to have my children learn at an early age the importance of putting others first and helping those in need.

This is what I woke up to in the morning . . .

We celebrated our 11 year anniversary yesterday!

Kent had gone fishing with Tyler the night before and went to the store at midnight to have these sitting on the table when I got up in the morning. So sweet!

Our anniversary was very low key. We mostly hung out with the kids ALL DAY on the playground and then went out to eat at Don Pablo's that evening. It was perfect weather! Not too hot, not too cold and no humidity!

Thanks, Kent, for a wonderful 11 years!

There's just something about a big fluffy pillow . .

I found Harrison like this on the couch one afternoon. I thought it was hilarious!

Look at the pretzels in his hand!

Kent and Callie just relaxing. I need to get more pictures of these two together.

First Day of School 2010

Morgan is a 1st grader now!

Tyler is in 3rd grade!

And of course Harrison had to wear a backpack and get his picture taken too. :)

Love notes

It all started with Kent having to be gone until about 9 or 10 p.m. every night for the past week or so. He's had a ton of projects, papers, and presentations due this week, so he hasn't been able to come home before the kids' bedtime most nights. One night Tyler wrote a sweet note to Kent and then spelled out "To Kent" with crayons on the table to let Kent know there was a note for him. So Kent wrote him a note back and since then they have had about 4 exchanges like this. Morgan started drawing pictures for Kent too, so Kent started leaving notes for her too - picture ones that she can relate to better. Now and then he's been able to see them before they go to bed or before he leaves for the morning, but it's been very rare. I just had to document these sweet little gestures of love! Thankfully in about a week and a half Kent will be on Spring Break for two weeks! We're planning a mini vacation to Chicago for a couple days - a very needed and deserved break for everyone!

Tyler gets so excited when he finds a note for him in the morning!

To Kent from Tyler and Morgan:

Remembering Grandma

I found out on Christmas Day that my Grandma von Harten passed away. It was a bittersweet moment because I knew she had been declining quite rapidly the last few months and was so tired and ready to be done with this mortal life, but at the same time I knew I would miss seeing this sweet, kind, loving woman.

The funeral was Tuesday and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. The funeral was beautiful and everything went well. The grandchildren were asked to say a few remarks about Grandma, so this is what I wrote:

There are so many things that come to mind when I think about Grandma von Harten. Her love of gardening and creating beautiful ceramics and afghans probably come to my mind first, but there are also the memories of spending a week at Grandma and Grandpa's in the summer with our cousins and looking forward to the homemade Christmas tree ornaments she would make us each year. Smells of bacon cooking and the taste of home-grown tomatoes, okra and homemade rhubarb pie and cobbler also spark memories of Grandma. She was such a great homemaker and such an example of self-reliance and hard work. She was an example of Christ as she was very selfless and willing to help those around her. Her life was centered around making her husband, children and grandchildren happy and by giving her time, talents and abundance to her friends and those less fortunate. One of my favorite memories is when my cousin, Beth, and I were spending a few days there together one summer. We loved swinging on the bench swing under our favorite climbing tree. This time though we were STANDING on the seat of the swing and swinging it really hard to see how high we could get it when all of a sudden it toppled over onto its side. We thought for sure we were going to get in trouble, but Grandma never came out to scold us, so we thought we had lucked out and she hadn't seen us. Quickly we set it up and acted like nothing ever happened. Years later we were talking about the incident and Grandma piped up and said that she HAD seen us, but that she didn't tell us. That was so nice of Grandma to not make a big deal out of that situation and to not make us feel worse than we already did. I also remember playing dress-up with all her colorful bead necklaces and playing house on their porches. I remember picking sweet strawberries and blackberries from their garden and snapping green beans and lima beans for dinner. I remember playing games from the closet that my dad and and his sisters had when they were children and sitting by the warm fire watching Grandma crochet and listening to stories she would tell about how my dad would torture his sisters. :) I remember all the little knick-knacks she had on her shelves and windows and the long bench at the dinner table everyone fought over. I remember riding in the church van to pick up kids for Vacation Bible School and prayers before dinner. She was such a sweet lady and was always interested in what we were doing. She loved holding her great-grandchildren and making them feel loved. She has left everyone a wonderful legacy and example of what service, love and dedication are.

My cousin, Scott Schauss, put together a wonderful video of her life and all the grandkids and their spouses sang I Believe in Christ. It was sad to see her go, but I know she is much happier now that she is with my Grandpa and isn't restrained by her feable mortal body. I am so thankful to have had such a wonderful Grandma and for the knowledge that someday I can see her again.

August 2009 - this was the last time I saw her living.

November 2007 - Thanksgiving

February 2007

First day of school!

The kids first day of school was yesterday. We had Back to School Night Wednesday, when they found out who their teacher was going to be and was able to see their classroom. Morgan didn't get Tyler's teacher from kindergarten, which I pretty much expected, and Tyler got a girl-in-his-grade's mom (I think the little girl has had a crush on him since kindergarten!). They both got right up in the morning and Morgan was especially excited to get ready and head out to the bus. But she did have a few butterflies. It was cute because she asked Tyler if his tummy felt a little funny, and he said no, but she said hers did a little. She said she was a little nervous, but even more excited to go. She has been waiting for this day ever since Tyler started school!

She was so excited to use her new backpack and wear her new clothes! But she said the first day of school was the ONLY day she was going to let me put two pony tails in her hair! :( I think she is so cute like that, but she doesn't like two. I'll have to talk her into it again sometime.

It's kind of weird having just Harrison home, and I think he is loving it! Kent doesn't start school until next week, so he was able to see them off. Kind of crazy knowing that Kent wasn't in his classroom greeting students and starting a new year teaching, but he's all ready to start classes up and jump right into his degree. So many changes and adjustments this school year! In a couple weeks we should all be in the swing of things again and back to a normal routine.

Louisville Temple

I'm sort of playing catch up, but a couple weekends ago all of my family except my oldest brother and wife (who couldn't come b/c he couldn't be away from his work that long) went to the Louisville Temple to do a lot of family names. Our ward did a "take 5" challenge where we got at least 5 names ready to have temple work done for them by a certain date. The youth performed the baptisms earlier and then we did the rest this trip. Kent had some names to do too, so he was able to finish the last of the work that day as well. It was so neat to be in the temple together with the majority of my family. What special memories! A couple girls from my mom's ward came down and watched the kids (along with my mom for some of the time). It was so nice b/c the church building was right across the parking lot of the temple! I'm so glad we were able to go and spend some time in the temple with my family. What a wonderful day it was! We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel afterwards. I'm always torn between getting breakfast or dinner there! I ended up getting breakfast, but I think I should have gotten a big salad I was craving. Oh well. I was exhausted by the time we got home, but it was well worth it.

My little ballerina . . .

Morgan and her little friend Ady both wanted to take ballet lessons last fall, so it ended up that they were able to be in the same dance class this year. It made taking ballet even more fun! They both were so excited for their dance recital and practiced very hard all year for it. What cute daisies they make, huh? Morgan loved getting dressed up (mostly) except for the black lines she had to have under her eyes. She said they made her look like a cat! I said they made her look like a football player. :) They were supposed to make hers eyes "pop" on stage so everyone could see them better. By the fourth night (2 nights of dress rehearsal!) we had getting her ready down pat!


Unbeknownst to us until the dress rehearsal, the theme this year was "Living Green". The name of their dance was Hydroponics, which suited them well since they were little daisies, but some of the routines/outfits didn't have ANYTHING to do with the name of their dance. Some of the names were things like: Save the Trees, Carpool, Buying Eco friendly, Industry . . . and the Land Weeps, Holes in the Ozone, Solar Energy, and last but not least - A Lifetime in a Landfill! What a depressing way to end, huh?! Kind of weird if you asked me, and most of the routines were cute with classical or fun music and pretty outfits, but a lot of the Dance Company ones (the older girls who take all the different kinds of dance) were too contemporary and weird for me (both the outfits and the music). So I was glad Morgan's was cute!

We had lots of family come watch - both Friday and Saturday, so Morgan was so happy to see them there! Thanks everyone for coming and supporting Morgan during her big night!

Grandpa and Grandma Allen even came home early from their fishing trip/vacation just to see her perform!

Her class with their helper, Miss Alexis

Morgan was so happy to have Daddy and Tyler back in time for her big night!

What's a performance without getting beautiful flowers at the end?

Morgan and her teacher, Miss Stephanie

Afterwards (both nights!) we went to the Strawberry Festival and enjoyed some fun there. More pictures of that to come.