SOFTBALL CHAMPIONS!

Oh yeah!  You read it right!  We are the CHAMPIONS my friends.  And we'll keep on tryin" til the end...

Try not singing that.  You did didn't you?  Well our Co-ed Red Rock Softball team took 1st place, a plaque, a game ball and t-shirts for everybody!  We even came up through the loser's bracket and had to beat Team Skalooza twice!  We had a game last night at 6:30 which we won 12 -0.  Then played at 7:30 and won 8-6.  Then 8:30 and won 9-7.  We are awesome!

Happy 42nd!

Yesterday was Joel's 42nd birthday and he spent it serving others at church.  He did a great job conducting Sacrament meeting.  I love looking at him sitting up there.  Every once in awhile I'll catch his eye and he'll wink at me.  I love that.  It makes me weak in the knees.  It's a good thing I am always sitting down.

He works harder than ANYONE I know.  He is the best father around and has such a loving soft heart.  It's no wonder that the Lord called him to be our bishop.  He is truly loving of everyone and never judges anyone ever.  He brings out the best in me and I never want to let him down.  He will drop whatever he is doing to help someone in need and never complains.    I am a very lucky girl.  I don't know what I did in the pre-earth life but it must have been amazing for the Lord to bless me with such an incredible man. Happy Birthday Babe!

Sr. Ball Sr. Year

              Shayne and Kyson Sullivan have been friends since 6th grade.

  They have seriously been there for each other through everything.  And they have always planned on going to Sr. Ball their Sr. year together.  So, here they are:  SOOO CUTE!

 

  But it almost didn't happen.  He was taking his sweet old time asking her and one night there was a knock on the door.  When we opened it there was just and a bagful of tennis ball with a note from Enrique asking to to Sr. Ball.  CRAP!  We love Enrique and he and Shayne hadn't been to a school dance together yet and technically she hadn't been asked to Sr. Ball yet.  So she texted Kyson and told him to hurry up and ask already because she felt bad and then had to go find Enrique after school the next day and tell him that she was already going with Kyson.  Well, Enrique is awesome and took it like a man and asked someone else.  A WEEK later Kyson finally asked her.  He and Shayne were notorious for writing notes everyday at school.  She has kept every letter they wrote.  Apparently he did too because he asked her with a trip down memory lane and on one of the old notes he wrote "Sr. Ball?"  She of course loved it and started to cry thinking of all they've been through and what they will go through with him soon off to college and then on a mission. The future coming to an end.  Sha answered him a couple weeks later on his birthday with a photo album full of pictures of the 2 of them and on the last page she wrote, "Kyson, I couldn't think of a better way to end our school years together than to go to Sr. Ball with you."  She cried again and he loved it.
    
          Yesterday he came and got her for their day date - slip n slide - and #1 actually knocked on the door instead of just walking in and #2 opened the car door for her.  I about cried.  It was so cute.  Then later that night after she was all dolled up he came back to get her and did the same thing.

While I was doing Shayne's hair Sophie asked them where they were going to eat.  Shayne said, "Olive Garden" and as coincidence would have it that is exactly where I was planning on taking Joel for his birthday dinner that night.  So I did the embarrassing Mom thing and went over and took pictures of the whole group while they were at the restaurant!  Hahaha!  It was classic.  They had 11 couples.  22 people!

 
  Luckily Enrique was in her group so they were still able to have fun together.  Shayne has always had great friends.  When she got home she said it was the best dance ever.  How could it be anything else.  Having the time of your life with the friends you love and your best friend as your date.

Dixie College "D" Week

D Week is the last big hurrah for the school before the year ends. A new Miss Dixie is crowned - Our good friend Jaycee Watcot -

and a B-B-Q and Carnival thrown. We went and met up with the Wells and Cluffs. Well, I went and took my kids plus the 2 youngest Scott kids with me because Joel and Josh Scott had to go to the hospital to give Mike Allen a blessing because his horse had headbutted him and broke his skull above his eye. It wasn't pretty. I saw him the next day and took a picture but don't think it's a good idea to put it on here. Anyway, we had a blast. Bounce houses,


games,


candy, popcorn, ice cream, snow cones, hotdogs and hamburgers and of course cotton candy!



It was a hoot. Here is Kyle trying to help our 2 little girls up the ladder.

Joel and Josh were able to meet up with us just in time to eat. Fun time was had by all. Yeah Dixie! Next year Shayne will be an official student!

Elks Club Student of the Month

Shayne received a great certificate and luncheon invite for being the Pine View High School Student of the Month from the Elks Club. Very Nice. Shayne has been Student Athlete of the Month every year but has never been the overall student of the month so we were excited for her. The luncheon was for her and her parents and we were joined with the other students from all of the other high schools in the area including Kanab and Enterprise. We didn't know anyone there until Leah Heger and her mom walked in. Leah was a swimmer for Snow Canyon and always Shayne's competition. They had become great friends and were typical girls when they saw each other, jumping up and down squealing and hugging each other. It was cute. Two amazing girls that both deserved to be there. The Elks honored them all and gave them a gift bag full of goodies. We were hoping it would have a scholarship inside if it but no such luck. It was honor just to be there.

Run 4 Kids

Joel signed up to do the Run 4 Kids 10K. He has been trying to loose some weight and run at a faster pace and Brian has decided to run the marathon so John and Brian ran it with him. They did a great job but didn't run as fast as they wanted to because of the rain. It was freezing cold and the rain felt like "stabbing ice". I love to see the Beckstrand Boys run together. It gives me warm fuzzies. I have a special place in my heart for those boys and I love that they get to spent time together.

Friday the 13th with Mr. Staheli

I usually love Friday the 13th but this one was the worst! We were told on Thursday that Mr, Staheli was leaving and going to Riverside Elementary. Not because he wanted to but because the STUPID school board wanted to change 8 principals around just to "encourage fresh ideas and fresh energy". They were all told to change or quit and one actually did decide to retire early. I could not think of a worse way to "encourage fresh ideas and fresh energy". Uproot the principals? Why do that to him and the 600+ kids that adore and depend on him. Not to mention all of the parents and thousands of community members that he helps and contributes to by doing all of the parades, the Veterans Day Activities, hangs all the flags every holiday in the town and has taken every class to the Staheli farm for a free field trip every year. Mr. Staheli has raised more money for Washington Elementary than anyone could even imagine. Heritage Elementary is constantly asking me how we get all the free things we do and it is because of Burke and his amazing dedication to these kids and his great grant writing skills. We are the poorest Elementary school in the county but you would never guess by what our kids receive at this school. We have great during and after school programs that we would not have otherwise. We have 2 teachers that use bouncy balls as chairs in their classrooms because it helps the kids learn so well and they have gotten grants to do it. Burke has made Washington Elementary into a college school. "Where every kid, everyday, is college bound" is the motto and Burke makes them have that dream and helps them on the road to achieve it. These kids would NOT get this anywhere else. He also has 2 college scholarships for Dixie College for those kids that have graduated from Washington Elementary. He is amazing. He also has each and EVERY one of the kindergarten and first graders pass off the mandatory sight words to him so the teachers can use that time to help the rest of the class. He gives them a book when they do and signs it to each kid and tells them how proud he is of them. Burke was born and raised in Washington and went to Washington Elementary when he was a kid. This is his home and he was told to move or quit. It is NOT fair. I realize how great he is and so does everyone else which is probably why they want him to do the same thing at another school but why don't they just have a meeting every month and apply one of the things that Burke has started that works so well with out kids. And if there are other things at other schools that are incredible I'm sure that he'd love to hear them and try them out. But why in the world would you make them move and before school has even ended? We had an assembly to say good bye and I can't count how many kids were sobbing. It was so loud that you could hardly hear what Mr. Staheli was saying to the kids.




The only thing that the school board could and should have done was to put Braxton Bateman, seen here with Burke, in as the new principal. Braxton has been a friend of ours for about 7+ years when we lived in the same neighborhood and ward in Hurricane. He has been a teacher at Washington Elementary and this year has been the assistant principal. So you would think that if they wanted this to be a smooth, easier transition for the kids and the community then they would have put Braxton in there to carry on what Burke has already started and because the kids already know him. But they didn't! They gave us the Principal from Diamond Valley Elementary who lives 45 minutes away in Pine Valley and who is 2 years away from retirement! Our poor school needs energy and commitment. Not someone who just wants to relax away his last years. I'm sure he is an amazing person but I've heard he is easy going and that is NOT what we need. We need the energy and discipline to help these kids see their potential. I am upset and very sad to see this happen to this wonderful little community. On top of it all the new principal isn't coming for another couple of weeks because they can't find anyone to take his job. So they are having Braxton fill in! What the ...? Does that make sense to anyone?

After the assembly the kids went outside to let go of a balloon as Mr. Staheli went around and said goodbye to each kid. This all happened so fast that many parents didn't even know he was gone until their kid came home crying.

I am not giving up. There are thousands of us that are upset and are going to the next board meeting. But it isn't until May 5th. Now I know why they did it now instead of later. Clearly none of them have kids in Elementary otherwise this never would have happened.

Ben's 1st Pine Wood Derby

OK so, I'm the Mom and I don't understand what the big deal is with scouts and especially the Pine Wood Derby. The boys never really get to "make" it and then they get upset if and when they loose. Well, this being Ben's first I thought it'd be a little better than this:

He got his kit a month before the derby and Joel kept saying he would help him and never did and never did. I had 3 other men volunteer to help Ben with his car and that made me feel stupid. So right before we left to Lehi Joel took it to work and cut it out for him and packed it for Lehi to finish it and nothing happened. We got back Monday and race was on Tuesday. So Joel took it to work, I thought to put the wheels on and get it ready for Ben to paint and put decals on but when he came home it was painted bright red (Ben wanted it blue) and still had no wheels. It had 3 layers of paint on it that never dried! It sat under a fan for 18 hours and never dried! I was panicking 3 hours before race time to get it dry enough to put decals on it. So I got the incredible idea to put clear fingernail polish over the entire thing in hopes that it would at least dry the top coat enough to pick it up and race it. Well lucky me, that's just what happened. If you pushed hard you could leave a fingerprint in the paint. It was weird. Like a blister. The top was hard and dry but it was liquid underneath. I stuck the decals on and then Joel came home 10 minutes before "check in" time and hammered wheels on it. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Joel took him over to get it signed in and when I got there I asked him if Ben had given it a test run and Joel said he didn't want him too because it was only riding on 3 wheels and he hoped the other one didn't fall off but he didn't want to tell Ben that. Well I was mad and embarrassed. Right then and there I said a little prayer asking God not to punish Ben for the stupidity of his parents and to let him at least keep his wheels on. Well, thankfully God is loving and understanding and Ben was able to even win a couple races. He won an award for the "most striking" car since it had lighting decals on it and since every kid get some kind of award. He was so excited. I wanted to cry. He was happy and that was all that mattered. I hate scouts. I probably always will but I was glad that Ben was happy and not totally embarrassed by his parents.

Baptism and Easter Egg Hunt

Easter weekend was full of family fun. We had Friday and Monday off of school so we went up to Lehi. Joel's counselors said they'd cover for him so he even got to come. Tyler and Laynee were baptized on Saturday and we had a huge BBQ and Easter Egg Hunt for the kids.

This is the little kids lining up for the hunt.


Here is the Joe Shelton Family minus Brad and Ashley.

Here is Aunt Polly and Zack Lucero, Sheltons and Pecks all together. About 63 in this picture. We were missing a few. Granny would be proud of us. She always loved it when we all got together.


The next day I made this amazing cake. Thank you very much! It's darling I know.

Then we made recycled bracelets with the pop tops from pop cans. It was super easy and since we all drink way to much soda at grandpa's we had over 100 tops to make everyone a bracelet.

And last but not least, here is a picture of David and Jenna who had both just pulled out a tooth. Evan wasn't happy because he still hasn't lost any.

It was a wonderful weekend full of memories that will last forever. I love my family!

Coloring Eggs

Well, I forgot to take actual pictures of us coloring eggs. But as we started to play our annual "King of the Cracked Eggs" - I just made that title up but I like it and I am going to use it - I remembered my camera so this is what you get. After we color Easter eggs everyone gets their favorite egg and you go against someone and hit one end of your egg against their egg. Whoever cracks looses. Then you turn your eggs over and hit the other ends and keep going.


Blaine and Brescia came over to color eggs with us.

Blaine I've mentioned before but feel I need to elaborate on. He is the son of Camille Salisbury who was Ben's Kindergarten teacher. He was also Shayne's swim coach when she was a freshman. Let's be completely honest for 1 second. I know neither of them will like that I published this but it's TRUE! They totally liked each other for about a month before he left on his mission to Australia but she was 15. Flirting like crazy went on. But nothing happened. So she wrote to him on his mission and he came home on January 18th. I'll stop there.

OK now onto Brescia - Brescia is a lifeguard at the Washington Community Center with Shayne. She is from a tiny little town near Heber Utah and is going to Dixie College. We have taken her in and made her our new daughter. She is 20 and has lived, what I think is a sheltered life. She had never eaten a burrito until last month and has never been to DISNEYLAND! So we are taking care of that. We are sending her and Shayne to Brad and Ashley's for Shayne's graduation so they can spend a few days in the Happiest Place on Earth. She is darling and I am trying not to taint her like I have my other kids. Her name is from a town in Italy because that's where her dad went on his mission. Same as Joel. Funny huh? Well Blaine and Brescia are now a permanent part of this family and everything we do. They helped us out with the Dogtown Half Marathon and were part of the water fight problem.

Shayne had to work so didn't get to color eggs but was home in time to crack some.

I think Brescia won over all. She had the world ugliest egg that had about 7 coats of coloring on it which is what made the shell so hard.