Fathers and Sons Outing

This last weekend Brent took Mitchell and Grant on our ward's Fathers and Sons outing up near Strawberry, AZ.

Grant spend most all of his time hanging out with his buddy Price. They played around the fire and danced around the fire and did whatever they could do around the fire.

At the center of this picture is Grant's tent. Price camped out with him in his tent. Grant came home absolutely exhausted so I don't think the boys slept much.

Mitchell had his own tent and Brent had his own tent. No late night snuggling with these guys! All of their male bonding had to happen during the car ride there and back.

Cinco de Mayo!

Tonight we celebrated "Cinco de Mayo" as a family. I know today is only "quatro de Mayo" but Grant will be on a school field trip tomorrow and won't be with us to celebrate the official holiday. So to get things going we had taquitos, refried beans, Tostitos chips, nacho cheese sauce, and other fast Mexican type foods for dinner. It was really easy to put together. Next we watched "Three Amigos."

Do you remember that movie from 1986? If not, you probably weren't born yet. I must have seen it in the 80's but really don't remember any of the details. It was so funny! There are many great lines from the movie that we just cracked up about!

For example when they are trying to plan an attack on El Guapo, Steve Martin says "We are just going to have to use our brains." Then Chevy Chase says "Damn it!" (don't let your kids read that last line!!!)

Oh, just go watch the movie again. To my surprise Brent happens to own the VHS of it. He has everything. Mitchell and Grant were quite suspicious of what we were going to make them watch. But we told them it counted for FHE, so they stayed and thought it was pretty funny.

Unfortunately, we did not get a pinata for our celebration. But you have time to run and get one for yours! Have fun celebrating Cinco de Mayo! (P.S. Cinco de Mayo celebrates the end of European rule in Mexico (1862) but its not Mexican Independence Day. Mexican Independence Day is September 16th and is the day that Mexico declared their independence from Spain in 1810.)

Poetry by Grant Ward

Here are some poems written by Grant.

Balls
Basket balls
Soccer balls
Big, round, kick balls
Colorful, soft, beach balls
Those are just a few.

Volley balls
Bouncy balls
Small, crazy super balls
Oddly shaped foot balls
Soft balls too.

Blue balls
Yellow balls
Don't forget silver balls
Last of all, best of all,
I like tennis balls!

Dog Sense
I smell...
Wet fur, dirt, dog food
I feel...
Soft fur, wet kisses, warmth
I see...
Flopping ears, wagging tail,
A wet black nose.
I hear...
A jingling collar, a whacking tail,
Barks of joy.

Pat's Run

Saturday, April 18th was the 5th Annual Pat Tillman Foundation run in Tempe, AZ. The run is in honor of Pat Tillman who was an ASU football player and later a Cardinals football player who died in the war in Iraq. Brent and I both ran in the 4.2 mile race along with 16,000 other people.



It was so crowded running with so many people. You felt like you were going to trip over them. Throughout the run, Brent and I would dodge around people to avoid running them over. Brent could have sprinted the entire race and attempted to have conversations with me while we were running. I found it annoying because it was all I could do to make sure I continued jogging the whole thing especially when we were running uphill. It was fun though that we stuck together through the whole race. Brent's energy was contagious as we approached the ASU stadium where the race ended. This was the last uphill part. We crossed the finish time together with a time of 43 minutes and 40 seconds. Brent finished in 6,874th place and I finished in 6,848th place. However, I came in 2,403rd place overall for the female division. Maybe we will do this again next year. Do you want to come and run with us?

Easter Fun

Mitchell and Grant are getting older. You would think that an Easter egg hunt would be too juvenile for them. However, you would be wrong. Mitchell kept asking if and when we would have an Easter egg hunt. He really wanted to have one. This year we filled the eggs with candy and also filled many eggs with money. Filling the eggs with money is a tradition we got from Bonnie and Ray Ward (Mitchell and Grant's paternal grandparents). The boys loved finding out that there was money in the eggs. Mitchell made over $20 and Grand made over $11. Plus they had enough candy to last a week (or less depending on the child)!

Mitchell searching for eggs and being very successful! Notice his speed and complete concentration as he scours the room.

Grant has his own strategy of finding eggs. He goes back and forth across a room. This might make you dizzy!

Mitchell had a height advantage as he was gathering pretty eggs.Grant was behind Mitchell in finding eggs so Brent stepped in to help Grant. Always happy to help!

Grant still found plenty of eggs and had fun!

Mitchell was the winner with the most eggs and the most money! Happy Easter boys!

Grant's Last Track Meet

Thursday, April 9th was Grant's last track meet for the season. On the starting line.

His school, Pueblo, competed against my school, Aprende, at the final meet. Grant was in three events at the meet: 75m hurdles, high jump and shot put. Here are the final videos of the season.

Grant is in the lane closest to the camera. It takes a while for the race to start and the picture seems to be blurry. This is a varsity meet so the hurdles are at a higher height than if this were just a 6th grade meet. Grant does a super job jumping them. His time for this event was 16.3 seconds.

Here Grant successful jumps the high jump. He loves flying over the top of the bar!

Grant Becomes a Deacon

Today was a very special day for Grant. He was received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of a Deacon by his dad. He is very anxious and excited to start fulfilling his priesthood responsibilities. He also earned his Faith in God Award. We are so proud of Grant and his choice to serve the Lord as a Deacon.