Dad Luv's them Ducks!

Dear Journal~

My Husband is so SPOILED!!!

In the first of April Todd had the opportunity to travel with Coach Hosner and Coach Stott up to Oregon to attend a special conference by the Oregon Duck's Head Coach Chip Kelly & Coaching Staff.
He was so excited to be able to see the facilities and get the chance to implement a few of the great things the Duck's do into the Pine View Offense! I think it goes with out saying that he was in hog heaven!

At one point he called & sounded almost as if in tears as he informed me that he was walking down the "Tunnel" to the stadium! I mean really! Men never grow up! ;)

It is a beautiful campus and I think the only complaint that Todd had was the fact that he couldn't get a Diet Coke to save his soul! Eugene is not the biggest place in the world either & he said there was a bar & grill on every corner, but no coke products! (get over it...Pepsi's better!)

Here is the Football building, which includes the show cases & memorabilia, locker rooms & weight room. The indoor arena sits directly behind it.







This is how it looks on the outside with the arena behind it...
and here is the inside entry way with all the show cases & memorabilia...






This is the indoor arena...




Coach Hosner & Tony Dungy (former coach of the Colts)

The Duck's Stadium was a little ways down the road from the indoor arena...here are the boys on their way!









From Left: Todd, Stott, Hosner

The last but not least place the guys toured was the Student Academic Center. This building is just for student athletes...is has all kinds of services available to the students. From tutoring & study areas and what not! It's always important to have good grades! ;)



All in all the coaches learned a lot & came home even more in love with the Oregon Ducks!!!

I'm really glad they got to go and can't wait for another great season of Pine View Football!

Love

Shondell :)

Kids "Run 4 Fun"

Dear Journal~

I am so proud of Brennan, today he completed his first 1K. He came in 1st for the 8 year old age group and beat his practice time of 6 minutes by 2.

This is Brennan coming across the finish line.

A couple of weeks ago Brennan asked me if I would sign him up to run in the Kids Run 4 Fun.

Here's Bren with his number on, ready to go...we had to get up at 5:50 to get ready.

After we registered him, Brennan promptly started training each day.

Grandma & Grandpa braved the rain and early morning hours on this cold Saturday to see Brennan run. When Brennan saw them he was so cute & said "Thanks for being my #1Fans. My Dad isn't even out of bed yet.

On the morning of the race it was raining and super cold for St. George....Just before the race started it began to snow...

Here are all 60 kids lined up waiting to race as the snow is blowing right in there faces! Bless their hearts there were even a couple of cute little little kids running at age 4.

Mr. Brennan was one of the first kids on the line...When they took off a bunch of kids passed him and he was about 25 deep by the time they were at the .1 mark. But Brennan wasn't worried he just kept his same pace as he ran...by the time they reached .2 mark he had only about 15 kids in front of him & when I saw him pass the .3 mark he was down to 12 kids. I couldn't see him until right at the finish line, but by then he had passed a couple more kids and was the 8th kid to cross the line.

Here is Bren waiting to start the race.

All in all Brennan had a lot of fun & I'm so proud of him for doing something that's all his own, in our family.

Way to go!

I love my runner Brennan so much.

Love Shondell

RS-Emma's Garden Party

Dear Journal~

For our wards celebration of the Relief Society Birthday Party they had a Garden Party to honor all the past RS Presidents.

There was a nice program that I was able to help with, cake decorating, and wonderful dinner.

Here are some of the gorgeous cakes...

Me in my Garden Hat..

And the yummy "cups of cake" that I made...because I don't decorate cakes! :)

It was a fun night and a good reminder of all the many blessing I have as a sister in the Relief Society!

Love,

Shondell

Brock's All Star Basketball Team

Dear Journal~

I have to admit I was a little surprised when Brock decided to play basketball instead of soccer this spring. This year when asked to be part of a 4th grade all star team he jumped at the chance!

In the December & January Brock played for the Washington City Rec. Center...which I love that they have organized sports for the kids but it is pretty scary! With only costing 25$ most people can afford it, and you get all levels of skill. Boys like Brock who have been playing for 5 & 6 years to kids who are just coming out to see if they like basketball! Brock's poor coach had his hands full just trying to get the kids to pass the ball to each other! (lots of ball hogging)

Following City League, Brock played with the Hartman Sports Club. This is a much better set up, Hartman's is really focused on the kids! They work to help add a new rule each week for the kids to understand and you pay $65. which is a little more so the kids seem to have a more interest in being there...or the parents are more involved wanting to get their moneys worth! :)

In the first of March Brock started practicing for the All Star League even though he still had a couple of games left with Hartman's. The All Star League allows you to pick your own teams and practice as much or as little as you want...make no mistake, these kids are here to play & win and the coaches are serious! Two practices a week for two hours and no ball hogging...it's all about team work and understanding the game, also, you better know where the ball is all the time and where you're suppose to be!

All in all watching Brock's first game last weekend was something else! Night & Day, like watching the NBA verses Church Ball! ;)

I have to say I'm super proud of Brock for following his love of Basketball! He's becoming a good player and if he keeps it up he'll most likely be able to accomplish his dream of playing in college!

Way to go Brocko!

Love you!

Mom/Shondell

The New St. George Airport

Dear Journal~

Recently the St. George Airport was completed, so the boys & I decided we should take the long drive out and see what it looked like! One things for sure...there are beautiful views all the way around! But other then that we felt like there had been a lot a hype over this small little lonely building!




Pine Valley Mountian from the Airport!

All in all we had fun on our drive & the boys look forward to flying in an airplane some day!

Love

Shondell

Mom on the Bar-bee!

Dear Journal~

All I can say is Dad better watch out....I'm getting pretty good on the Barbaque!

Don't mind the glasses...Levi insisted I wear my wood working glasses to protect me from the flames & smoke...THANKS LEVI!!!


These yummy pork ribs were smoked on the barbaque with cedar planks...they were "to die for" good!

Oh how I love BBQ-ing year round!

Love
Mom the cook!

Activity Day - Planting

Dear Journal~

For Activity Days, Sister Robinson & I helped our girls learn how to plant seeds...


We used these cool little green house growers....you put in water, open the tops of each dirt filled bag, and push the seeds down in side.


This is my assistant Brennan show us how small the seeds for some of the herbs we are planing are!


Once things are planted we covered our seed bags with mulch to protect & placed the cover back on!


A week later we have all kinds of sprouts shooting up!

This was so much fun!

I love the miracle of growing things!

Shondell

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers!

Dear Journal~

The other day I had a few extra dollars that I was suppose to go clothes shopping with, but after about an hour of nothing fitting quite right I gave up!

On the way home I saw the Star Nursery Sign, (a local garden store) and decided I would rather my front porch be covered in flowers to bring me happiness rather then a new outfit.

So, I purchased a few plants, found a couple of super cute bird houses, arranged things on the front porch and ta-da!

A cute welcome front porch!

Honestly I can't help but smile every morning as I water these little beauties!

What can I say....I love flowers!

Love Shondell

P.S.
You should probably also know I love bird houses too!