Many Acheivements

Jon and Rebecca went to the District Science Fair on Tuesday since they were both in the top three for their categories. Jon got 4th place in Earth Science and Rebecca got 2nd place in Physics. Jon was a little disappointed that Rebecca's project ranked higher than his, but overall they both did very well.

Jon's cub scout pack had their Blue and Gold Banquet this week. Jon received his swimming, archery, and BB gun belt loops. Jon volunteered Lena to make a cake and the requirements for the cake were fairly specific (lemon, colors, 100 year theme, etc.). It turned out good despite the fact that Lena did not have very much time to work on it.

Jon participated in a piano recital and played "Intrada", which is itallian for introduction. He did a good job. The other kids liked the refreshments afterwards.

A Penny a Pine Cone

We had a great Family Home Evening on Monday. We learned about Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty from the Book of Mormon. You can find the story in Alma chapter 46. After our lesson we made our own "Title of Liberty," which basically reminds the Nephites what they are fighting for. "In memory of our God, our religion, our peace, our freedom, our wives and our children." The kids drew pictures representing all of these things and put it on our own banner. Then we decorated "Title of Liberty" cookies. Alyssa really liked the frosting.


Our cousins came for a visit this weekend. We celebrated with slushes at Sonic on Friday. $3.78 for 7/van wasn't a bad price. On Saturday, after a fun breakfast of pancakes and buttermilk syrup, the kids went to work picking up pine cones in the front yard. At a penny a pine cone the kids were raking in the dough. Rebecca alone picked up 500. Grandma was nice to provide the payroll and help count all those cones. In the process she discovered what it is that she's been allergic to this last year. Yikes!



Mike and Grandpa planted 10 fruit trees for me. Yea! Too bad it will take about 5 years before we can enjoy the "fruits" of our labors. Ha, ha.

On Sunday I was a little nervous about 10 kids getting ready for church. Especially since I'm not around Sunday mornings to help anyone get ready because of a class I have to teach before church. I ended my class early and came home to find half the kids already on their way to church, (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) and the others almost ready to go. I combed five heads, and we headed out the door. The kids were really good. We were a little snug with 10 kids and 3 adults in our row. At least the kids are small. Any bigger and we would have had to expand to two rows in the chapel.

Thanks for coming to visit! We had a blast with our cousins.

Let it Snow!

Well, this seems to be the year of snow. I can't believe how much snow everyone has been getting all across the country. Even we didn't miss out on the action and got about 5-6 inches of the fluffy white cold stuff. The kids had a blast for two whole days. Snowball fights, snow men, sledding, snow angels, and forts. Grandma and Grandpa even got in on the fun!

Secrets of the Universe

Jon and Rebecca both participated in the School Science Fair this year. We only had about a week's notice for some reason and had to scramble to get them done in time. We found ScienceBuddies to be a great resource for science fair ideas. Rebecca chose to measure wind speed for her project. Mike helped her build an anemometer using Styrofoam cups, sraws, and a pin. We found that the wind was fastest high up on a hill where trees couldn't block the wind. Rebecca won first place for the first grade!
Jon decided to experiment with craters. We filled a pan with flour and then dropped round objects of different sizes and weights from varying heights. The kids enjoyed it. It was a little messy with the flour, but not as bad as we originally thought it would be. Jon won 2nd place in the 3rd grade!

Kablooie! Look at all they flour getting thrown up by the "meteor" impact!

Alyssa started nursery at church. The adjustment is a little hard for her. It doesn't help that it coincides with her typical nap time. It's hard to believe she's that old already.
Some days we kind of wish the kids would grow up faster and be more responsible, but they really grow up way too fast. We were talking about how old each of the kids will be by the end of the year and were really shocked. We need to try harder to just enjoy the time that we have now with them because it will be gone before we know it.

P90X Update

Well, I've been participating in the P90X fitness program for about 10 weeks now. We did our final fitness test with the Boy Scouts for the Personal Fitness Merit Badge, so I thought I would give an update on my progress. I've had a week here and there that I haven't been able to fit in the full workout because I was too busy, but for the most part I've been pretty consistent. I've just extended the length of the phases to make up for the couple of weeks that I didn't do as well. The results have been notable.

After 10 weeks:

Sit & Reach: 8.5 inches (1/2 inch past toes) increased to 10.5 inches
Push ups: 63 increased to 92 (in one minute)
Sit ups: 49 increased to 66 (in one minue)
Pull ups: 18 increased to 36 (half pull ups, we didn't go all the way down)
Mile run: 8 min 15 sec decreased to 7 min 30 sec

Note that I have gone from 6 full pull ups to 12 during my home work outs.

My measurements have also increased.

Arm: 11.5 inches to 11.75 inches
Chest: 34 inches to 35 inches
Waist: 30.25 inches to 30.5 inches (Yikes! Too many holiday treats!)
Let: 17.5 inches to 20.0 inches

Needless to say, I'm fairly pleased with the results. I really enjoy the variety of the work outs and the results are notable in a relatively short period of time. I have not done the P90X diet, but Lena does a good job of making sure we eat healthy balanced meals. I do use a protein recovery drink mix from Walmart, which costs about 1/3 the price of the one recommended with the P90X program. I have found the recovery drink helps a lot with reducing the soreness after the intense workouts. I do get notably sore with the start of each new phase when the exercise program is changed up to produce "muscle confusion", but it's no where near as bad as the first week was.

I should be finished with the program in a few more weeks and then I think I'll run through it again. There are some other options to make it harder or focus more on cardio/calorie burning, but I feel like the standard program is about right for me.

Mike