It's all about....Kyle!

A couple of weeks ago, Kyle competed in a state geography bee. Rob and I took him to Boise for the competition. It was so much fun to spend time one-on-one with him. We just don't get the opportunity often enough to have that quality time with each of our kids so this was a trip all about Kyle. He finished in the top 30 for the competition. Most of the competitors were middle school aged kids. We are so excited and proud of him! He is such a great kid!!

Kyle got to pick the activities for the trip. Of course, first and foremost, he had to take a walk on the smurf turf. He even caught a pass. This had to have been the highlight of the trip. I am pretty sure that he is going to be convincing Rob that they need to go see a Boise State football game next fall.

Outside of the stadium.

This is the certificate that he was presented with after finishing the geography bee. He was pretty excited about it!

Some of the highlights for the trip include: dinner at Johnny Carino's with turtle cheesecake of course, geography bee, smurf turf, lunch at PF Chang's, 4 new shirts including a BSU (bright orange - what is it with this family and orange), 2 new hats (BSU and Seahawks), Cabela's, and a stop off at the Malad Gorge. We had a great weekend! Kyle is such a good kid! We love you, Kyle! Thanks for the awesome weekend!

If you notice, the sun was shining in all of the pictures. That was the last time we saw the sunshine!

Ahhh sunshine...and softball!

This past weekend we took a quick trip to Mesquite for a softball tournament. We were fortunate enough to leave two of the kids with Rob's brother in Utah so that we only had two kids traveling with us. (Thanks Brian and Tiff!)

Kali played on the 18U team for the Diamond Queens! She did an amazing job! She threw a perfect game - no hits, no walks, no one even got on base. We were pretty proud of our little Idaho freshman throwing against some of those California and Vegas girls. Her team hasn't even practiced outside yet this year. They took 3rd place in the tournament and had a great time.

The best part about it was that we got to see the sunshine! It was 63 degrees but it felt like summer. This morning we had two hour late start because we got nearly 6 inches of snow! I am wishing that we could go back to the sunshine next weekend.

Kali has two more basketball games left in her season before we get into softball full time! She is counting down the hours of practice time! Crazy kid just can't get enough softball!

Great job Kali!

Where in the world....?

Are you smarter than a 6th grader?

Do you know what two states border the Wabash River? What country celebrates the holiday called Tet? What is the highest peak in Africa? Because Kyle knows these things and many more crazy facts. That is why he won the school geography bee. He studied really hard by watching the Planet Earth DVDs (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa McMinn) and National Geographic online. We are so proud of him!

When the questions were being read, Rob and I would just look at each other not knowing what the answers were going to be and Kyle would answer with confidence. Taryn was also watching the competition and the smile on her face was priceless as her brother kept answering the questions correctly. She was so proud of him!

Way to go, Kyle! We love you!