Spring Break

 

Over spring break our family had such a great time in St. George with my mom and dad.  We took them on some of our favorite hikes at Zions and I was so proud of how great they did!  We also did tons of swimming and lots of memory making:)

 

On our Emerald Pool hike Jason took Dylan and Devin to the highest pool and had fun with his boys.  I took mom and dad and Taylor and Trey to the lowest pool.  Trey walked the whole time I was very proud of my big boy.  He is on his way to becoming a great Draney Hiker!  

After our St. George trip, Jason had to go back to work but my kids still had a couple days off of school so I took them up to Idaho for the rest of the week.  

 

 

We always love to visit Idaho, and this weekend we had so much fun celebrating Easter with cousins.  It is fun for everyone to get together.  For the parents it really is easier because all the kids want it to be left alone to hang out and play.  It was fun to watch Sawyer and Trey play once Trey came out of his shell. 

On Friday while Heidi's kids were in school we went up to Twin Falls to go shopping.  It was kind of a trip of misadventure.  We tried to take our dog to get groomed, only to find that I hadn't gotten her shots updated in a year, so we were turned away.  Then we went to Target to go Easter shopping, only to have a very Rude lady throw our mojo off, so we left there with none of our things.  No more business for you Target, if you have such rude customers!:)  However, we did have lots of laughs over lunch about everything.  You know even if we got nothing done, I always love hanging out with Heidi and talking about everything and nothing.

On Saturday we did the traditional Easter hunt along with the traditional candy gorge.  Light saber duels and golf matches finished off the day before I had to take reluctant kids home.

We are so grateful for our family!

Catching Up

I missed a few things at the end of the year last year, so I am trying to catch up just a little bit.
 Above are pictures of Taylor at her YW in Excellence.  Taylor displayed her flute, since she has passed off some personal progress things with performing with her band, with a solo in one of the songs.  Also Grandma Hunsaker helped Taylor make a quilt to pass of her Divine nature (I think) value project.  And finally she displayed her point shoes.  The girls were suppose to bring a pair of shoes that describe them.  Taylor choose her point shoes because among other things they signify how she likes a challenge and pointe is the most challenging kind of dance and she likes to be pushed and is proud of herself when she accomplishes hard goals.  We just love Taylor's Young Women leaders!  They are so great and positive with the girls.  Also Taylor just barely was called to be the Beehive class President.  I am excited for her to be able to get to know all the girls and serve them.  This is WAY out of Taylor's comfort zone.  She doesn't like the spotlight on herself, unless she is on a stage.  The hardest part for her about being called was the attention that was drawn to her when we came in class while she was being set apart.  I could tell that she wanted to disappear, when she is nervous her shoulders hunch over and she puts her head down.  She hates it when Jason and I tell her to stand up straight and pull her shoulders back so that she can look confident.  On that same day, Taylor had to go to BYC.  I stayed with her right up until she had to go into the room, right before she went in she said "Mom, can't you come in with me?"  It was so hard for me to send her in by herself, this is the first time that she has been involved in something that I have no participation in, as a leader or teacher.  While it is hard for me that she is growing up, this is so good for her to spread her wings on her own and really fly.  I am so proud of her and know that this will be a great experience for her to grow.


Below, Dylan participated in the Pine Wood Derby.  As usual Jason and I pretty much suck at making pine wood derby cars.  Dylan didn't win any races, but got the award for best detail.  I can't even tell you how amazing Dylan's attitude is!  He didn't get mad or sulk because of not winning the races, he just laughed it off and had a great time.  And words cannot describe what a HUGE event this was.  Our ward Cub Master is AMAZING!!  There were dance lights and music with a big screen where they showed car advertisements and clips.  Also they had a stunt tract and refreshments of popcorn and cotton candy for the kids.  Truly cool!   So we had a great time as a family watching, laughing and cheering on.  Oh and Devin kept Trey entertained with their own car racing:)



So proud of these two amazing kids!  I have so much fun watching them in their activities and am amazed at what great kids they are. 

March Happenings

Devin lost his very first tooth last month!  He was so excited, he's been waiting for this day since the middle of last year when his friends started to lose their teeth.  All of the waiting was worth it when the tooth fairy left a whole dollar under his pillow.  (Inflation is a beast)
Also Trey had school pictures in March.  I was nervous for his pictures since Trey doesn't do very well when the school day schedule is changed, so I decided to come back when they were having pictures just in case they needed my help.  Sure enough, when I got there and looked in the lunch room where they were having pictures, Trey was all the way across the room as far away from his class as he could get.  After much coaxing, Trey finally decided to get in the picture, but just barely.  They next day he had pictures for the Tues/Thurs. class that he is in with Ben Nicol.  Wow, what a difference a day makes!  Ben was just as nervous as Trey had been the day before.  I thought "Oh no, this is going to be tough".....but as soon as I told Trey that he needed to show Ben what to do cause he was nervous, Trey ran over to the chair, jumped up, and smiled angelically.  All the teachers were shocked.  We all laughed, it is so sweet the friendship that those two boys have.  You really just need one good friend to help you out in this life.
Taylor and I at the end of the month got to go to the conference center for the YW general broadcast.  I had so much fun with my sweet girl.  The talks were great, but what was really great was the Spirit that immediately entered the room when the prophet walked in.  The noise before he entered was deafening with all the chatter of excited young women, but the second that the prophet walked in the entire conference center immediately went absolutely silent with reverent respect for our prophet.
I think that had the greatest impact on Taylor.
The weekend of the YW session also happened to be the grand opening of the City Creek Center in down town Salt Lake City.  It really is an amazing place, and Taylor and I only got to see a small portion of it.  It was so packed that you had to wait in a half hour line just to get into some stores to look around.  There was live music, and Taylor and I saw the guy from the YouTube video Cello Wars playing, as well as many other artists.  However, things were so packed that after the conference we decided to head back to Layton and go to dinner at The Olive Garden.  It took us so long to get through City Creek that we didn't sit down to eat until 9:30pm.
We had a great discussion and I couldn't help but feel blessed, and grateful for my amazing daughter.