Later that day on the soccer field...

Jenna and Sarah after soccer.  These two are so cute.  I always say that, don't I? Well, they are.  Jenna's curls cracked me up.  Rag curls are the way to go if you want longevity!

Walk Through The Revolution

Jenna's 5th grade class participated in a Walk Through The Revolution presented by an outside company and paid for by our PTO.  You can click on the link to read about the program.  The students competed in teams (Rebels, Loyalists and Tories) with each member of the team assigned a key term or a historical figure and part to memorize, and each team acted out a battle sequence from the war.  Jenna was Nancy Morgan Hart, a woman who was very clever in outsmarting some Loyalists who came to her house and demanded food.  You can read about her by clicking on her name.  The team members scored extra points for memorizing their part, being in costume and using props.  Jenna did all three and scored 50 points for her team.  The uber-charasmatic facilitator tells the story of the events and characters from the time period, and the kids learn a ton as they listen for key terms, events and their own character's name in the story. The students jumped up to participate when ever they heard their name/event/term mentioned.  What a great program and something the kids will remember the rest of their lives.  I'll mostly remember Jenna asking me to rag tie her hair so it would be curly.  Hee, hee.

Conference Doodles

While watching the General Conference broadcast on Sunday, Jenna decided that doodling on her white board would be a quiet activity while she listened.  Her doodles were pretty funny.

Conference was wonderful.  Too many good messages to post about right now.  When I have a chance to review, I'll share some favorites.

The Hikers Return

Kelly took Heather and her friend, MacKenzie, on an overnight hike in Santa Anita Canyon (Little Hoegee's).  They had a great time!  It still surprises me that we have mountains in the middle of Los Angels.  They stopped at The Hat for some pastrami on the way home.  Thanks Daddy for a fun Spring Break activity!  Jenna will want to be next!

Soccer Morning

Jenna played soccer today against a Costa Mesa team.  They were really tall girls, but our girls held their own.  Jenna got to play right forward for a quarter, and she loved it.  We have a couple of girls that are super fast, and I'm sure it would be hard as a coach to decide whether to use them defensively or offensively.  Our fast girls are power defenders because they can run down an opponent, but they can also break away offensively and try to score.  Ah, to be so talented.  I secretly love that my girls can run, and that they love it. I never liked running, and although I will do it for exercise now, it's not something I crave.  I'm glad they do and hopefully, it will stick with them throughout their lives.

Hanging With Jenna

Today was Heather and Kelly's hike to Little Hoegee's campground in Santa Anita Canyon.  After we said good-bye to Jenna's sleepover friend, MacKenzie, we picked up Heather's friend, also a MacKenzie, and drove them out to meet Kelly at the base of the mountain.  It saved some driving time for Kelly so they could start a little earlier on their hike.  More pics to come.

Jenna and I had a fairly good drive home, and we did some shopping at Target on the way home.  We now have a new lamp in our living room, and Jenna has a few new pieces for her wardrobe.  Score!  I wasn't sure exactly what to do with just the two of us, but Jenna enjoys bike riding, so that's what we did.  It took some coaxing because she doesn't like her bike, but we got her on Heather's bike, and she did well.  We headed over to the park and took some artistic photos.  We stayed out pretty late and ended up grabbing Tommy's fries after nine o'clock.  We washed up my new sheets and made up my bed.  After some play time (Jen) and some organizing of our media cabinet (me), we snuggled in with some good books and had a good night's rest in the big bed.

Beach Time with Family

On Tuesday morning, Aunt Kathy had a doctor appointment in Los Angeles, so the girls and I slept in. When they returned, Aunt Kathy, Heather and I went to Panda Express for lunch while Uncle stayed home and had PB&J and read his book.  Jenna was at the movies with a friend.  After lunch, we had fun watching Breaking Dawn parts 1 & 2, and later in the evening we had yummy left over tacos.

Wednesday was our beach day, and we headed down to Ruby's on the pier for lunch.  While we waited for a table, we watched a group of dolphins that were pretty close.  Aunt Kathy and I dropped the kids and Uncle off and did some shopping.  She bought me some very pretty tulips at Whole Foods.  Thank you again Auntie!  They are really pretty!  We rounded off the evening watching The Hobbit.

We said good-bye early Thursday morning as they headed for home.  It was a short visit, but it was very good to see them and connect.