Olivia's First Science Fair

This was our first scince fair experience. I'm not sure if I should call it a success or not. I wanted Olivia to do as much by her own that was possible so we found an experiment that she could do entirely by herself. It also needed to be somthing that was quick so she wouldn't lose interest. We decided to do this very simple soil compaction test. Olivia was able to do the test in one afternoon. It took a couple of evenings to write up all the information and color her charts and graphs. She was great to do it all by herself. I was very proud of her for following through with it and being very brave to show the judges (high school students) how she did her experiment. Two of her friends took 2nd and 3rd. It was kind of hard for her to not place but I think it was a great learning experince for her and I was very proud of the work that she did.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes

Over sping break we went to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes to camp for a few days. We went with some friends and had a great time. We brought our 4-wheelers and borrowed a rhino from a friend for the little guys. We took a day and road out to the old mail drop. It took a couple of hours and was really sandy( i.e. the name) and was a lot colder than we thought it would be. We managed to stay warm enough most of the time around the fire and staying out of the wind. Conner made a new friend with jeff's mother's dog, and Porter and Olivia spent all of their time riding their 4-wheelers. Rod had just gotten his tonsils out the week before so wasn't up to par but he had a good time anyway. We have great friends that stepped in and helped us out to relieve rod's burden.

Conner in his new helmet. He loved to ride with whoever would take him. Porter even took him for a ride. It was a pretty funny site to see both of them in their helmets squished on this litttle ride.


This is the 4-wheeler gang! All the kids had their own ride. They made a little course around our camp site and did circles for hours.
Porter was done with the moter cycle!
Daken and Conner in the rhino.
All of us at the end of the trail to the mail drop.
Cambry and Olivia.

Easter 2008

My sister-in-law and I ended up wearing the same thing. What great taste you have Debbie.
After all the crazy hunting we went swimming. It was the first time of the year and they had to heat it up pretty good to get any one in. It was a success though. They kids loved it including Conner who was having a great time being a "big kid".

Porter has such a great sense of humor. He put these goggles on and said" hey, do you know who I look like? Anakin Skywalker driving the pod racer. " He was right!
Now he always looks for those goggles to wear. What a goof!

Our neighborhood always has an Easter Egg hunt in our cul-de-sac every year. We bring 10 eggs per child and they get hidden in the yards according to their age. This year we had around 800 eggs. Thats a lot of kids. We bring something to share for breakfast and have a great time. Grandpa Neeley came down to see us and went with us to the egg hunt. He loves to see the kids play and love to be with him.
Porter and his friend Griffin waiting patiently for their turn to hunt eggs.
The egg hunt at the steurer's allways turns into a huge event. Considering our numbers are increasing exponentially. Scotts brother's kids were there to help hunt for eggs too. The eggs were hidden all over Nana and Papa's yard. The "Big boys'" eggs were in camoflauge and hidden in the hills above the house. They were pretty motivated to find them since they were filled with money instead of candy. The kids had a great time.

Who is that? We sure look like we should know what we're doing huh? This dirt bike riding has become a family hobby. Rod bought me a dirt bike for our anniversary(13 years in febuary). I am now an official owner of a Yamaha TTR230 (I think that's right). All I really care about is that it is actually my size and I feel like I can handle it rather than it handling me. We went for my first ride on it a week ago with my brother and his wife. Both seasoned riders , so they put me to shame. We sure had fun though. We rode out to the old Fort Pierce. This picture is of me going through "handle bar canyon" I figured out why they call it that when my hips and elbows decided to meet at my handle bars a few times. I have some fine bruises to show for it. We had a great time though. I'm tougher than I thought I was. I guess the whole motor bike thing runs in the blood huh mom!

New Pets

This is Sam! YES!!! That is a scorpion! I was asking myself the same question when I was cleaning out the box of live crickets yesterday. How did I ever get myself into this? Porter's preschool went on a field trip to pet co and got it in his head that he needed a scorpion for a pet. He earned the money and collected the aquarium and accessories from his cousins. I ran out of excuses and we went and got some pets. Olivia went more my speed and got a beta fish. A lot less yucky to feed than the scoprion!

I cant believe what I will do for my children! I don't know how I got suckered into agreeing to get a pet that you have to feed live insects too. My mom told me that I have crickets for pets too since they have to be fed and cleaned also. GROSS!
Olivia named her Beta Blueina. It's a male but she wanted it to be a girl so we gave it a girl name and call it a she.

Porter rides his dirt bike!

Rod took Porter out to a little track to ride his dirt bike. Porter was so excited because he learned how to turn so he could stay on the track. He did so good and was so proud of himself that he came over to Rod and said "Dad, was I awesome or what?".

There were a couple of the neighborhood kids there too. Porter was determined to ride with them.

Valentines Day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Here are the kids with all their loot!