Spring Band/Choir Concert

One of the regular events that takes place during May is the Spring Band/Choir Concert at the High School. We enjoy going to hear our kids perform and to see how much improvement they have made over the year. I'm sure thankful for their patient music teacher. She has done a good job with what she has to work with. 

Hannah, center in middle row, sings Alto

Sadie, in the center with long blonde hair, sings Soprano

This is the double trio that Hannah was a part of getting their certificates for their 

performance at State Solo and Ensemble. 

Sadie also plays the oboe in the High School Band. You can just see her right in the center of the photo, tooting away. 

Idaho Trip - Montana and Katie's Wedding Feb 2016

We left on Thursday, Feb 4 to head to Idaho for the wedding of Montana and Katie. We stayed in Price at Hugh's house with Mom and Hugh that first night, then drove on to Rexburg on Friday. We headed to the church to help set up the dinner. Katie had a plan and put us all to work, hanging streamers, backdrops, lights and setting tables and such. It was pretty much a trial run for the actual reception that would be held in Post Falls next week.
After everything was as set up as could be, the guys moved into the empty part of the gym for a friendly game of basketball. Montana had set it up, thinking it was a great way for the two families to mix and get to know each other.
Most of the other women left but I stayed around with the kids and watched…babies and basketball.

Clockwise from left-Montana, Katie's brother Logan, Ford, Jordan, Katie's brother McKay, and Curtis

Allie came with us and helped me entertain the little guys
Here she's drawing on the chalkboard with James

Emerson and Soren playing video games

Charlie…looks like he's doing a weird dance...

when he's really just kicking a basketball in a strange way.

not much to occupy the kids...

Allie finally got in and played with the guys. I was proud of her!

Emerson likes to take selfies :)

I have no idea who won, but they played for probably an hour...

Katie's dad, Scott is in the green shirt

good save, Montana!

After the basketball game we drove back to Idaho Falls to our hotel. For some reason it's about 1/2 the cost to stay in IF, so we usually get a hotel there when we go visit. This time we were at the Hampton Inn by the mall. We are becoming quite familiar with that area, since this is our third time staying there!

We had two rooms, one for all the girls and one for C and I and the boys. We found out upon arriving that one of the rooms was a handicap room and was huge. The girls had gone there first, but we made them switch with us since we had one more person than they did. And it was perfect because the little couch made out into a bed, so everyone had a spot and slept comfortably. So nice!!

James made himself right at home, comfy in the bed, watching a bit of TV

We love the breakfast options that hotels offer these days. So many choices of yummy stuff!
Juice is always a hit too, since we rarely have it at home.

Our large room!

On Saturday, we got ourselves ready and headed back to Rexburg. We didn't have to be at the temple until 1ish so it was nice not to have to rush. We went to Jordan and Lindsey's and I gave Emerson a haircut. He looks so much older now! Funny how that works. 

We headed to the temple and there we were able to be a part of a wonderful ceremony where Montana and Katie made sacred covenants and were sealed as a family for time and all eternity. I didn't take any pictures at the temple. It was cold and windy and we all just wanted to get to the church and warm up. (I will post some when I can get some from Katie.) 

There were many friends, family and loved ones who came to share this day with Montana and Katie. We are blessed to have large families who love and support each other. 

From our family, the following attended: Mom and Hugh, Kyle, Nicole and Allyson, Nate, Lori and Holly, Michele, Haley and Justin, Mom and Dad Welch. I hope that Montana and Katie felt loved!

We had a nice family dinner/reception following the temple sealing. It was quite casual and relaxing. Which was good. I was worried about Katie the night before. She seemed really tired. I hope it went ok for her and she was happy with it. She is a very creative girl and had put together a very awesome vintage theme. We had a taco bar and it was yummy, as was the cake Katie's mom had made. It had real frosting, not nasty fondant!

Mr and Mrs Welch cutting their wedding cake!

Sadie and her buddy, Emerson. He really latched on to her.

some of the eligible girls waiting for the bouquet...

We went to Jordan and Lindsey's to say goodbye to them and found this cute sight. What sweet little faces!

Cute cousins in the tub!

 Then we drove to a U-Haul place to pick up a trailer because for some reason it just wouldn't be a trip to Idaho without some car trouble. :/ Thankfully, this time it wasn't us, but Nate. His car broke down on Saturday and he and Curtis had spent a lot of time between the sealing and the dinner arranging for a trailer, then finding that it was a belt and getting it changed and taking the trailer back…but as we cleaned up the dinner, we got a call saying it had broken down again and they were leaving it in Blackfoot and going home with Kyle and Nicole. So we had to get the trailer again and pick it up on Sunday morning on our way home. When we got to the gas station off the freeway in Blackfoot where it was we found that it was locked. Nate had left the fob under the seat and it had locked itself. So we had to call a locksmith to come open it up for us. That was a 1/2 hour wait. While we waited we wandered around, used the bathrooms in the gas station and skated on the ice in the parking lot. I think by now poor Allie was wondering why she had come with us. Such adventures.

enjoying the sunshine

Strike a pose

The craziness of traveling with the Welches

I do have some beautiful daughters….

We finally were able to load the car up and head down the freeway. But we could not go any faster than 50 miles an hour or the trailer would start to fishtail. So it was a very loooooooonnnnnngggg day, taking us 7-8 hours to get from Idaho Falls to Lindon where we dropped it off at the Mercedes dealership so he could have it repaired the next day. By this time we were all a bit stir-crazy and the thought of 4 more hours in the car was just too much, so we got another motel room for the night and stayed in Provo. Oh, good. Another hotel breakfast with waffles and plenty of bacon!

my baby boys…

After a stop at Sam's Club to reload on cheese and butter, we headed home. Oh how happy we were to see the Abajo Mountains come into view! Such a welcome sight.

(this car trouble thing is becoming a disturbing pattern. Perhaps we shouldn't go to Idaho anymore ;) )

Our first glimpse of the "Blues" (Abajo Mts)

Prom 2015

Cambria did not want to go to Prom this year. She felt that two years of it was enough.

So when this invitation showed up at our house, she was a bit dramatic about it. After much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, she decided to accept the invitation and began thinking up a proper response. After a few days, maybe a week or more, and daily 'Are you EVER going to answer my brother?' questions from his little brother, she finally answered him. 

She and her dad shopped online for an affordable prom dress, which shipped by slow boat from China but made it in time for Prom. Whew! (Actually Curtis picked the dress she ended up with and it was really lovely on her.) 

They had dinner early and then everyone went home to gussy up before going to the dance. The next day they went to Moab for further adventures, such as a movie.

Prom this year had a Hollywood theme. So the official prom picture is supposed to look like they're on the red carpet at a Hollywood event. 

After all the drama, she came home saying it was the funnest prom she's been to. I'm glad she went.

Cute invitation. It came while she was at YW. We thought about eating it so she wouldn't know who it was from but decided that was too mean ;)

Trying on the dress...better get some heels!

She hated this sleeve detail and removed it pronto! It was kind of cheesy looking...

The lovely Cambria Welch escorted by the dashing Eli Johnson...

Christmas 2014

Christmas was a little low key this year. We had decided to put our money towards a family trip to be taken next summer, so the kids were not expecting to get anything. For most of the month the real estate under the tree was unused and available.  Eventually a few gifts from the kids friends made their way under the tree and things looked better.

I had helped a friend and her husband with funding their toy company and in return I was sent three of their awesome swords. The boys were so surprised to open the large gift bags to find these interchangeable, awesome toy swords. The girls got new pajama pants and some other assorted goodies. Montana got tools and a first aid kit to take with him back to BYUI, as he is now the proud owner of a little beater truck.

Other things that made the holidays special;

• Band/Choir Concert - I always enjoy listening to my kids perform. Our new music teacher did a good job. Sadie was in the 8th grade band, high school band and the choir. Cambria was in the choir.
• Christmas dinner in Bluff - We went to Grandma's, along with Ford and Shiala, and the Eberlings on the Sunday before Christmas to have a nice dinner and to spend an evening together at the holidays. We also watched a driftwood buffalo burn….more about that coming
• Pandora Christmas music stations - usually I pull out the trusty old CD's we've had for years. But there was so much music available on Pandora that i never did get them out.
• We planned to do the 12 days of Christmas for someone. But due to my overwhelm with the ward Choir Christmas program it never happened. I had to take something off my plate :(
• Grandma gave us a 12 days of Christmas from the Bluff Fort box. In the picture below you see the bags hanging over the window as a garland. In each bag was a treat that corresponded to a story in a little book. So we read the story, ate the treat and played with the contents of the bags.
• We have our own little Christ-Centered Advent. It's a bit like a Mormon Jesse Tree. Instead of a tree we hang our little ornaments on a wreath. Each night we read the scripture that corresponds with the ornament and try to explain/understand who the ornament represents and how it typifies of Christ or witnesses of Christ. We've done it for about 3 years now and I love it. It brings in scriptures from the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible. I'm in the process of making felt ornaments rather than the paper ones I hurriedly made 3 years ago.

Watch out Bad Guys!

My girls in their Christmas finery

Gotcha with a mouthful again!!

This was about the extent of our trash….pretty good for a family of this size

Ever since I made these cloth gift bags a few years ago we have had so much less trash after Christmas.
They have served us well!

Nashville Tribute Band

I don't know how it came about but the Nashville Tribute Band did a concert in our little town in our stake center last night. It was awesome. All the songs were sung from the point of view of someone who knew or interacted with Christ. I loved the music and the messages of the songs. I need to purchase this album as well as the others they have done.
It's nice to know that there are some good, strong, LDS people in the music industry who are not ashamed of their faith and are willing to share it openly.

crappy picture but it proves they were here!

Idaho-Emerson's blessing

Jordan and Lindsey were blessing Emerson last weekend so Curtis, Mom and I drove up to be there. We really wanted to take all the kids, but really could not afford to. Taking the Suburban is just so costly and then we would have had to have several nights at a hotel. We told the kids that we were planning to give them a trip to Idaho for Christmas to be taken in the late spring or summer next year. So they decided that they'd rather go when there was more time to do something and when Emerson was bigger and could play with them.
I love the drive to Rexburg. Curtis had not been there before and he really loved it too. We only wish it wasn't so far away and we could see them more often, (or that we lived in Idaho!). We had a nice dinner on Saturday night to celebrate Curtis's, Lindsey's dad's and my birthdays. On Sunday we went to Sacrament Meeting with Jordan and Lindsey to be part of this special event.
Emerson was one of three babies being blessed that day. Lots of babies in a student ward, but no other kids. Curtis has always disliked young married student wards. I always feel like we missed out a little in forming friendships with people in the same stage of life by not being in one when we first married. I have seen other people who made lifelong friends in those student wards. Hope Jordan and Lindsey are having a good experience in theirs.
It was much too quick trip for me. I wanted to spend more time with him. He is a sweet little! boy. It sure is fun to watch my son be a father and take such good care of his family. Life is good!

Great-Grandma and Emerson

Such a sweet little face.

4 generation photo op!
Great-grandma Barton. Grandma Welch, Jordan and Emerson Welch

So thankful we were able to be there for this special day! I love watching our family grow :)

Homecoming parade 2014

The Homecoming Parade is the culminating parade of the year as far as candy-gathering parades for my kids go. My little boys actually love the Homecoming Parade because we have a great spot we always go to to watch and we're usually alone so all the candy that gets thrown is thrown at us. And it's even more fun when Dad throws almost a whole bag at them.

This is the first year that Cambria was not in the marching band, playing her clarinet on the front corner. :( Just couldn't fit band into her schedule this year. We missed seeing her there but were happy to see her and Sadie on their class floats and that Hannah was on our side of the road when she came by.

The day is rapidly coming when I will be standing there alone with no one to collect candy for. Bittersweet!

Sadie on the 8th grade float- (center)

Hannah with the cheerleaders

Cambria on the Sr. float

Powder Puff 2014

Cambria participated in the Homecoming Week Powder Puff football game again this year. She was a running back this year and carried the ball quite a few times. Unfortunately, the Jr/So team won the game this year.
It still is so funny to me that the girls actually like to suit up in pads and the whole works and play a game of tackle football. I don't think I would have ever done that as a teenager. I have enjoyed watching my girls play when they chose too, though. Seems to be a fun tradition that will continue for a long time.

Cambria and Ashley H.
notice Cambria's lovely cornrowed hair! haha