A.J.'s Open House

AJ's elementary school had an open house this week.  All of AJ's artwork for the year was displayed.  He did a lot this year!

John's Scupting Again!

I can't show you what he's sculpting, because it's confidential, but I do have two pictures I can share.

Nativities

Shortly after Christmas, we went to the Los Angeles Temple Visitor Center to view a Nativity display.  I took pictures of some of my favorites.

Chewbacca Fortune Teller

There is a very fun book series AJ really loves.  The first book was "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda."  The second was "Darth Paper Strikes Back."  When the third one was published a month ago,  we bought it.  It is called, "The Secret of the Fortune Wookie." 

Each book features an origami star wars character.  AJ made a "Fortune Wookie" and wanted me to take some pictures.  Here they are:

Detail Flower

At AJ's Back to School night, I was able to meet his 6th grade teacher and find out more about her classroom policies.  There was a cute display just outside the classroom with the kids' detail flowers.  These "detail flowers" included a little about them with a picture in the center.  They were really cute!

Lego Mania

John has a really fun job.  They are always doing neat things to keep the employees happy.  The most recent "thing" was a Lego contest.  Each person was given 350 Legos, and they had to make something to be displayed at work.  People were allowed to combine their Legos and make something big, or do it individually.  Each person could use an additional 50 Lego pieces.

Here is John's creation.  He and the boys spent a lot of time deciding what to do, how to do it, and then they actually built it.  John and Michael stayed up late the night before the competition ended to make sure everything was perfect!

Straw Wrapper Origami

When we were at Burger King last Saturday, AJ make a boat out of a straw wrapper.  Pretty clever, huh?

Pioneer Trek 2011: Preparation

When John and I went to the first "Ma and Pa" meeting, we learned there were quite a few things we needed to do to prepare for Trek. One was to make a family flag. I had some ideas, but just couldn't figure out exactly what we should have.

At a family dinner when my parents were in town, we were brainstorming (the day before we needed to give it to the Stake leaders) and David said, "If you want something simple, do something like wheat, that's simple, but has good symbolism."

I think he was joking, but I took his idea and ran with it. His wheat reference reminded me of Elder David A. Bednar's talk about gathering the sheaves into the storehouse (titled "Honorably Hold a Name and a Standing).

As a result, John made this. It's painted on a piece of rubber backed canvas with craft paint. I am so blessed to have such a talented husband!

A.J.'s Flip Book

AJ is quite the artist. He made this flip book out of sticky notes, then he asked me to record him flipping through it so I could share it on the blog. Here is the video.

A.J.'s Chaparral

AJ created a diorama for school of a chaparral. He did a fantastic job (much better than I ever did as a child).

AJ's Field Trip to the Gene Autry Museum

I accompanied A.J. on his school field trip to the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage on Friday. We had a fun time learning about movie making (see AJ's "western" movie at the bottom of this post), the gold rush (including panning for gold), the plains Indians, and more.



I think one of AJ's favorite parts of the field trip was eating a fancy piece of chocolate cake in the cafeteria.




Panning for gold.


Success!




AJ's Western Scene...

Flowers and Other Pretty Things

I've snapped some photos over the past few weeks of some beautiful things. I thought I'd share a few.