Branch Activity - Minute to Win It

For out latest Branch activity for Church, we had a fun Minute to Win It game and potluck.  Minute to Win It is a show played on tv.  You have a set task and have to do it within 60 seconds.  It was so fun and very well set up.  Here are some pictures of the crazy fun games played.

Having to get 10? ping pong balls out of a tissue box that is tied to your back using no hands.  It was fun to see President Draut and Mike Wessman jumping around.  Mike won by doing a head stand with his elbows.

Mikie King and Becky Draut pulling the cups on top of each other one by one to see who could get to the starting cup the fastest.

Missionaries blowing cups off the table by using the air from a balloon.

Hyrum Burleson shaking the rattle to see who could shake all the gumballs from the top bottle into the bottom the fastest.

Sue Draut shooting marbles through a swim noodle to knock down pieces of chalk.

Jesica Wilcken stacking baby blocks on top of her head.

Mindy Bischoff knocking over full water bottles with a baseball in pantyhose tied around her neck.

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And to risk embarrassment, Dan taped me trying to get an oreo from my fore-head into my mouth without using hands.

Such fun activities to do amongst friends!

Laingsburg 5K and Parade

Dan got to run his 1st solo 5K at the Laingsburg Lions Festival.

Pre-race

 getting ready and listening to his tunes

 and he's off!  We could pick him out because of his nicely chosen bright yellow shirt!

 Our cheering squad.  Avery was cheering too, she's just covered by Roswell's sign.

 Dan placed 4th in his age group with a time of 29:42!  That's awesome!  He shaved almost 20 minutes off of his time from his last 5K.  I was amazed.  His morning runs have paid off!  He said his back was spazzing from the rototiller that landed on him that morning or he could have gone faster.  Great job Babe!

 Our friend Kate Rathka and her mother-in-law also ran/walked in the race.

 Our group of friends (Burlesons and Rathkas) watching the parade after the race.

 Veterans showing our colors.

 An awesome old-time fire truck.

 Allison Burleson saving the marching band with her cow bell!

And these little planes were awesome!  The Air Force Vets that drove these had water guns attached and were spraying the crowd.  So fun!

Gardening Night

The weather finally allowed us to start our garden.  Last year, because of Avery's impending birth, we never got around to growing anything.  We've missed the fruits of our labor, and labor we have this year.  For family night, we decided to involve the kids and let them help plant.

Donovan getting his seeds (carrots) and directions.

 Elliott got his row of carrots to plant.

 Roswell just kind of tossed his seeds (we'll see how those ones grow).

The boys loved that I got them matching Gnomio gloves so that they can touch anything in the garden, even worms!  (Avery and I took pictures and watched - or else all would have ended up in Avery's mouth.)

Spokesman Dan

Dan was chosen a while back to represent his work team for "Rev" - a way to motivate other employees to make healthy choices with eating, exercising, etc.  We don't know how common it is, but he was personally asked to work with the president of University of Phoenix in writing for the company blog.  I think that's awesome!  To bad it's only for employees to read!  This is the picture they asked him to send.

Skinny Dan with his old fat pants.   Now it is really hard to imagine that he actually fit snuggly into these jeans!  He went from size 52 to the 36/38 that he wears now.  I'm always amazed at Dan's accomplishment!  No wonder he's getting recognized throughout his company.  :)

Spaced Out 5-12-11

Donovan's school put on a musical with the first and second graders.  They've been learning a lot about space in science.  Their music teacher had them sing lots of songs about space and it was a great production.  Donovan even got to have a few lines in the speaking portions.

Here's a clip of Donovan's speaking parts.  He is the first speaker (the short one).  Sorry for the quality, my camera had to be raised in the air to clear parental heads and I didn't know it was so fuzzy.

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Donovan did such a great job!  We video-taped the whole thing, but it's on VHS, so once I convert it to DVD and can download it, I'll put it on the blog.

Dance, Dance, Ya! 5-11-11

One thing our kids love to do is dance.  On mornings when Dan doesn't have to work until later, such as this, Dan will play our favorites off of pandora.com and the kids will get their groove on.

It's fun to watch the boys get crazy.  :)

The girl thinks they're crazy too, but she'll bounce along too.

Finally Caught Him! (or her)

We've had a groundhog living under our deck for the past year.  He's been a nuisance eating our garden, flowers, (we did like that he ate grass and weeds too though) and other stuff.  We are wanting to plant our garden, but were worried about this fella eating it all.  Our friends let us borrow this trap.  I noticed 2 days ago that Mr/s Hog ran out of our yard through a hole in the fence - or rather under it.  I quickly placed the set trap next to the hole and hoped that he would return through the same spot.  I almost thought he got the better of me and came in through a different weak spot in the fence, but alas, he did come back.  Gotcha!

We don't want to kill it, but now we need to figure out where his drop off spot will be.  We don't want him to come back.  Ever!  Here's hoping for a pest free summer!

Some Avery Phone-shots

 Helping with the laundry

 Picking (and eating) dandelions

Loving the outdoors and swinging!

Mama . . . Mama?

I love the Queen version, but here is a version that our kids love.
Happy Mother's Day!

Run Wild, Or Wildly Run!

At Donovan's school, the local hospital has sponsored a "Feelin' Good Mileage Club".  They get a card with 20 laps to run (every 4 laps is a mile).  Each card they fill up (5 miles) they earn a toe tag charm for a keychain.  If they filled up 5 cards (25 miles) they would earn a water bottle.

Donovan is on a roll.  He loves to run - he must get that from his dad!  I love that he wants to keep his heart healthy and also that he is wearing himself out each day so that he sleeps REALLY well!

He is still trying to run as much as he can.  There are only a few weeks left.  His next goal is to turn in his 10th card, then his reward will be a shirt.  Good luck Dono!

Have S'more!

Papa Elliott and Roswell are special buddies.  Ross would give spontaneous hugs to my dad any time of the day.  My dad ate it up.  A few weeks before my parents came out Ross would ask about "broken papa".  I asked him who that was.  He said that it was the papa who's legs don't work and he's in a chair with wheels.  I was surprised at that description, but knew that Ross knows more that I realized.  He's a smart kid, and he sure loves my dad.

We bought a fire pit this week.  We decided to have some s'mores.

 This kid is endlessly squatting!

 Lovin the string of marshmallow!

My boys enjoying the fire and s'mores.  (Avery was in Mommy's arms while taking pictures.)

A Trip to the MSU Museum

We wanted to get out of the house and see something while Nama & Papa Elliott were here, so we took a trip to the MSU Museum.  Donovan and Elliott had been there before with Daddy, but it was the first time for the rest of us.

They were featuring masks from different cultures.  It was quite interesting.

 The kids liked seeing the Star Wars, Spiderman, and Iron Man masks.

 I think this outfit was my favorite.  It would be funny to see someone wear.

 Not sure what to say about this one.  It was freaky to see. 

 Sparty.  The mask on the left, someone actually wore.  Holy heavy!

 Death masks - although some aren't dead.  There was Humphrey Bogart, Angelina Jolie, Wesley Snipes, Robin Williams, and Patrick Stewart.  I can't remember the others.

There was also a re:dress fashion show using recycled things.

These were the most interesting:

 made with surplus phone cords

 This was my favorite with blue latex gloves.

 book pages and a bodice of book covers

 lottery tickets

 garbage bags

 corn husks

Then we saw the animals:

 We didn't realize a hyena was this large!

 A HUGE bull African elephant.  It stands over 10 1/2 feet tall.  I think I'd be scared to see this large animal in the wild!

Other elephant skulls and a mammoth in the corner.

 Another large animal!  Grizzly bear

 I think this one was an allosaurus?

 T-rex.  Man that head is huge!

 Stegasaurus

 Saber-tooth tiger

Other dinosaurs

I really enjoyed this natural history museum!