Sevark Central

Porter, Garrett and Noah were recognized at the Court of Honor this evening for their hard work and progress in Scouting.  Noah received his Tenderfoot award, which is great since he's only been in scouts since the end of December...he's also on his way to quickly finishing up his 2nd Class and 1st Class ranks as well.  Garrett received his Life rank and 8 merit badges...he's been busy and that was by far the most merit badges awarded to any of the boys this evening!  He's also working to pull together his Eagle project that will take place in the next few weeks.  Porter received two Eagle Palms...which is this highest any young man has ever been awarded thus far in the Montelena ward.  All 3 of them have worked hard and I'm proud of their accomplishment.  I'm grateful our boys are setting such a great example of scouting!

Today Bentley spoke in sacrament meeting for the first time ever! She did an amazing job! It was one of my proudest moments as a mother, watching my little girl get up in front of hundreds and seeing her spirit and testimony testify of the gospel.  The topic was on families. Last week at church her name was in the program to speak! It all gave us quite a scare, especially Bentley. Luckily it was a mistake. I thought her topic might be a little hard because of our story with losing Rod and then me getting married to Toby and trying to blend this family. It was a rocky road in the beginning, but over the last couple of months, a huge transformation has come over her. I've never seen her so happy! Her talk was about her trails and the importance of family and how it is our choice to be happy or not. I bawled the whole entire time! She has got quite the talent for public speaking. Toby and I are so happy for the changes she has made in her life. I know her dad is very proud and happy for her too.

Whatever Caleb sets his mind to, he accomplishes.  He's always been that way in everything he does.  For example in sports, if he is not perfect at something, he will practice non-stop until he conquers it.  We just finished basketball season, and you could bet that each night Caleb would be out there practicing shooting baskets for hours.  Now that we're in flag football season, every free second he gets, he's out playing catch or running drills.  I really admire that about him -- it reminds me a lot of Cindy.

Well, that's how he tackled the Articles of Faith as well.  He saw one of the kids at Church get called up and recognized for memorizing and reciting all 13 Articles of Faith -- and he knew that he could do it.  So he practiced them over and over for about a week until he had them perfect.  Then kept on me to remind the Primary President (Sister Cluff) that he had them done.  Today in Primary he was awarded this certificate for his great accomplishment!  Great work Caleb!!  Noah and Jonah are also getting close accomplishing this great and noble goal!

Unfortunately Noah had a conflicting merit badge clinic, so he was unable to play in today's flag football game, but Caleb & Jonah were able to and did quite well as you'll see in the video clip below.  Caleb scored 3 touchdowns and Jonah won the team a lot of yardage and stole many flags.  It was a great game...26 to 7!  Be sure to check out their fancy footwork and make sure you watch Caleb twist & turn through the opposing team to score!  Way to go Caleb & Jonah!!!

Bentley has been taking piano lessons for a couple years now and has become quite the piano player. I love to hear the her practice her talent as she's prepared that last few weeks for this night...it always brings such a nice feeling into our home.  This year, Bentley was given a little more difficult of a challenge in playing her piece -- she had to play it while also being accompanied by a violin.  But as you can see and hear, she pulled it off with ease...she always does.  Nicely done Bentley!!

Today Cindy is 41 years old...just 3 days behind me, which she loved to give me a hard time about being a whole 3 days older than her. I'm sure some day she'll give me a hard time about how old I got and looked here on Earth -- and that she didn't! :-)  So to celebrate this special day and to remember her, as a family we decided to follow Lexine & kids family tradition -- which is to have a family dinner at one of Cindy's favorite restaurants and then receive a gift in remembrance of this special day.  So for Dinner we all went to Someburros as a family (one of Cindy's favorites), then came home and the Severtson kids each opened a present.  Caleb received a new football he was hoping for, Garrett got a Walmart gift card (he's hoping to buy a new bike soon), Porter received a huge bag of popcorn and a gift card, and Kami got some new shorts -- special thanks to Lexine who masterminded the day and for pulling it all off!!  :-)

We also received a special surprise gift for the family from Bev & Shari in honor of Cindy's birthday -- some Breast Cancer bottles of watter, sixlet candies, and the movie "Strange Brew" which the three of them watched many times on sleep-overs.  Thank Bev & Shari -- you both made this day complete! And, Happy Birthday Cindy -- we sure miss you!!

Who would have thought that the kid who didn't even talk until he was four would end up being so smart?!? Not me! :-) Just kidding...i knew from day 1 that there was something special about Porter -- he just loved to figure things out. Well Porter brought home today a certificate that he was awarded for making the Principal's list by carrying a 4.0 or higher GPA. Way to go Porter!!!

Garrett was nominated by Coronado Elementary School to be in the 2011 All-State Band.  He's gotten to be a very good Trombone player.  He spent the entire day today down at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts where they learned 4 songs which they performed this evening.  You can view the video of one of them below. I love when the kids accomplish great things...great job Garrett!

Finally, Day 5 here at last.  Originally we had planned to go to the Oracle caves (peppersauce cave), but with the high gas prices, no single vehicle to fit us all and the thought of driving 2 hours each way for a 1 hour cave exploration -- that all changed our minds.  So instead, we first slept in after staying up until 3:30am from Kami & Bentley's party.  Later in the evening, we went to the Gilbert Recreation Center and let the boys climb the rock wall.  Then closed our day by hitting Bahama Bucks for any of the kids who wanted to buy their own shaved ice.

It was an enjoyable week together...good thing spring break only comes once per year!  :-)

Or should I say Day 4 & 5...  I'm not sure what we were thinking when Kami & Bentley decided they wanted to have friends come over for an early morning breakfast, but they had a lot of fun regardless.  We had about 20 kids come over around midnight for a potluck breakfast in the cul de sac, then came into the house for games.  Not sure what they were playing, but seemed like they had a blast.  We finally got the last of the kids out at 3:30am (hope not too many parents were mad at us :-).  So good to see this kids having a great time and making great friends in our new ward.

By the way, the morning of Day 4 we went on a family hike to the San Tan mountains.  The boy ran the hike while the rest of us just took it nice and easy.  Its only about 3 miles up the side of a mountain, but a lot of fun!

Day 3 our wonderful kids decided they wanted to go to the Temple and do baptisms.  We're proud of them for wanting to do something of a spiritual nature during their week off of school.  While the older 5 were in the temple with Lexine and me, the younger 3 went over to Grandma & Grandpa Severtsons which is always a treat.  After the temple, we met up with them at Grandma Severtsons and visited for a while, then over to Mike & Becky's to end the day with haircuts!

Well, today was Maizey's turn for braces -- My teeth just hurt thinking about what Maizey will be feeling when she wakes up tomorrow morning!  We figure, why just have one kid in braces when you can have two?? Too bad Noah or Caleb weren't a little older so we could go for 3 kids in braces at the same time!  ;-)  Glad we're keeping Rollin's & Petersen Orthodontics in business -- but we are grateful for the deal they gave us (wish it was 2 for the price of 1 though)!  :-)  Doesn't Maizey look cute in them?  I do think it makes her look more mature somehow...  I guess I'll have to start thinking of ways to keep all the boys away from her; especially in a couple years when she gets them off!

For Day 2 of the kids 2011 Spring Break week, Lexine took Porter, Garrett, Maizey & friend, Noah, Caleb and Jonah to Amazing Jakes for the day.  Amazing Jakes is a fun amusement facility with lots of games and activities for the kids...along with an all-you-can-eat buffet!  Since it can be quite expensive, we told the kids we would take them if they would each pay $10, then we would cover the rest.  It was extremely crowded...I guess that's a normal Spring Break Tuesday to be very crowded there, but they all had fun eating and playing the majority of the day, even though Maizey came home throwing up from eating too much. They also waited in line for an hour to ride the go-karts only to find that Porter and Caleb got a broken one that couldn't go fast -- so they were lapped by everyone about 5 times.

Kami & Bentley spent their day with some friends who put on a mini-EFY like event.  All the kids got together for a service project, talent show, then ended up at the temple to do baptisms.  They came home happy after having a great time as well.

Me myself -- I had to work.  So I enjoyed a nice peaceful day working at home with no noise or interruptions. That was a nice Spring Break day for me as well...  :-)

Well, since we don't have a vehicle large enough to fit our family yet and  then with gas prices so high, we decided to have a week of fun activities around the valley rather than heading out of town.  So for our Monday spring break activity, we went to see the movie "Tangled" -- which was a very cute movie, well worth seeing I thought -- then enjoyed an evening of fine dining at Filibertos where Monday's are Rolled Tacos night (3 for 99 cents which is easier to afford when there is 10 of us)!  It was quite fun...stay tuned for the rest of the week!

Noah, Caleb and Jonah are all playing football together this season...all on the same team even! Saturday was the first two games. Caleb & Jonah played the first game (Noah was on a campout). Caleb scored his first two touchdowns of the season (first running the entire length of the field, then scoring by intercepting the ball in the last few seconds of the game) and Jonah stole a bunch of flags! Noah and I raced home from our scout campout so he could play with them in the 2nd game. Within the first couple minutes of the game, Noah scored his first touchdown of the season by intercepting the ball and scoring! These boys are awesome...going to be tough competition for our opponents this season! But best of all, the three of them are loads of fun playing the game!

Kami & Porter were at it again tonight with another band concert. Porter's band just received a "superior" rating at one of their recent competitions.  You can hear how great they sound in the video clip below.  Kami is such a great piano player and played two songs that the choir sang to.   It's so great to see them developing and sharing their talents...

Well, I guess we couldn't go too long without another kid going to the orthodontist.  Today was Garrett's big first day of getting braces!  And soon, one more when Maizey gets her's on!  I probably just bought a new boat or some other cool toy for our orthodontist! 2-3 years of fun for Garrett...boy, I don't envy what his teeth are going to feel like tomorrow!  :-)

Bentley and Garrett are our first two kids to get class or quorum presidency callings.  Bentley was called as the Mia Maids Secretary and Garrett as the Deacon's Quorum President (over 25 deacons).  We are grateful for their opportunities to serve in our new Montelena ward.