First Sunday in Advent 2011

Like it is tradition the kids get an advent gift from Mormor and Morfar four Sundays before Christmas. Today was the first Sunday in Advent. Here are what they got today!

Mika got a beautiful ring and a fun pan. She loved them both!

McKay got some COOL Sun Glasses for sports and a fun pen.

Millika got some Cool Running Glasses and a fun pen!

Thanks Mormor and Morfar for always getting great things for our kids!! They love it EVERY year!

McKay with WXHS debate team at Viewmont High School tournament

Today McKay was with the WXHS debate team at Viewmont High School tournament.  He once again competed in the Congress category.  He was competing on the Varsity Level and there were many good debaters in his "house".  In the house-group were 25+ debaters and many were older than McKay and had debated for a lot longer!

McKay came home with 2nd place and he also won BEST chair.

He has always wanted to win the "hammer" and today he did. He got it for BEST chair. 

This was McKay last tournament debating in the Congress Category. He is changing to LD and PF. They are both in the moral debate category, where you go head to head on one on one or two on two. This is a more "fair" way of debating since it shows better how "good" you are and not if you have "friends" in your house/group.  Also if he wants a scholarship and is shooting for becoming a Sterling Scholar in Debate, McKay will have to change to these categories.

McKay, you are just AWESOME!! Keep it up and you will make your goals in life, I just know it!

Mckay was asked to the Christmas Dance!

Yesterday when we came home from a combined Young Men and Young Women activity we found this in our living room.....

It was 3 balloons at the top of a LONG string, it went 14 feet in the air all the way to our ceiling. On the string were little papers that said this: " I will be sky high if you will go to the dance with me?"

The invitation to the dance was from one of McKay's good friends named Baylee.

This is what McKay answered :o)

And here is the final product. A hot air balloon with 2 cute polar bears flying HIGH in the air:o)

McKay is going to his FIRST dance ever on December 10th, 2011. What a fun time it is for him being in High School. And he was asked WAY early.... This means she wanted to make sure he was not asked by someone else and that is he a popular young man.

McKay, you have personality and are a wonderful young man! So grateful that you are ours :o)We love you son!

Learning to take it easy :o)

Okay...... Lincoln is telling me I need to learn to take it easy and relax. He says I can not just sit down and do NOTHING!! AND... he might be right :o) SO....... I have had to find someone that could teach me how to take it easy, relax and just enjoy life.

Here are a few pictures to show you how it is really done by the BEST teacher ever :o)

FIRST example: Can you even find HER? It is the little head you can see under the comforter !!

SECOND Example: Here she is with Millika and AGAIN the head is bearing showing!!

AND here she is sleeping on Uncle Jim's shoulder!!

YEP.... My teacher is LULU. She for sure knows how to RELAX, take it EASY, sit/lay STILL and how to ENJOY life. It might take a while for me to learn it and it will take a lifetime for me to be as GOOD as her, but I am going to work on it :o)

Millika at WXHS Cross Country Team Banquet, Nov 10, 2011

Tonight Lincoln and I went with Millika to the WXHS Cross Country Team Banquet. It was a pot lock dinner, where I brought dessert, a wonderful chocolate cake (Thanks Mom for the GREAT recipe) that was gone in NO time. Lincoln was lucky to get a small piece.  I had made extra at home and that was also gone since McKay had friends over :o) I will have to make that one again soon!!

Anyway, at the banquet there were given out awards and a few speeches were said.  Many runners were honor and the whole team got to share in the joy!

First they gave out T- shirts for the runners that were chosen for "Athlete of the Week". Millika was the first that was chosen in the 2011 Season.

Here she is with the shirt! And YES she is wearing it today at school :o)

Then they gave all the runner a diploma that showed they had "lettered" in Cross Country. Really fun that Millika got to do this as a Freshman. 

Millika got the most prestigious award which is "Most Valuable Athlete" 2011 season. They gave out one for each the Girls and the Boys. In Cross Country you take the place you come in as when you race, and add all those numbers up. The Athlete with the LOWEST number is the BEST!!

Here Millika is giving a big HUG to Coach Sam. She just adores all her four coaches!!! Look at her feet. She is a shorty!!

Look at that smile. She really did it this Season!!

WOW.... Millika's  FIRST trophy. What a HUGE thing to win!!

Millika, you are unbelievable. You went far over and beyond anything I had ever hope for in a Cross Country runner. You found your place in life and "ran" with it :o)!! We love you girl, YOU are AWESOME!!!! Keep it up and we look forward to Track Season!! 

Video on Millika's movie page.

Millika and friends doing service at Bountiful Food Pantry!

 Millika and five of her friends went to the Bountiful Food Pantry to do some service for a journal entry in Honors English. I went with them there and we did a lot of sorting of the different foods mostly canned goods!

Here are a few pictures that I took :o)

The man at the left telling Taylor and Millika how to sort the cans the right way!

Taylor, Parker and Millika with a FULL cart! I think we sorted 6 carts total!!

Daisy, Marissa, Millika, Parker, Spencer and Taylor. All great friends of Millika's!

We had a good time working together and we helped make it better for people that have to go with out!! All in all a good evening and Millika got to hang out with her friends :o)

Mika with U of U Singers Gala "Come Thou Fount of every Blessing"

Mika's second concert with the U of U Singers was a Gala where our friends and neighbors were honor, Melissa and Craig Ballard. Melissa has done so much for Mika at the U of U Music School and we will ALWAYS be grateful for her help.  It was fun to go and hear Mika sing and honor our dear friends!

The School of Music will honor 2011 Camerata Awards winners Ed Thompson and Melissa and Craig Ballard at its annual concert gala on Friday, Nov. 4. After a private dinner, the school will celebrate the contributions of these passionate and dedicated music enthusiasts with a concert in Libby Gardner Concert Hall starting at 8 p.m. The program of classical favorites will feature individual and combined performances by the Utah Philharmonia, the University of Utah Singers, the Graduate Vocal Quartet and more, conducted by Robert Baldwin, Barlow Bradford and Jong-hun Bae.

Craig & Melissa Ballard

 As some of the School of Music’s most generous and involved supporters, Craig & Melissa Ballard are natural choices for this year’s Camerata Awards. Almost immediately upon completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the U of U in piano performance, Melissa began her service to the School of Music with her fellow U of U alumni husband, Craig, right by her side. The hard-working couple was instrumental in developing the School of Music’s very first fundraising community board in 2000, which has helped to provide tremendous growth opportunities for the School of Music with a flourishing advisory board from the community. Melissa served as the founding chair of the advisory board, where she was able to create an annual fundraising gala event. Now in its 11th year, the same event she helped to spearhead is now honoring her as a Camerata Award winner. Melissa also created and served on various committees, including the Ambassador Leaders, chair of the “Take a Seat” campaign and the Virtuoso Series, and she continues to bring great ideas to the growing School of Music.

 U of U Singers and A Capella Choir singing together "Come Thou Fount of every Blessing"

 Mika is loving being at the U of U and she loves to sing in the Singers!!

 Look at that SMILE. She is just Beautiful and so talented!!

The U of U Singers performed 4 songs and they were all great and so much better than just a few weeks ago at the first concert of the year. So much talent in that choir!

We had a LOT of friends at this performance and it made it even more fun to be there! Melissa and Craig had given me 50+ tickets to give out to our neighbors and friends! So many people told Mika how much they love to come and see her sing and that made her day!! She is AWESOME!!

Video on Mika's movie page.

Mckay at the BYU Model United Nations tournament.

 McKay went with the WXHS Debate team to a Model United Nations tournament at BYU. This is part of what was written on the schools home page:

"The Woods Cross debate team dominated at the BYU Model United Nations tournament.  For many of our school’s representatives it was their very first M.U.N. competition.

Our team was assigned two countries that we were to represent almost a month prior to the tournament, France and Djibouti. The participants then were assigned a country, a committee of the UN and a topic that the UN is currently debating about. Each student was required to write a policy paper which describes how their country has been affected by this issue as well as purpose solutions for the international problem.

A MUN tournament is not a short day. The representatives left at 7:30 am and were there past 6:00 pm. In that amount of time everyone attended the introduction ceremony and then filed into rooms with their designated committee. The next step is to set the agenda, a long grueling process where representatives all decide which order they will discuss the topics in. Once the order has been determined, representatives state their countries views and opinions on the world wide issue.  Then they form different groups who write papers promoting their resolution with supporting evidence that will guarantee a successful change.

At the end of the day all of the students made our school very proud. Being part of the M.U.N. teaches students important life skills such as how to communicate well, how to compromise, and how to quickly and efficiently write papers. To McKay Holbrook teamwork is the most valued life skill that you are taught from this experience.  “One of the most important qualities to gain from M.U.N. is the value of teamwork. As well as becoming a leader because if you are incapable of leading as well as delegating you will be unable to place.”

Woods Cross had an extremely successful tournament day. Our team took first place with the country of France and third place with Djibouti. As well as many impressive personal victories including, second place in the Security Council by McKay Holbrook & Steve Bennion. First place in the General Assembly was awarded to Luke Hansen & Kaestle Charlesworth. In ECOSOC Annie Holm & Luke Jowers took second place.

 Here are the team that went to BYU. What a wonderful group of young people.

McKay with his diploma that he got from second place!

Here you can see McKay in the "paper" at BYU. He was quoted and his picture was taken.

Our team that represented France took FIRST place. There was only given out one FIRST place among ALL the 50 countries that day and it went to WXHS Debate team. We do have a great team and WXHS has taken first place in State for the last 16 years in a row. Great job team, you are AWESOME!!