SEATTLE!!

On April 25th we were in Seattle for Tanner to compete in the International Bridge Building Competiton. Tanner competed against all the winners from across the country as well as kids from other countries (like Indonesia, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, etc.).




The competition was pretty interesting. Many of the kids had personal coaches who were engineers or physiscs professors. Tanner had, well, me and Jimmy. But when all was said and done, Tanner's bridge took 21st in the world overall. He had an efficiency rating of just under 2000 and his bridge held 80 lbs. before exploding in a pretty spectacular display. Everyone was amazed that he was a freshman and did so well. I guess it is the first time in many years that Nevada placed in the top half of the competition (the other Nevada winner took something like 26th). After the event was over we headed out to be with Erin, the girls and out friends the Ettobis, who live in Washington.

We had a blast with Ettobis and wished we could have stayed longer. We rode the ferry from Seattle to their house and got to visit the Space Needle, Pikes Market and went beachcombing. They also introduced us to Ivars (awesome fish and chips) and we fed seagulls on the pier. Jimmy almost got one gull to swoop down and take a fry out of his mouth! It was a great trip and we came back with lots of shells, a couple of sand dollars, and a ton of great memories both of the bridge competition and the time with the Ettobi family.

Take Your Kids to Work Day

We had take your kids to work day a couple of weeks ago and Lauren, Jimmy and Tanner came to work with me at the City of Henderson. Erin had a concert, so she took a pass that day. The rest of the kids got to play with the police ARMOR robot (the bomb diffusing, hostile situation robot), play in some police cars and visit the animal shelter in addition to hanging out in the mayors office at city hall. It was a pretty fun day!

Spring has sprung!

As you can see by the photo, Spring has sprung in Las Vegas! Lauren enjoys all the beautiful flowers, especially on mommy's banks roses out front, and it is fun for all of us to watch our jalapenos, tomatoes, artichokes, kolrabi and cucumber sprout. Our dwarf grapefruit and guava trees seem to be doing awesome and our new cherry and apple trees have blossomed too! Hopefully the new ones will establish sufficiently to survive the summer.

Little "E" News and Notes

Little "E" had her big day at band festival this week. She had the solo in their big number and knocked it out of the park. Her band got superior ratings and wowed the judges. In other Little "E" news, we just found out she has been selected by the school district to be honored at a ceremony as an outstanding 8th grader. Pretty funny when you consider that she's been an 8th grader for all of about 3 weeks (they combined her 7th and 8th grade years into one year so she'll start high school next year). We also found out that each senator gets to appoint one kid to the state youth senate and Erin has been nominated to go to Carson City as our senator's representative. Takin' after her mother this one is...

Jimmy is top "Dragon"

Well, Jimmy pretty much cleaned house on awards at school. He was the top reader in addition to being the "Dragon of the Month" yet again. He officially holds the school record now for consecutive months as the top reader. The only bad thing is he doesn't have room on his desk anymore because of all his trophies.

Bridges, Races, Science Bowl and Pinewood Derby

Have to admit, I've got a smart little batch of kids. Erin was the captain of her magnet school's science bowl team last week. She did a wonderful job at their competition at UNLV and made her school proud. Lauren was in the annual Reading Week Race and took second place! This was a big accomplishment for her as she has been training to beat several of the girls who've consistently come in before her. She accomplished her goal and took a respectable second. Jimmy entered one of two pinewood derbies he will be competing in this month. His police car took fourth overall and third in the "coolest car" category. He is hoping for a better showing in the next race. All the kids took part in the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) annual bridge building competition last week at UNLV. They competed against all the other schools in the valley. They all did a great job and had a lot of fun watching their bridges be put to the test to see how much weight they could hold. We got a bit of a surprise on Tanner's bridge however. When the dust settled, we were informed that Tanner placed second in the valley and his bridge qualified for the international competition in April in Washington. He is pretty excited about it as they are flying him out to compete. He is also running track right now and doing well, except for his latest injury (dislocated rib) that he is trying to heal from. A good batch of kidlings if ever there was one!

Regional Singles Conferernce

Holy cow. A few months ago I was asked to teach what I thought was a small class on preparedness. Come to find out, this is a regional singles conference with 900 people already registered. My class won't be 900 people, but still, I'm a bit nervous for how many may be there. The link to the conference is http://www.lvsinglesconf.com/ if you'd like to check it out.

Tanner is an Eagle Scout

On October 25, 2008 Tanner was awarded his Eagle Scout rank. Ron Cannon, Matt Melton, Bill Wells and Bishop Richard Hyte spoke and Area Authority (Mayor) James B. Gibson presented Tanner with his award. It was a pretty spiffy event and we all enjoyed a very nice tribute to Tanner's hard work. He is still invovled with Scouting and has earned several more merit badges since then and is planning on attenting Scout camp again this year.