A walk with the Woods

Report Card

Mayke — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:25:19 +0000

A few weeks ago we had an IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting with Will’s regular and special ed teachers. We have those regularly to see how he’s doing regarding the goals that are set for him, and to set new goals. They were very pleased with his progress. It seems that he picks up the classes fairly well, but that whenever he is tested he’ll loose confidence. To work on that Will now gets Double Dosing. This means that he goes to school as an Early Bird and leaves as a Later Gator. In the extra time he is at school, he has one-on-one sessions with a teacher. It makes for long days when you figure in homework, karate, scouts and of course the commute. Homework is not always a very fun time at our house with frustation on both sides. But we’re working on that.

And it looks like it is paying off. His latest report card was one for the books again.

You may be able to imagine how proud he was of himself. And how proud we are of him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mayke — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:05:09 +0000

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

John F. Kennedy

September

Mayke — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:44:33 +0000

Time for another catch-up post.

My mom and 2 uncles (Jo & Peter) came over for a 2-week visit in September.

We (they) planned lots of fun outings.

Brunch at Sundance has become a tradition for my parents. So the first Sunday we drove up beautiful Provo Canyon.

After brunch we drove to Park City and walked around Main Street for a little while.

Of course no family visit is complete without traveling in Utah. We went to Moab for a weekend, giving my uncles a chance to rekindle with the place where Trevor and I got married on their previous visit.

We visited the usual, Arches NP and Canyonlands NP, but we also went to Dead Horse State Park.

Trevor and I both celebrated our birthdays during my family’s stay. We had amazing dinners at Mazza and The Happy Sumo. Both Will and Tessa were adventurous and tried new things.

Mazza

The Happy Sumo

(Don’t worry, that is not sake in her cup.)

At The Riverwoods there was live music before we had dinner. We sat and listened for a while and tried to take some good pictures. That didn’t work out so well with the boys.

I did get this video of Tessa dancing to the music.

We’ve been working in our yard pretty much every single weekend this year, so it was nice to get some help.

The day before their arrival Trevor and I found out that I had miscarried. On the day of their arrival my family had to wait for 2 hours on our front porch for us to come back from the hospital. (Sorry, again!) I don’t think I ever really told my mom how much I appreciated her help and support in the two weeks she was here. I know that she knows this, but it should be said anyway. So Mam, dank je wel!

Portal

Mayke — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:01:55 +0000

Remember this picture?

Trevor took it last year at the Spiral Jetty.

He entered it into the 2011 Fall Photography and Digital Art Show at the Utah County Art Gallery.

And he won!

Not just an honorable mention.

He got 2nd place in Photography!

His pictures (he also submitted another one) are hanging at the Health & Justice Building in Provo.

You can go check them out, as all the other submissions, until Thursday November 17th.

There was an award ceremony a few Fridays ago.

The jurors’ comment was:

“Strong composition; soft focus, very appropriate for title; has a nice sense of story telling that leads the viewer in mentally just as the spiral jetty pulls you in physically; strong technically. Good use of contrast in intensity as well as flow. Liked the apparent early photographic process.”

I am so proud of my talented guy!

P.S. They have several art shows at the Utah County Art Gallery each year, also for kids. For more information go to www.utahcountyartgallery.com.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Mayke — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:59:39 +0000

You’re always in our thoughts.

Mess!

Mayke — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 17:10:55 +0000

Tessa just walked up to me saying “Mess”.

Then she ran to the kitchen, got a towel out of the drawer, ran back to the couch where she was sitting, and “cleaned” up the dry cereal she had spilled.

Good girl!

Some of the things we did in August…

Mayke — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:37:40 +0000

- A 4-wheel drive day trip to Cascade Springs

As you can see in the upper left picture, Will and Tessa were really excited for this. It was a nice drive though!

- Hiking Timpanooke

One date night Trevor and I hiked part of the Timpanooke trail. We got a late start and we had to turn around at the Giant Staircase and still hiked most of the way down in the dark. But we did see a moose and some deer.

- Sundance

We had some time to kill one afternoon while in town, so I took the kids up to Sundance. We walked around for a bit, ate a snack and drove back to town. The temperature in the canyon was a lot nicer than in the valley.

- Another Belt Promotion for Will

Brown-Orange!

- Our trip to Lake Powell

Which has its own post.

- And some random pics of the kids

Ready for the sun!

Both fast asleep in the car after Granny Night.

Tessa trying to dress herself. Those are Will’s socks.

Tessa feeding Will’s bear her lunch.

Some of the things we did in June…

Mayke — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:56:40 +0000

Still working on catching up from the summer!

- Swimming lessons for Will

- Belt Promotion at Karate for Will

His brown belt!

- Swimming at Seven Peaks

- Sword Camp at Karate

I didn’t get any good pictures of Will using his sword, unfortunately. But he did well enough to earn another belt, his second in 2-weeks time!

- Pinewood Derby at Scouts

Will’s car got a few first and second places, but ended up in fourth place overall. Together with Trevor he spent a few evenings working very hard on his skeleton car.

- Johnson Family Reunion

I took Tessa to Kris’ family reunion. She had fun playing with all the toys they had there. Since they had held a reunion last year as well, it wasn’t as busy this time. It was still good to hang out with everyone who did come.

- More swimming lessons for Will

Will has done so well this summer. He was able to go to the next class up. His favorite thing: Survival Float. Nothing better than just laying in the water!

- Playing at the Park

I took the kids to the park for lunch one day. Will took the pictures of Tessa.

- Wedding Stephanie & Steve

(Pictures courtesy of Ashlee Elizabeth Photography, thanks Steph for letting me copy them!)

JDRF – Walk to Cure Diabetes

Mayke — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:33:49 +0000

We’re going to walk for a cure for Diabetes again this year!

Most of you know at least 1 person with Type 1 Diabetes. (Trevor for instance!!)

Please come and support us.

The walk is this Saturday (Sep 24) at 8 am at the Scera Park in Orem.

You can also donate.

PLEASE DO!!!

To donate copy and paste the link below. It will take you to a secure website. Our team is trying to raise $600 and we only have about $200 so far.

https://secure3.convio.net/jdrf3/site/Donation2?idb=526308624&df_id=1655&FR_ID=1555&PROXY_ID=1405124&PROXY_TYPE=20&1655.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=pblnn5ykq3.app316b

Any donation, big or small, will help us raise money towards finding a cure.

THANK YOU!

For more information on the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund go to http://www2.jdrf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=walk_homepage

Some of the things we did in May…

Mayke — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:17:19 +0000

- School Carnaval

- Karate Tournament

Dianna, Adelein, Isabelle and Granny came and watched Will compete in forms and sparring.

- School Dance Festival

The 4th grade classes danced to Cotton Eye Joe.

- End of school Festivities

With his teacher Ms Jensen.