Sporty Spring

I didn't blog much in the spring and missed a few newsy events:

Emma ran track this year and participated in hurdles, high jump and a relay team. She was pretty good and enjoyed being with all her friends (mostly the boys) on the team. I didn't get many good pictures, but I liked watching her!

Josh did GREAT at the fundraising "Jog-a-thon" this year. I wonder if he'll be part of the cross country team next year in Middle School?

When G'pa Goold came for a visit, he tuned up all the bikes and got the kids excited to ride. Rachel learned to take little JUMPS! Here she is, catching some air!

G'pa learned that 7 yr. old Katrina and 6 yr. old Ben didn't know how to ride a bike and took them down to the temple parking lot to learn. It took them about 20 minutes and they were pros! The temple president even came out to visit with us. (The Temple was closed that day!)

Ben used his feet as brakes for awhile at first, and sometimes he even just crashed into the planters to stop, but soon he had it all down. He rides with his tounge out, such is his sheer concentration! Thank you, Grandpa! We'll need you to come and teach all the kids to drive in a few year!

Emma's Honors Night

Emma, 3rd from left, and some of her cute friends at Scenic Middle School's Honors Night. Emma has a 4.0 for the second year of middle school. She's such a hard worker and so smart!

Em with Paige Berriochoa, the two Basque Girls at the school (that I know of!)

Em with Kayleigh Lowder. I pick Kayleigh up every morning and Emma walks to her house after school each day.

Em with Ashley Hegler

This is my favorite pic of the night. These girls are TOO cute with their hot little shoes and nail polish. Emma's shoes are purple.

Emma in the middle of a cell phone pic!

These girls are too cute!

We all went to DQ to celebrate after the ceremonies.

On the car ride home, the girls basically acted psychotic and it was hilarious.

Joshua, Student of the Year

Josh was honored by his Principal and Teachers. He was selected as the Student of the Year for Mae Richardson Elementary. There are approx. 100 5th graders that were considered for this award. Damian, Josh, myself, Principal Susan Dippel and Josh's teacher, Joseph DeFranco, were invited to the Rotary Club Luncheon where Josh was presented to the Rotarians. His Presentor was quite the comedian and we were all laughing at the jokes he cracked. I wish I had brought my video camera. We are so proud of our wonderful, smart, talented son. His Principal described Josh to me as their "Best and Brightest."

Letters from Ben

One of Ben's first letters to his Uncle Eric on a mission for our church in LA was this drawing of a JEDI MISSIONARY with double edged light sabers.

And then this drawing, with what appears to be an evil Jedi???


This is the letter he wrote today, with a PS on the back. His dad told him how to spell everything, but the dots between words and the upside-down exclamation points were all his creation. What a cute Kindergarten little man! I'm sure Eric will be excited to read this!

Josh is ELEVEN

At Josh's last pack meeting he finished earning everything Webelos. He earned all 22 pins, with the help of his wonderful scout leader and his dad.

He and his family walked across a bridge that symbolized the fact that he's bridged to Boy Scouts from Cub Scouts. His new 11 year old scoutleader is his dad and they do something together with a few other boys every Sat. morning. Josh has a binder with all his future scout stuff planned out. He and his dad have planned the Eagle Scout project that he'll do in 3 years. They're going to get a ton of baseball mitts donated, have the scouts and volunteers clean and oil them. They'll ask the Major League teams to donate autographed balls.

But here's the best part. . . after he's finished his Eagle Scout Project, Josh and his parents will go to South America to donate all the equipment to underpriviledged children. Yay for me!

Damian and I are so very proud of Josh and his accomplishments. He's a wonderful young man and I'm so thankful for this day that Josh was born, eleven years ago. Happy Birthday to my sweet little (big) boy!

Emma, the Setter

This little cutie is EMMA! She made the Varsity 7th grade Volleyball Team.

Her team is undefeated and her last game is next week. We are confident that the Scenic Spartans will RULE THE VOLLEYBALL WORLD!!

Who cares if she's GOOD? Doesn't she look cute in her knee-hi socks?

Primary Program

Today was the kid's Primary Program in Church. The Primary Program Sunday is when the whole first congregational hour is devoted to letting the children perform and speak about what they've learned all year. This year's church wide theme for the children was "My Family can be Together Forever." The speaking parts were cute and the songs were beautiful.

These are all the Idiart "men" that participated: Ashton, Josh, Marcus and Ben. It was Marcus's first year and he was the first speaker of the morning. He giggled at the mike and was so cute. I think he was very proud of himself. Ashton performed in all seriousness. Josh sang in a quartet. The other 3 performers sang soprano, so his tenor part stood out. I had no idea he had such a nice voice. I was very proud. He also wrote his own talk. He did great. Ben participated, but wouldn't look out at the audience. Cute. He sang sometimes and watched other kids/zoned out at other times. But he was reverent up in the choir seats, so I was glad.

Here are the Idiart Ladies that performed: Katrina, Annie, Rachel and Eliza. Emma is officially too old to be part of primary and she was so thrilled! All these girls did a great job with their parts. Eliza and Rachel gave talks they wrote. It was so fun.

This is Josh's talk:

I remember Jesus when I partake of the sacrament by reading scriptures about Jesus’ life.

Sometimes I read about his death, and sometimes I read about the atonement. Every time that there is sacrament, I read, Moroni 4:3, and Moroni 5:2. These scriptures are the sacrament prayers.

O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen

The prayer for the water is almost exactly the same. Even though it says to sanctify this water to the souls of all those who drink of it.

I’d like to bare my testimony, that I know Jesus Christ did die for us. He did shed his blood for us, and gave us the sacrement, so that we can renew our baptizimal covonent.

And I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

This is Rachel's talk:

Family history and temple work bless all the generations of my family. Joseph Smith taught, "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead."

When I am 12 years I will go to the temple to be baptized for people who did not get a chance to listen to the missionaries and accept their own baptism. I know that I must live righteously now to be worthy of that important work. I hope that some of the people I will be baptized for will be members of my own family that have never heard the gospel.

Many years ago my mom went to the temple and performed the temple work of my great great grandmother Elizabet Etchart. My mom told me that when she was in the temple she felt the Holy Ghost, which was like a warm feeling that came over her, letting her know that the work she was doing was important. She felt very close to Elizabet and knew that she was accepting the baptism. My mom gave my younger sister Katrina Elizabet as her middle name in honor of that great woman.

I was able to go to the Oquirh Mountain Temple open house and see the beautiful baptismal font. It made me think of how fun it will be to go to the temple with all my friends and help other people. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My Artist Son

Josh has created two new masterpieces this summer. And no, you don't get one, Mom. Sorry. I traded swim lessons for Josh's art lessons. So I get the paintings. I've been teaching Jen Vranes' 4 kids to swim for 90 min. each day for two weeks.

Anyway, isn't this painting BEAUTIFUL??!! I absolutely love it. It has a place of prominence in my entry way now.

Notice the depth of texture. Isn't it LOVELY?

These are the two 12" paintings he's made in the last two weeks. The one on the left is of a window on a brick wall, with vines growing up the side. The window has a flower box and red curtains. It's hanging in my bedroom!!

This is close up of the above mentioned window.

I blogged about Josh's first painting HERE.

I blogged about the rest of his paintings HERE.

Scenic Honors Night

Emma has a 4.0 GPA and was celebrated at Scenic Middle School's "Honor's Night." This is Emma in her fancy dress, with her friend Julie. Julie was also in the play with Emma.

This cute red-head is Sarah. She and Emma have been friends for a LONG time and Sarah's mom is pretty much as strict as I am. I love it.

This crazy little gal is Paige. She and Emma are the only Basque girls at their school. At least, the only ones I know of! Congrats to our little braniac Idiart, Emma! We love you! We're so proud of all your hard work to maintain straight A's!

A Midsummer's Night Dream STARRING . . . Emma!

Emma was in her Middle School's rendition of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" last weekend. She did great! She played a kitchen servant (a silent background roll). She was very expressive.

Then, she'd add wings to her ensemble and voila! She was a fairy. This was a singing, dancing and speaking part. She was a beautiful, graceful, earthy fairy. And she delivered her line with enthusiasm.

Here she is, with Titania, the queen of the fairies. She's hanging on her every word.

Now joins Oberon, the King of the Fairies . . . I have never seen a photo where Emma looks more like me than this one. Except I have wrinkles and gray hairs. But it's the same profile. Weird.

Here's Emma and the fairies pampering Titania and her new boyfriend/donkey, Bottom. I noticed Emma always made sure to get the best job . . . manicure to the queen, rather than pedicure to the donkey. She's a smart one, my girl.

Here's a close up of Emma and her fairy friend, Julie. Em, we are so proud of you, you did so great! We love you and hope to see you in many more plays.

Rachel has a Recital!

Our darling Rachel had a piano recital Monday night. She played 3 numbers and did an excellent job. She announced her pieces and was very confident and brave in front of quite a large audience. We are so proud of her hard work and great skills!!

Her teacher is my good friend. Rachel really enjoys taking lessons from her, and not having to "share" her with any of her siblings. She is advancing nicely and really enjoys her talent!

On Tuesday night, we were invited to have dessert with friends. Their daughter, "S" is quite a good pianist, also. She and Josh have been practicing a Christmas duet and performed it for us. Hopefully, Josh and "S" will get a chance to play another duet together in church. They did a great job.

I was so impressed. It really is very hard to stay together during a duet. I've been teaching my niece to play piano and I can hardly do the duets with her. . . if I mess up, then I get lost, if she goes off tempo, then I mess up and then get I lost. And flustered. I really hate playing piano, it's too much for my nerves! I really was impressed with how well both Rachel and Josh did in performing duets. They both have a good ear and fancy fingers (and great partners!!)

Texas Goodies

Damian's cousin Lana, from Texas, sent me a little package. It was an unexpected and fun surprise, THANKS LANA!!

First, it included some candied Pecans. I didn't picture them because I ate them ALL before I got my camera out of the bag. You can see all the other "treasures" Lana included in the package:

Texas "Rush Hour" postcard and Texas mints in a cute tin . . .

Armadillo Droppings (chocolate covered sunflower seeds)
My kids REALLY loved these!

And last, but not least, Longhorn earings and necklace. Lana recommended I wear these at my sister's wedding, but ALAS, the package arrived after I'd already left for Italy. Too Bad!

Thank you Lana for thinking of me. You are so generous and sweet. I know your secret motive was to convert me from ALASKA to TEXAS. I think I'm almost converted . . . just a few more armadillo droppings to go, OH WAIT, I just forgot:

Future Plans for my Children

I have big dreams for my kids. We already have a lawyer in the family and I'm not a huge fan of going to the doctor, so the choice for the kids to go to Medical School is out. When I think of my beautiful, smart, talented kids I really want what's best for them.

And what's best for me . . . let's face it.

These are the ARTISTIC aspirations I have for my kids:

I want Josh to be an artist, so I will always have beautiful art to adorn my home.

I may have to downsize my house, or he might need to start painting on larger canvases, but we can work on that minor detail!


When Josh painted his first masterpiece last week, he asked if he could put it on my entry table. I told him I needed a poppy painting there, so he surprised me and whipped one out at his art lesson this week! I asked his teacher if she actually did most of this one for him and this was her repy:

"Josh is a really talented artist! I told Damian he may need to re-think the whole Josh becoming a lawyer and taking over the family business thing! He really caught on to painting. He did it all, Sarah! I didn’t even touch his canvas once. I’m actually pretty careful about that. I want the students to do it ALL by themselves—builds their confidence if they know the teacher didn’t paint it. I just explained to him how to do it, and then I would actually LEAVE the studio (I didn’t want to ‘hover’ and make him nervous), and I’d come back when he was done with that step! He really got it too. I could tell it all made sense to him. He rarely asked any questions, but would just nod his head, and then proceed to do it, without a hesitation. I think he especially liked painting with a palette knife. And that’s something no teacher or art class will ever teach him. There just aren’t a lot of artists who paint with a palette knife."

I really love this one. It is bold, beautiful and fun to look at. It makes me smile every time I walk by to go upstairs (probably 47 times a day!)

We may have to support him for awhile, while he's a "struggling artist" but I'm sure he'll be a success. He's only nine years old, if he really buckles down and gets serious about this by next week, he could be famous by 19 . . .

I want Rachel to be a chef and cook me lovely things to eat. I will go to her restaurant everyday and eat her wonderful food. She made dinner last week, "Tuna Schooners" and "Puppy Dog Salad" and it was delicious. I'm hoping she makes a habit while she's seven, of practicing her craft every night. I will sit back, put my feet up and sacrifice my strong desire to cook. I'll eat "Puppy Dog Salad" daily, if she just promises to cook every night.

This is Josh's painting of grapes in a vineyard. They don't match what I'm talking about, but I wanted to share them!

OK, so back to my dreams for the children. I want Emma to be a hairdresser and keep my hair looking young and beautiful forever. I would support her in this career move DAILY: I'd take a shower and run by her salon each morning and have her fix me up. She could do my nails and makeup, too.

If she went to massage therapy school, too, that would be an added bonus. I would give her BIG TIPS!!

OK, on that note, maybe Ben CAN be a doctor. A plastic surgeon, specifically. That will help me out, too! I guess one doctor might be nice to have around.

I aspire for Katrina to be a mother to my grandchildren. I really hope each of my kids has a few babies, but I want Katrina to have at least 10, and let me live next door to her. She is the sweetest, most natural mother in the world.

And on a less selfish note. If my darling Katrina needed a break from all those babies, I would run over to devote some "Granny Childcare", while she came over and cleaned my whole house. What a wonderful escape for her, and for me.

Or at least, for me.

Do any of you have totally selfish future plans for your children, or am I the only self-centered, "It's all about ME" Kinda Mom out there?

Don't answer that. I'm not ready for the truth, yet.