Summer Swimming

Taylor had a fantastic Swim Team season! He started as an interim coach for the first two weeks of practice before the coaches all got home from school. He loved it and the kids loved him! He got to teach some swim lessons and pulled in a lot of money for that. He's hoping to coach next year.

His best stroke is freestyle and he got many blue ribbons this year for that! Yea Taylor!!!

Here's one video of him in the IM (individual medley) where he swims butterfly, then back, then breast, then freestyle. My battery died when he got to freestyle and I was so mad! But this shows the other three strokes really well!

Nauvoo the Reunion

Our Janis Family Reunion in Nauvoo was wonderful!!!! Here are some pics we took.

Waiting for a great show to start.

My ancestor, James McDonald on a Pioneer Memorial wall at the end of Parley Street.

We did a family 2-hour handcart trek and it was awesome!!!

A very fun outdoor pioneer play center. The kids old and young loved it!

Cousin Alora:

Cousin Emmie:

Cousin Elijah:

Loving sisters!

A children's parade before another fabulous show. Cousin Sarah:

Cousin Esther:

Cousin Evan:

Thank you Uncle Blair and Aunt Danae for the wonderful, wonderful reunion!!

Branson, Missouri

On our way to the Janis Family reunion, we stopped in Dallas for a day and got to participate in Chad's ordination to an elder. Then we carpooled up to Branson, Missouri on June 6th with Uncle Roark's family and Grandma and Grandpa Janis.

This Branson place was so cool! I had never heard of it before. (Not a big traveler, me) But it's this city in the middle of nowhere that gets about 10 million tourists a year coming through.

We started June 7th, which was Grandma and Grandpa Janis' 52nd wedding anniversary, with an adventure on Ride the Duck! Here we are waiting:
These are amphibious machines crafted from the WWII DUKW transport vehicles. They ride on land and motor on the water. We got a tour through the Ozarks on them.

Emily took this picture on my i-phone and then edited it on my phone! Amazing technology! Happy anniversary!!

And everyone got a quacker. These Duck machines were all over. Each time we passed one, everyone in both ducks quacked at each other.

Then we went to Sight and Sound Theater and got a pre-show, back stage tour of the theater. They are a Christian theater and have been showing Noah, the Musical for the past 3 years. They have an elaborate stage and set! The show uses 60 live animals as well as animatronics to give you the sense of being in the ark. One scene the theater is wrapped on three sides by a 4-5 story set so that you feel like you are actually in the ark. It was cool! The production was very Christian and ended with a missionary invitation to come and basically be born again. It was interesting to see an evangelical Noah.:)

Statue out front. Everything in the building is state of the art and beautiful!

In the behind the scenes tour, the tour guide showed us how fast they have to change and asked for a volunteer. Taylor did a great job!

Anxiously waiting for the show to begin. You can see the black curtain on the side. When we were "in the ark" that curtain was pulled back and animals are on the other side!

Next we went to the Dixie Stampede pre-show. We ate popcorn and were entertained by a crazy-good banjo-playing, juggling maniac! It was awesome! Laura surprised Sr. D by getting him a root beer in a boot mug when she heard him express a desire for some. So sweet!!!

Then we went into the arena for a dinner and show. While watching a singing and horse riding show with the theme of Yankees against the Confederates, we ate a great dinner. (No utinsils, so we ate with our hands. We got a 1/2 chicken each and Sr. D was in heaven!) Do you like Taylor's laser-vision eyes?:)

In one part of the show, Grandpa Janis was escorted out onto the arena where he was in a "horseshoe" throwing contest (he was given a blue toilet seat to throw!) with another guy. He won the contest! Yea Grandpa! What a great day! Couldn't do that every day, but it was a BIG winner!!! Thank you Uncle Roark and Aunt Rebecca for planning such a fantastic day!

The Kemah Boardwalk

Before the school year ended and all the crowds flooded into the little beach town of Kemah, TX, Aunt Mindy and I took advantage of the homeschool flexibility and took Emily and Daenon to the Boardwalk. We all got day passes and enjoyed the rides. Weather was perfect and Daenon entertained us all!:)Aunt Mindy and I went several times on this rattling roller coaster, but then gave in to the old age idea -as opposed to any "New Age" idea:)- that being flung side to side and up and down in a screaming machine isn't as fun as it used to be. So we opted out and took pictures instead.

Happy Easter!

So we celebrated Easter and had some baskets waiting for the teen kids in the morning. This is Emily's basket.Here is Taylor's.
They were even ok hunting for peanut M&M's.:) (who can resist?)
This is Markus Anderson. His parents were out of town and he stayed with us for a couple of days and joined in our Easter morning activities.
I finally got this frame I bought about 2 years ago in St. George up on the wall with shots of our Florida trip last summer. It was a perfect ledge for the M&M's!
We went to Brandon and Mindy's for Easter dinner and they had cooked up a fancy and delicious meal for all and I really appreciated and enjoyed it!!
Emily and Daenon colored some eggs after dinner. A little late, but better late than never!

When You Believe

Emily was in a group voice class winter semester. The recital combined all the classes of her wonderful teacher, Debbie Siebert. Each girl got to sing a fun show number solo and then we enjoyed refreshments. Emily sang the song, "When You Believe," from the movie "Prince of Egypt." She did a great job!

Here's the video:

Moroni's Quest

Ok, I'm blogging again! I'll have a few posts, hopefully to catch up really fast!

April 21st through 23rd was our stake's youth conference. They called it Moroni's Quest.

They had to make Nephite-type costumes and each ward was assigned a story from the Book of Mormon to act out. Our ward was assigned the story of Abinidi, and Taylor played Abinidi.

They met at the Stake Center and were assigned to a "tribe" Then some of the youth in the Stake started the youth conference off with Mormon and Moroni talking about the record of the Book of Mormon and reading from the beginning of the record about Lehi's family. Taylor also was in this scene and played Laman with his good friend Marcus acting as Lemuel. (see the video)

They were then driven out to a ranch (to the Promised Land) an hour away for the rest of Moroni's Quest. I got to drive and enjoyed the first scene at the Stake Center. I heard the rest of the youth conference was just incredible!

The first night they were blindfolded and held on to a "rod of iron." When they took the blindfolds off there was this huge tree all glowing with lights and lit up white bulbs hanging like fruit from the branches.

Throughout the days they watched the ward reinactments and then gathered as tribes to discuss their thoughts and feelings. They also got to participate in about 3 wars as well.

The last night they were again blindfolded and sat on the ground while they heard the sounds of a big storm and then quiet. Then they heard a voice and when they took their blindfolds off, there was a spotlight on a man in white acting as the Savior and there was music playing as he walked around touching the hands of most of the youth. Taylor said it was an incredible feeling and such a strong spirit. I wish I could have been there!

Here is my van-full at the ranch when we arrived.

And here is the video:

Beaumont Gusher #2

On March 12, we participated in Beaumont's 2nd annual Gusher marathon, 1/2 marathon, and 5K races. I ran the 1/2, and Sr. D, Emily and Spencer ran the 5 K. Our beloved Beaumont Bingham relatives also participated! Uncle Jeff ran the full, gruelling 26 mile marathon, cousin Brian ran the 1/2, and cousins Jared and Rachel ran the 5 K.

We had a nice surprise too! Just as the marathon and 1/2 marathoners were about to start, I looked over and saw cousin Chad Janis all the way from Dallas talking to Spencer and Sr. D! He had come to run the 1/2 marathon! Uncle Roark, Aunt Rebecca, and cousins Laura and Sarah were somewhere along the trail waiting to cheer everyone on! When the race was over, they headed on to Florida for a fun Spring Break.

The weather was perfect for a long run: clouds and a cool breeze. I ran the whole way and felt really good afterward, recovering very quickly. Whew! Emily started running with Rachel, but turns out, Rachel seems to be a long-distance SPRINTER, so Emily opted to go at a slower pace with Sr. D 1/2 way through.

Spencer was bound and determined to win the entire 5K race, but didn't anticipate a bus load of University sprinters from Michigan joining him. He kept up for about a mile, but wasn't conditioned THAT well for 3.1 miles. The winner ran it in around 15 min! So he opted out of the race. :) :(

Brian came in 1st in his age category(1 hour 53 min. 41 seconds) and Chad came in 3rd (2:00:51)!!! Yea cousins! I beat my time last year by 20 minutes (2:20:26)! Yea me!!!

Here are some pics and videos captured by our biggest cheerleader and patient spectator, AUNT SHELBY!!!! Sr. D and Emily warming up for the 5K. Brian crossing the finish line.

Chad sprinting the home stretch.

After the race. I LOVE the medals they give the 1/2 and full marathoners! They are so cool!

Here I am crossing the finish line.

Jared crossing the finish line. He came in 7th in his age category (24:49)! Go Jared! Another long-distance sprinter! It's all that soccer playing! Rachel zipped by without getting on film. :( Sorry Rachel!! She came in 8th in her category! (29:06)

Emily (35:22) and Sr. D (35:39) coming across the finish line. Emily made a sprint ahead of Sr. D on the final leg. Sr. D preferred to keep at his minimal effort output strategy to the end. :)

Another one of me at the end. Our only picture of Spencer. Taylor was at an autistic camp being a buddy, so he wasn't able to be with us. We missed him, but he had a wonderful time!

Yea Jeff! (4:03:24 - 6th place in his age category) His 7th marathon! (including a mega 50 mile marathon!)

Here are two more videos that Uncle Roark sent to us, of us during the races. Thank you!!!

A Manly Day

Sr. D bought a gun. A 270 rifle. Then he bought another one. A 22 rifle. He takes the boys to shooting ranges and they shoot and feel like men. It's a good bonding experience. They like it.

This is Spencer at an outdoor range. He likes his sunglasses too. He is a good shot. The holes below the bullseye were Sr. D's. He didn't want to shoot over Spencer's.

This is at an indoor range. They rented a pistol and really had fun shooting with it.

He has this hanging in his room now. Hmmm.... It's a man thing is all I can say. :)