The Bulkley Crew

Star Student

2009-02-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

Ellie is the 'Star Student' this month at her Elementary School! This is a very high honor, and it is given to her by the principal. A special ceremony is done at the school, where she is awarded the 'Star Student' and given a prize. Then they take her picture with the principal and hang it up in the hall of the school. We are so proud of her! Her teacher nominated her for working hard to earn their classes 'Top Student'. Way to go Ellie!

Congrats Brina!

2009-02-22T22:11:00.001-08:00

Congratulations Sabrina! Sabrina's academic team made it to district competition! That is a huge accomplishment! They have worked really hard in their regular season meets, and that has won them a spot in the district. She has her first competition in district this week, and we are all excited to see how she does in this next round. Good luck Sabrina, we know you will do a great job!

Sad Passing

2009-02-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

Dee's cousin, Collin Steel's wife, Laura Steel passed away on February 1st. She was an amazing lady. She left behind her husband and 2 small sons. She was an amazing musician and was very profound in bearing her testimony of the Savior through music. If you would like to hear any of her music, it is available for free download at: www.laurasteelmusic.com They played two of her songs at the funeral, one performed by her sisters ("Wounded Lamb") and one a recording of her own voice performing ("Amazing"). She will be greatly missed, but never forgotten. Collin, our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your boys. We love you.

Round 3

2009-02-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Yet another amazing performance by Sabrina. This week in the Academic Games, Sabrina's team squashed the competition (Westlake Jr. High) 19 to 16. This weeks subject was "the privacy issues vs. the convenience of medical records being made available online." She was awesome! Congrats again Sabrina, and good luck this week against Jefferson Jr!

First Manicure

2009-02-14T14:55:00.000-08:00

Ellie got her very first professional manicure! Mom decided that Ellie was getting old enough, that she needed to see some of the great parts about being a lady, so we took her to get a manicure. She felt very important, as the manicurist soaked her hands, clipped her cuticles, massaged her hands and made her nails beautiful. I think she has now been spoiled and will never settle for a 'manicure by mom' again!

Feeding The Homeless

2009-02-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

We are so lucky. Each year the Young Men and Young Women have the opportunity to go uptown and feed the homeless.

This year was no exception. Ken is the deacon's advisor, so he was able to go with us this year, and he made an awesome bodygaurd! This is always the YW favorite activity of the year. The people are always so very grateful for the hot food, and it really makes us appreciate all that we have.

Super Reader!

2009-02-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

Ellie is officially our Super Reader! In her new ALPS class at school, they have a requirement to read 30 minutes each day and then do a "reading response" each night to tell what they have read. She has not missed a monthly reading goal yet, and she has a whopping 41 AR reading points so far this year! This is a huge requirement, and she has worked really hard to make it! Two of her favorite books this year are the classics: "Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Ramona Quimby Age 8". We are very proud of her for making these goals and really working hard each and every day! Way to go Ellie!

Show And Tell

2009-02-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Ellie wanted to bring the bunnies to show and tell at school, so we waited for a day that Sabrina and Melanie had off of school, but Ellie didn't, and the day finally arrived. Melanie and Sabrina

took the bunnies to Ellie's class and they were able to tell the kids in Ellie's class all about bunnies, let the bunnies hop around the class room (on their bunny leash, of course) and then let all the kids pet the bunnies. Needless to say, Ellie was the hit of the day. The bunnies even trumped the 'new little brother' one of the other kids brought. Funny little kiddos :0)

Academic Team

2009-02-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

Sabrina has joined the Academic Team at Bennion Jr. High. She is a part of the "Round 3 -Presentation Team." They have done really well so far. They beat the school record for point. The school record was 21 and they received 23 at one of their meets! They have really rocked the house! We are so proud of her. They have only lost one game, and that was a loss to last years district winner. She has worked really hard to speak loudly in front of an audience and come out of her shell. Way to go Sabrina! You Rock!

ROTC

2009-02-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

Melanie was asked to go to the ROTC dance. She got all fancied up, and she looked beautiful! So beautiful, in fact, that her Dad didn't want her to leave the house :) Her date was James Moseley, and he was a real gentleman. She said they had a great time, and most importantly, they were home on time :)

Snow, snow, and more snow

2009-02-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

Just after Christmas, we got a ton of snow. Ken and the girls had a great time building snow forts. I had the mother's job of waiting in the nice warm house and taking pictures :) I think they did a great job (even though the next snowfall knocked them all down with the wait of the new snow), and best of all, they had a great time!

Another Bunny?!

2009-02-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

Are you kidding? That darn Melanie gave Sabrina a "bunn-a" for Christmas. So yes, we now have 2 bunnies! Sabrina absolutely loves her new bunny, Charlie. She named it after the so funny youtube video, "Charlie bit my finger". It is a hoot, and now she refers to her bunny in a hilarious british accent. We like to tease her that she didn't get a bunny, she got a pig, because that bunny eats almost non-stop! But he sure is cute!

Time to catch up!

2008-11-06T10:00:00.001-08:00

OK! I have been called to repentance for not keeping up on my blog, so here it goes; Our life for the last few weeks.

The girls had fun with the camera, and playing supermodels (now if only the money came along with it). They decided to take pictures of each other, and then they put them together in a slide show for Mom and Dad. How awesome is that?! It was a cute slide show, and I will put a few of the pics on this blog so you can all see how beautiful these smart, amazing, loving, caring and dedicated these girls are. We are so proud of them!

Happy Halloween

2008-11-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Not too many years left for our family to enjoy Trick-or-treating, but we will eat it up while we can!

Ellie was dressed as a geisha girl (can hardly recognize her with her red hair sprayed black!) for her cheer class and school class party, and a witch for the actual holiday.

Mom got to go help with Ellie's classroom party at the school. We decorated trick-or-treat bags, made yummy treats and heard a 'spooky' story. Then, on Halloween, we got to trick-or-treat at Jordan Landing and then around the neighborhood with our family friends, the Hansen's (then post trick-or-treating games for the parents :)).

SUPERSTAR!

2008-11-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Sabrina was in a choir performance for her 7th grade choir class. She did a GREAT job! She sang so well, and the performance was awesome! We really enjoyed it, we just wish the auditorium was bigger so we could have had grandparents come to see.

I think she actually enjoyed it, but I am pretty sure that her favorite part was after the performance. She was walking down the hall (look so beautiful!), when some boys in a group said to her, "hey, no smokin' in the hallways." I guess we were not the only ones who thought she looked beautiful that night :)

GTU

2008-11-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Our Young Women's group (and leaders) were lucky enough to go to a live show of "Good Things Utah" over the UEA weekend. It was so fun to meet all of the ladies (we are tight with them now) on the show, and it was awesome to see how the show is done. We were shown in the audience 2-3 times (yes, famous again!). We even got to have our picture taken with the hosts after the show. Thanks, Angie, Mardi and Reagan! (Nicea was not there that day) What an amazing experience for our young women.

I've been tagged!

2008-09-26T13:17:00.001-07:00

Hey, thanks so much for the tag Shanna, I always wanted to share my 6 Quirks (that up until this time were kept confidential). Just hope you can all look me in the eye again after knowing these things about me...

#6 My big pet peeve is people leaving the cupboard doors open in the kitchen! I hate it, they are all at eye level for me, and I feel like I am going to take the corner of the door in the eye one of these days, and then when I end up blinded by it, all I will have to do is sit around and tell the family to do stuff for me, if they don't want to help me, I will just say, "hey, it was you who was too lazy to shut the darn cupboard door."

#5 I LOVE to read in the tub. Don't tell Ken, I think he still wonders what takes me so long in the tub :)

#4 I have extreme short-term memory loss (a side effect of some medication I am on). It makes me think I am going insane! I told Ellie last night to get into the shower, and when she got out, I asked her why she didn't take her shower in the morning, like usual. She and Ken both looked at me like I was nuts, and then Ken told me what had happened. I hate that!

#3 I like doing my nails (hands and toes) late at night, in my room, by the light of the tv. Then, (by doing them in the dark and my memory loss), it is a suprise in the morning, when I wake up and see what my nails look like... Sometimes good, sometimes they look like I did them in the dark.

#2 I think early mornings should be outlawed! I know that some of you do your best work early in the morning, but I think if we all slept in a bit, we could get a lot more done all day! AND I would wake up a lot happier :)

#1 OK, Shanna, I can trump your three chin hairs... Hello, unibrow! Hate to admit, but if I let the forest grow between my eyes, there would be no shortage for making wigs! Shh... don't tell anyone!

OK, all my secrets are out. Now I am tagging Melanie, Sabrina and Ellie.

Award Winning Bunny

2008-09-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, we knew our little bunny, Holly Dolly Day, was cute, but now it is official. Melanie entered Holly in the State Fair this past weekend, and no kidding, she won Runner Up to Best In Show for all of the Rabbits! The judge kept commenting about how beautiful her coat was, and she sure made us all proud. Another feather in Melanie's cap for her FFA achievements.

Holly had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the atmosphere of the fair. We had to leave her there for three days, and it turned out to be pretty traumatic for her. She pulled out her fur in a spot on her back while she was there, and then when we finally got to take her home, she kept pulling her fur out for another three or four days. Melanie's FFA leader told her it was from stress. She didn't much like all of those kids poking at her all day, and being left outside (can you believe that? They left our princess Holly OUTSIDE?! :)) all day and night. That was definitely an adjustment for her, but now she is home, happy and all with a big shiny blue ribbon!

The rest of us had fun at the fair too, when we would go to visit Holly :)

Mostly Done!

2008-09-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we have almost made it! The back yard now has all of the sod (thanks to the many men and young men who came to help-Thanks y'all!), and the arbor is complete. We are so excited to have a big back yard where we get to play now. The whole family has really enjoyed going out to play croquet (I hope that is spelled right). We are still having to weed the lawn as those darn stubborn weed are trying to come up through the grass. From what we understand, you have to keep weeding it for about a month, then the sod fills in and chokes out the weeds (I hope). But it is really starting to fill in and look nice!

We felt so loved the moring we started the sod, because at 7 am on a saturday morning, we saw the Elders Quorem leaders all show up to help us. Then when they saw the size of our yard and the six and a half pallets of sod, they made a few phone calls and soon we had a whole group of Elders and Young Men there working so hard! We had the entire 3400 square feet thrown in less than 2 hours! We cannot say enough how much we appreciated their help. Not to mention Dennis and Olive who came over again to help in the yard (I think as long as we live, we will not be able to thank them enough for the change in our yard - I can't believe how generous they are with their time, talents, and entertainment: thanks for teaching me the hula dance Olive :)).

Back To School... Not just for the kids

2008-09-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we are all back to school as of August 25th. Sabrina started Jr. High at Bennion this year, and she is loving it! (More boys there, you know).

Melanie is in her Sr. year, and she is enjoying all of her vet classes. Now, if her Dad and I could keep some of these boys away, we could enjoy her Sr. year, too!

Ellie started 3rd grade in the ALPS (Accelerated Learning Program) this year. She is enjoying it, but she is having to work much harder than she has in the past. She is having to make new friends, as she is in a new class with all new kids, but she is doing very well, and we are so proud of her.

I also started school when the kids went back. After being laid-off in June (after my surgery), I decided it was time to go back to school to become a Medical Transcriptionist. This is a job that I can do at home and still be available for my family when they need me. I am taking on-line courses through a great school (if any of you are interested, I can give you more info). It is really tough for an old brain like this to kick back into gear and start memorizing and learning again, but it feels great, and y'all know how much I love learning about all that medical stuff and how the human body works... fascinating! It is tough to go to school on top of everything else, but I am trying to make it a priority, so that I can finish and start making some money again.

Front Yard Almost Done!

2008-08-24T23:03:00.001-07:00

Well, we thought it would never happen, but the front yard is almost done! We just completed the landscaping around the pond and put down sod in the front yard, we also pulled out the little evergreen tree in the front under the window and leveled it out (we will put gravel, a park bench and to large pots in under the front room window). We will also be putting ferns in around the cherry tree and around the path leading to the east side of the house. It is really coming together, thanks to Olive and Dennis, whom we could never in a million years thank enough for all of their ideas, hard work and tons of time they have donated to the Bulkley yard overhaul! You guys rock!

A Make Over

2008-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

This summer we have decided to give our yard a makeover (yes, finally)! We ripped all of the "lawn" out in July, and we have installed our own sprinkler system, revamped the parkway out front, had a double driveway poured and this past weekend we installed a waterfall and pond (big, huge thanks to Ken's Sister-in-law, Olive, who is the landscaping guru!)! We are hoping to put the sod in the front and back yards this weekend.

Ken's Birthday

2008-08-13T12:44:00.001-07:00

Ken's birthday was Friday, 8-8, and the family suprised him with a fun new toy. Then we all had to take it up to the mountains and give it a try! We had a great time riding his new 3-wheeler and playing some badminton and frisbee golf. Hope it was a good day for you babe, Happy Birthday!

Melanie is our favorite 'Pig Wrangler'

2008-08-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Melanie is LOVING the experiences she is having in the FFA this year. She is taking an off campus Animal Science course that is taught at Wheeler Farm in Murray. She is learning so much, and she is truely a farmer at heart! She has decided that she would like to be a large animal vetranarian, which she will be great at because of her love of working with animals. She is truely her Daddy's girl!

For her FFA project this year, she chose to raise, show and sell a pig. She was able to house and feed her pig (Coda) at Wheeler Farm. This past weekend, August 9-10, 2008, Melanie had the opportunity to take her pig to the SL County Fair where she was able to show her pig (in front of the animal judges). She took a blue ribbon in showmanship (Cool, huh?!) and her pig took a red ribbon. Then she was able to show the pig at the animal auction they had on Saturday. Her Pig sold for $500, which for those of you who are like me, that is an incredible price!

She also had an awesome experience as she was walking around the booths (wearing her FFA uniform). She was approached by the man in the FORD booth, who began asking her about her experience in the FFA. After speaking with her for a bit, he offered to sponsor her in her FFA experience, as well as sponsoring some of the events for their FFA Chapter. How awesome is that?! Thank you FORD Motor Company! Way to go Mel! We are so proud of you!

Old Dog... Learning New Tricks

2008-08-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

So they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but check it out, this old dog is learning to blog! Not exactly sure what I am doing yet, but you can giggle at me if you would like as I am learning :D