Kael started Kindergarten!

On Wednesday, August 20th, Kael started his first day of Kindergarten! He is adjusting well to his new classroom and is loving school so far. He loves to tell us about what he is learning, and sings us the new songs that he has learned. Being the social butterfly that he is, Kael is working hard on paying attention to the teacher during lesson time and staying in his seat. He is doing great and is improving every day! We can't believe how quickly our little boy is growing up and that he is already in school!

Going Western at the Western Idaho Fair!

While visiting the Western Idaho Fair on August 19th; we were able to go Western, thanks to our good friends, the Christophersons! Aaron and his helpers dressed us up and cowboy-ed us out...it was a lot of fun! Thanks again, guys!

Visit to the Schindlers and Lagoon!

For our last vacation of the summer, we decided to head up to Utah to visit the Schindlers and to go to Lagoon. We love road trips, and the weather was great, so the drive up wasn't bad. We had originally planned to go to the Lagoon on Friday, however, Kael got sick while we were standing in the ticket line. We ended up making our Lagoon trip on Saturday, and had a great time! The weather ended up being even better than the day before and we didn't have to wait too long in line for any of the rides. Our very first ride was Wicked...it was Kael's very first roller coaster ride, EVER! He insisted on riding it with the rest of us, and was very brave. He definately takes after his father with his love for roller coasters! Between the rides and the water park, we ended up being there for 10 hours. We had such a fun weekend with the Schindlers, and hope to make this trip a Summer tradition!

I'm graduating!

Two weeks ago Josh took his comprehensive exams for his Masters degree. This was his final exam to graduate from the program, so needless to say the pressure was on! The test had six essay questions, the first two were required and he was able to pick the last one. They were not able to use notes or resources of any kind. For the first question, he had to describe how he would design a district curriculum, the second question was how he would conduct a quantitative and qualitative project. He had to describe how he would gather the data, and what tools he would use to draw conclusion from the data gathered. Josh went into the test at 9:00am and four hours, and almost 15 pages later, he was finally finished! Yesterday he received his test scores in the mail and to our great joy, he passed! In the next few days, Josh will turn in his research paper and his degree will post in a few weeks after he finishes his last round of classes. It has been a long, tough 14 months, but it was well worth it! Josh has learned things that he will use the rest of his career and has made friends whom he will never forget.

One year, we made it!

On July 7th, Karyn and I celebrated our one year anniversary! We ate a piece of our wedding cake together and, surprisingly, it still tasted delicious! It’s hard to believe that at the end of March, we will have been together for three years. Time really does fly by when you’re happy! We feel truly blessed that Heavenly Father knew how perfect we would be for each other and brought us together.

Kael and Dad's hiking adventure!

Kael and I decided to go on a hike up a mountain in Caldwell, near the lake. After using all of our energy climbing up and down the hill, we decided to take a swim in Lake Lowell.

Guess who turned five!

Kael turned five years old on Friday, June 13th! A football birthday cake, jumpy house, and 20 plus pre-school aged kids made for quite an afternoon. Chelsea, Kael's cousin, was able to come over from Eastern Idaho to attend! It's hard to believe how fast Kael is growing up! It's a reminder to us how we need to cherish every moment with our little man.

Kael Jon Black pre-school graduation!

Hey everyone, it's official Kael Jon Black is now an official graduate of Applecore Pre-school in Nampa, Idaho class of 2008! The ceremony was very cute, the kids marched in, sang songs, and were given little scrolls. They even got to wear caps and threw them in the air at the end of the very short ceremony. Afterwards we had cookies and punch. We gave Kael a bunch of balloons and told him how proud we are of him. He is ready for Kindergarten!

Kael's first report card!

Kael got his first report card from Apple Core pre-school in Nampa Idaho! He did Awesome! He had to perform a variety of tasks, such as saying the alphabet, counting to 20, identifying colors, and saying his name. He missed the color black, go figure. When he was asked to say his name he responded, "Kael Grandpa Jon Black". We recently registered him for kindergarten starting in the fall. Our little man is growing up so fast!

We love you Sister Black!

Today I did something I didn't think I would do until Kael Jon turned 19, took a family member to the M.T.C (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, Utah. My mother, Sister Diana Black started her 18 month mission today as she entered the M.T.C. We took pictures, we laughed, and we said our good byes and watched as she walked confidently through the orientation doors. We are so excited for her and know that she will bless the lives of many people as she shares the gospel with them.

Kael's got the moves!

So.... we've determined that, at a very young age, Kael is quite the dancer! The first glimpse we received of Kael's talent was when Karyn and Kael were practicing their moves for our wedding reception to Disney songs at the beginning of last summer. Kael not only perfectly mimicked all the classic moves like "the sprinkler", "the cabbage patch", and "the running man", but he added some of his own moves, naming them "Spiderman dance" and "Frankenstein dance".

Needless to say, he danced the night away at our wedding reception with his cousin, Michael. He spent the majority of the evening on the stage with the DJ, showing off his moves...we were able to get lots of pictures! At one moment, while onstage, Kael decided to take off his tuxedo jacket and swing it around over his head while shaking his bootie. He then proceeded to do what looked very similar to the "MC Hammer dance" from one end of the stage to the other...wow, what an evening! Dancing with Kael has become one of our favorite family activities and we have been lucky enough to capture a lot of it on camera or video clips. We have included a clip of Kael dancing last month in the kitchen... Karyn put on some music from her ipod and Kael decided to go to town! The use of the props in this clip was completely Kael's idea and took us both by surprise! We can't wait to see what the future holds for our "tiny dancer"! ;)

Jumping on the Blog-wagon!

Ok, so we're finally jumping on the Blog-wagon! We're new at this, but making a family page has been in the back of our minds for awhile and we're excited about the possibilities! A big thanks to Brock and Tyra Williamson for having such a beautiful blogspot and for inspiring us to give it a try! :)

We are excited to have a special spot for all of our family pictures and silly video clips and to have a way to share our experiences with others at the push of a button. Hope that you all will enjoy and that you will have as much fun reading as we will have with creating!