Concerts, Concerts Everywhere!!!

I guess when you have 6 kids, 4 of which are in school, you are bound to have the opportunity to attend many school functions.  This year we've had our fair share of concerts to see and this post is dedicated to that.  I have posted pictures in the past but this post will mostly be video of each of their concerts from winter to spring. I only chose one video from each concert otherwise we'd be here for hours watching.  So without further adieu ... my children!

Here is Micah in his last Band concert with an awesome Bongo solo.

The 5th graders have an annual wax museum where they dress up like a famous person and act like they are in a museum.  People walk by and the kids give a brief biography of their famous person.  Since Micah did Wilbur Wright in Indy last year, his teacher allowed him to use him again (Not sure why) but that's who he wanted.  He had to revamp a little from his last project but he did a great job.

Right after the "museum" they had a short program for the families.

Malia and Micah joined a choir this year and had a lot of fun.  This was their one and only concert.

The 3rd graders did a talent show this year and and Malia was dying to do something.  At first she had some friends that were going to do a dance routine but that fell apart so a couple of days before she decided she wanted to jump rope.  Here is the routine she came up with.

McKenzie's Final concert did not disappoint.  The theme for a lot of the schools was Star Wars since it was such a popular movie that came out, we had a couple of kids play some Star Wars music in their concerts, one of them being McKenzie

They even showed clips from the movies which captivated little Kaders.  He really is a Star Wars nut...like his dad!

Morgan the other lucky kid that was able to play a little Star Wars theme along with some other movie themes.

I love watching my kids grow musically.  It fun to see their progression.

McKenzie's 15!!!

And just like that she's 15!  Going back and posting these life events has really made me see just how fast things change.  I stopped blogging right as McKay was born and now here I am 2 years later trying to catch up and it seems like yesterday we were leaving Utah.  I have 3 short years with this girl before she graduates.  She has grown up before our eyes, next thing we'll know, she's be having kids of her own.  I remember turning 15 thinking being an adult would be so much more fun, ruling my life, doing what I want, when I want.  But I realize my teenage years were one of the best times of my life.  I hope she sees that right now.  I hope she enjoys these years and stops worrying about trying to grow up so fast.  I promise lil Kenz, those days will come and you'll miss these annoying teen aged years.

 I don't remember what we did for her birthday other than sing to her.  Probably because we had just moved in and restarted school so I was heavily involved in unpacking and trying to settle the kids into a new routine.

 But this girl can always bring a smile to my face.  You never know what is going to come out of her mouth, what "deep" question she is going to ask or what masculine burp will escape.  There is never a dull moment with her around...unless she is on her phone snap crapping.

 While unpacking we found a pair of XXX sized sweats Randy bought for work back in Indy as a backup pair for his employees just in case there was chemical spill.  Not sure why he got such big pants but Kenz and I decided to put both of our booty's in those before finding them a new home.

 Over the years she has changed her mind a few times of what she wants to be/do when she grows up.  Some days it's been a veterinarian, other days a nurse or a teacher. At this moment of her life, she wants to be a cosmetologist.  Not sure where she will use this kind of makeup, lol. 

All I know is that she is really good at captivating an audience.  She loves to engage people in doing something fun.  Being the social butterfly that she is, she is never content sitting around at home and I know as soon as she gets her license we will never see her again.  Stay little Kenz, for my sake. 

1st-First Day of School

So the next few posts are going to be out of order and for very good reason.  We had a very exciting end of summer and this was just a small piece of it, so I wanted to get this post out of the way.  We found out around the time that school was starting that Randy had been offered a promotion in Minneapolis, Minnesota that would start as soon as he could.  The only problem, Randy recently started having gallbladder attacks and the Dr. found a pretty large impassible stone in his gallbladder so he needed to get it removed soon.  This meant we were going to have to delay going to Minneapolis till he recovered.  School started on July 29th and we wanted to try to keep as much normalcy as possible till we were able to move.  Knowing that school wasn't going to start in Minneapolis till the end of August-early September depending on where we found a home, we decided it would be best just to have them start in Indy so they weren't bored while everyone else was in school. So with that, here is their 1st-First Day of School 2015!

Morgan the big 7th grader.  It was hard to imagine her going to middles school, and now we are in the middle of it. 

And just like that...we have a high schooler.  Not sure how I feel about this.  

Malia started 3rd grade

And Micah in 5th.  The big man on campus!

As much as I struggled with many things in Indy, I was grateful for the opportunity to live there, even it was only for 15 months.  

Indianapolis Temple

One of the many things we were grateful for having had the chance to live in Indy was the new LDS temple that was being built there.  We were able to see a little bit of its construction and also be apart of the open house and cultural celebration.  It is a beautiful temple and although having lived in Utah I was able to go to a couple of open houses, I was never lived in the temple district of those new temples so we didn't have the chance to really participate in it.  There is a lot that goes into opening a temple and I have a new appreciation for all of the hard work and service that the members in the area gave.  There is a lot of moving parts to make it successful and the Indy members really stepped up.  Randy and I even signed up to help one Saturday with giving tours to visitors.  That was an amazing experience that we will never forget.

Before we volunteered, we decided to take the whole family on a tour so they could see it.  The older one's had been to the Draper and Oquirrh Mt. open houses but they don't remember all that well and so it was really neat to be able to take them to another one now that they are older.

After the open house was done and the open house clean up was complete, it was time for the cultural celebration and dedication.  The youth in the district got together and put on a performance that gave an idea of Indiana's past and culture.  McKenzie was able to participate and Morgan missed the cutoff by 10 days.  She was really sad to not be able to participate but she survived.  It was a really awesome experience.  The theme was "Gather to the Light" and the youth practiced all summer to put it together.  Our stake is in the orange shirts.  Kenz is in there somewhere in the middle of it, but I can't see her right now.

We were able to sit with some of our ward family.  These are our best buds the Durtschi's.  We were fast friends with them and tried to get together as much as we could.  It helped that most of our kids were the same age.  They are pretty much the coolest family ever.

More of "our" family.

Morgan a couple of girls from the ward.

The beginning of the performance.  Each stake stood in a different area of the field and slowly walked into the center singing the theme song.  

Our stakes individual number was to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Kenz is in a hot pink skirt to the left of the line on the bottom of the circle.

 Each stake did a different dance each one showing a different side of Indy.

 I was so proud of these kids.  They spent all day rehearsing in the blazing hot sun.  They did awesome!

 This is just the kids from our ward.

 One of the Durtschi boys.  Kenz became really good friends with him while we were there.

 The twins, Steph and Mal.

 The girls 

 It was totally worth the crowds and the heat to see these guys.  Wish we could do it again.

The next day was the temple dedication.  We were able to be apart of it by going to a ward building and watch by satellite.  Our Durtschi friends, because of their father being in the Stake Presidency, got tickets to go to the temple itself for the dedication.  While standing in line at the temple to get put into one of the rooms inside of the temple, someone came up to them and pulled them out of the line and gave them special tickets to be able to sit in the celestial room and where the actual dedication takes place. We were so excited to see them in the broadcast as the camera panned around the room.

Girls Camp 2015

You remember those shorts Kenzie made for girls camp?  Well her and Bry did them together making enough for the week and also a few for Morgie.  Even though Morgan wasn't 12 yet, she was allowed to go to keep her with her school-aged group.  She was very excited to finally get to go.  I love girls camp and I'm so glad that they do too.

 These girls are weird.

Last day of school 2015!!!

And just like that school is over!  The kids did great and even though I am not a fan of how the schools are run out here in Indy (I got spoiled in UT) they learned a lot and survived.  It's hard to believe I'm going to have a freshman!

 Morgan is going into 7th! She's growing up so fast.  I never have to worry about this one and her schoolwork.  She is on top of things and always does her best.

 It was Micah's teacher's first year of teaching and she was awesome.  She made sure Micah felt included and important.  He tends to hang back and try to go unnoticed sometimes.

 Malia's teacher was great at trying to keep her chatter to a minimum.  She is our social butterfly which is awesome, but sometimes she needs a little redirection and Mrs. Ramsey was awesome at it.

Spring School Events 2015

The girls had 2 more band concerts this spring.  One in March and one right before school let out in May.

 We had an inkling that changes were going to be made to Randy's job by the end of the school year, so the girls prepared to say goodbye to some friends. 

 They really did a great job and improved so much by the end of the year.  

 Micah's big presentation at school was a famous Hoosier.  He chose to do Wilbur Wright and put together a powerpoint presentation about him and dressed up like him as well.  He did a great job putting his presentation together.

Fall/Winter school events

Moving to Indy has it perks.  For one, they start teaching band in 6th grade instead of 7th so we jumped on the opportunity and let Morgan choose an instrument to learn.  She wanted to follow in her sister's footsteps and play the flute.  They had a concert in the fall and another before Christmas.  What a difference a few months makes in their tone.  They did a great job.  

 Malia also a  book parade.  She had to choose a book and turn it into a float so I packed up the little's and headed to the school.  Having 2, two and under always leads to interesting outings.

 But they sure are cute!

 Since we've made a couple of floats in Utah for the county parade, we knew exactly how to do it.  Malia chose a Junie B. Jones book and she created this scene with a little help.

 She was very proud of her work.  She did a great job.

Kenzie's 14!!!

And just like that, she's no longer our little girl!  She has grown up to be a beautiful young woman and I just can't believe how much she has grown, inside and out.  This was an even birthday so she was able to have a party and being new to the area thought it was a great way for her to get to know kids in the area better.  

 We set up a photo booth and the girls just went for it. I didn't see any of the pictures until the next day.  Some of them were pretty hilarious.

 Being a teen party, I didn't really plan anything because all they want to do is hang out.  So I was prepared with food and let them be creative.  They decided they needed to out back and practiced cheer leading lifts.

 Then went to Sky's car and rock out to some tunes.

 Literally crammed everyone in the car.  It was pretty awesome.

 These girls were great.

 And we couldn't forget the cutest of party!  Figured he needed a unibrow-stache.

 She really wanted an ice cream cake but I really didn't want to make a huge one so we decided to make it for her real birthday. Happy Birthday McKenzie!  Thanks for making us old!!!