Top 10 Reasons We Are Glad Schools Out

This weeks top ten is celebrating the end of the school year. School is officially out for the kids on Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon for Sundy. Yeah!!! Hope everyone enjoys the summer.

1. We can sleep in! No more getting up at 6:00 a.m.! Now we can sleep until 7:00 a.m.!
2. No more asking if homework is done! - Instead we can focus on if HOUSEwork is done!
3. No more wondering what day is best to go to the doctor/dentist etc. We can take care of our health without concerns about missing school!
4. No more being nickeled and dimed to death! It seems there are always activities that cost money (a field trip or a t-shirt) that you “HAVE” to purchase for school!
5. Reading for fun, comes to mind! Instead of reading text books or homework, we can sit down and enjoy a novel!
6. We can take a vacation - this year the plan is to visit family in Utah and Colorado!
7. Mom is not stressed out about lesson plans and classes that are unruly. What a blessing to have 6 weeks without worrying about concerts, students and activities!
8. We can use our summer incentive program! The girls love earning “Kiara Kash” or “Katia Kash” to purchase one-on-one time with mom or dad!
9. Katia’s looking forward to spending two weeks with Grandma Mil! Kiara enjoyed last summer doing the same thing!
10. More family time! When schools out - we spend much more time together! We can’t wait! We kinda like hanging out with our family! Our family ROCKS!

Kiara's Last Concert of the Year

Tonight was Kiara's final orchestra concert of the year. Sundy also had a choir concert this evening so she was grateful that Scott filmed it for all to see. Unfortunately nobody was able to take pictures or film Sundy's concert. Both were great. After the concert the orchestra director gave out only two awards for each orchestra and Kiara was blessed to receive one. He was very complimentary about how Kiara not only was moved up to the intermediate orchestra but that he depends on her and moves her to where he needs her strength. What a great compliment. We are glad that Kiara is developing and sharing her talents. Below is a video of the three pieces her orchestra played this evening.

Here are a few pictures of her before and after the concert and with her certificate.

Top 10 LDS Hymns

This week we chose to do our list based on our favorite LDS hymns with one exception; Amazing Grace. Sundy insisted we put it on the list even though it is not a LDS hymn. We both grew up with lots of music in our homes and our home is no exception. Music brings the Spirit into our home and makes it peaceful and a place of learning both temporally and spiritually. We are so grateful for the examples our parents set in making music a big part of our lives.

1. O My Father - Dad McCallister used to sing this song to his children as he rocked them to sleep in the rocking chair!
2. How Great Thou Art - Scott’s favorite!
3. I Need Thee Every Hour - When Sundy was struggling with depression, this song would often come to her mind. It helped her get through some of the tough days.
4. I Know That My Redeemer Lives - What a great song to sing when wanting to share a personal testimony! We DO know that our Redeemer Lives!
5. Amazing Grace - Sundy wants this one sung at her funeral by an African-American “born-again” choir - you know the type?!
6. Come, Come Ye Saints - The ultimate LDS hymn! It makes us proud of our heritage!
7. Home Can Be a Heaven On Earth - Scott picked this one.
8. Love At Home - Sundy created an ac capella arrangement of this song when she was in college.
9. There Is Sunshine In My Soul - Scott says this song is about Sundy since her nickname is Sunshine!
10. Lord, I Would Follow Thee - Lori Haskin had to sing this song for church recently. When she asked Sundy for some help with the arrangement, they looked closely at the simple, but profound words, and realized what a gem this song was! Especially the 2nd verse!

Anthem's Got Talent

Tonight was Anthem's first annual talent show. As stated in a previous post they made it through the preliminary round to be able to perform tonight. There was tons of great talent, but the best was Kiara and Katia. They sang a duet of "From a Distance" by Bette Midler. They did extremely well and looked knock-out gorgeous too. Have a look and a listen for yourself.

Anthem K-8 Science Fair 2009

The girl's school held their annual Science Fair last night at their school. Our young scientists were at it again. They both participated in it and learned a lot in the process. There were several unique projects like if a popsicle melted faster in a clear bag or a white wrapper, if the color of a candle made a difference in how fast they melted, and many others with electricity, plants, and gravity. Kiara's project placed first and Katia's project placed third. They were both really excited and can't wait to do it again next year.

Kiara's project was on how music affects the breathing of a goldfish. She first timmed how many breaths the goldfish took when it was silent and then when rock, country and classical music was playing. She took three samples of each and then found out the average. Suprisingly the goldfish breathes faster when it is silent.



Katia's project was if crystals would grow in different alum solutions and if so which which would grow a bigger crystal. She found out that the three liquids she chose (water, vinegar, and Diet Coke) all grew crystals and that water grew the biggest crystal. She later discovered that all three solutions had some sort of water in them. So maybe next year she'll expand on her question.

The top three in the competition.

The group of contestants.

The Wonderful Science Club Teachers. They are awesome!

A special thank you Papa for giving them some ideas to run with.

Top 10 Famous Paintings

This week we decided to do a top ten of some of our favorite paintings. Art is something we both enjoy, especially paintings of Christ as you can tell from our list.

1. In His Glory by Del Parson - This is Scott’s favorite painting of Christ.
2. The Lord Is My Shepherd by Simon Dewey - Jesus Christ is truly our Shepherd!
3. Living Water by Simon Dewey - This one is Sundy’s favorite painting of the Savior! She wishes she could sit at Christ’s feet and learn from Him!
4. Oh Jerusalem by Greg Olsen - We love that you can see Christ’s concern and love as He looks at His beloved Jerusalem!
5. Split Rock Light by Thomas Kinkade - Scott loves lighthouses! And this one is striking!
6. Snow White Discovers the Cottage by Thomas Kinkade - This GORGEOUS rendition of Snow White makes Sundy wish she was a little girl again and still believed in the magic of fairy tales!
7. Two Girls in the Meadow by Monet - Sundy dreams that the two girls in the meadow are her own daughters!
8. DeGooyer Windmill by Monet - Yes, there is a windmill in Amsterdam named after the DeGooyer family! So Monet’s depiction is kinda special to us!
9. Anything by M.C. Escher - His drawings are very unique and cause you to think!
10. Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough - Thought provoking! And Beautiful! Striking!

Top 10 Television Moms

In honor of Mother's Day coming up this Sunday we decided that we would do famous moms from television. These sure bring back some memories. There are so many to choose from but these were the ten that popped out most to us. Hope you enjoy the music to go along with the list. Happy Mother's Day!!!

1. Samantha Stevens from "Bewitched" - Come on! A mom who can wiggle her nose and magically clean her home has to be #1!
2. Marion Cunningham from "Happy Days" - We miss these days... of course, we weren't even born during these days , but we miss them anyway!
3. Jill Taylor from "Home Improvement" - Can you believe all she had to put up with? Thank heavens we have daughters instead of sons. Just Kidding.
4. Claire Huxtable from "The Cosby Show" - Life would have to be fun in the Huxtable household!
5. Debra Barone from "Everybody Loves Raymond" - The brains of the family! Need we say more?
6. Carol Brady from "The Brady Bunch" - "Here's a story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls."
7. Elyse Keaton from "Family Ties" - OK we chose the mother from "Family Ties" because we (and by we, we mean Sundy) LOVED Michael J. Fox - who played the conservative, business savvy son.
8. Morticia Addams from "The Addams Family" - Raising a family of abnormal people has never looked better!
9. Shirley Partridge from "The Partridge Family" - We like anyone who sings!
10. Jane Jetson from "The Jetsons" - Life would be easier in the future with all the gadgets she had! We had to throw in a cartoon mom.

Good News, Bad News

The past few weeks have had there ups and downs as is with life. Katia's leopard gecko died last Saturday. We had a nice funeral for her and buried her in the backyard close to the garden. Katia put flowers, stones and a big rock with her name on it as a headstone on her grave site. She really grew attached to her gecko. She would read to her and talk to her and play with her. Kleo will be missed. Kleo helped Sundy learn to love reptiles and allow for more in the future.

This week the girls tried out for the talent show that their school is doing on May 14th. They performed a duet of 'From A Distance'. They really practiced hard and sound great. There were almost 70 acts that tried out and they were blessed enough to make it. We will video their performance at the show and then put it on the blog. They were very excited about making it and can't wait for everyone to see it. Stay tuned.