The Junior/Senior High held their awards assembly the first part of May, considering school gets out May 16th.  Daniel was invited to come.  No wonder, he had a great night receiving many awards for his academics.  This one was for being in the top 10th percentile in at least three of the four national standardized tests.  Daniel's were in General Science, Math, and English.

Their was only four who received the award for the top 10% of his 7th grade class.  As you can see his class consists of barely 40 students in the 7th grade.

Daniel also received the award for being part of the 7th grade quiz bowl team.  They did great at the competitions this year.  They traveled to Chadron, Sidney, Gering, and several others.  The honorable mention was when they won 1st place in Chadron!

Hayden took a family and consumer science course this semester at school.  He learned to make key lime pie.  He made one for our family and I have to say he is quite a chef.  It was really and truly good.  He learned a new tip to get the juice released from the key limes.  You don't need to roll them on the counter, just put them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, the juice with pour out of them.  Great thinking Hayden on that time saving tip.

Look at the fine meringue on top.  Perfect peaks and toasted to perfection on top.  Great job and I can't wait to see some more of your hidden talents in the kitchen; maybe cleanup?

On April 5th, I was able to complete the challenge that our Family History Representative gave the ward in January, to complete 2012 names indexed.  I was truly proud of myself.  I received this award in Sacrament Meeting a couple of Sundays later with two other people.  It is completely addicting!  Now its time to start the next 2012 names. 

 PINEWOOD DERBY 2012

Dalton designed, painted and glued everything to his block of wood to make a coal fired train.  He painted it silver, hot glued the black rocks and added the weights to help it get down the track.  Once he decided to put graphite on the wheels, the train took off.  He won about 7 of 10 races.  All the kids had a good time.  He can't wait until next year, he wants to buy the derby car kit now and get started.  Russell tells him that its one thing to start early but this is way too early.

He really did a good job!

BASKETBALL SEASON FOR DALTON

Dalton played basketball on a Western Nebraska League.  He is getting better all the time.  He loved the basketball hoop that Russell put up in the shop.  There are days that he can be out there shooting for over two hours.

He is number 20, Go Dalton, make the basket.  He made several for his team this year.  They played each Saturday for about 4 weeks.  Now he is playing on a school sponsored team that has only lasted 2 1/2 weeks, the tournament will be this Thursday and Friday (April 26 & 27). 

Math Counts

STATE MATH COUNTS CONTEST IN LINCOLN

We took the boys out of school on Friday the 16th to drive the 6 1/2 hours to Lincoln. We had a fun trip and were able to see many things during the day. It was extremely warm when we arrived in Lincoln, 85 degrees, absolutely beautiful. The picture above is taken on the University of Nebraska at Lincoln campus. It was wonderful to see the tulip trees in bloom.

On Saturday, March 17th was the contest for Daniel. He was chosen to go by his math teacher to participate in the county contest and won 2nd at the Western Nebraska Community College campus a few weeks earlier. The day of the contest in Lincoln was fairly cold. He was glad that he brought his coat.

When the contest was over, Daniel placed 42nd out of 78 contestants throughout the state. We went and got some ice cream on campus, they do not have anything on AGGIE ice cream. We decided to drive all the way home that afternoon. We arrived home at 10pm and enjoyed our time away. It's wonderful to be able to take a family trip like this one and have the school and math counts pay for 95% of the trip. Way to go Daniel!!!

Basketball

Dalton played basketball this year, he loved playing. I love watching him, his ability has gotten better over the past two months of practice and tournaments. He is number 20. He is such a good shooter.
Congratulations Dalton on a great season!

THE KLONDIKE? WHY?

I can not for the life of me understand why anyone would want to sleep in the snow when it is only 8 degrees. Russell, Hayden and Daniel along with the scouts and dad thought it would be fun, especially since it has been the only real winter we've gotten.

Dalton and I had frozen burritos for dinner heated in the microwave and decided to take the boys some hot chocolate since they forgot that. By the time we headed home from the foolishness, the temperature gauge read 8 degrees. That night Dalton prayed that all the scouts would wake up alive in the morning. I said AMEN to that!

I think my boys were ready to come home after breakfast. I packed them an already made omelet with a toasted English muffin on top that all they had to do is warm up by the fire. The Bishop tried to keep up with pancakes for all the boys who forgot their breakfast. The Bishop said to Russell,"Mama sure do take good care of you!" You better believe it!
I still don't see the thrill of a Klondike!!!

Back to the Shop Project

When we returned from Cody, we must have had some fierce winds while we were gone. The roof of the shop had been blown off and the insulation was shredded. Now, its someone elses turn to put it on this time. Thank goodness for insurance. What would have taken us more than a week with NO wind, only took them less than two days with slight wind.

While the roof got replace, Russell was able to focus on getting the lighting parts ordered.

The lighting turned out well, there should be no complaints about the shop being too dark!

The night came and Russell turned on the lights. The shop is a wonderful place to work at night with good lighting. Now the next project is the heating, then it will REALLY be a great place to work when the wind blows.

Mills Family Christmas Party in Cody, Wyoming

We stayed at a beautiful cabin in the hills west of Cody.

There was plenty of room for everybody. Each family had their own bedroom with plenty of beds for each person.

The kids all bring a gift that is age appropriate and the kiddos draw numbers and then choose a gift based on their number, until feelings get hurt because someone steals the gift someone else wants. But everybody goes home with a gift from the cousins.

Dalton and cousin Flint loved swimming in the jacuzzi tub, I don't think the floor loved it as much and they did. They do have swim trunks on.

The adults love the white elephant exchange. Russell took the apple eye pad, and the blue tooth, a sticky blue gem for the tooth. I took a fabulous picture of the Mills' 1980's blue fantasy van framed in silver. What a complete hoot. Dusty was so pleased to have the apple eye pad considering he mentioned getting one all weekend. Doesn't he look good in it?

Russell ended up with the chocolate bar, not bad. I ended up the the trained pet rocks. Couldn't have been happier.

A beautiful picture of the cabin as we left Saturday morning to head home.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun weekend!!!

OUR FAMILY CHRISTMAS

Christmas this year was small and simple. The boys were expecting to see more gifts under the tree at 3 am, but the gifts were more spendy than in years past.

Thank goodness for the boys or the tree would not have made it. They all went and picked out the tree while I was at a young women's presidency meeting. I think they did great! Hayden, Daniel and Dalton all took the time to decorate the tree and our home for Christmas. They are all such great help.

Dalton's favorite gift was the k'nex and his new i-pod. Don't his new pajamas fit so nicely, and no holes to boot. YEAH!!!

Hayden got new pajama pants and a t-shirt, but his favorite gift was a i-pod touch.

Next year Santa will look for pajama pants earlier than December 20th. But, he really seems to like them. The reader of the family loves his kindle.


Now it's time to pack and get ready to head to Cody, Wyoming for the Mills' Family Christmas get together.

Shop Walls:
insulation & metal sheeting

The weather was hard to predict. We had to work very hard when the wind was not blowing, and then go in the house when the wind blew. It was hard to hold the insulation and sheeting up in the wind. The wind and cold weather was the most difficult thing to deal with.

Daniel and Hayden, and sometime Dalton and Me, would hold the insulation from the double sided sticky that was on the bottom metal piece. Then when it was time, they would pull tight and adhere it to the tape at the bottom. Thank goodness Daniels weighs a lot so he could pull it down. He had to use all his strength to pull it down, now if you could just see his face!

Hayden is holding the panel while Russell is up screwing the top into place.

Don't forget the spacer, it all must look uniform. (It's not rust you see on the bottom of the panel, it's dirt, or should we say wet sand.)

Hayden is here pushing the panel into place, while Russell puts the screws in.

The top is screwed in, so no need to push real hard at this point. Just steady it, so the wind doesn't blow it away.

Russell is screwing in a screw at the top.

Here he comes on the snorkel we rented from Cat. This made the project much easier. One screw in the top and then to the bottom to work his way up.

Time for another roll of insulation. Russell would put it on the snorkel, ride to the top, and let go while someone would catch the bottom before it got stuck to the double sided sticky tape that was attached to the bottom and top metal piece.

This is what the insulation looks like from the inside of the building.

The garage doors got put on and now on too the electrical.

Metal Frame

The beams needed to placed just right to make sure that the bolts would fit the pre-drilled holes.
Then the washer and nut go on to hold the beam in place. The wind has been the biggest challenge during this stage.

We needed the help from the John Deere to lift the beams, and from friends. We were grateful to them that they were so willing.

Four by four wood needed to be placed between the braces to help it not to sag. These will be taken out when the exterior sheeting is secured in place.

Russell made this arm for the loader to help place the beams.

A few long 2 by 4 needed to be used to help until the other metal pieces were placed.

Russell is making sure everything is plum before moving on.

We were putting up the cross bars in order for the insulation to have something to rest on. The scissor lift was a lifesaver.

The next step will be the insulation and exterior metal sheeting. So far, so good.