Regionals choir

We are so thrilled for Molly that she made Regionals Choir! This was the first year she tried out (still not sure why she didn't try out as a freshman) and she did great. There were only four students who made it from her high school, three girls and one boy. They had four practices and then a fabulous concert. It was amazing!

Vail Pride Day!

Vail Pride Day was Saturday (a very rainy Saturday). We enjoyed the many exhibits.
Chase showed us his artwork:

Ryan and I in front of his artwork:

Reid had work from his middle school science class on display.

Ryan's first grade class had work on display. I loved that he wrote about helping to fold the laundry (especially the towels) and that he helps us by bringing it upstairs.

We enjoyed Reid and Chase's performances with their school choirs.
Austin received an award for having a high ACT test score. He received his award from Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

We also enjoyed a performance from the Cienega's Color Guard. My dad volunteered to work my shift for me selling coffee and pastries benefiting Molly's summer trip to Europe (thanks dad!). We really enjoyed that since my parents are here visiting and they have their motor home at the fair grounds we were able to have their motor home as 'grand central'. It was great!

Young Women Leaders

I've been thinking lately a lot of the different women I have had the privilege to serve alongside within the organization of Young Women. How each one has blessed my life!
Here is a current photo of those I have the blessing to serve with:

Our ward has recently gone through some boundary changes and we have been blessed to have added many young women into our YW family. We currently have 31 Young Women with number 32 joining us in a March! I'm very excited about her turning 12 because I used to be her activity day leader.

With the change in leadership we try to give a token gift to those leaving. In the past we have done tote bags where you can slide photographs into slots on the outside of the bag and we had all the girls and leaders sign the bags. When our Mia Maid advisor was recently released I made this little simple craft for her:

Each of us took a paper and wrote a personalized note on it for her. I love this sort of thing. Love that is in a personal reflection for our love for her.

100 Years of Scouting/Blue and Gold!

We celebrated 100 years of scouting last week at the Blue and Gold banquet!
The evening featured a skit from Chase's troop. The skit they performed was "The Ugliest Man in the World" Chase was the caller of the skit and he did a really great job of speaking loudly so all could hear.
The banquet served soup and salad and each scout was to bring a decorated cake for dessert - Chase chose a caterpillar cake made with cupcakes.
Here he is transporting his cake to the church:


Chase with his Webelos leader:

All of the cakes were so fabulous!

Sahuaro National Park

My parents and I had a wonderful time driving through Sahuaro National Park. It was a gorgeous day so we put the top down on the convertible, drove nice and slow to soak up the views and stopped for photos along the way.

A note to the superintendent

Dear Mr. Baker,

We do not know each other but I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for recognizing the efforts each year of the volunteers for the Vail School district. I recognize that we are in the age of cutbacks and understand that the funds are tight in many areas of education. Thank you for continuing to hold this volunteer luncheon to recognize the many volunteers who make up this Vail School District ‘family’.

I am a parent of five children who are all students within the Vail School District. Thank you for doing your part for continually providing my children with a quality education. My husband and I currently have a sophomore and senior at Cienega High School, a sixth grader at Desert Sky Middle school and a fifth and first grader at Mesquite Elementary.

Our children love their teachers and administration and the pride of being a part of the Vail School District. As parents, we appreciate that our children are welcomed and safe and provided with many learning opportunities. Our children have participated in multiple Vail school district offerings including marching band, choir, foreign language, physical education, the special needs preschool and special education as well as advanced placement courses. They are each excelling academically and socially because of the wonderful environment here in Vail.

A sincere thank you to you and all of the staff of the Vail School District.

Sincerely,

Cori Gubler


Have you ever just wanted to say thanks to someone? Lately I have been trying to follow that prompting more often with a simple note, small gift or the spoken word. This morning I returned from my workout and felt I wanted to say thanks to the school superintendent for all he does on the behalf of the students, staff and families of our school district. Looking back I wish I would have taken more time and expressed myself better (I literally had less than 30 minutes to get home, shower and dress, pen this note, pick up my neighbor and friend and drive to the fairgrounds) but I can say that when I follow a prompting to express my thanks to another I have an understanding that is is indeed o.k. to speak simply.
I had a wonderful time today at the district volunteer luncheon. It was nice to gather with friends from the schools our children attend but also so fun to see friends that volunteer in the many other awesome schools in the district. I felt honored when Mr. Baker shared a portion of my thanks to him with the crowd today. We are so blessed that our children attend Vail schools.

A happy Valentines Day!

James brought me some beautiful red tulips for Valentines day. We also ate out at Zona 78, delicious! We had never been there before but I have wanted to go for years so it was a treat and so yummy. It was a comfortable restaurant but very nice. Then we went to Frost for some gelato, double delicious! I sampled the dark chocolate and the coconut - mmmmm good. Following all the wonderful food we enjoyed the movie Old Dogs with John Travolta and Robin Williams at the cheap theater. A great date!
After church on Sunday I gave the kids each their own box of girl scout cookies and a turn-the-page-a-day-calendar. Of course Ryan got one with puppies, Chase received Are you smarter than a fifth grader?, Reid got Peanuts, Molly one featuring Europe and Austin the comic strip Zits. Molly got earrings and a stuffed valentine heart instead of cookies (her choice).
It was a wonderfully relaxing family day.

They're here!

My parents arrived a week ago from rainy Seattle (although when they got here it was rainy here too!). It is so nice having them here with us!

We took a trip to the Tubac arts and crafts festival last week. It was so nice to be outside, walking around and looking at all the wonderful displays.


We didn't purchase anything (except for some yummy cinnamon almonds!) but we had a wonderful time browsing until the rain began to fall! We decided to leave Tubac and the wonderful displays for lunch at the casino buffet (my first time there).

I'm just bewildered that I have never been to Tubac before and hope to return soon.

New Beginnings - N.B.A. Style!

We had our New Beginnings celebration on February 9. Our theme was all basketball. N.B.A. - New Beginnings Association. We focused on Be Strong! to support the new mutual theme of Being Strong and of a good courage! It was held at the Rita Building gymnasium. I felt the program went really well.
Introductions were done by a member of our bishopric and another brother in the ward.
As the girls were introduced we dimmed the lights, turned on some fun music and twirled our flashlights in the dark and the girls all ran forward and high-fived each other!

The Players (young women)
The Cheer Squad (YW leaders)
The Coaches (Parents)
The Officials (Bishopric)
The NBA Representatives (Stake YW Presidency)

We introduced our new recruits (those that have turned 12 this past year) and those that have joined our team within the last 12 months (those of any YW age group that have moved into our ward). Some were previously interviewed and the laurels told about them on tape.
I loved that we all had matching T-shirts so we looked like were were all on the same team. The shirts have the 2010 mutual theme on them. We will use them throughout the year.

The Beehives presented the YW theme:

Then the beehives presented all in attendance with popcorn (concessions) while the YW leaders did some half-time entertainment (we performed some cheers!):

The Mia Maid class presented the YW Values:

Then we had a slide show of our 2009 activities, followed by the tip-off (coming events for 2010) given by me. I spoke of the coming YW events for 2010.
The YW then performed a song about being Strong and Courageous. They did a great job!
Next up was Clarification of Rules and Guidelines (For the Strength of Youth) talk given by Amy D., our second counselor.
Then we had two player interviews. Two graduating laurels shared beautiful testimonies of their time in YW and how they have enjoyed being a part of this 'team'.
Following that was the Playbook (a talk of the Personal Progress program). We involved two of the parents also and they read from a script telling about the recent changes in the Personal Progress program.
In closing we had the Bishop give the Fourth Quarter Commentary:

Very recently our ward boundaries grew in size and we added more YW to our 'team'. We now have 31 YW and gain three more within the next couple of months. We are excited to have more team members join us as we play in this game called life!

Go ahead and jump!

This is what is taking up this little boys free time lately.
Ryan's first grade class has been focusing on a jumping rope unit during P.E. He is loving showing us his jumping talents.

Prairie Home Companion

I bought James tickets for Christmas to see a live taping of the popular radio show Prairie Home Companion. Saturday was the day! It was a fantastic show. Garrison Keillor is hilarious and I was blown away by the voice talent of Andra Suchy. I could have listened to her sing all night. I loved all the stories and jokes they referenced towards Tucson. A great date!
(photo taken from the top of the parking garage located across the street from the Tucson Arena. If you park on the top you will be there after an event for an entire hour so we enjoyed the setting sun.)

still enjoying this...

greeting from family and friends near and far. I suppose soon they will need to come down and be placed lovingly into our scrapbook (after all it is now February!) but for now they are still be enjoyed.