PBS Writing Contest 2011

Today was a super fun, but super busy day for us! We started out with our normal Saturday deep house cleaning, then moved on to a service project with United Way, and then we headed up to Lehi for the PBS Writers Contest Award ceremony.

Teagan the sixth grader fourth place winner!
Owen was the first place first grader winner!
This year, state is as high as the contest is going because PBS couldn't get any national sponsors. So they already got their stories back and the contest is over. The state PBS station did a good job trying to make the contest prizes good for the winners, and the kids were excited with what they got. Among other things, they both got a $25 college savings bond, coupons to all sorts of fun places that we are hoping to visit this summer, and as a first place winner, Owen won a family membership to Thanksgiving Point! After the awards were handed out they had a magic show that all the kids enjoyed. Garrett even got to go up on stage and be a magicians helper. He was given a free book in return for his helping. Garrett was thrilled that it was a book we didn't have and that he hadn't read before - The Witches by Roald Dahl. Once the whole thing was finished, we were so thrilled that Owen had won the family membership, we decided to go to the Dinosaur Museum right away. We hadn't been for about 3 years, and the kids loved it just as much this time around as they did then! The older kids' favorite part of the museum was the Cretaceous Period where they got to play in the sand and water.


They also loved the digging pit where they got to act like paleontologists. Towards the end of the evening, Emmy started acting really sleepy, so we decided to call it a night and head home.We had such a fun filled day and went home with sleepy, smiling kids. The whole house was riding high and thrilled with the happenings of the day...until the food poisoning set in.

Emmett and Teagan, after we had gotten home, had nibbled on some left over lunch that had set out while we were gone (without Scott and I knowing about it). Some mashed potatoes that had cooked chicken in them. Bad idea, guys! Emmett started throwing up first, and then a little later Tig started. It was a bad way to end such a good day, and a bad way to start Mother's Day! (It's a good thing I love these kids so fiercely!)