The Art of Life

Happy Three Kings' Day!

2012-01-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

The kids' Three Kings' Day gifts under the tree.

We always keep our tree up until Three King's Day (January 6th). Some years I've missed getting the kids gifts from the magi but was able to pull something together VERY last minute this year. Each bag contains:

GOLD - pieces of gold foil wrapped butterscotch candies (like Werther's) with a card that reads, "GOLD is for royalty. You are the son/daughter of a King!"

FRANKINCENSE - a cool mechanical pencil for the boys and a pretty hair bow for Elizabeth with a card that reads, "FRANKINCENSE for His role as PRIEST. Use this pencil for your scriptures and at church/Here is a pretty bow for you to look your best on the Sabbath."

MYRRH - A fun size 3 Musketeers bar with a card that reads, "3 ~~Musketeers~~ KINGS* brought MYRRH symbolizing Christ's eventual death for us."

*Yes, I know we don't know for sure how many magi came; that the number three was derived from the gifts listed in scripture. But you try to come up with items that would be a fun way to teach this story in 20 minutes from a Wal-Mart in a tiny town!

HAPPY THREE KING'S DAY!

I hope 2012 will find you seeking after that which the magi sought, for if you do, you will find Him.

You've Been Trololol-ed

2012-01-02T20:42:00.001-07:00

Brandon introduced us to the Eduard Khil 'tra-la-la-la-lol' (troll, trolol, etc) video clip tonight. All I could think of while watching, besides that I had heard that song as a child somewhere, probably in West Germany, but I digress.....was this equation: W+B=T

Confused? Keep scrolling.

Welk + Bean = Trololol

See what I mean?

Here are my personal favorite versions of the video. Enjoy!

More Cakes!

2011-12-20T15:10:00.001-07:00

Here are the other cakes I've made this year. I had a lot of fun discovering another creative outlet and I am excited to keep up with our new tradition.

PIONEER DAY 2011

Bonnet cake I made for the stake's Pioneer Day celebration. They did a Beehive House theme, hence the honey bee. It was vanilla cake with wedding icing and marshmallow fondant. The bee is made of mm fondant with gelatin wings.

MATTHEW'S 8th BIRTHDAY

Matthew's requested Super Smash Bros cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate icing covered in marshmallow fondant. Fondant characters, pirouette cookie and graham cracker pagoda, and rice cake tower.

BRANDON'S 13th BIRTHDAY

Brandon asked for a Zelda Tri-Force cake and even designed it himself. Chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and mm fondant.

Matthew: The Rock Star!

2011-12-09T15:31:00.001-07:00

What a great week we've had at the Coles' home this week! After the good news on Tuesday about the art competition Matthew and I went to the Cub Scout's mother/son etiquette dinner. They did this last year with Sam and I love that they were doing it again. Not only did they learn proper dining etiquette, but waltzing, too!

Matthew was such a great date!

Ugh. Not the most flattering photo, but it's the only one that didn't turn out like this:

Notice he didn't even need to watch his feet!

And then today was the school spelling bee, of which I was only informed he would be in yesterday. I gave him a bit of a hard time about the short notice and told him I wasn't sure I could make it. I'm so glad I did because...

HE WON!!!

Matthew being rushed by all the students after the bee was over. I'm one proud momma!!

The bee was for grades 3-5. Matthew is a 'young' (birthday in August) third grader and he beat everyone else in the whole school! He'll go on to compete in the district sometime next month. I had just enough time to run to the store and grab a "You Rock" balloon and some candy before school got out. I took it to the school and everyone was cheering at him and chanting, "This boy rocks!"

His classmates then nominated him to be the Coyote of the Day. It's so nice to see him shine on all his own without his older brothers overpowering him or his little sister stealing the attention. Matthew,

Y O U R O C K!

Art Update: A Christmas Present in My Inbox!

2011-12-06T09:42:00.001-07:00

Look what I received in my inbox upon returning from my workout this morning!!

"Dear Kristal, Thank you for entering the Ninth International Art Competition. We are pleased to inform you that your artwork has been accepted to be juried in the final round of judging. Many of the works in this final round will be chosen for the exhibit."

In case you've forgotten which picture was submitted, it was "Return". CLICK HERE to see it.

There are thousands of individually glued pieces of sand and rock on this piece and I am SO nervous to ship it. Maybe I should drive it up. Sounds like a good excuse for a road trip to me! Doubt the hubs will go for it, though...

Seek The Higher Ground

2011-12-04T18:05:00.001-07:00

I can upload pictures again! Yay!

Our Stake's Boy Scouts did a week-long priesthood encampment this summer with the theme, "Seek the Higher Ground". The deacons tented at base camp, the teachers did rock climbing, and the priests did a high adventure canoe trip. This is the cake I made for our ward's Court of Honor following camp.

The BSA emblem is molded and colored white chocolate against a painted cookie (from the back view it is a sun.) The grass is colored shaved coconut and the canoe is made of rice cereal treat covered in painted fondant. The boys' hair and white water are made from buttercream icing and EVERYTHING else is fondant. All the fondant is "marshmallow fondant".

The back side of the cake.

The boys up close.

I'll be posting the others cakes I've done since June shortly!

Art Update: Return

2011-10-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished and submitted my entry for the art competition (click HERE to see where I started for it)!!!

I have lots of pictures of the artwork in progress that I had intended to post and keep everyone updated as the process went along. Unfortunately, we've not been very computer fortunate lately. So a BIG "Thank You!" to my friend, Kathryn, for getting my pictures uploaded for me. And while I'm doling out the gratitude let's not forget Amy for the recycled wood, Lisa for being willing to try to understand what goes on in my head and always cheering me on anyway, and Chris and the kids for putting up with me this week!

"Return"

24" x 48" Mixed Media; acrylic, paper, rocks, and sand on wood and plexiglass

Artist Statement

and

detail images

first detail submitted of "Return"

"Throughout history salmon have been symbols of man’s mortal journey. Starting life in the peaceful, clean waters of their progenitors they are sent forth to the turbulent oceans to mature and eventually return, swimming upstream. Each salmon is naturally compelled to return and as they do their appearances change. They struggle but persevere, using the undercurrents to propel themselves on.

second detail submitted of "Return"

"We are each born with the Light of Christ to guide us back to our Father. Our trials will make us stronger and our countenances will reflect that Light. We are then able to help others recognize that the joy they are naturally compelled to seek after is in the Pure and Living Water, even Jesus Christ."

Back to School

2011-08-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is Elizabeth's first year of school, Sam's first year of middle school, and my first year alone! And....

....they're off!

Art Update

2011-06-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Remember that artist's block I mentioned last month? Well, I *think* it has passed! I am fairly certain I know what I will be doing for the Church's art competition.

I knew I wanted to do something water-related. I haven't been able to shake the concept of a drop of water creating a ripple-effect. I've been circling around using this pattern for a while and I like that it's not an exacting ripple, though I'm not totally opposed to concentric cirles as well.

I also really like the symbolism of salmon instinctively knowing where "home" is, working their way upstream, their bodies physically changing as they return to pure water. Not to mention the nod to Alaska.

I am so excited to start buying lumber and paints so I can get started!

Celebrating Chris

2011-06-24T06:00:00.003-07:00

My husband, Chris, is a pretty creative guy. He writes music, plays the piano, and invents games. When he was in college way back in the '90's he recorded many of his songs onto cassette tapes {remember those?}with a Walkman placed on top of a piano. High-tech, no? The purpose was just to get them recorded before they were forgotten because he never actually writes down his scores - he keeps them all in his head. So the quality of the recording wasn't very important at the time.

Chris on Father's Day 2011

The tapes are now a favorite of my oldest son and I imagine the mp3 files we've made from them will likely be a cherished by all of as a family heirloom. So in honor of all those songs and their composer I made him a cassette cake for his birthday last month.

Cake covered with buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant. The cogs are snipped pieces of marshmallow and the writing was done with cake pens.

Chris treats the games he creates in much the same way he does his music. He'll spend hours playing with the kids to tweak rules but then rarely takes the extra step to share them with others. He's made everything from yard games to card games. Lately he's been playing a game he created on old cards that he re-purposed. He and the boys seemed to have worked most of the bugs out last month so I decided THAT would be his Father's Day gift.

Brandon and Sam explained all the rules to me so I would know what the game needed. They had been calling it "Throwdown" since you throw down cards but we changed the name to "Attack and Stack". It was easier for me to work with graphically, is a better representation of the game, and doesn't conjure up images of WWF or Miley Cyrus.

After designing the cards and logo I published the cards for the game through Heritage Makers with my friend, Kathryn. I special ordered dice from {where else?} Vegas and found the perfect little box to put it all in, 'Rules' sheet included!

We sat down for Sunday dinner on Father's Day and had him open his cards and gifts. We LOVE games in our family so it's not uncommon to receive a game as a gift. He thanked us and put it aside. The kids giggled uncontrollably as I suggested he read the rules for the game, right then and there. The "huh?" look on his face was priceless. I wish I had videoed his reaction when he finally realized that it was his game!

Chris loved the new name and graphics. He couldn't stop looking at everything and asking questions about how we pulled it off. We played twice that day and again the next day. I even got a text on Tuesday AGAIN thanking me and stating:

Neat Bedding

2011-06-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Ever try making a bunk bed? How about a TRIPLE bunk bed?

It takes forever and it seemed to me that I would work up more of a sweat making the beds than working out. I would end up looking very much like poor Alexander on his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And for what? The next morning the only thing left on the beds with any semblance of order would be the fitted sheet.

So I thought to myself, "Why not give the top sheet and blanket fitted corners at the foot of the bed, too?"

An Internet search brought me HERE, where I learned I wasn't as clever as I had thought - someone had beat me to the idea! However, seeing as I already had sheets and am capable of a *few* basic sewing skills I decided to make the inseparable sheets from what I already had - for the bunk beds and Elizabeth's bed.

The standard twin size comforter is way bigger than most bunk beds need and you wind up tucking in nearly a third of it. I wanted my kids to be able to make their own beds without needing a forklift to raise the mattress and shove yards of blankets underneath. So I cut it down, saved the extra fabric for some other projects, and used the removed binding to clean up the look of the new fitted corners.

The best part is: I don't have to make the beds anymore! This made it so easy that the kids just have to pull up on the top, smooth it out, and they're done!

If you would like to make your own click HERE for a plethora of "how to" websites on making fitted sheets corners. Don't forget to account for a body in the bed when taking measurements if you choose to do the inseparable version from above or if you cut your blanket/sheet smaller!!

Sam is Eleven!

2011-06-13T14:12:00.001-07:00

I'm still playing catch up but I'm getting closer to having this blog up to date...

In April Sam turned eleven. He's been into skateboarding lately and after seeing Elizabeth's cake he had his own request: a Plan B skateboard. That was his only theme-type request. All he wanted after that was to play at the park with all his friends.

The idea for the cake came from Family Fun's website. Instead of just frosting I used a thin layer of butter cream icing and marshmallow fondant. The letters, trucks (hardware that holds the axles), and tiny screws are made of fondant. The axles are fondant covered pretzel rods and the wheels are mini chocolate covered donuts wrapped in the Kroger version of Fruit by the Foot. I added chocolate jimmies {a.k.a."sprinkles" to the non-New England linguist} and green and silver sugar crystals to the Plan B logo "B" to make it stand out.

Turning eleven means moving up from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Sam was presented with the Arrow of Light award during a special recognition and cross over ceremony in May. We are so proud of you, Samma-lamma-ding-dong!

Turning 5 is the Bee's Knees!

2011-06-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

I do not go "all out" for birthdays. My boys don't usually want a theme and even if they do they usually want to keep it to the invite. They are all for just a plain cake and time to go crazy with friends.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, has been to a few parties with themes and was itching for her 5th birthday to come around so she could have her first big girl party...theme, games, special cake and all! In March she got her wish...

Her nickname is Lizzy B, or Lizzy Bee if you will, so that's where we started. What? Doesn't every mom create a custom clip art graphic for their child?

Honeycomb-ed it up

to create the perfect Queen Bee outfit, complete with {poorly}homemade black sparkly tutu.

Brandon helped with the welcome.

The party we started by playing musical chairs and darn it if I couldn't find my CD with Flight of the Bumblebee on it! George Winston's Linus & Lucy filled in just great, though! When someone got "out" they were rewarded with their goody bag,

one for the Queen Bee and six for her friends!

Inside they found something to make them bee-utiful and something for the next game...

"Honeycomb Hopscotch"!

Also in their goody bags was a sandwich bag containing the parts to make a "Buzz-oo".

Then it was time for cake!

You can find the directions for this beehive cake at Family Fun and the recipe for the icing at AllRecipes.

I think everyone had a wonderful time.

Especially Lizzy Bee!

School's Out!

2011-06-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

The last day of school was last Tuesday, May 24th. I took the kids to get our traditional "Last Day of School Freezoni" at QT and had the boys toast to summer for a picture. Brandon, in true always-too-cool-for-pictures manner, refused to smile {though I give him full credit for posing at all for something so cheesy!} So I told Sam and Matthew to give him a poke. I LOVE this picture!

24 May 2011; last day of second, sixth, and fifth grade for Matthew, Brandon, and Sam, respectively

I had forgotten all about the toast and the picture in our rush to get Brandon ready for his first week long Scout encampment. He left on Monday and will be back tomorrow afternoon. And while I've enjoyed how quiet the house has been, how well the other children have gotten along, and a full pantry while he's been away seeing his smiling face pop up in my camera viewer today made me very happy he'll be back soon.

Photo Organization

2011-05-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Did I forget to mention last summer that Sam made the city's Little League All-Star Team?!

Slugger Sam, #1

Or that Brandon was the tallest kid on his summer basketball team, maybe even the league?!

Brandon dominated rebounds in 2010

Or that Matthew was finally allowed to play a sport (we set a minimum age in our family for spending money on activities) this past winter?!

Matthew, #3 (he said he picked that number because he's boy #3 in our family)

Or how about that Elizabeth LOVES having the chance to be the boss of someone?

Meet Scout, the three year old chihuahua mix Santa rescued from the shelter

Well, since I forgot, it's a good thing I have a way to keep all those digital photos organized so I could mention them all!

Yep, good thing. Now to be smart and get some way of protecting them. Like an external hard drive. Baby steps...baby steps.

Art Update: Coming Soon...

2011-05-28T06:00:00.001-07:00

It's that time again! Five months ago I thought I knew exactly what I'd be doing for the Ninth International Art Competition. Now, I keep getting artist's block.

The theme is:

“Make Known His Wonderful Works”

“Pray unto the Lord, call upon his holy name, make known his wonderful works among the people.”

(Doctrine and Covenants 65:4)

If you have any ideas, I'm open to suggestions!

Here's a reminder of what you may have seen from me if you visited the exhibit at the LDS Conference Center in 2009 or turned to page 43 of the September 2009 Ensign...

To see the whole picture again or read about the symbolic explanations, click HERE.

Brandon Turns Turned 12

2011-05-27T06:00:00.001-07:00

To illustrate just how long it's been since I've been able to blog AND access my photos at the same time:

Brandon turned 12 in October!

{um, yeah....2010}

Playing video games at his party.

The guitar was one of his gifts. Chris came down the stairs playing "Happy Birthday" with it.

Twelve is a big milestone for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It means leaving Primary during Sunday School and meeting with the youth (no more "baby songs"!) For boys, it also means being ordained with the Aaronic priesthood.

Grandpa and Grandma Coles flew down to participate in and witness his ordination. I wish I had thought to take a picture BEFORE Brandon changed out of his shirt and tie. *sigh*

Typically church dances have a minimum age of fourteen. But the Halloween dance is for twelve and up and he just made the cut off! He was excited to go but his friend, Jacob, later told me he refused to dance with anyone...

Halloween Dance; "Link" costume he made himself, and "Facebook" gag stolen from NBC's The Office.

...even though there were a lot of girls that wanted to! This boy is too handsome for his own good.

Yep, that's eyeliner! He was very specific that Link has 'eyeliner'. It was even more amusing the next day when he couldn't figure out how to get it off and went on his first Scout camp out with make-up on.

I'm glad he's not in too much of a hurry to grow up!

Fit for a Princess

2011-05-10T06:00:00.001-07:00

**Insert Royal Fanfare Here**

We finally have at least one room completed in our "new" {we've been here two years} home!

Elizabeth's princess bedroom.

When we were looking at this house I immediately pictured a castle mural around this window. At the time the entire room was Smurf blue. But I knew it would be just right for Matthew and Elizabeth. It was one of those 'how I knew this was the house for us' moments. Of course, we've now been here so long that Matthew has moved into the older boys' room, changing my plans of aged castles and dragons to turrets and princesses.

Every princess needs a canopy.

I've had my eye on this canopy ever since my first trip to the IKEA store five years ago. And what princess wouldn't want a pink monogram higlighted with gold above her balcony?

I just love when so many colors and patterns actually work together!

These fabulous curtains and sheers also came from IKEA. I don't think you can look at them and NOT be happy. I love that they'll easily adapt to a more mature design when she grows out of fairy tales.

A little bit of the Smurf blue remains, but where it belongs...on Smurfs!

This collection is from when I lived in West Germany as a child. They are not in mint condition. It's not that sort of collection. These are for playing with. It makes me so happy to see my children enjoy something that brought me joy as a child {thanks for keeping them all those years, Mom}! Perhaps when she gets married I will lend her one to carry in a hidden pocket to cover the somethings old, borrowed, and blue.

Creating the border

Apparently wallpaper is pretty hard to find. Gone are the days of flipping through huge sample books. Where have I been and when did that happen?! I needed something to divide the pink and green and a chair rail was just too expensive. I thought of just painting a white band but I didn't think that would look quite right. And the few borders I could find were licensed cartoon characters. No thanks.

Then, while I was once again staring down said pathetic options at my local Wal-Mart, an older gentlemanly employee came to my rescue and introduced me to wall paper glue. He told me it would glue any paper to a wall. That was all I needed to hear! I found this gift wrap at a dollar store and bought three rolls, just in case. Turns out I only needed one. Voila! A border for less than a buck! Imagine all the fun decals you could use this for!

"A home for everything, and everything in its place."

Everything has a place and she is so good about keeping it neat most of the time. About two weeks ago she came to me and said, "Mom, I have too many toys. I need to give some to other kids so they can play with them and so my room can be clean." What five year old talks like that? I love that girl!

Pictures of Christ, the LDS Salt Lake Temple, and our family.

"And they all lived happily ever after." Well, at least that's what we're workings towards. After all, isn't that the promise of a 'Forever Family'? I painted this reminder and included these pictures to help remind Elizabeth that she has a divine nature and is truly the daughter of a King, a princess preparing for her 'happily ever after'.

Editable Primary Roster Excel File - Free Download

2011-05-09T06:00:00.004-07:00

You may have noticed that I dropped from the blogosphere late last summer. It is no coincidence that that is when I was called to be our ward's Primary secretary. That, on top of everything else, left me with very little time - or energy - to blog.

I was not required to serve in this position very long, only a few months as opposed to the few years one usually holds that calling. So now, after short sabbatical to recover from the time and energy required of that, I am back to blogging!

To kick it off I am sharing the thing that kept me sane during my time as a Primary secretary: my Primary Roster Excel file. Anyone who has had the task of tracking 100+ Primary children knows organization is key. This file will keep your Primary more organized than you ever dreamed (at least it did for me!)

When I was handed the responsibility I was given lots of paper files, each one to track the same children in a different way or for a different purpose (ie by class for one, by birthday for another, etc). It was difficult for me to wrap my head around everything that way and so I created a spreadsheet where I could track each child on one screen by name, family, birth date, age, class, and date of advancement if applicable.

**To download the editable Excel file click HERE
(this will take you to 4shared, a free file sharing website).**
*6 Jan 2012 UPDATE: The previous link had been inactivated. As of this date this link is current. Please contact me at kristalsblog at yahoo dot com if you have any problems with this link*

When I created this file I had no intention of sharing it, only to help myself get a hold of a daunting task. So, of course, it was made to my needs at the time. You can add to or delete however will best help you. Below you will find explanations for how things are set up and the formulas used.

The Key

At the top of the spreadsheet you'll notice the key. Currently it shows "P = Prayer S = Scripture T = Talk LA = Less Active * = No longer in Sharing Time º = Official records in another ward"

Prayer, scripture, and talk columns keep track of not only who has given them, but who has been asked to.

"No longer in Sharing Time" - After a child turned 12 I would place the asterisk after their name in the 'Name' field (see J6) to indicate that they still needed to be on the class rolls, but would no longer receive assignments for Sharing time.

"Official records in another ward" - We had enough children of divorce or attending with grandparents on a regular basis that I decided to include this. The degree symbol (made by holding done the Alt key, typing 167
on the keypad, then releasing the Alt key) was also placed after the child's name. If there were other notes I would include them in parenthesis (see J8). The purpose of this was to include children in assignments as part of our ward family even though their names were not able to be counted because their records were elsewhere. This could also apply to non-members that attend regularly.

The "Advance" Column

This column includes the formula that calculates the exact date a child will advance.

The formula for determining when a child will turn 12 and advance to Young Men or Young Women is:

=DATE(YEAR(C6)+12,MONTH(C6),DAY(C6))

with C6 being the field where their birth date has been entered.

The formula for determining when a child when turn 8 and be eligible for baptism and participation in the Cub Scout and Activity Day programs is:

=DATE(YEAR(C6)+8,MONTH(C6),DAY(C6))

with C6 being the field where their birth date has been entered.

The formula for determining when a child when turns 18 months and can be in nursery is:

=DATE(YEAR(C143)+1,MONTH(C143)+6,DAY(C143))

with C143 being the field where their birth date has been entered.

The "Class" Column

This is one of those things I did for my benefit. There's probably a better to do it and if you know what it is you can share in the comments.

To be able to sort by class I added a ghost letter before the name of each class. "A" was added to the oldest class, Valiant 11, "B" to the next class, and so on all the way down to Pre-Nursery (PN). Simply type "A Val 11" and highlight ONLY the 'A'. Change the font color of the 'A' to white. Done!

*6 Jan 2012 UPDATE: After some more use of this program I have learned that you could also have ghost numeric system to help sort. In place of letter prefixes use three-digit numbers, starting with 001. I would recommend using increments of 5 or 10 (ie 001, 005, 010, 015, etc) to leave yourself room if you need to add a class later. This way you will not need to rename all the subsequent classes to keep them ordered. For example: [A Val 11] and [B Val 10] would now be [001 Val 11] and [005 Val 10]. If you needed to add another Valiant 11 class it would look like [001 Val 11A], [003 Val 11B], [005 Val 10].*

The "Birthday" Column

Not to be confused with the "Bday" column, this is where you'll need the child's birth date in MM/DD/YYYY formate for the formulas to work.

The "Age 1/1" Column

This column shows what the child was/will be as of January 1st of a given year to determine class placement. For this example the year is 2011 and the formula for this field is:

=DATEDIF(C6,"1/1/2011","y")

with C6 being the field where their birth date has been entered.

The "Age Now" Column

This column shows the child's age in years and months. It is automatically updated whenever the file is opened. It is somewhat superfluous since you have the date of advancement but it helped me to be able to see the ages.

The formula for determining a child's age in years and months as of TODAY is:

=DATEDIF(C6,TODAY(),"y")&" y "&DATEDIF(C6,TODAY(),"ym")&" m"

with C6 being the field where their birth date has been entered.

The "P", "S", "T", and "LA" Columns

Tracking child assignments and less actives.

When a child was given an assignment and they were able to fulfill it, I entered the # of the month they did it. For example, in row 8, that child gave the prayer in February, the scripture in March, and the talk in January

If they were asked to do something and weren't there for whatever reason I used a strike system. A "/" indicated one strike. An "X" indicated two strikes. A "☼" (Alt code 15) indicated three strikes.

Three strikes did not mean they were not able to have assignments anymore. It was a way for me to keep track how how often they were asked, mostly so parents wouldn't be annoyed with excessive repeated requests.

The Less Active column was updated on the last Sunday of each month. As I went through the rolls I would mark a red "X" next to each child's name who had not attended at least once. Doing this allowed me to sort so I could quickly give the Primary President a list of those children and also to give the ward clerk the report of active children (row # of last child listed in youngest Primary class, not nursery, - row # of last LA child listed = number of children aged 3-11 as of January 1st attending at least once during the given month).

The "Bday" Column

Why a "Bday" column when there's already a birth date listed? For sorting purposes only. Again, I'm sure there must be a way to sort the "Birthday" column so it will display in order properly, but I couldn't figure it out. So my solution was to add this column. Be sure to include the apostrophe just before the three letter month and Excel will sort the birthdays in order. This was used to know who had birthdays in a given month and was copy and pasted into our newsletter.

***

The rest should be self-explanatory. There are tabs at the bottom for Cub Scouts and Activity Days. I also had a tab for teachers, sharing time rotation, and a substitute list. Add whatever makes it work for you. If you have any questions or better solutions you'd like to share, please leave a comment. I hope this can help other Primary leaders as much as it helped me.

*6 Jan 2012 UPDATE: The file has three instructional comments in blue (one at the top of the worksheet in each tab.) These are just to serve as reminders and can be deleted without altering the function of the roster.*

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

Four generations: Elizabeth, the only daughter of Kristal, the only daughter of Edith, the only daughter of Beryl.

Happy Mother's Day, from our family to yours!

Art Update: Go Deo Muintir (Forever Family)

2010-12-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

(pronounced Guh Dyo Min-cher; Irish Gaelic)

“The family relationships we have here on this earth are important, but they are much more important for their effect on our families for generations in mortality and throughout all eternity...

...The plan of the Father is that family love and companionship will continue into the eternities. Being one in a family carries a great responsibility of caring, loving, lifting, and strengthening each member of the family so that all can righteously endure to the end in mortality and dwell together throughout eternity.” Robert D. Hales, Oct 1996, The Eternal Family

This piece was specially commissioned for the Henderson (Neill) family. As a reminder of the temple and their ancestry the image is taken from a portion of the frieze along the upper architecture of the Mesa Temple. The frieze represents a grand parade of converts leaving their old homes and gathering to Zion.

The portion below shows an emigrant ship arriving in America. The figure at the rear is a Scotsman in kilt and tam o’shanter; the other three are Irish converts and are gathering their belongings aboard ship. (Learn more HERE.)

In the background is a carved Irish eternity knot, shaped like an eternal family tree. The knot was carved from a single piece of wood, truly having no beginning nor end. It has eight points referencing the eight immediate family members of the Henderson family.

Kristal Coles art trivia: I messed up my own signature on this piece, making the "E" in Coles larger than I normally do! Maybe someday that tidbit of trivia will make someone lots of money...

Crazy Hair Day 2010

2010-11-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to give these two haircuts for about two weeks now but I've been putting it off for today. It's really hard to do CrAzY hAiR with a buzz cut!

Sam has a checkerboard. The red squares are shaved off and painted. This is what he asked for - I think it looks kinda mangy :/

Matthew has a dinosaur with it's tail running up into a mohawk. You can't really see it but there is a stripe shaved just under the mowhawk.

Now THAT's CrAzY hAiR ! Guess who's finally getting haircuts after school today...

Happy Birthday to Matthew

2010-08-04T21:30:00.003-07:00

This is what it looks like when you get exactly what you've asked for for your birthday! Matthew requested a plant, a Pokémon book and cards, a soccer ball (he'll be starting soccer this fall), a long rubber snake, plastic animals, sunglasses, Wii games and such, some other random but predictable 7-year-old-boy-type stuff, and a Vectron Wave {whatever THAT is!}.

We weren't able to find just the right sunglasses in our mad dash at the store and I'm starting to wonder if the Vectron Wave isn't the ol' ask-for-something-outrageous-as-a-bargaining-tool-so-it-looks-like-you're-settling ploy. Either way, it was so fun to see him so happy! He's always been such an appreciative boy.

Happy birthday, Matthew!

First Day of School

2010-08-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Summer PSA, Coles-style

2010-07-20T07:41:00.024-07:00

This week is the annual Coles family reunion. This year Chris' sister, Heidi, is in charge and has asked each sibling to send in a music video with their family. We aren't able to be in Utah this year with everyone so we sent this video to make especially sure they would miss us and our happy faces sufficiently.

It was filmed at one of our local pools with kids from our ward. We had a ton of fun playing in the sun and splashing around to Bryant Oden's Please Don't Pee in the Pool!