Extra Mile Youth Award

Mr. Gauchay is the principal at Falls Valley. He called me the other day and told me he was nominating Bailey for the Extra Mile Youth Award. It's an award given to kids in the community who go above and beyond, or go the 'extra mile' in all they do. They held a banquet to honor the kids who were nominated. Mr. Gauchay and Mrs. White (Falls Valley counselor) even came to the banquet to support her. It was so nice of them! Bailey has had a great elementary school experience, and it's people like them who have helped make that happen.  She was grateful and honored to get the award. Thank you Mr. Gauchay!

Jay Hildebrandt was the host, so he read a tidbit about Bailey while she went up to receive her award. This is what it said:

Bailey Varvel is a young lady of unique talent and ability. While there are many who exceed expectations, occasionally, Falls Valley Principal Tom Gauchay says, "it is apparent that this 6th grader goes above and beyond what is expected of her at all times and is driven to pursue excellence in every aspect of her life by expanding her education, developing her talents, and serving her community." One of the reasons her principal says he nominated Bailey, is because as their school's first student body president, she has shown tremendous leadership skills, as she has taken the initiative to effectively guide her council members in coordinating student activities and sharing responsibilities. He says she has established many positive precedents for those who will hold the office in the future. Bailey is also an honor student, has perfect attendance, and is often seen reaching out to other students, making sure that they feel included and welcome at school. Bailey is a talented young lady who is willing to share her talents with others. She recently thrilled audience members at the school's talent show by singing while accompanying herself on the guitar. She voluntarily shares these gifts with residents of a local assisted living center. Bailey also serves with a community youth group and volunteers her time to visit a home for mentally disabled adult women. Certainly the positive impact Bailey has on the lives of these individuals will be realized for years to come.

Good job Bailey! We're so proud of you! Just keep on being you :)!

Easter!

Easter was great this year. I thought since the kiddos were older, we wouldn't have to color eggs, and go through the whole egg hunt and stuff. I was wrong! How dare I even suggest that we break from tradition?!? They wanted all the usual fun, so that's what we did. The kids woke up to their Easter baskets on Sunday morning. Then, they hunted for eggs around the house. On a side note, they are TERRIBLE at finding eggs! It took them forever, and they still needed my help. We didn't even hide them that hard either! Then, it was off to church. Bailey is in the choir, and they sang several songs for sacrament meeting. They did a great job. She also had a really cool young women lesson- she said it was her favorite so far! Then we came home to a yummy dinner, and watched one of the movies that Sawyer got in his Easter basket.

Easter baskets! Ignore their crazy hair...Sawyer refuses to get a haircut just to annoy me, and Bailey had a ponytail the night before. They looked nice for church, but too bad I didn't take any pictures of that :)!

Bailey LOVES Hank Smith, so she got his remaining three CDs that we didn't already own.

Sawyer got 3 silly church movies. The RM, and the first and second Singles Wards.

Egg hunt!

We always put money in some of the eggs. We usually divide about $10 up between some of the eggs with one dollar bills and quarters. We secretly hope Sawyer will end up with most of the money (because he's poor). I think Sawyer ended up with $2, and Bailey got the rest this year. Figures :)!

We hope everyone had a great, Christ centered Easter!