First Day of School 2012

It's hard to believe that summer break is done and the kiddos are back in school already. They were ready to head back. Me- well, I love having them around in the summer to go have adventures, or be homebodies and just relax. But, I do enjoy the change of pace that comes when school starts again- more structure, a cleaner house, and a little more solitude for myself. Here's to another school year!

John, Jared and Noah.  They weren't thrilled to hold the signs, but they love their mother and didn't grumble too much.

Cool kids.

After years of attending different schools for various reasons, we're glad our good friends the Clarks are back in the same schools as our kids. Now we can carpool again- woohoo! Evan and Jared have been besties since they were beating each other up in church nursery. Noah and Taylor were born 3 days apart, and we joke that if she and Noah were to get married her name would be Taylor Taylor:) And Courtney's just one of the nicest girl I know.

Reading

I love that my kids love to read- I took these yesterday just minutes apart. Noah's on top of the fort in the back yard, and John's all cozy on the couch. 

Haircut

So, Noah's needed a haircut for awhile now. He had this weird little bald spot right in front, so I made him grow it out before I'd cut it. It really has been bugging him to have it 'long' but I thought it was kinda cute.


BEFORE:



IMMEDIATELY AFTER:



AFTER A SHOWER AND SOME HAIR GEL:


Haircut=happy boy!

We're Still Alive, I Promise. ANNOTATED

Brooke here! The reason my mom hasn't posted in almost a year is because she's too awesome for her own good. (She's too kind. The reason I haven't posted in almost a year is because I'm good at making up excuses not to post, like I don't have good pictures of what I want to blog about, or just plain procrastination.) The family is in a perpetual state of motion--they start before dawn and work/school/practice/perform/host/teach/help/serve/etc until they drop well into the night.(This is pretty much true. But whose family isn't busy?)So here's a quick update of what everyone's up to. (As far as I can tell, anyway. They don't call me anymore. (We do too call, just not as often as she'd like.))

Dallin has most of his college applications in and is auditioning for North Texas University today.(He did great! Chris and I sneaked into the foyer where we could hear after he'd gone into the audition room and were soooo proud of our French horn playing son! Turns out his auditioner (is that a word?) knew one of Chris's music professors at BYU.)  He survived the craziest semester imaginable and otherwise laughs in the face of stress. He was brass captain of the Regiment this year and he and John both marched in the Rose Parade this year. (We went to see it live-my first time ever- and it was awesome!)

John is still obsessed with band and plays first alto in the Stage Band. (He's auditioning on Tuesday for Wind Symphony, so he plays classical, too. Although he really prefers jazz.) He has great teachers (I would know, I had half of them at his age) and is otherwise awesome.

Jared is a...blue(?) (nope. green) belt in karate now and returned to public school this year. He's a sixth grader and clearly the smartest kid in his class. (True. But he's humble about it. He made the million word club, and has a goal to read 3 million words by the end of the school year.)

Noah is also at the public school and is probably the most well-spoken third grader in the country. (Well, maybe not the entire country, but he's not shy to talk to anyone about pretty much anything.) His AYSO team made the playoffs (will this season ever end they win?) and he can talk soccer all day long (as long as you don't bring up famous teams or players).

My parents are still working hard at their callings (Dad's in the bishopric and Mom's YW President) and manage to get everyone where they need to be on time. They still look too young to be married for almost 21 years.(Has it only been 21 years? It seems like forever- and I mean that in a good way!)

That's all I can think of for now, and Mom can fill in the rest. (Thanks for updating, Brooke! Feel free to continue, and I'll edit where necessary:)

December Happenings and Happy 2009

December was a memorable month! Birthdays, the Nativity art and music festival, Elizabethan dinner, a car accident, illness, and of course, Christmas.


Noah and I are one year older and wiser. (I think I'm just older, but Noah's definitely wiser.)

Brooke experienced her 4th and final Elizabethan dinner as part of the Upland High School choir program. Brooke was happy to be a quadrant leader for the servants for the 3rd year. Her friend Gigi was the queen this year--you can see her in the picture below.

The show always ends with the Madrigals dressed in royal garb singing Silent Night with candles they light as they sing, and then blow out all together at the end. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of the Savior.

Then there's the 16th Annual Christmas Art and Music Nativity Festival that is sponsored by our stake--it's a sight to behold. Thousands of nativity scenes, hundreds of performers, and a really fun children's activity room. Another great way to celebrate and remember the real meaning of the Christmas season!




Chris was in a minor car accident, which injured his lip. This was really bad timing, as he was supposed to play his trumpet with a couple of guys the very next day, and also the day before Christmas Eve. He's fine now, but his lip was pretty grusome for awhile. The picture shows his lip before stitches. He got slammed from behind by a drunk driver, which pushed him into the car in front of him and set the air bags off. The bag beat him up! Fortunately, no one else was hurt, even though the guy took off and hit another car going the other direction. (The only other thing that marred our month a little was this awful virus that gave us all searing sore throats, stuffy, then runny noses, a nasty, phlegm-y cough, and NO energy. I wish I could blame that on not sending out Christmas cards, but alas, I can't.)


And last, but certainly not least, we enjoyed Christmas! My camera was set wrong, so none of our pictures of the kids opening anything came out, so all you get is the tree. It was pretty nice having everyone home from school and Chris around a little more than usual. We had a kick-back morning just enjoying our gifts, and then we headed to Chris's parents house in the afternoon for more laid-back fun. The kids always enjoy running around and playing with all of their cousins, and wii, and being outside. Ahh, if only Christmas break could have lasted for one more week! Oh well, on to 2009!

Trains

Jared and Noah had a blast with the train set the other day. Noah was especially persistent in figuring out how to do a track that had some elevation while getting creative with the pieces he had. Here are the results!

Disney Dinner

Recently our ward young women put on a fundraiser dinner featuring a Disney theme.

John's a pirate in this picture. He's after Sir Mitchell, who's Dallin's age.

Brooke loved playing the part of Snow White, and did a great job. Happy and Dopey were adorable, too, though I am a bit biased. Cinderella, Prince Charming, Pocahontas, and Mulan were there, as well, along with princesses in training, knights, and pirates.