Kyle's Baptism

Kyle was baptized on November 30th, 2013.  Aaron had the opportunity of baptizing him.  It was a very special day for our whole family.  This was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we had just spent two nights up at the cabin at Strawberry with my family.  Aaron's parents came and spent the night Friday night.  It was great to have such wonderful family support!   

Our family in front of the Garland tabernacle where Kyle was baptized

We had been trying to help Kyle prepare for his baptism for several weeks before the big day.  He got a new set of scriptures for his birthday.  We had a really special family home evening the week before, when I got out his little baby blessing outfit and talked about how much (and how quickly) Kyle has grown from an infant to a boy.  It sure flies by!  It has not been a cake walk, and I suspect there will be some challenges along the way, but just as quickly I will turn around and he'll be a man, dressed in a suit and ready to go out into the world.  Scary thought!!  I have heard said before that once a child reaches 8 years old, they're pretty-much the person they are going to be, meaning they've developed their personality, many attitudes and ideas about life that they will carry with them.   I hope that we have prepared Kyle enough to approach the teenage years.  (Not to say there still isn't time to teach and progress...)

Anyway, as I held up that little white infant outfit and compared it to the white jumpsuit he would soon wear, it was a real eye-opener for all of us to see the comparison, and there was a sweet spirit there.   I read a few entries from Kyle's journal that I had written when he was a baby.   It was really touching to think about how sweet and small he was and how much we have grown to love this boy.   We are grateful to have Kyle in our family and love him so much!   We are also so proud of Kyle for his decision to be baptized and know he has desires to choose the right and follow our Savior.  

The following day after Kyle's baptism was fast Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised when Kyle got up to bear his testimony!  This was his first time.  I am glad that he is growing in the gospel and has righteous desires.  

Kyle's 8th Birthday

Kyle's "Skylanders" cakezx

Kyle had his 8th birthday on November 10th.  It was on Sunday so we had a nice day at home together.  We had the primary sacrament program that day at church and my parents came up to visit.  

Kyle has been really into "Skylanders" lately.   It is a video game with fictional characters, creatures with different super powers.  Although we don't feel he is old enough yet to play the game, he wanted to collect a few of the characters so we got him some.  He also got a really fun dragon lego set.  Fortunately, Kyle is really into Legos, and we are happy to let him play those as much as he wants.  

The finished product!

Because it was his big "Number 8", Kyle got to have a party with his friends.   We had 8 boys and one girl come over for a pizza and Lego party.  We had games including lego building with partners, twister, and a fish pond.  Of course, they also got to hit a piñata.  Since Legos was the theme, each kid got legos on their cupcake and lego accessories were the prizes.  It was a lot of fun for the boys!  After about 1 hour and 45 min, I was pretty worn out!  Having that many boys over at once is asking for a lot of energy and craziness!  (Two things got broken before they left, to prove my point...)  But, I am glad that Kyle and his friends had fun!

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a lot of fun this year!  As the kids have grown older, I'm sad to say that my excitement for Halloween is waning...  I know- sad, huh?  It has never really been my favorite holiday.  I mean, what are we celebrating anyway?  Ghosts and goblins?  I know there is some historical significance to the holiday, but it has long since been lost in costumes and trick-or-treating.    Although it is probably my least favorite holiday,  I still try to have fun because I know how much fun it is for my kids.  I think my favorite part of Halloween is the dressing-up.  For some reason, I think that brings out a different side in all of us that is not normally socially acceptable.  It is the one day of the year we can look totally goofy or creepy and we're not going to get a strange look from someone. 

Erika taking time to pause for a picture in the parade.

Heidi and Jared waiting for the parade to start

The kids had fun dressing up for school and doing their "parade" at the end of the day.    The funny thing that I have heard lately is that people have come to Utah from out-of state and commented on how much we celebrate Halloween here compared to other states.  I find that rather odd, considering that we are a predominantly mormon state, and our religion does not focus on evil things.   My sister lives in California and they don't even let the kids dress up at school.  They just go trick-or-treating that night.   Here, we have a ward Halloween party a few days before Halloween, then the kids have a Halloween parade at school, and then go trick-or-treating that night.  It's all for fun, though.  I don't mind it.   The only costume I sewed this year was Erika's "candy corn" costume.  All the others we already had or bought.  

Who is that ninja warrior walking the halls?

The kids also had a really fun time trick-or-treating, too.  Aaron has institute on Thursday, which landed on Halloween, so I was on my own this year.  I took the kids out as early as I could and they didn't want to stop!  It was past their bedtime when we got home and they were all so excited.  Erika and Kyle are approaching the age when they could probably go out for hours- they are all about the candy now.  Heidi was just happy about it all.  Jared was adorable- this was his first year he really got into it.  He walked up to every door and said "trick or treat!"  He was so excited to see all the different pumpkins and decorations at everyone's houses.  The candy was just a bonus, really.     Jordan was a real trooper.  Even though he obviously did not like it, once he got into the stroller all bundled up, he didn't make a peep.  Fun times!

Jordan wasn't very thrilled about dressing up or wearing makeup,
but doesn't he look adorable in the little lion costume?

Joy School

It has been a fun experience for me to teach Jared and a few of his little friends in a "Joy School" class.  I'm not sure why it is called "Joy School" or who started it, but it is basically preschool done by a bunch of moms in their homes.  You can purchase curriculum for the classes or you can just come up with your own, which is what we did.  (Well, one of the moms already had the stuff from a previous year). 

I am already the nursery leader at church and so the kids in my joy school group are also in nursery.  (That just makes it easier because I already know them.)  Joy School is basically glorified nursery to me.  We do snacks, singing time, reading time, crafts, and play time.  The only difference is the focus on academics, learning some letters, shapes, colors, and sight words.  Plus, there are only 4 kids in the group so each mom ends up hosting one week out of each month.     

Can we take one home, mom?

One of my favorite things about joy school has been going on some fun field trips with the kids!  In September we went to the dairy owned by one of the mom's parents.  It is located out in Amalga, kind-of by Benson, Utah. (On the way from Tremonton to Logan).  They have a very large dairy with some pretty amazing technology, including a carousel milking barn where they cows step in and go around a circle while milking.  I am not sure who had more fun on the tour- Me, or Jared.  I was pretty-much giddy walking around that farm.  I would have LOVED growing up there!  We got the whole tour, including the chance for the kids to feed the baby calves.  At the end we got to sample some of the milk and cheese they make there.  They are the show farm for Gossner's cheese factory.  All their milk goes to them and when anyone travels to see where Gossner's milk comes from, they are sent over to this dairy.  So much fun!   

Another really fun place we went the week before Halloween was the Pumpkin Walk up in Hyde Park, Utah. (North of Logan).  If you have never seen this, you need to!!  I was quite impressed!  This is an annual tradition which has been put on every year for over 30 years.  Every year it gets better, and it's completely free.  There can be long lines to get in, though.   I guess during the day it's not as bad.

Anyway, what it is is a giant pumpkin walk with displays put on by different groups.  Everything is completely donated.  Each display has a different theme.  For instance, the one above was "pixar" (Which was, of course, Jared's favorite and I had a hard time getting him to move on to the next one).   They had scenes from all different movies, TV shows, or books, made almost all out of pumpkins!   It was pretty amazing! 

Aaron's Dream Hunt

Aaron had the opportunity to go on the hunt of a lifetime this October!  He has put in for the Deseret Land and Livestock draw every year.  After only 11 years, he was so excited to find he had drawn out for the hunt.  There are people who will pay $15-20,000 to go on a hunt like this so it is an AMAZING opportunity!  I was so excited for Aaron to accomplish one of his dreams in life.  He was also very lucky to be able to take his dad with him.  Together they had experiences they will never forget for the rest of their lives! 

They were put up in a fancy lodge with good food and even their own hunting guide!   Aaron was assigned to Amos for the whole week.  He soon found that Amos was one of the best guides around and he knew his stuff.  For the first 3 days, he was led up close to bulls that he considered HUGE but Amos just told him to hold out- they weren't quite big enough.  Huh?!  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  These bulls were bigger than any he'd ever seen in the wild!  Finally on Thursday, he found the bull he had always dreamed of.  He shot the biggest bull that was shot that week by any of the hunters at the lodge.  It is definitely one that we will mount and hang on our wall. 

I am so proud of Aaron and so excited for him that he got to have this amazing experience!

On November 23rd, Aaron also had the opportunity of going pheasant hunting with his good friend Andy over by Vernal, Utah.  Erika and Kyle also got go go along and spend time with Mahri and Aezlyn and had a blast!  All Aaron's practice shooting to prepare for his hunt had really paid off and he shot a lot of birds!!  He was grateful for the generosity of Andy's uncle for allowing them to come!  It was a long drive, but well worth the trip!

Back to School 2013!

Kyle, Erika, and Heidi out in front of the school. 

Well, after a great summer, it was time for school again.  The kids were excited and ready to go back.  Mixed emotions for all of us, of course.  But, I was excited for the kids to have new experiences and make new friends.  

The Top of Utah Half Marathon

I have wanted to do the top of Utah half-marathon for several years now.  I've heard it is a really nice run.   I usually run about twice a week all year long, but I started training more seriously at the beginning of the summer.  One thing I really enjoyed this summer was running at the park.  There is a park close to my house with a track around the outside and a playground in the middle.  A couple times a week I would take the kids over there and while I ran, they would play!  And, I met up with a few friends that would also run there.  Perfect!  I usually had to push the jogging stroller with one or two of the kids, but occasionally they all played and I was able to just run!   It is a really nice setup because I can see the kids the whole time I run and they get to have fun, too.  

"Yes... I made it!!"  This is me as I'm sprinting
to the finish line.   (I couldn't see the camera.)

The top-of-utah half is really nice!  Almost the whole thing is down-hill.  I also enjoyed running through the blacksmith fork canyon just south of Smithfield.  There was a fire there a few weeks before the race and I was worried that it would be cancelled, but I guess the air quality was okay by that time and from what I could see, there wasn't a really large area that was burned.  

One crazy thing that happened to me this time was that when I went to plug in my headphones into my iPhone just after I started running, the headphone jack didn't work!!  I was thinking, "You mean I have been training for months and now I'm going to run for over 2 hours with no music!!?"  I don't know if I am jinxed or something because a similar thing happened to me when I ran the farmington half-marathon.  I thought my iPod had been charging all night and apparently someone had unplugged it and I couldn't tell.  So, I ran my first half-marathon with no music either.  Just my luck, huh?   It would've been nicer with the music, but it turned out okay.  I was able to just run and listen to nature and left my "run keeper" app on so it would tell me my mileage out loud.

Because the race is downhill, (and maybe a little bit because I'm getting faster, I don't know) I improved my time by 20 min. since my last race, making it 1 hr 59 minutes.  (My goal was to come in under 2 hours- wow- I barely did it!).  I was happy with how I did and I really wasn't that sore afterward.  (I guess I could've pushed it a little harder?  Nah!)  Now I've got another 2 years to gear up for the next one :)

AUGUST 24th, 2013- TOP OF UTAH HALF MARATHON