We've grown!

Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas to you and your family! 2014 has been quite an eventful year for us. A year ago I couldn't have imagined we'd have had the year we have had!

Brett finally succumbed to his itch for banking and left the law firm to go back to Zions Bank. Yes, that's right, full circle. He now works in downtown Salt Lake, riding the FrontRunner train to and from work each day. It makes for a very long day, but he is enjoying the work. He misses his wonderful coworkers from the law firm, but overall considers this a positive change. Brett started his new job just a few weeks after our family welcomed our fourth daughter.

Boston Rachel was born on July 11, at 7# 13 oz. She is a sweetie and we adore having her! She started smiling at 5 weeks (which was such a welcome sight to her frazzled Mommy!) and is a happy, delightful baby. And so cute, if I do say so myself!!

I have been completely wrapped up in Rachel, trying to get accustomed to Brett's new schedule, and keeping up with the big sisters' various activities. Most days, I run full speed and barely keep up. But they are days full of good things, and I’m told that shortly we'll look back and miss these days, so I try to enjoy them! I do catch a “break” every once in a while when I cover a shift at the clinic.

Katie made the decision this summer to be baptized. We are so proud of her choice and her desires to choose the right. Katie continues with gymnastics; in the spring she was invited to be on a team and has really improved her skills with the extra practice. She is often found doing handstands, cartwheels, round-offs, etc. whether it is outside or inside the house. She is in 3^rd grade and her third year of Chinese Immersion. Her teachers rave that she's a great student and quiet in class. (What?!? We wonder if her teachers are really talking about our daughter.) She is learning multiplication this year, and is often heard chanting the times tables in both English and Chinese. It's been a delight to her parents to hear her coaching Amanda in Chinese! For Halloween, Katie dressed up as Pocahontas, even making her own moccasins to wear!

Amanda was also invited to participate on the same gymnastics team as Katie. They love competing and doing all things gymnastics together. Amanda's smaller frame lends her to enhanced gymnastics abilities. She has a bubbly personality and easily makes friends wherever she goes. Amanda started 1^st grade and also started the Chinese Immersion program. She comes home every day singing in Chinese.  She is a voracious reader, preferring reading to most other activities. She joined the Frozen throng this year and was Queen Elsa for Halloween (thanks, Grandma, for the dress!).

Ellie started gymnastics this year as part of the toddler class at the gym. She loves to wear her leotard and go with the big girls. She also started a preschool this fall that she LOVES! She is picking up lots of new songs and working on letters, numbers, and social skills. She loves to share what she learned at preschool with her dad when he gets home from work. It's hard to believe she'll have another full year of preschool before she starts kindergarten. Ellie loves all things Ariel, peanut butter sandwiches, and Daniel Tiger.

 

We pray the spirit of Christmas will distill upon your family as we celebrate the humble birth of our glorious Savior!

Haunted Heber Creeper

 We totally recommend the Pumpkin Festival at the Heber Valley Railroad, especially if you find discount tickets! Ellie loved the "Train Station".

 Of course, we went the day it turned cold, but at least the rain and snow stopped while we rode!

 The haunted car--spiders and too much fog! The two little ones clung to Mommy. Where'd Dad go?

 We even chose a pumpkin in their pumpkin patch (a 20 ft square fenced in by chicken wire).

 Someone's old enough to safely handle the camera!!

 Dancing the monster mash. These "train helpers" later brought us each a cookie.

 See? It really was a scary ride!

 Not sure why we bought seats. They did this the whole time!

The girls were disappointed we didn't make it to the lake to see if we could find Grandpa there. We turned back at soldier hollow--the engine "shoved" us all the way back!

Tuacahn

The October cold snap followed us south! We got rained on and it was very cold for the girls first trip to Tuacahn. They liked it anyway! Especially when Dad went and bought them warm churros and nuts! See how he works?
We went back the next (sunny) day for pictures. We only got there by the skin of our teeth after Katie's early out day and a quick drive south. (Which is the reason we finally found for loving being at the south end of the Wasatch Front!)

 See how much we like the sun we finally got? :)

We hope to go again next year to see The Little Mermaid!

Our Summer

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Despite having a house full of sickies, we shared a lot of love and had a sweet day. Should we do the math? Strep x2, croup x1, bilateral ear infection x 1, colds x5, sinus infection x1. Can we move on to Easter now?  :)

Where did the summer go??

Brigham City Temple Open House

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

I have been a horrible poster, barely keeping my head above water by organizing my pictures.  We've had a fun summer and I hope we can remember some highlights.

•  Started out summer with DisneyLand in June.  Super fun, but being the third time in a year, I was getting tired of it.  Thankfully, we flew so we didn't top it off with two days on the road.

•  Much more moderate in our visits to 7 Peaks.  Whereas we used to go 2-3 times a week, we probably only went a dozen times this summer.  And that's okay by me!  I only went 3-4 times without Brett.  Katie was great and a pretty good swimmer.   Amanda thinks she's as good as Katie, which terrifies me.  Ellie is clingy and I can't do or see or help anyone else!  The first time on my own, I lost Amanda (she left the pool "looking for Mom") within 5 minutes, Ellie fell of the crocodile (I caught her but she freaked out anyway) and while I'm frantically searching for Amanda and starting to panic, Katie is desperate to go to the bathroom.  I didn't dare leave the pool, but I also didn't dare send Katie to the bathroom alone.  I vowed to never do this alone again (even though I did).

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• Amanda (and by extension Ellie and Katie) took tumbling tots.  Once again, I'm amazed at how strong, flexible, agile, and balanced these girls are!  It only took Ellie watching Amanda once for her to try and do all that the big girls do.  Katie's love for tumbling was rekindled and I wish we had time/money to chase that dream more.
• Katie begged me to teach her to play "I am a Child of God" on the piano.  She's memorized the first 3 bars or so.  I want to start her in lessons, but she's got a big school year ahead, so we're trying to pace the addition of new things all at once.

  

  Thanksgiving Point Gardens

  
  

• Amanda spent the summer talking and singing constantly!  She makes up songs, she narrates her play stories.  At one point, Brett and I worried that she didn't talk at much/early as Katie.  She's making up lost time.  She still doesn't always speak terribly clearly, and tends to get emotional easily, but she's got a lot to say!  (Like calling hand sanitizer "hanitizer" and belt loops are "Belt pockets".)
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Amanda's birthday build a bunny-Rapunzel

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• Ellie has grown a passion for climbing over the summer.  She climbs up on the table and drinks everyone's drinks.  She climbs up on the counter from the bar and terrorizes whatever she can get to while I run to get her!  She has also started an independent streak.  About 3 weeks ago, she refused to be fed or helped feed.  If she's not feeding herself, she's starving and throwing a serious fit!  Meals times just got a lot messier (and they weren't that neat to begin with!)



Katie's Chinese Teacher: Tong Lao Shi




• Katie went to Chinese Immersion Summer camp.  She had a week of Chinese and learned so much!  She had a program at the end of the week and those kids had learned songs, colors, numbers, enough to present to the parents.  I'm impressed.  Where I worried it would be too much for her, I wonder now if she hadn't been in the program, she'd be bored!

  

  Rodeo!

• Katie solidified reading over the summer!  She ended school with mid-level readers, and she's now reading a chapter book and similar!  I'm so impressed.  She is really a brilliant girl and I'm so proud of her!  (in more ways than one!)

  

  Farm Country Pony Ride



Car show at the Utah County Fair




• Amanda started preschool and loves it!  She wakes up early with Katie and is so excited to put on school clothes and get her backpack. I've never seen her so compliant with getting dressed, coming for hair styles, etc.  I'm so glad my girls love school.
• Ellie is such a tag along. She does whatever Amanda does.  She wants to play trains with Katie (but still destroys a fair amount).  She wants to ride bikes with Amanda.  She wants to read with Katie.  Last night, Ellie woke up at one a.m. (very unusual) and was frantic to find Katie.  She struggled to get out of my arms and ran down to the kitchen, then family room.  Finally, I had to take her into Katie's room and show her that Katie was in bed asleep before she'd calm down.  Then she had to find Dad (again, family room, then bed).  I wondered if she was spooked somehow.  Anyway, Ellie loves Katie.  Katie loves to cart around Ellie (and Amanda tries too as well---argh!) 



County Fair




• Ellie has also lately grown a love for a certain baby doll.  The very same, Katie's first doll (that I got at a thrift store!)  The funny thing: Katie loves that doll and is usually very protective of it. She won't share it with Amanda or friends-which is often a source of contention.  But, Katie hasn't tried once to take it from Ellie or limit Ellie with it!  I can almost see the sibling love!  Amanda, on the other hand, steals the doll from Ellie all day long!
• We went as a family to the Thanksgiving Point gardens (always so lovely) and the Dinosaur Museum (such a crowded zoo!).  I took the girls to Farm Country and stood in line for almost two hours for pony rides.  Ellie was terrified of the horse, so I basically held her at arms length, over the horse, for a couple of laps around the coral.  The things I do. . . . . :)  Amanda and Katie loved it, but they were ready to melt by that point.  We all loved the mini goats, the sheep, the horses.  We took a tractor-drawn wagon ride (the horse-drawn had a crazy line).  The girls then made friends with the driver, who let them sit in the tractor seat.
• Brett spent a lot more of the summer working that we've been used to.  That was definitely a benefit of the student status--summers were either lighter or had intermittent breaks in between things.  We missed him on a few of our adventures, but we're glad he could come on some.
• Amanda had her first "friend" birthday party.  It was a princess dress-up party and it was a hit!  We had all Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel.  They had fun making crowns, pinning the kiss on the frog prince, and dancing the "musical chairs ball".  I'm glad we had a no gift policy, and we almost at an entire cake this time.  Almost!
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• We took the girls to see an outdoor play of "Wizard of Oz" and "All Shook Up".  They loved dancing at All Shook Up, but not too impressed.  Wizard of Oz, however, was a huge hit!  They loved it and recreated it for weeks after.

  

  Car Show at the Fair

• Brett and I also went to the outdoor showing of "Fiddler on the Roof".  It was great-complete with rain and packed crowd.  I'm glad it was just the two of us and we enjoyed it.  Brett and I also went to Capitol Theater to see "Wicked" (thanks Lauretta!).  It was amazing!  I loved it and wondered how soon we can see it again (or when they'll make a movie!).  Really, so great!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Farm Country

In between that, we had picnics, play-dates, go-gurts, water guns, bike rides, county fair and rodeo, baseball games, walks, and duck feeding. It's been a busy summer and I was excited to have the structure of fall come, with a naturally enforced bedtime (everyone is tired by 7:30 pm now, not just Mom!)

We love Hootz the Owl!

Jedi battles.

7 Peaks

Anyway, I hope it's been fun and memorable for the girls.  We're on to becoming big now!
PS-Please forgive the horrible layout--I've had issues for the past 2 hours trying to get pictures to upload properly, and now I'm giving up!