Piano Recital

 

Daniel

Andrew

 

Nathaniel

 

Emily

Papa's Visit

My dad came to visit this past week.  He was here for almost five days, but it sure flew by.  We miss him already!  We did some of our regular traditions: shopping, wrapping presents (always a huge help to me--Dad is an excellent gift wrapper), going to lunch, decorating Christmas cookies, and going to the zoo.  We even went to see Star Wars while he was here.  We had so much fun!!!

Love you, Dad!!!

Family Portraits 2015

When we went to Utah in October, we had our portraits taken.  The setting was so beautiful!! 

Emily the Star

It was recital and concert week for Emily this past week.  She did a wonderful job!

Dance recital



Here is one of her dances.  She was in four of them.  The boys complained about going to the recital, but soon they were all watching intently!

Band Concert


Here is one of her band songs.  I love to hear her play the flute!

Halloween 2015

I was a little sad when I realized this is the first year I didn't get a Halloween picture of all five kids together.  Andrew wanted to go Trick or Treating with his friend, and I forgot to get a picture before he left.  Nathaniel, Michael, and I took turns going Trick or Treating with Daniel and Jonathan (Emily went for a little while, too).  After about an hour, Jonathan looked inside his bucket and said, "I have enough candy.  I'm done."  He is such a funny kid.  It was a fun night!

Nathaniel Can Drive!!!

Nathaniel got his learner's permit and he is so excited to be able to drive.  Michael and I have been teaching him (they don't have Driver's Ed here!!!), and he is doing well so far.  It's scary, but fun and exciting, too!

Fantastic Fall Break

We were so blessed to be able to go on vacation to Utah this year for Fall Break.  I wish we had time to look up all of our friends who live there, but it just wasn't possible.  I was so grateful to be able to see my brother, Joe, and meet his lovely wife, Brandie.  I also got to see my good friend Elizabeth Molinaro, who I knew as Beth Thomas when we lived in Ankeny.  We got to drive around Provo and Springville and see all of our old apartments, and we even went to dinner at the same Olive Garden that Michael took me to on our first date.  It was funny how everything was the same--but different.  Many of the old stores and restaurants had changed, but many things were still exactly the same. 

 

We drove up on Thursday.  We left about 6:30am and we were in Provo by about 8pm.  That was pretty good, since it is about an 11 hour drive and we lost an hour (we are on Pacific time right now).  The trip up was mostly uneventful, except for the fact that Daniel got car sick and vomited before we even left Phoenix.  He felt much better after that.  In Provo, we stayed at a fully furnished basement apartment with its own entrance that I found on Airbnb.  It even had a kitchen with dishes and pots and pans.  There were three bedrooms and each child had their own bed, so it was way better than a hotel for us.

 

On Friday, we went on a golf cart tour of BYU.  It was like the Circle of Life being there with our kids.  We loved it there so much when we were going to school.  I commented that I would love to go back to that time, then Michael reminded me that I would have to do homework!  Yikes!  This picture is in the new library, that they were just starting on when we left in 1998 (that's the last time we had been to Provo, when Michael graduated).   

 

Here are the kids after the BYU football game against the University of Connecticut.  BYU won!!!   

On Saturday we went up to Salt Lake City to see General Conference.  The Conference center was amazing!  We only had three tickets, and we needed two more.  While we waited in the stand-by line, Nathaniel and Daniel stood on the corner holding up two fingers, hoping someone had some they didn't need.  Sure enough, a family gave them four tickets.  I wish we could have used them all, but Jonathan was too young so he and Michael walked around Temple Square while the rest of us watched in the Conference center (Saturday afternoon).  We were able to turn around and give two tickets away and the kids were thrilled to watch in person!

 

On Sunday, between sessions, we drove to Bridal Veil Falls.  It was beautiful!! 

Sunday afternoon, Joe and Brandie came to see us in our little basement apartment and we had a great visit.  The kids were so happy to talk to them and kept talking non-stop!

 

On Monday, we kind of took it easy.  In the afternoon, Emily and I went to get our hair done at the same beauty school where I used to go when I lived there.  That was pretty fun.  Then we all got dressed up and drove up by Sundance to get our pictures taken by a student photographer.  I figured that up in the mountains would be an awesome place to get them done, and I can't wait to see how they turned out.

 

On Tuesday, we went back up to Salt Lake City where we went to the Church History Museum, then City Center Mall for lunch, Temple Square, the Conference Center, and the Family History Center. 

 

These were taken on the roof of the Conference Center. 

 

We really enjoyed our tour--it is an amazing building.  21,000 seats and no posts in the middle!  When we were there, they were rearranging so they could replace the carpeting.

 

We drove home on Wednesday, and thankfully it was uneventful.  Everyone had a wonderful time on this trip, and I am SO grateful we got to go!!!