Miles' 15th B-day

Well, Miles' 15th birthday came and went.  Although it wasn't overly exciting, I still think Miles enjoyed his special day.

He got to start the day by going to the church and cleaning!  Fun!  :)  Actually, he started his day by eating his birthday "junk" cereal - Donettes, or something like that.  After cleaning the church, Ben, myself and the two boys drove down to Colona to their donut shop.  Okay, maybe it's a coffee shop, but for us we go for the donuts (well, not me - I'm not a big fan of donuts. . . ).  So that was a fun treat for the boys.  When we got home, Ben went to the rec to play some raquetball with his co-worker (he does this 1-2 times a week) and the boys tagged along and had fun swimming.

Back at home it was chore-time.  The girls had gymnastics in the morning and then Emmy had her YW's pizza fundraiser (they sold homemade take 'n bake pizzas and so yesterday they had to make over 100 pizzas - awesome).  Emmy got home earlier than planned from that and so we were able to have Miles open his gifts that afternoon.  He got some cash (saving up for a car . . . !), a wallet, a bean-bag lounger thing, a book, cool shirts, Secret Hitler (board game), 3 Imagine Dragon CDs, etc.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of elk pasties (Miles' typical birthday request) and creamed brussel sprouts (yum).  We watched Spiderman: Homecoming - which was a first Marvel-movie for me.  It was pretty fun.  We stopped mid-way through to enjoy some cake.  Or pie.  Or whatever it is.  Okay, it's official name is "Mint Lemon Curd Shortbread."  It is amazing.  We've had it before and Miles requested for his birthday.  Think lemon bars, but even better!  We finished the movie, listened to a few Imagine Dragon songs that Miles wanted us to hear, then called it a day. 

A good Miles' 15th birthday!

Miles and Jonas enjoying their donuts and their drink.

 Miles got a suitcase - he mentioned wanting one and I found one for $1 at an estate sale.  Sold!  Miles loves it.  :)  Jonas bought Miles a bunch of Ramen Noodles - all different flavors than what Miles normally eats.  Fun.  Emmy bought Miles 10 pieces of taffy.  Lucy got Miles a cinnamon roll and gave it to him on his "birthday eve." 

 A cool Star Wars shirt.

 Miles reading a book while listening to his new CDs.

 Miles organized all of his birthday gifts in to his suitcase.  Love it.  :)  Oh, except for his bean bag - that wouldn't fit!

 Lighting the "cake."

 Singing "Happy Birthday to You . . . "

 Blowing out the candles.

 Oooops, he missed one! 

We all had a fun day celebrating our very own and awesome Miles.

Happy 15th Birthday Miles

(This isn't you, of course. I don't have access to any recent picture of you at the moment.  But I'm pretty sure this is a pretty good picture of your current hair-goal).

Wow, Miles - 15.  That's a pretty big number.  While 16 is big in terms of driving, 15 isn't too shabby.  You just finished up your 30-hour driver's ed. course online (which you really liked!).  If all goes as planned (which I'm not planning on it to), you'll take your written test on Monday (the 11th) and officially be allowed to drive with supervision.  Scary!  I mean, I'm excited for you.  I am excited to let you drive in the parking lot of the church.  But I'm pretty much scared for anything and everything beyond that.  :)

Your education took a big change this past year as we all decided to give BYU's online high school courses a try for you.  I think you like it!  You've done well - it's a big change from public to homeschool/online.  You are responsible for a lot more and with that comes some great learning and organization, as well as some great failures (ahem, English class . . .).  In fact, you are still working on finishing up your 1st semester English class.  Summer school - 2nd semester English!  But you've done really well with all your other courses and so that's been a real positive.

You've begun your seminary education as well.  You love it.  You tell us that all the time.  You have a great teacher, Sister Evensen.  She does a great job with teaching and making it fun at the same time.  You leave each morning at 6:30 and ride your bike to the church (2 miles away).  Freezing temps and snow - you ride. 

You have a couple of classes at the high school - Project Unify, art (first semester) and mythology (second semester).  I've mentioned them before, so I won't have to go in to much detail now.  But you enjoy those classes a lot.

Your hair has gotten quite out of control.  We might be using some car-driving leverage with your hair . . . I like long hair - as long as it is well-groomed and such.  You shower at night, wear a bike helmet multiple times a day, etc.  Your hair doesn't look so great.  We have found a great gal to cut your hair - I'm being generous when I write "cut."  The craziest part of your hair is right above your earlobes - the hair is so curly there!  Ring-lock curls even.

You continue to mature in good ways.  You're far from perfect (as we all are, of course) and continue to annoy us - but you're a pretty great kid, especially to those not in your immediate family (meaning your siblings, for the most part).  :)  You show a lot of thought and kindness to your friends and strangers.  One example is when we went skiing for Jonas' birthday.  Your best-friend Michael came and it was like his second-time ever skiing.  You just stayed and skied with him the whole day - without complaining.  Your Sunday school teacher often remarks that you and Jonas are some of the only well-behaved and good-answering boys in the class.  (Which is interesting seeing as how your comments in our family gospel study-time is less than impressive . . .).

You tried a new sport this year - mountain biking.  You did great. I mean, you're not naturally athletically inclined, but man you can go and go and go without getting tired.  Maybe not the fastest go, but you have some amazing endurance. You improved a lot with your mountain biking skills and I can not keep up with you anymore - you can go up ahead with dad, I'll hang back with Jonas.  :)

  

I think you like me.  I mean, if saving your blue, vanilla tootsie rolls for me means anything . . . (Thank you, I do love them so and you know that!)

You think you want to become a surgeon.  I don't know why exactly . . . unless it's due to the money?  I should ask you.  :)  I still think you should become a vet . . . sometimes I feel you have more empathy for animals than humans!

You're turning in to a neat mini-man and I'm excited to see all that you accomplish and become this year.

Love you,
mom

February's Over; March Begins . . .

 See you again next year!

The Young Men had an outing to Moab - camping Friday night and then doing a couple of hikes on Saturday.  Ben had the day off on Friday and so he and our two boys headed out early. They secured a campsite, set up a couple of tents, and then went out to dinner:

 Yum!

The rest of the YM weren't arriving until after 9, so they had some time to spare.  So then they went to a local diner for dessert:

 Wow!

 As Ben wrote in his text, "The boys like this campout."  Haha.

 The rest of the group arrived, a fire was enjoyed (although it was quite warm . . . like 60), and then the kids annoyingly stayed up and were loud until about 2:00 am.  I think Ben Mormon-cussed at them (them = all the YM in the two tents) at 1:00 am by telling all the boys to "Shut up!"  It didn't work . . .

 Good morning!

 Cooking breakfast!

 Eating breakfast!

 Here's the group at the trailhead to Corona Arch.  My family has done this a few times - except for Ben, it was his first time.  It's a cool hike to an awesome arch. (The little guy in front, Dreyden, is the YM's president's son.  He is awesome and did awesome.)

 Miles, Jonas, and Kaden.

 Corona Arch.

 Kaden, Dreyden, and Jonas.

 This is the beginning of the hike to Delicate Arch.  Jakai and Miles.

 Miles and Delicate.  It was Miles' and Jonas' first time to this arch.

 The YM (plus a dad)!

Super cool.

 Fun.

 The weather held out for them until they headed back from Delicate.  Then it started pouring and everyone got soaked.

Eating some grub in the dry trailer before heading back home.  I think it was a great time for everyone!  Some of these boys never get an opportunity like this and so it's pretty great.

And what did we girls do?!  Well we lived it up by watching 2 chick-flicks on Friday night:  Father of the Bride and Sleepless in Seattle.  Loved them both.  On Saturday I had a Relief Society meeting and the girls just stayed home, finished their chores, jumped on the tramp, etc.  Later that afternoon we went to the other gym's meet here in town.  They do a different style of gymnastics (think more of a recreational league - as opposed to the junior-Olympic league our girls do) and so it was interesting to see.  Seating was horrible, though, and I'm still suffering from a kinked neck.  :(

Anyways, a good way to start out the new month!

Late February Happenings . . .

I can't believe February is almost over and it will be March at the end of the week.  Crazy.  But here are a few pictures of a few of the activities we've been up to:

I had decided to take the boys skiing on last Thursday.  It was a half-day of school and so I thought it would be a good day to go.  The girls would just walk home by themselves and then a little bit later they would be picked up for their book-club.  Perfect.  However . . . it was a cold week and the high for Powederhorn was to be 18.  Apparently, I'm a fair-weather skier - I just get so cold easily and sitting on the lifts just about do me in. (I'm not a fair-weather runner, however - I love it when it's cold.  When I'm moving and exerting myself, cold is good!)  So, amazingly, there were no surgeries happening on that Thursday and so Ben took the day off and ended up taking our two boys (they each got 2 lift tickets for Christmas, that's why the girls weren't included . . .) and Csilla's two boys, Kyle and Levi.  Ben was excited about the cold and the snow, so it was perfect.

 Levi, Jonas, Kyle, and Miles.  Miles will not zip up his coat.  He's a goof.

 The mountain got some fresh snow overnight and it was lightly snowing all day.  Ben said it was the best snow he's skied (well, snowboarded) in in 20 years.  He loved it!  The boys had a fantastic time and weren't too cold.  We bought everyone those hand-warmer things and they were handy.  Haha.

 Levi!

 Jonas!

 Kyle!

Miles!

My girls had been sick that week - Emmy missed two days of school because not only was she coughing a whole bunch, she had a fever that got as high as 102.9.  Lucy started coughing by Thursday and not feeling super great and had a low-grade fever.  Luckily it was low-enough that I could still send her to school because she really wanted to go to the book-club later that afternoon (no school = no extracurricular activities).  So it was good I was home - I don't think I would have left my girls all day long if I had planned on skiing.  I went in to Lucy's classroom and read "The Five Chinese Brothers" because it was a read-a-thon day (and, remember, just a half-day).  I got the girls home, gave Lucy a little bit of medicine (ibuprofen makes my kids forget they are sick), and then took them to book-club.

The girls had been so excited for book-club - it was on the book Holes. They ate donut-holes, drank some peach "slush" (it's a book thing), had pizza, and watched the movie.  So fun.  They had a blast.

The kids were out of school on Friday and so we went to the Rec. and I did my laps while the kids played.  We met up with friends there and so that was fun.  Miles had to stay home and catch up on some school since he'd missed Thursday.  We went to the movie How to Train Your Dragon that afternoon as there was a special showing and price for the homeschool kids.  I'm part of the facebook group and so I saw the message.  A couple of Csilla's kids came with us, so I felt a bit more legit.  :)

We woke up Saturday morning to a real snowfall - we got anywhere from 5-7 inches.  Whoop, whoop.  So Ben and I got out in the late afternoon to enjoy it.  It was so beautiful and snowy!

Gorgeous! Oh, and some handsomeness, too!

That evening I took five boys from the ward up to Delta for a Stake Dance.  It was Jonas' first dance - bummer I didn't get a picture!  The boys were all excited.  I think once Jonas got there, he was a bit more shy than he had thought.  :)  He was hanging out on the wall a bit too much with Malachi in the beginning - so I went over and told Jonas that he either get off the wall and dance, or that I would pull him off and make him dance with me.  He quickly left the wall.  :)  The boys had fun and did most of the dances - including the slow ones.  I'm pretty sure Jonas was one of the youngest ones there - my guess is he was the youngest.  It was a bit long for me, but I survived.  :)

On Sunday morning the girls got Bella ready for church, too:

Hahaha.

 Back to normal, well almost - she was sporting a lovely bead-necklace.  :)

He always looks so funny in pictures, but man he is handsome.  :)  I literally have people tell me on my runs quite a bit - they'll yell it out from their cars.

In sacrament meeting, Emmy gave her first talk.  It was on preparing for the temple.  She and I had worked on it on one of the days she stayed home sick from school.  She did a great job - she didn't really look up from her paper at all, but her voice was confident and clear.  She had expressed to me earlier how she didn't want the stool.  I told her she wouldn't need it.  I had mentioned it to one of the counselors . . . but the bishop didn't get the memo.  :)  So he put out the stool for her.  Emmy still resisted in using it and just put one leg on it and leaned in to the mic.  But the bishop came over, adjusted the mic, and Emmy stepped up on the stool.  :)  The bishop remarked, before Emmy going up, how Emmy was the youngest member to give a talk in sacrament meeting in our ward.  Cool!  (Of course in the primary programs, kids have been younger.  But for a regular meeting, this was true.)

Okay, that turned out way longer than I meant.  :)

February Happenings Thus Far. . . (**Updated**)

To celebrate the 100th day of the school year, the students were asked to dress-up like 100-year olds.  Super adorable and fun!

 Lucy's faces are so hilarious.  The girls had a fun day - I think it included playing "Grandma" at recess.  :)

What cute girls!  When I drop Lucy off for piano, I always just stay in that neighborhood and take Bella for a walk.  Emmy wants to start training for the GOTR 5K (she's not doing the program this year, but wants to run the race) and so I told her to come with me.  We walked for 4 minutes, then ran for 2-3 minutes, repeat.  It was awesome.  Bella kept pulling the whole time - even while running.  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not the best picture . . . but both girls made these for their class valentines.   A picture of Bella.  "Pugs and Kisses."

We printed up pug stickers and stuck them on the back of the kisses.  Cute!

Gym has been fun lately:

Three of the kids (minus Miles who needed to work on school work) and myself went and visited our "older" friend Cynthia this past Monday.  She used to be our neighbor, but she now lives in a care facility.  I don't visit her as often as I should.  But we came by and gave her a stuffed cat (cats are definitely her thing) and gave her door a "heart attack."  

                                                    

Emmy took two pictures with her polaroid camera - one for Cynthia and one for us.  It doesn't scan super great, but it's still a good picture.

And this just happened today . . . I picked up  the girls from school and Lucy had flowers.  From a boy.  What?!  Oh, and some chocolates.  Lucy didn't understand why I thought it was funny.  Cute, but funny.  :)

Emmy had asked Spencer, a boy in her class, if he would be her valentine (she asked him last week).  He said yes, and I guess that meant that Emmy was his.  When I asked Emmy what that meant, she told me, "I don't know!"  But apparently it meant you bought them some extra.  So Emmy used her money and bought a small box of chocolates and Takis (think really gross spicy Cheetos).  I guess Spencer ordered Emmy something from Amazon and it's not coming until Monday . . . we'll see about that.  But Spencer did feel badly and gave Emmy a few of his classroom valentines to make up for it.  Ha.

For our family I bought Gertrude Hawks chocolate.  When Ben and I were in New York, we'd go to the mall and the only thing we'd buy there was chocolate from the Gertrude Hawks store.  It's yummy.  When we were there a couple of years ago, we took our kids there and everyone picked out a bar.  The kids loved it, too.  So I always order us a bunch of chocolate bars to all taste and eat - after dinner, of course.  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!