May 2009

We started May with Seth's 9th birthday! He invited some friends to go to Jump on It! (basically a huge warehouse full of trampolines) for his celebration. Everyone had a great time and we only had one injury - Megan sprained her foot where her big toe comes into the foot and it's having a hard time healing - still bruised and painful, but she's getting around okay. Seth's birthday was lots of fun and he is now excited to be a Bear scout in cubs.

Autumn finished the spring season of soccer and had a lot of fun with her team. Megan played on a city rec softball team with a bunch of girls from our ward and they have been having so much fun, even though they haven't won many games. Megan has learned a lot and it's fun to know the entire team so we can cheer them all on at games.

Seth and Devin both tried out for the summer swim team and when Autumn went to try-outs with me, she announced that she wanted to try out, too. I told her she wasn't quite ready, but she insisted, so I let her try out and all three of them made the team! They are now enjoying daily swimming workouts and looking forward to the swim meets throughout the summer. It will be more fun now that three of the kids will be involved!

The rest of the month was filled with plays, graduations and awards ceremonies to celebrate the end of another school year. First of all, Autumn came home thrilled one day early in May and announced that she had, indeed, been chosen to play the Little Red Hen in the kindergarten graduation play. She dreamed of her big moment on stage for the rest of the month, practicing all her solos, speaking parts and talking of little else. The big day finally arrived and she did a great job - she was beaming through the whole thing and was not shy about singing by herself into the microphone. When it was over, I asked her how she was feeling and she sighed and said, "I'm just a little sad that it's all over." Me, too! Her play was followed by a little graduation ceremony and I have to say that I was proud of myself for not crying. Of course, later in the week when I dropped her off for her last day of kindergarten and she jumped out of the car and turned and blew me a kiss before running off to class, I thought of Megan and how it seems like 5 minutes ago that she was in kindergarten, and I completely lost it. Time is going to fast!!

The day after Autumn's graduation, Devin had a "moving on" ceremony with the rest of the 6th graders and he is now officially done with elementary school. He is excited/nervous to start junior high, and I'm sure he'll do a great job!

Megan finished junior high and had a two day party with her best friends - one day playing and then having a sleepover at her friend Alexa's house followed by all day at Lagoon. They had a great time and she is so excited to be done with junior high and moving on to high school. She will be getting her driving permit later this month - scary!

We all celebrated the last day of school in our traditional neighborhood way - silly stringing the kids as they got off the bus and then spending the rest of the day playing water games throughout the neighborhood. Hooray for the end of another school year - we are all so excited for summer!!

April 2009

What a crazy fun month!! Where to start? We had a great visit to Oregon for Spring Break! We had fun helping Grandpa fix his computer problems, and loved going to the beach house, celebrating Easter with the Bakes and Grandma and Grandpa Ririe, going on a couple of hikes, playing lots of games, and relaxing and playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house - it was a great vacation and nice to take a break from the chaos of school and life!

After 3 months of practices, Megan performed all last week in her school's musical "Guys and Dolls" and even though she complained a lot that the production wasn't nearly as much fun as last years's "Seussical", the play was very well done and she ended up having a really fun time performing. It will be nice to have her around a little more often now that rehearsals are over. She also pulled off a really tough arrangement of "Cannon in D" for her piano recital - it was impressive!

Seth spent pretty much the entire month counting down to his 9th birthday, which we will be celebrating tomorrow. He is excited to move on to Bear scouts - he is so into cub scouting!! He has also recently fell in love with science and doing science experiments and asks me nearly every day if he can build a volcano and then watch it erupt.

Autumn stayed busy with school, friends, dance and all the usual things Autumn does. She is my little shadow and helper and my heart breaks at the thought of her being gone all day next year (never thought I'd feel that way!) Her kindergarten class is performing "The Little Red Hen" for their kindergarten graduation and Autumn totally has her heart set on playing the little red hen or one of the chicks, but she's still waiting to see what part she will get. She really doesn't want to be a narrator because "they don't get to be on stage and don't get a costume" - we shall see.

Devin had the most exciting month of any of us! On top of his piano recital (did a great job), he performed as "Drake" in our city's children's theater production of "Annie" and did a great job and had fun performing on stage.

The same week of the play, he started the two week testing process for his black belt in karate, so needless to say, he was pretty busy and stressed out. He had to pass his karate school test, a regional test, and then the all-schools test last weekend in conjunction with his karate tournament. Plus he had to write a 10 page thesis about karate and pass a physical fitness test that I'm pretty sure I couldn't pass. Anyway, the great news is he passed all of his tests and is now officially a black belt in karate - WOW!! It was pretty exciting at the all-schools test to watch a gym full of black belt candidates do kicks, punches, self-defense and forms all in unison - pretty cool. His SWAT team also took first place in the team demo division, and Devin won 2 personal silver medals - one in weapons for his nunchucks form and one in self-defense techniques. Way to go Devin!!

March in Utah

So much for in like a lion and out like a lamb - we did have one gorgeous week in March where we got to break out the short sleeves, but it has snowed every other day for the last two weeks - thankfully it keeps melting in between, but we are all sick of the cold and snow and ready for spring to come and stay!

March was full of fun activities. We took the kids to a BYU basketball game and had a great time cheering on the Cougars as they narrowly beat Air Force to take a part in the MWC title, and then sadly watched them blow it in the tournament, but the game was fun anyway - we love the Cougs! (Especially Seth - he refuses to wear red and even says it is a "bad" color - Bryce's propaganda has sunk in a little too well with him).

Megan kept busy with school projects, playing the piano, babysitting, YW activities, and hanging out with her friends. For one of her English projects this month, she had to make us a three course meal with authentic Greek food. It was all delicious and she only set off the fire alarm once getting it all ready (frying potato balls in oil). I say keep the cooking projects coming!

Devin got the last of his 8 teeth pulled and now has a very gap-toothed smile, but he's still able to eat with all the gaps in his mouth - nothing can stop Devin when it comes to food! He is still busy with karate practices and Annie rehearsals on top of guitar and piano practices - he doesn't have much free time these days. He should test for his black belt at the end of this month if all goes well - we'll keep you posted. He also went on a scout campout with his troop where they got to snowshoe in to their scout leader's cabin and he had a great time!

Seth finished his season of basketball and is now keeping busy with piano practices (Megan is still his teacher and is so patient with him), cub scouts (he earned his religious square knot this month), and swim team practices. He has also become addicted to Calvin and Hobbes and quotes Calvin all the time. Maybe in conjunction with his love for Calvin, Seth carved his name into our piano this month, which ended up being a great lesson in repentance and forgiveness for both of us. I think I'll treasure that carved name forever (I'm not sure Bryce would agree - yet.)

Autumn had a weird little growth under her skin right on her eyebrow that had to be cut out and then stitched back up. She was one brave little cookie and didn't cry or even flinch during the entire procedure and then proudly showed her stitches to anyone who would listen. She also loved telling everyone that mom had to lay down on the floor because "she almost passed out" while Autumn was being so brave. (It's a really embarrasing story!) The funniest part was that the doctor put a hot wheels band-aid on her stitches and she refused to let me take her to school until we had gone home and changed to a pink band-aid. Too funny. She is still keeping busy with school, friends, swim and dance practices.

The kids all had fun trying to catch Lucky the leprechaun again this year! Even with 4 traps, Lucky got away again, but left the kids a mess to clean up and some fun treats and treasures! Happy Spring!! Hope it's warmer where you are!

February Fun!

February started and ended with young women's activites around here. We had New Beginnings the first week of the month, which ended up great even though I got a text from one of the main young women speakers (a laurel) about 1 1/2 hours before it started wondering "What exactly did you want me to speak about tonight?" Of course, she (and all the other young women) did a great job and it was a fun evening, but I didn't take any pictures to share. Then I had an overnight retreat with all the Laurels at a cabin up in Sundance this past weekend that was a ton of fun - tons of food, games and laughing - I can't wait until Megan is a Laurel!! (Actually, I can, but it would be fun to have her in my age group for YW!)

In between, we had science fairs, valentines day parties, all sorts of practices for all sorts of activities and just a general fun month. Seth is nearly done with basketball (one more game to go) and has had a fun time with his team - he had an awesome coach and learned a lot!!

Devin has decided on top of all his other activities, he really wanted to be a part of our community's production of "Annie". After trying out, he was cast as "Drake", one of Daddy Warbuck's servants, and he is having tons of fun going to practices twice a week to get ready for the production at the end of April.

After lots of drama figuring out which play they were going to perform and lots of delays, Megan has been cast as a member of the mission band for her school's production of "Guys and Dolls" that will be at the end of April. She was a little bummed because most of her friends were cast as different parts than her so they won't have rehearsals together, but Megan has a perpetually positive attitude and is making the best of it. She also registered for her first year of "real" high school (aaaaaahhhhhhh) and is going to be the busiest sophomore next year. She decided to take early morning seminary so she wouldn't have to give up choir, and is taking Honors pre-calculus, Honors English, Physics, US History, and opted for a Web page design class for one of her electives (is she her father's daughter, or what?) I hope she doesn't burn herself out, but she's doing what she wants, so hopefully it will all work out.

Megan, Autumn and I went to my sister Kristi's house for a girl's brunch that was lots of fun this month. Devin and Seth thought it was hardly fair since Kristi doesn't have any daughters, so they figured her party should include boys, but we had a great time doing all girl activites - thanks for the fun time, Kris!

Seth had a music performance with his awesome music teacher at his school. He and his classmates did an amazing job learning and performing some really great songs. Seth doesn't love singing as much as the other kids do (as you can probably tell from the picture above where he's waiting for the performance to begin), but you could tell he was still proud to be part of something so well done.

We went to the Draper Temple Open house the last day of the month as a family - it is an absolutely beautiful temple and it was awesome to be there together as a family and have the opportunity to answer some of the kid's questions about temples. It was a really great experience.

Hope you are all enjoying a little warmer weather this month - we can't wait for Spring!!!

January 2009

Where is the time going? 2009 already!! We had a fun time ringing in the new year and then had a great time on New Years day having Jeff and family over for traditional chalupa - yummy!! Then we quickly got back into the crazy routine and the month has flown by!!

All the kids finished their first semester with straight A's (straight Y's and O's for Autumn, but same thing) - Megan is determined to finish her first year of high school with a 4.0 and stays busy doing homework and studying for tests. She's pretty funny because she always comes home on test days sure that she "failed it" and then comes home a few days later reporting that she got 100% or something close. Musical theater has started again and after trying out, she is still waiting to see what part she'll have - she's pretty excited already!

Devin is staying busy with karate (we're sometimes up to 4 days a week now as he is only a few months away from his black belt test), scouts, piano, and has also added guitar lessons this month, which he is really enjoying. His teacher is an 18 year old kid who comes to our house for the lessons, which I love, and Devin really likes him, so it's going well so far. We also recently took Devin to the orthodontist for a consultation and he has to have 8 teeth pulled - the first 4 come out on Monday. I think he's actually enjoying the shock factor of telling all his friends - we'll see how he feels on Monday.

Seth has started basketball this month and seems to like it okay. He also had talent day at school where he got to share a talent (he told about building his Y pinewood derby car and showed it) and also got to invite a parent to share a talent with his class. He chose Bryce to talk about computers (as much as Bryce tried to convince him that I would be a better choice, Seth refused to change his mind) and Bryce was a huge hit showing the kids how to create a computer game - Seth said he was the best one yet!

Autumn did a report on reindeer for her kindergarten class (thanks for doing all the research, Grandma Ririe!!) and did a great job! She still loves dance class, and loves to sing - all the time. It's pretty fun to sit next to her at church and listen to her sing the hymns - she really belts them out!

The highlight of our month was having Grandma Ririe come stay for a week while Bryce and I took a trip with my sister Kim and her husband to Ft. Myers, Florida. We had a great time exploring the area, enjoying the gorgeous beaches(Bryce and Tim are master sandcastle builders), boating through the Everglades (where we saw bottlenose dolphins, alligators and tons of beautiful birds), and even took two days and drove to Orlando and had fun at all the Disneyworld parks (much to our children's dismay). It was the perfect blend of crazy fun and relaxation and so nice to get away from the cold weather for a few days (although it was pretty dang cold in Orlando - in the 30's and 40's most of the time we were there). Thanks for coming and taking such great care of our kids, Grandma - you are the greatest!

December

December was jam packed full of fun and festivities, school programs, dance recitals, and tons and tons of snow!

Bryce and I started out the month volunteering at the festival of trees and then spent the first weekend in December in Midway, only to come home and discover it had "snowed" in our kitchen! The kids had a great time with their cousin Kaite while we were gone and the snowflakes have stayed through the holidays - I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get them down without a major protest!

Autumn had her Christmas dance recital where she got to visit Santa Claus, and performed in her Kindergarten christmas program for her 6th grade buddies - she was singing "Twas the night before Christmas" the entire month!

We hadn't had much snow by the middle of December, but the last two weeks more than made up for it! We had a great time playing, building snowmen, sledding and shoveling (okay not so much the shoveling) in the 18 inches or so that fell in the week before Christmas. Sasha especially loves the snow and bounds through it like a black jackrabbit - happy as can be!

My mom and Bernie were supposed to be here for Christmas, but thanks to all the snow there and the storms here, they weren't able to fly out of Portland for 4 days after they were supposed to. We still got to spend some time with them before they left for California and their 2 week cruise through the Panama Canal - hope they are enjoying all the warm weather!

We had Christmas Eve celebrations here with my side of the family - complete with a great meal, fun games and stories, acting out the nativity with the cousins, opening pixie presents and fun times for all.

Christmas day was even more fun with the kids all getting their Christmas wishes - a doll house for Autumn, a Nintendo DS for Seth, a guitar for Devin (he'll be starting lessons in January - can't wait for those sing-a-longs around the campfire!), and what Megan is calling her Christmas miracle - her own cell phone! We had the worst storm of the year so far that day and ended up snowed in and had a great, relaxing day with just us - it was very fun!
We went tubing at Soldier Hollow over Christmas break and had a great time being towed up the mountain in our tubes and then sliding back down - the best way to go tubing, if you ask any of us!

We celebrated the New Year with lots of confetti and loud fireworks and a sad little dog cowering in Megan's room (she hates those fireworks!) Happy 2009 everyone!

November

November started with YW in Excellence for Megan and me - it was lots of fun! We did an Olympics theme and all the girls got to compete in an event that represented the value they had chosen. Megan chose to highlight her Knowledge value project which is why she is dressed all in green.

Megan has been having a great time in her sewing class this semester. Here she is modeling the sweatshirt she made and showing off her quilt. I love that she loves sewing since she helped me sew a bunch of pillows for Christmas this year!

Devin was busy with scouts and karate, where he tested for and earned his Han Ban Bu belt - his next test will be for his black belt!

Seth did swimming lessons and cub scouts, which he absolutely loves. He earned his wolf badge in October, but because the cubmaster forgot in Nov and they didn't have a December pack meeting, he will get his badge in January. He doesn't really care, he just loves going to den meeting each week!

Autumn has kept us all smiling with her non-stop singing - during November she was singing all the songs she and her kindergarten class performed for their Thanksgiving program, which was a play where they reinacted the Mayflower voyage (even praying on the "ship" - you have to love living in Utah sometimes!) and then told about what happened with the Indians once they got to America. Autumn was a little songbird during the play - she definitely loves being on stage and it's funny to watch!

We loved having Grandma and Grandpa Ririe and Grandpa Finch here for a while at the end of November!! The kids especially had fun making gingerbread houses with Grandma and having a huge Thanksgiving feast at Jeff's house - yummy! It was fun to have guests in our new basement guest room - any of you are welcome to come try it out for yourselves!

We spent the rest of the month finishing little details in the basement and getting it furnished, although our furniture seems to have been cursed - our couch that was supposed to be here November 30 is only 2/3 here, the ottoman we ordered got lost in transit somewhere and still hasn't arrived, the screen we ordered for the projector arrived dented, so we had to send that back and are waiting for a replacement, and I managed to put a HUGE (25" X 15" according to Bryce, who is in the middle of repairing it) hole in the drywall at the bottom of the stairs with our new beanbag chair. I am sure it will all eventually get here - maybe in time to be considered a Christmas present!