Temple Square 2008

We took a trip to temple square early in December (back when it was 50' and not 10) and here are the pictures of a beautiful night.
The nativity in the reflecting pool in front of the temple was so pretty.

The number of lights on each individual tree was truly amazing. How long do you think this took?!

Here are Matt, Wendy and Ethan in front of the Tabernacle. Why is it always done in pink lights?

It reminded us of Valentine's Day or Easter with all the pink and yellow, so cute!

Let's not forget the Savior, especially during this Christmas season. Isn't this beautiful.

And here is our family in front of the temple where Matt and I got married 18 years ago. Wow are we really THAT old?

Christmas Eve with Oma and Papa

Christmas Eve was spent with the Clark family at Papa and Oma's house. We had soup, salad and dessert and a lovely dinner theater. Brinley narrated the Christmas story.

Jordan and her doll were Mary and baby Jesus while Ethan played Joseph the super hero!

Alyssa was a visiting shepherd. Look how well she takes care of her little lamby.

Cousins Courtney, Caitlyn and Kimball came as the three wise guys and brought lovely gifts that Jordan gladly accepted on behalf of her doll.

And before we went home, all the kids got the traditional gift of PJs! Here they are with Oma showing off their new look. Aren't family traditions just great? I love Christmas eve!

Finally......new family photos!

So we finally had pictures taken of the family. Let's see, last time we did this Ethan was in diapers and was barely able to sit up. He seems to be much better at it now. We had a fun day and had some cute pictures taken. Wow, are all those kids mine? They sure are getting big fast!

We went to a cute little place called Star Mill in American Fork. It was great. They have an old mill (seems obvious), an old barn, an old shed, an old tree, so on and so on, so we got some rustic pics! (Notice the Coke sign in this one--I requested that!)

Halloween has come and gone with beautiful weather. We're talking 70 degrees baby! Of course as I write this it is snowing outside, yes only 4 days later. Since all Hallows eve was so nice the kids trick-or-treated for hours and we got gallons of candy (I literally filled 2 gallon sized bags for each child) so you know I 've been eating well. I love the chocolate frenzy until I step on the scale! Hope you all had as much fun as we did:)

Love, Iron Man, Ninja Girl, Olympic Gold Medalist, Mother Nature and Capt Jack's best girl!

Lagoon with Cousins!

Frightmares at Lagoon, woooooooooooooo

Our cousins from California (the Meservys) came for a visit. They were on a mission: conquer the Haunted House at Lagoon. So we decided to help them by tagging along. As you can see it was very scary-right Jeremy!


Ethan isn't really a fan of rides that make you dizzy or puke, so he played it safe and stuck with what he knows--cool cars that go (kinda) fast! He must be reading Matt's Car and Driver, he picked out a classic.

All in all, a fun visit with our fun cousins. Thanks for coming to see us!

Alyssa has been playing soccer this fall. Her team is called the Hornets. She has really taken off! She averages 2 goals per game (last year it was 2 for the season). She has gotten faster and her footwork is great. She is so fun to watch and really loves the sport. She loves it so much that she is going to be a soccer player for Halloween. I just hope she can find a costume.

She scored both these goals in the same game. Isn't she awesome!

CAMPING!!

Look how cute; they are pretending to like each other!

We went CAMPING!!

This is the tent that Ethan and mom put up all by themselves! And yes, we even spent the night in this tent. It was a long, uncomfortable night for mom and dad, but the kids had fun. The tent was on a slight incline so by the time dawn finally broke and all the little forest creatures had quieted down, we found Ethan at the bottom of the tent. He had slid down his air mattress and would have gone right out the door if it hadn't been zipped tight. Best parts of camping were Dad and the kids seeing 2 bull moose in the forest, a squirrel that threw pine cones at us and s'mores, s'mores and more s'mores!

Brin's Cheer Squad

Brinley and her 7th grade squad performed at the High School 1/2 time with all the other cheer squads (6th thru 9th). They were in the middle of the field and they were awesome! Brin starts out on the far right side of the screen and ends up on the left. She is a base for the group on the left with her back to the center. The crazy lady screaming in the background is just a cheer mom (me) who is very happy with how well they did. Aren't they CUTE!!!

Ethan had his first soccer game on Saturday. He is a Tiger now. He did really well! He took the ball down the field and also remembered to guard the goal when it came back their way. At the end of the game they asked coach if they had won. Coach said they had been great (we aren't supposed to keep score) but Ethan and his friend were only interested in how they had lost 6 to 5. They took it well, especially after the cookies and Kool-aid.

Ethan started Kindergarten and he is really enjoying school. He loves taking his Cars backpack everyday and really likes the playground that only the Kindergarteners get to use. Here he is going into his classroom. Mom and Dad felt so strange walking away without any children to run after.

First day of school!! The kids are ready to go! All of them will be at the same school this year. Ethan started Kindergarten a couple days after his big sisters went back. It seems strange to be back in school when the temp. is still 95+ degrees outside.

This is Brinley not wanted her "mother" to take her picture on her way to camp. She had a great time (as soon as mom left)!

2008 is Great

ALOHA!

This has been a great year for our family. Our favorite memory from early in the year is our big trip to Hawaii. We took Brinley, Alyssa and Jordan in 2002, but it has been so long that they could barely remember. We started planning the trip back in July 06 because we wanted to use Skymiles to Maui and at the time availability was a problem. We ended up renting a condo in Ka'anapali, which is on the north west side of the island. We went at the end of February, which is a great time to escape the Utah Winter and especially this year because of all the storms, including the super blizzard that trapped Wendy and Brinley in the Sequoia for 3 hours only 1/2 mile from our home, anyway, that is another posting. One of the best part of the trips were all the humpback whales that we could see breaching and jumping out of the water, almost whereever we went. These are incredible animals and to seem them in their habitat was amazing. Wendy actually got some great video of whales breaching, which we will attempt to post. Anway, Maui was awesome, and our kids loved it. Matt thinks we should to go Hawaii every January--great idea.

Brinley goes to Girls Camp

Wednesday was Brinley's first girls camp. This year it is Stake camp, and she was not feeling well in the morning, so we endend up driving her up to the camp 10 miles east of Heber City. The setting is beautiful and we even saw a fawn on the way up. We are very proud of Brinley and the choices she has made so far. She was a bit embarassed that the whole family drove her to camp, and especially when Wendy wanted to take her picture. (see above/below)