Erica's 15th birthday

15 on the 15th of 2015!

It was an extra "golden" birthday for Erica.  (According to Anslin your golden birthday is when your age is the same number as the day you were born.  Erica's was extra special because the year is the same too.  Of course, that is bound to happen when you are born in the year 2000.)

 Erica received a jean jacket, CTR ring, Hank Smith CD, money from Grandpa and Grandma Elder, and fancy hair stuff.

Erica has enjoyed being at home for school working on BYU Independent Study courses.  She is almost done with ASL and will then begin learning Spanish.  She doesn't really enjoy her other classes--English, Math, Science and Digital Photography--but she is glad she can do them at home.

When she isn't working on school stuff she enjoys listening to music, watching videos -- Studio C, Brooklyn and Bailey, and I'm A Mormon among others, and hanging out with friends.

Christmas 2015

The Christmas season was good for us.

As usual, Cherilyn and Allison had Christmas choir concerts.

We also went to the traditional Elder Family Christmas Party, the highlight being a white elephant gift exchange.  It is not a true white elephant gift exchange in that we usually like what we bring home.  Ha.  The boys were especially excited about a splat ball, a whoopee cushion, and candy that they brought home.

This December we visited with my brother, Mark, and his family in Grantsville, UT.  It was still warm enough, two days before Christmas, to go to the park near his house.  Crazy weather for Utah!  That day, we also ate a big lunch and attempted to decorate gingerbread houses.  There was a major flaw in their baking and they wouldn't stand up.  (My fault completely.)  The kids still enjoyed the candy and frosting.

While there, Allison was glad to help Aunt Sarah with a craft project using her new Silhouette (similar to a Cricut).  Allison added that to her list of things that she wanted for Christmas but knew she would not get.  The other item was a black baby grand Steinway piano. :)

On Christmas Eve we visited with Grandpa and Grandma Elder, read some scriptures, and watched a movie, the latter now being a tradition in our family.  Another tradition the kids enjoy is sleeping downstairs, all together.

Here are some pictures of Christmas day.

Erica was very excited to get the game Curses.

Allison got a temple calendar from Cherilyn.

Cherilyn with a Payson temple ornament.

Eli in a typical dance.  He may have been excited about his gift from "The Potatoes."  He has enjoyed saying potato lately in answer to questions or just at random.

Along with "the potatoes", we also received gifts from Mrs. Claus, Rudolph the Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and the Easter Bunny.

Cherilyn got these two "real" ties for Ethan and Eli.  We found that Eli's has to be tied just right to be the right length without any showing from behind.  That may be the reason for his somewhat sour expression.

Joshua is wearing the fingerless gloves Allison crocheted for him for Christmas.  She made some for the other boys and Erica as well.

Ethan in his new Seahawks hat.

This isn't the best picture of either of them, but it shows my favorite part of Christmas -- watching the kids give gifts to each other.  Erica is opening her gift from Joshua.

The boys received many lego sets.  Here they are that afternoon setting some up.

It snowed Christmas morning so we spent part of the afternoon sledding behind the house.  Allison and Erica didn't go, because they don't enjoy it.  "I hate the cold!" is a frequent phrase spoken by Allison during winter.  Nonetheless, sledding was a common activity for several days while the snow lasted.  We also enjoyed playing our new games and having time to spend together.

Thanksgiving

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we set up Christmas trees and decorations.  Joshua had been begging to do it for a week or more.  He was delayed by the fact that Cherilyn would want to help, but she was still at college.  As soon as she came home for the break, he was asking when we could set up the tree.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at home with Grandpa and Grandma B, who came up for the weekend.  We enjoyed sharing favorite videos as the food cooked (Studio C, Pentatonix, etc.).  That is when all the children started to become Pentatonix fans, though we had heard their music previously.  The weather was warm, and some of us hiked the hill behind our house after dinner.  The boys, Allison, Charles, Grandpa and Grandma, and I spent some time shooting Ethan's new BB gun at collected pop cans.  We also watched several movies.  When it was Grandma's turn to pick, she chose The Muppet's Christmas Carol.  There was some grumbling at the beginning (thank you Allison), but it was enjoyed anyway.

We all headed back to school or work refreshed.