Summer Birthdays

Joshua turned 4!

We have no pictures from Joshua's birthday, only videos that won't upload.  Joshua loves to play outside, ride bikes, play with his brothers and watch shows (especially Team Umizoomi).  He likes to write his name and color with a highligher.

Cherilyn turned 16!

Yes, she can drive and has been on her first date.  Cherilyn is a very careful driver always coming to a complete stop and driving the speed limit (to the annoyance of some of her passengers, especially Allison).  She was invited to Homecoming.  She was asked by picking up a T-shirt in the office that said "Will you go to Homecoming with ...?"  The back of the shirt had several names on it, including Justin Bieber and Red Power Ranger and "wash to find out."  at the bottom.  She borrowed a pretty red dress and jacket.  We don't have pictures yet, but will post when we get them.

Eli's 7th birthday!

 Eli enjoyed these candies of his own.  He was happy he was able to finish them before he got his expander. Now they are against the rules.

Eli likes to ride scooters or his bike, play with friends, and play the Wii or computer.  He started reading Harry Potter this summer.  He is our tannest boy and likes to cool off by getting his hair wet and spiking it or making it a mohawk.

Redwoods

In April Charles and I drove to Eureka, California.  It was beautiful to be in the Northwest again.  It rained a little each day, which we enjoyed.  We went to Redwood National and Humboldt State Park and saw some big trees.

Here is Big Tree and Tall Tree.  (Fitting names.)  I am standing at the base of each of them.

Charles standing by a fallen tree.

Charles and Corkscrew Tree.  It twists all the way up.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

We drove along the ocean and through two streams to get to the trail for Fern Canyon.  The walls of the canyon are covered with ferns and other plant life.  There is a stream that runs through it.  A pretty place.

This picture shows an area where large trees have jammed against the side of the canyon.  The sculpted looking trees in the back are actually the roots of a redwood.

Charles flying a kite at the ocean. 

We had the golf course to ourselves in Eureka.  The whole course was a puddle.  We were still able to play and the sun was out for part of the time.  When we got to the 17th hole it started pouring, so we skipped the 18th.  We were soaked, but it was fun.

 This is the deck and landscape of the cabin we stayed in.  It was a very nice place with great views from every window.
We enjoyed sitting and listening to the rain, eating in and watching movies.

End of School

Yes, I know that school has just started, but I should catch the blog up to date.  So we go back to when school was just getting out.

Ethan had a field trip in May.  We went to the Planetarium at BYU and two BYU Museums.  Here is Ethan at the Dinosaur Museum.  The other museum was the People and Cultures Museum.

 Eli had the traditional kindergarten field trip to the zoo.  Joshua and I drove up and spent the day with him there.  Here they are climbing on the gorilla statue at Hogle Zoo.  They enjoyed seeing the animals, riding on the merry-go-round and eating lunch there.

 Eli was the one who did not want school to end.  He loves school.  Here he is at Kindergarten Graduation.

 Lest we get to relaxed with summer coming we had Eli's T-ball and Ethan's coach pitch games every week.
Allison took these pictures of them playing.

Here are some of the fun things we did as a family in May.

This is our croquet obstacle course.

Here is our game board (Formerly known as our homemade clock.  It fell and broke.)  We were at the end of Seven Wonders, a new board game that we have played with many of you.

This is Hyper Dash.  The targets are spread around the yard.  We took turns and also played on teams.  Allison is the runner here.

What has been happening:

Eli lost his first tooth on February 8th.

Eli is now playing futsal (indoor soccer). He looks forward to each game. With the smaller field he plays defender and scores goals.

This is flour all over Joshua and Eli and the kitchen. I was on the phone with Anslin, my sister. I was also attempting to make something (that I have now forgotten). I ran out of flour and had to pull out the five gallon bucket of flour. After adding the flour to my recipe I turned around to see that Joshua had made a small pile of flour on the floor. I decided not to get upset and told him that he could play with the flour that was out. I would have to throw it away anyway. Eli and Joshua had a great time burying toys and measuring devices. The next time I really looked around me (Remember I was talking on the phone and cooking.) they had pulled out more flour. I cautioned them to stay in the kitchen and I put away the extra flour. After awhile they began to slide in the flour. When they started to throw the flour that was the end of my conversation and their time in the kitchen. They did have a great time and I thought it was worthy of a picture.

(It reminds me of the picture of Cherilyn and Allison covered in Desitin when they were little.)

Ethan had his first pinewood derby. Charles helped him make it into a truck which Ethan painted black.

We were all pleasantly surprised that Ethan came in first every time he raced. As you can see he was very happy. Eli and Joshua ran up to him after he got this trophy and gave him a hug. What cute brothers! (Too bad we didn't get that picture.)

Ethan now wears glasses (as seen in the picture above). He got them at the end of February. He didn't want to wear glasses, but when he put them on he realized how much better he could see. Ethan also got an expander (to widen his mouth) in January. This is the first step in Phase 1. He will also be getting braces on his top teeth when the expander is done. I guess he takes after Mom, with bad eyesight and a small mouth.

Cherilyn and Allison have been busy with school. They have both had concerts recently. (Allison plays flute in the band. Cherilyn plays violin in orchestra and sings in the choir.) Allison has also been attending basketball practices.

Cherilyn, Allison, Erica and I went to the conference center for the Young Women General Broadcast. It was neat to be there though the drive was long.

Erica Turns Twelve

Erica had her twelfth birthday on January 15th.

Erica wanted an Oreo Cheesecake. It turned out good, especially frozen.

She got a necklace with the Young Women Value colors.

She liked it. She also liked the new journal she received.

More dot-to-dot books -- a favorite of Erica's. There are some dot-to-dots in these books that have over one hundred dots! They are in various shapes with few lines, if any, to begin with.

Erica wanted her own whiteboard. She has enjoyed writing where we are reading in the scriptures and fun notes on it. One thing Erica likes is teasing people about boyfriends or girlfriends and writing about boys she likes (much to her mother's chagrin).

Erica is a delight and has been for these twelve years. She often makes people smile and her laugh is very contagious. She has become a wonderful young woman.

Turning twelve means that Erica has become a part of Young Women. She is enjoying the fun activities and time with the other young women. She went to the temple for the first time on Tuesday. The young women weren't able to do baptisms (We didn't know that it was an Aaronic Priesthood night.) so she only did confirmations. Afterwards she said "The temple is so pretty."

Newsletter for 2011

We decided to not send a newsletter this (last) year. It was nice not to have to put it together. After receiving many newsletters from friends and family we think we will do it next year. These are some of the pictures that my dad took after Ethan's baptism. Not being savvy enough on the computer I could not find the final picture for this blog, which would have been in the newsletter. We did print and deliver it to the three grandmas though.

The beginnings of our newsletter were the new things for 2011:

Cherilyn: Attends high school. ASL. Miamaid class president. Went to Bear Lake for ward youth conference.

Allison: Playing the contra bass clarinet for band. Playing volleyball.

Erica: New downstairs bedroom with built-in sound system (formerly known as the movie room or chocolate room (due to the wall color)). Her own keyboard with screen for typing at home and school.

Ethan: Cub scouts with his first activity a visit to the police station and first pack meeting a flag retiring ceremony. Baptized. Out of a car seat. Played coach pitch baseball.

Eli: Played T-ball and soccer. Started kindergarten.

Joshua: "My little school," a joy school one day a week. An aversion to pants even in the winter. The first few days we made him wear pants he whimpered and pulled at them until he took them off. His favorite outfit is shorts, T-shirt, superman cape and rain boots. (Now he will wear pants, but changes to shorts at home. Today he rode in the car in shorts, short sleeves and gloves (no pants, no socks, no shoes). He usually doesn't go in public like that. Usually.

Charles: Treasurer at work. Primary pianist (The best calling ever.) "Yo, what is up?"

Monica (and Charles): Breaks to Zion, Maui and Arches.

Christmas

We had a nice Christmas day. We opened stockings and were able to take time to get ready for church. The boys opened a few presents before church -- new white shirts, ties and church shoes. Grandpa and Grandma Elder came with us to church and stayed to open presents with us. We took plenty of time to open our presents, an hour and a half. This year the kids gave gifts to each of their siblings. It was fun to watch them eager to see their siblings open the gift they bought. Erica gave a hug to everyone who gave her a gift and whom she gave a gift to.