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.

Thanksgiving

We went to Mesquite for Thanksgiving this year. Two of Monica's siblings and their families were at her parents also. We watched movies, played kickball and played at the park. The weather was great. Grandpa and Grandma Hunt came for Thanksgiving dinner. It was good to see them. We had a great dinner and plenty of pie later, after a trip to the park for kickball.

On Saturday we went to Roos and More. It is a small zoo in Moapa, NV. We had a time reserved for our family. We were able to see many cool animals up close.

Here is Allison being climbed on by the otters. They also climbed on Charles. With the other group the otters got wet and then climbed on people.
Here is a capuchin monkey. He climbed on all of us. Capuchin monkeys like hair so he often climbed on our heads. Here he is on Cherilyn's head. Here is Eli holding a lemur.

The capuchin monkey and Joshua.

He climbed on my head first then onto Erica's head.

We also saw a screaming armadillo, an amaradillo that could roll completely into a ball, a bear cat, parrots, camels, a zedonk, rabbits, guinea pigs, wallaroos, wallabees and kangaroos. Some of us held a python and we looked into a kangaroo's pouch. We had a great time. The kids who can write came home and wrote about it in their journals.

Ethan's Baptism

Ethan was baptized on November 6th. It was a great day. We were glad to have family there and be able to witness his special day. What a great thing to be baptized!

Pumpkin carving We carved pumpkins on Ethan's birthday this year. Joshua didn't want to be in the picture. His pumpkin is the small one in the front.

Here is a close-up of Ethan, Eli and Erica and their pumpkins. They designed them on their own and had help carving from Dad and Mom.

October Birthdays

Ethan had banana cream pie for his birthday. He was glad to turn eight. He started cub scouts the first part of October. He visited the fire station and took part in a flag burning ceremony as first experiences in scouts.

Ethan was given a volcano set and chemistry set for his birthday.

Ethan also got a new bike.

Allison received most of her presents on Saturday, a couple days before her birthday. She went shopping at the mall and picked out her own gifts. We went to dinner on her birthday and then she opened a few presents. One was Jon Schmidt piano music.