Cup Cake Wars

Bethany helped organize an activity for the young women in our ward.  They had a cupcake decorating contest.  Each class drew a category out of a hat. The categories were all Disney movies.  Bethany came home with all the extra cupcakes (like 30) which did not make her mom happy.  Bethany gave us each one cupcake and then polished off the rest over the next week.

  Bethany and her pal from school, Lily.

Carter asked Alanna to Homecoming Dance.  It was his first date.

Most of the kids in his group are in Marching Band.  They are great kids, Carter has a lot of fun with them. 

Carter playing in the Homecoming parade which went down our street.  Carter is playing the euphonium.

We had a cousin weekend while Uncle Wayne and Uncle Aaron raced in the Lotoja.  We loved having Eva, Jacob and Audrey stay with us!   The cousins went to the pool, played in the backyard, played video games and watched a movie.

The girls made "jam" with the berries in our backyard.

Jacob has perfected the art of catching wasps!  He also spent  a lot of time searching for our cat, Merlin.  Merlin spent an equal amount of time hiding in the bushes.

Got one!

Farewell from Temple Square

Hello everyone! It has been a few years since I've helped with the blog, but I'm back! (you know who   I am right? I'm Bethany!)

Anyway, Camille was able to be released from her mission, and we had her farewell in the church office building. There were some talks and testimonies, and at the end we all got pie. I had one and a half pieces! (I couldn't finish the last one...) 

Camille with her bishop and boss thing-ma jig

We stopped to take pictures at the Christus 

(notice how it's spelled Christ-us)

MOAR PICTUREZZZ

Camille

Yay kids

OoOoooOh... who is THIS?

Ryan with his model poses

HUrm..... WhatS THis? It'S OvER? 

Yep. It's over.

Bye.

Capitol Reef National Park

We explored Capitol Reef National Park the first week in June.  It was stunning!  I never get tired of southern Utah's amazing red rocks.  We camped in the park at the Fruita Campground.  The campground is in the middle of the original pioneer orchards and has lots of shade.  The Fremont river runs next to camp but it's really just a large stream.  Everyone, especially Bethany, loved wading in the river in the hot afternoon hours.  Ryan, Bethany and Carter liked hanging around camp relaxing with a good book, building fires and eating treats.  They don't love hiking the way Mom and Dad do but they are good sports. 

The orchards in Fruita, Utah.

There is a herd of deer who were living in the orchard next to our campground.  As you can see they were not very scared of us.  The nights were bright while we were there, and when I would walk to the restroom during the night the deer were all through the campground grazing.

The first afternoon we were in Capitol Reef we hiked Grand Wash.  It's a mostly flat hike great for tired kids.  We enjoyed the beautiful canyon walls and pioneer names carved into the rock. At the far end of the hike we scrambled up the hill to some "tanks" and saw a hole full of tadpoles.

Carter caught one of the many kinds of lizards we saw in the park.

 

Early  in the morning while the kids were still sleeping, Scott and I hiked up Cohab canyon.  It was my favorite hike.  There are many hidden canyons like this one.  Some of the rocks were strangely pitted like swiss cheese.  The spring rains being recent, the greenery contracted beautifully with the red canyon walls.

 We explored the pioneer town of Fruita.  This is at the educational center for kids.  Bethany would make a great ranger!

 Ryan fell and sprained his wrist on the first day so our most enthusiastic hiker was in some pain the rest of the trip.  Being Ryan he was pretty stoic about it.

Senior Graduation All Night Party

Ryan- So at the end of this year I had the opportunity to go the the Wasatch High School all night grad party. I stayed all night which I think is a great accomplishment! The Graduation party ended around 5:30 in the morning. I then slept in and went to school later in the day. It was an Even Day so I had Seminary, Concert Choir and Adult Roles. I only went to the last two. One of my friends was very surprised that I was at the grad party. He thought I would be in my bed asleep. It actually took a while for my friends to convince me to go to the Grad party. I finally decided to go and went to the party. I then waited for my friends to come pick me up. While waiting I watched three movies. I was surprised I got in since I'm not graduating yet. I'll be graduating next year. Yay! I had a great time! The activities they had at the party were board games, bouncy obstacle courses, and then early in the morning they played a movie. My friends didn't watch the movie so we chatted. Which was very entertaining. Then around 4:00 am they had a hypnotist I thought he did a great job! It was very funny. My friend was sitting next to me and she was laughing her head off. I admit I was laughing pretty hard. For breakfast we had donut holes and chocolate milk. Not a great breakfast. But oh well ,it was fun!

Everyday Joy

Bethany loved going to the color festival!  It was a fundraiser for her new school that is just across the street. Ryan had a spring choral concert or he would have been there too.

Mother's Day was awesome, I requested a shovel and got one!  A strange gift for most mothers but not for me.  I still really enjoy gardening, especially with Scott and the kids.  Now I don't have to share the shovel.  Notice the cute dog card on the table?  That's from Camille.  She knows I love pets and I will never have all the "flavors" of dogs that I would like to try.  So she made some cards of adorable and goofy dogs to enjoy.  I put them by my bed and they make me smile everyday = ).  In addition Scott took me to breakfast on Saturday morning to Kneaders.  We had their yummy french toast. I have such a great family!

Bethany and her friends had an impromptu math workbook burning party just before school was out for the summer.  They created a lot of ash, roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and giggled the evening away.  Bethany has made many great friends in her dual immersion class.  Next year these girls will be split up between two middle schools until they reunite in two years for high school.  Bethany is pretty sad about that but is being very brave about trying a new school in the fall.

We've had a wet and cold spring.  Our families favorite things to do is too bask in the sun on chilly mornings.  We just need more sun "spots"... Bethany and Carter were the lucky ones that day.  Ryan says, "What we need is a sun room!" I agree.

Carter has continued to be active in the archery and kendo clubs at the high school.  He is very dedicated and hard working.  He has kendo 4 days a week and archery twice.  It's been a challenge to get the homework done with his busy schedule but Carter's done a great job.  Carter lettered in Archery this year!

Camille has been faithfully working on her assignments for her mission this spring despite some very challenging health problems.  We love having a missionary!  It's been a unique blessing to have her live at home during her service.  She is a wonderful example of faith and hard work for all of us!  To catch up on Camille's adventures read her blog, http://cmllwrd.blogspot.com 

MORP

Ryan- So I had the opportunity to go to MORP, which is PROM spelled backwards. (Pretty clever if you ask me) 

I went with my soccer and bookclub friend Gabby Huntsman. The picture above is how she asked me.

It was pretty amusing but I had just got back from a Yoga field trip and I was sweaty and exhausted. (Nearly fell asleep in school that day) I came into the house and saw this poster lying on the table. Very unexpected! Also very clever! Great job Gabby!

 This is how I answered Gabby. I used some of my favorite books, to help me answer her. Well okay all of these books except Countdown. Haven't read Countdown.

The theme for MORP was "Famous Couples." I went as the Doctor from Doctor Who and Gabby went as the Doctor's companion, Rose Tyler. 

We really didn't have a day date, so for the dinner we went to Gabby's house and made personal pizza's and chatted. 

There were some great couples! One couple were dressed as Elle and Carl from the classic Disney movie "Up".

Another couple dressed up as Rose and Jack from the movie "Titanic".

Another friend from soccer was in my MORP group she and her date dressed as Mickie and Minnie. Which I thought was pretty awesome! 

I had a great time at MORP. I'm glad my friend Gabby asked me!

Prom

 Ryan and his good friend from yoga, Emma Knapus, went to prom by mutual agreement.  They had a great time. Friends are the best! Their group played miniature crochet and ate at Zuppas on Friday night. (Because of course it is essential to have a "day date" in addition to going to the dance.)  On Saturday evening we hosted dinner.  We made fettuccine alfredo and the other boys provided salad, breadsticks, sparking cider and lots and lots of dessert.  It was all delicious!

I really enjoyed decorating the tables.

The girls all sat down together as a joke but I guess they enjoyed each others company more than their dates because they stayed that way.  Way to break it up!  Spending all day with someone that you may not know well is way too long...

Bethany, Camille and I loved seeing the girl's beautiful ballgowns.  I have no hope of downsizing Bethany's expectations now. Her sixteenth year is going to be here in no time.

Sweethearts with Peeps

 Ryan went to the Sweethearts dance this year with Julie Ackerson.

We dyed eggs and had an easter egg hunt on Easter as usual.  Even though they are big, the kids love doing our traditional easter activities.  Our dog, Ringo, is getting older and doesn't have the energy he once had, but we sure enjoy him.  I don't think he enjoyed sitting on all the easter eggs the kids put in his crate....

Bethany and Camille participated in our library's annual Peep book diorama contest.  Bethany did The Hunger Games.  Katniss and Peeta are being interviewed by Caesar Flickerman.  Camille did "Lehi's Dream" from The Book of Mormon (very mission appropriate...)  The girls decorated their dioramas this year while we listened to conference.  Bethany won her division and received a $25 certificate to Dairy Keen, a popular shake and hamburger joint in town.

On a more serious note, I'm so grateful for the Easter season. Winter seemed especially long this year.  Our family has been struggling with a variety of problems over the last few months including depression and anxiety.  To see the trees send forth new leaves and the flowers open has given me such hope.  They remind me of why we celebrate spring and the return of life.  Because Jesus died for us, we are not tied down to our mortal bodies and problems. His atonement allows us to overcome sin and the strength to learn from the challenging times we experience in life.  My life in made new in Him!

More Celebrations

Bethany and her friends sang "Lollipop" at their school's talent show.

Bethany with crazy hair to prepare for the talent show.

Ryan turned 18! "It was awesome! and I got all that I wanted!" says Ryan.

Emee, Ryan, Carter and Ethan celebrate New Year's Eve before the stake dance.  Thanks Emee for the treats!  Bethany and her friends also had a party.

Camille, Scott and I played Scrabble.  It was a fun game because no one was in a hurry to get to bed.