Bethany's Baptism Day

Bethany was baptized and confirmed on September 29th 2012 by her father, Scott.  It was such a special day for our family.   Bethany was radiant and we all felt her joy.  We are so proud of her!  I don't think there are many places where the spirit is felt more sweetly than at a baptism.  

Camille and I played a flute duet for the program. Aunt Stephanie gave a wonderful talk on Baptism and Grandpa David said the closing prayer.  Our stake president, President Horner gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  Bethany was baptized on the same day as  her friend Spencer.  The service was small and intimate.  It was great to know almost everyone there and to have so much family participation.  

Bethany in her beautiful new dress with Dad

 Bethany and Scott before the Baptismal service.  

Happy Birthday Bethany!

Bethany wanted a Halloween party so I made her this cute cake.

Can you tell that she has brothers?  Bethany added these fine finishing touches.  Notice the tiny yellow ninja that has decapitated all the other people.  Apparently the cake wasn't sufficiently spooky enough without a little gore...

We decorated the house with streamers.  Bethany drew lots of scary Halloween pictures.  

Presents!

Carrot Cake, Yum!!

Bethany's favorite gift was of course her new blue bike!  Bethany has rejected hot pink except in very small quantities.  I had to search all over for a girl's bike that wasn't pink.

Back to School!

 Everyone was excited to go back to school after a long summer vacation. We moved Camille to BYU.  Bethany started 2nd grade with Maestra Zelaya and Ms. Hales. She is learning spanish in the Dual Immersion program.  Carter started 6th grade with Mr. Buell, and Ryan started 8th grade at the middle School.  Bethany and Carter were excited to show off their new backbacks!

Grammy and Pa and Mike's and Stephanie's family came to visit over Labor day weekend.  Most of the boys went hiking in the Uinta mountains.  The rest of us decided to hang out at home and not brave the pouring rain.  Fortunately for the hikers it stopped raining just as they arrived and started again when they finished.  

Anna and Bethany at the park. 

 Ryan loves his new hoodie.

 Aunt Stephanie and Anna

 Aunt Stephanie, Anna, Sarah, Ryan, Grammy and Camille. Bethany took this great picture!

 Camille loves her little cousins!

Bethany started a ballet/jazz class this year. She loves to dance around the house in her new leotard! Bethany was feeling really shy before class started, but after class she said "It was great!"

The Beach!

We celebrated Camille's graduation this year by renting a condo in San Clemente, California for a week. It was perfect!  The beach was beautiful and only a 5 min walk away from our condo.  We loved having a relaxing week with no commitments.  We slept in everyday and read books in the morning.  The kids watched the Disney channel and ate sugar cereal.  After lunch we got sun blocked up and headed down to the beach for the afternoon.  I finally learned to boogie board and loved it!  All the kids braved the waves which is pretty impressive because they were a little rough that week. We took lots of seaside walks, enjoyed the pier and ate and ate... Scot and I had lots of mini "dates" to the grocery store and one real date to the restaurant on the pier.  The fish and chips were sooo good!

Can you tell we're from Utah?

Ryan loved digging in the sand.

George the 3rd

Bethany loved jumping in the waves if she had a hand to hold.

We took a good portion of the beach home with us in our pockets, shoes, bags and hair!

We visited Crystal Cove State Park to see all the tide pools.  We loved climbing on all the rocks at low tide. We found starfish, crabs, some little fish, anenomes, and lots of beautiful shells.

Scott loves the big waves!

What a cutie!

Carter hunting for sand crabs, they didn't have a chance!

Our other bathing beauty!

Our condo backed up to a beautiful little beach canyon.  We got to enjoy the birds and trees whenever we were home. We loved our home away from home!

Scott and I enjoyed visiting Mission San Juan Capistrano.  It was established in 1776 and still has a functioning chapel.   We loved learning the history and touring the beautiful gardens.

Ruins of the " Great Stone Church" which was leveled in an Earthquake in 1812  killing forty people.

The Serra Chapel.  I loved the peaceful feeling in the chapel.  I was reminded that God loves all his children.  The restoration and upkeep of the mission is obviously a labor of love for the Catholic community here.

The flower gardens are a modern addition.  Originally the mission had orchards and food gardens.

It's official, She's 18!

I can't believe it's here already,  My baby is all grown up!  It doesn't seem that long ago that she was a cute toddler with adorable cheeks.  Camille has been a delight, we are so blessed to have her in our family!

 Can't go off to college without Scrabble...

Since Camille can't take any more books to BYU she decided to splurge her B-day money on cute clothes.  She may be a stressed student, but at least she'll be a cute, well dressed one!

If Camille is involved there will be cheesecake.  

Celebrating with friends!