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.

Band and Choir Concerts

Ryan is in the Concert Choir this year.  They sang at Temple Square as well as having a Christmas concert.

 

Carter after his Christmas Concert with his euphonium.  He played a beautiful solo in a piece titled "October". 

 I had to add this picture because Ringo loves sitting on our Christmas stockings.  Every morning he would take his toys and snuggle in the newly arranged stockings.

Gingerbread and a Luau

Bethany has been taking group voice lessons this fall.  She loves going every week and especially enjoys performing.  It makes it extra special that her voice teacher is her best friend's mom.  She also gets to walk to voice lessons after school with said best friend and another bestie.   Her group sang at the Gingerbread House festival on Saturday.  They sang "Can I Hold the Baby?", "Holly Jolly Christmas" and Bethany sang a solo, "Sleep of the Infant Jesus".  

Hunter, Bethany and Brynna

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Saturday was also our ward Christmas party, a Luau.  Scott was on the "pig" committee.  We didn't realize what a big project this would be!  Scott spent a lot of time learning how to cook a pig in the ground from a polynesian member in our ward, Sonny.  Sonny has a bad back so he directed the action.  They buried the pig in a pit on hot rocks and insulated the whole thing with lots of foil, newspaper and quilts. It roasted all afternoon.  I was nervous about the whole idea but it turned out great!  I think the novelty was fun for most people even if a few didn't want to try the pork.

Weirdly good.

Preference Dance

Ryan went to preference on November 5th with Margaret Quinn, a girl from his soccer team.  He was really excited to go and had great time.

This is how Margaret asked Ryan.  He answered by giving her chocolate milk and donut holes with the caption "I would be happy to be the chocolate milk to your donut!"

Love the shoes!

Halloween

Bethany designed this clever gum ball machine costume. She went trick-or-treating with friends.  Ryan was their "bodyguard".

Camille painted this cute pumpkin.

 Ringo is just sweet.  I love having a shadow.

Camping in Moab

For fall break this year we camped north of Moab near Mill Creek Canyon.  We were worried about the crowds but since we stayed out of the national parks we actually saw very few people while we hiked.  It was so wonderful to get away from it all!  We saw lots of beautiful things.  The whole area is really worthy of being a national park although selfishly, I'm glad it isn't.

We enjoyed spotting cottontails but I was considerably less enthusiastic about this baby rattlesnake...

Bethany sporting her new fancy yoga pants.  She forgot to pack pants so we found these for her at an outdoor store.  Moab doesn't have any non-tourist clothing stores, so we were glad that we were able to find something for her to wear.  They are a women's size small.  Thank goodness for spandex!

Dinosaur tracks!

We found lots of neat rocks.  Some of them looked a lot like petrified wood.

These petroglyphs were not too far from our campsite.

Camping wouldn't be complete for our kids without a fire. We enjoyed roasting marshmallows and looking at the stars.  And burning stuff.   Lots of stuff.

Braces Off!

 Nine years, many adjustments, plenty of pain, much tooth brushing and thousands of dollars later and the braces are finally off! Look at that smile!

This is Ryan's trademark uniform: hat, pencil, shades/glasses, and hoodie.  He knows what he likes.

Ryan is taking Sports Yoga this year.  He has a great teacher, Ms. Englebright, who is very encouraging and is super positive.  Ryan is in great shape! The class is 90 mins long.  If you have ever done yoga you know that is a long time.

Ryan is also taking Work Based Learning this year.  He is assisting Toby Bluth, a physical therapist, who's office is just down the street.  Ryan massages people with ultrasound, massages with his hands, hooks up patients with electrodes, washes and folds lots of towels and is generally friendly and social with everyone.   Everyone loves Ryan!