March 2015: by Bjorn

Becky and I and the older kids just got back from a fireside that was a kickoff for the cultural celebration that will be taking place in conjunction with the dedication of the Payson Temple. It got all the youth and their parents excited about what they will be doing for the celebration and explained the specifics of our stake’s part in the overall celebration that will involve 13,000 youth. A member of our stake presidency was appointed as the Payson Temple Recorder so we have been getting the “inside scoop” on all the progress and our stake will be the first to assign or call workers and volunteers. Pretty exciting all around. The cultural celebration will be June 6 and the dedication June 7.

With basketball coming to an end, soccer season is now upon us. Thankfully the weather seems to be mostly cooperating. In a moment of pure insanity I agreed to coach Ellie’s city soccer team, so adding that to coaching Miriam’s club team will keep me running a practice or a game pretty much every day of the week except Sunday for the next 8 or 9 weeks. If work isn’t too busy I absolutely love it.

We enjoyed our time in St. George over President’s Day weekend. It was fun to have Jenny and Chad and Brenda and Matt down there as well. I know the cousins all had a blast hanging out together. The weather was perfect and Enoch’s team took 2^nd place and Natalie’s team took 1^st – even though she wasn’t playing.

Auriana will be rooming with Melissa starting next fall and she’s excited to be on her own and to finally be able to say she’s no longer a freshman. She was able to keep her scholarship and has been having fun with the bluegrass ensemble she’s in. She’s thinking she will try out for the traveling group that plays for the Folk Dance team. If she makes it that will be a great opportunity for her to travel to some neat places.

I can’t believe Isaac will turn 17 in a week! Is he really that old? He’s been having fun with Ultimate Frisbee and track and this week reached one of his goals to beat 2 of his friends in the 100M run. He got a personal best of 11.28 seconds and hopes to just improve from there.

Other news?... After years of either no interest from the kids or no money or no interest from the parents J it looks like we’ll finally be making a trip to Disneyland over spring break (April 8-11). So we’ll have to get all the best tips and ideas from each of you so we use our time well while we’re there. Another fun yet somewhat daunting opportunity we just found out about is that my uncle Dick Jacobsen has asked us to be in charge of one of the week-long family camps that they run at the Quickwater and Sky Mountain ranches in Idaho the last week of July. We thought we would be going as attendees, as that has become one of our family’s favorite “vacations,” but they had enough applicants that they decided to try and do 3 instead of the usual 2 camps. We feel very honored that they would trust us with this responsibility and love being involved with the great work they are doing.

Photo of the week!

Photo of the week!

Photo of the week!

February 2015: by Becky

We have had a great month here in Spanish Fork!  We just finished a Stake Conference weekend and are enjoying a nice quiet Sunday with perfect weather. 

Auriana had an exciting experience this month while driving to her night class at BYU.  A deer ran out into the road and collided into the side of her car.   She held on tight and stayed on the road and didn’t even realize that she had gotten some pretty big dents all along the side of the car from the front to the back.  She assessed the damage when she got to BYU and called us to tell us about it.  She was excited to have the opportunity to drive a rental car for a few weeks while the car was getting fixed, but then found out you have to be 21 to drive a rental.  I guess she will be driving the suburban to school for a while!  She continues to study hard and did well enough last semester to keep her scholarship alive!  Yay!  She is looking into finding a place to live in Provo starting in the Fall.

Isaac has been having fun learning and practicing the sport of Ultimate Frisbee.  His team will start their games in the next few weeks.  He got a job running the “Little Hoopsters” program for the city and is having a lot of fun with 60 6-8 year olds and their fun personalities.  He has also been reffing city basketball and is learning to develop a thick skin and not take comments too personally.  While Isaac is reffing Natalie is score keeping on the sideline, usually in a different gym.  She does the girls and he does the boys.  Isaac, Enoch, Miriam, and Ellie are all playing city basketball and Enoch and Miriam are both playing futsal.   With both sports only on Saturdays it has made for some busy ones.  One Saturday we went to 7 games to watch the kids play!

Natalie has successfully finished her season of being the manager of her Jr. High Basketball team.  She struggled with not being able to play, but she enjoyed keeping the book and cheering them on to becoming district champions.  She has probably read an entire book a day lately and tries to spend time building the muscle in her left leg every day as well!  She has started running track just to get back in shape.  The doctor tells her she can start playing soccer in the summer to get ready for the fall season – but she has a lot of work to do before her leg is ready for that.  Bjorn took her out for her first driving experience at the church parking lot today!

Enoch got about 8 merit badges recently …  most of them were very boring to him, but several are required for his Eagle, so he is glad he did it.  He is looking forward to playing soccer in St. George this coming weekend and we are all looking forward to some really warm weather and some down time.  Jenny and Brenda are both going to be down there as well, maybe the rest of you should join us!  There will only be 10 people staying in the 1 bedroom condo we rented – feel free to join the party!

Enoch didn’t tell us (or didn’t know) he was in the school spelling bee the other day, so I got a texting play by play from a neighbor who was there when she noticed we weren’t there.  After several rounds he went out on the word “epoch” because he spelled it “epic,” but then they let him back in because the new rules state that if there is more than one spelling of a word they must give the speller a definition.  After a few more rounds he went out on the word laudable, which I’m sure I would have misspelled too, since I haven’t even heard or seen that word before.  He did great!

Miriam is getting ready to be Jimmy Carter’s wife in the President’s Wax museum at school.  It’s going to be fun.  The other students and parents can go around the room and “push the buttons” in front of the “wax figures” so they come to life.  She has her speech prepared and memorized and just needs to find a costume.    She has become really confident on the basketball court and is really fun to watch.  It was fun to have Brenda, Matt, and the kids come to her game in Orem yesterday!  She is our most faithful at practicing piano and fills our home with beautiful music every morning at 6:45.

Ellie has also been enjoying the piano more lately.  She has a soft touch that is very lovely.  I love it when she sings along!  Both of the girls are growing up so much and look older every day!  I wish I could keep them small a little longer. 

Photo of the week!

Photo of the week!

January 2015 - by Bjorn

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday and enjoyed seeing many of you at some point during the break. We enjoyed several days up at the Ranch with my family in Victor after Christmas. Here are some favorite memories from each of the kids:

Auriana – On Christmas we all sat around playing a fun trivia game on our phones.  It was fun to go to the church and play with all the new Frisbees that people got. I got a cool Harry Potter bracelet, necklace, socks, scarf and hat. Now all I need is to go to Hogwarts. At the ranch we all sat around playing fun card games with cousins. I enjoyed going cross-country skiing with Rebekah and Annie and Sarai. We got so tired that we ended up taking off our skis and carrying them back to the lodge.

Isaac – My favorite part of Christmas was going to the church gym with the whole family and playing with all the Frisbees that Enoch and I got. I was also really excited to get a cool percussion box. At the ranch my favorite things were going sledding and going off this huge jump that we built, playing cards in the lodge with my cousins, crashing on the runner sled with Jacob on my back, and washing dishes with my cousins (yes it was actually fun).

Natalie – Favorite memories of Christmas and the ranch include playing card games, playing volleyball in the barn, having a sleep over in the basement with all the girl cousins, and playing the pool table game with all the cousins. For Christmas I got new glasses, a cute and very soft coat, some shoes and pants. Playing Frisbee in the gym with the family was fun

Enoch – My favorite memory of the ranch is sledding down the road and going off the jump at the bottom, playing cards upstairs in the lodge, and cross-country skiing. On Christmas the whole family went to the church gym and played with all the Frisbees that Isaac and I got. I also liked building my Batman lego set.

Miriam – At the ranch I liked skiing – even though it was really hot and tiring. I liked snow-shoeing in the horse pasture, and sledding off the jump and playing card games in the lodge. We did dishes and we had to hand dry them and so right when the rack came out me and my cousins would dry them real fast and then wait for the next load, and it was super fun! My favorite thing I got at Christmas was my GeoFlux, and I was so excited when I woke up Christmas morning and there was a lot of snow and it kept snowing. It was awesome!

Ellie- My favorite part about Christmas was eating Ableskivers and building my Lego cruise ship and Lego jungle rescue. At the ranch I liked playing all the card games with everybody and playing sardines with my cousins. I also liked sledding and going off the jump with my second cousin, Robin, and playing tag on the frozen pond while we ice-skated. I liked when we had a New Year’s party and said cheers with our cups full of sparkling cider.

Becky – Special Christmas memories include the snowfall on Christmas morning, the new dishwasher and new rust-free dishes. At the ranch I enjoyed the entire time, but particularly the evening where we shared memories and feelings about great-grandma and grandpa Pendleton (Bjorn’s grandparents) and learned more about their lives.

Bjorn – I always enjoy the Ableskivers for Christmas breakfast. This year I asked for some cookie tin molds and a special cooker (like a waffle iron) for some Norwegian cookies my grandma always used to make called Krumkake and Sandbakkels. I had fun showing the kids how to roll out the krumkakes in the cone/cylinder shapes. We filled them with a cream cheese & whipped cream filling and they were delicious. I enjoyed a nice Christmas afternoon nap with sounds of Isaac’s percussion box waking me now and then. I would have been annoyed if not for the fact that he sounded so good. That boy has rhythm! The Frisbee throwing at the church gym was really fun, and it was pretty cool to have no snow the day before Christmas and then see snow coming down on a magical Christmas morning.

I love being up at the ranch in Idaho. Its beautiful in the summer and its beautiful in the winter. I’m grateful that our kids have that opportunity to spend time with cousins and create such wonderful memories, and I appreciate that some of those memories can include something as simple as preparing meals or washing dishes together. I really enjoyed just sitting and talking with cousins I don’t see much and learning from them and laughing and playing games. Reverse charades on New Year’s Eve was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I love that all of their kids are so great and I don’t ever have to worry about my kids when they’re with them – just like with all the cousins on the Young side. My favorite moment was the evening we spent talking about and remembering my grandma and grandpa Pendleton. They were such great people, and I hope that my children were able to learn a few more things about them and better understand their amazing heritage.

A big thank you to Brenda and Matt for Berry-sitting for us while we were gone.  We trust that the holidays were wonderful for each of you as well. Good luck to each of you with your resolutions. May your success last longer than the typical 5 weeks. J

Photo of the week!

We took Enoch to the temple at 6:00 am before school
to do baptisms for the dead for the first time.
He was eager to get there.  It was neat experience!

November 2014 - By Isaac

This last month has been moderately eventful for the Pendleton family, like any other month I suppose. Enoch, having just turned twelve, now holds the priesthood and passes the sacrament regularly in our weekly meetings like a fine little chap. Isaac has the privilege to bless the sacrament that Enoch so dutifully and reverently passes. This month the sun set on the soccer season, Miriam, Enoch, and Ellie doing spectacularly in their respective age groups and leagues: Natalie’s team suffering terribly without her. Isaac’s football season came to a crushing end with a tragic loss to Maple Mountain high school. I will not be going into to details for one because the readers of this document will have undoubtedly already heard about the incident many times and have no wish to relive it, because it will be too emotionally crushing for you to handle at the present time. I will be considerate of your fragile feelings and move on to other news that isn’t so hard on the human soul. The kids have started into basketball season, Enoch and his accelerated team called the Thunder have suffered a rocky start to their season, losing their recent game in the last few seconds of the game with a buzzer beater shot that missed by mere millimeters and kept the crowd in suspense for a few nerve wracking seconds while it bounced around between the backboard and the hoop. Meanwhile, Miriam has been picked from the Bantam league draft to a team that shows promise, while I cannot divulge the name of the team at this time (partially due to the fact that one hasn’t been chosen yet) I have good reason to suspect that her team of little girls will go far this year. Auriana is still working hard at school. She is attending an institution by the name of Brigham Young University commonly known by the abbreviated form BYU. Also Ellie has just celebrated her birthday on the fifth of November. Her party was a roaring success, themed “camping,” it featured many activities that you perform while camping but cleverly schemed by our mother so they could happen inside. I wont go into any details because there were far too many things that went on that profess of her genius to describe, but I imagine you have already observed this in the many years that you have gotten to know our wonderful mother. The basketball tryouts for Spanish Fork High School are scheduled for tomorrow and Isaac is understandably nervous. You may find out the results of this endeavor in the near future. Natalie has recently been able to almost completely straighten her leg, she will find out tomorrow if the doctor is going to feel the need to put her to sleep and straighten it for her.  But this is all good, and hopefully her recovery can be speedy. With no other spectacular events of the Pendleton family gracing upon my consciousness at this moment, this is the family letter editor signing out.

-Isaac

Happy 9th Birthday
ELLIE!!