Photos of the week!

Photos of the week! PROM

Photo of the Week!

Photo of the week!

PHOTO of the week!

April 2014: by All of Us

We thought we would share some of our favorite memories from Conference. 

Becky

Linda S Reeves – The greatest filter in the world is a strong testimony.

L Tom Perry – The formula for knowing what’s right and wrong: obedience.  Always be ready for the gentle tug of the spirit. 

Enoch

Boyd K Packer – He is the anchor who holds us and our families. 

L. Tom Perry – Someone who is wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.  

Auriana

Gary E Stevenson – The time is now.  This life is our four minutes, like the Olympians.

M Russell Ballard – Commitment, persistence, and follow-up in relation to trust and faith. 

Isaac

Gary E Stevenson - This life is our Olympic event, so we need to perform.

Robert D Hales – Don’t obey selectively just because you don’t understand.

Natalie

Jeffrey R Holland – Do not only not break the commandments, don’t even think about breaking them. 

Miriam

Jeffery R Holland - When you think about breaking the commandments, you’ve already broken them.

Bjorn

Jeffrey R Holland - Christ-like love is the greatest need we have on this planet. 

Sister Linda S Reeves – Daily scripture study, prayer, and weekly family home evenings take away stress and add direction to our lives. 

Neil L Anderson – Families are the treasure of heaven.

Quinton L Cook – Our family history centers are now in our homes and much of the heavy lifting will be done by the youth.

Randall L Ridds – Cyber book of life.  In the scriptures it talks about how people are judged out of the books.  Our bodies & spirits are our own book of life.  Our cyber book of life includes everything we’ve clicked and how long we stayed there.  We need to be proactive in educating our desires.  Agency is the power to refine and elevate your desires.  People don’t think of leaving the house without their cell phone charged, we should feel that same urgency about saying our prayers and reading our scriptures and charging our spirits every day. 

Thomas S Monson – Of highest importance is kindness at home.  We never know what one act of kindness can do. 

Boyd K Packer – One great truth I would share.  Jesus is the Christ.  I believe and am sure.  I know the Lord. 

March 2014: by Bjorn

We sure enjoyed seeing many of you last week in Logan for the double baptism and blessing. Thanks Jenny and Chad for the opportunity and all the yummy food. Its so nice to be enjoying Spring weather lately. Track has begun, soccer is now outdoors, though Natalie and Enoch still have one more indoor futsol game left. Isaac is starting to gear up for his yard care business with his friend Nate. And the trampoline is once again the main attraction around here. I had fun playing “Fugitive” with Enoch and his friends last night, though I was pretty lousy at spotting them, but I think they had fun.

Natalie got accepted to the Quickwater girls ranch up in Idaho – where Auriana went 2 summers ago (Isaac went to the boys ranch last summer). She’s really excited. She’s also excited to go to California in June with her soccer team, which earned the right to participate in the regional tournament after winning the President’s Cup in Mesquite recently. Her futsol team is in 1^st place and plays the championship game tomorrow.

Enoch’s soccer team came in 2^nd place at the Icebreaker tournament in St. George. They’re excited for a new season to start. Several of the boys on his soccer team were also on his city basketball team that just went undefeated. I had fun being the coach and we had a fun party to end the season.

Ellie and Miriam are both excited to start soccer soon. Miriam is becoming a pro at doing back hand springs. Ellie is learning a song on the piano called “The Call” that she is planning to play and sing for her school talent show.

Isaac can’t wait to turn 16 in one week. He will get his license on Monday the 17^th. Becky and I are proud of how responsible he is and know he will be a great driver and a perfect gentleman when he goes on dates. Weird to think he’s old enough to date and drive! We’re excited for his Eagle court of honor coming up soon. We’re waiting on a couple other boys in the ward to finish up their paperwork, but once we know the date we’ll let you all know.

Auriana is in the middle of trying to decide where to attend college. She has been accepted to UVU, USU, BYU-Provo, and BYU-Idaho. She has a 2-year scholarship to USU and a 1-year scholarship to UVU, and hasn’t yet heard from either of the BYUs regarding scholarships. We know she’ll make the decision that’s best for her. She’s excited to be leaving on choir tour to San Francisco on the 18^th. She and 3 other friends participated in a talent show that will be televised on BYUtv and ended up advancing through each round so far. They perform in the next round in April. We’ll let you know when it is going to be televised.

I guess the only other news is that today I got called to be the 2^nd counselor in our bishopric. The bishop released his current counselors and called two new ones. I’m humbled and excited for the opportunity. Both sets of parents were here with us, along with Brenda and Matt, and we have had a wonderful day. My dad ordained me a high priest and then a member of the stake presidency set me apart. I’m really going to miss being the Elders Quorum president, but look forward to this new challenge.

Congratulations!

Auriana received her YW Recognition award in Sacrament meeting today!

CHAMPIONS

Enoch's team took 2nd place, they lost only once ... in the championship game.  

Enoch scored 6 goals throughout the four games. 

Natalie's team took first place in the President's cup in Mesquite...

They won 5 games and tied one.

That means they will go on to regionals in California in June!! 

Natalie defended WELL and she scored a goal during the PK's of her semi-final game.

February 2014: by Becky

I have enjoyed a few trips to Salt Lake to visit baby Brooklyn!  Besides the sweetness of being with Brooklyn I have had the privilege of spending one on one time with someone different each day that I was there.    The first day Rachel came with me, she is so much fun to talk to, and we enjoyed holding, feeding, changing, and staring at Brooklyn all day long!  Ellie came with me the next time I went.  She had some new stitches in her nose from the removal of a cist and wasn’t too excited about going to school, so she came along and we had a fun day together.  We had lunch at the Ronald McDonald house and she really enjoyed the Brooklyn experience, as well as the pictures and paintings on all the walls and elevators.  She had never been in a hospital before.  She said she expected everything to be white!

  Miriam accompanied me the next time I went.  She didn’t think it was fair that Ellie got to go and not her, so she talked me into checking her out from school.  Jenny, Chad, and the kids all came in the afternoon that day, and Miriam had a blast in the playroom with them making silly putty and bracelets.  This last week when I went, I actually got to spend the day with Jenny!  It was fun for me to have her all to myself for a changeJ.  I am so amazed at how peacefully she and Chad handle everything.  It was so interesting to listen to their conversations with the surgeon and others handling Brooklyn that day.  Jenny and Chad keep themselves so very well informed and are doing such a wonderful job taking care of sweet Brooklyn!  She’s a blessed little girl.  We look forward to watching her grow and progress!

Other than that, we have just stayed busy with the same old routine of school and sporting events.  Isaac’s team is struggling to win, but he is getting more and more playing time, and he even got to play JV for a few minutes a couple of times.  Natalie’s team has only had a few wins as well, but Natalie took over as point guard to replace someone who was injured, and I think she did really great in that position.  Enoch’s team is undefeated and cocky, but Bjorn’s their coach and keeps the boys in check. J Miriam continues to be the top scorer on her team and loves to be involved.  Ellie was feeling left out of the basketball craze, so she started a basketball club called the Speedsters.  12 or so little girls joined the club and Natalie volunteered to teach them basketball skills at the church once a week for a while.  It has been a lot of fun!  I really love the routine and watching all the games, but Sundays are such a welcome change!

Isaac scored really well on the ACT Plan test for Sophomores, he actually got 100% on the reading section.  A lot of letters from colleges have suddenly been coming in the mail for him, and we suspect it’s because of those test results. Enoch and Natalie were both chosen to go to the district science fair coming up.  Enoch’s project was on bubbles and finding the best thing to add to bubble solution to make the bubbles last longer. He discovered it is corn syrup.  Natalie’s project was on how stress affects body temperature.  Auriana sang and competed (with three other girls) in the “Make Me Famous Utah” competition and she is excited that they get to move on to the next round which will be in March.  I haven’t heard the song yet, so I’m looking forward to her school concert this week, the Rock-a-palooza, where she will perform it again.  We are heading to St. George (and hopefully 70 degree weather) for soccer tournaments this weekend.   Enoch is playing in St. George and Natalie in Mesquite, so we will be split between locations some of the time, but we’re looking forward to some fun family time too.

January 2014: by Becky and the younger Girls

Miriam wrote:

            Christmas at our house was awesome! Natalie, Ellie, and I all got bikes! Mine is blue, Ellie’s is purple and cream, and Natalie’s is black and white. I gave Auriana a Jelly Belly Machine. Enoch gave Isaac an empty wrapping paper roll with tons of suckers stuck into it. Isaac gave Enoch a giant candy bar. We ate ebelskivers for breakfast with Matt and Brenda at like 4:00 in the afternoon! We have a box with ten Christmas puzzles in it and we did all of them over Christmas break!

            Isaac, Enoch, Natalie, and I are all playing basketball.  My last two games were both ties.

Ellie wrote:

            On Christmas, I got a bike!! My sister got one too!!  We rode them in our church parking lot.  It was AWESOME!!!!  When we got there I started riding my bike and my shoelace got stuck in my pedal!!  It hurt, but it was kind of funny!!  We were getting kind of cold so we went home.  I’m glad I got a bike.  It is AWESOME!!!!!

Becky wrote:

            We did have a fun Christmas and vacation, like the girls described.  It was great to be home, be together, and have some down time.  We enjoyed seeing a few of you, which added to the enjoyment of the holiday!  Alan and Konnie helped us get started on our big puzzle project, which took over our kitchen table and lasted for another week after they left.  Steve and boys showed up at one of Isaac’s basketball games and we got to enjoy lunch with them afterward.  We spent one day visiting in Logan; we all enjoyed holding sweet Brooklyn and visiting with everyone there, including Grandma!!  We continue to keep Brooklyn in our prayers and have been amazed at Jenny and Chad and their family and the way they have embraced this experience.

            We are back to the grindstone now and have added Futsol into the list of activities each week.  Our school term just ended, so the kids our feeling a little relief for the weekend.  Our ward used the day off of school to hold youth conference in St. George.  The weather was perfect there and the girls really enjoyed it.  Isaac was planning to go, but he changed his mind and stayed home to attend his basketball game.  The coach told him he was going to start in the game and was depending on him.  He did start and got to do the jump ball for the first time.  He was quick and got the ball on its way up instead of waiting until it was coming down.  He played quite a bit in the first quarter, but fouled three times and didn’t play much after that.  After the game he wished he had gone to youth conference instead. 

Auriana came home from school on Thursday feeling like she had failed her Calculus test and ruined her A, she was very relieved and surprised when she found out the next day that she actually got a 93.   Only two more terms of her High School career, can she keep that 4.0?  I’m sure she will, she is such a diligent student!!  They all are and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful, capable, caring children. 

Natalie has been working on a science project to test and display how stress affects the temperature of the body.   She also started a new job scorekeeping basketball games for the city on Saturdays.  She has decided that three to four hours at a time, sitting on a bleacher seat, is a long time!!  I agree!  Her Saturdays are increasingly busy adding that to basketball games of her own to play in and now early morning futsol games.  We have decided to retire Irish dance from our schedule, but I’m more sad about seeing that go than any of the girls are.

Enoch. Miriam, and Ellie have rediscovered the fun of sledding and have asked every day this week if we can go to the golf course to sled.  The driving range is available for that and has three subsequent hills that make the ride fun.  I enjoy taking a ride down the hill every so often, but mostly I just enjoy listening to the squeals and screams of the kids as they ride.  Last night we went after dark and had the hill to ourselves; it was a lot of fun!

Bjorn has been busier than ever with work!  I’m not sure he got much of a Christmas vacation, but he is enjoying coaching Enoch’s basketball team.  So far they are 2-0 and have had two really close & exciting games.  He picked a very talented and fun team, most of them have played soccer together for a few years, and they play really well together.