November 2010

Eating cherry pie!

Maren & Allie, Jose & Jax, Brynne & McKinley

Royce's 37th birthday was extra special...the first snow of the year!  His celebrations included a WarH Tournament, the new HP movie w/ friends, Eagles vs Patriots game w/ V & T, dessert w/ J & C & Kids, and gifts!

D, B, M: Sledding down the driveway.

Eva's about as happy about the cold as her mom!

Let Your Light Shine
Brynne really likes to write and illustrate her own books, so she read a story she wrote called "The Mermaid Girl" for Talent Night at Activity Days.  She received compliments on her creativity and her picture.  Another good book she's written is "Little Blue Riding Hood."  She is very talented!

Sometimes, even mommies need a time-out!

Time Out In Washington

My sisters and I flew out to Camas, Washington to visit Amanda and to go to "Time Out for Women" in Portland.  We had a GREAT time laughing, talking, eating, and staying up late.  Royce held down the fort for 4 days!  Amanda's house is in a beautiful area that reminds me of Pennsylvania.  Lucky!

VETERAN'S DAY ASSEMBLY!  Duncan's Veteran's Day Essay was 1 of 6 essays, out of all the 5th grade classes, chosen to be read at Knoles' Veteran's Day Assembly.  He did it on his Uncle Aric!  Click "Read More" to watch the video-the text of the essay is in the video as well.

October 2010

STAR OF THE WEEK:
Duncan was Star of the Week at school.  He picked these pics to show: King of the Tube at Lake Powell, Hike over Labor Day Weekend,  Mammoth Creek in UT, Service at the Retirement Home. He also got permission to bring in his sword for show-n-tell. 

AUTUMN FUN:
Thursday night, we went to "Which Witch is Which?"--a play for children at Theatrikos.  Friday night, I took Maren and Brynne to the school carnival. I didn't think Eva was old enough to participate but she played games and made sure the adults punched her punch card!  Brynne won a cake in the cake walk too! 

The football season closed Saturday with a loss in the playoffs to the Cottonwood Colts.  That night was Trunk-R-Treat at the park, then Royce had a Battle-of-the-Bands gig at the Grand Canyon Hotel.  They won out of 3 bands!

DUNCAN'S BIRTHDAY!
Duncan turned 11 on the 21st, only a year away from YMs and Scouts!  On Sunday, he asked Royce: "How much longer do I have to go to Primary?" :) For his bday dinner, he wanted lasagna and for dessert homemade ice cream sandwiches using crinkle cookies-his favorite.  Royce and the girls hid his presents and made clues for him.  He received: a DS carrying case, cookie dough, and a Hershey bar from Mom; the Ook and Buk book and treats from Brynne and Maren; and a Halo Lego set from Dad.  G&G Peterson gave him a book set about warrior owls, he bought a sword with his money from G Porter, V&T's family gave him a dragon, and A&S sent a card.   

Dunc got to pick the night's activities which included: a pillow fight/wrestling and playing Fantasy Forest, which he won!  Some of the nice things family members said about him were: he's nice, shares, obedient, a good example, good-looking, intelligent, and plays with his little sisters well.

Brynne: Boy  Eva: Hulk/Superman midget Maren: Gangster?Dad?

HALLOWEEN BOOING! 
We've made it a yearly tradition to BOO a few families before Halloween.  For FHE, we made

Dunc: Squishy eyeballs are the bomb.

bags of treats and Halloween treasures and each child picked a family to Boo.  With Duncan's help, Maren even knocked and ran this year!  Brynne wanted to disguise herself using our costume bag, and all the kids followed suit.  The kids had as much fun (and probably spent more time) dressing up as they did BOOing their friends.   

September 2010

The highlight of this month was our Porter Reunion at Lake Powell!!
Day 1, Sat.: Jet-ski and boat to camping location, then play the rest of the day!

Brynne and her cousins being pulled by Uncle Ryan's boat!

Royce got on a jet ski as fast as he could!

            

Camping at the base of a butte...Lots of sandy beach to play and dig on! 
Top Right: Cole's dad bought him a fishing pole.  He caught a fish and all of the cousins followed him to the other side of the beach to watch him gut it.  Yuck! Bottom Right: Jen, Maren, and Eva going out for a nice, slow ride. 

Eva filling pails of sand while adults visit.

Kids digging in the sand.

Royce and Maren going out on a kayak.

A New Year: January 2010

Welcome 2010! We rang in the New Year with breakfast at Cracker Barrell and sledding after with Ryan and Leslie's family. Happy New Year to all our family and friends!

January was full of activity. Royce had 2 Buckit gigs: One New Year's Eve until 2 am at Charly's and at Oak Creek Brewing Co. in Sedona 2 weeks later. They are growing in skill and popularity! He also got some new WarH figures for Christmas he's been putting together, and he saw the band "Humphrey McGee" at The Orpheum here in Flag with Vaughn. His practice is doing well, and he is learning new skills as he fills the role of owner now.

We went to Mesa over MLK weekend to visit family and swim at Dad's hotel. We saw Richard and Lindsy's new place and Jared and Kathy's. We also visited with Dad and Jason and Julie. The pool was chilly, but Brynne jumped right in. Maren frolicked around the deck, picking flowers and talking to herself. I noticed how nice the flowers smelled and how each one, though small, was unique and beautiful...like my children.

The night we drove back, a snow storm hit Flagstaff, lasting until Saturday. The kids were out of school the entire week! The kids played in the snow, sledded, played with friends, had sleep overs, and stayed up late lots. Royce joined in on the fun on Thursday when the worst of it hit, and they closed the office early. He did a lot of shoveling but also enjoyed the down time.

In the spirit of setting goals, I made a decision this year to have more fun and to develop my interests and talents more. So...I'm now attending a Scrapbooking group, re-started Book Club with a friend, am writing weekly, will be leading a church group on Parenting, and am creating a blog about overcoming depression and anxiety, focusing on Pres. Monson's adage to "Find Joy in the Journey." I also planned a getaway for the Porter family in March at our Bishop's vacation rental.

Duncan had a blast recently digging snow caves with Royce for a Scout campout. They slept in their cave overnight and survived, with minor frostbite! At the campsite, he sledded with the Scouts and learned some snow survival skills. He is doing well in school still and reading series after series. If I can't find Duncan, I know to check his room where he is often reading or inventing something.

Brynne was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints on the 9th. Lots of family came, making the occasion even more special. As I helped her into her all white dress, I reflected how one day I'd be doing this same thing for her wedding. She is a beautiful girl, on the inside and out. We did a "Great To Be 8 Countdown" with her the 8 days before. She is still enjoying music class, piano lessons, and Activity Days.

Maren is glad that Music, Pre-School, and Story Time are back in session! She is a social girl and likes to be doing and playing with her friends. She loves books, dancing, music, singing, and playing dress up. She is also becoming a shrewd shopper, having found a 3 Musketeers Dress on clearance to buy. Maren's rule of thumb for dressing/shopping/learning is: If it's not cute or princessy, she's not interested.

Eva, though barely one, is already filling the role of girl/sister: she fights with Maren over Maren's things-screaming, pulling, and sometimes hitting (Maren is already talking about her own room); she wanted a purse to put things in and carry around (we hang it on her shoulder and she holds her hand up to keep it on); and she likes to give kisses and talk. In her repertoire is now "owie." She also shakes her head no adamantly now and knows what it means.

Hope your new year is off to a great start too!

December 2009

We did it! We made it through the holidays healthy and sane, though this was the latest we've
ever done Christmas shopping before!

December Highlights:

Royce achieved his goal of playing a large-scale Warhammer game. They tied in the end, but he
had a great time and made some new Warmonging friends!

Jen got to go see "The Christmas Carol" with Duncan at NAU for school. Excellent production.
She took Maren and Eva to the Lollipop Concert-a short version of The Nutcracker production
with lollipops at the end. She made her first necklace at a friends' gathering, went to Enrichment
which was fondue dinner and dessert and a white elephant gift exchange. And supported 3
service activities : Munos, make cookies, wrap presents. Sang in the choir.

Duncan went on a fieldtrip to the Landfill-the coolest trip ever. he came home asking why he
can't just go get things out of the pile-so much cool stuff to build with.

Brynne obtained 2 American girl dolls-Marisol and Kit-for Christmas and her birthday. Her mom
drove her and the kids to Sedona to get them, at night during inclement weather-a 4 hour trip!
She also went on a daddy-daughter date to "The Christmas Carol". And she attended her first
Acitivity Day on her birthday and got to wear her pjs.

Maren went caroling for preschool, finished out her music class, had preschool Christmas party.

As a family:
We watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time. The kids loved it!
Attended Tithing Settlement: the older kids were full-tithe payers.
Attended the Porter Family Christmas Party in Mesa-dinner and Temple lights and music.
Grandpa gave the adults a weeklong houseboat vacation at Lake Powell every 2 years.

Ryan and Sandy (Royce's parents) drove from Washington for Christmas. They came the 23rd
through the 28th. The kids loved it! On the evening of the 23rd, we had Brynne's 8th birthday
party. She decided she wanted to have it with Grandpa and Grandma instead of friends this year.
The cousins came too and made gingerbread houses, Brynne's favorite. The boys focused on
accumulating as much sugar as they could on theirs, and the girls' houses actually turned out cute.

On Christmas Eve, we went to V and T for visiting, dinner, and a Christmas Eve Program
Christmas Morning: short b-day celebration for Eva, since the kids didn't see her until then.
Boxing Day: Triple date to Avatar-3-D





New Year's Eve: Family Party, then Charly's for a gig-the biggest turnout ever with people

waiting in line outside in the cold for an hour to get in.

November 2009

October 2009

Over General Conference weekend, Christy and Jose came up. We celebrated her birthday Friday night with dinner at Black Baart's Steakhouse, which has live theatrical singing. Afterwards, we went to the NAU Observatory and viewed Saturn (we saw the rings!) and its moons through their telescope. At home, we looked at the moon through my telescope and had ice cream to celebrate.



We went with some friends Geo-Caching at the Aspen place, found some treats, did a haystack maze, then off to a football game. Royce played at Charly's

We went to the trunk-r-treat at church, then Duncan went with Cameron around the neighborhood while the girls passed out candy. For FHE one week, we "BOOed" several families. The kids had so much fun knocking and running. Duncan had to hide on someone's porch once to avoid getting caught, and we took off and left him for a minute. On Columbus Day, Duncan had a friend bday party at the Aquaplex, invited Cameron Larsen and Koby Dillon. They swam and then opened presents and had dessert at home. For our 12 year anniversary, Royce and I attended the U2 concert in Phoenix October 20 and did sealings the next morning at the temple. Christy watched the kids while we went, and took Duncan on a birthday hike the morning of his birthday. Brynne went with me to Craft Day where we made some quiet books and Halloween blocks.



Jen pulled off the Primary Program, yeah, then got released a couple Sundays later!

Washington Trip Pics