Christmas/Winter Activities

December meant lots of concerts, parties and activities.  Here are some of the highlights.

The kids' piano recital was held at the Eccles Art Gallery.  It's my favorite place for a recital especially at Christmas.  It's an old restored house downtown that has been turned into an art gallery and it is decorated beautifully at Christmas!  The Steinway the kids get to play on is awesome too.  Kaitlyn made it through all 12 verses of the Twelve Days of Christmas this year.  It's fun to see how much better Andrew and Jared have gotten.  Here they are with our friends, the Larsens, and their piano teacher, Sharyl Tucker.  We were excited to finally get assigned the same recital time.  Our two families took up most of the recital!

Andrew enjoyed being part of the Jazz band at the junior high this year playing the keyboard.  They played a Christmas concert at the food court in the mall.  They were a great band!

Kaitlyn loves to sing and is constantly singing around the house.  I thought she would enjoy being part of the school choir and signed her up.  She did enjoy singing but complained a bit that Friday afternoons is when the rehearsals were and she would rather be playing.  She did a great job at the Christmas concert and was all smiles up on stage.

And of course it wouldn't be Christmas time without skiing.  After a pretty dismal start to the snow season we had several storms over Christmas break and had a lot of fun skiing while the kids were off school.

Phoenix, California, Running and Thanksgiving

After cross country season ended Andrew continued to train with the high school team.  In the post season the team went to the Nike Regional race in Phoenix the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Andrew took off with the team a few days before the meet.  They split the drive into a couple days and got a chance to look over the course.  The rest of our family drove all the way to Phoenix on Friday.  We arrived at the hotel late at night after 12 hours in the car.  The next morning we were up early and headed to the golf course where the race was being held.  The weather had turned chilly at home but Phoenix was sunny and warm but luckily not too warm for racing.  It was exciting to watch some of the best teams from several states compete.  Andrew had a great race and ran his best time ever on a 5k course.  17:52!  (That's about a 5:45 mile pace and just a couple seconds shy of my fastest 5k.  I won't be able to beat him at that distance much longer!)

After we watched all the races we got in the van and drove to LA.  It should have been just a six hour drive.  It made for a lot of driving in two days but we were glad that we had the shorter drive on the second day.  It went pretty smoothly until we were about half an hour from my parents house.  We kept telling the kids we were almost there.  We were all tired of being in the car and hungry.  It was Saturday evening so we didn't expect traffic but suddenly we were completely stopped.  It took us an hour to go a mile due to an accident.  So we finally arrived at my parents house very hungry and ready to be out of the car.

California was beautiful for late November.  It was sunny and warm.  It was perfect temperature to just sit on the beach and watch the kids play.   The older kids loved the body boards while Skyler played in the sand and flew kites.

Tuesday was my birthday.  We debated about going to Disneyland but decided we didn't want to fight the crowds two days before Thanksgiving.  Instead we went to the LaBrea Tarpits.  We had a fun time stepping back into the ice age in the museum and touring the grounds to see the tarpits.

After we had gotten lunch in La Brea Jason decided he wanted to take me to get an ice cream sandwich at a place he had been to at UCLA called Diddy Reise.  The ice cream sandwich was great but the only problem was it was the opposite way from my parents house.  Traffic was terrible.  We thought it would be a 20 minute detour and 45 minutes later we finally arrived.  The ice cream sandwiches, made out of chocolate chip cookies, were good but then we had to get back on the 405 south to Orange County.  It was shortly before 4:00 and everyone was leaving work early to get home for the long holiday weekend.  What should have been an hour drive took us over two and a half hours!  I'm not sure the ice cream sandwiches were really worth it.

Wednesday we took Andrew and Jared to the Newport Beach temple to do baptisms for the dead.  It was Jared's first time going to the temple.  We had a great time.

On Thanksgiving morning we got up before the sun was even up and headed to Dana Point Harbor for a Turkey Trot.  My race was first with the 10k.  I had been on recovery since the marathon, not running any speed and just doing distance.  I knew this would be a competitive race with the prize money they were offering.  With the shape I was in I thought maybe I had a slight chance of getting third and taking home some prize money.  The course went back and forth along the edge of  the harbor so there were lots of turn around points to see where you were.  The first turn around was at a mile and a half.  I was in 5th place and there was one lady ahead of me that I thought I had a chance of catching but the first three were so far ahead I knew I was beat.  I kind of checked out mentally at that point and struggled through the rest of the race.  Every mile was slower and when I came across the finish line I realized it was the same pace I ran the first 10k at the Chicago Marathon and I was beat!  I guess that's what I get for not taking the race very seriously.  Jason had a much better race.  He ran in the 5k masters race.  It was kind of fun since he had just turned 40 the week before.  He ran a great race finishing 4th overall and 1st in his age group.  Andrew struggled through his race as well since it was just a few days after regionals but he was 3rd in his age group and I was 2nd in mine so we still got a collection of medals to bring home.  Katilyn and Jared both ran the mile race.  Kaitlyn accidentally ended up in the older kids race but still did fine keeping up.  Skyler had a rough morning.  I couldn't figure out why he was so unhappy and then he started throwing up.  Finally he crashed and fell asleep in the stroller.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal my mom had made for Thanksgiving with my parents, Spencer, his girlfriend Janelle and Janelle's mom.  It would have been a perfect Thanksgiving if it weren't for Skyler being sick.  He was hungry but every time he ate or drank anything he would throw up so we had to keep him eating tiny bites of food and sips to drink.  I felt terrible doing that to him with all the good food around.  All too soon the weekend was over and it was time to go home.

Jason's 40!!

Earlier in the year I started trying to think of a fun party for Jason's 40th birthday.  I wanted to do something exciting for the milestone but everything I tried to plan just wouldn't work out.  We ended up going downtown to IRock to do some rock climbing.  It was fun to have most of Jason's family there to celebrate with us.  Some, especially the kids, were shy about the rock climbing at first but soon almost everyone was involved having a fun time.  Kaitlyn really enjoyed the rappelling and loved swinging back and forth kicking off the wall.  I am not very fond of heights and wanted to quit about half way up the wall but Jason was belaying for me and refused to let me down so I had no choice but to climb to the top!

Jason and Eric: I guess it's okay to be outclimbed by your little brother when you are 40!

Merrilee and Andrew

Skyler even joined in on the fun.

After rock climbing we picked up Olive Garden food and went back to our house for dinner.  Jason cracked everyone up when we sang happy birthday and instead of blowing out the candles he grabbed a fork and started eating the cake.  I made a big collage out of old pictures of Jason. It was fun to look back on the years.

2014 Family Pictures

This year will be a memorable one for family pictures.  In the end at least I can say we got a good picture of everyone.  After a mild week of weather, there was a storm coming the day we had pictures scheduled.  We moved the picture time up as early as we could to try to beat the storm coming in but the wind was already blowing.  After debating about locations we finally found a spot downtown that was sheltered a bit from the wind.  Then was the fun of trying to get a two year old to cooperate for pictures.  Skyler was having a great time running back and forth on the sidewalk listening to all the leaves crunching under his feet.  What we didn't realize is that there was gravel under some of the leaves.  He hit the gravel at full speed and his feet flew right out from under him and landed on the back of his head on the cement!  The bleeding head wound cut the photo session short so I was pleasantly surprised that we ended up with this many good pictures.

Fall Fun and Halloween

Jason was excited to have his mission president who is from Mexico in Utah this fall.  One of Jason's mission companions arranged a reunion while he was here.  It was a fun time for Jason to catch up with some of the people he served with over 20 years ago!  Jason's mission influenced his life so much and the Espinoza's are a couple that he looks up to so much.  It was wonderful to see them again.

Our family with Pres. and Sis. Espinoza

When the kids were off for fall break we took a trip to Black Island Farms.  Skyler loved the hay ride on the trailer that was pulled by a tractor.  He was so excited to pick out his own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch!  It's sad for me to see the older kids out growing some of the fun activities they have there but they had fun playing with Skyler.  And they aren't too old to enjoy a corn maze.  Unfortunately we really got lost in one and that was about the time Skyler got tired and was ready to go home!  We finally managed to find our way out!

Kaitlyn and I enjoyed going with her cousins, aunts, and grandma to Gardner Village for breakfast with a witch.  It's a fun girls outing that we get tickets to every year.  Kaitlyn loved the show the witches put on and all of their fun costumes.  She also had fun getting her face painted.

Skyler loved carving pumpkins!  Every time he looked at the pumpkins on our porch he would point and laugh.  Our neighbors made totem poles out of jack o lanterns and he spent half the week looking out his window across the street laughing at their pumpkins!

Halloween was unusually warm.  It made it nice for trick or treating.  Skyler wanted nothing to do with his costume.  We forced it on him and tried to get him to cooperate for a picture.  As soon as they went to the first house and he realized he was getting candy he didn't mind the costume anymore.  I didn't get a picture of Andrew, although he just wore the same morph suit he wore last year.  He spent the evening helping his friend with a haunted house since he's too old for trick or treating.  Another sign he is growing up too quickly.

Jason's costume needs a bit of an explanation.  He came home from his hair cut with his hair looking just like this minus the orange hair color the day before Halloween (and two days before family pictures.)  He claimed it was his barbers idea for him to dress up as Beaker from the Muppets and he promised he'd fix it before pictures.  He went to work looking like this on Halloween and I'm not sure if his patients thought he was crazy or if they just got a really good laugh!

Jared's 12th Birthday

Here it is Christmas Eve.  All my plans for today were put on hold when Skyler woke up throwing up this morning.  So while everyone else is out playing and Skyler is busy watching Thomas the train movies I can finally catch up a bit on my blog.  Jared turned 12 in October.  I felt like a terrible mom because I had to fly to Chicago on his birthday.  We celebrated the night before with cheesecake and presents.  He actually didn't mind celebrating early since he's one that hates waiting for his presents! I eased my guilty conscience a bit by making him french toast (his favorite) for breakfast and taking Dunkin Donuts to his class before we left for the airport.  At least I was the favorite mom out of his peers that day!

What else would Jared want for his birthday than a new Lego set?  Hobbit is his new favorite since he is really into the Hobbit movies right now.  So even though I had to leave on his birthday he had a fantastic time building his Lego set as soon as he got home from school.  We received numerous texts with different views of the finished project while we were in Chicago.

Here's a look at Jared at 12.

Things he likes: cheesecake, Legos, playing with his little brother (he is so good with him and Skyler loves the attention he gives him!), pasta, football, basketball, baseball, Star Wars, The Hobbit, reading Heroes of Olympus,skiing, xbox, Minecraft, scouts, camping, and hanging out with his friend, Max.

Things he doesn't like: practicing piano, homework (although he has become much more responsible about getting it done!), milk, eating breakfast, and doing his chores.

Turning 12 in our church means that Jared graduated from the primary and moved to the young men's program and received the priesthood.  I was sad to see him move on since I had recently been called to serve in the primary presidency but Jared was so excited and ready to leave.  He was ordained a deacon by his dad and we enjoyed a day with lots of family here to support him.  It has been so fun to watch him with his new responsibilities in the priesthood.  He takes them very seriously and does such a good job passing the sacrament and collecting fast offerings.  This is one of those years that Jared has amazed me by how much he has grown up, not just physically, but in how much more responsible he has become.  He is a joy to have as part of our family and I'm so proud of the young man that he is!

Not a bad picture of the whole group taken from the timer.  On the wagon was the only way to get Skyler smiling!

Andrew's 15th Birthday

Andrew's birthday was the day before the St. George Marathon so we checked the kids out of school early and drove to St. George.  I'm not sure if the drive in the car was such a fun birthday but I think getting out of school early was.  We celebrated with cake and presents at the hotel that evening.

I loved these Lego candles I found!

It's hard to believe that I have a 15 year old already.  Andrew has grown 6 inches in the last year and is as tall as I am.  He is such a great young man.  Of course having a teenager in the house has it's moments but I really can't complain about him.  I'm so proud of all his accomplishments.  I couldn't ask for a better teenager.

Here's a look at Andrew at 15:  5'6" (as tall as Mom), shoe size 11 (same as Dad)  I think he's got some more height still coming to catch up to his feet!

Things he likes: running (cross country, road races and long distance in track), Legos (can you ever get too old for Legos?) Minecraft, playing the piano in Jazz band, Heroes of Olympus books (had to preorder the next book for his birthday), playing with his baby brother, mountain biking, fishing, backpacking, camping, hiking, watching football and World Cup soccer,science, and girls (yikes!)

Things I love about Andrew:  He is happy and has a great attitude (most of the time).  He's friendly and has a outgoing personality.  He is a hard worker and tries his best.  He is the best big brother to Skyler.  He is a huge help around the house, babysitting, doing dishes, taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, ect.  I was really lost without him this summer when he was gone on camps for a few weeks.  He's fun to hang out with whether it's running, biking, camping and fishing with Jason, or just tagging along at the store.  I'm having a hard time realizing there will only be a few birthdays left with this kid at home.  He's so much fun to have around I don't know how I'll get by without him!