Party Plans

This year it was Isaac's turn for a birthday party with friends.  He wanted to go play ball at the gym and come home for cake and ice cream and maybe a movie.  What he really planned was going to be a marathon party, but I had one great consolation to all this. . . .it was easy on my part and the house was clean.  He had around 8 friends come to play ball at the church.  When they were done we had pizza and cake and ice cream.  Some of them stayed to watch Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.  It was a long day, but Isaac had a lot of fun.

I think the older the boys get the easier it is to have a party for them.  It's much less entertaining them on my part and more of them entertaining themselves, which is as it should be right!  Isaac planned it all and pretty much put it all together himself.  It's kind of typical Isaac.

What is the best part of being 12?

"I get to go on more camp outs with scouts."

We are so glad that he is in our family.  He is a very strong individual and loves animals, fishing and all things ball related. He is self motivated, works until it's done and is a leader.  He has lots of friends and is a very clean and tidy person - it's a positive thing, it's a positive thing.

Acceptance Letter

It came in my inbox yesterday.

AnaLee,
Congratulations! It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted to Utah Valley University, beginning 2014 FALL academic term. We are delighted to welcome you to the UVU family. 

I applied in December just missing the spring deadline by a matter of days. I'm anxious to get going now that I've made the choice but starting this fall I will be working towards a bachelors degree in art visual communications . . . graphic design.  Lots of art classes including photography (yea!) and . . . (gulp) . . drawing!  (sigh)

And the most exciting was that my credits and degree from Snow College - about a hundred years ago - transferred beautifully.  I will enter as a junior and only need one math class!  Hooray!!  I thought I had to take two accu-placer tests. . . in English and Math . . . and I was dreading it!  Its the over 20 equivalent of the ACT or SAT test.  In fact I procrastinated . . . and it payed off because apparently I don't need them as a transfer student. Hallelujah!

I'm nervous and excited and a little intimidated to be entering this field among these younger naturally artistic kids at this point in my life.  One of the young women at church today looked at me and said "you are going to school?"  Bless her young little 12 year old heart!  ;)  Yes I am.  Heaven help me!!

Frozen - Worth Seeing Again

We don't usually see a feature twice in the movie theater.  Dennis took the girls to see Frozen in the theater the day after Thanksgiving, but Bonnie reeeeaallly wanted to go see the "frost girl" again. A repeat viewing is way too expensive for us at this point.  The boys are now considered "adults" in the theater, but well, . . .  we are at that stage in life.   Since the boys and I didn't see it and I was in love with the sound track already. . .yea we bought that this week, and I have loved Idina Menzel since Wicked. . . . so. . .  we decided that we would all go see this repeater show.

LOVED IT!!!

Part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was actually watching my girls watching the movie. They have been listening to the soundtrack enough that they knew the songs and it was so cute to see Bonnie totally into it! I mean, she was giddy. The boys even thought it was "so good".  Bonnie asked if we could watch it again and again and again.  I told her we have to wait until we can buy it.  It's been out almost 2 months and the theater was still full tonight. That says something.  It almost made me cry, I laughed out loud and it's just a beautiful film from an art perspective. Seriously beautiful.  The only part I found a little disturbing was how the villain was so good at being a good guy! Bad guys should give a hint or something . . .right??!!

I asked them all on the way home who they liked best out of the two sisters. Elsa or Anna. Bonnie said that she likes Elsa, because "she has ice powers and snow powers." They all said Elsa, but I am an Anna fan!  She is . . ADORABLE!! Bonnie like adorable!! "Do you wanna build a snowman?" But Olaf is so funny and cute too!  He's the animated snow man who loves summer.

So . .to recap. . .  wonderful sing along again and again music, beautiful picture, lovable, adorable characters, humor, heart break, and true love! Definitely worth seeing again.

Welcome 2014!

We rang in the new year here at home surrounded by hundreds of little kids.  That's just kind of what it felt like with all the little feet everywhere and empty soda cans in their wake.  The kids love to play with their cousins and they are getting old enough that we can get in a little adult game time as well.  It was good to have most of my brothers over to spend some time together this holiday season. We had lots to eat and some fun games to play.  They all stayed until the fireworks across the street signaled the new year.

Today it's just hanging out and taking down the Christmas tree and trying to pack all the decorations away for another year.

Dennis and the girls taking the tree down

Big Day for Isaac

On Saturday the 28th Isaac had his 12th birthday. This birthday is a milestone in his life. He was so ready to move onward.  Isaac could hardly stand the wait.  He's been working so hard on his Faith in God this past little bit.  He's had a lot of Articles of Faith to memorize  and he finished before Sunday.  He had a goal to get it done though and he worked diligently until it was done. We are just so pleased with young master Isaac and the young man that he is.

12 years old, with the help of his big brother.

He blew the candles out through his nose. . . the little stinker!!

Isaac was  excited that he finally got to go to Young Men's class instead of Primary this week.  He was glad to move on to be with some of his friends.  He has some good boys that he hangs out with that age, some really good examples for him to follow.

Isaac was given the Priesthood and ordained a Deacon by his father after church on Sunday.  Grandpa and Grandma Marker were there and Travis and Ronna and their family as well.  We had a nice dinner at our house afterwards and enjoyed spending time together.  These little mile stones are so good to enjoy in the moment. Which is why I usually don't get many pictures of these things. . . I'm too busy enjoying them. I completely forgot to take a picture at church, so I snagged one of these guys just before Grandpa left.

Grandpa Steve, Isaac and Dennis

Happy Birthday Isaac. May it be a wonderful year for you!

Memory Maker Christmas

This year we took a trip to San Diego for Christmas as a family.  It was a 75 degrees on Christmas day and we got away with jeans and jackets the whole trip!  We all had a really good time.  There was so much to see there and we got in as much as we could. It was just so good to be together and focus on something other than what goes under the Christmas tree.  The kids spent a little money on gifts for each other and Santa filled the stockings that we hung in our hotel room, but most of our time was doing things together this year. We enjoyed everything, except for maybe the last 5 hours of the drive home.  Its good to be back again although we will miss the warmer temperatures.

San Diego Zoo

 The San Diego Zoo was the first stop on our trip.  We ended up spending most of the day there and really enjoyed the slow pace around the park.  It wasn't very crowded so we enjoyed a little less stressful atmosphere there as well. Some favorites were the tiger, Okapi and hippos, and the Arctic land was really nice. We rode on the skyline over the park and took the bus tour around 70% of the park.  The kids all insisted on riding on the upper level of the bus.  For some reason we missed seeing the pandas though. Maybe next time.

San Diego Safari Zoo

 The Safari Zoo sits on some 1,800 acres just north of San Diego.  We didn't spend too long there, the kids were anxious to get to Legoland, but we all rode on the African Safari Tram around a large section dedicated to the . .yes . African Safari. It was a guided tour that included a rare white rhino, Giraffe's, a lot of antelope and deer species, zebras, beautiful cranes and even a cheetah who was in her own area. It was very nice to see the animals out in a more open environment and even mixed together with other compatible animals. We did see some lemurs and lots of colorful birds here as well as a few smaller animals and a lot of native birds that took advantage of the terrain and food. 

Mission Beach

This was their first trip to the beach, well the boys were very young when they went before, so it was special for everyone.  They all loved playing in the sand and even found bits of shells along the beach.  We made it there a couple times during our stay both around sunset, which was just so spectacular!  We didn't spend much time in the water, it was still a bit too cold for that but they did get wet enough to call it good! The older kids liked jumping the waves as they came in and Bonnie loved digging in the sand. Definitely a highlight on the trip. 

Sea World San Diego

Sea World on Christmas Day might not have been the best plan.  It was very crowded so I was a little worried about losing someone!  We all really liked seeing the Shamu family perform in a show!  Bonnie was able to play at the Sesame Street play land with rides just her size.  She found Elmo and Big Bird there and she gave them a big Christmas hug!  The older kids loved the faster rides like the Manta Ray and they even talked me into going on the Atlantis water ride with them.  I admit that it was very fun! The penguins exhibit was actually very nice and the kids liked touching the rays, anemones and seas stars. We watched the dolphins interact with the trainers and even saw the otters eating some shrimp.

Legoland

Legoland was the thing they all looked forward to the most and was the last stop on our trip.  We saw a cool 4D show and found the Lego cars at the driving school.  Isaac was a little disappointed that they didn't go more than a couple miles per hour.  Bonnie drove all by herself around the kiddy track and actually did pretty good.  They had fireworks that night and we stayed until closing and saw those.  It was just amazing to see all the features and themes around the park made out of Legos! Kind of impressive. 

Belmont Park and other Misc. Photos

The drive to California wasn't that bad at all.  I think it was all the anticipation that kept them busy. We had gifts that they got to open along the way with activities to make the trip go by smoother as well and I think that helped a lot.  They really did amazing for such a loooong drive out there. We only took 2 stops, overnight in St. George and one close to Barstow.  At our hotel there was a heated pool and hot tub which we all enjoyed. We also went to Belmont Park, a carnival type place with some small rides including a roller coaster, bumper cars and a Merry-Go-Round.  The Tilt-A-Whirl was by far the funnest. . . at least for the girls.  Khora said, "it's not fun unless you scream!"  They had a lot of fun!!

On the trip we settled for breakfast at the hotel and PBJ's for lunch so we could have a fun dinner out.  We ate at Jack in the Box, the Cheese Cake Factory, Panda Express, In-N-Out Burger and Cafe Rio.

It was a wonderful week together.  We got some sun on our cheeks to help us get through the cold back here in Utah.  It was good to finally be home though.  We are all looking forward to the new year that is just around the corner.

Music and Message

These are some of our favorites!  The music and the message is wonderful in them all. Check them out.  The link is in the titles.

What Shall We Give

O Come, Emmanuel

The Reason For the Season

The Coat

Merry Christmas!!