2015 A Year in Review

It was a good year.  We were healthy, happy, prosperous, and so, so blessed.  Here is a recap of the year's highlights.

In January, we spent a week in San Diego with all the DeMartinis.  

A good time was had by all.

In February, I took the kids hiking up Rock Canyon with Grandma Sue and cousin Donovan.

A good time was had by all.

In March, I took the kids snowshoeing for the first time ever.

Brandt reported it was his favorite Field Trip Friday of the whole year.

He also participated in his first ever Pinewood Derby.

A good time was had by all.

In April, Blythe participated in the school Oral Language Festival.

She dramatically recited a Shel Silverstein poem.

Dare I say it?

In May, Brandt's class performed an opera they wrote lyrics and music for

and which they have been practicing all year.

It was called Ninjas at the Museum.

It was fantastic.

Brandt and Blythe also completed third and first grade.

Summer fun began in June with biking (LRRH for me), the neighborhood block party, backyard camping, concerts in the park, Blythe's birthday, outdoor movie night, a romp in South Fork, 

and lots and lots of swimming.

Summer fun continued in July with Fourth celebrating, Brandt's birthday,

 a hike to Timp Cave, dining al fresco, canoeing, scrub scout day camp, 

backyard transformation, Pioneer Day celebrating,

and lots and lots of swimming.

August brought a family campout, a trip to Park City, fencing camp, more hiking, 

night games, a celebration for Grandpa George's 90th birthday, 

a trip to Provo Falls, the start of school,

and lots and lots of swimming.

In September, I went with the kids and cousins to Moab for the weekend.

We hiked and hiked.  

A good time was had by all.

In October we took a Fall Break trip to Cedar City.

We did hiking, swimming, and saw a play.

A good time was had by all.

November brought all the DeMartinis to our house for Thanksgiving.

Good food and good company as we remembered all we've got to be grateful for.

I could say it again, but I won't.

And while Brandt might say the highlight of December was seeing the new Star Wars movie,

Christmas really was the best.  

2015 was a great year.

Here's to 2016!

New Year's Eve

It's been a long week.  The kids have watched too much TV, friends haven't been around until today, and we've all been a bit too bored.  I had been thinking I would wait until next week to undecorate, but I started today and hope to finish tomorrow or Saturday.  We have had a party to go to this evening, and we have all had a hard time waiting.

The Drakes throw a kid-oriented New Year's Eve party every year, with lots of games, food, and ringing in the new year at 9:00pm.  This year they had a laundry room full of balloons the kids could pop and see if money was inside, a food eating contest, a TP fight, and a dance party in the dark with lots and lots and lots of glowsticks.  Mike entertained all the kids downstairs while the adults visited and snacked upstairs.  We all went down for the dance party, and then at 9:00 we all went outside to burn a Christmas tree we had brought.  It was great to visit with neighbors, it was great to party, it was great to dance around the burning tree, and it was great to come home and put the kids to bed before anyone was too tired.  Yeah for the new year!

 

Ready for the dance party with glowsticks stuck to their bodies.

How it looked in the dark.

Brandt begged to light the tree, and Kent let him.

Matches! Fire! Heat!

So exciting!

Lots of little people enjoying dessert post tree burning.

Photographic Discovery

I got a new camera and recently gave the kids permission to use the old point and shoot.  The other day, Brandt brought it to me and said he had been trying to make a video, and it said there wasn't enough memory.  I took the camera and transferred pictures to the computer.  This is what I discovered.  There were 285 pictures and 42 videos.  The videos were mostly made by Brandt and friends of Lego action figures interacting or Lego constructions being "blown up" by other flying Lego bits.  All highly dramatic and utterly fascinating.  Two of the videos were from the BYU football game we attended together, video which Brandt took so he could show Blythe when we got home.  One of the videos was just over one minute, the other was seven minutes.  Both were shaky enough to induce nausea and vomiting.  I know.  The one I watched, though only one minute long, made me queasy.  Blythe never saw either of them.

Of the pictures, this is what I found.  They lead me to believe that Brandt does not have a future in photography/film.

14 Brandt selfies, 4 so blurry he was almost unrecognizable.

9 pictures of the upstairs hallway.

1 picture of Brandt taken by someone else, likely Blythe.

5 pictures of bits of Kent.

8 pictures of Blythe's floor/room, not at its most tidy.

3 pictures of Brandt's room/floor; tidier than Blythe's.

14 pictures of blurry, indistinguishable things.

5 pictures of friends who came over.  Jarom looks like he stopped by to do some reading.  I think, in reality, he was helping make some of the 42 Lego videos.  And reading.

  

7 pictures of Blythe eating yogurt,

And 3 of her doing other things, including climbing a tree in a dress.

29 pictures of Lego horses on the red couch.  I think they were part of a movie making venture.

8 pictures of this Lego construction on the red couch.  Presumably more movie making.

30 pictures of this Lego guy "walking" across the board.  Another exciting movie.

10 pictures of the Lego guy biking across the same blue board.  He was tired of walking.

20 pictures of this Lego construction.  This might be a Blythe creation.

12 pictures of this Lego vehicle and driver.  If he was moving forward in movie style, it was hard to tell.

9 pictures of floors/walls of various rooms in the house, other than the kids' rooms.

1 picture of me doing something on my phone.

2 extremely blurry pictures of Brandt and me, perhaps taken just after the above picture.

2 pictures of legs.  I'm not sure whose.

46 pictures of a library book, Pyramids.  That might be as many pictures as it has pages.

43 pictures of a Lego action figure walking across a different board set on the table.  If you looked at them really fast, one right after the other, it does look like he's walking.  

2 pictures from the BYU football game.

2 very blurry pictures of me singing/yelling/preparing to shove something in my mouth?

4 pictures of the back of Brandt's head, obviously not taken by Brandt.