February

Tom and I have been married 20 years now and to celebrate we went to Hawaii with our friends

that are also celebrating for making it 20 years!  High fives all around.  

We stayed in a friend's perfectly placed beach bungalow on Oahu

We did some great hikes.  

Pali Puka

One of our stops on the North Shore, to see the temple.

My 12 year old nephew got diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in February.

Not great news-- but we are so glad that he will start feeling better and have more energy.

Ike loves this basketball time of year.  

Watching his cousin play basketball 

...and of course playing on his own team.

They had another undefeated season but lost in the championship game.

Meg joined women's choir this semester.

She is also busy with rehearsals for Scarlet Pimpernel at the Actor's Youth Theater.

Summer is in the high school musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie."  

January

We have developed a very good habit of making caramel popcorn on Sunday nights.

Soft Caramel Corn

1 cube butter
1 cup Karo syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Heat over stove for about 7 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour over popcorn (remove the kernels before hand).
Spread out caramel corn on wax paper so it doesn't harden in a clump.

 We love having these cute sister missionaries serve in our ward.

Sister Kohler and Sister Lloyd fit right in with our craziness.

This is the time they gave us a FHE lesson
and we invited the Shills and the cute Arenessa family over to make pizzas.

This was the 10th year of the Junior Suns skit at the MVT high school pep assembly.

Ike retired from the team last year due to a growth spurt and so he was made the coach.

This year one of the varsity basketball players was awarded a trip to Rome by the Make-a-Wish foundation.  He has been sick a long time and went through a very rough year.
Luckily he is doing a lot better so he will be able to enjoy his trip.
He is the one wearing the blue t-shirt in the front.

This is Gary Ernst (the most winning basketball coach in Arizona).
He has been coaching since I went to Mountain View...eons and eons.

A highlight for sure was watching Summer in Footloose at Actor's Youth Theater.

She has found her thing.

One of the cast dinners between shows

This is the time of year to be outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Love spending time with my sis Bridgette and her babies.  

December

On Black Friday we got up early with some of the cousins and went to

  "Feed My Starving Children."  

This is such a great Christian organization that ships nutritional meals to needy countries.

There set-up is efficient and really fun to participate in.  

They play fun music and have a competition

with each station.   

This is Isaac's Lego Robotic team.  Ike looks like the big brother,
but they are all in the same grade.

For 3 months they work on programming a robot to perform specific tasks and then they compete

against other teams in a regional tournament. 

They did really well as rookies at their first tournament.  They scored in the top 10 and also learned

a few things to improve upon.  Overall, it was a great experience and Isaac will do it again next year.

We lucked out and received tickets for this year's 

 Christmas concert with the 

Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Santino Fontana and the Sesame Street Muppets. 

(Thanks to my sisters for entering the drawing to help my chances)

My girls are huge fans of Santino.

This was our first time staying in SLC around Christmas and I have to agree

with a woman I overheard in the hotel, 

"Those mormons sure know how to celebrate Christmas."

The lights, music, nativities, and light snowfall were a great way to get into the Christmas mood.

 Here we are at temple square with Red Riding Hood 

Best part of the evening, for me, was watching the organist and the Count 

perform the 12 days of Christmas. 

We met up with cousins Annie and Cozy.

Times like these, Ike sure misses having a brother around.

We see Brazil- we think of Cole.  

Winter Formal

Summer and Hudson

Simas Homecoming

I had the opportunity to takes some photos of Austin Simas returning home from his mission to Sweden.

We have been friends with the Simas family since college.  My claim to fame is that I was the first to get

baby Austin to giggle on one of our many date nights up at BYU.  He was such a darling baby and he grew up

to be such a good guy.  I loved seeing the anticipation of his return.  

This was a look into what heaven may be like.  Such a sweet reunion.

Christmas means a lot of family time, especially with my side.

I have a sister and brother that live out of state so this is the only time we are all together.

Nana's Nativity

This little lamb got fired after leaving the stage one too many times.  

Anticipating Santa's arrival at the end of the night.

Santa always brings pjs....

and all the moms matching robes.

I love my cheetah sistas.

Aryn, Kippy, Bridgette, Shelley, Me, Michele, Meghan, Mom, Carissa, Carlee. 

As much as I love a new cheetah robe, the very best part was skyping Cole.  

We got to have an hour with him.  He is so happy, healthy, and loving his life.

 He is currently serving in Pocos de Caldas, Brazil.

When Cole got a little emotional, 

this very helpful woman wiped his tears for him.

This was an hour of pure joy for all of us.  

Our Adult Post-Christmas party (with my siblings) is always a highlight.
We always have dinner, games and a themed gift exchange.

This year we played a dice game called Left-Right-Center. 

Meg had a great weekend in the snow with her friends.

I am so grateful for this great group of girls and their good influence on each other.

Our last hurrah all together was spent at Krazy Air. 

Sweet Elle (My brother Chad's little girl) spent an evening at our house.  

She wanted nothing to do with bedtime and 

  snuck down the stairs to "Dom."
This was a great way to close the holiday season.