Spring 2013 (April and May)

April  is a fun month for us since we celebrate two birthdays in our family. First comes Jamie's birthday. She turned 10 and was super excited to get her own camera! A week later Adam had his birthday and turned 14 years old. One of his sisters got him a big box of cereal (all for himself!) and that seemed to be his favorite gift.

Jamie, 10

Adam, 14

The weekend following Adam's birthday, we were all treated with a visit from Derek's parents. On the Saturday they were here we spent a fun day being tourists. First we went to The Mystery Spot. It's a location in the Santa Cruz mountains where there is a mysterious gravitational anomaly. We had seen plenty of bumper stickers for this place but had never been. Grandma and Grandpa were open to seeing something new. It was a pretty fun and interesting tour. 

The entrance

Adam and Hannah standing on a table and finding out they can

 lean forward and not fall over.

After the tour we walked on a hike that was near the parking lot. It's always fun to walk among the redwood trees.

 Grandpa Taylor with some of the kids at the beginning of the hike

 Jamie using her new camera

Once we finished at the Mystery Spot, we drove to Santa Cruz beach and spent a few hours there. It was a really nice day. 

 Laurel playing in the sand

 Jamie and Mackenzie having fun digging

 Bethany and Derek. Bethany is not so sure about the water

 Samantha having a great time with sand and water

 Grandma wanted a picture of us before they left. 

 Just a cute picture of Bethany

 And the three littlest girls having fun in the bath tub together

The boys had a number of scout outings during this time.

One campout included fishing and it looks like Derek did well!

 Another was a Father's and Son's overnight at Sunset Beach.

The boys also went on a climbing activity. Here Adam is getting ready for his turn

 Adam climbing

Derek getting his turn to climb. Derek enjoyed climbing so much he decided to 

get some extra training and did that in the fall

 Derek at the church before or after an activity

Derek enjoyed climbing so much he decided to get some extra training and did that in the fall

Other happenings in May

--Hannah auditioned for Zion Choir, and found out later in June that she was accepted. 

--Derek taught early morning Seminary on two mornings.

 Mother's Day picture with my wonderful children

The very end of May is when the kids co-op performances were. Unfortunately, I didn't succeed at getting pictures taken at the event.(though I may be able to upload some video soon)  Here is a quick summary. Katelyn and Laurel performed in a short play of Where the Wild Things Are. Laurel played Max and Katelyn was a "wild thing."  :)  Jamie, Mackenzie, and Hannah participated in a number of skits, one being a medley of Shakespeare death scenes. That one was quite entertaining and well done. Mackenzie was also in a 4 person skit called Four Yorkshire Men and Hannah and a friend performed the Battle of Wits scene from the Princess Bride movie. Adam did a great job behind the scenes helping with transitions and managing the lights and curtains. All the older kids performed in a number of choral numbers with the homeschool choir as well. It was a great evening! 

My mother was able to visit for this weekend and got to see the performances also. We had a great time with her. Here are some pictures.

Winter 2013 (January to March)

We had a great start to the year!

Bethany was able to start going to Nursery at church, though she went very reluctantly for a while. Katelyn began her first year in Primary and she too was not so sure about it. But with time and a great teacher she got used to her new class. Laurel gave her first talk in Primary. Samantha went to a fireside to help her look forward to her baptism later in the year. She also told us that she didn't want to be called Sammie anymore. Thankfully, she didn't stick to that long and eventually stopped reminding us not to call her that. These little ones just keep growing so fast. You'd think we'd be used to it by now, but no.

 Samantha surrounded by her school work

 Katelyn (3) and Bethany (18mo)

 Mackenzie (11) and Laurel (5) on front porch swing 

(so glad the previous owners left this!)

 Adam (13) outside watching the kids play

 Laurel

During this season our scouters, Derek and Adam, got a little bit of outdoor adventure. They attended a merit badge clinic as well as enjoyed a fun snow trip.  Adam also became a Life Scout and Derek is awarded his Wood Badge Beads (he went to Wood Badge the year before)

 Derek taking a selfie on their snow trip

 Sure is beautiful!

Bethany is sure a sweet little one.She keeps busy with lots of exploring, climbing on tables, making messes, etc. All the usual things for a toddler. She smiles easily and brings lots of joy to us.

 Bethany enjoys dressing up with her sisters

 And playing in boxes with them

 Katelyn, who loves to wear these pink boots

 Signs of the beginning of spring. I was so glad to see the bulbs I planted came up! Though I thought it made quite a picture to have spring flowers surrounded by the autumn leaves still falling from our tree. Gotta love California weather!

 Jamie (10) and Mackenzie having fun wearing matching outfits. They are great friends! It's fun to see them in one of their rooms discussing good books or what annoys them or what's going on with their friends.

The remaining pictures are from Easter. The Saturday before the kids love doing an Easter egg hunt. Jamie had fun filling the eggs (as full of candy as she could) and Hannah had the honors of hiding them.

 Bethany getting her first experience with hunting for eggs

 Samantha and Laurel are old pros at it.

 Hannah put some eggs up high for the bigger girls

 Katelyn enjoying her treats

Bethany checking out her new treasures

A little review

Since there isn't much to post yet about what's been going on in our lives (besides getting back into a routine after the holidays and dealing with colds of varying degrees), let's take a look at 2013.

Happy New Year!

Okay, so it doesn't like I did too well at catching up.  :)  Oh well, it's now a new year and a chance to start over. My hope is to post on our blog more regularly, but I make no promises.

Here are some photos from December to get things going again.

Laurel, Samantha and Katelyn enjoying a pile of leaves in the front yard

(yes, still getting autumn leaves in December)

 Bethany joining in on the fun of throwing leaves

 Hannah with friend Mark at her first formal (Zion Choir Winter Ball)

 Katelyn as Mary for our Christmas Eve nativity

 More nativity--Katelyn, Jamie, Samantha, Laurel

 Bethany singing her heart out while we sing Christmas carols

All the kids but Bethany on Christmas morning

Hannah(16), Adam(14), Katelyn(4), Jamie(10), Laurel(6), Samantha(8), Mackenzie(12)