We thought it was GREAT---2008

Here are our favorite moments from the past year....


Lon thought our trip to Craters of the Moon was a lot of fun.


This picture was taken on Memorial Day. It was freezing (each of the kids had on two jackets and a blanket). This was on our way home from spending Memorial weekend in Sun Valley. We froze the entire time, but it was fun.
I might add that on December 1st, Ellie's tennis class was still practicing outside in 60 degree weather. What is wrong here.


Jennifer's pick...the first day of school.

It didn't start out as a great day. Having my baby go to school full time was a hard and sad adjustment. It didn't take me long though to see the benefits:

*My house stays clean most of the day
*I can explore some hobbies and interests that have been waiting
*I can read all of the books that have been on the back burner
*I can regularly go to lunch with Lon and a variety of friends
*Weekly temple attendance with Lon
*I could get ready for Christmas
*I can look forward to things like Christmas break and the time that I do get to spend with our children


Ellie's favorite time of the year was when:

Our family was able to host three girls from Japan during an International Music Festival. They were all her age and became very good friends very fast. We enjoyed our time with them so much!


Mitchell's favorite thing this year (and any other time)

Is spending time with his buddies. How fortunate we are that he has such a great set of friends!



Madelyn's choice was:

Meeting Ellie's Mandarin teacher. She is here from China for a year, teaching. She has become a great friend of our family. She teaches us so many things, including the language. Lon and Ellie can carry on simple conversations. Mitchell and Madelyn have learned a few basic vocabulary words. It took me two months to learn to pronounce her name...she hasn't taught me anything new.


I love that as my children each picked their favorite thing, it wasn't something material that they had received, an award they had earned, or somewhere they had been. The things that stand out to them are the people they have met, who have touched their hearts. Relationships are one of our greatest blessings.

Happy New Year to each of you who touch our lives! We love you!

A Brand New Year Website

The website for "A Brand New Year" is up and running. There is so much here for the youth (and many others--Mitchell and Madelyn LOVE and have learned the music.) It will be updated monthly and something I think the kids will enjoy all year.
Ellie has a short close-up in "The Seed" song.

www.abrandnewyear.org

Merry Christmas

We wish you a day filled with giggles, gasps, tears of joy and thankfulness!
Merry Christmas!

A Night of Music

Every year we gather with some close friends of our family on the Sunday before Christmas to enjoy a night a music together.

It starts out with a talent showcase...here are some of the kids enjoying and supporting their friends...

Followed by some group singing....

Then some dancing...

and singing carols around the piano


Add some terrific food and fun company! It makes for a great way to start this festive week.

Sounds of the Season

Is there anything better than Christmas music? I'll confess that Christmas music occupies about 92% of the space on my ipod and I see no problem with listening to it in July.
My children give me the greatest gift every year when they learn, practice and perform A LOT of Christmas songs.

A few performance highlights:

One Voice Children's Choir: www.onevoicechildren.com

Ellie and Mitchell with Janice Kapp Perry: www.janicekappperry.com

Ellie and friends with Justin Williams: www.justinwilliams.com

Intermountain Children's Strings: www.intermountainchildrenstrings.org

Salt Lake Youth Chamber Society: www.slyouthchamber.org

Jeanne Grover's Violin Studio at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

A Brand New Year

Ellie was able to be in the cast of "A Brand New Year," a DVD created by the church for the youth. She had an incredible experience and made so many great new friends. Today, the families were invited for a premier showing and cast party. After all of the practicing, audio recordings and video tapings, it was so much fun being able to see it all come together.

Cousins and Candy

Every year, Grandma Rosqvist decorates gingerbread houses with the grandchildren. It's something that the children look forward to and mine have been counting down this moment for days!

A Creature Was Stirring

Mitchell's dream of taking guitar lessons came true in September. It's something he has wanted to do for so long and something he is loving. In addition to his weekly lesson repertoire, his teaches gives him a new Christmas song each week. He has quite a collection now that he plays very well.
In the middle of the night last night, I could hear singing coming from down the hall. I stayed in bed and listed to Mitchell go through all of his Christmas songs and then back to bed. I could tell he was trying very hard to be quiet (which is hard for a ten year old boy and his guitar), so I didn't want him to know I was awake or listening.
He is so excited for Christmas and I guess decided to bring himself some Christmas cheer when he couldn't sleep.
I love the enthusiasm he has for everything, especially the holidays.

Reflections

Thanks to a great scout den leader, Mitchell had a nice painting to enter into the Reflections contest at school. This kind and patient lady was nice enough to allow a bunch of ten year old boys and acrylic paint into her house AT THE SAME TIME! Mitchell is great at drawing, doodling and sketching, but had never really tried painting. Now, it is a new love of his. He won at the school level and is moving on to district.

She's a Sweetie!

Ellie is not a picky eater, but does have a picky palate and refuses to eat school lunch. Every day I make her a home lunch. Once in a while my mornings are so crazy that I fix it after she goes to school and run by the school to slip it in her locker. Today was one of "those" mornings. I must have been really running behind, because I didn't get to the junior high until lunch had already started. I was trying to stay under the radar while looking for her, when she saw me and ran up to me. (At this point when I was her age, I would have opted to starve before acknowledging that my mother was in the building...sorry mom!) Here is the unbelievable part...in the junior high lunch room, she talked to me for a bit, thanked me for coming, HUGGED me and KISSED me and then shouted "love you mom" as she ran back to her table of friends.
Love her! And I really love that at 14 she still loves me.

These pictures were taken by my favorite photographer, wonderful neighbor and great friend, CARIN DAVIS.

Visions of Sugar Plums

One of our traditions that my children love is sleeping by the Christmas tree the night we put it up and every night that isn't a school night until Christmas.
I love taking this picture every year. To me, it symbolizes that our home is decorated, the mess is cleaned up and we are ready to start a month of celebrating.
Happy Holiday Kick Off!

The Year 1621 meets 2008

and I quote....
"Mom! Check out this totally awesome pilgrim hoodie my teacher gave me."
--Madelyn

Happy Thanksgiving.

The stitches come out

After five days, Mitchell was able to get his external stitches out. During this time, Mitchell was a great example of facing a trial with strength and courage. We also realized how many people Mitchell cares about and who care so much about him. We have the best teachers, coaches, family, friends and neighbors!

Mitchell's First Stitches

Mitchell, the boy who skateboards, roller blades, does crazy things on his bike and plays every sport ever known and has never had a broken bone or stitches....until...he used the bathroom at school!!!
There apparently was some unregulated, pressurized air in the pipes, so the top blew off when he flushed and a large piece of porcelain split his forehead open, down to the skull. This is what he looked like after a day at Primary Children's Hospital, doctor's pulling 15 small pieces of porcelain out of his incision, having skull x-ray's, CT's, plastic surgeons and his FIRST stitches.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello friends and family! We're excited to start a blog, a great way to stay in touch with friends and family. As we prepare for Thanksgiving, we count you among that which we are most grateful for. Have a great holiday!

Photography by Carin Davis