2018

Beth:

For Beth’s 11th birthday, she had her friends make fairy gardens.  She loves to craft and create.  She started keeping a journal this year and was very diligent. She enjoys going to Activity Days and feels blessed to have such loving leaders.

She served on the safety patrol her elementary school, which meant a lot of early mornings with hot cocoa.

At the end of 5th grade, she earned her Great American Award.  It has several requirements including memorizing all the states and capitals, the presidents, and The Gettysburg Address.  She graduated from elementary school and was chosen to read her essay at the NOVA (the new DARE program) ceremony.

She started at Albion Middle School in August.  She has done great at adapting to having six teachers and a 40-pound backpack.  She has made new friends and her favorite subjects are social studies, Spanish, college and career awareness, and science.

Beth continues to be a fantastic big sister to Andrew and keeps us all in line when it comes to family home evening and prayers.

Andrew:

Andrew turned 8 and was baptized on March 3rd.  With help from family and friends he had a great program and lovely luncheon after.  

He is a Wolf in the Cub Scouts and really enjoys his den and pack meetings.  He takes it seriously and never wants to be late to the meetings.  He has made new friends because his den consists of boys from three wards.  

He is in 3rd grade and was excited for the school year to start so that he could learn more math. He also loves to learn about the moon and space and is planning on being Albert Einstein in the wax museum later in the year.  His best friend, Jack, is in his class which makes going to school more fun and he also gets to be a lunch worker this year and does very well with that responsibility.

He could spend 8+ hours a day in the summer tubing on the lake with an occasional break to play in the sand.  

He prefers to only eat foods from select food groups.  Those would be, the bread (lightly toasted) with Nutella group, the noodles with butter group, and the carrots (raw or cooked) group.

Nicole:

I continue, unsuccessfully, to try and make my kid’s childhoods slow down.  Although, having them both in school full-time means I have read two books this year which may be a record for me of books read in one year since my kids were born. 

I really enjoyed our trips to Bluff, Utah to learn more about Kevin’s ancestor who helped lead some pioneers there.  We got to dress up like pioneers and pull a handcart in the Bluff Days Parade.  Also, my trip to Virginia with Beth to see Josh graduate, be with the Hunts, and see Washington, D.C. was definitely a highlight of 2018.  We could have spent three months sightseeing and it was very hard to say goodbye.

I officially renewed my teaching license and am now working as a substitute teacher in Canyons School District.  I enjoy the flexibility that comes with that.

My health has improved this year, for which I am very grateful!  I am adapting to a gluten free lifestyle and trying to avoid diabetes.

Kevin:

Kevin was the last High Priest Group leader in our ward when that calling was eliminated. And, after a 30-year hiatus, he was called to dust off his piano skills as the Primary pianist.  After he proved that he had extreme faith, he was released from that calling and asked to teach five of the rowdiest 5-year olds in history. After the first week he came home and drew up some ground rules.  But last week the list had to be amended to include #6. Keep your clothes on.  Needless to say, he thinks the new 25-minute class time will be more suited to their attention span.

Kevin continued to campaign for an end to Daylight Savings Time.  However, this was once again met with disappointment.  His wife just adds this to the list of reasons to move to Arizona.

He is kept very busy by his work.  He has some business coaching clients and continues to teach business classes and advise students at Independence University.

He was able to get back into cycling with some neighborhood friends toward the end of the warm season.  He is planning on doing the Salt Lake Bike Marathon in April.  He is by far the most talkative person in his group training classes at the gym.  That is most likely because he has already been awake for hours by the time it starts at 6:00 am while everyone else is still trying to acclimate to being out of bed.