Molli Update

It's time for a Molli Update!!  What a great girl.  She is such a happy and easy going girl.  

I love it!  

Just last week she was chosen as one of the students of the month at Mount Logan.  Quite the big deal considering there are 1500 kids at Mt. Logan Middle School.  Lance and I were able to go have a catered lunch with her at school.  She got a t shirt and a $25 gift certificate to Hastings!  How Awesome!  I love that she was recognized for being a good kid.  

Molli got braces this year.  She is pretty conservative with her band colors.  She sticks with varying shades of blue most of the time.  She is so great at taking care of her teeth.  She is confident that if she takes care of them that she can get her braces off soon.  She probably just has until the end of the summer, so not too much longer.

Molli has been working hard during her 7th grade year.  She continues to get great grades and all the teachers love her.  She has a good group of friends and just really seems to love middle school  (crazy, huh?  I didn't think that was possible!).  She is still in band playing the trombone, but has decided to retire after this year.  She is taking piano lessons and really has a great ear for music.  She frequently plays music on the piano from Frozen and Guns n Roses (the girl loves her classic rock!). 

 

Molli's athletic skills are out of this world!!  She loves to go hiking with us.  This picture is from our Wind Caves hike in early March.  It was still pretty snowy in places, but it was enjoyable.  She finds a lot of joy in playing football with the boys of the family and really has a great throw.  I mean perfect beautiful spirals across the backyard.  Speaking of football, she is still pretty sad about the Broncos loss in the Superbowl, but at least she still wears her Broncos shirt! :)

 

 

 (OK, don't make fun, but I CANNOT figure out how to rotate this picture!)

Molli's true love is softball.  She is on a new team called Xtreme.  Her team is so fabulous.  They have practiced all winter and are now gearing up for Spring ball.  They just had two games yesterday and they won both games.  Awesome!  Molli plays third base and seems to be getting more confident in that position.  She really seems to enjoy the team experience and the friendships that are evolving from it.  (Molli looked at this pic and started critiquing her batting stance.  She learned a lot this winter!)  She is going to have a very busy summer filled with many tournaments and leagues, but she seems very excited about it.

Like the rest of us she LOVES Lake Powell.  We had a great time going to Capitol Reef National Park before our Lake Powell trip last summer.  It was a good time and something we all look forward to every year.  

We all love Molli.  She has had a really great year.  She is always telling little funny jokes and making witty comments.  She did get a cell phone this year from Grandma and Grandad Paxton.  This has opened up a whole new world for Molli.  In her down time she studies the Pinterest App and giggles to herself about funny quotes.  She even loves the funny cat pictures! Anything for a 

giggle. :)  She loves to help me plan trips and do crafts (when we can find time!). 

WE LOVE YOU MOLLI!

Lance Update

It's time to start with some updates and who better to start with than the man of the house, 

Lance or as we like to call him, Dad. 

Lance had a pretty crazy past year as usual.  He is always filled with energy, ideas, motivation, and drive that he pretty much puts the rest of the world to shame.  He started out last year with another back problem.  This time it was in his neck and he pretty much couldn't move his head or hold his head up.  His head continued to droop lower and lower and his arm went numb.  It was pretty scary.  Lance really worked hard to get himself back into a livable condition.  He did a lot of physical therapy and is now pretty much back to normal.  He still has to watch it that he doesn't hurt it, but after years of back problems he has gotten to where he really pays attention to the signs and does a good job of taking care of himself.  He even refused to go snowmobiling this year because he did not want to do anything to his back (Yea!).  We are all hoping for a 2014 free of back pain!

Probably the biggest  and most exciting news about Lance is that he earned his Bachelor's degree.  He attended Western Governors University and worked really really hard to finish school.  He received his degree in Business Management.  It is amazing to realize all of the work that goes into receiving your degree.  We both felt like we owed everyone who has earned their degree an extra big high five.  I am so proud of him for making that decision.  One thing about Lance is if he decides to do something he just jumps in and gets it done.  He won't brag about himself but I will do it for him.  He always excelled on all of his tests and just went above and beyond to succeed in his schooling.  His mentor was in awe at the amount of work he could get done and at how well he did on his work.  Lance spent many days doing plumbing all morning, working in the temple all evening and then coming home and studying until 1 or 2 in the morning.  Good Job Lance!!! 

I think the best thing about Lance is that even though his life is very busy, he always makes time for us.  He has become quite the mentor for Lincoln.  If Lance says something then Lincoln repeats that idea to us about 30 more times.  If Dad likes it, then Lincoln likes it.  If Dad hates it, then Lincoln hates it.  Lance and the kids love to have football games in the backyard.  Lance also thrives off of our summer Lake Powell trip.  I think that Lake Powell is what he looks forward to all year!

Lance is still the High Priest Group Leader.  He is in his fifth year at this position!  I know that it is a hard calling, but he really does a good job.  Our ward is filled with a lot of low income single women.  He has really formed a good friendship with a lot of the older single women in our ward.  It is a bit overwhelming, but Lance really takes the whole thing in stride.  

Lance continues to do plumbing and works at the Logan Temple.  The temple job has turned out to be a great blessing.  Lance really does a good job at working hard and trying to make the temple efficient.  He maintains the baptistry font, the fountains, and the HVAC system, the plumbing maintenance and many other things that I probably don't even know about.   He works with the temple workers and helps with any emergencies that might happen at the temple.

Lance is a just a great guy.  He rides his bike everywhere, whether it is snowing, rainy or sunny he will ride.  If I ever need help with anything he immediately gets it done and does it with a happy attitude.  He loves hanging out with the kids and doing manly work with the boys out at Benson.  

He is a cool friendly guy that we all love to be around.   

He is my best friend and I love him more than anything in the world. 

Lincoln earned his Wolf!

Just a little shout out to Lincoln.  Lincoln earned his wolf patch.  He worked really hard to earn it.  Molli was a great motivator and made it really fun for Lincoln to work on getting his Wolf done.  Yay Lincoln!

Family Ski night

 Molli is ready to take on the mountain

Blake is always so happy!  He was so excited to be at Beaver.

Once Lincoln got the hang of the skiing he really had a great time!

Bart  and Dad enjoying a lift up the Magic Carpet.

Practicing going down the goat trail before they tackle the big mountain

We took the kids up to Beaver Mtn for family ski night in February.  They have all decided that they really like skiing.  I am personally not a fan of skiing since the cold and I just don't mix, however I did love seeing the whole family have such a fun time together.  Of course Molli just took off and did great on the mountain by herself.  Lincoln had a few struggles with his boots, but once we got it fixed he really had a lot of fun going down the mtn with dad.  Blake was just happy as usual.  He is naturally talented and really grasped onto the concept like it was nothing.  Bart also loved the skiing.  He got cold, but once he warmed up he was much better.  They skiied the night away and were all ready for the next trip.  Grandma, Grandpa, Jeff and Lisa all made the trip up also.  It was fun for the kids to ski with Grandpa and Lisa.  Grandma and Jeff kept me company in the Lodge.
Molli, Lincoln and Dad were able to go on another little ski trip last week.  I am grateful for the fun things to do around here and that the kids are able to go have a good time with their dad. 

University for a Day

We are so proud of our sweet Molli!  About a month and a half ago Molli was invited to attend Utah State for the "University for a Day."  The kids that were in the top 3% of the end of year testing were invited to go.  Molli was able to attend two different classes. One was on Ornithology, which is the study of birds.  The other class was Space Dynamics.  She enjoyed both classes.  She was also able to go to the athletic center and meet some of the USU athletes.  It was a fun day for her.  It was good to see her so happy, excited and proud of herself.  Good Job Molli!

The Big Hill

OK.  It is not 12 feet high.  I am not very good at judging lengths, distances, time and so forth! :)  It is about 8 feet high, but they have a lot of fun on it.

Whew!

Kind of lame, but I am just now catching my breath.  December was fun yet totally exhausting.  I was blessed to have almost my whole family come to visit me at Christmas.  They are a fun group.  I am always happy to see them and always grateful that they are willing to drive out to visit me every year.  The only thing that was hard was saying good-bye, but before I know it another year will pass and they will be back to visit again.  I loved getting to know Nora.  She is such a cutie.  She finally warmed up to me and I loved every minute that she let me hold her.  My fav memory was watching her dance to Just Dance.  The girl totally has moves.

  We had a few more birthdays since my last post.  Lincoln seemed pretty happy this year.  We made an ice cream cake for him and he liked his gifts.  I decided that having your birthday on Christmas is a total blessing.  I am always in a spending mood and I try extra hard to have him enjoy his day.  It is the perfect day for Lincoln.  He is probably the most decked out 9 year old when it comes to tools.  He got some more animals also.  He sure loves his an-i-mals. :)

I loathe winter.  As I get older it only gets worse.  Thankfully my family all makes the best of whatever season it is.  There is a huge hill in our yard about 12 feet tall and getting bigger.  It is a great sledding hill and cave.  Molli and Dad have been enjoying molding it into a great all around toy.  As we speak they have all been outside in the downpour of snow for the past 1 1/2 hours.  I stay in and keep warm.  :)

Hard to believe but Molli is now 12!!!  She was able to attend New Beginnings last week and it really pumped her up for the next few years.  She seems ready to start this next chapter of her life.  She had a fun birthday.  She got an airplane and some laser guns.  Like I have said before, she is the best older sister any brother, let alone 3, could ask for.