Merry Christmas!

Emmaline is the "Freshman of the Year"

From the December East High Communique:

CROSS COUNTRY

The East High cross country team

closed its season with the annual awards

banquet held in the East High Ballroom

on November 8th. Tomy Gutierrez and

Abigail Hurst received the Athlete of the Year award.

Chris Rushing received the Performance of the Year

award for his top 15 finish at the Murray Invitational.

Emmaline Huntzinger and Garek Bielaczyc were

Freshmen of the Year, with Ellie Lowell receiving the

Rookie of the Year award. Megan Rushing and Brooke

Hamblin shared the Endurance Award honors, with

Anders Hart winning the Endurance Award on the boys'

side.

A big thank you to all the parents who helped make the

awards banquet a memorable experience. The cross

country team next heads to Walnut, California for the

Footlocker Western Region Championships to be held

on December 1, 2012. Good luck, Running Leopards!

Quotes of the Day

After the first day of school, Oliver's teacher rushed over to tell me that he was "so smart!" When I asked him why she might say something like that, he explained that they read a poem about wind and he told her that the wind was "metaphorically speaking".  Hmmm- I think she was impressed.

The other day Tyler was asking him how math, his favorite subject, was going at his new school.  "That math is my playground," he replied. 

Both of the boys LOVE playing on the iPad and they are always talking about "upgrading" things.  Tucker sometimes draws flames and such on his cars and tells me he is "upgrading" them.  He is having a bit of an adjustment as he transitions back into the Spanish Preschool.  The other day, as we were walking in, he said, "I can't wait until I get upgraded and can go to school with Oliver."

Not making any promises...

But I might just start blogging again.  Please excuse posts about things happening over a year ago.  I think first I'll try catch up!

the "Little Preacher"

I was reminded the other day about Jeffie's kindergarten teacher calling him the "little preacher".  I brought Oliver cupcakes to share with his class for his birthday.  After they sang to him (a horribly long rendition of "The Earth Goes 'Round the Sun," he stood up and said to his teacher, "There is something special I want to tell you about my birthday."  He then began to tell the class about turning eight and how he had chosen to be baptized in the river at our ranch at our Horn Family Reunion this summer.  After he sat down his teacher, who is not LDS, said to me, "Some day he is going to be an amazing orator." I think for just a moment she felt the spirit and didn't know how to identify it other than to think she saw a glimpse into his future.  He  certainly reminded me how important it is to share the gospel of Christ in even a simple way. What a great example!

Family Mission Statement

I recently decided we should write a family mission statement. I introduced it in Family Home Evening with a basic structure in mind. I should have known better! In about 5 minutes it was total chaos as the kids shouted the things they thought were special about our family. I kind of thought it would be an ideal of how we wished we were while they thought it was a statement about who we already are. In the end, I gave in and learned a lot. I love how it turned out and we'll soon make a vinyl cutting of it for our hallway.

In this house...
We ride for the brand.
We have fun.
We play games.
We are not at our best in the morning.
We can do hard things.
We depend on each other.
We are determined.
We are LOUD.
We like to hear the truth.
We live by the spirit.
We love.

The Hair

I don't know if I've given Tucker a blessing or a curse. EVERYONE comments on his hair and I hadn't realized until recently that he was already sensitive about it. They had "crazy hair day" (dia de pelo loco) at his school last week. We talked about it and he told me he did NOT want to do it. I explained that it would be so fun and just in case he changed his mind when he saw his classmates with crazy hair, we brought along a clown wig. By the time we got to school, he was in tears. He didn't want to leave the car until I promised we wouldn't bring in the clown wig. Poor thing! Maybe he's just heard enough laughing after stunts from his older sister like this:

I wouldn't do crazy hair either!

The Fish

Recently Emmaline went to an "Intro to Scuba" class. She was, of course, the youngest and smallest in the class- but she did great! After class her teacher said, "You are a fish!" She loved it and is really looking forward to saving enough money to take the full certification class.

Top 10 of 2011

In keeping with our family tradition, here are the top 10 events for us in 2011 in no particular order....

1. Savannah made the JV soccer team.
2. Tyler got to begin installation on his second temple.
3. Emmaline got a starring role in her school's Gala.
4. Oliver got his orange belt in karate.
5. Tucker learned to speak Spanish at his Spanish preschool.
6. Charlotte ran another marathon (her 3rd).
7. Megan made it another year!
8. Emmaline joined High School Cross Country and ran 6 miles for the first time.
9. Savannah learned to do the hurdles and did really well.
10. Oliver got his first set of stitches.