Happy Birthday!

Sariah is 14!!  How did that happen?  This was one of those birthdays that snuck up on me.  Keith took her shooting in the morning. He said she is getting pretty good with her new little pink gun. She just laughed wickedly when I asked her how it went.

Corrine worked hard to make Sariahs cake.

Each flower was individually made, put in the fridge for a day and then carefully placed on the cake.  Amazing.

Corrine took Sariah on a girls shopping trip. They came home with some fun treasures!

 Sariah has wanted an electric blanket for about a year now. 

I guess we are shopping in themes again..... Sariah also got this shawl. Its like a blanket..... but she can wear it to church or debate classes. 

She has also wanted a more "grown up" looking bedspread. I guess the 10 year old Tinkerbell blanket wasn't cutting it anymore.

Sariah was so sad to leave the Beehive class. Her leaders and one of her friends came and "heart attacked" her room while she was shooting with Keith. It was so nice of them to come show their love for her! She said she also had fun hanging out with Corrine for the day.

Happy Birthday Sariah! We love you!

Christmas 2017

Christmas 2017 was a great success! Kates Christmas stuck pretty close to a theme. A BATMAN theme. She LOVES batman these days. This is from Grandma and Grandpa Cain.

The theme continued into Christmas morning. I love legos almost as much as Kate loves Batman. So, it was a win, win.

Hayden asked for all kinds of electronic things that he will never get. His consolation prize was a lego Ninjago set. Once again, Im a sucker for legos.

He also got a drone! We might have snuck to the church to play with the drone a little. Shhh.... don't tell. 

Sariah and Hayden also had a bit of a "Ralphie" moment for Christmas. For years, Sariah and Corrine have complained about Sariah using Corrines 22. Keith decided to fix that this year. Sariah and Hayden each got their own 22 rifles. Haydens is a special one made for "lefties". Yes, we will continue to teach proper gun safety. Yes, the guns will stay in the safe unless they are being strictly supervised by a responsible adult.

 Sariah got more legos. We have decided a person is never too old for legos.

Sariah also got a book set. Books and legos. Its a dream come true!

Sariah has been in the bad habit of taking Keiths bluetooth speaker to listen to her own tunes. We had to fix that problem today. I think maybe I will take over her speaker now!

 Corrines Christmas also had a pretty strong theme. It was all around art and "things I've wanted as long as I can remember!"

Corrine said "Im getting all Bob Ross in here!"

Corrine wants to get a business degree in marketing and use her art skills. These books are all about using art to take notes for a business degree. She has a lot of reading to do! (its mostly pictures)

 She also got a tablet that allows her to draw on it and then manipulate on the computer.  She has wanted this for a couple of years now but did not think she would get it until college.  Its a good thing she got it now. I think it will be many hours or maybe a year or two for her to lean how to use it!

Please note Corrines shirt. She has become a promoter of Operation Underground Railroad and wanted one of their shirts for Christmas.

Jakob also had a theme of sorts. His theme was "growing up equals boring Christmas". He needed a laptop for school in a couple of weeks. He decided he needed it sooner rather than later, so he didn't wait till Christmas to get it.

He also got new shoes for hiking around campus in the snow.  Oh, and levis. He has been used to wearing "Sunday" clothes for his mission and then work. He really hasn't got into wearing levis on a regular basis so he needed more of those for school as well. Keith also got Jakob WARM socks.

Sariah did get Jakob windshield wipers... so there's that. Keith is also in grownup land and we didn't really get each other gifts. He might have bought himself some needed/wanted items of some preparedness sort. Corrine did get him a remote control Bronco that he LOVES. We had fun playing with that at the church... and it did a pretty good crawling over garbage on the family room floor.

We had fun racing Keiths truck with Haydens remote control car he got from Grandma and Grandpa.

I got fun grown up things as well. I REALLY needed new walking shoes. I have the same problem Jakob has. I couldn't wait till Christmas.

 I also got a new cell phone. Nope, didn't wait for Christmas for that either. Jakob got me several cook books. I wonder what he is trying to tell me. Per my request, Corrine got me a 4 hour play list of "fun" songs. I have been enjoying it this afternoon and now as I write. I am blessed. Because a lot of us were sick for Thanksgiving, we decided to give it a second chance today. YUMM.

I love Christmas. I love that this year we just stayed home, played games and hung out. There was no pressure to go anywhere. No pressure to even get dressed. Pajamas till noon... I can get used to this type of "essentialism."

 Ok, we did get dressed.... sometime over the last two days....

I love Christmas. I love this week we all have together. Is it bad that at 8:30 pm on Christmas Day Im ready to clean? Im ready for all the Christmas stuff to be put away. Im ready for clean. Im ready for the uncluttered peace and just relaxed family time. I am so blessed. I have so much to be grateful for.  2017 has been a hard year full of many chances to grow and learn. As I look back, I am grateful for the many friends and family we have. I am grateful for the many miracles I have personally witnessed. I am grateful for my very loving Heavenly Father and for HIS Son on this day. Merry Christmas!

Hangin' on

We are trying our darndest to get over this flu. It hasn't been pretty. On Sunday I went to church by myself. I felt pretty pathetic. Kate was closest to feeling well but I was at meetings and didn't want to figure out how to get her back and forth to church. This is the general feeling around our house. So far, Im still the only one that hasn't "fallen". (I know, my turn is coming)

Corrine helped with dishes this morning. Apparently, Im not the only one sick of living in disgusting, germ infested filth.  She left this note:

 Monday morning Kate was well enough to do her gymnastics recital.  Here she is warming up:

They were told to stand quietly until it was time to start. Look how serious she takes these things!

She did a great job!

Tonight we all ventured out as a family for the first time since the week before Thanksgiving. Corrines piano students had their piano recital. She is glad to have it done!

After the recital, our kids had their first meeting to discuss "THE CODE" for Christmas gifts. They are really up-ing their game this year! They have a spread sheet and as Kate said "We have Jakob!"

We have had a lot of "gunk" in the air the last few days. But, I will admit I have been blown away with the frost on the trees. We have had some BEAUTIFUL mornings. I had to take a few pictures. 

Good-bye sickness and hello Christmas break!

2017 Christmas Letter

Am I lazy? Am I embracing essentialism? Am I cheap? What ever the reason, this is the Christmas letter this year.

2017 IN ONE WORD.... or TWO.

KATE=GROWING.
It seems that Kate has grown up so much this past year. She is half way through kindergarten, takes gymnastics classes and piano lessons! She is also getting to be a very good reader.

HAYDEN=BUSY. 
Hayden has had a busy year! He is in the 5th grade, went to history camp, cub scout day camp, a few camps with Keith, geeks out on D&D,  and is taking piano lessons as well.

SARIAH=TEENAGER.
Sariah will be 14 the day after Christmas. She earned her Young Womanhood recognition, she enjoys her "dumb" cell phone, she wants a "smart-er" phone, she likes listening to music, her debate class, and she hates math. 

CORRINE=GROWN UP.  
In January Corrine will be 17. She spent most of the year working at Papa Murphys, she teaches piano lessons, is on the robotics team, is a buddy for special needs mutual, and is always studying to perfect her ACT score. 

JAKOB=CHANGE.
In August Jakob came home from Monterrey Mexico speaking Spanish and dreading cold weather. He starts Mechanical Engineering classes at the University of Utah in January. He bought his own car, works at Deseret Book and at the temple, and will start attending the singles ward in January. 

CAMILLE=ESSENTAILISM
I have tried really hard to get back to basics in my life. What is most important? I'm currently homeschooling the kids, the relief society president, and  I'm the main schedule keeper for the family. You can see where the need for "only the essentials" has come from. 

KEITH=WORK. 
 Keith works at Northrop Grumman. He always has a project around the house to work on. The big project this year was re-doing the kitchen countertops and backsplash. (Camille felt it was essential to get that done) He is the 11 year old scout leader, robotics coach, and works hard to keep up with the needs of the family.

We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! If you want to know more about us, we encourage you to look back on the blog and continue to follow us here!

Shooting Recitals?

We have not combined a weekend of shooting and piano recitals before... but we are always up for trying something new. We aren't the most refined people in the world, but we do know to keep shooting and piano recitals separate.  We usually take the kids shooting pumpkins the weekend after Halloween. Due to sickness and crazy schedules, we were not able to go until a few days ago. I do like this tradition. It is getting harder and harder to find a place we can legally shoot though. It makes me sad. I digress.  The kids love this tradition... probably more than I do. Kate was happy to take her turn and let dad help.

She has become quite the daddy's girl.

Hayden knows what to do. (mostly)

Sariah is getting to be quite a pro. She has reminded us that she does not have her own pink gun but Corrine does. Sometimes life isn't fair.  She has been wronged.This is better than a pink gun, right?

Corrine is a pro. Keith likes to take her shooting with his friends to "spend time with her."  I think he likes to show her off like a talented circus freak.

Jakob knows the drill.  It has been about a year since he went shooting but he got it right back.

We also had the "younger kids" piano recital. They did a great job!

This was Kates first piano recital.  She played a duet with Corrine. She messed up a little, but Corrine said Kates hands were just shaking like crazy! Isn't it cute how her feet don't touch the floor?

Hayden did a great job. He is getting to be quite the pro at these things.  He lost his place on his memorized song for a bit, but he managed to regain control and roll right along.

Sariah is really doing well. She reminds us all of Jakob when she plays. She has great feeling for the music.

Kate played toward the beginning of the recital. She just couldn't make it through the entire thing... the stress wore her out!

I love the Christmas piano recital, but I will admit I'm glad its done. Now we can relax a bit and enjoy the holiday!

This last week our ward helped with a funeral. This is my presidency.... I love these ladies so much! They are amazing!

Merry Christmas... and welcome December!!