Here is Taylor opening his mission call. We drove to Utah on Thursday night and he wanted to wait for classes to be over on Friday before he opened it.  We were in the common room at his dorm.with his room mates and friends.  We were also happy to have Derek and Marsha's family there and cousin Brady.   Taylor reports to the Provo MTC May 21.  We are excited for him and are so happy he wants to serve a mission.  

The Graduate

 Taylor graduated from high school last week.  We are so excited for him.  He has been fantastic student and graduated with the highest academic honors given at the school.  

 Great kids!!!

(G&G Topham)

We were very fortunate to have both sets of  Grandparents here to help celebrate.  Thanks for making the effort to be here with us Grandmas and Grandpas!

(G&G Lindsey)

With around 400 students in Taylor's class we were afraid the ceremony would last forever.  But after 2 brief student speakers and some words from the principal they started in on the names and the students walking to get their diplomas.  We were out of there in an hour.  We are very proud of Taylor.  He will be attending BYU in the fall and winter then turning in mission papers.  Hard to believe he is all grown up.  I put together a book for him of his growing up years.  Wow, I seriously don't know where the time has gone.  It was so fun to go back and look at all the baby pictures and other pictures through the years.  We are proud of the things he has accomplished.  Good job Taylor!

She's waited years for this

It finally happened!  Brenna lost a tooth!One day she came home from school and said her tooth was loose.  Sure enough, I felt it and it was loose.  That very same night she was eating dinner and out it came.  Now if only the rest come out that easy!

Fall Happenings

 We have had quite the fun time around here the past 2 months.  

Carving pumpkins

 Dressing up for Halloween

Parker-gunfighter, Trevor-lion tamer, Brenna-cheerleader

 Parker came up with his own costume.  I thought it was so cute

 Someone got asked to the Harvest Dance at school

 We grew some of our own pumpkins this year.  The vine took over our whole side yard and we only got 2 pumpkins out of it.  Brenna got the seed at school so this was fun for her to grow some pumpkins.

 We had 3 boys doing sports this year.  Taylor finished up his cross country career at Mt. View High School.  I never did perfect getting pictures of him running.  He improved way more in running than I did at pcutre taking  over the years (ha!) and it has become something he really enjoys.  He got one of his best times on this last race.  Way to go Taylor!

 Trevor LOVES soccer.  He is fast and can play any position well. although I think he likes being fullback.  His coach complimented him on being a good sportsman.  One time the other team did not have enough players.  The coach asked for volunteers to play on the other team and Trevor volunteered. (he even scored points for them). Anyway, we are happy for him that he loves to play and is a good teammate.

 Trevor before the game (oh and we got a "new" car this fall--you can see the end of it here--don't you love it-ha!)

 Spencer made the JV swim team this year.  This is Spencer's love.  He has tried other sports but this is his favorite.  He absolutely loved going to practice every day.  We carpool with two other swimmers (who happen to be girls) and one day when it was my turn to drive we showed up at the pool and the pump had broken so there was no practice that day.  From the back seat came cheering from the girls "yay, no practice today"  And there is Spencer in the front grumbling "Awww-BUMMER!!!"

He is very sad it's over but he will start driver's ed. in December so that will give him something to do.  Another driver in the family--woohoo!

 Spencer is diving off the blocks here for a relay that he was in.  He is the one horizontal to the water  with the green stripe on the side of his jammers (swim lingo for swim shorts)

Swimming the 50 free

We are happy our kids have found things they like to do.  As you can see we have very diverse tastes here but that is what I love.  The variety is great.  Parker continues to play piano and is improving so much.  All the sports are over now and it's been crazy getting everyone to practices, games, lessons etc.  A couple of times we have had soccer, swim, cross country and other activities come up all at the same day and time.  The kids were understanding that we could not be to everything but we went to everything we could and loved it all!  Now on the the calm months of November and December.... : )

School Days

First one to leave the house was Parker.  Can you sense the enthusiasm?

Parker started a new school this year for milddle school.  He is in 7th grade, an awesome student and takes piano lessons.  It is fun to hear hime play and he is progressing well.

 Taylor and Spencer left next, they now go to the same school.  Taylor is a senior this year, a faboulous student, loves the challenge of taking hard classes.  He is running cross country again this fall, with plans to be in track in the spring and  also volunteers as a  writing tutor.  He is enjoying the independence of having a drives license.
Spencer is a freshman and started a new school for high school.  He decided to try out for the swim team and is on the JV team.  He does very well and loves the competition.  School is not his favorite but he still excells and works hard.

 Treovr and Brenna still go to the same school.  Trevor is in 5th grade, plays soccer and has lots of friends.  He is always coming home with invites from friends to go to movies, football games etc.  Um, I think still a little young to be wanting to be so social--right??  He is a very hard worker. 

Brenna is in first grade and got the teacher she wanted.  Having a girl in school after all these boys is quite different.  Clothes and friends are a big part of the drama of life.  This is all new to me as you can see the boys are happy in jeans and t-shirts and don't have friend drama.  Fun times!

Not long after school started I got to drive with Stef and Kelsi to Rexburg to drop Kelsi off at BYU-I. Can you say FUN WEEKEND? Um--5 hours in the car each way talking nonstop and catching up on life and solving world problems. We did take a side trip to Yellowstone. It was a beautiful day, not many people and fun to see such beautiful scenery. Here is Stef blending right in with her blue shirt with the turquoise water behind.

Our friend the buffalo cruising down the middle of the road

Me at some steaming, bubbling, venting, geyser that was pretty cool.  Thanks for the great weekend Stef and to Kyle thanks for suggesting I tag along and for taking over all the craziness by yourself so I could go. 

Zion and Bryce Canyon Family Vacation

We decdied to take a different family vacation this year.  We love to be outdoors and wanted to do some hiking so thought Southern Utah would be a great place to go. On our way to Zion Park we stopped at Cove Fort to have lunch and get a tour . It was worth the stop. 

At Zions Canyon we stayed at a hotel just outside the park and took the shuttle to the park to hike the two days that we were there.  The scenery was amazing and the hikning was great.  Even Brenna did great (for the most part)

 Brenna loves to pose for the camera

 Parker being totally amazed by the view (haha--had to throw this one in just for fun..dont' know why  he is making this face)

 Parker's buddy the squirrel

 Can you see the steam coming off my feet?  The water felt sooo good!

 The view from the the hotel hot tub. (yes we were really roughing  it)

 The cute couple at Bryce Canyon

 We took a hike down into the canyon.  Parker wasn't sure he liked the cliffs

 Spectacular formations

 Taking a break

 Taylor ended up being our resident photographer.  I didn't know he had a knack for picture taking but he did  a super job.  Grandpa Lindsey should be proud. :   )   Taylor  took most of the pictures you see here on the blog.  I love this one of the flower and the canyon in the background.

 Close-up of the bark on a tree.

 Looking up through a slot canyon

 Natural Arch

 Tired and happy...

...happy to have some uniterrupted family time.  We had such a fun trip. Lots of laughing and talking.  Lots of hiking and taking in the beautiful scenery.  It was fun to eat out every night and not have to worry about making dinner.  Since we were hiking most of the days we did try to take food with us for lunches and snacks. It worked out well.  Kids are growing up so fast we may not have many more chances to do something like this.  It was so worth it. 

It's That Time of Year

I'm not sure what it is about this time of year but I ususally get the house project bug. Maybe its becuase there is nothing else to do. Christmas is over, it's too cold outside to do anything out there and also it's tax retrun time. : ) This may be Kyle's least favorite time of year becuase my ideas usually make extra work for him. : ) Of course it starts out smaller than it really turns out. As you can see this bathroom is very WHITE. I haven't really ever liked it so I thought I would at least paint it to give it some color. But if I'm going to go to the trouble of painting it I might as well make it how I really want it. So, out with the pedistal sink, the oval mirror, the cabinet above the toilet.Next comes the fun of finding a cabinet the right size, right configuration, color, the right price (not too cheap that it looks cheap and feels cheap but not too expensive either). I knew I wanted a granite top with a china sink and dark wood--not too picky right? HA! After lots of looking around town and online I found one at costco.com. I wasn't sure how it would all work out with shipping something that big and heavy but it turned out fine--you should have seen the packing job--pretty incredible. Anyway, it's hard to take picutres of such a small space but here is the AFTER picture. I termed this my weekend project--even though all the legwork took more than a month, but after I had collected everything I figured I could paint and then install the cabinet in a weekend. As always with house projects there is usually a hang-up that occurs in even a seemingly simple project. Well, the cabinet came with a base that sticks out about 3/4 of an inch. Well that didn't look to good to have a gap where it is supposed to be flush up agianst the wall. Luckily, since the cabinet and top were so heavy Kyle called our neighbor to come help lift it in place and he told us to bring the cabinet over to his garage and he would help Kyle take off the base on the one side of the cabinet where it fits up against the wall. It turned out great. We pretty much got it done in one weekend, except for haning the mirror and picture and doing touch-up paint. I am very happy with the results.