Christmas Letter

December 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Most of my family has been fairly busy lately, as I am sure most of you are. Being nearly 17 months old, I have a little extra time between naps and meals, so I thought I would take a minute and write a short letter to everyone. I cannot yet speak intelligibly, but I finally started walking last week. Even though I am still a bit wobbly, I enjoy the new perspective of walking upright (the view is much more enjoyable than while crawling).

I am starting to figure out how things work here in our family (although I still have a lot to learn). Most days, Joseph and Matalyn get on the school bus after breakfast and it does not bring them home again until the afternoon. Joseph is in third grade and Matalyn is in first grade. They both enjoy school and like to read (although I find their taste in books a little beyond my taste). In the spring they both played soccer, and now they both take piano lessons. I can’t imagine having to do everything that they do … it wears me out just sleeping, eating, and walking.

Jacob and I stay home with Mom and do all sorts of things. Jacob and I get along pretty well most of the time (with the occasional brotherly skirmish). On some days, we go to the town hall and sing songs with other kids. Occasionally we drive into town and go to the store. Dad spends most of the day downstairs in his office working … I guess he accomplishes something worthwhile. He goes to the church on Tuesday nights to meet with the young men, and Mom and Dad both help with Cub Scouts on Thursdays. Dad recently got elected to the city council, so he is gone a couple of times each month to council meetings. He also helps coach and referee church basketball.

On Sundays, we all walk to church together. I sit with Dad during Sunday School while Mom does a great job teaching the class. I am looking forward to next month when I can start going to nursery. Jacob really enjoys nursery, but he will start going to Sunbeams a few weeks before I start going to nursery. Matalyn and Joseph both enjoy Primary. Joseph was baptized a few weeks ago and he is pretty excited about that.

Every once in a while we all pile in the van with lots of stuff and drive somewhere. Since I’ve been around, we’ve been on trips to Colorado (Yampa), Arizona (Page), and various places in Utah (Sandy, Murray, Lehi, Cedar Hills, and St. George). This summer we took our first family vacation to Yellowstone. It was really fun to see all of the animals and geysers.

We are grateful for all that the Lord has blessed us with. We hope that everything is going well for all of you. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Spencer

Joseph's Baptism

Today was Joseph's baptism. We awoke to SEVERAL new inches of snow this morning. So much so that none of Mat's family from Sandy, Lehi, Eagle Mtn, were able to come. His brother Scot and his family were able to be here. Most of my family had come the night before so they avoided the storm. It was a new experience to have your first child baptized. I didn't think that it would be very emotional for me, but I have to admit that I did tear up and feel a bit emotional but it was a great event. Our ward was in charge of the Stk. baptism, so Mat and I both had the opportunity to participate. Mat was planned participation, he was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. He did a great job, kept it simple for the children, there were six of them, and threw in a bit of humor for the rest of us. I had the opportunity to fill in and play prelude and the first couple of songs on the piano. The pianist ended up getting stuck in new snow and was very late. When I first started to play prelude music, the only Primary book I could find was the Spanish version. Well that worked just fine until they started the meeting. When they announced the opening song I panicked, not reading a word of Spanish and not knowing what page the number it was on. I was even getting to the point that I was going to get my Dad from the audience and have tell me, he speaks Spanish. I ended up telling the chorister about my predicament and she let me use her hymn book and she led without. Something I will always remember. Well enough of my memories....here are a few pictures of the great day.

Joseph turns Eight

Joseph has turned eight years old. Sometimes you think that these occasions are far from happening, but as many of you know, time has a way of creeping up on you. Because he will be getting baptized, we decided to celebrate this event with the purchase of his very first suit. He looked so cute wearing a real suit and a tie (that he is learning to tie himself). He was so excited. I snapped some photos of the lucky birthday boy with his wonderful father, and let me tell you, that the two of them look adorable.


Here Joseph celebrates his birthday with a giant cookie, ice cream and toppings. The best part of it all? The children enjoyed it for breakfast!! What better breakfast could you have on your birthday? Joseph, Matalyn and Jacob thoroughly enjoyed it and we look forward to doing it again.

Halloween 2007

Here is a cute picture (maybe?) of the entire family on Halloween. It was a busy day for us. We spent the afternoon visiting Grandma Halling, Aunt Marlene & family, and Aunt Darlene & family. We finished the day by attending the community trunk or treat (trying not to freeze), and then spent an hour or so trick or treating around the neighborhood. We have learned in years past that the older people love to have the little children come to visit. In fact we had one couple in our ward remind us to come visit at least three weeks before Halloween. As usual the kids loved dressing up and getting buckets full of candy.

National Hot Lunch week at Canyon Elementary

We had the opportunity to go and eat hot lunch with Joseph and Matalyn. The children all enjoyed it greatly. Joseph and Matalyn loved having Mom and Dad come to eat lunch with them and Jacob spent the entire time looking around with large rounded eyes, trying to take everything in all at once. The lunch menu for today was Mac and Cheese, which is a big hit in our family, Spencer especially enjoyed it. Mom and Dad enjoyed spending time at the school and the playground with Joseph and Matalyn.

Family Outing

Katie decided to take us all on a family outing today. While we could have been home cleaning the house or doing any number of other things, we decided to carpe diem and spend some time together on a family outing in the great outdoors.

We drove up Logan Canyon and parked at the Spring Hollow Campground. We hiked the Riverside Nature Trail which heads east from Spring Hollow Campground and follows the Logan River for 1.4 miles to Guivanah-Malibu Campground. It was a beautiful hike with leaves of many colors and nice views of the river and the canyon. The kids had a great time stopping to look at plants, picking up leaves and sticks, and throwing rocks into the river. When we reached the Guivanah-Malibu Campground, we stopped for a short rest. It started to rain, so we headed back down the trail towards the car.

As we started the return trip, we turned on the GPS to locate a geocache that was hidden near the trail. We were completely unsuccessful on our last geocaching trip, so Katie and I were hoping that we would find this one. After some looking, we found the geocache hidden at the base of the tree just a few yars off the trail.

After a much quicker return trip, we arrived at the car (a little tired and hungry). We drove down the canyon a ways and stopped for a picnic in the park near 1st dam. After the picnic, we attempted to find another geocache. This one was located up the hill from the park. We probably looked a little funny dragging the stroller (with Spencer strapped tightly in) up the side of the mountain. The area we were in had been burned in a wildfire earlier this summer, but the grass has just started to grow again. The shrubs were completely burned and the larger trees where still black and leafless. After some investigative work, we finally found the geocache at the base of a tree.

It ended up being a very enjoyable outing and we are glad we went. We probably do not do things like this often enough. The kids all enjoyed it and it was great to spend time together.

David, Betsy, and Harrison

Katie's youngest brother David and his wife had their first baby the end of July, one year after Spencer was born. Here is a picture of the happy family on the day that baby Harrison was blessed.

Joseph gets glasses

Mat has been dreaming of this day for years, and the time has finally come. He had the opportunity to take Joseph into the eye doctor to have his eyes checked. Sure enough, the diagnosis was positive - he needed them. His parents decided that between Mat getting glasses in 1st grade and Katie getting them in 7th that our childrens average would be 3rd or 4th grade. Sure enough, 3rd grade is upon us, so let the glasses come. Lets just say that he will be the first of many children to visit the eye doctor and get glasses. Lets hope that we won't have a lot of trips for repairs and such.

Doesn't he look so cute? He picked them out all by himself.

Missing teeth

Joseph and Matalyn have both lost teeth in the last couple of days. Matalyn has lost her first one on the bottom and Joseph has lost his first one on the top. They have sure enjoyed sharing this unique experience together.

Spencer's New Toy

By far, this has been the most expensive toy that we have ever purchased for our children. Lately Spencer loves to play the piano. He will crawl over and try to reach the keys, hoping that the piano will make noise (it is digital - therefore electrical and needs to be turned on to make noise). He has even been known to dance which is very cute. On the rare occasion that he gets to sit on the bench, he is thrilled. In fact, the other day, Mat put him in his high chair, lowered it to the lowest setting, and put him in front of the piano for several minutes. He loved it, and we loved not having to worry about him falling off the bench.

First Day of School

Joseph started third grade this year. He is excited to get back and to continue to learn. He is also excited that Matalyn will be starting this year. He has been great to tell Matalyn all of the fun and exciting things that happen at school.

Matalyn started first grade this year. She is so excited to start school and make new friends. She is very social so we have no doubt that she will have many friends by the end of the day. She got on the bus for the very first time and didn't even look back, it made it a bit difficult for Mom as she walked home, sending her second child off to school and Matalyn having no fears or regrets going. She is glad that she will get to sit by Joseph on the bus and see him at lunch time and recess.

Trip to Lagoon

Shane and Brenda invited us to go to Shane's company Lagoon day. All we had to pay for was parking, so that was nice. Grandma Weaver came with us. We played in the water at Lagoon A Beach for while. I was surpised that Joseph, Matalyn, and even Jacob, had a great time going down the water slides. Spencer is still a bit water-shy so he only put his feet in the water.

After the water, we starting going on the rides. We were surprised at how much the kids enjoyed the rides. Joseph and Matalyn even enjoyed some of the big rides (such as Tidal Wave). Jacob did not like the rides that went up in the air, but he (and Spencer!) really enjoyed Speedway Jr. (little cars) and Baby Boats. 

We were all tired when we got home, but it was a fun day.

Spencer's First Birthday

Spencer celebrated his 1st birthday while at Grandpa and Grandma Crofts house. We celebrated the day with playing blocks, with Katie's cousin Aaron, . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . and then having cake with fresh strawberries on it, which he loved.

Hiking in the Wind Rivers

This past week I got to spend hiking in the Wind Rivers with our Priest Quorum. This is the first hike of this magnitude that I have ever attempted - so I was a little apprehensive. We started early Monday morning and drove to the Scab Creek trail head in the Bridger/Teton Wind River Wilderness area. We donned our packs and embarked on our 14-mile, 6.5 hour hike to base camp at South Fork Lake.

We camped, hiked, and fished. Seven of the nine participants took fishing poles (including myself). Over the course of the week, those seven fishermen caught a cumulative total of more than 400 (yes, that's four hundred) fish. Guess how many of those I caught? I wopping 4 (that is 1% of the total). I was using the same lure as everyone else, and fishing in the same lakes, but for some reason I did not have much luck.

I did, however, have one good catch on Wednesday at Bob's Lake. One of the priests, Robert Howlett, was fishing a short distance away from me. Somehow, on one of his casts, his fishing pole came apart and his line broke. Lo and behold, the top half of his pole was floating precariously about fifteen feet from shore. One of the other priets tried to snag it with his hook, but succeeded only in dragging Robert's pole under the water (so it was no longer visible). Not wanting to miss the rest of the week of fishing, Robert decided to go in after his pole. He jumped into the water ... and quickly discovered that alpine lakes at 10,000 feet above sea level contain very cold water (even in July). The temperature of the water and his inability to see his pole thwarted his rescue effort. Since I was not having any luck catching fish, I decided that I would try fishing for his pole. I stood on the same rock he had been casting from and started casting and reeling. I aimed each cast just beyond the spot we last spotted his pole and then reeled slowly so as to allow my lure to sink near the bottom (hopefully without catching a snag myself). To our surprise, my endeavors were successful - I somehow hooked his pole and was able to reel it to shore. He was able to reassemble the pole and continue fishing. So, while I did not catch many fish that week, I was pleased that I caught his pole :).

With all of our hiking, we figured that each of us hiked over 60 (sixty) miles that week. If you multiply that by nine people, that was over 500 miles hiked! There were times that I wondered if I would make it home, but I prayed for strength and was blessed accordingly. On Friday morning, we broke camp and headed back to the trail head. The same 14-mile that took us over 6 hours on Monday was traversed in 3.5 hours. We averaged over 4 mph all the way back.

Despite my initial apprehension, I did enjoy the trip. I enjoyed being with the boys and getting to know them better. I enjoyed the beautiful wilderness. I am glad that I went.