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.