Garrick and Holly Plus Six: January 2009

AR PARADE January 9, 2009

Rachel now has 166 AR Points (Accelerated Reader). When they get 100 points from taking tests on the books they read they get to run in the AR Parade through the school.
Some of the books Rachel likes to read this year are:
Nance Drew
Ida B.
Bloomibility
The Great Brain
Hank the Cowdog
Emily Windsnap

Some of the Books Kyle has been reading this year are:
Hank the Cowdog
Captain Underpants
The Great Brain
Fudge
Indiana Jones
Charlie Bone

Robin and Rachel

Dairy Ambassadors Utah State Aggies Basketball

Gosner Cheese sponsors a Basketball tournament for Utah State each December. The Dairy Ambassadors get to help for three nights in a row. December 29, 30, and 31. They got to go out on the floor during the timeouts and half-times and throw out balls and t-shirts. On the last night they were introduced during half-time. We had fun going to all the games!

Christmas Morning 2008

Garrick is really good at SUDOKU Puzzles. He does one every morning in the newspaper.

Trevor can even stand on his barn and not break it!!

Kaitlyn was so sad that the guitar Santa brought didn't work. When we took it back to exchange, they were sold out. So Kaitlyn ended up getting the Smart Globe. She loves it. You can point to places on the globe and it will say the name of the place and a fact about that place. You can touch two places on the globe, and it will tell you how long of a flight it is. You can also play a game where the globe asks you to point to a certain place in the world and you have to find it.

Christmas Eve 2008

Who needs a hill? December 24, 2008

Pictures taken by Rachel and Kaitlyn December 21, 2008

Scoop'n Up Snow December 31, 2008

Trevor went sledding with the kids. When they were all cold and ready to come inside and warm up, Trevor came inside to get his "Beep" to scoop up snow. He loves to clear off the front steps this way too. I prefer to use a snow shovel. Trevor uses his "beep"!!

Celebration Week 2008!

Most of those who read this blog know that Garrick and I were married on December 27th. Rachel asked me this year, "Mom, did you and Dad want to get married 2 days after Christmas?"

My mom mentioned that she was surprised Rachel didn't know the story. I was surprised too, so here is the answer for my kids (and anyone else who hasn't heard.)

Well, actually I never wanted to be married in December. I always imagined a spring or summer wedding. My Birthday is the 30th, and I always thought that was the worst time for a birthday. Then when Garrick and I were dating, and I found out his birthday was two days before mine, I made up my mind that we could not be married in December. While we were dating, Garrick lived in Lewiston and I lived in Provo. I was going to BYU and Garrick was going to USU. We would travel to see each other most weekends, but it was soo hard to be away from each other. At some point I must have decided that being married in December was not nearly as bad as living 3 hrs. apart for another four or five months. I was so in love! Our wedding and receptions were wonderful. I loved the Christmas tree decorations with white lights. I guess I did have a horrible cold, so I could hardly talk, but I was feeling better by my birthday.

I had a full tuition scholarship at BYU, so some people thought I was crazy to leave in the middle of the year. I was too late to apply for scholarships at USU, but we ended up getting a pell grant that more than paid for our tuition at USU. I ended up loving USU and the Ag Business Major.

Wow- that seems like so long ago. SO much has changed since then, but I never regret our decision to be married December 27th, except......
Every time our anniversary comes around!!

Not really, but this year was one of those years. Garrick had to milk, and I was at my family's for their after Christmas party. I got home with the kids by 4:00 to help with the milking. Hoping we might get done early enough we could go out to dinner, or something. Much to our surprise, when we went out to help there were FOUR helpers in the barn. Garrick's dad, brother, and 2 brothers-in-law were in the barn milking! That was soo nice-thanks Anthony, Rob, Brandon, and Gardner. I don't think we've ever milked with that many people. Kaitlyn even stayed out to help us, because it was so much fun!

We got done milking in plenty of time, but we wanted to spend some time with Garrick's family who had finally all made it home for Christmas after the storms. I told Garrick he owes me an Anniversary Dinner Date after the cows are sold. I'm still waiting!

Honestly, I just feel so lucky to be married to such an awsome man. Having to have an anniversary two days after Christmas is a small price to pay!

And Garrick loves having everythin in one week. He doesn't have to remember any special dates the rest of the year.

Temple Square December 20, 2008

While we were in Salt Lake after the Richard's Party, we went to see the lights at Temple Square. Everything was so beautiful!

Rachel, Jenn, and Kyle (Kyle tries so hard not to smile, must be a guy thing)

After we watched the Nativity outside, we came inside the visitor's center to warm up. Kyle went directly for the escalators. Kaitlyn really wanted to go up the ramp to see the Christus. SO we all went up. Just as we got to the top, Kyle said he needed to go to the bathroom. We asked a sister missionary where the closest restroom was. She said that we needed to go back down the ramp. As soon as she said that, Kyle took off. I followed after him, but not quick enough. When I got to the bottom of the ramp, I couldn't see him. I waited outside the restroom, hoping that's where he had ended up. A few minutes later he did come out. His hair was all wet. He saw me and asked if his hair looked better (he had no clue I was worried). I said it looked great as he took off up the ramp again. I followed. There were so many people, and I didn't want him to get lost. When we got to the top of the ramp, the rest of our family had left, so we went back down and found them. When we were getting ready to go back outside, I reminded my children that we needed to stay together, because there were so many people around. If someone did get separated where would be a good place to meet? Kyle didn't hesitate, "We can meet on the escalators if we get lost." Well, everyone laughed knowing that was Kyles favorite place, and understanding that Kyle could get lost if he wanted to.

Fortunately, no one had to go back to the escalators that night.