Every year for Christmas Eve, we go over to my parent's house and play games, eat dinner, have a little program about the true meaning of Christmas and then open presents.
Ashton , Hannah and Kenzie playing some sort of game.
Ammon, Ashton and DadAdam and Kenzie.
Ammon, Ashton, Kenzie and Hannah.
Megan and Kenzie. (Lots of pictures of Kenzie! She gets around apprarently!)
This is the Christmas card I sent out this year. Anson's picture is a couple of years old, but I never got around to getting them all together to take a Christmas photo this year.
This is a letter that I wrote just in case I sent the cards out early.
Everything was last minute, so this letter was never sent, but you can read it here.
Dear family and friends,
A lot happened this year! I’ll start with the kids first.
Anson Jr. turned 13, Ammon 10, and Ashton 7! They sure are growing fast. Especially Anson Jr.!!! He only wears a pair of jeans for a couple of months before I need to go out and buy more. He has already passed me in height and is gaining on his dad. He is still attending the art school and loves it. He is taking American Sign Language this year and wants to take Spanish next year….inHIGH SCHOOL! I still feel like I am high school so how could I possibly have a child that old?!
Ammon is doing awesome in school too, of course. Social Studies and Math are his favorite subjects and he’s very interested in geography, particularly Norway. He recently purchased a phrase book in the Norwegian language and his room is decorated with world globes and travel books.
Ashton is a little smarty too. I was worried at first when we decided to put him in school a year early, but not anymore. He learns quickly, is good at math, spelling and reading. Ammon tells Ashton that he reads better than a lot of kids in his 5th grade class. Ashton also LOVES video games. Ammon and Ashton both got an award at their school assembly last month. We are so proud of all of our boys and thankful they are healthy.
Angela went to back to school for 3 semesters in the 08-09 year and did very well in the art program. She had 2 photographs and 2 drawings selected to be displayed in The Archer Gallery for the student art annual. She also had 3 art pieces selected for the college’s art and literary publication. (You can view her pieces online at: http://www.clarkphoenix.com/gallery/visual/index.html (Go to page 7. Mother, Olympic and Yellow are the titles of her work). Her trictograph, “Yellow” was chosen from that publication to be made into a greeting card by the college. She and Anson also have a screen printing business where they work out of their garage. Most of their business is done for the “Dazzled By Twilight” store in Forks and Port Angeles, Washington.
Anson Sr. still commutes twice a week to Seattle where he attends school. He just recently passed his Comps and is officially a Psy. D (c) (which means he is a candidate to become a Dr. in Psychology. He started his practicum this last fall and is doing therapy and testing in 2 different clinics here in Vancouver. If that wasn’t enough, Anson was able to fly to Utah and play keyboards for the Mitch Hansen Band. While there, they did played events and did radio interviews and television interviews too. AND, the most exciting and recent thing is that Anson published his first book called, “The Littlest Acorn”. http://www.paramountpacificpress.com/Top_Selling_Books.html
Other things that happened this year are that we bought a Thousand Trails membership and an RV which has been very enjoyable. We also had a little girl! Her name is Lucy and she’s a Chihuahua! She’s still a puppy, but she’s very smart and learning quickly. AND we moved…only a couple of miles from where we were, but what a difference! We love it here.
Today was the first year in a long time that we have been all together as a family so we decided to go up to the church and take family pictures. We used my camera at first and saw how bad the quality was and used Josh's instead. These pics were from my camera so they're a little blurry.
The Mitch Hansen Band, from Georgia, is a Twilight based band that play a lot of Twilight events around the country. Anson had the opportunity to do sound for The Mitch Hansen Band at a couple events up in Forks, Washington. He would M.C. the shows as well and get the audience up and dancing and just have a good time. The Mitch Hansen Band and Anson exchanged CD's and Anson said that he would play keyboards for them since he noticed that they don't bring a keyboardist on tour, but have one on the CD.
Long story short Anson was invited by MHB to play at a big event in Utah called The New Moon Experience. Anson left last Tuesday and didn't get home until late Friday night around 11pm. Back in Utah, they did radio and tv interviews and played a several shows. Anson had a great time and hopes to be invited to do it all again soon!
I was contacted by Ashton's teacher early last week letting me know that he was getting an award at the next assembly. I was really proud of him because it was for working really hard to follow directions and listen. For those of you who know Ashton really well, know that he has a tough time doing those things. Later on that same week, I was contacted by Ammon's teacher saying that he was getting an award at the assembly as well! Ammon has always been a great student and has the self discipline to get his homework done every night. I never have to ask him to do it. He just does it. Great job boys!!!
I have been spending at least a month working on a Squish book to document Squish from beginning to end. It will be a great thing for Anson Jr. and all the band members to look back and see how much they accomplished at such a young age. In one of Squish's early television appearance Anson Sr. was interviewed and something he said was that these kids can take it as far as they want to take it. There were some members, who's passion and drive was stronger than others, but if they weren't all on the same page it wasn't going to happen. I know that if they all wanted it bad enough, they could have gone further and possibly even have some songs now on Radio Disney and touring nationally. We put so much of our time, money and effort into these kids and towards the end we saw that we couldn't do it all on our own. Anson was so busy with school, but he was picking up kids for practice and dropping them off and then every time we had a show he would have to pick them up again when he should have been setting everything up and on and on... He just didn't have that time to focus on the band and still do well in school. I think most of the kids were burnt out and weren't excited anymore to play in front of people and it showed on stage. That's when we knew we had to stop. We just stopped booking them for things and still to do this day we get calls asking if Squish would like to play at this event or that festival. Like Anson said, they took it as far as they wanted to take it.
This book has been so much fun and it will be something tangible that people can look at to see all the amazing things Squish accomplished in such a short time. I don't think people realize exactly what they did when you're actually telling them about it. These kids were making money. They were getting paid for the shows they played. They were selling CD's and t-shirts and walked away from every show with money in their pockets! I think that is rare. Hopefully these kids will appreciate everything that was involved in getting them to where they were. Their parents played a big part in the success of the band as well. We had a parent who cashiered at the merchandise table, one who organized the line at the autograph table and made sure it ran smoothly, one who brought snacks and water for the kids and one who helped set up and take down the sound system. It was a great experience and is well worth the time I am spending on the book project!
I have been neglecting my blog! I have been busy with so many projects and have been keeping busy. I will try to do my best to fill in what's been happening for the last little while!
We are in First Ward in West Stake and have been so welcomed! We have had dinner at somebody's house, had family night at another's, have been invited for dessert somewhere else and have had many people bring over goodies! So one Sunday last month we made cupcakes, decorated them and delivered them to these nice families!
We also picked out some pumpkins at our local WinCo Foods and carved them!
We also celebrated Halloween, but I am SO BAD and I didn't take any pictures! Normally we all dress up but the only ones who did this year were Ammon and Ashton. Ammon was a green skeleton and Ashton was a pirate. October 30th we went to our church Halloween party and did trunk or treat. The next day we went to Sarah's church and went to their trunk or treat. The kids didn't need all the candy but it was Halloween and I didn't want to take them in our neighborhood.
We have also been having fun with our new puppy, Lucy. She loves playing outside and I love following her around taking pictures!
This last Saturday we took the kids to see Michael Jackson's THIS IS IT movie. I didn't blog back in June about Michael Jackson's death but it was something that affected Anson and I. We were a wreck watching the funeral on TV while trying to get some screen printing done. It was tough! There were LOTS of tears! Anyway, as I was watching this movie I teared up a few times and was sad at the huge loss of such talent and brilliance that Michael Jackson was. I remember how much I loved him as a kid. I remember being in 4th grade and spending the night at my friend's house and listening to "Thriller". Not on tape or CD but on a RECORD! That's how old I am! Anyway, for my 9th birthday, all I wanted was Michael Jackson stuff and remembering getting some books about him with lots of pictures.
I have been looking for a puppy for a few weeks and finally found one! Her name is Lucy and she is full AKC Chihuahua. She is 9 weeks old and she goes potty on little puppy pads, but I am taking her outside also. I'd rather train her right off the bat to go outside, then train her to pee on a pad and then transition her to pee outside. She's pretty smart.
I can't believe the UNBELIEVABLE price I got her for either!!! The people I got her from said she was from an unexpected pregnancy and just wanted her to go to a loving home. She has not been spayed and I'm not sure that we will get that done. It might be exciting for her to have future puppies.
She sleeps A LOT, she's the cutest thing ever and we love her!
Adam and Kenzie.
Adam and Kenzie.
Ammon, Ashton, Kenzie and Hannah.
Megan and Kenzie.
Megan and Hannah.
Anson Jr. and his new hoodie.
Ammon and his new remote control car.
Ashton and his transformer trucks.
Sarah and Chase. His new bike was a tad too big!
Kenzie and her Easy Bake oven.
Luke and dog Izzy.
Dan and mom.
Sarah and her SNUGGIE.
