What we did in June

Some moments from June:

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My pretty roses are in bloom!

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For birthday Sunday we went to a park by Kyle and Stephanie's house.  They brought their 4-wheeler and Jaaromy gave Brigham a ride on it.  He absolutely loved it and wanted to keep going.

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For Scouts, they were doing an obstacle course and their Scout leader sent me a picture of Jonathan climbing over the wall.  Nice work!  I'm so glad when they give hard things a try.

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Brigham is so much better at pretend play.  He loves to play with his space shuttle.  I mostly took this picture because he was also wearing his "I love Space" shirt.  Also, because there really wasn't much going on this month I figured I might as well include it.

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So that was June.  Pretty low key.  Brigham was done with school but Jonathan and I had to keep going.  I managed to combine the last two weeks  into one so that helped.  I was really ready for summer.  Summer brought another challenge however, because Jaaromy and I decided to start the divorce process.  Lots of complex emotions around that decision.

Bring on Summer!

MAY-hem - get it!

So, May just might be the second busiest month of the year after December.  Maybe even more than December, I'll have to check my calendar.  So many fun things going on.  Here are a few:

My dad's choir had a fundraiser dinner and silent auction and my mom couldn't go so I went with him.  There was a jazz band and dancing.  I wish I knew how to dance like some of the couples there.  It was so fun to watch.

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I'm not sure why this is the only picture I have of Nathaniel's concert.  They did a great job.  They played a Star Wars medley and had fun light strips on their bows that looked like light sabers.  It was cool.

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 Brigham's school had a dance concert.  I'm so glad I went, it was really cute.  Each grade did a dance from another country and Brigham's grade did one from Ireland and had a lot of jumping which was perfect for him.

His teacher tried to get him to look at me when their class sat back down but he wouldn't do it.  Oh well.

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Jonathan had his band concert the next day.  He did a good job, I could hear him playing since the group was so small and he sounded the best.  I got him all dressed up with a tie and everything and he wouldn't take of his jacket.  Oh well.

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Brigham's school class went on a field trip to the Children's Museum and she was nice enough to send me this picture.  He had a lot of fun.  He is also very fond of wearing his jacket.

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My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  We started the evening with sealings at the Salt Lake temple.  That was so neat to be there with my family performing work for other families.  Some families had so many children that we had to seal them half at a time.  It was so beautiful.  After that we went to the Lion House where we had a catered dinner waiting for us.  The food was so good and it was fun to talk to everyone.  Each of my parents' children took a moment to share a memory about Mom and Dad and growing up.  It was fun to hear everyone's memories.  There were some that I had forgotten.

 Heather was so sweet to put together a little scrapbook of the last 50 years.  I took this picture while everyone was looking at it.  She did a good job, the pictures were awesome.

 We posed for pictures at the end and a few of the waiters were nice enough to take lots of pictures of us.

 Just the siblings and Mom and Dad.

Mom and Dad.  Aren't they cute!  It was a wonderful evening.  I love my family.

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Memorial Day is always a favorite for me. With three grandparents passing this year, we had to change our routine a little.

 First we went to Redwood Estates for Grandma and Grandpa Zierse on Sunday.

 And Grandpa Zierse's parents, whom I've never met but are buried here too.

 Then we went over to Wasatch Lawn to see Grandma and Grandpa Hand.  They don't have a headstone yet.  It's only been a few weeks.

 It was windy and a little rainy but it was a good visit.

Brigham likes to smile for me so taking pictures of him is fun.

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On Monday we went to Provo with my family.  It was a beautiful day.

 Afterwards we had a picnic at the park and had delicious food.  I even remembered to bring chairs and blankets this time!

And then Jonathan and Brigham played at the park.  Good times!

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That was our May, busy but fun!  Brigham had his last day of school, Nathaniel had one more week, and Jonathan and I had three more weeks to go because we were waiting on the curriculum at the beginning of the year and at the end of the first term.  Almost summer!

March Madness

I know that title is horribly overused, but the end of March really was quite crazy.  Brigham was sick for days, Nathaniel had a concert, and we had two funerals within a week of each other.  Thankfully, Spring break helped us recover from all the madness.  So, here is our March.

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We have this tree in the backyard that's tall and skinny and kind of in the way.  It's useless as a shade tree because it's so narrow, but for two weeks of the year it has beautiful yellow blossoms.  Well, Jaaromy noticed that it had started leaning.  Rather than wait to see where and when it would fall, we decided to cut it down.

 It's not huge so it wasn't too difficult.

 As you can see, there aren't a lot of roots holding it in place.  We wiggled it around like a loose tooth until we could see where it was hanging on.

Turns out there was just one root holding it up.  Also, this picture is misleading.  It looks like a fairly thick root but right after this point along the root it got really thin, maybe an inch and a half to two inches.  So, I'm glad we cut it down before the wind knocked it down.

Here's a picture of it's blossoms, for old times sake.

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Brigham sure looks cool with his roll up sunglasses someone got from the eye doctor.

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I got tickets to Aida last Fall and we finally got to go.  This was our first live opera and it was super fun.

Our seats weren't too bad, either.

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So, we got an email saying that we might not have rehearsal because our conductor had to go out of town on short notice.  Well, a substitute was found, but once tempted with a night off, my basses had decided that staying home sounded nice.  Not me!

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Okay, I know this is weird but...

This is how I like to eat mini M&M's.  It usually doesn't end up this evenly split, that's why I had to take a picture.  It was so close to perfect!

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 My Grandma Harding passed away on the 15th.  She was 102 and one of my very favorite people.  I'm so excited for her to see her family.  She outlasted all her siblings by several years, it must have been a wonderful reunion.  The morning of her funeral was super snowy where we lived but was just a little rainy in Provo.  The service was beautiful.

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The same day as my grandma's funeral was the neighborhood caucus.  It was super fun.  I had to take the minutes of the meeting because our precinct chair and vice-chair had both unaffiliated themselves so it was left to the secretary to run the meeting.  She did a great job even though she was nervous.  It was fun to vote for the presidential candidate since we usually wait until the primary.  That's lame, doing it now feels like it might actually mean something.  Good times!

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Jaaromy's Grandma Hand died on the 22nd, the same day as my grandma's funeral.  She started going downhill at the same time my grandma did and I was worried they would go at the same time.  They were close but it was doable.  It was a beautiful service as well.  We are well acquainted with death, it seems.  We were able to visit before she died and I'm so glad we did.

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We almost didn't color eggs this year.  It had been such a busy couple of weeks that I was just exhausted and I didn't realize how close Easter had come and I wasn't prepared.  I decided to make a quick trip to the store for the rest of the Easter things I needed on Saturday night.  I'm glad I did, it worked out pretty well.

Just a boring regular egg dyeing kit.  Perfect for us.

This egg cracked in the boiling process and I was just going to save it for deviled eggs but I decided it looked like it was sticking out it's tongue so I had to make the most of it.

Jonathan made a Toon Link egg and was very proud of it.

It looks just like him!

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My parents invited us over for dinner Sunday night so we had our Easter lesson for FHE the next day.  That works out pretty well for us and we do it pretty much every year.

 We had our special Easter Egg Hunt inside because it was too wet outside.

Then we opened up each egg and read the scripture that went along with the item inside.  The last egg is empty and I love that.

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So that was March.  Very unexpectedly busy.  Nathaniel's concert was the same week as the funerals.  Also, the YM/YW activity for that week was an etiquette dinner that the boys had to wear their church clothes for.  Then we had the viewing for Grandma Hand on Friday and the funeral on Saturday.  So, Nathaniel had to wear nice clothes every day that week except for Thursday.  Brigham was sick almost that whole week.  Thankfully, he was better by the second funeral.  Grandpa Hand passed away yesterday so we will have another funeral coming up soon in April.  One of my nephews noticed that Grandma and Grandpa Zierse died in March too.  I guess that's the best time to go.

I wonder what else April will bring.

Fun February

Like January, February was fairly laid back.  In January it was nice because it was a break from a busy December but now it's February and it's getting a little old.  We need a little more excitement.

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Brigham wanted to wear his Hulk gear on our way to pick up Jonathan from Band.  I asked him to smile for me and he growled.

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The week after the Klondike Derby I mentioned in January the Scouts had their snow caves activity.  I didn't make Nathaniel go because I thought two weekends in a row sleeping in the snow was just a little much.  Jonathan went though, and he had a friend who is 11 and is able to go on three of the camp-outs this year and he picked this one.  That made me feel better.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, the snow was too powdery to make into snow caves so they hung out in the snow and then slept in a heated garage.  I'm glad he had fun, and I'm glad I got the snow camping activities over with and all the gear washed.

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I was super excited to see the new Provo City Center Temple but I procrastinated getting tickets and then I was worried there wouldn't be any.  I considered just showing up Friday afternoon with the boys but I didn't want to risk a long stand-by line.  So, when I heard they were releasing more tickets I decided to grab some whenever I could.  I decided to keep Brigham home from school and take the boys on a Wednesday.  I never take my boys out of school for things, but I just couldn't pass this up.

It was such a beautiful day, but still pretty chilly.

We didn't have to wait long before we were ushered into a room to watch a video on temples.  After that the wait was a little longer but once we actually got inside the temple it started moving okay.

When we got outside the boys noticed all the coins in the fountain and wanted to throw some in so I gave them each a penny.  Jonathan told me that he wished for Super Smash Bros. 4 for Wii U.

It took me forever to work up the courage to ask someone to take our picture, it's hard being shy sometimes.  I loved the temple, though.  It was so beautiful!  I loved how the woodwork was made to look like the tabernacle.  I loved the antiqued design.  I loved that they had the original pulpit in the chapel.  I loved the stained glass window of Jesus Christ.  I even loved the Victorian font of the exit signs.  I'm always nervous to bring the boys by myself to places with big crowds but they did great.  We even stopped at Wendy's on the way home for lunch.  It was a fun day.

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I was walking through our back hallway when I heard a weird hissing sound.  I looked around and realized that water was dripping from the ceiling and the carpet below was soaking wet.  This didn't make sense because there was no water source above that spot so I called my father-in-law over to take a look and he figured out that it was a leak in a pipe that was spraying up and hitting the underside of the floor and then dripping back down.  It's kind of hard to explain and pictures are even more confusing, but here is my FIL pulling down a soaking wet ceiling tile from the hallway.

He knew a plumber and the plumber was able to come over and fix it without too much trouble, thank goodness.

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This is kind of a funny picture, I know.  Remember all our pumpkin drama from last Fall?  Well, when it was time to toss them, Jonathan just couldn't do it, not when we had lost so many to dirty thieves.  So we put them in the backyard in our "garden" to let nature take it's course.  Well, I don't know if it's the paint or if it's because they were covered in snow for so long but they look like deflated pumpkin balloons.  I thought that was kind of funny.

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February was nice, maybe March will pick up the pace a little.

Merry December

So much for being caught up.  Oh well, I'm still close.  December was a good but busy month, as always.  We had lots to do.

The first week of December was concert week for me.  I decided to let the boys come on Thursday night since we were playing along to the video of The Snowman.  It was fun and they really enjoyed it.  I don't have any pictures, however, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

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We got the tree up before my concert because I knew it wouldn't happen unless we did.  A friend of mine sells these cute Biblical Names of Christ ornaments and I was excited to get some from her.  This is the best picture I could get though.

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 My family Christmas party was fairly early in the month since it's so hard to get together.  We did our Nativity and Brigham got to be Joseph.  He looks bored but he really enjoyed it.

 He liked seeing "baby Jesus."

 This is how he smiled when I asked him to smile.

 We also celebrated December birthdays.  Poor Jonathan wasn't feeling well.

 He was still excited to open his birthday present from Grandma.  He had to close his eyes first.

How exciting!

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 Nathaniel's orchestra spent a day performing at several elementary schools in the district.  I grabbed these pictures from their Facebook page.

My parents came to watch since they wouldn't be able to come to his regular concert.  You can see them in the back.

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We had a busy day on the 17th.

 First, Brigham's school sing-a-long was in the morning.  His class sang Mario the Mustached Reindeer.  He put on his mustache a little prematurely.  They also sang It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas/Pine Cones and Holly Berries.  He actually sang the songs.  This is the first time he's ever sung the songs with the class.  It was so fun to watch.

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Second, we had Nathaniel's Christmas concert that night.

 For some reason they decided use the formation that has the cellos in the middle so I couldn't see him.

 Later when they combined with the Jr. Youth Symphony he was a little easier to see.

He looks annoyed in this picture because it was taking me so long to get a good picture.  I had to reach way over to get him in the shot which made it hard to frame and keep in focus.  He did great, though.  They're a really good orchestra.

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Third, was Jonathan's birthday.

 We celebrated after Nathaniel's concert.  He chose plain brownies.

 He was super excited for his present.  He wanted to close his eyes for this one too.

 What?  A BB-8!

So cool.  He had fun trying it out.  Suki went a little crazy trying to catch it so we had to pick her up.  It was a great birthday.  We went to the planetarium the next day, too, but I don't have any pictures.

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This is how we have to play with BB-8.  She tries so hard to catch it but no dice.

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Christmas Eve!  The boys got new pajamas, of course.  But this year there was a little surprise with the pajamas.  Nathaniel and Jonathan got new phones!  Well, they actually got Jaaromy's old phone and my old phone.  I decided I wanted a new one for Christmas since mine was getting old and Jaaromy wanted the bigger model.  I was just going to let him get a new one and then use his old one but when he went to get a new one they were having a deal where if you buy a 6 Plus, you get a 6S which is exactly what we wanted so it all worked out and I even got a new phone out of it instead of a hand-me-down phone.

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Christmas morning!

I didn't get a picture of it but Jonathan got some cool games.

Nathaniel got a subscription to all the Adobe programs!

Brigham got a roller coaster, a slot car track, and some of his favorite books.

Nathaniel often complained that he plays such a big instrument so I decided to let him try out a viola.

Brigham loved the slot cars.

Nathaniel got some cool books.

Jonathan was excited to start his Amiibo collection.

Brigham really enjoyed his art projector and star lantern.

Jaaromy got me the coolest new toy!  Unfortunately, it's too cold and snowy to try it out.

After we opened presents we went to my parents' house for breakfast, it was super yummy.  I spent the rest of the day assembling Brigham's roller coaster.  It was kind of a pain but he loves it so much it made it all worth it.  Also, we added it to the list of toys that make Suki freak out.

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Christmas break was great.  The boys loved playing with all the fun new toys.

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We went to see the lights at temple square the Sunday after Christmas.  It's the perfect time to go.

 Brigham saw me trying to take a picture and he happily turned and smiled for me.

 Then he saw me setting up for my next shot and again happily stood right in front of me and smiled.

 This is the shot I was setting up for although I'm happy to take pictures of Brigham.  I take this shot every year and it's almost always blurry.  I got it on the first try this time.

 We waited in line to see the Christus, Brigham loves to go see it.  When the sister missionaries were done talking he hurried up there so I could take a picture of him.

 Then we tried a selfie with my new phone.  Indoor pictures are still hard.

 Jonathan wanted to try one too.

 Jonathan was excited to have his own phone to take pictures with.

 Then we saw the Nativity.  I used my phone for this one because of the wider angle.  I was able to get the stable and the star in the same shot!  Not bad.

 I love the floating lights, it makes the pool so pretty.

 Another wide angle from my phone.  Sweet!

We walked around the plaza looking at the different nativities.  The steam coming off of the fountain was kind of cool.  I love to see the lights and this year we all wore our thermals so we were able to stand being outside longer than usual.

So there you have it, our December.  And that concludes 2015.