Bound by Brotherhood

Priceless.

First Day of School

Can you tell who is the most excited?

Every morning Hyrum gets on his "car" and tries to sneak off with his brothers. We tried it the day we registered for school and quickly discovered that it goes about 1/4 mile an hour and isn't extremely energy efficient. Luckily he loves the bike seat on the back on my bike and can easily be coaxed to get buckled in.

The boys LOVE riding their bikes to school. It takes about 4 minutes to get to their elementary school. Christian is in charge of the bike lock, Tanner is in charge of the keys to the bike lock, and Sam is responsible for opening and closing the garage door. It is a pretty slick system and keeps them all together.

So far so good. We love the boys Elementary School. Each boy has 19 or 20 kids in their class, which is much smaller than when we lived in Flagstaff. Sam's teacher aide showed him around the classroom this morning. He seemed so thrilled to be there with his lunch from home and snacks to share. He was up and dressed before I could even get C&T to open their eyes. I hope the enthusiasm lasts (for the next 13 years).

Sam's Kindergartner Eval

We met with Sam's teacher, Mrs. Bailey (ironically MY Kindergarten teacher was also a Mrs. Bailey), for his Kindergarten Evaluation. Both Eric and I were really impressed with the care and professionalism that Mrs. Bailey showed in her classroom. Sam was so excited to met with her and did a great job as they worked one-on-one for about thirty minutes. At one point she had him copy a tower she had made with blocks. He tried and looked and studied and tried again and finally got it right. She said that it was the longest she had ever had a student try and complete it without giving up. So hooray for Sam. I think he will be a great little Kindergartner!

C, T, and S in Action

After two years of owning heelys (thanks to their Aunts and Grandparents), Christian and Tanner finally figured how to use them the week we moved to Alaska. They've been heely-ing maniacs every since! And this clip also contains Sam and his first duet. He's still an amazing little pianist. . . already passing up Christian and going strong.

Hyrum's Five Little Monkeys

My first attempt at including a video in the family Blog.

WaterFalls, Lakes, & Bears--Oh My!

A Pair of Bear Cubs. . . our first "dangerous animal" sighting. Wish the boys could have seen them. They sure look cuddly and cute upclose (especially for something that could potentially rip your face off). . . but we definitely kept our distance knowing that Mama Bear was somewhere close by.

Thunderbird Falls. . . a bit of a huff and a puff for me! But a Great 1 mile hike to the Falls!

Eklutna Lake. Now Eric thinks we need kayaks.

Yesterday Eric made arrangements with a sitter and took me out on an adventurous date. We hiked to Thunderbird Falls and then walked part of the trail on Eklutna Lake. The highlight for Eric was seeing two black bear cubs on the side of the road. We stopped (staying in the car of course) and watched them for several minutes. We ended our evening at Taco King and then Office Max (you always have to run some errand without the kids and we thought we'd branch out from the usual WalMart stop).

Favorite French Toast

This is our Family's Favorite French Toast Recipe (Rachel Ray):

2 Eggs
1 cup Sugar (not a typo!)
1 T. cornstarch
2-3 drops Vanilla
1 c. milk
2-3 pinches nutmeg

Mix together (looks a bit custardy). Dunk break into mixture and cook on griddle. Yum!

Definitely not something that is Weight Watchers approved, but great for special occassions.

Up Close & Personal with Hyrum

Hi! I'm Hy-Mum. I LOVE getting my picture taken and happily scrunch up my nose and grit my teeth for pictures. My mom says the nose scrunching reminds her a lot of my Aunt Kari who was apparently a nose scruncher back in the day. My mom says I look good with my hair buzzed, but do you think it makes my nose look big? . . .

I've just started singing the Alphabet Song . . . so not only am I devilishy good looking but brilliant as well!

Don't Mind the Dirt Under My Fingernails. . . just proves I'm all boy!

Cute toes. . . and it is a good things pictures don't smell!

Words to EFY Song

Any Priest of Mine
Any priest of mine better be proud of me, even when I’m ugly he still better love me.
And I can be late for a date, that’s fine, cause I’m running on Mormon Standard time.
Any priest of mine will say it sounds just right when my mastery scripture is off a word of two;
And anything I do or say better be okay if I have a talk on Sunday.
And If I feel obliged—to date more boys—I wanna hear him say “Amen” (echo), “Amen” (echo), “Amen” I like it that way!
Any priest of mine better walk_the_Lord’s Line;
He better show me a clean, double-datin’ kind of time.
I need a priest who knows how the D&C goes—
He’s gotta be a hard workin,’ nice talkin’, Pres. Hinckley-approving kind-i-ind!
Any priest of mine!
Any priest of mine better disagree when I say another laurels lookin’ better than me.
And when he gets his call and he is dressed in black, I’m gonna say “Mmm, I like you like that!”
And when I tell that boy “I’ll wait for you!” I wanna hear him say “Amen” (echo), “Amen” (echo), “Amen” I like it that way!
Any priest of mine better walk_the_Lord’s Line;
He better show me a clean, double-datin’ kind of time.
I need a priest who knows how the D&C goes—
He’s gotta be a hard workin,’ nice talkin’, Pres. Hinckley-approving kind-i-ind!
Any priest of mine!

Brother Bacon

Here's Eric at his Seminary Building here in town. It is such a fun building with just one classroom, a teacher office, and a secretary office. They pull out the 'ole extension chord in the winter so they can plug their cars in while parked in the parking lot. But so far it looks to be a perfect fit! Eric cannot wait until it is filled with students (10 days) starting at 7:20 until 2 p.m. Wahoo!

Eric just got back from being a session director at the EFY in Rexburg, Idaho. He loved every minute of it!!! One evening (for the record he called EVERY evening), he called and asked what I thought about him dressing up as a nerd to go to one of the dances. I thought it was a crazy idea but just up Eric's alley. He asked if I were there would I go to the dance with him dressed up like that? I said, "Sure I'd go to the dance. . . but maybe not with you."

Eric had a great time getting to know so many kids and were impressed by their strong desires to choose good, act good, live good, and be good.

Buzzed Boys

With the power of parental persuasion, I was able to talk the boys into letting me buzz their hair. (yes, yes, I know what you grandparents and aunt Michelle think of this "concentration camp" hairstyle. . . but i think it is darling and perfect for our low maintenance lifestyle). The past couple of days I've overhead the boys asking each other, "Can I rub your head?"

Christian's Creation

While Eric was gone EFY-ing, I found that we desperately needed something fun to help us pass the dreaded hour between four and five p.m. One day we made cinnamon bread together. The kids were more than helpful pouring generous amounts of Sugar and Cinnamon on the bread dough before helping to roll it up. As part of the second batch, I gave each boy his own dough and let them have at it. This is creation with his creation he called, "Snake & Ball." (and don't think the shirt off the shoulder didn't catch my attention. perhaps it is part of his artistic flair ?!!?)

Hy-Mum

This is our little Hyrum. He says his name Hy-Mum. Right now he is enjoying testing every request and pushing every boundary. Luckily for us, we just place him on the stairs and he can come off when he is happy. Sometimes it is just a few minutes and other times it is five or more. . . but we eventually hear an, "I'm happy" and see him waltz back into the room to play. He is a character. And like our Tanner as a toddler, he has the perfect prosac poster-child position down (meaning when he is angry or frustrated he just flops himself belly-side down on the floor and rest his head in his hands). But look at him now. . . can you believe he is anything but an angel?

Samuel Van Beethoven

Sam just loves the Piano. It is so cute to see how excited he is to play, practice, and pass-off his songs. He is just buzzing through his books and keeping right up with Christian who started at the same time. I am so proud of him. Tic Toc is his FAVORITE right now. I'll see if I can get the video to download so you can see him in action.

Family

I picked up a silly Nintendo 64 at a garage sale the other day (something I swore I would never purchase but thought it was something that Eric would LOVE to do with the boys and something that he had mentioned he wanted for Father's Day(which we celebrated on Sunday)--he really wants the Wii). But I figured for 15 dollars we couldn't lose and then we can get rid of it in the Spring.

So the boys have been totally motivated to earn time to play. They can each earn up to 30 minutes twice a week (Wed & Sat) by doing three things each day: working on developing a talent (they've all chosen piano), reading, and doing a "big" extra chore. It has been so fun to see them so excited about the piano. Sam especially is really, really, really cute. He's learned four songs and just beams with any praise. He is so proud that he can play the piano all by himself and he is a quick learner. A BIG perk of this new program is that Christian and Tanner are becoming better readers. They love to read Curious George books and I can hear them laughing at the silly things he does.

There is just something wonderful when life seems to be clicking and all the coggs feel like they are turning. Who knows how long the magic of the Nintendo 64 will last. . . but I can tell you as of this minute that we have definitely gotten our moneys worth!

Temple Trip

Last night we were able to go to the Anchorage Temple for the first time. It is such a beautiful temple and we feel so LUCKY to live so close (it takes us about 35 minutes to get there). I cannot describe the feelings of peace and joy I feel when I am inside the temple. . . but they seem to fill every bit of me till almost bursting. It is such an amazing blessing to go to the temple!

Something interesting about this temple. . . what makes it Alaska. . . when you enter you walk to a coat room of sorts where you take off your shoes and hang up your coats (I've never seen that in another temple). That seems to be the standard EVERYWHERE in Alaska. . . that you take off your shoes when entering a home. We've had utility people take off their shoes or bring plastic booties to put over their footwear. Sam doesn't wear shoes and tracks in dirt on the bottom of his feet, so the no shoe policy isn't doing much for our carpets right now but we hope it will become a habit come this Fall when shoes are worn more frequently.

More Winner Creek Gorge

Here are oodles of pictures from our family adventure to Winner CreekGorge in Girdwood, AK (about an hour south of us). The pictures don't even begin to capture the true beauty of the hike, which I believe is going to become a family favorite. The water is the most amazing turquoise blue and the gorge is breath taking. It was appropriatethat we did this hike on on Pioneer Day since the boys kept walking, walking, and walking (but where was the singing?) and rather than handcarts we did a handtram over the river. All is well. Incredible!

Winner Creek Gorge, Girdwood, AK

Sam turns Five!

Sam had a little party here at home. I took him to Walmart earlier in the day and he picked out a PowerRanger costume and a 8 pack of gum. All day long he got to the "King" and was in charge of making all decisions. He chose Rice&Beans for lunch (interesting) and pizza and pop for dinner. We topped off the day with a Bostonian Cream Pie birthday cake (we had to borrow candles from our good neighbors the Maugers). Happy Birthday Sam!

Arriving in Alaska

Well, we've made it to the Last Frontier and so far have been loving every minute of it. We cannot believe what perfect weather we have here and how much we enjoy looking at the green trees everywhere!! What a beautiful place and what a blessing we feel it is to be here.