Merry Christmas from the Daniels

Merry Christmas

We feel very blessed and grateful for this past year and of course for all of our family and friends and how you have each enriched our lives. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and pray that you will all enjoy an even better 2012!

Happy Holidays,
Jason, Kristine, Elisabeth, Rebekah, Jonathan, Jacob, Kayla and Justin

Jason – Jason has been busy. He was promoted at work to a manager position. He was a Senior Patrol Leader for Wood Badge, and is now the Elder’s Quorum President. With everything going on he still had some fun hunting and fishing. This year he got another buck, but still hasn't caught his 5 lb trout.

Kristine – Kristine is busy with keeping the house going smoothly. When she gets some free time she likes to do genealogy and playing the Wii.

Elisabeth – Elisabeth is growing into a beautiful young lady and is in 5th grade this year. She loves singing in the school choir. She also takes ballet and jazz. She is starting to play the piano. Performed the Star Spangled Banner for the Utah Flash game. Elisabeth also has some new pet fish.

Rebekah – Rebekah is in Advanced Learning Lab (ALL) an advanced 3rd grade class. She is learning a lot. She is taking gymnastics, ballet and jazz. She wants to start playing the clarinet and piano next year. Rebekah donated 8 inches of hair to Pantene Beautiful lengths. Finally, Rebekah is sporting a great smile with her new braces.

Rebekah and Elisabeth were doing All Star Cheer and got 1st place. They both mastered their round-off back-hand-spring.

Jonathan – Jonathan is in 1st grade and thriving. He is playing soccer, basketball, and is in gymnastics. He is smart and funny. He likes sports and Nintendo.

Jacob- Jacob went to preschool and is now in gymnastics. He just went up a level. He is very good at using a screwdriver and has taken apart a few things around the house.

Kayla – Kayla is super cute. She loves keeping up with Jacob and playing with her dolls and dressing up like a princess. She is taking gymnastics.

Justin - We had a new baby, Justin Brian. He was 9 lbs 9 ozs and 21 inches long. Kristine ended up with a botched epidural, low blood pressure and a spinal headache. Justin just got his first two teeth and is crawling everywhere and trying to put everything in his mouth.


Our Family Vacations:
Trip #1: Bryce Canyon, Fremont Indian State Park, Trailer Camping @ Panguitch Lake.
Trip #2: Kristine went to see Kari’s new baby Alyssa Rose being born.
Trip #3: Staycation with the kids- each picked their own day for fun,
Trip #4: Zion’s National Park, Mansion @ Mt. Carmel w/ friends.

Other Coming and Goings:
We enjoyed going up American Fork Canyon on Sunday evenings for campfires, tinfoil dinners, s’mores, and fun with friends. We had a leak in our basement and mold growing up the wall. The leak was from the washer and dryer pipes in the wall. Jason’s brother Jared and his family lived with us while their house was being built for 5 months. Jason and the kids were in the Lehi City Parade. They were Dopey and Dr. Suess Characters to go with the float.

A few trips to the Hogle Zoo, Dinosaur Museum, BYU Bean Museum, This Is The Place State Park, Highland/Alpine Splash Parks, V Chocolate Factory, Sundance Summer Theater, Water Slide Park, miniature golfing, rock wall climbing, laser tag shooting, geode finding, bike riding and hiking to Secret Lake has keep us having fun.

November 2011

This month we were busy with cabinets, birthdays and turkeys. We changed our honey oak cabinets to an espresso with Rusteoeum Cabinet Transformations. It was alot of work, but less work than sanding. The new cabinets led to new stainless steel appliances. It looks really good. I need to post a picture....

Rebekah, Jonathan and my Mom had their birthdays this month. We went to Trafalga with our passes. Another year older and wiser.

Justin just got his first 2 teeth =).

We had Thanksgiving at our house. My sister, brother and mom came over. We had our first dairy free Thanksgiving. We changed a few of our regular sides, but overall it was better than I thought it was going to be.

Elisabeth, Rebekah, Jonathan, and Jacob participated in the primary program. Elisabeth did great. Rebekah closed the whole meeting with her testimony. Made me cry.

Jason's brother Jared and his family have been staying in the basement. Their house is now done and they have moved out. Kayla and Jacob are adjusting to their playmates moving out.

October 2011

Another month of fun....

We rented a huge house in Mt. Carmel, right next to East Zions. We stayed there with three other families. The views were amazing. We got a super amazing deal on the place and had tons of fun. It was up in the mountains. Elisabeth, Rebekah and I went bike riding. Jonathan and I played chess. Jason went rifle shooting. We went swimming and hiking. Zion NP is so pretty. It was nice to get away from everything and be up in nature. The day before our trip everyone got the stomach flu... We went anyway. By the next afternoon we all were feeling better and ready to party.

We have a tradition with our family vacations. We get postcards from wherever we go and when we get back everyone writes on the back of their postcard their favorite things about the trip. It is fun to see what everyone remembers and think is cool. Jonathan liked the mile long tunnel in Zions. Jacob liked catching the lizard. Elisabeth loved making a new friend.

We tried to take a family picture. It failed horribly. Getting everyone to look at the camera and not have a weird face is quite an experience. I thought you would get a laugh out of some of these pictures.

For Halloween Elisabeth dressed up as a a witch, Rebekah a wizard, Jonathan a pirate, Jacob a ninja, and Kayla a witch. Jason and I dressed up as Salt and Pepper (not the group).

We got a brand new swing set a couple of months ago, a Lifetime Playset, so we finally said goodbye to our old swing set that we have had for 9 years. Lots of fun memories. Picture is of old swing set.

September 2011

School is in full swing. Jacob is enjoying gymnastics. Jonathan is doing great at soccer. Elisabeth and Rebekah like jazz and ballet. Rebekah likes her Advanced Learning Lab class. Justin is rolling over and is now 5 months.

We went on a hike to Cecret Lake with some friends. Good times.

Went up the canyon for dutch oven and smores with some friends. It's so pretty.

I took Elisabeth, Kayla and Jacob to the zoo with my Mom and Alisha. They had a great time.

Jason went to a work confernce in LA, a block from the beach, and learned lots.

August 2011 Part 2

School started for everyone. Jonathan is in 1st grade. Rebekah is in 3rd grade and Elisabeth started 5th grade. They are all excited about their classes.






For Thanksgiving Point's $2 Tuesdays we went to gardens and dinosaur museum.



We had a birthday party for Kayla's B-Day and Brian's B-Day.



Jason got a new car and Greg bought Jason's car. I will miss Jason's old car I bought it in college.

Jonathan started soccer. He loves to run. Next week the girls start dance: ballet and jazz.

Summer 2011

I haven't updated this blog since Justin was born. I guess I've been a little busy having too much fun with six kids....

In May, the girls went to a Daddy Daughter Dance. The boys went on a Father and Sons Campout. Kari visited and we went to the BYU Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, BYU's Paleontology Museum, Lehi's Indoor Pool and the playground. We blessed Justin. We all went to the kids Gymnastics Exhibitions. It was fun to see their progress. We went to the kids dance festivals for school. Memorial Day weekend we found a leak in the basment from the washer and dryer pipes in the wall. A few months later the whole mess is now fixed.

June

The kids have been out of school since June 3. That day we left for a 4-night and 5-day vacation. We went to Bryce Canyon National Park. We rented a trailer and pulled it with our Honda Pilot. We went to Fremont Indian State Park. We camped at Panguitch Lake. Our campsite had a beautiful view of the lake. The kids had fun riding their scooters, making smores, climbing trees, and hiking. We did some hikes in Bryce Canyon and Red Canyon. The kids all did well. We went fishing at the lake. The kids were all excited about the fish they caught. At night we played games in our trailer, took showers, and ate chocolate cookies. My brother, Brian came and spent a couple days with us. Trailer camping is a lot easier than tent camping. We celebrated Elisabeth's 10th birthday while on our trip. Her cake was twinkies =).

In June we also went to the This is the Place State Pioneer Park, Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm, V Chocolate Factory Tour, Lehi Swimming Pool, and Miniature Golfing. The kids were also in the Lehi Roundup Parade. Jonathan was a dwarf and the girls were Dr. Seuss characters. Jacob had surgery too, everything went well.

July
During July I went a spent a week at my sister Kari’s house with my mom and sister Alisha. I got to help Kari and see her brand new baby be born: Alyssa Rose Martin. The night before we were sitting at CPK thinking of middle names. I had a light bulb moment and thought that Rose would be good and it was so…. It was fun to visit and nice of Jason to watch our other kids so I could go.
Jason and the kids went to Seven Peaks Water Park and an Owen Family Reunion with snow cones, games, cousins and lots of fun. Jason’s Aunt Teresa and sister Sarah came for dinner. It was fun to visit with them.

We also went to the Alpine Splash Park, had a family BBQ. Rebekah got braces. Went up AF Canyon for campfires on Sunday Nights. Jared, Jason's brother, moved in our basement with their four kids while their house is being built. Our kids have had fun with their cousins.

Jason spent a week at a work conference and then spent another week as a senior patrol leader for wood badge.

August
Jason took me to Sundance Summer Theatre and we saw Sound of Music for my Birthday. For our anniversary we went to the new Pirates movie and to Olive Garden for dinner. We have been married 12 wonderful years. We had a stay-cation with the kids. Jason took days off of work and the kids each had their own day to pick what we did. They had $10 to spend on what ever activity they wanted to do. They also got to pick what we ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Rebekah's Day - We went to the Dugway Proving Grounds and found Geods. We also went fishing at Tible Fork.
Jonathan's Day - We went to Seven Peaks Water Park with our season passes and then rode our bikes to trafalga.
Elisabeth's Day- Mystery Hike, Dimecade, Board Games, Swimming
Jacob's Day - Shooting at Cabela's, Ward Picnic, and Grandma's and Grandpa Daniels

The staycation was fun. We originally did it since we spent a lot of money on a swing set, but I think it would be a fun tradition to continue.

Tuesday school starts. I have mixed feelings. It will be good to have more of a schedule, but I will miss seeing my kids all the time.