Gage

I don't think I ever posted about Gage. For twelve years now I have been trying to get Tevita to give in and let us get a puppy. One day we were driving and he said, "hey, I'm gonna get the kids a puppy for Christmas." I was so happy and excited for the kids. In my mind I was expecting a little baby puppy that we could snuggle and hold in our laps. Tevita sent me the picture of our new little "puppy" one day and I wasn't so excited. He looked too big to be a puppy. Then on Christmas morning we drove to the guy's house that we were getting him from. The guy opened the gate and out came this "puppy" that looked like he was half horse. I gave Tevita the "look" and told him that we were NOT taking this dog home. He was too big and there was no way our kids would love him. (They have been afraid of dogs since they were born.) Well, Tevita opened the back of the yukon and in came Gage. He filled the whole back by himself. When he jumps up to give Tevita a hug, he puts his "puppy paws" on Tevita's shoulders and stands taller than Tevita. The kids have loved having him around and enjoy taking him on walks. I will post some more pictures of Gage later but I was told that we don't have any pictures of our puppy on our blog so here we go!!

Kiefer's Baptism

On January 1, 2011 we were able to attend Kiefer's baptism. Probably most of you don't know who this kid is. He is a former student that went to the ranch a while back. Tevita and Kiefer were pretty close. It's tough working at the ranch where you see so many kids that could benefit from hearing about God but we aren't able to talk to them about Him. So anyways, Kiefer left the ranch and moved to Ephraim. He has been there for a couple years now and the missionaries finally found him. We were so excited to bring in the New Year attending his baptism. Tevita spoke and did such an excellent job. We were touched by the Spirit and are excited for Keifer. While Tevita was speaking Sipola leaned over to me and said, "Mommy, I can't wait to be baptized!!" My eyes filled with tears and I gave her a huge hug! I can't wait either Pola Bear!!

The day before the Snow Day

This year the day before Christmas break was a snow day. It was pretty interesting. The night before that we received about 22 inches of snow. The kids loved it and played in it the minute they got home from school. We heard that we were supposed to get 12 more inches the next day and that is why the district decided to have a snow day. Well this is what it looked like the day before the snow day and it all melted the day of. Oh well, at least we got one extra day with the kids for Christmas break! P.S. I did tell Vita that he should put pants on but he insisted on playing in his shorts!!

A Thousand Cranes

When we first moved to Monroe and got Braxton enrolled in middle school he was very disappointed. He was so upset with his schedule and said that he would never like being in drama. I told him that drama was so fun and one of my favorite classes in school. He said he didn't care. He would not like it. So, now we fast forward to him being in drama for a while now and he loves it. It is one of his favorite classes! He started out as Actor 8 and then switched to the precussionist(sp). I was kind of disappointed when he told me this. Only because I thought he might get more "acting" as Actor 8. But the night of the play I was so proud of our son!! He got to ding the gong and hit a wood instrument. Wow, I really don't know how to explain what he was doing. But the point is is that Tevita and I were so proud of our boy! He was so outside of his comfort zone. There were no pads, no helmets, no pushing anybody around. What there was was young kids acting and Braxton hitting the gong.