Happy New Year!

Wow can you believe it is 2009! I'm amazed... It's the 6th of January and I still have my Christmas decorations up. I'm hoping to get them down today.
I just had to share a picture of the cutest Christmas Elf's... My neighbors kids were the one to bring us their neighbor gift... see their happy countenances. These children are so sweet and fun!

Adam got a bird house kit for Christmas that Danny made for him and he has been so anxious to build it and now he can't wait to paint it. See what a cool job they did! Check out the detail on the roof... They still have a bit of clean-up work to do and some sanding and then they will paint it. Adam would like to paint it a "Dark Forrest Green almost Black Green," he said.

Spencer Has been teaching him self to play the guitar for the last several months. He is actually doing really well. A few years ago we got him a guitar because he expressed an interest in it and then we also arranged lessons for him. He took three lessons and refused to go again. We didn't stop encouraging him but we didn't push him either... So it was a nice surprise the day he came home from school and said he was going to buy his friends electric guitar. After some thought Dan and I said Okay and well he's been playing it ever since. At the beginning of December he asked me if I would call again and see If his teacher would teach him again. She said yes and he has been going and practicing on his own. I think it is so wonderful. It fills me with delight that he is enjoying this enough that he is motivated to do it on his own and that he is keeping it up. Michelle is being very supportive too. For Christmas she and Adam got Spencer this he could use like a Guitar stand and a new Strap and picks... He had a happy Christmas! His Guitar teacher is the Mom (and my friend) of my two adorable Elf's.

I got a new book for Christmas form Michelle that... I asked for... It is called, "A Walk Thru Heaven," by Kim Rives (pronounced Reeves). I just finished it. It was one of those books that I cried through pretty much the whole thing. I was so touched by the messages that she shared. I love the books that are of real life experiences and that remind you that you can feel. I was remind of the unconditional love that our Savior Jesus Christ has for us and that he is there for us wether we need Him right now because of trial or not... He's always there for us. I'm grateful for the reminder of the power of repentance and forgiveness...it is for everyone no matter what. I'm also grateful for the reminder to control our thoughts and to think positive thoughts. Because even our thoughts are like ripples on the water... even they can condem us or serve us righteously. There is so much that I received from this book and I am humbled by it and I am truely thankful. I encourage anyone to read it. You can get it from kimrives.com/My_Walk_Through_Heaven/Home.html
...a very touching and inspiring book.

Birthday!

December 26th...What a day!

My day started out like any other day... well sort of. Michelle said she would like a perm and I decided I was ready for some body in my hair too. So before Christmas we got perms from Sally Beauty Supply and on the 26th we gave each other perms. My dear friend Wendie came over around 11am and showed each of us how to roll the others hair. OK, that's a good thing. I've rolled many perms myself but not on myself and I've never rolled a spiral perm. Wendie left after noon and Michelle and I kept busy. I finished rolling her hair and then she finished rolling mine... Who knew it was going to take most of the day. We finally finished with everything after 4pm and it would have been latter than that if Michelle's friend Liesl didn't come over. We really were doing a good job, it's just those few details of putting the waving lotion on each other with the lotion dripping in your eyes and you're trying to keep it out of your own eyes...etc. Well Liesl helped us by squirting the lotion on the one while the other was dabbing the drips from getting in their eyes.

We then had to put the plastic covers over our heads and got use hair dryers...

can you imagine this whole picture. We each went to our bathrooms and started drying. At about 5 minutes into the drying we popped the breaker. We got that fixed and we re-arranged our places to use the dryers.

I then came up with what I thought was an ingenious fix to trying to get the whole head hot for more than a second or two while you hold the hair dryer on it. I had a plastic grocery bag that I grabbed and put it on my head and held the handles while I put the hair dryer end in. (I hope your laughing too because I sure am while I typing this...) Wow, it worked really well. My whole head got hot all the way around and then when I finished I ran out and put the plastic bag over Michelle's head and we got her head hot all at the same time too!!! We are so clever!!! Believe it or not our perms turned out very good and we are both happy.

After we finished our perms we got ready to go Ice skating. We dressed extra warm because it was a very cold night... Dan and I are watchers when it comes to ice skating and I'm just fine with that. Spencer was sledding for three hours so he just watched with Dan and I. Adam has been roller blading over the summer so he was doing a great job! Michelle and Liesl were having fun too! My friend and here family were there also just coincidentally so the kids had extra fun. We watched for about 40 minutes till Adam fell really hard on his noggin and got a very large golf ball sized bump on his forehead. We then went home and let Adam rest with some Ice on his head.

(This picture looks worse than it ended up. He only has a very small mark from where the dark part at the top of the bump is... that's it! There is no more evidence of his fall. We are very blessed that that was all. Next time we will have him wear a bike helmet to go ice skating.)

Michelle went with Liesl to get us some take out dinner from a nice restaurant here in town. All in all it was a nice day.

Halloween has come! Thanksgiving has Come! Christmas is Coming!

The Edwards Family TRUE Character!!!

I can't believe how much time goes by so quickly... October and November flew by.

Well, Spencer got to have Grandpa M. come to one of his last football games to see him play and kick. He felt very honored that one of the last things grandpa got to do was come see him play. It was something that He said he wanted to do..."I need to see my grandson play..." and he did. It was just a few days latter that grandpa Graduated this life (Dad died on Monday October13th). Spencer would have liked the season to be longer except it was getting colder and that isn't always fun. So he has put his focus on cheering for the Utes. He gets to go to the home games with some friends and he really likes that. He got to attend the Ute vs BYU game; needless to say he was very happy with the outcome. (He took my camera and took pictures) GO UTES!!!

(Dad's Funeral went very well. It was so nice to see people that were so close to my family growing up. I love them all!)

Adam didn't much like going to the games because he didn't want to stay by us... he wanted to run around and play... Well' he would ask if he could go to Grandma and Grandpa E's house (they have lots of John "DeWayne" movies you see..."John DeWayne" is his favorite. His most favorite show is, "Rio Bravo." He like to sing with Dean Martin and Laugh with the Character Stumpy... If you haven't seen the show, I guarantee it is worth seeing and then Imagining Adam doing the roles... It is very CUTE! I'll have to record him next time we watch the show.

I did however video Adam in his second grade Program in November. (He was a little disappointed that he forgot part of his line, he kept a frown throughout most of the program) Any way, we still thought he did great. The program was about Reading. They each got to dress-up as their favorite character from their favorite book... Can you guess what Adam dressed-up as? Well, we have a book that was once Spencer's and he loved it as much as Adam does. It is called, "Deputy Dan gets His Man," or the sequel, "Deputy Dan Catches the Bank Robbers." So he dressed-up as Deputy Dan! He was very adorable.

We were visiting Mom and Dad Edwards on Sunday and they started telling Dan's brother Randy this funny story...not looking at Danny or me. She began by telling him that our son Adam was very concerned and said very seriously that, "We need to fix our house. I mean we need to build on more rooms. We all want our own rooms. Except my mom and dad...they prefer to sleep together. Marilyn looked over at us after she finished telling Randy the story and we just laughed. I shouldn't be so surprised at what comes out of his mouth, but I still am.

We went to spend Thanksgiving with Michelle. We invited Dan's parents to ride with us and spend a few days with Michelle. The ride seemed long but it really wasn't...it just seems that way when you have a 7 year old and a 15 year old sharing the back seat. Adam watched movies the whole way down for 4 1/2 hours and Spencer played his PSP the whole time. not the most productive drive. We stopped at our favorite restaurant on the way down, the "Garden of Eatin." They have the best fried Mushrooms! You get the biggest bowl of Mushrooms and Ranch dressing to dip them in. Yum, Yum, Yum!!! Michelle had to work on Thanksgiving so that's why we went to her this year. The evening we got their we started making Pumpkin pies from scratch. (Michelle wanted to so that's why we did it.) Guess what! They were Fabulous! I would do it again some time. We did most of the work the night before so all we had to do was cook it the next day. Michelle got home before one and everything was mostly ready so we ate earlier than we originally planned. It was quite the effort to get us all seated in her apartment. We took down a card table and four chairs with us. Her apartment is fairly small...fine for college. They don't have room for a table in their kitchen or living room. they had a narrow counter top jut out from the end of the counter that was just wide enough to put a plate and drink on it just fine and long enough that you could put four stool up to it close together. This counter faces out toward the front window...we set up the card table on an angle by the Washer and Dryer and the Fridge and the open area of the kitchen. It was the best...very cozy. I should have taken a picture of that as well... They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. Darn I missed that opportunity.

I love teaching the music in Primary! Two Sundays ago I started teaching the children an new Christmas song that was in the "Friend" Magazine. It is called, "Guard Him Joseph," and it is so beautiful. I was able to teach them all three verses and they did a great job! I also have been teaching them another new Primary song called, "The Family is of God." I left that day with the biggest smile on my face. Those children sang so Powerfully and Beautifully. I think my primary children are the very best and they sing so good. I'm so grateful I get the opportunity to lead them and I am so grateful the Spirit is there to touch their hearts. I have the best calling!

Danny is the Teachers advisor, he's with Spencer. Dan really is an amazing teacher. I love to hear him share what happened in his class. He has always had a way with kids and helping them learn. He's had many wonderful experiences with the youth. Danny is a great example and I'm glad he's my companion.

We are getting ready for Christmas and trying to put limits on what we are planning this year. We pray that you have a joyous Christmas Holiday and Happy New Year and that both bring the very best and much happiness and Peace.

From our family to Yours,
May God Bless You and Keep You!

Edwards Update May thru September

We haven't posted in a few months and I'll try to catch everyone up so here we go..........

We'll start with Michelle...

Michelle graduated from Seminary and High School in May.

She entered and prepared for the Miss Wasatch Pageant (from May till...) July and she did really well. She said she enjoyed the process and wouldn't mind doing it again. She finished with the pageant and then had to get ready for college. She was very busy with all of that and she still had a job and helped her Dad with fireworks for the 24th Celebration, Fair Days derby and Rodeo shows. She was extra excited because she was old enough to help light them this year!!!

Spencer has been preparing for football all summer long and doing really well. He has chosen to put his focus on kicking. Is he good you ask? Yes he is very good. Take a look for yourself. Spencer is also doing really well in school...

He starts out with early morning seminary at 6:30 then his regular class schedule and then to football practice after school not getting home till 7:00pm. It is a long day for him but he seems to be managing really well. The only thing that seems to not get done is his weekly chore...but we are working on that too.

Spencer is #17.

Adam has been purely enjoying his summer. If he could live outside he would like that. He enjoyed going camping and hiking with his friend Emilee. They camped by a reservoir and hiked where they found snow they could slide down in the middle of summer, weeeee... Then it was time to start school...ugh! That was OK though. He really is fun and such a character. We get such a kick out of him... like the last visit he made with me to go see Grandpa and Grandma McLelland... his little four year old cousin was there and she wanted to play "sleeping princess." Paris would lye on the ground and then direct her cousin (Adam) that now he needed to kiss her... Adam wasn't going to have any of that. He knew what she wanted and told her he wasn't going to kiss her, that she would just have to stay dead because he wasn't going to kiss her!!! Oh my, I'm sure you would have laughed as hard as we did if you were there. I wish I could have gotten that on video...that would have been a winner for sure!

Dan and I are staying busy too. That's for another time.

This is Adams First Grade Program Celebrating the Heritage of the Town and the Elementry School.

Graduation

WOW!!!
Michelle is going to be Graduating this Friday. We are in shock that this day has come so soon. She is very excited to be Graduating... She has had a fabulous year. With cheerleading, musicals, Choir and, Choir Tour and two AP Classes and EDNET classes... We are so relieved that for the most part she's done. She has had a busy but wonderful year.

Monday Night we went to Michelle's Varsity Club Social and Awards Night this is where she received her "Letter" (for the 3rd year) and she also received the Most inspirational award from her peers. That was great fun and a surprise since she didn't know she was nominated. Tonight we just returned from the Senior Recognition and Awards Night. This is where the youth were awarded and received scholarships. Michelle was given two additional scholarships; one from the Kiwanis club and another from the a Physical therapy and athletic training office. These were in addition to the one she received from SUU Deans Scholarship. We were very happy for her.

Spencer has done really great this year as well... He is the second youngest in his Freshman Class. He played football this year and was the PAT Kicker and he really likes that. He also made the freshman basketball team. He had fun with both. They have all ready started the football conditioning and 7on7 practices. Spenc is doing pretty well academically too. He decided to take French this year... this has been interesting because I don't think he knew what to expect. He's got a great personality even though he seems quiet... He's quite the tease. His friends really like him. He'll be mowing lawns this summer and he like to earn some extra doe so he can buy lots of stuff and put money away for his mission, car and School.

Adam is a character and is so ready for his summer break. We have found he has a great talent for singing... and entertaining on the whole. Anyone who sees him in programs just hoots and hollers at how cute and funny he is. I'll have to put a few movie clips of his antics. He had his 1st grade program a few weeks ago... It was marvelous!!! They did such a great job. They also had some excitement... a few of the kids in his class got stage fright and two nearly passed out on stage. It would have been sad if it weren't so cute. I'll have to add the vido clip...

The Papa and the Mama have new chuch callings... Yea! Christine was just released after 2 1/2+ years as the YW president and called to be the Primary chorister and then they released Dan as a primary teacher and is now the Teachers advisor/Scouts in YM's with Spencer. Dan wasn't too excited about it at first because he doesn't like scouts to much but I think he likes it because He gets to play with Spencer...

We'll try to up date soon.

Tah for now.

I love my family

Happy is the Family that stays together!!!