Family Christmas Letter 2017

 Emma (13) went to girls camp for the first year.  Nato had the wonderful blessing of attending the camp as a priesthood leader.  I am not sure which Taylor had more fun.  They both came home with fond memories and a desire to attend again next year.

 Jane (8) was baptized a member of the LDS church by Nato.  What a special day we had with her.

 Jacob (middle swimmer, orange and blue swim shorts) decided to compete on the Cienega High School varsity swim team.  Yes, we still homeschool, but the local districts allow homeschoolers to join public school teams here (what a blessing).

 Jacob (15) earned a "letter" and enjoyed getting to know all the other swimmers.  At the end of the season his teammates voted and awarded him the "Best Teammate" award. 

 Emma and Jacob both got braces this year.  Although they are looking forward to nice straight teeth, they are both missing the enjoyment of eating popcorn.  

 Benjamin (11) has declared that no amount of peer pressure (or girly pressure) will ever induce him to get braces.  He loves his smile, and popcorn, just the way it is. We plan to remember this in a few years.

 Meanwhile Benjamin has moved on from Cub Scouts and is now enjoying the blessings of Boy Scouts (aka camping with friends.)

 Matthew has taken up a new hobby of making up his own jokes.  For example:

How do you eat an eyelash with your ear?

---Bobcat!

 Jake is still involved in LOTS of music.  He has started teaching piano in our home, has been working to try out for a musical with yet another local high school and still participates in the Vail Youth Symphony as a Cellist.
You can check out his latest concert here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgTYs2KqKcA
His group preforms starting at about the 54 minute mark.
You can't actually see Jacob in the video as he is sitting directly behind the cello first chair from the camera's point of video, but you can hear them and you can see his head bob up and down as he rocks out to Symphonic Zeppelin.

 Lois just turned 5!  For the past year she has continued to declare that she is "Not cute!"  She is, "Only Awesome!  I can be cute when I am 5."  Now the day has come and she won't let us call her awesome any more, "Only Cute!"

Where do they get this stuff!

Jake, Philip and Benjamin

Jane

 Matthew HATES us pulling out his teeth.

One Sunday morning Matthew was particularly grumpy.  After a long almost patient struggle with him, he sat on the couch to pout.  Within a moment Matthew declared, "Huh!  Well that is what was bothering me!" 

He then returned to the dinning room holding up one of his baby molars.  No one realized it was even loose.  Not even Matthew.  Apparently it was bugging him, so he reached into his mouth and yanked it out thinking it was a stuck piece of food or something.  

We had a happy Matthew the rest of the day.

"Lemon flavor makes me happy!"  --Lois

 We have a couple rules at the dinning table.  No singing and no quoting movies at the dinning table.  Philip was not technically breaking this rule when he threw out a failed attempt at a favorite quote from the Lion King.

"Ok, ok, sit down before you hurt yourself.  You gotta put your pizazz behind ya. . . . . Wait!  Did I just say Pizazz?"

"Jacob, We're ALL being obnoxious.  And I don't even know what that means."  --Jane

 Emma

 Benjamin, Philip and Matthew on the Teacups at Disneyland

The Tucson LDS Temple is now dedicated and running!  It is so nice to be able to attend the temple weekly instead of just monthly.  We have seen it bless our lives already.  We plan to take full advantage of this blessing as long as we get to live here.

In June we walked through the temple during the open house.  Nato and Robin also worked as tour guides during the open house.

Emma and Jacob were able to participate in the cultural celebration the night before the temple was dedicated in August.

August also found Jacob back to physical competitions.  He complete a triathlon and believe it or not truly enjoyed himself.  

Nato and Robin continued to attend as many different temples within a day's journey as possible.  Ten more were added to the list this year.  They have now attended all the temples in Arizona, and California!  39 Temples down!  Too many to know left to go!