Summer 2010

Surprise! Surprise! I know it's been a very long time since I posted...I just haven't been in the mood to keep up with everything in my life :)

This has been a very eventful summer, but a great one! Here's some of the highlights:

Natalie moved to Utah for the summer to play with a basketball club team from Utah..."Utah Swoosh". She lived in Alpine, WY with some friends of ours that used to be in our ward here (Parker & Aria Enloe)...who we are thankful for! The month of June she attended EFY at BYU Provo and had an awesome experience, went to play some basketball with Weber, USU and BYU and then had her team practice the last week in June. She was able to come to Wyoming for an overnight visit with the family before heading on the road for a huge July roadtrip! Her team played in the End of the Trail tournament in Oregon; then they flew to Chicago for a tournament. The highlight of that trip was getting stitches above her eyebrow (she got elbowed during a game). From there the team traveled to Washington DC for a tournament; but there were about 10 days in between where the team stopped to do some sightseeing. She was able to see Notre Dame, Niagra Falls, the Hill Cumorah Pageant, the Sacred Grove and Joseph Smith House, Fenway Park, Boston Garden, Harvard, UCONN (they got to watch a WNBA game), Ace of Cake Shop, Time Square, Statue of Liberty, and a visit to Philly to see the Liberty Bell...then to Washington DC where they saw the monuments. After that tournament they flew to San Diego the last week in July to finish the season in a tournament there. We were really excited to have her on the West Coast again...Aaron was already there at Scout Camp so Allen and I went to California to be with her. Allen stayed at Scout Camp and then attended Natalie's games. I stayed with Dave & Becca who live in Huntington Beach and then Friday we went to San Diego to see Natalie's last game. Even though I was excited that she was finally done with this summer basketball stuff...it made me a little emotional. A lot of sacrafice and hard work has gone into her basketball...all for the hopes of a scholarship. Well, all her hard work and dedication is about to pay off because she has received an official visit invitation from Weber State who informed her that they make their offers in person on their campus. She's excited! :) It was a tough summer for Natalie, but she had fun, learned a lot and it helped prepare her to leave home next year. She met some new friends and "almost" stayed in Utah to finish her Senior Yr. because she loved it there, but her desire to be with her family got the best of her...(well we like to think it was us) LOL

Aaron attended a football camp at Dixie State, then onto EFY at BYU Provo where he said it was the best one yet! :) He even got to sing and do actions to "I'm a Little Tea Pot" in front of the whole Session!!! I heard it was pretty hilarious! He had lost his name badge and that was his reward! :) He then headed to Wyoming for two weeks. He always enjoys going there...like we do! He attended football practice when he was home and then the last week in July he went to Scout Camp at Fiesta Island in San Diego, right by Sea World. He enjoyed the fireworks from the park and got to wake up every morning to the beautiful sound of seaguls lol :) and boats. He got a baby tooth pulled (there's no permanent behind it) but his orthodontist wants to prepare his mouth for an implant some day and he gets his braces off soon.

Allen and I were able to enjoy an empty house more this summer! It was way nice!!!! :) The taste of empty nesting made us hungry for more! JK...we love our kids :) We had our annual trip to Wyoming to visit family and enjoy the beautiful weather and environment! I took a couple trips to Utah and Idaho with my sisters to visit family and attend reunions. It was so awesome being able to see relatives I haven't seen for 20 years! We, of course, finished with a trip to California. I went to the beach with Becca and shopping and enjoyed playing with her kids...we miss having them close! San Diego was nice and it was great to watch Natalie play. I made it through her last game...but those who know me well know that it wasn't easy. I had to go across the arena and watch from afar because of my usual anxiety when she plays :)

Natalie was supposed to go to Girls' Camp this first week of August, but she was so exhausted from all the traveling, hotels, fast food, etc. that we let her stay home and go with Allen today. Next week the kids will be in full swing with school sports, so our summer comes to a close...it's always too short.

Natalie's Moment of Glory

There was a really nice article written in our local newspaper about Natalie and her team, along with a great action photo.



To read the article go to the following website:
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/lainhart_-silverado-topple-desert-pines-84560122.html

Basketball Season

Basketball Season is back in swing! They actually had a break from it during winter break, which was a nice change for once. Natalie did spend some time in the gym with her dad and uncles :) Here are the kids' pictures...

Christmas Puzzle 2009

So...one of our traditions at Christmastime is to put a puzzle together. This year's puzzle was particularly challenging with 1,000 pieces. I liked it because it had the Grand Tetons, which reminded me of Home! :) We almost gave up a few times...the flowers were a beast! We usually finish a puzzle before Christmas Day, but this year we finished on Christmas Day (with a little added help!) It was worth it though!

Christmas Day

We had a nice Christmas Day! Here are a few highlights:

We began by giving our gifts to Christ. We write down some spiritual goals we want to work on and then place them in a special stocking for Baby Jesus...then we open our gifts.

I received a Cricut Expression (yeah me!)
Allen received spurs (he has been dreaming about these forever!) as well as the Joseph Smith Papers Volume 2 (which he was wishing for too)



Natalie received her letterman jacket (although she's been wanting one since last year and was excited to finally have it, I think she hoped for a new car! haha!)



Aaron received a paintball gun (which he was very excited about and it would have been a total surprise but he admitted that he discovered the sites I used to research which one to buy)!


Allen is taking his game of Rock'em Sock'em Robots pretty serious...while Natalie looks thrilled :)



We then spent the day hanging out with family, eating some yummy food and the kids played new games on the Wii. It was a wonderful day!



Allen & I have had this train set for years. We decided we'd get it out when Aaron was old enough to play with it and we just sort of forgot about it...until this year! But, Allen proves you are never too old for a train! He had a great time with it! :)

Christmas Eve Part II

After our traditional Christmas Eve festivities Natalie and Aaron reverted back to their childhood and decided that they wanted to spend Christmas Eve under a man-made tent in Natalie's room. It cracked me up. I couldn't believe they wanted to sleep on the floor rather than their warm comfy beds...but they did and I took pictures because it was so hilarious. It brought back memories of when they were little kids waiting for Santa. I loved it! :)

Christmas Eve Part I

It is a tradition of ours every Christmas Eve to get together with family and have all the children act out the Christmas story while someone reads Luke 2. I'm not sure if it's as spiritual as it is comical, but we have a great time and hopefully the children remember these special moments. Last year the older cousins were in town so our play was a little more put together, but this year the kids were all younger than usual so our usually 10 minute play turned into 2 minutes. Our Mary (played by Dave & Becca's little girl Ashlynn) loved riding the camel (played by Aaron...perfect character for him I might add!) but the scriptures were a bit to lengthy for this group (good ol' Allen did his best, but had to quickly condense it to the toddler version) and by the time it was time to have baby Jesus (played by Ashlynn's sleeping 3 month old brother Isaiah) our little Mary didn't like her costume so she took it off and she was done. She stood around long enough for the visitors to hurry and show up (all together). The Angel (played by Kyle & Shauna's little girl Cami)was cute because she was little enough to be held in the air by her mom overlooking our cast members so that it appeared she was coming down from Heaven :) It was concluded with a jedi fighting shepherd and Joseph (played by Kyle & Shauna's boys: Gideon and Blake, respectively). The one wiseman (played by Natalie) just sort of sat there laughing. However, our Baby Jesus was perfect...which is probably how it really was! :) It was a very special evening!

Natalie's Disney World Trip

Natalie's high school basketball team went to Orlando, Florida to play in a basketball tournament right before winter break began. They got to go to an Orlando Magic game, spend time at Disney World, Epcot, Universal Studios and their team took 5th place in the tournament. She had fun, but my favorite part is when she told us that she really wished she would have been there with her family instead of her team! That made my day :) I wanted to share some pictures of her trip.