Kyle Graduates

I can't believe another one of our kids is ready to leave the nest and try the life of an adult. Kyle graduated from Timpanogos High School! It was a beautiful day and we had lots of wonderful family support. My parents and Tiffany and Taylor drove over from Colorado. Larry's parents came and lots of aunts, uncles, cousins were there to celebrate with Kyle. Thanks family!

Kyle with Grandpa & Grandma Mercer

Kyle with Aaron, Lauren, Ryan, and Devin

Grandma Macfarlane & Grandma Mercer helping with the Graduation Feast!

Ashley had the cutest eye patch decorated in honor of Kyle.
Thanks Ashley! We loved it.

Congratulations Kyle! We are so proud of you. Kyle is planning on going to BYU. He's excited for the next stage of life. We know he'll do great.

Cinco de Mayo

We don't usually celebrate this holiday, but the guys at XangGo did. They called it Cinco de Mustache. I had to share these awesome pics of Larry.

It looks pretty good for a fake.

End of School Year

As I'm sure all of you have experienced, the end of the school year brings a onslaught of activities: end of year concerts, prom, awards nights, and all sorts of ways to celebrate the end of another school year.

Here are a few of our highlights:

Kyle and Amber on Prom night.

We had a little extra excitement with Prom this year. We had to rush to the ER after Kyle sliced open his finger while preparing lunch for his date and the others in his Prom group. He called me up and said, "Mom, I almost sliced my finger off!" Just what every mom loves to hear. It wasn't as bad as he made it sound. He almost cut off the top of his finger to the first knuckle, not the whole finger! But that was bad enough. So, they gave him some shots to numb him up, he got stitched up and went back to his Prom activities.

Devin's end of year band concert was themed "Through the Decades." Devin had to dress up like the 80's. So, on came the parachute pants and the pastel blue shirt. I wish you could see it!

Kyle's ward friends at seminary graduation.

Kyle's last team ballroom concert. He's had so much fun with this, it's sad to see it end.

Devin also had a Freshman Finale. Mom wasn't there to take pictures. He's off to high school next year!

Big Island of Hawaii

For Spring Break, Larry, Devin, Kyle and I went to the Big Island of Hawaii. Kyle is graduating and we wanted to do something special with him. Time is running out before he leaves the nest.

We had a great time. With two teenage boys, we were very active. And they aren't kidding when they call it the BIG island. We tried to see it all. I think we get points for a valiant effort. We saw a couple of black sand beaches and even a green sand beach, yes green.

We celebrated Kyle's 18th birthday there and Easter Sunday. We swam, snorkeled, hiked, explored, the guys all learned to surf, we kayaked, went to a luau...I'm sure I'm forgetting something. It was go, go, go!

Devin getting ready to snorkle.

Don't you love my Easter baskets? Much easier to pack.

First black sand beach.

Visiting the volcanic crater, Kilauea.

Street sign swallowed up by lava.

Exploring a lava tube.

Here's the green sand!

I don't know why, but I love petroglyphs. So, I dragged my boys on some hikes to seek them out.


Up close and personal with some sea turtles at our second black sand beach.

Devin surfing!

Kyle...lookin' good!

Enjoying a luau and the end of the trip. Aloha!

Updating Life: February and March

Okay. So, I'm really bad at regular posts. I guess it's because I'm really bad at taking pictures unless it's an "event." So here's a little update on what's been going on in our life:

February:
Larry and I flew over to Colorado to surprise Tiffany for her birthday. Andrew had recently started his internship with a construction company in Denver, Colorado. Colorado is a little farther than Idaho, but family is there. So we were excited that he found an internship and also that it was near my parents and brother.

I was missing Tiffany and Andrew and little Taylor keeps changing so fast...it was time to see them. Tiffany was totally surprised and we had a great weekend visiting, checking out their news digs, exploring Denver, eating out, and celebrating Tiff's birthday.



March:
March was Ballroom Month after many hours of practicing with their partners and with their teams. Devin and Kyle competed in the National Amateur Ballroom Competition at BYU. They did great! They both made it to the semi-finals in their individual competitions. Their teams also placed. Kyle's Latin team took 8th and Devin's Latin took 2nd and Standard took 1st. Good job boys! We are very proud of them. Tiffany, Andrew, Taylor, and Larz all came to see them compete. Kyle is finishing high school and this was his last team competition. He may still compete individually with his partner until he goes on his mission.

Devin's Team
Devin had black hair for the Latin Dance


Kyle and Partner

Kid in a Sink

While Tiffany and Andrew were staying with us, we discovered a great place for Taylor to play. We have an extra sink in our kitchen island that we rarely use. It is deep enough to have Taylor sit in and still see out. We put him in there once just to be silly and discovered...he liked it. We put some "toys" in there and he could reach them easily whenever he dropped them. I think he also liked being up with the rest of us. He seemed to feel like he was a part of the action while he was there.

Christmas Memories 2008

Christmas this year was Fantastic! We had all the family home for the holidays for two whole weeks. It's hard to see it come to an end. Here are some of our fun holiday memories:

First we had some Christmas Ballroom Concerts

Cathy's Birthday
Cathy is 8!

We had a VERY white Christmas!
Yes, Andrew is in shorts. Crazy!

Taylor was very happenin' in his hats.

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Macfarlane's
Isn't that the happiest and cutest baby Jesus?

Christmas Eve Gift: Jammies!

Christmas Day!
Santa came!
Lining up to see our gifts...smallest to biggest, well...kindof...
Dad's White Envelopes

We also had Christmas day dinner and games at the Becks. Game nights with the Macfarlanes. Saw "Valkyrie" with the Becks and Davises. Saw "Bedtime Stories" and "Seven Pounds." Went bowling. Ate out a couple of times. Watched movies in the theater room. Played Wii. Played lots and lots of family games. Watched the Alabama vs. Utes game...sorry Andrew. :-(
Had a New Year's Eve party. And just had a lot of fun family times. It was great!