Boy, How they change

I was going through some old memory cards and uploaded some pictures of the kids from 5 years ago. I thought I would post some pictures because they have grown so much since then!!
In this first on, you will see Nate, Nick and Caitlyn circa 2004 up at Heritage Theater in Perry, Utah. Kris and I were doing the show "something's afoot"
They would have been
Nate: 12, Nick 10 and Caitlyn 8

Then...and now


Next, Nick getting his arrow of light, 2004, Clearfield, Utah
HE LOOKS SO LITTLE, compared today

And now...he even has a little mustache


here is one of Caitlyn at her (i think) 9th birthday party. She looks so young and has really crazy hair. This is with her cousin, Brandi


And of her now...this was Christmas day


And then there is Nate: I think he was almost 13 in this...amazing how they grow from a child into an adult in such a short amount of time


Now: Christmas day, hanging out with grandma...notice who sits closest to her? He has a soft spot in his heart for his grandma



Does time fly? You bet it does. Not so much from day to day, but when you look back, whether its 6 months or 5 years...wow, there is a difference. Hold onto each moment.
Life is not made up of how many breaths you take, but of how many moments take your breath away

Family Christmas Letter 2008

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even the 2 dogs, although the 2 hamsters were a bit squeaky in their hamster houses.
The Children, who are not really children any more, as two of them tower of me and one is now the same height, were snuggled deep down in their beds, while visions of ….hmmm, girls, boys, games, Christmas vacation, sleeping in and all sorts of things, danced in their heads.
And Kris in his jammies and I in mine too, were out before the kids for a short winters nap.
When all of a sudden there arose such a clatter, The dogs were up again, barking at the raccoons in the back yard and whining to go out at 1 am, that sleep no longer mattered. So up I jumped to let them both out and hopped on the computer to send greeting about.
When what to my wondering eyes did appear, email from friends and family so dear. Catching us up on their lives far and near, I love it when those emails appear.
So I thought to myself, it is our turn to share and catch you up on our life here and there. This year has been busy, and trying and long, but I can hardly believe it is nearly gone.
Kris spent the first 2 months out of town, with work in Kansas and Maine, and lots of snow did abound. He worked and he worked and even got a promotion, thank heavens for planes, he didn’t have to travel by locomotion. Taxworks is good, a great job to be had, but most of all he likes being dad. With the move to Kaysville in September this year, he is back in Young Mens, without a single tear!
Nate is sixteen, need we say any more, with a drivers license he is gone out the door. He’s a junior this year and Old Davis High, But his heart is at Clearfield…he’d make a good spy. He plays his guitar and cello Hum Hum, but now he wants to learn to play drums.
Nick is in 9th grade at Fairfield jr high and when we talk about extending himself, he gives us a sigh! His new favorite thing is learning to Scuba Dive, and he cannot wait to get going, it is making him thrive. He still loves to camp and scouting is cool, if he gets a job at Camp Bartlett, he will certainly drool
Caitlyn, that Diva, has a big plan, to keep singing and acting in the Music Man. Her school is doing this fabulous play so nobody stop her or get in her way. She was just called to be 1st counselor in her Beehive class, She is turning into a beautiful wee bonnie lass.
And we cannot forget the two big black dogs, who bark and lick and jump over logs, who wade in the creek in our new back yard and who work at being lovable, they work at it hard. They protect us and love us and try to sneak all the food, but they really are great at improving our mood after long days at work and school we come home and cuddle up with them and give them a bone.
And lastly, there’s mom, the queen bee of all, who is working and trying to stay on top of it all. The Nursery’s the place you’ll find me at church with all of those little ones on my lap they will perch. I had a bright light go on in my head, I think I am crazy and maybe half dead, but I think I will venture back to school this next year, to learn more of teaching and music, it fills my heart with cheer!
So that is our life, from this 2008, We wish you a Merry Christmas and hope your New Year is GREAT!!

With love
Kris, Cheryl, Nate, Nick and Cailtyn

Merry Christmas

Finally.................. Finally school is out, all my choir concerts are over (and let me say, they were quite successful) and now, now, I am starting to come down from the very frenzied week and month we have had!! It has been crazy.
I had the opportunity to stop and think about some things on the way home from work today. It was a long, slow, snowy drive (and very icy as well). I had on a great cd, Hilary Weeks, The collection. Well, As I drove, I started to think about the reason for this season and thought I would post some pictures that sum up my thoughts.
First and foremost, I am thankful for my Savior. With out him, none of this earth life would make sense. There would be no reason to be striving, working, repenting, proving or trying. How grateful I am for him. For all that he brings to our mortal experience.

Second, I am grateful for my Husband and my kids. They are amazing people in my life. Why I am so lucky to have a husband who adores me and loves me, despite my flaws, is beyond me. I am deeply humbled to know him. He has an amazing heart and a great capacity to understand and love. My kids are 3 of the most amazing humans beings I know, and I get the privledge of being their mom! Nate is growing into this amazing man. He is funny and sarcastic and spiritual and sweet. Nick is sensitive and sweet and the most amazing reader I know and is so pure of heart. Caitlyn is spunky and sassy and driven and dynamic.

Next would be my sister, Diane. Unfortunately I cannot find a digital picture of her on my computer...so I will have to add one later...
But, Diane is my Hero. She is amazing and strong. She is a leader and has the spirit with her. She keeps moving forward and I love hearing her talk and listening to her recount spiritual experiences. She is amazing. She teaches 6th grade, she is the mom of 4 amazing boys. She is the grandma to the cutest grandson. She is a cancer survivor and has rescued me on more than one occasion. I love her!
SNOW...I have to be grateful for snow. It cleanses the air and purifies. It washes. It is cold and magical and wonderlike. I love pine trees covered in snow. I am not a huge fan of shoveling snow or driving on frozen snow, but there is just nothing that compares to a first snowfall

My dogs
How crazy and big and goofy and spoiled are these two?? But when you have had a crappy day, or week, or month...they are the first ones there to wag their tails and lick every part of your face and who are more than willing to snuggle in. They do NOT judge or wish I was different, or better, or skinnier, or a better...anything....they just love, unconditionally. And even if they have to go out at 1 am, there is nothing better than doggie kisses and loves.These pictures are of Zoe after she had cut her leg open. she had this huge cone on her head and she would ram everybody with it. But she would go out in the snow and get snow in the cone and then flip it out. Pretty funny. The other is of Zeus when we got him, we forget how cute and innocent he was...so I thought this would be a good reminder picture

















I am also grateful for great friends who are amazing examples to me. You know who you are!!! Especially Deanna, Teresa, Leona, Helena, Carmen and Brittany

I wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, a Christ filled Christmas and a joyous New Year!!

Its Been TOO Long

Well, now that my holiday concert is over, I can post again. Which I will do....hopefully by this weekend. Just know that we are alive and ready for the break!!

Not too bad...if I say so myself

Well, as you can see from the title of our Blog, we had some family pictures taken. We had a gal that Kris works with come up and take them in our backyard. She sent us this one and another one and will put the rest on a disk for us, so we can make them up as we want to. But I think they turned out pretty fabulous! If I do say so myself!
Can you believe how big our kids are and how stinkin cute they are???

Its the most wonderful time of the year....

For those of you that know our family, you know that Halloween is one of our most favorite times of the year. We go all out decorating and dressing up. Things are bit more subdued this year due to moving, but we are getting in the mood.
The kids were out of school Thursday and Friday for fall break and so we did a bit of playing. Caitlyn and her friend Ciera came with my mom and I to Gardner Village in Salt Lake. We went down to see the witches on display and to have some spookey girl fun!
The theme of this turned out to be "hats", we found hats everywhere and of course the girls wanted their pictures taken in all of them.
Here are a few pictures of Caitlyn and Ciera modeling the hats






These are some of the great witches we ran into while we were at Gardner Village






All in all we had a ton of fun and the girls had a blast. Caitlyn decided after seeing all the great decor there that she wants to do her room all black and white. I think it will be elegant and fun!

Then last night we ventured out to a haunted corn maze. We went to pumpkinaze up in West Haven. It is not as expensive and we went there last year and loved it. We made sure to go when the haunted spooks were in the maze waiting for us. These are a few of the ones we ran into






And a here are a few of us, just goofing around!
Nick and Caitlyn

Kris, Cheryl and Nate



And last but not least
Caitlyn with her flashing mouth, Kris and the boys in the maze and me sporting my corn husk crown!




We hope your holidays are going great and that you are enjoying FALL!

Let it snow, let it snow, LET IT SNOW!

Well, I was just thinking the other day, that I was ready for the hot days of summer to come to a close and for the crispness of the fall air to start. I love the blue sky of autumn, the leaves changing colors and falling and getting ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas! But Mother Nature seems to have her own plans yet again this year! But this is Utah, and the weather can change dramatically this time of year!
Last night Kris and I had taken Nate up to his friends house, and then Caitlyn wanted to look at some supplies for her Birthday Party coming up (yeah, her birthday is in September,but she always has an october party...) So we were driving up the hill going home and it was starting to snow. I made Caitlyn take some pictures of the yard with the dusting of white.
This is the bridge in the backyard around 7pm

And a dusting of snow on the rose bushes (that need to be pruned....argg)

AND THIS.... is what we woke up to this morning. It is truely magnificent and beautiful!
WOW




So as you can see, we are enjoying the early visit of snow. It may be gone in a day or two, but I love the first snow of the season. It is cleansing and pure and blankets us with a world of frosty white!

Finally... a home!

This has been one of the longest, most challenging times we have gone through. But finally after months of wondering and working and having EVERYTHING fall out from under us, we have been blessed with a beautiful home in Kaysville, Utah. You are probably thinking...hmmm, I thought the house you were buying was in Layton. Well it was. And thanks to an incompetent loan officer that promised that all was well and great, could not get us to a closing date before our contract expired. So not only did we loose our home in Layton, but we lost about $1500.00 in fees. (that really really hurt) So, in the midst of being homeless (we were staying with the Perry family, who should be granted sainthood for having us for so long)Kris did some research and found this home in Kaysville. Every time he searched for homes, this one came up, and now we live in it!
I told Kris that I loved the feel of the home from the moment we walked into it. I had told him, if we didn't have our offer in on the Layton home, I would have taken this home in a heartbeat. little did we know what was in store. So here we are. I thought I would post some pictures because it is so picturesque that you just have to see it.
On one note...there is NO grass at this home, in this yard. The front yard is oak trees, other trees and Lot's of ivy ground cover. The back yard is like stepping into the woods, complete with river and bridges. The dogs love it. Zoe goes down into the water every day! She is crazy!
So enjoy the pictures and come see us sometime
1120 Cambridge Rd, Kaysville, Utah 84037
This first picture is looking from the backyard back at the back of the house

This next one is looking from the lower bridge on the west side of the property up to the east side of the property

This is Nick, in the river, having a great time. There are parts of it that are about 18-20" deep. Most of it is about 8-10" deep

Zoe, down in the River. Zeus got in once, I can't seem to convince him to go in again...

This is looking West from the patio towards the lower bridge.


This is looking east from the patio up towards the mountains!

miracles

Today we had the opportunity of going and seeing my neice in the hospital. She stepped wrong while jogging last week and fell and broke her hip ( I know that is not the exact details, but that is the gist of it) She has been in the hospital since Thursday (i think) and had surgery on Saturday. They had to put in two titanium plates and 13 pins and do a bone graft from her femur. When it happened they told her this is not something that happens to the young. This is an injury they see in people in their 70's and 80's. And that it is just bizzarre that it broke this way. She (Sara) has written on her blog about this experience and about the miracles that they have seen as they have gone through this. Her daughter, Grace, has been breast feeding and NOT interested in a bottle and when the accident happened, she has been taking her bottle without much of a problem. Also, they were concerned that she would not be able to have more children or would have to have c-sections, but she talked to her surgeon who assured her that the place of this break should not have any effects on having more children. She has talked of feeling the constant love of the Savior with her as well. I am so grateful we have a loving Heavenly Father who watches out for each of his children, who understands our needs, our wants and our righteous desires as well as our sins and shortcomings!!
Kris and I have seen many miracles as of late that I will share on another post. I am grateful for the promptings of the spirit and for the opportunity to have the veil so thin at times that we can feel the presence of those who have gone before us. If you doubt their are miracles, stop for a moment and reflect on the bounties in your life and how you have come to be blessed with them and I am sure you will see the Lord's hand bringing miracles to pass in your own life!

A Cute idea

I was just reading some friends blog entry of their special occasion. They had been married 949 days. i thought that was so sweet that I would figure out how long Kris and I have been married. As of today, September 1, 2008, we have been married 6299 days! AMAZING!!!I am grateful to have my sweet husband and as a result of this, we have 3 great kids and 2 barking dogs!
Let us know how many days you have been married!

HOTEL PERRY

You may have heard of the Hotel California song from the Eagles, a hotel that is inviting, but you can never leave. Well, we have a better situation than that. We have the Hotel Perry. No scary things here, except maybe zeus and zoe and some loud construction going on. We moved out of our home Saturday and ended up staying at the Hampton Inn in Layton, which proved to be a great idea. We swam and sat in the hot tub and had lots of fun watching movies and laying on the king sized bed and listening to Nate serenade us with his guitar. So, we were trying to decide if we should go stay in Sandy at Kris's grandma's house until we close on our home, or what. Teresa(Perry) had graciously offered her home before but we were nervous with the dogs and the gates being left open and kids etc, but decided we could all try to make it work. So far so good. Our poor dogs are so neurotic right now. With all of their surroundings being changed, they dont know what to think!
But hopefully it will just be a week. If it is any longer, we will head down to Sandy. :)
So, for the time being, I am open to emails and lots of comments on our blog
Oh, did I mention I am on facebook now??
Have a great labor day!

And my new job is......

music specialist at Buffalo Point Elementary.
I was called about 3pm this afternoon and offered the job at Buffalo Point. The principal, Richard Baird, is the one who hired me initially for the job at Lincoln Elem. So,even though I was excited to stay at home and possibly go back to school this year, it is comforting to me that I can contribute to our finances and still give my love of music to my music kids. It is fun to go places and kids know who I am and point or give hugs! I was a bit saddened at the thought that I might not do that this year. So off we go. It is a brand new elementary school, they will not start until Sept. 5th because the construction on the school is not done yet. They will have to finish up so we can get going. I know quite a few of the faculty there and they are a great bunch. The school is loaded with the latest technology and I think it will be an amazing learning environment.
you can go to http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/schools/buffalopoint/ to check out the new school!

Back in School

It is hard to believe that today is the first day of school for Davis District 2008-2009! It is hard to believe that I have an 8th grader, a 9th grader and a junior in high school. It is hard to believe that I am at home and not at a school getting music ready to start teaching....WOW. I spent last week getting all the kids registered at new schools. Nick and Caitlyn are looking forward to a new junior high, I think. Nate seemed a bit apprehenisive to start a new High School, but I remember those same feelings as I moved across the country to Cohasset High. And I loved it. I hope they each get there bearings down quickly and have the opportunity to meet and make lots of new friends.
In the mean time, I am still moving boxes out and finishing up the last of the last. I need to spend Thursday and Friday cleaning. So if you are bored this week, give me a call or come over and visit while I finish up. Talking to the dogs can only go on for so long before people start to think I am loosing it!!
Let us know how your back to school experiences are going this week!

a house update

I thought I would do an update and share some pictures of the house we are trying to buy. Things are looking good so far :) We should know more next week on the loan, but so far, so good. Keep us in your prayers though!
Well, the appraisal on the house is done and in and came in much higher than the purchase price which is GREAT. I met with the inspector yesterday and spent about 2+ hours going through the home and talking to him, it all looks good. So, now we just wait to finish the loan and close. I keep reminding myself to breathe. I got Nick and Caitlyn registered for school at Fairfield Jr and Nate finishes his registration process at Layton High tomorrow. Then they should all be ready to start on monday. It is late start for Nate, so that is nice.
I am interviewing for the music specialist job at Buffalo Point tomorrow morning. I was looking forward to being at home, or going back to school, but Kris's raise has not come through yet, so I will work another year, which is fine. Lets hope the interview goes well! :)
Enjoy the pictures.
This is the outside/front of the house...it looks pretty deceiving, but is bigger inside.


Next, a shot of the upstairs living room..these are all of their boxes and such..kind of a mess, but hey, that is ok



Lots of fun in the backyard

GOING CRAZY

well, for those of you who have purchased a home, you know how crazy you can be while in the process. So I thought I would just journal some emotions here, because I am a bit stir crazy at the moment!
Our move to Sandy is off, due to some poor decisions on Kris's families part, which is a really long story and I am just tired of it, so I am not going to write about it here. Anyway, being pre approved on our loan process, we decided to keep looking and find a home up here. Our loan officer has been a very very patient man, as has our real estate agent, which if any of you need a great agent to work with, boy, I have the gal for you!! Anyway, we found a fabulous home in Layton that we love. So we put an offer in on saturday and it was accepted. (the accepted it saturday afternoon...about an hour after we got it to them) Anyway, now we are just in the finalizing processes of our loan. Everything looks good right now..I am just waiting for the crazed frenzy from the underwriters that always happens. We haven gotten them proof of things they have needed (from trying to buy Kris's grandma's home) and now we wait, which is the worst part. So in the midst of all this we are moving out on the 23rd. I have no idea where yet, but I know something will work out. We can stay in the sandy house, we can stay with friends or family if we board our dogs (which, I dont know how they would handle that...zeus would cry ALOT) or we can stay in a motel. And then the questions of where do I register my kids for school...do I assume that everything will go well and that we will be in Layton and register them there? Or get them back into the schools here in Clearfield...HELP. So I am feeling alot of panicky thoughts! THose "what if" thoughts.If I knew we were closing and all was well, I would feel better. But we will know on our loan by the 29th of august.That gives me hope at least!
Well, that is it for now..Let me know how you have handled the stress of "what if" when you were buying a home!

BREAKING DAWN

Well, the day finally arrived. Breaking Dawn, the last of the books in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer came out August 2!! My friend Teresa and I decided to make a big deal out of this for our daughters. Ciera and Caitlyn have read the books over and over and over again. I admit WHOLEHEARTEDLY that I have read and re read them as well. We went to Barnes and Noble on the 31st at 7:30 am to wait to get wristbands to be able to get in and buy our books at the stroke of midnight on the 2nd. We were in the 3rd group (groups of 50) to get our wristbands..the JACOB group. There were people who had slept over night to be the first in line. SO we got our wristbands and were off to wait until the next day.
On the 1st, Kris and I had appt's to look at houses and we were with our realtor until 5pm. We went frantically to walmart to get tshirts, ink for the computer and iron transfer paper for the printer. we made it home by 6 and Caitlyn and I began to design our shirts for the evening. They turned out so cute, but the transfer paper didnt iron on very well. So by 8:30 we FINALLY made it to Barnes and Noble for the party. The girls had a blast. Cailtyn and I ordered the "edward" snack which was a raspberry mocha frappacinno (spelling)..with out the coffee. So I guess it was an "edward, no coffee" and a big cookie. We split a sandwich as well. Teresa and I hung out and waited until 11:30 when they had everyone leave the store and get in their groups. There we well over 1000 people there. The line stretched from the bookstore back to Michaels craft store...
The magic hour finally came and we were in the store by 12:15 and out by 12:20. Books in hand.
I am on chapter...12 and it is GREAT so far! LOTS going on. If you are ahead of me, DONT tell me what is going on!!
Enjoy the pictures!



Caitlyn enjoying her Edward drink



The girls, Steph, Ciera and Caitlyn, enjoying their "edward" cookie

1. Caitlyn gets her copy of Breaking Dawn
2. The Girls with their books
3. A scan of the crowd