I don't know what number we're on!

The Garrett Gazette

12/20/08

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! It’s been a long time, and it’s been so busy with Christmas coming up…AH! So anyway, I guess we’ll just start out with telling what everyone has been up to!

Daddy has been great with helping us get ready for Christmas. When it comes to Mommy’s Christmas presents, he is all over it! He’s had to work a lot of overtime lately which is pooey, but it pays the bills!!

Mommy still works out of home, which is a blessing with all the snow. It would be scary traveling back and forth between here and Draper every single day! She has come to all my choir stuff which is really nice. She has made us homemade hot chocolate a lot lately, which is nice. It’s warm and toasty and I love it!

Jakie works ALL THE TIME! And when he’s not working he’s out playing with friends…I mean “hanging out”. We don’t get to see him much anymore. I leave for school before he even wakes up and he comes home after I’m already in bed. He and Jessica are still dating and she comes over a little bit.

I am doing GREAT! I have had a lot of Perfect Harmony stuff going on. I sang at Wilson Elementary and then at University Mall. We then had our normal concert and then did an assembly for the school…we just kept going and going, but finally we’ve stopped because it’s Christmas break! YAY! In show choir we did a song called “Away from the Mistletoe” which is a great song. A lot of people liked seeing it, and I loved being in it! I’ll try and post the video under this Gazette! Me and my friend Brayden, did the main stuff in that. Other than that I’ve just been dealing with the usual stuff, homework, piano and friends! Of course my family is in there too!!

Emily is having fun in Sixth grade I think. She loves to read and has been reading non-stop lately, it’s so funny to watch her. She hates math (as do I) but she has straight A’s (well, they are actually E’s in elementary school). She had a concert that the sixth grade sang in singing a spoof on “12 days of Christmas” I heard that was great.

Bekah boo is a goofball. She loves Hannah Montana, so when she learned recently that Billy Ray Cirus (is that how it’s spelled?) sang “Achy Breaky Heart” (if that’s how to spell it), she totally cracked up. She was laughing forever and ever. She also sang in the concert at her school and she did well too. She’s been crazy trying to get stuff ready for Christmas and everything…she’s a cutie.

Hannah is last…she says the funniest things. Mommy was telling her to go double check her closet or something, for her socks. Hannah got mad and said “Mommy, I TRIPLE CHECKED!” That was great, she also says random other little things that make no sense, but they’re fun anyway. She also sang a couple songs in her concert and I hear she was ADORABLE in that.

Well…Merry Christmas everybody. We love you all and hope that you have a great Christmas and New Years (cuz it’ll probably be at least that long till I write again).

Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Gazette #23

The Garrett Gazette

11/8/08

Dear Family and Friends,

I don’t know exactly what to talk about, so I’ll just tell you a little bit about our last trip. We took a trip up to Mackay, Idaho to see Lindsay May Olsen get blessed. She was just born to Dirk and Natalie. We went up Saturday and came home on Sunday. The ward in Mackay is so small! You’re not used to a chapel being that small when you live in Utah. Anyway, Lindsay was adorable.

I got my top braces off!!!! Now I only have to wear the bottom for a couple more weeks and then I get a permanent retainer on the bottom. I have a top retainer that is retarded, but oh well.

Halloween was good. The girls had fun dressing up. Bekah and Hannah were fairies while Emily was Sleeping Beauty (or Rose). I was the Queen of Hearts. We all had lots of fun and got loads of candy.

Emily and I went to a festival today. Em played a duet with a neighbor girl while I played a trio with my BFF and another friend from the high school. We did pretty good I think. Emily is getting so great at piano!

Happy Late Birthday Maddy (although we saw you the day after) and Happy Soon to Be Birthday Aunt Natalie!!!! We love you guys!!!!!

Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah

Gazette #22

The Garrett Gazette
10/25/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Wow, it’s been a long time! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get everything in, but…here goes!
Daddy has been working of course. I can’t really think of anything special about him except for that he’s great! I love him!
Mommy has been working as well, she’s been working a bit more than usual so that we could go up to Idaho next week without her missing too much. She has been going nuts with Young Women’s, Upstage, and 1-800-CONTACTS. We’ve had a few rehearsals for Wonka, but those nights are usually really busy.
As you may or may not know as of right now, Jakie got in a car accident. It wasn’t bad or anything, he just hit his head a little bit. Jessica was with him and she hit her head a little bit harder, but she’s okay too. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with his job now since he is never home (even less than before…if that’s possible) but I think he may have gotten a new job doing pretty much the same thing. If you want to know details though, you have to ask him!
I have been doing fabulous. I was in our school Talent Show a couple weeks ago. I sang the song “If I had a fine white horse.” I was told I did a fantabulous job and that I sound like Giselle from Enchanted. This week, on Tuesday I had my choir concert. We were combined with the 7th grade Drama kids. It was an interesting experience. As Perfect Harmony I only sang three songs at the very beginning, then right after that, my show choir sand “Bebop with Aesop” with everyone else participating in the concert. The play was pretty much boring but it was quite an interesting night. And last about me, I went to a Halloween party at my friends house! We had a lot of fun playing games and eating food! There were about 20 people who came and so we had lots of fun.
Emily has been having a lot of fun with Student Council I think. She is the reporter or something like that. (she takes the pictures.) I think she enjoys it a lot! She also went to her friend MaryJo’s Halloween party last night. She seemed to like it. She one a pumpkin for something. She was a cutie with her costume on. She was just a princess, with a lot of purple on, but her hair was curly, and she was gorgeous.
Bekah Boo…I can’t think of anything for her. She’s very into Hannah Montana and High School Musical still. It’s very annoying still. Umm, She loves to hang out with her friend Rylie and she even got to have a sleepover with her on Thursday.
Hannah is a nut! She is getting good at reading and she just loves to look at people’s stuff. Hannah didn’t like my concert much, she thought it was extremely boring…(not that I blame her.) I love Hannah, she’s doing well with her adding as well as reading. She’s so smart!
Happy Birthday Sydney, Mike and Suzie!!! Hope you had a good one!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Bekalah

I really enjoy writing about each one of these little bundles of entertainment. And Bekah may be one of the most entertaining. She has her own sense of humor, and the funnest giggle. When she laughs, I can't help but smile. Even when she isn't trying to be funny, she says something to make us all smile. We all kind of build on it afterwards.

A good example of that was all of us watching a DVD last night. It was one of those scenes where the man and woman are looking at each other, and the romantic tension is high. Bekah piped up saying, "aah, they're going to meet." The disgust was oozing through her little voice. Sure enough, they met. And then they kissed again. Then the rest of us joined in with the,"oh, gross!" It was great.

Bekah is our butterfly. She loves to try everything. She goes from one thing to the next, and always seems to find something else to try. But there are some things that she will always do. She is our craft kid. Give her any paper, or cardboard, something to draw with, and a pair of scissors, and you can get some fun creations.

Like everyone else in our family, it just wouldn't be complete without her. She keeps us smiling, and provides a dramatic touch. The other day, she fell out of the neighbor's tree, and scraped up the bottom of her foot. Since then, we have had constant hopping, and "army crawl" all around the house. I know that I am always telling her to walk on it, or she'll hop the rest of her life. But I do get a kick out of watching her "army crawl" up and down the stairs (don't tell her though!).

I love that kid tons!

Gazette #21

The Garrett Gazette
10/5/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, it’s been a couple of weeks so I figured I’d write again. If you haven’t noticed I’ve kind of not been doing the Gazette weekly. I’m going to do it just when I have something to say. That makes it a bit easier for me so yeah!
Today was General Conference! We just finished the closing session of Conference and I loved every minute of it! Aunt Amelia came down with her friend Katherine and one of her young women, Shelby to see Conference at the Conference Center. They stayed at our house Friday, and Saturday night! We had a lot of fun with them down here. Amelia took Shelby and all of us girls to Cabela’s and Krispy Kreams and yeah! We had lots of fun and took LOTS of pictures!
It’s been quite warm down here all week. I thought I was going to die! It’s supposed to be fall now, so I was confused. Friday it was kinda rainy though, and then Saturday it just rained and rained and rained all day. It rained this morning too, but it’s stopped now! We are grateful for the rain, it has been very nice.
On Tuesday my school did a “Fun Run”. I call it my hate walk, because I’m not doing it for fun, and I wasn’t running! I ended up jogging a little bit and then sprinting the last tiny bit though. It was really hot, and I don’t think I’m gonna be doing that again anytime soon. UGH, two miles is just a little bit too much!
We get to start Willy Wonka rehearsals tomorrow! AHHH…I’m SO excited! I think my sisters are too! I’ll let you know later how that goes!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Littlebee

I can't tell you why one of her nicknames is Littlebee. I have just called her that for a really long time. I think it was after an evolution of other nick names, but I can't remember for sure. So, she will always be my Littlebee.

She is a great kid. Anything she puts her mind to, she can accomplish. A little over a year ago, maybe it was two years ago, she proved that to me. Without going into a whole lot of detail, I had asked Meg to have a "contest" with me to see who could go the longest without eating sugar. Meg wanted absolutely nothing to do with that! But, Emily said that she would do it. The rules were simple, the first person to eat sugar lost. If I lost, I had to get her a digital camera, if I won, she bought me dinner. I thought I could win without any problem. A week after we started, I bought Bekah and Hannah some treats while we were watching the play Aladdin (which Meg and Em were in). They asked me to open their treats for them. After fourteen years of taking an openers fee, I automatically took a sip of soda, and a bite of a candy bar. Bekah was pretty quick to point out that I had lost. This was about a permanent change, so I told Em what had happened, and quickly asked if she would agree to start over, with me upgrading to a nicer camera if she lost. Which she agreed to do.

Here two years later, we have modified the rules somewhat, but we still have cut back drastically on the sugar intake. Once a week, we eat a treat with sugar. Holidays, birthdays, special occasions, and most of the month of December are also fair game. But, she is still going strong. She ended getting a nice Camera anyway.

Emily has a very compassionate heart. An experience from a couple of year ago, brought that into focus for me and Dawn. My Grandmother was in bad shape, and we were told that she wouldn't be around much longer. So I took my family to visit her, and to say goodbye. She was in bad shape. she wasn't lucid, and didn't have her prosthetic legs on her. She kept complaining about being so hot. All of my kids were uncomfortable seeing her like this, and all of them had the normal reaction of not wanting to witness that suffering. So we let them leave. Emily had a different reaction, she folded a paper fan, and tried to help Grandma cool off. I think I still have that paper fan. It still brings tears to my eyes when I think of the tender heart she has. Grandma died the next day.

Emily is quickly becoming a lovely young lady. She is progressing in many areas. I realized her singing is quite beautiful at auditions for this next play. She is taking chances that are scary. She decided to get on the student council, and she did it. There is nothing that she can't accomplish when she decides that's what she wants!

Megabeth

I think that I may like this opportunity to write about my kids. There's plenty to write about. It might do them some good to read about it. Or they might just think it's lame.

I am trying to think of words that describe Megan. I think that anyone who knows her, can say that she is a little precocious. She knows what her interests are, and isn't afraid to let you know. Along with that, is a fierce loyalty to her values.

It's neat to watch her embrace Personal Progress in Young Women. I think she is trying to finish it all before she is fifteen years old. But it is helping her to decide what type of person she wants to be. And she is progressing nicely.

She is nuts about musical theater. I have to blame her mother and Cats for that. It was like a highly addictive drug. Once it was in their bloodstream, they always want more. But I can think of few better natural highs, than being able to get in front of people, and giving them wholesome entertainment.

It's been fun to watch how she has grown with each play as well. I think the first play that she auditioned for was Sound of Music. It was a disaster. If there was a part for someone who just cried, I think she could have been cast. She was too shy to do anything else. The next play that she tried to get into was Robin Hood. It took some support from Mom to get her started, but she squeaked it out. It was enough to get her cast as a villager. At some point they needed a girl to sing a little stronger. Meg could do it! and she sang out, "Flour for sale!" I think it was a great solo of three words! Next she auditioned for Aladdin Jr. and was cast as one of the narrators. She loved it! She had speaking lines, and sang, and was just glowing. After begging for days, mopping the floors with tears, and a long hunger strike, (alright, she only begged) we agreed to let her audition for The Truth About Cinderella. She was cast as Lady Scone. She shined again. It was tough for her, because the role was supposed to be an old busybody, but Meg couldn't do anything but young and beautiful. So now we have Willy Wonka Jr. and they're determined to get her to look and act old. She is cast as one of Charlie's grandmother, Josephina. She'll do a wonderful job!

Even though she is intensely involved in theater, she also takes piano, and is getting quite good at it. She is also involved in involved in show choir. Yet, she manages to keep up all her grades. She's pretty amazing.

Jakie Pooh

While this kid is a handful, he's still a great kid. I don't know if I have ever seen a kid that's in such a hurry to grow up. This gives him the drive to succeed at work. As far as I can tell, he's really responsible there. That makes him an asset to the company.

He works for Ink Screen Graphics in Spanish Fork. He is the guy to talk to if you need a bunch of t-shirts printed up. He is pretty good at designing the shirts, but really good at printing them. The biggest complaint that I ever hear from him about work, is the heat. But, he really enjoys it anyway. (They are always looking for business, so if your thinking about getting some shirts...call, email, or comment on this blog, and we'll try to get you going on it!)

I have a hard time believing that he is a Senior in High School already. Time has flown by way too fast. I remember when he was little, maybe two years old, driving past any large willow tree, and him cringing in fear of the "monster tree!" Dawn and I still call the Bobcat tractors "sghettios," because that's what he called them. I miss the little boy that asked the thousand questions about anything that popped into his head. I didn't always appreciate them then, but... I'm thrilled that he is my oldest is a boy, because there were many fun times while he was growing up.

He'll be a great man. Anything that he truly puts his mind to, he can accomplish. A good example of that is the pick-up that he is fixing, or having fixed. When he decided he could do it, he did it. When he decided he couldn't, he earned the money for someone who could do it for him.

The age that Jake is at right now, is a trying age for parent/child relationships. But regardless of how hard it is, I hope that Jake realizes, that we love him tons. As we have watched him grow, and go through some hard knocks, our hearts have been right there with him. And as we have watched the things that he has been able to overcome, and many of his accomplishments, our hearts have pounded with pride.

I guess I could ramble on forever, but I'll stop here. I love my son! And now the whole world can read about it.

Gazette #20 i think

Alright, alright, i've finished the Gazette! Daddy was giving me a hard time about it, so i got it posted! Aren't ya' proud?? Anyway...enjoy!!
~Meg~

The Garrett Gazette
9/21/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry it’s been so long. I promise I’ll be more on top of it, especially now that we have a blog. We are going to be posting these all on our blog then send the web address to you so that you can go see it. Well…here we go!
Mommy has been doing upstage stuff for the past week or so. Auditions for Willy Wonka Jr. were on Saturday the 13th. All of us (except for Jake) tried out. Mommy was at Peteetneet all day from about 8 am to 6 pm-ish. She was exhausted when she got home. On Monday she went to Peteetneet again for Call-backs where she taught a bunch of kids how to dance. She was there from 3:00 pm to about 12:00 am. So she’s been busy doing parent meeting stuff, and finances for upstage and all that. On top of that she still is working, cleaning the house, being our taxi service and yeah! We love you mommy!
Daddy hasn’t been quite so busy. He’s been working on Jake’s truck (yes Jakie got a truck) and helping us all with homework. Daddy made us our blog and…yeah! I can’t think of anything else for him.
Jakie got a truck as I mentioned. It is big and white. He can’t drive it, so I don’t understand why he even has it, but he does! Jake goes to work all day so we don’t see much of him, but this weekend he and Jessica spent time at home!
I made it into Willy Wonka as Grandma Josephine. I’m not exactly sure what I get to do in the play. I just know that I get to be weird and goofy and make fun of people! I have been doing great in school! I’ve actually studied for most of my tests and so I got good scores on those! YAY! Umm…yeah! I can’t think of anything else. On September 11th I sang the National Anthem for my school with five other girls. It was so cool! I was scared, but I think I did fine. It was a good experience.
Emily has been not feeling good for the past couple days. Just a sore throat I think. She made the play as an Oompa Loompa. She’ll have a blast!! Em has been GREAT in school. She’s got fabulous grades.
Bekah boo made Wonka as an Oompa Loompa also. She is gonna be so cute! Bekah is doing well in school also! I am proud of all my sisters!
This year is Hannah’s first year in full day classes. She loves her teacher and she is doing so well! She writes little stories all the time. Usually just one or two sentences long, but it’s fun to watch her sound things out. She made Wonka as a SQUIRREL! Ooh, she’ll be ADORABLE!!
I think that is all for now! We love you all a bunch!
Hugs and Kisses!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Blog Intentions

Alright! I'm a bit tired, but that can't stop me from rambling on. I'll go to bed, and when I get up and read this, I might wonder just how tired I was. But, it might actually be somewhat entertaining this way.

I have e-mailed a bunch of people to let them know about this blog. And they actually looked. Now, I am thinking something like, "oh crap, now I have to think of things to write every now and again." But, who knows, maybe I'll get better at typing. Miracles can happen! Maybe I can get Megan to actually finish the most recent Garrett Gazette!!

So I think I will start soon by taking some time to tell the whole entire world what I like about each of my children. That should give me some good topics for a while anyway. But that gives me some pressure too. Because I will be writing about topics that are very dear to may, and they may decide to actually read this too! Yikes! Yawn...I better get to bed, because the sun is up and everything.

Coping Skills

It seems to me that it is very difficult to learn how to cope with disappointment and failure. It isn't just me and my family that has a problem with it either. And other's failure to cope increases the need for us to learn how, and teach our children how, to deal with peoples lack of coping skills.

I have the choice right now to stay vague, and everyone reading this will just say, "huh?" Or I can give a specific example of what I mean. I am trying to decide how I want to handle this. I'm not trying to be suspenseful. I have to wonder if I am writing this blog as a coping tool for myself. If it is, then maybe I won't post this. I better get back to the point.

Upstage Theatre for Youth is a valuable asset to my family...most of the time. I have been able to see my girls grow and either blossom, or begin to blossom from it. I have seen Dawn develop some great skills, and get out of her comfort zone. I have been able to feel like our family is more of a part of our community. We have been able to meet, interact, and become friends with great people. And all of this is invaluable to me.

Now here is a but, and it's a big but. The politics involved are horrible. It seems with this play, it's even worse. Because Dawn is on the board, she often feels a huge weight and responsibility, to the point of it often seeming overwhelming. While she loves helping all of the great kids, she has frustrations, and heartache that keeps it from being always fulfilling. She is a performer at heart, and understands, and shares the desire of all these kids to amaze the audience. She wishes that she had the ability and time to perform more often. So, instead, she is facilitaing this opportunity for our kids. I love this devotion.

This devotion, responsibility, and love makes it difficult when politics pollute this program. It's for our kids that we do this. There are people who don't know how to deal with failure. So they try to find ways to cope with it. Many of the kids and parents handle it well. But there are a few parents and kids that spoil the whole experience. I think that they are more interested in focusing on how they were wronged than figuring out what they can do to improve their own situation.

In order to better communicate with kids in our area who want to be a part of Upstage, our friend, and fellow boardmember Michelle, maintains a blog. Unfortunately, this seems to be more of a forum for frustrated parents to unload on the Upstage Board. It affords anonymity, and some parents are taking full advantage of it. They make accusations, twist facts, and vent their frustration. The hard part, is that because it is anonymous, we can't respond directly to them. So they stay frustrated, as well as the board. I think that if parents keep doing this, they should'nt allow anyone but the board comment on the blog. That, in some ways, defeats the purpose of the blog.

The thing that has me the most frustrated is an experience that Emily had at school today. I need to preface this by saying that I am assuming that this is related to Upstage. I don't know for certain, but some of the things said seem to indicate it. I know that these children are having to learn to deal with the crushing heartache of not being in the play. It feels like a failure, that they're being excluded, and that life isn't fair. But there are appropriate ways to cope with these feelings. Talking behind people's back isn't appropriate. One of Emily's peers over heard two kids saying that Emily is ugly, that she hates all the Garrett's, and specifically mentioned Megan. That peer than told Emily, and broke her heart.

It seems like there is no reward for anyone when these kind of actions occur. The parents of children who weren't cast, and those children, feel anger, jealousy, rejection. Then they react in a way that makes my family feel anger, rejection, and confusion. Now I worry how my family will react, and what will come out of that. This is also making it difficult for Dawn to want to continue this service. I wish that we all just understood the full situation, and could learn to cope with it.
I know that some of these parents think that it's easier for me to say, because my kids are all in the play. But, if those parents are willing to put in as much effort as Dawn does, wouldn't they expect that they could have their kids there with them also. Do they really feel that their kids should be excluded just because they are helping? I don't know.

I hope that I can teach my kids better ways to cope. If I haven't...I'm sorry, and will keep trying.

Me, Jake, and the Green River

As I was adding all the copies of the "Garrett Gazette," I read the one about when Jake and I went canoeing on the Green River. Megan didn't write much about it, They had their own excitement going on at the time. So I thought I would write a bit about that, even if it's been a while.

The part of the river that we went down wasn't what you would describe as swift, adventurous, dangerous, or exciting. That late in the season, it wasn't even deep. It was almost a lazy river. I do think that the person who named the river is color blind. It is not a very green color at all. It's more of a brown color.

So Jake, a bunch of our ward's boys, those boy's leader's, their father's, and I got into that river with a bunch of canoes. I guess I'll back up a bit. We drove down to Ruby's Ranch, just outside of the town of Green River. I hadn't slept since the day before, so I was a bit worn down by the time we got there. It was already dark. So we ate dinner, and I threw down a tarp, put a sleeping bag on top of it, wrapped the tarp over the top of me, to keep out bugs, and went to sleep. I am glad that we slept fairly close to some diesel powered irrigation pumps, because I think it may have masked some of my snoring. I believe Jake slept on the trailer with canoes over head. He found out that bats think upside down canoes a couple feet up in the air is a nifty resting spot.

The next morning, early, a few of the adults took the trucks and trailers to the spot we were going to get out of the river. I think we all underestimated the amount of time that would take. But it wasn't bad hanging out with those boys while we waited. We played horseshoes, and gave a few of the younger boys the opportunity to practice in the canoes. We dragged them upstream about 15 yards, and sent them down. But they were antsy by the time everyone got back. We ate lunch, loaded a raft with all the food and general gear, and left in the afternoon.

As I might have said earlier, this part of the river, at this time of year, is a bit slow. I was in a canoe with Brandon Springer. He is a great kid! I guess it was a lot more fun in the water, because he was in it, by choice, more than in the canoe. I think it was a great way to stay cool. Most of the boys thought it was a great idea. But the laws of physics show that a canoe is faster in water than bobbing bodies, so we didn't make a lot of progress that first day.
As the afternoon was progressing to evening, we stopped for the night on a sandbar. It was dry, and had minimal bugs. Just before the dry sand, there was sand under about two inches of water for about fifty yards. I have to admit, that I have eaten that well while camping. We ate grilled steak, salmon, ice cream, and homemade rootbeer.

After dinner, those who felt so inclined, went and played football in the two inches of water. From what I saw, and heard, it wasn't all that shallow. There were pockets of deeper water to cool you off in a hurry. To round off the night, we had a spiritual thought from Brother Ostler, the Young Men's President, about being steadfast and immovable. It was fitting, considering the rock cliffs that line both sides of the river. I again threw down my tarp, Jake grabbed his sleeping, I grabbed mine, and we slept under a sky of stars.

The next morning, after a good breakfast, we headed out again. We learned some lessons from the previous day, and kept everyone out of the water. The canoes went pretty fast after that. We made up the time that we had lost the day before. Brandon and I did pretty well together. He may have been a bit disappointed to be with me. His biggest ambition, was to water war with everyone. While I don't mind getting wet, I had a different agenda.

I am fair skinned, I am white. I have often said that I am a vampire. The sun burns me. If I think sunlight, I'm burned by it. So, he would start paddling as hard as he could to catch up to this canoe, or that one. If we were in the shade, I would paddle backwards. And the poor kid would start paddling harder, while I sat in the back paddling the other way. Once he figured out I was doing it, I think it was a challenge to him. I am a lazy vampire, so then I just turned the canoe backwards. He, being a great kid, handled it well.

The only reason that this vampire is still alive, is thanks to Heavenly Father taking pity upon me, and the regular, liberal, use of sunscreen. I think the sunscreen was supposed to last an hour and thirty minutes, so I put it on every hour and twenty minutes. I didn't even get any pink.

The next night we camped on another sand bar. We had a great dinner of fajitas. And my favorite part of the night was a talk by Brother Humphries about God creating everything, but knowing each individual. He talked about the billions of stars in the Milky Way, which I think were just about all visible. Yet God knows each of his children, and their needs, and loves them as individuals. My paraphraing isn't doing any of his talk justice.

After that I threw down my tarp, gave Jake my sleeping bag, threw on my blanket, and went layed down to sleep. (Earlier, Jake had capsized his canoe, and his gear was wet.) There were millions of stars that night, maybe a few planes, maybe a few satellites, but no moon. I only know of a few constellations, but spent a few minutes with Jake looking at Orion, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, and the North Star. I appreciated that.

Jake had shown me how great of a kid he was that day. He had fun, and acted in many ways like all the priests his age. There was a time that all the priests were back rowing the raft. The canoes are naturally quicker, so it was hard work. All the canoes were way ahead of the raft, which was pulling a water trampoline. I'm not sure why, but for some reason, they decided to untie the trampoline. I was so proud to see that when the raft came up, my son was counted as a worker, and not one of the boys just drifting down on the trampoline. And when there was something to be done for dinner, he was there helping. He gave me great pride to be his dad!

The last day was pretty uneventful. I paddled Skyler and brandon around for half the day, and then helped on the raft until we got off the river. While I was on the raft, I got to know Brother Boyer, Brother Ostler, Brother Hinton, and Brother Springer better. I was again impressed by Jake in how he tried to help as we loaded up to leave. Brother Yama lost his keys, and the broke into his truck, but he had to go back and get it later with some spare keys.

I have to say that this trip, was worth every bit of the time and money. I appreciated seeing that side of Jake. I am grateful for the young men leaders that took the time for these boys. This was great for me!

Gazette #19

The Garrett Gazette
9/7/08
Dear Family and Friends,
I'll start with Monday I suppose. Monday was Labor Day or Onion Days or I don't really know. I know there was something to do with labor and onions. Anyway…there was the Onion Days parade. Bekah boo was in it as one of the little Centennial Dancers. She was a cutie in her outfit and her curly hair. It was also nice and cool so we were all relieved that we wouldn't be baking. A little way into the parade it started sprinkling, then pouring. We got home and went straight to the fireplace, but Bekah was still out on the parade route with nothing but her t-shirt and shorts. She was pretty much frozen when she got home. Poor Bekah boo! She lived though and we're happy. I also got to see Beauty and the Beast again at the high school. It was as good as the first one and I loved it! I loved being able to talk to my friends. Mommy and Daddy's anniversary was on Monday. They went out to eat and watched The Dark Night. Mommy didn't like it much, but I think daddy did.
Tuesday we went to school. Nothing really exciting happened I don't think.
Wednesday we didn't have Young Women's which was nice. I made Manicotti and it was probably the bestest tasting Manicotti I've made yet. I had my first Show Choir rehearsal. We are singing a song called "Sir Duke" it's a fun song and I LOVE it!!!
Thursday was Emily and My first piano lesson for this school year. I got assigned some fun songs that I'm excited to learn. Bekah is thinking that she might want to do piano instead of dance, that may be fun. I got to be transferred out of Mr. DeMille's math class and put into Mr. Smith's. That makes me super happy because I really didn't like Mr. DeMille and I had Mr. Smith last year and I love him! He's so cool!
Friday a couple friends came over that I haven't seen for awhile. It was weird to see them just pop up, but it's nice to know that they don't hate me. We played dress up and they had a blast. Emily made an adoption paper thing and had people sign it, and now her BFF Jessica is my adopted sister…according to Emily. Emily is really having fun with that.
Nothing really happened on Saturday, we just mostly watched TV and cleaned. I babysat and yeah.
This week was pretty boring except for Monday. I love you all and hope to see you soon! Hugs and Kisses!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah.

Gazette #18

The Garrett Gazette
8/31/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry it's been so long! I forgot to do it last Sunday because of school and all that! Anyway, I'm here now, and I'll do better.
So, on August 20th school started for us! We were all quite nervous but we survived the day! I am ready for Thanksgiving break that's for sure! Hannah loves her teacher Mrs. Kirk! I don't know much about her, but Hannah likes her a lot. Bekah likes her teacher I think, and Emily likes her teacher. Emily is sick of tests and homework. Her teacher has made her take test after test and every night she's had homework. I feel bad for her! I don't really know about Jakie. All he ever does is work so yeah! For me…there are only two teachers that I don't like. My math and Biology teachers. Most everyone else I like though! I get to take Sewing, Perfect Harmony, Show Choir and Honors English this year. I'm also in Biology, Geometry and all the other stuff that's required. I haven't had too much homework luckily!
We got to go to see Beauty and the Beast on Friday the 29th. It was a PCT play and they did fabulous! I loved it a lot. The actors were great and the guy who played LeFou was really good! A lot of my friends were in that so it was nice to be able to see them again!
Yesterday morning Bekah was in a children's parade for dance. She was cute in that, but I only saw the beginning. I had to go play for a baptism. I don't even know the kid being baptized but they asked me to be their pianist, so that's what I did. It worked out pretty okay.
Mommy hasn't been feeling the greatest for the last couple of days. She has a sore throat or something. Keep her in your prayers for the next couple days!
Willy Wonka Jr. Try-outs are coming up in a couple weeks! Our family is excited for that! I can't wait!!!
I think that is all that I need to say! We love you and I can't wait to see you all again! Hugs and kisses!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRI!!!
Sorry we missed your birthday! We love you a tons!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Gazette #17

The Garrett Gazette
8/17/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Hey Everybody! I'm sorry I didn't write last week. My Sunday was spent getting ready for church, going to church, then packing for Girls Camp! I was at Girls Camp all week so I don't really know what happened at home! So mostly this is going to be a Meg Gazette instead of the Garrett Gazette! I hope you guys will enjoy reading about Girls Camp!
For the first few days of Young Women's Camp, mommy got to be up there with me! On Monday we rode in some Busses up to Heber Valley Camp! The bus ride was long so I fell asleep! Once we got to the Camp we got ourselves situated in our cabins. We had to have more than one Cabin because our ward is so huge! All the naughty loud beehives were in the other cabin while the good girls were in the my cabin! We went to a Challenge Course where we did a number of activities! We climbed up a really high tree then walked across a rope to another tree where we would repel down that tree! (hopefully that made sense) There was a challenge where we had to get everyone through a spider web without touching anything, there were a lot of balancing things and yeah! It was quite a lot of fun!
Tuesday we hiked down to Legacy Lake where we learned how to Canoe! We had fun doing that! Canoeing isn't that hard I realized. The hard part would be going straight! We walked back to camp and had lunch and did more fun stuff. (I can't even remember half the things we did) The YCL's (Youth Camp Leaders) taught us songs and that was fun! Oh yeah…Tuesday was Skit night! Every ward got a bag of random props that we had to use in our skit! Our Ward did the skit the "Pink Panther Empress of Oz" (a twist on Wizard of Oz, but our ward was the Pink Panthers so yeah) We had a lot of fun doing our skit! I got to be DOROTHY!!!! J
Wednesday we got a lot of free time! For Camp Certification I had to teach a song or a dance to the other girls in our ward! Me and Ky taught them STOMP! (a dance we learned in show choir) Mommy had to go home that day, but we still had fun! We went and sang to our Missionaries were up at Heber! I watched the sunset and it was beautiful! Our Stake did Singing in the Tree's. That is where every ward has a tree and when it's our turn we turn our flashlights on and shine it up in our tree and sing a song, then the next ward, and so on! That was pretty cool! On Wednesday I finished the Book Of Mormon!!
Thursday was the hike! Us 3rd years only had to hike like 2 ½ miles, but the 2nd years had to hike 5 miles. They ended up getting lost so they hiked 8! Yikes! They survived though!! Thursday was our Bishopric night! That's the night when the bishopric comes up and we do our Testimony meeting and stuff! Ky, Jamie, and I made a Dutch oven dinner that turned out really good! Before Testimony meeting Tiffany Anderson (our camp director) passed out awards to all of us. I got the 'Stella Star Award' meaning I reach out to people, and make sure they are included! There were a lot of fun awards that people got! Our Testimony meeting was Amazing! Everyone, even the non-members got up and spoke! It was so cool! Oh yeah, Ky put my hair in a bunch of braids on Tuesday night! We took them out Thursday afternoon! My hair was so fuzzy and cool! I looked like I had a Mane!
Friday we packed up and came home! YES!!! I fell asleep on the bus ride home! It was so nice to get home and be able to take a shower! I was SO happy! I told my family all about camp! I also taught Hannah one of the camp songs I learned! She is so cute when she does it!
Yesterday I got my hair cut! It's pretty darn short now! It looks really cute when it's all flipped up and stuff! I like it!! Mom and Dad took me and Kylee out to celebrate my birthday! We went to see the "Best of Broadway" at Center Street Theater! It was awful, but that's okay! We went to Coldstone after to get Ice Cream and they sang Happy Birthday to me!!! I really loved it!!!
So yeah…there was the Meg Gazette! Hope y'all liked it!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah
Oh yeah! Mommy's brother Adam's birthday was on the 15th!
Happy Birthday Adam!!!

Gazette #16

The Garrett Gazette
8/3/08
Dear Family and Friends,
HOLY CRAP! This week has been….interesting! Fun at sometimes, Terrifying at others! AH! So I'll start from the beginning.
Monday was Bekah's birthday! Grandma and Grandpa Clayton came over for dinner! Bekah's WHOLE birthday was Hannah Montana I'm pretty sure! Well…except for the present I gave her! I made her a pretty pink skirt, and she seems to like it…she's wearing it to church today! She got a Hannah Montana CD, a drawing set thingy, folders, and a CD player alarm Clock! Everything had SOMETHING to do with Hannah Montana! She had a good birthday I think. She invited her friend Riley over and they had a sleepover in the tent!
Tuesday was Bekah's Friend party! At 9:30 she had like six friends come over for a breakfast party! They ate breakfast, made bracelets and painted nails. My job was to keep the girls entertained. We still had a while left till the party was over so I taught all the girls The Boot Scootin' Boogie. Most of the girls loved it and wanted to do the dance over and over and over and over and over again! I had a great time teaching them.
Wednesday Daddy and Jakie left to go on a Canoe trip! They went to the Green River or something like that. They spent all day packing and then left about 4:30 that afternoon. They had tons of fun on their trip! Both Dad and Jakie fell in the water while they were there and I guess it was pretty hot during the night. (They were up there Wed-Saturday)
Emily watched the girls so that me and mom could go to Young Women's! She's getting good at watching Bekah and Hannah!
Now Thursday is where it gets fun! Mommy worked Thursday morning but when she got off work we went out to eat! She took us to her work in Draper so that we could have lunch there! The girls loved it, but they burned my chicken…I wasn't too impressed. After lunch we went to the dollar theater and watched Prince Caspian. It wasn't as good as the first Chronicles of Narnia…but it was still good! When that was over we went to Old Navy to get some last minute clothes! I got a couple cute things! We rented a movie and got some pizza and went home! College Road Trip is the movie that we got! Donny Osmond is in it and he is HILARIOUS! The movie was cute, but Donny made it even better! So yeah…Thursday was great fun!
Friday mommy worked, but when she got off we went to Booth Brothers to get some music for me and Emily. I got Little Women, and Emily got Enchanted (the sheet music for it). Later on Friday I went to a play with Grandma and Grandpa. "The promised land" It was a Musical about 1 Nephi! I loved it! Anyway…when we came back from the play I noticed that there was a slope with red and orange all over it! I then realized that the slope was a mountain, the red and orange was a fire, and the fire was close to my house! I was SO scared! We got up to my house as fast as we could, but they wouldn't let us all the way up the street. They told us that our neighborhood had been evacuated and that we had to leave. The fire at that time (about 10:30 pm) was right behind the Tobler's house. (they live right behind us) We turned around and went back to Grandma's house hoping that Mommy and the girls would be there (remember…Jake and Dad were gone) Luckily Everyone was at Grandma's! We stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house! Then we went home the next morning…luckily the fire was out by then! Thank you Grandma for letting us stay at your house!!!
As we look at our mountain now it is really black. There are some spots that are green, but mostly it's black. The Riley's live up the mountain a little bit and I thought for sure that their house would be gone. Amazingly the fire stopped right behind their house and went around it instead. If you look at it from the High school it's REALLY cool! It looks like there was a Bubble around our ward that made it so that the fire couldn't get us!
We are SO grateful that everything worked out fine! We send out lots of thanks to all our friends who called to make sure we were alright…Carrie, Trevor, Emily, Nicole, and others I'm pretty sure! We Love you all and are SO glad that everyone is alright! (I'll send a picture of the fire…Kylee sent me this picture so ignore the writing on it. "Our House" is the Chapa House. So everything is in their point of view) Helicopters have been flying over our house all day so there is a picture of that too.
Dad and Jake got home safely on Saturday evening! The five of us were SO excited to have them back home!
We love everybody so much!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah
HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE ADAM AND AUNT MELISSA!!!!
Hope you have a fabulastic birthday and we love you! MWAH!

Gazette #15

The Garrett Gazette
7/27/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Hey everybody! We had loads of fun this week! A lot of the week was spent with Grandma and Grandpa Clayton!
On Monday we went camping up at Payson Lakes! It was just our immediate family along with Grandma and Grandpa! It rained just a little while we were up there, but mostly it was nice and cool! We had LOTS of snacks and our lunch and dinner were DELICIOUS! Daddy blew up the coals and his face was completely surrounded with fire…luckily he didn't even singe anything. I almost got to see a couple friends that I miss, but by the time me and Bekah got down to the lake…they were gone. *sob* We roasted marshmallows, starbursts and we made Banana Boats! (Thank you Aunt Natalie for teaching us that) We had lots of fun.
We stayed overnight then left Tuesday morning! Jakie got to camp right before dinner on Monday night, and then left at like 6:30 on Tuesday morning cuz he had to work! We were all at home by 10:30 am. I was SO happy to be able to take a shower! It felt SO good!
At 1:00 on Tuesday I went to sewing so that I could finish up Bekah's birthday present! Mom and dad picked me up at about 3:20 (something happened to our transmission in the van, or something…I don't really know) so the whole family (except for Jake) was squashed into our Toyota! That was interesting. We went to go see "Willy Wonka Jr." at Hale Center Theater. It was kinda like one of our Upstage plays….just a bunch of kids doing it! The play was cute…I'm excited to try out for Upstages version now!
Now I am just going to skip to Friday! Mommy's Birthday!!!! Friday morning mommy had to work, but we - or more importantly - She survived. Daddy went to sleep early so that he could be up during the evening! Me and the girls all got up early to get her birthday stuff done! Emily spent three days working on a number of presents for mom, Daddy brought Bekah's present home so she woke up early so that they could give it to mom on her break! The girls and I decorated the main floor with balloons and stuff! I made dinner and mommy's Birthday cake (actually it was Chocolate Éclair bars) I put candles on it and everything! We had a lot of fun getting ready for mommy's birthday!
Mostly that's all the exciting stuff that happened! We had a TON of fun this week! We love you all TONS and TONS and TONS!!!!!!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEKAH BOO!!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!

Gazette #14

The Garrett Gazette
7/20/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry I missed last week. I didn't even think about the Gazette until Tuesday so I figured I'd just wait until today to send another one out, so yeah. I'll try to catch you all up! Oh yeah, and I can't remember if I told y'all already, but mommy is working in home now! YAY! So she gets to spend her breaks with me! How cool is that?
For the week that I missed, I don't think anything too exciting happened to the girls! I know that I had a blast for Friday and Saturday, but I don't know what the other girls did! I got to a Jon Schmidt concert on the 11th with my piano teacher Tani, and her daughter Tasha, and some friends -- Kylee and Allison. The Concert was AMAZING! But of course Jon Schmidt is amazing so yeah, anyway…I got his autograph and a picture with him (the picture is on my friends phone however, so I can't get it to you right now) For those of you who don't know who Jon Schmidt is, he is a pianist! He plays the most gorgeous-est songs I've ever heard! *sigh* I love his music. He's really funny too! So yeah, I had a lot of fun with that!
Now for this Week…On Monday all of us hung out with friends for a while. For Family Home Evening we went to the new swimming pool here in Payson. Emily brought her friend Jessica, Bekah brought her friend Rylie, and Jake brought his friend Alex. I didn't know I was allowed to invite anyone, otherwise I would have invited Kylee, but oh well. Hannah had SO much fun! It was hard to keep track of her because she would just run off…or swim…really fast! It was cute!
On Tuesday I went to my sewing class and made myself another pair of pajama pants, except these ones are for Girls Camp that is coming up in less than a month! The girls were running everywhere all week, so I don't know what they were up to.
Wednesday was Young Women's! We kidnapped a new beehive and we painted a banner for Girls Camp! The girls stayed home and most likely watched a movie of some sort!
On Thursday we did….man I can't remember! I think I've got short term memory loss you guys, I can't remember anything except the really exciting stuff.
Friday I know we did SOMETHING…but I can't remember what it was. Oh YEAH! My friend Victoria came over! And I made a very ugly, but yummy meal of Shepherd's pie! Mommy took me, Emily and Hannah to JC Penny! We finished our school clothes shopping! I have the cutest clothes EVER!
And Finally Saturday! Emily was so sweet and watched Bekah and Hannah so that Me, Mom and Daddy could go see "Mamma Mia" In theaters. Oh it was SOOO good! The music was totally awesomical! I LOVED it! J
Happy Birthday Thomas!!!!
Happy Birthday Sierra! Sorry we missed it!
Happy Birthday Mommy!!!
We love all of you and hope to see you again soon!!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Gazette #13

The Garrett Gazette
7/6/08
Dear Family and Friends,
This week was VERY busy. Our family went up to Oregon on Tuesday and stayed until Saturday. We had a lot of fun up there. I know that half of you were there, so this will just be a recap I suppose.
Monday we got ready to go. We went shopping and rented movies, and packed our bags and lots more. We also went to Grandma and Grandpa Claytons house for dinner. I made Key lime pie again. Mmm…it was delicious!
Tuesday we did last minute stuff then we took off. We got to Aunt Amelia's house really late and stayed the night over there! Thanks Amelia and Thomas!!! We really appreciate your hospitality.
Wednesday we went shopping I think. I can't really remember because all the days seem to mush together. We picked out presents for Jake's birthday. Later that night Jake, Emily, Shaylee and I went to Mutual with Amelia. That was a pretty okay experience I guess.
On Thursday we celebrated Jake's birthday although his birthday wasn't until today. Jessica went to Boardman from Washington so that she could see Jakie. I could tell Jake was Ecstatic. I rather thought it was kind of weird having her stay a few days with us, but oh well. We also went to some pretty place and did Family pictures! We got LOTS of bug bites, but it was overall pretty fun.
Friday was (of course) INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!! Happy 4th of July very late! We stayed at Adam and Melissa's house and camped out that night. We watched the fireworks from somewhere close to their house in Hermiston. The fireworks were very cool. At first a lot of the little girls were terrified, but they calmed down and loved them by the end. Suzie was probably the most scared out of everyone, but after they were done she totally loved them! It was kind of funny. Grandpa Garrett got a brand new red Corvette in which he took all the grandkids for a ride. That car is pretty cool, it goes really fast.
Saturday was kinda miserable for me. I got sick with a cold or something, so I didn't feel so great. All the younger kids; however, loved it. Grandpa Garrett paid for everyone to go swimming at a big pool. I know that my sisters loved it, but right after swimming we started home. We made it home early this morning at about 1:00 or 2:00 ish. I was SO happy to sleep in my own bed!
I asked the girls what their favorite parts of the trip were…here are the responses.
Hannah: When we went to the pool and saw the fireworks.
Bekah: The Fireworks Finale! When it exploded and I could feel warm from the fireworks.
Emily: I like going to the swimming pool and making fourth of July decorations.
Me: I loved little Sydney's hugs.
I think I can tell that Jake's favorite part was Jessica.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKIE!
In case you didn't notice….it's Jake's Birthday today.
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah.

Gazette #12

The Garrett Gazette
6/29/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Alright, first of all, I would like y'all to give me a good topic for a play. A friend of mine has challenged me to write a play, so I shall try it and see what happens. Before I can start writing the play, I need help deciding on something to write about.
Now I'll start the Gazette. As you may or may not know, mommy only works half the week now. Just Thursday, Friday and Saturday's. That means we got to spend a lot of time with her this week. Some people came to set up a DSL line so that mommy can come work in home! YAY!
This Tuesday Me and the other youth in our ward went to do Baptisms for the dead. We had a lot of fun. It was my first time doing it, so I was a little bit nervous.
On…Thursday I think, the girls, daddy and I went up to the Grotto by our house and had a picnic and took pictures while mom was at work. We had a lot of fun doing that! I'll send pictures. One of the pictures is of the actual Waterfall up there! Way pretty!!
Ummmmm….I can't think of anything else fun that happened. There was a fire in the mountains by our house last night. I was asleep but mom and dad told me about it. We played with friends all week. I can't really think of anything else.
We're going to Oregon this week, so I'm very excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Garrett and all my aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone! I can tell Bekah is VERY excited too.
Oh yeah, Hannah was writing a note or something (I'm not sure) but she was talking about going to the Movie Theater. She spelled it Moove Feeadr. It was way adorable!!!
One more thing, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JIMI!!!!
Well…that's all I think. Love y'all!!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Em, Bekah and Hannah!

Gazette #11

The Garrett Gazette
6/22/08
Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been SO much fun for me! Mommy didn't like it much, but I loved it!!!
So anyway, on Monday we didn't really do too much. We just kinda, I don't know, I can't really remember. J I just remember Emily had a sleepover with her friend Jessica.
Tuesday was GREAT! Well…I thought so. We moved ALL the upstage costumes into our basement. (Upstage is the theater group that our family is involved in…you know, Aladdin, Cinderella…all those shows) There are a LOT of costumes, and I don't mean just a closet full (cuz that is a lot of costumes) I mean a whole ROOM full. There is hardly any room to walk in there now. Holy Moly! There are costumes anywhere from little munchkin costumes, to formal gowns, to animal costumes, and EVERYTHING in between! So anyway, I'm getting carried away. We moved the costumes into our basement, then me and two of my friends had a late night and played DRESS UP! Oh my heavens it was a blast. I'll send you pictures!
Wednesday was fun too! I played dress up with my sisters. They had lots of fun with that. We took loads of pictures. Mommy had Wednesday off work (Sunday through Wednesday she has off now) so she spent most of the day in the costume room putting more stuff away! We also had Young Women's. We had a sort of Camp Kick-off. We went up to Payson Canyon Park, and did smores and stuff…it was fun! I think mommy liked it too, but she got a mosquito bite on her eyelid. How weird is that? So yeah….her eye has been swollen all week, and her allergies have been acting up, so she's been kinda miserable.
I can't remember what happened on Thursday. I think we just stayed at home and watched TV or something. It was my very first time making chili. I just followed what daddy told me, and he made me put in lots of spicy stuff when I didn't realize that it was spicy stuff, so no one really wanted to eat the chili much! Oh well…next time, dad's not helping.
Friday was pretty much the same. We were just bored all day, watched movies, I cooked dinner all by myself. I'm becoming a great multitask-er. I really can't remember half the stuff we did this week, how annoying is that? *sigh*
Saturday was great! Grandma Clayton took Emily, Mommy and Me to go see the Broadway musical Little Women at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. Oh my gosh the music was AMAZING! I loved it SOOO much! Now I want the soundtrack for that! J
Well, I'm sorry that this edition had a lot about me in it, but lots of fun stuff happened!!! I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Gazette #10

The Garrett Gazette
6/15/08
Dear Family and Friends,
To start off…HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!!! Alright, now that I've got that out of my system, here we go.
We had a blast on Monday. It was Emily and My first piano class for the summer. We decided to practice EVERY day till our next lesson in a month. Another thing we did was: our whole family went with Grandma and Grandpa Clayton up to Maple Lake. We made smores and just visited. Jakie brought up Jessica and we had a lot of fun! We took a walk around the lake! The girls were fascinated with all the dead fish on the side of the lake.
Tuesday was Mommy's day off, so she stayed home and we went Father's Day shopping. I love it when Mom is able to stay home and have fun with us!!
Bekah Boo had her first dance class for the summer on Wednesday. I believe she had a lot of fun. Her best friend Rylie is in her dance class this time, so she's excited. Wednesday was also Young Women's for me and mom. We got to learn about make-up and face cleaners and stuff. We found out a whole bunch of new recipe's for natural cleaners. I'll tell y'all if they work.
Thursday was kinda boring. We watched Serenity with Daddy. I got to go on a walk with my friend Victoria who I never get to see anymore. We got lost on our walk! That was a great adventure.
Friday was a way fun day for me! I got to go to Kylee's house for a while. We experimented with our hair and put whipped up egg whites in it. (we were told that it would make our hair curly, so we just wanted to try.) It works really well, and I'll send pictures of what my hair looks like today. I got to go to Ky's party that night too, where I saw a whole lot of my friends that I haven't seen in a while, since school got out.
Saturday was fun. Hannah went to her friend Reagin's birthday party. She came back VERY happy. We went to the store to go get last minute stuff for Father's Day. Mom, Me, and the other Beehives in our ward went and sang Happy Birthday to a couple other Beehives in our ward. That was a lot of fun. We watched some old tapes of us when we were little…six years ago to be exact. I also made Ganache!
Today has been great fun!!! Daddy definitely got spoiled!! We gave him a couple of movies, well…TV shows. M*A*S*H and Dukes of Hazard. He got a tape measure, a tie, a puzzle, some cards, and last but not least…TRUFFLES AND CREPES!!! I made the last two for him! Mmm…they are DELICIOUS!!!! I think daddy has had a good day!
Well, Have a GREAT week everybody, and have a FANTASTICAL Fathers Day!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jacob, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah

Gazette #9

The Garrett Gazette
6/8/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Okey Dokey! This week has been VERY boring!! Well…we've cleaned!
Daddy decided that we are all going to make dinner instead of having Mom make it. She has to help of course, but mostly we've been doing it! Mom says that she likes it! Daddy put the tent up for the girls on Monday. The girls loved that!!
Mommy's been working. On Tuesday she went to our neighbors house and put up molding and stuff! She was completely wiped out when she got home. We're still praying that she'll be able to come in home soon!!!
Jakie has been gone ALL day long, EVERY day. So we don't see much of him. He's been working a lot, and he--of course--has to spend time with his girlfriend.
I have been having fun, despite the boredom. I made home made pizza on Tuesday, and then chicken pot pie on Friday! I've been reading Work and the Glory and that's fun. Me, Mom, and Dad are still reading The Book of Mormon. Daddy recently got a program that has a power point type thing on it! I made two power points this week. One for Aladdin, and one for Cinderella. I'll send them to you once we get it all figured out! I got to sing a duet with one of my friends at his little brother's baptism. It was really cool to be invited to sing at that.
Emily got to have a sleepover with her friend Jessie on Monday. She had a blast with that, and it relieved her of how bored she was last week! She is making a power point as well…I'm not sure what it is, but I know she's making one.
Bekah's been funny. She loves playing outside, and was kinda sad that she couldn't go outside on Wednesday because of all the rain that we had. She got sick on Thursday, so she was stuck inside then too. She did get to hang out a lot with her BFF Rylie! I know that was fun!
Hannah's adorable! She got sick on Wednesday, but other than that, she's been pretty okay. She is a little snot bucket sometimes, and won't listen to anything I say, but we all love her anyway! She has been riding her two wheeler a lot (it's not just a bike to her, she has to call it a "two wheeler". She's so excited to know how to ride one of those.
That's all that happened this week. We love you all!!!!
Oh yeah…Happy Birthday Grandma Garrett on the 9th and Ben on the 11th!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Gazette #8

The Garrett Gazette
6/1/08
Dear Family and Friends,
SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!!! Yes! We are all happy for the most part, but Emily has had a hard time because of boredom, so anyway… here is everyone's life.
Daddy is doing great. I has had to work all night, and stay up for the better part of every day, so when I told him I was going to stay home on Wednesday he was going to go to sleep and make me watch Hannah, but he didn't, and I'm glad. Daddy has also taken to contaminating all the milk in our house. He replaces the good milk for yucky powdered milk.
Mommy is still working in Draper, but we all fasted today so hopefully she'll be able to come in home soon. I'll be super excited for that, and so will mommy. She's exhausted when she has to drive for two hours everyday, and as you know, gas is getting really expensive, so it's been costing a lot of money to get there and back, so we'll all be happy when she's home.
Jakie has been going bonkers. He has been doing a lot of tech stuff at the high school, so that takes up time, and he also has been working at this screen printing place. He is never home, and when he is, it's pretty much to sleep and eat. He does find time to bring Jessica over sometimes. (his girlfriend) She's really nice, and Jake gets frustrated when she starts doing his chores. Personally, I think she just does it for the attention she gets from Jake. J
I have been pretty great. I only had school on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and Thursday was only a half day, so this week's been pretty easy on me. Wednesday was Lagoon day for my school and I didn't want to go, so I stayed home with daddy and Hannah, and we had a lot of fun. We watched a movie (of course daddy couldn't stay awake through that) and went to the store and got Subway Sandwiches. We also went up the canyon and took a bunch of pictures that were way cute. Mommy also gave me a hair cut…or trim…on Friday. My hair feels too short now, although she only cut off about an inch and a half.
Now Emily has been quite bored since Thursday. We were out of school for maybe two hours and she was already whining about how bored she was. She has been begging me to play volleyball with her. (we just got a volleyball net that we set up in our back yard.) She just kinda lays there and moans about how bored she is. I think it's kinda funny to watch!
Bekah boo has been having a great summer so far. I think she has run through the sprinklers everyday since Thursday. She is VERY sunburned. Her shoulders, back and face have all been very red and sore. She had a hard time going to church today, cuz her shoulders hurt so much, but she did well. She also did very well with fasting. She doesn't fast very much, but she did great today…I did here her whine a little, but not too much.
Hannah Ruth is her normal, crazy self. She says some random things that none of us are sure where they came from. She has been quite sunburned too, but not as bad as Bekah. She loves getting wet, and doesn't really care too much what happens to her skin. She's funny that way.
I think that is all that's happened this week. Have a very wonderful summer everyone, and we hope to see you all soon!!!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah

PS-The first picture is of me when we were up in the canyons. The second is of Hannah when we were at the park, and the third picture is of my show choir class last Wednesday when we finished the song, Dance Evolution!!

Gazette #7

The Garrett Gazette
5/25/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Well…only three and a half days left of school for us. I am so happy. This week has been very crazy for us…well me.
On Monday Bekah had her dance recital. Her class did so good, and she was adorable in her costume. It was pink and black, and had sequins all over it! She also had fuzzy things in her hair.
Tuesday I don't think we did anything really all that special. Just a normal day for us!
Wednesday was certainly very hectic. I had a show choir concert for school. Mom and the girls were just a little bit late, so they didn't get to see "One Short Day" (thank goodness) Me and Kylee choreographed that song, and it turned out that we didn't get to be in it because they started without us! That was really hard for me and Ky and we've had a rough time because of that, but the rest of the concert was great. Me and Kylee sang a duet, and I also sang a solo. I choreographed the boys in "Seize the day" and they did AMAZING! I was so proud of them.
Thursday was Me and Emily's last piano lesson for this school year…we won't have another lesson for another month. Thursday was also Enrichment night and I had to go baby-sit the nursery kids. There were three of us, (Me, Ky, and Britt) who were baby-sitting the kids. There were 16 kids however, and they were definitely a handful. Luckily, we lasted through the job, but I was sure ready to pass out afterward. It was also Hannah's Kindergarten Graduation on Thursday. I didn't get to see it, but I watched the video that dad recorded and she was so cute!!
Mom is making me explain that her work gives her free tickets to stupid Megaplex movies. So on Friday we had a movie marathon. We watched the first two "Indiana Jones" movies. They were pretty good, and I liked them.
On Saturday we cleaned, then watched the third "Indiana Jones" After we were done with that we went to the Megaplex Theater and watched the fourth "Indiana Jones" The movie was kinda weird…not like the first three at all. We had fun though.
As for today, I get to give a talk in church…*hip hooray* I'll just say, I can't wait till it's over.
I believe that is all for this week. Ummmm...sorry it was all mostly about me, but I had a lot of things going on!

I love you all, and I'll send another newsletter next week.
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jacob, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah

Gazette #6

The Garrett Gazette
5/18/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Alright…this week has been a normal week for all of us…mostly. We have had quite a bit of fun all week. The weather has been wonderful, so it's been fun to be outside and play, or in mom's case--do yard work.
Monday was mom and dad's temple anniversary, it was quite rainy! We went to the movies and saw Penelope, then we went to Chile's! We had a lot of fun as a family, well, we were all there except for Jakie.
Emily had her Hershey Track Meet on Tuesday. She did very well, getting fourth place in the 100 meter. She did the long jump and softball throw as well. Mom and Dad checked me out of school that day, so I got to go see and support Emily. We had a lot of fun!
Also on Tuesday, my school did an Awards Assembly. Mom and dad were there to see me get a certificate for 3.7 or higher for the first three terms, and doing well on the IOWA test! (I'll include pictures of both Emily, and Me)
Bekah Boo had dance on Wednesday. Her class is preparing for their dance recital tomorrow. She is excited to be in that! Jakie is doing spotlight for her recital!
On Wednesday me and mom had Young Women's. We had a mother daughter dinner, and the food was DELICIOUS! Oh my goodness! I also learned a lot of different dessert recipes!
I had pictures for Show Choir on Thursday. We wore our two different costumes and took a bunch of pictures. I will get the pictures by the end of this week hopefully. My Choir concert is this Wednesday at 7:00 pm, and I get to sing a solo at the concert!
I watched Pride and Prejudice for the first time on Friday. It was so romantical. I loved it.
Today was Stake Conference! They split up our stake. Hannah had the pleasure of meeting Elder Hinckley. We are assuming he's President Hinckley's son. He talked to her about coloring while me, Bekah and Emily were all gone. I think it would have been super cool to talk to him.
I think that is all that I have to say this week. We love you all, and have a wonderful week!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jacob, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah

Gazette #5

The Garrett Gazette
5/11/08
Dear Family and Friends,
To start off our letter today…HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I love you all, and I hope you all have a great day!
Alright, so this week has been…interesting…I guess. We haven't really been doing like a TON of stuff, but life is still tiring some times!
I don't think I have an older brother anymore! I think I have an older sister who is part boy! You should see what Jakie does! It's quite funny. He straightens his hair, paints his nails, and he says the hardest part of the day is figuring out which jacket to wear out of his ten! Now, doesn't that sound like a girl! Well, we love him anyway!
Well, mommy thinks there is something wrong with me, because I've recently began taking 1 ½ hour naps right after school! She thinks it's odd, but I think it feels good! I am completely done with End of Level Testing now! YES! And I have all A's except for an A- in foods! So my grades are pretty okay!
Emily is gonna give a talk today in Primary! I'm sure she's VERY excited about it. *rolling eyes, and sarcastic grin* Em finished the Harry Potter series, and now is starting over again. I don't know why she would do that…I have to wait till I forget everything that happens before I can read a book again, but oh well…she's just like daddy! Emily is working hard for her Hershey track meet…which is this Tuesday I think!
Bekah boo has told me that I'm not allowed to speak about her in the Gazette, but I'm gonna anyway. Bekah has been getting ready for her dance recital a week from Monday. That means we get to hear Hairspray 24/7 (well, not quite that much) but it can get annoying sometimes…funny thing is, she won't let dad watch her, but she'll be dancing right in front of him! That makes me giggle!
Hannah is her normal adorable self! Earlier this week, she spilled some Ramen noodles on her leg, and it was hurting her. So she went to mom, and said, "Mommy, my Ramen sun-burn hurts!" She has been getting ready for her Kindergarten Graduation. She gets to memorize a line for the program, and her class is singing a whole bunch of songs! She's so cute to listen to.
Mommy is still tired with work and all of that, but she's still great! Mom and I are reading the Book of Mormon together again, so that we can finish by the end of august! It's a Stake Youth activity we're doing. I hope that everyone in our ward is reading the book, but I have no clue.
Daddy is still tired, but it's fun to hang out with him. Me and daddy have a tradition that every Saturday night we go to the store just to get random odds and ends for Sunday dinner. On the way to and from the store we listen to Showtunes Saturday night on Kosy 106.5! Kosy is definitely my favorite radio station ever, because they play MUSICALS! So anyway…last night Emily came with us, and we had a lot of fun.
Since Jakie never tells me anything, I'll just have to wing this and do it the best that I can. Jake took his girlfriend Jessica to go see a movie with Grandma and Grandpa Garrett! I think they had a good time, but as I've said numerous times, Jakie doesn't tell me squat, so yeah!
Well, Grandma and Grandpa Garrett are down in Utah this weekend and I'm so excited to see them!! Tonight we're gonna have a BIG party over here with Grandma and Grandpa Garrett, Clayton, and Aunt Natalie, Uncle Dirk, and Ben and Maddie! I think that's everyone! I'm so EXCITED! AHH!
I think that's everything for today! I love you all.
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah
PS-Jakie gave a talk today in Sacrament meeting. He wrote a poem for mommy! Here it goes.

My mother's greatest endeavor
Is to teach all she can
To make a sad face happy
And to lend a helping hand
She gave me everything I have
And taught me all that I know
She seems to always be there for me
And let her love for me show
So respect your mother always
Or you'll pay without a doubt
For my mom often says: "I brought you into this world
And I can easily take you out."
I only want to say thank you mom
For always being so strong
And forgiving me when
I know I've done wrong!

Gazette #4

The Garrett Gazette
5/4/08
Dear Family and Friends,
I don't know that I have a lot to talk about today, so I guess I'll just go through all the week days.
Monday: It was just a normal Monday for us. Get up early, mom go to work, dad take me to school, then take the girls. Just the usual!
Tuesday: Bekah's Hershey Track Meet, was on Tuesday! It was mommy's day off, so she got to go see Bekah run. Rebekah, placed 2nd in the 50 meter, and 3rd place in the 100 meter. She did great, and we're all proud of her. We also did more yard work on Tuesday, because it was such a nice day. We spread out a bunch of dirt, and then laid some sod. The yard is looking great! We all got sunburned that day.
Wednesday: Me and Mom got to go to Young Women's, and learn to frost cake, and make TRUFFLES! Oh they were so good. Now I know how to make Carmel's and Truffles! Bekah had dance on Wednesday, and they finished learning Nicest Kids in Town.
Thursday: Emily and Grandma Clayton went and saw, The Miracle Worker! The play was about Helen Keller, and Emily said she had a lot of fun seeing that. I think that's all for Thursday.
Friday: Ummmm, We didn't really do anything all that fantastically great. I read a lot! I put rag-rolls in Bekah and Emily's hair, so it was super curly on Saturday. As I did their hair, we watched Pirate Movie.
Saturday: Emily got her 15 point Gold Cup. She had a recital at which she played one of her festival pieces. She then received her cup! She was very excited to get that! I did AIM! (a piano program, where I am judged on different aspects of my piano skills.) I think I passed that, but I probably won't know 'till my piano lesson on Thursday, and then I will receive a medal! I am excited.
We have all been going bonkers with End-Of-Level Testing. I've been studying my brains out, and I don't even start testing until tomorrow. I think the girls have already started their testing.
That's it I think. We love you all! MWAH!
Love,
Mom, Dad, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah
Hugs and Kisses!

Gazette #3

The Garrett Gazette
4/27/08
Dear Family and Friends,
This week we have been back in school and it's been pretty okay. I think all of us are sick of school and want it to be over…NOW!
On Monday, Bekah gave our Family Home Evening lesson! It was very….how do I put it…interesting. Besides the fact that she was jumping off the walls, she did pretty good. The lesson was about the Creation of the Earth. She had some nice activities, like a scavenger hunt, and so on. It was hilarious to watch!
Bekah also found out that her teacher is going to have a baby, and she has been so excited about it. She has gone all over the house finding crafts she can put together so that she can give her teacher a present. Bekah is so thoughtful and I love it!
Friday was a great fun day for daddy and Hannah. They went on a field trip for Hannah's school. The field trip was to a Dinosaur Museum. I'm not sure all that went on there, but according to the pictures, it looked like they had a lot of fun. (I'll include some)
Emily has been reading the Harry Potter series, and she just finished with the sixth book! She is excited to finish the series, but right now, she is VERY angry at Snape! (If you guys have read The Half-Blood Prince you know why she'd be mad)
On Friday night, I went Babysitting. I babysat for one of mom's friends. Her kids were Kirk and Emma Heaton. (the most adorable kids on the planet) Well…I was putting together a puzzle with Kirk, and I mentioned that the puzzle was frustrating. He looked at me and said, "Yeah, Fru-stra-ting!" About a half hour later, as I was putting the kids to bed, Kirk started screaming, and cried, "Megan, you are Fru-stra-ting!" I couldn't help but giggle, I was just proud that I taught a kid a new word!
Now, Saturday was my favorite part of the week. For one, there was no school, but also because I got to go to Youth Conference for our stake. John Bytheway spoke to us about the Book of Mormon, and he was so funny! The time just flied by while listening to him. Then he gave us the challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of August! After Brother Bytheway spoke to us, we had breakfast! I didn't like the breakfast very much cuz everything was all dried out, but I did like the Orange Juice. We also performed skits. Each building in our stake did a skit. Our skit was about the gold plates, but the other buildings did great jobs with their skits.
Our whole family has had Dentist appointments this week and dad promised us $5.00, If we had no cavities. Unfortunately none of us could measure up to that except for Mom!
Well, Friday was Mid-term for us, so that means only half a term left till school gets out. That sounds wonderful. I can't wait till summer when I get to sleep in and it'll be warm enough to play outside. Summer sounds heavenly right now!
I think that is all that is going on over here! I hope to hear from you all, just to know all that's going on in your lives!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Meg, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah

Gazette #2

The Garrett Gazette
4/22/08
Dear Family and Friends,
Sorry this week is kinda late!
This week has been a fun week for our family. Well, the past couple days have been fun. It was spring break this week so we got a lot of free time. On Monday, we cleaned the house a WHOLE bunch! A lot of our time has been spent cleaning actually.
We did; however, get to go see Spiderwick Chronicles at the dollar theater. I loved the show and I think the rest of my family did too. Jake brought his "girlfriend" (he says that she isn't his girlfriend, but I'm pretty sure she is) The whole time Jake and Jessica were holding hands and being weirdo's. But that's okay...I guess.
Mommy has still been working everyday; although, she does get Tuesdays and Sundays off! She is super tired, and stressed, and I think prayers in her behalf would do some good!
Yesterday, Daddy took Me, Emily, Rebekah and a whole bunch of my friends to go see Smokey Joe's Café--a play down at the Scera Theater in Orem. When I was in Aladdin Jr. our directors were Chad and Tina Mortensen. They were both in Smokey Joe's Café and they were wonderful. All the friends who came with us to the play, were some of the Aladdin Cast! We had a lot of fun, and best of all, we got to reunite with Chad and Tina!
Mommy had a headache, so she couldn't go to the play. She ended up staying home with Hannah, and they had lots of fun. They watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. Then they played hangman until Hannah fell asleep! Hannah had a blast having a late night with mommy!
I also got to go to a late night on Friday with a bunch of my Cinderella peeps. Emily had a sleepover with her BFF Jessica!
Hannah has been her normal crazy self. The other day, she and dad were playing with daddy's binoculars. She asked Daddy, "Can I look through your testiscopes?". (imagine her holding her hands in a binocular form, in front of her eyes) I'm not sure how she got testiscopes out of binoculars, but it was cute! She also got to ride a horse yesterday morning! One of our neighbors' dad, was riding around the neighborhood on the horses, and Rachelle let Hannah get on and ride!
Mommy told me to say that we've almost got the sprinkling system put in on the right side of the house! I know that mommy's excited about that! Mom and Dad have done a whole bunch of yard work, and the yard is looking great! Daddy took Thursday and Friday off to spend time with us while mommy was at work.
Throughout all of spring break, all the girls wanted to have a picnic. We finally had one on Friday! We had hotdogs and chips, and stuff!
Well, because it's been spring break, I don't really have much else to report on. We do start school again tomorrow though. *BLAH* I really don't like school.
Anyway, that is the end of our Gazette for this week. I hope you have a fabulous day, and I'll talk to y'all later!

Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Meg, Emly, Bekah, and Hannah

First Garrett Gazette

The Garrett Gazette
4/15/08
Dear Family and Friends,
For the few of you who don't know me, I am Meg Garrett! Kirk and Dawn Garrett are my parents!
For a Personal Progress 10 Hour Project, I am writing a newsletter for our family, basically to tell everyone what is going on in our lives and what we may need help with, etc. So, knowing that I am only 13 years old, bear with me on this, and I hope you enjoy! I will be sending this out almost every Sunday!
First off, I got this idea from one of my best friends Nicole (I may often refer to her as Bert) Her family does the 'Bunker Bits' and this may be WAY different from what their family does, but I do what I can!
The past month or so has been very busy for us. As you may or may not know, Mom just got a new job starting on March 17th. She works for 1-800-CONTACTS and I think she likes her job! Later she can elaborate on that subject if she wants. Because of mommy's job, we all get to help out a lot more around the house. This can be annoying at times, but I think it'll help us all out in the long run.
Daddy is daddy. He is definitely a more tired daddy, but he's doing ok I think! He can definitely sympathize with mom a bit more now. He gets to be the taxi service, laundry guy, money maker, and somewhere in there he has to get some sleep. I think he's having LOADS of fun! Daddy got a new calling too. He is the second counselor in the Sunday School presidency. Or maybe he's the first counselor, I don't really know!
Mommy is great! She has to leave early for work, but she still gets home in time to see us and have some fun with us kids! Mom loves it when we help out around the house, and today when we cleaned the entire top floors of the house while she was at work, she was very happy! As well as her new job, she also got a new calling. She is now my Beehive leader, and I LOVE It! She is so much fun!
Recently, Jake was the assistant director for a High School play called Witch Hunt. (Can you believe it? Jake was actually interested in a play!!) Our family went and saw the play for Family Home Evening a couple weeks ago and it was pretty cool. The younger girls were totally confused though. The play was done for a competition or something, and the High School made it to regionals or something like that. (Jake never tells me anything, so I have no clue.)
As for me, I'm doing pretty good. As you all know, I was in the musical The Truth About Cinderella. That Upstage play was pretty fun, and I got the part as Lady Scone. We finished with that play and now I am play-less! It feels kind of weird not having a million and one things to do. As of right now, I am in show choir at Payson Jr. High School, and I'm having a blast. We have one more concert coming up in May and we are going to perform a whole bunch of songs, including: Dance Evolution, Lollipop, Seize the Day, and One Short Day. My BFF at PJHS, Kylee, and I are choreographing One Short Day, and it is so much fun! Other than that, I don't think I've done anything majorly exciting.
Emily is doing wonderful. She and Dad are still doing that 'No Sugar' thing, and Emily is doing great! I have no clue how she could do that, I would be eating sugar within 20 minutes of starting the contest. Yikes! Emily is doing very well in school, and I am very proud of her! A while back she had a wax museum, in which she was the Great, the wonderful… HELEN KELLER! She researched all about Helen Keller, and then told everyone about her! She did wonderful and I'm glad I was there to support her. Right now her class is starting a new unit about the states and capitals. She is doing a report on the magnificent state, Oregon, and she seems pretty excited about it!
Oh yeah, Emily and I both had a piano festival! During that festival we were judged on two songs that we played. Both of us got SUPERIORS!!!! That was very exciting!
Bekah-Boo is fabulous. She has the most contagious laugh I have ever heard, and it is so cute! Recently she has started dance lessons, and if you turn on "Nicest Kids in Town" from Hairspray, you can count on her to be bouncing all over the room doing the dance. It is hilarious! Rebekah has decided to attach herself to my arm (don't ask me why) but I love getting attention from her. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Now for Hannah! Oh she is so silly. I swear, she comes up with the most random things to say! Like this morning, I was trying to get her to clean the bathroom, and she started yelling, "DON'T DO MY HAIR, I ALREADY DID MY HAIR!" I must admit, her hair was a disaster, but I certainly wasn't going to try to do anything about it! Then I wanted her to pick up her dirty clothes and she firmly stated, "Nope! I'm a goblin!" Don't ask me where she got that! At school, Hannah's kindergarten class did a nursery rhyme thingy, and she got to be Jill (from Jack and Jill). She wore an adorable pink dress and had a pink little bucket! I love Baby Roo!

Well, that's our family story, and I hope you enjoyed it!
Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jacob, MEGAN, Emily, Rebekah, and Hannah!