Blog reboot

Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Garrett Gazette

Dear family and friends,

I'm sorry it has been a while since we have updated, but here I am. Well, actually this is Bekah! Meg has been busy lately so Emily and I will switch off doing it.

Throughout the year we have been doing a lot of things. I guess I will just start with the basic things. I'm in 8^th grade and I love it! It is very fun and I have really cool friends. Meg is in college. She is going to BYU. She has been a little stressed out, but she has been doing good. Emily is in her first year of HIGH SCHOOL! I know, she is growing up so fast. Hannah is... well, Hannah. She is in 5^th grade now. Mom is still working at 1-800contacts and Dad continues to work at the post office.

This week has started like any other week. We are a crazy singing family going through school. I actually have good grades! Everyone else has always had good graded though. They are doing very well.

Emily is doing rehearsals for Seussical the Musical. It's the musical that PHS is doing this year. She is the understudy for Mazy! She is also dancing around the house practicing for social dance. She loves it!

We haven't been in any musicals since Alice and Wonderland. It's kind of sad, but it gives us a chance to work on other things. Alice in wonderland was way fun. It was the last upstage play that we will do! Meg wasn't in that one sadly. She was in Sound of Music. I will get to that later. Emily was the tall Alice. She did fabulous and was so funny. It was really fun to watch from the side of the stage. Me and Hannah were rock lobsters. It was really fun to dance around in lobster costumes. It was fun!

Back to the Sound of Music. Meg did amazing as the part of Maria. I don't know if it was her favorite part, but she was a shining star up there. She did amazing and did a good job with sticking to it.

I would say the real fun this week was Saturday. Meg performed in her choir concert. She looked beautiful. I didn't go, but I bet she did amazing! She has been doing a fabulous job from what I've been hearing around the house. Emily went with her friends to watch Nacho Libre. It sounded like she had fun. Hannah had a sleepover with her friend Katie. My friends and me had a party at my house and it was crazy! We all had way to much sugar. Gratefully Hannah and Katie were there to make sure we didn't destroy the basement. Mom and Dad spent time up stairs watching movies and trying to ignore the crazy sounds coming from the basement!

Emily kind of lives in her own world, I don't exactly know where she is. She is crazy and kind of just does what she wants. She sings and dances and is a very fun person to be around. She is still being a very good person even with all the bad High School influences around her. I love how random and funny she is. Sometimes I wonder if she in even meaning to be funny, but she makes me laugh.

Meg is still the outgoing, fun person that she always is. She has been working hard for school. She has been having a rough time, but she is doing amazing. She has been very good on staying focused on what she needs to do. She is still working at the red barn. I am amazed how she is balancing everything out right now and still has the time to spend with her family and her boyfriend Adam. She is still a very good person and does good everywhere she goes. I admire how strong she is.

Hannah is very random. She is so funny and is a little DQ. She says and does the most random things in the world. I have no idea where the things she brings up come from. I just learned to laugh and not question her because when I do I just get more confused. She is like a little teenager. She goes to school and plays with one of her friends. The thing that is the weirdest is that her feet keep getting dirty even when she wears shoes. She walks into the house and has to wash her feet before she can stand on the carpet. I wonder about her sometimes.

I have kind of been a facebook junky and I love my friends to death! They are so hyper and funny I just want to bust out laughing every time I'm around them. They are over all the coolest people (besides my family, of course) in the whole wide world! We had a party as I said earlier. It was insane. We ate a lot of sugar, played Just Dance and American Idol, and took pictures. We had a blast! The people in the photo are my friends at the party. Jacob is the one in the yellow shirt. The other Jacob is the one in the brown shirt. Rylee is in the purple, and Cambrielle is in the blue.

Mom has been the coolest mom in the world. Doing her job and being the best mommy ever at the same time. I love her and am very grateful for her. She is doing a good job on helping us do what we need to do and keeping us on track.

Dad has been doing school and work. He still eats dinner with us, but I love being able to spend time with him on Sundays. We go fishing a lot! I love fishing with him. It is a way to get away from the annoying problems and spend some time with my dad. There is always a story to tell when we are done.

Our dear dog Isabelle died on May 23. It was a very hard thing to get over. She was the best dog that anyone could ask for. We all miss her and remember her. She was and still is a part of our family.

That is all I have to say right now. Emily will be doing this next week and will fill you up on what I missed. We love you!

The Garrett Gazette - Finally!

Dear Family and Friends,

Nice to see y'all again! I think the space between the last post and now is the longest one yet! Oops! So I guess I'll just write and see what people can understand!

Rebekah graduating from
Elementary School!

Since the last time I wrote we've gone through another year of school. This year was my junior year and it was great to meet people and make wonderful friendships. It was hard for me to say goodbye to those who graduated, but guess what?! That will be me in a year! Crazy, huh! Emily finished 8^th grade with flying colors!!! She got fantastic grades, and we are all so proud of her!! She was in Perfect Harmony this year and she did a great job. At her Christmas concert I was able to sing a duet with her. That was a lot of fun! At her final concert, she sang by herself for the first time. She sang “Orange Colored Sky” and she stole the show!! What an amazing jazz singer. (Dad will post the video as soon as he can get it to work). Emily has also developed her lower range extremely well. In ward choir she sang tenor. Holy cow!! Bekah Boo completed 6^th grade this year, and that means no more elementary school ever again! This year was a hard year for her, but she made it through and we're proud! She has learned many life lessons about friends, and she's very grateful to her teacher! Hannah finished 3^rd grade and she had a great time! She's so strange, but that's okay!

Me and my wonderful
Homecoming date!

I've had great fun dating this year! There's lots of drama involved with being 16, but mostly I really like it. I was privileged to go to all but one dance this year and it was fun. I was asked to Homecoming, El Cheapo, and Prom. I also took out two boys to Sadie Hawkins and Morp! I was also able to participate in Chamber Choir and Concert Choir this year! That was so fun! Choir tour was amazing. There was a lot of driving involved (being that we drove to California). We won a few awards at a festival, goofed off at Disneyland, almost froze at the beach, and had a wonderful Sunday singing at different churches. 

Me and my besties as we entered
Disneyland during Choir Tour!

This year our family got to take a look behind the scenes of a play. Normally us kids are on the stage performing our hearts out, but we kinda changed it up a little. Upstage did “Narnia” but none of us auditioned. We ended up being techies. Dad controlled the sound, and I was the mic lady! I got to run up and down and everywhere to make sure actors could be heard! Emily ran the spotlight! Dang she's a pro! We have all gained more respect for what happens backstage. I now understand how important the techies are, how much we need to appreciate them! What a good lesson to learn!

"Somewhere that's green"

Speaking of acting...I was in Little Shop of Horrors this year! I got to play Audrey and holy cow, that was sooooo fun! I got to speak in a whiny new york accent and it was great fun! I also had a black eye and a broken arm, and I got to die! :D 

Mommy tried out for Jekyll and Hyde! She is in the play and it'll be totally epic!!! They perform around Labor Day, so we'll keep y'all updated on that just in case you wanna come see it! It's a tiny cast of 30 people and mom is so good that she gets to be in it! She will be in the ensemble, but with a play like that, any part is amazing. The songs are fantastic and she'll do so well!! She got to sing for a fundraiser for the Springville American Legion with her friend Carey and all the old guys loved her!

Daddy is back on his graveyard shift. Yay!! He likes it a lot better than going to work at 7:30 in the evening. He has also decided to take the summer off of school! What a relief. No more school for anyone!

Emily and her excellent grades!

As I've already mentioned, Emily was in Perfect Harmony this year! Because she is so amazing, she got to be in the Honor's Choir, where they select a few amazing students from each junior high school to sing in a big concert. She had a lot of fun doing that, and the choir sounded amazing! Emily has started to read Les Miserables. Ya know...that big fat book that no one understands? Well she's reading it, and it's awesome!! In her talent show this year at the Junior High, she played “River Flows in You” by Yiruma. She's just amazing!

Speaking of “River Flows in You,” my friend Adam plays the cello and so we got together and played that song with me on the piano and him on the cello! Oh my goodness it was beautiful!!! When we get it down way good we will perform it (whether you like it or not, Adam) and I would love to record it too! It's so beautiful! And like Em, I got to go to All State (a high school version of Honor Choir) and sing at the tabernacle in Salt Lake! Oh what a good experience!

Bekah Boo loves to draw! She is becoming a wonderful artist and she draws everything! You should see her fairies, they are so adorable!! We're all getting used to fish coming and going, but she has been able to have baby fish! She had fun taking care of them and she ended up giving two of them to our neighbors and the rest ended up dying. She has been learning the ukelele this year and she wants one to own so bad!! She's almost twelve and she's SO looking forward to girl's camp!

It's Hannah...need I say more?

Hannah is insane! She has lost tons and tons of teeth and she says the strangest things! The other night, I came home from a stomp singing one of the songs they played and she sang her own version, with actions to go with it! “I threw my sandwich at the subway guy, sayin' 'Hey-o, I want my Mayo.'” She's crazy! Her and Rebekah also created a little theater for me and Emily. They popped popcorn, made cookies, and had different sizes of water for us to choose from. We had tickets that they made, and Hannah decided we needed to pay for the food somehow. She took our tickets and then thought about how to go about this task, then held the little bar code that Bekah drew, up to her eyes and said “Scan, Scan.” Oh that was hilarious!! She did the simple machine fair this year and she's such a genius that she won the Math Olympics!

I think that's about it for now! I'll try and be a better journalist this summer and keep y'all updated!! Love you all!!!!

Love,

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

PS-I always have pics on facebook if you want to see more!! :D 

Sadie Hawkins Update!

The following video is from Cameron, to answer Meg's invitation! And yes, we were all gethered around the T.V. to watch it with her, we always seek maximum embarassing in these situations.

Sadie Hawkin's invite

This is a copy of a video that Meg gave to one of her friends, to ask him to go to Sadie Hawkins. She decided on the fly, and left it to Dawn and I.(Hey I'm a poet) If you want details, she'll be updating the blog soon.

6 July 2010

The Garrett Gazette
6 July 2010

Dear Family & Friends,

Oh my heavens how time flies. Last time I wrote was the end of February....4 whole months ago! Well I have no clue where to start, so I'll just type what I think of first! (Probably not in chronological order)

As you may have noticed, we performed “Doo Wop” We had a blast with that play! The performances went very well and lots of great memories were made. We were sad to be done with the play, but at the cast party, Chad and Tina always give “awards.” With “Aladdin” it was disney characters, in “Willy Wonka” it was candy, and now with “Doo Wop” they did Fairytales (and all stories related to that.) I was awarded Glinda from “Wicked.” Emily was Jill (Jack and Jill). Bekah was Raggedy Ann, and Hannah was a Gummy Bear!

About a month after “Doo Wop” I was asked to work with Chad and Tina again for the preshow of our fundraiser, “Of Sound Dreams.” We did a 20 minute show with songs from multiple upstage plays like “Wizard of Oz”,”Aladdin”,”Doo Wop” and I sang a solo in “You're never fully dressed without a smile,” from “Annie.” I had so much fun with that song. I got to wear a long lime green and yellow dress with a top hat! That whole preshow was a mess of crazy costume changes! I had to switch from a body suit to a flowing dress, etc. For the actual fundraiser Chad Hymas and Jason Hewlett came. Chad is a motivational speaker and he did a very good job. Jason is an entertainer. He impersonates different singers and stuff like that! He was absolutely hilarious! We had such a fun night being able to see those two.

Since then we haven't done any more musicals. We had the chance to be in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat” but as a family, we decided that we could use a break for the summer. So as of right now we are not doing anything. Occasionally we get sad that we're not doing anything, but then we realize that we've had a great summer not having to worry about lines, dancing, acting, costumes, etc. We just watch lots of movies and have fun together.

Jakie is married now! He's been married for a little over a month now. The wedding worked out very well. The actual wedding took place in Grandma Clayton's backyard, but it got too cold, so the reception was at the church next to her house. There were lots of people, and lots of pictures taken. I was a bridesmaid so I stood in the line....it took forever! The day after the wedding, our the Garrett family was still at our house, so Jake and Jessica came over to open all their wedding presents before they left to Seattle.

We celebrated Jake's birthday on the 4th of July. We had a delicious meal, and I made Chocolate Eclair bars for desert! We had a fun time, and now that it's his real birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKIE!!! We love you!

Emily and I went to girls camp at the end of June. We went to Heber Valley and it's beautiful up there! Our theme was “We Can Do It” and we did! Physically, this was probably the hardest camp. Everywhere we went, we hiked! We went on a challenge course and did a zip line! That was SO much fun. Em and I got sun burned quite a lot, and ever since then, my nose, and ears having been peeling.

Hannah's baptism was a few weeks before the wedding, so we had relatives down a lot during May. She looked adorable in her white dress. We had almost all our relatives there, and It was great to see everyone.

The day of Hannah's baptism, it was also Jessica's birthday! We were able to get her a cake, some presents, and sing happy birthday many many times! That was a fun day!

Emily's teeth are straightening out beautifully! She's having fun choosing different colors for her braces! Last week she got some glasses and she looks so cute with them on! Now she is getting ready to go to Oregon and visit the Garrett side of the family. She is leaving this Saturday, and she is so excited to see all her cousins, aunts and uncles, and especially Grandma and Grandpa.

I noticed I haven't said much about Bekah! She just finished the fifth grade, and she finished with good grades. Ever since Christmas she's been on a fish frenzy. She's been able to buy a few fish, and Mom and Dad even bought her a little frog. Unfortunately the poor frog (we named it Bobby) died while I was at Girls Camp. They buried Bobby in the backyard and poor Bekah had a hard time with that! She has proved to be very responsible with keeping her fish healthy, besides the frog.

Daddy has had to deal with his stupid job because they changed his schedule. He had to go in a little earlier, and then work on the weekends. Luckily his schedule is changing again, and he'll be able to get saturday and sunday off.

We love you all and miss you all!

Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Me, Emily, Bekah, Hannah.

Last day of Performances

I thought that I would give Meg a break, and write the blog. Tonight is the last performance of "Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood." I love watching all my girls perform. Meg has done an outstanding job as the forgotten middle daughter who is a brainiac. My favorite part is her little snort at the end. Emily and Bekah are in the ensemble. I loved making them smile. My favorite scene with Emily is her sitting on the stage, smiling and being beautiful. Bekah dances up and down the aisles. Hannah is a real stinker.

I have to take a moment to wish my sister Misty a happy birthday!

Feb. 26th, 2010

The Garrett Gazette

2/26/10

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Valentines Day and St. Patty's day!!!! Wow! Lots of stuff is going right now, so I've had no time to write, but it's a Friday and I love Friday's, so I decided to update a little bit!

As many of you know, our whole family is involved in Upstage's “Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood” We start performing soon, and those who can, we'd love it if you could come! We start performances on March 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26, and 27th. If you'd like to come see the play, please contact someone from our family, and we can definitely tell you the prices and get you tickets! The play is so much fun, and the whole cast is having a blast. There's lots of dancing and singing and our cast is just amazing!

Jakie doesn't work for our neighbor anymore, he works for a bigger company and makes more per hour. We're all proud of him! He also got his Wisdom Teeth pulled on February 15th. I know his pain, so I feel bad for him, but I hear it's getting a little bit better!

I finally got my learners permit for driving just a few weeks ago. Now dad makes me drive all over the place and all my siblings freak out when I drive. They all shout, “Put your seatbelt on so she doesn't kill us!” It's kind of obnoxious!!

Emily got braces just after my last post!! She got them on January 12 and she looks great! She's only had them for a couple months, but her teeth are already moving all over the place. She can't eat normally yet because it hurts, but she'll get over it eventually!

Bekah gets to do the “wax museum” since she's in 5th grade and she is Marilyn Monroe. She's had loads of fun researching Marilyn and she's super excited to be done with the assignment. She'll do a great Job.

Hannah burned herself on Monday, and it's not just a little burn. It goes all the way from her wrist to her elbow. She got way too close to the fireplace and it was a rough night for her. She's been taking medicine though, and she feels much better now.

Daddy is doing well in school! He's done a very good job at working, schooling and spending lots of time with us all at once! I know he's probably stressed, but he's always willing to help us with all our homework and comfort us! I love my daddy!!!!

Mommy is ultra busy too. She works all day and then does play stuff at rehearsals. She's the producer again so she works a lot on helping the show run smoothly! I'm glad that she does this for us!!!!

Well that's all I've got for now!!!!

We love you all very much!!!!

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

Jan 10, 2010

The Garrett Gazette
1/10/10

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Late Christmas and Happy New Year!!!! I know that I'm very late, but that's okay right?! We had a lot of stuff going on, but I don't remember it all, so I'll do my best.

Everyone of us kids had a Christmas concert type of thing. Hannah sang some songs with her class and mom went to see that. The Monday before Christmas, Bekah's grade did “Grandma got ran over by a reindeer” and Rebekah played the “Grandpa” She had a lot of fun doing that, and according to Grandma and Mommy, she was hilarious! Emily had a choir concert on the 15th of December where she and I sang a duet of “Santa Baby.” We did super good, although we had some technical difficulties and the rest of the concert was cute too. I had a concert on the 16th where I sang three songs with my class and as a whole choir, we invited the Alumni to come up and sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” with us. That was a lot of fun, and it sounded so cool. The whole auditorium was decorated with Poinsettias so it looked beautiful.

We had a great Christmas break. I was able to go sledding with a few friends, and I haven't done that since I was little, so that was an adventure.

Christmas Eve went great! We had a typical dinner of Ham and Christmas potatoes and then we opened presents! We all had fun opening everything, but as you probably know, the last present of the night was Jessica's. Jakie gave Jessica a box of sees candy with an engagement ring in it and he proposed. The ring is uber pretty and the date is now set for May 21st, 2010.

Christmas was a good day too! I was the first kid awake, (that hasn't happened for 3 or 4 years) and we were all surprised by what Santa left us! I got a rockin awesome camera that the whole Garrett family has already seen. Bekah got an aquarium and a fish named Leo. She loves that fish. Emily got a cute outfit and a really pretty calendar holder, and Hannah got an adorable dress and some Barbie and the Three Musketeers stuff.

The day after Christmas we went up to Idaho to spend some time with Daddy's side of the family. We stayed in a Hotel and we had loads of fun with all our cousins. I took a jillion pictures and we all ate TONS of food!

On New Years Eve, Bekah went to a party and I went to a multi stake dance until about 10:30. We, of course, drank sparkling cider, and counted down to midnight!

On the day that we started school again, Daddy also went to school. He started college over at UVU and he is still overwhelmed with everything, so I'll give you more info later. We also started rehearsals for “Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood” that me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah are all in. We are so excited to be in this show. It'll be a blast!

The start of this new year has brought some realization with it. I noticed that this year is going to be a year of changes for our family. 1St, daddy started school so that's a big change! Hannah is turning 8 and will get baptized this year and Jakie is getting married. I am turning 16, so I'll be getting my permit, and my liscense this year along with being able to date. SCARY! So this year will be super different than last year, but it'll be good.

Happy Birthday to Ava and Alea! We love you two soooo much and I can't wait to see you again!

Also....Happy Birthday Aunt Amelia!!!! You're a rockin awesome aunt, and thanks for the Christmas presents you gave us!!!

Happy Birthday Keith and Kacey!! (hopefully I spelled that right) We love you and can't wait to see you again.

And Happy Birthday Grandma Clayton!! We're still a couple weeks off, but still, hope you have a great one!!!

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

11/29

The Garrett Gazette

11/29/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Holidays!!!! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we sure enjoyed it! I have a lot to write about, so I’ll back up a little bit.

Since the last time I wrote we’ve had a bunch of little things going on! I’ll start with concerts. Emily had a choir concert in October, that I wasn’t able to go to because of Young Women’s but I hear it was great. Her class sang “Dance Evolution” which was a song that I did my first year of Show Choir and it was so much fun. It was fun to hear her singing that around the house just like I did. I also had a choir concert like a week after Emily’s. I am in Advanced Women’s Chorus, but our name is “Bella Voce” meaning Beautiful Voices. We didn’t sing any songs that’d be familiar to anybody, but they were pretty! The Chamber singers (that’s the top choir) sang “America the Beautiful” and it was GORGEOUS!!!!!! Emily’s next concert is December 15th I believe, and she is trying out for a solo this week. My next concert is December 16th, and we are singing some beautiful songs, so if you live close enough to come, that’d be great!

In the last Gazette I mentioned that I tried out for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Well we performed that about 3 weeks ago, and it went very well. I’ll post pictures! I had to wear a dress that I couldn’t breathe in and I got to sing a big solo! It was really fun!

Emily and I got great grades for first term. They were all A’s and B’s!! I think Bekah and Hannah got good grades too, but they have a different grading system, so I’m not really sure!

Emily, Bekah and I all tried out for an Upstage play a couple weeks ago and we all made it into the play! The musical is “Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood” which is a 50’s version of little red riding hood. I made the part of “Medium Purple” (Little Red’s sister) and Emily and Bekah are both in the chorus. They get to do SIX PART HARMONY!!!! That’s going to be so much fun and we’ll probably get to wear POODLE SKIRTS!!!!!!! We’re super excited!!

Last Saturday our whole family went to Logan to visit Afton. (She’s my old piano teacher, and one of mom’s best friends.) Mom, Afton, and Carey went to sing at some spiffy thing for a while but while we were up there we did a lot of stuff while mom was practicing. Dad took everyone over to a Cheese Factory, and a cookie place so they had a lot of fun doing that! While they did that, I got to tape wires down for Afton’s sound system. While they were performing we all watched “Star Trek” and enjoyed Afton’s daughter Shelby. She was so cute and she did the funniest things! We sure had a blast just playing with her!

Now for Thanksgiving! We hosted dinner at our house this year and set up everything in the basement. Mom made mostly everything, but I made Carmel and Spinach dip!! All the food was soooo good. I just wish it would have snowed. It was a pretty nice day, but I’ve been looking forward to snow for a long time, and it’s not working!

Well that’s all the things that come to mind. We love you all and hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and have a good Christmas!!!!

Love,
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah!

PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emily, Me and Bekah with buds! Jitterbug, Ozian, and Winkie

Mom and Hannah

Mom and Meg are Jitterbugs

Mommy looked soooo cool

Keep reading for another Gazette!!!!!!

Garrett Gazette 9/25

The Garrett Gazette
9/25/09

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s been FOREVER since I’ve written, so we’ve got a lot to catch up on! The biggest thing that’s happened from the last time I wrote and now, was the Wizard of Oz. You all should be aware that our whole family was in that by now! Mom was the Wicked Witch double, an Ozian and a Jitterbug. I was an Ozian and a Jitterbug, Emily was an Ozian and a Winkie guard and Bekah and Hannah were Munchkins. Daddy was backstage helping with the flying. When I last wrote, that was when the play started to pick up and our lives went crazy! That was also when we made the most friends I think! The play turned out to be amazing and everyone who came to watch it loved it! It was so exciting to see Grandma and Grandpa Clayton, Aunt Amy, and Aunt Amelia! Jake also brought Jessica and I think they all enjoyed it! After the play was over, it was nice to get back to a normal, boring life, but it was also REALLY sad because we wouldn’t get to see our cast for awhile! Luckily we had a cast party just this last Monday and we were able to see everyone again!

School is going well for us all. Jakie is going to college, but I don’t know how to say the name of the college so you have to ask Jake about that. He seems to like it fine, as he talks about it a lot when he comes home for dinner on Sundays.

Emily is now in Jr. High and I think she likes it! She was pretty scared about getting lost and not being able to open her locker, but she was awesome and totally rocked at everything!!! She loves her choir class and math, so she’s doing very well! She has VERY good grades so far.

Bekah is in fifth grade at Park View. She likes her teacher and she’s made a bunch of new friends in her class, so life is good! Hannah is in second grade and she has a teacher that Emily used to have! She likes that class, but I don’t really know much about it, because they don’t talk about school much to me.

I am in High School and it’s big and scary, but I’m getting used to it. I’m pretty sure there is no dress code because people just wear whatever they want, whether it’s modest or not. My classes are going well and I have straight A’s so I’m good in that area. I tried out for the school musical which was originally going to be The Sound of Music and then in the middle of auditions they changed it to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I made it as ‘Miss Jones’ who is the big boss’ secretary. She is a “dragon lady” as the part is described. The play is way cute and I’m super excited!!!!!

I don’t know that there is really much else to talk about because this is all that consumes our lives. We watch a lot of TV, but don’t worry, we’re not couch potatoes because we do enough running around to keep that from happening.

Well that’s all I can think of at the moment, so I’ll post more as I come up with it!

HUGS AND KISSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

August Gazette!!!

The Garrett Gazette

8/6/09

Dear Family and Friends,

School is almost back in! Just less than 2 weeks left now! I know that part of all of us is excited, you know to see the friends and show off all our new clothing, but I know our whole family is dreading the homework....BLAH!!! And then there is the fact that Emily is moving up to Jr. High and I know she's scared of getting lost, and I'm moving up to high school and I am TERRIFIED of getting lost! Have you seen how HUGE that school is?? Anyway, first day of school for all of us is August 19th. Well everyone except Jakie who starts college on my birthday, August 17th.

Wizard of Oz is almost here, we open in 3 weeks! We still have soo much to do to get ready. We still gotta finish our costumes (they are almost done so that won't be TOO difficult) and finish blocking, and then stick everything together and work out all the kinks! Can we do it?? Hopefully! Emily is now a Winkie Guard (those are Witch's guards) and she is having a BLAST doing that! Hannah and Bekah look so cute in their little munchkin costumes!!

Mommy sang a song in sacrament meeting a few weeks ago, and two weeks ago she gave a talk in church! She did a super duper job! She is a good example to our family! I love you Mommy!!!!

Last week a family friend Marty, had a son Logan, who got baptized. Mom and dad went to that for the morning and I went to a stake baptism to play the piano for that, so emily got to babysit for an hour or so while I was gone. She did a good job.

Well that's pretty much our whole entire life right now! None of us have anything else going on except for random parties and things that we go to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE ELMO!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT MELISSA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRI!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!

WE HOPE YOU ALL HAVE WONDERFUL BIRTHDAYS THIS MONTH!

Love,

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

XoxoXOxoxO

Manti Pageant Pictures

1: Hannah and Meg standing in front of the temple.

2: Actors from the play. This girls name was Emily and she played a Lamanite dancer. I loved her costume and Make up so I had to put the picture.

3: A picture of Grandpa and Hannah that is really cute. They were best buds!

4: We got lots of pictures of the temple, but they were all in the day time and I think the temple is so pretty when lit up, so I chose this pic.

July Gazette

The Garrett Gazette
7/14/09
Dear Family and Friends,
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! And Pioneer day too, because I probably won't write again until after that. Well, life's been pretty good for us, hope everything is going great for you guys too!!
I'm not exactly sure where to begin, so I guess I'll just start with news of Jakie!

I know, I know...you're thinking “That's a first” and it is, but anyway, Jakie moved out of the house on July 5th, but officially, he moved his stuff on his birthday on July 6th. He is now 18 years old and he's out of the house. He lives in an apartment with one of his friends in Spanish Fork and he's gonna go to college next year which he starts on August 17th which is my birthday. He still works for Nick at ISG as far as I'm aware and his roommate loves his cooking!

Wizard of Oz is coming along nicely. We are starting blocking this week...*GAG* but at least we're done learning dances. Mom and I are in the Jitterbug which is gonna be a lot of fun! We get to wear fun costumes! Mommy is done with her costume, she just has to do the finishing touches now! Bekah's costume is finished, and I have the top of mine just about done. We will work on Emily's on Friday and hers is gonna be so cute!! Hannah already has a costume, so we don't have to worry about her too much. I'm excited to do the girls hair! It's supposed to look funny, so we're gonna do it funny!!!!!!

Daddy got to take last week off from work, so we got to do a bunch of fun stuff!! We watched movies, and went shopping, and camped in the back yard, and all sorts of things! I think dad had a lot of fun, but now he has to work again, and we're all kinda sad.

On Tuesday Emily and I got to go do Baptisms for the Dead. It was Emily's first time, and it was really neat.

Tuesday I also got to go on the 4th year pack-in, which really wasn't a pack in. We drove up to the campsite and set up tents and then drove back down. I had LOADS of fun up there. We painted faces and played Volleyball and played pranks on the leaders, and went hiking and all sorts of stuff!!!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but for the past few months, I've been teaching Rebekah how to play the piano. She does pretty well with it, considering her teacher is also her sister and I'm very proud of her. Her and I played a duet for Family Home Evening last week and she did a SUPER job!

A few weeks ago, Our family and Grandma and Grandpa Clayton went to the Manti Pageant. The temple was SO pretty and the pageant was great. We had lots of fun while there. We had a picnic and we took LOTS of pictures (once we get those on the computer, I'll post them) and we played Mormon Mouthful. We got to talk to some of the actors in the cast and then we watched it. It was a very spiritual experience for us.

As of right now I've got nothing left to say...I know there's more, but I can't find it in my brain, so good bye!! We love you all!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mom on the 25th and Bekah Boo on the 28th.

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

Second June Gazette

The Garrett Gazette

6/25/09

Dear Family and Friends,

HI EVERYONE!!!! I don’t have too much to write, but I want to change the blog up, so I have to write a Gazette to do that.

Lets see…I’ll start with Wizard of Oz. The girls have learned their munchkin dance and Bekah and Hannah are adorable when they do it. Mom and I learned a dance called the Jitterbug and it is SO much fun! You probably don’t know what the Jitterbug is, but if you come see the play you’ll understand! It’s a fun dance and I’m excited to be a part of it. Emily, Mom and I are all learning MOLO (Merry Old Land Of Oz) and it’s pretty fun. I get to dance with the Scarecrow at the beginning of it, in the middle of the dance Mom is a Kicker and at the end, Emily is one of the dancers. That song is a lot of fun, and it looks REALLY cool! I can’t wait to learn more of the play. I know it’s early, but I’ll give you a heads up now. We perform Wizard of Oz on August 27, 28, 29, September 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7th. I hope you will all be able to come!

Mom, Emily and I went to Girl Camp a few weeks ago. Yes, it was very, VERY rainy. We were up at Camp KoHoLoWo! It was totally different with our new ward, but I still had fun. It was Emily’s first year of camp, and I think she had some fun. Mom cheated and went home like everyday and took a bath. She’s such a cheater!

Hannah and Bekah made a new friend with a neighbor girl who just moved in. Her name is Lexi and she’s a cute girl. Hannah loves her!

Fathers day was last Sunday as y’all know, and we had a great day! Daddy got seasons 4 and 5 of X-Files so now we can continue with our obsession. J We ate all sorts of fun stuff and the Banana Pudding was DELICIOUS!!! I think Daddy had a good day. Oh Yeah! I made him some crepes and we gave him breakfast in bed! That’s never happened before, so that was fun!

On Fathers day, Emily and I got to go into Primary and sing for the primary kids. That was a pretty neat experience and plus we got candy for doing it! So I was happy!

Maybe I should mention Jakie….umm, I don’t really know what to say. He’s never home, he still works at ISG. He brings Jessica to church with us sometimes…that’s all I can really think of about him.

Happy Late Father’s Day to all the Daddy’s out there!!!!

WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!! XOXOXOXOXO
Kirk, Dawn, Jakie, Me, Emily, Bekah and Hannah!
　

Lilium!

Here is Lilium! (left to right) Carey, Afton, Dawn!

June Gazette!

The Garrett Gazette

6/2/09

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s been a LONG LONG time since I’ve written but I’ve got a LOT to catch up on so here we go! Oh and it’s probably going to be very scatterbrained!

School is out now and as my dad has said, it’s a year of moving on for our family. Jakie graduated from high school, I graduated from Jr. High and Emily graduated from Elementary school. I keep wondering where the year went. It felt like we just barely started school, but no….we’re done now!

Jake’s graduation was on May 28th. I got to skip school and go see it. Jake looked so happy and that was an awesome experience. Aunt Cheri (I think that’s how to spell your name) and Aunt Amelia got to come to the graduation as well! We went to Wingers after the graduation and ate lunch there and gave Jakie his presents. He got a laptop and a bag to go with it. Jessica also gave him a really important hoody that he really likes! Good Job Jake!!!!

Emily graduated on May 29th. I’m not sure exactly what happened at that because I was at my own school, but she looked SO pretty!!!

On May 21st I had a choir concert! Amelia also got to come to that! I was in Show Choir and Perfect Harmony, so I was in quite a few numbers. In Show Choir we did a GREASE medley and it was SO much fun! Our Choreographer was amazing and I loved her! My friend Ashlin and I sang “For Good” together at the end of the concert! We did SOOOO good! I also got the directors award in choir, which was really cool! I got a nifty medal! Grandma and Grandpa Clayton took Emily and I out for Ice Cream after that!

So I’ve mentioned a couple times that Amelia was here! Well she came down on the 21st and left on the 28th. She just brought herself and her little baby Austin!!! He was sooooo cute! We all had loads of fun with Amelia! We went shopping like 4 times with her and she took me to go see Wolverine! It was so much fun!

Mommy had a concert on Sunday! She and her two friends Afton and Carey sang a whole bunch of songs and their name is Lilium! They did an AMAZING job, and they all looked so pretty!!!! I got to do spotlight while dad worked the sound and the stage lights! I had fun with that!!!!

I know there should be something else to write about, but I really can’t think of anything! I guess I just had a brain fart! Well….I love you all and have an AMAZING summer!!!!

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

Garrett Gazette April 4, 2009

The Garrett Gazette

4/4/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Alrighty, I’ve got a LOT to say I think! Here goes…

We got about a month of a break from plays and now we’ve started up again! Sort of! In a way! Mom, Emily, Bekah and I tried out for a PCT production. They held auditions for The Wizard of Oz on March 27^th. Mom and I made callbacks. I got callbacks for Dorothy, while mom got callbacks for The Wicked Witch of the West. They didn’t even let me read lines cuz I’m not old enough, so I don’t get to be Dorothy. Mommy made it into the final two, but they chose the other lady, Ramona Samuels. She is the lady that mom sang McCavity with, so they were pretty happy for each other. Me and mom are Brush Brush beauticians. (we’re not quite sure what that is yet) Emily is an Ozian and Bekah is a munchkin!! We haven’t started rehearsals yet, but I’m excited!!! My friends Ky and Ashlin are the same thing as me! We’re gonna have a BLAST!!!

Mom, Dad and I have all had a turn being sick within the last couple weeks. Mom was soo lucky cuz she was sick while auditioning for the play. I’m even luckier cuz I got sick when I went to festival yesterday! (I’m being sarcastic by the way). Now…done with sarcasm…we did a great job at festival. In my opinion, my choir class stinks REALLY bad and I thought we would get a III. Instead we got a 1-. That’s also called a Superior minus, or it’s easier to understand as an A-. That means we were almost at the top!!

Mommy doesn’t have to work on Saturdays anymore!!! It’s SO EXCITING! Since she’s worked at 1-800-CONTACTS for a year, she gets her Saturdays off, and so she can spend them with us! We can be NOISY on Saturdays! YAY!

Our ward split last week! We used to be a part of the Highline ward, but we got too big. The Maple Dell ward got huge too, so they combined some of Highline with some of Maple Dell. They also made a new Greenridge ward. We are now part of the Maple Dell ward which is where we were at before we got split into Highline. It’s kinda bittersweet in my opinion. Kylee lives on the other side of Highline, so now we’re not in the same ward, and I don’t know very many of the girls in Maple Dell! But it is nice to see some familiar faces and I know the bishopric really well, so that’s always nice!!

The Draper Temple dedication was a couple weeks ago. Mom, Dad, Emily, Me, and Bekah got to go to that! It was really cool!! When everyone sang the Spirit of God it was really special!

I feel like I should say something about Jakie, but I can’t think of anything! He’s never home, so there’s not much to say!

Aunt Amelia had her baby. Austin Edward Newton is his name! He’s cute and squishy!!!

Loves,

Kirk, Dawn, Jake, Me, Emily, Bekah, and Hannah!

Gazette...

The Garrett Gazette

3/18/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Our life is mostly back to normal now!!! Willy Wonka ended on the 7th of this month, so since then, I’ve had to wrap up a few random other performances, but now things are almost normal.

Wonka was a blast to be in. We had so much fun with random little things and you miss those random little things when it’s all over. We had a lot of funny things happen during performance. One of the Oompa Loompas pulled the fire alarm after one of our performances. That was an adventure. We did so well some nights, and other nights we messed up everything! It was a great experience. Closing night was really hard for a lot of us. The little boy who played Charlie Bucket was having a really hard time and he was crying a lot. I cried quite a bit before we went on stage, and then after the cast party was all over there was more crying. It’s so hard to say good bye to everybody when you’ve been like a family for three months. Well, I guess I’ll stop talking about Willy Wonka now.

Last week I had a few more things that I had to perform. I had a choir concert, in which I did awful. I completely spaced a part of my dance and I was quite literally front and center. It was embarrassing. That was on Tuesday the 10th. On Thursday the 12th me and Emily had a piano recital where we played two songs. We took those songs to festival on Saturday the 14th where we both got superiors (that’s the highest you can get) and I got stars on both of my songs which means something really trippy! Once I get more info, I’ll tell you what that means.

We celebrated Emily’s birthday on Sunday the 8th. I think she had a pretty good birthday! We ate lots of sugar and she got lots of hair and make up stuff!!! I’m pretty sure she enjoyed that!!!
Well…I don’t think I have anything else to talk about, so I’ll close now!!!

We love you all. Have a wonderful week, and we’ll talk to y’all soon!!!

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

PS-Sorry, i don't have a pic of Emily on here...but i don't have a pic with all of us in it!

Gazette twenty...something?

The Garrett Gazette

2/16/09

Dear Family and Friends,

Basically if you want a short version of what has gone on in our lives it is Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, and more Willy Wonka! AHH! We are pretty much about to puke Wonka right now! But since I’m nice and want to put you through the torture, I’ll go into more detail about our lives!

This last weekend Mommy and Daddy took off and left us all alone at home. Okay, well it had been planned for a few weeks and Grandma and Grandpa took us for a few hours, but yeah. They went to Idaho for Marty’s wedding. I think Dad will go into more detail about that, but I’ll just mention that we made it through alive with no burned house!! YAY! We watched a few movies, cleaned, watched more movies, ate and yeah!

Jakie bought a car the other day. It’s little and loud and if you ask me, it’s ugly. Jakie doesn’t think it’s ugly though, so that’s why he doesn’t ask me. He loves his car!

Now…Willy Wonka! As you all know by now…our whole family (except for Jake) is involved in this play. Emily, Bekah, Hannah and I are the actors, mom is the producer, and dad is a set and sound guy! We are opening this weekend, which means we’ve been going bonkers for the last two weeks trying to get things done. We’ve had to build the set, paint the set, add more stage to the set, paint some more set, build some candy, paint the candy, hang up the candy, finish finding props and then of course run the show five jillion times. Chad and Tina (our directors) are amazing and have been working overtime along with mom and dad and the rest of the board. We go to rehearsals early, stay after rehearsals and yeah. For Pete’s sake we were at Peteetneet for 6 ½ hours today!!!! OH MY GOSH! That’s a long, long time! Anyway, that’s our life right now. School, Work and Rehearsals…but thank goodness it’ll be over soon. Speaking of which, our performances are this Friday and the next three weekends. February 20, 21, 25, 27, 28 and March 4, 6, 7 all at 7:00 PM. Ticket info is on the side bar of the blog! PLEASE, PLEASE COME!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s midterm now in school which means we have a term and a half left till summer! That is AMAZING! This year has gone by hugely fast!

I got my Young Women’s Medallion which is really nice! It’s SO pretty! We had New Beginnings yesterday and Emily got to go to that. She was really nervous, because she was the youngest one there, but I think she’s secretly excited to be in Young Women’s.

I also got my Wisdom teeth pulled a couple weeks ago. I was pretty okay for the first couple days, but then on the third day my cheeks were HUGE and I looked like a Chipmunk. I got a little bit teased at school on Monday because of my chipmunk ness (although it wasn’t as bad as it was on Sunday). I still have to keep rinsing with an antibiotic mouth wash and squirting food out of my sockets after I eat, but my mouth is feeling TONS better!

Umm….I don’t think there’s been anything else taking up all our time, so I’ll be done now I guess.

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