Pew Year in Review 2015

Pew Family Year in Review 2015

I remember when people told me to enjoy my little kids because they grow up fast. I was very skeptical. Days seemed like years and sleep seemed like a dream of long ago. So for those of you with little ones or those who are just embarking on adulthood, enjoy each moment you are living. Sometimes you might have to search for the joy but do try. It will add to the memories and you will be grateful you noticed it. So here are some of our moments. I usually don't share the downs, there were downs and there were super tough times. There were sleepless nights and days full of worry but looking back we made it through, a little wiser and maybe a little more humble. And that is life, we hope all our experiences make us a little bit better than we were.

Gwen (9) tried out some new things this year which was big for her. She tends to be a little timid. She joined Singer's Company which is an all girl singing group and they learn songs, a little choreography and acting. They performed at our city's Family Festival. She loved it so much in the spring that she is doing it this fall and we look forward to her performance at the Festival of Trees in December. She also took horseback riding lessons this summer with her friend Molly and loved it. She would like a horse, of course. She tried gymnastics this summer with her cousin Holly and loved it and is still doing that as well. She loves her 3^rd grade teacher. She still loves piano and does well at it. And she doesn't miss soccer at all. We are hoping she will someday learn to do her chores on her own. We can wish right? She's really sweet , fun, funny and distracted.

Zane (12) looks forward to being a deacon the end of November. He is in 6^th grade A.L.L. The gifted program at our school. He works hard and does well. He comes home excited to tell me some new thing he learned. We love that! He enjoyed Jr Jazz last year and will play again this winter. He tried out Ultimate Frisbee this summer. Izak and some of his friends were the coaches. It was good experience overall. His flag football team did pretty well this year. An improvement over being DEFEATED last year! He still takes piano, not his favorite but he practices anyway. He's our very responsible child! He passed off the swimming merit badge after taking the class 2 times. What a trooper! Can we tell you how happy we are that he's our last scout? Scouting is great it's just a lot of work! Not just for the boys! He is enjoying being a deacon and even gets up early to shovel snow with the older brothers for the older people in the neighborhood.  He's fun and funny too and focused!

Micah (13-1/2) enjoyed Jr Jazz last winter, they got 2^nd place in tournament. He played well. He tried out for the 9^th grade team this fall and didn't make it but was upbeat about it and hopes to make it next year. He tried out the track team last spring. That was a new experience for us! He and his fellow runners were fun to watch. He also played soccer spring and fall with his same competition team. This will be their final year together as they will need to go AAA. He isn't interested in that but he loves his teammates most of them he has played with since he was 8. He does well in school. He went to Ultimate Frisbee practices all summer with Izak. He had fun at scout camp, they camped and fished in the Uintas. He enjoys serving in his deacons quorum. He is trained to be a Family History Consultant so he's found a ton names to add to our growing box of names. He enjoys going to the temple as much as possible. He also plays the piano and is interested in accompanying in choir. He found the Temptations Radio after dancing to "My Girl" with his brothers at Taran's wedding.  He is a lot of fun when he doesn't take things too far. He is anxious to work on his eagle project. Let's get the science fair project done first. Next year we may have 2 more eagles in the family!

3v3 Ultimate Frisbee Team 2nd place Middle School Turkey Bid Tournament

Izak at the Mixed State Tournament for Ultimate Frisbee

Izak (15-1/2) passed his permit test FINALLY. Yes, it took multiple tries. So now that the weather is turning nasty we can start practicing! YEAH. Feel the sarcasm? I like teaching driving as much as I liked potty training. It stinks! Anyway, he's had a lot of changes going on this year besides driving. He decided to try out Ultimate Frisbee with some of his friends last February. Honestly I got sick of him sitting around and I had heard about it from other people and finally made him take the leap. It helped that he had 3 other friends come with. They all loved it and were immediately the top players of the lowest team. This is a whole new world to us, like track! We love it though! It's a fun game and Izak and his friends are now on the B team this fall. They moved up from D. They stop practicing for winter soon and will start up again in February. He has made new friends and they are great kids. It's fun to be a part of the Lone Peak Ultimate Frisbee family. They played in several tournaments in the spring and then practiced all summer in the mornings M-W-F for 2 hours. Pretty fun way to start the day! He also went to a camp put on by BYU CHI the Ultimate Frisbee club which he enjoyed. He started high school this fall as a sophomore and is doing well even though he is taking honors classes. Hopefully proving to himself he isn't a total goof off! He is a lot of fun but he is also very smart but in a family with lots of smart people it is sometimes hard to feel like you are smart at all. Comparison kills. He continues to take piano. He went on a 100 mile mountain bike scout camp last summer in Southern Utah. He did fine until the last day his knee gave out so he couldn't ride his bike anymore. What great scout leaders to take these young men on such an ambitious ride! Hopefully he will work on his eagle project stuff while Ultimate Frisbee is on break. Maybe he can get it done before he's 18! I'm not holding my breath.

Emily as Mary with her stage family from Secret Garden.

Emily (18) just finished playing Mary, the lead in the musical Secret Garden at Lone Peak High School. It has been her favorite musical since she was 9 when her Granny took her to Cedar City to see it! She is a senior and busy as can be. She is also in Chamber Choir and Drama Productions. She worked at Zupas up until the end of October so she could pay for her tours. Chamber is going to NYC in February and performing in Carnegie Hall and Productions is going to Disney World in Florida and performing there. She loved going to DC last spring for her Drama/Choir tour. She also cleaned house for people and taught voice lessons to earn money. She did the choir yard sale with a lot of help from Mom and Dad and neighbors. She also earned money from the Disney concert that the Chamber Choir put on. She has a few more opportunities to earn money so it's looking good! She also was asked (actually begged) to join the Floral Design team and went to a competition they had at Snow College. She already is the VP for Drama Council but her Floral Design teacher REALLY wanted her to. Owell. She has enjoyed going to all the school dances and is trying to enjoy this senior year to the fullest. In October she was able to be on a Face2Face with the Piano Guys. She was one of the interviewers! Yes, it was an amazing experience. Her fellow interviewer got her the audition. If you haven't seen it go to:www.lds.org/youth/activities/spiritual-strength/face-to-face-with-the-piano-guys they were great. The Piano Guys are great examples of followers of Christ. She has applied for college but plans to go on a mission next fall as soon as she is 19. She is an amazing person, not perfect but she is a source of strength and light to many. If she cleaned her room, I mean really cleaned it, she'd be perfect. LOL

Timo (21) is in his first semester of college at BYU-Provo. He went on a mission straight out of high school and returned this summer, 2 days before Taran was married. He seems to be doing well in school. He works at BYU mail services. His Granny worked there many years ago but some of the people she knew are still there. He has a ROC pass (sports) and goes to all the BYU home football games. He tries to go to other sporting events too it just depends on his homework load. He does a lot with his Family Home Evening group. They seem like a fun bunch. He was able to go back to San Antonio the beginning of November and go through the temple with a man he had taught that was baptized. That was a great experience for him. He's a serious student but I think he is managing to have some fun. We hope anyway. It's nice to have him home even though we don't see him a whole lot.

Taran (22) and his wife Lisa were married last summer. Sorry if you didn't get an announcement. It was not intentional. They met at BYU, he was her home teacher. By Christmas it

was getting serious. They got engaged in the spring. We are glad they waited for Timo to get home! They went to California on their honeymoon to Morro Bay. From the pictures it seems beautiful. He is still working at NuSkin. Recently he was rewarded with great seats and food at a Jazz game. He says he likes all his classes he has right now. He and his band Emissary are competing again in BYU Battle of the Bands. It's a great creative outlet for him and his music talent. Lisa is going to LDS Business College in SLC. She is working as a TA there. She has some tough classes this semester. But she is still her happy, cheerful self. It's still a little weird to think we have a married child. It's surreal but then it's also a natural part of life. You want your child to find someone they love who appreciates them like you do! We are happy for them in the adventure of marriage and being a student. It is definitely the easier way to go through college—less distractions!

Rachelle (getting older) continues to work on organization, budgeting, healthy food and whatever needs her immediate attention which usually involves driving somewhere. She helps with PTA at the elementary school, drama and choir booster committees. She hasn't figured out how to fit Family History research into the schedule yet. But she has a ton of names to do so she tries to get to the temple each week—it doesn't always happen. She has 11 Bear scouts keeping her busy but she loves them. She and Tim enjoyed being a trek ma and pa. It was a great experience and we had some great kids in our family! We loved them!

Tim (also getting older) is solid as in dependable, he keeps healthy with his lunchtime sports and

eating lots of fruits and vegetables. He is still working at Family Search and manages some good people. He spends his “free time” coaching flag football and Jr. Jazz and getting kids to their stuff and watching them too. He also tried to keep the cars running and the house from completely falling apart! He got to “spot” for our friend who PAs for BYU football and basketball games. He spotted 2 football games—he'd find out the defensive player who made the play. He thoroughly enjoyed that. He takes good care of us all and we are blessed by his good works. He was a great pa on trek. He would be a great pioneer.

Louw Family Trip to Idaho, Sawtooth Mountains in the back.

We had a great time going to the zoo, Thanksgiving Point Gardens, the Museum of Natural Curiosity, the Dinosaur Museum,, Trafalga, Seven Peaks Waterpark, and up the AF canyon. Our family trip to Idaho was a great experience. Rachelle's mom showed us around where she grew up. We ended up at the Sawtooth Mountains in a cool log motel. We enjoyed time on Redfish and Petit Lakes. It brought back great memories of trips there when Rachelle and her siblings went as small children. We hiked to Goat Falls which was much harder this time than when Rachelle was 10! Tim and Rachelle were blessed to be flown back to DC by their friends the Butlers. They were there 8 days seeing the sights. They were great hosts and they loved interacting with the Butler kids. They even got to go to visit Tim's sister and her family who live in Maryland. It was a great trip and we were so grateful for Rachelle's parents for taking on our busiest week while we were gone!

We have nothing to complain about but maybe our government, hahaha. But I guess it's not really that funny :( Our blessings truly come from the source of all good, our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father who sent Him. We are so grateful to take time out from our busy lives to reflect more upon what He means to us. We are so grateful to know that we can turn to them in our time of need and they will guide us and that all things work for our good if we are faithful. May you feel their love in your life and may you enjoy the peace this season brings despite all the craziness in the world. 
Much love &  Merry Christmas! & a Great YEAR! Tim, Rachelle, Taran & Lisa, Timo, Emily, Izak, Micah, Zane & Gwen