Searle Family Renion

Where was I?

We got home from Lava Hot Springs on a Thursday and on the next Saturday we had a reunion for Brian's Mom's side of the family, the Searles. We figured it had been about 18 years since the last Searle reunion! Brian fondly remembers going to his Aunt Jerry's house and playing in the pool with all his cousins. It was fun for him to be back at Jerry's house visiting with his cousins and watching our kids play in the pool.

Jerry and her daughters set up the pool area with umbrella-ed tables and there were even misters under the main area. (It was so very hot that day!) The food was so good! All the favorites were there - chicken, crab salad, seven-layer dip. Each of the Searle siblings got up and introduced their families. We heard a couple of fun stories about Grandpa Searle. Jerry hired a Hawaiian Shave Ice place to come make shave ice for us. Nothing has ever tasted so good to me!

My assignment was to take photos of the families who came. Not everyone there knows me very well, so the sarcastic comments were minimal compared to what I've experienced with my family. Ha!

This is the Condie family, Phil and Jerry are seated in the middle. A few of the grandkids had already been in the pool and I put one of them on Phil's lap. Woops! Jerry is the oldest of the Searle siblings.

This is the Don Searle family, Phyllis and Don are seated. Again I made the mistake of letting a wet kid sit in Grandpa's lap.

Brian's Mom is the third child and this is her family. Not everyone, but pretty close. We're missing Jed and McKade. We're the mean parents who made our kids wait to go swimming until after the pictures.

Sandy is the baby of the family and there she is with her husband "Pete." I knew this, but Pete's first name is Harold. Denise and her sister both married Harolds! That's funny to me. :) Everyone calls Sandy's Harold "Pete." Their last name is Peterson. The first time I heard that Brian had an uncle Pete Peterson I was like, "No."

Here they are, Don and Edra Searle's kids: Don Searle, Jerry Condie, Sandy Peterson and Denise Kunze. I want you all to think of someone you know who is 85 years old. Jerry is 85 years old, you guys! #grandmagoals

Here they are with their spouses. That's cousin Sheree next to Denise and Harold.

This is Nedra. She is Denise's aunt. Nedra came with Uncle Tex, who took off before I could get his picture.

I think maybe Don is telling tales out of school here. It's a safe bet.

You can tell Brian gets a kick out of his aunts and uncles. Can you see all those beautiful flower pots around the pool? Those Condie ladies have class!

Brian and his cousin Curt look like the could be brothers. Brian definitely favors his Mom's side of the family.

Denise is close with all her siblings, but especially her sisters. I had to sneak a photo of Sandy smiling and I could only do that when she was with Denise.

We loved seeing everyone and hearing stories we haven't heard for a long time, or ever. Brian comes from a hard-working, fiercely loyal, generous family.

Official Family Photos

Remember how Melissa did all the family and individual pictures for everyone at our family reunion? I do! I'm going to post them here because then they'll be in our blog yearbook.

Is there a computer screen big enough to see everything in this photo?! So many people! Let's see if I can name them all (from left to right): Rob, Claire, Ian, Moira, Marco, David, Gabriel, Makenzie, Claire, Ruby, Weston, Jen, Ben, Henry, Ethan, Taylor, Lilja, Noah, Adam, Emma, Banks, Allyn, Denham, Aron, Peggy, Chance, Bob, Bryce, Matt, Vivien, Katy, Anya, Evie, Helena, Eliza, Emil, Brian, Nicole, Colin, Bridget, Harrison, Jeff, Miles, Chloe, Melissa, Lori, Brennan, Aaron, and Macey. What do I win?!

Our family was toward the end and my kids were very patient. And no one destroyed their clothes! Melissa was able to swap Emil's "blah" face for the smiling one and put it on the photo where everyone else was smiling. The magic of Photoshop!

Year of the Rooster

I had a story assignment at the Community Chinese New Year Celebration at Skyridge High School last weekend. There was so much to do and the kids were INTO it. I took a lot of photos. I've already wrung 300 words out of this, so I don't have much to add, but I would like to write that I love taking my kids to do stuff and see stuff. They are always interested and "all in" when we are having an adventure. I saw and heard many kids screeching at their parents that they wanted to go home and mine were busy planning what we were going to do first, second and third. I really love Bridget, Emil, and Colin, but I also like them and being with them. To the photos!

This one ended up on the front page of the paper. Someday their grandchildren will be looking through the archives of the Lehi Free Press from 2016 to 2017 and be able to find a photo of grandma or grandpa in almost every issue. Ha!

Emil insisted on going back to try on the smaller lion since he couldn't carry the bigger one.

Painting terra cotta soldiers. Bridget and Colin were super careful and Emil was done first. :)

Bridget chose the Chinese characters for "Brave." We think. It probably says "Girl with Freckles."

I took a video of them learning a fan dance and I watched it 100 times. I was sitting in front of the mirror they're looking into and they forgot I was there. Best time to observe. :)

So cute. Skyridge is the biggest high school I've ever been in. I enjoyed high school, but I think I would have retreated way into my shell if I'd gone to a school as big as Skyridge. I can feel the anxiety of many young people every time I'm there. They do have a very clean, very nice building, though.

Christmas Day 2016

Our family had a very successful Christmas. I made good on my promise not to have noisy toys this year. Except Bridget's pink ukulele. On Christmas Eve they all opened their new pajamas; Bridget and Analy got matching American Girl pajamas, Emil got Darth Vader pajamas and Colin got BB8 pajamas (remember, he can't be on the Dark Side).

Bridget claims she was up for HOURS Christmas morning before she finally came into our room at 6:20 and asked if we could open presents. I was going to make her wait until 7:00, but Brian was weak. They woke up the brothers while I plugged in the tree and got the camera ready.

Poor Colin. He'd rather keep sleeping, I think. All the presents from Santa were arranged by the kids' stockings, as usual.

Santa realized on December 20th that the Radio Flyer wagon Emil asked for was a lot more money than he thought, so Emil got the mini version. I'm sure Emil had a 100 thoughts cross his mind when he saw that tiny wagon, but he chose, "I guess I really didn't say what size the wagon needed to be..." Whew! He's been perfectly happy with it. Colin got his favorite movie, "Kubo and the Two Strings" in his stocking. Fist pump.

I think that's Bridget noticing she got the skateboard she asked for. I see now that I've put these photos out of order.

Magnet Checkers (regular and Chinese) for the boys, smelly markers for Bridget. Stocking gifts are so fun! The present on the couch is Lego Mind Storm for the whole family... mostly Dad. We opened the rest of the gifts after I put the camera down.

Brian is helping Bridget figure out the lava lamp I gave her. He's wearing the neck cozy from Grandma Peggy and he's got the T-shirt quilt I made him covering his legs. Now that I've had a chance to take a nap with that quilt, I officially need one for myself. Also, the boys are busy studying their Pokemon cards. (They had to memorize them because they knew the cards would be in the wind in a few hours.)

I had the kids pose with as many of their presents as they could. Bridget got a ski helmet and a balaclava from Dad, the skateboard and ukulele from Santa, a necklace from her birth mother, fake nails from Colin, sparkly clay from Emil, the lava lamp and Princess in Black books from me, a pretty jacket from Grandma and Grandpa Lee, and a hammock from the Boney family.

Emil wasn't as cooperative for a present photo. He got a wagon and a bucket of Legos from Santa, ski lessons and a balaclava from Dad, the illustrated Harry Potter book and piano books (with lessons) from me (there was a little drama when he saw the piano books and loudly said he didn't want them), a truck with a trailer and side-by-side from Bridget, a scratch art dinosaur book from Colin, hoodie and book from Grandma and Grandpa Lee (and the neck cozy), markers and case from Mom and Dad, and a hammock from the Boney family. (I'm writing all of this down because we are getting the Thank You cards out this year if it KILLS me.)

Colin got a Lego 3 in 1 house set (Santa didn't think Power Ranger Legos existed), Mini Pixel Art (which he LOVED and finished quickly), and the Charmander Pokemon figures he's been dreaming about from Santa. Colin got ski lessons and a balaclava from Dad, an illustrated Harry Potter book and piano books with lessons from Mom, markers and case from Mom and Dad, paints and paper from Bridget, a stuffed T-Rex from Emil, a hoodie and book from Grandma and Grandpa Lee, and a hammock from the Boneys.

I can't stand how much I love this photo. He told Grandpa Harold later that he got to page four in Harry Potter. :)

Analy got a dog! She was pretty stoked.

We went to church, which is really my favorite about Christmas on Sunday. What better way to remember what it's all about? I accompanied a violin duet on the piano and had a harrowing moment when the last page of the piece floated off the piano and out of my reach while I was on the second page. I had to choose a spot to stop playing, stand up and get the last page, sit down and figure out where the violins were and start playing again. It all worked out, of course. Some people didn't even notice me stand up. An advantage of being so short. ;)

After church we went to Brian's parents house to open presents from them, show off the kids' favorite gifts, eat, and visit.

Bridget brought her ukulele to show Grandma and Grandma sang and played a little song. 

The kids got mini drones from Grandma and Grandpa. Yay!

Daddy was behind this gift, I think. :)

Colin brought his pixel art (so many little pieces!!!) and Grandpa set up a card table for him. 

We got to see and talk to Cousin Janessa on her mission in Peru! She and her companion sang us a Christmas song in Spanish. 

Even though we were exhausted, I had to finish this house before Christmas Day was over. Colin would help me when his drone was charging, then run downstairs and fly it with Dad and Bridget and Emil. Emil's box of Legos has the most possible wheels and he likes to do his own thing, so it was just right for him. Emil asked Colin to build the house with the garage first so he could park his yellow car in it. :)

I got a waffle iron from the boys! We had waffles with raspberry syrup for Christmas breakfast. Brian gave me a Wonder Woman suitcase and Bridget gave me an electric pencil sharpener (nailed it!). It was the best - no one was sick this year, my favorite gift of all.

20 Years of Wedded Bliss

Brian and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on November 29th. We have a big trip planned for just the two of us in March and we're going out tonight to celebrate, but on our actual anniversary, we just had a regular day. Except that I picked up Katy's daughter, Eliza, at the airport and she and I put up all the Christmas decorations (tree and everything!) while the kids were at school. Eliza went to the MTC on Wednesday and she was already set apart as a missionary, so she had to have someone with her all the time. It was nice for Brian and me to wish each other a happy anniversary and reminisce throughout the day. I brought out our wedding photos so we could see how much has changed:

We're kids! Our photographer told us to look at each other, so we did. We were in love and happy. Now for a similar photo 20 years later, taken by my super talented sister, Melissa:

Spot the differences! Obviously we've aged, but I love this photo because of the way we're looking at each other. Unlike on our wedding day, we've now been through 20 years of trials, unbelievable happiness, near-death experiences, becoming parents together, thousands of little acts of love and service to one another. What a beautiful adventure so far.

Fall Break with Cousins

We were privileged to be part of Aunt Melissa's Fall Break Tour 2016. She took photos of our family, the kids played on the trampoline, Chloe and Bridget made up a dance, and we even played hooky from school to join them at This Is The Place Monument Park. Taylor joined us for the Sunday parts of the visit. He is our Pokemon Expert in Residence and no one is better at Capture the Flag. Every Sunday since Taylor has been at BYU one of my kids asks when we're going to go pick him up. :)

Every time someone from my family is staying at our house, the piano is in use. I love it! Memories.

Poor kids - their Moms are forever taking pictures and telling them where to look. My favorite was Melissa telling Miles how much he would regret his facial expression in this photo. "I should have listened to my mother!" This is the porch of the "pink house" where one of Brigham Young's families lived. The inside of the house was fascinating and I'm super jealous of that wrap-around porch.

The dining room at Brigham's.

They had pony rides for the kids, but Chloe was too tall. She fought back some tears. Bridget didn't ride a pony either, even though she's way under the height limit. I love those two cousins/friends.

Emil was all over milking this fake cow.

 Tee he he! Melissa is milk maid material for sure.

We spent a lot of time in the little play village. It was kinda the perfect day.

The petting zoo was very up close and personal.

Lunch on the balcony of the Huntsman Hotel.

Bridget really needed this shave!

Emil is such a beautiful boy. :)

We found the donuts!

We had four hours at the park, but it flew by. After the donuts, Melissa helped her kids find a statue of one of their ancestors (we'd already been in his home). Fun and educational! We won that day.