Sugar Doodle

Try this site for ideas for church callings and stuff. You can print out little handouts for visiting teaching as well. Or just click on the link to the right. www.sugardoodle.net

March 2010

So March came along and this little cutie made a big announcement on behalf of her mother. Since Lorien is the youngest in the family her shirt tells about her upcoming change of position.

March 2nd meant a birthday for Kaylee. She designed and decorated her own cake. She is turning into such a wonderful young lady.

On March 5th we traveled to Pasco to witness the baptism of Jeffrey's daughter Larissa. She was really soaking in everything that went on. I'm told the water was very cold. The next day in church they seat the newly baptized kids on the stand. She sat writing in her new journal and then got up and read what she wrote - about the Holy Ghost and receiving it.

This is a before picture....

Afterwards....with siblings Jesse, Noah, and Mitchell

This is the next day at church. We were able to take Larissa's cousins Kaylee and Anna with us. Here they escort Noah into the building.

Cousins Kaylee, Anna and Larissa.

This is the siblings with Aunt April (Star's sister).

Larissa and Mitchell with Grandma J, Krissa's mom

Mitchel and Larissa with grandma & grandpa Peterson

This is quite the contraption at Jeff's house. It's remote controll and cars/trucks/trains travel all around it picking up and dumping off balls. Great way to spend time relaxing. Rokenbok is the name of the toy.

Krissa made these great tents for the kids in their rooms. Jesse has a seat with speakers. What a great way to read a book as well.

This is in Larissa's room.

It was great weather but it takes 4 hours between us and them. We stopped at Multnomah Falls...coming and going...just for a rest area.

Sizing Up Cousins

Occasionally we have enough cousins together to compare sizes because we have several "sets".
This is Jayden and Kaylee age 9. There is one other 9-year-old as well.


This is Hayden, Grace and Ethan, our 6-year-old "set" (Gracie being the youngest, Ethan will be 7 in April.

Here is Lorien, Noah and Aubrey our 3-year-old "set"; Noah is the oldest here (birthday in December)! (Mitchell in the striped shirt will be 6 in June.)

This was taken at our house. Grace & Ethan (6) and Kaylee & Jayden (9)

They are all a bunch of fun kids and really love to get together.

On February 26 our grand-daughter played her trumpet for an ensemble competition. Mom accompanied her on the piano. Meghan's teacher thought that was really cool to have a multi-generation ensemble. I heard Meghan play this piece very well but when she got in front of the judges she froze a bit. She said her throat closed up and she couldn't get air. This was her first time so the experience was good for her....on to next year.

Yes this is a science classroom. They imported a great many pianos from other schools to put them in the different rooms. This was the trumpet competition room.

We used a different room for warm-up. It was sooooo cold outside that mom's hands were frozen - as well as the trumpet.

Catching Up

Guess I better catch up on a few things I've missed.
We ended 2010 with a New Year's Bash at Kristina's. And that means a birthday party for Grace. Isn't she a cute 6-year old? She is a one-of-a-kind gal. She's into monkeys and had them on her cake.

Later in January some of the kids took their families up into the snow again. Phil was teaching a radio class or we would have gone with them. Unfortunately the weather had been warmer and melted off quite a bit of snow so it wasn't as deep as before. The gang had a great time until about the last run. Kristina managed to break her ankle on that run. She ended up with about 8 screws and a plate to put it all back together again. Here's a shot of Jon autographing her cast. She has a boot now to walk with.

Then on February 5th Phil and Delvin Bunton finally received their award as "Teachers of the Year" for ARRL. It was announced last fall but is given out at the annual award banquet in February. It was a nice evening with great food. The award comes with $100 in gift certificates as well. Quite a few in the room had been through one their classes at some time or another! They've been teaching for about 15 years - missing one or two.

Just about the time people were starting to talk about Spring we got surprised with a couple of snowstorms. The first one on February 16 and the second one on February 24. Can't trust that weatherman but I always say until it gets past March nothing surprises me.

These 2 cuties both have birthdays in February; Aubrey on the 16th and Jayden on the 19th. They have shared a cake the last couple of years. Here we have Stormtroopers protecting the Polly Pockets.

Some of our kids went up to play in the snow on December 27. They had a good time but it's really an activity for the young people. Anyway Phil wanted to drive up to find some snow on his day off on Thursday. We drove up the same road the kids did but we went further up the Wind River Road than they did.

It was beautiful blue sky and the road wasn't too bad. We've had so much rain lately that this was a pleasant change even if it was cold. The road goes all around Indian Heaven - but not in the winter apparently.

We got to this viewpoint and you couldn't drive into it. You could see this biffy on the other side and after drinking a soda in the car, I really needed to use it but I figured it wouldn't be maintained in the winter. Phil walked over and opened the door! Here I went.... Mt. St. Helen's played peek-a-boo with the clouds.

Thanks for breaking the trail for me, honey. It was knee-deep.

Snow had fresh sparkly powder on top. Sure was pretty.

Anyone for a picnic?

Christmas 2010

So Christmas for empty-nesters can be a challenge to figure out. Gone are the hectic days of little kids anxiously awaiting mom and dad to get up and tackle the presents. Those are fond memories but makes for quiet Christmases now. Oh wait...that isn't such a bad thing!!!

Anyway we went to each house individually to celebrate together. Jeff - who lives in Pasco - also had a birthday party for their 3-yr old so it was a double-duty visit. Even ran into a little snow on the way home! He had a holiday train around his tree that he was having fun with. Little did my hubby know I had bought a Lionel recently and wondered if he'd like it as much.

Becky ended up coming to our house for this family gathering. That's when I let Phil have his little train. His eyes glazed over and I don't think he heard another word the rest of the evening. The train didn't run right off but he got it working within 24 hours and ordered a replacement part as well. Every now and then I manage to do something right.

On Christmas Eve we visited with Rick's family and enjoyed our visit with them. Then it was on to Kristina's for dinner and Family Home Evening with them. Families with kids is the way we remember celebrating. Christmas day we went to Becky's before her oldest girls left for Utah. Then we got to visit with Mandie's family. Her kids were having fun with all their new toys.

We were able to gather all in town on the Sunday before Christmas for food and chatting. That was fun. We appreciate having family nearby and how they enjoy being together. We love them all very much and wouldn't know what to do with ourselves if we were totally alone.