The Updated Family Newsletter

We need a new picture! (After Teach comes home, of course.)

September 2013

Things are pretty exciting at our house! There is definitely never a dull moment.

Bossy and Gamer have settled well into their home a few miles away. They have also added to their family. About a month ago they traveled to Texas and brought home Gamer’s 14-year-old daughter, Fajita, to live with them permanently. She has fit right in with the family and sometimes it seems like she has always been part of us. Bossy has her dancing, playing volleyball, doing scouts, and excelling in 9th grade. They still get Bean Dip on a regular basis and I hear he is doing karate. Taco is playing tackle football and working on his Wolf for Cub Scouts. He and Fajita have parts in the upcoming Nutcracker production, Taco as a Party Boy and Fajita as a Mouse. Fajita is also planning to get baptized on October 12. Burrito is playing flag football with Curly and Scout. The Dog Walker and Princess are the coaches and they are all learning the game together. Burrito is also in the Spanish-immersion program so he is learning Spanish as a second language.

The Gym Rat is still working for a bank where he was recently promoted to the position of Senior Lender. He really likes his job and plans to keep working there when he finishes his BS in Business Management in February. He has a little dog named Franco and he shares an apartment with a friend from school here so we see him often, just not during the day…he works from 3:00 – 11:00.

Drama Queen is teaching at a small town high school. She loves it there! She has taken over the drama department this year and she is currently rewriting and casting the musical. We got to have her home most of the summer and it was so nice to spend time with her. Now we hardly see her unless there is a birthday party (it’s a good thing we have lots of those!).

Teach is serving a mission in Texas, Ft. Worth. She has been out almost exactly 6 months and she just made her first transfer. She was promoted to Sister Leader Trainer during her last transfer period and she loves teaching and working with the sisters. They also just had their second baptism. She is very happy and we all miss her very much!

The Dog Walker is going to school full time. He is in his second year and has been on an academic scholarship the entire time. He works hard and keeps his grades high. He recently completed 10 service hours at the elementary school in their cluster classes. He is thinking maybe special education is part of his future, not necessarily teaching, but working with handicapped kids. He is still walking dogs and he sings in the institute choir. He is the Assistant Cubmaster for our Cub Scout pack and he is planning to serve a church service mission next fall when he finishes his AS degree.

Princess is celebrating her 17th birthday next week. She has grown up beautifully! She was chosen to be the Lead Mirliton and part of the Snow Corps for the Nutcracker production. She would dance 24/7, but I do convince her to occasionally play volleyball with me. She is also the president of our Girl Scout troop and a straight A student. She took a full summer of college classes at SLCC and got a 4.0 there too. She’s definitely consistent!

Prima Donna is 15 now and she landed a part in the musical at the high school and a major role in the Nutcracker. The school is doing Footloose and she is part of the adult ensemble. She is also Madame Ginger for the Nutcracker, you know the one, she has little girls that come out from under her skirt? She is also an amazing student with a semester’s worth of SLCC credits. Yeah, she got a 4.0 too.

Crafty is turning 13 next week and she is excited to be part of Waltz of the Flowers for the Nutcracker. She is a very bright girl, taking honors classes and playing in the concert band as a 7th grader. She just joined the MathCounts team and she is trying to finish up her Girl Scout Silver Award. She made 5 baby quilts for PCMC and now she and I are trying to get them bound so we can turn them in.

Sport is 10 and playing tackle football. He is the center for his team and he loves it! He loves sports of all kinds and will play whatever is in season. He is also going to be a Party Boy for the Nutcracker. He is in Webelos now and he is working hard to stay on track for his Arrow of Light. That is difficult for him since he keeps missing den meetings for football.

Scout is 7. She is looking forward to being baptized in January. She is also playing flag football and she is a Buffoon in the Nutcracker. She is like me and she hates early mornings. How can I tell her that I would just rather sleep in too? She is a Brownie Girl Scout and she loves having her friends over for meetings.

Curly just turned 5, but he is big for his age. He is playing on the Flag Football team and he is so excited any time something good happens. He will run up to me and nearly plow me over! He recently started kindergarten and he is always so happy about going to school. We go off-track the end of next week and honestly, I’m ready for a break! Curly is also dancing; he takes tap and ballet.

Baby Doll is almost 3 and growing up way too fast! She loves her nursery class at church (I just became her teacher a few weeks ago) and she is taking tap and ballet as well. She and I are buddies during the day after Curly leaves for school and she hates it when I leave her home with the Dog Walker while I run errands. She loves pretty clothes and anything pink. She talks up a storm, but not when strangers are around.

My sweetie is again working tons of overtime, trying to meet another deadline. He is still the Cubmaster in our ward, a calling that he really enjoys. He says it’s just because he is really an overgrown 9-year-old boy.

I am still in charge of Women’s Sports in our stake and nursery on the ward level. I am helping the Dog Walker and Princess coach their flag football team and I am still selling a little Tupperware when I can. This is my 20th year as a Girl Scout leader and I love my troop! We have so much fun together. We recently returned from our second trip down to Tuacahn. The girls loves seeing those plays more than any other activity, and we just committed to make a 5-ft tree for Festival of Trees. I serve on the board for our Ballet Company and I still work for the studio. Last year I joined Curves with Teach and I try to work out every day. I was recently asked to help launch a blog for their two stores, so that will be on my radar for the new year. I still try to write every day for twelvemakesadozen.blogspot.com, my own personal blog, and we have had over 300,000 hits. I run kids here and there and just try to keep everyone happy! I do tons of laundry and feed many mouths, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.