Abundant Recompense Copy

Three fun things happened today. 1. It was 80s day at school. Oh yeah. 2. Leah had her "discovery day" at school, where she got to choose a subject to teach her class on. She picked rocks, unsurprisingly. She told them what a geologist is, and showed them some of her favorite rocks. Then she passed out a worksheet and let them pretend to be geologists and draw and make observations about the rocks they liked. After that she reviewed the three types of rock with them, and led them in an experiment to make sedimentary rocks out of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate chips. The girl was in heaven, and oh so cute. 3. We pulled out the high chair from the shed, scrubbed it off, and let Emmie take it for a spin during lunch. It was a hit!

Leah is growing fast and doing great things in her life! She loves school with all her heart. Feeling cool on mustache day. At Christmastime Leah got the role of Mary in the PAL program play, December in our Town . She and Joseph were the cutest. She and Bryn recently got a bunk bed! The girl has a unique and delightful sense of style. And she is a natural with her baby sis. She loves to play with and talk to Emmie. Her voice is so squeaky when she does. It's adorable.

Addison is growing up before our very eyes! He got his Webelos and Arrow of Light at the end of November, and got to cross the bridge into boy scouts, which is insane. He's going on his first winter campout next week! Finding out about the changes for 11-year-olds His class in school has had a rough year. They were really excited to get to 5th grade because of their awesome teacher, but then she quit a week before school started. Then they had a really nice teacher who came out of retirement at the last second to teach them, and then she quit after first term ended. The class is a handful, with several students who can't seem to control themselves, which is no fun for Addison a lot of the time. But Nate and I are sure proud of the successes he's had this year. He's a kind boy and a good friend. He got to participate in Images of Greatness, where he did a major report and memorized presentation on Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine. In other news, he is not a ...

We're super proud of Bryn for entering reflections this year. She wrote a poem and won the Award of Excellence for her age group, which is the Reflections equivalent of first place. Way to go Brynny! She also got her expander out right after Thanksgiving, and was thrilled to have popcorn for the first time in months. And one last little brag on Bryn, look at this amazing relief map she made for school! She did it all by herself from salt dough.

Addison was ordained a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood today! He got to pass the sacrament for the first time and did a great job. We are so proud of him. It was nice to have Grandpa here for the ordination.

It was wonderful to spend Thanksgiving in Georgia with my family this past year. I hadn't been home for Thanksgiving since 2003! A miraculous deal on plane tickets saved us from our original plan, which was to drive all the way there. We had a great time and enjoyed spending time with family, meeting a new cousin, and exploring Gramps and Grammie's new house and woods. It was my family's first time meeting Emmie, too, and it was fun to show her off to everyone. Dad, Mom, Kaylyn, and Ryan C hecking out the creek and tire swing. There's a pond right by the house, and Addison became friends with the ducks. Asa saved Gramps from falling into the pond while he grabbed some trash. It's worth mentioning that Asa is really into drains right now. The pond had a big drain, and Asa and I spent the better part of an hour one day sitting there staring at it, watching the algae go down it. Mesmerizing. I think Asa could've spent an entire morning there watching it and been ha...