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Hamilton Newsletter
April 2017
FAMILY: The first
weekend in April was spent enjoying & learning from conference. Also, our
family did a 24-hour fast for Uncle Joseph (he has cancer). We were so proud of
all 3 older girls – they all fasted for the full 24 hours, even though it was
really hard. On the 6th, the
Edwards, Hamiltons & Devenishs came to watch McKinley as Mrs. Mayor in
Seussical. She did such a great job!! The Bensons came to stay with us that
weekend as well. It was Noelle’s birthday on the 8th & we had fun
celebrating & also going to the business/Easter expo at the Cross Hollows
Arena. We had fun playing gabasketballmes, seeing Anna & Elsa & the
Easter bunny, doing the climbing wall, getting faces painted, holding snakes,
throwing basketballs & collecting goodies. We also played games on our xbox
& watched Noelle’s new birthday movie, cars & of course had the Beast
pizza, and cake & ice cream. It was fun to celebrate with the Bensons. On
the 14th, Heidi & Jason went to the temple & got to do some
family names! Thanks to Keeley for watching the girls. On the 15th,
the Worths hosted an Easter get-together at the park. We ate yummy food,
visited with neighbors & friends, played games like Pioneer, and did an
Easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun J Easter was the 16th of April this year & it was
a great day J We had a devotional and talked about the importance of Jesus
Christ’s resurrection, then we got the fun Easter egg baskets & had
breakfast. Then we all got to (finally) wear our new Easter dresses. We had
purple dresses with white lace & we took some pictures over at the Watson’s
before church. After church was all done, we did the Easter egg hunt and got
ready and headed to Pine Valley. We didn’t get there till after dark, but we
got everything in & set up. We stayed at the Pine Valley Guard Station and
had a great time. It was Spring Break for the girls, so we stayed until
Thursday and enjoyed yummy food, riding bikes, going fishing, going on a (4
hour!) hike, playing in the amphitheater, going to Veyo to get a yummy pie
& goodies, hanging out in the hammock, playing games (Phase 10!), eating
s’mores, singing songs, and reading new books from Easter baskets. Great
memories. That Sunday we got a new
bishopric – we will miss Bishop Keate so much, and are also praying for Bishop
Davies and his councilors, brother Hillstead & brother Thomas. That next
week Jason was in a meeting in Boise all week so Heidi took over & all the
girls got a turn to sleep with mom. On Thursday, the 27th, Heidi got
the girls out of school early & we headed to SLC. We went to Michael &
Joshua’s play – Aladdin – that night & enjoyed seeing them! On Friday, we
saw the Simons for a bit, went to Thanksgiving Point to pick up race packets,
and Grandpa Potts bought tickets to see the 3D National Parks show. We got to
see Joseph for a few minutes that night, too! Saturday, the 29th,
was the races at Thanksgiving Point. Heidi & Grandpa did the half marathon
and all the girls (except Oaklyn) did the 1-mile race. It was COLD, but fun. After
the race, we went to the Tulip Festival. It was SO beautiful and the girls (and
Joshua) all had so much fun rolling down the huge grassy hill. We headed back
to Cedar that afternoon, but stopped at the McDonald’s in Beaver on the way
home. It was good to get home & see daddy again J
JASON: It was fun to have more time with Jason for
Spring Break. He made some yummy biscuits & gravy for breakfast and helped
the girls go fishing. He was going to wake up early and go fishing in his
pontoon, but he had terrible allergies and was up most of the night L Then, he was going to go again when everyone
was gone to SLC, but it was too cold. He did help a neighbor move, though &
was able to get a worktable for the garage & a glass table for the patio.
And some cute dresses for the girls J
HEIDI: Heidi got
one last 12-mile run in this month and was glad her training was over. The race
went pretty good, until mile 8. Dad was struggling with his IT band and was
just tired, so we did a walk/run combo when he was able & we finally made
it in at 2:22. It was still a beautiful run, though, and she enjoyed being with
her dad & running through the beautiful flowers. Heidi listened to Long
Walk to Freedom – an autobiography by Nelson Mandela – for a lot of the month,
off and on. It’s been interesting to hear his story. When we were in SLC, Heidi
also really enjoyed going to the Draper temple with her mom, grandma &
Cindy, then out to Kneaders afterwards. It was great.
McKINLEY:
-Everyone enjoyed McKinley’s play! She did so good! She had three performances in one day, at 3 different locations, so it was a big day, but she took it all well and did her lines and songs like a pro J She’s glad to have more times (and not be a wife to Aydon any more ;)), but she will miss it, too.
-Zach really wanted to go for a hike while they were in town, and so Brent took McKinley & Zach & did Kanaraville Falls. It was late in the evening when they started & the water was freezing, so not the most enjoyable hike, but McKinley was a trooper & did great.
-McKinley tried out for intermediate orchestra at the middle school & made it!! Great job McKinley!!! J We love watching you play the cello
-McKinley got to go to a field trip to Snow Canyon & had a fun time with her friends.
-For Easter, McKinley got a kite, a big chocolate bunny, some suckers, flip flops, a glow stick, a treble clef diamond key chain, and the book Jacky HaHa. She really ate up that book and finished it in a couple days while we were camping. Mom is looking forward to reading it, too!
-McKinley caught 2 fish while camping!
IRELAND:
-Ireland had to do a book report book cover this month. She did it on an Ever After book and did a great job drawing an igloo castle on the front J
-Ireland finished gymnastics this month and made it to level 2!! Hooray! We’re so proud of her J
-For Easter, Ireland got a kite, a big chocolate bunny, some suckers, flip flops, a glow stick, a sparkly mermaid and whale pin, and a huge doodle book. She already has made some awesome doodles in it while we were camping.
-Ireland caught a fish at Pine View reservoir (on Kezia’s line) J
-Ireland was really good at getting the campfire going and making sure we had enough wood.
-Everyone enjoyed McKinley’s play! She did so good! She had three performances in one day, at 3 different locations, so it was a big day, but she took it all well and did her lines and songs like a pro J She’s glad to have more times (and not be a wife to Aydon any more ;)), but she will miss it, too.
-Zach really wanted to go for a hike while they were in town, and so Brent took McKinley & Zach & did Kanaraville Falls. It was late in the evening when they started & the water was freezing, so not the most enjoyable hike, but McKinley was a trooper & did great.
-McKinley tried out for intermediate orchestra at the middle school & made it!! Great job McKinley!!! J We love watching you play the cello
-McKinley got to go to a field trip to Snow Canyon & had a fun time with her friends.
-For Easter, McKinley got a kite, a big chocolate bunny, some suckers, flip flops, a glow stick, a treble clef diamond key chain, and the book Jacky HaHa. She really ate up that book and finished it in a couple days while we were camping. Mom is looking forward to reading it, too!
-McKinley caught 2 fish while camping!
IRELAND:
-Ireland had to do a book report book cover this month. She did it on an Ever After book and did a great job drawing an igloo castle on the front J
-Ireland finished gymnastics this month and made it to level 2!! Hooray! We’re so proud of her J
-For Easter, Ireland got a kite, a big chocolate bunny, some suckers, flip flops, a glow stick, a sparkly mermaid and whale pin, and a huge doodle book. She already has made some awesome doodles in it while we were camping.
-Ireland caught a fish at Pine View reservoir (on Kezia’s line) J
-Ireland was really good at getting the campfire going and making sure we had enough wood.
KEZIA:
-Kezia has been really busy with soccer this month! She’s missed a couple games with us being out of town, but daddy even got to substitute coach once, so that was fun for Kezi. She’s doing really good and usually makes at least a couple goals a game. We love watching her play. Great job Kezi!!!
-Kezia & Logan were so cute wanting to wrap all of Noelle’s birthday presents.
-For Easter, Kezia got a kite, a big chocolate bunny, some suckers, flip flops, a glow stick, a sparkly flamingo & whale pin, and the book Heidi Hecklebeck. She has had fun reading it and especially reading it to her own Heidi (mom) J
- Kezi is really close to getting to her 100 book goal by the end of the school year! Only 20 more books to go!
LINK: Thank you for sending love notes on our family hike! From lizards to butterflies to deer, it was all beautiful. We love you & miss you every day.
NOELLE:
-Happy 3rd birthday Noelle! It was fun having the Bensons here to celebrate. For your birthday breakfast, you got Dora cereal. For lunch, it was grilled cheese sandwiches, and for dinner – pizza! She had a yellow cake with chocolate/chocolate chip frosting. Her gifts included a walking dog named Max (from secret life of pets), a baby stroller, lots of color wonder markers, and a magnetic fishing bath toy. She got an outfit from her grandma Devenish with some money, and she chose a matchbox car hauling semi truck from grandma Potts. She had a fun day & loved opening gifts. The only problem is that she kept telling us that Santa was giving her the gifts :-/
-Happy 3rd birthday Noelle! It was fun having the Bensons here to celebrate. For your birthday breakfast, you got Dora cereal. For lunch, it was grilled cheese sandwiches, and for dinner – pizza! She had a yellow cake with chocolate/chocolate chip frosting. Her gifts included a walking dog named Max (from secret life of pets), a baby stroller, lots of color wonder markers, and a magnetic fishing bath toy. She got an outfit from her grandma Devenish with some money, and she chose a matchbox car hauling semi truck from grandma Potts. She had a fun day & loved opening gifts. The only problem is that she kept telling us that Santa was giving her the gifts :-/
-Noelle wanted to
dispel any fantasy that now that she’s out of the “terrible twos,” life will be
easier, so she caused MAJOR destruction downstairs with a sharpie. In fact,
when we found the weapon, it was almost all the way dulled down to nothing. On
the couches, the carpet, door jams, the slide, the cabinets, doors, and walls…
so so many walls. It really is amazing the sheer amount of damage she did in
such a short period of time. And although any number of magic erasers, tubes of
toothpaste and gallons of rubbing alcohol were employed to undo the
destruction, it was not enough. It looks terrible and, really, the entire
downstairs needs to be re-painted. Here’s hoping karma will somehow give her a
child close to her “creativity” J
-Noelle’s favorite shows are still Dora and Daniel Tiger. She also has added Blues Clues & has fun finding “clues” wherever she can J One day we were eating lunch after she had watched Dora & Noelle said “I just want to go in the TV and meet Dora. And Boots.”
-One day mom asked what Noelle wanted to be when she grew up. Noelle answered “Yah, sometimes I throwed up and I puked on the towel” (I think she mistook grow up for throw up)
-Noelle is afraid of bees. Anytime she sees anything flying around outside, she’ll run in and tell mom there are bees out there.
-One of Noelle’s current favorite sayings – “what the heck?”
-After our camping trip, mom thought it might be a good time to potty train, being that Noelle is 3 now. Mom was wrong J Noelle did go a couple times, but mostly she just refused to go, even when there was a treat involved, so we went back to pull-ups for the time being.
-Apparently turning 3 was important in one way, though. Noelle now thoroughly refuses to take a nap.
-One day, Noelle just started talking about her “brudder.” She talked about how he was there at her birthday. J
-Noelle’s favorite shows are still Dora and Daniel Tiger. She also has added Blues Clues & has fun finding “clues” wherever she can J One day we were eating lunch after she had watched Dora & Noelle said “I just want to go in the TV and meet Dora. And Boots.”
-One day mom asked what Noelle wanted to be when she grew up. Noelle answered “Yah, sometimes I throwed up and I puked on the towel” (I think she mistook grow up for throw up)
-Noelle is afraid of bees. Anytime she sees anything flying around outside, she’ll run in and tell mom there are bees out there.
-One of Noelle’s current favorite sayings – “what the heck?”
-After our camping trip, mom thought it might be a good time to potty train, being that Noelle is 3 now. Mom was wrong J Noelle did go a couple times, but mostly she just refused to go, even when there was a treat involved, so we went back to pull-ups for the time being.
-Apparently turning 3 was important in one way, though. Noelle now thoroughly refuses to take a nap.
-One day, Noelle just started talking about her “brudder.” She talked about how he was there at her birthday. J
-For Easter, Noelle a
kite, a big chocolate bunny, some suckers, flip flops, a glow stick, a Minnie
Mouse necklace, and an Elmo music book/CD.
-We probably went 4 miles on our hike when we were camping & we were so impressed with Noelle! Mom carried her on her shoulders for maybe a half of a mile, but the rest of the time, she kept right up!
-We probably went 4 miles on our hike when we were camping & we were so impressed with Noelle! Mom carried her on her shoulders for maybe a half of a mile, but the rest of the time, she kept right up!
OAKLYN:
-8 months old! Our cute cute cute baby is growing up so fast! This month Oaklyn decided to stop letting life pass her by & join in on the fun. She is a crawling machine now! She also pulls up on anything & everything & cruises around. Baby proofing is happening!
-Oaklyn got a kitty
cat this month to sleep with. It’s very similar to Noelle’s doggy and Noelle
claims that Oaklyn’s kitty is her doggy’s mommy and she takes her out of
Oaklyn’s crib every chance she gets. Consequently, mom is constantly having to
look for the kitty when Oaklyn goes down for a nap or do bed.
-Oaklyn has struggled with sleep pretty much all month long. We keep thinking she’s teething but so far she has nothing to show for it L
-This month, Oaklyn has moved on to chunky food and eats the dissolvable stars. She’s getting pretty good at getting them into her mouth & enjoys the new food!
-When someone does something really great & we do hip-hip-hooray’s at the dinner table, Oaklyn gets so excited. She raises her hands in the air and tries to celebrate, too!
-Oaklyn says Mamamama!
-Oaklyn has struggled with sleep pretty much all month long. We keep thinking she’s teething but so far she has nothing to show for it L
-This month, Oaklyn has moved on to chunky food and eats the dissolvable stars. She’s getting pretty good at getting them into her mouth & enjoys the new food!
-When someone does something really great & we do hip-hip-hooray’s at the dinner table, Oaklyn gets so excited. She raises her hands in the air and tries to celebrate, too!
-Oaklyn says Mamamama!
