November 2019
Hamilton Newsletter
FAMILY: November is the month of gratitude & thanksgiving and we find so many thousands of ways we are blessed every day. We are truly thankful for the mercy and love of our Savior. November was also another busy travel month for us. Great Aunt Cindy passed away on Halloween and her funeral was November 6th. It was wonderful to see so much family and celebrate the brave & faithful life of Great Aunt Cindy. Grandma & Grandpa Potts came from their mission to be there for a week and Heidi & the littles got to spend some time with them. We even went to the Family History Museum on Dia De Los Muertos and it was really a lot of fun! We had a great time learning about family history and being with grandma & grandpa. 2 more weekends and mom & McKinley & Ireland were back in SLC to watch Michael play Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. He did a fantastic job, as always! We also went to Kelly & Michael’s baby shower while we were up north, and it was great to see some people on daddy’s side of the family that we haven’t seen in a while. We got some seriously awesome snow at the end of the month! Just in time for Thanksgiving break! We went sledding, ice skating, and swimming, and we watched Christmas movies and drank ridiculous amounts of hot cocoa :) It was so nice to relax and not have to travel too far. Thanksgiving was at the Hamiltons in St. George this year and while the drive back was a bit scary, it was totally worth it to be with family and eat yummy food.
JASON : Jason took the older kids for our first trip to SLC, then the younger ones for the 2nd trip to SLC. He is such a great daddy & didn’t miss a beat taking Noelle to ballet (he even did buns in her hair!), and Kezia to an SUU day. He’s still busy at work with his employee retired, they still haven’t filled the job yet.
HEIDI: Heidi had some major miracles this month - one of them was her back. At the beginning of the month, she somehow threw it out and was in so much pain it literally hurt to breathe & she could hardly move. She worked patiently on icing and stretching and with so much gratitude, within a few days she was SO much more functional. Also, Heidi lost her wallet with over $100 in it, it was turned into Walmart & had all the money. Heidi enjoyed seeing so much family this month - on both sides of our family. She was asked last minute to do Aunt Cindy’s slideshow, so that was a bit stressful, but she always enjoys seeing the old pictures & videos & it was neat to see some pictures of Aunt Cindy she’d never seen before. She also enjoyed visiting with her girls on the long drives. Heidi had a couple long drives rescuing Tiarra as her car broke down. Thankfully, it got towed, but worked when they got it there! Heidi read a book called These Broken Stars, which was good, and also listened to “The Faith of Mr. Rogers. That was short and good and inspirational. She also did a slideshow for the YW in Excellence night & that was fun. Her ideal schedule (ha ha, rarely happens every week) M- Personal study, strength gym class, cleaning/mom & Oaklyn time, T/H - morning run with Kezi/Diane, (Thursdays - strength class) watch Shawn’s kids, Griffols. W- Personal study, yoga class. F - outside time - hike.
McKINLEY:
-We’re so proud of McKinley, she is working so hard on completing her personal progress for Young Women’s. She sewed a dress for her last project in Integrity, and only has about 7 experiences left to do. Way to go McKinley!
-McKinley brought home high school registration and it completely blind-sighted us! We had no idea we were going to have to think about any of this this soon! And now we need to make decisions! There wasn’t even any counselor involvement and with this being our first high-schooler, we have a lot of questions! In the end, she only had a half credit to choose an elective, with Orchestra and seminary. We want to make sure we set McKinley up in an advantageous way for college credits and her career, but we also want her to be able to stress less & enjoy high school. We still have a lot of questions, but they are slowly getting answered & with prayer we will get her set on the right track. We love you McKinley!
-McKinley also came home with information from the brand new Launch High School that they are starting in August. McKinley is very excited about it.
-McKinley enjoyed the break & got to go ice skating with Karmiyah & a couple walks too :)
-We almost have McKinley’s Alaska trip fully booked! Just a couple more excursions and we are all ready to party in August next year!
IRELAND:
-Ireland made a cool game in woodshop with pegs on a triangle. She designed a cool dolphin on the back, too!
-Mom loved watching Ireland jump on the tramp with Spencer at the Simons. She was helping him with his back handsprings and giving him lots of great tips.
-We continue to love hearing Ireland’s insights during Come Follow Me on Sundays.
-Ireland loved going ice skating with Sienna!
KEZIA:
-Kezia had a fun month! She won 1st place in the literary section of the Reflections contest and won a certificate and trophy of candy! We are so proud of her!
-Kezia also got another chinchilla! It worked out really well after the funeral in SLC, Kezia was able to use her money (with a little birthday money) and get a 2 year old male chinchilla. She now has Fox and Coyote. Coyote is really a sweetie and he’s very good natured. It’s fun to watch them run in the hallway and Coyote has made it no secret that he likes the grouchy Fox. We may have baby chinchillas in a few months!
-Kezia had to miss ballet that day, but she did get to go to a really cool thing at SUU that lasted all day. She got to be with Macie and they went around with college girls and did STEM projects and ate there and she even “graduated” at the end of the day with a cap that she had made and a sweatshirt. She had a lot of fun!
-It was the 2nd to last time for Kezia’s primary program this month & she did a great job! We will sure miss when she graduated primary.
-Kezia LOVED going to the church Family History Museum! She took a bunch of pictures and videos and said she would even go for her birthday! It was Dia De Los Muertos and we got to watch some of Coco, color, eat Mexican food, and Kezia even got her face painted & it looked so cool!
-Kezia finally cashed in on her lateover this month. She had Addie Price, Macie Mitchell, Sophie, and Sarah Simmons over and they had a great time playing games, eating pizza, having lots of yummy treats with the chocolate fountain and watching part of a movie.
LINK:
This year was your golden/magical birthday - you would have turned 7 on the 7th. For the occasion, in addition to donating to the RMH homes in SLC & Philadelphia, we finally printed the picture that Jeff Brunson capture of a rainbow going to the Cedar City Temple. It is so special & now hangs above our piano to remind us of you and what really matters. We sent about 12 boys some fun things - a pocket microscope & invisible ink pen & candy - for your birthday. We hope you felt our love, sweet boy, even if the day didn’t turn out like we wanted, with sick kids. With Jason’s aunt and my aunt both passing away, you have more family up there to help you out on that side of the veil. We sure do miss you, our sweet boy and
NOELLE:
-Noelle is liking ballet (though not when she has to go without Kezia). She likes the pretty music and getting to dance :)
-Noelle has really gotten into PBSkids lately. It’s fun to see her master the games. She, however, is having a hard time getting off of them when she’s supposed to so we have to make sure it’s in moderation.
-Twice Noelle came home talking about McKai hurting her on the bus, so we finally called the bus garage and had them move seats so they don’t sit by each other. It seems like she’s happier and less stressed about school now, so we are grateful for that.
-Noelle’s Kindergarten class has a little Thanksgiving and they even made cute hats!
-Noelle has passed off ALL the Kindergarten sight words - great job Noelle! And she is bringing home books to read to us instead of having “lap books” to read to her. She is such a smartie!
-Noelle did SUCH a great job at the primary program - such an improvement from last year! She knew almost all of the songs and smiled & sang and did her part so well!
-One day Oaklyn had bit Noelle a couple times & finally mom got out the cayenne pepper for Oaklyn. Noelle cried & cried & said not to give it to Oaklyn, when mom had the pepper on her finger & was going to put it in Oaklyn’s mouth, Noelle stepped in front of her & stuck out her tongue. It was so sweet.
-Noelle loves to pamper Daizy! She gets out the book “Biscuit” and does all the things in that book - treats, blankets, dolls, hugs, kisses, etc. It’s super cute. She even brings her a bowl of food and water right where she’s laying.
-Mom went to a baby shower for her friend, Shawn, and Noelle was so cute with the gifts. Without being asked, she jumped right up there and handed Shawn present after present :)
-Noelle is SO good about helping in the mornings! If the table isn’t set, she jumps right in & gets the bowls, spoons, and even cereal (she has to climb on a stool). She’s such a big helper!
OAKLYN:
-Oaklyn is still super-cute, but she has had a bit of sassiness this month as well. She sure refused to go to some family members that saw this month and does a pretty good impression of Noelle’s grouchy, sassy face. Still, she was SO excited to see Grandma & Grandpa and kept saying “You’re my grandma/grandpa!” Oaklyn also had fun with Rachel :)
-A cute thing Oaklyn says whenever she’s lifting something heavy “I got my muscles!”
-Oaklyn still likes to fix hair and one day she was fixing daddy’s hair (which has gotten very long) and put a bow in it and she REALLY wanted him to wear it to work!
-For Oaklyn, almost everything that ever happened has happened on a Tuesday. It’s her favorite thing to say. “We went to the park on Tuesday!” “I saw Grandma on Tuesday!” “I was a baby on Tuesday!” :)
-Sad/scary thing happened this month. Oaklyn & mommy went to Costco and we got in the van and Oaklyn locked all the doors, then mom strapped her in her carseat and forgot to unlock the doors before she shut it. So, Oaklyn was strapped in and mom’s phone and wallet were in there with her. Mom had to go into Costco and call the Washington police. Thankfully they were fast and Oaklyn was happy in there. Mom, on the other hand, was a wreck! Not a fun time.
-Oaklyn had a strange puking streak this month. Only at night, she would wake up and puke. Like 3 or 4 nights in a row :( Then all day she was happy and fine. We are still watching her closely to see if she’s allergic to something.
