Happy Holidays

Seasons Greetings
Hopefully this post finds all of you healthy, happy and enjoying the holiday season. We have been so busy this year that it is hard to believe it is already Christmas time again. I guess we must be having fun because the time is literally flying by!
As we look towards 2008 we are excited by some changes ahead. Brett just found out that he received a position/transfer with the Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game in Idaho Falls. For those of you who don’t know, Brett is from that area of Idaho, so this will be like going home. It will mean that his summers will not be so hectic (he was gone 14 weeks last summer) and that we will be close to Idaho State University for my (Katherine’s) schooling. I am applying, as we speak, for admittance into the dental hygiene program. My application is fairly strong so we are hoping that I will be starting there next fall.
I figured that since I am posting this letter to our blog that I could kind of do a photo journal of our year to show you what we have been up to.

Last winter found me in school and pretty busy. Spring rolled around and the kids and I finished up school and we were busy with baseball/softball/t-ball (yes, all four kids in sports at same time - insane), fishing for crappie at CJ Strike Res. (Sadie was catching one on every cast) then we took a family trip to Oregon in June to see my family. We spent a week doing all sorts of fun things including a trip to the aquarium and the beach at Newport and seeing family like my Grandma Hawkins.









July found us really busy. First we spent a week near Denver with Brett’s folks and had a lot of fun. Photo of kids at Denver, Broncos Stadium.

Towards the end of the month Brett went to Martin’s Cove Wyoming with our ward, and Katherine stayed home and delivered puppies. Yep, Jessie had 7 puppies in July and yes we planned it. Only 6 survived, but they were still a lot of work. Of course they were pretty adorable. Thankfully we sold them all to great families.
Brett was able to reenact the handcart trek of some of the LDS pioneers. He took a year to grow his hair out so that he could be more true to his character.

In August we took the kids on their first rafting trip. We took them on the south fork of the Boise river, a fifteen mile stretch. I had never been on it and trusted Brett’s opinion that it wouldn’t be too much for them (that‘s the last time I will do that:) ). Well, it was way too much for them. The first half of the day was great fun, but the last 6 miles was non stop white water, in a cold shaded canyon. The kids were soaked and freezing by the time we got to the car. So the kids now tell us they will never go rafting again! This picture tells another story though don’t you think?

September rolled in and brought us school once again. Sadie (10) started the fifth grade, Cody (7 1/2 )is in the second grade and Jackson and Greg (now 6) are in Kindergarten. The twins are in separate classes and each love their teachers and all that they are learning. (photo of J&G 1st day of school)

Katherine began her last semester at Boise State University (little did I know it would be my hardest). September also brought Cody’s first experience playing flag football. He loved it and dreams of being in the NFL someday. (photo of Cody playing QB - he was usually on Defensive line)

Brett, as I mentioned, was gone A LOT! The kids and I missed him terribly while he was out in the field.
I posted Halloween photos and Thanksgiving took us back to Oregon. We saw almost all of my family and it was nice to be able to see them and catch up. Here is a photo of three of my four sisters and myself.

This fall also brought Sadie a new sport to excel at. She played basketball for the first time and is planning on sticking with it next year.

Now we are in the middle of the holidays and Christmas is right around the corner. Brett has been going trapping twice a week and takes the kids with him occasionally. Him and his partner have already gotten 20 Pine Marten. It is a fun hobby for him because it gives him an excuse to be outside in the middle of the winter. (Yes, I still occasionally call him Davy)

This is a photo of when Cody whent with him, don't worry, he is holding the trap not the marten.

As we prepare for selling our home, moving and all that that entails, we are comforted in knowing that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us, that He is mindful of our needs and that He wants the best for us. Christmas is such a great time to reflect on the fact that Christ makes it possible to return to our Father again. What a blessing that is! May all of you enjoy this time of year no matter what your beliefs are. Cherish your family and every minute that you have been blessed to be with them. Have a Merry Christmas and know that we love you and hope for all good things to come your way in this new Year.

The High Family

I love my kids!

About the photos - Jackson and Greg decided to wear mine and Brett's shoes outside before church one Sunday morning so I took a photo out my bedroom window- silly kids. And the other is Easter of '06 - old photo I know, but aren't they cute?

So, posting every week isn't happening right now. Oh, well. We are just surviving life one day at a time. All the boys had a weird bug this past week where they got a fever and felt yucky for about 24 hours then felt fine. Don't worry, I am not complaining. I wish every time they were sick it was that easy. Sadie is in Basketball right now and loving it. At her game this past Saturday she made a basket (first time in a game). She isn't very aggressive yet so the coach yelled to her to just take it in to the basket and shoot, so she did. She was so excited! She just turned 10 in October and I can't believe how fast she is growing! And with how fast time seems to by flying by, pretty soon she will be dating and then graduating then going off to college! OK, I am getting ahead of myself, but it does seem like that sometimes. When the twins were little and I would go into public with all four kids, grandmas would come up to me and say, "Oh, enjoy this time. These are the best days of your life." And I would be thinking, "Are you insane? I want to sell them half the time and you think this is great?" Well, now that I don't feel like selling them on a daily basis, and they are getting pretty fun, I realize that this is the time when they believe everything we tell them. This is the time when we as parents actually have a big influence on what they do and what they learn and believe. This is the time when they want to hug and kiss us and be sung to at bed time. This is the time when mom and dad are bigger heroes than Spiderman! (OK, that may be stretching it a bit) Point being though, I love my kids and am trying, despite being busy with school, to be that mom who is enjoying it. So that someday I won't feel the urge to tell a young mother to enjoy it because I feel guilty that I didn't.

Sorry for spelling

I just have to post an apology for not doing spell check on my last post. I was putting it together when I had a minute before the kids came home from school and was going pretty fast. Have fun!

Halloween! Oh cursed Day! :)

So, here I am, starting a blog, and I figure that Halloween would be a pretty good time to start since there will be photos to share. Yesterday was the cursed day. I say that because unfortunately for my kids sake, I am a halloween scrouge. I know, boo all you like, I just have a hard time getting into it. I think in the past (like when the twins were toddlers) Halloween was only good for me because it meant that Brett would take the kids out, while I stayed home and handed out candy (a quiete house was hard to come by in those days). But now it just seems like one more thing to stress me out. I know it is because school has kept me so busy, I wasn't able to help my kids with their costumes (they all got bottom of the barrel store bought ones, except Sadie who was thrilled to be a cheerleader in my old uniform). Cody got a ninja costume that didn't have mask or belt or sword, Jackson got to be Spiderman and Greg (as he is now being called) was a knight. The amazing thing was that they had a blast, despite mommy being embarrased at her ragamuffin kids, they thought it was so cool to be in a "store bought" costume. Isn't that funny. We moms are so worried that the other moms will look down on us because our kids aren't in one of a kind, made from scratch, homemade costume, that we actually think the kids are going to care! Anyway, the night went well. We went out to several friends who live out in the boonies and don't get any trick-or-treaters and are always thrilled to have us come. And then we crused around to our nieghbors that we know. All in all, we had a good time, the kids got a ton of candy (and as I am going to be a dental hygienist, I am like the toothbrushing natzi after they eat candy). I feel sorry for the teachers at the elementary school though. I was in volunteering today, and all the kids are just tired, and wiggly and none of them want to be at school.