Samuel's 15th Birthday

The oldest child turned 15!! Holy cow! The in between year. He's one year away from driving, dating, all the scary stuff. 

We celebrated when it was convenient for most of the family a few days before his actual birthday since it was on a weekday. Lucky for him, he didn't have school this Friday so he had a pretty chill day. We celebrated with both sides of the family. He requested tacos, so we had an above average taco bar and Costco sheet cake. Because.....his cake of choice is not longer made!!! He wanted the All-American giant chocolate cake of goodness from Costco. I went to purchase it only to learn they no longer sell it!! Oh, so many memories related to that cake. He was bummed but was satisfied with this cake instead. 

Love looking at each individuals reaction to singing and blowing out candles. 

He's in 9th grade this year and High School is harder than he thought it would be. But he's enjoying it. He's working hard on achieving his Eagle Scout. Still playing tons of video games, watching and listening to way too much music on YouTube, he's helpful around the house and at babysitting and loves his new weighted blanket. He is now taller than I am (I am 5'9" ) and wears the same size shoe as Tyler (13). He got his learners permit...on his birthday. He's a little intimated by driving but we made him go, on his birthday, to get his learners permit. I want him to be able to taxi, I mean, help drive his siblings, and himself around. We sold the $600 Oldsmobile that was planned for him because it needed more work than it was worth. So instead we sold it for $600 and bought a Honda, newer, better condition and more $ so Sam will have to save up more over the next year. In the meantime, he's pretty proud of it and drives it for now. He's actually a pretty decent driver for starting out. He took drivers Ed back in May. Took the permit test twice before passing and he's on his way! Look out Arvada! lol. 

March Madness

Okay, I am going backwards because it's too much of a pain to rearrange the photos. 

For the last week of March we were in Utah, the kids and I, for Spring Break. We hung out in Mt Pleasant with Gma and Gpa Stum. Salt Lake City, visiting all of our friends. We were also able to attend my cousins baptism and catch up with my Knell side of the family. The kids were happy as clams spending the night at various friends homes. I stayed with Rose for some nights and then at my friend from my ward, Pam's house. She's a great hostess with comfortable home. I snapped a photo of this phrase she had on her wall. She's been through a lot of trials in her life and yet she's still a positive, strong woman in the Gospel and I love her example to me. 

And I was able to do some real estate while I was in Utah. It was awesome!

Colin eating his favorite meal: macaroni and cheese, at the Corner Bakery in SLC.

We celebrated my birthday at my parents house. Jennie made me an amazing ice cream cake, I think I requested cookie dough and peanut butter cups, my fave combo. I was also treated by some friends in SLC and Nora (see below).

 Can't go to SLC without a stop to the best cake donuts in town, Banbury Cross.

Mount Pleasant fire pit nights. My dad relocated his fire pit so this was the first time using it, at least he grandkids. Hot dogs and S'mores.

Each time I am in Utah I try to carve out several hours to go my fave salon so they can do their curly magic. Sadly, it's not realistic to keep up this habit and I need to find a local salon that I can trust here in Denver area. They introduced this new gel to me and it was amazing!!! Best part is...it's just as good as the other brand I had been using, but much much cheaper and easier to get (Target vs private salon stores via Steph).

I also got my nails done (see a few pics down)...and they match my pants almost perfectly.

Luckily, there was enough snow on the mountains and Sam got to ski, it had been a year since he'd gone for the fist time and learned. He was able to go skiing with 2 of his best friends (Ethan and Aaron) because my dad and Rose took them. But he needed some new snow pants because he outgrew his old ones. So I stopped at a couple of thrift stores in SLC and found a great pair for him. C&C also found some fun toys at the thrift store.

We stayed with Rose for a few days which was fun and helpful.....this is her cats butt.

I was able to go to the Denver Aquarium for the first time with Cecily's 3rd grade field trip. It was fun!

Felines are my favorite animal in the world!

I can't remember the name of this fish but I loved how its eyes bulged out of the water 

Beautiful and bright!!

Nora took me out to lunch and we got pedicures for my birthday. She's hardly been to Cafe Rio so I was happy to share it with her!

I took these to a movie....I think it was "The Secret Life of Pets 2"...the older kids didn't want to waste their time. It was an okay movie. Funny at times but redbox worthy.

We bought a $600 car from Stoehr's neighbor for Samuel. It's old and mostly functional. Well, Jocelyn is too mortified to be seen riding in it. This is her during one of the school drop offs or dance pickups. hahahaha.

St Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday this year so we had dinner with Tyler's fam. Corned beef and cabbage. Lori had some fun games planned for the kiddos.

This is one of the 1 cent horse rides at King Soopers. I rode the very same horse when I was a kid, and it only cost 1 cent. An employee told me they had just done some work on it. I am so happy they or someone maintains these little rides and that they haven't increased the price over the years.

Cecily and I went to another movie....but I can't remember which one! Lego ? Anyway, this was back when we had movie type passes and it was a lot cheaper to go to the theater.

Jocelyn was having some fun with herself! Look at that smolder.

One of the several snow days we had this month! One day they preemptively cancelled school and we woke up and it was just raining. But it quickly turned into an icy, snow, windy blizzard so I was glad they canceled. 

Jennie and I have this running joke....that neither of us (plus Grant) can't successfully make rolls. This was the first batch, in over 6 tries between us, that sorta worked. Since then (November I am writing this) she has successfully made them perfectly.

Cecily was reading to Colin one night in his little tented bed. She is so kind to read to him so frequently. It counts as reading for him and her! They are great pals, most of the time.

This is Cecily being awarded her Science fair honors.

We went to the Children's WOW museum in Lafayette with Heidi/Lori. This was clearly his favorite dress-up. 

Samuel's 12th Birthday

I cannot believe we have a 12 year old! A pre-teen. A deacon! Not only because it ages Tyler and I but also because that means Samuel has been a part of our lives for 12 years. We love Samuel. 

Cecily and Sam having a zucchini club fight.

Samuel's birthday fell on a Friday. Luckily for him, there wasn't any school that day! That afternoon Steve and Lori came up and took us out to his favorite fast food restaurant, Taco Bell. Then that night we had our ward party. 

Tyler and I were asked, with another couple, to plan and execute, and it fell on Samuel's birthday. So, that afternoon Tyler and I were prepping for it while Samuel did his favorite thing....played video games. That night Steph, Emily, Shawn, Gma & Gpa Furber, Gma and Gpa Stoehr, Hannah and Rose came to the ward party. It was a success. We had 150 people attend. Even though we got rained out of the park we held it at church. Tyler and I made 80 pounds of smoked, pulled pork. The ward provided the rest. And I decorated with the help of some ward members that I recruited. It came together really nicely and without too much stress. I couldn't tell if I wasn't stressed because I had a minimal approach to the whole thing. Or did most of the prep the week of opposed to fretting over it for weeks (not that I wasn't preparing or thinking of it for the previous 3 that we knew about the assignment). Or because I am getting better at handling big projects like that. Not sure......Sadly, no pictures :(  Just imagine a western themed party with excellent food and company. Fun times. And we managed to embarrass Samuel by having the whole ward sing Happy Birthday to him. 

The next day was kinda chill. Steph helped me cut Colin's hair. Family showed up that afternoon. Then that gals--Steph, Emily, Lori, Gma F, Hannah, Jocelyn and I attended the Women's Conference at the Conference Center. That was really special as Jocelyn was able to see the prophets up close. And it was just a great conference! Then we came home to The Pi Pizza. Yum!! And Samuel got Papa Johns pizza because he and the kids don't like The Pi. 

We were able to host Gma and Gpa Furber this trip. 

This year was a special year as he received the Priesthood. Unfortunately, we did not get any photos on that special day. That Sunday all the family was able to come to our ward. It also happened to be our Primary Program. It was very sweet. Each of kids did an awesome job of speaking their parts. Although, Jocelyn and Samuel had memorized theirs their nerves got to them and they read part of it. Cecily had a complicated scripture to recite. They each sang well even if Cecily was a little bouncy in her choir seat chair. The last song, the primary song of the year, If I Listen with My Heart , that went along with the theme, "I know the Scriptures are true" was really touching. Especially since this was Samuel's last primary program ever. Sadly, Tyler chose to attend Music and the Spoken Word and missed the program. His attendance is borderline 80% so he ran the risk of not singing in General Conference the next weekend. One of those sacrifices we make for the choir. We opted to have Samuel set apart between the second and third hours. Our brand new bishop allowed us to have the ordination in his office, instead of in front of the whole priesthood, which made Samuel nervous. Plus, we had this huge crew of family it would have been kind of awkward. It was a very special blessing. I bawled through it. Tyler cried through it. He mentioned that Samuel was blessed with a big heart and that he's aware of other people's needs. He was blessed with this and it would magnify his priesthood power to bless others. I don't think Samuel understands the magnitude of what he was just given but it'll be exciting to see how, over time, he will. The bishop also mentioned to me that during his interview, he could tell that Samuel was saved for this day. A little scary yet very cool that he was prepared to be born and raised at this time. He's a special boy, er, young man. 

His favorite cake flavor--mint and chocolate. Each year he has some variation of this. This year I asked him to peruse Pinterest and tell me what he wanted. He liked this 3 layered chocolate cake with mint frosting, topped with rich ganache. At first I worried it would be a disaster because the cakes came out thin, a little sunken and fell apart as I took them out of the pans. Luckily, Hannah has cake decorating experience and she helped put it all together. Even to the point of making the cool frosting edging. It turned out to be very delicious and Samuel loved it!

Samuel opening his box of kleenex from Gma and Gpa Stoehr. Or was it??

He was happy with his $12 instead of a bunch of useful tissue.

Samuel in his kitchen bedroom in Paris.

In school Samuel took a test in one of his classes. He discovered that he's an extrovert. Not completely surprising as Tyler and I both consider ourselves more on the extroverted side. But now that I look back......while we lived in Paris (I'll throw in a picture for fun) it was just Samuel and I most of the day. And he struggled playing by himself. I had to be right there with him or actually engaged with him. Or he had to be stimulated by others....which kinda drove me nuts because it was just usually the two of us in this foreign country alone. But now it makes sense......he craves being with other people and is energized by them (even if it's online playing with friends). He'd hate it if I shared this but I am going to anyway because not many people read this...but he also talks to himself. That's how much he dislikes being alone, lol! When he is playing on the Ps4, the shower, etc, I can hear him having these play-by-play conversations or imagining stories. I love it. Just don't make fun of him for it :)



Even though this wasn't an official "friend birthday party" year I let him invite a few friends over. A week after his birthday, they had another 3 day weekend.  He wanted to just veg and play video games then watch his favorite movie "Warcraft" with them. However, a couple of the guys weren't as interested in these two major activities and I think he was a little let down by that. We should have kept it small to his closest friends. They ended up enjoying the chickens, played on the playground, nerf gun battles, and ate pizza and a bunch of junk food. He loved it.

Tyler took Samuel to his first priesthood session! They went to Culver's for ice cream afterwards to start a tradition (one that Tyler enjoyed as a kid).