Samantha's 13th Birthday!

 Samantha had a great 13th birthday. She invited friends over to watch Studio C and to play Hide and Seek. I wasn't sure how much her friends would enjoy hiding in our house, but they had so much fun and kept finding new places to hide. They also had some great laughs with Studio C.

 We had a busy day on her birthday and joined the Laub's for a group birthday party for everyone who had a birthday within the week. Her uncle, and three cousins were celebrated with her.

Samantha has really enjoyed being a teenager so far and that makes us really happy. Blue is still her favorite color and she still loves to dance. She plays the piano and flute, loves to read, and loves to tell jokes. Young Womens has been a fun thing for her this year and she has enjoyed using her tablet at church for her scriptures and hymns. She plays the opening and closing song for Young Women's and also at home for family night. She is in a play for the 7th and 8th grade that is called "Once on this Island" which will be performed in a few weeks. She has a solo and we are excited to see her perform! She loves to babysit and has become more responsible over the last year. Her room is very organized and Taylor Swift is always playing in the background. She helps cook ramen noodles, broil steaks, make salads and whatever else I ask her to do. Although the toilet is not her favorite thing to clean, she still does it, along with sweeping the floor and putting dishes away. She loves our puppy and has a deep affection for her since the dog lost one leg. She is becoming more thoughtful and has been setting goals for her own personal progress.
We love that she is our oldest daughter and we are so pleased that she is part of our family. She is the life of the party most of the time and is so willing to do her part. We love her and love that she is learning and growing! She is our first teenager and we look forward to having fun with her this year!

Grandpa's Birthday

 My dad decided to celebrate his birthday with BB guns and bows and arrows. We spent the afternoon with my family shooting! I love that we get to spend this kind of time together! I love my dad and hope he had a great day!

14 Year Anniversary

We went to East Canyon this year for our anniversary, compliments of my parents. We used their time share for our honeymoon and this is the first time we have been back for our anniversary. We have been there for plenty of other reasons during the summer.

 Our plans were to sled, play in the snow and snow shoe. There was not much snow so we sledded and spent a lot of time playing games, watching movies and trying to eat all the food we brought. It snowed a lot the day we left and we hoped to go snow shoeing at my parents but we had to head home to take care of our dog. We had a great time!

Winter Events 2014

 Derrick received his Webelo award and his compass points. He also earned his Arrow of Light. He also crossed over to 11 year old scouts. We are so proud of him!

 Kevin rode the electric bull at the NFR. He was an entertaining ride to watch. I wish I would have videoed it. Most of the other riders were older and had slower rides. He did get thrown and everyone cheered since he was pretty awesome!

 Derrick and KayDee were in the elementary school Christmas program.

 Samantha had her winter band concert and did very well. They are a small band but they did much better this year!

Here's some videos of the songs they sang.

 I turned 35 this year!

Christmas 2014

 Christmas with our town

 Santa Came after they did the nativity!

 Christmas at the Erickson's

 Samantha was a sheep

 Kevin was a narrator

 KayDee was Mary

 Reality shots. The kids had a hard time holding still but their costumes are awesome!

 Christmas on the Farm

The Girls Winter Dance Recital

The girls performed at the Rammette Review in November to practice performing their dances. Both girls did lyrical dances. The video is the winter dance recital in December. They did great and we decided to sit somewhere else so the speaker box isn't in the way next time!

Derrick is 11!

Derrick had a fun birthday party with his friends. They watched a Pokemon movie and then wished they had enough time to play with the Pokemon cards. We love that he has chosen such great friends!

 It is crazy to think that time just keeps going and we don't notice. Derrick is already 11! He is such a good kid and has been through some rough roads figuring out friends, instructions, and confusion in homework. He has put in great effort to resolve these and has made goals and kept them. He is such a thoughtful person and thinks through directions that he is given. He is very responsible and likes to follow rules. He is getting more adventurous, since he takes a survival kit with him when he roams the farm near our home.

He loves to shoot his bow and arrow, his BB gun and loves to make stuff with rope and wood. His friends got him really into Pokemon and only had 10 cards before his birthday. Now he has well over 100 and loves that he has what he needs to play the game.
His dad lets him drive trucks and tractors when he needs an extra driver on the farm. He really enjoys going to scouts and received all of his compass points with his Webelo award before going into 11 year old scouts. He did karate for a year and decided that he wanted to try some new sports. He is very excited to start basketball and wrestling. He is a great helper at home and helps with bringing in wood, doing dishes, washing the tub and shower and doing his own laundry. He has also helped make meals like eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, baked potatoes, tacos, bread and more. He still takes piano lessons from me and continues to improve and plays for our family nights. His favorite color is still red. We are so glad he is in our family and appreciate that he does his part to make our family happy. We love him and are so pleased with his choices to follow our Savior. He is diligent in making sure he brings his scriptures to church and actively participates in the lessons. He helps teach lessons for family night and likes to discuss the scriptures when we read as a family.

Mexican Riviera Cruise

 This is a line up of our kids with our friend's kids when we were dropped off at Long Beach Port.

 5 person selfie. We decided we wanted to be on top when the ship launched. This is us on the 9th deck at the bow.

 Our friend John surprised us with a gift of strawberries and sparkling cider when we arrived in our stateroom. We found some fun stuff at the shops too because of him. Thanks John!

 This is the Mad Hatter's room. We went to some shows in this room like the comedians and the kids also did their talent show in here where Derrick sang "I wish I were a Cowboy" that was a hit, and just about everyone sang along with the chorus as he went through the verses! People came up and told him he did a great job! He learned the song a couple years ago in school.

 This is our formal night. Since we didn't plan on purchasing pictures, we took a 10 second timer in the stateroom. We look ready for a formal dinner! Check out the sparkly jewelry on the girls we got on the trip!

 The kids really enjoyed the activities for their age groups. At first it was rough figuring out how to get them where they needed to be and do what we wanted, and we walked the ship a lot! By the end we figured it out and everyone had a great time. KayDee loved the pirate activity so much that this is how she looked for dinner too!

 We were able to go to the beach twice. Our boat was headed right for Hurricane Vance and to our first port Puerto Vallarta. Of course our port changed and we so we went to La Paz instead. When we arrived on the beach KayDee started picking up shells immediately. Derrick and Sam jumped into the ocean. Derrick and I built a sand castle which KayDee decorated with some of her shells. Samantha snorkeled a lot. Kevin went on a round trip bus ride so he could grab the camera and get the boogie boards. We learned what we should take for the next port. He did enjoy the sights as he rode.

 The next port we went to was Cabo San Lucas. This was one of our planned ports but we went to it a couple days after schedule. The weather calmed down and we were able to tender to shore. It was beautiful. We ended up going on a tour in a glass bottom boat and saw fish and the other fun rock formations and beaches. Our tour guide did a great job and we got a great price! When we were done, he dropped us off on the beach and we decided to walk back to the harbor and shops.

 That's our cruise ship, the Carnival Miracle.

KayDee's sand castle that almost wasn't. The sand was so course because there was a Hurricane a few months ago that blew all the fine sand away. We smashed the wettest sand into our red building brick and were able to make a wall.
 Derrick is floating and enjoying the tide with our ship behind him.

 Sam enjoying her goggles and flippers.

KayDee was loving the tide bringing her in on the boogie board.

Kevin wanted a picture with the guard mostly because of his gun.