Josh on Josh: Fifteen!

At fifteen, Josh is doing stellar!  He hit the ground running with positivity heading into high school, and although the adjustment was harder than he thought it would be, he's found his stride.  Change is hard, especially for a boy who finds his confidence in the comfort of the known.  He has few classes with his close friends, and while many of the boys play soccer, he chose marching band, which felt like he was the odd-man-out at times.  Many of his close girl friends went to different high schools.  But he's created new circles of friends for himself, while also realizing that he can have different interests, and still be close with his old friends.  It's been wonderful to see him bloom into himself as change is all around him.  He is doing well in his high school classes, although he's been plagued by missing French assignments.  Josh still loves music, had a blast this year in marching band.  Their trip to Bands of America in Flagstaff, Arizona, was one of favorite experiences.  He was a little frustrated by the clowning around that went on when the team needed to work, but it's an awesome learning experience for him and has taught him a lot about working with others and finding patience.  He was selected for the highest performance band as a freshman, the Wind Ensemble.  It's been challenging, and he has learned so much!  Josh also took quad lessons in the fall so he could audition to play them in Winter Percussion.  Piano has been put on the back burner for now, but I'm hoping the fire will be rekindled soon.  Josh is still so tenderhearted, and loves to be tucked in every night with an "I love you" and a "see you tomorrow," said before the door can be closed.  He's navigating the wilds of teen romantic relationships, and has learned a lot this year about how to be cautious with the hearts of teen girls.  He is a great friend, shares his positivity, gusto and zest for life with so many.  A true extrovert, Josh finds ways to be with friends whenever he possibly can.  Although he doesn't have his permit yet, he is so excited for 16 when he can drive himself wherever and whenever.  Josh still loves reading, hooray, but also, much to our dismay, loves memes and games on his phone, which we are constantly telling him to put down.  Adam and I both love hanging out with Josh.  He is fun to talk with and has a great personality.  He's smart and clever.  Josh is faithful, strives to do the right thing and be a good example, and genuine.  He's a wonderful human being, and we are so proud of the young man he is!

Josh on Josh: Fifteen-Years-Old!

How old are you?  "I am fifteen."
What makes you happy?  "Mom.  My friends.  My puppy.  Doing fun stuff, you know?  Vibein'."
What are your favorite things to eat?  "I likefood.  I like eating food.  Especially food that tastes really good, but doesn't always make you feel really good--the sugary stuff.  Also, also fettuccine al fredo."
What is your least favorite thing to eat?  "Fast food."
What are your favorite things to do?  "I like playing saxophone.  I like hanging out with my friends and family.  I like eating food.  Yeah...."
What is your favorite TV show?  "The Dragon Prince and Agents of Shield."
What are you really good at?   "Being me!  Doing all the stuff that me does.  Like playing saxophone."
What is your favorite movie?  "Secret Life of Walter Mitty."
What is your favorite animal?  "Fennec foxes."
What is your favorite color?  "Shades of blue, soft oranges."
What is your favorite song?  "April Showers by Proleter."
Who are your best friends?  "Caynon Kraft, Eli Baastiansen, Rohan Gohill, Jojo Suplisson, Riley Opp, Kaden Harding."
What do you and Mom do together that you love?  "Watching movies, going out to eat, playing games."
What do you and Dad do together that you love?  "Watching movies that you don't like to watch, working on projects."
What is your favorite sport?  "Soccer."
What is your favorite book?  "Red Rising."
Where is your favorite place to go?  "The Conlin Cabin."
What makes you feel scared?  "Not knowing, being uncertain."
What do you want to be when you grow up?  "Either a music producer dude, or a sales dude or a biochemist dude."
What words would you use to describe yourself? "Charismatic, happy, musical, smart."
What is the most exciting thing you got to do this year? "Start high school."
What do you want to tell the future you? "Keep being you!  Keep doing a good job."

The Bits: October

Wow--there were a lot of October Bits!

I love that many of Zac's Men's Chorus concerts are live-streamed so we can see/hear our boy make some beautiful music!

Feeding the soul, feeding the belly: Conference Weekend.

Garden of the Gods field trip with the School in the Woods Naturalists!

Whoop!  Another no. 1 finish with a new CO PR, 15:57 (@ 6,000 feet of elevation)!  A great day for Ben and the Rams who took home a lot of hardware!  Couldn't ask to be in a better place heading into the championship races.

A tough loss, but oh how I love watching these two doing their soccer thing!

First little snow of the season!

Tommy earned his Bear rank at the end of the summer, but he didn't receive his badge until October.  He's had a ton of fun in Cubs, but, for now, has decided not to keep going with the school pack when Scouting wraps up with our church.  Great work, Tommy!

Adam had 3 weeks of travel to Everett in a row between the end of September and October.  It's hard to have him go, but also so great that he gets to spend some bonus time with his family.

A scary-fun Starbucks October drink!

Building the wikiup at SITW.  Not your typical recess!

It was freezing cold and then scorching hot in Provo Canyon while filming the music video for the Men's Chorus "How Great Thou Art," but Zac will remember and cherish this experience forever.  What an incredible opportunity for him!

Zac and the Men's Chorus director, Sister Rosalind Hall, who will retire this year after 21 years heading up this choir and many more teaching and leading music at BYU.  So grateful Zac will have had this year with her!

The Soccer Saturday High-Five Tunnel Smile.

Josh (front right corner) and the Regiment performing at the Harrison Marching Competition.  I love witnessing how the show continues to come together over the course of the season.

 

Deeply thankful for FaceTime...I miss this kid so much!

Why celebrate just once when you can celebrate again and again??

Making sure everything is in proper working order after some energy issues--turns out, it wasn't.  His heart was great!  In fact, the tech who was reading the VO2 max said that in the 20 years she had been reading these scans, she had only seen one other person reach the same threshold as Ben.  However, Ben's iron level registered at 9; 30 is considered low; normal is above 50.  So he's currently supplementing iron heavily.

October is fall conference season!  Tommy is loving SITW and thriving there.  As expected. :)

Luke is having a fantastic 7th grade year!  With the exception of regularly missing French assignments, he's crushing all of his grades.  Woot!

Taking advantage of a day off to see something sweet with my boys!

Zac squeezed the life out of BYU Homecoming week!  Here he is at Light the Y with some of his friends from his ward.

And here he is at the BYU Homecoming Spectacular concert, performing with BYU Men's Chorus, which also got to sing backup for Ben Rector.

Rampart's Homecoming night coincided with the 7th/8th grade band night at the game.  Luke and the other 8th grade/Honor Band members got to sit in the stands and play with the pep band.  Since Luke plays bassoon, which is not a pep instrument, he got to help out with the pit.  It was a fun night for all--ooooor maybe a little annoying for the actual high school pep band members.  Haha!

Zac and about 30 other kids camped out overnight at the stadium to score these awesome seats at the Homecoming game.  We love that he's living it up!  (But also getting good grades *priorities*).

Last game of a great season with this awesome group of kids and coaches!  Sometimes I walk around the field so I can take pictures of Tommy playing, and I hear the parents from the other team shouting--at the kids, at the refs, and it makes me so grateful that we've been part of this great team, including the great parents.

Adam spent our Homecoming weekend down in Roswell, NM with his family celebrating his sister, Angie, and her marriage to her beau, Frank.  The family had such a good time together.  We are so happy to see Ang so happy!

Mr. and Mrs. Frank and Angela Barreras.  Congratulations, Angie!

That time I spotted our Coug on the BYU official Instagram page at Light the Y.

Tommy unknowingly channeling his inner feminist with his SITW hat choice!  The kids select one hat, gifted by local knitters/SITW alumni families, to have for the year when the cold season starts.   This is the hat Tommy chose!

Ben was nominated for Athlete of the Week again this year, after his Regional win, but unfortunately didn't get the most votes this time, darn football players.  Oh, well!  No biggie: he's our Athlete of the Week every week!

More snow!  And two crazy boys.

Celebrating the end of another fantastic season of soccer!

Even though he graduated in May, awards keep showing up in our mailbox!  Awesome job, Zac!

Luke at the RHS Trunk-or-Treat with Ethan.

Ben and Emma's cute carving date night.

In a disappointing twist of events, the snow that came at the end of October, while so fun, caused the cancellation of the State Marching Band Championship.  It was such a bummer!  Rampart ended up finishing 9th in State, based on their Regional score.  Josh was incredibly chill and understanding about it all, but I felt a little frustrated knowing that if it had been a State football playoff, CHSSAA would have found a way to reschedule.  The team had one final performance on the practice field for their friends and families before calling the season complete.  Congratulations to Josh and the Rampart Regiment for an awesome season and a great show: "What Dreams May Come!"

Built by the CTMS kiddos after our late-October snow days.

I snuck out of work and over to SITW to cheer Tommy on for a little bit at the SITW Turkey Trot.  Tommy had so much fun running a total of 4.5 miles over the course of an hour, on a slick snowy trail.

Conlin Carve 2019

One of our favorite, gooeyest traditions!  This year, one of the parts we liked best was walking to the store in the snow to pick out our pumpkins.