Family Photos 2014

It was cold, the wind was up and snow was flurrying outside, but it was time.  Time for the annual family photo shoot.  So we set up an old, unused black sheet for a backdrop, jerry-rigged a "tripod" with stools, books and a folded pad of paper, because I broke ours earlier this year, and set the multi-shot timer on the Canon for some family photo fun!  The boys are such good sports and know the drill, so it goes pretty quickly and they do a great job.  Plus, I think they all feel so snazzy in the new outfits I buy for the occasion that they can't help but smile.  We even got lucky this year and had a couple of shots where Ruby looked at the camera, possibly out of pure curiosity over the seemingly-boring black thing that we were all looking at and smiling about.  Ben had the genius idea to have each of the boys hold up a family photo that was taken in the year that they joined the family.  Luke was the mastermind behind the teeth.  I was really pleased with the results!  Love these mugs!

Christmas card!

Money shot.

This one is also going in the Christmas card.

 These ones didn't make the Photoshop cut, but I thought they were fun!

When left to his own devices, this is how Tommy chose to pose.

Check out the guns!

Zac calls this the "Superman" pose.

Adam was testing out the flash settings so it's pretty washed out, and Luke was doing his crazy eyes, but I love this pic of me and my tiny.

Luke's crazy eyes!  It's the look of "are we done yet?"  Or, "my mouth says happy by my eyes say no more pictures!"  Hahaha!

The Guthrie mouth, by which I mean the horrible overbite that my mother's side of the family is notorious for, is scary all on its own.  But it's the brow lift that makes the Guthrie mouth extra scary.

If You Give a Boy a Camera....

I always love to see what my little men capture when they get their hands on a camera.  It's like catching a glimpse of the world through their eyes, a day in the life, a bit of what was important for the moment.  We have a great shockproof/waterproof camera that is easy to let them use for their adventures at home and away because we know it is likely to survive a day or two in their hands.  When I uploaded Ben's pictures from High Trails to the computer, several other pictures and short videos were sitting unseen on the camera's memory card as well; photos and videos that Tommy took over the last few months.  Such a fun discovery!

Below are a few of my favorites.  Ta-da!  Tommy's first gallery showing!

In Graham's Field (photographed from the porch rail)

Sky Ball

Solo Water War

Pine Cone in Relief

Someday Ride

Down

Up

View From the Middle Seat

Waiting for Lunch at Noodles and Company

Flying Saucer

As Tall As Zac

Birthday Friends

For Mom

The Black and White Series:

Where I Usually Find Mom

Every Single Day

Little Lego Man

Planted

Game Set-Up Takes Longer Than The Game

A Paddling of Ducks

The Bits: November 2nd Through November 9th

November is here, and so are some Bits!

Luke wasn't feeling well Saturday but we figured it was the aftermath of too much Halloween.  When he woke up on Sunday looking ashen but flushed and saying he still didn't feel well, my mom radar pinged and I decided to take his temperature.  Nearly 103!  So movies, milkshakes and bed was prescribed.  And then Monday morning he threw up and the fever wouldn't break.  We are hoping we didn't send Kai and Leah home with a special little germy gift! 

With all the lawns Ben and Zac raked over the past couple of weeks, our leaf pile was quite humongous.  Too much fun!  Let the leaf pile jumping commence!  It was a huge bummer that Luke had to miss out, but with how he was feeling, he didn't seem to mind at all.

Tommy found this book on our shelf and decided he needed to become CTR Boy too.  I thought: Ding!  I can make him this for Christmas!  So I said, "Maybe I can make you a CTR Boy cape and badge for Christmas.  Would you like that?"  Tommy liked the idea well.  YES!  But apparently he decided that was too long to wait.  Two days later, he took matters into his own hands and made his own CTR Boy cape and badge, asking for just a bit of help at the end to cut out his letters for the back of the cape.  Perhaps a more permanent one is still in the works for Christmas.  Determination and initiative are definitely two of Tommy's finer traits!

On the morning of his second home-from-school sick day, I decided to pick up Luke's missed work from his teacher so he wouldn't have a ton of {torturous} catch-up work to do when he returned to school.  One of his assignments was to make a "piggy bank" for collecting the money he will earn during his 'Communities' unit.  I think Luke was ready to flex his mental and creative muscles because convincing him to do all his work was not difficult, and his bank came out so cute!  Tommy, not to be outdone, decided he needed to make a "cow bank."  Insisting upon it, in spite of my initial efforts to put him off the project so I could focus on keeping Luke on task with his make-up work.  Tommy knows what he wants and goes for it!  Crafting with these two sweeties was a nice way to spend a morning.

Tommy often stays home with Adam when I go to pick up the brothers from school, but when he does come he is always so eager for them to come out their classroom doors.  It's like Christmas every time!

Josh walks to school early once a week for handbell choir practice, and Ruby often joins Adam or I for the walk with him since there are few others arriving at school so she can be off-leash and relaxed.  We have to wait and watch him cross the street and enter the building since she can't be on the school property, and I love how she watches him go all the way into school, safe and sound.

Getting Luke to do his homework is getting a little bit better.  Thankfully, there are easier days mixed in with the occasional rough day now.  Every now and then he surprises us by fully embracing his work, like he did for all his missed school work while he was sick, and his most recent "When I Grow Up" assignment.  He made himself an astronaut!  He did a wonderful job on his "career doll" and the accompanying report he had to write with it.  I thought we'd do a little bit each day for the week he had to work on it, but he dove right in, wrote the report in one day and made the doll the next.  He turned it in three whole days early!  Happiness all around!

Early Saturday morning, Adam pulled an exhausted post-High-Trails Ben out of bed, and they, along with Zac, set out for an early morning hike on the Santa Fe Trail.  With their busy soccer schedules, the boys often miss the scout camp outs and hikes, so when Zac was called as the Deacons' Quorum president a couple of months ago, the thing he made sure to put on the schedule when his presidency met for the first time was a hike that he and Ben could actually attend.  Gotta cross off some of those Scout requirements!  Only one other scout from their troop joined them, Zac's friend, Will, who isn't LDS but who is on Zac's soccer team and was looking for a troop a little over a year ago so Zac invited him to join ours.  Will's dad, Ryan, who has become one of the troop's scout masters, was also there.  They had a nice time on a beautiful morning, and Ben was able to shake off enough of the tired to enjoy himself.

While the little boys attended their Primary Program practice and pizza party (that's a lot of P's!), I spent the morning with the wonderful young women at our Stake Volleyball Tournament.  The Briargate Young Women seriously LOVE volleyball!  They played so hard and ended up winning the tournament.  It was so exciting!!  I love these girls! 

Saturday afternoon we spent a bit of time planting some hope for spring.  Tommy was with me when we bought the big bag of bulbs at Costco and has been asking for weeks if it was time to put our "tulip seeds" in, but it's been such a warm fall so we had to wait.  We finally have a cold week ahead, and it was time to plant them in the ground and give them a nice long sleep.  Sleep, little tulips, sleep....

Interstellar and Panera...our favorite kind of date!

Sunday, our three youngest participated in the annual Primary Program.  The best Sunday of the year!!  They did such a great job delivering their lines, which they all memorized, and singing heartily along with the songs.  Tommy's line: "Even though I am the youngest in my family, I am still an important member."  Luke introduced The Family: A Proclamation to the World and the idea that families can be forever.  Josh talked about Joseph Smith's desire to know truth and the scripture in the Book of James that led him to pray for guidance before he received the First Vision.  I love hearing the faith and innocence of all the primary children as they share their testimonies through the spoken word and song.  Wonderful!

Sunset: November 9th.  No filter.

Ben Goes to High Trails

Last week, Ben attended sixth grade camp at the district's High Trails Camp up in the mountains near Pike's Peak.  If there ever was a kid born for High Trails, it's Ben!  Four days of hiking, nature observation and education, geology, orienteering, friends, food and adventure!  And he only got a little bit homesick, whereas I decided no one is ever allowed to leave home again.

Ben's favorite things:

• Getting his group lost on an orienteering activity
• Rock hopping
• Being in nature
• The hoe-down party
• Skit night
• Hanging out with friends
• Discovering that one of his high school counselors had been his 5th grade buddy when Ben was in 1st grade at AIES
• The big breakfasts

Ben's least favorite things:

• The bossy high school counselor
• Having to wait for seconds on food

He left home thrilled at what was ahead and came home exhausted and happy.  It was a great week!
Most of the pictures he took came out blurry, but here are a few from his experience.

All set and ready to go!

One of Ben's best friends, James, was his buddy for the week.  He also stole Ben's camera several times and took about 40 selfies.

Ben took a few selfies too!

Cabin life.

It was a beautiful week with sunshine and temperatures in the 50's for Ben's group.  Next week the second half of the sixth grade will go, and there are a couple of days where it's only supposed to be in the 20's in The Springs, which means it will be really, really chilly up there! 

Beautiful Colorado!  Zac went earlier in the fall when the aspens were still golden.  For Ben, winter's stark beauty had fully arrived in the mountains.  It snowed the day before they went, but it had mostly melted by the time they arrived on Tuesday morning.

The back side of Pike's Peak.

He's home to us!!!  We missed him SO much!