An 8-year old princess

Ava turned 8 this past Thursday.  Since Thursday was a school night, we decided to open just two of her presents on Thursday and then wait until Friday night for the presents from her brothers.  Our little girl is all grown up.  Nichole got Ava the Scripture bag and I got her the scriptures.  Nichole was able to get Ava's name embroidered on the scriptures which was great.  We took Ava, Eli and a few of her friends on Friday night to Jungle Jim's.  The girls and Eli had a blast there at Jungle Jim's.  They loved the rides and was grossed out from the pizza.  I think this is typical about the food at these fun event places.  The pizza was atrocious.

Mom got her little girl the scripture bag

Dad got the birthday girl the scriptures...even though mom got the name embroidered

Riding the roller coaster.  Eli had the face of terror during the ride, but here before the ride began, he was all laughs and smiles.

1st car: Eli, Ava and Abby York
2nd car:  Millie and Norah Haws

Left to right: Abby York, Norah Haws, Princess, Millie

Eli was unwilling to give this gift up.  He had to be a part of the action

Ava got a pair of black boots from her brothers, Jake and Brad and Elie

a few more pictures from Ethan

Ava's pictures for her baptism announcement

This past Sunday, after getting home from church, Jake and Ava went outside to take some pictures to make some announcements to send out for Ava's upcoming baptism.  My little girl is so precious and beautiful!!  And, Jake, he is a great photographer.  He definitely has an eye for creativity

The race car driver

Can you envision Mr. Brad as a race car driver?!

Concert night

we went to the Conference Center for a concert with David Archuleta.  I can't remember the name of the concert.  David had some extra tickets, so we were able to go with him and his family.  Andrew had a part in the performance at the end singing as one of the missionaries

Fun in the leaves

Last Sunday, we showed up to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's house and their front yard was full of leaves.  So, I raked all of them up with Jake and Ava.  It was little Eli who got to mostly enjoy the fun of jumping into the pile of leaves.  But, we were able to finally bury Ava and Jake in the leaves.  Cute kids!!

Ferrari

Last week, we went together to the Ferrari dealership and had a private tour of the dealership thanks to Adam Jensen.  He was just recently released as the young men's secretary, but he works there as a detailer at the dealership.  He scheduled a private tour of the dealership for us.  It was really cool.  My phone died so I couldn't get many pictures, but before it did, I was able to get a picture of the La Ferrari.  I could not believe the value of this car.  $1.4 million is what the owner purchased the car for.  But, afterwards, Ferrari limited the number being built to just 499.  When that happened, the car went up in value from $1.4 million to $4 million.  Yep, it's a $4 million car.  Wow!

While there, I asked the kids if I owned the car, if I could trade any of them in to get the money.  Little Mitchell and Liam both said at the same time, "Br. Ralph, you couldn't trade in all of these cars for 1 of us."   I told them, "good answer".  They know their celestial worth.  

From left to right:
Adam Jensen (Young Men Secretary), Wyatt, Liam, Brad, Brendan, Mitchell, James

Ava's cute little notes

Ava made me sign her "contract".  She is so cute!

To: Dad From: Ava

Dad, do you miss Ethan, because I do?  Write here if you miss Ethan.  Say yes if you do.  Say no if you do not miss Ethan _______,  Do, you think Ethan misses us, because I do?  If you think he does, say yes.  If you think he does not miss us, say no _______.


I wanted to get home early on Friday from work so I could go out with Ava for a daddy daughter date.  This happened because of the day earlier.  Thursday, I was planning to go to the Legacy Center and get my workout in, which I usually do weekdays from 9-11 pm.  Right at 9 pm, Ava came to me and said she wanted to come with me.  I told her she could come, but Nichole put her foot down and said no.  So, she was devastated and had a meltdown.  Nichole said it was too late for her to leave the house and that she had school the next day.  So, I promised Ava that she could come with me the next day.  Well, we ended up going both Friday and Saturday night as well as Saturday day.  I'd have to say that we love going to the gym together.  She loves to race me around the track, do workouts together and swim.  She's getting fast.  She beats me when we do our little sprints on the track.

Temple Trip

October 1st, we went to the Timpanogos Temple

From left to right:

Front: Wyatt McHale, Brayden Christiansen, Brad, Liam Byrne, Simon Brokaw, James and Matt Hanna

Back:  Jake, Aaron Hanks, Elijah Hanna, Kaleb Brokaw

This was the weekend just before Matt left for his mission going to Washington

Priesthood Session

On Saturday, the 2nd of October, we were able to go to the Priesthood session of General Conference.  Scott Summers, who is not in the picture, took the picture for us.  Derek had several tickets that we were able to be the beneficiaries of receiving.  Great night!

From left to right:

Derek Byrne, Liam Byrne, Brad, Jake, me, James Hanna, Mitchell York

Good bye Bakers

Our friends, the Bakers from down the street, moved to Indiana on September 19th.  These 3 girls have been great friends for Ava and Eli.  Hope, Zaiah are here pictured but they have another little sister, Remedy, who was becoming quite a great friend with Eli.  They will be missed.  It is hard in the neighborhood when friends move.  It definitely changes the chemistry of the area.  Maure and Julie, the parents, will be missed as well.  Good bye Bakers

Ethan's farewell

August 30th was Ethan's farewell.  He did a great job with his talk.  I had been pretty good at holding my emotions in during this time preparing for his departure to Gilbert.  However, at church I had the meltdown.  I just remember looking at him sitting on the stand at the beginning of the Sacrament and then the emotions just came to the surface.  It took me forever to gain my composure.  The realization set in that I wouldn't see him for a couple years.  True, I want my son to go on a mission and I've taught him this throughout his life.  But, when it comes to the moment of it actually happening, my heart just broke.  I know this was the best choice Ethan could have made.