YEAR IN REVIEW

After we survived the Blizzard of 2011 (which did not involve snow but rather five different activities all in one 24 hour period in December) I thought I would get our yearly Christmas letter/card/DVD out.
But my friends, it is just not meant to be. I am TOO TIRED.
So instead, I followed the lead of several fellow bloggers and put together a "SHEFFER YEAR IN REVIEW".
Hope you enjoy it.

P.S. To see the pictures larger, CLICK on the picture

JANUARY:
As is tradition, we start the new year at the home of our friends, the SHERMANS.

Our new nephew is born. Roman is the son of Kellee and Frank.
We lose my Grandpa John. We will miss him.
We lose our faithful kitty companion of 17 years to liver disease. I honestly still miss him every day.
N starts playing basketball
N earns his BOBCAT award.

Pepper wins all four of her events at her Region swimmeet. The girls team wins the Region title.

FEBRUARY:
E1 medals at State Swim, earning a 3rd in the 100 yd Breaststroke and a 5th in the 100 yd Free. She is the only girl in her entire region to medal.

Darren and I fly to Florida to see the darling Baby Duque (and his parents)

We enjoy a 9 day cruise to the Carribean. Our ship loses an engine. Our ship catches fire. We don't go to half of the scheduled ports and are rerouted to several new ones. We visit the US Virgin Islands, Antigua, St Maarten, and St Thomas. We have a blast and love every minute.

MARCH:
E1 starts running hurdles in track.
She attends her Junior prom.

N participates in his first Pinewood Derby.
We worry about our friend Eiko after the earthquake/tsunami that devastates Japan.

APRIL:
We visit Southern California and spend a busy day taking a whale-watching cruise, visiting the Aquarium of the Pacific, and driving to see Hollywood Blvd.

We take one final trip to Disneyland before our annual passes expire. In all, we visit Disneyland 27 different days during the year.

We are relieved to finally hear from Eiko. We gain new perspective from her as she writes they are having a very difficult time with lack of water and successive aftershocks but that she is hopeful as "spring has come".

MAY:
N starts baseball
E2 makes the drill team.
E1 finishes track.
The band, The Weird Sisters, make a tour stop in Richfield.

JUNE:
E3 has a birthday!
E1 attends girls state.
Sonja's parents surprise them with a baby grand piano.

JULY:
We celebrate LOTS of birthdays including the birth of our country. My sister Kellee and my darling nephew Roman come to visit.
All four children participate in summer swim.

We enjoy watching the final episode of Harry Potter 7.
We visit Anasazi State Park, the Petrified Forest State Park, Kodachrome State Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park over the course of a week.

We go trilobyte hunting near Delta with Grandpa T.

We get to the lake as often as possible (but it's never enough).

AUGUST:
We visit our Sheffer Grandparents in SLC and also take in Lagoon and the Clarke Planetarium.

The kids camp for a week with Grandma and Grandpa.
N and E3 start Soccer.
N earns his "Wolf" badge.
We spend more time at the lake.
The kids start school.

SEPTEMBER:
BYU football starts!!!
N survives "Annie Bangs" at Gooseberry.
He starts playing flag football.

Soccer continues for both N and E3.
E1 starts her final swim season.
E2 dances at several football games.
E1 attends Homecoming.

Darren and I celebrate our 18th Anniversary!

OCTOBER:
We enjoy conference weekend.
We continue attending all the BYU home games.
E1 is selected as the school's Sterling Scholar in Science.
We visit the pumpkin patch with our friends the Crowthers.

We get a new kitten, named Clawson.

We enjoy a Halloween Dance Recital, a Halloween Ward Party, and trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. E3 is the "Snow Queen" and N is a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter.

NOVEMBER:
E1 has her first swimmeet.
N has a birthday. We visit the Museum of Natural History in Lehi (his favorite) and eat at Golden Corral (also his favorite).
N starts playing basketball.
We finish the regular BYU football season

We go with the Crowthers to cut Christmas trees and have a perfect day.

We host Thanksgiving for my extended family. I am so happy to see my sister Regina!

DECEMBER:
We have a whirlwind month with dance performances at Christmas Tree Lane and the Nutcracker, two band concerts, two piano recitals, several swim meets (with several school records broken), hosting a bridal shower, directing the Primary Christmas Program play, and attending several parties. We love Christmas!

Christmas Eve we hiked Queens Garden in Bryce Canyon National Park and then had a family dinner at Ruby's Inn.

I am so happy to have my sister Ashlee here for the holidays! She cooks us a multi-national Christmas dinner.

That concludes our year in review! We are excited for the year to come and hope it involves time with our friends and loved ones.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Septemer 30, 2011

I was walking with a friend several years ago. She shared with me how their mom always made conference weekend special. She said they would watch morning conference in their pajamas and their mom would always prepare each person's favorite treat or snack. They would have new notebooks and markers to use. She remembers looking forward to conference all year.

Since that conversation, I have tried to make conference weekend more fun for the family. Some years I do a lot more than others. Some years (like this year) I have things planned that we never even get around to. But it really has made a difference.  I find myself looking forward to the first weekend of October and April.

This is what each person picked for their treat:
Darren: Beef jerky
Sonja: Pretzel M&M's
E1: Lime tortilla chips
E2: Gummy Peachy rings
E3: 7 Layer Bean Dip
N: Gummy Bears

It worked out that I didn't have to make hardly anything this year... just the bean dip. I haven't felt well since the game Friday night. I seriously got way to into the game. After one play I whoo-hoo'd so hard I actually felt something kinda pop inside my chest and I felt faint and started seeing stars. Yes I know this is extreme. I want to clarify I am not an out of control fan. But I do take my responsibility as a supporting viewer very seriously :). But anyway, my voice is gone and I've felt wiped out. I'm sure most of it is NOT game related.

I did make these yummy sandwiches for lunch.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/rwop-finalist-sassy-tailgate-sandwiches/detail.aspx

We had them with pickle spears. This is a great recipe to feed a crowd that can be made well in advance. I used honey baked ham and swiss rather than the cheese in the recipe. I also doubled it so we could have it for dinner too :)


After conference we stumbled acrossed a show called "A 5000 day project: TWO BROTHERS".

http://byutv.org/watch/152c381b-b220-481a-869a-b077b9aa5354

We watched it together as a family. It ended up having a BYU football connection so even Nathan got into it. It was really worth the time to watch. As a Family and Human Development major in college I remember reading about studies that follow people over their life time.

Below is a bio from a website about the project:
In the unique new documentary series The 5,000 Days Project, director Rick Stevenson sets off to present an authentic depiction of growth and growing up from the perspective of over 100 different kids through 10 years of their lives. Stevenson not only shows their highlights and joys but also their struggles and heartaches in coming to know who they are and what they stand for. This daunting project finds its first success in the completion of 'Two Brothers', the story of Sam and Luke Nelson and their struggle to find love for each other and themselves.

The scope of this project is remarkable: in addition to simply telling the story of two maturing young boys, the film also allows viewers to watch the candid development of 10 years in the matter of an hour and a half. Stevenson’s interviews are honest presentations of what the boys actually feel and how those feelings alter from childhood to young adulthood, including their struggles with brotherhood, depression, peer pressure, forgiveness and growth in their Mormon faith. As a Protestant Christian, Stevenson got a front-seat view of the oft-misunderstood LDS religion, and the result is a compelling, eye-opening account of growing up in America today.

Here is some footage Darren shot of E2 dancing at some of our local football games. I should have specified to him that I wanted the dances each on their own SEPERATE file :).
It has been fun to watch her perform. It has brought back a lot of memories of my own drill days including just how hard it is to dance on grass!! And now everytime a football player spits on the grass I think to myself, "PLEASE don't do that :)". HA.