Update From The Last Year!! Lots of time to cover

 Dear Kids, 

I haven't talked AT ALL about Rise Up Academy! Man, I didn't realize how fast a year has gone by. How did I go a year without writing? I'll give you a run down of our lives in the last year since the last time I wrote. Here's a quick update from Spring of 2023 to the beginning of 2024:

 -April 2023 I applied for lots of co-ops to be part of. I PRAYED AND PRAYED for the right fit for our family. We found it! We joined Rise Up Academy in August 2023. It was been the BIGGEST answer to prayers for the kids and their experience with homeschooling, especially my teenagers.

-Summer 2023 was full of LAGOON. We got Lagoon passes for Christmas and the summer theme was just going to Lagoon as much as possible. We had some good times there together! We have so many pictures from going to Lagoon every week. We were able to meet up with the Robbins sometimes.

-We traveled to see Papa in July 2023. We had a Kvarfordt family Reunion in August 2023. It was a ton of fun. We had a bounce house with water and we did a service project to get the storage room cleaned out. It was a lot of work but good.

-Gabe did an Oceanography trip in May 2023. That was AWESOME and he LOVED IT so much!! He wanted to go again just for LONGER. He has a sea fairing traveling soul for sure.

-I turned 46 in May 2023. Crazy! (I'm not only 2 months away from 47!)

-Talia had a GREAT summer in 2023 with her neighborhood friends (she misses those times with them actually. Once school started in fall 2023, it changed a lot with that group. But her summer was a blast).

-Brent and I went to Vegas for our anniversary in June to the LOVE Cirque show. It was amazing! 

-I went to girls camp with Talia in June 2023. I was on the camp advisory board, and it was so fun to spend that time with my girl!! Brent was in the Elder's Quorum Presidency for about a year, but needed to be released because of all the travel that came up with work. 

-Gabe went to "All Stars High Adventure Camp" in June 2023. He had such an amazing experience there.

-Gabe went to FSY in June 2023. He LOVED IT SO MUCH! Such a great experience.

-Of course Talia turned 13 in July 2023. Official Teenager! And she got to go to FLORIDA in summer of 2023! amazing blessing.

-We got "Snowball" our RABBIT in Summer of 2023. Long awaited pet. 

-I have been teaching Joshua's "Core" class in Rise Up Academy, started in Aug 2023. It's been so fun to be his teacher. There are so many fun things I've been able to play to do with him in class that I wouldn't have time for otherwise. I'm so grateful for that FOR SURE. So many things I did with my older three kids (when they were little) that I've never done with Joshua. And this has given me that opportunity!

-In Rise Up: Gabe's classes = Sword and Hero, Classical Acting. Talia = Shakespeare (she got "high empress") and Key of Liberty. Elijah = Boys Club and various afternoon classes (music, chemistry, etc). Joshua = Core Class (with me!) and various afternoon classes.

-Kids started piano lessons with Jaime Guiterrez. She has been an amazing teacher for them and it's been SO GOOD to hear music in the house again.

-Talia joined the Screaming Diva's Company Dance team. She has 4 competitions this year (in Roy, St George, Ogden and Lagoon). She's been working REALLY hard at them!

-Gabriel started snowboarding this year! The Vrajich kids, Peja and Sasha, have been his teachers. He's been doing AWESOME and I'm so proud of him for trying something new! He's had a great snowboarding season. 

-Elijah has been doing basketball this season (Jan 2024) and he is going to be starting baseball soon!

-Joshua has been just hanging out and being amazing with learning so much all the time. I think he is going to be starting sports this next year. His reading is off the charts and math skills are far above his level. He definitely soaks up learning from all around him.

-Gabe has also been doing Speech and Debate classes. That has been teaching him SUCH GREAT communication skills and I'm so glad for him.

-We went to the St George Temple open house (Oct 2023) and the Red Cliffs Temple open house (Feb 2024).

-We've been doing all the "house" settling things. I feel like we are KIND OF all moved in (after a year, haha!). We got a couch for downstairs and will be starting to set up the TV room downstairs soon. I need to spend some more time on decorating! And family pictures :-)

-Brent has been traveling with his work A LOT. It is a BIG traveling job. I keep joking around with him that we got this job 10 years too early. If it was 10 years from now I could just travel everywhere with him. We got a surprise and were able to go to BARCELONA together! It was an amazing trip! We got to hang out with Shauna Little and LOVED that of course. 

-It was our first Christmas in this house officially. We moved in to the house 5 days before Christmas in 2023... so Christmas 2024 was the first official experience with Christmas in the house. I'm SO GRATEFUL for this home. It's SUCH A HUGE BLESSING in our lives. Definitely an answer to prayer for sure. 

Over all I look back and I'm overwhelmed with how well we've been taken care of. Look at everything that happened in a years time. It's amazing!

I love you kids, 

Your Mom