Another year come and gone!

It's been over a year since I have done a new post. Obviously we are keeping busy in the Newman home, but busy in the best ways!

Jake and Sami are doing great on their missions. It is finally warming up for Sami and Jake will be home in a month. It's hard to believe that he has been gone for 2 years. The other three have been busy with school and sports. They have all worked so hard and it's been so much fun to watch their hard work make them stronger, in so many ways! There have been ups and downs, but they always land on their feet!

We spent the better part of 2 weeks in Southern Utah with family, from both sides. It was so much fun! We are so blessed to have such awesome family members!

Angels Landing

Newman family reunion, summer of 2018

Reynolds family reunion, summer of 2018

Elder Newman

Sister Newman

This is a pretty long video, it seems like we did baseball from April to August. Matthew played on the Brave, the Colts, and then the Allstar team. He is number 13.

This is another long one. Zeke has been working so hard on basketball, both on and off the court. This year he started Varsity as a sophomore. It was so fun to watch him, mostly because he is as talented off the court as he is on the court and he is such a nice boy and he can always be found doing the right thing.

Amee performed a solo and a trio for Showalter this year. The trio won best performance for their room. There are 5 judges and 5 different rooms, some vocal rooms and some instrumental rooms. Amee's group was selected as the best performance by one of the judges. She did a great job on her solo. Her choir teacher selected a very difficult piece for her to sing and she rocked it!

Solo

Trio

Amee and Zeke both had a great track season. They are so much fun to watch. Zeke has become such a strong jumper and he runs even better. Amee doesn't love to run, but she was born for it. I am always tell her she needs to embrace this gift and just go for it. I think she is starting to really enjoy running, even though she would never admit it!

Matthew played on a travel team this year. They didn't really travel very far, but it was a fun way for him to fill his winter days.

Some pictures to highlight the last 12 months

Trek with the youth. Tom and I were also able to go.

Family reunions

Tom got to ride in a Black Ops

First Day of School

Halloween
Matthew's best friend is already 5'7" as an 11 year old, so they went as Buddy and Papa Elf. Matthew is Papa Elf.

Zeke is officially able to drive

Zeke's sprint medley team took first at State and broke a school record.

We remodeled the kitchen

Zeke went to NYC with the Show Choir and Tom was able to go as an escort.

Oscar joined the family

Tom killed his first black bear. The bucket of candy is bear bait. I think they had two full buckets of unused candy left over.

Matthews last Durby

Zeke earned his Eagle scout award during the summer of 2018 but it took awhile for him to get his award.

The 2018-2019 school year was a busy but very fun filled year!

Down to Three

Well, we are down to three children at home. It has been very different, but a good different! We are so excited for Jake and Sami and for how well both of them are doing. Rosie took some photos of Sami before she left. We have recieved two emails from her, a very short one the day she arrived at the MTC and one on her first preparation day. She is doing great and has not been home sick, which she is thrilled about!

 

Sami had to have her wisdom teeth pulled. She had it done by our local dentist, who does a great job, but he doesn't put them under so we didn't get any fun videos of her being all druged, however, she looked like a chipmunk and we had a good time teasing her! She wouldn't know we loved her if we didn't tease her.

Zeke and Amee both just finished their track season. It is always so much fun to watch our kids compete. Amee did great and was able to break the 7th grade record for all three of her events. Her favorite is the 800M or the 400M and dthe 1600M relay. She also ran the 1600M twice. She claims she doesn't love running the 1600, but she is so good at it!

Zeke is a freshman this year and did an outstanding job. As a freshman he made it to regionals in all four of his events, the long jump, the triple jump, the 800M open and the 3200M relay. He placed 9th in the long jump, missing 8th by only 2". In order to advance to state you must place in the top 8th or have a prequalifing jump, distance, or time. He scratched all four of his triple jumps, which was so hard because he would have jumped far enough to have placed 5th. He placed 7th in his 800M and his 3200M relay team placed 2nd. At state he placed 11th in the open 800M, with a time of 2.06 and his relay team placed third. Not a lot of freshman make it to state and of those who do, not many walk away with a medal. The Lovell boys team placed 1st overall, bringing home a state title.

(Hopefully I will have a video of some track highlights sometime this week).

3200M relay team

Zeke, Tyler Nichols (another freshman), Jame Caldwell (Sophomore) and Ben Cornia (Senior)

We are expecting big things from the younger boys next year!

This photo was taken as 800M runners were walking to the starting line. Zeke had a personal best this year of 2.06

As of today, Jake still holds the school record with a time of 1.57:??

Zeke is hoping to be the one to break Jakes record, Jake is also hoping Zeke will be the one to break his record!

Unfortuanatley I don't have any photos of Amee, just videos. She did make the local paper though. Amee seems to be a natural when is comes to running and we are hoping she will continue to work hard. 

Matthew has just started his baseball season. So far this year he has been able to play short stop, pitch, center field, and catcher. He said he would like to catch more. His team went to Guilette for a weekend of baseball. It was Friday and Saturday, two games each day. They won 2, lost 1 and tied 1. How fortunate we are to be able to watch our kids compete, I don't think I will ever tire of cheering for them!

(Matthew is middle row, second from the end).

Looking back at 2017 video. Such great times!!

Looking Back at 2017

We are one month into 2018 and I am just finishing a video for 2017. It was so fun to look back at all the things we have done. With Jake entering the mission field as a full time missionary, we have been so blessed. I love being a mom and am so blessed with such great kids, and a wonderful husband!

Here are a few pictures from 2017. 

Alexa Rose was born on April 7th. She is just a joy!!

Jared's family came for a visit. The older kids all attended EFY. We had a house full but it was so much fun! What a great group of kids we have!!!

Zeke with his first antelope! Tom, Zeke, and I all went hunting together and it was a fun day!!

These three competed in a state track meet in Billings Montana this summer. Zeke placed third in the triple jump and first in the 4x100 relay. Matthew took 3rd in the 800 and Amee took 4th in the 800. Amee was competing with girls 2 years older than her. They all did so good and it was lots of fun!!

We had a great weekend sending Jake off for his mission. We had a party at Tom's parents house and we blessed to have the majority of both families there. I love how much fun we have when we all get together, even if it doesn't happen as often as I would like it to.

After we took Sami to the airport for Germany then Jake to the MTC, we took the other three to the olympic park in Park City. What an awesome day, only wish I had more photos.

We stopped by to see the new development that stands where Grandpa Newman lived in Lehi. So much has changed!!

Sami was able to go on a trip to Hawaii with the Swing Choir from school. She had a great time!!

She also spent 6 weeks in Germany with Jamee, Ben and the boys. This was a great time for her! She learned a lot about herself and learned a lot about life from Jamee. She has shared with me how much she misses the boys!!! So grateful to Ben and Jamee and for all they sacrificed to have her staying with them!!!

Elder Newman is doing so great!! He is such a hard working missionary and loves all he is doing! He has had the opportunity to train new missionaries and has loved those he has trained very much! He is currently serving on the island of Saint Lucia. This is only the first transfer of his mission. He spent his first 6 1/2 months on the Island of Grenada.  Currently is training a kid from Peru and is serving in the branch presidency in his ward. He is finding that time sure does fly when you are devoting your days to serving the Lord! He is so happy!!!