End of the Year 2015

2015 has already flown by. It seems like we were just at the Balvanz's counting down to 12:00. But, this year is over and so here is my Year Review. Happy 2016, everyone!

January: 

 2015 started out with all of us minus Emily and Janeal driving down to visit Papa for the one year anniversary of Granny's passing. It was an interesting ride down in our old van that smelled nasty since there was a mouse nest pretty close to the heater, but thankfully we made it. 

Four generations

Good times sitting around Papa's table talking.

I never get tired of seeing that mountain

                               February: 

This was probably the first and last burn pile of the year. 

Hey, look who made it into my Year review! ;)

Michael brought us these branches that were so pretty. I love spring and all the signs of new life

William's instruments

Valentine's day is still my favorite holiday. I made this cake and we had Zach's family over to celebrate. 

Tommy and Janeal spent many evening practicing for Tommy's senior recital

Emily and I went on so many long walks during the beginning of the year. She wanted steps for her Fitbit  so we would walk pretty far and the whole way we would talk about Jeffrey. I would say things like, "Well...today at church I saw Jeffrey looking at you when you were talking to Lydia and I felt so sneaky cuz I was watching him watching you!" and then she would have to tell me her stories about Jeffrey. Those were such fun days trying to figure out if Jeffrey liked Emily or not. :)

We got to watch the twins a lot since Karin would drop them off for her Doctor appointments before Dwight was born. Don't ask me what they were doing in this picture....

One day Emily and I  plus Janeal were on a walk and we were saying how fun it would be to walk to the Garden were Tommy works in the summer. Then we were like, "Let's just do it today!" so we walked all the way to Glen Echo Garden from our house. There is a little trail we take that makes the way a little shorter so I had to go first and figure out how we would get through.  When we got to the Garden, Tommy and Jordan were all surprised that we walked that far and they also didn't understand why we walked that far. We definitely made a good memory that day.

                                 March:

I got contacts! 

Zach bought this old truck

The proper way to enter the back of a truck ;)

Michael pushed the twins on his motorcycle and they loved it! Benjamin (front) looks so excited about it!

Oh boy....I think my very favorite memory of the year would have to be the day we traveled over to Michigan for the wedding. Of course, when we got to the airport and they told us we wouldn't be able to make it and we decided to let only Emily go, I was so disappointed. But then when that lady told us we could still make it and she escorted us straight to the front of security, I started feeling excited again. Getting to the top of the escalator and taking off running behind Janeal was the best ever. At first I was just kind of half running because I didn't want to make a big scene, but then I thought, "I'm gonna just run as fast as I can. It will give these people something exciting to see." So I started running my fastest. Emily was directly behind me and Mom was waaay behind all of us since she couldn't keep up with us. We were just about 10 feet away from the gate when they saw us coming and closed it. Of course we were disappointed (and a bit out of breath) but they found us a new flight going to Michigan with a different airline. This picture was taken after all that happened and we had talked about all the blessings that had already happened to us that morning! The flight over was easy and since we moved to Delta Airlines instead of Alaska, we got free videos so I watched videos most of the way over. The car rental place was an adventure too. We were all tired out and I felt like the guy helping us was trying not to laugh at us. Mom was telling him about how crazy it was to get over to Michigan and I was standing in the back eating M&M's and goofing off with Emily. He probably thought we were a bit weird. ;) Then we finally got to our hotel and got to see everyone. I went to bed that night so very thankful that I got to be there and excited for the next days!

On Thursday of our Michigan trip, the original plan was for Emily to hang out with the Burtts all day and Mom, Janeal, and I were going to meet up with some friends. After talking about it though, we decided that I could stay with Emily.

We helped decorate the church and got our nails done that day

That night after the rehearsal, Lydia, Natasha, Nikki, and I went swimming at our pool in our hotel. 

The morning of the wedding, we all went shopping quick. I had to take a picture of this Michigan display :)

Running back and forth between the Francis's room, Grandma and Emily's room, and our room was another fun memory. I watched Nikki fix hair for people and tried to help fix Grandma's hair. Then I went back to my room to do my makeup. I had the bathroom all to myself since Mom was taking a nap and Janeal was reading so I took my time doing my makeup and listened to my Music Inspired by the Story album. Even though I was away from home for a short time, listening to that music and doing my makeup reminded me of home so it was definitely a good memory of the trip.

I was so scared that someone was going to come bursting through those doors behind us when we were taking this picture. ;)

Grandma and her famous red boots. Everyone LOVED them! 

And then we left. We wanted to get a picture with Grandma and have our bags showing since she made them for us. 

I went to the theater for the first time this year with Emily, Janeal, and Karin to watch Cinderella. (We took this picture while waiting for Karin to come back. She was buying a sandwich since Dwight was hungry. ;) The screen was so big and there were several times when I got chills while watching that movie! 

The sound board at church. I took this picture while waiting for Tommy's senior recital to start. :)

Tommy and Janeal did such a great job!

This was Palm Sunday evening. Dad and Mom were visiting with friends so we called it a kid night and we all goofed off and sat on the counter since Dad wasn't there to tell us not to. ;) 

                                            APRIL:

The twins came over one Saturday morning and I told them to pick out an outfit for me to wear to church the next day. Alexander's outfit is on the left and Benjamin's is on the right. :)

relaxing and playing cards on Easter Sunday

Dwight joined the family on April 13th!

We were telling all our friends the good news in this picture. ;)

Emily and Jeffrey started dating the day after Dwight was born! And....that ended those long walks talking about whether or not we thought Jeffrey liked her. ;)

Random selfie with William

Tommy and Janeal got to play at a family concert the WSO was putting on

Charlotte 

And this was the only good picture we got at the Homeschool conference. Mom, Dad, Janeal, and I went. I had such a fun time goofing off with Grace and talking with other friends. We were at the Olive Garden when we took this picture, eating our dinner before the Friday evening session started. 

MAY:

Hamburgars and sunny days

Benjamin

Michael showed us the little walk behind his house. This little 'park' that his neighbors made is pretty nice

Our cousin's bridal shower. We sat with Aunt Susie and Grandma.

This is what happens when Zach forgets his butter knife

The kids had a memorial day camping trip behind Michael's house

I try to get selfies with these kids. It usually doesn't work :)

Our friends, Zachary and Madison got married at the end of May. We got to help set up the reception and I thought it was very fun to help and see how everything came together in the end. It was so pretty in there!

All dressed up for the wedding!

The two couples 

JUNE:

Driving down to Eastern Washington for Papa's 90th birthday party! 

my plate doodle for Papa

We drove up to the mountain, took some pictures, and made some fun memories

Janeal's birthday!

I went to my first Mainers game with our church! The firework show at the end was pretty cool...

Taylor's birthday party at the lake! We were tubing all day and then we all went to watch fireworks in Sumas afterwards. 

Tommy's birthday celebration the next day. We all look a bit burned here from how long we were on the lake the day before!

JULY:

Zach took Karin somewhere for her birthday so we got to watch the little guys. In this picture, I drew a little mole on Alexander and they were both just laughing and laughing because he thought he was Benjamin with that mole on his face.

They love their baby brother!

The 4th of July party at the Beld's! 

One of my favorite pictures of these two

Zach's birthday party!

Our cousin's wedding! Nikki and Aunt Marlene came and visited during this time too so hanging out with Nikki was definitely a fun part of this day and the week. :)

We went to the lake and then Lafeens one evening with the VanderHeidens. I think Grace and I planned that party...but what's new? We always are planning some kind of party. haha ;)

After we got home from the lake, Jeffrey and I both had slivers in our feet so we both sat down and picked them out. Emily was laughing at us because she always says that Jeffrey and I are a lot alike.

There were so many wild fires this summer! The sun always seemed to look a bit weird...

Hanging out at Zach and Karin's 

Emily had to take her car in to get fixed so she got this truck as her rental car for a week. I also like this picture to remind me how dead the grass and everything was.

Mom was trying to boil this water in a glass container and when I saw it I was like, "Umm..Mom, that's not gonna end well.."  I was right too....;)

Softball every Monday night

Michael bought a big ladder randomly. I tried climbing up it, but I think I only got to the 7th rung. :)

William celebrated his golden birthday! I made this 21 out of pictures from his life

Zach used this bag to wrap up his present. :)

We are posing here, don't worry :)

AUGUST:

The beginning of August was the Church campout! I think my favorite second memory of the year would have to be driving up to the campout with Tommy. I thought it was super fun I could do something fun like that with Tommy before he left. We spent the morning playing/watching badminton and hanging out with friends and in the afternoon a group of us headed to the Hammer's to swim in their pond. I had such a fun time going down that water slide, swinging off the rope swing, and jumping off the diving board. Grace wasn't gonna go off that slide at first, but I talked her into it as you can see in this picture. :) (Photo credit: Cassidy)

The next day, Emily and I drove up to the campout and listened to just about the whole album of Mobil Orchestra. Jeffrey had given it to her before he left for Europe that morning. That was another favorite memory of mine. (Emily thinks that was a sad memory since Jeffrey was going to be gone for 2 weeks at that point) Anyways, I did the Olympics that day and once again didn't win (I never win whenever I do the Olympics) but Grace and I both got a 1st prize trophy from Adam who had left overs from his team so now whenever people go in my room and see my 1st prize ribbon they think I won even though I didn't. Haha, it's great! ;)

The Sunday after the campout ended the boys wanted to try doing tug of war again since....well, I actually don't remember why they wanted to do it. I guess they just felt like it. :)

Dad brought home these two cookies one evening. Tommy saw them and took a bite out of one of them to play a joke on Dad. I knew he did that all so a little bit later I came along and was like, "Hey, cookies!" and took a bite out of the other side. Poor Dad.. :)

Emily and I went over to the Balvanz's the day Jeffrey came home to put some surprises on his pillow. None of them were home so we had to sneak into their house which was quite the adventure. :)

Alexander and Benjamin's version of eating doughnuts: Rub doughnut all over face while eating ;)

Tommy had already left at this point so I think I took this picture to send him. I like this picture of the dog and I since usually he is moving around and it's all blurry.

I got to spend an evening at the fair with my friend, Taylor!

The last day of the fair, we went and watched motorcycle racing in the grand stands.

Emily, Janeal, and I  went to get our toes done!

So, one random day Mom was predicting that the  trees were gonna start falling over just because they didn't have enough water. We told her it probably wouldn't happen and that she shouldn't worry about it, but when we went out for our normal walk down to the mail, we saw this tree across the road. We were laughing as we said, "Mom's predictions are coming true!"

Sunday morning rush

Sparky's favorite game

I was trying to convince Dad to show me how to set a mouse trap so he showed me what to do and I did it (even though that snap thingy really scares me!) and the next morning I went and looked at it and there were 2 mice in that trap!! I was pretty pleased with myself. ;)

I have so much fun with these guys!

Summer wind storm 2015. Our power was out for about 3 days and the power at church was also out. But we still gathered together which made for an interesting service in the dark. :)

Michael had power at his house so we got a pile of food and games and had a game day at his house with Peter, Torrey, Jeffrey, Grant, and all of us. We played Balderdash as a group after we ate and it was so funny!

                                                   SEPTEMBER:

Sept. 1st was my first day back to the old grindstone of school

Face timing Tommy was something I did a lot while he was gone. Oh and notice our fire in the background? The burn ban was finally lifted so we got to have one campfire during summer!

Emily took me to get my ears double pierced as an early birthday present! She also got hers pierced so it was a fun thing to do together.

Mom, Janeal, and I went up to Artist Point for a hike. The view was very pretty

Now if you look closely at this picture, you will see that I'm holding my 'phone.' (I basically just used it for listening to music and taking pictures) Well, on the way down, Janeal and I took a short cut and my phone fell out of my pocket. I noticed I didn't have it when got home and I was so sad. I didn't realize how much I used and liked that phone until it was gone.

We got our folders for the Christmas Eve service.

Ya know...just making a s'more over a candle!

Meanwhile...Tommy in the Dominican....

Alexander and Benjamin's 4th birthday party!

Doing what he always does...listening to music. :) I was happy to have him home again.

Look at that rain!!  I had to take a picture of it since I hadn't seen it for so long during that long, hot summer.

 Celebrating Emily's birthday! 

These two are so crazy!

This day was Emily's actual birthday so she wanted to get a picture with all of us going to church

I decided to do piano lessons again so I started those at the end of Sept. :)

                                                         OCTOBER:

This was a random night where we were all sitting around in the living room, talking and eating ice cream sandwiches. Haha, we are so random sometimes! :)

The first Keepers of the Faith was a dress up one and that was fun to see everyone's fancy outfits.

We had a fancy dinner for William starting his new job at Anvil. We were watching the boys for Zach and Karin and Alexander was making us laugh so hard! We were talking about Pastor Steve and telling him how he was teaching the class that his parents were at and Alexander was like, "Stebe? I don't know Stebe."

One of the first pictures I took with my new 50 mm lens! I love that lens!

Cutie

I finally took Tommy's senior pictures! I took this picture with the dog in it on purpose because he doesn't like the dog being in his pictures. ;)

Haha, what was I saying about getting pictures with the dog? 

I got to take family pictures of this family!

I also got to take Taylor's senior pictures for her! I think this one is my favorite.

In this picture, Emily asked Tommy to take a picture of her and I since we were kind of matching, but then William just had to go throw away his bulletin right at that time! What a goof! ;)

Football game with friends!

We had a pumpkin carving party at the Beld's. I carved Cinderella in mine, and it got second place! Michael's pumpkin got first.

Emily and Jeffrey got engaged!! We all knew it was coming. :)

Looking at the ring

Dad always calls his Dad on Sundays just to give him an update on our week so I got this picture since he was telling him about the engagement and since the dog back there was kind of funny. 

Engagement party at the Balvanzs! 

Michael bought a bunch of hats with his logo on them. 

NOVEMBER:

Another random selfie with William ;)

My 17th birthday! Dad bought me these flowers and Nikki sent me a present with this flag in it since she thinks I like Canada so much (we have lots of 'arguments' about which country is better ;) so I stuck it in my flowers. 

We usually get a sister picture, but since Emily wasn't there, we got Tommy to take her spot. Haha 

I always get so much candy after my birthday!

Taylor and I made these sparkly pumpkins for our booth at the Harvest Festival! 

One night Dad was saying how he was going to trip on our boots that we have against the wall so Janeal and I had the great idea to put all our boots in a line just to trick him. It was funny when it happened, but the next morning we found out that Dad took away one boot from each pair and hid them. :) 

The big cotton wood fell. What a blessing it was that none of the cars were parked there since usually there are!

 Michael came and  cut it down all the way on Thanksgiving.

We all watched him. It was funny when it was falling because Sparky went running towards it and we were all thinking he was gonna get hit. Wait, why is that funny?

After Thanksgiving dinner, Janeal made all of us  all work out. 

Black Friday shopping! This picture was taken at 4:57 am and we had already both been up for an hour. Yikes, I don't know why I woke up so early for that. I don't think I will next time. :)

Christmas decorations 

DECEMBER:

All the office staff and their families got together for a fun lunch celebrating Christmas and also Mr. and Mrs. Dorr's retirement!

Singing in this years Messiah was such a fun thing for me to do! William and I both did it and I'm very glad I decided to. I think when this picture was taken, I had probably just looked at Grace in the crowd because I look like I have a goofy smile on my face. :)

We had a small group finding our Christmas tree this year, but we did find a nice one!

All the kids helped set up the Christmas tree. We have to wait in a line to get our ordement and then go hang it on the tree. We use to do it that way, but we haven't been as much in the later years. It was fun to do it this way again with the 6 of us one last time. Emily will be Mrs. Balvanz next year so she might not be able to help. ;)

Haha, oh the random pictures I find on Emily's phone!

Christmas cookie baking day with Grandma! 

Yearly kid line up picture. We added Jeffrey this year.

Janeal had my name and she got me this hoodie with Arnhart on the back! I was so surprised and excited about it! 

Christmas morning. The kids have the tradition of sleeping down in the living room on Christmas Eve so we did that again this year. Well...I went up to my bed after awhile since I was very uncomfortable and then I got scolded for ruining the tradition. At least I got a good night sleep. :)

I photo bombed the boy's picture. Hahaha

And...we rang in 2016 with the VanderHeidens and Dorrs. 

Happy New Year!!