Belnap Times

I just want to give a quick update on our clan. We have had a lot of changes this last year. We love the new home and the new ward and the new school. The kids are making lots of new friends. Christian has become very involved in Karate. It was so cute...the other day I left the 3 older kids home alone for a few minutes while I ran to town, Christian is going on 11 so I thought they would be OK for an hour. When I got home Christian had put on his Karate uniform because he was going to protect them from any bad guys....(maybe we have seen too much 3 Ninjas, which I highly recommend by the way). Carson has decided that he is taking this year off of public school. It was not an easy choice, but one I am so glad we have made. He works 10 times harder at learning and is a million times happier. We love the homeschool program and our helper teacher. He took golf lessons all summer, but the best part of homeschool (for Carson) is that he was able to continue with golf. He was able to have a lesson once a week and then practice with Trevor on Trev's days off. Carson is so cute and excited about golf. His poor friends are always convinced that in order to play they need to hit a bucket of balls out into the field and then go find the balls. He is starting to get good at everything but putting. He says it's because he needs a new putter....I think he might just need another year of practice. Madison loves her new gymnastics class but really misses ballet. I wish there was a ballet class closer. She has been complaining the past month that she won't be able to dance in the Nutcracker. And our little Ethan is getting so big. He speaks in complete sentences and even tries to reason like the big kids. He is always saying the cutest little things. The other day Carson wanted a kiss and he said, "Ethan where's my kiss" (which usually leads to a big hug and kiss on the cheek from Ethan) but instead Ethan replied "it's outside with Shaggy" then he started laughing at himself like he was soo funny. Speaking of Shaggy.... I think he even likes the new home. He loves playing ball and has always loved fetch, but the kids taught Shaggy to go get the baseball when they hit the ball. It was a fun game for everyone. We also got two new kittens. Living this close to a field made me worry about mice. The cats are not allowed in the house and neither is Shaggy. The only problem is Shaggy is a bit of a cat hater. So it took the three of them about 5 months to figure out sharing the property needs to work. I think there is a lot of give and take with the cats and Shaggy. Mostly the cats just give Shaggy all the space he wants.

The best part of our lives lately is the gospel. We have made a much better effort of reading in the Book of Mormon lately. I mean instead of just looking at pictures and telling gospel stories to the kids, we are reading the Book of Mormon. It is fascinating how enjoyable the scriptures have become. I love the feeling that we have when we read together. The kids have started asking amazing questions and I feel like I have been learning more from them lately. I am so grateful this time of year for our blessings, our health, our job, our home, our friends and all our great family.