Summer Show Stopper

Autumn and Summer had their Dance Recital this last weekend and each danced three times. They were all so good. This was one of Summers dances. Summer is second from the far left. I wish you could have seen her facial expressions too.

air chair fun

2012 Christmas Letter

            Another year has flown by, and I hope this letter finds you and your family well and happy. Here are some of the highlights of what we have been doing in 2012.

Autumn, 10, is now in the 5^th grade.  She has grown into a beautiful, confident young lady and a great babysitter. She started taking Violin lessons and loves to read so much that she’s in “Battle of the Books” at school.  She currently takes Piano and Tumbling class, and has even learned how to do back-handsprings on her own.  Over the summer she had a lot of fun on the Gilbert Dive team and Acting in the play Seusical the Musical. She can Wake-board longer than anyone and has a fearless drive that allows her to try anything at least once.

Summer is also a busy girl. Summer is 7, in the 2^nd grade, and also takes piano and tumbling. She is a fast learner and started doing back-handsprings on her own. She loves animals almost as much as humans and we will often find her outside chasing the chickens and training the goats. Over the summer she was on the Gilbert Dive team and even made first place during dive prelims. She loves to Read, was in the play Seusical the Musical, and is a great wake-boarder. She is always making us laugh, and keeps us on our toes with her witty personality.

Lincoln, now 3, is a sweet, playful little boy. He has grown so much this year and loves preschool, working on the computer, and climbing trees. He is so fun to have around and enjoys teasing his older sisters. He has great dexterity and often takes things apart, figures out how it works, and attempts to put it together again. He also likes Swimming, Tumbling, and Helping Dad.

Russ got his Real-Estate Broker’s License this year and passed the exams with flying colors. He has now taken over the position as Designated Broker/Owner for StoneCrest Properties. He is incredibly knowledgeable in his profession, and has been super busy with real-estate and his calling at church. He is the Executive Secretary but still does scouting now and then. He enjoys camping with the family and even added solar panels to our cabin. He volunteers both in Art Masterpiece and Junior Achievements in each of the girls classes. He is an amazing Dad and super supportive of all my crazy hobbies.

 I (April) enjoy working part-time as a Dental Hygienist and serving in the church. I spend my free time swinging on the Flying Trapeze, taking Tumbling lessons with my girls, and Wake-board or Barefoot water-skiing as much as possible. I have learned to push myself more than ever and recently drove to Vegas with some girl-friends to try out for the Circus

We are excited for the New Year and all it entails. We are thankful for the gospel and all the blessings it has brought to our lives. We hope you have a great Holiday Season and fabulous New Year!

            Love,

Russ, April, Autumn, Summer, and Lincoln Gould

Its only Been a year!!

Its has been so long since I last post that I am having to re-learn how to do it :) So much has happend since a year ago that it will be impossible to list everything so I will just start with today and try to go back as much as I can remember. Today is October break and the girls are enjoying being out of school. The kids have been so busy. Autumn is now in 5th grade at Mrs Addingtons class and is taking violin this year and loving it. I am enjoying re-learning how to play with her. Autumn also is taking piano, horse riding lessons, Tumbling, and Activity days. Autumn just learned her back handsprings and back flips on the trampoline. over the summer she had a lot of fun on the Gilbert Dive team and Acting in the play Seusical the Musical. Autumn also had a little scare when she had a Seizure which resulted in Epilepsy but she is doing great now. Summer is also a busy girl. She and Autumn do a lot of the same things... since it is easier that way. Summer is in the 2nd grade in Mrs. Vaughn's class and also takes piano, horse riding lessons, and Tumbling. She is doing great with tumbling and really close to getting her back handspring. she can do it on her own on the trapmpoline. She is still a total Animal lover. She checks the chickens eggs every day and plays with the goats. Over the summer she was also on the Dive team and even made first place during dive prelims. She has become quite a diver and had the highest score on her inward dive. She also was in the Seusical the musical. Lincoln has changed so much since I last wrote. I was really worried about him not talking a year ago but now he talks a lot. He is still in speech therapy but I can see great improvements. He is in preschool at Mrs Packard preschool an learning a ton. He is also in Tumbling this year and doing great. He also just started soccer. He is the sweetest little boy ever. Russ is getting his RE Brokers License. He has passed his school exams with flying colors (even falling asleep in the middle of one of the tests twice only to be awaken by someone and then finishing on time and passing with a B+). If only we could all be that smart. Ha Ha. he has been super busy with realestate and in his calling at church. He is now Executive Secretary but still does a lot with scouting from time to time. April has been busy working 2-3 days a week with Dental Hygiene. I am so lucky to love my job and everyone I work with so much. I love being a dental hygienist. I also trapeze a couple days a week. I have learned so much and now fly out of lines and am working on my double back flip.I also take tumbling with my girls which is a ton of fun for me. Hawli has taught me so much and I can do a back handspring on my own and am working on my standing back-flip tuck. I cant wait!! I have been trying to workout a lot more lately and have found some great gals to workout with from church. I feel like I am in the best shape since my skiing days. My calling in church is the personal progress leader in young women's and am loving it. I have also become very crafty (if i do say so myself) and try to do some sort of crafty thing a week. I also love to decorate and am currently redoing our living room and girls bedroom... again. as a family we go to strawberry as much as we can and stay in our trailer. We LOVE our trailer. Things are going good and we are all happy. I love Russ more than ever and feel blessed to have married him. I know so much more has happened since I last wrote but this will have to do for now.

Girls room makeover

Autumn was complaining that her room felt too little girl ish and she wanted more privacy. With the help of a hot pink can of spray paint, we went to town; as well as added the curtain above her bunk.

Summer broke her arm

Over Labor day we went to Strawberry with Russ family and was able to get quite a bit done on the cabin. Sunday night we were hanging out by the campfire when we heard summer cry. We went by the zip line and sure enough she fell from the very top right off the ladder. She calmed down after and Advil and went to bed. We made her a makeshift sling and gave here Advil every once in a while and finished our camping trip. By Tuesday she was acting like it was feeling better but it was still sore so I asked a Doctor friend of mine (We all need a Doctor friend) what he thought I should do. Of course with no hesitation he said go get it x-rayed. Sure enough her elbow was broken, so my friend put a little half cast on it and now she is good to go. The next morning before school she didn't want to go because she was embarrassed. That afternoon when I picked her up from school she was so happy. I asked how her day was and she said "I love going to school with a broken arm because everyone helps you." Its also good since it is her Left arm. I guess she has learned to cope with it all. Only downside is she has a hard time at dance and she cant do gymnastics or trapeze for a couple months.

Trapezing Show

We had another Trapezing show today and as always it was a total blast. Here is some video of the practice tricks as well as Autumn and Summer Trapezing after the show.

This is for you Verna and Ron

We are having another trapezing show this Saturday. I am working on my back end tricks this semester and have even moved onto a new belt which is exciting. Here is a couple of my tricks called a back-end layout. Verna, if you are watching just push the play button on the bottom left corner. If you scroll down a little you will see one of my other trapezing tricks.

This last video is of Autumn.
She was pretty young here (6 yrs old) and has gotten a lot better but it is still cute.


This last video is of Summer when she was 3 that still makes me smile so I thought you would enjoy it too. I cant believe she is going into first grade already.

Oh I am so excited about our Cabin (Single wide Trailer). It is so fun to go up to Strawberry and go camping and sleep in an Actual bed. We have been doing a lot of work on making our "Cabin" cute. we are still not totally done and it still is a little messy but it looks much better. I have really enjoyed working on the cabin. because the walls were covered in wallpaper in the kitchen, I had to texture them so you wouldn't see the seams. I got creative and painted on tissue paper. It actually looks pretty good and you cant even tell there was wallpaper before. I painted the cabinets and re faced them with bead board. It has been a project for sure but worth it. I also sewed curtain valances for all the rooms.
Russ is working on getting us solar power. I cant Wait!

this is Our Cabin Before...Our Cabin After!

My dirty Link... not allowed in the cabin without a baby wipe bath.

Take a Risk and Cover the Thermostat

I got sick of looking at our thermostat in the middle of the wall so I decided to cover it.
Who thought of putting a Thermostat in the middle of the wall?
Seriously whoever designed this house must have been a man.
I am so proud of myself since I am not a super handy person, and if I asked my husband he probably would have objected so for me this was a risk.

~Before~

~After~

(I left it open at the top and bottom so air can flow through)