A busy week

This week I was able to stay home during the day (because I was on call with work at night) which left us a lot of time to celebrate Mother's Day, our 8th anniversary and my 31st birthday. We began the week going up to the cemetary in Salt Lake where my niece is buried. Mother's day would have been her 1st birthday. Isaac and Brooklyn sang Happy Birthday at the grave site and placed flowers on the head stone. Monday (our anniversary) we took the kids bowling. You may be wondering why we would spend our anniversary bowling with the kids, but our options were limited with me being on call in the evening. This bowling alley we went to was very kid friendly with automated bumper lanes and ramps to help direct their balls. In fact, the kids almost broke 100. For my birthday, we took a picnic lunch up Provo Canyon and hiked to Bridal Veil Falls. Isaac loves riding in his back pack carrier and Brooklyn of course loves riding piggy back. It was a perfect day for hiking. And now that the week is over, it's time to head back to work unfortunately. It's always fun to spend time home with the kids.

Isaac's Gymnastics

Over the past 7 months, Isaac has been going to a gymnastics class, which he seems to really enjoy. It's a great place for him to release all of his energy. He loves to do flips on the bars, walk on the balance beam, jump on the tumble track and go through the obstacle course that his coach has set up for him. His favorite word for the balance beam is "tricky". He's quite the little athlete. The pictures are a little fuzzy, but that's because they're all action shots.

Ogden Marathon 2006

Finally, after months and months of training, Tami can finally cross "marathon" off her list of things to accomplish in life (Remember that a marathon is 26.2 miles). She has been training pretty heavily over the last several months running with some friends and this morning was the big morning. The weather could not have been better. The course was amazing and the fact that she ran with her brother Brian and her Dad Patrick was icing on the cake. Very much a family affair (though none of them finished together). We don't know her official time yet, but we estimate it was about 4 hrs 10 minutes (about 9 1/2 minute miles maintained for 26 miles . . . definitely better than I could do!) Although she hasn't convinced me to run a full marathon, there is what's called a marathon relay, which splits up the 26.2 miles between 5 people. Definitely more manageable distances. We'll see how it goes. This was Patrick's 9th marathon and Brian's 7th marathon. However I don't think Tami will follow in their shoes (at least in the immediate future). We'll see if she catches the marathon bug again someday once her body forgets about it all. We're all very proud of her!!!

Father and son's day out

Tami and Brooklyn went up to Salt Lake on Saturday for a bridal shower which left Isaac and I by ourselves for the majority of the day. We started out by going to the park to play on the toys there.
We rolled down the grass hill, which Isaac loved doing and then watched some park goers fly kites. After the park we were driving by the grocery store and noticed that the Spanish Fork Fire Department had set up in front and were letting people tour the vehicles. Isaac loves trucks and so we had to stop. He looks so small standing next to one of the fire trucks.
Isaac also got to sit inside the ambulance. We went inside the grocery store and had lunch at the little deli area. A hamburger, french fries and drink for $2 . . . not a bad deal. From the grocery store we headed out to Spanish Fork Airport (a small private airport) and watched some some planes take off and land. From the airport it was off to a large intersection that is out in the middle of nowhere that is used for model airplanes. As we arrived, there was a plane just taking off. Isaac (and I) loved watching this model airplane do all sorts of aerobatic stunts. After it landed, we headed back to the new house to see what was going on. They started on the brick exterior on Friday and it really is coming along nicely. The entire inside of the home has a primer coat of paint and hopefully the color coat will be done this week. Isaac fell asleep in the car and slept for about 2 hours after getting home. We were only gone for about 3 hours, but it was a fun three hours.

House update

Here's a pretty recent picture of the house. We sure are anxious to get moved in. I would post pictures of the inside, but there's nothing terribly exciting about sheetrock. As of this weekend, they have pretty much finished the texturing and hopefully will begin to paint soon. As you can see, the roof is on and fully finished. We chose out a brand new color of stucco called "plywood". We're going for the natural look. It's very realistic looking and if you get up close enough, it looks just like plywood :) And as all construction normally goes, we're being delayed yet once again. They're now saying we should plan on the end of May to close and move in. We're so ready to get moved out of this little 2 bedroom apt and into our own home again.

Easter Pictures

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted anything. We took Brooklyn and Isaac this last week to get their pictures taken for Easter. It's been about a year since we've had professional pictures and felt it was about time. The kids did an awesome job. Definitely the best sitting we've ever had. And hopefully you'll agree that the pictures came out super cute. (Click the image to zoom in).

Fingers and Toes

Recently if I'm in the bathroom with the door locked, I'll hear the kids outside the door and they love trying to get my attention by saying "Daddy, are you in there?" and then they stick their fingers and hands under the door. Of course I'll play games with them and try to get their fingers and toes, which they get a kick out of. They're funny kids.

Trusses and snowmobiling

Two good things happened this weekend . . . . The trusses on our home were finally put up and I got to go out snowmobiling with a friend from work. Unfortunately the completion date of the home has been pushed back one final time to the end of April. Boy we're getting anxious to get moved in. Anyway, my friend and I took Friday off and headed up Spanish Fork canyon to try out the new snow that had fallen just the day before. There was absolutely no one on the mountain and the weather couldn't have been any better. We eventually made it to Strawberry Reservoir and back and found some freshly groomed trails that let us cruise through the trees at about 55 mph. It's very cool to go flying across the snow that fast. Our final trip total was 77 miles and we only got stuck 4 times. That's not bad. It was the first time taking out the snowmobiles since both of the clutches were rebuilt and both machines ran pretty smoothly. I don't care what others say . . . Utah mountains are the best in the world!

Home progress

While we were on the cruise, the home did make some progress although this week it really has started to take shape. Framing is usally something that happens quickly, so it's been fun to drive by on the way home from work to see what has happened that day. It will be cool once the trusses are lifted up.

Disney Cruise, see ya next time!

We're slowly recovering from a week long adventure sailing around the Western Caribbean sea, enjoying tons of good food, mingling with Disney characters and more than anything . . . relaxing. It sure was a great trip. I would highly recommend a Disney Cruise to anyone that is contemplating taking kids on a cruise with them. They cater so much to families. I'll include some pictures here in the blog, but if you want to see a better snapshot of our cruise (no pun intended), check out the shared pictures (and even order your own if you want!) from our most recent print order at Wal-Mart.

We started out in Port Canaveral on Saturday the 28th. We actually stopped by the Kennedy Space Center before boarding since we just happened to be there on the 20th Anniversary of the Challenger explosion. There was a service going on at the space center for family of the astronauts, hence the picture at the end of the blog with the flag at half mast. We left Port Canaveral Saturday evening and sailed through the night to Key West, FL. Since it was Sunday, there wasn't a whole lot we could do but walk around the city. We got back on the boat and sailed all day Monday enjoying the tons of activites on teh boat and arrived in Grand Cayman Tuesday morning to some beautiful turquoise water. We spent the day swimming with stingrays on a sandbar about 4 miles off shore and snorkling the nearby reefs. Isaac wasn't too thrilled about being in the water with "Mr. Ray", but Brooklyn seemed to enjoy it. We then sailed all day Wednesday and arrived in Nassau, Bahamas Thursday morning and had a local Bahamian show us the island including a small zoo where we fed birds, walked with flamingos, and a beach where the waves crashed right on the sand due to the steeply sloped beach. Brian (my brother-in-law) got beaten to death by the waves and has the scars on his back to prove it. From the Bahamas we sailed through the night to Disney's own private island, Castaway Cay (pronounced "key"). The island was beautiful and very much out in the middle of nowhere. Isaac enjoyed burying himself and others in the sand and playing in the waves of the lagoon. We rented bikes and biked around part of the island. It really was a nice end to the whole trip. We sailed through the night and arrived back at Port Canaveral Saturday morning to some pretty heavy rain. We really did luck out with good weather and fairly calm seas on the entire trip. Since our flight didn't leave until later Sat. evening, we headed back to the Kennedy Space Center and got to see the Space Shuttle launch pads and other rockets up close and personal. The kids loved seeing the astronauts and rockets all around.

Luckily no one got sick on the cruise. I only took some motion sickness pills the first night, but didn't have any problems the rest of the week. The food was outstanding. Our dinner servers were awesome and really had fun with the kids. The "Pirates IN the Caribbean" theme night was fun. With Disney's huge outdoor movie screen, Brian and I watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" while sailing under the stars of the Caribbean Sea. Bet no one else has ever done that before.

Because Disney does own several of the new movies out in the theaters currently, we were able to see movies onboard such as "Chronicles of Narnia" and "Glory Road" in their very nice 1,000 seat theater. Now back to normal life as we all know it. It sure was fun to live the VIP life for a week though. Can't wait until next time.

Disneycruise Here We Come!!!

Two days and counting before we're sailing on a cruise ship on our way through the Western Caribbean. It's something we've been talking about for awhile and finally decided to do. We're going with Tami's immediate family, grandmother and our kids of course (11 of us all together). They can't wait to go on the boat with Mickey Mouse. I'm sure they'll have a blast. We plan to swim with stingrays, do a fair share of snorkeling and more than anything, get away from the cold and enjoy some nice warm humid weather. We set sail Saturday the 28th, head to Key West, then down to Grand Cayman, then to Nassau Bahamas and then to Disney's own private island, Castaway Cay. We'll arrive back at Port Canaveral on Saturday, Feb 4th (Brooklyn's birthday). I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about when we get back.

Nothing terribly new on the homefront. The house looks about the same as the last picture I posted. They do have the basement slab poured and the suspended slab laid over the garage. Looks like they must have trucked in the slab already poured and just lowered it into place. We've been told they'll be starting the framing any day now. Hopefully we'll get back from our cruise and find an actual home. We'll keep you posted.

Making progress

Here's the latest picture taken this weekend of the new home. I'm standing just to the left of where the driveway will be. The basement walls are all in. The basement floor has yet to be poured still. They're estimating that we'll be in the home by the end of March. I'm not holding by breath, but let's hope we're in by then. As much as we love our little two bedroom basement apartment, we are getting anxious to get into our own place again. Here's a picture of the "bunker" room. It is where the theater room will be. They excavated under our garage and will put a suspended slab there so that we can have a nice 24' wide by 20' deep room completely enclosed in concrete . . . perfect for our surround sound theater. The floor of the room actually is about 2 feet deeper than the rest of the basement. The house you see on the other side of the street on the left will be very similar to how the front facade of our home will be except flipped with the garage on the right. We're also doing brick instead of stone.


We attended our new ward today (the ward we'll be living in once the home is done). It was Brooklyn's first Sunday in Sunbeams. She was a little timid at first, but I think she'll enjoy it. She's one of the older Sunbeams since she'll be turning 4 next month.

Happy New Year!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful New Year. We decided to celebrate the new year at the cabin even though we had just been up there the week before for Christmas. Tami and I and the kids went along with Brian and Stephanie. For about a year now, I have been bringing up a laptop projector from work and we have been watching movies "big screen" style. However, Brooklyn has now coined the term "Big Sheet". She loves watching movies on the "big sheet".

But we needed something for the kids to watch so that we could watch our movies as well, so we created their own little theater just behind the big sheet. They were so excited about their "theater" and the fact that they were able to sit on the trampoline made it all the better. Over the course of the weekend I believe they watched Tarzan II about 10 times and Pooh's Heffalump Movie roughly the same.

I made the mistake of bringing up my Lost Season 1 DVDs. I believe over the course of the weekend we made it to episode 16. Brian and Steph are hooked now. As for those who have not seen Lost . . . RENT IT!!! All it takes is the first few episodes and I guarantee you will not be able to put it down.

About a foot of snow fell New Year's Eve making it pretty much impossible to drive to Church that morning. So we just snowmobiled in. The church is about 3 miles from the cabin. The kids enjoyed the ride in. The next morning a few more inches of snow fell and it was time to play. The snow was just the right consistency for snowman building. Brooklyn and Isaac really got into it.


They loved seeing our little snowman come to life. Brooklyn named him "Frosty" of course.

On the other hand, Brian had much bigger plans for his snowman. At first it looked like a single pilar of snow, but with a little help from me, we were able to sculpt it into something a little more interesting. Remember that I'm 6' 4" tall. Let's just say it was a challenge getting the head all the way up top. I'd be lying if I said that we planned the upper snowman to be leaning to the side. It was simply a stroke of luck that added nicely to the overall effect. Too bad the top snowman fell a few hours later. It looked good while it lasted though.

And now we come back to reality and life after the holidays. However, just a few more weeks until we leave on our Disney Cruise!

Put Put Golf

Tonight, Tami and I and the kids decided to leave the constraints of our basement apartment and go on a family outing and play miniature golf at Trafalga in Orem. Tami's not the biggest mini golf fan, but I enjoy it and we thought the kids would too. Everyone had a ball. Somewhere in between keeping Isaac from picking up our own golf balls and keeping him from climbing inside the little houses, we were able to keep score. I of course was under par. Tami didn't keep track herself. The kids did surprisingly well through 18 holes. I even won a free game pass for getting 1 of the 4 balls into the special outhouse toilet on the 18th hole. Good fun and good times!

Merry Christmas 2005!!!

We decided to use our blog site to post our family newsletter this year. Feel free to post any comments you like and don't forget to check out other posts in our blog.

2005 has been a wonderful year for our family. As we look back on the past year, we are grateful for the many blessing we have received and the opportunities we have had. A lot has changed in our lives. Here is a brief update…

Kevin continues to work at Novell in the support department. This August he had the chance to travel to Japan with business and learned a lot about the culture in a short period of time. He enjoyed the trip and appreciates the travel opportunities he has through work. Kevin spent much of January and February refinishing our basement. After about a year of hard work, we were finally able to resolve all of the flooding issues and put our home back in order. Only a few months after completely everything, we decided, somewhat suddenly, to put our home up for sale. Our home sold rather quickly and we are now living in a basement apartment while our new home (also in Spanish Fork) is under construction. We should be moving in sometime this spring. Kevin is looking forward to all of the projects this new home will offer (sort of). Kevin has served as the Executive Secretary and a primary teacher in the ward this year.


Tami decided earlier this year to resume her former running hobby (something she hadn’t done much of since Brooklyn was born). She ran in several races throughout the summer and is planning to run a marathon next year. She also started working a few early morning hours per week at a Residential Treatment Center in Spanish Fork, which she really enjoys. It has been a nice opportunity for her to get involved again in social services. Tami tagged along with her sister and brother-in-law on a trip to Southern California while Kevin was in Japan. She and the kids had a great time camping on the beach, visiting the Wild Animal Park, touring a submarine, and seeing Kevin’s family. Tami has served in the primary and on the Enrichment committee in the ward.





Brooklyn started preschool this year. As part of her classes, she has both a gymnastics and dance class each week, which she really enjoys. Brooklyn had her first dance recital this past week, and although she got a little stage-fright, looked extremely cute. Brooklyn has enjoyed the adventure of living in the basement apartment of the “red house,” especially since her and Isaac get a TV in their room. She loved her trip to Yellowstone this summer with her cousins and is excited to go on a Disney Cruise next month so that she can spend her birthday with Mickey Mouse. Brooklyn is looking forward to starting Sunbeams next year.

Isaac has grown a ton in the past year, and his big smile has kept up with his size. He and Brooklyn have been mistaken for twins more than once and are the best of friends. Isaac is very energetic enjoys the opportunity he has to go to gymnastics each week to work off some of his energy. He is great at swinging on the bars and walking on the “tricky” balance beam. Isaac got over his fear of the ocean this summer thanks to a little help from Uncle Mike and developed a love of sand crabs and splashing in the waves. Isaac has acquired his sister’s love for anything Disney and had fun visiting Disneyland in January. He started nursery this year, and we’re hopeful that sometime before Sunbeams he’ll warm up to it all.



We hope this holiday season finds you all healthy and happy. We appreciate the love and support we feel from you, our family and friends. We are grateful for the role of the Savior in our lives and strive to be more like Him. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2006!

Love,

The Fenns

Santa at the Spanish Fork Library

Getting ready to run the Alpine Slide in Park City

Hiking around in Yellowstone.

Happy Easter!