Brian's Ordination

Grandpa and Grandma Sumner had come down from Utah to be here for Brian's ordination in the Priest Quorum. Brian had specifically asked Grandpa to perform the ordination himself and it was very special and perfect. This picture is of Me, Mom, and Brian waiting for Grandpa to change back into his nice church clothes.



This picture we got everyone to pose but the coordination took too long and Grandpa's glasses darkened already so they look kind of goofy. Brian was supposed to have a hair cut the Friday before the ordination but it had to be postponed so his hair couldn't be helped.



We decided to move the picture posing indoors so that we could see Grandpa's eyes without a darkened tint from the sun. At this point I opted out of the scene to go change out of my church clothes and into my lounge/comfortable clothes.



The cake was Mom's idea, she thought it was the best way to meet everyone's taste, I think I was the only person who didn't eat it. However I heard it was good, there was only one piece left which we took home to my Dad. It was a great day, the following week Brian was able to bless the sacrament (which he did an awesome job) and give a talk on honoring the priesthood (which he also rocked).

Brian's Sixteenth Birthday

Brian's Birthday was December 30th which in 2008 was on a Tuesday. We went to Landmark with the family that evening, which has always been a tradition for us. However, this year we realized that the experience is not as awesome as it used to be, and Brian has the challenge to find a new venue for his Birthday dinner for 2009. This picture was taken by Mother of us eating in the restaurant perhaps for the last time.



Brian is on of the few people in our family who likes cakes so Mother makes sure to get him a buttercream white cake. This year Brian even got to help light the candles, however the picture of him blowing them out is too blurring so I opted not to post it.



I don't know if you can tell but his presents consist entirely of Bionocle sets. Whether they are "good guys" or "bad guys" I could not tell you, but Brian seemed pleased.



These pictures I decided to add for fun, these are Brian and I playing Guitar Hero World Tour together. Brian plays "expert" level on the base and I play "easy" level on guitar. Mother thought the moment was too special not to get on picture and so here you are: Brian and I playing together without needing a mediator.



Brian has been playing this game with his friend for the past 2 years and has achieved some levels of skill that I do not have, yet. He is often patient with me but sometimes struggles when I complain that my part is too hard. However, I only just started playing after Christmas when he got it, we play for about an hour on Sundays and that is it. We have to sit on opposite ends of the couch but at least we can play the same game together.

Christmas Day!

So Christmas Day at the Banks house starts around 7 a.m. when Brian and the dogs wake everyone else up. I admittedly am the last person to get up and ready for Christmas, Brian hates that I insist on brushing my hair, putting contacts and make-up on. I personally wish Brian would be less worried about going downstairs to the Christmas tree area, and more interested in looking pretty for the pictures.



Brian's Christmas was pretty exciting, he got an awesome television from Santa Claus and Guitar Hero World Tour, tons of Bionacles, and Wii games. I didn't find his presents as interesting as he did, but I imagine he felt the same about mine.



The dogs were really good sports in the beginning but once we started unwrapping presents that got pretty rambunctious. Dad decided it was time to get their stocking down and let them pick out their own treat. They were good dogs.



My Christmas was very fun, I got two of my cross-stitches custom framed which turned out beautifully. I was even there picking out the matte colors, frames, and even the detailed matte cut and I was still so surprised how amazing they looked. From Santa Claus I got a GPS that I absolutely love, Dad had shown me how his worked the other day and even then I thought I should get myself a GPS. The one he got is great, the picture is great, the sound is audible, I should never get lost again!



Our Christmas was amazing if you cannot tell, we had a fun day together figuring out the GPS Mom and I got, and setting up Brian's Guitar Hero. It was a perfect day!

Snowboarding Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve Dad gave Brian and I the opportunity to go Snowboarding with him up in Sunrise, Arizona. We had to rent the boards, boots, and snow-gear for it the night before so we could just leave without worrying about getting to the shops early. It was a little less than 4 hours to get there so we left about 5:30 a.m. and got there a little after 9 a.m.



The whole area was not busy, we were able to walk right into the building and register for morning and afternoon lessons for Brian and I. It was nice it was so slow because our group lessons became private lessons, Dallas our instructor, worked it out so that he was our instructor not only for the morning session but also the afternoon too. I needed more one-on-one assistance than Brian did, but he had already gone once with Dad and had a lesson then. Dallas was great, in the picture he is strapping my boot into the board because I had no idea how to.



The whole morning session we stayed on the "bunny hill" learning balance on the board and different turn styles. I learned that it doesn't matter which way I want to go I will inevitably fall down anyway. It was amazing though, the weather was perfect, the snow was soft and beautiful, and even falling down didn't hurt that much. By the afternoon session Dallas took us down the "mid-way hill" which is the next level after the "bunny hill" which I loved. But I had a lot of fun down Mid-Way, probably the most fun I had was going down Mid-Way because I could tell how much I had improved since that morning. I could go sets without falling down, Brian unfortunately had a bad fall on this hill and hurt his wrist.



We had to leave by 3:30 p.m. to make it home for the family Christmas Eve dinner, but it was so much fun. I cannot wait to go again, it was a great experience. Hopefully next time I will not be so sore though, waking up Christmas morning was painful, everything hurt!

More Payson Pictures

Here are some more pictures from our family trip to Payson.

First is Dad and his infamous Tote-Gote, he has made some changes to it in the last couple of years, resewed the seat, added a new motor engine to it and also finished it with a glossy red paint. Dad admitted that it is well over 30 years old, he has spent a lot of time getting it ready for this trip. Mostly I was suprised how well he has fixed it up, he can pick up some really good speed on it.



At this point Dad just wanted to take it for a quick spin before we had to head back home, he even tried to get Brian and I to drive on it, you can guess how we responded.



While Dad was driving around in the snow, wearing shorts if you cannot tell, Brenlie and I look on from the comfort of the camper.



Brenlie and Behr were so funny the whole trip, for as much as they loved the snow, and played in it they would always head back to the camper and sit there until someone got their interest. During one of our rides Brenlie refused to budge from the front seat of the 4-Wheeler and so Dad had to stand in the back because Brenlie could not be moved. I wish we had a picture of that to show.



One really cool thing about this trip was that it was my first experience with falling snow. I have been in snow before, but I have never actually seen it fall and it was so pretty and amazing. Mom thought I was dumb, but I was just so awestruck by how pretty it looked, I wish we could have stayed longer. We however were not expecting snow and were not dressed accordingly, and so we were all were pretty cold at this point.

Christmas Tree Chopping

It has been a while since I was able to go Christmas Tree Chopping with my family up in Payson. This year it was amazing, a great experience. In order to get the day after Thanksgiving off I went Black Friday shopping with my manager which meant standing in line at Best Buy at 3:00 a.m. It really was not too bad, plus by 7:00 a.m. she knew I had plans and let me leave early.

Dad rented a 4-Wheeler to take with us up to the mountains to make hiking a lot easier. It was SO much fun to ride in it through the forest looking at the beautiful trees and snow. We covered a lot of ground, Dad even gave Brian and I a chance to drive it which was amazing, it was tons of fun. However we were not expecting snow so I was not dressed appropriately and my hands got too cold too fast to drive for very long.



This is for Kylene, sorry but Dad got the chainsaw working too fast, and we could not get a great picture like you used to of dad bending over trying to get it to work. Maybe next year. This is Dad sawing the tree down however, and it dropped down in a matter of seconds, and no branches snapped this time - a miracle.



Brian and I with the dogs Brenlie and Behr. You can see in the background all the trees covered in snow, it was a really beautiful sight.



The dogs were so funny in the snow, we have tons of pictures of them just rolling around in and being silly. Brenlie especially loved to play in the snow, as soon as we got out of the truck she was face first in the snow.



Another bonus to the 4-Wheeler, it did all the carrying. We were able to just lift the tree on the back, and drive it back to the truck which saved us a lot of back pains.

The Newest Addition To Our Home:

This is for Michael, I know that he does not get to see the dogs or Grandpa that often so I will try to get them on my blog whenever a photo opportunity presents itself.

Dad recently bought a Nordic Track that currently lives in our family room, getting it there left me bruised for two weeks so I am in no hurry to move it soon. Dad usually runs on it at night after he gets home from work, the dogs Behr and Brenlie cannot stand the noise it makes and so they stand around and bark at it.

This picture shows the track going super slow in hopes of getting the dogs on it and not afraid. That lasted about 5 seconds, as you can see Dad is trying to pull a resistent Behr back on, and Brenlie is very safely off and cowering. Brian is pretty winded from Behr almost falling on him.



Behr is too big of a dog for even Dad to physically make him obey, and Behr slipped off and started barking again. It lasted about 4 more trials until we gave up, Behr and Brenlie can be very stubborn dogs, you can say that they fit right in with the family.