The Schank/Jupiter Family

The Laylands visit Wisconsin

2008-07-08T00:17:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandma Pat and Sydney!

Birthday Girls--Grandma Pat (64) and Sydney (4)

Typical Al

Ahhhh, it's Timmy

My Bri

Brian and cutie-girl Zoey

Sydney got near a sparkler...and then went inside to watch Sponge Bob

Al, Tim, and El

Austin loves his cousin Timmy

Grandma and Grandpa on "the boat"

Nick's shorts are falling down and then Tim knocks him off...rough day at sea!

Weekend Projects

2008-06-29T10:15:00.002-05:00

I made this sock monkey for Sydney's Birthday (july 3)! Isn't she adorable?
This is Nick's Father's Day gift...he named him Jimmy (Hendrix)! Funny, huh?!

Fun new pictures...

2008-06-18T17:02:00.004-05:00

Kaden's broken finger...slammed in a car door!
Sydney eating ice cream after Austin's Bday dinner
Austin and Erika at Hickory Park celebrating his bday!
Outside the restaurant...we had to document its appearance in Ames, Iowa!
Austin making his wish!

Kaden--post chocolate cupcake consumption!

It's Christa!!!

2008-06-16T22:47:00.002-05:00

Wat up, home skillets? [love you grandpa ;)] Guess what you guys, i GRADUATED from high school! Very exciting...I'm way ready to move on :) Turns out I got a four-year full ride to BYU!!! Woot! So, I'll be headed down there at the end of August for fall semester to major in statistics with an emphasis in biostatistics...which I know sounds really exciting, but you all know I'm the type of math/science geek that will love that! For those of you who know BYU, I'm living on campus in Heritage Halls...yep.
This summer has been awesome so far. I've been to girls camp for my last time and a young single adult campout for the first. I go to institute once week when I can and I'm still planning on EFY, a family trip to Nauvoo (and to see some of you guys who live out there!) and a trip to visit Mesa this Wednesday!...which explains why I don't have a job...
K we-eeell, that's it for now, I guess! Love you guys! Mwah!

Kindergarten Concert

2008-06-02T11:22:00.002-05:00

Austin's Kindergarten class had a fun little concert for the parents. So Sydney and I went to see the class perform! They were cute. I can't believe that the school year is over. I just hope next year will be just as great!

Happy Mothers Day!!

2008-05-11T19:00:00.002-05:00

Happy Mothers Day to Deanna, Marisel, Candice, Erika and Mom! Hope you are enjoying your day. And CONGRATULATIONS to Nick (and family) for finishing up another year of school. I don't know about everyone else, but I am more excited for summer vacation than my kids are. I am so tired of homework, packing lunches, and rushing kids out the door! I'm sure that by August I will be missing it again but for now, I'm ready for a break. We got some bad news/good news this past week. My mom has been experiencing more and more pain in her hips and legs and has an increasingly difficult time walking. She was told this past week that she needs to have both hips replaced. I was able to fly to Vegas (all by myself!) to visit her along with the rest of my family for a few days. It was nice to see everyone and spend some one on one time without my kids stealing all of their attention. On the brighter side, Christa received a letter from BYU stating that she has been awarded the Heritage scholarship which covers 100% tuition for 8 semesters. We are so proud of her! Unfortunately we spaced her housing sign-up date and logged on too late. So we are praying (very hard!) that something opens up. I guess that's all the news for now. Hope all is well with you! We love you! Lynn

Nick Finished Year 1 ...

2008-05-09T11:01:00.001-05:00

Can you believe it?! Nick has finished year 1 of 5. Ok, so I can believe it too. But, let me tell you...we need to celebrate these mini-milestones in our life. It dispells the stress of 4 more years in school! And it gives us a reason to treat ourselves!

Yeah Nick!!! We are so proud of you!!!

Greetings from Utah

2008-04-27T15:25:00.003-05:00

Thanks for setting this up, Erika! I'm not the greatest at keeping in touch but I think that I can manage checking in once a week or so. I guess to start off, I should do a little catch up. Can you believe that we just saw each other 5 months ago? So much has happened!
I will start with Christa. As you know, she just had her 18th b-day! She has been accepted at BYU and we are anxiously waiting to hear about scholarships. We are excited for the wonderful experiences she will have but are very sad to have our first one to leave the nest. We are thankful that she will be far enough away to have the experience of living on her own but still close enough that we hope to see her now and then. Christa is busy just trying to get through this last semester of high school. She has signed up for 6 AP exams and is studying like crazy. Remember how she was sick on the cruise? Well, she has been sick off and on ever since. A few Dr. appts and blood tests have led us to believe that the cause is stress. (suprise!) Please keep her in your prayers!
Kenny is finishing his sophomore year and counting the days until he can drive and date. He was dissapointed to not make the school baseball team or drum major for the marching band. He should find out this week if he made section leader. He has joined a city baseball team and will start games in about a week. He likes to spend his time with his many friends and cheering for the Jazz. He is serving as 1st counselor in the teachers quorum
Sarah has good news - she just got her ear tubes out last week! This was her 5th and we hope last set. She is looking forward to being able to swim this summer. She also got her braces on in February. She has had a rough 8th grade year butisn't really looking forward to the year ending. She is still searching for a good friend to hang out with and isn't looking for ward to three months with nothing to do. I have given her many suggestions of how she could spend her summer but she didn't seem very excited about any of them. She enjoys practicing her cello and has really improved this past year. Sarah serves as secretary in her Mia Maid class.
Adam just turned 12 and is really enjoying scouts and the deacons quorum. He is also playing baseball which helps him get him away from the play station (thanks, Chris). He is doing great in school and has a reputation for being a brain. He has a ton of friends is looking froward to moving on to Jr. High school next year.
Jacob is also playing baseball. (It sounded like such a great idea to sign up all three boys when it was cold and snowy in January). Jacob has fun doing anything. He and Becky are best friends and they seem to have no problem keeping busy. He is just finishing his 3rd grade year and will soon be receiving his wolf in cub scouts.
Becky can't wait to go to first grade so she can learn something that she doesn't already know. In her mind, she is the smartest kindergartener in the school (and the prettiest, and the fastest, and the strongest). I'm afraid that we have created a monster with this one! She is so much fun to have around and she always brings a smile. Well, ok, maybe not ALWAYS, but pretty close.
Steve and I are just keeping busy with the family and still trying to make Utah home. We love it here but are still adjusting, especially to the weather. We are looking forward to a very busy summer. We have hopes to finish our basement and take a vacation to Nauvoo. If we can swing the vacation we are looking forward to visiting with the Matthews and the Laylands while we are in the area. I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully this blog will help us keep each other posted (get it - "posted"?) on what we are all up to. Thanks again to Erika for working this out. We can't wait to hear about all of you! Love you! Lynn and family

She's 18!

2008-04-24T10:39:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Christa! Love ya!

Thanks Erika!

2008-04-23T15:36:00.000-05:00

Thanks for helping me get set up!

First Step...

2008-04-18T11:50:00.002-05:00

In order to be a contributor to this blog, you need to accept your invite and set up a google account. Setting up a google account is easy, free, and not bothersome. If you need help figuring it all out, let me know. I can help!

Oh and Happy Birthday Kaden! and Happy Birthday Chris (tomorrow)!!

Welcome Family!

2008-04-17T11:20:00.001-05:00

So maybe this will be easier than the website to use and to keep in touch. Well, that may be too wishful! Oh well, it is the effort that counts, right?!

We can all use this blog to share pictures, movies, ideas, recipes, thoughts, questions, funny stories, etc.

Let's use it...it is fun and quite easy. If you need some guidance, I am willing to walk you through it. Just give me a call or an email...and we'll figure something out.

If you want to, you can check out my blog for some ideas! So...get to it!

Love you, Erika