2008 Continued 2

Our household has grown this year with: 24 chickens, 11 baby snakes, six new fish, two baby bearded dragons, two turkeys, another cat, and a baby on the way. Kind of sounds like a familiar Christmas tune, doesn’t it? Yes, Tanya is expecting #6 in early May. She (and the whole family) went through much misery for about six weeks. We are so thankful for all the help we received from our family and church friends who helped clean the house, bring in meals, and dried and canned produce. Everyone in the family is happy to have her feeling better!

If any of you want to visit the Simler Family Zoo this next year, we would love to have you come! Prices are low—only $1 per person! (Just kidding!) We add to our zoo every year. We’ll keep you updated on our new additions.

We would like to take this time to bear testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are thankful for this season of love and service, which is a reflection of Christ’s love for all of us. We know he atoned for our sins so we can return to live with Heavenly Father when our time on earth is done. We know he was resurrected so we can also enjoy resurrected, perfect bodies. We know he is preparing to come again to this world to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.


May you and your families be filled with the joy of this Christmas season!

Love,

Kenny, Tanya, Karina, Bryce, Mariah, Rebecca, Bridgette Simler

2008 Continued

Tanya serves in our church as Enrichment Leader, which means she plans and organizes a monthly activity for the women of the church. One of the biggest activities was a community service day where we did various service projects along with women of four other churches. She also serves as secretary on the Vision Parent Accountability Committee. She really enjoys having a first-hand experience with the learning and growing of our children.

Kenny serves as a Primary teacher for the 8-9 year-old class and as a financial clerk for our church. That keeps him busy on Sundays. He also had one of his red-tailed boas give birth, so that has been an interesting experience. He would like this to grow into a side business.

Not much has been said about Bridgette, our resident 2-year-old. She is so fun at times and so “2” at others! She loves to sing and dance and have anyone who is willing read books to her. She also loves movies and can quote a few already, Dora being a favorite.

Getting comfy in the coat closet.

September through December 2008 2

For Thanksgiving week we had the opportunity (again thanks to Grammy and Papa Pyle!) to stay in a resort in Sedona, AZ. Everyone but Vernice (another of Tanya’s sisters--Nathan Matthew was born on Nov. 24. Yea!!) was able to make it, so we had quite a group running around. The children were again brave by swimming in the outdoor pool while it was raining. I guess I haven’t mentioned Dad’s courage in taking them swimming in all these adverse conditions. Mom is a wimp! We also went to Out of Africa, which is kind of like a zoo/safari adventure. It was pretty neat with a couple highlights being the Tiger Splash show and feeding the giraffe by hand. We had a nice hike (all 28 of us) to Bell Rock. It was so much fun to climb around on this neat formation! We then went to a park and shot rockets that Grammy and Papa brought. Boy was that a BLAST!

Wow Grammy & Papa! Do you claim all of those grandkids?

In front of a pointsetta tree at a neat
Christmas light show.

Feeding the giraffe from our safari bus.

A bunch of great hikers in front of Bell Rock.

3-2-1, Blast Off!

Bryce checking on his rocket with assistance from Uncle John.

September through December 2008

For our homeschool co-op this year we had the following classes: P.E., Science (Tanya is teaching this.), Ancient History, and Geography. Rebecca started “school” this year and is doing a great job with her phonics.

Mariah and Rebecca are participating in gymnastics and are enjoying that, but they still liked dance better. Bryce and Karina just started 4-H. We’re not sure yet what projects they will be participating in, but they are excited and have a list of many things they are interested in.

Karina has had a great opportunity this semester to be involved with a program called Kids With A King (KWAK). It is a religious musical play called The Christmas County Spelling Bee. They practiced twice a week and just had their performance on December 6 & 7. Karina had one of the main parts, the commentator, and she did an outstanding job on her parts of the performance. She especially enjoyed the songs and choreography.

Karina the first night of the performance dancing
to one of the songs. She's the second one from the right.

Karina as Karen Kline, the Commentator.

On November 9 we had an emergency room visit with Rebecca. She was being a monkey jumping on Mom’s and Dad’s bed. She fell off (just like in the song!), but she didn’t bump her head. She split her leg open just below her knee and had 3 stitches and 6 staples to put her back together. She was a very brave girl, but it wasn’t our favorite experience of the year.

She looks too happy to have an owie!

Summer 2008 2

On July 4th we went to Grand Mesa to Land’s End to feed the chipmunks and ground squirrels. It is fun to have them come up and eat out of your hand. After that we went on a picnic and then to Delta for the fireworks. We are so thankful for this country we live in and the freedoms we enjoy!

Karina, does it tickle?

Mariah doesn't seem too sure about
that fat ground squirrel.
Cousins Elizabeth & Sabrina in the background.

In August we went back to Denver and had fun this time at the Butterfly Pavilion, and the children were all brave enough this time to hold Rosie their resident tarantula. We had many butterflies landing on us, so that was neat. We went to Elitch’s one day, and that is always a highlight. We decided to make a detour to Colorado Springs area to go to Cave of the Winds, and then we had a picnic in Garden of the Gods. We really enjoyed Cave of the Winds. Such impressive caverns!

Rebecca braved holding a giant cockroach. Way to go!

Karina, there's something on your head!

Bryce loved holding the butterflies!

Wow, Bridgette!!

Mariah said the star fish felt really neat!

Our buy little bees, including cousin Tate.

Inside Cave of the Winds.

Summer 2008

We stayed busy during the summer with park days, swimming lessons, and Vacation Bible School for the children. We also started raising our own chickens and turkeys. On top of that we started a major building project that lasted for many months. We now have a completed shop/barn/snake room building and a carport. Grandad Schneider was an absolute wonder with all of his work, and we are so thankful to him for his service to us. This building adventure pretty much took up all the weekends of Kenny’s summer, so it is nice to have it 9/10 done. Tanya is very happy to have Kenny’s creepy crawlies out of the house and garage. They now have their own cozy place in The Building.

Bridgette and Mariah enjoying our young chicks.

Kenny and Grandad working on the shop/barn.
We had lots of other helpers, and we are very thankful to them!

Rebecca had a wonderful opportunity this summer in June to go with her Aunt Carolyn and cousin Tate to North Carolina to see Grandma and Grandpa Simler on their mission. They had so much fun going to the beach and searching for seashells and going to a small amusement park. Rebecca also had the opportunity to be the first one of our children to fly on an airplane.

Becca with Tate in North Carolina.

January through May 2008 4

May 17-22 we went on a Utah trip. Tanya’s parents provided a place to stay in Snowbird at a resort through their resort package. Can you believe it snowed on us, and it wasn’t just a little bit of snow! The children had fun swimming in the outdoor pool (Thank goodness it was heated well!) even with the snow. We were able to see many good friends and family which was wonderful! While there we went to Thanksgiving Point where we saw the Botanic Gardens, The Farm, and a natural history museum. It was so much fun! The children all had the chance to ride a pony and milk a cow at The Farm. We also went to see the Church’s Conference Center and Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The children had never been there before, so it was neat for them to see where our prophet speaks and works from. They loved the Christus statue and seeing the temple. We arrived home just in time for the birth of Jessica on May 23. Congratulations Lisa (Tanya’s sister)!

At the beautiful Botanic Gardens!

At Temple Square in front of the Christus.
A couple of the children aren't thrilled about having their picture taken.

Playing in the water at Temple Square was one of the highlights
of the trip for Bridgette!

January through May 2008 3

February 8-22 we went on a trip to Denver to see our many dear friends there. We miss you all!! We were able to go to the zoo, the Museum of Nature and Science, and Ocean Journey. It is always wonderful to go back to visit.

At the Gold Exhibit in the Museum of Nature & Science

(Becca was at Tate's house.)

Becca bravely facing down a shark at Ocean Journey.

Bryce is a bit nervous about feeding this anxious sting ray.

April 25 we braved the cold and went to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on the Crawford side with Grandad Schneider. The children had so much fun climbing the trees, finding pretty rocks, and they were very impressed with the canyon. It is really very impressive—as deep as the Grand Canyon, but not as wide.

January through May 2008 2

Bryce has attended Cub Scouts with a community group all year. In April he and Dad made a really cool turtle cake for a Scout cake contest and auction. On May 10 they had graduation in the park where he received his Bear badge. He attended Day Camp in July and had a wonderful time making wood and leather items and learning first aid. This year he is working on his Webelos badge, which he has almost completed already. He is learning some great skills that will help him throughout his life.



Bryce has also attended karate for the last couple of years. He was in Tae Kwon Do in Aurora, so switching to karate was a bit different, but he has managed well and enjoys it. He tested for his next belt level on April 26 and is working towards another test on December 20.

January-May 2008 1

January through May 2008

Karina, Bryce, and Mariah all participated in a homeschool co-op group we have with three other families. They attended the following weekly classes: Art, Geography, Famous People (Tanya taught this class and loved it!), and Science.

Karina, Mariah, and Rebecca all took dance classes from Miss Jenny where they learned ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop types of dance steps. They all loved it and were sad that Miss Jenny had to quit lessons in April because of a new baby. They had a performance on February 8 and a recital on April 5 where they all did a wonderful job performing.














Karina is the one with her arms up.















Mariah is the one on the right.















Becca is the one in the blue dress.

Mariah attended the Awanas program through one of the other churches here in town. She did an amazing job memorizing Bible scriptures and finishing her book even though she started part-way through the year. They had a fun game day in Delta with other Awanas groups in the region participating. Mariah’s Cedaredge group took 1^st place overall. Yea Mariah!! Mariah and Rebecca are both attending Awanas this school year and are really enjoying their association there.

Merry Christmas--2008 Happenings!

Merry Christmas to all of our dear friends and family!

2008 has been a wonderful year filled with many blessings from our Heavenly Father. We are so thankful for the wonderful opportunities we have had this year to learn and grow closer as a family. In smaller successive posts we will outline the many activities, classes, and trips we’ve been able to participate in this year. In case it has been a really long time since we’ve talked with you, here’s some background: We moved from Aurora to Cedaredge in July 2007. Kenny still commutes to work in Denver, so he has a long drive each week. It isn’t ideal, but we are thankful that he still has a good job and is able to have a flexible enough schedule to spend 3 days home with the family each week. We still homeschool and have a wonderful support group here. We also have the VISION program which is through the school district that gives us many opportunities for support and classes for our children. Karina is now 11, Bryce is 9, Mariah is 7, Rebecca is 5, and Bridgette is 2.