THE FIRST OFFICIAL CAVANAGH CHRISTMAS LETTER

Dear Friends and Family, It’s been so long since we’ve seen a lot of you. I decided that maybe now would be a good time to write a family letter. We’ve had a great year. Austin keeps reminding us that the end of the world is December 21! So I’d better get this letter done quickly! Austin is our oldest son. He will be fifteen in January. He is our only child that doesn’t really like playing sports. In July he shocked Tom and I by saying he wanted to join the water polo team at the High School!!!! We almost fainted. We kept asking why he would want to do this? Water polo is a very aggressive game. Long story short, he survived hell week and endured the whole season. Yeah for Austin! At the end of the season they timed all the frosh/soph team for swimming. Austin came in first! Austin has also started watching the Patriots play. He wears his jersey and hat for every game. He loves to jab his dad when the Patriots win. In his free time, Austin loves to play any type of war games (which makes his mother a little worried!). Brandon is our middle son who just turned 12. He loves to play and watch sports. For the last five years, he has been playing basketball. He has improved a lot and is getting really tall. He has had to learn how to be more aggressive in playing. Brandon is an excellent student at school and got on the Principals list. Brandon is also starting to like music and always walks around with his ipod. Tom is corrupting him with his rock music. Since Brandon just turned 12, he was ordained a Deacon and got the priesthood. In his free time he loves to go to the skate park and ride his scooter, or shoot some hoop. For his birthday, he got a guitar. So now he and Payton are starting guitar lessons. Payton is our baby. He turned nine in May. Since he was little, he’s been our daredevil. Anything exciting or thrilling and he’s there to experience it. Several Christmases in a row he has asked Santa for a motorcycle. Last year Santa brought a doodle bug (mini motorcycle). It sufficed his motorcycle urges for a while. But he soon discovered that it couldn’t go as fast as he wanted or do any jumps. Crazy boy. Payton played baseball two years in a row and said it was boring. So last year Tom forced him to play again. He knew that Payton had a talent for it. The coach was really impressed with him. He ended up getting an 800 batting average. So obviously Payton is Tom’s favorite because he plays baseball! Payton seems to have a lot of girls interested in him. Last year he had to get his friend to be his body guard at recess so the girls would stop chasing him. Brandon and Payton do sit-ups and push-ups every night to make sure they can have a “six pack”. This trimester, Payton was voted to be president in his fourth grade class. This year has gone by fast for me. I am currently a stay at home mom. I keep busy cleaning up after my crazy boys. I also drive around all day taking everyone to where they need to be. I am grateful for being able to raise my children and enjoy their childhood. I help in their classrooms every week. However, Tom told me that it’s not cool for boys to have their moms help. I am sad that they are growing up! I don’t want it to happen too fast. I also keep busy with church. I am over the 14-15 year old girls. Since I didn’t have any daughters of my own, I get to adopt them! Things I enjoy doing are four-wheeling, paper crafts, being outdoors, gardening, and spending time with the family. Last year I got a kindle. Now that the kids are a little older, I’ve been able to start reading for fun! I’ve never really read for a hobby. I guess Twilight has inspired me to read more! Tom has been working at HMC Architects for nineteen years. His company has been good to him. They are feeling the effects of the recession but holding on. Tom currently is on the board of directors. He is great at his job. He is a finance guy and can calculate any number in his head. He also is busy at church. He is the cubmaster and High Priest instructor. Tom enjoys playing baseball woodbat league. He is in the 25 and older division. He can keep up with all those youngin’s! He also loves to watch NFL games even though the Rams stink! He also likes to go to the movies with the boys and go four wheeling. We hope you are all well this season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love, the Cavanagh’s

My Garden

I'm so excited for spring! I have taken up a stronger interest in gardening. I've always loved the outcome of gardening, but not all the hard work. I feel like now more than ever, it's time to learn gardening. The economy is horrible, people are losing their jobs, and most of all our Prophet has asked us to! Besides all that, food just tastes so much better when grown in your own backyard. I had already planted five fruit trees two years ago when we put in the pool. Now I just bought five more. In a couple years, we'll have fruit coming out our ears! They're all pretty much semi-dwarf. So they won't be producing massive amounts. With all the winds and the summer heat, I'm surprised they produced anything. Last year we got about 20 lemons, 20 plums, and 10 peaches. I'm still waiting to get some oranges. They don't ever survive!


I planted beefsteak and cherry tomatoes, banana pepper, habanero pepper, sugar snap peas, zucchini, and eventually pumpkins next month.


We just paid a landscaper to come redo our sprinklers in the flower beds. Then he put in a cement border all around the flower beds. I tore out all the yellow flower ground cover that was taking over the planters. That was an enormous job! The roots were everywhere. It looks so much better now. I planted five fruit trees in the front to take advantage of our huge front yard. I also bought a lot of perennials. I'm hoping they survive and I won't have to keep buying annuals every year. I planted four hibiscus, three geranium, three lavender, petunias, begonias, pelosia, and marigolds. I've been wanting to plant begonias for a long time ever since Dad has been planting them in his yard. They're so pretty!


My marigolds pretty much died already. I assigned Payton the daily job of watering them. It looks like he wasn't too diligent. I also bought a package of mixed sunflower seeds and planted them all around the perimeter of the backyard. I'm hoping they survive. There's already 30 or more seedlings ready to grow!


This is our peach tree that blooms so pretty in the spring. Now we have two Eve's pride peach, two satsuma plum, Bing cherry, Bartlett pear, Washington navel orange, Valencia orange, Golden delicious apple, and eureka lemon. I guess I'll be needing one more cherry variety to pollinate with the Bing cherry. Some of these don't produce well in warmer climates. But I just couldn't resist the cherry. It's so yummy.

Chino Planes of Fame Museum

We went with the cubscouts to visit the chino air museum. We've lived in the area for 10 years and never gone there. They had a lot of historic planes from different wars. Most of them are in working condition. The boys really liked it.

Painted Canyon, Palm Dessert

Uncle Gene planned a family hike in March. It was at Painted Canyon. We had so much fun. The trail was very narrow and tall. Sometimes we had to climb ladders to get in and out of crevices. Uncle Scott, Gene, Brett, and kids went. We had a great time until the three monkeys kept wandering ahead. They wanted to keep a faster pace than a three year old. Some of us made it all the way to the top. There was a beautiful view. Afterwards, Uncle Gene took us to a cafe that made famous date shakes. Most everyone liked the chocolate. Sorry Uncle Gene! We still had fun!

This was the beginning of the trail. It started out nice and easy.

Sawyer, Brett, and Melinda. Sawyer didn't want to walk for too much of the hike.

Brandon forging ahead inbetween the narrow canyons.

Lacey, Carter, Payton, Austin, Brandon. They all made it to the top of the mountain. Uncle Scott kept up with them. They were too fast for the little ones.

Lakers Basketball team

This is Brandon's second year in Norco Basketball. He improved so much this year. Towards the middle of the season, he started playing point guard. He did pretty good. Unfortunately, their team only won 2 out of 10 games. It's all about having fun, right? The games were fun to watch. They went really quick and always a lot of action. His friend Nathan Cline was on the team too.

Monster Movie Night

Grandpa started a new tradition in our house called Monster Movie Night. What we do is tell mom and dad to leave, and then we spend the evening with Grandpa Cavanagh. He finds a really scary movie for us to watch. We eat lots of junk food, candy, and soda. We love it. We look forward to having monster movie night with Grandpa. He has found a lot of scary movies in the past year. Austin didn't like the black and white ones. Ok, it's hard to find scary movies that aren't rated R. Sometimes Grandpa falls asleep during the movie. Then he starts to snore really loud. Payton has to nudge him every once in a while to wake up. We love you Grandpa!

Riverwalk Park

We discovered a cool bike trail only two miles from our house. It follows the river and is connected to two parks. We drove to the bike trail and then rode our bikes the rest of the way. It was beautiful. I'm sad that we hadn't discovered it sooner. Eastvale has so many new parks popping up all the time. We had a really fun time just casually riding our bikes. Well, I had a casual ride. The boys continued to fight over who was in the lead.


Riverwalk bike trail leads into the park. Behind all the brush is the river.


The saucer swing was a big hit! We played on it forever.


Austin climbing the rock structures.


This is Payton on our second bike ride. He was so tired. We rode two miles to the park and two miles back. His little legs were giving out on him. It was really windy and the wind was blowing against us on the way home. Besides that, we were going uphill. This sounds like a story my parents would tell. Payton's chain also fell off two times. His brothers kept telling him he was too slow. I think it's amazing that he could go so far. He's only 6! Way to go Payton. You're my tough little boy.

We Love Babies!

We have an obsession with babies. We are surrounded by them everywhere we go. There are tons of babies at church. And we have a lot of little cousins being born every year. In the past year we just can't stand to be away from our favorite babies. So I decided to show our top eight choices(in no particular order)! The kids even told Tom and I that they wanted a baby sister. Wow! Don't girls have cooties? Well, we'll just have to enjoy the babies around us because I don't think the Cavanagh's will be having anymore babies!


Keilani-We were first mesmerized with you. We kept asking mom when we could go to your house and play with you. You are so adorable. We love to follow you around, and sing the Wiggles songs. You have us wrapped around your little pinky.


Lucas- Your smile melts our hearts. Everytime you smile it makes our hearts full. Maybe someday you'll let us hold you without crying.


Stone- Austin and you had a bond the instant you met. He couldn't believe how smart you were. You were speaking in complete sentences when you were a baby! We're glad you're in our family. Now we have something to look forward to at the family parties.

Our Favorite Babies (continued)

Ezzie Hunsaker- We loved seeing you at the family reunion. Your little sound effects were adorable. We tried to decipher the codes.


Sawyer Simpson- We love to follow you around the house. You run so fast! We enjoy watching Elmo with you and only you.


Shae Hunsaker- We cherished every moment we had with you in Chicago. You were so adorable and bald. Now that you have hair, we don't recognize you anymore. Uncle Mark had to regulate who was next in line to hold you. We had several fights about that! Too bad you didn't like being held.


Asher Hunsaker- We are so sad we haven't even met you yet. If you're anything like your brothers, we'll love you just as much! I guess we'll have to force ourselves to go to Hawaii to see you in person. Aloha.


Madison Sage- We're lucky enough to see you every week at church. We love you because you're such a roly poly. Austin adores you. He can't wait to see you each week. He was so sad when you cried while he was babysitting.

Harlem Globetrotters

We went to see the Harlem Globetrotters. They were playing at Ontario. We went as a group with Brandon's Basketball team. They were really funny. They kept doing all these amazing stunts and shots. Brandon appreciated it the most because he knows how hard it is.

Las Vegas

We went to Las Vegas for our vacation in February. Who would have thought that there would be rain storm after rain storm in the desert? It never rains in Vegas!


One of the days in Vegas, we got the all day pass to Gameworks. Yeah, all day to play video games. I opted out of that one. The boys loved it (including Tom). They used their pass until it was almost expired 11:30 p.m.


Despite all the rain, we were able to go four-wheeling three times. We found a great spot just north of Vegas called Nellis Dunes. There were a lot of trails and hills. My favorite part were the sand dunes. Payton didn't like them because his tires kept spinning. We don't have paddle tires. He couldn't get enough momentum to make it to the top of the hills.
Unfortunately there was a lot of mud that we tried to avoid. Brandon managed to get completely covered in mud in less than 30 seconds. Thank goodness it's sandy mud. It brushed off after it dried. Tom fell on his quad which wasn't too great because he just had knee surgery two weeks before! I just goes to show that women are better drivers! He just doesn't want to sit around. I took a picture of his purple shin and ankle. It looks ugly. He wouldn't let me put it on the blog.


New York, New York Hotel


I've never ridden on sand before. It was so smooth and pretty. No rocks or trees or bushes in the way. We were right next to Nellis Air Force Base. We could see all different kids of jets doing flight patterns.

Happy Birthday Austin

Happy Birthday Austin! My baby is 12 now! I can't believe he is getting so old. I still get to cherish one more year before he hits the teens. Next week he will be getting the priesthood. I am so proud of him. He is becoming more and more grown up. He's graduating from primary. He's definitely not sad about that!


We went to Disneyland on Austin's birthday. He has learned to spot out where the cameras are on the fast rides. He always does a funny pose when we whiz by. Sorry, tried not to get it so blurry.


Payton has a couple more inches before he can drive the cars by himself. For now, he's stuck with Dad. Why don't these cars go fast!!!


Tom and the boys on California Screamin' just before blast off. That's their favorite rollercoaster. Payton is tall enough to go on it. Now we don't have to stuff his shoes!


Before Disneyland, we had dinner at Chris n Pitts. Austin had a huge chocolate shake. He was busy texting all his friends while we were trying to have a meaningful conversation with him.

Tetherball

We got a tetherball set for christmas. Payton wants to play it every single day. We're all getting injured from playing. Brandon has bruises all up and down his arm and Payton jammed his thumb. This is a rough sport. Everytime I hit the ball, I feel stinging. Yes, I'm wimpy. I guess we could have upgraded to a nicer, cushy ball.
Originally, we put the pole in a cement bucket. After playing a couple games, we realized it wasn't very sturdy. So dad broke the cement and we re-cemented it into the ground. It's not going anywhere now. It will definitely boost our property value! Who wouldn't want a big steel pole in their front yard?

New Years Eve Party

We had our own little family party for new years eve. We had a Wii Resort Sports tournament. We picked seven events to compete. Then we kept scores for who was first, second, third, etc. As you can tell, mom was the loser of the competition. I don't get to practice as much? It was really fun seeing who was the best at which event. Payton smashed us all in fencing. Brandon was great at wakeboarding. And Austin was good at bowling. He developed some silly spin move that kept giving him strikes. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to how to play the game.


Here's the proof as to what the scores were. There's no going back!


We also took a break in the middle of the tournament to rest in the jacuzzi. We needed to relive some stress. There were a couple of hotheads who shall remain nameless. It's just a game, right?

Four Wheeling at El Mirage

Payton loves riding his quad. He always wants to go even if it's freezing cold. This trip was a little chilly. Us californians are wimps. It was about 55 degrees during the day and 25 at night. Payton doesn't care. He just rides whenever he gets a chance.

Austin likes going to El Mirage in Adelanto because there is a dry lake bed. It's super smooth and wide. He likes to race with Dad. He can go top speed on the lake bed. It makes mom nervous!

Christmas

Payton got more hot wheels, race cars, and a motorcycle.

Brandon got a huge lego set, video games, and a psp.


Austin got his one wish...a cell phone. I guess Dad's a softie because I didn't think he should get one. He's had it for over a week now and it's attached to his hip. He texts all day long. I gave him my old phone and I got a new one. How did I survive without a cell phone in my younger years??