Geocaching

On Monday night for FHE, we created our new travel bugs. Noah's bug and Jonah's bug will be racing to Long Island, New York and back. Our third bug will be headed to Staffordshire England. I'll post again when we release them and the official race begins. Here are some pictures as well as the links:

Noah's Bug

Jonah's Bug

Tams Bug


Click here for a link to our family cache.

Temple Square

Believe it or not, we've never taken our kids to see the lights on Temple Square. So, last night for Family Home Evening, we made a quick stop at the Candy Cane Corner (associated with The Road Home -- which is a great charitable cause). Then we headed over to Temple Square for dinner and lights. It was a fun, but cold evening. For Jonah, the highlight of the night was watching the films in the basement of the north visitors center. He hadn't realized all the many things that the church does for humanitarian needs. I loved the film about the man fixing a bicycle to sell. Jonah watch the clip about the Bishop's Storehouse and Cannery multiple times. He was full of questions. We had to pull him out of a different film on the Welfare Program.

Hickman Family Christmas Letter 2007

Dear friends and family,

We just wanted to write and wish you a Merry Christmas! We've had a busy and interesting year.

Isaac:
Isaac, 21 months, is now walking, climbing, dancing and emptying every cupboard, drawer or shelf that he can reach. He does a great imitation of a tiger and will eat anything that is left on the floor. He loves to watch Trent mow the lawn and he follows his brothers all around the house. He loves to play chase with Jonah. Isaac has finally learned to safely scale the stairs, so we've finally removed the food-storage-wheat-bucket barrier. Isaac loves the peppermint taste of dental floss. He'll steal the floss and pull out yards and yards and drag it around the house. Isaac says, "Mom" over and over and over again, even when he already has my attention. He sounds just like the flocks of seagulls in "Finding Nemo" repeating, "mine"! It's worse when Noah and Jonah are also trying to get my attention.

Jonah:
Jonah, turning 10 years old on February 5, is a 4th grader. He loves soccer and made his first big goal this year. He's fast on the field and has really caught the spirit of soccer. He plays soccer at recess everyday, rain or snow. He continues to play the violin. This year, he is in the advanced orchestra. This has been challenging because it was a large leap in difficulty. But he practiced hard and is doing well. Jonah has a lot of friends. He makes friends easily and is always kind to others. Jonah loves to make movies and take pictures with the camera he got for Christmas. You can see some of his stuff on our family blog.

Noah:
Noah is 11 1/2 years old. He is a 6th grader. Noah started playing the guitar this year. He's learned several basic chords. He played Called To Serve for his primary group one Sunday. His Christmas wish is for an electric guitar. He usually disappears while we're shopping in Costco, but can be found playing Seven Nation Army on the model electric guitar there. Noah played tackle football this fall. It was a lot of hard work, but Noah got to be pretty good. Noah enjoyed camping with the scouts several times. He also continued his accelerated school program. He's had a lot of fun as a cashier at the school store. Noah is a great kid.

Our family went to Yellowstone in July. We got to see a bear and a whole herd of buffalo. Trent also traveled to Puebla, Mexico last spring for a work conference. He was awarded tenure by BYU in May. We both spoke at BYU's Women's Conference this year. Trent's talk will be included in the selected talks from Women's Conference, published by Deseret Book. We both continue to be involved with church, orchestra, school and community responsibilities, though we are trying to cut back a little in order be home with our family more.

We hope you are all well. We send our love and wishes for all the best.

Merry Christmas!
Trent, Wendy, Noah, Jonah and Isaac Hickman

Christmas Tree

On Monday night, we made our annual trip to Baum's in Provo to buy our Christmas tree. It's a beautiful 9-foot tree that smells wonderful! All of the ornaments (except a few that are on the upper half) are plastic. Isaac has been pretty good about not touching them (so far). He instead is fascinated by the flashing lights of the "psychedelic" snowman. Everyone, myself included, loves turning off all the lights in the house except the Christmas tree lights. Now we just need to get some presents under that tree . . .

Cornbelly's

We spent a fun Tuesday afternoon at Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. It was a delayed FHE activity. We had a great time in the corn maze, haunted "beast," trampolines and cow ride (Jonah & Isaac below). Isaac walked at least half

of the maze by himself. Isaac especially enjoyed the slides and trampolines.

One Pumpkin - One Pizza

Trent renamed our extended family Halloween party this year to One Pumpkin - One Pizza (since we really don't watch two movies anymore). We may resurrect the One Funny - One Scary as the boys get older. Anyway, these are pictures from our visit to the Big Red Barn. We're on the hayride enroute to pick out pumpkins prior to the party. Notice that Noah's braces are gone. He has to wear two retainers 24/7 for the next 6 months. Afterwards, he only has to wear them at night.

Remembering September 11, 2001

This morning, I found these pictures that we took of the World Trade Center buildings. We lived in New York from 1996 until 2000. We had only been gone a year when the September 11 attacks occured. We knew several friends that should have been in the buildings that day, but for various reasons weren't there. I'm sure the boys don't remember these trips into New York City, but I'm glad we have these pictures to show that they had been to the WTC once. [Pictures: Top - 6/12/98, Second - Wendy, Noah & Jonah @ The Statue of Liberty on 11/16/98, Bottom - Wendy & Noah on 6/12/98]

American Fork Canyon

We took a pizza-picnic up American Fork Canyon on Monday (Labor Day) for FHE. We ate next to the stream and the boys played in the very cold water. Isaac let me dip his feet into the stream. He thought it was fun once -- and then never wanted to go back to the water again.

Bingham Copper Mine (AKA Kennecott)

During July, we took a FHE trip to the Bingham Copper Mine. Jonah was the photographer and I've just found these pictures. Sanford & Erastus Bingham are Trent's ancestors.