2010: The Christmas of Champions





Living Large in Lima





Nathan (Missionary—Peru, Lima South)

Champion Preacher of the Plan of Salvation

Nathan excels at Preach My Gospel, deep doctrinal discussions, and killing the occasional ROUS. He misses pizza and his music, but he loves speaking Spanish, letters from home, and the people of Peru.

 







Double the One, Double the Fun

  Cameron (Senior—BHS, Class of 2011)Champion BHS Tennis Team Captain

 At work, Cameron is grateful for a “real” job with Herff Jones. At play, his social life is TOO active with Student Council, Friends, Women, Music, and Tennis (but certainly not in that order).




 

Our Bieber Babe Look Alike

Clayton (8th Grader—RMMS)

Champion RMMS Soccer Player, Division Winners

At school, Clayton likes Student Council, Ski Club, art and woodworking. At play, Clayton loves to camp: a week at Cedar Badge, another at Treasure Mountain, and one campout a month got him the 12 Month Camping Award.

 






Top in his Grade;  He's Got It Made





Austin (6th Grader—Fairview Elementary)

Champion Lego/First League Team Leader

At school, Austin shines at Accelerated Reading and Math, Lego club, and GATE. At play, Austin loves wakeboarding, tolerates piano lessons, and wishes to spend all his time with friends, GameBoy or his dad!

Greg and Cathy:  Parents of Champions!

We figure that pretty much says it all!

Happy Holidays

Mustang Sally Vid

Greetings from Peru

Nathan turns 20 this month!  And although we really miss him, we are so excited about all the wonderful opportunities he is getting in Peru.  His weekly emails are a lot of fun!  Here are some of his photos:

Thanksgiving Week Blizzard

When you can't go to school,

the next best thing is to build a snow cave in your front yard!



Fall Birthdays

Birthdays happen every fall in our house. 

We start off with Cameron, then Clayton, then Nathan. 

Watching these boys grow is the best/worst part of being a parent.

Since he turned 14 this year, Clayton was also ordained to be a Teacher.

Happy Birthday!

Gilligan comes to GATE

Every the GATE program does an independent research project that they call "Night at the Musuem."  Austin decided to research Bob Denver this year.  I guess that buying all three seasons of Gilligan's Island for Christmas last year really paid off!

Cheap Slave Labor

 One of our big projects this fall was fixing our back patio.  The retaining wall had started to lean, and the cement had severely sunk.  This has been a problem for a few years, but we were not brave enough to tackle it until a friend (with really big dirt loading equipment!!!!) offered to help.  We were very grateful.  So we dug up the whole thing and secured the retaining wall to the house foundation.  

We then built a small retaining wall and repacked the dirt.  It was a lot of work.  We all did a lot of shovelling.  

We began to do some terrace landscaping. We are going to try to finish up the project in the spring with a new deck and more landscaping work.

We also seized the opportunity to do some work on our driveway.  We heard lots of wisecracks about slave labor from the boys, but they were awesome workers!  We really appreciated all of their help.

Labor Day Weekend Exploits

On Saturday, we went to Lava Hot Springs. 

The boys really enjoyed the big tube slides!

On Monday, we hiked to (the famous if you know Nathan's album) Aldous Lake to do a little fishing.  It was a beautiful day. 

We were excited to see that the raft was still there.  This is the raft that Nathan's and Cameron's priests quorum had made on a camping trip there the year before.

The other amazing phenomenon were the frogs that were everywhere.  It was like the ground was literally moving at times.  They were little, black, slimy things.



Island Park 2010

Hours of Fun in the Sun! 

Who could ask for anything more?

Shangri-La

Want to listen to one of Nathan's songs from his album? 

Just click on play and ENJOY!

Christmas 2009 Greetings

December 2009 Calendar

Dec. 4: Clayton's Scout Campout
Dec. 5: Christmas Tree Search Party
Dec. 12: Austin's Lego Robotics Competition at Rimrock Elementary
Dec. 12: Ward Christmas Party--A Night at Bethlehem
Dec. 13: Ward Choir Christmas Sacrament Meeting
Dec. 16: Last Day of Classes for BYU-I
Dec. 17: Nathan Gets Upper Wisdom Teeth Out
Dec. 17: Austin's Christmas Program--5:30 @ Performing Arts Center
Dec. 20: Housley Family Gingerbread Houses
Dec. 21: Christmas Piano Recital--6:30 @ Piano Gallery
Dec. 22: Random Sam Plays @ Christmas Show
Dec. 22: Ward Choir Christmas Sing-a-long
Dec. 23: Christmas Vacation Begins
Dec. 25: CHRISTMAS
Dec. 27: Hendricks Family Dinner

Now That's a Mouthfull!

This was just our week for oral surgery, I guess.  Nathan's wisdom teeth removal turned out to be anything but routine.  He has been really hurting these past few days.  Then two days later, Clayton had a cyst removed from his gums.  It was another day of no fun for the Housley's!!!!

After the surgery, Clayton was a little loopy from the general anesthesia.  On the drive home, he quietly asked us if they had even given him a sucker.  When we said no, he seemed disgusted.  "Well that's cheap," was his response.  He and Nathan seem to be having their long winter's naps because these pain pills wipe them out.  They both sleep 12-14 hours a day.

The day after the surgery Clayton's face began to swell up.  His eye was almost completely swollen shut by Sunday morning.  And it looks like he is going to end up with two black eyes.

Peru, Lima South

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Nathan received his mission call to the Peru Lima South mission!!! It was a surreal moment listening to him announce where he was going to spend the next two years of his life. I think we all felt a little stunned at first, but we are also very excited.

Poor Nathan had his lower wisdom teeth removed the night before. Check out his swollen (but still cute) cheeks. The teeth were severely impacted and angled, so the procedure turned out to be really intense. That night--and the rest of the week for that matter--Nathan was in a lot of pain. He was on some really heavy pain killers!!!

He invited family, roommates, and friends over to watch him open the call. The envelope was delivered around 9:30 that morning, but he waited until nearly 9:00 that night to open it. 

Nathan enters the Provo MTC on April 7th
and stays for two weeks. Then he flies to the Peru MTC
to study for another six weeks. 
Nathan had hoped all along to speak a foreign language.

 

 We are so proud of Elder Nathan Louis Housley!

Night of the Notables

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For his GATE class, Austin had to present his research on a famous figure from  history.  Austin chose Chiron, a centaur from Greek mythology, because he loves the Percy Jackson series.

That night all the GATE students set up their exhibits with posters they have made, dress up as the character, and display objects that help explain their research. As people come by, they answer questions.

Austin did a great job on his presentation.  Apparently Chiron was the ultimate "Party Animal." Austin informed us that in addition to being half-horse, half-man, Chiron was a philosopher/teacher, invented medicine, a great hunter, and an over-indulgent drinker.  There's nobody cuter than our Austin, though.

Our Future Missionary

Nathan submitted his missionary papers last week, so we are now waiting for the call! 

It is a very exciting time. 

November's Calendar

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Nov. 7: Sadie Hawkins
Nov. 10: YW Night of Excellence
Nov. 12-14: Cameron's BHS StuCo trip to Boise
Nov. 12: Parent Teacher Conferences
Nov. 13: Clayton's Scout Campout
Nov. 15: CLAYTON'S BIRTHDAY
Nov. 18: Nathan's Wisdom Teeth Come Out
Nov. 19: Austin's GATE "Night of the Notables"
Nov. 19: Nathan's Mission Call Comes
Nov. 20: Clayton's Oral Surgery
Nov. 25-29: Thanksgiving Vacation
Nov. 26: Housley Thanksgiving Dinner
Nov. 28: Hendricks Thanksgiving Dinner
Nov. 30: NATHAN'S BIRTHDAY

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Halloween 2009

After suffering (or should we say suffocating) through the ward party, Austin decided he would much rather be Indiana Jones for Halloween night.

The boys enjoyed trunk or treating at Fairview, and they still found enough energy to make the rounds throughout the neighborhoods.  Candy is the ultimate motivator.