2015 in Review....
It's hard to believe it's the end of another year! Here are some highlights from 2015 through the eyes of each member of our family....
Coleman (4 years old): I liked when we went to the beach in Florida with the McMurrays and Harmers (Just after Christmas last year).
I had fun when Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us. We ate muffins with them.
I liked when we went to Atlanta to watch fireworks with our Haymore cousins. We sat real close to them and there were lots and they were awesome.
Then we also got to shoot fireworks off when the Simpsons came and visited also. This year I also started preschool and I love it because we get to play on the playground and I like Miss Shannon my teacher.
Kimball (5 years old):One of the fun things I did was go to the zoo with my dad and with Coleman. We saw two cougars and I petted a kangaroo. And we saw the new baby kangaroos called Joeys. Then we went to watch the donuts be made at Krispy Kreme. They were yummy.
- In July our family took a trip to Indianapolis and we got to see the new Indianapolis Temple. On the way we got to go zip-lining. We also got to see this huge cave and we got to hear the trains go by on top of the cave. It was so cool!
Jason:
It's mostly been said above. Having a few days with Heather for our anniversary was a nice break from the usual routine of life.
There were a few home improvement projects, and a few projects that we feel improved the home:
A few roadtrips to provide my BYU football fix
A few family adventures...like kissing the bricks or climbing 400-some stairs for a view of the city
to visiting the Discovery Park of America
and scaring everyone else away from the playground
2015 also brought a number of culinary firsts, like the first homemade pineapple strawberry shortcake:
as was the beef tongue and foie gras. Hangar steak, though...wow. Sign me up again.
All in all 2015 was a good year. We've had trials and occasional drama to deal with (after all, we do have 2 middle school aged daughters and the third is already acting the part!), but the kids are healthy and happy and our needs are met. We are definitely blessed. We are managing to balance family and church and the practice and school and sports and life pretty well, and the good Lord is always there to help us in the times we need help most.
By this time next year I'll probably be a little more bald, BYU may have lost to Utah again (alas), and the kids will be doing even more homework that their parents struggle to know enough to help them with. But that's part of life, so we embrace it! We hope that anyone still reading this (if you made it this far) also recognizes the hand of the Lord in blessing your life. And we hope you have a great 2016!
Coleman (4 years old): I liked when we went to the beach in Florida with the McMurrays and Harmers (Just after Christmas last year).
I had fun when Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us. We ate muffins with them.
I liked when we went to Atlanta to watch fireworks with our Haymore cousins. We sat real close to them and there were lots and they were awesome.
Then we also got to shoot fireworks off when the Simpsons came and visited also. This year I also started preschool and I love it because we get to play on the playground and I like Miss Shannon my teacher.
Kimball (5 years old):One of the fun things I did was go to the zoo with my dad and with Coleman. We saw two cougars and I petted a kangaroo. And we saw the new baby kangaroos called Joeys. Then we went to watch the donuts be made at Krispy Kreme. They were yummy.
I liked when we went to the Indianapolis Temple because we
got to go inside of it and we got to be with my cousins. We also got to go on
the racecar track (the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and see a lot of racecars
and see the trophies and see the race track from the big building (the press
tower).
One thing I like to do is to play with Coleman. We play
ninja turtles and legos and cars and Star Wars and more ninja turtles and on
the trampoline when it’s wet. And we went sledding in our front yard and down
the hill with trash bag sleds (last March) when it snowed and iced. It was
awesome!
This year I started kindergarten and I like it because it’s
fun and I’m learning to read Ninjago books and my Book of Mormon.
I’m excited
to go and visit grandma and grandpa at their house in Utah for Christmas for my
first time.
Meagan (8 years old):Hi everybody. I’m going to tell you about some of my year. The
most important part of my year was when I was baptized after my birthday in
January. I became a member of the church and it was special because my dad
baptized me.
This summer we went zip-lining with my family. It was so
much fun until it was my turn and then I got pretty scared. But when I actually
started going I wasn’t so scared anymore.
Another time I enjoyed was when I went to a football game
with my dad and my sisters. It was the BYU vs Missouri game. I was disappointed
because BYU lost and they should have won. On the way back from the game in the
car I got bored and made up an imaginary llama. It was so much fun and Halle started
laughing, but then Madi and dad started getting annoyed and my dad said
something like “I’ll run your llama over if you’re not quiet”…yep, it’s true,
no joke, he actually said that.
Sincerely,
Meagan Pollei (and also my beloved llama)
Halle (11 years old):These are some highlights of my year:
-In January we went to see the Blue Man Group at TPAC. The
best part of it was either when they shot streamers into the crowd along with
huge inflated balls that people knocked around, or when they listed like 50
possible names for your backside: “medicine ball”, “twin brown bears”, “toaster
waffles”, “Minneapolis and St. Paul”, and “the place where burritos go” were my
favorites.
- In July our family took a trip to Indianapolis and we got to see the new Indianapolis Temple. On the way we got to go zip-lining. We also got to see this huge cave and we got to hear the trains go by on top of the cave. It was so cool!
(And a video if we can get it to embed)...
-In August I started middle school. I like my teachers and
science is my favorite class. I've also had choir, ag and art, and I do an art club
after school.
-In November dad took us on a surprise trip to the BYU vs
Missouri game in Kansas City. He picked us all up from school without us
knowing anything about it. When we finally found out where we were going, we
were so excited! On the way there we got to see the St. Louis Arch; it was so
cool at nighttime. When we got to the game we were so excited to be there. We
were THE first people in the
stadium. When BYU lost we were frustrated and I hoped BYU would actually win
their next game.
-On Thanksgiving my dad and I ran a Turkey Trot 5K. I ran it
in 27:06.
Madelin (13 years old):This year has been very interesting and chaotic (to put it
mildly.) To start off, I participated in
a lot of extracurricular activities such as soccer, piano, competition choir, and
BETA club. I also got accepted and
attended Tennessee Tech University’s girls’ summer engineering camp. The beginning of my 8th grade
school year brought everything from juggling 3 Pre-AP classes, crazy lunch
table members ,
and far too many 5 paragraph essays for my liking.
A few interesting highlights of my year were:
·
Going to our church girl’s camp and running into
a very large, very furry wolf at night
·
Learning far too many names for your butt
(courtesy of the Blue Man Group)
·
Making an award winning- polka dotted trebuchet
at TTU’s Engineering Camp
·
Re-entering our school’s competition choir and also
getting into a state honor choir
·
Learning Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata on the
piano
·
Officially becoming a Grammar Nazi
·
Starting on my last value project for Personal
Progress
·
Zip lining over a huge cave mouth (and not dying
or falling a very long ways to my death!)
·
And last
but not least, eating turkey guts passed off as gravy.
Have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
Heather: Highlights of 2015….
-Meagan being baptized
-Meeting up with our friends the Blacks for dinner. We haven't seen them since we moved from Charlotte!
-A visit to San Francisco with Jason and a few of the ladies that work in his office for an orthodontic meeting. Jason and I went to the Oakland LDS temple for the first time. It was beautiful. I was able to visit with my cousins, Brenda Hutchinson and Norman Tuck, who I hadn't seen in years. My BYU freshman roommate, Amanda Waite, came to the city to meet up for brunch and some shopping. I hadn't seen her in years either! Thank you to Mom and Dad Pollei for watching the kids while we were gone.
-Going with Halle on her 5th grade trip to Land Between the Lakes (in Kentucky)
-A surprise trip with Jason.
My niece Emily (with the help of my niece Caroline) watched the kids for
several days while Jason and I celebrated our 15th wedding
anniversary!
-Visiting with Jason’s Haymore family in Atlanta over the 4th
of July.
-Having our friends from Chapel Hill (the Simpsons and the Tuckers) each stop
by our house on their way home from a road trip.
-Attending the Indianapolis, Indiana LDS temple open house
with my Brother Sean and his family.
-Kimball beginning to read on his own!
-Going on our first official camping trip (2 nights away
from home) with our friends, the Bobos.
-Spending Thanksgiving with friends here in Tennessee. My friend Leah grilled the turkey and it was the
best turkey I’ve ever had! J
Jason:
It's mostly been said above. Having a few days with Heather for our anniversary was a nice break from the usual routine of life.
It was fun to spend time with the girls and the boys with separate adventures this year
There were a few home improvement projects, and a few projects that we feel improved the home:
A few roadtrips to provide my BYU football fix
A few family adventures...like kissing the bricks or climbing 400-some stairs for a view of the city
or enjoying way too many snow days back in March.
2015 also brought a number of culinary firsts, like the first homemade pineapple strawberry shortcake:
to my first burger that used donuts for the bun (good, but a bit too sweet)
the conch fritters and escargot we tried on our trip were probably one-and-dones
All in all 2015 was a good year. We've had trials and occasional drama to deal with (after all, we do have 2 middle school aged daughters and the third is already acting the part!), but the kids are healthy and happy and our needs are met. We are definitely blessed. We are managing to balance family and church and the practice and school and sports and life pretty well, and the good Lord is always there to help us in the times we need help most.
By this time next year I'll probably be a little more bald, BYU may have lost to Utah again (alas), and the kids will be doing even more homework that their parents struggle to know enough to help them with. But that's part of life, so we embrace it! We hope that anyone still reading this (if you made it this far) also recognizes the hand of the Lord in blessing your life. And we hope you have a great 2016!
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