"The Captain" and "Queen Bee"

You may have noticed from the photos that we didn't add a baby this year--hopefully that will all change by next Christmas.;) It's still been a busy year, however, with three very active toddlers (two of them are "red-heads" and the other "acts like one", according to Heart) and with more traveling for The Captain than ever before.:(
The Captain was promoted to a Director level at the bank last year and leads a 4 person team of analysts, writes research on the CMBS market and has been all over the US (and the world--Europe and Asia this past year) where he meets with clients and presents his research and market views. He may be heading to the Middle East (Dubai) this year. How has this affected Queen Bee, you might be asking? It's given her greater motivation to start saving pennies so we can do something else in the future! The Captain is still serving as 1st counselor to the bishop and even sings in the ward choir (along with Heart and River). He sang in a beautiful quartet in church on Christmas Eve.
Queen Bee finds more meaning daily to the principle of "whosoever will save his (or her) life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his (or her) life for my sake shall find it." (Matt. 16:25) What an amazing, true principle taught us by Lord. It takes great courage at times to live by, but I have found I am more "fulfilled" when I exercise my faith enough to lose "me". Life is one great balancing act, though, and without a little time daily for personal scripture study, prayer and pondering/journaling things never go as well. You'll get a pretty good clue as to what Queen Bee's up to as you read about the children! Her biggest source of support over the past couple of years has been through the Above Rubies (magazine). Please check out the website at www.aboverubies.org

The Family

All of us :-)

Heart

Heart, age 15!
She wakes up daily at 5 a.m. to attend a Seminary Class where high school youth from our church study the scriptures together for about an hour. She has a very full academic schedule this year, taking classes in Latin, English, Spanish, and Design two days a week (but w/ homework given for the entire week--just like a university.) At home she works daily on Geometry, History and Biology. Add to all of that piano and voice lessons, and you have a girl with very little extra time! But when she IS available she is still a VERY popular baby-sitter. Some parents have told us they will just wait for her to be available rather than get someone else.
She is the best sister EVER..., She had a very busy summer and LOVED it! It started in May when she went to a home-school conference at the Buena Vista College with River, Smiley, and Mom. In June it was off to Utah for our church girls camp with her cousins Amanda and Karli E. While still in Utah she and River began a "Wild Western Adventure Super Trip" with their distance learning school (Liahona), which included a full week of things like white water river rafting, Yellow Stone Park, and rodeos. They even squeezed in a cousins wedding--all in less than a month! Shortly after returning to the east she went to the beach (Charleston, SC) for a week with the entire Butler side of the family (39 people). The week after that she went camping for Youth Conference in the pouring rain! Then the week after that went to Especially For Youth with her cousin Karli at the Buena Vista college and had the best time ever! (She had her birthday there on the 28th of July) The last week of August she took a drivers ed. class which she loved and made new friends that she still keeps in touch with! Then she went to the mountains for a weekend with her best friend Mariah's family and Gillian. Then FINALLY after once failing the test....she got her driver's permit! (3 months late due to full classes for home-schooling youth here...Dad wasn't happy about that....and you think she would be the one unhappy:-) Well Heart is usually happy all of the time! Some of her friends thinks she's "too happy"...and they make jokes about how she is "blonde" (yes the whole extended Butler family knows about that......how in the world did she get the "Blonde Of The Week" award!?!?!? haha) She likes to make new friends all of the time...You could say she is outgoing! She loves going to church dance dances (about once a month)!

River

River, age 13!
River has been inspired this year by the author of the "Eragon" book series, Christopher Paolini. He checked out a huge stack of books recently on how to get a book published and on how to write novels. He is taking four classes two days a week: 9th gr. English, Algebra I, Performing Arts and Art. At home he is taking History and Biology through Liahona Distance Education. He is a great student, impressing his teachers with his "brain power". He continues to be an excellent piano student (you should hear him play the "Pirates of the Carribean" theme song!) and has begun voice lessons this school year. (We think his voice finally changed about a month ago!)
He is the man of the house when dad leaves on work trips. Mom has him check outside when the dog is barking for long periods of time, and also has him come out with her to put the trash in the garbage when its dark outside. He has been growing alot lately, and everytime he and Heart are talking face to face he says "you look shorter". He is the Deacon's Quorum President of a large group of boys. He is a great kid.
P.S. ( He's really cool too ) ;-)

Star

Star, 11 in one month!
She is an amazing and responsible daughter. She had a leading role as "The Narrator" in her school's Christmas play which required the memorizing of many lines. She is also taking four classes two days a week: Language Arts, Spanish II, Drama and Art. At home she works on Math and additional reading. She does most of the laundry in the house and even cleans most of the rooms (including Heart's, which is usually the winner at having her stuff spread out all over her big room!) She can make you laugh with her wiled moves and acting charisma! She is going to be a good mommy someday. But she is also the tripple threat...with her dancing, singing, and acting talents!

Rose

Rose, age 9!
She is usually quiet in public but with Star she can get pretty loud! She is very smart and loves to read. Right now she is working on finishing all 13 books of "The Series Of Unfortunite Events!" She likes to dance to all music but especially to the Nutcracker music. She has a fun laugh. Is taking Spanish, Drama, Science, and Language Arts.

The Animals

-Rosie is our small great grandmother cat and she loves to sleep on Angela and Julianna's bed at night.
-Emily is Rosie's daughter, but they don't get along so well. She is white and grey. She used to sleep with Brooks, but Kristine stole her and took her to her room, and since then she sleeps there. Kristine tried to get Rosie to sleep in her room but for some reason she wouldn't!!
-Then we have our cute dog Lexi! She LOVES to chew up anything she can get her mouth on! She's very lovable! She likes to chase runners as the pass by (thank goodness for electric fences!). Sometimes the UPS truck races her as they pass by our yard...they usually win...but if it wasn't for the big bush in our yard I think she would win!

Jewel

Jewel, age 7!
She is our little sweetheart. Is sensitive and shy like her mother was when she was little. Helps the three little one's when no else will. Had a fun Halloween birthday party with her friends. She took art, music, reading, and math. She is a really good dancer, so you could say she has the "Butler dancing genes."

Arrow

r, Arrow turns 5 in one month!
He's our little rough and tumble boy! Loves to beat up on River. Always wants to go outside with Butterfly and Smiley, but unfortunatley none of the older kids want to go out and watch them. He has become a very well behaved little gentleman at church and is always telling his primary teachers he is in a house full of girls and that even our animals are girls. He takes after Heart with his spunky and "want to be in charge" attitude. The Captain and Queen Bee remind Heart of that everytime she gets annoyed with him! But he is a sweet boy.

Butterfly

Butterfly, 3 in two months!
Our little cutie pie! She runs around most of the day in her pajamas with a curly mess of red hair. She loves to play with her brothers Arrow and Smiley even if they are a little rough with her every once and a while. She is a good hugger and has a very cute smile! She loves Barney and Dora and her favorite book right now is "My Truck Is Stuck."