February 2012 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Girls

January was crazy! I thought that we skipped the horrible weather curse that seems to follow us since this was our 2nd winter here, however, for a week straight we had snow, snow, and more snow!  The girls enjoyed it, complete with backyard snow angels, but by the time we were done we were ready for our regular schedule of school to come back ( I didn’t realize how much we all enjoy school, until it was taken away.) I thought we would never see our grass again. 

Levi had a business trip to Utah, thankfully before the snow. Things went well except for my being too tired to handle my kids all by myself, the girls were good, but I was exhausted. He’s enjoying being involved with scouts and is in the midst of planning this year’s Blue and Gold

. 

Emma is enjoying school and church, she learned 12 out of 13 Articles of Faith last year, we’re finishing number 13, very proud of how hard she worked.  Especially since she can’t read and has still memorized them.

Charlotte is officially a “sunbeep”, which she sings all the time. Every Sunday she wants to go to the podium and sing like the other kids do, we have a long wait until Mother’s Day

Our ward building which was burnt down in October of 2010 is officially reopened for “business”, its great to have a new building and we’re so happy to have a closer building and to have church with Sacrament Meeting  first again.

I had to take the dreaded glucose test, ugh, however I was blessed with good numbers and I didn’t have to take the extended version which has been my friend in the two previous pregnancies. This third daughter likes to party all night long, kicking so hard that I can’t sleep, so grateful she’s doing well, but she’s better get that all out now, because when she gets here, I’ll make sure she has her days and nights correct!  

That’s us for now, see y’all in March!

Love,

Emma, Charlotte, Levi, Torrie & Baby

This  Picture doesn't do it justice, we ended up with about a foot over the course of a few days, which is a lot for the Pacific Northwest!

The first night, snow was a novelty and we weren't sure how long it would last.

December 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

By November us Haupts are in full celebration mode. We’ve spent the month talking about next year’s Halloween costumes (we might need this much time, we cut it close last time, and Emma was not happy we didn’t all match) as well as things we’re grateful for. Our list includes being grateful for the baby, and our house, Emma’s school, and daddy’s job among others. Emma has gotten the kindergarten version of Thanksgiving courtesy of school. But before our feast of thanks, a few other fun moments took place. 

I turned 29, on the 20^th and that is the last time I’ll list that, so you’re just gonna have to do the math from now on. The girls and Levi treated me to an ice cream, brownie, and grandma word’s chocolate sauce sundae, yum my fave! By this point I am a LITTLE sick of cake, so that was just fine with me!

The best present was seeing our 3^rd girl on an ultrasound later that week. Yep, you read right, three girls I know Levi looks up to my dad; I just didn’t think he’d take it so literally. The biggest blessing is the fact that everything looked normal and on time and the girls are very excited. She’ll make her debut in early April, due date is the 8^th but I am sure I’ll have my 3^rd c-section before that.

This Thanksgiving is Levi and my 9^th Thanksgiving together, and I have gotten off pretty easy. We have usually been with family or if we weren’t lucky enough for that we’ve had friends to help us out. This is the second year that I’ve had to bake for us and the first time I’ve had to do an entire turkey. The first time I baked was a couple of years ago and I just did a turkey breast since it was only Levi and myself eating. This year we invited the missionaries serving in our ward and Levi’s brother, Adam, up from Portland. The meal turned out great and the girls loved our visitors. I am not nearly as scared anymore but I still prefer to be with more family.    

    

We’ve extremely grateful for the spirit of the season, this time of year that we get to focus even more closely on our blessings, especially that of the birth of our Savior. We hope you enjoy yourselves this season and we look forward to fun Christmas stories!

Until the new year!

Love,

The Haupts

making mom's birthday brownies!

Monkey bread with Uncle Adam on Thanksgiving 

November 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

By October we are in full celebration mode. Charlotte had her birthday in September, we have Levi’s birthday in October, then Halloween, then my birthday in November, then Thanksgiving, then onto Christmas. This year was a big Birthday for Levi, the big 3-0. We took advantage of BYU’s independence and enjoyed an incredible game in Corvallis, OR against the Oregon State Beavers.  Many Beaver fans remarked that, it was the fullest that the visitors’ section has ever been. At one point I couldn’t hear the rest of the stadium over the cheers of the Cougar fans, we had so much fun! 

Levi’s actual birthday was Monday the 17^th but the big surprise was the following Monday when I called in some friends to help me throw a surprise party. We had a lot of fun and hope that it was a good way to start his 30s.

Halloween is a big deal in our house, this year was no different. We had a ward party which was great and then since we were all getting sick, we trick-or-treated indoors at the local mall, which was a little nuts, I don’t think I’ll do that again. We’re already getting ideas from the think-tank about the costumes for next year! 

We get to find out what this 3^rd little rugrat is next month so you’ll all have to wait until then.

We hope you’re enjoying this season as much as we are!

Until December!

Love,

Levi, Torrie, Emma, Charlotte, and Baby 

Such a FUN game!!! Cougs- 38, Beavers- 28 

Humoring some fans, thanks Cosmo! 

A present for Daddy made with some help from Nana, "hand" flowers 

"30 is the sweetest thing" the theme for the birthday partay! 

Carving pumpkins is yucky but fun! 

Getting ready for lots of treasure at the ward Halloween party, "Rrrrrr"

October 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

September was a BIG month in our family. Emma started Kindergarten and still loves it. She also lost her two bottom front teeth, one in church no less, That is a sacrament meeting to remember. Charlotte is adjusting to being an only kid in the mornings. Charlotte also turned 3 and will be a sunbeam come January. Levi and I have both been very busy with our respective Church callings. The weather has finally turned cooler which is a welcome relief after August. We also decided to admit to ourselves that my being sick wasn’t ordinary, we’re expecting a third child due beginning of April!  That road has been a little bumpy, we had a scare the night of the Relief Society General Meeting, but overall an experience we’ve wanted for a while. The girls are way excited, Charlotte keeps looking at me like I am a time-bomb ready to detonate. She asks to see the ultrasound pictures often. We hope the rest of you are enjoying yourselves. We’ll keep you updated!

Until next month.

Love,

Levi, Emma, Charlotte, Torrie & baby #3 

a very very excited Kindergartner!  aka Emma 

Baby # 3

September 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

August was fun, hot busy and did I mention HOT?!? Holy cannoli what happened to it being the pacific northwest and cold and rainy forever and ever, so NOT the case. We’re such rookies at this home-ownership thing, our brown lawn can attest in court to near neglect.  To be fair we’ve been very busy, our summer-long houseguests left and the next week we were headed to McCall ID for a Cornilles ( Levi’s mother’s side) family reunion. It was a fun FILLED three days. 

As soon as we got home from that my mom and Arianna showed up. We had a great week before Arianna and Levi left for Utah, Arianna to return to school and Levi to attend to some business. 

We are very excited for September because a certain daughter will be 3 and I will finally be able to make good on the promise of a “berfday” party. We also have school starting for Emma who is mad that she can’t go the full day. I’m sure we’ll have more exciting news next month.

Until then

With love,

Charlotte “the berfday girl”, Emma “the Kindergartener” Levi, & Torrie  

August 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

July has been a fun month here in the Haupt household. It started off with us fully enjoying the Fourth of July weekend. Since Levi’s Brother Reuben and his wife Chantile are still with us, we’ve been geocaching like crazy, the fourth was no different. We rode a ferry across the Sound to Kingston and enjoyed a Farmers market, a hometown parade complete with a zillion princesses that Charlotte had to wave at, and more geocaching. When we arrived back on our side of the water we visited some tide pools with Levi that the girls and I had previously frequented. We had a fantastic long day.

Since moving up here Levi has known that he would most likely be involved in cycling the STP aka Seattle to Portland bicycle ride. His dad has been doing it for the past 10 years, he’s a seasoned pro and this time he was able to have 2 of his sons complete it. Its usually a weekend event, however Dave and a bunch of his friends from their ward ride the 200+ miles in one day in order to still be able to be at church the next day. Its quite the accomplishment and I know Levi is grateful he did it and that its over, until next year.

After the STP we left the girls in Portland to enjoy Levi’s parents, Levi left for a week -long meeting in Utah and Reuben, Chantile and I returned to Mukilteo to continue our conquest of the endless painting jobs we’d given ourselves. My kitchen is well on its way to looking wonderful, I hope to post before and after pics next month.

We also got to enjoy the rare opportunity of a midnight premiere since we were sans children. Levi returned from Utah just in tiem for the four of us to gather on early Friday morning to watch the final Harry Potter installment. What a wonderful end to an era. For those of you who haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for?!   

The girls continue to enjoy the outdoors, our backyard especially, and we even spent the last Friday of the month on our very first Family camp-out, complete with tent and sleeping bags, it was so much fun. It brought back wonderful memories as we made our own.

We should have a lot of fun pics next month and more adventures to post about. We love you all and hope you enjoy August!

With love,

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie & Levi

Kingston Ferry

watching the parade  (I have a similar pic of emma exactly 3 years ago)

tromping in boots around the tide pools

start of STP, 4am-ish and proudly sporting our "Haupt Cycling" pride!

halfway stop for lunch

very proud of Daddy at the finish line!

Miss Fix-it!

First Family camp-out

July 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

We have re-surfaced; It feels like we haven’t stopped since moving back to the West coast. We are officially in our first home.  We closed on May 19^th, over Memorial weekend we went down to see Levi’s youngest brother, Jordan, off on his mission to Minneapolis. We headed back that Tuesday and were officially moved in by the first of June. It’s a wonderful home in a nice neighborhood. We have been busy painting and have greatly enjoyed the help of Reuben, another brother of Levi and his wife Chantile. They have been staying with us for a while now and will be with us through part of August. They have gotten us "hooked" on geocaching! Using GPS coordinates you locate "treasures", you take a trinket and you leave a trinket and you log that you've found it, both online and in the logbook. the girls love it and our rainboots have come in handy bushwacking through the various gulches. We tried to start our our own cache but its ended up going out to sea. We also have visited the tide pools and had fun learning about the different marine life around us.     

Levi and Reuben are gearing up to ride in the “STP”, a bicycle ride from Seattle to Portland. Their dad has been doing it for 10 years and has convinced them to join in doing it “Mormon” style, meaning all 200+ miles in ONE day. Hopefully you’ll hear from us next month.

Emma is 5, as she reminds us daily, and can’t wait to start Kindergarten, she’ll be going half-day starting September 7th. Charlotte is trying to keep up with her big Sis and is very put out that its NOT her birthday yet.  They sure do love their dad and there are days that I wished I had gotten the Master’s degree, Charlotte has already told me to get a job so that daddy can stay home. RUNT.  I know they love me too, most of the time.

We are continuing to enjoy the gorgeous surroundings and moderate temperatures. If any of you get tired of the smog, the arid climate, the deserty surroundings you know who to call……

Oh, and Grandpa, you need to pick up your phone when someone ( grand and great-grand kids) calls you for Father's Day.

We love you all.

Until next month

Charlotte, Emma, Levi and Torrie

Tide pools with Aunt Channi

gotta love that new home "honey-do" list

Charlotte logging our geocaching adventures

Emma finding geocaches

May 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

April is a big month in the Haupt household. This April was no different. We loved listening as a family to General Conference, and the girls were pretty good at being quiet and coloring while we listened. I am personally so grateful for the instruction given, and love the stories. Even though she doesn’t get everything, Emma was picking up on key words from her bingo card, I think the bingo cards was a fabulous idea, whoever came up with that, is a genius!


Also the wedding cake was a HUGE HIT!!!!
Easter as well came and this was the first year that Emma sort of understood what was happening, and she was super sweet in sharing the egg hunt with Charlotte. We also visited on Easter Saturday the nearby tulip fields which have now become a Family tradition. Its already gorgeous up here between the water in the Sound and the two ranges of huge mountains and the green of the evergreens, but then to add fields of colors from thousands (probably a couple million) tulips…. I don’t know why the rest of you aren’t on our doorstep yet!

Directly following Easter Sunday, was Emma’s 5th Birthday. She has been excited about this since November 30th. Since the child has hair down to her hinny we were obliged to have a “Tangled” party. We had a lot of fun and I can’t believe she will be starting school this Fall, I thought this day would never come, and yet the time has flown by! Where did my baby go?!

More changes for us in the fact that we are in the process of purchasing a house! That’s right, we’re all grown up. We are very lucky to stay in the same school district and even the same ward, very VERY blessed and very VERY excited, we close mid May and we’ll be fully in if all goes as planned by Memorial weekend.

I am sure we’ll have more to share about the house in June.

Love to you all,

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie & Levi

Emma and company for the Partay!

our soon to be residence ( yes I am getting rid of the hedges, post haste)

One of MANY rows of tulips



The finished product



April 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

March was a looong month in the Haupt household. Levi had to put in some very long hours, like 80 in one week. I spent my time trying to figure out how to bake and assemble my first wedding cake. I am waiting on my van title to be released from some po-dunk bank in Saratoga Springs, NY so that I can register my car. Said bank has no updated technology so changing my address has been a hassle. We also had to wait to see who won our March Madness challenge, although that wait was shorter than normal considering, our brackets were done before the “elite 8’ round, Emma won.


April is a month long anticipated in our house as its Emma’s birthday, yet another reason why March seemed so long, it felt like we were watching a pot of water trying to boil.

Oh now I remember why March was forgettable this year, because we spent the majority of it being sick! All of us got sick this month and it lingered longer than necessary. But we’re finally done thank goodness!

Now some highlights. Our church building was burnt down last October and on March 19th there was a groundbreaking ceremony held and they are trying to finish the rebuild before Christmas this year, YAY! When they finish it will be walking distance from us, such a blessing.

We’re looking forward to spring and getting Emma registered for KINDERGARTEN for this coming fall.

See you in April.

Love,

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie & Levi

The video is the fun we had BEFORE getting sick

March 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

February was a short, rough month. We spent two weekends in Portland, OR supporting various events in the Haupt family. Levi's younger sister Rebekah is getting married and she had a bridal shower and I tried to get some ideas out of her for her wedding cake that I have offered to do. I said "tried", its overwhelming and a few details need to still be worked out, pictures will probably come in the May newswire, IF I have success. The other weekend was dedicated to supporting the newest Bishop in the McMinnville Oregon Stake, Levi's Dad. As a veteran bishop "brat" I tried to coax Levi's youngest sibling Hannah, into wearing a nose-ring to church, to no avail, some people just don't know how to have fun.
Valentine's was fun, the girls enjoyed the scavenger hunt to their goodies so much I am sure it will be a yearly event. Charlotte enjoyed her chocolate ( of course! ) and I am excited for my "basics of chocolate" book, too bad you all don't live closer I could use some more testers.....
One of the rougher events was on Monday the 21st, a supposed vacay day, that Levi had to work and the girls and I went Visiting Teaching. At the end of the appointment Charlotte fell and chipped her front teeth. We took her on Wednesday morning, the 23rd, once the swelling had gone down to the dentist to see what damage had been done. besides the cosmetic damage of the chip, no other damage is apparent at the moment. She has a follow up in May, Her mouth has been more sensitive this month, especially since that wednesday afternoon she fell again hitting more of her lips than her teeth, She had a FAT lip for the rest of the day and it was even harder to understand her.
That's been our month, the weather is getting warmer and Emma is getting excited to be a "whole hand" next month. We love you all.
until next time.

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie and Levi

Cpt. Emma, pilot

Deputy Fire Chief Charlotte

"my own chocolate!"

post- chip

post-chip and post-fall

February 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

Hello everyone!

We’re still happily living in Mukilteo, WA with no current plans to move, shocking, I know. This month we added to our family in the way of another vehicle, Levi purchased a ’96 Toyota Tacoma extended cab that has been affectionately named “Jr.” or “Cougar truck” by BYU’s biggest fan. This gives mom and the girls a little more freedom which is nice and we’re enjoying in the form of being housebound by colds….. it was bound to happen sometime. But I am very grateful that this isn’t the same as the last two winters where we were sick for about four months straight, I’ll take a 10-day bout any day.

I was also able to visit Utah at the end of the month for a friend’s wedding, it was good to see her so happy and to meet her wonderful new husband.

We’re excited for warmer weather to hoepfully come soon,so we can be outside more, but its so pretty here its easy to enjoy just looking out my windows.

We are currently looking into purchasing a home (so we can set up roots, and be done with the transcontinental moves), we’ll let you know how it goes.

I also volunteered to bake and decorate Levi’s sister’s wedding cake, in April, we’ll let you know how that goes too. Gotta get practicing, too bad you all don’t live closer you could sample my practice rounds….. oh well!

Until next month

Love,

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie and Levi (and Jr.)


They grow up so quickly!

Charlotte's favorite outfit, "Rella" skirt and shoes (Cinderella), and Cougar shirt.

Fun at home, S'more roast, which has been requested repeatedly

All the kiddos

January 2011 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

December was a lot of fun in our house. On the 3rd we finally made it to Mukilteo (muckle-tee-o) Washington. Its SOOO pretty here, I can even handle the rain because the scenery is amazing, we’re really close to the Possession Sound (just north of Puget Sound) we can see the Cascade Moutains to the east, and the Olympic National Rainforest, or rather, its mountain range to the west across the Sound.

We’re so excited to be renting a house! NO shared walls, my kids can run amok (they’ll do it anyways) and I don’t have to worry about apologizing to anyone, o happy day!

Our ward is wonderful and we’ve already had a couple of fun activities and met some really nice people. For those who don’t know, our ward building burnt down, back in October, actually on the weekend we were here house-hunting ( yes, we both have alibis) and so we’re having to attend church at another building and because of the other wards’ schedules our Sunday meetings are reversed. Not, the most fun thing to try and keep kids quiet during a 3rd hour Sacrament meeting, but when is church ever easy with little ones? We’ll cope and hopefully we’ll have our building back soon.

We had Christmas in Portland and it was so nice to not have to take a cross-country flight. The girls had lots of fun, Emma made cookies for Santa, we got some toys that were very hard for “Santa” to get out of the box quietly the night before, I wish I had a video of him hopping across the house to the couch to smother Buzz Lightyear, it was entertaining. Levi had to work for a few days on the week between Christmas and New Year’s, so we left the girls in Portland to wreak havoc, and took a mini-vacay. We did miss them but glad they had so much fun without us. We were in the middle of an intense board game when we realized we had about 3 minutes until the “ball” dropped for us, and all I could think about was Grandpa conniving the boys into an east-coast New Years, and how he can’t do that anymore ;)

We hoped you all enjoyed the holidays and are as excited for this new year as we are.
Happy 2011!
Love,
Charlotte, Emma, Torrie, and Levi

Charlotte and Woody


just a LITTLE excited to set out cookies for Santa


Charlotte, Santa and Emma at our Ward Christmas Party

December 2010 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

Well we survived our excursion to Everett, WA. I feel just a little like Lois and Clark, it was quite the expedition. We left Lynchburg, VA on Tuesday November 16th and finally landed in Everett, WA on Friday Dec 3rd. It was quite the adventure. We were very blessed to travel safely, the girls were excellent, and we had lots of help along the way.

We are also saddened by Aunt Kristy's loss, but really grateful for her example of hope and faith. Good thing Families have the power to be eternal!

We were able to attend Thanksgiving with all those who were in Utah at the time. The food was FANTASTIC, and Tracy is an awesome Hostess.

We're grateful that Averie is here safe and sound.

The Wilcoxes VERY graciously put up with us while we were stuck in Utah due to I-84 being closed.

For those who care, we currently reside WEST OF THE I-5 in Mukilteo, WA

We're excited for the adventures to come and promise to share via the newswire or in person, we do have a spare room (and an actual house !)

We love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

love,

the Haupts

Stir crazy in the car, and for some reason the M&M's and Skittles aren't helping......

ON the SIDELINES at the BYU v. NM game, what a wonderful birthday present!

Silly girl, front seats are for mommies!


Granddaughter number 1 loving the "grand-popula"

November 2010 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

October was an exciting month in our house! We had more visitors, Uncle Adam (Levi’s brother), came to visit for a few days and gave us the motivation we needed to get up to D.C. before the weather gets bad. We were able to see part of the Smithsonian including Julia Child’s kitchen, and a wonderful exhibit on Abraham Lincoln. We almost lost Charlotte a couple of times on our way from the Washington monument to the Lincoln Memorial to huge flocks of birds, one looked like they were going to carry her away and the other was so intriguing she just kept chasing after it. We also went to the Lincoln Memorial, and I kept waiting for Larry Daly and Amelia Earhart to show up

Emma started pre-school, since kindergarten is full-day here I was trying to get her prepared. She absolutely loves it, especially share time every Thursday. She had made fun new friends and wakes up every morning wanting to know if its a “school” day.

Levi turned 29, on paper, he’s 2 years my senior for the next month, Happy Birthday ol’ man!

However, the most exciting part of our month was Levi and my trip to Everett, Washington. Levi has accepted a job with the company Fluke and we are moving in a matter of weeks. Everett is a gorgeous area about ½ hour north of Seattle. Levi will be working WEST of the I-5, for those of you who are interested, and we’re not sure where our home will be.

We’re very grateful to Grandma who was gracious enough to come out to babysit on short notice (especially since she was just here in September) and for taking such good care of two sick girls. In her honor our air-mattress has been named “Grandma’s bed”

Halloween is something we look forward to. Since our years of princess-free themes are mostly likely coming to a close, we took this opportunity to be some other Disney characters. Levi constructed the foam hats for the girls to be “Pat” the hammer, and “flicker” the flashlight from Handy Manny. We completed the look by Levi donning a handy Manny get-up and I was Kelly, the hardware store owner. If you don’t know who these are you are either not around children or probably not very cool…..

Emma participated in her first Primary Program this last Sunday. She did a great job and was really reverent. She had her part memorized but got a little shy when she approached the podium. I will admit I was crying for most of it. The primary program is one of my favorite Sundays all year. The Spirit is just amazing and its incredible to think what little kids, like the sunbeams, have learned that year. I have a great love for the Primary program of the Church and am so grateful for those who serve in it.

We’re very excited to be closer to family, our invitation to all of you to visit is still in force but I request that unless you’re gonna help unpack, please come after the 1st of the year.

Signing off from Virginia, its been fun!

Love,

Emma, Charlotte, Torrie & Levi

The Fam in front of the White House

Handy Manny, and his tools!

"Cheese!!!" and a little cheesey at the Lincoln Memorial

EXCITED for School!!! Let's go!

October 2010 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

September was a fun filled month! First we had Nana and Papa (Levi’s parents) come over the Labor-day weekend. We had fun in pool for the last time this season. We also had fun going mini-golfing and spent a day at the near-by zoo. Levi and his dad also took in the scenery on a tandem bike ride. We’re so grateful that they came to visit; we all had a great time. Plus we got pics and video of the girls, Levi and Nana on the zoo’s resident Elephant! We hope they had fun and we promise to do similar stuff for any of you that want to visit….

P.S. We promise to take the golf club AWAY from Charlotte.

A little later in the month “Grandma Word” came to visit. Grandpa Word had to stay and work and attend to his stake presidency stuff, however Grandma was a blast. We saw the movie,“Despicable Me”, went mini-golfing, celebrated Charlotte’s 2nd birthday,
and went to a decorate-your-own-pottery store . While at the pottery store, we learned of Charlotte’s love for painting everything, including Grandma’s hand. The girls and Grandma also made some yummy Rice Krispie treats. Thanks for coming Grandma, we miss and love you!

Cooking with Grandma

Enjoying the cake

Riding with Nana and Dad

It was sad to see all of our visitors leave, however we haven’t been any less busy…. We started Preschool for Emma the beginning of October so we’ll save those adventures for the next post.

Hope you all enjoy the start of the Holidays

Until next month

Love,

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie & Levi