Happy Birthday to T!

 Talmage is another year older this week! Here are a few pictures from his junior high years:

At Zion National Park, June 2014:

In the Narrows:

Turning 12:

Scout camp:

Nauvoo:

He broke his arm while biking during the summer of 2014.

We were in the Gold cast in 2014:

First day of 7th grade:

Talmage playing the cello in 7th grade for a Halloween recital at his teacher's house (he was dressed up as a hobo):

Talmage playing the piano in a duet with his teacher, Shirley Washenko:

We toured the rebuilt Ogden Temple and took quite a few people including Jacob, Drew, Nyla, Charlie, Eddie, and Frances:

Talmage was a great big brother to Mindy and Camille:

Hiking in Payson Canyon over fall break:

Talmage went on a lot of campouts thanks to a dedicated Scoutmaster, Ben Conover. Scott was able to go on a few of them with him. Talmage really enjoyed the campouts.

At the Discovery place in the Family history library in Salt Lake:

The summer of 2015, we did a family biking trip from Fish Lake to Capitol Reef:

In the spring of 2015, we went to Topaz Mountain to look for cool rocks, specifically geodes. When we were done after not finding anything, we started driving down the dirt road. Talmage wanted to meet us at the bottom, riding his bike out. When we got to the bottom, we couldn't find him anywhere. We started worrying about him missing the turn and getting lost in the wilderness. We ended up looking for him for a couple of hours while we asked everyone if they had seen him. I was having thoughts of contacting search and rescue for help. We were greatly relieved when we finally found him. It turned out that he had been much faster than we thought and had gone out to the main road. He was a little disgusted that we hadn't thought he could find his way so quickly.

Talmage was really good friends with Jon Conover.

Talmage was really good at swimming and did summer swim team a lot of summers.

A family trip to Oregon and Washington in August 2015:

Visiting family graves in the area:

Standing in front of Mt. St. Helen's

Baptisms at the Seattle Temple:

This picture at Dash Point on Puget Sound was right before I decided that Talmage, Susanna, and Everett floating out to sea on a log without life jackets was a really bad idea and I sent Scott to bring them back.

First day of 8th grade:

In California for Jan's wedding in December that year.

Talmage was really good at the Rubik's cube.

In the fall of 2014 he bought himself a unicycle and taught himself how to ride it.

In fall 2016, Talmage made bread and sold it to raise money for his Eagle project. He was really good at it.

Then he organized a group of Scouts and parents to make scooter boards for Kids on the Move who worked with Camille a lot when she was little. He had his Court of Honor at the beginning of 10th grade.

Camille testing one.

Over spring break 2016, I took the kids to the Vernal temple and then to the Dinosaur National Monument.

During the summer of 2016, our family had the opportunity of participating in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Talmage really enjoyed the age group he was with.

We camped at the pageant site for more than two weeks.

Talmage had a couple of different parts as a Nephite warrior and holding a banner in King Noah's court.

On the way home, we stopped at the Priesthood restoration site. This is on the banks of the Susquehanna River where Joseph Smith baptized Oliver Cowdery.

Talmage started 9th grade, then said goodbye to Everett shortly after that.

He kept getting better on the cello.

And on the piano.

Doing baptisms at the Provo Temple:

During 9th grade, Talmage developed a ranula which comes from a blocked salivary gland in the mouth. The saliva builds up under the skin and makes a bubble kind of like a frog. After a lot of doctor visits, we finally found someone who knew what to do and after a somewhat minor surgery (with a painful recovery), the ranula was fixed and didn't come back.

Talmage started doing more skiing in 9th grade.

And his wisdom teeth got taken out.

At the end of Talmage's 9th grade year, Lincoln got married so we went to Texas.

Shortly after that, we went to Germany to visit our friend there, Frau Czadek, and then went to England.

Shortly after that, he turned 15!

And went on our stake pioneer trek.

Happy Birthday, Talmage! It's been fun for me to see all the things you accomplished and all the adventures you got to go on. It's great to have you in our family!