November Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how are you. This month was great. The election was this month and we were excited. Even though it didn't go the way we hoped it's all right and I know life will go on. We watched until midnight and then I was just to tired to keep stay up. I think I can speak for most people when I say I hope this is all over soon.

We have been gearing up for winter so we had to split logs. We got to use our neighbors log splitter which was really cool. It made the job super easy and it was really fun to use. It is always cool to see what new technology and cool machines we can create. We got a ton of logs split and a lot of work done. 

We had the Sintay's at our house for Thanksgiving and it was a lot of fun. We made a lot of pie and played a lot of among us with our cousins. We ate turkey and had a great Thanksgiving dinner. We also went to the park with them and had a fun time there with them too.

School is going good. I have good grades. My favorite class is photography and i'm learning a lot of new things by taking that class. Our school is on hybrid schedule now because we have lots of covid-19 cases. I only go to school 2 days a week and the rest are at home learning. I do get Wednesdays off now which is the only benefit of hybrid schedule. I hope you all have a great holiday season and a great winter. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

October Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how are you? This month was great. I finished up my cross country season this month. My best time is 18:36. I had a great time being on the team and I got to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of new friends.

We went to St. George this month for fall break. It was super fun. We stayed at our neighbors house down there and their house was super cool. It had a pool and a pool table. I invited one of my friends to come with us because our neighbors have a lot of little kids. He came with us and we had a lot of fun. He destroyed me in pool and we swam a lot. We also went to snow canyon and did a lot of hikes there. We went spelunking down into a big cave that went down probably 60 or 70 feet. It was super cool. After we were done we had to go find Kyle since he had ran off. We found him but were really far away from the car. My dad had my friend and I use our cross country skills and run to the car and drive it down to him. We had a lot of fun.

I invited my friends over this month to carve pumpkins. We grew a really big pumpkin at the Dewey's garden this year and I carved it. It took a really long time to carve but it was really cool when it was done. We went inside after and had hot cocoa and watched a movie. It was a lot of fun. 

We carved pumpkins as a family as well. I cut the hole in the top too small so it was really hard to clear out the insides of the pumpkin. We had a good time though which was what was most important.

We went back to West Jordan for one of Kyle's soccer games so after we went to gardener village. It was really cool going back since we don't live there anymore. We just walked around there and let Sam play around in his batman costume. 

School is going really well. I like high school a lot better than junior high. It is a little bit harder but the social aspects are really awesome. I am getting good grades and having a great time. My favorite class is photography because we take so many cool pictures there. Now that Halloween is over we can look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas which is the best time of the year. I hope you all stay safe and have a great winter. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

September Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how are you? This month was great. At the beginning of September for Labor day we went up to the Dewey's cabin to hang out. We rode horses up there. We went on a short ride but it was really fun and a cool new experience. We also ate dinner there and had a fire. It was a lot of fun.

We went up to the park with chowder and played around up there with him. We threw around a football with dad and we also played frisbee as well. Chowder loved it and he had a great time. Sam went and played on the park while we did football and frisbee. 

We had to pick our peaches off our tree this month. It is kind of awkward because the tree is on a slope so climbing up on the ladder is a little bit sketchy. We used all of our peaches to make peach rolls and a bunch of other peach based deserts and breakfasts.

Near the end of the month we went hiking up maple canyon by our house. We brought chowder and he had a great time running through the trees and exploring. We went to a big rocky slope and we climbed up it. Chowder came with us to climb and we had a lot of fun.

The cross country season is over so now it is my off season before I start track in the spring. My best meet that I went to was my meet in Roy. My personal record is 18:34 for 3 miles and I got that time in Roy. I'm grateful for that season and all of the people I got to meet while running. The whole season technically isn't over for our varsity teams because they still have to go run in divisionals and hopefully state which I will go watch. I like hanging out with my friends and playing video games. I'm doing great in school and im glad im at school right now when so many kids aren't. I hope you all have a great fall. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

August Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how have you all been. This month was pretty good. We went back to school after a 5 month long summer break. It is weird that we have to wear masks now and I don't like it at all. It is good to be back in school though and be able to see our friends. My favorite classes in school right now are marketing and seminary because my teachers for those classes are awesome.

We finally we able to lay sod down this month. We got our backyard done pretty quick but we did a lot of work and it felt great to have it all done and to know that we helped put the backyard in. I stayed home from school this day to help with the sod and we got it done pretty quick because we had so much help with it. Brother Hillyard even brought his ice cream machine over and we had soft serve ice cream after we were done with it.

We had our first cross country meet this month after practicing all throughout the summer. Our first meet was at Springville high school and I did great. It is different than junior high because in junior high you run two miles while in high school you run 3 miles. I got my personal record at this meet and ran the race in 19 minutes and 36 seconds.

School is going pretty good and im glad to be back with all of my friends. I go to cross country practice every day after school and get a great work out in. I like to go hang out with my friends during my free time and I also like to play on my xbox. I like to go hiking and ride four wheelers around as well. I hope you all have a great fall and a great labor day weekend.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

July Letter

Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello. This month was great. We had the Daley's come down to hang out with us this month. We went to Salem pond with them and we jumped off the bridge there a ton. We also brought kayaks and had a great time with them. We watched a movie with them when we got back and it was a lot of fun.

We went up to yellowstone this month and before we entered the park we went on a river rafting trip with our cousins. It was so much fun and I definitely want to do it again sometime. We did it at 8 i the morning so it was really cold. I promised everybody on the boat that I would do a backflip off the boat and that is exactly what I did. It was really cold but it still fun.

In Yellowstone we rented a boat for a few hours along with a guide and went fishing. We caught 7 fish but had to put all of the fish back because they were cutthroat and cutthroat are an endangered species. The guide that took us had a lot of really nice fishing rods for us to use and especially an awesome rod with a depth reader and it would click when a fish was caught on it. We had a ton of fun and it was an awesome experience.

We went to a really cool spot in yellowstone called the prismatic spring and it was really cool. The color of the sediment in the water determined what color the steam coming off of the water was. There was blue and red and green steam and it was so super cool to look at.

We have been doing a lot of work in the backyard since we are getting it done. A couple of our neighbors have been super helpful and are using their heavy machinery to make the process a whole lot easier. We have a water feature and boulders in right now and our neighbor is working on putting in sprinklers now.

The summer is almost over and it is almost time to go back to school. I have been doing cross country this summer and it was great because I got to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of more friends. I'm excited for our season during the school year. I'm different from most people because I like running. It is great exercise and you don't have to learn tricks or plays or anything. I like playing on my xbox and I like to play minecraft and fortnite. I hope you all have a great summer. Bye. 

Love, Eric James Barnhisel.

June Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hi. This month has been great. We went to Idaho this month and did a lot of fun stuff up there. We went to these waterfalls and we went cliff jumping while we were there. It was a lot of fun.

 We went to some ice caves while we were in Idaho as well. It was really cold inside but it was really cool and it was weird to see it full of ice during the summer. We had to walk down a ton of steps to get down to the cave.

We had a great fathers day this month. It was weird not going to church on fathers day but it was cool to have a different experience by having church at home. We had a really good dinner and it was overall a great day.

 The Sintay's were up at our house this month and we did a lot of fun stuff with them. We went up Provo canyon and stopped at bridal veil falls and hiked there. It was a lot of fun and we went right up to the waterfall and felt all the mist coming off the water.

 We are getting a dog and he has been growing a ton. He is only four weeks old right now and he has grown a ton since he was born. I can't wait to get a dog since the last time I had a dog was a long time ago. We are going to name him Charlie and we are going to get him trained.

 I had a birthday this month which was a lot of fun. I had a party with my friends and we played foosball and mario kart and watched a movie. Since I turned 15 I went and got my permit two days after my birthday. I have been driving a lot and getting more practice.

I am having a great summer. I do cross country for the high school and we meet every morning at the high school at 7:00 and go running. I enjoy it and it is great exercise. We do a lot of hiking now since we are so close to so many different trails. I like to go biking as well. I like playing on my xbox and I play lots of games with my friends online. I hope you all have a great 4th of July. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel.

May Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hi, how are you doing? This month was great. We got a hammock and it is really relaxing to sit in. We are probably going to get another hammock when the backyard is finished. I don't know what filter my mom used in this picture but it kind of looks like i'm glowing.

 We go on a lot of walks now with not a lot of things open. On this walk we went off the trail and we hiked up  a really steep mountain and eventually found a cool device that can sense seismic vibrations and help predict when an earthquake is about to happen. That part was cool but we got a lot of cool pictures as well.

 Mothers day was this month and it was certainly different being in a new house and having church at home this time. We had a nice breakfast on mothers day and it was really fun.

 We went all the way up the switchbacks this month. We couldn't go all the way up before because their was still snow up high but all the snow is melted now. Up at the top of the switchbacks there is a great view and we got a lot of really good pictures up at the top.

 Now that it is summer, one of our favorite things to do is go to Salem pond and bring our kayaks. We go swimming there now that we don't have the pool across the street now. The good thing about the pond is that we don't have to pay to go swimming. We can also go fishing there which I still need to do. It is a lot of fun going there and I usually see somebody I know there each time I go.

 We went on a cool hike up Payson canyon called the Grotto. It wasn't a very hard hike and it was more of a walk than a hike but there was a cool waterfall at the end of the hike. When we got to the waterfall we climbed around and got to the top of the waterfall and stayed up there for a while. I totally would have jumped off the waterfall if the water was actually deep at the end.

This summer is fun but it is certainly going to be different this year. My birthday is next month and we have a lot of fun plans so I am certainly looking forward to this summer. This is the first time I have said this but I am excited to go back to school because I am going into high school and i'm really excited. I hope you all have a good summer and I am hoping things calm down and go back to normal soon.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

April Letter

Dear Family & Friends,
Hello, how have all of you been? This month has been weird with the quarantine. It is hard sometimes to find things to do during this. One of my favorite things to do is to play basketball and I do that a lot. I am getting better because before the quarantine I was really bad.

 We like riding four wheelers a lot up here as well. We went on a train in Spanish Fork and it was a lot of fun. We turned around and headed back when we ran into some really snowy and wet parts of the trail. It was still super fun though.

 One of our major projects we did is we tore out all of the prickly ugly bushes and replaced it with nice bushes and flowers. We first had to tear the bushes out, then we had to lay down weed mat and lay soil on top of that as well as planting the plants. After all that I put bark down and we installed a drip system with the help of our friend Ben Hiliyard.

 We went on a drive one day and found a cool place to climb and it had a river so Sam could throw rocks. My feet were burning after all the climbing so I took my shoes off and waded in the river. It felt really nice and I had a great time.

 Kyle's birthday was this month so my mom and I woke up early and made Kyle a nice breakfast. I feel bad that he couldn't have a normal party because of the virus but him and his friends did airsoft because they stay pretty far apart from each other. I think he had a great time and we had a good time planning it.

 Kyle got airsoft guns for his birthday so a little bit after his birthday we went and got airsoft guns. I got a mixed pack with a shotgun and a pistol in it and Brandon got a shotgun as well. Kyle got an electric automatic rifle which we ban from most games because he would win every game. We have lots of fun with our airsoft guns and we have done a couple wars.

 We are working on getting our backyard ready for dirt to come in so we had to cut down a ton of trees and haul them to the front of our property. I didn't really like hauling them everywhere but now our view has opened up a ton and we got some good work done.

 We went on a walk down the spanish fork river bottoms trail. I found this tree to walk across. We had a good walk and after we went to Wendy's.

I hope that this quarantine will be over soon and things can get back to normal. Our school ends next week and I hope that this ends afterwords so the summer isn't like this. My hair is so long now because I haven't been able to get a haircut. I hope you all have a good spring. Bye.
Love, Eric James Barnhisel

March Letter

Dear Family & Friends,

Hello, how are you? This month has been great but boring some times because of the coronavirus pandemic. Being quarantined is weird and I hope things go back to normal soon. Sam's birthday was this month and it was a lot of fun. This was the first year he could actually enjoy it and understand what was going on. We made him a cake and he had a great time.

 Since we are stuck inside we have been going on lot's of walks. We went down to the Spanish Fork river bottoms trail and walked down them. Sam has fun going on walks and it is good to get out of the house and get some fresh air.

 Since it has been getting warmer as well we have been spending more time outside. Sam loves playing outside and riding in his dump truck down the driveway. We also got a basketball hoop so me and Kyle play on that a lot. We still get snow up here sometimes but it melts pretty fast now. I can't wait for when it gets really warm and we can do lot's of outdoor activities.

 We got a new Settlers game because our other one was really old and the cards were gross and bent. We accidently got the expansion pack as a different generation so half of our cards look different than the other ones. We have been playing lot's of games during the social distancing. We got a new game called sorcerer city which is pretty fun and that is one of our new favorites now.

 My dad and I went up a canyon and hiked up a really steep mountain. When we got up to the top there were some pretty good views and it was kind of a pain getting back down. We took the truck but the roads got narrow so we had to go back. We went back in April with four wheelers. It was a lot of fun.

 We make lot's of treats now because we are stuck inside. That is one of the reasons why I am going to be fat after this is over. We have a fun time finding new recipes and trying them out.

It snowed a lot one of the days up here so our friends from Salem came up here and we went sledding. My mom calls me her special child because the last time I went down I went down only in my shorts. It was really cold and i'll just say that I went straight to our fire place after. We had a lot of fun with them.

It is kind of hard finding things to do during this social distancing and end up bored a lot of the time. I like to play Fortnite with my friends online since we can't go hang out right now. I try to go on a run every morning so I'm still staying active. I read a lot of books and play games as well. Online school is easy but it's not fun at all. I'm glad the school year is almost over and I cant wait for summer because I hope we will be able to go out and do more things now by then. I hope you all have a great spring and I hope you all stay healthy and sane during this time of chaos. 

Love, Eric James Barnhisel