November Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello. How are you? This month was great. My dad and I had our Las Vegas trip this month. This trip took the place of our New York trip that was supposed to happen last year but got cancelled because of Covid-19. Uncle Darren and Tyler went with us on this trip and it was super fun. The first place that we visited on this trip was Fremont street. We went to the heart attack grill for dinner that night and it was actually pretty good. Tyler and I went ziplining on Fremont street as well which was super fun but the line for the zipline was terrible. Let's also just say that we saw a lot of unsavory individuals on this street. Overall it was awesome though. 

While we were down there we went to the Chiefs and the Raiders game that was scheduled for that weekend. We stayed right across from the stadium (which you can see in the background of this picture). We found this diehard Raiders fans' car in the parking lot of the hotel which was pretty funny.

We got to see a lot of cool stuff when we were down there. We spent all of Saturday walking around the strip finding cool stuff to do there. We went to New York New York and went on the roller coaster there which was one of the best I've been on so far. We went to the Bellagio and saw the water fountain in front. For dinner that night we went to the Gordon Ramsey pub down there to eat. The food was amazing there but also pretty pricey. Probably wont be going back there for awhile. That night we went and saw a magic show performed by Matt Franco. It was awesome and super cool to see people who can do stuff like that. 

We actually got really good seats at the game. We didn't go to cheer for any of the 2 teams but just to go to watch football so it was better in that way not having the disappointment of having your favorite team lose. 

We went to Los Alamos for Thanksgiving this year. On the way down we stopped at Mesa Verde and checked that out. It was super cool to see. That night we stayed in Cortez, Colorado and were planning on finishing the drive the next day. The next day we finished the drive down and stopped at the four corners on the way down. It was cool to go but at the end of the day it's just a circle of the ground where you take a picture and leave. 

Mom got Dad a drone for his birthday so we tested it out down in Los Alamos. It's a really nice drone and it took some awesome footage. Dad wants to bring it down to Moab in the spring for jeep safari and I think that is a great idea. 

I've been busy lately with work and school but I manage. My co-workers are awesome and honestly if they left, that would be a deal breaker for me. Schools ok I guess. I hope that you all have a great December and a great Christmas season. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

October Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how are you? This month was great. We have been going on a lot of walks recently because the weather is cooling down. Chowder loves being outside so it is always great to get him out of the house. 

Up in Woodland Hills the weather can change drastically in a short period of time. The first half of the month was primarily the leaves changing color and the hot summer weather cooling down. 

We got a snowstorm after that and this picture doesn't show a lot of snow but it snowed pretty much that entire day. The weather heated up after that and the snow was gone in about 3 days. It just shows how unpredictable and volatile Utah weather is. 

We went to a pumpkin patch as well this month to get ready for Halloween. There was a lot of cool stuff for Sam to do and he had a great time. We all did a corn maze as well and I got separated from everybody else and didn't end up finishing the maze. I just backtracked to the entrance which was kind of lame. 

We went to Wadley Farms this month for a cool Harry Potter event. It was really cool and they got great actors to work there that night. They provided dinner for us which was really good. We got to go around after that and look at cool Harry Potter themed shops which was cool.

Halloween was great this year. We went to the trunk or treat and gave out candy there. My mask scared a lot of kids so I didn't give out a massive amount of candy. After the trunk or treat I went to a Halloween party with my friends which was super fun. Halloween isn't quite the same as you get older but I still had fun nonetheless. 

School is going good. Term 1 flew by which is always a good thing. I'm going to Las Vegas next week with Dad, Uncle Darren and Tyler which should be pretty fun. I'm still working at Cafe Rio which is great. I'm good friends with my co workers and we get along great. I got a gym pass so I'm making sure I go to the gym at least 3 times a week. I hope you all have a great November. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

September Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how are you. This month was a pretty boring month to be honest. I went to homecoming this year. It wasn't the best. We also went to swiss days. That was pretty fun. We got really good scones there and got to see a world class yodeler which was really awesome to see somebody do that with their voice. I had some cross country meets this month but haven't been able to go to a lot of practices because of work. 

It's the best season of the year now. It's finally cooling down which is a relief. The leaves are changing color and it's so pretty up here. 

Schools going good. The hardest class I'm taking right now is probably debate. It's still fun though and I have a lot of friends in that class. My most fun class right now is a tie between wood shop and current issues. In current issues we just have discussions about current events and in woods we are making clocks which are really cool. I'm going on a field trip on the 13th to the state capital building and I'm getting to meet our state senators which is going to be an awesome experience. Work's going good. I like my job which is always a good thing. My co-workers are awesome there as well. I hope you all have a great October. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

August Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, how are you? This month was great. My dad and I went on a trip down to Beaver this month. We took the jeep with us and found some awesome jeeping trails to go on down there. We stayed in a condo which looked very nice ay first but comfort was not it's strong suit. All of the couches and beds were really uncomfortable so I don't think we'll be staying in that unit again.

While my dad and I were jeeping we found a scout camp and since the Boy Scouts of America don't really exist anymore there was nobody there. We found a cool ropes course that I went up into. It was kinda sketch with no harness or protective gear but it was still fun none the less.

A lot of mountains in Beaver have really barren tops because no trees can grow above a certain line so my dad and I went hiking up one of these mountains and when we got to the top it was totally like another planet. There was nothing growing up there just a bunch of rocks and dirt. It was really cool and we even found an old rusted out knife that from the looks of it seems like it had been there for decades.

School started again this month. I can finally drive myself to school now so I don't have to take the bus anymore. I have a lot of fun classes this year and a great group of friends. I'm taking ceramics, woods, current issues which is a really fun class, debate which is awesome and financial literacy which is going to be a really useful class for later in my life when I have to pay taxes and mortgage. 

Cross country has started up again. I gotta say that this year is not as good as last year. All of our seniors are gone and they were the super fun ones. Our team is decent this year but not as good as last year. I'm on varsity this year so I'm working to get faster this year. We've had 4 races already this season.

It's tough balancing a job, school work and social life but I manage. School is going alright and pretty much everybody in my friend group does debate so we have a lot of fun in that class. I get along really good with my co-workers and we have a great environment at work. I hope you all have a great start of fall. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

July Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

For the 4th of July we did our ward breakfast the day before at the Harpers. There was a lot of good food and we had a lot of fun. We played spikeball and there was 9 square volleyball there as well. I'm so grateful for the annual breakfast and look forward to it every year. 

We got a jeep this month and we have been taking it a lot of places. We took it up to the grotto hike up Payson canyon and did the hike. It was fun because I hadn't been there for a while. 

I got a job at Cafe Rio and started work this month. It is a really fun job and I like my co-workers which is a good thing. We have a really chill management there so I'm not super stressed when I go to work. 

Brandon left on his mission this month and we took him to the MTC. From what I heard he had a great time there and is now in Arkansas. It was kind of weird to see him go but I know he will be a great missionary and change a lot of people's lives. 

School starts in 2 weeks and I get my schedule tomorrow. I'm looking forward to going back to school and the cross country season. I have been busy working and hanging out with my friends. I hope you all have a great rest of the summer. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

June Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

How are you? This month was great! We go four wheeling a lot up here in Woodland Hills because there are so many great trails and new trails we haven't been on yet. Sam loves to go four wheeling and always asks to go on a four wheeler ride almost every day.  

We went to Doc Brundys in Spanish Fork for dinner this month. We went bowling and had a great time. Sam loved it and asks to go bowling again a lot. The food was alright but I got a chili burger and waited to long to eat it so by the time I got to eat it the bun was all soggy and gross. I still had a lot of fun though. 

We got a huge trailer filled with bark to put down in different spots across the yard. We spent the morning putting down bark and I was really satisfied with the work I had done after the project. It made certain spots look way better and the smell of bark is great. It was hot and we had the sun beating down on us but I'm glad we took the morning and got it done. 

My 16th birthday was this month and it was great! I didn't have anything planned so my friends surprised me. My mom even got her boss' limo to take my friends and I to splash summit for the day. We had a great time there and spent a long time there. We went on a lot of slides and had an awesome time together. I'm so grateful for the amazing friends I have! They are so fun to be around. 

The summer is going good. Now that I can drive I don't have to ask other people for rides anymore. I've been driving to cross country every morning and get a great workout in there. I'm so grateful for cross country and the amazing team that I am a part of. I am looking for a job right now so I have just been applying to a ton of different places. It is harder to hang out with friends during the summer because they are all working so I am super grateful and have an awesome time whenever we do hang out now. I hope you all have a great 4th of July and a great rest of the summer. Bye. 

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

May Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello. How are you? This month was great. Mother's day was this month so we had a nice breakfast and went to church. I am so grateful for my mom and everything she does and provides for me. 

I went to a dance this month and the them was decades. My date and I decided to do 70's. We went to the windmill park in Spanish Fork and took pictures there. The dance was super fun and our group had a great time. We stayed for the whole dance and I was super tired after. After the dance we went to one of our group members houses and watched back to the future. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to dances in the future. 

The picture is really blurry but we rode in my mom's boss' limo to Brandon's graduation. It was super cool and it was my first time in a car that fancy. Brandon's graduation was really exciting to attend and there were some great speeches there. After graduation we went to olive garden to eat. We had some very good food there.

Memorial day was also this month so we went and visited a few graves. We visited my great-grandparents graves in Alpine and after that we went to Uncle Brian's grave in Sandy. I'm glad that we were able to go visit the graves and I'm grateful that we have a holiday here to honor those who have passed on. 

School's out now so I've just been doing summer stuff. I went boating with my friends yesterday and had a great time. I'm grateful for school and all the hard work my teachers put into to getting grades in and finalized. Only one more month till I turn 16 and can start driving so that is a plus. I hope you all have a great summer. Bye. 

Love, Eric James Barnhisel 

April Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello. How are you? This month was really fun. We went to grandmas house this month for Easter. I hung out with my cousin Tyler a lot while we were there because he is really fun to talk with. We had a really good meal there and I'm so grateful for my grandparents. They have a lot of these family parties at their house and my grandma always cooks amazing meals and we have a great time there. 

We went down to the San Rafael Swell for spring break this year and we had a great day trip. We saw a lot of very cool things down there including a dinosaur footprint and some really cool petroglyphs from two different Native American civilizations. I had a lot of fun down there and was glad I was able to get down there again.

Prom was also this month and it was awesome. I went with my friend Adri and we had a great time. We went to a fun place called Provo Beach for our day date and went bowling there. We took pictures in our backyard and my mom got her good friend from work to come take our pictures and they turned out great. The dance was fun but it was really hot. We were all packed into the basement of an event center so it was really humid and hot so that wasn't the best. Overall I had a great time at prom this year and I'm glad I was able to go. 

School is almost out and I am glad for that. I have covid right now so I have been stuck at home for the last week so that hasn't been fun but I'm super excited to get back to school for that last few weeks we have left. I have a couple of great friend groups down here and I am super grateful for all of them. I love hanging out with my friends. Track is almost over and I have had a great time doing it and trying it out for the first time. My personal record for the javelin is 106 feet and 4 inches so I am hoping to beat that next season. I hope you all have a great spring. Goodbye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel

March Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello, How are you? This month was great. Its starting to warm up now so that means more hikes for us. We went on a hike up to the dream mine and it was pretty fun. The trail to get up was pretty strenuous but we had a great time. Dad told us about the dream mine and the story behind it during the hike so I learned something new on this hike. 

It was also Sam's 4th birthday this month. He had a party with all of his little friends and they had a great time. They made hats and ate pancakes with each other. We had a little party later where had had dinner and made him a cake. 

Track has started now and it's pretty fun. I throw javelin and that is my main event. I think it is a ton of fun and all of my friends do it as well so it is even more fun in that way. I'm getting pretty good at throwing. I've only been doing it for a couple weeks and I'm already one of the top 5 throwers on the team.

Brandon got his mission call this month and it was an awesome thing but pretty weird as well. Brandon has never been gone for a long period of time and now he's going to gone for 2 years. He's going to Bentonville, Arkansas and I think he's going to be a great missionary.

School is going good. Were in 4th term now so the school year is almost over. I'm excited for summer especially because I'm turning 16 and I'll be able to get my drivers license and a job as well. I have a lot of really good friends that I am so grateful for. Prom is on April 17th and I'm going with my friend Adri and I'm really excited. I hope you all have a great spring. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel 

February Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello. How are you? This month was great. We went down to St. George this month for Kyle and Brandon's soccer tournaments. While we were down there we went hiking and had a great time. It wasn't too hot down there as well so it made hiking a lot better. We went hiking to a place called scout cave. It took us like an hour to hike to the cave and another hour back down. While we were going down we lost the trail and had to scale some rocks to find the trail again. 

Chowder loves the snow but sometimes he loves it to much. He rolls around in the snow so he gets snow all over himself. He also gets ice clods built up on his legs so we have to put him in the bathtub to get the ice off of him. 

We didn't get a lot of snow all winter and then all at once we got dumped on. We had a very big winter storm and we got probably 3 feet of snow. We had to shovel a lot but we needed the snow after such a dry summer and dry winter. 

Mom's birthday was this month and she got 2 cakes. Dad got her a coldstone ice cream cake and then our neighbor brought us another cake. We had a lot of cake that night and had a great time. I love my mom and I'm so grateful for everything she does for me.

My friends and I went sledding together this month. We went down to the emergency exit right below our house. We hiked up to the water tower and then sled down. We even brought chowder and Sam with us and they had a great time. After we were done sledding we came back to my house and we drank hot chocolate and watched a movie. It was a ton of fun.

School is going very well. I'm getting good grades and having a great time with all my friends. My favorite class right now has got to be film making because we just watch movies in that class and I love to watch movies. I'm taking AP calculus and AP language and composition next year so hopefully I can get some good college credits from those classes. Track just recently started up and a lot of my friends do that. I started doing javelin and I'm actually pretty good at it. My school friends and I started a Minecraft server and we play on that a lot and have a great time. We've built a ton of cool stuff and are really good at the game. I hope you all have a great spring. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel.

January Letter

 Dear Family & Friends, 

Hello. How are you? This month was great. We take Chowder on walks up to the water tower right in front of Maple canyon and it is a lot of fun. Chowder has so much fun running around and going nuts. Kyle even pulled the sled up to the top of the trail since it is all uphill and then sledded down after. It was a lot of fun.

We went sledding with Sam and it was a lot of fun. We don't have to go anywhere for sledding since we basically live on a sledding hill. Sam had a lot of fun and we made some good trails.

We play board games as a family. Mandalorian monopoly is a new favorite. I got the game for Kyle for Christmas and it is a lot of fun. It isn't like every other monopoly game and it has a lot of differences. We play it a lot and have a lot of fun playing it.

We went to the Spanish Fork river bottoms trail with Chowder and took him on a nice long walk. It was really cold that day but once we started walking we warmed up. We had a good time walking along the river bottoms trail.

School is going good. I'm getting good grades. My favorite class right now is film making. You would think by the name of the class that we make movies in the class but in reality we just watch movies and talk about how the films were produced. I have a great group of friends down here and I love to hang out with them. We hang out pretty much every week and have a lot of fun doing it. I hope you all have a great February and a great rest of the winter. Bye.

Love, Eric James Barnhisel.