Emily's Prom 2010

Emily's Junior year finished off with Metro's first Prom. The gang met at Carl's house in Grandview before carpooling to Franklin Park Conservatory for their prom. Here are a few of the pictures.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas from the Lybbert family! We’ve had another busy year:

Papa Drummond is doing very well. His year was highlighted by a trip to amish country and one to Kirtland, Ohio. With new hearing aids, he hears everything we have to say, good or bad. He’ll be celebrating his 83rd birthday next week.

Emily’s year was highlighted by a 3 week trip to Costa Rica. She is enrolled at both Ohio State and Metro High School. She is grateful that she passed Calculus 151. In her spare time she coaches 6 year-old soccer players and plays Ultimate Frisbee with friends.

Allyson started high school this year and loves attending early morning seminary. Her year was highlighted by participating in the color guard where she performs with the band at games and competitions. She is volunteering at the Red Cross and keeping up with her many friends.

John is excited to finally be a boy scout. He read the Eragon books this year and mastered the Lego Wii game (whatever that’s called). John also started Middle School this year.

Katy has become a true songbird. She has joined both her school and ward choirs. She went to art camp this year and loves to make things.

Beth is still teaching part time for Hilliard Schools and is working on a masters of Education with an emphasis in technology, which Rob and the kids find very funny given her inability to master anything technical.

Rob is starting his 10th year with NetJets. He hiked 100 miles of the Appalachian trail with the boy scouts this summer. And he loves being a Bishop.

We extend our love and best wishes to our friends and family and hope you find great joy this holiday season.

Love,

The Lybberts (And Papa)

Fall 2009

Here is the Hilliard Davidson Band performing at the "Shoe. Ally has rifle on 45 yard line. See her?
Here is John earning his final Cub badges. Good job Son!
Here is Rob while hiking the Appalachian Trail with the Stake Boy Scouts.
Here is Emily while in Costa Rica this summer. What an experience! 3 weeks and she got to live with an LDS host family. She attended church with them and even got to go to the San Jose Temple with them!
Here's Katy's piano recital. Doesn't she play beautifully??? Looks darling, too.

Okay Amber! Here is an update! I have been waiting for Emily to download some photos... but I'm now in a technology class. Our assignment for tonight was to create a blog. So I did and it showed this one as well and I felt guilty for not updating and Amber is so dang good and loyal at this stuff. And Danielle is back in Provo...

First the kids:
Emily is now simultaneously enrolled in Ohio State and High School. She has 2 classes in the COSI buiding and 1 at OSU. Her Calculus 151 class is really challenging her but she's rising to the occasion.
Allyson is doing Color Guard at Hilliard Davidson. This means games every Friday night and competitions every Saturday. She's having fun but is always exhausted. She loves Seminary and High School.
John is in a 6th grade building that is just 6th grade. He now has his brown shirt in scouts and has left cub scouts behind. He still loves legos and Star Wars.
Katy is in 4th grade and is happy and fun.
Papa is fine and well. He has visited Kirtland and Amish country this year. He gets out more than I do.
Rob is doing fine as Bishop. Those 12 years he was in school are now paying off because the kids and I got used to him not being home. He's still ornery and doing a lot of things around the house. We bought 3 new Norwegian Spruces last week!
My big news is that I am now in grad school. Masters of Education with an emphasis in technology. Scary! I'm an old woman trying to learn new things!

John's Pinewood Derby

John (With the help from Dad) made another fantastic pinewood derby car. Here are some pictures! His car is really a PT boat, because Papa served on a PT boat in WWII. Or something like that... anyway, he was pretty excited about it~!

Beth's recent reads

May I recommend:

Firoozeh Dumas. She has written 2 vastly entertaining and charming books. The first is Funny in Farsi and the follow-up is Laughing without an accent. She is a very funny iranian-american. The books are quick reads but so fun. She finds humor in the cultural differences without insulting. I highly recommend them. Appropriate for book talks, clubs, and middle/high school reading assignments.

The suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a fascinating true story of a Victorian murder and the famous detective assigned to solve the case. The author has researched the reports Mr. Whicher made to the Home Office and follows the investigation and trials. She even follows up on the post-years to see where the participants end up. I was mesmerized by this book simply because it's true. The author sometimes got too far into literary analysis and the genre of mysteries based on this case for my liking but the story was compelling and I couldn't wait to read how it finished.

My secret(ok, not so secret) love is for Historical Romance novels. But I don't want the R-rated stuff. Hooray for Georgette Heyer. This grand dame is several years deceased but she has over 50 delightful historical novels that are all chaste and complex and entertaining. Looking for a sweet romance? Try Heyer.

My latest favorite is Lisa Lutz. After the order of Janet Evanovich I think Lutz is even funnier. Her protagonist is a dysfuntional young woman raised in a dysfunctional family of Private Detectives. Her little sister is a scream. The Spellman family is hilarious.

Ok, excuse my ignorance but I had no idea that John Wilkes Booth was part of a larger conspiracy. I found much to love in The Assasin's Accomplice. Again because it was a true story, I was captivated. The spying and intrigue of the Civil War was informative and entertaining. I now know the name of the first woman to die from capital punishment in the U.S. Hope that comes up in a quiz show sometime.

Mom's Great Plan

So mom had a great idea to go through all our pictures and post only the best of my father. Here we go... Brace yourself!!

So, this last one is more just HIM. But still, look at that!

Winter Break Means Birthdays and other Holidays!

First and foremost, Papa turned 82 in December! Hoorah! We had cousin Sarah and her son Eldon over for spaghetti and a diverse cake (because Papa couldn't make up his mind....)

Ellis cousins from Kentucky came and visited before Christmas break and we had fun with them!

Christmas at the Lybbert's has always been, well... nap day. We open our presents, eat soup, and nap all day. Santa DID bring "PIT" and there was a lot of screaming and bell ringing. Allyson, frustrated at Beth's utter domination, ran and hid the bell in the microwave.

In an effort to regain their healthful lifestyle, Rob and Beth kicked the family out into the wild, cold forests. We visited Hayden Falls (Rob wouldn't let the kids out on the ice, so there was some sad faces....) and Grigg's Reservoir. Everyone got a good exercise and as soon as we got home, lot's of naps...

New Year's Emily went to a friends house where she played frisbee, fooseball, Rock Band and some quality card games. A twilight zone marathon (courtesy of SciFi channel) continued until 3 in the morning...
The other children (Beth and Rob had hit the sack long before midnight) stayed up well past midnight and toasted each other with some sparkling grape juice. John and Katy were VERY excited.

January 4th brought a day of reckoning. Emily turned 16, making her the first dating age child for Rob and Beth. How they take it is yet to be seen....