Ammon Michal

Ammon is 15 and about 6'3" (we haven't measured him in awhile so he might be a little taller). He is a sophomore this year and attends early morning seminary before school every day. He loves rock music and video games and hopes to be a video game designer one day. He is progressing toward his Eagle and plans to complete it before his 16th birthday so that mom and dad will allow him to get his driver's license.

Bethany Elaine

Bethany is 13 and growing up too fast. She is in the 8th grade and active in theater, orchestra and her youth activities. She loves to read and text (constantly!) and is in love with the Twilight series of books. She looks forward to turning 14 in a few months so that she can begin attending dances, however, mom and dad are not as anxious for that era to begin.

Caleb Samuel

Caleb is 9 and in the 4th grade. He loves his dog, Denver, and has a soft spot for animals in general. He spends every possible moment with his best friend down the street, and can often be found playing Guitar Hero with his siblings. He is still active in Cub Scouts and enjoys camping. He is looking forward to all the scout campouts that will start for him in a couple of years.

Daxon Malachi

Daxon is now six years old. He is in first grade and in the Spanish Immersion Program at his school. He will be learning English as well as Spanish and as the years progress, more and more of his instruction will be in Spanish. He loves to play outside and has gained an appreciation for rock music now that we have Guitar Hero on the Wii. It is so fun to hear him singing along with a classic rock song on the radio.

Book of Mormon Read-a-thon Aug 2008

The youth group in our ward had a Book of Mormon Read-a-thon. They read as individuals, groups, with CDs and also had different people read the words of people they were portraying. It was a huge success. They began on Friday and finished Saturday night. In those two days our youth group read the entire Book of Mormon! This is picture of Rico as Captain Moroni with a very tired but happy Ammon and Bethany.

Saving the Squirrels

After the hurricane, we found several baby squirrels that had fallen out of trees. Caleb rescued them and we all helped nurse them until we could take them to the SPCA. In the end, only two survived. It was a great experience for our children (as well as the neighbor children) to take care of a hurt animal. This is a picture of feeding time. We fed them kitten milk with a medicine dropper because they were too young for anything else.

Hurricane Ike

We survived Hurricane Ike with only a mess in our yard. We were so blessed to have no damage. Our whole street came through without any major damage. We feel for those who lost so much but especially those who lost loved ones. This is a picture of our yard after some cleanup. At this point, we had not finished the back yard yet.

Day in Heaven Nov 15, 2008

We had a Maranto day in heaven when we took some family names to the temple. Sammy and Sandy, Judd and Amy, and Sam and Tim spent the weekend with us and we did baptisms, endowments and sealings for several members of the Maranto family. It was such a special experience to see Sammy do the work for his parents and have them sealed together for time and all eternity.

Philmont June-July 2008

Rico and Ammon had the wonderful opportunity to attend Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico where they hiked and camped for 2 weeks. They experienced difficult and fun times together and with the rest of their troop, lost several pounds and Rico almost got eaten by a mountain lion. They are both so happy they went and Rico is looking forward to taking Caleb in a few years.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!!! We hope that this holiday season brings you happiness and that your hearts and minds will be turned to the Savior's birth.