Region Champs 2013

  

T played on the JV soccer team at SFHS this year!  He was super thrilled to be on the team.  He got some good playing time, scored, had some assists, and completely enjoyed himself.  It was a great season to watch!  Go Dons!!

Orange Shoes

Last year I saw some cute shoes on Pinterest that someone had dyed.  I wanted to do some but couldn't find any shoes to do.  I was at the store the other day and found these beauties for $5ish and couldn't pass it up. 

Before

After

Love the orange color!

They were super easy to do.  The hardest part was trying to figure out what color to do.  I love the orange and now am ready to do some more.  I'm thinking maybe purple?!

Fun During the Competitons

Some fun things we did during the competitions:

We went to the Bluebird Cafe' in Logan and

enjoyed some delicious shakes and sundaes.

One of M's dance groups.

M and Stacey Tookey 

M and Travis Wall

She was super excited to meet Travis!  All the girls were going crazy over him.

Us moms with Ivan Koumaev

While our girls were in their classes and we were waiting for them to get done we had some fun of our own.  

Ivan is from SYTYCD and is super fun.  I asked if we could take a picture with him and he said only if he could wear my hat.  So, we swapped hats for our photo op!  BTW the lovely matchy hats were bought to embarass our daughters.  Funny thing though, we got so many compliments on our hats. 

 We sure enjoyed ourselves!

Doing a little shopping.

 

At our last competition one of M's dances won an overall, so the whole group got these jackets.  They were thrilled.  They really did an awesome job!  It was a great way to end the competition season.

The Herriman baseball team "put on" the competition and at the end the players had a dance off.  This guy was the winner, so why not get a picture of him?

J had to have her picture taken too:)

S is 12!

This handsome young man has been waiting and waiting and counting the days until he turned 12.  He has been looking forward to his 12th birthday for a long time.  And, on the 5th his day finally arrived!  S has been anticipating getting the priesthood for a long time.  He has often tried to sneak onto the row with the deacons who were getting ready to pass the sacrament.  He's begged to go to young men's on Sundays and to mutual on Wednesdays.   He's asked to go do fast offerings with his brother.  Well, now he can do all those things.  He was able to receive the priesthood on his actual birthday.  He was so excited and you could see the joy on his face.  It was a very special moment for me to watch his dad give him the priesthood.  What a blessing that is.  Now I have 3 priesthood holders in my home.  I'm so grateful for the priesthood and for the many wonderful ways it has blessed my life.  I'm so excited for S to continue to learn and grow and to watch him grow into a wonderful young man!

T's Art Project

T and his friend made this all out of duck tape for an art project.  

It has now replaced one of the ceiling tiles at his school.

  I think they did a pretty awesome job!

Competition Season 2013

We've had a very busy competition season this year.  We just finished our last one which is always bittersweet.  I LOVE watching the girls dance, but it takes a lot of time.  The last 4 weekends have been tied up with competitions, making it a total of 5 for the year.  That doesn't include performances, practice, and the recital that is coming soon!  This has been a fun year of dance for the girls.  They have learned and have grown so much.  I love watching them and seeing how excited they are to be doing what they love!

Breath of Life

Bright Wings

Heart Cry

Hero

Let's Go

Coin Laundry

Redeemed

Late Night Painting

We don't do sleepovers, but we LOVE late nights.  The kids had friends over one night and I came into the dining room to this scene.  The kiddos were all busy painting.  They set up, painted, enjoyed, and cleaned up all on their own.  It was a success for everyone!

My Birthday

The girls made this yummy chocolate cake for me for my birthday.  They even made the frosting from scratch.  Love, love, love my family!

Charades

We had our family party at my SIL's house and then made an impromptu stop to visit this cute family.

We got to play a game of charades while we were there!  Love family time!

He's 15!

I can't believe this boy is 15.  I know I say that all the time, but it's true that time flies.  He was so excited to open his presents that he woke up at like 5:00 a.m. to see what we had gotten him.  I was half asleep and he eagerly sat on the bed and opened up his Skull Candy headphones and XBOX live gift card.  I was such a sleepy head I didn't get any pictures.  Oh well, he was thrilled.  We did all sing to him that evening and enjoyed some homemade Payday bars.  YUM!

T is a smart guy, and a nice guy when he wants to be.  However he is a messy guy.  He HATES cleaning his room.  On this particular day M was in there "showing" him how to do it.  Good thing I love him!

Presidents Day Weekend

In February we went to St. George for Presidents Day weekend.  T had a soccer tournament.  Sadly the reason we were there I didn't get any pictures.  The boys did great in the tournament and fun was had by all! We stayed with some friends and were thrilled to be in warmer climate.

The kids thought it was warm enough for a night swim.  

I opted out and was content to be the photographer!

On Sunday after church we headed over to walk the temple grounds. 

The St. George Temple is so beautiful!  We went to the visitor center and watched a short film on families.  It was very touching and even the kids walked away having felt the spirit.  

My cute girls. 

Hubby and I.

Visiting some friends.  M was smart and stayed in the hot tub.  The crazy boys were jumping off the roof into the freezing pool.  They are nuts.  The kids also enjoyed some ziplining!

I'm not a huge fan of cake or cupcakes.  However, there is a fabulous place that sells the best cupcakes.  So, whenever we are in town we stop by Twenty-Five Main for a delicious treat!

The kids enjoying their treats!

The dads and kids enjoyed a game of kickball in the park.  Everyone was having a blast until DH kicked the ball and it bounced right off of J's forehead.  Poor girl.  

All in all, our trip to St. George was a huge success!  We enjoyed several soccer games in the sun, visited with friends, ate good food, did some shopping, and enjoyed time together as a family.

Penny Jane

I love living close to some of my family.  Dani, Tate, and Penny came to visit and Penny was actually nice to me so I had to document the visit!  She is such a cute little thing!

January Happenings

Like usual we stay pretty busy, and January was no different.

M had her drama performance.  She is actually quite a cute little actress.  It was fun watching her perform and seeing all the things she learned this year.

We've had a very cold and snowy winter.  There have been many days with horrible inversion so bad that the kids aren't even allowed to play outside during recess.  -4 is WAY too cold for me.  We are all ready for a little bit of sunshine to come our way!

We love to have friends over for play dates and late nights!

Tal's Birthday

In January we got to celebrate this little cuties' birthday.  I can't believe how big she is getting. 

I sure love her!

Soap Making

We went to a friends' house (before Christmas) for dinner.

Afterwards the boys went downstairs to play pool and the girls made soaps!  

They had a great time and now want to get the stuff so we can make more.

9 1/2 Weeks

About 9 1/2 weeks ago I had a bilateral release done on both my knees.  My kneecaps were twisted which in turn was causing me to have extreme pain.  I've suffered with knee pain for a long time, but the pain would come and go.  However recently it just kept getting worse and worse.  So I made the long avoided trip to visit with the ortho surgeon.  Sure enough I needed surgery.  It was not fun, but I am glad to report that I'm getting better.  I'm not having the normal pain I was having, now I just have surgery pain.  I'm doing much better than expected so that's good.  Hopefully things will continue to go uphill from here.  

Since my surgery was exactly 1 week before Christmas I didn't really feel up to doing much of anything let alone blogging.  Luckily all our shopping was done and presents were wrapped.  Our friends were amazing and brought in delicious meals, treats, and gifts.  I really feel blessed to be surrounded by such loving and service oriented people.  We truly are grateful and in debt to those who helped our family.

A few months late, but had to post anyways.

M with her Christmas loot!

J was very pleased with her Christmas!

S was also thrilled:)

It was a successful year!

In December we also enjoyed our Ward Christmas Party.  The committee did an amazing job.  We celebrated a night in Bethlehem.  Everyone came dressed in clothing from the time period.  We were given money to spend that evening.  We were taxed, went "shopping", ate, and enjoyed a program.  

For hubby's work party we went to Tucano's.  Yummy!

I can't believe how quickly 2012 came and went.  We had a good year filled with lots of fun adventures as always.  We had Hubby's family over for New Years Eve.  We played games, ate, and rang in the new year with sparkling apple cider.  Then we scurried everyone off to bed!

Shopping and Progressive Dinner

Hubby and I hit the stores one Saturday determined to get all our shopping done.  We did it!  We were finished early enough that we could enjoy our December without too much stress.

That evening we met up with our good friends to do a progressive dinner.  We've done it before in the past and then took a break from it which the kids were not happy about.  So, we thought it would be a good idea to do it again!

1st stop: Appetizers

~Breads with Dips

~Little Smokies

2nd stop: Dinner

~Stuffed Shells

~Salad

~Breadsticks

3rd stop: Dessert

~Hot Chocolate Bar

~Caramel Corn Pops

It was a very enjoyable evening for everyone!

Living Nativity

 A few years ago we went to a living nativity and the kids loved it.  They've been wanting to go again so I turned to the handy internet to find out when it would be going on.  I couldn't find the one we had been to, but did find a different one.  So, we bundled up and headed out for the evening.  It was raining and a little chilly but well worth it.  There were camels, donkeys, and horses as we walked the path to the city of Jerusalem.  Then we got to the city we walked around and saw many different aspects of life during the time of Christ's birth.  There were games, bread makers, leather workers, tax collectors, basket weavers, and even the three wisemen were there to talk to us.  After we made it through the city, we made our way to a stable where Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus were peacefully waiting for us.  It was very well done, and I think we all really enjoyed the evening.

To warm ourselves up afterwards we went to Starbucks.  They have super yummy hot chocolate there!  It was a great ending to our great evening!

Nov. 24, 2012

Our neice got married in the Bountiful Temple!  She was a beautiful bride.  I can't believe she is married, she was only 2 when we got married.  She married a very nice guy.  We all really like him.  He has made himself fit right in with the family, you can tell he really loves her.  It's been fun getting to know him and I look forward to many more fun times with them!  After the wedding we went to a church and ate yummy waffles.  The reception was in the evening and the whole evening turned out really nice.  

 

Quick photo op at the temple.

After the luncheon and before the reception we had some spare time, so we went to Temple Square.  We walked around the Conference Center for a little bit and then went to the visitor centers on Temple Square.  I always love being there.