Sisters Retreat

I had a wonderful weekend with my mom and sisters in Park City. It was so much fun to be with them with no distractions. We stayed in an awesome condo and I have to say I was not ready to leave when it was time to go. Maybe I felt so sad because I got in my car to leave and all of the rest got in another car together to leave (except Margie). We had fun shopping, eating out, having birthday cake, playing a game and mostly reminiscing.

Raingutter Regata

This post is to celebrate our final pinewood derby or raingutter regata ever!! It's been fun . . . c ya! Mitchell won about 5 out of his 8 races. Thanks to McKay for helping Mitchell with his boat!! What would we do without big brothers?

Accident Prone Part II

Did I mention Kyle is accident prone? Brighton Resort opened last week, so Kyle got out the snowboard and his friends and headed for the hills! We went to pick them up and there was Kyle with a big bandage on his face and a limp! He went off a box (rail) and tried to 180 off of it and instead did a face plant on ice! And so, I give you Kyle . . .

A little bit of this, a little bit of that . . .

Look what we woke up to yesterday! (Not the dog, the SNOW) Love it, love it, love it!! This picture was taken after the snow had some time to melt, but we did have about 4".

A mixture of fall and winter! I thought the orange trees against the snow was beautiful.

My handsome husband.

I just loved these pictures, so . . .

McKay's and Mitchell's masterpieces. Kyle was too busy to carve? and my masterpiece was on the other side of the porch. These were a couple of the pumpkins from our garden! We grew about 14 pumpkins from our two plants.

Happy Halloween!

Mitchell and I had a lot of fun with some Halloween projects! I'm so glad that I have one child that likes to do fun things like this. His big brothers might be "too big" to help with the activities, but they will definitely eat them! We made mini-carameled apples, twinkie mummies and eyeballs!

Accident Prone

As I look through my blog, I notice that there is a child that I have neglected! Poor Kyle, having one injury after another, has had to take a break from sports. Being the sports nut that I am (when it comes to my kids) I have to remember there are other activites that they are involved in. Here is Kyle whom we love just as much as McKay and Mitchell, getting ready for his band concert (beginning percussion). He did a GREAT job and he is so dang cute!! The turkey wasn't anywhere to be found after the concert until we looked behind us just in time to see him HUGGING HIS GIRLFRIEND!

Her he is at the concert. The picture is kind of dark, sorry . . .







Kyle is on the back row, right in the middle.

I've been Tagged!

Thanks, Brittany!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago

1. Having my last child and enduring the week long stay in the hospital.
2. Moving into our current home.
3. Making new friends in our new neighborhood.
4. Chasing a 5 year old and a 2 year old around.
5. Supporting Hiram as he began his career as a Sheriff's Deputy.

5 things on my To do list today

1. Go to Mitchell's last football game of the season before playoffs.
2. Watch Hiram and the boys winterize and cover the trailer.
3. Pick up a new expensive dog run that is less expensive than it could have been because we are getting it at a yard sale for our dumb dog who chews through the dog run that we already bought that we hope to sell to recover some of the money back!
4. Watch Hiram fertilize the lawn for the winter.
5. Clean the kitchen floor, do laundry, Halloween activity with Mitchell that I promised him we would do today (I'll post a picture later), and work on my data entry.

5 things I would do if I were a millionare

1. Pay tithing
2. Pay off my house
3. Savings for kids college and missions
4. Buy a house for my mom and Hiram's mom and dad.
5. Live comfortably and help family members as necessary.

5 places I have lived

1. Driggs, Idaho
2. Rexburg, Idaho
3. Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Sandy, Utah
5. Riverton, Utah

5 jobs I have had

1. Heath Engineering Company
2. Stanley Consultants
3. PermaPlate
4. Jr. High Lunch Cashier
5. Coburn Drug in Driggs, Idaho

5 people I tag

1. Tara
2. Mikki
3. Jenny
4. Alicia
5. Holly

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

More Football (bear with me)

McKay wasn't able to practice last week or play in the football game against Kearns this week. The trainer has been keeping a good eye on him. He should be good to go for their final game of the season. He definitely did have a concussion, so now I get to be one of those worried, nervous mothers that can't relax until the game is over! I really hate that.

Kyle now has to take prednisone for 12 days to help his osgood schlatters disease and NO sports until he can do a squat and extend his leg with resistance. It's killing him to not be able to play lacrosse.

In the pictures below, Mitchell is taking a hand-off and then goes for a TOUCHDOWN! Then he is stripping the ball from East and gets it! I still can't figure out how to put the description next to the picture it goes with! Just look for #84!

These are a couple of the cards I made at a "card party" that I thought were pretty cute, especially because I'm not that creative! It helps, though, when the cards are pre-cut for you and all you have to do is stamp, and adhere! I made 5 different kinds (5 of each) for my mom to send out to her 160 members of our family for their birthdays.

This is a birthday present that "someone in our family" gave to his girlfriend on her 16th b-day. How sweet and fun is that!

Headline: RIVERTON beats not only BINGHAM but the referees!!! 20-18

McKay is on the top of the pile.

No kidding! The referees were the WORST I have ever seen! To our approximately 20 penalties, Bingham had maybe 2 or 3!! They did everything they could to help Bingham win, but it didn't work!! We were up 14-0 in the first half and I guess Bingham coaches paid the refs during half time! After half time Bingham scored twice, but didn't get there extra points, so it was 14-12. Then they scored again the last 2 minutes to make it 14-18 (no extra point). One minute to go and we headed to our end zone. With 10 seconds left we scored!! 20-18 You would have thought it was the championship game (I guess it kind of was since they were our only competition). Our side of the bleachers were so full and everyone was crazy with excitement!

Picture above: McKay is making an awesome block.

Below is a picture of the Riverton vs. West Jordan game. Look for #56 near the right.

The only down side was at the end of the 3rd quarter Mckay came out and the coaches sat him down on the bench and took his helmet off. The medic was continually checking on him. I was going nuts not knowing what was going on and it took everything in me not to go down and see. If I would have gone down, I would have been disowned by McKay. After the game, I found out that in the 2nd quarter, after a huge head to head hit, saving the quarterback from getting sacked, McKay sustained a possible concussion. There he is sitting on the bench.

They are now ranked the #1 Sophomore team in Utah!

Wait . . . I'm not done yet . . .

The Varsity coach approached McKay last week and asked him to practice with the Varsity during playoffs! He wants him to start as tackle for the Varsity team next year! The coach can't wait to get his hands on the Sophomores next year!

Side note: All three touchdowns by Bingham were scored in the fourth quarter while McKay was out with his injury.

Okay, now I'm done.

I MISS MY MOMMY

It It has been such a wonderful three weeks having my mom around! She left us yesterday. Margie and Blair picked her up and made an overnight stop at her house and took her with them to Billings, MT, to an opera that Chris is starring in! Mom was my constant companion for three weeks, so now I'm learning how to do everything on my own again! She was the backup homework helper when I was off to mutual, or picking up/dropping off. She was my co-captain as we traveled many miles running errands and taxiing kids. She helped me can 15 quarts of peaches (helped as in I peeled maybe five peaches)! We took a trip to WalMart where mom tried out the motorized shopping carts!! I was so proud of her and she only crashed into a display once and I laughed so hard! It was so much fun! She was always there to help with dinner, etc., etc., etc. When the kids woke up this morning, they asked where grandma was before they remembered that she was gone!

Update on football/lacrosse games:

McKay's Team: Riverton 40 something - Hillcrest 14

Riverton 45 - Jordan 12

Highlight: McKay got through the line, the quarter back threw the ball, McKay jumped into the air and tipped the ball to our player, who made a 25 yard run to the 5 yd line - next play - TOUCHDOWN!!

Mitchell's Team: Riverton 12 - Alta 6 (overtime)

The game was 6-6 from 5 minutes into the first quarter! It was a nail biter, literally! I have no nails now!

Sad news: Forgot camera!

Kyle's Team: Riverton 3 - Bingham 8 (Lacrosse)

Highlight: Kyle scored!!!!

Sad news: Forgot camera and this may be his only game this season!! He injured his knee! We spent 3-1/2 hours at the doctor's office yesterday (missing 3/4 of McKay's football game). He was playing night games and jumped over a can (kick the can) and it felt like his knee cap jammed. We watched it for five days and waited for the swelling to go down before we took him to the dr. They took an x-ray and 3 HOURS LATER they received the reading. They made him stay in a wheel chair and he thought that was pretty cool! No fracture, just his Osgood Schlatters Disease was reaggravated. Only cure: no running, playing sports for a couple of months!!! Then later we received a call from the dr. saying he may have torn the ligament that attaches his patilla and tibia. So, we have to wait and see if there is any improvement in the next couple of weeks. If not, off to an orthopedic specialist! So we will cross our fingers that he will be healthy enough to use his snowboarding season pass that we just bought him!!

Just another cute pic of Mitchell coming off of the field (#84).

We had a relaxing Labor Day weekend at Palisade State Park. We left right after Mitchell's football game and stayed until Monday noon so we could get back to McKay's football practice that evening. This is our one and only picture of the weekend, because I forgot to take the charger to the camera and, of course, that battery ran out right after this picture! The weather was perfect and it waited to rain until during the night on Sunday. All of the tents you see in the background had to pack up and leave during the night because of the down pour. We played games, read, ate, played games, ate, went to the lake, ate, ate . . . We promised the boys there would be NO hiking or sight seeing this trip. Yes, we were lazy and we loved it!!

Mitchell's team played Cyprus and creamed them 48-0! Mitchell even got two touchdowns!! He normally doesn't run the ball, but because we were so far ahead, the coach was letting anyone who wanted to run the ball. Grandma Green was there to witness it all! He's turned out to be quite the football player!

McKay's team played Pleasant Grove at Pleasant Grove. We won 48 to 14! McKay did great! Grandma Green was there and seems to be enjoying watching her grandsons play ball. She should be able to get to another of McKay's and Mitchell's games and Kyle's lacrosse game.

Okay, he is totally not supposed to be on the couch, but how do I get mad at that!!

We are so happy that Grandma came to visit. She was able to see McKay's first football game and will see Mitchell's first one also. I don't think Kyle will have a lacrosse game while she is here, though. Whenever grandma comes to visit, she gets us caught up on piano lessons. She's a lot more fun to play for than mom!!!

McKay had his first high school football game. He is starting offense and defense. He's in the middle there somewhere!! He did a GREAT job and his team beat Orem 56-0!

McKay started high school this year!! He's one of only 3,000 students and he is enjoying it a lot!

Kyle started Jr. High and he loves it!

Clean, Clean, Clean!!

I am so excited about a purchase we made today, that I just had to share! I really love our dog, Rocky, but the shedding has been driving me crazy!! I've been wanting to get a Dyson vacuum especially for homes with pets and so Hiram took me to Sears today and we bought one!! I was going to take a picture of the load of yuck the vacuum sucked up, but I didn't want to make you sick! The house feels so clean now!!

Goodbye Summer!

Mitchell's heading to school with his best friend Branson. He's starting 5th grade.
I welcome cooler weather, but these are some of the reasons I hate summer to end . . . .

The kids going back to school, football, lacrosse and cooler nights are sure signs that summer is coming to an end. It's sad to send everyone back to school, and end the lazy days of summer, but a regular schedule is very much needed.

I spent Monday at Girls Camp in Park City which included a nice, steep, hot hike! Then on Tuesday our family went to the Burnett Family Reunion outside of Heber which was really nice and very beautiful. I could kick myself for not taking the camera. There was a beautiful lake that we were able to ride on canoes and pedal boats. Kyle and his cousins, Alex and Clay, were having so much fun that they tipped over. Of course, Kyle was wearing his brand new school shoes!

McKay made the 1st string offense and defense on the Riverton High School Sophomore team. He is very excited for his first game on the 28th. I will be posting pictures.