Cute pictures!

I thought that this was a cute picture of Bradon and Talan.

We took this while waiting for Carsten's football practice to get over with.

They hadn't mowed the field in forever and then when they finally mowed they didn't use a catcher.  It looked like a hay field waiting to be bailed.  The kids had a lot of fun playing in it.  This is Reagan strutting her summertime hair-undo and outfit.  Cute thing!

American Fork Football

Carsten has started his first year of football!

These are some pictures of him at practice.  Isn't he so cute?  He's the only kid with light blue practice pants.  I love it because it helps me find him when I'm watching him play.  

There he is on his knees just about to help bring that boy down!

So far David and I think that Carsten has some real talent.  He is quick, strong and seems to understand the game.  When they tell him who to block, he blocks em and they don't go anywhere!  He's pretty good at tackling too!  We are so excited to see what he can do.

I love this picture!  This was at the end of practice.  He's hot and sweaty and he even has grass stuck to his face!  I love it!

Go American Fork Cavemen!

Lone Peak Football

Bradon has started his 3rd year playing Lone Peak Football.  This year he is on the 3rd grade team.  Bradon loves football!  Well, we all do really!  This is a fun time of year.  Busy but fun!  Right now he has practices 5 days a week for 2 hours a day and then starting this next week it goes to 3 practices a week and games every Saturday.  It's a lot of hard work, time and dedication, but I think that it is ALL really good for him!

The leagues have come together and decided that everyone has to play for the league of the High School boundaries they live in.   We live in American Fork High School boundaries.  The leagues decided that if you have been playing in the wrong league then they will give you until 2010 to make the switch.  If you are new to football then you have to play for the right league now.  So I guess that means that they are going to start to check addresses.  Bradon decided that he wasn't ready to make the switch this year and so he is playing for Lone Peak Football one more year.

And he is officially Xed this year!  He has always been right on the border and this year he was too but he didn't want to strip down to his underwear to make weight.  So he's Xed!  At first I kind of felt bad for him but then I decided that this was a good thing because he is the only one Xed on his entire team so it will be easy to tell which one of the kids on the field is mine!

And for the third year in a row now he will play CENTER.  He is happy to play center.  It's what he knows and feels comfortable with.  It also looks like he will be playing defense too.  Being the biggest kid on the team I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Go Lone Peak Knights!

Meet the teacher night!

Carsten's new 1st grade teacher is 

Mrs. Christensen.

She seems really nice and I think that Carsten is going to have a good time in 1st grade.  

And yes, just before going to meet the teacher night we buzzed Carsten's summer mohawk off!

What a cute boy that Carsten is!

Bradon's new 3rd grade teacher is 

Mrs. Beckstrom.  

Ethan had Mrs. Beckstrom and Bradon has wanted to get her ever since.  We hope that he has a good year.  Mrs. Beckstrom is suppose to be a really good reading teacher.  Bradon is thrilled because he really wants to become a better reader.

Ethan's new 5th grade teacher is 

Mrs. Mitchell.

I can hardly believe that Ethan is already in 5th grade!  He is growing up so fast!  It seems like just yesterday I was taking him to his first day of Kindergarten at Higley Elementary School.  Mrs. Mitchell is suppose to be a good teacher.  At least that's what all the kids say.  

After meet the teacher night we went to Tepenyaki for dinner.  Over the last 3 years we have made going to Tepenyaki after meet the teacher night into a family tradition.  However I think that our family tradition is going to have to change restaurants.  It is so expensive!  Everytime we go it seems like the kids eat all their food and leave hungry!  The show is fun and the kids absolutely love the food but I just think that after you spend a good $75.00 on a meal everyone should leave full!  Just my opinion.

We are all very excited for a 

new year of school to start!

So friggin cute!

Talan is so friggin cute!

Talan is 7 month old now and so much fun!  He is learning to crawl.  He doesn't have it down quite yet but he can somewhat get around.  He can get himself to a sitting position from laying down.  He is having fun exploring and putting everything he can find into his mouth.  He has finally taken to eating baby food.  Yesterday I just couldn't feed him prunes fast enough.  He was loving it!  He isn't sleeping as good as I would hope but I'm hoping with the kids going back to school we can change that.  I just love him to pieces and couldn't imagine life without him! Yesterday David just joking around said "I love this kid!  Thanks so much for talking me into having another baby!"  Well we all know that there was no talking either of us into anything.  Talan was suppose to come weather we knew it or not, and we are so glad that he did.

Summer is almost over!

Summer is winding down and it seem like all the kids want to do is play on the stupid computer.  Ethan takes total offense to this comment.  He says, "Hey the computer isn't stupid and you're on it more than I am!"  I guess that he sorta has a point.  The computer isn't stupid.....  but I'm not sure about the "I'm on it more than him" part!  Anyhow, the computer has been the kids' friend.  Especially Club Penguin.  This is one of Ethan's favorite sites to play on.  Bradon and Carsten like it too.  They get on it with all their friends in the neighborhood and have a good time.  I think that it is pretty clean innocent fun so for that I'm grateful.

Tonight is meet the teacher night at the kids school.  Yippy!  I'm really getting excited for the kids to go back to school.  Not that I don't love them to death but life is just so much more structured during the school year, and the kids love being in school too!  I think that summer becomes sort of boring after a while for them.  SCHOOL = FUN!  Not to mention that Talan is in serious need of a good nap!  With all the kids, home peace and quiet is hard to come by!

Bradon's bad day!

My kids are learning very valuable cooking lessons through their good friend TOP ROMAN!  First Ethan forgets to put water in his top roman and smokes up the house and now Bradon spilt the boiling hot water all down the front of himself.  These are hard lessons to learn but I'm pretty sure they wont be repeated!

Poor Bradon!  He was wearing his under armor football shirt when it happened.  Those puppies are suck tight!  We got his shirt off as fast as we could and got him in the tub with cold water.  His skin immediately blistered!  He iced it, took lots of Motrin and laid in bed all day until it was time to go to football practice.  Yes, we made him go to practice!  What can I say, we are die hards around here!  We didn't have him put his pads on and hit, but we did tell the coach that he could run.  This picture is about a week after it happened.  It's on the mend now and doing a lot better.  I'm not sure if it's going to scar but if it does I guess he'll have a good little top roman story to tell.

Happy Birthday Dad!

On August 4th my dad celebrated his 65th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I love my dad!  One of the best feelings ever is that I know that he loves me too!  Ever since I was a little girl I can remember him asking me, "Do you know that I love You?"  I have always answered "Yes!"  

Secretly I think that I'm my dads favorite!  I have always felt a connection with my dad.  I don't know if it was sitting with him watching Nascar, The Los Angeles Kings, The Suns or the Diamondbacks.  But somewhere along the way I felt that we were alike.

My dad has always been my #1 fan!  I can remember him coming to all my volleyball games in High School and College.  No matter if I played good or bad he always thought that I was the best!  

My dad is very hard working and trustworthy.  He has always been a good example of that to me.  He speaks the plain and simple truth and doesn't try to sugar coat things or beat around the bush.  He tells it how it is or at least how he sees it!

My dad is a passionate person!  He is passionate about sports, passionate about politics, and passionate about the gospel!

My dads solution to most every problem I'm facing with my children is to just love them.  He always says " I think that they just need a big hug!"  And he's probably right!

My dad always has a way of making me feel good about myself.

I love you dad!

Happy Birthday!

Out of Excuses

So my friend Jenny and I have started our own private weight lose blogs called Out of Excuses.   We took pictures of ourselves in tight fitting workout clothes, took our measurements, and weighed in.  Everyday we log what we eat, log our exercise and journal how the day went. Every week we will post a new picture of ourselves in the same outfit, remeasure and reweigh.  

I was reluctant to do this mostly because I wasn't sure that I could post a picture of myself. Jenny called and begged and finally I said YES!  So I first started with putting on a swimsuit and having Ethan take my picture.  One from the front, one from the side and one from the back.  I looked at the pictures and just about died!  Like I knew that I was overweight but I had NO IDEA that I looked like that.  How do you walk around everyday with yourself and have no idea what you look like?  Anyways, I am so glad that I haven't gone anywhere in public with that suit on!  So then I put on a tight workout outfit and had Ethan retake the pictures. Still it was awful but obviously there was nothing I could do to make it look better!  The damage has already been done, I did it to myself!  So I weighed myself, took my measurements and then posted it all!  HORRIFYING!  If taking a picture of yourself isn't motivation enough then I don't know what would be!  Ever since taking those pictures Tuesday morning, it's pretty much all I can think about.  The picture from the back is the worst!  It threw me into a tail spin of depression and I have just not been myself.  Finally I realized why I was feeling so down and once I recognized it I have started feeling better.   

Anyways, I have been doing really good this week.  I have been doing Weight Watchers and I have stayed within my points everyday.  I have also exercised everyday too!  I have been logging everything and I'm thinking that I am going to be able to stick to this.  As long as that picture sticks in my head I think I can say no to just about anything!

If any of you would like to join in this weight lose effort just let me know and we can get you a private blog started too!  

East Canyon Resort

While I was gone David took the kids to  the East Canyon Resort.  David's cousin's Robert and Jenny have a time share there and let us use the condo for the weekend.  It was so nice and fun for the kids too!  When David picked Ethan, Talan and I up at the airport he took us there to spend the night and then we went home on Sunday.

They had a miniature golf course for the kids.  David said that they played it time and time again! 

Here are some pictures of 

Bradon and Reagan 

playing a round.

Thank you Jenny and Robert for a fabulous weekend for my kids. 

 They had a great time!

Talan had a good time watching the kids play!  I'm sure that he was pretty excited about getting out of that Arizona heat too!