Utah State Spring Scrimmage

This is my cousin Eric Schultz #66.
He plays football for The Utah State Aggies in Logan, Utah.

He plays on the offensive line.

Last weekend they had their spring scrimmage game. We had planned on going to the game months before it actually took place. Then Carsten's lacrosse schedule came out and sure enough he had a game causing us to be late to the spring scrimmage. As soon as Carsten's game was over we bolted out of town to try to make it. We got there an hour late and only caught about 45 minutes of the scrimmage. We still had a good time and got to see Eric in action!

After the game we went down on the field to hang out with Eric for awhile. All the players had sharpies so they could sign autographs for the fans. It was cute seeing the little kids come up to Eric for autographs and pictures.

We couldn't find anything for Eric to sign (Not that we aren't some of his biggest fans, because we are!!!) so we just took a picture with him instead.

Every time we go see Eric play the kids act silly around him. I think they are just in aw of him. It's almost as if they are star struck. I guess it's just not everyday you get to hang out with a really big cool football player!

The kids had a good time running around the field tackling each other. I was pretty sure that someone was going to end up seriously hurt but it turns out that luck was on our side!

After Eric showered and cleaned up we took him to the Firehouse pizzeria for dinner. It was fun! The kids were good and so was the food!

We are looking forward to watching Eric play this fall. It's looking like we should be able to go to his first 3 home games. Our lives are going to be football filled!

LAX=Lacrosse

Carsten has been wanting to play lacrosse for a long time now. David and I both know nothing about the game of Lacrosse. Nor have we ever known anyone who has played it. Sure we had heard about it! But experienced it? That, we have not! Well, not until now!

Carsten is playing on the American Fork Lacrosse team.
And get this.... David is his coach!

Somethings you might want to know about lacrosse... First of all LAX stands for much more than an airport in California.
It stands for LACROSSE!
Lacrosse is a cross between Soccer, Hockey, and Basketball.
It's played on a grass field like soccer, but the goals are like hockey goals, small and inside the field so that you can play around them. The positions are played like soccer and hockey but their offense and defense strategy is similar to that of basketball.

Carsten facing off to start the game!

Lacrosse is the fasting growing sport in Utah right now. The American Fork league had enough 1st and 2nd grade kids register to form 3 teams. Unfortunately they didn't have enough coaches to coach 3 teams. And that's where David comes into the picture. The head coach asked David if he would be willing to coach if he taught him everything he needed to know. And David being the sports loving nice guy that he is, said yes!
The American Fork league is the only youth league in Utah county. We will be playing against all the Salt Lake youth leagues. Which means we will be taking some Saturday road trips.

Lacrosse is a pretty rough sport. They really get in there and battle it out! Carsten not only loves it, but he's good at it too! He had his first game on Saturday and played really well. He even scored a goal!

After the game on Saturday David was pretty excited. He told me, "I think I could really get into this Lacrosse stuff!" Of course it's all still very new to us and we don't even know all the rules, but we are watching college lacrosse on television and learning more and more each week.
After Carsten's first game he said, "lacrosse is more tiring than football and baseball combined!" It is a lot of running especially when you are playing midfield. But like I said, he's good at it. He's fast, coordinated and not afraid to get in there and rough it up with the rest of them!

Stupid is as Stupid does!

Having a 2 year old living in your home amounts to HUGE LOADS of spontaneous fun! And when I say, "Huge loads" what I really mean is, multiple washings! Time and time again I am reminded that 'Stupid is as Stupid does' and unfortunately in this story, I'M THE STUPID ONE!

Yesterday morning while talking on the phone, yes I know I'm always talking on the phone, and yes I know that lots of things happen right under my nose while I'm talking on the phone, but I swear this time it was different! I was talking on the phone and Talan wanted to go outside to play. It was cold, rainy and wet outside and I didn't want him out there. I decided to let him go out into the garage instead. We do this all the time. There are lots of toys in the garage. Usually he finds a scooter and rides around on it. I opened the door to the garage and stood in front of the door, propping it open so that I could hear him play. You know being a good mother, NOT leaving my child unattended! He went into the garage and I stood there talking on the phone. All of a sudden I could smell the smell of gasoline! NO! Tell me it isn't so! I ran out to find that Talan had found the gasoline cans. He was holding the smaller of the two cans pouring gasoline out all over the garage floor. Talan looked up at me with a huge grin on his face! I yelled, "No Talan, No!" I grabbed the gasoline can away from him and put it away while Talan stepped forward stepping right into the huge puddle of gasoline. The gasoline was covering the entire area where Davids truck sits when he's home. I quickly stripped Talan down to nothing and took him into the house. As I passed the washing machine on the way to take Talan to the bathtub I threw his pajamas in knowing they would need to be washed. This was STUPID #1 on my part. I should have just thrown the stupid pajamas in the garbage in the garage instead! Okay maybe stupid #1 was really letting Talan play in the garage, and stupid #2 was talking on the phone while doing so, and this is really stupid #3 but lets just call this stupid #1 to help me feel better about being so stupid!

Right there, can you see the red and brown stripped pajamas in the washing machine? That's the stupid problem I have been dealing with for 2 days now!
Okay so lets talk about STUPID move #2. After getting Talan situated in the bathtub I ran back out to the garage and opened both garage doors and the back door leading to the backyard to air the fumes out. Now this was NOT the stupid move #2. This was in fact very smart on my part! Within a few short hours the huge puddles of gasoline had evaporated only leaving a larger than life gasoline smell behind! After opening everything up I went back into the house to deal with the pajamas. Now for STUPID move #2, I threw a whole load of clothes in with the gasoline soaked pajamas thinking,... well, apparently I wasn't really thinking! But you have to understand that the fumes of gasoline were really strong. My laundry room smelled extremely strong and my brain must have been effected by the fumes (or at least that's what I would like to think).

And so this is when I officially registered for my laundry 101 class. Because I'll tell you, I've learned a lot about laundry since my brilliant STUPID move #2!
Is this what 2 year old children are made for? To teach us life lessons such as this? I'm starting to really wonder how I made it all the way to child #5 before learning this little lesson! And so for this I am grateful to Talan. For he has brought me one step closer to becoming a domestic diva I so desperately want to become! And why didn't I ever purchase "The Queen of Clean" book before? I can't tell you how many times I watched her do little segments on channel 3's Good Morning Arizona. I could have really used her book yesterday!

I washed the load once, it still smelled of gasoline. I washed the load twice, and it still smelled of gasoline. I took the pajamas out and scrubbed them by hand with Clorox bleach for colors and then let them soak for hours. I just about threw the other clothes in the dryer which would have been STUPID #3 but remembered my neighbor Michele telling me she heard something about the dangers of gasoline and dryers. I then turned to the internet to learn that if my clothes had any trace of gasoline smell on them, it could cause great problems to dry them in the dryer. Problems I fear to learn about! I read more about getting gasoline out of clothing. I read that I could use a citrus based cleaner to get the gasoline out and then white vinegar to get the citrus cleaner smell out. It just so happens that I not only have one large bottle of USadvantage Citrus based cleaner that I bought from a scary in my face door to door salesman, but I have two! I washed my clothes for a third time using the citrus cleaner, and they still had a tint of gasoline smell to them. I washed my clothes for a fourth time with the citrus cleaner and now they truly smelled of citrus! I washed them for a fifth time using white vinegar, and they still smelled of citrus. So now I'm washing them for a sixth time with white vinegar and regular detergent, so that hopefully I can wash them for a seventh time with just my regular detergent!

Stupid is as Stupid does and ladies and gentlemen,
I'm one STU-PI-DO!!!

Grandparents Day 2010

My kids attend a school with over the top parent involvement. I'm not complaining because I truly think this is a beautiful thing, however anytime there is a school function of any kind EVERYONE shows up! This becomes a lot of pressure for me because I would hate for my child to be the only one in his or her class that has nobody attend to represent them. David and I make a huge effort to be at everything along with everyone else.

Grandparents day is a little tricky! We don't have grandparents that live in Utah. One year I asked my Uncle Jay if he could go to grandparents day as a substitute grandparent. He was happy to go and the kids loved it! Last year David took the day off work and we went together as the grandparents of our future grandchildren. This went over really well. This year Jay couldn't go, David couldn't take off work, and I didn't have to guts to ask a grandparent from my ward to go, so it was up to me to represent my children.

I got to the school with a strategy. I would start at one end of the school and visit each kid until I got to the other end of the school. Once each child was visited I would then go in reverse order checking them out of class to go home early (because we know that this is what the kids really want and look forward to).

And so I began with
Carsten's class first.

Carsten was busy working on cutting out pictures. I walked up to him and he looked over at me with zero emotion and then went back to what he was doing. I asked him if he was wanting to be checked out and of course his answer was yes! We took this picture and I moved on.

When I walked into Reagan's room I had a similar experience. Reagan was sitting at a table writing a letter to her grandparents. She looked unimpressed to see me, we took this picture and I moved on.

Bradon was on the other side of the room with his back turned to me. He was playing a game of chess with some of his friends. I walked up behind them and asked if this was the group of kids without grandparents. Bradon turned around and simply said, "yes!" and then turned back to play his game. We snapped this picture and I was outta there!

When I got to Ethan's class nobody was there. The teacher informed me that they had gone to art but would be back any minute. I waited and 25 minutes later Ethan finally arrived. He took one look at me and said, "Why didn't you come sooner so that I wouldn't have had to go to art?"

Okay, I can see what I'm good for.... NOTHING!!!
These kids don't need me for anything but to check them out!

We made our rounds back through the school, checked each kid out, and then home we went! Very eventfull, very exciting, very much a waist of my time! Or at least that's how I felt!

HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY!

One cute kid!

My baby's growing up!
He doesn't look like a little baby anymore!

I'm this big!
This is Talan in his Easter outfit. I took him outside and had him pose for some pictures. He was pretty cooperative as long as he got to see each picture after I took them.
He would say, "SEE, SEE!"

That's one cute kid!

SpRiNg BrEaK 2010

Most years for spring break I have everyday planned out with an activity or an adventure of some kind. This year...NOTHING! We all just hung out at the house doing almost NOTHING. The kids watched movies and played video games but aside from that we did NOTHING. The interesting thing about this for me was that there were no complaints. No "I'm bored!", no "there's nothing to do!" There were literally no complaints!

David took Friday off of work so we finally planned an adventure of a weekend. We crammed all our spring break fun into two fun filled days! Two inexpensive fun filled days!

We started off by going to Utah's Hogle Zoo. We have a family zoo pass so every time we go it feels like it's free! I packed the family lunches and we were off.

We had to take pictures of Ethan's personal favorite, the penguins!

I don't know how I've been to the zoo so many times and missed these little guys. They have a peep window so you can get up close and personal with them. Talan had fun checking it out!

By far I think Talan's favorite thing at the zoo was this elephant slide. Way fun! Actually this trip to the zoo Talan was quite interested in all the animals, but by the time we sat to eat lunch this slide was way more exciting than food!

After the zoo David and I took Bradon (for straight A's) and Reagan (for her special trip with dad from dad's and doughnuts) golfing at Thanksgiving Point. Our friend Tom let us use his pass for free! Thanks Tom your the best! This was Reagan's first time golfing and she loved it! She was giddy and smiles from ear to ear the whole time. I didn't think she would last past 9 holes so I arranged for my cousin Jeremy to come half way through to take our place. When Jeremy showed up Reagan was NOT ready to go. She golfed all 18 holes and never tired of it! That's our girl!

That night we invited the Mortensen's over,
we built a fire and roasted marshmallows in the back yard. It was freezing cold so we had to bundle up but the smores were sure good! We made smores with fudge striped shortbread cookies, YUM!

Lara and Amelia Mortensen.

Reagan roasting to perfection!

On Saturday we woke up and headed to
BYU for their spring practice/scrimmage game.

At the beginning all the kids got to go on the field and participate in a few football drills with the team. This is Remington Peck. We don't know anything about him except for he's on the BYU football team and he looked like he wanted his picture taken with our boys.

All our boys including Talan participated in a few drills.
This is Ethan giving it a go!

Reagan practiced her cartwheels on the field.

And Talan perfected his somersault!

Here's Talan taking the opponent down!

The longer we were down on the field the more Talan felt the desire to run. We had to keep a close watch on him. Of course his brothers are always willing to help out!

Here's #9 Jake Heaps. He's the potential starting QB this next year. He graduated early his senior year so that he could be here for spring football. He looked pretty good!

As we watched the practice/scrimmage Talan enjoyed climbing everywhere. He was all over the place! Finally we had all had enough and went to Jason's Deli for lunch. The kids got free kids meal coupons at school that we used. It was very exciting!

That afternoon while Talan took a nap I took the kids to the movies to see, How to train your dragon. David had gift cards from his birthday that we used. It was a cute movie and the kids were really good.

So there you have it. Spring break all packed into two days of immense fun! All very cheap, or free. Now that's my idea of a great spring break!

Too funny!

Carsten says some of the funniest things. Yesterday David and I were outside on the back porch and the kids were all playing in the yard. David turned around and kissed me. Carsten immediately said, "Oh dad, save it for your pillow!" We all busted up laughing!

Easter/Conference weekend.

The Dyer family came into town for Conference weekend. It was so much fun having them here! David and Russell have been friends since childhood and the Dyers feel like family to us. They got here Friday afternoon and the first thing on the agenda was golf. David and Russell were invited to golf Thanksgiving Point with our neighbor and good friend Tom. While they were off golfing all the kids got reacquainted and Suzette and I enjoyed talking.
We set Kylee up on a date with our neighbor Kimball and arranged for Dallin to hang out with another one of our neighbors Mitchell. I think they all had a good time!

Conference weekend was very enjoyable! We all hung out watching every session of conference. The kids played and we never heard, "I'm bored!" from any of them!

Saturday night the boys went to the Priesthood session of conference at the stake center. It was Ethan's first time to be able to go to the Priesthood session since turning 12. When he got back all he could think to say was, "It was long!" They all changed their clothes and then David and Russell took their boys out to dinner. What a wonderful tradition to have! Something special for the boys to look forward to.

Sunday morning was Easter and we did our traditional Easter Basket Hunt. The kids love doing this. Talan went first. He didn't totally get it but the kids all helped him along. "Open the egg Talan, open the egg!" They woud all run to where the clue led them and then beg Talan to follow.

By the time he found his basket
he was just starting to get the hang of it!

Talan got a basket filled with candy, a church outfit,
and a Mr. Potato Head!

With our latest Toy Story addiction I just new that
Mr. Potato Head would be a big hit!

Reagan went next.

She got a new Easter dress and a big pink bouncy ball!

Meanwhile Mr. Potato Head was being enjoyed by all ages!

Carsten's clues got a little trickier. But he managed just fine!

He found his basket in the dryer.
He got juggling balls and a tie to wear to church.

Brenton is the Dyers youngest child. He went next.
Lucky for him it had snowed the night before and he got to find an egg out in the snow!

His basket was hidden under the kitchen sink!

The 3 youngest kids had fun checking out their loot!

And then it was Bradon's turn! Nothing gets past this kid!
However it was tricky finding the egg in the pantry!

He got a new nerf wiffle ball and bat, and a tie for church.

Last but certainly not least, Ethan finally got his turn.
He's sort of getting old for this kind of thing but I think he still likes it!

He found his basket in the basement by the water heater.
He got a Magic 8 ball and a new tie for church.

Easton, Kylee, Brenton, and Dallin.
The Dyers were thrilled that it snowed so we took
an Easter picture in the snow!

We got the Dyers 4 tickets to the Sunday afternoon session of conference. They got ready to go and made themselves this cute little sign in hopes of receiving a few more tickets so that the whole family could go in! They were successful
in their quest and had a wonderful time!

When they got back we had a wonderfully yummy Eater dinner and then a competitive game of wiffle ball! (Just like old times!)

As you can see the snow didn't last long
and the field was ready for play.

Oh we had so much fun with the Dyers!
They left early Monday morning
and made it home safely Monday night.
In our perfect world the Dyers would move to Utah and become our neighbor. Just think of the fun we could have!