Finally a Family Forever.

Well it only took 9 years and a few obstacles but Jennie and I and the kids finally were sealed as a family for time and all eternity. That means we are stuck with each other forever. If you ask the kids about that they may feel differently about that right now but will come to understand the meaning and importance as they get older. Jennie and I are very excited and glad that we could have so many people there to support us despite the weather. Since we had waited so long we wanted to make it extra special and go all out so we decided to head to Washington DC and go through that Temple as it is one of the nicer ones around and not too far away. As you can see from the picture they had quite the snow storm that day. I believe they were calling for 20+ inches, which for a town that averages 15 inches a year, was quite a big deal. We went up Friday night to beat the snow, and did, but over the next 24 hours the area probably got 18 or so inches of snow. That meant that nearly everything in the Washington DC and surrounding area was shut down. We got extremely lucky as Greg, Aaron and Rachel all flew in Friday night and were able to be with us as we went through the Temple. Aaron had a little trouble with his flight and as a result was actually able to get into DC. The airline sold his ticket as he found out upon showing up 25 minutes before the flight but was able to get on another flight and made it ok. The ironic t hing is that if he would have been on his original flight he would have been stuck in Chicago and would not have made it. It is kind of funny how those things work out. We definitely had someone watching out for us. We had all of Jennie's immediate family there and a lot of good friends who made the trip up to celebrate this special day with us and glad that everyone made it there and back safely. We even had our good friend "Big Dawg" fly in from Salt Lake City to share in our day. We are so grateful for those who not only made the trip but also pushed us and helped us along the way so that we can benefit from one of Heavenly Father;s greatest gifts to us. It is such a comfort to know that life does not end after we die and that one day we will all return to live with our families again. Here are some pictures from our trip. You will see all the snow that we dealt with on that day and we hope to go back some day, soon, and get some decent family pictures in front of the Temple without all the snow.


Here we are with the kids standing outside the Temple. There really weren't any great places to take a good family picture due to all the snow so this will have to do for now.


Nolan, Maddux and Brooklyn standing in the snow in front of the fountain at the Temple.


Spencer and Greg clearing the foot or so of snow off the cars. That was just from sitting in the parking lot for a couple of hours.


Most of the family standing in front of the Temple in the middle of the snow storm. This was about as good as it was going to get that day.


Maddux trudging through the snow. He was wondering why his legs were so cold.


The top of the Temple amidst a flurry of snow.


Uncle "Big Dawg" with Brooklyn and Maddux. I don't think that Nolan was 100% comfortable with him so that may be why he is not in this picture. He likes to talk about "Big Dawg" but not to crazy about hanging around him.


Brooklyn hanging out in the hot tub back at the hotel. This was kind of a cool pool and hot tub as it was actually on the top floor above all the rooms.


Kenzie and Nolan relaxing in the hot tub playing with the water. I actually had to pull Nolan out of the hot tub for a little bit because he was starting to turn red from being in there so long.


Nolan just hanging out enjoying life.


Bill and Spencer after a long day and a longer night. They decided to go see Avatar that night with Aaron and Greg. The movie was 2 1/2 hours and didn't start until 10:30. Mix that in with an early morning and you get some tired guys.


Even though it was the middle of winter and over a foot of snow on the ground the Temple still managed to have some flowers out and Brooklyn never passes up a chance to play with flowers.


All the kids with "Big Dawg" hanging out in the hotel room.

Once again Jennie and I are thankful to all those who had a hand in our special day and especially grateful for those who made the difficult trip down to show their support and love for our family. Yeah the weather was bad and we had a couple of hiccups along the way but we had the perfect day and were glad that we could spend it with family and friends. It is such a blessing to know that we will be a family for the rest of time and eternity and we are glad that our children could partake in this special day and hope that one day they realize the importance of this decision and choose to be sealed to their families forever. Thank you again and we love you all.

The Toy Solider.

Jennie and I took the kids, along with Tacie and her kids, down to Tower City mall to see the Toy Solider. We have been just about every year that we have been here and the kids love going down. I think they really like it because we usually eat in the food court afterwards and the kids love that. Anyway, the show is about 40 minutes long (perfect for the kids) and they like seeing all the characters and getting their picture taken with them. We were a little disappointed that most of the decorations they usually put up weren't there but still was a fun time.


Brooklyn with Frosty the Snowman.


Nolan's favorite part of the whole show was Frosty so we had to get a picture with him afterwards.


Most of the kids with Rudolph and Cinderella. They usually pick one main story each year that they read and act out and this year it was Cinderella (one of Brooklyn's favorites).


Brooklyn and Addysen with Raggedy Anne after the show.


The Fairy Godmother doing her thing.


Here is the Toy Solider. This was the very beginning of the show and as soon as he started marching towards us Kenzie and Nolan took off running. They were scared and didn't know just how close he was going to come. It was kind of funny.


Payton and Brooklyn waiting for the show to start.

If any of you are ever in town around the holidays we will have to make sure that you get downtown to see this. It is usually packed with people but a very fun time for the kids. It is kind of turning into a tradition for us to go down and see it every year.

Brooklyn's Hoops Highlights.

daa naa naa.....daa naa naa....



This week marked the third game for Brooklyn's team and they are getting much better. This was probably their closest game of the year as they played really well. They don't keep score but the game had to have been within a basket either way. Brooklyn did not score at all but as you will see in the video she had a couple of steals and was playing some shadowing defense. The main thing is that she is having fun and hopefully developing some skills and killer instincts for basketball. I keep telling myself that Jennie was the same way so there is hope. We really enjoy watching the kids participate and just hope that they are having as much fun, if not more, than we are. It is such a blessing to watch your kids grow up and do things well.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I am sure that most of you have heard this song but I really like it so I am posting it.

This past week we have been getting ready for Christmas and have taken the kids to do some Christmas things. On Monday they went to the library for a Polar Express party. The event had about 100 people there and filled up in 8 minutes; there was also a waiting list of over 150 so a very popular event. I took Brooklyn, Maddux and Nolan and they had a blast. One of the librarians read the story to everyone, then Santa made a guest appearance, and we finished the night off with some cookies and milk. Nolan was a little hesitant to visit Santa but once he saw the candy canes he was handing out it had to have one. The kids love the Polar Express so it was a fun night.


The Polar Express


It was kind of cool because the kids got to wear their pajamas and slippers to the party. Here they are waiting in line to see Santa.


Standing in front of the library Christmas tree sporting the PJ's.


We put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving and outside of the lights, the kids put all the decorations on. They did a pretty good job. Now if we can just keep Payton from ripping them all down.



The kids with the "big guy".

We also went to the common greens in the middle of town and looked at all the Christmas light displays they had up. The city puts these up every year and the kids love to run around and see them all. It was pretty cold but the kids didn't mind at all despite being in their pajamas.


The lighted tunnel which is the entrance to the displays.


Here they are sitting in the decorated gazebo which sits right in the middle of everything.


The kids had to have a picture with the Toy Solider.


Here they are at the entrance of the North Pole.


We finished the night with a trip to Toy Land.

Christmas is a very fun time of year for the kids, and myself, and they are looking forward to no school, lots of presents, and Santa paying them a visit. Jennie and I are looking forward to spending time with the family and watching the kids during this joyous time of year. We are so blessed to live in a country where we can celebrate these holidays and are glad for the family that we have to share them with.

A little dancing and our week in review.

The kids were dancing the other day and I managed to get a couple minutes of it on video. I am not sure where Maddux gets his moves but he was cutting some serious rug to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal." Brooklyn was doing her thing and Nolan was just along for the ride. We did have to end it a little early as Payton got a little to close to the action and was taken out.


This is a picture that I have been meaning to post for quite some time. Maddux decided he would try and stick his head between the bars on the stool. Well he got his head through but couldn't figure out how to get it back out. Now the funny thing is that I had taken Nolan to get a haircut and stop by the grocery store so I wasn't home to help get him out and Jennie didn't know where the wrench was to loosen the bars. So she had to call one of our good friends, Randy, who came over and took the stool apart and freed Maddux. I think that Maddux probably spent a good 15 to 20 minutes with his head in the chair. He was not all that thrilled about it but will probably never stick his head in there again. The only picture that we got was from Randy's cell phone so the clarity isn't all that good but you get the idea. I can't believe that Jennie didn't break out the camera. That would have been the first thing that I did.

Well this week I took off for vacation and we got to spend a lot of time with family for the holiday. We were lucky enough to see Nate and Lauren perform in the Radio City Music Hall production of the Rockettes and had a great time at the show. The show was in Pittsburgh, about 2 hours away, but was well worth the drive. We are thankful to Nate and Lauren who got us free tickets right in the middle of the stage about 15 rows deep. They were perfect seats. I think the kids had a good time and really enjoyed the show. It was the first time that I had really watched the whole program and enjoyed going to see it. Sorry there are no pictures but those were not allowed during the performance and they had people making sure it wasn't going on. If you have never seen them before you should look into it as it is a good show.

We then brought Nate and Lauren back with us to celebrate Thanksgiving and were joined by Jennie's aunt and uncle, Vickie and Steve, Greg and his family, and Spencer. We played up at the Church with the kids for a couple of hours and then went back and stuffed ourselves silly. Then capped the night off with some Catchphrase, which the guys won 3 - 0, and some dessert. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday and great to see family.

As usual, the week of vacation flew by but I am looking forward to another week during Christmas. We hope you all had a great turkey day yourself and are thankful to all of those that made ours possible. It is such a blessing to be so close to family.

Brooklyn's Hoops.

Brooklyn's basketball career started last weekend and they are off to a slow start. Her league is second grade boys and girls and this is the first year that she has played. Once again Jennie is coaching Brooklyn's team along side one of our good friends, Randy, who also has a daughter on the team (one of Brooklyn's friends). It is a kick to watch them play as most of them dribble a couple times, pick up the ball and run a little bit, then dribble some more and run with the ball. You can't call anything because everyone does it and it wouldn't be any fun if they did. Brooklyn has made big improvements from the first game. Her first game she was scared of the ball and didn't want anything to do with it. When it came she would close her eyes and swat the ball away. She did shoot once but didn't look like she really wanted to. Then her next game she was firing away and shooting every time she touched the ball (kind of like her mother). She did manage to hit one of those shots and was very excited to score. The boys kind of take over the games so the girls don't get a lot of action outside of running up and down the floor. Now we just need to work on Brooklyn's dribbling and getting herself open to shoot. Everyone runs down to the end of the court and then they just stop and watch the person bring the ball up the court. Then when they get down they aren't really sure what to do and end up just watching. It is really fun to watch them and I know that Brooklyn is having a good time. Maddux has been practicing with the team but still has a couple of years to go before he can play. The funny thing is that he would probably be the 2nd or 3rd best player on the team. He is a scoring machine. I am still going to try and get him in at least one of the games before the season is over. I can't imagine anyone saying anything. Anyways, here are some pictures from the first two games.


Maddux and Nolan had the best seats in the house, the yellow line is the baseline under the basket.


Brooklyn running down the floor getting ready to go on the offensive attack (her two friends Alexa and Meghan are running with her).


This is how Brooklyn and most of her teammates play offense. They just stand around watching.


Brooklyn passing the ball inbounds to her teammate.


This was Brooklyn's first and only shot of her first game. She is out a little further than she should be but we will work on that.

Well it should be a fun season and Jennie and I are very excited to watch Brooklyn progress and learn throughout the season.

Brooklyn's class had a Thanksgiving play with the other two second grades classes, last Thursday, and here are the highlights from that night. Brooklyn did a very good job in memorizing her two parts and even got to play the xylophone because one of the other kids wasn't there. She stepped in and did a great job. I just wish the video quality was a little better but you can still see her performance. The play last about 45 minutes which was perfect for the rest of the kids. She was very proud of her performance as were we. Who knows, maybe this will be the start of her acting career. Anyways, we wish every a Happy Thanksgiving and are thankful for all that we have.

Final Two Weeks of Soccer.

Well soccer is now over and now it is on to basketball. Before we move on I wanted to post some last pictures and video from their final games. They ended the season with a doubleheader as they were making games up from the season. The weather was a little cold and I am glad to be done with practices and games in the cold. I am sure it wasn't that bad for the kids as they could run around but for the parents sitting and watching it was not as nice. Maddux ended the season by dominating the last two teams they played. In the first game they won 13 - 1 and the last game was even more lopsided than that. I stopped keeping track as they scored goal after goal. The other coach wanted to stop the game with 5 minutes left because it wasn't even fair. For the season Maddux's team didn't lose a single game. They did tie once 2 - 2 on a day when Maddux was sick. They didn't allow more than 2 goals in any game and Maddux has developed a very nice left foot (not to bad for a 5 year old). His last two games he scored a total of 16 goals (7 in the first game and 9 in the last; a majority of which were left footed). He had a very good coach and worked with and pushed Maddux to use his left foot a lot of the time. He has a very strong right foot and to help keep things somewhat competitive he would make Maddux kick with his left quite a bit. To give you an idea of Maddux's right foot, he had one goal from beyond the midfield point where he just kicked the ball over everyone's head right into the goal. I am still yet to see another kid kick the ball as far as he did that day. I can't wait to watch them play in the Spring when they have the exact same team. It was almost unfair to watch them play some of these teams and to watch they in another 6 months when the are bigger and faster is going to be fun. We finally had to stop paying Maddux money for every goal because after every goal he would come over and let me and his coach know how much he had.

Brooklyn finished the year on a high note with two wins and her very first soccer goal ever. They finally got into the win column with two games left and then won the last on a forfeit (they were suppose to play the same team they just beat again and they must not have wanted any of that so they didn't show up). It also saw Brooklyn's first goal and if you wait to the end of the video you will see her score. I had to turn the camera off so you wouldn't hear me scream like a crazed parent. We were all very excited and I know that Brooklyn was extremely happy. It was fun to watch the girls win their first game because they were jumping up and down like they had just won the World Cup. I was glad that they could finish the season out on a positive note. They really did get a lot better throughout the year and really started to develop by the end of the season. We will see if Jennie and her mom want to coach next year. If they do they will have to coax Brooklyn into playing because I don't know that she is that excited about it right now. Maybe once the weather gets nice she will change her mind. That and Nolan should be able to play next Spring so she may not want to be the only one not playing. Anyway, it was a very fun season and I can't wait until Spring to watch the kids again. I love going out and watching them and just hope that I don't embarrass them or Jennie with all my yelling and cheering. I really hope that I don't turn into one of the crazy parents who is going nuts at every game. I always make fun of those people and I will probably turn out to be just like them.

Here are a couple of photos from the kids final couple of games.


Maddux scoring one of his many goals. In most of his goals you will not see anyone else close to him as he generally outruns everyone and has a clear path to the goal. I believe that he is lining this up to kick it with his left foot.


Maddux getting ready to turn on the jets and take off.


Brooklyn trying to outrun the other player to the ball.


Strike one, this is one thing that we need to work on with Brooklyn. Sometimes she gets going to fast and whiffs at the ball. For now it kind of works as a fake but as soon as the girls start trying to take the ball away from her it will not be as effective.


I love this shot because as you can see the other player is gearing up to kick the ball away but by the time he gets his foot back Maddux has already kicked the ball by him and is on his way to get it back.


Maddux and his team after their final game with their trophies. I think it is cool for them to get them even if Jennie thinks kids should not get trophies. I know that Maddux loves getting them.


Maddux's last goal of the season. As you can tell by his attire it was very cold for his last game.


Brooklyn gets pushed down while going for the ball.


I know that goalies are suppose to wear different tops to stand out but this may be a little much. Colored sweater with the purple beanie. I guess it worked because she didn't allow any goals. She actually became very good at goalie this year and know just needs to work on punting the ball out after she stops it. She doesn't have a great throw and tends to throw it toward the other team creating more work for herself. However she did have many games where she stopped every shot and didn't let anything by her.

Stay tuned for basketball updates as Brooklyn starts a new journey. She will not be alone as Jennie is coaching her again with one of Brooklyn's friends dad. It should be an interesting season.

We finally have a bedroom set.

No more sleeping on mattress on the ground. After being married for almost 9 years Jennie and I finally have a real bed with matching dressers. We decided that we were going to upgrade our bedroom and get out of the ghetto. So we headed to the furniture store and an hour later had a bedroom set ordered. We had looked at a couple other stores but there aren't many options out there for a California King bed. Most manufactures don't make that size and the ones that do only make 1 or 2 options so we were having a hard time finding something we liked. Well we finally found one and weren't going to let it pass us by. Six weeks later and we are out of the ghetto (as Jennie has called it). Here are some before and after pictures of our new bedroom (never mind the messy bed, it is very rarely ever made).

Before :


This use to be our bed. Just a couple of mattress lying on the floor and no frame. This gave us an excuse to not make the bed.


We had dressers but not one single one of them matched or was even close.


I honestly think all our dressers were hand-me-downs.

After:


The new bed. Still haven't gotten in the habit of making the bed but maybe now that we have a real bed we will start to make it.


Jennie's new dresser with full mirror included.


My new dresser, which now matches all the other furniture.

I don't know how Jennie put up with it for so long. I am a guy and it really didn't bother me but for her to put up with that for the first 9 years of marriage is remarkable. I think we are down to one last hand-me-down dresser (Maddux's) and then we will have all new furniture.