Football

James started flag football two weeks ago. He is having a good time.

He really loves sports. Daddy and I told him if he keeps doing well in

school that he can play. Next he said he wants to play basketball, then

baseball. We'll see?

Celebrity Reader

I got a little behind. There are only so many things I consider blog worthy and I just happen to have a couple. All of us can blog about our day to day crazy lifes with kids, family, school and a billion other things, but really who wants to hear about that. I wanted to write about a fun thing that daddy was asked to do a week or so ago. The kids school does a Celebrity reading day each year where people from around the community are asked to come and read to the students. They ask firefighters, police officers, deputies, doctors even some of the condor hockey players. They asked daddy if he would like to come and be one of their celebrity readers. So he put on his uniform and went to school. He read to Laurens class first. Her teacher asked if she would introduce her dad to the class. She said, " No". Then he read to another third grade class and then over to James' class. James was so excited that he even wore his play uniform that matches daddy's to school. When his teacher asked if he would introduce his dad he ran right up there and told them what he does and just about anything else he could think of. Daddy read to his class while James stayed right by his side the whole time. Then they all wanted to ask him questions about his job which they did in every class. He showed them his belt and all the gear on it and what it does and what it is used for. James' teacher let him go with daddy to the last class to read. James felt very proud I could tell. When daddy was done he walked outside and all the kids where asking him to sign his autograph on their papers. It was funny. Later that day a couple of girls told Lauren that her dad was cool. We all had fun and the kids where happy to share their dad for the day.

Septmeber Days

Well I got through the first week of preschool. Marcus was a really big help. I ran around most of Monday trying to get last minute things ready before I needed to be home at 3:30 to take care of five of my nephews. By the time everyone left there was nothing ready for dinner and I was trying to help my kids with their homework. Marcus disappeared and then soon returned with dinner for us all. Then Tuesday morning he got up and made us all breakfast. Wow that was a big help! Later he went and got new sand and filled up the sand box. The preschool kids loved it and played in it all recess.
Preschool went really well. I have some really good kids, and I have a great assistant. The kids call her Miss Sharon, but I call her Mom. She helps out a lot. I am able to run centers a lot smoother with her there. We have a good time. I made a conduct chart and it works very well, if they stay on yellow for the day, before they go home they get a treat. Which is a star burst! It's amazing how one little piece of candy makes a difference.
Lauren and James have had a good two weeks of school. Lauren is easing into third grade. I volunteered in her class the first Friday. Before I left she gave me a look. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "Mom 3rd grade is hard!" I said, "well you're getting older and you are expected to do a lot more, but I know you can do it." She seems to be feeling more confident this week. She'll do fine she expects herself to be perfect that's her only problem. James is James nothing really seems to bother him. He's a good boy. I helped in his class this Friday. They had an apple tasting experiment. They taste tested six different kinds of apples. The funny thing was most of the kids liked the Granny Smith apples. Go figure maybe it was a good batch.
Well grandpa called me on Monday and said, Well I'm going to ask you a question that you've been regretting since James was born." I said, "OK what question is that?" "I want to take James hunting on Tuesday, opening day of dove season, it's better than Christmas morning!" Well personally it doesn't sound as exciting as Christmas morning but I let him go. Daddy wanted to go too. Tuesday after school I told James that he could go when he got all of his homework and reading done. I think this will be a great motivator for him because he loves anything and everything to do with hunting. They had a good time and got a number of birds. So for Sunday dinner we will have rumaki for dinner. It is very good. Normally it is made with chicken liver which doesn't sound to appetizing, but it is good too. My mom use to make it for us when we were kids. I love it I can't wait for Sunday dinner!
The kids had a fun day today. Their cousins came over to play. They always have such a good time together. Today they played hunting. They all had there camo hats on and their toy guns. James even made a couple of maps for them. I don't know how they keep themselves busy all those hours, but they do. Then we had a "fancy dinner". We set the table nice and I came out and took their order, but really they could only have the special which was Spaghetti and Meat balls. I told them it was a red marinara sauce served over angel hair pasta with a green salad which had fresh spinach in it ( I left that part out) and strawberry lemonade. They all said OK. One of the kids I won't say which one was picking his nose at the table and I told him, "We don't pick our nose at a fancy dinner." Then everyone started laughing. They all ate their dinner including the salad.

Back to School

So another year of school has begun. I'm happy and not. I like summer for the flexibility. We can stay up late if we want or sleep in. I do like being back on a schedule though. It's really hard when your husband works very different hours. Last school year he was the most difficult one to get on schedule. I would tell him the kids have to be in bed by 8:30. Eight thirty rolls around they've had their showers, had reading time, said our prayers and then what does daddy do? He turns on cartoons! "Oh just let them stay up a little longer he tells me." I say fine! Then you can fight to get them up in the morning when it's time to go to school. So far this week we've been able to be in bed at 8:30. Yeah! Lauren has even been asking to go to bed earlier. Which I don't have a problem with. This has been good because we have to get up just a little bit earlier than last year. School starts at 8:05 instead of 8:20. We use to leave the house by about 8:00 or 8:10. Now we have to leave by 7:50 or sooner. Last year we would try to beat the bus. The school bus goes down our street two times each morning. So the bus would go by the first time and Lauren & James would look at me like oh no was that the first or second time? Sometimes we would just be getting in the car and it would drive by. So the bus goes one way and we would go the other way and see if we could beat it to school. They have fun. We haven't quite figured out what time it goes by the second time now, but I think it's 7:45. We will have to be on the ball if we want to beat it now.

So Lauren has been growing her hair out again to donate to Locks of Love. This time she decided on her own to grow it out. She hasn't cut it since the first grade. By the end of last school year it was getting pretty long. I told her hopefully by the end of summer it will be long enough to cut ten inches off. She has also been asking to get her ears pierced for awhile. I told her when we get your hair cut we will get your ears pierced. You will have a whole new look for third grade. Last week we got her hair cut and it looks so cute. The next day we took her to get her ears pierced. She did very good, not one peep or tear. I was very impressed.

With the kids back to school I'm trying to get everything ready for preschool to start in September. I am very excited and have about seven little students this year. I have a lot of fun things planned and can't wait to get started. I really enjoy teaching this age and it will help to bring in a few extra dollars for our family.

Moon River Bike Ride

Well the long summer days are coming to a quick close. Daddy and I decided to take the kids on a moonlight bike ride on Tuesday night. He got home at about 8:30pm and we filled up our water bottles and loaded up the bikes in the back of the truck. (side note) On Monday daddy spent most of the day fixing up an old bike that my brother Shaun gave us so Lauren could have a "new" bike. We got James a used mountain bike in Wyoming were daddy use to get bike parts when he was on his mission. So we drove over to the River Walk Park and rode around the path that is lite. We had a really fun time. The weather was nice of course after the sun goes down . Lauren said to me, "we need to do this more often." There is a big hill at the park, so Daddy and James decided to ride to the top and then ride down. Lauren didn't want to try so her and I stayed at the bottom to watch the dare devils. James went first! It was so funny well not at first. He came hauling down hitting every bump and dip. His face looked like, am I going to die? His helmet was shaking on top of his head and his bike was wobbling back and forth he made it to the bottom without crashing and narrowly missing a tree and then almost plowing into a pile of rocks! I just kept yelling, "you can do it just keep riding!" Then daddy and I started busting up laughing. Then he said," I want to do it again. I said ,"you're crazy I think once is enough." But he and daddy did it again. This time I got off my bike in case I had to stop him. We rode around the park a couple of times. The second time around we saw a huge bull frog. I tried to get it to jump with my foot, but it wouldn't move. I had to push it with my hand to get it to jump. It ran into a pillar. I don't think it could see real well. The kids chased it down to the water and watched it jump in. I forgot how big those guys are. We rode over to the playground and swung on the swings for a little bit. Daddy kept walking in between the kids swinging. Then they wanted to try doing it with him and I swinging. Daddy said they use to do that when he was at school. ( No wonder they don't have swings anymore.) We had a very fun time. It probably won't happen for a while because daddy works on the weekends and the kids will be back in school on his days off. I'm glad we went.

Family Vaction 2009

Our fam just got home from our two week excursion. Marcus has always wanted to take us back to Colorado where he served his mission, so we finally did it. We went through Tahoe and stayed a couple of days and then on through Nevada were Daddy and James had to stop at the new Cabela's. Which was awesome I love it too. Then we drove to Idaho to see family that we rarely get to see. We stayed with his Aunt Connie & Uncle Don. They have a wonderful home that is very accomadating for guests. We were there for about four days. They took us all around were Marcus' parents grew up and where he and his grandparents use to live. We even ran into a friend that Marcus and his brothers and sister use to play with. That was fun. We visited with his Aunt Carolee and His Uncle Stan & Aunt Marilyn, their son Allan and his new wife Whitney. From there we drove to Wyoming. Part of his mission covered some of Wyoming. There we visited one of the families he has stayed in touch with since his mission. He showed us where he lived and showed us around some to the town. We went on a tour of a mansion that he did service for. We also went through an old prison that housed "Butch Cassidy." We stayed there a couple of days and then went on to Colorado. It was so pretty there. We drove through the Rocky Mountain Nationl Park which cost us $20.00 just to drive through, but it was worth it. We saw herds of elk. We got pretty close to some of them. We saw a mother moose and her baby. That was so cool. Oh and in Wyoming we saw Antalope. Then from Colorado we drove to Utah to see my Brother and his family. They live in a little mountain town called Midway just 20 minutes or so from Park City Utah. My sister-in-law hooked us up with a great room a litte place called "Inn on the Creek", where she works setting up weddings and rececptions. The kids spent the nights with their cousins on their cots. Which was better than any fancy room. We went on a hike up to the Mt. Timpinogis cave. It is a mile and a half all the way up. There is really steep parts and then just regular steep parts. With the kids it took us about an hour to hike up. But I don't think they had as much trouble as Daddy and I did. Plus the altitude was getting to us. That's a good excuse right! The cave was awesome and cold. We were sweating all the way up and then wearing coats in the cave. The next day we all went to Park City which is a fun yupie town, and we had really delicious carmel apples there. We then went to the Olyimpic Park. That was really neat to see. We had a great time with everybody and enjoyed seeing some of the country. Lauren and James traveled very well which made it possible for us to take our time and stay longer.

It's already been an eventful few weeks of summer. We've had friends & cousins over for a beginning of summer party. I think there were about thirteen kids all together. They had pizza and ice cream, swam and played on the slip & slide it was better than Disneyland! Well, almost? Daddy and I took the kids up to the Feline breeding compound in Rosamond. That's pretty cool. They have Asian Leopards, bob cats, mountain lions, snow leopards and a few more exotic felines. It was a fun day trip. We've been to the movies with Aunt Sabrina and Raquel to see the movie "UP". That was fun, except it made me cry a few times. James started reading camp this week. He says he doesn't want to go but I said, " T double B!" Which means too bad, bad. Deep down I know he really likes it. We've been to the library a couple of times. Yea! for the Library. Oh, and the kids have been riding their bikes with me in the mornings. We've also been able to hang out with Daddy a lot more on his days off. Oh, and we went to our nieces dance recital and we went to two baby blessings on the same Sunday. My youngest brother blessed their baby girl, Katie and Marquis' brother blessed their baby girl, Aston. I think summer is great. Now I'm just going to be busy the next few weeks with young women things. The beehives are in charge of the all y.w. activity next week. We are going to make beaded lanyards for camp. Then a class activity the following week, "A Night at the Primere." A brother and sister that use to be in our ward have a movie theater in their house. Complete with stadium seating, popcorn maker, candy counter & movie posters! Then the week after that we are also in charge of the all y.m. & y.w. activity which will be, " Mormon Idle Night." Then the week after that is off to Girl's Camp.

The weekend of May 23rd which happens to be my birthday, we went up to spend a day at the Tejon. It was a beautiful day and all seemed to be going well. The kids and I were riding with my cousin, and my mom and dad had their very good friends riding with them in their jeep. Suddenly out of no where a tree branch flew up and struck me right in the side of my head! It just about knocked me out and then it immediately started to swell up. I was having trouble seeing out of my right eye and of course my head was ringing so loud I couldn't hear. Well long story short it gave me a concussion. Later that day I decided I better have it checked out. My mom and I were at Mercy Southwest until 3:30am. I ended up sleeping until 2:00pm Sunday afternoon. Wow that hurt!

Anyway, here are just a few pictures of some of our adventures to the "Ranch" as we call it. It's hard to see but my oldest brother is in the huge oak tree. He hooked up his rock climbing ropes so the kids could swing from the tree. The other is the cabin. I have been coming here since I was a little girl. The kids were catching all kinds of butterflies in the meadow. The last one is a California Mountain King snake. It's hard to see the yellow, black, and red stripes. Before I swooped it up I said to myself, " Red & Yellow will kill a fellow, Red and Black is a friend of Jack! It's red and black, safe!" The only bad thing is the odor they give off for defense. My kids and my brothers' kids love it up here. Good Times!

I'm Retarded

I am so retarded! It's after 12:00am and I think I figured out how to invite people to view my blog?(Maybe). I need your help. I still don't know how to add pictures. It's only taken me a month to figure out how to invite people! I am a little technologically challenged. (O.K. a lot). Once I figure it out I won't forget. It's just getting me to the point where I get it. That was my problem in school by the time I got a new concept the whole class was already way ahead and on to something else. I have a great long term memory, it's my short term memory that bites. Fortunately, I don't think my kids inherited my...what's a nice way of saying it? MY RETARDEDNESSNESS!( I just made that up). They are both doing great in school a lot better than I ever did. James is really good at math. There will be times that I am helping Lauren with her math and James will say the answer before her. He is not a real strong reader he does ok, so he will be going through a reading program this summer. I was going to put Lauren in also, but man is it expensive! She does enjoy reading, so as long as she continues to read over the summer she will do fine. Her teacher told me last week that she scored a 4.2 on her Star test which is a 4th grade second quater level. WOW! I hope she keeps that up. I told them both while I was pretending to cry that I was so proud of them. All they said was, "MOOOM!"

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Friday night, May 1st,the kids, my brother & his wife, grandma & grandpa and I went to see Joseph. It was put on by the South Stake. We have been to a couple others, Fiddler on the Roof, and Beauty and the Beast. They always do a great job, but I have to say this one was the best by far. We got there early so we could get good seats. We sat up close to the front and right next to the far right stage. I had never seen this play and I always thought it sounded kind of dumb. It was so not dumb! The music was wonderful, the actors did an awesome job and the costumes were fabulous. Lauren loved all the dancers dresses and James liked the part with the guns, of course. They both liked the part when they shot off confetti all over the audience. They stuffed as much as they could in every pocket they had! Lauren and James got to meet the young man who played Joseph they were a bit intimidated with his costume and all the make-up. We had a really fun time.

Family Home Evening

Tonight we invited grandma and grandpa over for Family Home Evening.
We ate dinner together then before the lesson the kids wanted to show
grandpa how they can jump out of the tree holding on to the swing and
swing down like a couple of monkeys. Lauren climbed up the tree and told
grandpa if he wanted her to get down he would have to climb up and get
her, so he did. I said,"Wow that's really good!", and James said,"Ya for an
old man!" We then played our games before the lesson. During our serious
game of Hello Kitty UNO there was quite a bit of drama going on. James
wanted to go first and Lauren didn't want to play, Daddy was spouting off
something, I finally said, "THAT'S IT, THIS IS FAMILY HOME EVENING AND WE'RE
SUPPOSE TO BE HAPPY!!!" It was great togetherness.

What Am I Doing?

OK, I have a lot to learn. I really have no idea what I am doing. I figured I could use this as my journal and to keep in touch with friends and family. I do have a few things I'd like to be able to share with others. I hope this doesn't become a brag and gag page. My sister-in-law said she would help me get this started, so for now I will just write until I get a few pictures and things. I've seen some blogs that are so cute and a lot of you seem like you have perfect lives, I definitely will not be keeping up with you all. I would just like to write about some of my families adventures and our day to day activities. This should be fun because I do enjoy writing, although I'm not a great speller. I guess I'll see what happens. Be patient I'm a virgin blogger.