Football Playoffs

Today Jake played West Point in the Semi-Finals at Ogden High School. I LOVE watching this kid play football! I never thought I would.

It scares me.

But he has such a passion for this sport that it is hard not to enjoy watching him.

You can tell he's loving every minute of it.

That helps me love every minute of it. And yes, I'm one of those crazy football Moms that runs along the sidelines, yells really loud, and jumps up and downs when her son scores.

I never thought I would be.

But I'm so proud of this kid.

He got the most awesome touchdown today!! Did I get it on film? Of course not. Neither camera nor video. I got these other great shots but not the touchdown...of course. It seems that whenever I have the camera on, I jinx him. But luckily, a photographer for the WFFL got a GREAT picture of him running to receive the touchdown pass so hopefully I can figure out how to download that picture and share. It's a fabulous picture. One I could never get.

I love these picture of the team huddled together. (Gotta love those sideburns on Jake. He's so proud of them.) It's amazing how hard these boys work all summer to get to this point. We are not talking a couple of days a week. We're talking 5 days a week, 2 hours a day! Now that's dedication.

And love of the game.

Well, it's contagious... because I love this game, too. Even more,I love this kid! Congratulations on a HUGE win today, Jake - You're heading to the Mini-Bowl!!

Happy Halloween!

This is my beautiful, 10-yr old Halloween punk fairy. Isn't she gorgeous?This year, her and her friends made these skirts at Apron Strings at Olivia's house. So they decided clear back in August what they were going to be for Halloween. At first, Maddy was a little concerned because we weren't exactly sure what a "punk fairy" wears. But as you can see in the picture below, they all turned out so cute! It's fun to see each of their personalities shine through.
They trucked all over the neighborhoods together. In past years, we have walked around with the Fuhriman's and all the little girls. This year, Mike was hunting and Jeff was getting ready to leave on a hunting trip so Sheri and I drove the girls around together. I really enjoy this tradition! I'm wondering if the girls will allow us to accompany them 1 more year? I sure hope so!


Sadly, Jake was not as "cute" this year. As you can see below, he was downright scary! He and his friend, Christian, decided to dress up as rock stars when they found these lovely zebra pants at the Halloween store. Once we saw how much Christian looked like Axel Rose, we decided to call them "Guns N' Roses." What a pair! It's especially funny because these 2 boys are both 4.0 students and such great kids. Hard to tell from the picture, huh? They left early to go trick-or-treat to close friends and their Young Men leaders. The pictures below show the beautiful weather we were having that night. It actually poured rain for about an hour. (Luckily, by the time the little girls went, the rain had almost stopped.) After that, Christian headed to a party and Jake went out to his cousin, Colton's.

And Halloween wouldn't be completed without Jeff and a mask. He went with a different choice this year than his usual mask. I think he fits right in with the scary side.

And what Halloween would be complete without Jack-O-Lanterns? We made pumpkin carving at the last minute this year. It has been so crazy with football, Nutcracker, work, etc. this year that we seriously started carving pumpkins (homegrown, of course) about 1 hour before trick-or-treating.

It was a great night, as usual. For some reason, I love Halloween! I love the autumn season, the fall colors, the crisp air and the wonderful smells it brings. I watch my kids get older by the second and have learned to treasure each year, each event. Happy Halloween!

Colors of Autumn

I love the colors of Autumn all around us! At times, they literally take my breath away with their beauty. And although we didn't get on our annual "leaf drive" this year (which makes me very sad), I couldn't help whipping out the camera every so often to capture these amazing colors. Wow we are blessed to live in this state this time of year!!

Learning Picasa

I'm slowly but surely trying to find a fast and easy, yet attractive way to catch up on my children's scrapbooks. I am also hoping to be able to print out my blog in the same 8x8 format that I hope to do their picture books in so I can trade pictures back and forth. Ignore the scary, unedited pix below but look how cool this collage tools is in Picasa. Maybe there's hope for me yet!

Football Highlights and Good-Bye to Barnes Park

This is Jake's 2nd to last game ever at Barnes Park. (I thought it was the last but apparently, I forgot to take the camera that day) How sad is that? After 6 years, he will never again play on their "Home" field. Next year, he will have a new Home.
What will we do with our Saturdays?? In the Fall, our lives on the weekends have been planned around Football! Now we will have to relish Thursday afternoons because that is when the Sophomores play.

It's been another great year! I've actually loved them all.

You've had a great run, Jake...literally. Good job - Keep up the hard work and determination!

And thanks to Barnes Park for years of wonderful memories...

"Red Hot" Chili Peppers

Since it is the last soccer game of the season, I thought I better get some pictures of Maddy in action on the soccer field. I've been horrible this year in taking pictures and video at both soccer and football. I just hate it because I feel like I miss the game while filming because I'm concentrating on getting the perfect shot, which I never get. Also, whenever I think about filming, I get there and realize that the video camera isn't charged or the batteries are dead in the camera. Regardless, as you will see below, I was lucky enough to get some great shots of her game today. I will try and be better next Spring. Although soccer is Maddy's least favorite of her extracurricular activities, she has enjoyed a good year. She loves her coach Mike Jensen and has here good friends, Megan, Emma, and McCall on her team. I have been proud of her for sticking out the year even on weeks where she didn't really want to. It has been fun watching her improve little by little each year. The first year it was all about the color of shirts which luckily, were pink! The next couple of years, she loved that you got a drink and a treat after each game because you don't get that at dance. And then the most recent years, it's been all about the friends. Even though Lindsee and Olivia moved to a comp team this year, Maddy has continued to play and enjoy being with her other friends. We will stay tuned to see what she decides after the Spring session is over. But for now, we're proud of you, Sis!

Bottoms off!

Today is the day that Jake will finally be out of braces COMPLETELY. Although you can't see it from the picture below, he is thrilled! Soon he will have retainer on top (as shown below) and on bottom.

That makes 2 years and just under 5 months in braces. Just like with everything else, Jake was faithful at cleaning his teeth, wearing his elastics (well MOST of the time), and making his appointments every month. I think it was totally worth it! Isn't he handsome?

Sadly, we were in such a hurry to get him back to school that we forgot to take an "after" picture. I will make sure and find a good one that shows his teeth and post it later.

ALL gone

Jake is finally done with braces! As you can see, he had got the tops off earlier this summer. Today, he got the bottoms off. Yea!!! He has been waiting for this for a long time. As par for the course with me, we forgot to take an "after" picture but trust me, he looks awesome!
I guess you'll see the "after" pictures from here on out. What a handsome boy he is!

Salsa!

Salsa Project 2010:

As you can see, salsa is alot of work! But ask anyone in our family and we would say it is worth it. It has become a tradition that we make salsa every Fall. Generally we make it on General Conference Saturday so that we can listen to uplifting messages while we wash, cut, chop, stir, boil, and cook. My favorite part is that everyone pitches in. That way, we get the work done faster and hopefully create some fun memories along the way.

The Witches are out!

Maddy and I love to go to see the witches at Gardiner Village each year. This year, Grandma Shay had meetings there so Grandpa invited us to go down and meet her after. We took advantage of getting there early in October. We enjoyed the shops, had a great dinner at Archibalds, and continued our tradition of getting candy at the candy shop. What a great way to kick off the Halloween season!