Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was so nice this year! We were able to sleep in and enjoy the morning watching the parade and talking to family. Chan had already made his portion of the dinner the day before- he made parker house rolls from scratch, cranberry apricot jelly and a cranberry salad. So we were able to relax and enjoy the day!
Later in the afternoon I asked the boys to get down all of the Christmas decor so that Brianne and I could get started on it the next morning. Other than that it was a chill out kind of day! At around 4:30 we went over to Chan's parents home for the dinner. It was a small group this year- just our family, his parents and Annie, Dakota and Gerardo. This was the first year we were all able to fit at 1 table! Yay!Brianne even commented that she got to sit at the "Adult table" this year! It was an exciting moment! All the food was SOOOO yummy! And it was fun to sit and eat and talk. Just perfect!
After dinner it was football time! So Carter and Papa were the first to sit and watch the game. They love talking football with each other and it's pretty cute to watch!
A fun time was had by all! Thanksgiving is such a great holiday- I look forward to it every year! And this year I am the most grateful for my family! My own as well as my extended families! My life would not be the same without them! Love you all!

Twilight fun!

On the Friday night of the Breaking Dawn premiere I went on a super fun girls night out with my girlfriends. We all drove together, went to dinner and then went to see the movie in a theater FULL of crazy women! But my favorite thing by far was these gift bags my friend Jennie made!
When we picked her up she came out carrying a box of these bags, one for each of us, and they had a picture of Edward on the top! Too funny!
But the best part was what was inside! She got each of us a plastic champagne glass and filled it with Hershey kisses that she made stickers for that said "Edward and Bella forever", a napkin, a piece of "wedding cake" with a fork and some "type B" blood to drink! (Actually it was cherry limeade!) Isn't that hysterical! I just thought it was too cute to not share it! I live for my girls nights they are always a blast! Thanks Jennie!

Brianne's a RAD Kid again!

Brianne was able to take the RAD Kids course again this year! I was so excited because it's an amazing program and an essential thing for kids to learn. I invited Kathy to come to this demonstration with me so she could see how great it is too! And she LOVED it!
Brianne loves RAD Kids too! It really does empower her and makes her feel confident and safe.
I was anxious to see how she would do with the "red man" this time around because she didn't know him this time. Last time she did it the Principal was the red man.She did awesome! He grabbed her and she was able to kick and pepper and get away! It was awesome!
So for the second time she is a graduate of the program! I am so proud of her and her class they did such an amazing job!
Way to go Brianne I have no doubt you know how to handle yourself! Your amazing!

If you want to know more about the program please visit www.radkids.org! Every school should have it!

Alta Red Football Banquet

The Monday after the Championship game was our banquet. Being team Mom it was my job to organize it and I was also responsible for making sure our Coaches, players, Cheerleaders etc were all recognized. I made one of these bags for each of the boys and in them there was candy and a T-shirt. I also made framed copies of a story for each of the boys and the coaches. I was a busy gal for a couple days there! Thankfully I had a helper who did the cheerleaders bags! Yay!
The roses were for the cheerleaders and their Cheer Mom and the boys gave those to the girls. Then the coaches called each boy up and said a little something about them and presented them with their gift.
These were my little helpers for the evening! They helped me set up and decorate a bit for the party :)
They boys were able to watch a DVD that one of the families made of their season in film and pictures. They loved that! The girls had one too!Here's Brianne and her buddy Tiff! They had fun!
Here's Will with Coach Hill his head coach. He is an awesome guy! And Will is wearing the Tshirt the boys got- it said Hits and Giggles which is something Coach Hill said all season! It was a great night and a perfect end to a great season!

7th Grade choir concert

I know it seems like all we do around here is football, but we do have other things going on! Will decided to take choir this year at school and they held their first concert a couple weeks ago. He was elected President from his class and he is really enjoying it.
This choir concert is actually 4 separate choir classes! It's a lot of 7th graders! And considering they only had 2 practices all together it was really good!
Here's a shot of the whole group! One kid in the middle fainted half way through but no one batted an eye and a few seconds later he was up and singing again! I found out later that their choir teacher warned them that can happen and told them what to do! Too funny! Brianne and I really enjoyed it! Way to go Will!

Championship game!!

This was a big day! So before we headed out the door I made sure that I got a photo with both Will and Brianne, because I realized that I didn't have ONE of me with them yet!
I can't believe how tall my kids are getting! And I love these pictures! They turned out great!
Once again the weather decided to come at us head on! It wasn't too bad in the morning, but our game didn't start until 1:30 and by that time the storm had rolled in and it was COLD, WET, WINDY and the snow was COMING!
Once again the cheerleaders were such troopers! They all came ready with their hats and gloves and were doing an awesome job!
Carter even got in on the action and helped with the down markers. Good thing I brought that blanket and extra hat! He thought he would be "fine" with just his under armour shirt and a jersey! Well obviously NOT!
It wasn't long till it looked this THIS! Yikes! And it was nasty wet cold snow! A lot of the boys were commenting that they couldn't feel their hands and their fingers! It was rough!
And it was a very challenging game! At the half there was no score at all!
I LOVE that Brianne and her friend Tiff were going strong even though they were freezing! Aren't they cute!
Brianne looked darling!
After the half Herriman finally scored and now we had to! And we did! We tied it up in the 4th quarter and it went into over time! Herriman was up first and they scored, so now we had to score to tie it up and have another over time. But we didn't get in :( it was VERY close, but close isn't enough. It was such a rough loss. I was so proud of our team, they battled back into the game and they could walk away knowing they did their best. Obviously we wanted to win and we truly could have- we had a great team- but sometimes it just doesn't come out that way. My favorite things about this day: 1. That Brianne was just as sad as her brother about the loss. It tells me that she really considered herself a member of that team- which is exactly what we wanted. 2. That Carter went over and wrapped his arm around his brothers shoulder and talked to him through his helmet and told him all would be okay. I couldn't hear what he was saying to him, but just seeing them together like that meant the world to me as their Mom. 3. That Chan bought Will a cake when he ran to the store after that game and even had a message put on it. He wanted to cheer him up and it was the perfect thing to do!
I am so proud of Will and the Alta Red team for their season! It was a fun year and I can't wait to see what next season brings for Will :) I love you buddy!

Alta Red Playoffs

While I was in Chicago celebrating Lisa's birthday it was the weekend of Will's playoff game! Wouldn't you know it the weather decided to rear it's ugly head and we got a few inches of snow. So when they arrived to warm up- this is what it looked like!
Several of us brought propane heaters to attempt to keep the boys warm- especially their HANDS!
Once the game got started they were bringing it! It was obvious to everyone that they wanted to win! And thanks to my sweet mother-in-law who was texting me all along, I felt like I was there! In fact she took most of these pictures on her cell phone! Thanks Kathy!
They played their guts out and managed to stay warm enough to play well!
And as usual the cheerleaders were there to support! And I think it made a difference because they WON! They are Championship bound! Let's go RED!

Lisa's 40th birthday surprise!

Over the summer when I was talking to my sister Heather on the phone I told her I just realized my other sister Lisa was going to be turning 40 in November this year! I knew immediately after figuring it out that I wanted to do something BIG for her! So Heather and I started plotting a surprise party for her. We talked about it often and the ideas began to snowball and somewhere in there I said, "ya know I should come and surprise her!" So I began to search for flights and in September I bought my tickets and the surprise was ON!
The surprise was staged at Heather's house and we invited the family as well as some of Lisa's closest friends. We even asked each person to make a scrapbook page for her so that we could compile it into a book for her to have as a gift. (That part was my Mom's idea!) So the day of the party I flew out to Chicago, Heather picked me up and we went straight to her house to wait for it to begin!
My Mom made this DARLING banner and got the book for the pages everyone was making and picked up some cute plates, balloons etc and Heather and I got the cake, drinks and a few other things to add to what other foods people were bringing. Everyone got there just in the nick of time for the big reveal! She was TOTALLY surprised! Had NO idea! And I was an even BIGGER surprise! I thought it was funny that after we all got her she said, "You all are such liars!" HA HA loved that!
Lisa's daughter Alex and Heather's daughter Payton enjoying the party!
Lisa's kids Brigham (in blue), Sammy (in yellow), Sammy's friend Laney and Heather's boy Teancum.
It was so fun to hang with friends and visit and talk about how we got her there without her knowing! And we ate some yummy food and watched a slide show that Steve had made in her honor. It was perfect!
A few people brought her some small gifts to open. That's Heather's daughter Sabrina helping her!
My Mom and Dad with Alex- such a great picture!
Me and my sis! I'm so glad I got to do this for her! I can't think of a more deserving person!
I loved this shot of Lisa's boy Hyrum with Heather's little guy Teancum!
Over the weekend while I was there I took advantage of the time with everyone and got some pictures! Here's Alex and Sammy!
Here's Brigham and Hyrum (with a bit of a sneaker in the background! Such a silly girl!)
This is a great shot of Lisa and her hubby Steve. He was such a GREAT help in getting all this to work! Thanks Steve!!
Here's me and my two sisters! Aren't we hotties! :)
Here's me with my family! My sisters and my parents! We all still look pretty darn good I think! I've got some good genes!
Here's a shot of Heather and her hubby Doug! Such a cute couple! I could not have had more fun while I was there! We went shopping with the gals on Saturday, lunch with everybody on Saturday, church with the whole gang on Sunday and a yummy dinner and sleepover with my sisters to cap off Sunday! It was the BEST! I might have to celebrate her birthday EVERY year!