Softball 2014

 This is Brianne's 4th year playing rec softball! She was SOOO excited to play this year since for Christmas she asked for gear and got it! She got a cute helmet, pants, bat, batting gloves (that she decided she doesn't need) and a rebounder for the back yard to help her practice! As soon as the weather was warm enough she had Chan out there setting up that rebounder and she was begging ANYONE to throw with her!

 This is a sport I always loved growing up but was never good at it! Brianne has skills for sure! Her knowledge of the game has grown a ton too!

 When she first started she would get scared when the ball was thrown or hit in her direction, but now she isn't afraid and goes for it! It's awesome!

 This year I think she focused the most on batting and it SHOWED! She has never had a hard time hitting the ball at practice, but games were a different story. She would always tend to freeze at the games and rarely hit the ball. This year her coach had a batting cage and they worked in there several times, one on one, with the coach. On one of Brianne's first sessions there he took a few minutes to talk to her. He told her to be ready for EVERY ball, not wait to see how it would be over the plate. He wanted her to go for it every time and only hold it if the ball wasn't good. THAT was the BEST advice I think she could have gotten! From that day on she was hitting in EVERY game! In fact she was one of the BEST hitters on the team this year!

 She got this ball good! I am so proud of her! It was the one area that she regretted not doing better last year and made it a priority this year! They received their trophies last night and the coach said one thing about each player. When he got to Brianne he said she was the most improved player overall! He couldn't believe the difference in her from last year to this year! It was a HUGE compliment and she was beaming!

It wasn't until this season that she really felt like this would be something she'd do through high school. But now, she can't wait to try out to be a Lady Hawk! Nice job this season Brianne! You ROCKED it!

Power Lifting Meet 2014

 On May 1st the boys participated in the Weber High Power lifting Meet. This would be Will's first year and Carter's 3rd year participating. They do three lifts and get three attempts at each lift. Will started out on bench press and did well putting up 165 lbs. I think he had a little more in him, but since it was his first time out it's probably wise he didn't go with more!

 His second lift was clean. His form is really good one this one! He did great and was able to do 155 lbs! NICE!

 His last lift was squat and it worked out that Carter was able to be his spot for this one! He was able to get 245 pounds and made it look easy. I'm sure he could have done more, but again, it was his first time out so I'm sure next year he'll pound it!

 He has been working hard with the same trainer that Carter has been working with for 4 years. His name is John Madsen and he has an amazing place that trains athletes of all kinds! He knows how to get you to your best! We will continue to use him during Will's off season! So next year he's gonna kill it!

 Carter began his meet with clean. It's not his strongest when it comes to form. He has always struggled with this one. His goal was to get 225 and he passed that up and got 245 lbs! He tried for 275 and totally had it but dropped it early. But everyone watching said he could have done it!

 His second lift was squat and is by far his strongest. I will admit that I was standing right on front of him on this one along with Chan, Brianne, Tom and Grandpa Gilbert. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking! The amount of weight he was going for he had NEVER attempted before! But as you can see in the picture he got low and came right up!!! He managed to get 545 lbs! WOW!

After the squat he had bench and easily put up 365 pounds which easily locked him in as the heavyweight overall winner. He beat the other guys out by a HUGE margin! His over all total was 1155 and the closest to him was only 1075! It was awesome! He also won two other awards- highest squat and highest bench overall.(His best friend Jaden took highest clean) He is best in State 2014! WAY TO GO DUDE! Hard work pays off!

He's official!

Will is official! He got his drivers permit this morning and can hit the road! I told him I want him out there practicing at least once a week! He will learn to drive in my big Ford Excursion (just like Carter did) before learning to drive the Subaru. The Subaru is a stick shift so I want them learning to drive without that first. But I do think it's important for them to know how to drive ALL kinds of cars! He is super excited and I'm sure he will want to drive tonight! Nice job Will!

Brianne is a Canyons Idol!

 On April 25th Brianne auditioned for Canyons Idol! They have been doing this competition for a few years and I didn't think Brianne would want to do it. But she saw this flyer at school a week before the audition and said she was going to do it!

 I was totally supportive of course and she went home that day and found a karaoke version of the Star Spangled Banner to practice. She only practiced a few times at home and once with her voice teacher before showing up that Friday to get her number! She was number 38, so we had to wait around an hour before she got her turn in front of the judges. She sang accapella and given she had not warmed up her voice AT ALL I thought she did AMAZING!

(Sorry for the crappy picture- I just took a screen shot of the video I got of her singing) We had to wait about 3 days to see if she won and I got the call at home on a Tuesday morning. I called her at school to tell her that she had taken 1st runner up and won a $250 scholarship! I am SOOOO proud of her! This was a big deal and she was amazing! She's already planning to try again next year! She really wants to win and get the chance to sing at the Salt Lake City Real soccer game!

To see video of her performance and the winners you can go to: http://www.canyonsdistrict.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2782

Senior pictures

 I took Carter to get his senior pictures taken and I chose to go to our usual photographer. They are AMAZING and talented photographers and always get creative while taking pictures. It's why I love them! Carter HAD to get a picture with his Oregon stuff on! He's a HUGE fan and I have to admit I love this jersey- it's pretty cool! And even his SHOES are Oregon! :)

 This is one of Carter's favorites. We LOVE the lighting! It took moving around a few times to get it right, but it was totally worth it!

 When she was taking this shot I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but WOW! This one is artistic! And Carter loved that it looked like he was praying. I'm sure that wasn't exactly what she was going for, but it does seem that way! We added this to the back of his graduation announcement and Carter insisted we add a scripture with it- Ether 12:27- you'll have to look it up! :)

 We were having SO MUCH FUN during this photo shoot! We were laughing and talking and the girl was just darling! Carter worked for this company over the holidays and many of the people working there remembered him. He's such a character and can really make people laugh!

 This one he was really laughing and you can tell! It's a genuine smile! :)

 I loved this one! I wanted to do a shirt and tie and he thought his Mr Alta tie was appropriate and I totally agreed! He looks so handsome in this one!

 This needs no caption! She totally captured Carter's personality! He's such a ham!

 He loves this one and so do I! Classic Carter!

 I have to admit when she pulled down the Murphy bed to take these pictures I was a bit confused, but I trusted her and I have to admit that I love these! They are too funny!

 The employees at the studio LOVED this one! They said the caption should say, "Oh my gosh YOUR graduating?!"

 My official graduate! Looking pretty dang sharp! He did say it was a little weird wearing the cap and gown! He got it the week before we scheduled these so it worked out perfectly!

Graduation is just around the corner! June 3rd at 10am this kid will walk away with his diploma! I'm SOOOOO excited!

Papers are DONE!

 Well after teeth removal, Dr visit and shots I could finally enter in all his information for his mission papers. Seeing this screen that says "recommendation has been submitted" was a weird feeling!

But not as weird as seeing his name this way on the screen, "Carter Swensen Crismon, Missionary Crescent Ridge 5th". THAT was crazy! He only has two more steps and the papers will be sent off to headquarters! Now I am just waiting to plan his letter opening! It's going to be a mad house!

Those dang knees...

 In March after Brianne ran the mandatory mile at school her knee began bugging her. There was sharp pain unlike she'd had before. (*sigh*)

 After taking her to a chiropractor and her children's knee specialist (that did her surgeries) it was decided that physical therapy would be helpful. So she started the week before spring break, continued during, and had one more visit. She learned a few exercises to do to help her strengthen her muscles and core. (sorry about the shot in the background...yikes)

 It was funny to watch and made me think back to carter's knee injury when he was in 7th grade. Funny how we can't seem to get away from those stupid knee issues! Dang genetics!

She has been playing softball without any issues (thank heavens) and after doing the therapy seems to be doing well. Fingers crossed that it continues! I have decided that knees are not may favorite body part. What is you ask?.....hmmmm..... how about eyebrows! Hahahahaha! Those don't require therapy right?

Carter is officially an adult!

 On April 14, 1996 this adorable baby was born! He was late coming and was stubborn on greeting the world but when he finally emerged he has been a joy ever since! He has always been a happy kid! He had moments (they all do) but overall was always smiling and making us laugh!

 I have enjoyed so much watching him grow over these past 18 years! Evey milestone has been fun and now that he's officially an adult I'm sure it will just be even more fun to come! I was excited for his birthday gift because it was something he had asked for that I knew he thought I wouldn't get! It was a Drake T-Shirt. Drake is one of his favorite music artists and I found one on Amazon! :)

 He opened his gifts that morning before Chan left for work and then it was just US! It was the first day of spring break and we wanted to do something fun. So we decided to go to see a new movie that came out called Draft Day. Right up Carter's alley! But we ALL enjoyed it! It was great!

 Then we went down to the factory outlet stores in Lehi to do a little shopping with his birthday money. Carter is a HUGE sucker for Nike clothing and shoes and there's an outlet store there and we found some great deals!

 After that we decided to go to Scheel's and look around there. Brianne needed some new softball socks and we knew they would have the best selection (which they did). It's a fun store to look around in and Carter found some more Oregon Ducks merchandise he couldn't live without! He was a happy camper!

 And we couldn't go to Scheel's without going on the ferris wheel! Looks are deceiving too because it doesn't seem that big until your ON it! And it gets UP there! FUN FUN!

 The timing worked out perfectly and right after our shopping we met up with Chan for Carter's birthday dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. It's his new favorite place!

The food was good and the environment was fun! We ended up watching baseball on one of the TV's which is a sport we don't usually watch! But we laughed and had a great time and Carter told Chan about all his birthday purchases.

 It was fun to sit and talk about our days adventures with Chan and to talk about what we would do the rest of our break. Carter had plans with friends to go down to St George for the remainder of the break. I helped him make arrangements to stay with Kay along with his two friends Trevor and Trenton. He was excited to get going!

After spending 4 days in St George this was the ONLY picture I got and I stole it from his friends twitter page! Hahaha! They had WAY too much fun to stop and take pictures! I was so glad that they had fun! And as for us, well it was uneventful! Brianne hung with friends, Will played XBox and I enjoyed hanging around the house in my PJ's and getting football stuff together! :) It was a GREAT week!

Bye Wisdom Teeth

 On the Friday before spring break Carter went in to get his wisdom teeth removed. We have known for a year that he would have to have this done for him to be able to serve a mission. I was waiting for a time that would allow him to recover and his dentist suggested we wait till he was 18 to make the procedure easier. So I waited until 2 days before his 18th birthday... wow... I guess I'm a mean Mom! Before Spring Break AND his birthday! HAHAHA! Thankfully he only had two wisdom teeth and both were uppers which we were told makes it a bit easier.

Given Carter's personality I KNEW going into it that he was going to be super loopy and FUNNY! And BOY was I right on that one! YIKES! I managed to take a 4 minute video of him rambling on about all sorts of things and sounding absolutely hilarious! I posted it to Facebook, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all who watched! And thankfully the procedure was quick and easy and he recovered very well! He was off and running again by Monday! (His Birthday) It didn't give him much pain at all either which was a blessing! Final procedure done and now mission papers are in full swing!

Softball Year 4!

 I'm having a hard time believing that this will be Brianne's 4th year playing softball! WOW!! But thanks to a very generous gift for Christmas she was able to go and buy herself a new helmet, bat, bag and pants! She bought gloves too- but has since decided she's not a gloves kinda batter!

 She also got a "rebounder" that she can use to practice throwing/catching in the back yard. She started using it but we still need to attach some re bar to ground it better so it won't fall over! :) Strong arm I guess!

 But this year she has finally gained some confidence in her batting! She got an AMAZING hit at last weeks game that sailed out into the outfield! We were so proud of her!!

 We KNOW it is in large part to her great coach that she has AGAIN this year! Coach Bojack is a phenomenal teacher and even has a batting cage in his back yard! He has taught Brianne so much over these past 2 years and again this year!

 Yesterday her team all went to the Bee's game together and then had a sleepover. I am glad to see her bonding with her team (that this year includes on of her best friends- Bergan) and making friendships that will last!

 They have had a rougher start as far as wins and losses, but these past two games we can really see the improvement and I'm sure these last games will be even better!

Way to go Brianne! Keep up the great work and we can't wait to see you play in high school! Hee hee :)