Carter at Wild Florida!

There are still many days when I wake up and forget that Carter is on a mission! It all seemed to go SO FAST! But I will tell you that I TREASURE Mondays because that is when I know I will be receiving an email from him with an update on his week. On occasion he will send us a picture or two attached and these were some we received recently! On his P-Day he was able to go to a place called Wild Florida! He said it was fun! He saw animals and actually purchased an alligator head!

But he was the most excited that he was able to hold an actual alligator! I can tell on his face he isn't totally sure about it either! I know the mouth is taped up, but you never know what is going to happen! Hahaha! One funny side note to this picture is that in one of his letters home he mentioned the current "gators" they had... referring to the "investigators"! I thought that was hilarious! With each letter home I can tell he is having some amazing experiences. Some very spiritual ones talking about giving priesthood blessings and at other times just talking about life away from home. I look forward to each letter and email to see how he grows over the next 22 months. That's right- he's been out for 2 months now! Wow! I really couldn't be more proud of him! I miss him terribly, and I have my days when I tend to think about it too much, but for the most part I try to focus on the positives! What an amazing example he is to his brother and sister (and to us- his parents), the blessings he will receive for serving, the life lessons he is learning daily etc etc! What a blessing it is to us all! Love you Elder Crismon! And watch out for the REAL gators! :)

And you can follow Carter's mission adventures on HIS blog: cartercrismon.blogspot.com

Sophomore Banquet

 On November 3rd it was the Sophomore Football Banquet. Each one of these events requires SO MUCH TO DO! Pictures to make, Highlight DVD's to burn, certificates to write, food to order etc etc etc! Thankfully I had MANY helpers who made this happen and it turned out well! Brianne's note to me in my room shows just how much time I am dedicating to this job!

 Seeing the friendships that my kids make through sports is one of the bright spots of volunteering for a position like this. It allows me to spend time with them too and get to know them better! Like this awesome kid JD! AND his Mom is awesome too! :)

 Now that this banquet is over the Sophomore teams season is officially over. Now on to the Varsity banquet....

 At some point all the craziness and preparation will come to an end, well at least for a couple months, until I have to start all over again! One more year!!!

Even though it's been a tough job, with a lot riding on it, I wouldn't change it for the world! I do it for my kiddos! I am so proud of ALL of them and my husband! We are a true Alta Hawk family through and through! We have ALL sacrificed our time and effort in making this a great season for Alta football! So thanks to my family for helping ME make it happen and for putting your heart into a great program on and off the field!

Brianne's 13!!!!

 On November 2nd Brianne turned 13! She is officially a teenager now! WOW! We did our usual birthday surprises, but since we didn't really get to trick or treat on Halloween this year (due to the playoff game) Brianne requested A LOT of candy! And well.....

 She got candy alright!! On top of a few other favorites like the ruffles, a new cute water cup, a few of her favorite drinks etc.

 The One Direction concert back in September was the bulk of her birthday gift, but we had to do a little something to help her celebrate! Oh, and Dad also bought her favorite breakfast- a Starbucks frappe! YUM!

 After looking over the table at all of the fun stuff she dove right into the ONE gift on the counter! And it was a BIG box!

 It was one thing she has been begging me to get- a music stand! And it's a cool one too! Its a metal one that can fold up and go in this carrying bag and it's RED! She is now able to set her music on it when practicing her singing! She was thrilled!

 Later that night she got to choose where to go for her birthday dinner and she picked The Cheesecake Factory! And since I hadn't had time to make the pumpkin chocolate chip cake she had requested this was the perfect spot!

(I apologize for the creepy picture! We were being silly!) We had some very yummy food and then each chose a piece of cheesecake to take home for dessert! YUM-O!! Happy Birthday Brianne! We love you!!!

Will's first shave!

 It was time! The little hairs on the bottom of his chin were beginning to look thick and were getting long! Time to show Will how to shave so that they will start to come in thicker! AND he will look much nicer too!

 Will was obviously not happy I was wanting to document this! But oh well! It has to be done! Got to love the shaving cream faces! :)

He did a pretty good job for his first time! No cuts or anything! I don't think he's had to do it yet since this photo, but I know the time is coming! It's crazy how fast time is flying!

Getting pumpkins

 The day before Halloween I took the kids to pick out pumpkins... better late than never! Last year we never got any and I promised Brianne that THIS year we would get them AND carve them!

 The place we go to isn't far from home but they always have a good selection. I was grateful the kids still let me snap a picture or two without getting totally embarrassed!

 This is the pumpkin Will chose- he didn't want to carve one so I did his for him and I LOVED how it turned out! It was a happy jack-o-lantern!

 Brianne had a hard time deciding what to carve, but after looking online found a fun one to do!

 She did a happy pumpkin too! I love how they turned out! Maybe next year we'll try some complicated ones! :)

While my sister was in town we bought some silly Halloween items for a care package for Carter. This was one of the things I sent him! I thought it was hilarious and I KNEW he would get a kick out of it! I actually think that's a pretty good Halloween costume! I think it's scary! hahaha!

Happy Halloween all! :)

Playoffs/Halloween

 Playoffs this year were NOT close! We played Fremont High School up north and it was an hour and fifteen minute drive! AND it was on Halloween! The game was at 3:30pm so Chan had to leave work early and I did too! But thankfully it all worked out and the three of us headed north to see the game!

We started out playing tough and things were shaping up to be a great game. However, not long into the first quarter many things shifted and it all went down hill! It was a VERY tough loss and it was hard to believe that the season was officially over. That was a long ride home for us ALL!

After we got home we went up to Brooke's house to see the family and do some trick or treating with the kiddos!

 I only snapped a few photos on my phone as we were going around! The kids were having fun!

 I enjoy watching them run from house to house! It's cute!

And this was little Chloe's first Halloween where she trick or treated the whole way herself! She did great! It was a fun night! :)

Alta vs Brighton

 During this game one of the seniors on the varsity team was helping take pictures and snapped these AMAZING pictures of Will! I L-O-V-E them!

 This one is one of my favorites! I have NO idea what he is pointing at, but this is totally his personality! :)

 This one is unreal, but shows so well how he punches through the line even though the guys he's up against are HUGE! Look at that #66! Yikes! He doesn't always get the guy, but he sure is working hard!

 This is one of his favorite shots! He was so excited to get that visor on his helmet! He's wanted one of those forever! And the funny thing is he ended up not loving it on there! Hahaha! It does look pretty cool though!

 Here is a better shot of that #66... he was a BIG boy! I am sure he has at least 75 pounds if not more on Will!

 He had another great game and Brighton is a tough team! In this picture he's about to grab that runner... #8

 In this picture he is tacking #8! Woo hoo! Because of his tough play he was asked to dress varsity again! YAY! This was a huge honor too because it was our last home game AND Senior night. It was also important to him because I had asked his trainer John Madsen to come and speak at the team dinner. He wanted so badly to be there and he WAS! And John did an amazing job talking to our players :)

He didn't get any game time, but was looking forward to practicing with the team the next week because he was asked by Coach Stephens to stay on with Varsity through playoffs! Woo hoo!

Lisa's Here!!!

 In all of the years that Lisa and I have been raising our kids we have NEVER had our kids schools out for a break at the same time- other than major holidays. But this year we managed to have fall break at the exact same time! So we decided that we needed some "sister time" and Chan and I flew her out to spend a long weekend! It was SOOOOO fun! She arrived on Wednesday night and I grabbed her form the airport and we went straight to the Alta football field! The Varsity team had a game and I was helping out in concessions. She was nice enough to help out AND even managed to help us sell out of Chick-Fil-A sandwiches! Yay! After the game we were both pooped so we hit the sack.

Thursday and Friday we went shopping, got some yummy cupcakes, I introduced her to Dirty Dr Pepper, we went to eat with Chan and the kids and she and I went to a session at the Mt Timpanogas temple. It was all SO fun! She was so impressed by how HUGE that temple was! And it really IS huge and gorgeous! :) It is always such a blast to spend time with my sisters! I SOOOO wish they lived closer! We'd do everything together! We ended a perfect trip by attending Carter's friend Jaden's farewell before taking her to the airport to head home. It really was SO wonderful to spend a few days relaxing, laughing and making memories!

Alta vs West Jordan

 The West Jordan game was earlier in the week because of the fall break, so this game was on a Tuesday afternoon. The weather was perfect for a game!

 Once again we had a few of the JV players playing with us on the Sophomore team. It is really helpful to get some more of the bigger guys up front- especially against this team. They had some HUGE players! Will was all over the place again! He wasn't perfect and did get pushed around a bit by some of those bigger guys, but most of the time he was able to bust through- like is this photo below!

I thought it was awesome that after this game while Chan and I were talking to him the West Jordan team was walking by and one of their players came over to tell Will good job! He also said "you were all over the place"! I thought that was awesome! Way to go Will!

Alta vs Copper Hills

 This was Homecoming week at Alta! It's crazy how quickly the games are flying by! Will enjoyed participating in the Homecoming activities this year! He even got asked to be in on the tug of war which seems to be a bit of a Crismon tradition! Chan did it at Alta, so did Carter and now Will! This game was a great one for Will! He had some amazing plays including this one in these first two pictures. he was put in at linebacker for a series and the first play in he read the play perfectly and was already through the line when the Copper Hills player was handed the ball. (picture 1).

 In this picture he is ALL OVER that ball carrier and is taking him DOWN! It's too bad those other guys were in the way of this picture! It was an incredible play! One of the other parents behind us asked who number 50 was after that one! I was proud to say "That's MY kid"!

This was a great win for Alta and MUCH needed! They have a growing football program and have improved A TON over these past couple years. We had a few JV players playing with us at this game and still had a tough time! But we were so proud of Will!

 Right after the game Will joined his friends for some Homecoming fun! One thing they did was a color throw! They had to pay money to get the colored corn starch and it was the kickoff for the homecoming games! It sure looks cool! He enjoyed hanging out with his friends!

 At the Homecoming game the next day we had a lot of fun planning extra things to make to make it special! Like this tunnel of people & balloons to run out on the field.

 One of my favorite things was all the posters we had the cheerleaders and drill team make! They were covering the fence under the stadium and all over the place! We even had lights strung up on the concession stand! It looked great! It was a fun night!