Nov 2nd 2016- Brianne's Birthday!

I am only kinda freaking out that my BABY is turning 15..... OH MY GOODNESS! She was the most excited that she would be getting her permit and could start to practice driving! It's a big birthday! Woo hoo!

We had given her a beats pill ( a music speaker) as part of her birthday but I also promised her that I would take her shopping at PINK. I know it's not what most people want to read but she wanted some nicer bras! LOL! So off I took her to buy her some nice ones! :)

This has been a good year for her and I know there is only better things to come! I cannot wait to see how her 15th year plays out!

Her birthday dinner was at Cheesecake Factory! It's always a favorite! The food there is AMAZING!!!! They knew it was her birthday so they also brought her out  a little dessert treat and sang to her! It was fun!

I love her snapchat of her slice of cake! It was cute!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIANNE! We love you so much!

A few days later I finally got her to the DMV and got her permit! It was a BIG day! WOO HOO!

November 1, 2016- Refi- FINALLY

In the fall Chan and I decided that we should refinance our house. It ended up being WAY MORE of a challenge in patience than anything! HAHA! We began the process and had an appraisal of our home, which was all good. We were thrilled to see that our home was worth over $300 thousand dollars! Our area has grown and the new homes that have come in have only helped us with our property value because they are HUGE and very well built! We'll take that! Over the next month or so we finally got everything done and it helped us financially to be in a better spot! YAY! It seems life is always throwing us curve balls and we're always trying our best to catch them, sometimes we do well and other times we fall flat. But either way we still do our best! We are certainly not perfect, but life is a tough game and we're just glad to be a player in it!

Halloween 2016

 Halloween 2016 began at work! My boss, Everett, decided to show up to work wearing his T-Rex costume! HAHA! He went all over the building saying hello and waving his little arms!

I had to get a shot of him at his desk! HAHA! When he picked up his phone I told him his arms weren't long enough to reach his head! LOL!! He is such a riot!

Brianne always insists that we carve pumpkins and this year I wasn't feeling it much. But she threw on some gloves and went to it herself! She doesn't like to touch the guts much! Haha!

I decided last minute to throw together a costume so I wore my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and a Mickey Mouse hat and off we went to Brooke's house to celebrate. I'm not sure I'll ever get Chan to dress up again! Haha!

 Dakota and his girlfriend were cheech and chong! They looked awesome! I think he loves Halloween as much as his Mom! And that's saying A LOT!

Brianne kept it simple and went as a lumberjack! She looked darling! And so did her cousins! It wasn't too chilly out either so walking to trick or treat was very nice. Our first time in Brooke's new neighborhood and it was lovely! Lots of very nice people!

Spending the holidays with family is always so much fun. We like to laugh and share in the moments together! There's no better thing to do! Will and Carter had plans with friends so they were off doing fun things with them!

Cute little Chloe getting in to her candy! She was so excited this year to go out door to door! IOt was darling!

Brianne's finished pumpkin! I think she did an amazing job! Happy Halloween everyone! :)

Oct 30, 2016= Jaden's Homecoming

On October 30 it was Jaden's homecoming. These two were friends BEFORE the mission, served together in Orlando, and now he was home! He was at our house again not long after he arived home. It was great to see him and to see how much he had grown. Once he got home these two were together A TON! They were making plans for dates etc, but were also making all kinds of plans to be entrepeneurs together. They were taking pictures for profiles and trying to make a buisness to help others become successful. I loved their passion and tried to be supportive, but two 20 something kids were going to have a hard time finding people to buy in. I knew what they had to offer, but I also knew they needed A LOT more life experience! But in true Mom fashion I only told them they were awesome and that they could do it! :)

It was incredible to see this group all back together again. From Alta football to post- missions, these kids remain good friends! They are ALL incredible and I know they'll do amazing things!

Jaden's homecoming was awesome. His talk was wonderful and it was nice to see his family as well. What a wonderful thing to see them come home!

Oct 28, 2016- Alta vs Wasatch PLAYOFFS!

With playoffs comes playoff hair. This year it was playoff perms, yup..... you heard that right. A PERM. OH my......

I was shocked he actually wanted to do it, but since I allowed Carter to do crazy hair his senior year, I figured what the heck! And Will is so handsome he can pull it off! Right?!!

This kids senior year of football has been incredible! And the trophy for region championship came when he was at school and had someone take a quick photo of him with it! Doesn't get much better than that! He has been blessed with incredible coaches and teammates!

 The first playoff game was at home since we had such a great season! And when we arrived and saw this banner- we were PUMPED!! We also bought some sweatshirts and T's that said REGION CHAMPS! We were so ready to cheer them on to a win!!

They seemed ready too! They came out looking tough and ready to play THEIR game! The crowd was pumped too!

Brianne sat with her friends and was cheering her guts out! There is NO BETTER cheerleader when it comes to Alta football! She has lost her voice many a game! HAHA!

Will had a great game, the team was playing incredible right from the start! There was no messing around now! They wanted to play up at the University of Utah! Everyone could feel that!!

This rainbow popped out during the game and I had to get a photo! I considered it good luck! This team was going to do it today!

Their play continued to be fierce! Everything they were capable of came out! They played a very tough game and Will got a lot of play time, which was awesome! It was his last on home turf and I couldn't think of a better way to do that!

 Carter, Jaden and Mack all enjoyed watching from the sidelines. Jaden literally just got home from the mission field, but there was no better place to be than to cheer on their alumni!

 It was an awesome game! They took the win in HUGE fashion! Almost a shutout! 49 to 7! The hawks are here to play! Now on to the U!!!!

This has got to be one of my absolute favorite picture of these two! They have become quite close over these last two years! Brianne loves cheering him on and loves his brothers on the field too!

So proud of Will and his team today! Keeping on that ROAD TO STATE!!

Oct. 20, 2016- Fall Break Fun

The biggest news is Tom and Kathy sold their house. They had lived here since 1989, had many memories there, and our kids and family too! Carter's baby blessing was here and MANY more memories over the years. But it was time for them to move on and to downsize and make new memories!

Our kids were super bummed at first, but then they jumped on board and over the next while helped their grandparents do some moving. We actually didn't do a ton because they hired a moving service, but we did help them with a few items.

This was a couple of the things we helped with! They gave us these two couches and table. These couches had a big memory for me. It was where I sat with my parents, Chan and his family on our first Christmas together before we got married. It's where my parents presented us with gifts, which was our temple clothing. It's something I will never forget! I was thrilled that they were okay with us having them. They look so good in our house too! :)

The other big event for fall break was going to Pentatonix concert with Brianne. She was OVER THE MOON excited to see them in person! I was too! They are by far the best accapella group I have ever heard! And we were RIGHT IN FRONT of the stage! It was incredible!

We loved every single song and we stood the ENTIRE concert! Not gonna lie, my legs and feet were DYING by the time I made it back to our car! But it was so worth it! And I loved sharing this concert with Brianne! We had dinner together at Cracker Barrel first and then sang our hearts out in the Maverik Center!

Seeing them in person was WAY better! I thought hearing their recorded music was great but DANG!! They just knocked every single song out of the park!!

Brianne makes fun of me when I take pictures like this one, but it's a fun memory of the two of us, getting special bracelets to allow us to be on the floor! How could I NOT get a photo of that!!

The other thing that was amazing was their stage, lighting etc! I was not expecting such a "show"! But the programs they had going along with their music was so cool!

I especially loved these panels they had with images behind them- it was awesome! Definitely a night to remember! I am glad I got to share it with her!

Other than those two things we hung at home, worked more in the yard, and watched the new Ghostbusters movie as a family on Sunday. It was a good weekend! :)

Oct 19, 2016 Alta vs Corner Canyon

 Corner Canyon game, that's all you have to say and the nerves kick in. Especially this game. Both teams were undefeated and we both had a lot to prove!

There was A TON of kids here! Brianne and her friends came SUPER early and had incredible seats in with the students. We all knew this game was going to be one to remember! Our team was ready and the excitement was THICK! It was also the first time Carter had seen our team play Corner since he had been on his mission!

When they took the field we were so excited! But what we weren't ready for was Corner to come out blazing, and they did. Our team felt a bit flat, and we were making WAY TOO many mistakes. Our first half was terrible and SO difficult to watch.

When they came out after the half the team seemed more united and was playing MUCH better. In fact they kept Corner from scoring at all. It all came down to about the last 4 minutes. Those minutes were truly N-U-T-S!

We had done well, scored and were on the path for a win when our quarterback, Will Dana threw an interception. That interception turned into a score for Corner Canyon and that was it. We didn't have enough time to get back the win. Corner won on their own turf. It was terrible.

The final score was 48-42. A very tough loss for our team. But going into the playoffs, it could benefit us. Get us in the right frame of mind for what is to come. There is tougher teams coming, it's best to take this hit now and get wins the rest of the way! Heads up boys there's more games yet to play!