Mission Call!

 During the month of May Carter finished his mission papers and was ordained an Elder. We sent in the papers expecting to get the call a week later- which is the norm- but a week after instead of a letter I got a call from our Stake President telling me that it had been "delayed" a bit. *sigh* So we continued to wait. We were all getting impatient waiting for this envelope to arrive! We were getting ready to go on vacation to Oklahoma City and were supposed to leave in roughly 24 hours. I had mentioned to Carter that I put something in the mailbox to go out- so if he saw that the flag was down on the mailbox that the mail had arrived and he could go check it. I went on to cleaning the house and the kids were doing their own thing when I hear Carter yell my name. I turned around and he was holding the envelope! Pretty much exactly like the picture above!

 I ran upstairs and gave him a hug and looked closer at this envelope that held his future! We were SOOOOO excited! So on to social media he went to invite everyone to the big opening!! It wasn't long till our living room was FULL of people!

 Some of his best friends, leaders and family all came out to support him and see where he'd be going!

 We had a huge map out on our dining room table for people to guess where he would be going! They had him all over the place! The closest guess was my niece Payton who said South Carolina!

 After a few moments and getting everyone settled in he opened the letter and read it aloud. It said that he would be serving in the Florida, Orlando mission! What a wonderful surprise!!! And English speaking too!! YAY!

 Then came the MANY hugs and photos with Carter as everyone congratulated him and wished him luck on his mission. It was a special night and one that he will never forget! We are SO proud of him and his decision to serve a mission and he is going to be an incredible missionary! He reports to the MTC on Sept 10th! WOW!!!

*On a spiritual side note* Carter had been feeling anxious on the day this all happened.He just wanted the letter to come. He went down to his room and said a prayer and opened his scriptures where he read a scripture that used the words, "it would be delivered unto him". He felt prompted to check the mailbox and found the flag was down. He went out and there it was. A true blessing and story he will never forget.

Graduation 2014!

 Graduation Day 2014.... wow... I had so many older people tell me to enjoy my time with my kids because it goes so quickly. It is SOOOO true! It really doesn't seem that long ago that Carter was playing with Tonka trucks! But the time has gone and I have enjoyed savoring every minute with this kid!

 I however did NOT enjoy (at times) going through school with him! It definitely had it's challenges and there was times I wondered if we'd get here! But we did it together and I helped HIM reach HIS full potential and I'm thrilled for that!

 I made him a book with all the pictures I had taken, or had done for his Senior year. I think it turned out pretty cool! I wanted him to remember his time in High School- it's been good to him! He's had some GREAT times with some amazing friends!

 I couldn't resist decorating his car! (he didn't love that- but oh well! :)

 This was our gift to Carter for Graduation- his new scripture set for his mission! He wanted an all new set that he could mark up and study specifically for his mission and I was all about it! He wasn't technically and Elder yet when he got these, but we knew it would be soon after!

 I attempted to make him a traditional candy lei and did "okay"! He loved it and enjoyed savoring the candy!

 I snapped this shot of him at UVU right before we went in for the ceremonies. He looks so grown up! And he was SO excited to get in there!

 We are truly blessed with this kid! Even with all the minor struggles I had with him in school when we grabbed the program to find his name we discovered that he was graduating with an Honors diploma! WOO HOO!

 This was a pleasant surprise! We knew he qualified for the Advanced diploma, but apparently because he did so well on his ACT's he was able to graduate with an Honors certificate. That's amazing! We couldn't be prouder!

 I kept asking Chan if experiencing this graduation was strange for him since HE also graduated from Alta and he said YES! He never would have guessed he'd end up watching his kids graduate there! It's funny and pretty cool!

 This is my kid on the jumbo tron right before he went on stage.... yup... enough said!

 This was right after he was handed his diploma...

 Snapping a picture with his Principal Fidel Montero! He liked Carter and you can tell from his expression! :)

A quick congratulations hug and he was off! An official graduate with certificate in hand!

 One of the last things they did was sing the fight song before throwing their cap into the air! It was awesome! Such a great group of Seniors with A TON of pride for their school!

 We had a small group there to cheer him on- here's a shot of Will, Dakota & Brianne

 Grandma & Grandpa Gilbert with Carter

 Gamma & Papa with Carter

 After the ceremony we went and got some yummy BBQ! A great way to celebrate with Carter and hear all about his thoughts on the graduation ceremony.

 It was a great day and we loved spending time as a family and celebrating Carter!

It's official... I have a high school graduate! ......And Mr. Alta has left the building! :)

Harrison's 7 on 7

 Back in May Will had the opportunity to participate in a 7 on 7 championship with the Freshman players. It is run by one of the Alta Coaches- Dave Harrison- and it was a great way for him to work on his speed, agility and defense strategy.

 They had practices twice a week to go over plays etc since these new Freshman kids are unfamiliar with the offense.

 They had two 7 on 7's and Alta did well in both but didn't win. I was impressed with how Will played! He has never done these before, and it was new to us as spectators too since Carter's never done one. (Lineman are not used in 7 on 7's)

Overall it was a great experience for ALL of us! We see great things for Will if he keeps working this hard!

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