Fall Festivities

As usual, time is flying by faster than I want it to. Here are just a few of the happenings going on at our home:

First, more quality entertainment from Jordan. He came home from school wearing this one day. I ask him what the heck he's wearing and he says "Oh man, I've had the best day!" He proceeds to tell me that he and Jared (best bud-if you read my blog often you probably already know who that is) found these Hunter Administration vests at the DI. So of course they bought them and wore the Hunter Administration "uniform" to school, complete with walky talkies and a clip badge- don't ask me how they got that. They had a hayday taking students to the office (like they were in trouble) and getting people out of class all day. I told him he was probably going to get in trouble and he said, "Are you kidding me? The administration loved us!" I hope he's right. So far I haven't gotten a phone call and he hasn't been suspended...that I know of:)

Next, congratulations to Jace who was elected 7th grade Senator at his Jr. High. He campaigned for a week. When voting was over they announced the winners and gave them a banner and a crown. I still can't believe he's in Jr. High:(

Then, this past weekend was Sadie Hawkins at school. I guess you can either wear a costume or wear matching shirts. Jordan went with Janessa and they went as nerds. Since Jordan frequently shops at the DI he had no problem coming up with a costume.

Marquie's date was Jared. Yes, the same Jared that is usually partners in crime with Jordan. He's adorable. They started with a day activity carving pumpkins in the canyon. Why is he wearing a hat you ask? No, it really wasn't that cold outside. See if you can find him in the next picture and you'll know why.

Thats him with the bald head. He shaved it in preparation for the costumes they planned.

And here they are. Isn't that a hoot? I'm telling you, these guys know how to have fun and they are not afraid to be crazy. Their group had dinner at our house before the dance and we laughed and laughed.

Then they went out on the deck to show us how they were going to bust a move at the dance.

We had to get a good close up of Marquie's padded booty. So funny!

A Quick Catch Up

It seems like whenever a new school year starts, so does a billion other things. Our family is involved in way too many things, but we never can seem to cut anything out. Anyways, whenever I get overwhelmed, blogging is one of the first things to go. So here's just a little glimpse of a few things that have happened over the last month.

First, Marquie finally turned 16 and got asked out on her first date. She went with Dallin Sweet and his last name describes him well. And they humored me with a picture (a few actually but this will do).

Then a few days later, Marquie got asked to Homecoming (her first school dance) by Mike Peters- a great friend and neighbor.

It was funny because we happen to be having the team dinner (HHS girls soccer-yeah!) at our house at that particular moment so they were all in on it.


Then, because it was Marquie's sweet 16 we had a surprise party for her the weekend after her bday. She was very surprised. I can't even tell you how many people came, I lost track. But it was fun!



Then Wade (the little sneak) knew I would never suspect another surprise so soon, so he threw a surprise party for me the following weekend for my big 40. My poor family. They helped me a ton with Marquie's party and I know they helped Wade even more. You can tell I really was surprised because I look like a scrounge. Do people still say scrounge?

Yes, I blew out all 40 candles on my first try, thank you very much!

Marquie & Mike leaving for their day activity at 9:30 in the morning. They really go all out nowadays. It's like an all day thing.

Marquie & Shenay were in the same group so they got ready together at our house. They are so cute!!

Marquie & Jord just before Jordan left to go pick up his date.

Mike putting Marquie's corsage on. It was much more successful than her (and me) trying to put his boutinere on.

Marquie's whole group

Dang, I just deleted Jordans group photo and I'm too tired to figure out how to get it back where I want it. It's too bad because these girls had on the cutest modest dresses.

Jordans group had dinner at our house out on the deck. Makenna was their waitress and she was adorable. And they all gave her tips. Right here she is asking them what kind of salad dressing they want.

Such a great group! While we were getting their food ready we could hear them saying a prayer.

And I had to add this little tidbit. Jordans buddy Jared was voted Homecoming King. This is him after they announced it at the Homecoming assembly. He's adorable and hilarious!

Sorry about the long post. Hopefully I'll get a handle on "busy season". It seems like it's busy season for about 9 months out of the year. Oh well, let the good times roll=)

Sweet 16

Well, it happened. My sweet little Marquie is 16 years old today. I can't believe it. We had her family birthday party on Sunday. Here's grandpa Dennis giving her her cake.

This is Marquie opening her present from mom & dad. I knew she wasn't expecting anything, so I wondered what her reaction would be. She just looked at the key and smiled and said "Nuh-uh, really?" kind of jokingly. Then when we all sat there, she started running to the front door.


I think she thought it was a joke at first. She didn't say anything, just kept smiling & laughing.


I felt kinda bad for Wade. Bless his heart, he had put a big white bow on it, and as soon as he did it started raining. So by the time Marquie came out, it just looked like a toilet-papered car. Maybe that's why she was acting so unsure.



Okay, maybe this is real.

She was being so.... I don't know, just not freakin out. I mean she was smiling and stuff, but she was pretty calm.

Then finally it sunk in, and then I got the "freak out" I was expecting.

And of course the whole family was there, just they way we like it.

Shayla led them all in "For she's a jolly good fellow". I still don't know why. What happened to the Happy Birthday song? I was so distracted by Marquie's calmness that I forgot to ask.

Happy Birthday Marquie!

Sweet Success!

When Jace was born he was a husky little thing. He weighed in at 9 lbs 5 oz and to this day we tease him that 9 lbs of him was his cheeks.

Well, he's pretty much kept those adorable chubby cheeks for most of his childhood.... until about 6 months ago. In the last 6 months Jace has had a major growth spurt. He's grown about 6 inches and his cute little chubby cheeks (and body) started to disappear. I've been watching my little boy grow into a young man in front of my very eyes.
Jace has played football for the past several years. In football, there is a weight limit. If you weigh more than the limit, you can only play the line because they don't want bigger kids crushing tiny kids. So Jace has played the line for the past few years. This year, Jace decided that he really wanted to play a different position- one that he has to be under the weight limit for.
So he came to us before football started and told us that he wanted to make weight and felt like he could. It would mean he would have to lose about 12 lbs in about 5 weeks. I didn't like the idea too much, but he was soooooo determined. So we told him we would help him but only if he did it healthy. No crazy crash diets. So we came up with a plan

THE KID IS A MACHINE!!!!

I am so totally amazed by his motivation and will power. He ran at least 2 miles a day, and ate 6 times a day. No sugar, no pop, and very low fat. He has eaten more fish in the last month than most people eat in a lifetime.

Well weigh ins were on Monday, and I'm proud to announce that he made it! While he and Wade were at the weigh in, I ran to Sams Club and bought him one of those yummy chocolate bundt cakes. It was # 1 on his list of things he wanted to eat after he made weight. We were planning on taking him to dinner and then coming home to the cake. But when he got home and saw it, he asked if he could have a little piece of it before we went to dinner.

I couldn't resist- it was a priceless moment!

SWEET SUCCES!!

As Good As It Gets!!

Our family LOVES traditions. One of our favorites is our yearly trip to Palisade Park. For me, the main thing that makes this trip so much fun is that my family, most of Wade's family, and a lot of Stef's (my sis-in-law) family comes. Each year it seems there is a few more of us. I love it!! We have an absolute riot. I have come to realize how incredibly blessed and lucky we are to have such great, supportive, fun families. I love being with every single one of them!
I took so many pics, I couldn't decide which ones to post, so Shay came over and showed me how to do collages. I learn slowly but surely.

As soon as we get there the kids are in the water. Moms are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get life jackets on everyone. As soon as we do, we are in the water too! Between the canoe, the party barge, and all of our floaties we pretty much own that lake!

Wade got a wind surfer for the trip this year. It was a new challenge and many took it on, even though it only gets windy for about a half hour in the afternoon. Still fun!

Chad & Stef set up a volleyball net in the middle of all the trailers. It was a blast!

The teenagers learned a game called "Ninja Strike" while they were at EFY. They taught everyone how to play. I never did catch on but it was fun to watch.



Oh, how the kids love to catch creatures. Pollywogs, frogs, lizards, and yes Jordan is holding a dead muskrat. He claims it was attacking him in the water so he killed it with some kids oar (the poor kid is probably traumatized for life). Jordan called it his ROUS. And it was hideous!

In between all of the above activities, we spent time eating, digging lazy rivers for all the creatures to play in, napping, and visiting.

One of the nights we are there, we usually go to a pizza place in Ephraim called Roys (aka Fat Jacks). Well this year they were closed for the 24th so we had to find another place. We went to the Pizza Gallery. All 40 of us walk in to find out that there are only 2 teenage girls working and they looked a bit panicked. The guys asked them if they wanted help and surprisingly they said yes. They started out just doing smoothies and pop, but before long they were making pizzas, serving salads, and calling out orders. It was hilarious. I think those poor girls were happy when we finally left.

Poor Sara. She has had quite a challenge with her braces. For some reason, she has some kind of allergic reaction when she goes to the orthodontist. She thought it was fixed after they took the nickel braces off and put on porcelain. But.... she went to the ortho the day before our trip and woke up to a mouth full of canker sores the next day when we left. And when I say a mouthful I am not exaggerating. This picture does not do it justice. She was such a trooper. She hung in there and made sure everyone was having fun. I wish you could see her face in the pic of us playing cards. That was her permanent expression on this trip. And we all have a new vocabulary from Sara not being able to pronounce her words without whincing.


BFF's

I love that all the cousins get along, no matter what the age difference. On this trip Marquie, Shenay, and Livvy were the 3 musketeers and they loved every minute of it!

Chris, Chad, Wade, & Shayne are training for a couple of triathlons coming up. They swam the lake every day in preparation. This picture cracks me up with all their garb on. So goofy!

The only bad thing about this trip is that when it's over I feel the same as I do the day after Christmas. So bummed it's over already. But hey, there's always next year- and I can't wait!!!!

It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses a Tooth!

Well, I am always the slowest to update my blog, so most of you have already heard this story from Sara's or Shayla's blog, but I still had to do it. I actually got the event on the camcorder but I don't know how to put it on, and I don't know if Shay would want me to.

Anyway, we were having a water fight on the 4th of July, and we got a little carried away, and some of my sisters teeth got knocked out (that's for you Sara).

Poor Shayla! She got konked with that pot she's holding (which is really the dog's water dish which makes it even worse). In the bag is half of her tooth. She ended up having to have a root canal on it. We're still waiting to see if the other tooth will re-root or if she's gonna lose that one too. She is quite a trooper. She even came back for fireworks after a couple hours at the dentist!

But here are some of the brighter pics of the day:

The traditional neighborhood parade. Chris, me, Austin, my mom, Shay & Pais, & Denise

Sawyer, Trevor, and Makenna

This year there were games at the end of the parade. Woohoo!
Halee & Shandra

Makenna & Sadie

Jace getting an American Flag painted on his face

Back to Bams for the big BBQ. Here are the teenagers filling up water balloons.

Keisha (our next door neighbor), Marquie, Dallas, Shenay, & Jordan (his hair is coming in nicely, don't you think?)

Mid-water fight. Sara, Gracie, Shay, Shayne, & Trev

Getting ready to watch the firework show. Denise, Sadie, Shayla with a numb face, Me, Sara

Sparklers!! Shenay, Dallas, Livvy, Chris, & Mak

A little more eventful than years past, but still, the 4th is the best!