Personally Progressed

Sunday, December 22, 2013

After years of nagging Alexis and Shae got their Young Women's medallions.  It was great to have these two work on it together the last three years. They kept each other motivated and on track over the past three years.

Some of Lex's projects included planning and cooking dinners for a week, putting on a Primary Talent Show, doing Family History, and providing leadership in her YW classes.  I'm so proud of her.

Christmas Craziness

December 2013

This December we:

Counted down to Christmas,

 Lex had a Girls Night Out,

I went with my friend to a Midnight Breakfast,

we watched the LDS Christmas devotional, decorated gingerbread houses, and watched the Amazing Race finale and Ryan's as we celebrated his birthday;

went to a Mother/Daughter Gingerbread House Party for Activity Days;

went to a couples Ugly Sweater Party (ours were A Christmas Story themed - a leg lamp and a pink nightmare);

and went with the cousins to see Christmas lights and try out Mexican Hot Chocolate at Quiver Point.

We've been busy!

The Reason for the Season

Thursday, December 12, 2013

My favorite part of the Christmas Season is going to the Live Nativity.  It is put on by an LDS Stake at Opportunity Village. We let each of our kids bring a friend and Donna joined us too. The production is simple and beautiful and the kids love the real animals used.

After the play, Seth and Mason checked out the sheep.

Camryn and Heather wanted their picture with one of the horses the wise men rode.

Alexis and Courtney asked if they could take a picture ON the horse and were told no.

After checking out all the Nativity displays, we headed out to the car for chocolate milk and donuts.  I love the Spirit I feel when we go to this depiction of Christ's.  I never truly feel like it's Christmas until we go.

.

Santa & Sharks

Saturday, December 7, 2013

We go to see the Santa at Bass Pro Shop every year.  He is the best and they are so much friendlier there than the mall.  We got there early and were third in line to see the "Big Guy".  The Tatums met us there and Jude saw Santa for the first time.

Jude did great.  He didn't even cry.  

Alexis asked Santa for a Letterman's Jacket, Cam asked for recording equipment, and Seth asked for a DSI or drums.  Although my kids have been pretty good this year, Santa may not be bringing some of those things.

When we walked out of Bass Pro Shop, there were miniature donkeys for the kids to pet.  

Cam and Seth had been begging to see Frozen, so I took them after lunch.  It was a cute movie, but the best part was the little girl behind us freaking out when there was kissing. "That's disgusting!" She was so funny!

Later that afternoon, we met up with the Tatums again to go to the Shark Reef.  The Reef gives CCSD employees and a guest a free ticket on the first weekend of every month.  So with 3 teachers, we all got in free except Seth. The kids love to hold Jude and they passed him around almost the whole time we were there.

We liked seeing the kimono dragon and the piranhas.  I would love to visit on a feeding day. 

No one was afraid to touch the rays in the petting pool this time.

We finally went into the giant Shark area and hung around there for a while, watching all the strange underwater creatures. These three are pretty strange too.

When we surfaced in the gift shop, Lex and Seth found these masks and did their impression of  baby-eating sharks.

It was a long, fun day and we all went home pretty tired.

Tournament Time

November 29-30, 2013

When our Galaxy team fell apart, we decided to have Alexis join Neon.

They played together for the first time in a tournament Thanksgiving weekend.  They easily won their first two games, then struggled through their third game against Heat.  They lost, but still made it to the finals.

They had to play Heat again for the final game.  The game was rough and a fight even broke out.  This game was closer, but the other team won due to an end of the game penalty kick.  We came in 2nd in the tournament, which is pretty good for playing together for the first time.  We are looking forward to a new season in January.

Catching Fire

Friday, November 22, 2013

I took Camryn and her school friend, Yelanni, to see Catching Fire the night it came out. We had made shirts for the girls to wear, using a bleach pen.  They turned out cute.  It was fun to go with a full theater of middle school aged kids.  They cheered and gave the respect sign during the movie. The girls were so excited - I think Cam has a little crush on Finnick.

I actually ended up going again the next afternoon.  The book club and their spouses met up at the movie and then went to eat at Top Notch BBQ.  It was a huge group and lots of fun to get together with everyone.

Varsity Soccer

Fall 2013

This year Alexis made the Varsity Soccer team.  Someone took #17, so Alexis had to be #13.  

Alexis mostly played left wing and got a decent amount of playing time, even with being one of only 3 sophomores on the team.

Although I had bought Lex new cleats this summer, she still wore her "game cleats".  You could actually see her socks through the giant holes near the toe.

Alexis loved being part of the team and got to know all the girls.  They had a good time together and even had a party at the beginning of the season.

The team did well and made it to the playoffs.  Alexis hurt her ankle and wasn't able to play the last few games but had a great season.

Veterans Day with the Rat

Monday, November 11, 2013

We wanted to take the kids on a little adventure on our day off, but Alexis had another possible ankle fracture and our options became limited.  We finally settled on going to Chuck E. Cheese.  We got 100 tokens and got busy using them.

We earned a lot of tickets and then had to go through the painful process of choosing prizes.  The kids had a good time and it was nice to do something all together.

Fall Ball

Fall 2013

This fall Seth was on The Yankees. This was a machine pitch league.

He often played first base or pitcher.  He made a lot of good stops when he played pitcher and was never afraid if the ball, even when it was coming straight at him.

He is also pretty consistent at bat.  He can hit into the outfield now.  I think if he had even a little meat on his bones, he might have a little more power though.

This was Seth's 10th season playing t-ball or baseball.  He loves this sport!