jr. jazz

Jeff is definitely is following in Ryan's footsteps. Once soccer ended, he decided he wanted to try basketball. The last time we had anyone in basketball was about 3 years ago, so it's been awhile. But, Jeff decided he wanted to play after a few of the boys he goes to Cub Scouts mentioned they've been playing together for a few years now. As an added plus, we know the coach, who happens to be on the bishopric in our ward.

Today was the first game of the season and I think I was more nervous than Jeff. However, I think his excitement overrode his nervousness, he was so eager to play. Obviously, he has a lot to work on, considering it's his first time playing in a league, but overall, I think he did well. He got right into the thick of things and chased that ball all over the court.

Afterwards, he informed me that basketball will now be his winter sport to get him through his agony of waiting for spring soccer, ha!

Here's to an exciting season of basketball!

2016 christmas ornaments

The kids are old pros at this, so it didn't take very long for them to find their ornaments for this year.

(Read about how this family tradition came to be HERE.)

Vanessa fell in love with this woolly mammoth the moment she saw it.

Ryan insisted that this Santa Claus head wasn't creepy...we agreed to disagree, ha!

Ethan couldn't stop laughing when he found this hamburger and immediately decided it was his ornament.

And Jeff thought this green pig from Angry Birds was absolutely hilarious!

I also managed to FINALLY buy a separate container for each of the kids' ornaments, just to make it easier to tell their collections apart. I surprised myself at how organized that move was, ha!

christmas decorating

I will admit that I'm one of those people that refuse to put anything Christmas before Thanksgiving. Call me a scrooge or a grinch, but I like to celebrate Thanksgiving separately. Yes, I know being grateful for Jesus Christ is part of the reason we celebrate Christmas, but I like to focus solely on the Savior during Christmas, whereas Thanksgiving, for me, is more secular, I guess? I don't think I'm explaining it right...anyway, the short of it is that our Christmas decorations do not go up until the day after Thanksgiving.

Yes, it's Black Friday, but I don't participate in it, and Scott also has that day off, so out come the decorations!

Ryan was gone for the festivities, out shopping in the craziness of Black Friday with his friends. So it was up to the other three to get everything up.

Our tree is 12-ft. high and one of the main reasons why we wait until Black Friday to put the tree up; Scott has the day off and the only one that can lug it up from our basement storage, ha! We used to have a 6-ft. tree, but once we moved into our house, the tall ceiling was just begging for a taller one.

I won't put up an "after" picture because it's pretty much the same set up from years past (and I'm sure there's a pic somewhere on this blog), but it was a very satisfying feeling after everything was put up and arranged. This is my favorite time of year, so I'm so excited to finally have Christmas displayed inside our home. The countdown now begins!

Yay, Christmas!

this kid...

He never listens to me; every year I tell him to stop growing, but he doesn't listen to me. So, here we are, another year older and hopefully wiser.

Where does the time go? And how did he get so big?

He didn't seem very enthusiastic about going out to celebrate tonight, but he did go, so that's something. I think his friends were doing something tonight, but he decided to to keep our family tradition of birthday celebrating going.

It was really casual and low-key: dinner at Chick-Fil-a and then ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. He was glued to his phone most of the time, most likely texting his friends to tell them how lame we are, but oh well. He also didn't have any ice cream, claiming it was too cold for it, so we got our treats to go and headed home.

Quick and quiet, that was our evening.

I've been learning not to take it personally when Ryan doesn't seem thrilled to spend time with us; he is, after all, a teenager and his friends are what's most important at the moment. But, I can't help but feel sad a little, too. I mean, he'll be a high school senior next year and plans to serve a mission soon after graduating. We don't have too much time left to spend with him and it's hard to compete for his attention with his friends.

Such is life, I guess.

Happy Birthday, Ryan! Love you to the sky and back!

Anyway, here's the requisite list of reasons why I love this kid:

17 Reasons Why I Love Ryan

  1. He likes to tease and joke around with me

  2. Lame jokes still make him laugh.

  3. He seeks me out to talk with me.

  4. He still likes to pray with me before he leaves for school in the morning.

  5. He treats his female friends with respect and courtesy.

  6. He's very intelligent.

  7. He works hard in school.

  8. He loves his siblings even though they drive him crazy most of the time.

  9. He loves our dogs.

10. He enjoys family time when he's not out and about with his friends

11. He's responsible.

12. He's very respectful and kind to others.

13. He tells me he loves me before he leaves the house.

14. His smile makes me smile.

15. He'll text me during school even when he's not supposed to.

16. He genuinely cares about his friends.

17. He's very creative when it comes to entertaining himself and/or others.

happy halloween 2016

We had so much fun tonight! There were so many trick-or-treaters out tonigh that we ran out of candy before 8 o'clock! That's a lot of kids! Ethan opted once again to pass out the candy, but after 15 minutes of non-stop ghouls and goblins, he retreated down to the basement to unwind with a game (or 2) of Destiny. Which means I became the "official" candy giver for the night.

Here's a pic of Buddy in his costume. It lasted less than 5 minutes before he tried to eat it off of his back. Like I said before, weirdo. Ha!

Browny the Shark. He lasted for nearly an hour before he figured out how to get it off by himself. I didn't realize it was off until he made a run for the door when the doorbell rang, and he didn't have it on.

Jeff was insistent that he wanted to wear this blacksuit. Backstory: this isn't the original one I bought. He wore the first one to a Den Meeting for Cub Scouts and ripped one of the knees out and broke the zipper while playing afterwards. He added his Dad's Steelers hat as an afterthought, ha!

Vanessa wanted to be a Pokemon, as per her increase in her obsession of all things Pokemon. Of course, she wanted to be the one Pokenon that didn't have a costume, so we had to get creative. All this took was a hoodie from Walmart, yarn, felt, some cardstock, and lots of fabric glue. Turned out better than expected and Vanessa was over-the-moon about it.

Ryan had a Halloween party to attend, but he wasn't originally going to dress up. He came up with this all on his own, although he couldn't decide if he was a McDonalds sign or the french fries box. I thought it was hilarious.

And, here's our jack-o-lanterns! From the top: Jeff's, Vanessa's, and mine.

The top is Scott's, the bottom, Ethan's.

Happy Halloween!

jack-o-lanterns 2016

Even though we went to the pumpkin patch earlier in the month, we opted to wait to carve our pumpkins, mainly because we have jerks here in our neighborhood who think it's funny to smash jack-o-lanterns before the actual day. We'd originally planned to have a carving party for Family Home Evening on the Monday before Halloween, but our schedule that week became hectic, so we weren't able to do it until Saturday (the 29th).

Here's the family, working so hard.

As usual, we're down a kid since Ryan was out and about with friends. I won't lie, it was a bit disheartening for me knowing he wasn't there, but I acknowledge the fact that he's now in that point in his life that his friends are important to him and he'd rather hang out with them.

We did have a bit of difficulty picking out our designs...well, most of us. Being the laid-back, go-with-flow kid that she is, Vanessa opted to paint her pumpkin. Any guess as to what she painted?

Yep, a Pokemon.

I can't remember which one exactly, but it's definitely a Pokemon.

Jeff had to take multiple breaks because his friends were outside playing, but he finally got it done. And Ethan chose a design that was a bit more intensive, so he took awhile, too. I get jittery around knives so I did a really easy one, while Scott was being a show-off. Okay, not really, but his design was right up there with Ethan's.

Eventually we finished and stored the jack-o-lanterns on our back patio until Halloween, away from any potential smashers. I'll reveal the designs on Halloween.

Happy carving!

shelves

The last few days were busy for us...well, mostly Scott since he did the majority of the work. I helped supervise and held a few things in place, but I mostly chatted his ear off, which I'm sure he appreciated, lol.

A few summers ago, Scott built some storage shelves for me in our cold room. At the time it was the perfect size for my stockpile and the other storage items we had in there. However, since I've continued with couponing, our stockpile has grown and I was in need of more shelves. So on a free Saturday (no kids sports, no church activities, etc.), he sat down and planned out the rest of the shelves. He also checked his work schedule and took 3 days off to work on the project.

Love it!

So on the morning of the first day, we went to Lowe's and managed to stuff a good amount of 2x4s and plywood into the back of our Armada.

At this point, both of us were really wishing we owned a truck, but oh well. You make do with what you got, right? And a Nissan Armada isn't bad for towing things around.

Back at the house, Scott set off to work. First he had to build the "skeleton" of the shelf.

Then he connected it to the already existing shelves (I helped hold it up, yay!).

There was one shelf that needed to be built piece by piece, standing upright, but Scott maneuvered it with help from me and the kids. Luckily, no one was hit by the nail gun, ha! Oh, and one of his measurements was wrong so we had to go back to Lowe's the next day to get more plywood, but other than that, everything went smoothly.

And now, I have this in my cold room:

I am so in love with my shelves and even more in love with my hubby for doing this for me. He and the kids laugh at me for being so enamored with couponing, stockpiles, and shelves, but I always say that it's all for them. Besides, they like the free stuff I bring home, so they can't complain. ;-)

I'm really excited to fill my new shelves!

vanessa

Vanessa had to make a tough decision this past week, but she gave it a lot of thought and prayer:

She's decided to discontinue piano lessons.

Despite all of her hard work and practice, her heart just isn't into it as much, and she wants to concentrate on her drawing. Her teacher could tell she wasn't putting in much effort at her lessons or that she wasn't practicing, so she asked Vanessa to take some time to think about what she wanted to do.

It took her about three days to feel positive about her decision, and after praying about, she came to tell us that she wanted to stop piano lessons.

I won't lie, I felt sad when she told us. She was showing such talent that I couldn't help but be proud of her. But, this was about Vanessa, and what she wanted concerning her talents. And, I'll admit that she has quite a few. But, she wants to be an artist when she grows up and has decided she needs to concentrate on that and cultivate it.

But, I'll sure miss seeing her at the piano, plucking out the notes to her favorite blues song that she learned or even playing a section over and over because she wants to do it without any mistakes. I'll especially miss seeing her smile so proudly when she realizes she successfully tested out of her current level and onto the next one.

So thanks, Ms. Tonya, for being so patient with Vanessa and teaching her. We truly appreciate everything you've done for the last 3+ years!

the great room switch

Jeff has decided that he needs a room makeover. I'm not sure where he got the idea from, but he insists that he really, really, REALLY WANTS a loft bed with attached slide. Unfortunately, his current room doesn't have a high enough ceiling for it (he'd bee whacking his head on the ceiling fan every morning), but guess which room does?

My craft room.

So, being the nice, awesome mommy that I am, I agreed to switch rooms with him. So, this is what the upstairs area of our home looks like at one point:

It didn't really hit me until I had moved most of my craft stuff into Jeff's bedroom (in order to put his bed and dresser into my craft room) that I realized that I have A LOT OF CRAFT STUFF. The above picture doesn't show it, but I still had 2 more tables, another set of plastic drawers, plus multiple containers and paper dividers to move. And that's not including the stuff that was still in the closet.

Yikes!

But, the next day all of our stuff had been moved into the new rooms, and I quickly shampooed the carpet in Jeff's new room. This is what it looked like:

Nice, right?

Meanwhile, my new craft room is a disaster area, mainly because I have to paint over the Halo mural my brother painted for my boys all those years ago. This is 2 days and 4 coats of primer later:

When the last coat of primer finally dried, it was time for the actual color paint. That was another 3 coats, which dried relatively fast, but I waited until the following day to semi-setup my tables, shelf, and drawers.

And this is what it looks like after some organizing.

I still have a ways to go before the room will be finally organized and properly setup, but Jeff has already settled ito his room nicely.. Now we're just waiting until spring to build his loft bed...hopefully he doesn't change his mind about that.

pumpkin patch adventure 2016

Every year we try to make it a point to go to the pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins (except for the two years that we didn't; mom fail!). We've been going to the same patch for the last several years now and this year, the kids decided they wanted to try a different location. There was one about five minutes away from our usual spot so we decided to try our luck there.

And, it was different! First of all, they had a mini petting zoo that the kids zeroed in on right away. Here's Vanessa with some alpacas, I think.

 

And Jeff opted to pose with this goat who we couldn't figure out if his head was stuck in the fence. (for the most part, he looked pretty content, so we just left him alone after the picture)

 As our unofficial pumpkin wagon pusher/puller, Jeff volunteered to commandeer the wheelbarrow.

He did well for about 5 minutes...

...then decided to let Dad have the honors while he went off in search of his pumpkin.

Ryan opted to go to another pumpkin patch with his friends, which made me sad, but he did ask that we pick a pumpkin for him. I doubt he'll have any pictures to share with me, but at least he's still in the Halloween spirit, right?

There were also some other activities to do, some free (like the petting zoo), some that cost extra (pumpkin tossing, a playground, and a small hay maze). After we paid for our pumpkins (which wasn't a pleasant experience due to overcharging), Jeff and I paid for a spin through the hay maze. It was small and short, but it was fun. Jeff had me giggling as he led me through, purposely sending me to the dead-ends.

I still can't believe that October is halfway done and Halloween is almost upon us! I love fall, but it feels like it snuck up on me! Oh, well! Only thing to do now is embrace the coming holidays!

Here we go!

halloween preview 2016

With Halloween just around the corner, preparations needed to be made. This year, I was actually on the ball and got quite a few things done, mainly costumes.

There were some pet costumes on sale at Walmart and so I jumped at the chance to get two for Browny and Buddy. Every year since they've joined our family, I've said they should have costumes, too, but never followed through with actually getting them. I guess this year was it.

Here's Browny's costume, he's a shark. He was nice enough to let me take a picture of him.

Buddy, on the other hand, refused to cooperate. In fact, he hates his costume; I took it off of him (it's a dinosaur) because he was trying to eat it, and afterwards, he kept growling at it.

Weirdo.

This is Jeff; it's a blacksuit and he was adamant that this is what he wanted to dress up as. I don't know exactly what's got him so excited about it, but he was really excited when we finally went to purchase it.

Vanessa has decided to be Popplio, a Pokemon. There isn't an actual costume for it, which means I'll have to get creative with it. I'm thinking a colored hoodie and some felt, but I'll have to plan it out more.

And, as usual, nothing is planned for the older boys; Ethan just wants to pass out the candy, and I think Ryan might have a party to go to on Halloween night, which means if he does dress up, it'll be a last minute thing.

Oh, well. At least I'm somewhat prepared for Halloween. :-)

all hail the fire pig!

Sometimes I wish that it was required for kids to get permission from their parents before being allowed to grow up. There's always that certain age or stage that a parent will be like, "Oh, I wish they'd stay like this forever!" On the other hand, it's fun to see the progress and accomplishment kids have conquered.

Such is the life of my Fire Pig. Jeff turns 9 years old today and I swear it seems just like yesterday that we were trying to wean him off of his binky.

In true family tradition today was all about our Fire Pig; Scott even took the day off! First up, was breakfast at IHOP (the kids really love that place!) and a stack of red velvet pancakes. After we stuffed ourselves silly, we went home to shake off the food coma creeping in. Jeff played some Destiny with Scott and Ethan, and Vanessa and I just hung out, doing our own thing.

For lunch, we picked up 'Ama (Scott's mom) and headed over to Kneaders. The kids call her 'Ama because when Ryan was little he couldn't pronounce "grandma" properly and stuck with 'Ama; the rest of the Crack Monkeys just followed his lead. It was nice to catch up and hear what's been going on with her, as well as have her and the kids spend some time together.

We also went back to her house where chatted for a bit more (and Jeff climbed her pear tree) before getting back home.

Ryan had a lacrosse game this afternoon, and since it was close to where Jeff wanted to have his birthday dinner (Texas Roadhouse), we forced them all to go to the game, ha. I don't think they'd want to go to another game on their own, but I don't think they had a terrible time either. Ethan even asked a few questions about the game so I don't think it was all that bad.

The day's festivities ended with dinner at Texas Roadhouse (Jeff really wanted some BBQ ribs) and then an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. By then, everyone was still stuffed, so we sang to Jeff and he had a slice.

9 Things I love About Jeff

  1. He still loves to snuggle with me.
  2. He likes to play board games with me.
  3. He makes friends so easily.
  4. He's kind and softhearted.
  5. He's still attached to his dad.
  6. He's witty and sarcastic and some of things he says really cracks me up!
  7. He loves animals, especially our 2 dogs.
  8. He loves his siblings, even though he drives them crazy most of the time.
  9. He loves family time.

eleanor

After Scott's car accident almost 3 years ago (an SUV ran a red light and Scott smashed right into its side, totaling his car), we became a one-car family. For the most part, it wasn't a big deal; Scott got a discounted TRAX/bus pass from work and we lived really close to the bus stop and TRAX station. Some days were harder to maneuver when the kids' activities overlapped or when Scott had some side job consulting, but we managed.

During this time, we started to set aside some money for a new car. We decided we wanted to pay cash for it like we did for the Armada and liked the fact that we didn't have a car payment. We also did research on the different cars we liked, which was a big requirement considering Scott is the research guy and likes to make sure he's making a good decision on something this big.

Today we became a two-car family again. There were a few hang-ups trying to finalize everything, but we finally brought our car home.

Since the kids were little, we've named our cars: our Armada is RC (from the original Transformers), Scott's car before the accident was Jet Fire, our old Grand Caravan was Princess Cheetohs (Ryan was 3 when he named her), and the car we had when we first were married was Scruffy. This time, I got to name her.

Say hello to Eleanor!

Yes, yes. I know Eleanor is a Shelby Mustang GT500 (Gone In 60 Seconds, one of my favorite movies), but since I will never obtain a beautiful piece of machinery like that, I've decided that this car IS my Eleanor; she's the closest to new that we've ever owned (2015) and she really is a beautiful car.

I really am grateful to have a second car.

It definitely makes life just a little bit easier and wouldn't want that?

Ryan's been itching to take her for a spin, but the farthest I've let him drive is down to the end of the street, ha. Yes, I am a mean mom. But, he has Daphne, so he'll be okay.

Although, I'm not looking forward to our new car insurance payment now that we have 3 cars. Yikes!

homecoming 2016

Ever since Ryan has hit high school, he's immersed himself in the extra curricular activities; the dances are no exception. Last year, as a sophomore, he went to the junior prom (it's open to all students, apparently), as well as the Sadie Hawkins dance. He has a great group of friends that plan their dates with great detail, which is always fun to see unfold.

However, I'm still new to this whole prom-posal thing the kids do to ask each other out for the big night. It involves signs, sometimes food, but always seems to be a grand gesture. Last year, for Sadie's, Ryan's date made an elaborate lacrosse-themed sign asking him to the dance, rang our doorbell and ditched. It was quite impressive and thoughtful. Afterwards, Ryan had to plan out his answer.

What in the what what?

Remembering my high school experience, I now feel like a slacker, ha! I mean, all we did was ask. "You wanna go to the dance with me?" "Yeah sure." "Cool."

So lame compared to now, lol.

Anyway, Ryan wanted to ask his friend to Homecoming, so he and his friends had a whole planning meeting to discuss how they were going to ask their dates. Ryan came up with his idea pretty quickly, but I somehow got roped into helping.

This is what our living room looks like right now:

The box (which I wrapped because Ryan and his friends couldn't figure out how to do it, ha!) will be filled with balloons that will float up once the box is opened; the balloons spell out "PROM?" and will be anchored to the bottom of the box so they don't float away. Ryan is gluing letters that I cut out on my Cricut that spells out a cute message, and he also had me cut out "Please 'donut' say no" which he glued to a box of Krispy Kreme donuts.

I joked with Ryan that I feel like I'm also asking his friend so I'll be sad if she doesn't say yes.

Of course, he rolled his eyes at me.

Anyway, they're on a deadline tonight; apparently, the grand plan is to do all the asking in quick succession. Ryan is just about done, and then he needs to go and help another friend with his stuff. Hopefully they can pull this off tonight.

1st day of homeschool 2016-17

No one wants to spend their birthday doing school, right? Ethan is no exception, so we made a deal: instead of starting the new school year on Monday like everyone else, we decided to start today, the day after celebrating Ethan's birthday. We love the flexibility of homeschooling!

Today was really easy; we spent most of the morning going over our daily schedule, what I expect them to do each day, and a general overview of this year's curriculum. Vanessa and Jeff will be mainly working with subjects from Time4Learning.com, while Ethan is sticking to his workbooks. They'll also be working on spelling and vocabulary on SpellingCity.com and practicing their typing skills on an online program, while continuing with daily journaling and reading, as well as their scripture study.

We've been doing this for about 4 years now, but I still feel like a rookie. Most of the time I'm worried about the kids not learning what they should and if they're behind everyone else, but for the most part, I think the kids are okay. They're learning at their own pace and learning about things that interest them, which makes them eager to do their work, so I think that's what's important. Of course, I'm adamant that they learn the basics (math, reading, writing, etc.) and we do have church and other outside activities and groups to keep them occupied, so I really shouldn't worry. But, such is the life of a mom with an anxiety disorder, I guess.

Here's what Jeff decided to do to celebrate our first day of homeschool: he made us some new friends, lol! They're now sitting in different areas of our classroom, waiting and ready to join the kids for schoolwork.

Here's to a new homeschool year!

ethan, ethan, ethan!

It's that time of the year when all of the birthdays in our family start rolling in; Vanessa's was earlier this month and now, it's Ethan's turn!

See how happy he is at his birthday dinner? Red Lobster is his favorite!

He's 15 now and right up there with Ryan in height. Of course, they're still shorter than Scott (who stands proudly at 6'2"), but I'm positive they'll pass him or draw even. Scott says no way, but Ethan jokes that he will just to spite his dad.

The thing about Ethan is that he's not big on change; I don't know if that's because of his Aspergers, but once he finds something he likes, he's "stuck." It extends to his personality, too. It doesn't take him too long to try something new, as long as he decides he wants to try it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Ethan is Ethan, and he really hasn't changed from his last birthday.

Sure, his interest in all things military has amped up, and he's gotten more creative with his Lego building, and maybe his "obsession" with Destiny (video game he plays with Scott) has taken priority over other things, but other than that, he's still the same sarcastic, witty, and intelligent kid that likes to pat my head and remind me of my shortness when I'm next to him.

In other words, he's still awesome.

He has no interest in getting his learner's permit or the girls around him, but I think that's what I like the most about him: his interests aren't reflective of society; he's interested in what interests him and he's content.

I wish I'd had that kind of quiet confidence growing up.

Anyway, he's my Ethan and he's awesome. I don't think anything more needs to be said...well, except my list of reasons why I love this kid. :-)

15 Reasons Why I Love Ethan

  1. He greets me with a cheerful "Morning!" everyday.
  2. He makes it a point to ask how my day's been at different times a day.
  3. He's so patient with Vanessa when they're discussing Pokemon stuff.
  4. He loves lame jokes.
  5. He seeks me out to have conversations.
  6. He's not afraid to ask questions.
  7. He likes family time.
  8. He'll surprise me by randomly giving me hugs and yell, "I'll squeeze your guts out!"
  9. He'll randomly tell me a joke.
10. He gets really excited about playing Destiny (video game)
11. He's polite (always remembers to say please and thank you).
12. He can be really nice and loving with his siblings (when they're not trying to kill each other, lol)
13. He loves our dogs.
14. He loves his grandparents.
15. His concentration is admirable.

first day of school 2016

Another school year has rolled around and I think this kid is ready for it. Maybe. I don't know really, he just shrugged his shoulders when I asked him if he was excited to be a junior this year. If not, his smile in the picture above is really convincing.

And yes, he's blonde now.

He had it done earlier in the month and it's caused a bit of a stir. I had a lot of people in the neighborhood and our ward come up to me asking what the story was behind Ryan's hair. Nothing exciting, he just wanted a change.

Simple as that.

Getting it blonde, however, has not been so simple. Because his natural hair is so dark (my fault, apparently, lol), he'll have to go in for another round of bleaching. He wants it to be platinum blonde, which is close to white, so we'll definitely have to get him back to the salon.

In the meantime, I always have to do a double take whenever I see him. His best friend has blonde hair and at first glance, it's easy to mistake the two. It's an adjustment, but I think it suits him and Ryan seems to like it.

So, go forth, my now-blonde oldest offspring, and have an awesome junior year of high school!

all about Vanessa

Kids really know how to make their parents feel old, don't they? Today we celebrated Vanessa's 12th birthday; still can't wrap my head around it. Or maybe I'm in denial. Yeah, probably denial.

In the LDS Church, when a girl turns 12, she moves from Primary (children's organization) into the Young Women's program. It's a program designed to teach and encourage the young girls (teens) in living the gospel. This Sunday, Vanessa will now be a part of the Beehives (12-13 yr. olds) class, the youngest girls in the organization.

We are so excited for Vanessa! Reaching this point in her life is such a big step and we love how excited she is about it.

12 Reasons Why I Love Vanessa

  1. Her smile always makes me smile.

  2. Her laugh is contagious.

  3. Random things out of her mouth make me giggle.

  4. She's always willing to share anything she has.

  5. She loves her brothers a lot.

  6. She still snuggles with me.

  7. She gets so excited over things she loves.

  8. She skips through the house.

  9. She's so creative with her drawing and writing.

10. She's in no hurry to grow up.

11. She always asks how I am/how my day was.

12. She loves her family.

daphne

In keeping with the traditions that both mine and Scott's parents had when we were teenagers, we bought a "junker" as Ryan's first car. She has a few peeling paint patches and the air conditioner doesn't work well, but overall, she runs well. Ryan took her for a test drive a few weeks ago and he liked her, so we decided she was it for our Ry.

Introducing....Daphne!

 Isn't she cute? Ryan's decided he'd like to get some seat covers and a newer radio for his birthday, so in the weeks to come, she should look a bit different inside. As for the outside, it'll take a bit more time and hard work, but Ryan is willing to put the time in.

Welcome to the family, Daphne!

so, it happened...

We have another official licensed driver in the house!

Ryan's required 6 months of holding a permit was up and we headed over to the DMV to get his license. I would like to say it was an easy-peasy, in-and-out deal, but it wasn't.

There wasn't a long wait, which is always a plus, but once we got up to the assigned counter, the worker informed us that Ryan's scores from the high school's drivers ed program weren't in the system.

Wait, what?

There really wasn't anything to do at that point until I could speak with someone from drivers ed, so we went back to the car where I played a short game of phone tag, courtesy of the high school, and finally ended up speaking with the driving instructor.

That phone call wasn't without its hang-ups either.

First, we got disconnected, then the computer system kept kicking him out after entering the proper information. Finally, there was no trace of Ryan having even taken the roads test or the additional online test that was required.

At this point, Ryan was becoming frustrated, as you can imagine.

But, after providing more info, the instructor finally found Ryan's scores and entered them in. So we headed back into the DMV, waited in line for less than a minute, got a number, then made it up to the counter in another minute.

I did have a spark of panic when the lady was silent as she stared at her computer screen after she plugged in Ryan's info. My first thought was, "Oh, no! The info's still not there!" Ryan looked at me with a worried look and all I could do was stare back at him.

And then, the lady broke out into a smile and said, "Great! Your info is all there!"

Cue a chorus of angels.

After all of that, it was smooth sailing. He took his picture (which he deemed creepy-looking, lol), passed the vision test, signed on the appropriate line, and BOOM! He got his license.

Phew! Another milestone over and done with. I won't lie, though: this kid is really good at making me feel old. But, at the same time, I'm proud of him for accomplishing yet another goal. We have a good friend of my dad fixing up an older car that he'll sell us for Ryan, but in the meantime, our SUV will be used to polish up his driving skills.

Watch out, world! Ryan is behind the wheel!

happy pioneer day!

Here in Utah, July 24th is celebrated as Pioneer Day. This day is marked as the day the LDS pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley, which they eventually settled and built up. While it's a big to-do here (parades, fireworks, concerts, etc.), it also celebrates and honors all of the pioneers who settled the western United States.

Personally, I don't have any ancestors that were a part of this momentous event, but I'm always game for honoring incredible men and women (and children) for the sacrifices they made, as well as their courage. Scott has ties to the pioneers, which makes it the kids' history, too, so we always make it a point to celebrate, no matter how small our gathering.

Happy Pioneer Day!

spring soccer is done

I think I've mentioned before that Jeff has played with this particular coach for about 3 years now (3 fall seasons and 3 spring ones, if I'm counting right). And, every season is a really fun one, especially since most of the team have been playing together for so long.

But this last game...man, was it exciting!

I don't know if it was because it was the last game of the season, but Jeff and his teammates played hard! There was one teammate who had improved so much from last season that he ALMOST made a goal from mid-field with one kick; another who'd gone from a shy, unsure player to a fierce, get-that-ball defender; and yet another who jumped right into the thick of things despite breaking his glasses twice in previous games.

And then, there was that one teammate who had come so close to scoring this season, but never quite accomplishing it. He decided THIS was the game he was going to do it.

And boy, did he try! The parents on the sidelines counted at six times this boy could've scored, but either got tripped up by an opponent or by his own feet. He had all of the parents from our team out of our seats and screaming our heads off for him.

It was so much fun!

Alas, he didn't make a goal, but the smile on his face from knowing we were all cheering for him was spectacular.

Unfortunately, this is the last season Coach will be coaching. He's going to focus on a competition team for his son (Jeff's teammate), and coaching a team for his younger son. We'll miss playing for him, but we sure are glad for the fun memories we've had!

It's been fun, Coach! Thanks for the fun memories!