Cinderella stories

Trip to Vegas

2011-11-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Vegas to visit Tara and Raleigh. My parents went too and they drove. It was kind of a quick trip but was a lot of fun. We left early Friday afternoon and got to Tara's about 8 p.m. We went garage saling on Saturday and did some awesome shopping at H & M, Old Navy and Kohls. I probably spent a little too much money but there were some pretty good deals going on that were hard to pass up. Plus I got a jump start on my Christmas shopping. Saturday night, we went to Red Robin for dinner which is always yummy. Sunday, we went to Tara's sacrament meeting and just relaxed the rest of the day and had a yummy dinner and dessert that Tara made. I still need to get those recipes from her. She is a really good cook. Her boys were so much fun to be around. They didn't shy away from us at all and they both talk like crazy. I couldn't believe how well Luke talks at 2 years old. I wanted to kidnap them and bring them home with me. Noah loved playing with them too. He really loves his little cousins. Monday morning we got up early and headed home. Once again, I didn't take many pictures. I just get too lazy with my camera but I did get a few good ones of Drew, Luke and Noah together. The day we left to come home was Halloween and Tara had her boys in their costumes so I had to get a couple of shots of them...too cute.

Luke wearing Noah's viking hat. The picture is a bit blurry for some reason.

How cute are these two little boys in their costumes?

Noah sure loves all of his little cousins.

Playing at the park

September

2011-10-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

The month of September came and went so fast. School is in full swing now. Noah is doing well this year. He really likes his teachers and kids in his class. I love Fall and I wish this weather could last longer than it does. It seems like we jump from Summer to Winter so fast without much of a Fall. Not a whole lot went on this month. Fall TV is back and there are some pretty good shows on. I started a few new ones that are pretty good and some not so good.
At the beginning of the month, we went to a Granger football game. It was the first game on their new field and it was the same night they were dedicating the field. The new field is way nice. It's like an astro turf. Ironically, they were playing Cyprus but I had to cheer for Granger...lol. Granger won by quite a large margin. It felt so weird to be there. I felt so old among all these young teenage kids. It's so hard to believe how long it's been since I was one of those kids.

We also went to the fair this year which is always so ridiculously overpriced. We walked around and looked at the displays, ate some nasty "fair food" and Noah went on a couple rides. It was fun and the weather was nice.
They had some kangaroos there and they were pretty cute. They were hopping all around in their cage. They were brought in from Australia. I don't think I've ever seen a real Kangaroo. (other than on tv)

They had the fun mirrors and me and Noah couldn't stop laughing. Noah looked like he had super long legs and a small torso. The picture isn't very good but its was hilarious.

The big yellow slide

I thought this was pretty cool. It was a cow family that was all sculptured from butter. Can you imagine how tedious and difficult that must have been? They had them inside a little house that was cool to keep them from melting. They were pretty detailed too.

First Day of School

2011-08-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of 6th grade for Noah....I think I'm officially caught up on my blog now. Yay
Too cool to smile :)

Last Days of Summer

2011-08-23T04:09:00.001-07:00

I can't believe school has started. I feel like we should have another month of summer to go. It seems like we didn't do much, other than our Hawaii trip, which was a lot. Noah did go swimming quite a few times too. This last week before school started, we tried to fit in a few last minute activities. We went to Boondocks, swimming at Magna pool, bowling at Fat Cats and went to the drive in and saw Planet of the Apes. We had a fun week.

Copper Mine

2011-08-15T23:06:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to go check out the Copper Mine for a while now. I've heard other people talk about going and how cool it is so we finally made it out there today. It was pretty cool. We watched a short video about what goes on at the mine and then we walked around the visitors center and outside. It was pretty cool to see.

Parade of Homes

2011-08-11T03:38:00.000-07:00

So last week I went with my mom to the parade of homes. I haven't been in years but it was really fun to go and see some of the homes. I mostly like to see how they decorate. One unique thing this year was the Up house. It is a replica of the house in the movie Up. Such a cute movie and I was so surprised at how much the house looked like the real house right down to the mailbox. They even had someone dressed up like the old guy sitting on the porch greeting people. I love the balloons coming out of the chimney. Too cute.

Pioneer Day

2011-07-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I actually got brave and took Noah to the Days of 47 Parade this year. I haven't been since I was a kid. I hate the crowds and it's usually so hot too. This year, it was a little overcast so it made it nice. We had to pay to park but only had to walk about a block to where we were sitting. We took our chairs to sit on and had a pretty good spot until some annoying Hispanic lady kept getting in front of us taking pictures...I said "excuse me" a couple of times but either she didn't speak English or pretended not to hear. We had to stand for some of the parade so we could see. President Monson was in the backseat of this old car waving and we saw him pretty close so that was really neat. They had tons of cool floats. It always amazes me how creative and neat they are. It ended up being really fun and I'm glad we went.

This was a float that was done by the Granger West Stake which is the stake I grew up in.

Newman Reunion

2011-07-16T05:44:00.001-07:00

This year we held the Newman reunion at Kelly's new house in Wellsville, Utah. (which is basically a small town in Logan) He new house is gorgeous and huge. We all went up Friday night. We played games, volleyball, relay games and the kids did crafts with Mom and Melodie. We also went on a hike and watched a movie in their theater room. We all had a lot of fun. I wish I had taken more pictures but we were just too busy having fun and being together. The pictures aren't in order of events because I messed them up and am too lazy to fix them.
Jaxon on Noah's shoulders walking back from the parade.

On July 4th, we went to the Huntsville parade. It was a pretty good parade for a small town. The kids got tons of candy. They were even handing out water bottles.

Josh and Siera going against each other in Newman knowledge bowl.

Balloon launch

Balloon toss

Girls doing crafts.

My cute brother Kelly.

On Sunday, my parents and me and Noah went to the Logan temple.

Smores around the camp fire.

Siera "striking a pose".

Many games of Lightening were played.

Volleyball

More crafts with grandma.

Kelly's huge gorgeous house

Westfest 5K

2011-06-30T05:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I signed up for the 5K again. I figure it's only 3.2 miles and I don't have to run the whole thing..My Mom, Tara and I all signed up. Noah even signed up. I did not train for this and had been in Hawaii for the whole first part of June so I just figured I would go and get some exercise if nothing else. Well, I think we did awesome. If you look at my age group, I came in 12th out of 14 which doesn't sound great but I did beat my own personal goal. Last year I came in at 48 mins and this year I got 39:50 so I beat my time by 8 mins so I was happy with that. Noah did really well. He came in 6th place out of about 28 kids. His time was 28 mins. He said he ran the whole thing. I'm glad I did it. I was pretty sore the next day. I hadn't been exercising much since I had been on vacation. I want to do it again next year and hopefully beat my time again.

Manti Pageant

2011-06-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

This year we finally made it to the Manti Pageant. Every year, I want to go and take Noah and never plan ahead for it. When I finally realize it, it's usually over. This year, I made a point to go and even booked us a motel room in Gunnison. I really enjoyed the pageant this year (minus all the pesky mosquito's). The spirit was truly there and as we sat and watched, I was hoping that Noah was feeling the spirit too. He said he really liked it and kept asking me questions about what was going on. We got into town a little early and checked into our motel and then Noah wanted to go swimming so we swam for about an hour and then got dressed and went to dinner and then headed to the pageant. We didn't get back to our motel until midnight and then we got up the next morning and headed home. It was a fun quick little trip. The temple looked so beautiful up on the hill all lit up. The pictures definitely don't do it justice.

Hawaii !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-06-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, my dream vacation has always been to go to Hawaii. I finally booked it and went this year. It's only take me 40 years to get there. I figured it would be a good birthday present to myself. Due to money, work, life situations, etc. I've never made it until now and I'm already wanting to go back. Each day of the trip, I tried to write down a few of the things we did because I knew I would forget things otherwise so this is going to be a very long post detailing our trip complete with pictures. So be forewarned that this post is long and has lots of pics..(:
This is us on the plane getting ready to fly out. We had 2 layovers. One in Denver and one in LA. I was so terrified to fly over the open water that I took a valium before we left LA and that helped SO much. I was able to relax and sleep on the plane better.

We arrived at about 5 p.m. Hawaii time and we were pretty hungry. We thought we were getting food on the plane but didn't so after we checked into our hotel, we went over to Senor Frogs. It's such a fun place and atmosphere. It was within walking distance of our hotel. The food isn't too bad either. I remember going here many years ago when I was in Mexico.

The first day we didn't do much other than get our car rental and try to plan out our trip. The car rental was a bit of a fiasco because I found out my drivers license had expired and almost wasn't going to be able to rent a car but the girl working the desk fudged my expiration to 2012 instead of 2011. Thanks goodness. I couldn't imagine not having a car and trying to walk, take buses and cabs everywhere.
This is Noah standing in front of our hotel. We stayed at Waikiki Gateway. It wasn't the nicest hotel but it wasn't bad. We were right in downtown Waikiki close to lots of restaurants and stores so it was nice.

This is Noah on the balcony of our hotel. Not the greatest view. I was hoping to have a view of the ocean but it didn't work out.

The second day we were there, we got up in the morning and went and hiked Diamond Head. It was a pretty easy hike and so beautiful at the top. You could see the whole city and ocean.
The steep staircase leading up to the top.

The gorgeous view from the top. The view was amazing.

This is the opposite view of Diamond Head. I know there are lots of pics but it was just so pretty, I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Later that day we went to Sea Life Park which is kinda like Sea World.

After Sea Life Park, we went to the Valley of the Temples and saw the Byodo-In Temple. It was really pretty and I totally recognized it from Lost. They filmed a lot of scenes there so it was kinda cool being there since I'm such a huge fan of the show. lol
Noah ringing the bell they had there.

Inside the temple was this Buddha

Noah inside the Banyan trees. If you watch Lost, this is where they always hid from the boars.

I love the beautiful green scenery in the background.

The next day was a more relaxing day. We got up and went to Aloha stadium to the famous Hawaiian swap meet. It was so much fun. There were so many fun things. We bought most of our souvenirs there and they were much cheaper than every where else. After the swap meet, we went to Waikiki beach for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe how warm the water was and of course, so beautiful.

Today, we went to Hanauma Bay and did some snorkeling. I didn't do it much because I couldn't get a good seal on my mask but Noah really enjoyed it and said he saw quite a few fish. They gave us flippers to wear too but they were kinda awkward so we didn't really wear them. We just put them on for the pictures...

Later that evening, we went to a place called Kualoa ranch for a luau. It was really cool. They gave us a bus tour around the ranch of all the different plants and fruits that grow in Hawaii. There were so many fruits that I had never even heard of. They also gave us a boat tour of this little resevoir that had lots of fish. Then they gave us the movie set tour. They have filmed quite a few movies on this property including 50 First Dates, Godzilla and many scenes from Lost were also shot here. It was a very windy day as you can tell from my hair in the pics.

After the tour was over, we had a luau. The dinner was this big buffett of chicken, fish and steak with tons of sides. It was so yummy.
This picture is of two Hawaiian guys doing an arm wrestle.

Teaching Noah a Hawaiian game similiar to horseshoes.

My plate of yummy food..I had to take a picture of it.

A group photo with the dancers.

The next day we decided to just take a drive around the island. It was so beautiful driving right next to the water. We stopped at different look out spots along the way for photos and the scenery was just breathtaking. We made it around to the North Shore and that is definitely the prettier side of the island. We loved it over there with all there cute little shops and restaurants. We stopped at Turtle Bay. Oh how I wish we could have afforded to stay here. They had their own little beach and the resort looked amazing. We also stopped and saw BYU-Hawaii. We had dinner in Hailea at a little Mexican restaurant.
Turtle Bay Resort at sunset

Playing on the beach at Turtle Bay. Their beach was open to the public.

After we got back to our hotel, we decided to go see a movie. We went and saw Kung Fu Panda 2 which was really good. The movie prices were ridiculous though. It was $14.25 for me and $11.00 for Noah. Ouch!
Today we went to the Dole Plantation. We went on a train tour of the plantation and they told us how they plant and harvest the pineapples. For some reason, I've always thought they grew on trees not out of the ground. They also had a maze that we went through too.
Waiting to go on the train ride tour.

After the Dole Plantation, we went to Waimea Falls. (another famous Lost filming location). It was so gorgeous. I know I keep saying how beautiful everything was, but it really was. We hiked up to the falls, which was about a mile and a half and then Noah swam out to the falls. It kept raining off and on that day so I didn't want to get in the water but Noah didn't care.

This was on the walk way up to the falls. It was awesome scenery the whole walk up.

After Waimea Falls, we went to the Laie temple...again, so beautiful. We walked around the visitors center and chatted with the sister missionaries.

Noah always had to do his "hang loose" for the pictures.

By now, we have already been here a week and it's been great. We got up and went on a ride on a catamaran. We saw some dolphins and turtles. They took us out about 2 or 3 miles from shore and so we could see Waikiki and it was such an awesome view. They fed us breakfast too. The only bad thing is that I got a little motion sick towards the end so I just wanted it to be over.
Noah at the wheel pretending to drive the boat.

View of the city from the boat. It's a little crooked but still beautiful. (Noah took the photo:)

The view of the boat from behind. It doesn't look very big but we probably had about 75 people on there.

After the boat ride, we went to Pearl Harbor. This was something I had wanted to see for a long time. It was so neat to learn more about the history and all of the events surrounding that dreadful day. We walked through the museums and took the boat ride out to the monument. It was really neat.
This is a picture of the actual anchor that was recovered from the USS Arizona

Me with the USS Arizona in the background.

Noah with the USS Arizona in the background.

Part of the ship that sticks up above the water.

The Memorial wall of all who lost their lives. This is inside the USS Arizona monument.

On the opposite side of Pearl Harbor is the USS Missouri. It's huge boat that they used to use in wars. Now it's just a tourist site. I couldn't believe how big this boat was. We walked around the whole outside and inside of the boat.

They even had a dental office inside the ship.

After we left Pearl Harbor and the USS Missouri, we were pretty worn out from walking around most of the day. We ended up going to a place called Dukes for dinner. It is a restaurant right on the beach. We had a great dinner and then walked along the beach as the sun was setting.

The next day we went to Punchbowl Cemetery. It is a cemetery where people who have died in the various wars are buried. It was pretty big.
The view of the city right outside the cemetery.

This is the memorial wall with the names of those who died in the war whose bodies they never found.

We also went and saw the Pali Lookout. It is this beautiful lookout point right off the Pali highway. It reminded me of a painting.

The next day was the long awaited trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). We were so excited for this. Monique, Loyd's cousin, was able to get us discount tickets at about 1/2 the cost and we were able to go to a luau dinner and to the "HA Breath of Life" night show. We were pretty excited.

Noah at the luau

Ready to eat!

Noah at the Tongan village learning spear throwing. The guy teaching him served his mission in Magna/WVC from 2006-2008 so it was good to talk to him.

Photo with some of the people from the Village of Fiji.

In the Samoan village, they showed us how they climbed trees. It was pretty cool.

Each village did a canoe show with dancers. It was pretty fun to watch.

Noah with Talai. She is Monique's daughter and dances in the dinner luau's. She was so adorable.

Noah got a fake tattoo at the Fiji village.

It was such a neat and fun experience there. I wish we had had more time to spend there. We were only able to go to the Fiji, Samoan and Tongan villages so maybe next time we will have to make it to the others. We went to the night show as well which was amazing. I didn't get any pictures as they wouldn't allow photography but it was awesome.
These are just some other random photos. This is probably the longest blog post in the history of blogging...lol. It was such a great trip and I didn't want to leave out any details or forget anything about it. I hope to be able to go again someday. It was every bit as beautiful and awesome as I had imagined it would be.
This is King Iolani's palace where the King and Queen lived before Hawaii became a state. We toured the inside but they wouldn't allow pictures.

This is a great breakfast place we found within walking distance of our hotel. We ate there a couple of times and it was so yummy!

Noah collected tiki's while we were there and every where he saw one he wanted me to take his picture by it. :)

A Buddha statue right by our hotel.

Yay for Hawaii!! I loved it!

Noah's Haircut

2011-06-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

This might seem like a silly thing to blog about but Noah finally cut his hair which is a huge milestone. It was right before our trip to Hawaii. I told him that he needed to have a trim and he told me that he wanted to cut it short. This was after a year of fighting him wanting to keep it long. It looks really nice and he looks like a whole new kid.

Last day of school

2011-06-05T01:02:00.000-07:00

Another school year has ended and I will officially have a 6th grader next year...where did the time go? Noah had a great teacher, Mrs. Graf. He had some struggles this year with getting his work turned in and talking a little too much in class. I hope he will have a better year next year. He is a very smart kid and is capable of straight A's if he will just apply himself and work hard. A big thank you to Mrs. Graf for all her hard work and patience in helping Noah to learn and grow this year.

State Park Fair

2011-06-02T01:15:00.000-07:00

Noah had to do another big project towards the end of the school year. He had to choose a state and do a report complete with posters, maps, photos, etc. It was a lot of work. Kent helped him do quite a bit too, which helped take some pressure off me. Noah chose Minnesota. I wanted him to choose Hawaii or New York but he had to choose Minnesota because of the Vikings. Of course, it wasn't as fun finding info on this state as it would have been had he chosen NY or Hawaii but it worked out okay. His teacher told me that his was the best one and she even took a photo so that she can use it next year as an example of how to do the project.

I don't know why these pictures turned out kinda blurry. They are from my phone so who knows? I just got done at the gym prior to going over to the fair, hence the cute look.

This was a game he made up as part of the project called "Minnesota Land". It has questions about Minnesota that you have to answer and then you can move spaces.

My Big Day

2011-05-30T01:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally had by Big Day...the day I have been dreading for quite some time. I tried to have a positive outlook and just think of it as another number. After all, that's all it really is right? I know I'm still 25 at heart....lol. What I wouldn't give to have my 25 year old body back but this old body has been through a lot. Some things I'm proud of and some things, not so proud. Sometimes, I feel like I'm still waiting for my life to start and I'm 40...I was pleasantly surprised to have a little surprise dinner with my siblings and parents. My parents had planned to take me out to dinner for my birthday. It's a tradition that they take us out to dinner to the restaurant of our choice on our birthdays. I picked Texas Roadhouse. When I walked in to the waiting area, Kristi, Kelly and Cherish jumped out to surprise me. It was so sweet. They even brought presents and cake. Tara couldn't come since she lives in Vegas and Kenny had some lame excuse as to why he wasn't there... (love ya Ken). It was so fun to sit and be honored by my siblings and parents. It definitely made the Big day Big but not so bad after all. I've just tried to embrace it since there isn't anything I can do about it. The party with my family was the day before my birthday and on my actual birthday, I went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

My birthday cheesecake. Not a great picture. My face looks all greasy. Yuck!

My family at Texas Roadhouse...not a very good pic. I wish I would have taken more pics.

My cute little chocolate cake. It was yummy!

Girls Weekend

2011-05-17T20:32:00.001-07:00

We had our 2nd annual girls weekend in St. George this past weekend. It was so much fun and so hard to come back to life/reality (isn't that a song? lol). We left on Friday around noon and got to St. George about 6 p.m. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner which of course is always yummy. Then we went back to the house and stayed up talking until like 2 or 3 in the morning. Saturday morning, we got up and went to the St. George Day Spa and I can not say enough about this place. It was wonderful, relaxing, and awesome. I love being pampered. We got a pedicure, massage and facial. That afternoon, we shopped and shopped and shopped some more. We all love to shop so it's great. We had Pizza Factory for lunch which is always delish. We went and saw a movie that night and stayed up talking late again. On Sunday, we went for a walk and then went to breakfast at the Egg and I restaurant. It's a great breakfast place. We all got star struck when we thought we saw Stanley Tucci in the restaurant. Kristi even asked him if he was Stanley Tucci. He wasn't but could definitely be his twin. It was pretty funny. We said our goodbyes to Tara as she headed back to Vegas and we headed back to SLC. It was such a great time and I'm so glad this is something we will be doing every year. Everyone was able to come except for Cherish and she was definitely missed. Hope she can make it next year. We are so grateful that she let us use her dads house to stay in while we were there. I love these girls so much. They have all taught me something and been such a great example. And as you can see from the photos, they are so beautiful and pretty intimidating to be around. (: Noah stayed with my Dad on Friday night and then with Kenny on Saturday night. He had a ball playing video games with Kenny and they both acted like they didn't want us to come home so they could play video games longer. lol~ Glad everyone had a nice weekend. I already can't wait for next year! I didn't take very many pictures. I guess we were too busy having fun.(:

Spring Break/Easter

2011-05-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

We just had Spring Break and Easter over the week of April 18th. It seemed late this year and the weather wasn't all that great but it was still nice to break out of the routine. Noah was grounded at the beginning of the week so we didn't do a whole lot but at the end of the week, we dyed Easter eggs and I took him to see the movie, Rio. It's a really cute animated movie. I think I like those movies as much as Noah. He also talked me into going to the park with him and playing basketball. It was fun but was very chilly. For Easter, he was with his Dad for Sunday and the whole weekend so he did an Easter egg hunt with him. He got home on Easter night and got to find his basket then. Yes, I still hide his basket even though I'm pretty sure he doesn't believe in the bunny anymore...lol. My Mom had a nice dinner at her house for everyone and of course Easter goodies for all the kids. Tara also was in town the week of Spring Break so we got to spend some time with her going out to eat, to a movie and just hanging out with her and her boys. Now I just wish the weather would start to cooperate. I'm so ready for Summer but at this point, I would settle for Spring!

Vegas

2011-04-06T23:35:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, we had the chance to go to Vegas with Kenny and Melodie and their kids to visit Tara and her fam. We left on Friday and came home late Monday night. We got to do a lot of fun things together. Noah had a great time with the little cousins.

Highlights of the trip: (Yes, Tara, I'm copying your blog) lol

* Shopping at Kohls with a 30% off coupon(love when I get the 30%)
* Pedicure with Tara and Mel
* Yummy BBQ with everyone, including Daniel Visser and his cute family
* Fountains at Bellagio
* Lions at MGM
* Las Vegas Temple
* Hoover Dam

We kinda did a lot in the short time we were there but it was all fun. It was nice to be in some warm weather and wear flip flops and capris. We came home to snow and wind! Yuck! I'm so done with winter. Thanks Tara for sharing your home. It was great.

Noah in front of the fountains at the Bellagio

Me, Tara and Mel in front of the fountains.

Noah, Abi, Jaxon, Drew and Luke.

Noah and Abi in front of the Las Vegas temple.

Hoover Dam

This is in front of Hoover Dam. They have a huge bridge crossing over it. It's amazing how high up it is.

Noah with the "Halo" guy.

The MJ impersonaters

In front of the Luxor hotel.

The Excalibur. This one if probably my favorite. I just think it looks so cool on the outside.

In front of New York, New York hotel.

Lions at MGM. I wasn't able to get very many good photos of them. Their were so many people around that it was hard to get up close.

Zumba

2011-03-07T23:32:00.000-08:00

This is the new craze in exercise right now. It is Latin inspired dancing. It is so much fun. I was hesitant to try it when I first did a couple of years ago but it is really fun and a great workout. I'm totally sure that I look like a complete dork, hence the reason I stand in the very back but I just try to act like no one is paying attention to me. We have a couple of great instructors at the rec center. You should give it a try if you haven't.

This photo is of me, Kristi, Siera and our friend Sinai. We went to a 2 hour Zumba party that was a blast.

Basketball

2011-03-03T01:38:00.000-08:00

Original title for the post right? We just finished another season of Jr. Jazz. It was an interesting season. We started out on a competitive league and after 2 horrible losses, we were switched to recreational. I'm still not sure if it was because we lost so bad or what. It was nice because we had almost the same exact team as last year except for 2 new kids. They played a lot better after they were switched to a recreational league and finally started winning some games. At the end of the season, they ended up doing a tournament. They played 2 games last Saturday and lost horribly. I don't know if they just didn't play well or if this team was way better than ours, but we got killed. Last night they played at Olympus Jr. High and ended up losing by 4 points but they played much better and I think it was a much better match up. Noah was a little disappointed that they lost and that it was over. I think basketball is his favorite sport and he seems to improve each year. Now we are on to baseball. The fun never ends. (: This is his first year trying it except for when he did t-ball when he was 5 and 6 years old. We'll see how it goes. He knows a few of the kids on the team. He has already had 2 practices and says he likes it so far so we shall see. I didn't get very many pictures and the ones I did get aren't very great. Oh well. It's hard to get good action shots.

Field Trip

2011-02-26T03:32:00.000-08:00

I went on a field trip with Noah's class the other day. It was the whole 5th grade. We went to the state capitol. I haven't been there in years. It's really beautiful inside. We sat in on a legislative session. In all honesty, it was a little boring and I felt like they were speaking a foreign language. I am so politically challenged..lol. We had lunch and then headed back on the bus to the school. I was in charge of 6 kids. I kept trying to get them to let me take pictures of them at various spots in the capitol but they didn't want to but did give in to me on a few. Sometimes its kind of a hassle to go on these field trips but I know that when he goes to jr. high, there won't be anymore so I try to take advantage and be involved as much as I can while I still can.

This is a statue of Brigham Young
Noah and Frankie in front of the Science and Technology statue
Frankie, Mikey, Jr. and Noah
Notice where Noah's hand are in each picture. It's his "GQ" pose.

The Liberty Bell
On the bus. Noah sitting by his friend Mikey

D Will

2011-02-23T21:34:00.001-08:00

Well, it's official, D Will is no longer with the Jazz. I'm torn as to if this is a good thing or not. It seemed like he was kinda acting like a spoiled brat these last few weeks and I do feel that he played a part in Sloan's resignation despite what the media has said. It didn't seem like his heart was in Utah anymore. On the other hand, Noah is a HUGE fan of his and just a couple of days ago bought a new D Will trash can for his room. He is even considering becoming a Nets fan now. I just wonder how the Jazz will survive. I guess they are looking to the future and what will be best for the team. It's kinda like they are starting over and rebuilding the team. We'll have to wait and see what happens. I've always been a Jazz fan at heart and have gotten more into them these last few years since Noah has been such a fan. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Noah's Room

2011-02-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Noah has had a Spiderman room since he was about 4 or 5 years old. He has told me for the last couple of years that he has outgrown it and wants something different. Finally this past weekend, we moved the furniture around in his room, (not a whole lot of places to change things around in his very small room), dejunked his closet and drawers, and finally got rid of the Spiderman comforter and accessories. We found a nice sports quilt at Target. It's like he has a whole new room now. It's so nice and clean too so let's hope it stays that way. He likes to keep everything and his room gets so cluttered so I usually throw things away when he is gone...lol. He really likes the new room and has kept it pretty clean so far. He still wants to get some posters for his walls too.

I should have gotten some before pictures too but trust me, it looks much better.

Valentines Day

2011-02-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

For Valentines Day, I took Noah to see the Justin Bieber movie. It was a documentary type movie about his concerts and how he became famous. Then we went to Olive Garden for dinner. For his school party, we made an Ipod Valentines box. I saw it on the Internet and thought it would be a cute idea. It was actually really easy too compared to the shoe boxes we have tried to decorate in the past and they never seem to turn out that great.

The headphones were shoelaces with little foam hearts glued on the ends for the ear buds. The whole thing was made out of a cereal box.

Snow Brrrrr.......

2011-01-10T16:38:00.001-08:00

This was from the really big snow storm we got on New Years Eve. Noah was shoveling the stairs and sidewalk. He was having fun playing in the fresh powder. It was up to his knees.

Noah's #11

2011-01-09T23:24:00.001-08:00

My son turned 11 on Thursday. I'm feeling so old and wondering how he can already be this old. With each birthday, I keep reminding myself to cherish those everyday moments and simple pleasures of these growing up years because they are quickly being taken away and won't be there to enjoy. On his actual birthday, I took him to Red Robin for dinner and then he had basketball practice that night. On Saturday, I took him to Fat Cats for his friend birthday party. He had 7 kids come including Josh, Skyler, Cody, Nick, Frankie, Tyler and Trevor. They all bowled 2 games, had pizza and played arcade games. They all seemed to have fun and I can't believe how hyper eight 10-11 year old boys can be. lol. Today, my family came over and we had dinner and cake. I told Noah that he got to have a birthday weekend. I hope he had a nice birthday. I'm proud of the sweet young man he is becoming and am so proud to be his mom.
Noah getting ready to blow out his candles and closing his eyes..lol. I forgot to buy birthday candles and my mom brought over the two that she had so we just made the candles into an 11.

Grandma gave him a BYU jersey...Lloyd insisted on being in the photo..lol

Noah's friends at Fat Cats. They all had to pose.

Cody and Tyler

Skyler

Spelling Bee

2011-01-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas break, Noah had a class spelling bee and was in the top 3 in his class so he got to go to the school spelling bee which was last Friday. He had a list of about 275 words to learn. Some of them he already knew. There were some pretty tough words on there, some that I had never heard of like, bibliothecarial???Who has heard of that or knows what that means? I made flash cards for him and we tried to study a little each night. He was pretty nervous but I told him I knew he would be okay. He knew most of the words on the list pretty well and there were a couple he still struggled with. In the first round, he got "warrior". As soon as I heard them say that I knew he had it made...then I heard him say "w-a-i"...I was like what? He got out in the first round. Warrior wasn't a word we studied. It was one of the easier words so we didn't really practice it. He felt bad and I think he was caught off guard that he got that word. I told him not to feel bad and to be proud that he even got to go to the school spelling bee. I'm so proud that he even made it as far as he did. Maybe he'll have better luck next year.

Cousin Sleep Over

2011-01-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

My brother, Kenny's two kids, Jaxon and Abi came over on Friday for a sleep over so their parents could celebrate their anniversary. They were so fun to have and so cute. They were so well behaved. Jaxon kept following Noah everywhere. He adores him. They both slept on the floor in Noah's room. We watched "Shrek Forever After" and had popcorn. It was good times. This is a pic I got on my cell phone so the quality isn't that great but isn't this adorable?

Christmas

2010-12-30T17:30:00.001-08:00

Another Christmas has come and gone again. I feel so old. We had a pretty quiet Christmas this year. I had Noah for Christmas eve and Christmas morning so that was nice. We actually did a progressive dinner this year. We didn't have Kelly's family or Tara's this year. Tara was with her in laws and Kelly and his family were in Ethiopia. We missed them a lot though. We started out at Kenny's house for appetizers and they shared a Christmas message. Then we came to my house for salad and rolls. I had Noah read the M&M Christmas poem for our Christmas message. Then we went to my parents house for the main course of ham and potatoes. We also did white elephants there and let the kids exchange their gifts to each other. Josh had Noah's name and he got him a basketball which he loves. At the end of the evening, we went to Kristi's and had dessert of yummy cheesecake and watched a short clip of the Saviors life. It was a nice night. Christmas morning, Noah woke up about 745 and I made him wait until 8 to go open presents. He loved everything he got. He got an Ipod, books, movies and some gift cards. I got some pictures of Christmas morning but sad I didn't get any at the different houses for the progressive dinner.

Milk and cookies for Santa with a note.

The Ipod

Making sugar cookies...so messy!

Gingerbread house-they never look as good as they do on the box...lol

Football Banquet

2010-12-15T02:19:00.000-08:00

We finally had our football banquet. Mind you that it was only 6 weeks after the season ended. It was totally disappointing compared to ones from the past. There were some issues between the coaches and team mom that I will spare the details of on here. The banquet was at Incredible Pizza which was a really fun place for the kids. They had an awesome all you can eat buffet. It was a little strange not having any of the coaches talk and present them with their trophies but the kids seemed okay with it. They got a tile with their football picture and number and a blue football beanie.

Spotlight

2010-12-14T23:34:00.000-08:00

Noah got spotlighted in his class last week and he was so excited about it. We had to make a poster with pictures of him and his family and things that he liked. We had fun making it. It turned out pretty good. He got up in his class and told about the things that he had on the poster and then the poster got to hang in his classroom all week long. He was pretty proud of it.

Christmas Fun

2010-12-14T23:28:00.000-08:00

We finally got our tree on Friday. We still get a real tree and my Dad told me to check out Harmons. We ended up going there and they had some really awesome, beautful trees but the best part was the price. They were only $35. I had been paying $60-70 for trees in the past and this tree was just as nice as the more expensive ones. My nephew Josh slept over on Friday night and so he and Noah helped me decorate the tree. We had a fun weekend including Noah's first Jr. Jazz game, which they lost but played tough. Then Noah went and played at Josh's most of the day while I did some shopping. That evening we went and had pizza and then I took Josh and Noah to see Tangled. Way cute movie that I highly recommend. We went and saw Christmas lights and went to temple square with Kenny and Melodie and their kids. We've been trying to watch Christmas shows and soak in as much of the season as we can before it is over. The pictures are in no particular order.

Thanksgiving and Such....

2010-12-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome Thanksgiving minus one thing...I didn't get to have my cute little guy there with me. It was his year to celebrate the day with his Dad. One of the many cons of being divorced is splitting the holidays. Ewww, how I hate it. I've gotten used to giving him up on the weekends especially now that he has gotten a little older but oh how I dread the holidays and having to share him at that time. I know its just as important for him to spend time with his dad as it is for him to spend time with me..call me selfish but I want him all to myself on these days!!! Okay, well this post isn't meant to be a rant about that because I truly did have a nice Thanksgiving. We had all of my family at my parents house (except Noah, of course), great food and fun. We made a cute little Christmas craft that was a lot of fun while the guys and a lot of the kids went to the church to play basketball. I truly have a lot to be thankful for, my health, job, home, car, family, the gospel and my Savior and of course, my cute son, Noah. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving too. I didn't get any pictures, except for one of the cute craft we made.

Goodbye To Football For Another Year

2010-11-03T03:01:00.000-07:00

The football season ended on Saturday. It's bittersweet. We really grew to love these kids and coaches and bonded with them. It's weird to think that we won't be seeing them all the time anymore. Hopefully we will see them all again next year and maybe even be on the same team. We had a great team. Our record was 5 and 4. It was fun to see each of these kids grow and progress throughout the season. We didn't make the playoffs but still had a great year. The banquet will be soon and pics to follow.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-03T02:56:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Halloween. We carved pumpkins, went to Nightmare Alley, had a fun Halloween party with all the cousins. (Except Drew and Luke, which we missed!) I even dressed up as Snow White this year and Noah was Michael Jackson. Noah went trick or treating with his friend Cody this year. It was a pretty rainy, cold night for trick or treating but he seemed to have fun anyway. Here are some of the pictures in no particular order.

My attempt at trying to do one of those pumpkin patterns. It's supposed to be a spider in case you can't tell.

Noah's pumpkin "in stitches".

Noah's class

Noah and his friend, Cody. They both dressed up as Michael Jackson and called themselves the "Jackson 2". Doing a classic MJ pose.

All of the grand kids in their costumes.

Kendawg

Beautiful Harmony in her Spider queen costume.

Cute Savani as a pirate.

Abi as a cute clown.

Noah and Cody during the Halloween parade at school.

The "hot" pirate wench, Kristi and her hubby Lloyd.

Me as Snow White (in case you couldn't tell) and Noah.

Noah with Eva as a princess and Milika as a kitty cat. Too cute.

Friends from school, Juan and Cody.

My dad as a vampire. Look out Edward Cullen as Tara said. ha ha!

National Parks Fair

2010-10-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

This year for 5th grade they did a National Parks Fair instead of a science project but it was just as much work as a science project. Each kid picked out a park and had to write a 5 page report and do a poster board and research their park. Noah chose Harry S. Truman National Historic Site. I'm still not quite sure why this was his choice but it was. I also helped do the state posters for the fair which was a lot of work. The teacher wanted posters made of all the states that were represented in the fair. It was fun but I'm glad its over. The kids were also supposed to dress to resemble something about their park so Noah dressed up as Harry S. Truman. He wore a suit jacket and some glasses. We tried to slick his hair down a little but it's so long and thick right now that it didn't work out too well.

UEA and Fall Fun

2010-10-18T02:53:00.000-07:00

Noah was out of school for a couple of days for UEA a.k.a. Fall break. The weather was really nice. We went out to Gardner Village one night and checked out the cute witches and then went on a "Ride to a Witch". We did that last year too. It's so fun. You go on a wagon ride to this little house and it has real people dressed up as witches that tell stories to the kids. Noah loved it. We also went to this place called Hee Haw farms out in Pleasant Grove. They had some fun games and a pumpkin patch and then the best part to Noah was the haunted hay ride. It was actually pretty scary but fun. They didn't do the scarecrow festival this year so I heard big Budah advertising this Hee Haw farms place so we went there instead and it turned out to be pretty fun. We we even saw Big Budah there too. Noah wasn't liking me wanting to take pictures of him. He is that age now but I tried to get as many as I could.

Noah on the giant pumpkin. He doesn't get too excited when I want to take pictures but I make him let me anyway.

Noah riding the go carts.

This witch dressed up in red kept calling Noah handsome and asking him for a kiss goodnight. It was pretty funny.

This witch is in the outhouse, hence Noah's facial expression.

This and That

2010-09-22T01:08:00.001-07:00

Wow how time is flying...school has already been going for over a month now. Noah seems to be enjoying his teacher and he has a lot of friends in his class too. He has also been doing safety patrol so when he is assigned duty, he has to go to school a little earlier and stay a little later. He seems to like having that responsibility. He has been growing his hair out for the past few months and its longer than it has ever been. He's going for the Zac Efron style. Now that is is longer, it has gotten a little curlier too. I don't mind it the length it is at now and I actually think its kinda cute on him (when it's combed nice) but I told him I didn't want it to get too much longer than it is now.
This is what his hair looked like at the beginning of the school year last year

This is what it looks like now

This is the what he wants it to look like

He started football again this year and we are actually already half way through the season. He is really liking his team this year. He has a few kids from school on his team and also a couple of kids from his team last year. He likes the coaches a lot better. His dad is one of the coaches this year too which I think he likes for the most part. He usually gets to play most of the game if not all of it which is a huge difference from last year. He was so excited because on the first game, he stripped the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. It was the first touchdown of the game. He had a great game and ended up getting MVP for the game. They have a pretty good team and their record is 4 and 1. Not too shabby. Noah is #26 this year.
This is a picture of Noah and Colton Jensen from his team. They had a BBQ luau for the team a couple of weeks ago.

This is Noah and Zach Nielsen doing the 3 legged race at the luau.

It has been a great experience so far and Noah says that he has liked football the best this year so far.
I've just been working and trying to keep up with my HOA stuff. I had to stain my back stairs this year which was a huge pain in the butt. I found that I had 2 huge bees nests under my stairs and almost got stung by a couple of hornets in the process. I finally got smart and bought some hornet spray and killed their nest. I also do Activity Days in my ward and so we meet twice a month for an hour with the 8-12 year old girls in the ward. We have about 4-5 girls that come regularly. It's been a pretty fun calling so far and not too stressful. My sister, Tara, was just here last week for a week long visit. It was nice seeing her and her boys. I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked. We were able to go out to eat, shop and visit. I didn't get any pictures while she was here so no pics to post. Sorry Tara. ): I also got brave and ventured out to a "social" event last month. A girl in my ward decided to do a monthly craft night and so I dragged my mom along and we went. There were about 7 or 8 other ladies from my ward there. I ended up having a great time and got to know some of the ladies in my ward much better. I don't know why I shy away from social things like this because I always end up having a good time. I guess I just think that I won't have anything in common with them. A lot of them are newly married and just starting their families and so I guess I think what would they have in common with a divorced chick? It turned out that there was another girl there who was divorced and one that is single and one that has struggled to have kids. It made me realize that we all have are own trials and while we may not be in the same places in life, we all have that common bond with the gospel and can share in that sisterhood. Okay, was that cheesy?
Here is what we made

First Day of Fifth Grade

2010-08-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I now have a 5th grader. How did this small, sweet newborn baby turn into such a BIG kid already? It's so bitter sweet to me. While I enjoy watching him learn and grown and experience new things in life, I also am saddened to think that in a short time, he won't need me anymore or want me around as much, when his friends will be more important than "mom". I know that this is all part of growing up but I wish I could enjoy the time more and that it wouldn't go so fast. On a lighter note, his teacher is Mrs. Graf which he is very excited about. She used to be in our ward and we have heard great things about her. He has quite a few friends in his class this year as well. Hopefully he will have a great year.

Fat Cats

2010-08-11T01:35:00.000-07:00

Today I took Noah bowling at Fat Cats. They do a program over the summer where kids can bowl 2 free games during the day time Monday through Friday. We haven't gone once this whole summer so we decided to go today. It's a really fun place and they have really yummy bread sticks. I'm not a very good bowler but I like to go and try. Noah beat me the first game and I beat him the second game. It was a fun time and free. Well, it was free for Noah and I had to pay but still...it's a great deal. Wish we would have taken advantage of it more this but this summer has flown by.

Reunion With Marvin

2010-08-09T00:31:00.000-07:00

Today, we went to Fairview, Utah. This is where my Aunt Gayle lives. She had all of her kids in town and invited us up for a little reunion. It was so fun to see everyone. I hadn't seen Marvin and his wife Tia in 7 years and I can't remember the last time I saw Marla and Maria. I also got to see my cousin Shelly and her kids which I haven't seen for a while either. It was so fun to reminisce and meet my cousins kids that I hadn't seen before. I can't believe how old we are all getting. We were pretty close to Gayles kids growing up. We lived in Sacramento for about 2 years from when I was 7 until about 9. Aunt Gayle and Glade lived about 45 mins. away and I remember going to their house almost every weekend and spending lots of time with them. I was telling Noah that everyone used to call me and Marvin "kissing cousins". We used to really like each other and have so much fun. I remember us telling each other that if we weren't cousins, we would get married. Pretty funny hu? My uncle Glade was there also with his wife Lola. I didn't get any pictures of him because they weren't there long but it was good to see him. He seems to be happy with his wife and he and Gayle get along great and are able to have reunions with all their kids at the same time. I wished we all lived closer and got to see each other more often. We were walking around taking tons of pictures. I wish all of the extended Nielsens could have been there and it really would have been a great reunion.

Gayle and her daughters Monica, Marla and Maria

Noah and Josh playing football
Gorgeous Siera

Marvin and Tia an their kids Macy and Avery

Gayle's son, Matthew

Ken and Mel playing croquet

Cute Vani

Shelly and Rick and their kids
Mom, Mark and Gayle
Harry and Gayle with Gayles kids
The "poly" husbands
Gayles kids: Marla, Monica, Matthew, Marvin and Maria
The Amasio fam

David and Marla and their kids
Me and Siera squinting into the sun
Our family minus Kelly and Tara

Me and Marvin...he was my bestest cousin growing up

Girls Camp

2010-08-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to girls camp since I was in YW so it's been a super long time ago. I was called as the stake camp nurse. I wasn't sure what this calling would entail but basically it was to be up there to help with anyone that needed any kind of first aid. We had a great stake camp board. We all got a long really well. We were totally spoiled to have our own camp chef and we didn't eat normal camp food. We had some pretty yummy food and desserts. The theme this year was the Wizard of Oz and each ward had a color that went along with the yw values. Each ward performed skits that went along with the Wizard of Oz theme and the value they had. There were some pretty well thought up, clever skits. It really brought me back to the days when I went to girls camp. The stake also did a skit and I was one of the Munchkins. Each time we all congregated together in the amphitheater, they played this song and we all did a little dance and then they changed the words to the Miley Cyrus song Party in the USA to "It's a Beautiful Girls Camp Day". The weather wasn't too bad. It got pretty hot but on the days that we hiked, it was little overcast so it wasn't too bad. As a stake camp, we also did secret sisters and did little gifts/notes for each other each day we were at camp. My secret sister was on of the grandmas. She was so good to me. She came me a DC (diet coke) everyday. I also got Reeses, lotion, and dark chocolate. It was a great experience and I'm glad I got the chance to go. I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures but I got a picture of the stake camp board. The stake yw presidency gave all of us a framed picture of the board.

Mill Hollow

2010-08-02T19:23:00.001-07:00

Noah had a chance to go with his school to Mill Hollow. He has looked forward to it all summer. It is for students who do well in school. It was something I did as a kid too. It's such a fun experience. We had some issues with his Dad. (long story that I probably shouldn't post on here) but he had a great time. I gave him a disposable camera to take and told him to take some good pictures. He got a few good ones but a lot of them didn't turn out so well. The picture quality isn't that great. I was a little nervous letting him go and not have either of his parents with him but he did great. He's already talking about going next year.

Beautiful Uintah mountains. This is where they played volleyball.

This is his friend, Zach. They also shared the same bunk.

This was Noah's camp counselor. His name is "Doc".

This is the cabin he slept in.
The trading post that he was excited to buy things at.
This is the big building where they had all their meals.
Noah said there were a lot of teepees around.

Going on one of the hikes.

Pioneer Day Parade Float Preview

2010-07-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have never taken Noah to a parade. I'm not a big fan. I hate the heat, the crowds, trying to deal with parking, etc. This year though, we went to the Southtowne expo center to the float preview for the Pioneer Day parade. They have all of the floats out and you can walk around and look at them and vote for your favorite one. I couldn't believe how awesome they were and how much detail they had. Some of them must have taken months to do. We went with Kristi and her kids, Tara and her boys, Melodie and her kids and my Mom. It was a really fun time and the kids loved it. The best part was that it was a free event. You gotta love free right? The pictures don't even do these floats justice. They were so much better in person. Maybe one of these years I will brave the heat and crowds and take Noah to one of the parades. Every kid needs to go to at least one parade.
This picture didn't turn out very good but it was a float with the seagulls and crickets. It was so awesome and so creative. It was my favorite one.
This was a float from the movie "How To Train Your Dragon"

This was an Oquirrah Mountain temple float

This was a float for West Valley City

This was Noah's favorite float

Newman Reunion

2010-07-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

This was considered our first official "Newman Reunion". We went up to Midway, Utah. We all had so much fun. We usually try to get together and do something every summer. As every ones families get bigger, sometimes this can be difficult. This year, my parents rented a cute house in Midway with a nice big backyard. We played volleyball, went on bike rides, stayed up late playing games and chatting. It was so much fun. A few of us went to Park City and rode on the Alpine slide. I haven't done that in years and it was great fun. Noah got to ride in his own cart this time. On Sunday, we did a little devotional with everyone since we weren't going to church. It was so neat to feel the spirit there and feel close as a family. Next year, I will be in charge so I'm taking suggestions/requests now. lol. We missed having Raleigh there this year. Hopefully he will be able to come next year. WARNING!!! This post has lots of pictures and they are in no particular order. There were so many cute ones, it was hard for me to pick which ones to put on here.

Fun with the cousins in the tent

My Mom and beautiful sisters

Noah and Luke

Ken and Mel and their kids getting ready to go down the slide

Josh, Siera and Noah just before going on the slide

Getting ready for a bike ride. Lovin' those helmets.

My beautiful nieces

My Dad always cooking up breakfast

Dibabe and Chaltu

This picture of Jaxon cracks me up. He is so cute.

Summer Fun

2010-07-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

On the night of the 4th of July, some of the grand kids camped in my parents backyard. It was my sister in law, Melodies idea. The kids loved it. My parents and Kenny and Melodie slept out there with them. They even made a fire in the fire pit and made smores. They had a great time. The next morning, we all met back over at my parents and had a yummy breakfast courtesy of my Dad and Kenny. It was so fun for the kids and I'm sure it will be a great memory for them.

PS-Thanks for the pictures Kristi. I stole them from your blog. (:

The End of Another School Year

2010-06-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

Noah has just finished the 4th grade. Wow, how time flies. I know he is glad to be done with this year. We have been so spoiled to have had such great, inspiring teachers up until this year but this year, he had Mrs. Procter and let's just say he isn't sad to be out of her class. I know Noah can be silly and he likes to talk a lot. He was even labeled the class clown and was pretty proud of it; however, I felt that Mrs. Procter didn't draw on his strengths but preyed on his weaknesses. His self esteem kinda went down. On the plus side, he did make some great friends this year and got second place for his AR points for the year. He is a smart kid but sometimes he can goof off and talk a little too much. A few weeks ago, the kids in his class were asked to write a report on a historical figure. Noah chose Lebron James....not real historical. He did it anyway and wrote up the whole paper. At the end of this, he was supposed to dress up like his character for a wax museum. He told me he was just going to dress up like Deron Williams since he didn't have a Lebron James jersey. Anyway, so here he is in his Jazz-DWill stuff for his Lebron James paper. WTH???

They had the AR assembly on Wednesday. AR stands for advanced reading. Noah got second in his class and got to go on stage and get a medal. He LOVES to read. He almost always has his nose in a book and he is constantly starting a book and then switching to a new book. That drives me crazy but I'm happy that he likes to read. After the AR assembly, the whole 4th grade got to go to Hollywood Connection for the afternoon. They got to skate, play video games, miniature golf and ride the rides. He told me he had a great time. Thursday was field day. I went and volunteered for that for a couple of hours. I got kinda burned. It wasn't that hot and it was a little overcast so I though I was fine but my neck got burned and the tops of my feet. Friday was the last day! Noah found out he is going to have Mrs. Graf next year and I'm so excited. I have heard such great things about her and she used to be in our ward. Hopefully Noah will have a better experience next year.

Farewell to Lost...sniff sniff

2010-05-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

So, Sunday night was the final episode of Lost and what can I say? This show really moved me in so many ways and I'm seriously going to miss watching it every week. I know it was on the air for 6 years but it never really seemed to interest me until a lot of members of my family were watching it and talking about how awesome it was. I ended up renting the seasons from Netflix and have never been sorry. It truly has been my favorite show, by far. It was so different than any other show that I have watched. Those writers had some pretty awesome imaginations. I fell in love with each of the main characters for different reasons. Although, they were only a part of my life for a short time, I felt like I knew them personally. I know this post is cheesy but if you haven't watched this show, I highly recommend it. You won't be sorry. There is definitely some eye candy for the girls too. ha ha!! I loved the final episode. I have heard that some people didn't like how it ended but I really did. There are still some unanswered questions but I think for the most part they did such a great job of wrapping it up. The finale really tugged on my heart strings and I found myself getting emotional and fighting back tears in some of the scenes. This show has definitely been a phenomenon and I'm so glad I gave it a chance and watched it. Goodbye Lost....I will miss you terribly.
And in case you needed another reason to watch Lost....

Need I say more? Sorry, I had to put him in.

Girls Weekend

2010-05-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we went to St. George for a much needed girls trip. My Mom, Kristi and I drove and met Tara in St. George. Kelly and Cherish were already there. They came to celebrate their anniversary and let us crash the party and stay at the house with them. Tara wasn't able to come until Saturday morning due to her boys being sick but we were so grateful she was able to make it. It wouldn't have been the same without her. Friday night, my Mom, Kristi and I went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was so yummy. After that, we just went back to the house and chatted. Saturday morning, we got up early and went to the St.George temple. It was such a great experience and such a perfect way to start out the day. After that we all went to breakfast including Tara and Kelly and Cherish. Then we went shopping all day. I was surprised I didn't spend more money but I guess that's a good thing. We had a great time. In between all the shopping, we also got pedicures. We went to dinner at The Pizza Factory. It was really good also. Then we went and saw "Letters to Juliette". It was a cute girly, chick flick. We talked until 2 a.m. Saturday night and then got up Sunday to pancakes, courtesy of Kelly. Then we cleaned up, and departed. It went so fast but was such a great time. It was my Mom's birthday on Sunday so we treated her to her pedicure and dinner on Saturday. I'm glad I was able to go and bond with my sisters and Mom. I think we are going to make it an annual tradition. I wish I would have gotten more pictures but sometimes it's just a pain in the A to take the pics and drag the camera everywhere.

Just Keepin' It Real.....

2010-05-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer....this post could be depressing and/or boring so be forewarned.

Where do I start? I have been doing this blogging thing for about 2 years or so, give or take and I have enjoyed it. I usually keep my posts positive and happy and about the good things going on in our lives....however, just because this blog is always happy, doesn't mean that occasionally things are kinda crappy. I've been a little down in the dumps as of late and can't quite pin it down to one thing but a few things.

-My weight...I put this first because this is probably the biggest downer with me right now. I really hate it and while I know I'm not ginormous (sp), I am definitely in the "overweight" category. It even told me that when I did a BMI assessment online. Not that I needed that to tell me what stares me in the face every night. I go to the gym pretty regularly and I try to watch what I eat but if I eat one bad thing, I'm doomed. All I seem to be able to do is maintain and as far as losing, I pretty much have to starve myself. Ewww I hate it. It's not fun for me to go clothes shopping because none of the cute stuff looks cute on me. It gets quite depressing.

-My life...I LOVE that I am a mom to Noah and he is my world so don't get me wrong but at this point in my life, I always imagined that I would have 4 or 5 kids and be happily married. Now I'm divorced twice and not sure that I want to take the plunge again after 2 bad experiences. I hate that Noah doesn't have siblings and doesn't know what its like to grow up with siblings and 2 parents in the home. I try to pattern things in our life as though we do have a family but our family is just the 2 of us. I still try and do things with him like FHE and family activities even though it is just us. I hate that he is growing up so fast. Please time...just stop and let me enjoy his childhood a little longer.

-My age...okay, I'll be turning 39 soon and then next is the big 4-0. I can't stand the thought of it. I think next year on my birthday, I will just want to curl up in a ball and die. I wish there were some way to stop it, to freeze myself in my current age..Why do we have to get old? Seriously, is it really necessary? Awww!!!

-My job...so I've been a nurse for 15 years and for all of those 15 years, I have had job security. I could work anywhere, anytime, work overtime,etc. Now suddenly, in the past few months, there is an overabundance of nurses and its harder to get my hours and shifts that I want. There has been talk of layoffs and it just scares the crap out of me!! I'm a single mom and I'm the bread winner. I just pray that I can keep my job and get the hours I need to make ends meet.

Well, I feel better now that I vented. I really didn't mean this as a "poor me" post but I know it sounds that way. I know I need to be grateful for the blessings that I do have. I know there are people who definitely have it worse than me. I guess I just wanted to blog about this because although we do a lot of fun things and are enjoying life, it isn't always that way. Sometimes I let my fears get in the way and I know life just isn't rosey all the time. So I figured I was just keepin' it real.

Bunco

2010-05-04T02:20:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night was Bunco night. Just to back track a bit last year, I attended my high school reunion and a couple of us from the reunion thought it might be fun to start a Bunco group. It's kind of a mixed group but it has been a lot of fun. The girls from high school are Ronalee Kimberlin, Lisa Foster, Jenny Buell and Christy Gates. It has been so much fun playing with them and getting to know them all over again. We meet once a month and take turns hosting at each others houses. Last Thursday, it was at my house. I was a little nervous due to lack of space but I think it turned out okay. Everyone seemed to have fun and liked the prizes. My mom even came and subbed for us last minute because Lisa hurt her foot and wasn't able to come.
This was the "biggest" prize and Jenny got it for getting the most Bunco's. She had like 6 Bunco's which is pretty unusual.

These were what we call the "booby" prizes. Everyone walks away with a prize so these were what everyone got that didn't win anything. I thought they were cute and they were filled with mini candybars.

Pinewood Derby

2010-04-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

Another fun year of the Pinewood Derby. It was this past Saturday night. Noah always gets so excited for this event. He and Kent made his car and they painted it a hunter green with white stripes and put letters that spelled out Jazz for the Utah Jazz. It was a nice looking car. Kent knows someone that helped them do the car that knows hot to make one that is guaranteed to win. I guess the guy knows what he's talking about because Noah won again this year. I tried to talk to him and let him know it wasn't all about the winning but just trying to have fun. He said he understood. He also got awards for the "smoothest finish". They even gave out trophies this year that they are getting their names engraved on and what place they took.

Noah getting his trophy and awards

Spring Break and Easter

2010-04-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

Noah got out of school last Tuesday for Spring Break. He had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the weekend and then Monday off before he had to go back. It was nice to have the break although I think he has started to get bored and is ready to go back. The weather wasn't cooperative at all. We had a couple of pretty good snow storms so there wasn't a lot of playing outside, unfortunately. We spent Easter Sunday with Kristi and her family. My parents are on vacation in Hawaii. (We're all feeling pretty bad for them (:) Between Kristi and I, we managed to pull off an Easter dinner complete with ham, funeral potatoes, jello salad and rolls. Okay so I burned the rolls and they didn't raise and so I ended up buying some but everything else turned out great. We also had an Easter egg hunt in Kristi's backyard for the kids and they got tons of candy. It seemed odd not having my parents around but I'm sure they were enjoying themselves in Hawaii and we had a good time anyway.

We didn't do much while Noah was off but we did go and see "How To Train Your Dragon" in 3D. It was a pretty cute movie. We also dyed Easter eggs and went on an Easter egg hunt. We weren't going to go on a Easter egg hunt this year due to the weather but someone posted something on Facebook about there being an indoor one at the Hollywood Connection that didn't start until 1030 so we ended up doing that one. It was nice because it was inside and we were warm but it was pretty crowded and Noah didn't get very many eggs. He also got to have his cousin, Josh, sleep over and they had a great time staying up late playing video games and watching movies. They are such great buddies. Now back to the good old routine and hopefully Spring weather soon.

Bump Off!!

2010-03-28T21:32:00.001-07:00

We have this game in my family called, "Bump Off". It's a lot like the game "Sorry". It's been in my family for as long as I can remember. I remember playing it a lot with my Grandpa Newman when he would come to stay with us. You can play with a partner or just be on your own. My dad made each of us siblings our own board so I have been playing it with Noah from time to time. It's a fun game. I figured since it has been around so long and that we all love to play it, it is considered "blogworthy" right? We all seem to play it a lot more around the holidays when the games come out of the closet.

Go Jazz!!

2010-03-14T01:49:00.001-08:00

Last month, Noah and I went to a Jazz game. It was the free tickets we got for going to the Larry H. Miller sing a long in December. The seats weren't great but we had such a blast being there. The fans get so into the games and its such a fun atmosphere. I decided after that game that I wanted to try and get some tickets and sit in the "good seats". I've never been able to sit close and I knew Noah would love it. I splurged and got some tickets from someone off KSL. He game me a pretty good deal and we were just kiddie corner from the basket. We had so much fun. They played the LA Clippers and won. The game was a little iffy at times but the Jazz pulled it out. We got to the arena pretty early and the Jazz bear was signing autographs so Noah had him sign his jersey and then the bear asked me if I wanted to take a picture of him and Noah together so I did. I've started becoming a little more of a Jazz fan since Noah has gotten so into lately. They are fun to watch but so much more fun when you are actually there.

Deron Williams #8-Noah's favorite player

Jr. Jazz

2010-02-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

Today, Noah had his last Jr. Jazz game. He has had such a great experience and has really grown to love basketball. He has really gotten to be a great player. Kent coached this year also and it turned out to be a great experience for both Noah and Kent. The parents and kids really liked Kent and a lot of them told him that they wanted him to coach again next year. He was very positive and fair with the kids. We only picked Zach Mccleve to be on the team and the rest of the kids were just random but they were all good players. We had a pretty good team and only lost 3 games.

Noah, Zach and Tyler

The whole team

Happy Retirement Part 2

2010-02-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

This past Friday night was my Dad's 65th birthday. In honor of his birthday and retirement, we all went to the temple and did a session. It was so awesome. All of my siblings were able to come and my sister in law Cherish was able to come too. It had been a long time since I had been to the temple. It was such a wonderful, beautiful experience. I hope I am never without a temple recommend again. After the session, we all went to Lonestar Steakhouse for dinner and to celebrate my Dad's birthday and retirement. After dinner, we went back to my parents and got all the kids together and had cake and ice cream. It was a really nice day.
This is all of us siblings outside the Jordan River Temple

Happy Retirement Part 1

2010-02-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

So my Dad is officially retired. He had his big retirement party with his work today. All of us siblings were invited to go and have lunch with his coworkers to celebrate his retirement. He has worked at various places over the years (all for the government) including Tooele Army Depot and Hill Air Force Base but his last 15 years have been at the Bureau of Reclamation in downtown SLC. The luncheon was at Little America. It was great food. All of the siblings were able to go except Kenny. We missed ya Ken! It was so fun to meet the people he has worked with for so long and to hear some of the things they had to say about him. All of them really seemed to like him and kept saying how much they were going to miss him. They gave him a little scrapbook and a bunch of golf stuff. My Dad also stood up and introduced each of his coworkers and told what their job title was. I was so impressed he remembered every ones name. There were about 20 people there. He seemed to be very well liked. I love my Dad so much and am so proud of him. He was always such a good provider for our family and taught us all the value of hard work. Congrats Dad!! You deserve it. I'm sure he'll be doing plenty of golfing(:

They knew what a big BYU fan he is so they gave him a BYU golf towel along with money and gift cards to a golf store. They know him too well.
After the luncheon was over, I opted to go back to my Dad's office and see his desk. I had never been there before and wanted to see where he had been working all these years. Better late than never I guess. They had U of U confetti all over his desk to tease him. They also had picture up all over in his cubicle telling him happy retirement.

Girls Weekend

2010-02-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I got the chance to go see my sister, Tara, who lives in Las Vegas. Thanks to my other sister, Kristi, who came also. She was able to give me a buddy pass. We flew out there on Friday night and then drove back to SL with Tara and her boys on Sunday. Tara was coming to town for our Dad's bday/retirement party. We thought it would be fun to have a girls trip and go see her house and then help her drive back. It was a fun time. We went shopping and out to dinner and had some good chats. Her house is so beautiful. They just moved in there a couple of months ago. We had a great time. I didn't really get any pics. The only picture I took was of my cute nephews, Drew and Luke. Sometimes its just a drag to have to deal with the camera. Raleigh was good to watch the kids while we went shopping and out to dinner. I'm already for another girls trip.

Nostalgia

2010-01-24T21:18:00.001-08:00

A few months ago, I reconnected with a long lost roommate from Ricks College (aka BYU Idaho) on Facebook. We have talked for quite some time about getting together and finally found a day to work it out. She invited me to her house for dinner. They live in Layton. It was so good to see her and her cute family. It has been so long. we were trying to figure out when we saw each other last and we think it was at our other roommates funeral. (Our roommate, Christy, died of Cancer about 7 years ago) We don't even live that far from each other but life just gets so busy that sometimes you just have to slow down and make time for things. We had dinner and then had a nice time visiting and talking about old times. I can't believe it has been 20 years since we were roomies at good old Ricks. It was nice to visit. We are talking about doing a little roommate reunion some time this summer if we can get all of us together again. I was really lucky and had such great roommates and it would be a lot of fun to see all of them and their families again. On the way home, I stopped and showed Noah the house I lived in when I was a little. It was off Bennett St. in Layton. Layton has changed so much that I couldn't find it without calling my mom to help me with directions. It was weird seeing that house again and remembering some of the things from when I was really little. We only lived there until I was 7 but I still have a lot of memories of that house. I made Noah get out and I took a picture of him in front of the house. It was dark so the picture isn't that great but it was so strange to think its been 30 years. I couldn't believe how small the house was either. I also showed him the school I went to, Lincoln Elementary. Talk about nostalgia. This is me and my roommates 20 years ago. Yes, I'm blinking in the picture. We had a running joke that I always blinked in the pictures.

Me, Marie and her husband, Mark

Our old house (it still looks the same as I remember it)

Meeting A Jazz Player, Sort Of

2010-01-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

During the Jr.Jazz program, the kids get an opportunity to meet a Jazz player. They don't personally meet him but they get to go the the Energy Solutions Arena and listen to the player talk and run drills. This year the player they got to meet was Paul Milsap. Noah was pretty excited. He was really hoping to meet Deron Williams but he was still happy to be able to see Paul Milsap. They called all the 4th grade kids down to the floor at one point and ran some drills. Milsap kept walking right by Noah's group so I got a couple of pictures.

A Very Long Post

2010-01-11T23:45:00.000-08:00

I now have a child in double digits. Noah just turned 10. It is so hard to believe. He is such a great kid and really lights up my life. This year, he was with Kent for his actual birthday so on the day before his birthday, I took him to dinner at Red Robin (his choice). At school, for his birthday he wanted me to bring in Little Ceasers pizza for the class. So I bought a few pizzas and took them in. The class loved it. The Friday after his birthday I let him invite a friend to Nickelcade. He invited his friend Juan from school. They had a great time. Not my favorite place to go but of course they loved it. They had pizza and played video games for a while. Sunday we had the family party. Everyone came over for dinner and cake and ice cream. He seemed to have a great birthday. He is growing up so fast and turning in to such a great kid. He's always trying to be silly and make me laugh. He is a pretty well rounded kid. He likes school and really likes to read. He also likes sports and really enjoys watching Jazz games. The rest of this post will probably be pretty boring but I've seen other people put on their blog the story of their child's birth. I realized that I don't have this documented anywhere so I'm going to try and remember the best I can. Feel free to stop reading now. This is mostly for me to have this written down somewhere. I have also included tons of pictures in this post. They are of some of my favorite pictures of Noah growing up. Okay, don't say I didn't warn you.

The night of January 5, 2000, Kent and I went to the hospital (Cottonwood) so that I could be induced. We thought my due date was December 31, 1999 but every time I went in for my checkup, nothing was happening at all. Everyone kept telling us we were going to have a New Year baby or a Y2K baby but that didn't happen. When I arrived at the hospital, they had me get into a gown and then the doctor came in and placed a medication called cervadil (unsure of the spelling) in my uterus to help induce labor. Not long after it was placed, I started having severe stomach cramps that I'm assuming were contractions. I called the nurse for some pain relief and she gave me 2 percocets which didn't do anything so they gave me some morphine which helped. They kept coming in and checking me constantly and at one point had to give me oxygen and a shot in my arm to help the babies heart rate. The next thing I knew, they were placing my epidural and I was going into full labor. I pushed for about 2 hours and was getting so tired. My legs felt like jello from the epidural but that epidural was a wonderful thing. The doctor said if the baby didn't come out soon, I would have to have a c-section. Then a few minutes later and with the help of forceps, Noah was born Januray 6 at 9:29a.m. weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces. It was actually a pretty smooth delivery and I was so happy there weren't any complications. I think I had a harder time postpartum then I did delivering the baby. I had a lot of pain and couldn't sit down without my "donut" for a long time. I also had a catheter (long story for another time) for approximately a month after I had Noah. He was such a good and easy baby. I remember him sleeping through the night at 5 weeks old. He definitely is a cool kid and I'm proud to be his mother.

Newborn photos

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

Testimony

2010-01-10T01:45:00.000-08:00

Today I was asked to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. I didn't realize that when I said yes that it was ward conference which meant that there were a lot of visitors, making me that much more nervous. As I sat and pondered my testimony and thought of what I might say, I was trying to remember the last time I bore my testimony and I couldn't remember, that's how long it has been. It has been years. In fact, I think the last time I did it was on Noah's blessing day and he is now 10. I don't want to get too personal because maybe this isn't the appropriate place to share such things, but it was a great feeling. All day, I felt that I had the spirit and as nervous as I was, I definitely think its something I need to share more often. I know that we often take our testimony for granted and in order for it to grow it has to be nourished and constantly fed, just like any relationship. I hope that this will just be the beginning of me bearing my testimony and that I can have the courage and spirit to share it more often.

Christmas Day

2009-12-29T23:41:00.000-08:00

Noah was with Kent this year until 2 p.m on Christmas day. I just slept in and then waited for him to come home. Of course he had a fun time opening all of his presents. His big gift this year was a PlayStation 3 from Santa. He was very excited about that. He also got some Jazz stuff, movies and books. After he opened his presents here, we headed to my parents house to exchange gifts. Of course my mom spoiled us again. She also made these really cute blankets that fold up into a pillow. She made one for each of the grand kids. Noah's was a BYU one. I got slippers and a Kohl's gift card. Yeah!! Then we just spent the rest of the day hanging out, playing games and eating and more eating. It was a great time.

Each year I let Noah pick out a new ornament. This year, he picked out a Utah Jazz one.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

Our traditional Christmas eve consists of getting together with all of my siblings and their families and having a nice dinner, talent show, white elephants and of course, the game where everyone fights to open the gift to win the "Christmas Prize". It was so fun this year as always. Everyone was there, including Kent and Noah. This year, Noah was with Kent for Christmas Eve but I invited them to our family party and to my surprise, he came and brought Noah. I thought the night might be awkward or uncomfortable but it actually was fine. Noah even told me how glad he was that they came. This year, we had the party at my parents church so that we could have more room. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We had a nice dinner with ham and turkey. We had some fun games with prizes for the kids. The kids seemed to have a great time. Some of the dads and kids played basketball. We also had a fun talent show. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of that. It was awesome. I definitely have some talented nieces and nephews. Kenny and Melodie won AGAIN (love you guys(:) the hard to open "Christmas Prize", which was a gift card to Applebees.Playing some fun Christmas games

White elephant game with the kids
I love this picture of Kristi and her girls

Christmas Fun

2009-12-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

At Christmas time there is always lots of food, parties, activities and fun. Here are some of the fun things we did this year. One night, we drove out to Thanksgiving Point to see their Christmas lights. They were so awesome. It was $6 per car to drive through but definitely well worth it. They have Christmas music playing as your drive around and at the very end they have little signs with pictures telling the nativity story. We also made a gingerbread house. It didn't turn out very good. The frosting wasn't that great but we had fun with it anyway.The finished house with the "Big Cheeser" smile

We also made sugar cookies but I have to admit that I totally cheated this year. I bought the premade cookie dough that already had the shapes cut out. All we had to do was bake them and frost them. Noah didn't seem to mind that we weren't rolling out a bunch of dough so it was fine. That part is always so messy. I won't buy these kind of cookies again though because they were so small. We kept laughing at how small they actually were. I guess the whole point was to have fun so it didn't matter too much.

One other fun thing we did this year was go to the Larry Miller Sing a Long. Aside from the long wait and crowds, it was a fun night. We took Trax down to the Energy Solutions Arena and everyone got a free hot dog and drink. The whole arena was full. We all sang a bunch of Christmas songs. The Jazz bear even made an appearance which Noah was excited about. At the end of the night, each person got a free Jazz ticket, free popcorn at any Larry Miller theater and tickets to a Bees game. The Jazz ticket is for the nose bleeders but Noah still really likes to go. Of course at this time of year, there never seems to be enough time to fit everything in and things feel so rushed but we managed to do some fun things and spend some good quality time together to celebrate the season.

School Christmas Progam

2009-12-17T21:45:00.000-08:00

They always have a Christmas program at the school. It is always a little disappointing because they won't let the kids sing any songs about Jesus. It's also so crowded that if you don't get there way early, you can't see very well at all. I didn't get very many good photos because I was clear in the back of the gym. Each grade sang 2 Christmas songs. Noah is starting to get to the age where he doesn't want me to take his picture so I can never get very many good poses from him. He bugs(:

Finally.....

2009-12-10T01:02:00.000-08:00

We finally ventured out and got our Christmas tree the other night. I love going and picking out a tree. It's a pain getting it home and setting it up but the memories I have of picking out real trees as a child are so priceless. People tease me for not just giving in and getting a fake one but I just can't do it YET. I'm sure that I will one of these days. Of course I had issues with the lights and had to make a Walmart trip. This happens every year and I get so frustrated. Once I got the lights on, we got all the ornaments up. It was a lot of fun to decorate. Each year, Noah gets a new ornament and this year he picked out a Utah Jazz one. It's nice having the tree up and the other Christmas decorations. Now, I feel like I can start to get into the Christmas spirit a little more.

Festival of Trees

2009-12-03T21:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to the Festival of Trees. It is so fun and cool to see how these trees are decorated. I can't believe how creative and artistic people are. My favorite was the Grinch tree. It was really cool. Noah really liked the Jazz tree and the BYU tree. They had just about every kind of theme you could think of. It was a fun night and all the proceeds go the Primary Children's. To top off the night, we got a scone with honey butter. Yum!! It started getting me more in the Christmas spirit. I only got one picture. My camera was acting weird but this was Noah's favorite tree. It was a Utah Jazz tree.

Jazz vs. Memphis

2009-11-30T21:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to the Jazz game courtesy of Jr. Jazz. As part of the deal when playing with Jr. jazz, you get 2 Jazz tickets. They were definite nosebleed seats so we probably would have been able to see it better if we watched it at home on TV but it was kinda fun being there in the arena with all the other fans and being a part of all the excitement. The Jazz won by about 25 points so the last quarter was pretty boring. They had all of the bench players in. We were going to leave early to beat the crowds but Noah insisted on staying the whole time. He is loving the Jazz and his favorite players are Deron Williams and Andre Kirelinko. (not sure if I spelled his name right(:) It would be fun to go to another game but be able to sit a little closer. Kent is coaching this year so he got 2 tickets and Noah got 2 tickets so the 3 of us went. It was a little weird having the 3 of us there together but Noah was loving it and loved having all of the attention focused on him.

Turkey Day

2009-11-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving this year. It ended up just being Kristi and her family and me and Noah at my parents. We missed having everyone and it seemed so quiet. We had a yummy turkey dinner with all of the fixings. My mom did the turkey, stuffing and pies and then Kristi and I brought the rest of the stuff. We ate about 2:30. After we got dinner all cleaned up, we did a couple of fun activities with the kids. They made turkeys out of graham crackers and chocolate icing and then they made snowman ornaments. They had fun, especially the girls. Me, my mom and Kristi went to Wood Connection earlier in the week and bought some letters to paint and decorate. I did the "Family" letters. It was fun. It was kinda stressful at first but turned out really cute. Tara and Raleigh came over later in the evening so we had a chance to see them and their cute kids. Kenny and Mel came home from her families around 6 so they were there the rest of the evening with us. I think we should make it a tradition that the girls do some kind of a craft every year while the guys all watch football. Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too.
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School Pictures

2009-11-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

This is Noah's 4th grade school picture. I usually don't buy the school pictures but decided to this year. They had a really good package deal so I bought a few. Pretty handsome kid.

Football Is Over

2009-11-28T15:56:00.000-08:00

Another football season is over. November 7th was their last game. They lost their first playoff game to Murray. They didn't seem to be playing their best that day. I think they all were feeling the pressure of winning so they could go on to the finals. We can't complain though because they had a great season. It's almost kinda weird when its all over because we have been used to this strict schedule of practice 3 times a week for 2 hours and games every Saturday and then all of a sudden, its over. I wasn't as impressed with the coaches Noah had this year compared to last year. The head coach seemed to have his favorites and they were the ones who got to play the whole game every game. I didn't expect Noah to play the whole game but there were a couple of games where he only played 1/4 of the game. Kent had to talk to the coach a couple of times which seemed to help and the second half of the season seemed to be better. I really do like the team sports though because I think kids learn how to work together and support each other. Their team did some fun things with the kids. When they lost a game, the kids had to paint their fingernails pink and when they won, the coaches had to paint their fingernails pink. They also got pizza each week if they won their game the Saturday before. The end of they year banquet was on a Sunday. I don't know why they chose that day but they took the kids to Boondocks all day. We left the decision up to Noah to go or not. He ended up choosing not to go. I was proud of him for making the right decision. I knew it was hard for him because he wanted to go so bad but I think he felt better later that he had made the right choice. Later that evening, they did a dinner. They had tons of food. They called each kid up individually to present them their trophies, pictures and each kid got a Cyprus t-shirt, beanie, and CD with different pictures and footage of the season. They also said some nice things about each of the players. They said that Noah always did what he was told and was quiet. They said he had improved a lot from the first of the season. They also gave each of the kids a football and marker so they could all sign each others footballs. The kids had a good time. Now Noah is signed up to play Jr. Jazz. Thank goodness the schedule isn't as rigorous as football.

Who's Your Hero?

2009-11-28T15:48:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the South Towne Family Christmas Boutique. It was pretty much a huge boutique with several different vendors. While we walked around looking at the merchandise, they had people performing Christmas dances and songs. One of the booths was called, "Who's Your Hero?" The booth had large posters of hero's from the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Noah's favorite was Captain Moroni. These posters looked so cool and looked so much like how I would picture them looking. On the way home we had a conversation about Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. The following Monday night, Noah did a FHE lesson on Captain Moroni. He did such a great job. I was pretty impressed. After the lesson, he made his own Title of Liberty. It was really cute. I tried to take a picture of it to post on here but couldn't get it to be dark enough to show up but this is what he wrote: "Always love God and have faith in God, repent, choose the right, pray, go to church, love one another, keep the commandments, go on a mission, be an example, obey parents. Do these things to become more like our Heavenly Father and Captain Moroni." He seems to be pretty interested in learning about the Book of Mormon hero's. I just hope he continues to want to learn and study about them as he gets older. If you haven't seen these posters, you can check them out at Seagull book, they are pretty cool.

Touchdown!!!!

2009-11-01T22:52:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was our last regular season game. If we didn't win, we weren't going to the playoffs. We played Cottonwood and pretty much creamed them. Noah got his first touchdown in a game EVER!!! He was so excited and so were we. I couldn't believe it when it was happening and I almost started crying when he made it to the end zone and they yelled touchdown. The look on Noah's face was priceless to say the least. He caught the ball on the kick off and then proceeded to run it down the field for the touchdown. I was so proud of him. This weekend he has been with his dad but Kent told me that he was on cloud 9 all day yesterday and couldn't stop talking about it. When he came home today, he was beaming and kept telling me the play over and over. It was really neat for him. Since we won yesterday, we are going to the playoffs so we will have at least one more week of football and possibly two if we win on Saturday.

Halloween

2009-11-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

Halloween is always a fun time of year. I love the fall and the changing leafs, the pumpkins, all the yummy Halloween treats,etc but I know when its over that its time to start thinking of Christmas and Christmas shopping and all of the stress it brings with it. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas but I need to be more organized so that I can enjoy the holiday more.Noah first wanted to be a hobo for Halloween and then at the last minute he decided he wanted to be a Viking football player. We already had the jersey and all of the stuff except a helmet. We had an old San Francisco 49er's helmet that I spray painted and tried to put the horns on for him. It didn't turn out the best but it did the job. Here are some photos of Halloween and some of the fun things we did to celebrate. Warning, there are quite a few photos.
We went to my parents ward Halloween party and Noah was playing the game of eating the donut off the string without using your hands (not sure of the official title of the game)
Making the yummy sugar cookies

Noah's school paradeNoah at his class party playing Halloween Bingo

Carving pumpkins
The finished pumpkinsThe helmet...don't look at it too closely

The Ride With A Witch

2009-10-28T02:18:00.000-07:00

I love going to Gardner Village this time of year to see all of the cute witches out on display. I was looking online at Gardner Village and found that they have a scavenger hunt to find the witches and then you bring the completed paper into the bakery and get a free cookie. Anyway, we went and did the scavenger hunt and it was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect and we were able to find all of the witches. A couple of them were kinda tricky to find. After that, we took a hayride to a witches house. At the witches house, she told stories and talked to all of the kids. She had fake cockroaches and spiders everywhere. The witches were so cool and played the part so well.

Scarecrow Festival

2009-10-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

Every fall, the Westridge Boys Academy does a Scarecrow Festival complete with bounce houses, games, haunted house, racetrack, boutique and food. It is held at Thanksgiving Point. I took Noah the first time when he was 4 or 5 and we have gone every year since. He likes to go and its a fun time. It kinda gets us in the mood for fall and Halloween. Noah climbed the rockwall, rode on the "Spider Speedway", did the bounce houses and his favorite part was the haunted house. He went through it at least 10 times.

Noah had his face painted with a football and a purple helmet for the Minnesota Vikings

They had a pumpkin painted with BYU so Noah wanted me to get a picture of it