THANKFUL

Thanksgiving Day...

the food... the company... the family togetherness

Getting the table ready.  Shi and Lex did a great job!

Ready to eat.

The finale... the house-lighting ceremony.

Happy Birthday, DAD!

Thanks, Dad, for being such a wonderful man.  

Thanks for going to work every day to support and provide for your family.  

Thanks for getting up in the middle of the night to console me when I was afraid of sirens or bears.  

Thanks for helping me through troubled times.  

Thanks for your amazing example of diligence and patience.  

Thanks for your sacrifice and service, your forgiveness and love.  

I hope you have a wonderful day and know that I am thinking of you. 

 I love you.

You are the best.  HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY!!

Holiday anticipation

Mauri may just well be the next Martha Stewart.  

In her excitement for the upcoming Christmas season, and with her desire to "make something," 

she created this amazing likeness of Rudolf. 

To think you could make something this SUH-WEET with mere computer paper and tape.

I had "Thanksgiving Lunch" with Mauri at school.  Mar ate her cookie and roll.  I ate everything BUT the cookie and roll. 

We could have just shared.

3 down, 2 to go

November 18th -- The braces come off. 

This happy day marred only by the fact that Lex has lost the new phone she got for her birthday.


Bummer!

So Proud

Today I was so proud of Shilo. 
She had her first "official" swim meet since joining the Aces -- a competitive year-round team. 
She's been on summer swim teams before, but this was much more intense. 


She was so nervous before the meet started that she felt sick. 


Bill and I could only give encouragement and remind her of the POWER of positive thinking. 


Of course she was in the later heats, but she had to remember that she WAS at nearly the bottom of the age bracket.  
Many of the girls in her events were 16 and 17 years old. 
She had a few years to prove herself.  Just getting through this first meet was a HUGE accomplishment. 


She said she just wanted to finish.  And not hold up the meet and make people WAIT for her. 


The good news:  SHE DID IT.  She improved her time in every event. 

She was glad the meet went FAST... she had a birthday party to get to.

I think she's awesome.

Crazy Cheer Mom

I'm really not.... it just appears that way. 
In the spirit of "supporting" my children, I have to admit, I might APPROACH the ranks of the over-involved,
always in charge, living-vicariously-through-their-children parents we all know. I've rolled my eyes behind their backs too.  I don't consider myself one of them. 


My daughter, however, thinks I take too many pictures. My husband takes too many videos. 
She is somewhat embarrassed that we are taking them of her. 


You moms that can take a gazillion pictures of your angelic little babies, 
then unabashedly post them for all to admire... your time will come. 


As for me, I don't think I will let my beautiful 16-year-old daughter (also occasionally angelic)
know that I even have a blog.

Cheerleaders must be prepared for all kinds of weather conditions:

The good,

the bad,

and the downright UGLY.

Last night was payday... for the blood, sweat and tears (literally) that go into cheering.  

Lexee's team won first place in their league competition.

Poster made by a crazy cheer mom (their theme this year is "Stronger")...

...a mom who is proud of her beautiful, angelic-looking (haha) daughter.

Fantastic Dad Friday

Mauri came home from Activity Days Tuesday night with a plan to show her gratitude for the important people in her life. 

Today is FANTASTIC DAD FRIDAY.

She excitedly followed her carefully laid plan:  
Make Dad's bed (which is my bed too -- double bonus). 
Make Dad a special book.  
Find a special rock from the yard to add to Dad's collection of special rocks.  
Give Dad a treat.  
Have Dad set up the tent in the yard and have a campout with him tonight.

New special rock to add to Dad's collection.

Give Dad a treat... because, you know, DAD LOVES CHOCOLIT.

Dad is SOOOOOOOO cool.  He likes to camp.

WHEW!  The plan is in full swing. 

Mauri is now off to play for the day, passing the time with friends 
until her FANTASTIC DAD comes home from work.

Catching up...

So, I'm new to blogging.  I LOVE how blogs can keep family and friends updated on what's going on, 

and it also seems like a great tool for helping ME keep track of what's going on.  

I hope to update it at least monthly (I'm trying to be reasonable), 

but would love to get to a point of adding more weekly and even daily.  

I'm slow at getting my pics downloaded, so here's the scoop on the past month or so.

SEPTEMBER 09

We attended the BYU/CSU football game for Parents Weekend.  After some confusion on exactly WHERE our seats were, we found them... on the very top row of the stadium, directly under the CSU flag.  How appropriate!

It was fun to see Britta, my sister Jill and her husband Stan, my nephew Sam, Bill's parents AND my parents.  
Oh yeah, the game was fun too... we did a lot of RISING and SHOUTING.

LEXEE TURNS 16 ~ OH HAPPY DAY

Yummy cupcakes... a single candle...

...make a wish...

BLOW!

OCTOBER 09

I remember hoping it would snow by Christmas last year... this year the snow came early.  

We had 3 SNOW DAYS in a row, which meant that Fall Party festivities planned at the elementary school 

were cancelled.  BUMMER!  

If you look closely at the pic, you can see our BBQ cover -- protecting the patio chairs.

Bill and Mauri HAD to carve pumpkins on Halloween morning.  

Mauri's pumpkin came from our not-so-prolific garden (it was almost the ONLY thing we managed to grow this year).

Mauri was a fairy this year.  I had to convince her to be something "NICE" since she was "SPOOKY" last year.  

She got to wear her high-heeled gold sandals to the ward Trunk-or-Treat, so she was all for it!  

She donned her tennies for trick-or-treating, and only needed a sweatshirt for warmth, despite the blizzard 

of the previous 3 days.

Spooky Mauri ~ Halloween 2008