Pinewood Derby

                                                                          We may not have won, but look how good that car looks!  Better luck next year (and a little more weight). Plus Chance got his Wolf Badge tonight too, GREAT JOB buddy!

 Awe Jimmy... thx for adding to the picture!

Basketball, movies, and money...

Rather strange title I know, but as I look at this past week, this is the summary of our FHE, our weekend, and our life :)  The kids signed up through the USU Extension office here in town to do a program called "Utah Saves" they decide what amound they'll save each month, and what for.  When we signed up, they gave us water bottles, movie passes, and another gift if the kids would say on camera what they were saving for.  We decided to have FHE on finances and tithing and gave our kids a rough summary of what Dad's paycheck was, how much 10% is for tithing, how many monthly bills we paid, and what was left for the stuff the kids ask for regularly.  They all got to see that even though a thousand dollars sounds like a HUGE amount to them, that after we pay tithing, our house payment and all the things that keep us warm, fed, and watching TV, that money isn't magic and we have to save for the things we want.

We then gave each of the kids $10 ($5 and 5 ones) and then their own envelope with their name on it and asked what they wanted to do with their money.  Each handed Dad a single dollar to put in his scriptures for Sunday's tithing, then they all decided on a rough amount of $3-5 for missions or college, and surprisingly they all kind of slid the reminder of their money in the envelope anyway to save for something they wanted.

It was a good FHE and I'm grateful to my kids that when we tell them Disneyland isn't in our Budget right now, that at least Bailey and Chance kind of see that its the same as 3 house payments to go and they're okay to save up for that event.  They were cute on film telling the USU office what they were saving for, and honest little Aly said, "I'm saving for College and Ice Cream!!"  :)  Man I love her little spunk!

We then had 2 ballgames on Tuesday, Bailey and Chance play back-to-back every week, and then both have practice on Thurs or Fri so that keeps us busy. Friday night is ALWAYS movie night around here, they dont' get a lot of TV during the week so they really love Friday nights, and for some reason with early church and the need to entice them to bathe and shower early on Saturday, we seem to be getting Saturday nights watching a show too.  AND to add to that, no school Monday, Bailey was sick and Wednesday was the movie at the theater for the Utah Saves prize (and free popcorn) so needless to say we've had a Busy, busy, week... with a few too many movies.

Our lives stay busy as ever and Gi and are continually amazed at what our kids teach us, so grateful to have them.  On another HIGH note, I finally got Gi to attend one of my BodyPump classes Monday morning at 5:30am, thats true love if ever I saw it. He did pretty well, only ducked out on the last couple of tracks as his back had had enough, but I was so glad he came and finally saw first-hand this crazy new hobbie of mine. Thanks for coming!!

Valentines iPods

Kids all needed Valentine Boxes for school so I saw this on a morning talk show last week and figured it was easy enough to duplicate...(I'm great a plagarizing) if thats even how you spell it, but we had a fun time and the kids were so cute to want to add cougars and BYU blue to their iPods. I got two hugs AND two kisses on my cheeck spontaneously from Chance... I think that was a first, something I could stand having repeated.  It was fun to work with them, and glad they're done.  Happy Valentines!

Amanda's Wedding

Saturday my oldest niece Amanda got married, such a beautiful ceremony, the sealer was sincere, funny, instructive,and just all around did a great job, so glad I got to be there.  Congrats Amanda and Cole!

I do however think, as a Mom :), the other highlight of my day was seeing my kids help work, serve, set-up, clean-up, run, and be with cousins all day.  I've never seen Chance work so hard, and Bailey and Reagan are ALWAYS willing to throw in their help.  I've always LOVED working with my family, whatever it is I love being with them, and after 2 or 3 people commented to me on how hard they had seen my kids work, I knew what the meaning of "Proud Parent" was :)  At one point in the evening, Chance, Grant, and Tate were racing to fill their clean-up bins.  Bailey, Syd, and Claire were behind the reception table (Trav too) and were loading and refilling as fast as they could. It was just such a great day.  Reagan and Jane helped the paid workers take down tables and chairs and since they didn't speak much English, Jane was ready with a quick "Hola" everytime she handed them a chair... oh what sweet kids!  Thanks Amanda for allowing them an opportunity to serve, it was a great day!

Happy 4th Birthday Aly-Girl!

I can't believe my baby is four... I told her she was going to have sto stay 3, forever! Because this is it, no more tiny people under my feet, and even she is getting nearly too big to carry. She's all sass and diva, loves her makeup and her tutu, loves her tea-party and her family.

So much personality, she loved her backpack, her coloring books, her tutu-tutu, tea set, kitty, and all the paintable treasures from G&G Rogerson that came in the mail. We had a Breakfast bday party before Dad left for work, pink pancakes with White Choc Chips. For dinner... Green Beans #1, Corn #2, and Chicken #3... her favorites in that order

And as you can clearly see.... she loves her Keely and her Alex, two besties!

These are the "playschool" friends we had over for our turn hosting school and we danced, had cupcakes, and best of all... a treasure hunt! I'm really wondering what life is going to be like when my little blonde buddy is in school and I'm stuck home all alone.  Aly says she will come and visit me!  She's a great little buddy, and even just today helped me wash breakfast dishes, make a batch of brownies, and even helped dust off my sandwich at lunchtime because it was soooo good. 

 

Finally my favorite quote as of late "we had a new cousin, and her head is the size as the baseball!" :) she loves new cousin Audrey and can't wait to love on her! Happy birthday Alyssa Marleen! We sure do love you!

Classic Chance

I had to share this conversation with Chance from the other night, still makes me smile to think about it.  He met with a speech therapist at school just to see about his stuttering and he said the first appointment they really just got to know each other, no big deal. So I ask if she'd given him anything to work on, any homework or assigments or anything and he says:

"She asked if there was anything I wanted to work on, I told her I wasn't really a fan of work... so I was fine! "

Oh my blessed boy!! So true to his personality, not really a FAN of work :) who say's that, only my Chance, man is he going to give me a run for my money. At least I'll get a few laughs along the way! Love you buddy!

Seattle to Denver...

Last weekend I drove with my Mom and three sisters up to Boise, on to Oregon and finally through the Snoqualmie Pass into Washington where we spent a couple of days at my cousin Jessi's (she and her husband Tim were sooooo overy welcoming in their home.) We spent Monday running errands and shopping to get mom set up in her new apartment with Sister Carter, and then jumped on a plane to head home Tuesday.  We didn't do much sight seeing, but we saw the sights that will now surround our Mom for the next 18 mos. Her companion is a go-getter, just like Mom, I think the 12% visiting teaching report from Dec will be showing record improvements with these 2 sisters on the case.

I arrived home just in time to coach and watch Bailey and Chance's first basketball games of the season. It was great to see Bailey's improvement over last year, and exciting to know that Chance has much to learn and lots of room for growth.  A busy evening and a few mintues to say Hi to Giegh before he left the following morning to drive to Denver for work.   The kids and I enjoyed 6-8" of new snow while Dad was gone and a couple more basektball practices, even survived Walmart on Saturday, but grateful for this day of rest to recover.  Its been a busy week, but we're glad Dad is home and we're all back together after nearly 10 days of a single-parent home.

A new Year's Resolution...

One of this years resoutions will be to actually re-enter the blog world. I have friends who's blogs I love to follow and glean much from their tricks of the trade, but I realize, especially with my Mom entering the MTC on Monday, that I need to keep our family's life documented. I will do my best to keep up with it here... So the two main events for this week have been Mom getting set apart and entering the MTC on Monday, December 31st, we met at the BYU Health Center, where my Dad's office used to be (so he could be there in spsirit with us), and then Mom drove herself to the MTC where she'll stay 4 days. We'll pick her up Friday, the four sisters, and drive to Boise, then onto Seattle Satudray.



Later that day was the annual family Basketball game, followed up by some rousing dodgeball with all the cousins and uncles. Craig pulled of a fairly stealth hip-slide to the ball effort that would have impressed black-ops :) Chance took a few to the face, but other than that, everyone faired rather well. We ended the day with our usual party at Calls, where Aunt "Window" turns Santa Clause and doles out prizes and gifts to all the kids for treasure hunts and ornament ball toss games. The adults are getting lazier each year and hardly have energy to swap sibling gifts, but we all have a great time and are glad to be there. And finally even though I'm showing my pathetic video skills with my phone, you have to watch Isaiah hide behind the chalkboard in this clip, totally entertaining! Happy New Year!

Summer trip to Redding!!

After hours on a bus, a short stop in Utah, we re-packed and headed to Redding to meet our new niece Emiline Milan Rogerson. We were lucky to be there for her blessing and to be with all of those cousins :) Max and Chance are definitely outnumbered by the 12 female cousins. We got to paint and roof, play at the lake and the pool, and in the creek, see cousins and walk up the hill to Great Grandma Dunn's house too. It was such a great time seeing Grandma and Grandpa Rogerson, we're so glad we got to go visit!

4th of July

Salina's festivities make for the best memories of my life, and now for my kids. Carnival games, races, snowcones, cotton candy, swimming, dive for coins, BBQ, and the parade just to name a few. I've probably missed this event once or twice in my entire life (once when I moved to New Jersey, and again when we moved to Oregon). Outside the out-of-state excuse, we just love to go, to be there with the old neighbors of the community, and especially be with Grandma Bird. 90 years and still climbing to the top step of the bleachers to watch the great-grandkids race. Happy 4th everyone, I hope your day was as memorable as ours!