Gracefully Clumsy????!!!

When volleyball ended, Jordan had some time off from sports. It was a nice break for her. Time to relax, hang out with friends, actually have time to get homework done, and well - just be a kid! (or teenager should I say.) Her break didn't last long, but she is actually really happy to be back in the swing of things again. School track started, and while Jordan was excited she wasn't too thrilled about all the running. I personally think it is great for her!! Keeps her in shape :) Last year she ran the 400 and for some strange reason this year they have her doing the hurdles. Jordan was excited about the hurdles, she had wanted to do them last year and didn't have the chance, so she took them on with a big smile this year. Now - I need to preface the remainder of this entry....Jordan is my "not so graceful athlete." Daily, Jordan comes home with a story of how she fell up the stairs at school and books went flying! Or tripping over nothing.....Or running into a wall...or a few weeks ago both her and her laundry came tumbling down the stairs...you get the idea. Last Wednesday, she walked into the house threw her bags on the floor and started walking in the kitchen. I asked her if she had a bad day. Slowly and with a tear in her eye she turned and looked at me.
Her chin was all scratched up, her shoulder was scratched, both hands were bandaged up and her knee was wrapped. Her shirt she was wearing that had a logo on it also had huge "skid" marks on it. "Did you fall in track today?" I asked her. Well, basically she was jumping over the hurdles, her knee hit one of them and her face and body had a one on one with the track. I felt so bad for her! Atleast you didn't hit your teeth! Was all I could think of. I was worried for her because she had a meet Friday....she bounced back like all great athletes do - jumped over those hurdles with great confidence and did great! Her battle scars are also improving nicely, with an excpetion of her badly bruised knee. She actually thinks it is cool - and just tells everyone she got in a fight.
Jordan also decided to start playing softball again..she loves it. (and so do I!!) She hasn't probably picked up a ball in two years and is doing great.
She does have some rusty spots to work on, but it is fun to watch her play. Her very first game and first time up to bat, she hit a homerun...how is that for a confidence booster??? Along with sports, Jordan still finds time to fit in some community service. Every year our community puts together "Relay For Life." This is in honor of those who have had or are currently fighting cancer. Jordan joined a team with school and stayed out at the event all night. (I picked her up at about 6:30 am) Her team raised money and walk around a track in support of the event. Jordans time to walk was from 2:00 to 3:00 am...(and she actually chose that time.) I was able to stay out there until about 11:00 and be a part of the festivites. What an awesome thing to be a part of. Jordan has an awesome teacher, Mr. Flemmons that organized a group of students to have a team. What an awesome experience for these kids. I will definately take the whole family next year, so we can all experience how awesome it is. Jordan - we are very proud of you for taking your studies, sports, and service activities seriously. What a great all-around girl you are!

Men At Work!

Is there anything cuter than little boys working with their dad??? I would say, NO! For over a year now our tree in the front yard has been quite a sad site. As hard as it tries - leaves just won't grow! We had an estimate to see what it would be to cut it down, and of course I thought they were crazy! I thought for sure we could just do it ourselves and save money. (Now when I say "we", you know I really mean - Rick :)
So Monday night Rick decided to try and dig it up hoping to losen it enough to pull out. As soon as Rick grabbed his shovel, he had two little shadows right behind him. Oh my gosh - I stood there watching these two little boys working so hard and taking it so seriously. Chase piled the dirt on his shovel and used every muscle he had to hoist it up to the garbage can. Cody wanted to follow his big brother, but found once he had so much dirt on his shovel he couldn't even lift it. Rick or Chase would help him lift it high enough that he could tip the shovel over and the dirt would fall into the trash. They worked until they had that trash can completely full of dirt.Of course the tree was being difficult and would hardly budge. Rick worked so hard chopping away at the roots and finally pulled it out with a chain and the car! Rick filled the dirt back in, so the tree is gone and we have a great looking pile of dirt bordered with rock.:) We are not sure what to do next - take out the rock and put in grass or have it be a nice planters box for flowers...decisions, decisions!!I am so lucky to have a husband who works so hard and teaches our boys the importance of work! Even better - I am grateful the boys are willing to work. Hopefully it will carry on with them as they get older.

ARTIST OF THE MONTH!!!

Paige is becoming quite the famous artist around our house!!! This week in particular she is being recognized for her fabulous art work!Monday was her yearly art show at the college. Her art teacher arranges for all her students to display a few of their art pieces for a night. It is an amazing night. It is fun to see what talent these young students have. It is truely wonderful. Thursday night, Paige is being recognized at the McKinney Independent School offices for having an art piece being displayed for the month of April. This is a project she did in art class at school. I asked Paige what was being displayed - and the funny thing is she is not even sure what it is...
Saturday will be Paiges BIG DAY! McKinney is celebrating Arbor Day! The students at school were asked to draw something that would go along with the theme, "Trees are terrific in cities and towns." Paiges art teacher entered her drawing into the Arbor Day contest. 233 pieces of art were submitted from all the surrounding schools. Each school had one honorable mention winner and then there was the GRAND PRIZE WINNER. When Paige came home and explained that her art work was submitted and she mentioned a prize was given for each school, I thought, "oh great, Piage won for the school." Then she said, "I didn't win honorable mention - I won the Grand Prize." WAHOOOOOOO!!!! Being the grand prize winner - Paige will have her picture on the official Arbor Day Poster and also printed on the Arbor Day t-shirts! She will be recognized in front of everyone! We are so proud of Paige!!! She has such a great passion and love for her art work. She is so humble too.... (her friend is actually the one that said, "Paige has something she needs to tell you!) Here is her grand prize winning drawing......I am so glad that Paige is getting recognized for what she loves to do...congratulations Paige!

Spring has Sprung!

I love spring and the weather it brings with it. Being able to open the windows and let the fresh air in is one of my favorite things. I love the "brief" few months (sometimes it is only days) where it is cool in the morning, warm in the afternoon, and then cools off again in the evening. However; springtime usually tends to bring a busy schedule along with it! Since the weather is so nice - we try to get out a bit more and ENJOY! To show our support for the TEXAS RANGERS we attended a preseason game they played at rough rider stadium. We had great seats right behind home plate! The kids were so cute all decked out in their "texas" attire with their baseball gloves. I was certain we would be catching a foul ball - but NO LUCK.In a couple weeks Chase will participate in his very first "PINEWOOD DERBY!" Now, not knowing very much about the scouting/pinewood derby fiasco....I am learning very quickly! We are discovering what an ordeal it is to get the car ready. Rick and Chase started last Saturday spending 2 hours just sanding the car! It is looking good (and smooth). We are quickly learning this is not a one night project!With this past weekend being easter - we were sure to get in all the easter activities. Rick and the kids went to their first easter egg hunt at night.....they were excited because they got to take their flashlights and search for their eggs. (I don't think it was too hard because there were over 7,000 eggs.) The kids came home with their baskets overflowing! We also had a great time coloring our eggs at home. We only had one spill and a few fingers dyed blue! Other than that it was a success!Easter Sunday started with pouring rain....which ruined my pretty spring easter picture outside - so we settled for an indoor picture this year! Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and we had an awesome discussion of the true meaning of Easter. Grandma walked the kids through Christ's last week before he was crucified, then we discussed the resurrection! I have heard the Easter story my whole life, but for some reason this year it hit me right to the core! I can't even comprehend all that Christ suffered. Our discussion was priceless! The kids asked so many wonderful questions - in fact, I videotaped the entire discussion. I'm so glad I did - the questions, reactions, and intent listening from the kids was so cute! I am so grateful for our Savior and love that Easter time is such a great reminder!

Spring Break 2009

Okay - seriously I have been a HUGE slacker!!! We had such a great time during spring break - I definately can't NOT blog about it! We had the opportunity to DRIVE to Utah this year. Sadly, Rick couldn't join us, but my parents drove with me and my brother followed behind. Needless to say the kids had a great time riding with "cool Uncle Donny." I enjoyed some quality time with mom and dad recording life stories for family history! (what else is there to do on a 22 hour drive???) We did stop the first night in Denver at Kelsey's house. The kids LOVE playing with her kiddos. We don't see them nearly as often as we would like too, so having this time with them was a blast! The next day we woke up and continued our travel to Salt Lake. Now we had a full on caravan....me, my sister, and my brother! I am such a nerd and asked to stop to take pictures along the way. The mountains in Veil are so beautiful - I couldn't pass them up. We also stopped at a rest stop to take advantage of some picture spots. I got this great picture of mom and dad. I think this is one of my favorites! What a great lookin couple!
The ride from Denver to Salt Lake was long with lots of stops, but we finally made it and met my mom's side of the family for a "mini" reunion! We had dinner and of course I broke out my new favorite card game - LIGRETTO! It was hilarious....I'm sure the poor waitresses thought we were crazy! It has been a long time since I have seen some of my cousins - so it was great to spend time with them!Sunday was a special day for us....we like to call it "Katie Day". March 15th marked 10 years since my sweet little sister passed away. It was the first time since a year after she died we were all together on this day. There is just something about being at the cemetary that makes you feel closer to her. It was very special. A friend of Katie's also came - so it was fun to share stories with her and even learn things we didn't know about from her college days. Sunday night was a blast at my Aunts house. Their whole family and my family got to spend some time together. We pretty much "grew up" together. We would be at each others houses daily! It's crazy to think that our kids are now playing with each other. Here we are, all grown up.
Monday was a fun day in Salt Lake. My kids had never been to Temple Square or the Conference Center, so I wanted to be sure they had the opportunity to see that. They loved being in the Joseph Smith building looking out the window. They felt so close to the temple! We also drove them by "East High School." We all know why that is significant!!! The home of High School Musical!!!! The kids were shocked that it didn't look the same, but still were determined to do the high school musical jump off the wall! We also drove around to visit my parents old homes. (homes they grew up in). The highlight for me was to drive by the old house I grew up in. I could have sworn that it was bigger when I lived there! :) It was baby blue when I lived there. Could that have made it look bigger??? My parents took Cody to Disneyland for the rest of the week, so the other kids and I relaxed and ENJOYED!!! We filled the week with visiting old friends, a tour at BYU to try and brainwash Jordan (I think it worked), feeding horses in Midway, visiting an art museum (Paige was in heaven) and hanging with my awesome cousins!!!




My cousin Alli gave us the royal treatment! Thanks Alli for all you did for us. Chase fell in love with her rotweiller dog, Emma - now he wants one!!! It was a great trip for all of us with many great memories! The kids keep asking when we can go back!