Yeah Phillies!...

I forgot how much I liked baseball since my life has been immersed in football. (Am I a mother of boys or what?!) I remember growing up, Ralph & Orin were Phillies fans and Saturday mornings the background noise was a baseball game either on TV or on the radio. I remember once going to a Phillies game too, althought I think I was too young to understand what was going on, I just remember it was a big stadium and it was fun. Having grown up in Philly (I was almost 8 when we moved to Utah) and with Sandy & Bob still there, I still feel a connection to it. It was really great to watch. Scott turned on the TV last night, it was the top of the 8th inning. By the time I cleaned up dinner and sat down, it was the top of the nineth. It didn't take long to get back into the emotion of baseball. When it was over I wished I had watched the whole series. Oh, and by the way, Mom was thrilled! You can take the girl out of Philly, but you can't take Philly out of the girl!

We *LOVE* Brian Regan!

He is the funniest comedian we have heard and it's nothing to hear one of us break into a line or two, especially Kai who just happens to know his skits VERBATIM! Here are a few of our favorites!

Cole in action!

I love this photo. It looks so professional. (Of course, *I* didn't take it so I can't take the credit!)

Family

Kai's 8th Grade picture, isn't he handsome?
Cole before a game.

June 2008 Kai and Louie - BFF!

July 4th, 2008 - The girls; Me, Sandra & Paula (me and my sisters). I am the youngest of 6 and I love my siblings (and their spouses, of course!). In order, it is Sandra; Paula, Norman, Ralph, Orin and me. I used to think it was awful being the youngest and how much my brothers (Ralph & Orin) teased on me, but now I love it. I always have great people to look up that I love and respect and all the teasing the boys did only made me more thick skinned and I'm sure prepared me to have boys! Many times the would have me flex my arm and then they would punch me and want me to do the same to them. Like I could even make them flinch! LOL! Good times!

July 4th, 2008. Sandra, Cole, Kai and Me. Sandra came from Philadelphia to visit Paula in St. George. The boys and I drove down for the weekend to hang out (and MELT! It was SOOOOO HOT!)

Sept. 27, 2008 - Orin & Janet's boy, (my nephew) Jarin, the Rockstar! He's so cute! He has a play butterfly catcher net on his head and was jumping around slamming on his keyboard! He's a riot!

Sept. 27, 2008 Orin & Janet's baby, (my brother and sister-in-law's youngest) Jaden. He's so cute and mellow! Isn't this an adorable pic?!

Sept 27, 2008 - Cole, Scott, Me, Kai and Mom. We had just taken Mom out to dinner for her 83rd birthday at Olive Garden, her favorite. "Mange!"

July 2008 - Paula and Carl (my sister and brother-in-law). Carl just had brain surgery to remove a benign tumor in his brain. (Oct. 08). He's back in St. George and in rehab and on the mend.

Here's Mom in July 08. Nice photo, but she's always smiling, so why she didn't smile in this picture I don't know!

I can't believe it! How could I forget?...!

One of the best concerts I've ever been to was at the USANA Amphitheatre on July 17, 2008. The Police and Elvis Costello.

It was amazing! Scott and I went with my brother and sister-in-law, Ralph & Tammy (Ralph, by the way being the biggest Police and Elvis fan that I know!) and it was so fun! I have always liked both bands but after seeing them perform live (actually, this is the 2nd time for the Police, I saw them live at the Salt Palace in 1982 I think - again with Ralph), I am an even bigger fan! I'm a big Sting fan and he didn't disappoint. Elvis Costello is so amazingly talented and it was great to hear him sing live. It was unbelieveable how these true "rock stars" have continued to remain unmatched for so many years. Some of the highlights were that Elvis sang many of his great hits and one of my faves, "Alison", and during the chorus, Sting came out and joined him! It was awesome! Elvis is pretty funny, too and said some great things about Salt Lake, like in "Watching The Detectives" he said "while they're dragging the (Salt) lake" - everyone enjoyed his play on words. He did other songs like "Pump It Up", "Veronica", "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding", and some new songs with his band, The Imposters. (Although I really like the older stuff - around the time of Imperial Bedroom up to Punch The Clock. The Police where nothing short of amazing. They did so many of their great hits and they played like we were their first and last appearance. (I wish I were a better writer and could give the full perspective of this incredible evening.) 3 months later and I'm still feeling the excitement from it! So, with our little camera phone, we recorded some bits, not thinking that they would amount to much, but here they are anyway.

Elvis Costello "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding"

The Police - "Don't Stand So Close To Me"

The Police - "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"

The Police - "Da Do Do Do, Da Da Da Da"

The Police - "Roxanne"

Lying in wait...

Bugsy is obsessed! She will hide behind the wall for one of the cats to come through the cat door and then she will attack. This is a daily ritual for her. There are even times when she falls ASLEEP (sitting up, no less) waiting for one of the cats to come upstairs. It's hilarious.

We tried to get a photo of her sitting up and asleep but as we got up to get the camera, it woke her. She's so funny and we love her, even when she can't leave the cats alone.
She probably would have gone after Louie at this moment but I think she was waiting for him to get completely clear - then it was POUNCE!

Our world of *F*O*O*T*B*A*L*L*!

We are immersed in football and I LOVE IT! (The only grumbling you'll hear from me is when it starts getting cold/wet/snowy.) Cole is starting on the Sophomore team and dressing on the Varsity team, which means games on Thursday and Friday nights. He is #29 and plays Running Back. He has done really well in the 3 games so far, scoring 2 touchdowns. CHHS Sophomores have won 2 lost 1. He hasn't played Varsity yet but has dressed and Varsity is 3-1 now and looking good. Kai is #38 - playing Running Back (offense), Outside Linebacker (defense) and Special Teams for his Little League team - and they just won their first game today against Riverton! Kai has scored 2 touchdowns and 1 extra point with the extra point and 72 yard touchdown today! Woo hoo! It was a great game and our boys looked REALLY GREAT! And, of course, our favorite college team - BYU - is 3 - 0 and we are really excited for this football season. We can't wait until Kai is playing HS football so we can get season tickets to the BYU games! So, here are some photos of our football events over the last little while.

Cole's Sophomore photo:

This is Cole's photo in the '08 CHHS Football Program. I can't believe that's my boy...he's so grown up! This is also from this years football program, although this is Cole playing last year as a Freshman.

Kai ready to go! I asked him if he could have a song playing from the loud speakers during his game, which song would it be? He said it is a tie between "Everlong" or "Long Road To Ruin" both by the Foo Fighters. So, as your viewing these photos, you can click on the songs on the playlist and have the full experience! (Cole's, of course, would be AC/DC's "Thunderstruck")
Kai in action!

This is my (Kai) first time doing this blog thing and I just wanted to try it out.

Cole's Long Jump

Cole's long jump length was 19' 9". Pretty awesome.

Kai's track meet yesterday at Riverton High School. His 4x100 relay team took 2nd only to a group of high schoolers, they did really well! Isn't he handsome?! I was SO HOT yesterday, we thought we would melt!

Mom hanging out in my office, giving me the updates from the Senior Center!

I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since I last added a blog. (Sounds like a journal entry!) But it's ok, things have kept me busy, a good busy. Among many other things, Real Estate has picked up, the boys went from track (Cole) and basketball (Kai) to football (Cole) and track (Kai). Speaking of sports, Cole ran track for Copper Hills HS as a Freshman and he lettered! We are so thrilled! He had a great time and really did well. He took 5th place at one of the Regional meets for Long Jump, (I can't remember how far he jumped) and his fastest time in the 100m is 11.87. And he has now started summer football and is LOVING every minute of it, including 7:00 am practices every other day! Kai's basketball team didn't win many games, but the guys sure had a ball (hee hee, love the pun!). He was able to play again with his 3 really good friends; Daniel, Braden and Nate, so I think no matter what they do together, they have a good time. He is quite the basketball player too. He is so fast across the court and is an awesome rebounder. I have to confess that watching basketball in the past had been almost painful for me, but I began to enjoy it this winter with Kai's first group of games, and even caught a few quarters of some Jazz games and enjoyed them. I think the key is really understanding the game and what is going on, then it's easier to enjoy. Kai is doing really well in track too, and with his long legs and speed, I think he'll be a great sprinter. I've realized that my mellow, easy going boy can have an agressive and competitive side too and its fun to see the different sides of him.

I realized today after browsing through several friends' blogs that I'm not a blogger. I don't say anything really whitty or profound, I don't have a long list of favorite sites to share or anything catch-y or trendy, which are really fun to explore on other people's sites. It's all about simple - for me. My big revelation several years ago...simple. I was struggling through monthly scrapbooking workshops (by struggling I mean, emotionally I was losing interest, financially, my customers were barely making the minimums and the number of attendees were fewer every month, and I always felt that it took too much time to prepare and time away from my family). Shortly after this epiphany, I was called as RS President and realized that I couldn't keep it up and it was time to close the chapter. Around the time this happened I was working on a two-page layout for my scrapbooks and my family was waiting in the other room for me to go do something fun as a family. I kept them waiting forever and by the time I was finished, I realized that I just took away from an opportunity to create NEW memories, by scrapbooking old ones. It didn't make sense and that was when I decided that it was time to simplify. I quit scrapbooking all together! I sold ALL my rubberstamps and scrapbooking supplies (over 13 years worth!) and that was it. I haven't even looked back. In fact, I saved 2 colors of cardstock thinking that I might need to use them and it's been 3 years and I haven't even touched them. I've enjoyed simplifying my life. That doesn't mean that I'm not crazy busy sometimes or that I'm not stressed, but it's different now. Now that's about as wordy as you'll see me on this blog, I think. So if you are looking for whitty, trendy, poetic, life changing words to live by; this isn't the place. But if you are looking to catch up with us and what we are doing and what makes us happy, then enjoy. Especially our family. We love you and without you we wouldn't be as happy! Here are photos from recent "happiness-es" (hee hee, I just made that up!) that we can share...

My 3 favorite guys...at the Salt Lake Bees baseball game on Saturday night.

The San Diego Temple, isn't it beautiful? It's my favorite. I just bought a picture for our family room that is done in black and white and sepia with a beautiful black frame. It's gorgeous. I wish it had been built when Scott and I got married, we would have chosen it to be married in. The LA Temple is beautiful too and will always hold a special place for us.

This is our new beachfront home investment property......not really! Hee hee...I wish! These are some photos that I fell in love with...(things I dream of...)

Wouldn't this be an AMAZING vacation spot?! How romantic!

Random...

Here's my nephew, Elder Allen and his first door (tracting) in the Ukraine, Kiev mission! He's such a great young man and we are so proud of him! This photo brings back many memories for me, too! That first door is so scary!

This is David Archuleta's house. I HAD to drive by! This was just after his visit to Utah and they had bows and ribbons like the ones in front of his house lining the neighborhood. The banner across the front porch reads "Congratulations David Archuleta"! We are "American Idol" fans and especially this year. He was one of our favorites from the auditions and knew he would do well.

We just finished a large group meeting with the special speaker, President Monson! He was so cute, when he was leaving he waved and looked up and it was as if he saw each one of us individually. Here I am with Tammy and her friend Sheila. Women's Conference is SO MUCH FUN! I don't think this angle was very good, we look like we're from Munchkin Land!

Shelly and I also at WC.