Fall Funnies

This time of year brings Friday night football games, the start of a new swim season, parent teacher conferences, Beggar's Night, creative opportunities to use up all of the apple cider, fun fall decorations and trying to avoid eating all of the Halloween candy in a single day.

Well, our high school team made it to the first round of the playoffs but lost Saturday night to the #1 team.

Both boys competed in the first USS meet of the season in Columbus on Saturday...Christopher swimming close to his best times and Chandler earning a Zone cut in the 200 IM with a time of 2:35.19. This time placed him #14 in the State for 11-12 year olds in the 200 IM. He is 5th out of 11 year olds.

Both boys received very positive comments from their teachers at P/T Conferences and brought home excellent report cards. I think those Baby Einstein videos worked after all!

I'll let the following pictures tell the rest of our story...

Christopher & Megan after their Homecoming dance.

Chandler as the joker on Beggar's Night.

Our long, lost daughter...Christina as a cheerleader during the Jr. vs. Sr. powder puff game. We're so proud! We won't show the halftime dance video due to obvious reasons.

The rest of the Jr. squad...Jr.s won the game!

Attempting to take family photos in a corn field.

Happy Autumn from Ohio!

Life & a List

A new post for those of you who have been anxiously waiting...o.k. so maybe this is just for Courtney but hope you enjoy it anyway!

Since school started, I feel like I have been running a marathon each and every day. Though my husband is the one who actually gets credit for running a marathon...the St. George marathon to be exact. He, his brother Doug and friend Jared all traveled to Vegas to stay with family and then headed out for St. George in prep for their race. They endured the 40 degree temps and mountainous hills by finishing the race in under 4 hrs 30 mins. Considering Chris does not run to train for his races, he uses an ellipitical to save the knees, it works!

As for Christopher, he is a hot commodity these days. He has been asked to a couple of different Homecoming dances and, needless to say, is enjoying himself very much.


Christopher & his lovely date, Paige. Love the dress!



Chandler warming up before his soccer game. Though the team does not have a winning record by any means, he is enjoying playing with his buddies. It's helped keep him in great shape for swimming too!


Christopher and I fixin to do a lil' square dancin' at a barn dance. We then went on a hay ride & hung out by a bonfire. I love hanging out with my teenager...he may not appreciate having me around but I love it!

I finally put out all of my fall/halloween/harvest decorations and now just need to find Chandler a good Joker costume. He professed, in his serious, grown up voice, that this in fact would be his last year dressing up for Halloween. I'm sad about that because that means my baby is growing up. Maybe he'll change his mind next year!

By the way, I gave Chris my Christmas wish list today...too premature, too bold you think? Well, the older I get, the pickier I get and the more determined I become. I want a dog, a puppy to be exact. I grew up with dogs and since we are not having any more children, I feel like I need a puppy to care for. My sister-in-law just emailed me a precious picture of their new bulldog puppy today and I was overcome with puppy envy! So, I decided to write up my list and at the very top of that list...a sharpei, bulldog or lab puppy. I know they are a lot of work but I want one and I will get one...you just watch! :)

Back to School

Well, the first week of school was uneventful...which, in my book, is a good thing. We did have a special back to school dinner (thank you, Nie Nie, for the inspiration!) but the boys didn't know quite what to do with all of the forks! We invited two other boys who we have become like our third and fourth sons, Joey & Cody, to join us in the festivities. We served the meal in courses in an attempt to slow down the devouring of food by three teenage boys.

Beverage: Sparkling peach & catawba juices

First course: Grapes & Gouda cheeese

Second course: Caesar salad and cibatta bread

Third Course: Cherie's (Chris' mom) famous pepper steak & brown rice

Fourth course: Warm chocolate cake with carmel & Ghiradelli chocoloate chips drizzled on top

Our selected theme for the school year comes from the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon...

"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. " Alma 32:21

Our goal is to have more faith this year...more faith in our Heavenly Father and in His will for us. More faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and in his atoning sacrifice. More faith in the power of family. Faith is the foundation of our happiness...for without it, we would be hopeless. It is a wonderful feeling to know our purpose and potential in this mortal life. With that knowledge comes the responsibility to live up to our full divine potential. With faith, we can accomplish all things the Lord would have us do. This brings to mind the words of a hymn:

More holiness give me, More strivings within;

More patience in suffering, More sorrow for sin;

More faith in my savior, More sense of his care;

More joy in his service, More purpose in prayer.

Christopher looking stylish on his first day as a Junior.

Chandler wishing that I would stop taking pictures of him and let him go to class.

The gang at our fancy schmancy back to school dinner.

We wish you all a school year filled with special memories (and good grades!)

Summer Days Drifting Away

Although there are still 38 days left of summer, I am experiencing the melancholy that comes over you when something really good is about to come to an end. What can I say...I grew up in SoCal so I live for summer and it's bounty of beautiful sunshiny days! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the beauty and variety of the seasons, but until you have lived through a midwest winter, you may not quite understand. The anticipation of a long, cold, dreary winter is sometimes too much to bear.

Enough of the whining...let's celebrate our summer! A great one it was and here in a nutshell is what it looked like...

LDS Girls Camp...

Me coping my way through the copes course.

My posse posing in front of the Tree of Life.

Young Men's High Adventure...

Christopher catching a snack after a torential downpour.

Christopher & Dad looking spiffy after a long day's hike.

Chandler swimming the 50 fly at YMCA Champs at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Christopher with coaches and relay team at YMCA Champs.

Chandler's first Boy Scout camp...his favorite activity was, of course, archery.

Move over David Hasselhoff, there's a new hottie in town!

Christopher's last week as a lifeguard at the local waterpark. (His first real job!)

Next up...Chris & I's 18th Wedding Anniversary, a trip to Houston to visit my beautiful nieces!, three weeks of driving school for Christopher, Chandler's 1st day as a 6th grader, Christopher's 1st day as a Junior, Seminary (which means= early mornings, ugh!), AND the start of the short-course swim season. Sounds like another good year!

Update on life

I have neglected our blog. For the two of you out there who actually bother to read our blog, I apologize. May and June were crazy busy and some friends talked me into signing up for Facebook...need I say more. Facebook has become like a third child, so demanding of time and conversation.

Since so much has happened since I last wrote, I will attempt to catch you all up!

Chris ran a 1/2 marathon in Indianapolis with his buddy Jared

Time 1:45.13

Chandler's Baseball Season started...

Celebration of Chandler's 11th Birthday

Which he suffered through with a high fever and nausea.

Christopher's Awards...

He received the Outstanding Student awards in Math, Science & French

He also received the Business Advisory Council's Leadership Award

Chris' Journey along the Appalachian Trail

He and his brother, Jared, covered over 100 miles from Connecticut to Mass.

Swim Camp 2009

Christopher with the Kenyon College Swim Coach

Youth Conference 2009

We cleared honeysuckle from around an ancient Indian burial mound.

Young Women's High Adventure

I repelled off a 108 foot cliff! Woohoo!

There it all is...in a nutshell. Life's an adventure and we can't wait to see what the next few months will hold for us!

Momma

There are several women who hold a special place in my heart...loving grandmothers, a stepmother, a woman who has been like a second mother to me and, of course, my wonderful mother in-laws. But no one can take the place of my momma. We all think that our moms are the best...but there is no arguing that my mom is way up there on the Best Mom's list. In fact, I almost submitted her name to Regis & Kelly for their special Mother's Day show...but being the procrastinator that I am...I waited too long.

Let me explain...my boys' grandma was a young, single mom. She had the daunting task of raising two children on her own while she worked full-time. At times, she struggled to provide us with the temporal items of life...like food and shelter but she always had an abundance of love to give.

To this day, she has been a devoted listener...she, unfortunately, gave birth to a very chatty daughter who can rack up a long distance bill like no other. My first year of college, I decided to go to BYU in Hawaii. I suffered from terrible homesickness and so would call my mother frequently. I did not realize until much later in life how much those phone calls cost my mother. Not once did she cut our phone calls short or mention how expensive the calls were. Some months, I think the bill was more than my tuition payment!

When I became engaged, I was very particular about the kind of dress I wanted. I found my dream dress in a magazine and, of course, it was not in our budget. Mom offered to have the dress made for me, which because of the material, still cost more than we expected. She did not
once complain about the costs and little did I know, she was using an entire paycheck to pay for the dress. I guess I was quite selfish but just didn't figure it out until I had children of my own.

Mom endulged me throughout my life, even though she, herself, was going without. I will forever be grateful to her for the sacrifices she made to raise me and brother so that we never went without.

Mom, I love you and appreciate all that you have taught me. YOU ARE THE BEST!

The boys agree, however, that you're an even better grandma!

More boasting...

It is that time of year where we celebrate the end of the Winter swim season and begin the summer season. To mark this special time, our team holds a team awards banquet for all 150 swimmers from ages 4-18. It can get a little crazy but what a night! First, the Senior speeches...let me just say, there was not a dry eye in the place. Our seniors had such an amazing year and many of them will be going off to swim in college. The memories they shared of their many years on the swim team were so touching.

Then it was time for the individual recognition and awards. There were so many fast times this year that we knew the competition was going to be tough. When Chandler's name was announced, along with his good friend John, for the Outstanding Swimmer Award, we were surprised and so excited! They both had an awesome year and what better way to win an award then to share it with a best buddy. When it came time for the 15& over awards, we were excited to hear about all of the records that were broken. We were then surprised when Christopher's name was announced for the Coaches Award. We were so proud because we knew how hard the boys had worked this year.

Now, we're back to the pool for practice and the long course season...