Happy 15th Braden!

August 18, 1999  6:01 am

The day I became a Mom. I'll never forget when they placed you in my arms...you weren't crying at all, you just stared at me :)

Hope you have an awesome birthday son!

We love you!

Summer catch up and Back to School

 Hello! It's been a fun summer and a busy first few weeks of school! I did this school pictures page from last year over the summer...the kids have grown up so much in just a year!

We went to Disneyland in June and had an awesome time!

We also made our traditional summer trip to Utah. My mom was on her class reunion committee this year. I made 5 posters (20x30) and she had them printed at Staples. These were displayed on easels throughout the room. I had so much fun putting these together!!

These pictures were taken from the yearbook. Do you see the foxy girl in the top right hand corner in that silver jacket?? That's my Mommy! :)

 Pop culture events from 1974

Also while we were in Vernal, we had our family pictures taken at Remember the Maine. It's such a beautiful place!

 

weekend scrapbook pages

Love my kids! :)

Ostrich Festival 5k 2014

The Ostrich Festival 5k is a fun family activity that we like to participate in. The weather was nice and cool and we were done with the race when it started to really pour :) It had been 70+ days since we got rain so we really needed it!

 I was in front of Heston and Aaron and I took this picture as I was passing them. Heston wanted to pass me and he did :) I'm more of a jogger than a runner. I run 11:45-12:00 minute miles and I'm okay with that.

 before the race...

 Paige took 3rd in her age division :)

 Braden took first in his age division with a time of 21:38. He took 16th place overall! It's all that soccer he plays :) He's thinking about doing Cross Country next year so we'll see...

 

Dobson JV Soccer

Braden finished up his first year of high school soccer. It was a fun and busy season :) The JV team's record was 7 wins 3 losses.

my kids

I took these pictures 4 years ago for our Christmas card. I came across them last night and I'm reminded how fast time flies.

Braden has tryouts this week for the soccer team at school. Good luck Braden!

October 2013

Just finished this page the other night of my sweet little girl. I did a page like this a few years ago. Most of these pics are her school pictures over the years. She is my little buddy and helper...I don't know what I would do without her!

 It's Fall so that means I basically live either at the school, my mini van or on a field. It's been such a fun season. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I enjoy watching my kids do their thing and supporting them. Heston is playing machine pitch baseball on the Yankees (his favorite team! That worked out great!) with CYBB this year. He has been loving it! He's played different positions but he plays 1st base the most.

My manchild a.k.a. Braden is playing AYSO right now. He'll be trying out for the high school team in December. He learned so much from the BYU Soccer camp he attended this summer. The picture below was taken at his last game. He usually plays defender but he's been playing more offense lately. 

Fall Break was last week and it was so nice! The weather has been awesome! My parents came down for a few days and we had fun with them. I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving. 

Soccer!!

 

Braden is now playing U-16 this year and loving it. He has improved so much over the year, I love watching him play :)

 

fourteen

Happy 14th Birthday Braden!

Of course, I love this boy. He's my eldest son and I'm his mom so of course I love him. However, I have to say that I really LIKE this boy. He laughs at my jokes, and I laugh at his. He keeps it real and lets me know, in a polite way, when I need to stop and take some deep breaths. I'm not afraid to admit when I am wrong and I apologize. He does the same.

 I enjoy his company. He's a great young man and I'm honored to be his mom.

 We were poor college students and I had a coupon so I went to JCPenney and had these pictures taken. It was a huge sacrifice at the time but I'm so glad we had these taken!

 

This is us at age 14 :) 

 

May 2013 part 2

May was so jam packed that I'm doing a part 2 :)

Braden went to the 8th grade semi-formal dance. He mentioned he danced all the fast songs and broke out some Gangnum style. He went with his friends and he had a great time. In the middle of the night, he came down with the flu :( Then that same flu made its way through our whole family :(

Paige participated in her first golf tournament last Saturday. She's gotten serious about golf this year and she participates in the First Tee program of Phoenix. She loves it and she placed 4th in her age division. Parents aren't allowed to talk to their kids at all when they are playing. They have to make their own decisions on how to play each shot, keep their own score and another girl's score they are playing with. She enjoys it :)

and so does Heston. He loves golf. Aaron takes him to the course by our house to practice his short game. He has to be 7 to play in the First Tee so he'll start this summer.

Golf buddies :)

Paige earned the Presidential Fitness Award again this year. Now that she's 10, she had to run the mile in 9:19 this year. It took her a few tries but her persistence paid off. The shuttle run was also a challenge for her this year. That had to be done in under 10.8 seconds. She would practice at recess to get faster. She stuck with it and passed it, I was so happy for her!

May 2013 part 1

It's been a while! We had quite a few things in April and May that have kept us busy. SUMMER is here and we are sooooo excited! We decided to try planting a little garden this year. It produced a few little tomatoes and onions and then it just didn't like us anymore. It didn't like me...I'm horrible with plants and gardens! I killed a ficus tree that a teacher gave me as well :( We'll try again next year!

Soccer season at school just ended. Braden recruited his best friend Tyler to play this year. They had an inexperienced team so it lead to some frustrating moments for him. I think he learned (I hope) some things through the experience...
and he's getting really good at ignoring me :)

 Heston has never had a big birthday party. His birthday is in August and right when school begins and I have been a slacker about following through with a big friend party. So we decided to have an early birthday party for him. He invited all the boys in his class and then some. I rented a room at the McQueen rec center and it has to be hands down one of the smartest decisions I've made in a while :)

It was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Party theme that Paige and I planned, Heston loves the Ninja turtles. I have no pictures of the cute games we made, the fun popcorn mix we made for each boy or of the gifts Heston received. A Pinterest worthy party? Far from it.

It was insanity at its finest and the boys had a blast :)

Just as I was telling the moms about how the boys couldn't possible destroy the place, a ball was kicked up to the ceiling and one of the tiles got jacked up :)
I really have to give Paige some serious credit for this party, I couldn't have done it without her. She's creative and she knew just what those boys would love. She should start a party planning business! Thank you Paigey! :)

Aaron and Braden swept in with the pizza (after all, that's what ninja turtles eat) and took a turn with the kids too. It was a family effort for sure. We all slept well that night :)

My only request for Mothers Day was some pictures with my kids

It was a good day :)

birthday pages

 Birthday pages from my sweet boy's birthdays :)