Richards Roundup

Travis Eagle Court of Honor

2011-03-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

March 5th was a BIG day in our family. We started the morning with Jared's baptism and finished the day with Travis' Eagle Court of Honor. What a GREAT day! Travis had his Board of Review on November 18th, but finally got his letter of Recognition at the end of December. Travis wanted to have some family come to his Court of Honor so he planned it while family was here for Jared's baptism.

We are proud of our Eagle Scout! Congratulations Travis!

Having his picture on the cake was a big hit

Travis taking the Eagle Scout oath

Travis played a couple songs on his trumpet

The Richards Scouts

Grandpa, Travis, Randy and Shawn

Jared's Baptism

2011-03-15T11:48:00.001-07:00

Jared's baptism was on March 5th. We were blessed to have a lot of family come into town for the big weekend. Jared was so excited and happy to be baptized. We are so proud of him and his decision to be baptized.

Here is Jared and Randy before the big moment
Jared was excited to get his own set of scriptures

Jared started Cub Scouts

2011-03-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Jared was so excited to join Cub Scouts! He feels so grown up in his uniform. He went to his first meeting a couple days after his birthday. He LOVED it!
The next week was the annual Blue & Gold Banquet. They really had a fun night planned for the scouts and Jared knows he will love Scouts.

Jared making noises with his straw. A big hit with all the boys.

Jared and Randy

Jared's 8th Birthday

2011-03-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

I know I am way behind in blogging, but hopefully better late than never. Here is Jared on his 8th birthday. He was so excited! Does it show at all in his smile?

Randy had this great idea of making a 3-layer cake. When Jared was 5, he had a chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and chocolate ice cream. When he turned 6 it was a vanilla cake, vanilla frosting and vanilla ice cream. Then at 7 it was strawberry, strawberry and strawberry. So this year they made all 3. It was a big hit! Way to go Randy!

Jared blowing out his candles

Jared was wanting the 3 Ralph & the Motorcycle books. He loves them!

Jared has been asking for a violin for about a year. He was excited to finally get one. He has been excited taking violin lessons for 3 weeks now. It is fun watching his progression.

Jared's Birthday Party

2011-02-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Jared has been so excited for his birthday party. He has been wanting to have a party where they get to make their own pizzas. The thought of having 10 kids make pizzas in our kitchen didn't sound like much fun to me. My aunt told me that my cousin had a party at a pizza place where the kids made their own pizzas. It sounded just perfect!

Here is Jared carefully placing his cheese on his pizza
The whole gang busy at work

Jared's finished product

Everyone enjoying their cake and ice cream

Courtney's 12th Birthday

2011-02-04T13:10:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe that our little girl is now 12! It just seems like a year or two ago when she was born. Where does the time go? She is so happy and lets me know daily that she is no longer a little girl. She is excited to be in Young Women's at church and be with the older girls. It is fun to see the transition.

We had our typical pizza dinner with strawberry cake and rainbow sherbet ice cream. She was so excited to get the Wheel of Fortune wii game. She LOVES Wheel of Fortune!

12 things about Courtney

1 - She loves to laugh!
2 - She is very structured. When the clock says a certain time, she moves on to whatever needs to be done.
3 - She is always on time. She gets up, dressed and ready to go to school without any promptings.
4 - She is very helpful - especially to her mom.
5 - She always asks how everyone else is doing. She is very caring.
6 - She loves babies!
7 - She loves spending one on one time with her mom or dad.
8 - She is very loving. She loves to give hugs.
9 - She loves playing with her brother, Jared. They are best friends.
10 - Even though she is little, she can pack away a ton of food.
11 - Her favorite food is pizza and pretzels.
12 - She will always be our "little girl" - but we will enjoy watching her grow into a beautiful young woman.

Family Nativity

2011-01-01T13:22:00.001-08:00

We had the opportunity to go up to Utah the weekend of December 17th & 18th. On the 17th we met up with our friends and went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert with David Archuletta. It was so much better than I expected it to be. I loved it but not near as much as Ashley did. She is a true David Achuletta fan! Thanks to the Mortensen's for getting us tickets again. And thanks to my brother-in-law and sister for watching Courtney and Jared. They had a great time at your house!

On the 18th, Randy's brother and sister-in-law planned a Richards Christmas part in their clubhouse. It was alot of fun. Jared got to play out in the snow, which was the one thing he wanted to do while we were in Utah.

After we were all full from all the great food, all the kids put on the nativity play. Jared loved being Joseph with Libby playing Mary.

Jared & Libby
Joseph leading his donkey, Nick, with Mary on his back all the way to Bethlehem. Nick was such a good sport.

The shepards were sore afraid when the angel came to visit them.

All gathered around the manger

Mary tucking her baby in the manger

The whole cast

We had a great weekend! Thanks Kim & Ken for letting us crash your home once again and thanks Shawn & Kristen for the fun afternoon.

It's official!

2010-11-19T09:40:00.000-08:00

Travis is now officially an Eagle Scout! Travis had his Board of Review last night and he passed! YEAH!! I am so proud of him! They said he will get all of his paper work in about 6 weeks, so after that we will be having his Court of Honor. Way to go, Travis!

April Highlights

2010-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

April was a pretty busy month. Most of our month consisted of baseball, and surprisingly I don't have any pictures to show from it. We started the month off by celebrating Easter. Jared and Courtney had a great time finding the eggs that were hidden. Every year that activity gets shorter and shorter. Jared with his basketful of candy

Courtney already enjoying the delicious candy

My sister was blessed to be able to adopt this precious baby boy. She came down with her family so we could enjoy cuddling with him. It was nice to meet my newest nephew, Jacob.

Randy celebrating his birthday

Randy with the book that Jared made for him

Moving on to Ashley's birthday. She had Youth Conference that night and the next day, so we celebrated it on the following Sunday

Ashley with her gifts

Courtney was awarded with the Good Citizen Award for the month of April

Travis finlly got his braces on the 28th. He was pretty excited!

Travis with his orthodontist

Ashley got a spacer put it. She will wear it for a few months and the get her braces.

March Update

2010-04-29T12:15:00.001-07:00

After looking at our calendar, we had a rare open weekend March 13th. We decided to wake up early and drive down to Disneyland for the day. The kids have been asking when we would get to use our free "Give A Day - Get A Day tickets. They were so EXCITED when we told them we were actually going. We had a good time being together. Ashley and Travis were pretty good sports doing alot of what Courtney and Jared wanted to do. A few times Randy took Travis on some of the fun rides for a 13 year year while the rest of us did Dumbo and other rides more enjoyable for the younger kids. All in all it was a fun day to be together.

Courtney, Jared and Randy riding the tram to get to Disneyland

Travis and Ashley

Courtney and Jared

Enjoying the Teacups

As we were leaving Disneyland after a long, fun day

On March 27th was the Opening Ceremonies for baseball. Jared is on the Rock Hounds and Travis is on the Beavers. Travis' coach opted to practice instead of going to the ceremonies so we only have pictures of Jared's team. Another couple of busy months with games between the two boys. Alot of their games overlap this year. Should make for an exciting season.

Jared is in the front middle behind the "n"

Jared just passing the panda bear

Highlights of February

2010-04-27T14:08:00.001-07:00

O.K. I know that I am WAY behind in my blogging but I thought I better catch up on February and March because Ashley is all over me to blog her birthday. I just can't skip over the two months and blog April so first here is February in a nutshell.

We made a quick trip up to Utah for our nieces' wedding on February 12th. There was still some snow on the ground, which the kids loved, but the weather was great for traveling. Casey and Nick were sealed in the Bountiful Temple. It was such a great sealing. We were very happy we were able to go. They make such a cute couple.

Nick and Casey coming out of the temple

Casey with all the girl cousins

Casey with the boy cousins

After the wedding reception we drove up to stay with my dad. On February 13th, Jared got to celebrate his birthday with lots of family. We started off the day at Ihop for a birthday breakfast, thanks to my dad. One of my sisters' and her family were able to join us. It was great! Jared LOVED being the center of attention.

Jared with his "smiley face" pancake

Jared eating ice cream for breakfast. Big hit!

After breakfast we drove down to Randy's sisters' house. All of Randy's family was able to be there. We had birthday cake and opened presents. I think this will go down as one of Jared's favorite birthdays! Thanks Kim for once again playing hostess.

Jared with his birthday presents

Trying to catch up - January Summary

2010-02-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I have been a LAZY blogger this past year. Ashley reminds me of that weekly, if not daily. I told myself I would do better come January. I even got a small camera for Christmas to help me take more pictures so I would have something to blog. The camera isn't very good but I now realize that isn't the true problem. I am just lazy about getting on and posting something. So, sorry for the LONG post. I am going to do a quick catch up here and hopefully do better in February.

Travis won a free deli tray in a raffle when he participated in the Northern Exposure 10K run
Here he is with the yummy prize. He was kind enough to share it with us. Thanks Travis!

Here is Jared with his good friend, who for the last couple of years says he is going to marry. When we took this picture we thought it would be funny if they actually did get married, how cute would it be to have this picture there.

Travis started church basketball again. He has been looking forward to it for quite awhile. I hope they have a great season.

We participated in a "Disney Give a Day - Get a Day" service project. We went and help clean up at an elementary school. The kids did a great job and are excited to get to go to Disneyland.

Jared was the Good Citizen for the month of January. He was so excited, especially for the pizz lunch the next day. Good job, Jared. Keep up the GREAT work!

Finally to end up our month, we celebrated Courtney's 11th birthday. I am having a hard time thinking of her as 11. Maybe it's because then I realize how old I must be getting. Anyway, she had a great day! We love you so much Courtney!

The Tooth Fairy finally came

2010-01-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

Jared has FINALLY lost his first tooth. His tooth has been loose for over two months but he was afraid for it to come out. He wanted the tooth fairy to come but he didn't want his tooth to bleed and what if a new tooth didn't grow in? But now that it has come out he is so excited and has to tell everyone. Congratulations Jared. What an exciting time.

Northern Exposure 2009

2009-11-15T20:58:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Saturday, November 14th was the annual Northern Exposure 10K/2 mile run in North Las Vegas. Randy has run the 10K the last few years and Travis ran the 2 mile run last year. Well, this year Jared wanted to get involved and Travis wanted to try the 10K. Since we couldn't let Jared run on his own, Randy decided to do the 2 mile run with him, while Travis attempted the 10K. I was a little nervous for them since neither one had run very much to get ready for this event. The race started at 7:30am, so we headed down there about 6:50am to get parked and situated. At 7:20 Travis went down to the starting line to get ready for the big run. There was some problems along the course so they ended up waiting down there until 8:15 when the race finally started. I felt bad for all the runners just standing there waiting. The 2 mile run started on time at 8:00. Here is Travis waiting for the 10K to begin
Jared and Randy before their 2 mile run

Here is Randy and Jared running in after their 2 mile run. Randy said Jared ran the WHOLE way. They ran the 2 miles in 21 minutes. Pretty impressive for a 6 year old. He had so much fun. He is already planning on running again next year.

Here is Travis running in after his 10K. We thought best case senario he would take about 1 hour 15 minutes. But since he has never ran that distance I thought it would be closer to 1 1/2 hours if not longer. Travis surprised us when he came in at 1 hour 5 minutes. The timer in the upper right corner has it at 1:05:47 right before he crossed the finish line. He said he ran the ENTIRE way. He did such a great job. He wants to run again next year and try to break an hour.

Travis, Jared and Randy after the race

Moving on Up Ceremony

2009-08-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today was finally our last day of school for Courtney and Jared. Along with that, Jared had his "Moving on Up" ceremony. He is now officially in 1st grade. He has mixed emotions about being done with kindergarten. He has loved his teacher and the friends he has made. But he is excited to eat lunch at school and get to stay all day.

Here he is getting an Attendance Award and Governor's Award - he had perfect attendance this year. He has loved school!!
Here is his official certificate for completing kindergarten

Jared and his wonderful teacher - Ms. Ventic

The Lion King

2009-08-03T12:53:00.001-07:00

Ashley has been working and saving all of her money for several months so she could have enough to go and see The Lion King. She finally got her wish on Saturday, August 1st. She absolutely LOVED it!! Now she wants to save her money and go again. I got to go with her - she is so fun to watch, it's almost better than the show. It was a great time!!

The end of our trip to California

2009-07-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

We left my brothers' house Friday afternoon and stopped by some good friends of ours, the Wells. They had some great snacks prepared for us and the kids enjoyed swimming in their pool while we visited. We were so glad we had the opportunity to stop and see them.

At the Wells

After we left the Wells, we drove into San Francisco for a Giants baseball game. We had never been to the new AT &T Stadium. It was amazing. I wouldn't ever think a baseball park would be beautiful, but it was. It sits right on the water and it was so pleasant and relaxing. It got pretty chilly as the sun went down but we still had a great time.

The view from our seats at AT&T park

Travis and Randy

Jared, Ashley & Courtney

The winning score - Giants 13 - Astros 0

After the game they had fireworks - We all had a GREAT time

Our Trip to California - part 4

2009-07-10T12:42:00.001-07:00

Wednesday night we drove up to my brother's house. The kids were so excited to see their cousins. Thursday morning Randy and I were able to do a session at the Sacramento Temple. My sister-in-law was nice enough to watch the kids so we were able to go.

Randy and Sylvia at the Sacramento Temple

This is how the kids spent their day while we were at the temple. They LOVED it!!

This is how kids these days play together - they linked their DS's together and had a ball

We all went to Leatherby's for yummy ice cream

Travis, Nat and Ashley

Me and my brother

My brothers' family

Thanks for letting us come and visit. We had a GREAT time. Hope you were able to recover after we left.

Our Trip to California - part 3

2009-07-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning we packed up and said goodbye to the Andersons. We headed into Oakland and stopped at the temple to go through the visitor's center and walked around the grounds. It was a little overcast so it was hard to see the City, but was still a beautiful day.

The kids in front of the Oakland temple

We then headed over to the Oakland Coliseum to watch an Oakland A's game. Here we are waiting for the game to start.

During the game

The kids at the coliseum

The winning scoreboard - A's 5 - Tigers 1

Our Trip to California - part 2

2009-07-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning we went to the Jelly Belly Factory for their free tour. We went with our good friends, the Andersons, but at the end of the tour we went our seperate ways before we got a picture with them. Thanks Kristy for joining us and bringing Lucy.

The kids in front of the Jelly Belly sign
The kids with Mr. Jelly Belly

The kids with the Ronald Reagan Jelly Belly portrait

Our dear friends, the Andersons. They were kind enough to put us up for 4 nights. Jared adored them. I think he would have been happy to join their family. Thanks for putting up with us.

After leaving the Jelly Belly factory we drove up to Sacramento and drove by our old apartments, work places and other fun places. We took the kids to the capital to see all of the squirrels. That was one of our first dates having a picnic and feeding the squirrels at the capital.

Our Trip to California - part 1

2009-07-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

I know it has been FOREVER since I've blogged anything. Ashley lets me know everyday that I have been a lazy blogger. I kept thinking I needed to catch up, but I have decided to just start current. Since we just got back from our vacation, it is a good place to start.

We left early Saturday morning, June 27th, to head out to Northern California. Back to where I grew up and where Randy and I met. When we arrived in Concord, it was 106 degrees. Hotter than it was in Vegas. We went to our favorite place to eat, Mexican Burritos for dinner. They did not have air conditioning so by the time we were done eating we were melted. We thought the movie theater would be nice and cool so we went and saw Up. It was a cute movie and definitely cooled us down.

Sunday we went to church at the ward I grew up in, and where Randy and I went for a few years. It is always fun to see and visit with old friends.

Monday morning we went into San Francisco. It was overcast most of the day but the temperature was perfect - about 68 degrees.

We started the morning off by driving down Lombard Street. Randy and the kids then walked up it and then down.
We then went to the cable cars. On the Internet it said a one hour pass was $3.00. When we got there, they didn't sell one hour passes. Just one way tickets for $5.00 or a $10.00 round trip ticket. This was a lot more than we budgeted for so we told the kids we wouldn't be taking a ride. They were all disappointed. As we did all of our other activities we decided Randy would take the kids on the cable car for about a 20 minute ride, get off and walk back to the start. This was a big hit. It's hard to go all the way to San Francisco and not ride a cable car.

We then went to Fisherman's Wharf.

We had lunch at Pier 39. We love getting clam chowder in a sour dough bowl, sitting by the water. We then had fun looking in all the fun stores they have there.

At the end of Pier 39 - with Alcatraz in the background.

Our last stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very windy and chilly. The kids just wanted to get back in the car. I was hoping they would want to walk across, but no one wanted to. Oh well. It will give them something to do next time they go.

Ashley's Birthday

2009-04-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Ashley's 14th birthday. She is so excited to be 14! It is hard to believe how fast time has gone since she was born.

Ashley chose 7-layer dip for her birthday dinner. Yum!
Ashley requested a blue cake this year. Her she is after blowing out all her candles in one try.

Here she is with her presents. She really likes her ipod, so she got an itunes card and some clip on ear rings. She wants to be so grown up. It's fun to watch her develop into such a beautiful young lady. We sure love you, Ashley!

For my book club friends

2009-04-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last month for book club we read Cornelia Funke's book, Inkheart. It was an enjoyable book for me because the first part of the book I felt like I was reading about my dad. To me, my dad and Elinor are one and the same. On page 64 Meggie asks Elinor, "Why is it so dark everywhere here?" Elinor's answer, "Because I'd rather spend my money on books than unnecessary electricity". Here are a couple of pictures to prove my theory.

My dad in front of a few of his books in his family room. Notice he is wearing his hat and coat. This is normal for him to wear in his house since he won't turn up the heat. His house is usually in the 40's during the winter months. He does use a space heater in his den to keep warm while he's reading, but when he goes to the rest of the house he puts on a coat.

These two pictures are of the guest bedroom where we slept while we were there last week. I didn't get around to taking pictures of his den, closets, kitchen cupboards and pantry where he also has books stashed.

These next two pictures are of his last power bill. When was the last time your power bill was only $9.30?

In this picture you can see from the graph, he rarely uses any power. I think the two months it was higher than normal was when he was out of the country and my sister went over there.

Finishing up our trip

2009-04-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we woke up and said goodbye to my dad and drove up to Randy's parents' new home. Randy was able to go golfing with his dad, two brothers and his brother-in-law. It was suppose to rain all day but the weather was great until about a half hour after they got home, then it poured. Perfect timing. While the men were golfing the kids got to play with 4 of their cousins. This was the first time we got to meet Avery. She was born right after the last time we saw them, which was 9 months ago. Ashley had a blast taking her picture over and over. After golf, we had a great dinner and were able to visit for a couple more hours.

We then drove down to Randy's sisters' home. She waited to color eggs so the kids were able to join in. Jared and Courtney loved this activity. We then played a couple of games, then after the kids were in bed, we stayed up way to late visiting. It was a great time. Thanks Kim for putting us up for the night.

One of my nieces traditions is to make and decorate a bunny cake. This was her and her cake this year. The kids had a great time watching her decorate it. What a fun tradition!

A visit to the Sheriff's office

2009-04-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday we spent the day with my sister. My brother-in-law is a Captain at the Sheriff's Department. We thought the kids would enjoy a tour around his office. Jared wants to be a police officer for Halloween next year so we thought he'd really like it there.
Here is my nephew, Courtney and Travis in a holding cell. Hopefully they will remember how awful it was and never return.
Here is Courtney and Jared in a Sheriff truck. They thought that was really cool. Thanks for the great tour!

A Day in Salt Lake

2009-04-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

We started our day going on a personal tour of the Church Administration Building. Our good friend works there and was able to take us all around. It was so amazing! This picture is in the office where the First Presidency meets daily for their meetings. We are standing where the First Presidency sits. What an awesome experience!

We then went and saw the Joseph Smith movie. What an amazing movie about an amazing man. We then took a tour of the Conference Center. The construction of that building is remarkable. Here are the kids as we wait for a tour of the Tabernacle.

This is inside the Tabernacle. If you ever have the chance to go and listen to the pin drop for the sound test, it is incredible.

The tour ends here at the statue of Christ. What a great day! We had a great time in the City. It rained some but nothing to slow us down.

After our day in Salt Lake, we went to Eagle Mountain to spend the evening with our friends. After dinner we were treated to a great piano recital. Their kids are AMAZING piano players. Then all the kids went off to play while we visited. We all had a GREAT time.

First Day of Vacation

2009-04-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

We left Las Vegas Tuesday night when Randy came home from work and drove up to my sisters house in Provo. We got in after midnight and just went straight to bed. The next day Randy ran several errands around town while I got to visit with my sister. She helped me load a ton of fonts and games on my laptop. I will be enjoying them alot! The kids loved their new swing set. Here are a couple pictures from my sisters house. Thanks for letting us stop by and spending a few hours with you!

Daniel and Courtney
Travis and Simon

Jared with Tipper

Happy Easter

2009-04-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Jared came home from school before Spring Break with this cute bunny hat. He is so excited with this hat. He makes sure everyone sees it. He wants to wear it every year for Easter. We'll see how long it lasts.

We took a trip to Utah for our Spring Break this year. I will blog our trip in the next few days. It always takes me a while to get things done these days.

Baseball begins in full swing

2009-03-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

OPENING CEREMONIES

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Jared is on the Raptors. He is the second to last in this line.

Travis in on the Tigers. He is in the middle behind the banner.

Last night was Jared's first game. He played 2nd baseman. Watching these little kids is so fun. They are so cute and little.

Here is Jared up at bat. He is #4. He was up to bat twice. In his league it is coach pitch. Each kid gets 6 pitches. Jared's first at bat he hit several foul balls but was then out. His 2nd at bat, he pretty much missed each pitch. He was a little timid on the field. Hopefully he will warm up as the season progresses. He is a great little ball player. I think their team tied 5-5.

It was also Travis' first game last night. Both games started at 5:15pm. One at Avairy Park, the other at Seastrand Park. They are about 5 minutes apart. We dropped Travis off at his game and then went over to Jared's game. Randy was able to come for about the last 5 minutes of Jared's game. We then headed over to catch the last 1/2 hour of Travis' game. Here he is up at bat. He got to bat 3 times. He got to play 1st base the whole game. He loved it! Their team won 8-5. It was a great night but pretty chilly for us sitting there watching.

Jared's 1st baseball injury. You can't see it very well in this picture, but one of his foul balls bounced back off the home plate and hit him in the cheek. He was a real trooper. He has a nice bruise under his eye. I'm glad it didn't hit him in the eye. He seems to have already forgotten it, so hopefully he isn't nervous at the next game.

Basketball

2009-03-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Travis got to play church basketball this year for the first time. He LOVED it. Our wards team wasn't the best but they did a great job. This was the first year for half of the team so a lot of them were getting used to the rules and knowing what to do. They started working well together near the end. Travis is already looking forward to next year. Travis is #11.

FINALLY!!!

2009-03-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

Courtney has never had the confidence to ride a two wheeler - until yesterday! What an exciting day for her. She is so excited and proud! Now she keeps asking if she can go and ride her bike. What a break through. Jared and Courtney went over to a friends house and while she was there, my friend asked Courtney if she wanted to try her friends' bike. She said sure, and about 15 minutes later they rode over here to show me the great accomplishment.

Court of Honor

2009-03-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Travis is doing great in Boy Scouts. At his last Court of Honor he arned his Star rank and 4 merit badges. He earned his Citizenship in the Nation, Aviation, Farm Mechanics and Shot Gun merit badges. All the kids really liked shooting the shot gun, so that was probably his favorite but he really did enjoy all of them. For his Citizen in the Nation merit badge he wrote a letter to Congressman John Ensign. He was excited to get a letter back from him.

Jared's Birthday

2009-02-24T11:23:00.000-08:00

O.K. I know I am extremely late in posting this, but better late than never. At least I am still in the same month. I have been trying to not waste so much time on the computer lately so I could be more productive. I don't see my productivity increasing a whole lot, so I don't know what I am doing with my time. Anyway, here is Jared's birthday.

Jared turned 6 years old on February 13th. He was soo excited. Ever since Christmas he started counting down to Courtney's birthday, knowing that his was right behind. He was really excited because at school they were having their Valentine's Day party, so he got to celebrate all day. I think it took him 6 tries at getting all his candles out. One breath per candle.

This is where Jared is a unique little boy. The next two pictures are the two things he wanted more than anything. Jared loves to clean and work around the house and outside. We saw this dustpan and broom at Target and for 3 weeks that is all he talked about getting for his birthday. He is such a great helper. After the celebrations were over, he had to try out the broom and dustpan and swept pretty much the whole kitchen floor. What a great kid!

Jared also wanted his own cleaning towels. He always used ours, and when we went to clean they were usually all dirty. We had tried to give him a couple to use but it just wasn't enough for the amount of cleaning he wanted to do. So when we asked him what he would want for hi s birthday, he said he wanted 7 cleaning rags of his own. He was so excited when he got 12. He has been cleaning up a storm. Jared, we love you. Thanks for all you do.

It's always fun when Grandpa/Grandma comes!

2009-02-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

If anyone wonders why it rained so much this last weekend it was because Randy's parents came down for the weekend to visit. It is amazing how wonderful our weather was until we have company come from out of town. I can't remember ever having a rainy day like Saturday. We even lost power for an hour or so. Instead of getting to go out golfing or enjoying the sunshine, we all stayed in the house. Normally I love the rain but when we have company it is nice to be able to go out more. Oh well, we still had a great time visiting and enjoying having them here. We always wonder though why our kids act so different when company is around. They become complete different children. While we were in the house on Saturday, I helped them set up a blog page, so hopefully they will update it regularly so we can keep up on what they are doing. We loved having you here! Thanks for all the work you did. I really appreciated it!

Courtney's Birthday

2009-01-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

O.K. I know it has been a long time since I've posted anything. I have gotten lazy in taking pictures so then I don't blog anything because I want a picture of something when I blog. But hopefully I will be a little more diligent. Ashley got a camera for Christmas and she is always taking pictures, so I might just steal her pictures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COURTNEY

Courtney was soo excited for her birthday. She is excited to be 10. Her favorite gift was this Tinkerbell DS game. She loves anything girl. For dinner she picked her favorite meal, Chicken and Wild Rice soup. Her cake was strawberry with strawberry frosting. I was surprised she picked vanilla ice cream and not strawberry. She loves the color pink. She had a fun and wonderful day. We love you so much, Courtney!

Snow in Vegas?

2008-12-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a historic day. It actually snowed in Las Vegas. At our house it snowed but as soon as it hit the ground it melted. But Randy called and said that at his office they had a couple of inches. After I picked Ashley & Travis up from school, we drove over to his office for a few minutes. Here is a couple of pictures from there. Travis & Jared throwing snowballs

Ashley, Travis and Jared outside dad's office

I called my friend who picks Courtney up to let her know I was already out and I would pick up the kids, but she said she would pick them up and meet us at Angel Park so they could all play for a little while. Here is Courtney watching Alexis and Emily making snow angels.

Jared and Travis with the snowman they made

I also had to take a picture of the palm trees with snow on them. It just seemed so odd.

Ward Party

2008-12-16T11:21:00.001-08:00

Here is the picture of all the kids with Santa. You'd never know that Courtney really was excited to see Santa. Our ward party was a lot of fun. We had a great dinner and some musical numbers that were awesome. Then of course, the special visitor. Jared was soo excited. He counted down the days for a week and a half. We wish that Randy could have been there - he had to be at the Stake Concert, but we still had a great time.

Handprints

2008-12-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

They are building a new library that will be closer to our house. It is suppose to open in February. We are so excited! On Saturday, they invited the kids in the community to come and put their handprints on one of the pillars inside the library. It was too crowded to get their picture while they were doing their handprint, but here they are cleaning their hands off after.

Courtney & Jared
Travis & Ashley

Fall Leaves

2008-12-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

The kids always have fun playing in the leaves. On Saturday all four of the kids were out raking up the leaves. It was a very windy day. After about an hour, they were done since the wind was blowing them off the tree as fast as they were raking them up. They realized it was never going to be done. But they were all GREAT workers and seemed to enjoy themselves.

Merry Christmas from the kids

2008-12-05T10:55:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Let Christmas begin

2008-12-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

We set up our Christmas tree Monday night for FHE, so I guess there is no stopping the holiday from coming. All of the kids enjoy decorating the tree, but Jared is so excited this year for Christmas. Everything is so exciting. He can hardly contain himself. He asks some of the cutest questions about Santa. He is a true believer. Christmas is my favorite holiday, especially through the eyes of the kids.

Tag of Twos

2008-11-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

TAG of Twos..
Kari tagged me so I will try and answer these. Here goes.

Two Names You Go By: 1. Mom 2. Sylvia
Two Things You are Wearing Right Now: 1. Jeans 2. Red Shirt
Two Things You Want Right Now: 1. A maid to clean my house and finish the laundry 2. Dinner delivered to my door.
Two Things You Did Last Night: 1. Visited with friends 2. Looked through the Sunday paper's store adds.
Two Things You Ate Today: 1. Popcorn at the movie 2. water
Two Favorite Drinks: 1. Fresh squeezed lemonade 2. water
Five People I'm Tagging: 1. JanEtta, 2. Stephanie, 3. Nadine, 4. Londi, 5. Dad/Grandpa

HSM3

2008-11-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

The kids have been wanting to go and see High School Musical 3 ever since it came out. We told them they needed to earn it by doing some extra chores around the house and being nicer to one another. It is amazing how good they can be when there is a great prize at the end. We only wish they could always be nice and helpful. We had a good time. Jared wasn't too interested in the movie, so he went and played with a friend - Thanks, Angela.

Northern Exposure 10K and 2 mile run

2008-11-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Randy ran in the Northern Exposure 10K and Travis decided to try and run the 2 mile course. They both did GREAT! Randy beat his time from last year, and was very happy with his time, especially since he didn't really train at all for this. Last year Travis had said he wanted to run with his dad next time, so this year we asked if he really wanted to run. He said yes even though he has never run more than 1 mile. He was very excited!!! He had a lot of fun and wants to do it again. Next year Jared wants to join them. Randy might have to do the 2 mile run instead of the 10K because Jared would need someone with him.

We had fun waiting for Randy and Travis. They were giving free balloons away and had some entertainment to keep us occupied. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

Flat Daisy at Red Rock

2008-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

We were honored to have a visit from the female version of Flat Stanley, Flat Daisy. She is visiting from Tuscon, Arizona. She just came from Salt Lake City, Utah. If you aren't familar with Flat Stanley, it is a book written by Jeff Brown. Stanley was flattened one night when a bulletin board fell on him. He was only 1/2 inch thick. He wanted to go visit some friends in another state so his parents mailed him.We received Flat Daisy and decided it would be nice to let her know that there is more in Las Vegas than the strip so we took her us to Red Rock. It was a beautiful day up there and the kids all had fun hiking and showing her the natural beauty of Nevada. We hope Flat Daisy enjoyed her time here. We will now send her on to some other exciting adventure.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Last night was our ward's Trunk-or Treat activity. We had soup and rolls for dinner, and then the kids had a great time going around to all the cars collecting a bunch of candy. Everyone had a fun Halloween. Thanks to the Robisons' and their neighbors for letting our ward invade their cul-de-sac. I don't know what Jared is going to do now that all his exciting activities are done. I love his age, they get so excited for the holidays. He is already looking forward to Christmas.

And the winner is. . .

2008-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

At the Good Citizen assembly, the put all the kids names is a plastic bag and draw out a winner for a free t-shirt. Jared was the lucky winner. What a great surprise! He was so happy.

Good Citizen

2008-10-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Today Jared got the Good Citizen Award. He got a certificate, a ribbon, a pencil, a dog tag and a coupon for a free hamburger at In-and-Out. He has been so excited to receive this award. I think he showed his paper to every one that came over to let them know the exciting news. Now he is looking forward to tomorrow for the pizza lunch. We are so proud of him. Keep up the great work Jared!

Team pictures

2008-10-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

Jared's soccer team had their team pictures on Saturday. He sure is loving soccer. He has a bye this weekend and then just three more games. The season sure is going by fast this time.

Soccer time

2008-10-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

Jared is loving soccer this season. He is #6 on the "Frogs". I love playing at this age group because they only have 4 players from each team on the field at a time along with their coach. There isn't a goalie to keep the ball out of the net and they don't really keep score. But you can tell all of the kids are having a good time and they are learning the skills they will need if they continue on in the sport. I glad he loves it and he does a great job. It is definately great exercise for him. Keep up the great job, Jared!

Ashley's New Glasses

2008-10-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Ashley was so excited last Monday because she had an eye appointment. Ever since Travis was "lucky" enough to get glasses, the rest of them REALLY want them too. Ashley seemed to have a little difficulty reading but we weren't sure if it was because she was hoping to get glasses. The doctor said she was actually in between right now. She says it might appear now that she is far sighted, but within the year she will be near sighted. Whatever that means. Her left eye was consistently weaker so they said we could choose whether to get glasses now to help her balance, or we could wait until they were worse. As you can see, we opted to see if balancing her eyes would help her with her reading and school work. Any way, she is soo happy to have glasses now she can hardly contain herself.

Jared's favorites

2008-10-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor is a motorcycle cop and Jared's favorite friend. The other day when I went to go pick up Courtney, Jared had this "uniform" on so he too could be a motorcycle cop. As I drove away with him following me I just had to laugh. He is so proud of himself. I sometimes wonder what the neighbors must think.

On Friday, our neighbor took Jared's training wheels off, and helped him for a little while and soon Jared was off and going. He is soo happy to be able to ride a two wheeler. Whenever there is free time Jared is asking if he can go out and ride his bike. What a great accomplishment! Great job, Jared!!

Wiped out!

2008-09-16T12:08:00.001-07:00

Jared was running around playing and then after a few minutes of not hearing him, I looked over at the couch and this is what we found. I had tried to get him to take a nap earlier in the day but he assured me he was not tired. Of course he waits until dinner time to collapse so he wouldn't be tired when bedtime came around. Jared is always afraid he will miss something if he takes a nap.

This was just too precious not to add. Sleeping kids look so peaceful and innocent. Travis loved taking the pictures but after the first few the flash finally woke Jared up when he got too close.

Mother/Daughter Activity

2008-09-16T11:57:00.001-07:00

Courtney and I went to her mother/daughter activity on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. They had a wonderful dinner and then we took turns painting each others nails. Courtney absolutely LOVED this part of the activity. She has even offered to paint my nails every day for me. Aren't I lucky? After the girls nails dried, one of the leaders, Anna, offered to paint flowers on for them. This of course was a huge hit! Just one more of Anna's hidden talents. They turned out very cute.

Courtney tried very hard the rest of the day to make sure her nails did not get ruined. She was confidant that taking a shower for church would wash her flowers away. Luckily they are still intact. Thanks to all the leaders who made this activity such a success!

Court of Honor

2008-09-16T11:30:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday was Travis' first official Court of Honor. He is doing really well in his troop. He received six merit badges last week, they were Swimming, Emergency Preparedness, Leatherwork, Woodcarving, Home Repairs and Rifle Shooting. He has a couple other ones that he is working on so hopefully he will be done with those soon. Thanks to all the scout leaders that help these boys along. As parents, we sure do appreciate all of your time and talents.

Rainbows in Vegas?

2008-09-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Since it RARELY rains here in Las Vegas it is such a novelty to see a nice rainbow. It rained very briefly last week but it made for a perfect rainbow. We could see the whole rainbow. All of the kids thought it was so cool so we took several pictures. Here is one of them. The colors were a lot more vibrant in real life.

Better late than never

2008-09-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

O.K. I know that school has been in for a whole week now and I haven't posted our First Day of School pictures yet. You would think now that ALL the kids are gone in the morning I would get more done. WRONG!! Hopefully as time goes on, I will be more productive. The first reason why I haven't posted these yet is because I forgot to take pictures of Ashley and Travis before they left. Luckily I remembered before I took Courtney and Jared. All the kids were very excited for school the first day. They were all up early and dressed with lunches made before 7:00am. It's great to have them so excited - I hope it continues.

Jared was soo excited to start kindgarten this year. It is hard to believe our baby is off to school. He is so ready for everything school will offer him. I will miss him at home but I'm glad we have a few hours in the afternoon before the other kids get home. He made me promise I wouldn't do any of the cleaning while he was gone, because he didn't want to miss out on the fun. Last Wednesday after school, I thought I would lay down and rest for a little while when I kept hearing chairs being pushed around the kitchen. I asked him what he was doing and not to get into anything. Then the more I listened I realized he was moving the table and chairs so he could sweep and mop the floor. He is such a hard, good worker. I love him so much!

Courtney started 4th grade this year. She is always very excited for school to start but she doesn't do well with new situations. About a week before school started she starts realizing she will have a new teacher and new kids in her class. She did really well this year - she did not get sent home for getting sick a school. Last year she missed about a week and a half in the first two weeks of school. She seems to love her teacher and so far things are going great. Keep it up!

Travis is in 7th grade this year. His elective is Band. He is enjoying learning to play the trumpet. So far he seems to like all of his teachers. Ashley is in 8th grade. She has four of the same teachers from last year, so just two new ones. She was very excited to get back to school. She LOVES school!! Keep up the great work!

Scout Camp

2008-08-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Travis left this morning for his first Scout camp. He was so excited. I'm sure he will have a great time. They met at the church at 7:00 this morning and were going to Alamo. It will be so different around here without him. He brings alot of fun to our home. I hope he has a great experience and comes home with a few merit badges. I hope the weather holds out for them. It looks like we should have rain sometime this week.

Travis ready to go
Travis with a couple boys from his troop and his leader

Partner's in crime

2008-08-04T11:34:00.000-07:00

What an eventful day!! I don't even know where to start. Before you start this, know that it is a little long and more pictures than I would normally post, so if you don't have much time or just want to see the end product, just scroll to the end of this blog.

I have to start by saying I jinxed myself in Sunday School today. Our teacher had made a comment about one of her daughters cutting her hair and I thought, "I am so glad I didn't ever have to deal with that. And now that our kids are older, I won't ever have to deal with that." Oh, why did I ever think that!

We came home from church yesterday and Randy and I were in our room with Travis making sure he had his camp gear ready for camp the next morning. Then when we were done Randy and I stayed in our room to talk. We were probably in there for about 2 hours with the kids coming in and out. We came out to start Family Home Evening (since Travis would be gone on Monday). While we were singing the songs, I kept looking at Courtney's hair. It was looking a little odd, but I couldn't figure out why. The more I looked at it, I was more and more puzzled. Then all of a sudden it hit me and I blurted out, "You cut your hair!" Courtney immediately hid under the piano. I finally got her to come out so I tried not to make a big deal about it. Well, up to that point I had only been looking at the right side and the back. I was thinking how bad it was and then she turned and I saw the left side. I about died! It made the right side look great. I was so focused on Courtney's hair, that I had really looked at Jared until Randy caught my attention and pointed to Jared. He ended up with a clump taken out of the middle of his forehead up to the scalp, a nice bald spot behind his left ear, and multiple cuts everywhere else. Well, we still haven't got the whole story, but it sounds like Jared cut Courtney's hair and then she cut his.

Her is Courtney with the pile off hair we found. Notice the platinum blond hair too. Barbie also got a little haircut.
Here is Courtney from the back. If you look close you might be able to see the MANY different layers . Trust me, in real life it looks worse!!

Jared with his cheesy grin. He wondered how I could be mad that they cut their hair but was happy and wanted to take their picture. I couldn't really explain it to him but I had to have pictures for the scrapbook and blog.

After about an hour and a half of trying to figure out what I would do to make these two look half way presentable, I called a good friend of mine who came over and tried to salvage what she could. She was a little nervous but I let her know that they couldn't look any worse than they already did.

We started with Jared. She tried cutting it first but it just made the bad spots stand out more so we decided to just shave it. It doesn't look too bad, just ALOT shorter than we have ever gone before. In a couple of weeks, when the bald spot grows out, we will try and even it out more.

We started trying to blend in all of the different layers, but finally decided if we blended everything, she would end up with the same hair cut as Jared. Debbie did an amazing job with what she had to work with. Thanks a TON!!

Front

Back

The next morning - The kids are pretty happy with their new hair cuts. I am hoping that I have explained enough that they should NEVER do that again, but I'm not sure confident that they get it entirely.

Pioneer Days

2008-07-28T09:28:00.001-07:00

We had a GREAT time at Pioneer Days this past weekend. The kids really look forward to this every year. Friday night was a little too warm for me, but once the sun went down it was o.k. I was dreading Saturday though. Then Saturday ended up being a perfect day. It was cloudy the whole time we were there which made it quite pleasant. Here are a few pictures of some of the things the kids got to do.

Courtney hitting the cans down
Travis popping balloons with darts - He popped 2 out of 3. Good job!
Jared doing the ring toss

Ashley after getting her face painted

Waiting for the fireworks to start

The fireworks were a lot of fun. Courtney even stayed and watched them. She had to sit on my lap, with my hands covering her ears the whole time, but she did the best she ever has. Maybe by next year she will actually enjoy them.

How are you defined?

2008-07-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

I tried the name definer that Lindsay posted - O.K. do they pick what they think the opposite is of you. Oh well, maybe that is my inner self. If you don't like what it says, you can try again until you get a definition that you like better. Some of them are pretty funny. Just a little fun for the day - Give it a try.

Sylvia --
[noun]: A hard-core grave robber
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Sylvia --
[noun]: An alien
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Sylvia --
[adjective]: Pretentiously academian
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Randy --
[adjective]: Benevolent to a fault
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Ashley --
[adjective]: Smells like teen spirit
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Travis --
[adjective]: Similar to butter in texture and appearance
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Courtney --
[adjective]: Benevolent to a fault
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Jared --
[adjective]: Visually addictive
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Family Vacation Recap

2008-07-24T10:36:00.001-07:00

O.K. I am finally starting to get back into life. After a 10 day vacation I am trying to catch up on everything that was put on hold. The hardest part has been to get motivated to do anything. I am still in the vacation mode. Unfortunately the kids want to keep on going. I am trying to keep them happy and still get my stuff done.

Here is a little recap of our vacation.

On Saturday, July 12th, we packed up and waited for Ashley to return from Girl's Camp. She got home about 11:30am. As soon as she got home we had her take a well needed shower while Randy and I unpacked all her stuff and did a load of laundry. We left about 2:00pm. We drove to Farmington, Utah. We stayed at Randy's sister's for the night. We thought we would try and go to church before leaving for Oregon, so we woke up early enough to get ready for a 9:00 church meeting. After we were all ready and in the car, Randy walked to the other side of the car and noticed we had a flat tire. So we all went back into the house while Randy had our tire fixed. His poor sister had to put up with us for another couple of hours and was late for her church meetings. Thanks Kim, for EVERYTHING!!

I had a great idea of taking a picture at each state welcome sign. Well, the signs for Arizona and Utah were not easy to stop at. We were able to stop at Idaho and then Oregon had road work with the lane blocked off right next to the sign and Washington doesn't even have a welcome sign. So, this is all we got. Jared was asleep in the car, so he didn't make it into the picture.

After staying Sunday night in Baker City, Oregon at Randy's cousins house, we left for Pendleton, Oregon. This is where Randy grew up. As we drove into town, they had a Pendleton sign, so we had the kids get out for a picture. Jared once again is missing. He really did come on our vacation.

Randy gave us a tour of Pendleton. Travis' favorite was the Little League baseball fields, where Randy used to play. Ashley and Courtney enjoyed the tour at the woolen mills. After driving around town, we went and got a snack and went to see Wall-E. A major highlight for the kids. We then went and stayed at Randy's aunt and uncle's house for the next two nights. It was great to get to know them.

After leaving Pendleton, we drove to Seattle, Washington via Portland, Oregon. It added several hours to our drive, but it was a very pretty drive and we got to stop and see Multnomah Falls.

After we got to Seattle, we got checked into our hotel and got the kids settled in. Randy and I then went and did a session at the Seattle temple. It was very nice. The steeple was covered in scaffolding so they could refurbish Moroni, so none of our pictures turned out very well. On Thursday, we spent most of the day at this beach, Tibbetts Beach. The kids had a great time and loved being out of the car.

On Friday, we met up with Randy's sister and her family at Pikes Place Market in Seattle. Seeing all the fresh fish, flowers and fruit was amazing. If we lived close by, I would be a frequent shopper there. Especially for there fresh flowers. They were beautiful!!

From there we went to the Space Needle. Here are all the kids "climbing" the base of the Space Needle.

Here we are at the top of the Space Needle.

The big highlight was going to a Seattle Mariners game. When we bought our tickets for left field I told them that I needed wheelchair accessible sitting. When we arrived at Safeco Field, and were going to our seats, the person in the elevator said that I wouldn't be able to get to those seats in the wheelchair. I would have to go down two flights of stairs (10 stairs each). He then told us to wait at these other seats and he would check with his supervisor and if it was o.k. we would sit there for the game. We told him we were meeting four other people. He said we could have them come and join us. We got to enjoy the game from some GREAT seats. We originally paid $15/ticket. I looked up where we sat and they were anywhere from $46-$54/ticket. And to top it off, the game was great too. The Mariners won 8-2. There was a Grand Slam home run that was pretty exciting. And it was bobble head night. So we got 6 Felix Hernandez bobble heads. Just what we always wanted. I was able to give one away, so now we only have to figure out where to put the kids. Unfortunately they are pretty excited to have them.

We left Seattle and went up to Bellingham on Saturday morning. Randy's mom gave us a tour around Bellingham. We were able to see where Randy lived when he was little and the farm where his mom grew up. After the tour, we went to the park for the reunion. It was a reunion for his mom's family. Her three sisters were able to be there but her brother was not able to get there. It was great to meet everyone.

On Sunday we left Bellingham and drove to Twin Falls, Idaho. Monday morning we woke up early so we could go to the Twin Falls temple open house. It was a beautiful temple. What great timing to be driving through during the open house time. We then stopped in Salt Lake to watch the Joseph Smith movie. What a great movie. I love Joseph Smith and this movie really strenghtened my testimony and deepened my love for him and all that he did to restore the gospel. What a great way to end our vacation.

O.K. At the beginning I said that this was a little recap of our vacation, but it ended up being very long. Sorry, I just got carried away, and thought this would be a great way to help journal our trip.

Girl's Camp

2008-07-08T06:59:00.001-07:00

Ashley has been counting down the days since school was out to go up to Girls Camp. To say she is excited would be an understatement. We needed to have her up at the church at 6:00am and when I got up at 5:40 she had already eaten breakfast, was dressed, and had everything she needed in her hands, ready to go. I hope she has fun again this year. Last year, when she got home, she cried for a couple of days, wanting to go back to camp. She missed all her new friends. This year as soon as she gets home, we will get her unpacked and cleaned up and then we will be leaving for Seattle, WA. Hopefully going from one activity to the next will soften the blow of coming home. Thanks to all the leaders that are helping out at camp and those that are shuttling them back and forth. You guys are GREAT!!

Swimming Ribbons

2008-06-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Travis did really well at the swim meet on Saturday. He placed first in the 50 butterfly and the 50 backstroke. He placed second in the 50 backstroke and the 50 breaststroke. He is really becoming a great swimmer. We are proud of you, Travis.

Ashley did good also. She placed first in the 50 butterfly, second in 50 backstroke and third in the 50 freestyle and the 50 breaststoke. Ashley was excited to be a part of the swim team this year. She is trying hard to master all the strokes. We are proud of how hard you try and do your best.

50th Anniversary

2008-06-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend up in Evanston, WY celebrating Randy's parents 50th wedding anniversary. We left Thursday after Randy got home from work and drove to Evanston. We got in about 1:00am. On Friday Randy went golfing with his dad and brothers. The rest of us went to play at the park and visited. When the guys got back, we had a BBQ. On Saturday morning Randy's mom took the wives out for a great breakfast. It was nice and relaxing to sit and visit. After breakfast we went to the park and had lunch. All the kids had a great time playing baseball and being with each other. It's nice that even though we don't get to see each other that often, when we do the kids get along great!

After the park, the kids all ran through the sprinklers to cool off from the hot day at the park. I loved the weather. It was in the mid 80's. When we left Las Vegas on Thursday it was 112. After we got the kids cleaned up, we went to the restaurant for the big celebration. After a great dinner, each families kids did a talent for the program. Ashley, Travis, Courtney and Jared all sang, "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" and then Travis played "Eagle Summit March" on his trumpet. They did great! Then we watched a video presentation of Ralph & Penny. It turned out really nice. Thanks Shawn for all the time you put into that. After the program, they cut the cake that Kristen made. It is a duplicate of their wedding cake. It turned out so nice. We then went back to the house and talked for a few hours reminiscing about the last 50 years. It was a GREAT time.

Courtney's Gymnastics

2008-06-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

Courtney participated in the Special Olympics gymnastics and had a great time. She loved the coaches and enjoyed doing a sport. At the competition she did really good. She earned a bronze medal in the uneven bars and also in the vault. She earned the silver medal for the balance beam and she won the gold medal for the floor exercise. She is really cute out there in her leotard. I was really proud of her and glad she had a great time.

Jared's loved soccer

2008-06-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

Jared loved playing soccer this year. He did really good for his first time on a team. He made the teams first goal of the season, and then again for the last goal of the season. He loved the running up and down the field. Each game he got a little more aggressive. At first he didn't ever want to take the ball from the bigger kids, but by the end he would try a little bit. I think he will do great as he plays more. Great job, Jared!!

Baseball is over!

2008-06-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

O.K. I know it has been FOREVER since I have updated our blog. Our camera was dropped and no longer works. I finally got a new camera, so I am going to try and update our month of June. Hopefully I get most of the highlights. This was Travis' baseball team. They had a BBQ/swim party and handed out trophies. Travis LOVED baseball!! This was his first season. He says that he loves it more than soccer and basketball put together. He is already looking forward to the next season. His team did really well. They were 14-3-1. When they gave Travis his trophy they said he had caught the most fly balls in the league. Pretty good! I'm glad you enjoyed the season!

Congratulations Ashley!

2008-05-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

We received an invitation from Ashley's school saying that she was going to receive an award. We were not sure what award she was getting, but we went to find out. They had each department award one student for outstanding performance. Ashley received the award in her Read 180 class. We are so proud of Ashley and all the hard work she does at school. She loves school. She is sad that summer vacation is coming so fast. She is a great canidate for year round school. Great job Ashley!!!

A Big Day

2008-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an eventful day for Travis. We went to church in the morning and during Sacrament Meeting he was called up and got to recite the 13th Article of Faith and officially graduated from Primary. He was so ready to move on to Young Mens. Then he was sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood as a Deacon. After church he was ordained by his dad. He was so excited to receive the priesthood on his birthday. What a great present. That night he then got to attend his first Stake Fireside. What a great day! He is so excited to be 12!

Fathers & Sons

2008-05-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

The boys got to go camping with the stake for the Father's and Sons activity. They were all very excited to go and spend time with their dad. Jared was packed and ready to go about 6 hours before they were leaving. They went to a new campground this year. It seemed to be nice but they usually enjoy going up in the mountains where it gets cooler. It was a pretty warm weekend but not too hot. They all had a GREAT time.

Ashley Running the Miracle Mile

2008-05-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

At Ashley's school they invited 25 boys and 25 girls to run the mile yesterday. They had to be at the school at 6:50a.m. so Randy took Ashley and I stayed home with the other kids. They girls ran first and then the boys. Randy said that Ashley did pretty good. She was excited to participate in the run and had a great time.

Travis' Band Concert

2008-05-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

Travis had his final band concert for the year this week. They did a nice job. He has really enjoyed learning to play the trumpet this year. He has signed up to continue band next year too. I hope he sticks it out. He is becoming a pretty good trumpet player. Sorry the picture is so dark, but Travis is in the middle.

Happy Anniversary!!

2008-05-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Randy and my 16th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it! Some days it doesn't feel like we've been married that long but other times it just seems like we have been together forever. We are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. I love having an excuse to go out and eat! I love just going out on a date where we can talk and not be interrupted every two minutes. As much as we love our kids, it sure is great to spend time together without them around. I love being married to my best friend. He is so concerned about making me happy all of the time. He is great. Thanks for a great 16 years!!

New haircut for me

2008-05-01T16:22:00.001-07:00

I know there are alot of pictures of me, but I couldn't decide which ones show how much was cut of. My hair was pretty much one length, but now it is ALL layered. Some parts of my hair are about 6 inches shorter. It feels really good, I just hope I am able to do it so it looks nice. I kept putting off going to this hairdresser because she is pretty expensive for me to justify it. But after getting several BAD haircuts I decided I wanted someone that I knew was good. Several of my friends go to her and I always like their hair. While I was there, we were talking and she asked what my husband did. I said he was an attorney. She said is Randy your husband? When I told her yes, she started crying and told me how much he helped her and her husband in a custody case. She said she had promised me a free haircut 6 years ago, so she wouldn't charge me today. She was so nice. What a great surprise. Let me know what you think of the new do?

Jared's new look

2008-05-01T16:17:00.001-07:00

Here is Jared after he got a major haircut. Then if you look real close to his right eye, he got a black eye after running into the kitchen island. He was chasing Courtney with a towel on his head. He has had a rough week. He started the week off smashing his right index finger. Luckily he has now recovered from most his injuries.

Ashley's 13th Birthday

2008-04-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Ashley is a teenager. Where did the time go? It just seems like she was turning five. Ashley was so excited for her birthday. She tries not to appear too excited, but she can hardly contain herself. Ashley is such a joy to have around. She loves to help out and wants to make us happy. At this point in her life she LOVES music. She always has her ipod with her and asking for more music to be put on it. Ashley is loving young womens. She has memorized the theme and the 6 B's, which she loves to recite to everyone. She enjoys school very much. She is sad when the weekend comes because she will miss her teachers and friends. Her favorite class is history and comes home each day to let us know what she learned. We are very proud of her and love her very much.

Another Birthday

2008-04-22T23:22:00.001-07:00

Randy's birthday was actually on Friday, but we were driving to Salt Lake. We celebrated on Saturday after the marathon. His parents came down to his sisters and we had a BBQ and Marie Calendar pies. It was great to celebrate with his family. Happy birthday, Randy.

Marathon Man

2008-04-22T23:07:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning Randy ran the Salt Lake Marathon. We drove up on Friday and stayed at his sisters house. His niece ran in the 5K, so his sister, brother-in-law and other niece took them down to the race. My sister came down and drove with me and the kids to go and watch Randy finish the race. It was fun to watch all the runners but it was very windy. This is most of us sitting at the finish line.
Here is Randy finishing the marathon. He looked great! Right when he came into view, this lady came and stood right in front of me, so this is the best picture I got. Randy's finishing time was 4 hours and 23 minutes. He was 616th out of 1243.

Here is Randy and his niece after the race was over. They both had an enjoyable time. They were both glad that they ran and I wouldn't be surprised if they do it again. GREAT JOB!!!

Opening Day

2008-03-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

This morning was Travis' Opening Day for baseball. Here he is in his new uniform. His team name is the Durham Bulls. This morning they had their team pictures and then a parade introducing all of the teams and their coaches. His first game is this afternoon at 2:30pm. Travis is really excited to play baseball this season. This is his first year playing baseball.

Student of the Month

2008-03-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Ashley was the Student of the Month yesterday. She got a certificate, a Carl's Jr. coupon, and this shirt. The school is the Swainston Thunderbirds. The back of the shirt has their motto, "The higher your soar, the better the view". Ashley was pretty excited for the award and of course the pizza party. We sure are proud of her hard work. Keep it up Ashley.

Good Citizen

2008-03-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

O.K. I know this is a lousy picture but it is the best of the lot. I don't know why they all came out so dark and I thought I had zoomed in closer. Maybe it is time to look for a new camera. Anyway, Courtney was the Good Citizen of the Month in her class. She was pretty excited. Especially for the pizza lunch that followed the assembly. Congratulations Courtney! You are such a sweet heart.

Easter Time

2008-03-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that Easter has already come and gone. I know that it is really early this year but I am still feeling like it should be the beginning of February. I can't believe it is almost April.

The Easter Bunny left baskets of goodies for Ashley and Travis and hid some candy filled eggs for Jared and Courtney. After Saturday's egg hunt, where Jared was a little timid, he definately had the right idea at home, and found plenty of eggs. The hunting went by so fast, before I knew it, it was over. I didn't get very many pictures, but at least I got a couple. Jared gets so excited for the different holidays. He starts counting down a few weeks before hand and lets us know how many more days until the big day. They all had a great time and love all the candy left for them.

Ward Easter Breakfast and Egg Hunt

2008-03-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

All the kids getting ready to find some eggs
Jared and his friend Emily

This morning was our wards' Easter breakfast. Travis had a baseball practice from 8:00 - 9:15 at the same park. The breakfast started at 9:00, so Randy walked over at 9:10 to get Travis. They kept extending his practice until finally at 9:40 they said they were going to practice until 10:00. Randy came back and ate and then went back to get Travis. He was gone right during the egg hunt. I felt bad he missed out on most of the activity. Courtney and Jared had fun finding the eggs though. Any activity that involves getting candy is a huge hit in our house. It was a gorgeous day, so all in all it was a fun morning.

CRT Poster

2008-03-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ashley and a couple of friends made a poster for the CRT test at her school. They won 3rd place for their poster. She was pretty excited. Hopefully she did as well on her test.

Me from A - Z

2008-03-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Alright, more info about me.

A--Attached or Single? Attached to Randy, 15years 10 months.
B--Best friend? Randy
C--Cake or Pie? Chocolate Cake with Oreo cookie frosting
D--Day of Choice? Saturday, to spend time with the family
E--Essential Item? It has become my walker, I can’t go anywhere without it.
F--Favorite Color? Blue
G--Gummy bears or worms? I enjoy both of them the same.
H--Hometown? Concord, CA
I --Indulgence(s)? Chocolate in any form
J--January or July? I love January here in Las Vegas. If I lived where it snowed though it would have to be July.
K--Kids? 4
L--Life is incomplete without? Family and friends
M--Marriage date? May 8, 1992
N--Number of siblings? 2 brothers, 2 sisters
O--Oranges or apples? If I could pick it straight from the tree, it would be an orange.
P--Phobias or fears? Something happening to one of my kids.
Q--Quotes? "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all"
R--Reason to Smile? Going out on a date, and my kids playing together nicely.
S--Season? Spring.
T--Tag 5 people? JanEtta, Nadine, Stephanie, Londi and anyone else who would like to play
U--Unknown Fact? I love to play computer games.
V--Very Favorite Store? WalMart (out of convenience)
W--Worst Habit? Wasting time doing nothing productive
X--X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound
Y--Your favorite food? Mexican burritos in Concord, CA
Z--Zodiac? Gemini

I've been tagged!!

2008-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by my sister-in-law, Stephanie, with a list of questions. Hopefully I do this right. This is all new to me. Well, here goes!!

What was I doing 10 years ago? We had just lived in Las Vegas for about 6 months. I was still getting familiar with things here. I was working at a day care center, Bright Start. I needed to go back to work, but we didn’t want to leave A & T anywhere. After figuring out the amount of money I could make, and then pay day care, it was about the same for me to work at the day care center down the street. I would get a salary, insurance, free day care and could still be in the same building as the kids. It was the best situation for us at that time.

5 things on my to-do list today? I desperately need to mop my kitchen floor. I have put it off for the last week. I need to pay bills. Always an eye opening activity. I need find a baby picture of A for New Beginnings. Not an easy task with a lot of our stuff in storage or in boxes. I need to pick up the house, especially the kids rooms. It’s hard keeping it looking clean all the time in case a realtor comes by. Twice in the last two weeks the realtor has come by without the ½ hour warning. Needless to say, the house was a little cluttered. Oh well, I guess that should teach me to keep it cleaner. Then the “Mom Taxi” service starts. C has Activity Days, T has Scouts and A has YW. Wednesday’s are our busy night.

What snacks do I enjoy? I also love snacking at little too much. I love a handful of mixed nuts. But if we don’t have those around, which don’t seem to last to long around here, I love fruit. Any kind, apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, you name it. I guess growing up with all our fruit trees in the back yard made it easy to just pick a snack while we were playing. I miss being able to eat fresh fruit off a tree in the yard.

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire? We would move to a bigger house with a bigger yard. We would pay off any debt we had. We would give each of our siblings a million dollars. And hopefully do A LOT of traveling.

3 bad habits? I waste a lot of time playing on the computer. I guess at times I just like to do mindless things. I have to tell myself on busy days to not even turn on the computer. I enjoy eating a snack in the evening after the kids are in bed. Some how things taste better when you don’t have kids running around. I can actually sit and enjoy it. And since I enjoy my evening snack I should be exercising more. I have a hard time exercising because it wipes me out for the rest of the day, but maybe if I did it more often I would be better off in the long run.

5 places I've lived? I lived in 5 places before I was 5, but since I don’t really remember those places, the last 5 places I have lived are Concord, CA ; Sacramento, CA; Pleasant Hill, CA ; Las Vegas, NV; North Las Vegas, NV

5 jobs I've had? I worked in the special collections department at GMAC. I now know I never want to work in collections again. But it was fun and interesting. I started as a secretary at CalFarm Insurance and after a couple of years was promoted to a Claims Adjuster. I then worked in the Accounting Department at Kemper Real Estate. I had never done much accounting, but if/when I go back to school it would probably be to get an Accounting Degree. Then I worked for a short time at Bright Start, a day care center. I worked in a room with another lady, and we watched 8 babies, ranging from 6 weeks to 1 year old. It was a lot of fun most of the time. The kids were great, sometimes the parents drove us nuts. Great experience though.

5 things people don’t know about me? This is a hard one. I also love to take an afternoon nap when I can. I have had to adjust that now that J does not like to nap though. I do not like to wear perfume. I like the smell of it in small doses but I get headaches when I wear it or when someone at church is wearing a lot and sits right in front of me. I love to read a good book. I just wish I could sit down and read until it is done without feeling quilting about what is not getting done. I love looking on ebay. It gets very addicting for me though. I have to know what I am looking for and stay focused. I t goes along with my bad habit, of being on the computer to much. I love going out to eat! This is my favorite date, because I don’t have to cook. I love eating out!

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

2008-02-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

Randy getting ready to start his run
Randy just past the half way point

Randy finishing up his run

HE MADE IT!! YEAH!!!

This morning at 6:00a.m. Randy and I drove up to Red Rock Canyon. It is so pretty up there, especially as the sun is coming up. Randy is training for the Salt Lake Marathon in April. They have a 13 mile scenic drive that when Randy was training for the bike trip they would ride. Well, he decided it would be grea training for the marathon too. He was amazing! I dropped him off at the finish point so he could run 2 miles into the park and then the 13 miles. I met him at mile 4, 7 and 10 to give him a quick drink. He started running at 6:50 and finished a little before 9:00. He did so good - I was very impressed!! There were a lot of hills to go up and down, but he made it in good time. After he finished running he was talking to a lady that ran right behind him. She let him know that there is going to be a half marathon/marathon in two weeks up there, doing the same loop. We'll see if he is up to it again that quickly. Anyway Randy, I think you are amazing! I couldn't even dream of running 15 miles. Good luck in your training!

Happy Birthday, Jared!

2008-02-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Jared's 5th birthday! I can not believe he is 5 already. Where do the years go? Jared has been counting down the days ever since Courtney's birthday. He is at such a great age. Everything is so exciting! He is so excited to start school - we have had to explain over and over that he won't go to school the day after he turns 5. He will have to wait until the next school year. Hopefully this has sunk in. I am not ready for him to go, so luckily I still have a few more months with him at home. Some things that I love about Jared - 1) He is the hardest worker! He has to be working almost all of the time. If he is not helping he cries that he isn't helping anyone. 2) His sense of humor. He loves to make people laugh. He is quite the ham here at home. Out in public he is very quiet and reserved. 3) He is very loving and caring. He tries to make everyone happy. He likes to leave treats and cards for his family. We love Jared and hope he had a GREAT birthday!

First Day of Spring?

2008-02-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

Today was so nice. Jared and I went with some friends to the park today. It was probably just 60 degrees, but it felt great to be out in the fresh air and sunshine. When I look at my sister's blog pages with all of the snow, it makes me soo glad to live where we can go outside and play, without freezing, pretty much year round. I guess in the summer it gets too hot, but for now I guess I enjoy not freezing more than being too hot. Anyway, I felt like it was almost spring here and am loving it!!!

Happy Birthday Courtney!

2008-01-30T16:57:00.000-08:00

Courtney singing her heart out
Courtney opening gifts

Courtney was so excited for her birthday this year. We have been counting down ever since Christmas. She already is saying her birthday is on a Thursday next year. She loves looking forward to things and counting down on her calendar. We had a fun birthday celebration. She wanted to have pup-in-a-blankets and french fries for dinner and a vanilla cake with pink frosting. She is such a fun loving girl, very easy to please. It was fun to watch her excitement. For her birthday she got the wii High School Musical Sing It. She had fun singing along to her favorite songs.

Cassie and Boys

2008-01-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

Cassie with Skyler and Conner
Jared holding Skyler and Cassie with Conner

Ashley w/Skyler and Courtney w/Conner

Cassie and Aunt Carma came over last night and we finally got to meet Skyler and Conner. They are soo adorable. The kids wanted to take turns holding them so we had to take pictures of each of them with the cute babies. Cassie looks great and seems to have the twin thing down. I get tired just thinking about it. Thanks for coming over Cassie. We enjoyed seeing the boys.

Too Tired!

2008-01-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Jared came and sat at the table while I was making dinner and the next thing I knew he was sound asleep. I couldn't pass up taking his picture. He looks so calm and peaceful.

New Year's Eve

2008-01-01T15:19:00.001-08:00

Courtney boxing with Dad
Ashley and Travis boxing

Travis and Jared playing baseball

We had a lot of fun last night. We had a bowling tournament on the wii which Travis won. Then we played golf, baseball and boxing. The kids had a blast!! Of course there was also the eating of snacks throughout the night. Jared, Courtney and Ashley all gave up about 10:30 and went to bed. Travis stayed up with Randy and I. We watched "You've Got Mail" and then the fireworks off the casinos at midnight. Then it was off to bed. Not too spectacular but it was fun. Hope you all have a great new year!!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

Jared on his new bike
Courtney with her Cinderella doll
Travis with his gameboy game
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Ashley with High School Musical 2 DVD

We all had a great Christmas! First off, we got to sleep until 7:15 a.m. before we started the festivities. Santa made his annual stop at our house. He enjoyed the cookies and milk we left him and he left the kids some great things. Ashley got an ipod, Travis a sleeping bag and gameboy game, Courtney and Jared both got bicycles. And of course all the little filler stuff. After about an hour, Randy made us french toast and we got our turkey in the oven. The we started opening our gifts under the tree. It is always fun to watch the kids give their presents to their siblings. The big family gift was a wii - which when it was opened all four of the kids just screamed and cheered. A BIG hit!!!

Pancake Marathon

2007-12-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Travis wanted to make breakfast for us one morning. He is becoming quite the chef. He wanted to try and do everything on his own. When he made up the batter, he ended up with more than twice what we would usually make. The pancakes ranged in size - from silver dollar to dodge ball size. They all tasted great. It took him about an hour and a half to complete all the cooking. He had a great time and we all had our fill. Thanks Travis!!

My Three Shepherds

2007-12-15T21:41:00.001-08:00

Tonight was our ward Christmas dinner/activity. They had us all dress up as shepherds. The boys turned out cute I thought. The girls costumes had a lot to be desired. I am not that creative. They served turkey, ham, fruit, bread and nuts with pie for dessert. It was a nice activity. Thanks to all those who put so much into it.

Fall leaves

2007-12-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

Fall is finally here and the leaves are finally falling off the tree. Travis and Jared were so excited to go out and rake the leaves. They were almost done before I even knew they were outside working. They are both great helpers and worked very well together. That's what a mom loves to see.

White Elephant gifts

2007-12-14T12:04:00.000-08:00

Who ever thought up the "white elephant" gift exchange? I am not sure what I think about them. I think they are pretty funny seeing what other people bring, but I am also pretty nervous about what I will come home with. Last night was our ward's annual Christmas "white elephant" gift exchange. It was a lot of fun. A lot of the fun is the memories from past years. The funniest gift I remember was a couple of years ago someone brought a framed picture of their mother-in-law. This year the some person brought a picture of her mother-in-laws dog with Santa. These were the gifts that her mother-in-law sent them for christmas. In our ward there has been a couple of sconces that have now returned for the past 7 years. A couple of years ago we decided we should keep a history of who gets them so when you get them you sign and date the back and bring them back the next year. It's pretty fun.

The funniest one this year was someone brought a breakfast tray with a plate glued on it with a pop tart and a banana glued to the plate. It also had a bowl with cereal glued on the bottom of it. Then it had the silverware and a glass. It was pretty funny. We all had a great time. Thanks to all those who helped with the dinner and helping us have a great night out.

Christmas Concert

2007-12-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was Travis' first band concert. Travis signed up to play the trumpet this year and he is doing a GREAT job. He seems to really enjoy it and practices everyday. The concert was quite nice. They have a lot of kids in the beginning band class, but they all seem to do well. We could definitely tell what songs they were playing. We look forward to his spring concert in a few months. Good job Travis!!