The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Back to School 2012

Hayden 2nd grade

 Caite 3rd grade

 Isaac 6th grade

 He wanted a picture of his "awesome" new digs for the first day of school.

 Waiting for the bus. I say it all the time, but I LOVE our neighborhood. There are so many kids. I should have gotten a picture of everyone at our bus stop, it was crazy with kids and parents. We have about 25 kids at our stop! 3 stops in our neighborhood and the bus is full.

My hope for our kids this year is that they have integrity, high self esteem, good work ethics and that they are kind, hard working, smart, faithful, diligent, respectful, happy, and fun.

Here's to a great new year!

 

 



Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

We are! Bring in it on!

 Hayden #20: Quarterback. Defensive End

Don't let these cute smiles fool you, these tough boys can play FOOTBALL!

Hayden had a fabulous game! He made both their touchdowns. He ran 80 yards for the first one. And a whopping 95 yards for the 2nd one.  They won 12 to 6. It was tied until there was 11 seconds left in the game. We had been pushed back to the 5 yard line. Speedy Gardner got the ball, his line made some incredible blocks and he ran that ball 95 yards for the win. I think every parent from our team was running right along side him. It was AWESOME!

Speedy Gardner in the end zone! (the first time around)

Keeping this girl entertained. Blue snow cone and chocolate pudding. A great combo for a dirty face!
Isaac Gardner #68: Quarterback. Halfback. Linebacker.

I love it when he wears his red shirt under...I can pick him out better.

For the first game he mostly played halfback and linebacker. He had some AWESOME plays and helped his team win with a 40 yard touchdown run.
We started the season out right with 2 big wins and HAPPY boys!
Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?
Yes, we are!

 

London Olympics 2012

I'm a sucker for the Olympics! It's nothing short of spectacular watching peoples dreams come true. It's true, I had the TV on all day, every day for 2 weeks. Probably more TV than I watch in an entire year. I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion. The kids, especially Isaac, was a faithful supporter of swimming, diving, and all the track and field events. It was fun to watch how involved he got and how attached he got to the athletes. The kid has passion. He invited all the neighbor kids over to watch women's soccer USA vs. Japan for the Gold.

Although US won, I think the star of the day was Baby Aubrey. The kids wouldn't leave her alone!

At one time we had 13 kiddos cheering on our team! Lots of fun around here.

These Make ME HAPPY

This is the flower bed in my front yard. Once again my vincas and marigolds exploded! I love walking out my front door to bright colors of flowers! It makes me happy!

Scout Camp

Isaac got to go to Scout Camp for the first time. He had a great time having his cousin Kurtis there and getting to know some new boys. We have always struggled to get Isaac excited about scouting, but this time he had so much fun that we didn't have to twist his arm to get him there. What's not to like about being outside, swimming, and rock climbing?



Just Keep Swimming

We spent A LOT of time with swim team this summer. My kids LOVE it and can't get enough pool time! They all made it to the Championships. It was a great season for our 3 swimmers!

 Caite made some really cute friends. It help pass time when you have someone to goof around with.

 Victory Smile. She placed 8th over all for her age division in our league. We are happy for her.

Isaac swam freestyle, back stroke, butterfly, and breast in the medley relay.

He's still a rock star swimmer placing in the top 7 in all his events for his age!

 Hayden has worked hard and come a long ways from his first attempt to get across the pool.

 By the end he was swimming with ease (with no breaks...see earlier posts) in both freestyle and back stroke.

And this little girls is always ready for a party! We were at this swim meet from 6:45am til 6pm. She's a trouper. At one point we were SUPER HOT so I dipped her in the deep end fully dressed to keep her cool. She thought that was pretty funny.

Remember When....

...we went on vacation in July? This is what we did and I finally have time to blog it.

 We picked up Nana and Papa and headed to some Church History Sites. They had never been to Kirtland, Ohio, so we started there.

Kirtland Temple

 

Then we headed up to Palmyra, New York where our Church history began back in 1820 with a young Joseph Smith and his quest to know which church was true.

He and his parents were faithful people who did their best to live the true principles taught in the Bible. He knew God would answer his prayer of which church to join. He went to this grove of trees and prayed. 

We call it the "Sacred Grove", because what happened there changed the world. In response to Joseph Smith, God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ appeared and told him not to join any of the churches. Joseph Smith would later be counseled by Heavenly Messengers about the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. and become the first Prophet established in the Later Days, just like Moses and Abraham of old. Walking on sacred grounds is a special feeling. The kids knew to whisper and I could feel the Spirit strongly testifying of the truthfulness of this event. Although God didn't appear to me, I received a witness long ago that it was true. It was nice to have that confirmed again as we walked around that day.

 

We stopped by the Palmyra Temple

Then on to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It's a huge outside production depicting different events in the Book of Mormon. It was my favorite part of our trip. I was really amazed by the production and the special effects. The kids thought it was "awesome".

Although we didn't take pictures of the Pageant, we had great seats.

 

The following day we headed to Niagara Falls. The highlight of the day was our hike right up to Hurricane Bay. The park gives you special shoes and ponchos in hopes that you don't ruin your own things.

 

 

 

We still got wet...really wet! But it was fun. At one point Isaac put his hand out and touched the falls.

We had a great day. It was so nice to be on vacation and have Aaron with us. It was made so much sweeter with Howard and Vicki with us.

The next day was supposed to be our Cedar Point day. Due to a bad storm passing through, the park was closed! Isaac was crushed. He had been looking forward to that day for months! We tried to make it up by shopping, then going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

Family time is special to us. We don't get to spend much time with Nana and Papa and we don't get to spend much down time with Aaron. It is nice to get away from the business of our daily lives and enjoy each other.