Our White Christmas

A few days after Christmas I happened to be upstairs in my bedroom when I noticed it was getting windy outside. After looking closer I noticed little white flakes floating around. Could it be? I ran out to the loft where the kids were on the computers and looked out toward the front of the house just to confirm my suspicions then shouted "it's snowing!!!" We all ran downstairs and out the front door to witness the magic of snow! We couldn't believe it, my kids have never seen snow actually falling from the sky. None of us were prepared for how cold it was! Some of the kids were still in there pj's, most were barefoot and all of us were freezing! Just as we were headed inside it started coming down really hard, it stuck to the kids sweatshirts and their hair, and even the ground for a minute. The whole time I just stood their laughing and enjoying the moment of pure amazement with my kids! I hope this was a day that they will never forget.

Christmas Ham

Lyndi decided to get in on the "talent show" we informally have before opening up our family Christmas gifts. Her cousins did a cheer so she thought she should too. Then Gramma got her to sing "Twinkle little star". This little girl surprises me every day, she is quickly outgrowing her shyness and loves to be the center of attention. Where did that come from? I feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a sweet angel!

Say cheese!

Taking family pictures is not my favorite thing to do. I need to learn how to use photoshop because we literally took about 20 pictures and this is the best we could get! My 2 little ones did not want to cooperate. This was Trevors year to be a clown, everytime we said "smile" he would make some sort of goofy face. Lyndi loves to smile but never seemed to be doing it at the right time. I think next year we will try something different. So whether it is perfect or not, here is our Christmas picture!

This is what we felt like when it was all over!

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween weekend, busy but lots of fun! Saturday morning started off with Ryan's football game, I think they pulled off the upset of the year beating an undefeated team 22-0! Such a great game, now they head to the semi-finals this weekend. They have to win a total of 4 games just to make it to the state championship game in Tucson, 2 down 2 to go! Since we were already out in Anthem we made a little side trip over to Cave Creek and had lunch at a place called Big Earls Greasy Eats! So worth the drive, the burgers were great and it was nice to sit outside with the kids. After that we headed home, had a short nap and then got the kids ready for the ward trunk or treat party. I think they all had fun and definitely came home with more candy than reasonable. I just hope they hurry up and eat it all so I don't have to pick up anymore candy wrappers! Sunday afternoon we got together with Randy's family for a little Halloween carnival of our own, with good food, games, birthdays and yummy caramel apples!

Football Fever

GO SOLDIERS!!! Ryan's team is in the playoffs and are playing an undefeated team this week. It should be a great game. Ryan and Kaela have both worked really hard this year and have both come along way. Ryan was so timid at first but now he is playing great. I'm really proud of him for sticking with it and really trying hard to learn the game. Kaela loves to cheer, she is always smiling and in my opinion shes the cutest one out there! Football is not for wimps, these kids work their tails off! We really love his coach and the way he interacts with the boys. It's been a great season, and who knows maybe we will make it to Florida!

Ryan #90

Go Soldiers!

Skyline on the other hand has had a pretty bad year. I don't think it gets much worse than losing every game. It has been a frustrating year watching Darrin stand on the sidelines when we know he is a better player than some of the kids out on the field. I have always admired his attitude though. He doesn't get discouraged, he still practices hard and knows that his day will come. He thinks they might win their last game against Casa Grande, let's hope so! Go Coyotes!

Darrin #13 (I told him that # was unlucky!)

This was our wonderful view of him all season long. :)

Catching up

I guess now that summer is over and the kids are back in school I should have more time to update our blog but life seems to be busier than ever. We had a pretty low key summer this year since we took our big vacation over spring break to Disneyland. We mostly hung out and the kids went to a summer program in the afternoons that kept them busy. Kyle also volunteered all summer at the same program. We made it up to Show Low for the 4th of July, celebrated Logan's 7th birthday and Ryan's 11th birthday. (no more cub scouts for 1 whole year!) Randy and I took Lyndi to CA and were able to see my mom and brothers. It was the first time we had flown together since our honeymoon, so sad! Now we are back into the school routine and our life is consumed with football. Ryan is playing football and Kaela is cheering this year. We had practice every night M-F, for the month of August and now thank goodness, we practice just 2 nights a week. They are both having alot of fun and we love watching their games, GO SOLDIERS! Darrin is on the Skyline Varsity team this year, it is so weird. Ever since he was a little kid we thought how cool it would be to go to his high school games and now that it's happening I wonder where the time went. He is not playing much right now, still recovering from a mild concussion but we hope to see him play some this year. GO COYOTES! It seems like all we do right now is go to football practices or games, that's usually how it is for us from August to December. It is a busy time of year, by the time it slows down the holidays will be here. I think we must be a little crazy to do it all but that's the way life is when you're trying to raise 7 kids!

4th of July

Better late than never right? We had an awesome time in Show Low over the 4th of July with our family. It was nice to escape the heat and get to play outside. The kids loved the parade and the fireworks and even got to play with some sparklers and eat smores! Thanks Kirt & Shari for opening up your home to all of us, it really was a great weekend!

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