San Francisco - The Golden Gate Bridge

Got back last night from my pediatric critical care conference and I'm already getting my pictures organized. We had a really good time. San Francisco is an amazing city to visit, but I must admit, I wouldn't want to live there. It's great to be home.

Happy 11th Birthday Garret!

What a great group of boys! They all came to "boot camp" and passed with flying colors. We had 17 energetic boys for a couple of hours, and they could not have been better behaved or more fun! We played wiffle ball in the retention basin, I was the umpire. This proved to be a difficult job for me because I had a hard time paying attention :) - go figure? We also had a relay race, and finally played a really fun game of buddy tag. I am amazed at how much boys can eat, but we had plenty of "color your mouth blue and green" cake. Great party, great kid!

Alaska 2008

Soccer in 108 degrees!

Yesterday was the first soccer game of the season. It was 108 degrees and our game was at 3:30 p.m!!!!!!! This is not the most optimum time to be playing soccer, I can tell you. It was so unbelievably hot. Coach Greding did such a good job substituting/rotating our players, but wow, It was hot. Luke had a good time seeing the fish in the lake and playing with some new friends he met. He ran around catching bugs, the weather not seeming to bother him. Shaun and I, however, slowly melted. We are so happy the game is at 9:30 am next Saturday.

Worn Out!

Crazy, busy weekends lead to very tired households. After working so hard at work this week, Shaun was able to take a moment to get some rest. Of course, Reggie was there to help keep him company...

End of Summer, but not summer fun

And I thought fun and games were over???!! The boys felt industrious and decided to start a lemonade stand. After stocking it with lemonade and fresh homemade cookies, the boys opened for business. I couldn't believe they stayed at it for almost 4 hours! But when everything was gone (both in the boys tummies and their customer's tummies), they wound up making around 35$. They were so hot and sweaty, and proud of their accomplishment. Luke and Ryan decided it was too hot to go outside and spent the day playing video games and eating cookies and drinking lemonade for free.

What a week!

The first week of school has been a doozy! Garret was playing soccer yesterday during lunch recess and had a collision with a 6th grader. From "eye-witness" reports, I heard that both feet left the ground and he went flying backwards and landed directly on his back and head. The nurse called me from school and said that his head was fine ( we knew it would be, it's the hardest part of his body), but that he was complaining about his right knee. After I picked him up and had a quick consultation with an ER doc. friend, we headed over to urgent care where he was put on crutches with a knee immobilizer. This morning we were able to see our pediatrician, who is a sports medicine doctor, and given a pretty good prognosis. We think he bruised the fat pads in his knee and hyperextended it. He's on crutches 3-5 days and in a brace for up to a week and then we re-evaluate. We are thrilled it is not a season ending injury ( so is his soccer coach).

Back To School

I can not believe it is finally here. As of this morning the kids are officially back in school. They had meet the teacher nights the last two nights, and we made sure to meet all the teachers. I took Garret and Luke on Monday and we found their classrooms and teachers. Luke has the same teacher he had in first grade, so he is so happy. This seems to eliminated all of the anxiety that we usually have. Garret has a really interesting teacher. She has a BA in anthropology, and multiple masters and Phd. in education/psychology. She also appears to be a "free spirit". I really think I'm going to like her.

We toured the Junior High to find Brent's classes last night. He knew pretty much where he was going. His classes were closer together last year. He'll just have to move a little faster. He is looking forward to French and Drama this year. His drama teacher said they were going to make full face masks this year. Should be interesting.

After the Jr. High open house, we headed to Highland High School for their open house. They had us follow a bell schedule to get to each classroom. This took FOREVER. After the fourth hour I decided we would just sneak in everywhere and get the supply lists we needed. Ashley had a great time seeing all of her friends. I am still so amazed at how big high school kids look now. It must be the hormones in the food, because I don't remember my friends looking so big and old! She has a pretty good schedule this year. A pretty good balance between intense classes and fun. Her drama teacher said that they would be going to the Shakespeare festival in Utah this year. I definitely think I need to be a chaperone for this field trip.

I am very excited for the kids to get home so I can hear all about the first day.

Creativity

So, I open my freezer yesterday morning to get something out and this is what I find... a frozen army guy popsicle. I had to take a pic because it was just too bizarre. Garret had come up with a whole storyline about these guys, and fighting, and being heroes. It was awesome! I love it when I see creative mind at work.

How to keep cool without a pool...

I forget how really hot it gets here every summer. I remember it is bad, but not how bad! This is the first summer in a while that we haven't been able to get out of town for a break and I am totally feeling the heat. There aren't too many choices here in AZ this time of year. You can either swim or stay inside and play video games/watch TV. Since we don't have a pool, we spend most of our time begging friends for "pool usage" or staying inside. We have seen most of the appropriate summer movies by now, so time is moving along very slow. Garret and his two friends Spencer and Josh have discovered that playing "army guys" in the sprinklers is the only way to go. Me? I think I would rather just sit in the sprinklers.......

The Next Food Network Stars!

So, we are huge fans of the Food Network's "The Next Food Network Star". We watch it as a family and spend time debating the attributes of each contestant, their styles and their recipes. For family home evening we decided to have our own "competition". We each drew a food category and divided into teams (with Garret flying solo, since Ashley decided she wanted to be the studio audience). New recipes were tried with energetic ambition. Luke won for best presentation with his fruit shish-ka-bobs, and Dad and Brent won for best interpretation of the chicken (chicken breast nuggets coated in cheezit cracker crumbs). Garret won for best sauce on his chicken wings - a from scratch bbq. We had a great time and will definitely compete again.

EFY

Ashley had a fantastic time at Especially for Youth (EFY) over the Fourth of July week. She attended the BYU session in Provo, Utah. It was the largest session of the summer with 1,301 kids. It was such a great experience for her. She has told us stories and stories about the fun activities, dances, dinners and spiritual events. We are definitely thinking she and Brent need to go next year. We are so glad to have her home for a couple of days. She is next off to Girl's Camp for a few days. She is growing up.

The Fourth of July

Fun times in Arizona! We had a great time today celebrating the fourth with friends. We spent the afternoon swimming and barbequeing with our close neighbors. It was HOT, but we did our best to stay cool. Even the dogs were worn out at the end of the day :)

The first week!

For those of you that don't know..... After 3.5 years with Chase, Shaun has decided to take a new job! We are very excited for the change. He is on salary ( after 15 yrs on commission only) and he is doing what he has always wanted to do in the bank. He is a business account manager. He is responsible for getting new accounts and for servicing his existing clients. This bank is kind of a throw back to the old fashioned way of banking. You actually know who manages your personal accounts and can actually call them for service/help. They really focus on businesses. He got his first new account this week and is really energized about his future here. Yeah for Shaun!!!!!!

It's Just HOT!

It is slowly creeping up to the 115s and we are trying desperately to stay cool. Thank heavens I work in a hospital where it is kept so cool we wear long sleeves in the summer time. The kids have been doing their chores and saving money, so they finally pooled resources and bought "Rock Band" for the wii. This is pretty good entertainment, but I am beginning to consider singing lessons for everyone.

Another Teenager!!!

We finally had Brent's birthday party this month. We had to postpone it until after Scout camp. He was very patient, and I think he thought it was worth the wait. We had 10 of his friends come over and experience the "Game Truck". This is an air conditioned trailer with four plasma screen TVs and every video game available. They played for two hours! The great part was that the truck parked right in front of my house and came with a "gamemaster". All I did was send the boys out. I then spent the next two hours cleaning my house. Definitely money well spent. After the gaming ended the boys had an ice cream cake. It's so funny, but I wasn't even thinking about what teenage boys can eat. They polished off a 9x13x5 cake in about 15 min. I think we have definitely graduated to the XL cake at the store. All in all, we had lots of fun.

Summer is Moving Right along

Brent spent a week at scout camp and had a great time as usual. Shaun was able to go up and spend two nights with him. They had lots of fun! When they got home they both expressed gratitude for soft beds and flushing toilets...... Brent was able to complete four merit badges (hooray!) to get him closer to his next rank advancement. He really enjoyed the canoeing this year. He is an expert on "swamping" and "recovering". On the way home from camp, some of the leaders and boys went to Tonto National Bridge. That is where the bottom picture is from. I think he has grown so much this summer already both physically and emotionally. We are very proud of him and his accomplishments.