Soccer Games

Saturday was our first games of the season. During the week we had wonderful weather (after the day off school of course)..70s and even 80s. Saturday it was 39 degrees at Blake's game and then we had wind...brrrrr. You could tell it was the first game. Half of our team is new and they don't know soccer very well, so we will be good in a couple weeks.

Blake played really well. Almost had a goal. Second half his coach put him as a defender...yeah, that's not Blake's position.

We went home and ate lunch and then came back for Dylan's game and it had warmed up at about 55...much better. Dylan's team is really good. Dylan and Truett are the youngest on the team. I think this team will be really good for Dylan. I really like his coach. The team name..Night Furry.

The ref was a young man from our ward..Garrett. Soccer has begun though--soccer practice Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Games on Saturday. 

The day before we met up with cousin Amy and 2 of her kids at the park. She lives 5 minutes from us, but we hadn't seen them in awhile. Dylan and Landon had such a fun time playing. (Amy is Aaron's cousin)

Sunday I taught Blake's primary class. Primary is so much fun. 

Obstacle Warriors

President Day=Day off of school. Aaron was in Florida again. We went with the Neumann's to Obstacle Warriors. It was raining this day so it was the perfect way to get some energy out. 

Dylan has now mastered the last part of one obstacle. He was pretty proud of himself.

Blake can go up the ramp without any help.

Dylan and Beckett needed some help, but they felt cool to be on top.

They played dodgeball...boys versus girls, so Kelsey was by herself, but she held her own.

We then went to lunch with the Neumann's and  then they went home and we went to Costco. Dylan's soccer practice was canceled that night since it was raining.

Good news: My friend Shellie came home from the hospital the next day. I went and visited with her a couple days after. The doctors all tell her it is a miracle she is alive. Her mom kept a journal about everything that happened. Anyway, I am so glad she is home and I know her kids are too. The weekend before Mark, their dad, called me because he was at the hospital with Shellie and their Grandma was on her way back home from the hospital (which she had been transported to Dallas hospital because that's where the specialists were) so it takes awhile in traffic...anyway, one of the twins didn't come home from school so he called me to see if I could find him. I found him at a park and took him home. 

Valentine's

For those who know my kids know they love super heroes. I found the perfect valentine's for them to pass out.

Blue & Gold

February 16 was our Blue & Gold. It took us 2 hours to set up. We had about 75 people come. Since Aaron works until 10pm or later every night, the boys came with me. Blake was excited though because I passed out the pinewood derby cars and he got one since he will be able to participate in April. He is almost 8.

We combine our pack with another pack from another ward. This creates drama...ever since a new primary president was put in in the other ward. The other ward that meets in our building for church asked to join us too. We had a meeting with all 3 wards' pack committees to see if it made sense. The boys once again got to come with me to the meeting since Aaron was in Florida, but they had fun playing in the nursery. I'm happy to report that they are not joining us..although they will join us in our pinewood derby this year. Scouts is so stressful that I'm glad we won't be adding more stress and more people to complain.

Class Valentine's Day Parties

Aaron has been traveling and working a ton lately, but we were able to go to lunch together for Valentine's day. Then I headed over to Dylan's school because I was helping with his party. They made love bug headbands for their craft.

They decorated and ate cookies---Dylan and I made these cookies the day before.

And they played human bingo.

Then we rushed over to Blake's party. His was super low key so I chatted with his teacher mostly.

They got a lot of goodies. It was raining that day so Blake's soccer practice was canceled.

This is Blake's spring school picture that I didn't buy but took a picture of before returning it.

Airplane Park

Last week Aaron was in Florida again. He had great weather there, but didn't enjoy it because he worked until 10pm every night. He missed out on our nice weather though. Friday I took Beckett and Dylan to the park. We have been to this park several times before and I had never noticed that there are cows close by. We checked it out...there is a fence.

We got home from the park and Aaron had just got home from his trip. He is here this week and then leaves again on Sunday for a week in Florida. Sounds like fun huh? 

The next day I brought the kid with me  to Scouting for Food since Aaron had to work all day on Saturday. We hit our neighborhood and then they came VT with me and then I got them a slurpee. It was their reward for helping with SFF. 

Monday night (last night) was Dylan's first soccer practice for spring with a new team. His friend Truett is on the team, which he loves. The coach is great. His son is on the team obviously, but he coaches one of the high school girls varsity soccer teams...although he admits the 2 age groups are extremely different. I like his style and he is great at keeping their attention. Dylan played the hardest he has ever played. I hope this will continue.

Ready for Summer

We have weird weather here. We go from being in the 30s one to to the 80s the next. We have had a pretty warm February though. Blake wore some of his Hawaiian shirts to school. He actually calls them Grandpa shirts because these are what Grandpa wears. 

We are going on a family cruise with my folks and brothers and their families in July. The boys are pretty excited about this. Dylan is extremely excited about the food and water slides and Blake is excited about the water slides. Blake put this shirt on and said, "I am going to wear this on the cruise because it looks like a cruise shirt. Do I have enough Grandpa shirts for the cruise?" 

Exercise Room

Aaron got back late Thursday night. Friday night we had our couple's date night, which was a game night. It was as a lot of fun.

The next morning we finished putting together Aaron's pull up bar. This is in the guest bedroom, which is a pretty big room, so it still has a bed in it.

We all use it and really like it.

We also hung back all the pictures since I had painted the playroom and we out some stuff on the walls in the guest room/exercise room.

My parents also gave us this stool, which they had found next to the dumpster. I painted it brown because well, who likes yellow?

Lunch with Blake

Tuesday my mom and I went shopping since it was our last day together. Then we picked up Grandpa and went to Blake's school for lunch.

They brought back a King Cake from Louisiana that we ate that night.

The next morning they came to take Blake to school and then Dylan, said good-bye and then came back, finished loading the car and started their journey back home to CA. We were so glad that they were able to come play with us for 4 months. One thing I was sad about when we moved to Texas was that they boys wouldn't get to see their grandparents as much. I grew up around my grandparents and I really liked that. We created some great memories while they were here and the boys were really sad to see them leave, but happy  they will be coming in April for Blake's baptism. Thanks for having fun with us!! 

Pack Meeting Carnival

The boys had January 16 off of school so we went and saw the movie Sing. It was cute. Aaron left that morning for Florida and then my parents left the next day for Louisiana. Everyone was gone, so the boys came with me to pack meeting, but they had so much fun. It was a carnival. It was so much fun.

Do you notice that Blake already has his scout shirt? Pretty impressive right? We got him a shirt and one for me at the thrift store, then my mom sewed on all the badges. It was fantastic. Blake loves his shirt.

It was a great night. Aaron got home late that night. 

Friday night we took our friend's dinner who had her baby the day I was helping my parents move. This is girl #4 for them. 

That weekend my friend Shellie went to the hospital. She had been having issues for about a month and doctors were just lame about it. Her husband came home early from Poland. To make a long story short, she has since been air lifted to a bigger hospital in Dallas with specialized doctors because they couldn't figure it out at our hospital. She has lupus and possibly ventriculitus. She had an aneurysm, kidney problems, mild heart attack, lung failure...and some other minor issues. We've been coordinating meals and child care for her family. I now know her mom really well because we chat every day. It is so sad and so frustrating, but yesterday they finally took her off her meds so that she isn't sedated anymore. 

Also, there was a tornado in Mississippi. It hit the town that my cousin lives in. He is the stake president and a surgeon. He and his family were fine, but he was very busy for awhile. 

Aaron left again for Florida and my mom and dad got back that Monday (1/23) from Louisiana. 

Desk Project

Saturday, January 14. I went to little Philmont in the morning. In case you don't know, scouting takes a lot of time and has a lot of meetings.

After I got back, we went to Lowe's and picked out some wood for a project. We have a desk in the playroom that has 2 chairs. Each side had a cabinet that was built to hold a computer  tower, so it was useless space for us. My dad created a design for the wasted space.

The boys helped Grandpa. They actually helped more then we were expecting. They got to watch Grandpa use the new saw.

Finished product.

It is great. The boys love it and I love it. I had painted the playroom  a couple weeks before, with some help by my folks. It was this dark red/purple color. Now it is a bluish grey. I like it.

We got done in time to go to Blake's friend Caleb's baptism. It went way longer then it was supposed to, so after we went to dinner.

Blake gave a talk at church the next day and we all watched him. It is fun to see them grown up--reading talks by themselves. That night we had Great to be 8 for Blake. He will be baptized in just a couple months. The day after his birthday is the big day.

Aaron's Birthday

On Wednesday, January 11, my parents moved out of their apartment and into our house for a little bit. The boys were excited because we inherited a couch which they call the xbox couch...guess where it is in our house?

The next day was Aaron's birthday. He got a pull up bar (the huge ones that go on the ground) and a mat for it. My parents got him a new suit jacket and I got him the pants to go with the jacket along with some shirts.

Aaron wanted to have something new for dinner, so I made a copycat recipe of PF Chang's lettuce wraps. They were tasty. Then we made Chili's Molten Lava Cake for dessert. Those were also tasty.  Happy birthday Aaron!