Crazy Life at The Warner's

My first 5K

2010-05-13T15:36:00.001-07:00

I decided a few months ago to quit being lazy and get up at 5 am and starting exercising. Julie and Robert where there so I decided it would not be so bad if I could see somebody I know that early in the morning. The first little while I walked and I thought I was walking so fast and then Julie said, "Run, Dera, Run". I thought: "NO WAY, it is early and I really don't like being out of bed right now." Then the two of them passed me again on the track and I thought fine I will try it, I won't like it, but if I try it they can't say it anymore. It really took me a couple of months to start liking it and I have to say running outside is much better than running on an indoor track.

So I signed up to run my first 5K on May 1st with Heather, Julie and my friend Jill. I was really nervous because I hadn't really even ran 3 miles yet and wasn't sure if I could make it or not. As I rounded the last corner and heard the lady ringing the cow bell I started to tear up a little bit. It was an awesome feeling to finish something that seemed so big. I had a picture taken of me crossing the finish line, but Heather's brother-in-law hasn't sent it to me yet.

I have now signed up for two more 5k's this summer and a 10K in September. It has been a big stress reliever during this time of my life and it makes me feel better. It gives you a lot of time to think about things and hopefully be able to deal with life's challenges. Who knew...thanks sisters for bugging me about running!!!!!!

New craft project

2010-04-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

So in Dec. my sisters wanted to learn how to crochet hats, but of course I don't like to crochet so I asked my mom if she would make one for Chelsea. It sometimes takes my mom a long time to make things because she has a long list to get through and so I told her to give me a hook and I would see what I could do. I have made three hats, around 30 washcloths, a "sick" blanket and am finishing up a baby blanket. It has been a relaxing thing to work on while I am sitting at practices, games and during my lunch hour. I will have to post pictures later because I really don't have time to get out the camera.

Pondering....

2010-03-04T19:53:00.001-08:00

You know the last few months have been really hard to deal with at our house. I spend lots of time wondering where I failed my oldest and how to at least make him understand what is important to me. I hope that someday he will realize that he once felt the same way, but has just lost it somewhere along the way. Loving that kid is hard some days and him knowing his behavior is what I am disappointed in and not him personally are really hard for him to separate since he thinks it's the same thing. I love him with all of my heart and I hope he will know that some day. I read my sister's blogs and wish my life was that simple again and regret that I didn't do some things I should have. I guess the thought is that if I would have done some things different maybe his choices would have been different. I just hope and pray everyday that Heavenly Father will help me through these hard times and that I can change my heart to have a better relationship with all of my kids. I think the most important thing I pray for is that I have the courage to share my testimony with all of my children so that they will never question how I feel about the Savior and will want to feel the same way. Maybe some day the big pay-off will come that I hear about, but until then I hope that I can endure to the end and hold onto the iron rod, hopefully with my husband and all my children behind me.

Stacy's Awesome Kits

2009-12-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

I have been scrapbooking some things with Stacy's kits. She has become a designer and I think her kits are awesome. Here are some of the layouts I did with them. I have a link to her store check it out.

Stacy's Back Door Designs
Forever Family Kit

Stacy's Back Door Designs
Rainbow Paper Pack

Stacy's Back Door Designs
On The Move Kit

Stacy's Back Door Designs
Oh Christmas Tree Kit

Brayden and Eric

2009-09-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

The other day in my searching for digi scrapping materials I found this saying: "God made us cousins because he know our moms couldn't handle us as siblings." I instantly thought of Brayden and Eric. Those two crack me up. I am glad that they are such good friends. So I decided I needed to make a page with those two and I had Chelsea take pictures over at Grandma's. Here is what I came up with.

credits:
Kat's Creations - It's A Boy Thing
Kim's Scrappin - Word Art
Font - Pea cammi-pea

Austin

2009-09-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the cute pic Janae took of Austin. He looks so much like his dad.

Brayden

2009-09-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the great photo Janae took of Brayden. He always has a smile on his face. He cheers me up when I am having a bad day.

Avery

2009-09-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me that I have a child that is already 16. I love that he is such a great kid and so handsome. He asked a girl to Homecoming even though it's not his first date it was fun to watch him figure out how to ask her to go and then get his answer. It has been a fun week with him.

Chelsea

2009-09-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you go out of town and you have a SIL who takes awesome pictures? Scrapbook it of course!!!!
Janae also did a photo shoot with our family a couple of weeks ago and here are the pictures she took of Chelsea.
Thanks Janae for the great pictures. I am going to work on the boys in the next few days. Stacy would be telling me right now to finish my Australia book. I will, I will. :)

Scrapbook

2009-09-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

I decided that I am never going to be a very good scrapbooker like my sisters, but that all changed at girls weekend. We went to Pebbles and I found the perfect solution for me. You take a 12x12 album and instead of designing 12x12 pages you make a title page and a journal page and put all of that with your pictures into 4x6 sleeves. I think I can totally handle that. So far I hadn't done a thing with it because I think it still seemed like too much work. Good thing I have Stacy around to inspire me to digiscrap. I am downloading my title and journal pages that I have created so far from our trip. It probably won't make much sense, but when the album is put together it will be awesome. I am loving digiscrap!!!!

Cairns

2009-09-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here's another one. This is great fun.

My First Digi Scrap Page

2009-08-28T00:08:00.001-07:00

I am so excited that I could figure this out. I'm sure glad I could ask Stacy a few questions, however. This was super fun. I think I might be able to scrapbook like this. I just got out the computer, turned it on and then when I was finished turned it back off. I should be able to take the computer with me to soccer games. Tell me what you think.

Fun in Australia

2009-08-15T13:12:00.000-07:00

So now that I have been home for a week and I feel like I am back to normal I have had some time to think about the things I really loved about Australia. Here are a few of them: hanging out with Mark, hanging out with Kev, Stacy, Madi, Cooper and Rylee, Stacy's cooking, walking on the beach looking for seashells, listening to the Kookaburras sing, trying new things and the beautiful flowers and birds.

I loved spending time with Mark and doing things that I don't normally do. Mark is defiantly more adventurous than I am, but I decided while we were in Australia that I should just try things and see what could happen. I don't think I am completely over my fear of water, but I am not as afraid as I used to be. I don't like to fly because of the take-offs and landings, but even that didn't bother me this time around. I tried new foods like: fish and chips, a great Korean restaurant, sausage, meat pies, Ginger Beer, vegemite, hot chocolate and pizza. I know pizza is not new, but in Australia it has a different taste and I like it much better than our pizza around here.

Stacy is an awesome cook and has learned how to cook lots of different things from scratch. I don't mean buy a cake mix and add water, I mean flour, sugar, vanilla, etc. Dinner tonight is a recipe from Stacy, yummy chicken. I had a great time going to the shops and finding out the things you need aren't all under one roof like WalMart. I even took my "green bags" with me this week when I went shopping.

I actually miss the Kookaburras singing to us every morning. They are a beautiful bird and I fell in love with them. For the first week or so I could only hear them I had never seen one and finally in Stacy's backyard we found one. I tried while we were there to video them or at least the sound they make and every time I was ready with the video camera they stopped singing. They have lots of really colorful birds, but I don't know all the names of them. I guess I will have to look them up.

I loved looking for seashells and I brought four boxes of seashells home. I found some glass containers at Target the other day and put all my shells in them. I love the beach and the water is so warm. I think I could have gone to the beach every day. It is very relaxing to watch the water come onto the shore. I have always loved the feel of sand between my toes.

We did lots of touristy things and those were all lots of fun too, but I think I will remember Australia for these reasons.

Our First Eagle Scout

2009-08-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

It's official....Avery is an Eagle Scout!!!!

He finished his project in Nov of 2008. He choose to have a Cold Winter Drive and take the collected items to the local shelter. We decided that not only should the scouts help, but our family should take the opportunity to help too. It was a great experience and we still talk about it and how grateful we should be for the things that we have.

He is almost ready to pin the mom and dad pins on us. That was so cool. I know how hard he has worked since he was 11. The funny thing is that they only reason he worked on his eagle was to drive a car. I did ask him today if he thought it was worth it to become an Eagle Scout and he told me it is. I am proud of Avery and how hard he has worked on becoming an eagle.
Avery had a mentor pin for somebody who he felt had helped him throughout his life. It could have been a scout leader, church leader, friend or family member. He chose his Grandma Cooper. I think that she was a little bit surprised by this, but what a great moment for a grandma to know how much she has helped her grandkids.
Avery is a great kid and we are proud of him and all of the things that he works so hard to accomplish.

The next Eagle Scout in our family is well on his way too. Austin received his Star at the Court of Honor. Keep up the great work Austin.

The 2nd week of Australia

2009-08-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

During the 2nd week of our trip we spent the week walking all around Sydney and taking in the sites. We went to the Blue Mountains with Kevin, Stacy and Rylee. It was a great time. I tried to walk down the stairs to the sister rock, but I only made it half way down before I started panicking. The huge drop-off of course had nothing to do with it. Sometimes it's not fun to be scared of heights.

The Three Sisters

Still smiling.

Start of the panic.

The weather was beautiful and the sky had a blue haze to it. The heat of the day heats of the Gum Trees and puts eucalyptus oils in the air and makes the blue haze on the mountains. Some of the people in Stacy's ward asked if we were going to the Blue Mountains and I laughed to myself when I saw them because they are so small compared to the mountains around here. It was more fun to go there because of all the cute little towns and shops on the way there.

The Chocolate Store. Awesome hot chocolate.

Poor Mark.
The next day we went to the Taronga Zoo. We took the train into the city and then caught a ferry across Circular Quay to the zoo entrance. You take a sky ride all the way to the top and then work your way back down to the bottom. We saw a lot of really pretty birds, koalas, kangaroos, otters and all kinds of other animals. We were a little disappointed because we never saw the platypus.

Next on the list of things to see while in Australia was the beach and seashell hunting. I brought home 4 boxes of seashells. Stacy didn't think I could get them into the country, but they didn't even ask about them on our customs papers. So we headed off to Avalon Beach hunting for shells.

The next day we were waiting for the arrival of the next visitors at Stacy's house, Brandon, Julie and Claire. Madi and Cooper were so excited because they didn't have to go to school. After Brandon and Julie got a little settled we headed out for our next adventure to Darling Harbour. We went to Paddy's Market, Maritime Museum and the Aquarium.

Maritime Museum

I'm really glad I don't have to live on a submarine. I would get so claustrophobic.

Aquarium. It was soooo cool. They had walkways surrounded by the water and the fish, sharks, sting rays and turtles just swam around you.

The last day of our vacation we went to the Koala Park. It is close to Kevin and Stacy's and they had never been there before. I think it was one of the most fun places we went. It's among the top three anyway.

I love koalas and they are so soft. It was awesome to be that close to them.

We fed the Kangaroos. That was really fun.

Then we went to a Korean place for dinner. It was called Ben's .... I can't remember the rest, maybe Stacy can help me out.

The food was delicious and I loved the atmosphere. We cooked our own food at the table and I tried lots of new things.

No, I didn't try the octopus like Mark did, I am not that adventurous.
After dinner we headed off the the Sydney Temple to do a session.

What a great way to end our vacation serving in the House of the Lord.

Some of the things that I love about Sydney are the beautiful flowers, the colorful birds, the kookaburras and the cockatoos singing to us every morning, all the green space they preserve and spending time with family.

A beautiful kookaburra.

Cairns--Here we come!!!!

2009-08-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

We decided that while we were visiting Stacy and Kevin that Mark needed to scuba dive in the ocean. He has been certified for 20 years and has never been in the ocean before and what a better place than the Great Barrier Reef. We left on Wednesday and went to the night market on a hunt for souvenirs and found lots of fun stuff. Mark found him a new hat made out of Kangaroo and I found me an opal necklace to name a few things.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, the earliest this whole vacation so far, and headed for the marina and some awesome scuba diving and snorkeling.

This is before we started the hour and a half trip out to the reef on a very bumpy ride, by the time we got there I was sick, but it was worth it. Mark hired out a camera and took lots of pictures while scuba diving and I learned how to snorkel.

He is so excited, he could hardly sleep the night before. He asked me about 20 times if I knew for sure the alarm was set because he didn't want to miss the boat.

I even survived snorkeling. When I tried it in Bear Lake I started to have a panic attack and I was worried what would happen here, but as soon as I stuck my head in the water and saw all of the fish and the coral I didn't even remember that my head was under water. It was sooooooo cool.

Mark found Nemo and his family,

A huge clam,

a lion fish and

a sea turtle just to name a few.
I was just happy to stay on the top of the water with my tour guide, Ana. She was very nice and helped my get around the reef.

The next day we decided to take a tour to a different part of the country and very different from the ocean and went to the rainforest. We went on a boat down the Daintree River keeping a sharp look-out for crocs, as they call them in Australia. Towards the end of our journey, low and behold we finally found two of them. One with his beady little eyes looking at you out of the water and the other one sunning himself on the bank.

The rainforest has beautiful trees and bushes and the most gorgeous flowers.

We stopped at a look out on Four Mile Beach.

We ate bananas that were from a tree and not the store. They taste different than the ones we buy at WalMart in Utah. They are have a sweeter taste to them and are really yummy.

One of the last things we did was hunt for seashells on the beach. We found lots of seashells and brought them to Stacy's house. Stacy told me that she boils them to get rid of germs and so I put them in the pot of boiling water. Guess what was inside one of them?!?! You guessed it a little crab, Stacy says I am a murderer. I feel so bad I didn't even know he was inside his house.

We had a great time in Cairns (Cans) and loved seeing a different part of Australia. Next week with Stacy we will see more of the sites here is Sydney. Stay tuned for more adventures from Australia.

Off to the Botanical Gardens

2009-07-27T00:21:00.000-07:00

We headed off for the Botanical Gardens this morning. We packed a picnic lunch and headed off to catch the train. Stacy says it's easier to get around the city on public transportation and she is right. There are cars and people everywhere. We went to the gardens and walked around for a bit and then found the best spot for a picnic lunch.

We started heading off for another trail where the Flying Foxes hang around and ran into a bunch of cockatoos, they where everywhere. We spent some time feeding them and watching them. It was so cool. Every morning the Kookaburas and the Cockatoos sing to us outside our window so I wanted to see one, well we saw quite a few of them.

Cooper and I feeding the Cockatoos.

Maddie giving a Cockatoo a drink.

The Rainbow Lorkeets came over to see what they were missing out on. They are really pretty birds. They kept landing on Mark and Stacy's heads.

Then we went to find the Flying Foxes. They just sleep in the trees all day. There were tons of them.

So far we are having a great time. We have seen lots of fun things and had a great time with Stacy, Kevin and the kids.

Australia -FINALLY

2009-07-27T00:11:00.000-07:00

So after all the airport hassels we finally got to Sydney. We meet up with Kevin and went home with him. I thought we should do some walking to keep us awake for the rest of the day so we set off for some sight seeing. We went to Manley Beach and played on the beach and then took a ferry across the harbor to the Opera House and The Rocks where we had yummy pizza.

Me and Madi hunting for seashells. She is an awesome seashell hunter. She has been practicing for a long time.

Mark

Cooper

Rylee loves the water.

Rylee.

The Opera House from our ferry ride across the Harbor.

Stacy, Madi and I sitting on the stairs of the Opera House.

Update Finally

2008-07-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have been super busy with soccer the last few months because of registration and so I have not taken the time to post anything lately. I will update a few things and later put on some pictures.

We left the day school got out and took the boat to Delta. We stayed with our friends, Brett and Shannon. It was so much fun we have not seen them since we moved from Magna and it was great to hang out with them. They have a cute family and we just love their kids.

Chelsea brought home a cute kittie. Her name is Snowbelle and she is very funny. Mark is slowly getting over the fact and even Avery thinks she's not so bad.

Avery decided to play football and he wants to be a kicker for Hunter this year. He loves to play and has been having a great time.

We have a new car because I didn't want to drive the Mustang anymore. I couldn't ever drive it after the accident and also gas is killing us. We have a Honda Civic and it gets lots better gas mileage.

Last Friday Avery was lifting weights with Matt at the Fitness Center and dropped a 35 lbs dumbell on his right ring finger. I ended up at the emergency room with him at Pioneer Hospital. Not a good choice I know, but that's where we went. On Sunday I had to take him back for a wound check and didn't feel good about it so I took him to the new hospital, IMC. They gave me a referral for an orthopedic and got me an appointment for Tuesday. We went to the doctor yesterday and ended up having surgery on his finger. He had damaged the nail bed into about seven or eight pieces that had to be stitched back together. We hope that everything will heal, but they are worried about part of the right side of his finger. We know that things will turn out better and he will be able to do all of the fun things he wants to do.

Avery and Austin are getting ready for soccer and they have a few tournaments coming up in the next few weeks.

I am really excited for Education Week with Wendy. I could really use the break from everyday life.

Dance

2008-05-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well Chelsea is ready for another dance concert on May 16. It is at 7:00 at the same place. She is dancing to the song Still Rock and Roll to Me. They were told to make sure they had big hair. She had pictures taken today so I took some pictures of her in her costume. She also made Jazz Attitude. She is going to be really busy with dance, but she is super excited.

Hunter Soccer

2008-05-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

The soccer team took 3rd place in the region so they are moving onto playoffs. They start the first play off game this week. We think it is on Tues. They will be playing Jordan High. We are excited for the team and love to watch soccer. Avery is having a blast and learning lots of new things. He has a couple of great coaches.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

Chelsea has been working on a few dance routines. Last week they had three days of clinics and today was tryouts. We didn't think they would find out who made Dance Company at the Jr. High until Wednesday, but they decided to post it tonight. Chelsea made dance company. We are so proud of her. Her really good friend Maddie made it to so that will be super fun for them. Now I don't have to be nervous for her anymore. Yeah!!!!!!!! Chelsea. GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!

New Book...

2008-04-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

The next book is out in one of our favorite series. So I'm sure it will be hard to wait our turns. The third Fablehaven book came out today. Chelsea of course called it first and then we will see what happens after that. I love the Fablehaven series. I like it more than the Harry Potter books.

I beat my last test

2008-04-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

87 words

Spee

Conference

2008-04-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

What a great conference we have had so far. I was so touched by the spirit in our home yesterday as we were able to stand in our family room as instructed by Elder Uchtdorf to stand and sustain our new prophet. I am so thankful for a living prophet and the instruction we receive. Today in the Sunday morning session I was so touched by his testimony that he gave us. I am grateful that the spirit can testify to us about the truth. President Monson has truly been called by our Heavenly Father and I am ready for the truth that he is going to share with us as the church moves forward.

A long time coming......

2008-04-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

K so this will most likely be long. I have been trying to get down here for weeks, but something with the kids always comes up. Stacy and I talked one day about scheduling it in so I will do it, the problem I have found is that kids mess up schedules.

Last weekend we had a great time watching soccer. The high school team played in Delta. We thought about taking the boat (HA HA), but with the 3" of snow we left in Salt Lake we didn't think it would be that warm. On Thursday we drove to Delta and watched the game, Hunter won both Varsity and JV. Then we moved on down south some more. We stayed in St. George for the night and got up the next morning to drive to Las Vegas for a tournament Austin was playing in. They did really well, they lost the first game and won the last two. I forgot to take pictures of Avery's game because I was freezing. It was really warm in Vegas and I got some sun. We got back late Sunday night and when I woke up Monday morning I had 3" of snow on the ground again. I guess that's what we get for trying to get away from the snow. Oh well spring in Utah.

The weekend before was Easter and usually we are in St George, but because of the tournament we stayed home and the kids had the Easter egg hunt with the cousins. It was fun, but weird to have Easter so early. We of course had yummy food and lots of fun. Yeah for family.

I should have put this in a long time ago. Brayden was baptized on March 8. He was so super excited and kept bouncing all over the house. My other kids where excited, but they did not show it like Brayden. It was a very special day and Avery and Chelsea gave wonderful talks at the baptism. I loved having Julie play a song for us on the violin. I am grateful for all the family and friends that came to share Brayden's special day.

The only other thing to report is that Avery finally got his braces off. It only took three years, but the stubborn child would not wear his elastics. I guess it's not me that had to wear them for so long. He sure has a nice smile though.

Type Test

2008-03-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I took Julie's type test. I was not sure how to get it onto my blog. I typed 77 words a minute. You should check it out and see how fast you can type.

Avery's Number

2008-03-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that Avery has always wanted number 11 to play sports. He wants that number because of Travis. He later found out that Grandma Cooper and Travis both had that number. Others of you may have also had it, but I don't know. So they got their uniforms yesterday for soccer and he is a freshman so he had to pick his number last. Of course 11 was already gone. So he has 33. He says it is for 3 generations of 11. Whatever works to make you think you have your number. I think he is funny.

Avery

2008-03-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

So Avery had been very excited for this spring season of soccer to start. He is a ninth grader and is able to try out for high school soccer. They had tryouts on Mon, Tues and Wed. I picked him up in front of seminary on Mon and he was pacing. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was nervous. He told me he always gets nervous before games and tryouts. I never knew. I picked him up Mon and asked him how he did and he said I did my best. I told him that was all we wanted him to do and we are proud of him for trying. At tryouts they had to do lots of running and there were about 125 kids. The coaches told the kids if they didn't like running not to come back the next day because they would be running a lot more. So on Tues I take him again and I go to pick him up and his doesn't come out of tryouts so I text him and he says I can't leave until they tell us who made first cuts. I sat in the car for a very long (long for me because I was nervous for him too) time. Finally he comes out and he made first cuts. He was so excited. Only about 75 kids showed up because of grades and they didn't want to run and they took about 50 kids for the final day of tryouts. I took him back on Wed and told him to do his best again. I went to get him and I could see the kids on the field and they were just waiting for the coaches to let them know. I see all of the kids start out the gate so I start driving over to find him and I can't find him anywhere. He finally calls me and says "Mom I have to go to a team meeting. I made the team." I was so excited for him. The first pre-season game is next Friday at Hunter. He has been working really hard at practice to be able to have some playing time. 4 freshman made the team and they may not get a lot of playing time, but people have told Avery that if he works really hard at practice that he may get some time. Yeah Avery!!!!!!!!!!!! Love ya kid!!!!!!!

The Crazy Bus Driver

2008-03-01T21:20:00.001-08:00

I have to say that this week has been a rather eventful week. I think i will share some scary news and then we can move onto the fun stuff.

I needed to run to WalMart for cupcakes for Brayden's party on Friday so I decided to do it on Thursday afternoon. I stopped at the house to talk to Brayden and headed out to run these errands. I had an hour and knew that would be plenty of time, unless you run into a crazy bus driver. I was at the red light on 5200 W. waiting to turn left onto 3500 S. You have to know how excited I have been this week because of the warm weather which means that the mustang has been out of the garage. So I was waiting for the light when I look up and a school bus is headed straight for me. I heard something in my head tell me to put it in reverse and I backed up as much as I could to get out of his way, but he went in front of me and turned and ended up in the right turn lane. He took out the right front side of the car. I couldn't believe it had just happened. I got out of my car and went to the bus and he was telling the kids to get off the bus and go home. I called Mark to ask if I should call the police or if the Granite District people should handle it. He told me to call the police so I did. The granite guy that showed up was Tom Given and the bus driver is in a lot of trouble. First, it is against district policy to have the kids get off the bus and second, this is his third accident this year with this same group of kids. Luckily nobody was hurt and the damage to the car is minimal. I am thankful that Heavenly Father didn't whisper to me how to get out of the way, but said it very loud and clearly. I am afraid if I wasn't listening it would have been really bad.

Crazy Stuff At our House

2008-02-20T22:14:00.001-08:00

Just a couple of fun things coming up at our house. They are mostly about the two big boys.

On Monday Avery is getting his braces off. Pictures will be coming because I haven't seen his teeth in a couple of years. He is also trying out for the High School Soccer Team on Monday. Avery never ceases to amaze me either. Today he didn't come home after school so I tried to call him and he didn't answer so I texted him. I found out by his long drawn out texts that he was trying out for the school play. Hunter Jr. is doing Music Man and they needed a trumpet player and so he tried out and made it. The play is in April. Good job Avery.

Austin is ready for another swim meet in Park City this weekend. About water polo though. He went last Saturday at 7 am and came home and told he how much fun it is. He said it is a lot like soccer and he was really tired from being in the deep end most of the two hours. Then Monday after swim practice he came home and told me he wanted to go to practice again on Wednesday from 5-6:30. I didn't think much about it expect that it would interfere with swim practice. On Tuesday when he reminded me out water polo I asked him if he wanted to miss swim practice for water polo practice and he started to laugh. I didn't realize that 5:00-6:30 was am not pm. Most of you know that I love mornings so much, I guess I forgot about that time of day. So this morning he headed out the door with his dad to practice. Good for him for getting up. We found out that a new rule came out that you have to be in 7th grade to play on the team, but the coach said he is welcome to come and practice anytime. During the summer they play water polo in the outdoor pool at Kearns. Austin also told me that he might give up soccer and swim and play water polo all year long. I guess we will see about that.

Oh ya, Brayden had his first pack meeting tonight. The Blue and Gold Banquet. We had pizza, salad and brownies. He had a great time. His first den meeting will be next Tuesday right after school.

Brayden's Eight

2008-02-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's amazing to me how time has flown by with my kids. On Friday we celebrated the baby's eighth birthday, which means he is not a baby anymore. He is super excited to be baptized and can hardly wait. He is being baptized on March 8 and it's not soon enough for him. Brayden is a super crazy kid and I think he is going to be in drama. He is taking swim lessons and his teacher says he is a great swimmer, so maybe I can talk him into swimming on the swim team. He is so fun to have around the house and I am a little bit sad that he is going up so fast. Probably because he is the youngest. Happy Birthday Little Guy.

Logan Swim Meet

2008-02-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

I had an assignment for my photo class and I found the perfect place to take the pictures. We had to shoot action shots and so I took these pictures at Austin's swim meet. He did really well he had a second place, 3 third places and a fourth place. I love to watch him swim and he loves to go. He comes home from school and tells me he is ready to go. He loves to talk about swimming and his face lights up when he does (kind of like soccer). Today his coach told him to try water polo. On Saturday they have a water polo practice and he could maybe play on the high school team already. We will see what that brings about. Anyway the pictures I took are the three different strokes he swam. See if you can tell what they are.

If you guessed backstroke good job. He swam in the 50 and 100 m backstroke.

This is the breast stroke. He swam the 50 m. He took second in this one.

Nice in you thought this might be freestyle. He swam in the 50 and 100 m events.

He is doing super swell and he has another meet on the 22nd and 23rd of Feb in Park City. He is trying to cut his time in the freestyle so he can go to state in March.

Snpiers

2008-02-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

Well I am not a big fan of guns in the house, but Avery and Austin received gift cards for Christmas and guess what they wanted. You got it Nerf Guns. I told them that they needed to keep safety in mind because I didn't want anyone getting hurt. The picture shows how they solved the problem.

They made up a game and where racing around the house and I go see what they are doing and I see Brayden peeking around the corner and they all have their dad's safety glasses on. I laughed so hard. I told them thanks for making sure nobody got their eye shot out. They have been having a lot of fun and I get a kick out of watching them figure out how to shot the other person without getting shot.

Austin - The Little Fish

2008-01-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

I tried to update this about a week ago, but it wouldn't let me post so here we go again.

Austin had his first swim meet on Jan 18. He kept asking me all day if it was time to go yet. I was so nervous for his that I forgot the camera, thank goodness Julie brought hers. He swam super fast and I was very proud of him. He swam the 50 m freestyle in 35.68 seconds and only has to take off 5 seconds to qualify for state at BYU. He also swam the 50 m backstroke. He swam that in 42.16 seconds. He told me his legs get more tired with the backstroke. He did super awesome and he loves swimming.

Kid Fun

2008-01-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

Just an update on the kids.

Avery just started taking trumpet lessons again, his first lesson was on Tues. His other teacher left to go to college so we have been trying to find a new teacher. Travis told me to call Mr. Ferrin and see if he was teaching or knew of somebody. So Avery's new teacher is Mr. Ferrin. At his first lesson he found out why Travis likes Mr. Ferrin so much. Avery loved it. He is still playing indoor soccer and trying to get ready for high school tryouts in a few weeks. He has 3 merit badges that are 3/4 of the way done and then a eagle project and he will have his eagle. He has been working really hard. He likes to help the neighbors and the other day when it snowed he was gone for a few hours plowing out the neighbors. I am proud of him.

Chelsea will start today with a flute teacher. Her name is Sunni. Chelsea is still working hard in school. She wants to tryout for the dance team at the Jr. High this year and so she is working hard in her dance class. She really likes playing the piano and she will just sit down and play sometimes for fun. Reminds me of myself. When spring comes she will be playing soccer again. She loves Young Women's and I am grateful for the wonderful leaders that she has.

Austin has decided to try something new this winter. Last fall he didn't have enough time for swimming and for soccer so he picked it back up this winter. In a short time they moved him from the pre-competition team to the comp team. A week from tomorrow he will swim in his first meet. He is going to do the 50m backstoke and the 50m freestyle. I'll let ya know how he does. He loves playing the saxaphone and is still playing the piano. His soccer team played one session of indoor soccer and in a couple of weeks his coach wants to start training outside. They are going to a tournament in Las Vegas in March. Austin just started in 11 year old scouts and he is going to Tracy with his dad and brother this weekend. He needs camping nights for his merit badge. He is doing awesome.

Brayden thinks he may want to swim also, but first he has to have some more swimming lessons. He is the only one that I didn't every make sure he had lessons. I worried about it a lot with the older kids because of the boat, but I let it slip with Brayden. Oh well, he started this week with lessons. I hope that he loves it. He is also taking piano and doing really good. I think Brayden will be my singer. He loves to sing and is always going around the house singing. The other kids get really sick of it and I remind them that we all have things we are good at and we can't stop people from doing what they love. He loves 2nd grade and his teacher. He is most excited about the fact it is 2008. When he was four he always wanted to know how long until he was baptized. I told him when he was eight. He said that would take forever and I told him to wait until 2008. On New Year's Eve after he yelled out the door he came running to me and said "Mom it's 2008 I get baptized this year." In March he will be baptized and he can hardly stand it. I am glad that he is looking forward to it.

That's the fun stuff going on around here.

It's about time......

2008-01-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Life really is back to normal. Just as busy as ever. It wouldn't be normal if we weren't hopping around here. Good thing we are having lots of fun. I decided to give a recap of the last couple of things that have gone on around here and then we will start blogging better. I am trying to have a routine around here, but I have always hated routines.

First, Austin had a birthday on Dec 23rd. I can't believe that he is 11. Here he is getting ready to blow out his candles.

Then of course Christmas happened. The kids asked for a Wii and that's what they got. They spent a lot of the morning playing with that before we even opened presents under the tree. Avery asked for guitar hero and I think Mark likes it the most. He gets to hear all of the old rock music he used to listen to.

The kids also like to play the sports pack that came with it. Bowling, golfing, boxing and a couple of others. Here is Avery and Austin boxing.

Then after Christmas came the rest of the partying. You know it doesn't stop until Jeff and Wendy show up. I love the progressive dinner and everybody always has great ideas for their assignments. I sure love to hang out with my family.

Then Brayden lost a tooth. He has lost his two bottom ones, but I always get a kick out of the top ones. They sure are more noticeable. He was making me laugh the first few days because he found out he couldn't talk very well.

Life back to "normal" (LOL)

2007-12-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

So we are mostly back to good health and Avery had his stitches taken out yesterday and life is cruising along. I just realized that Christmas is right around the corner. Good thing my shopping is done and the tree is up. We put the tree up the Friday after Thanksgiving and Kayla was here with Chelsea helping her decorate. The girls had a blast. Kayla said her mom only lets her do a little decorating and then she has to go to bed. She was so excited that she got to help with all of the decorating. I usually decorate the tree in the living room, but I let Chelsea and Kayla do it this year. It looks great. The two of them did a great job. I don't like the snow really, but I sure love it on the Christmas lights outside. I hope that the storm we are getting this weekend will help cover the deer and trees in my front yard. We are going to the Bell Concert at the Conference Center tonight because we couldn't get tickets to the Tabernacle Christmas Concert next weekend. They did the tickets different this year and it was out of my hands. You had to register online and then they held a random drawing for them. Syndy Lambert gave Mark and I two tickets to the concert, but that means the kids can't go. Mom had gotten these tickets for tonight so we thought it would be better to take the kids to something. I love the concert because it really gets my Christmas season started. I love Christmas time and the spirit that you can have when you ponder the real spirit of Christmas and what Jesus being born has meant for all of us. We love all of you and think of you often, but especially at Christmas when we all remember what love is about.

"Not so much fun" after Thanksgiving

2007-12-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

So on Saturday of Thanksgiving we had Avery in the Instacare. He was running a fever and said his throat hurt. You guessed it strep. Then Chelsea told me her throat hurt too. Avery stayed home on Mon and Tues and Chelsea was home on Tues and Wed. About Wed. I ended up on the couch. Mark kept telling me I had hurry and get better. I couldn't keep anything down. It just went right though me. Well finally Mark told me that he was surprising me for our Anniversary and Brandon and Julie were coming on Friday night to stay with the kids. He told me we were going to The Homestead. Finally at about 3:00 Friday afternoon I went and took a shower and got ready to go. It was fun, but I still wasn't feeling terrific. It was really pretty because we had a bunch of snow dumped in the mountains. On Saturday we got up and went to Park City for a little shopping and when we were almost ready to come home Austin called me to tell me Avery had a hole in his nose. He was sledding with Brayden and another boy that was there was snowboarding and the board flipped up and hit Avery in the nose. Brandon took Avery to Instacare (again) and we met him there. He ended up with five stitches and no broken nose (they took x-rays). Austin is also running a fever and I'm sure it's from all the Cooper Thanksgiving fun. Several of the Cooper clan have been sick.

I guess even though we are all a little under the weather that tomorrow Mark and I have been married for 18 years. I think that is a big accomplishment. I love Mark more than I did 18 years ago and I am still glad I made the choice to marry him. We have a "little" bit of craziness at our house with all the boys, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

We had a great time planning, making and eating the traditional Cooper feast. We went to mom's on Wednesday when Wendy was there and pretty much spent the rest of the weekend with each other. On Thursday we did some of our "Black Friday" shopping on line, that was a first. I had most of my shopping done already so I didn't get up early and go shopping at 4:00 am. The kids had the West Valley parade so I went to that and caught up with the girls for breakfast and shopping the rest of the day. I found this really fun thing at Tai Pan. They are called Skookies. You make cookies, personal pizzas, brownies and tons of other things in these little cast iron pans. We made brownies and pizzas in them. The best part of "Black Friday" is going through the ads over and over and over and over again. Jeff said it was way to much of course, but we still do it. We have to get our game plan for the next day. On Saturday we watched the "BIG" game. The game made me nervous, of course, but it turned out the way I wanted it to. Then Sunday, because we haven't eaten enough by now, we had birthday dinner for the November birthdays. It was a great weekend with family. I am super lucky to have the great family that I have. We of course missed Stacy, but we at least got to talk to them on line.

Fall Fun

2007-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Well several weeks ago we cleaned up the leaves. If you notice the "big boy" won't play in the leaves anymore. Just look for him in the background. If was really fun. The dogs even got in the middle of it all. Avery took the pictures of the dogs and they just sat there. I was amazed at that. We don't like cleaning up the leaves, but playing in them first makes it better. Later that night we left a present on Travis' backstep. He said he wanted leaves for the garden so we took them over.

Kid fun

2007-11-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

We have been staying busy at our house. Of course life has slowed down a little bit with soccer being over.

Avery started wrestling at school and he has already had four meets. Two of them he couldn't compete in. He got hurt at wrestling practice last Friday. He slammed his knee on the mat and sprained it really good. He has had a brace on since then and we were told that if it didn't feel better in 7-10 days to take him to an orthopedic. Today he was actually walking a little bit more normal. I think that is a good sign.

Chelsea is dancing and playing the piano and of course working hard to get good grades. She keeps busy with that stuff.

Austin will start indoor soccer tomorrow and he is back swimming again. He really likes it and wants to be on the comp swim team. He will only be able to do swimming when he is not playing outdoor soccer. They conflict too much.

Brayden is staying busy with the piano. He is working hard in school and has a daily review to complete every day. They don't get a grade if the assignment is correct, but if they are prepared. Every day they have to look up some fact on the internet and tell what they learned. He really likes to do that.

I really can't believe that this year is almost over. It has really flown by. I guess the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun" is really the truth.

San Fran Here We Come

2007-11-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

I guess you are all wondering if we had any fun on our trip to San Francisco. We had a great time, but Mom called me to make sure we were home. On Tuesday at about 9:00 they had an earthquake. We were home by then, but mom reminded me that when Wendy went to San Fran is high school they had an earthquake that day also. At least the one that happened with us didn't collapse any bridges. Well back to the trip. We went to Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 39), drove down the crookedest street, ate yummy food (Mark had crab, yuck), Six Flags, Muir Woods and the Beach.

On Pier 39 they have an area that the sea lions just hang out. We watched them play in the water and sun bathe and make lots of noise. They bark really loud and are fun to watch. This started out our vacation. On Friday after we arrived at our hotel we drove to the wharf and wandered around looking at all the sights.

At Six Flags we watched several shows. As we were watching this dolphin show I thought about Stacy and how much she loves them. I thought this was a cool picture so I had to share it with you.

This is from the killer whale show.

This is from the sea lion show. We went back at night to watch the spooky Halloween show and tried taking pictures, but it was too dark and we were too far away. Both shows were really fun and the kids loved them. Avery took video on his phone and Chelsea took pictures with her phone.

In the middle of these shows we rode some of the rides. Since I love going on the rides (ha, ha) I had a lot of time to sit around. I was bored during on of these times and so I was playing with my camera since I am still trying to learn how to use it. I took this picture of a flower that I thought was pretty.

I have to do something to entertain myself. Well we went to Thomas land and so for Cooper I took this picture.

All the kids had a great time having a ride on Thomas. They had several places for kids to ride little rides. Toontown and Thomas land. While Chelsea and Austin rode the big kid rides Avery took Brayden to the kid towns. Brayden would ride the big rides, but he is not tall enough yet. Avery doesn't really like rides either.

We ran into several looney toons around Six Flags and Avery was really having fun with Donald Duck. I thought this was a funny picture. We had a lot of fun at Six Flags.

Another adventure that we had was to go to the Muir Woods. It is not the big Redwood Forest that people go to, but they had big redwood trees. I was amazed at how tall the trees are. The pictures don't really give it justice. The trees are around 300 feet tall and have been growing for thousands of years.

I was laying on the ground trying to take this picture so you could see how tall the trees where.

The Muir Woods was a really cool place to visit. To get there from where we were you had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. The kids liked going over the bridges. To get from our hotel to most of the places we visited we had to cross the Bay Bridge. They liked seeing the huge ships and all the sail boats on the ocean.

Another place we went to was Lombard Street. It is the crookedest street. We drove down it three times. I had forgotten how steep the rodes in San Fran really are. Some streets where the cars where parked it looked like they could just roll over and go down the hill. I would hate to live on this street because of the traffic.

So on Monday we went to the beach. The few days before it was about 75 and sunny. On Monday we went to the beach and it was not warm. It was about 55 and cloudy and it had been raining a little bit. I can't believe the kids actually got in the water.

Avery of course got the wettest. The whole reason for going was because they wanted to skim board in the ocean. They tried, but it was a little bit harder than at the lake. The waves are a little bit faster.

By now Brayden was freezing. We spent about an hour there and had a great time. Chelsea and I of course stayed dry.

Well considering that we had to change plans at the last minute we had a great time. It was fun to go back to San Fran again. Mark and I went when Avery was about 8 months old and saw Phantom on the Opera. It has changed a lot since then. Our favorite place to eat was at Boudins. They had sour dough bread. Most of the family had clam chowder in sour dough bread bowls and I had pizza on sour dough bread. We even bought some canned clam chowder and bread bowls to bring home. I was a great vacation.

Austin's Halloween Program

2007-11-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Austin and all the 5th and 6th graders performed at school for Halloween. They had black lights and white cut up shirts and white gloves. They turned out the lights and did a lot of songs with hand actions. The gloves just glowed. They asked us not to take flash photos during the program so I ended up with a few cool looking pictures during the program.

They sang some songs, just did hand actions to other songs and told jokes. It was really fun. Austin's teacher, Ms. D. (her last name is too hard to spell), is new to the school this year and has done this at her previous school for lots of years. They practiced for about three weeks every day. They worked really hard and it was a great program.

Last soccer games

2007-11-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the last few games of soccer that we played. I took pictures of Avery and Austin's games since I already had some for the other two kids. Soccer is over until Spring. We will be playing indoor with Avery and Austin, but that is nothing. No practice, one game a week and it's fun. I love the fast pace and the ball bouncing off the wall.

Avery is number 11. He claims he will not play soccer unless he is 11. I guess he thinks that is made other people in the family lucky to wear that number so he has to also.

Austin on the other hand just picked a number when he made the team because 11 was taken. He is number 99.

Vacation

2007-10-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well we are headed on vacation, a little bit disappointed, but still on the way. I'm sure it will be fun because we will be together. Our plan was to go to San Diego for UEA weekend. We were going to go to the BYU football game, but that would be hard with people living in the stadium. It sounds like there will be people everywhere. I hope the fires are put out soon and that nobody else looses their houses. On Monday mom asked if we were still going because of the fires. We of course didn't know about the fires. On Tuesday Mark called the hotel and they said that Sea World had been closed since Sunday and didn't know when they would reopen. We talked to the kids and decided that we wanted to go west because we want to play in the ocean. We are still going to California, but we are going to San Francisco instead. We are going to Six Flags, Fisherman's Wharf, ride the trolley, go to the beach and whatever else we can find to do. I will be taking the camera and will have pictures when we get back.

Another Soccer Game

2007-10-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

After we went to Brayden's game we had another game to go to. We met Brandon and Julie at the game and I should have had Mark take pictures of us all bundled up. It was very cold. Chelsea said it wasn't too bad, but she was also running around. It was supposed to be another rainy and cold day, but it only sprinkled a few times during the day.

Pretty good balance.
She wanted to be #11, but somebody got to it before she did. So she had to go with number 6. Her team has lost every game this year, but she it getting better as soccer and they had a coach this year that had a least played soccer before. That's what happens in recreational soccer you usually have a parent that just helps and doesn't really know that much about soccer. She has one more game this season and then we get that break until Spring. Oh well there is still piano, flute and dance to work on. She also has school (lots of homework). She has straight A's and is working hard. Good job Chels.

Brayden's game

2007-10-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

So here's Brayden and his friend Koby.

We went to Brayden's game on Saturday and I knew how to use the burst on my camera. I also knew how to change the zoom lens so I got some better pictures. I will someday be as good as Janae and Stacy at taking pictures, but you work with what you've got.

I like that I can take pictures right in a row so you can see the whole run with the ball and the kick that follows. He is starting to catch onto soccer more and has scored one goal this season. They have one more game next week and then we are done until Spring. Usually I am sorry to see this time come to an end, but with the play added on top of soccer this year I am actually ready for a break.

Chelsea's Soccer Game

2007-10-14T17:43:00.001-07:00

So Chelsea played her last Jr. High Soccer game on Oct. 1 and I took the camera this time (I finally remembered it I should say). She doesn't like the pictures, but I think they are cute. I didn't know how to put the other zoom lens on and so I had to crop and zoom in on the pictures. I got home that night and Mark gave me a quick lesson on how to work the camera (mini lesson I guess). So here is Chelsea playing her last game. Kearns didn't bring their JV team so Hunter played each other. They were the tucked and untucked teams.

I'm glad that she has had so much fun with soccer. She did really well and played hard and learned a lot.

She made lots of new friends from the team and learned how much fun it is to play with just girls. They make up cheers for each other and have fun being together.

She also picked up a few soccer skills. Thanks to her coach, team and her brother. Remember Avery was the team manager/coach. He helped with the goalies mostly.

And here's Avery playing with the girls. I think he had a good time and liked coaching.

Conference

2007-10-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that I loved Conference this year. It started off the week before when Mom and I went to Women's Conference and ended with the last session of conference. For several years I haven't been able to watch conference on Saturday because of soccer, but because of weather and not having as many games scheduled I was able to watch all four sessions. I don't have a favorite speaker I just loved all four sessions. I felt the spirit touch me and remind me of some things I could do better with. I love it when conference affects you like that. Good thing I was ready to hear the messages at this time. I am pretty sure that every conference is like that, but I don't always feel like I got anything new out of it. I chalk that up to not being prepared to feel and hear the spirit. I am grateful that I was prepared to feel that spirit. I am excited for the Ensign so that I can read the talks again.

Chelsea's Room

2007-10-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well I am finally learning how to use the "BIG BAD" camera that Mark bought (and Travis and Robert). I think when soccer is over I may take the class. I think I need to do something productive with my time and I think it's time for me to learn some new things. Anyway, I took some pictures of Chelsea's room and I am letting her put them on her blog mostly, but I am putting one picture on mine. I at first didn't like the way her room was turning out. For a while because of doing it around soccer and play practice we didn't get very much accomplished. We would walk into this room with bright green on three walls and the old color on the other wall, it didn't look very good. By the time we had the purple wall painted and started putting down the floor I started liking it more. The final touch made me love it. All the hot pink. I love Chelsea's room and I like it even better because Chelsea and her dad got to spend time together working on it. She learned how to take off baseboard, she learned how to paint and she learned how to put down a floor. Now if she ever needs to do this for herself she will know how to do it.

I love the room I hope you can tell from this picture how cute it is. She did a great job with her dad.

Tag You're It

2007-09-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little slow in getting this done, but here you go:

4 Jobs I've had:
1. Right now I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) Aide at Sandburg Elementary. It works out great with the kids school schedule. I work from 9-12:30 Mon-Thurs.
2. Until last December I worked at Unibase (ACS) doing data entry. I did that for 14 years so that I could stay home with the kids.
3. Before I had the kids I worked at Utah Home Fire as a receptionist and I got to work in the same building with Mark.
4. The job I had as a teenager was a hostess at Francesco's in Magna.

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
1. Gone With the Wind
2. Finding Nemo
3. Princess Bride
4.

4 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Law and Order
2. ER
3. 10:00 News
4. Soccer and BYU Football games

4 Favorite Reality TV Shows:
1. Biggest Loser
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. I don't really watch too many of these shows
4.

4 of My Favorite Places I Have Been:
1. New York
2. Disneyland
3. San Diego
4. I am excited to visit Stacy in Australia so that will sure top the list.

4 Favorite Foods:
1. Orange chicken at Panda Express
2. Pizza
3. Enchiladas
4. Yummy Potatoes and Meatloaf

4 Websites I Check Daily:
1. Blogger
2. Email
3. Wells Fargo (got to check my money)
4.

4 Hobbies:
1. Reading
2. Piano - it is still my stress release
3. Step aerobics
4. Kids - I love to watch them doing the things they love to do

4 Family and Friends I Would Like to Tag:
1. Lana
2. Devin and Julie
3. I think the rest of you tagged everyone else I have on my blog.
4.
Tag your it!!

Avery, Gotta Love Him

2007-09-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well the next crazy thing around here is that AVERY (not mom or anybody else) decided that he wanted a haircut. I was pretty shocked because the hairstyle he wanted was really short after his long hair. For instance I found a picture of Avery at the family campout this year and Julie had french braided his hair. Let's see before.

Well I'm sure you get the "picture" about Avery and his long hair. He told me on Saturday that he was going to the neighbors for a haircut. I didn't even think about going along until it was too late. Picture time during the haircut would have been priceless. Apparently the floor was a couple inches thick with just Avery's hair. So instead of the inbetween pictures you can only get the before and after. I am going to get the hang of this blog thing and remember that I need my camera with me where ever I go because you never know what crazy thing will happen. So here are the after shots. Gotta love it. I love his long hair because I love his natural curl, but he is sure handsome like this.

He just washed his hair before this picture, but he is actually putting gel in his hair and spiking it a little bit. It sure looks nice. So it will just keep getting crazy around here with a teenager and more teenagers on the way. Stay tuned for the next crazy thing that happens.

Musical Madness

2007-09-30T20:40:00.001-07:00

The musical is over and we all worked really hard. We had a great time and met some new friends. Scott and I were able to play the piano in the pit with the orchestra. I have never been in the pit before and it was fun. I also got to play with Robert which I have never been able to do.

The kids all worked hard and met some really neat friends. I think they will be friends for a long time. They spent a lot of time together. Not only working on the play, but when they weren't needed on stage they were doing homework together in the hall.

We spent 2 1/2 months preparing to perform. The main acting parts where there a lot more than my kids where. We rehearsed every Wed and Thurs from 6-9 and every Sat from 8-11. They did a lot of sitting around waiting for their turn to perform, but finally the big night arrived.

They sang and danced and had lots of fun. We all had to get out of our comfort zones a little bit. Mark has never been in a play before and neither have the kids and the music was really hard so I had to practice lots.

My favorite part was the bottle dancing. Mark, Avery and Austin were in this part and I loved watching them. They had to concentrate so hard to keep their bottles on their hats.

Here's Austin

Here's Avery.
Here's Mark.

It was fun to be part of and the best part was that our testimonies of the gospel were strengthened. Tevye said, "Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do." We have "traditions" in the gospel that help us remember where we came from and where we are going. I hope that we can all remember what our traditions are so that we can stay on the straight and narrow path.

Skim Boarding

2007-09-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

I guess I should have explained skim boarding. The boards that all the kids are holding up are all you need to have fun on the beach. The Timothy's have property close to Bear Lake and have never had a boat so this is what they like to do. It is similar to skate boarding. You throw the board along the beach and jump on it and ride. Austin was doing so good with it that he was turning and jumping off and back on. They are super fun and if you are waiting for the boat to come and get you for a ride you have something else to do.

Fun at Bear Lake

2007-09-24T19:19:00.002-07:00

Okay so I haven't had any pictures to show you, but I do now and wanted to let you know how much fun we had over Labor Day Weekend. We went to Bear Lake with the Timothy's and the kids learned how to skim board. They had so much fun that we had to buy boards for the kids. Austin was doing tricks by the time he was done. Jordan was a great teacher and helped the kids learn how to skim board. They loved it. I also couldn't believe that Avery tried to wake board and he also got in the tube for a semi-wild ride. We spent several days at the lake and the weather was perfect. Mark forgot the camera so Janet had to send us pictures.

The other three boys had a lot of fun in the tube. I of course was driving and some of you may have wanted to be in on this ride. As you can see Brayden is actually standing up. What does that tell you about the ride?

Brayden loved swimming around and playing on the knee board. Of course it wasn't used behind the boat just as a canoe, but he sure loves that.

Chelsea spent her time either skim boarding, tubing or water skiing. I don't have any pictures of her except the one at the top. She is doing great and tried to ski without the board between her skis this time. It was a bit tricky for her but she will get the hang of it. She is awesome.

28 Years Later

2007-09-17T08:21:00.001-07:00

In fourth grade I started at a new school. I didn't have any friends and was a little nervous. We didn't know anybody yet because the house wasn't quite finished. Well 28 years later things certainly changed didn't they. Like Julie said lots of memories have happened in that house. I didn't know that I would be so sad to maybe see the last of that house. I am so excited for Mom and Dad and their new house it is awesome. It will be perfect for them. I was thinking about some of the things I remember growing up there. I tried so hard to see Santa for several years I think I finally gave up because I couldn't stay awake long enough. I would sit on the stairs and look under the door waiting for Santa and would always wake up from sleeping on the stairs and Santa had already come. Stacy and Julie aren't the only ones who would have to leave from the dinner table because of laughing, I might add that it was not just laughing, but out of control girl laughing. I got to come back and have mom baby me after Avery was born and just be taken care of. I feel really lucky to live so close to mom and dad and the kids have already asked me what they are going to do without grandma and grandpa within bike riding distance. Mom told Avery that pretty soon he would have his license so he could still come visit. I love that old house and all the memories I have from living there. Thanks mom and dad for letting us grow up there and congrats on the new house I know it will be just as loving a place for us to come to as the old one.

Fiddler on the Roof

2007-09-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know if some of you know this or not, but the play at Cyprus when I was a senior was Fiddler on the Roof. I was a towns person and it was really fun. I have had a different experience this time because of being involved in the music. At first I was just going to play during rehearsals, but the director decided that we needed more help in the pit. I have never played in the pit before so it has been really fun. I have a partner on the piano and since the music is really tricky we are splitting it up. Mark and the kids are all in the play and they have all been having a great time. It has interfered with soccer and things, but the kids have made some new friends (especially Avery and Chelsea) and they have learned some fun things. On Marie's blog there is a picture of Chelsea and Whitney (Whitney is Chava in the play) and last Friday they had a sleepover. Chelsea slammed her finger in the car door and at practice on Saturday morning came to show me. She didn't break her finger, but it sure hurts. The play is this week on Thursday (7:00) and Saturday (2:00) at Hunter High. It is free to come to and I am looking forward to see the end result. It has been a lot of work and we are all tired, but it is a great experience for all of us. We have all had to step out of our comfort zones and do something a little harder that we have before. I'll let you know how it ends up.

Soccer Life

2007-09-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

As most of you know by now we have tons of soccer that goes on in the Warner house. At the beginning of school Chelsea decided to try-out for the Jr. High Girls Soccer team. I was a little bit worried about her since she hasn't been playing soccer for very long. Avery decided that he would go with her for "support" (we think it is for the girls). He was talking to the coach (he knows her because of running track) and ended up as the team manager/assistant coach. He helps the goalies at practice and helps with nets. Chelsea came home from the first try-out so excited because she had made first cuts. After the next try-out she was on the JV team. They have already played two games and she has played the whole game (they only play 20 minutes total) as a defender. She is doing great. I am really proud of her. Avery, Austin and Brayden are still playing soccer and we have a busy schedule with them, but I love to watch my kids play. Avery and Austin are doing really well. Avery is getting ready to try-out for the High School team (yes I said High School) in the Spring so he is working really hard at practice and games. Austin has really improved during the last few months and plays almost the whole game. Besides Jr High Chelsea is also playing rec soccer and her team doesn't do very well, but her coach told me she is one of the best kids on the team. And of course, Brayden is playing rec and he is just having fun. I will try to get some pictures taken of these cute (guess I shouldn't say that about the boys) kids playing soccer. I really love to watch them play and love to watch them improve.

Getting Started

2007-09-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

I decided that I had better join the blogging scene. I have to figure out how to put pictures on and things, but I think it will be fun. We are so busy that I don't always have the time to call and see what's going on. Hopefully this way you will all know what is going on at our house. I am excited to let you know all the fun things that are happening at our place.