Matthew's name in newspaper

Matthew's name made it into the Houston Chronicle today. It can be found at the end of the last paragraph. There's more to the article, but this was the only part that mentioned him by name. I've had another one of those moments realizing he only has a year before he leaves for college. He had his picture taken in the tux for yearbook today and they also took pictures with his cap and gown on today. Where does the time go? Too Fast!

Mom is a summer kill- joy today

Not much going on here, just trying to play catch-up after vacation. I've caught up on the ironing until I finish the next few loads of laundry. I'm being a mean mom today by making the kids some what clean out their closets at least enough that you can find the floor. They also have some weeds to pull and poop to pick up. I am full of fun for my kids today. We have company coming tomorrow. One of Dale's sister's and his niece are coming so I only thought it fair that everyone pick up their rooms, not just the one that guest will be staying in.

New Calling

I just got my favorite calling yesterday, Primary Pianist. I get to be in Primary, but I don't have to prepare lessons and get to hear all the kids funny remarks. I must be fragile because they asked me if I could handle this calling along with my Stake calling, Assistant Stake camp director. I don't know, I hope I can handle them both.

Sweet Dreams

This post is for Matthew.

Matthew wants to know who his California Cousin is dreaming about.

We Made it

We are finally home. Man that was a long drive. It was even longer with all the road construction. I think we had to stop and wait 4 different times on Friday. Saturday we didn't have to stop for construction there was just a lot of 4 lane highways down to 2 lanes and it was slow when you got behind a semi and couldn't pass. Here is what we did to pass the time at one stop on Friday

Jacob in his blue BYU wig was entartaining us

Brittney has had enough of us making fun of her. And Jacob is mad that I made him get back in the car. He was entertaining the cars around us.

Makenzie is singing


Matthew is pleading me to let him drive the new Suburban.

No you can't! You are giving me a headache!

Almost Home

We are spending the night in Wichita Falls, TX and will be home tomorrow afternoon. Dale is already home so I will be happy to be at home with him. I will see if he kept his promise to run all over the carpet and mess up all the vacuum tracks. Traveling wasn't too bad today. There was a lot of repaving highways that slowed us down but not too much. Hopefully we will have good weather and traffic tomorrow. See you soon Dale. XOXO

In the minority

The kids and I just got back from Water World, a water park in Denver. I felt like I was the only woman there without breast implants, tattoo's all over my body and piercings all over my body. There were a lot of men with nipple piercings, what is up with that? Matthew said that would be like getting a titty twister all day everyday.

Out of the mouth of babes- Part 2

While staying a night with my nephew's family it was their 4 year old son's turn to say the prayer before bedtime. He said he was thankful that all these people could visit(meaning our family). He specifically asked to bless Jacob(my youngest son), mario and luigi. I guess donkey kong was getting to them

Out of the mouth of babes

Two weeks ago in my sisters ward my nieces and nephews kids attended their primary. In primary they were discussing appropriate movies when a sunbeam raised his hand and said "We shouldn't see movies that say I am going to kick your ass".

We made it

After a billion miles of driving we arrived in California late Saturday night, actually it was early Sunday morning. It is great to see family. The kids have discovered American Idol on Wii, unfortunately we all have to listen to it. I will put clips of it all when I get home. I went running this morning and forgot how steep the hills are here. I'm sure my legs will be a little bit sore tomorrow.

Vacation

I have to brag on Makenzie for a little bit. She and Brittney are playing in summer basketball leagues through the schools. Makenzie's team is made up of incoming 6th - 8th graders. Brittney's team is all incoming sophomores. Brittney's high school basketball coach put her team in the Varsity League instead of the freshman/ JV league. Brittney's team has struggles, especially since they never have enough players or there are just 5 and they have to play the whole game. Makenzie's team was undefeated until last night, due to many girls on vacation, but after her game she came to Brittney's game. Brittney's team only had 3 girls so they borrowed some from the other team. Makenzie and another girl from her team played with Brittney's team, even though they were tired from their game. Makenzie had 5 points, one was a 3 pointer. This was against a Varsity team. She played so well. They refs even commented on her play. Brittney had 4 points. Brittney has hung tough during this season. You go girls!

Now in about 8 hours we set off on our road trip. Dale is actually out of town this morning and Jacob has football camp till noon. Hopefully we will be on the road by 4pm. It's California or Bust! Then off to Colorado after that. We are excited to see our family!!

Sorry

The last post I published without saving my changes so there are no captions with the pictures and some typo's in the comments.

I'm alright

Good morning. I just had to wake my little guy up for Football camp. He is really dragging. He not only has football camp this week but also cub scout camp in the evening. He hasn't gotten a lot of sleep. Matthew has his last day of fitness camp today. The girls have their last basketball game today. We won't have any more sports or practices for 3 weeks. We spend lots of time at the kids games. I thought of naming my blog "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". I really do enjoy attending my kids events, especially their sporting events, I'm alright with it. That brings me to the title of my blog. People always ask me how I get my kids every where and tell me they feel sorry for me. Don't feel sorry for me, I chose to have these kids and I choose to let them particpate in these activities. Heck, my mom and mother-in-law each had 6 kids and they did just fine. Last time there was a "Time Out for Women" in the Houston area, people were stunned that I chose to go watch my kids play football and soccer and not attend the "time out". If anyone needed it it was me the told me. I'm sure the confernce was wonderful, but I would be wondering how my kids games were going and not be able to enjoy the conference. Is there anything wrong with that? I don't think so. If it's not alright for you then don't do it, but I enjoy watching my kids play sports and all their other activities.

Volleyball Champion

Makenzie's Volleyball team just won the KatyISD Championship. They really didn't have a good season, but played great in the tourney. Yeah for Makenzie!

Build an Ark

It's starting to rain
It's raining harder

The pool is to the top

Lake Katy, in our backyard

Get a boat to row down the street

Good thing we got that sprinkler system, at least we didn't put it in the backyard. I wish I could send this rain to California to put out the fires. We actually need the rain, it has been hot and dry except for the past week. Now that I said that it will probably rain all the time while we are in California.

Daily Grind

Back to the daily grind. We didn't get too much rest over the weekend, it was mostly work (more so for Dale and Matthew). Jacob had football camp this morning and is at cub scout camp this afternoon and evening. Makenzie has volleyball games tonight. Matthew had fitness camp today, that's why he is so buff(at least he thinks he is). Brittney is glued to the computer, what a surprise. She would go off the deep end if she didn't have a computer or texting. We think her phone is going to grow onto her thumbs. Don't get me wrong, she is a great kid, but spends too much time on electronics. Dale got to go to work, not that he didn't work hard over the weekend, but at least this type of work gets a paycheck. I have spent the day doing laundry, running kids around, cleaning mud off of sidewalks and even went grocery shopping, only to have to send Matthew back for the things I missed. It sounds kind of boring, but I am thankful that the kids are healthy and do these activities, that we have a home to clean and clothes to wear, food to eat and that my husband is employed that we can do all of this.

Fast Sunday

Why it's called "Fast" Sunday I don't know, because there is nothing fast about it. We have the 2 -5 schedule and it makes for a long day. It's fun to be tired and hungry at the end of church. OK, the kids probably aren't tired since they sleep in, but Dale always has meetings he gets to go to.

Sprinkler update- 3 0f 6 zones working. It has been a long project due to rain. We needed the rain, just not this weekend. Dale has had difficulty getting underneath all the sidewalks. There is so much excess junk in the ground(cement chunks, bricks, trash). He has finally gotten under all of them. He is skipping his morning meetings to work on it. Darn, he hates to miss those meetings. I'll be owing him big time when it's all done.

Family is all home

Matthew hard at work on the sprinkler system, I mean fireworkswith the girls

Jacob and neighbor playing their PSP's while watching fireworks

Dale hard at work in th dark

Fireworks from our house

Brittney is home from EFY. We are glad to have here home, but haven't talked to her too much yet. She spent the 3 hour drive home texting all her new friends. When she got home she spent the first 2 1/2 hours on the computer downloading all her EFY pictures and updating her Facebook. The other 2 girls in the car ride home spent most of the time screaming and making wierd noises. The others just slept. You got to love teenagers.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Ground Breaking

Matthew showing off his muscles while he digs the control boxes hole.

Look at Dale go with that trencher! What a man!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! I'm truly thankful for the freedom's I enjoy each day!

I'm taking bets today. I asked for a sprinkler system for mother's day and for my birthday. Dale does not want to pay someone to do it so he and Matthew are doing it. I told him it had to be done before he goes to work on Monday. He and Matthew are golfing this morning and there is a 60% chance of rain today and is sprinkling now. Dale and I are suppose to drive up to San Antonio tomorrow to pick up Brittney and others from EFY. I bet I'm driving by myself tomorrow, but will the sprinkler's be done? I sure hope so!

SANDWICHES

Since when wasn't it ok to have a sandwich for lunch? The kids just finished eating and they all had different thing, and they all had to be cooked. They all cooked their own except for Jacob. I swear we are running a restaurant at lunch time. It wouldn't be so bad except for the mess they make and they make more of a mess trying to clean it up. It drives me crazy! They ate sandwiches during the school year when they didn't like what they were having at school. What the heck happened this summer?

Proof of Polo

Blackmail picture. He wasn't too happy about me taking it

Jacob who only wears underarmor or nike sports clothes left the house in a polo shirt and plaid shorts. He was going to the driving range(golf) with Matthew. If he lets me take his picture, I'll have proof.