Wow 12 already!!

Today we wish our third son a happy 12th birthday and in the spirit of the day of his birth, here are 12 things that are special and you may or may not know about this sweet young man!

1. He was born with red hair (it faded as he grew, but we were sure surprised).

2. He had colic as a baby and the doctor said he liked to cry (weird but true!)

3. He plays the saxophone.

4. He is our social butterfly and seems to attract tons of friends.

5. He is very competitive (especially when he plays games)

6. He can beat just about anyone at foosball.

7. He is always eager and ready to help.

8. He is a great student and often makes the honor roll.

9. He loves video games, music, and playing board games.

10. He's got a great contagious smile and cute dimples.

11. He always wakes up happy no matter what.

12. He loves to hang out with his dad, it's probably one of his favorite times.

It was a wonderful day when this little guy joined our family. He gets along with everyone and bring so much joy to all of us. Happy Birthday son, we love you!!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We love to go to Linder Farm's Pumpkin Patch each year to pick out our pumpkins. We have been so busy we couldn't go until last night. I was so worried that we were going to freeze, but the weather was so beautiful yesterday that the pumpkin patch was perfect. We were missing our oldest son, who is so busy with swim team and marching band right now that we barely see him, but we picked a pumpkin out for him so he would have one :). We saw several others families there that we knew, so it was fun to visit. After we picked out our pumpkins, my little girl rode the new ride they have this year, a swing that about made me sick watching, but she loved it. She is a real daredevil and I am so glad she is not like her mom. Finally we ended out the night at the snack booth for popcorn, donuts, and hot chocolate. YUMMY!!!!

Homecoming Dance

My oldest boy went to Homecoming tonight with his "special" gal. I had to capture it all of course. We took a few shots at her house, they were cute pinning on the rose and ten putting on the corsage. He wanted to take the Mustang to the dance and his dad was happy to let him. We then went to the temple grounds to take some pictures with the rest of his group. It was beautiful background for the pictures and the cloudy sky made for perfect light, however, the girls were freezing in their short sleeve dresses so we had to make the photo session a quick one. We did have enough time for a few silly shots though. I love the one of them all looking off in the distance like they are in deep thought and then of course the one of Skyler picking up his date - right after this picture he pretended he was going to drop her. What a funny kid!! I hope they are having a great time at the dance. Oh to be young again - sigh.....

The Homecoming Answer

So the answer to homecoming was cute. We were about to go to sleep and the dog started barking and wouldn't stop. This generally means someone is at the door and so we looked out the upstairs window and saw 4 giggling girls behind the trees in the middle of our cul-de-sac. Then one by one they came in dark hooded costumes and rung the doorbell and said "Delivery for S" and then handed him a pizza with balloons on top. There were 3 pizza deliveries and they spelled out "Y-E-S". I ran downstairs to take a picture and S had already eaten 2 pieces of the "Y" pizza and so the pictures aren't as good. What can I say, teenage boys will eat pizza even if it is 11:00 at night!!

An Invitation to Homecoming

My oldest son is a Senior this year and he is determined to live it up this last year of high school. Homecoming is about a month away but he wanted to make sure that this special girl did not get invited by someone else. So he got on the ball and asked early. He wanted to make a grand gesture and decided to fill her room with balloons. He purchased over 500 balloons, but after he and I filled 200 and put them in both of our cars to transport them, we realized that we were at our maximum so off we went.

Her mom laughed as we filled her room as much as we could and then hung the sign that read "We will have a ball if you go to Homecoming with me" and then below in smaller writing it said "pop the balloons with the x's on them to find out who". He put his name in one of the balloons and in the rest "not this one" and "keep looking". It must have been loud in her house as she was popping all those balloons to figure out who invited her. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see all of that!!!

Everyone Needs a little Time Out!!

Each year I get the chance to attend a women's day at the Boise Centre on the Grove where I hear wonderful musical, inspirational speakers, and I get to spend some time with the girls. This year was especially wonderful because it was both Friday night and Saturday. I leave this conference feeling rejuvinated and determined to be a better person. I call it my spiritual battery recharge session. I was missing my BFF Queenie this year, but I know she will join us again next year. Thanks "Time Out" for another great year!!!

Go Baby Go!!!!!!

My oldest son has played every sport out there, basketball, baseball, soccer, track, marching band, not football (thank goodness) and so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he came home one day and said I am thinking of going out for the swim team.

He is a senior this year and he is going up against kids who have been swimming competitively since they were 3. Should I be worried, no, this is my go getter we are talking about.

I guess it doesn't matter what he does I will be excited about it. I'm a proud mama, what can I say? So when I saw his swimming yesterday I almost jumped out of my seat. He was doing the free style against 3 other boys and at first he was a little behind, then he pulled up to meet them, and then when he turned over in the pool to go to the other direction he pulled way ahead and came in first. I wanted to scream "Go Baby Go" but I didn't want to embarass him. It was so awesome to watch him, he is powerful!! He still has to shave a few seconds off of his time to qualify for state but for his first meet he did so well. Good job buddy, you have a fan in your mom!!!! (Sorry for the blurry picture, my camera was dying....)

Family Day at the Discovery Center

It's the labor day holiday and are we camping? No. Are we having a bunch of people over for a BBQ? No. Are we headed to a party? No. We spent the day with our family at the Discovery Center (a hands on science museum in downtown Boise). It is so rare these days when we spend the entire day as a family and we decided to take advantage of this opportunity.

We let our 14 year old drive us all downtown, we ate lunch at a little mexican restaurant and then went and played for 4 hours with all the fun gadgets they have to offer at the Discovery Center.

There is a bed of nails, a vibration exhibit, mind bender puzzles, and even a miniature grocery store for the kiddos to try their hand at shopping. Afterwards we went to a snow shack and sat out in the sun to have snow cones. The day was spent with only our little family and it was heavenly. We need to do this more often!!

First Day of School-Summer Blues!!

The first day of school this year brings to my mind a line from a song in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof". "Sunrise sunset, sunrise sunset, swifly flow the years. Where is the little girl I carried? Where is the little boy at play? I don't remember growing older, when did they?" That is truly the way I am feeling today.

This is a significant year for our family. It is the year of many firsts and lasts. For my oldest son, it is his senior year of high school. For my second son, it is his freshman year of high school. For my third son, it is his first year of middle school. For my fourth son, it is his last year of elementary school. Finally for my daughter it is her first year of all day school, 1st grade. For me it is the first time in 17 years that I have not had at least one child at home with me. So needless to say, I am a little sad and unsure about this new stage in my life. That being said, I realize I didn't blog much this summer. The reason for that is that we taught so many Driver's Ed classes that any available time I had to myself was spent with my childen and not the computer. So here without pictures is a re-cap of what we did this summer (well the highlights anyway).

1. School ended for the 2008-2009 year.

2. My best friend moved in 3 houses away from me ;)

3. Our Nevada friends came to visit for a week.

4. We had our annual 4th of July party.

5. We floated the river.

6. My youngest boy and I went to cub day camp.

7. The 3 boys and my hubby went to scout camp.

8. We went to the zoo

9. We went to many movies.

10. We went swimming in the pool.

11. My hubby and I went to girl's camp.

12. My two oldest boys went to high adventure.

13. We went to Roaring Springs.

14. My 3 boys mowed many many lawns.

15. My oldest boy went to band camp.

16. My oldest boy also went to jazz choir camp.

17. My oldest boy made the swim team (he's a busy kid!).

18. We biked on the green belt.

19. My best friend moved away :(

20. The kids started the 2009-2010 school year.

That was about it, we had a very busy, great summer! It came in with a bang and went out with a bang. Since I was a little girl I have always mourned the end of summer and I will again, but I do love fall and all of it's color and life. I look forward to spending time with my family and making more awesome memories which I hope to blog about!!