Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Our little Syd Syd is 10! Double-digits! Big kid! Amazing!

She woke up early excited!

Mike had to be out of town, so we called him so he could be part of the party. We woke him up....whoops! But, it was good for Sydney to hear him wish her Happy Birthday before she left for school. We gave her some skinny jeans and a cute heart shirt. Later, she and I are going for mani/pedis.

Amanda and Brandon made her a candy poster. It was really cute!

"Happy Birthday Sydney! You are 'extra' fun to be around. You make a lot of 'thingamajig's and 'whatchamacallit' songs. Usually, we don't know what you are 'UP2'. All of us 'snicker' at your jokes. You 'starburst' when you walk in the room! You are 'M&M's of fun! You like 'Turtles' You are not a 'sour punch'. You are a 'Kit Kat' and a 'Tic Tac'!!

"Be'Twix' we '3 Musteteers' you are no 'Butterfinger' or 'Zero' you're the real hero! Love, Brandon and Amanda

We had a small party for her that night with 7 of her friends. We had ice cream sundaes and then opened presents.

Chloe, Hannah, Gracie, Sydney, Zoe, Abby, Sarah (with bag on head), Maddy

Then, I took them to see 'Monte Carlo' at the Kaysville Theater!

After the movie, we got the family together to sing and let Sydney make her birthday wish! A nice little bedtime snack of Mrs. Backer's Cake!!

Here are 10 things about Sydney:

1. Sydney likes to sing and makes up cute songs about everything and they are pretty funny

2. She loves dancing and tumbling and her new adventure, cheerleading

3. Sydney does awesome in school

4. Sydney has boys who are crushing on her, but currently is not crushing on any boys

5. Sydney takes great care of Brandon to and from school now that she's the oldest child we have at Snow Horse

6. Sydney loves hair, make-up and jewelry

7. She is constantly doing cartwheels and handstands

8. Sydney loves to hang with the older girls. She texts with Amanda's friends and even my piano students. She loves to text with cousins, Maddie and Kate

9. She has a lot of shoes

10. Sydney is AWESOME! She is a tough kid and very determined

We Love You, Sydney!!!

Janice's funeral

Janice's funeral was beautiful. Flowers adorned every corner of their chapel. Their choir sang beautiful music and beautiful words were spoken about this beautiful soul. 'Nice' was a word that was used constantly to describe Janice. Phil even pointed out that 'nice' was in her name...as the last four letters. She was without guile and a true follower of our Savior, Jesus Christ. My Mom did so great on her talk. I thought she would cry so much she wouldn't be able to speak, but she held it together and did great! My brother, Roger, did an amazing video tribute that played during the viewing. I only got to view the first two pictures before I was crying too hard to watch the rest.

Here is my Dad as a pallbearer.

Here is my Dad dedicating the grave

My sweet uncle, Gary

Phil and Drew leaving their pallbearer flowers on the casket

Amanda, Elyse and Brandon

My cute parents

Janice & Gary's family with my parents (minus Grace and the kids)

Mom and Sharon and Ryan

Karen & Don's family

Dan and Stacie

Garrett

After the family lunch, we headed to Hale Center Theater to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Mike's family. Jim & Renae had given us tickets for Christmas last year. The play was awesome and we had a great time!

Since last Christmas, Matt & his family had moved to PA, so my parents came on the extra tickets. They hadn't seen the show before and were excited. It was really nice for them to have something to do after the funeral. I know they probably went home and crashed afterward :)

Brandon at the funeral

Pictures at the play!

Random pictures

Just getting the pictures off my camera tonight, and I came across a few. These are of Amanda playing in the tourney right after she got the burn on her leg. We just wrapped it up and off she went! She's a tough cookie!

One week in nursery, with about 10 minutes left of church, we had a crier. Seems someone's Dad popped in and this boy thought it was time to go. When it wasn't, he wasn't liking it. So, to distract all the boys, I pulled out my camera!

Henry (above). You could tell they are used to getting pictures taken because they were right in my lap and then kept wanting to see themselves on the camera. It got us through the 10 minutes!

The Coopers

Devan

Drake....yep, he was the sad one :)

Mike and our neighbor, Ann, decided to have a contest to see who could go the longest without mowing their front lawn. Seems we all were too busy for a few weeks in the summer and the lawns were looking pretty scary! Bauerlee's were also involved, but Jason caved and mowed his lawn. Mike was not going to mow before McCleary's did and I haven't been able to mow the lawn for about 3 weeks (which is probably the reason we were in that bet in the first place!). Then, over Labor Day, we took the kids and stayed downtown just for fun. We came home in the afternoon to see that our lawn had been mowed and so had McCleary's. Come to find out that at 6:30am, Ann sent her son, Larsen, over to mow our lawn and then did theirs. They were trying to hurry so they wouldn't get caught....they had no idea we were not home!

So, on Wednesday, Ann brought over a bunch of sushi and a blanket. We sat out on our front lawn and had a little sushi picnic! It was delish and a fun end to this little bet!

Updates

First off, Amanda and Sydney both made the Nutcracker production for their ballet school! They are both so excited and I'm so glad both girls made it and not just one! Both are soldiers. Amanda is red and Sydney is blue and they will be on stage together for a minute! This production of the Nutcracker is really good, kid-oriented and available for Saturday matinees. We have guest principal dancers from Ballet West. It's a high quality performance, but kids are welcome in the audience. We'll be hitting up friends and family for tickets! :) The girls would love the support.

I can't believe how much time has gone by already since our cabin weekend (really my last post). Amanda's leg continues to heal and she's just down to wearing a band-aid over it for school and to keep it out of the sun. We are now trying to minimize the scarring. She did play in her soccer tourney and was a trooper. Most games she couldn't run all out, but she still played well and helped her team.

Mike went to Def Leppard with some friends from the neighborhood. Heart was also performing and he said they were impressed with Heart more and that a 60 year old woman could still belt out the ballads!

We got to go to the Bees game with Baileys. Amanda and Brynna spent the time texting boys. Ay ay ay....

And by last week, all the activities and piano were in full swing! Sydney has started cheer/tumbling and loves it! Brandon and Amanda started hip hop and love it! Brandon was showing us his moves when he got home from the first class and it was so cute! He is taking it with 3 friends from our neighborhood.

I'm 90% healed according to my doc. My knees are at about 95%. I'm up and at my life again at 110% with no more resting or watching dumb tv! I am sure tired at the end of the day and have an aching body, but nothing some ibuprofen can't fix.

And lastly, my dear Aunt Janice died on September 11. (I wish I could get a picture on here) She has been suffering with pancreatic cancer for less than a year. She is the sweetest person and didn't have an enemy in the world. My Uncle Gary told me the other day that he didn't know anyone who didn't like her and that he only saw her mad once. Someone in their ward was making fun of him....this person probably thought he was just joking around....but Janice thought this guy had crossed the line. She told the joker that he wasn't respecting her husband and that Gary is a wonderful man and he needed to start treating him with respect. Gary said she really laid into him. I thought what a wonderful thing for your husband to remember about you. That you were kind beyond belief and the only thing that got you upset was when someone dissed her eternal companion.

She has 4 great boys and 4 great daughters-in-law and 6 grandkids.

I have been hearing many wonderful stories about Janice this week. Many tributes from nieces and nephews are all over facebook. My brothers spent a lot of time at Janice's growing up and hanging with their boys. Roger lived with Janice and Gary for awhile when Mom & Dad moved to Missouri. Their door was always open.

I have been worrying about my sweet Mom. She and Janice were bff's. They were the last 2 of 5 siblings (my Mom is a few years older). Now my Mom has lost her sister and friend and it's been hard on her. The next few days will be hard. Gary has been so good to my Mom telling her that she was welcome to stay with Janice as long as she wanted. Now, he's invited her to help with the funeral (she's speaking), going to the mortuary, dressing her and doing her hair.

I will be helping Mom on Friday to get Janice ready for the viewing. This will be a first for me. I couldn't go see Janice when she was sick. I just couldn't see her like that. But, now I feel like I can help my Mom give her this last gift of kindness as we prepare her for burial. Plus, I want to be there with my Mom....to give her love and support during this emotional time. Janice's legacy will live on....and as I reflect on her life of kindness, I resolve to be kind, to love without requirement or judgement. I know I won't be able to compare to her (I have too much Gibson in me....not that it's a bad thing-we just aren't mellow people), but I will remember her and try.

One from early summer...

One day in June, Amanda went to tend the Harwoods. I had gone to a visiting teaching lunch. When I got home, there was a firetruck between our house and Harwood's house.

Slightly concerned, I found the kids and asked what was going on. I guess the boys had been playing in Harwood's basement and went into their 'furnace/storage' room to get a sled (who knows why :) They came running to Amanda telling her the house was on fire!

She went and checked and saw the smoke. She tried to call me at home, but I wasn't there. She tried Emily, but she didn't answer. She tried Nicole and she didn't answer. So, she took all the kids out of the house and over to Nicole's. Nicole was there and helped her out, just as Emily was getting home.

The two moms surveyed the situation and couldn't tell where the smoke was coming from, so they decided to call the fire department.

After awhile, the firemen decided the smoke was coming from their heating/ac unit. The blower had gone out. So they turned it off and told Emily her house was ok.

Since there wasn't a fire and it must have been a slow day in Kaysville (even a city representative came along for the ride), the firemen told the kids to climb into the firetruck and have a look around!

They blew the siren for them and everything!

And then, Nicole got these fun pictures of our crew with the Kaysville fire crew!

And that's how we spend boring summer days! :)

We were really glad Emily's house didn't catch on fire and proud of Amanda for getting everyone out of the house safely! (Even when Spence ran back to get his candy....she made him stay out....love Spence!)

Random cabin...

Here are some cuties in the playroom. Eliza, Emily (look she's standing still!) and Ali

Add Brandon and Amanda

Grandpa and Spencer & Gordy

Brandon and Sydney

Think we wore them out? Sydney didn't fall asleep, so she helped me take these pictures.

We had a great time!!!

More cabin...s'mores

When you are in the mountains, don't you have to have a little campfire and roast marshmallows? The kids were excited for the s'mores! But not before they rode the zip line again! What would we have done without that thing?

Jim and Scott make fire!

Get your s'more game on!

See Grandma in the background with all the supplies? She had quite a rush of grandkids needing stuff, but she's a pro and took care of business! Zac and bandaged Amanda!

Sydney suggested we sing songs and the next thing we knew, Zac and Taylor were giving us a whole show! We heard songs and skits from their recent scout camp and they were awesome! (ps: Scouts must be good for something because I always thought Zac was too shy to get up and perform in front of all of us! They were awesome!)

Grandma also brought some glow sticks which are always a grandkid favorite. Brandon loved his orange glow sticks because they were like fire!