Birthday without the birthday girl!

Hillary, the birthday girl!

Dear Hillary,

I hope you had a great birthday! Here's what we did to celebrate without you. The Arvy girls got together for lunch and had your favorite: Cafe Rio! As the party was breaking up, Cath said we should have at least called you and sung Happy Birthday!
Then, we went to the Real Soccer game with Kat & D & fam, and Roger and Elyse! Brandon and Zach had the greatest time!Bad extreme close-up! Scary!Roger was getting glares from being 'too loud' at an outdoor soccer game! Come on, people! By the way, his wife is in labor.....
We miss you, but hope you had a great birthday! Love, Jill & fam

Dear Grandma A.,

Here's what's left of the treats you sent home for the grandkids! Gone in 60 seconds! Thanks for lunch and a fun afternoon! Love, your grandkids

Dear Mater,

Could you do something more useful with the lawnmower beside SLEEP on it!?!?!

Oooohhhh, Baby!

(11) UCLA 6, Utah 44

I'm not going to lie to you...it's been really tough to see our beloved Utes, shall we say, not up to par. We aren't trying to be fair-weathered fans at all....come on...we are the ones that stay until the VERY END of every game and also sit through the freezing drizzle rain and snow. We have even taught our little kids the Ute Fight Song. But, we gave up our football tickets this year. Our kids are involved in a lot of things right now and it was difficult to do the kid thing and still try to support our Utes by attending games.

We are taking all the 'smack' being handed to us by various loved ones.

It's ok...we can handle it.

We weren't sure what we wanted to do when Jim offered us 2 tickets to the UCLA game.

We were at the UCLA game last year at the Rose Bowl.

Let me remind you that the game was NOT FUN!

We cooked in the heat and then got spanked on the football field.

However, we decided to go to the game today.

Oh, how SWEET it is!

We experienced this game as we had so many in days gone by. Hearing the fight song everytime they scored. Jumping out of our seats at each interception or worthy play. Kisses and high-fives for touchdowns! Let me tell you...it's so nice to see my hubby smiling on game day once again!

Thanks to my Mom and Dad for watching the kidlets so we could have FUN! We'll enjoy this win for awhile...hope is alive!

One of my favorite moments of the day was when Brandon told his Dad to put on his twiner Utes shirt. I wish I had a picture, but Brandon was so tired after last night (Mike's plane was late and we didn't pick him up until 12:30AM) and missing his nap, that he didn't make it home awake. Also, we enjoyed getting phone calls and texts from the 'various loved ones' all throughout the game.

GO UTES!

I'm NOT crazy!

This post is for my bro-in-law, Scott, and the rest of the Arvy's who were teasing me about wanting to go to Serendipity last time we were in NYC for frozen hot chocolate. I found this gal (who lives in NYC) off of my brother's blog! I'm not crazy! It's obviously a GREAT dessert!

You guys owe me a frozen hot chocolate next time we are in the Big Apple!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Mmmmmm, mmmmm good.
Peanut-butter frozen hot chocolate. Is it wrong that I have now been to Serendipity for this delicious treat 8 times in the last 5 months?I don't think so, either.
Posted by chiggidy at 9:43 PM

The Power of Music

The other day as we were in the car running errands, I had Def Leppard in the cd player. One of those classic rocker ballads came on and Sydney said, 'This song makes me cry.' I asked her what was up and she said anytime music is soft and pretty, it makes her cry.

So, I never thought as Def Leppard as 'touching' music, but as I thought about her comment later, I understood where she's coming from. First, she's inherited the gene my Mom and I have that makes you cry at ANYTHING, but also that the power of music is an incredible thing.

Music has always been a part of my life. I have learned to enjoy all genres of music and can listen to almost anything and find something enjoyable in it. My parents were always (and still are) extremely involved in music for as long as I can remember. They met in Symphonic Choir!

On the wall in my living room, above the piano, I have vinyl lettering that says, 'Where words fail, music speaks'. I think this quote comes from Hans Christian Anderson. But, it really rings true to me. Music can touch your soul. Music can heal. Music can remind you of times long ago. There is music all around and I am so grateful my Father in Heaven gave us this wonderful gift.

And, I'm glad that my daughter can 'feel' this gift already in her young, precious age.

I miss you!

I miss my honey when he goes on business trips. In fact, all of us left at home really miss him. I think we realize that our family isn't complete without him. Little Sydney cried her eyes out the night before Mike left. Amanda has been e-mailing him every day. I have been stress eating. Brandon has even told Mike 'I love you' on the phone....the first time he's ever said 'I love you!'

So, I stay up late....stalling about going to bed. It's 12:30am and I'm still lurking on other's blogs. Brandon is still sleeping in our bed because I haven't moved him yet. Maybe I don't want to be alone in my own room!

I'm so glad that Mike doesn't have to travel very much. Before we had kids, he took a job that had him gone all week. It was hard then and I at least had a job to go to. But, I'm so glad we realized that this wasn't how we wanted to live....only together on the weekends. I am grateful that the travel is limited....can you imagine how crazy we would be at home if he were gone more?

Saturday Soccer!

Amanda, trying not to smile, and Sydney. Our soccer girls!

Soccer season has arrived! We started the day with Amanda's game. Her team is called EXTREME and they have an awesome cheer! Amanda SCORED A GOAL! We were really proud of her as she is much more aggressive. She actually had 2 other attempted goals....

Way to Go, Amanda!

Amanda's team doing their cheer!

Sydney's game was this afternoon. This was Syd's first ever soccer game and she did great! She scored a goal...she says. I was with Amanda at a ballet audition and Mike said he didn't see it. Anyway, we just told her we believed her! It's so funny to watch the group run around the field! She did a great job and got lots of kicks! Way to Go, Sydney!

Sydney running off the field during a quarter break!

Living in the 80's

Any children of the 80's out there? Well, we took a little trip down memory lane last night. Our friends invited us to go see Def Leppard and Styx and Foreigner at USANA ampitheatre and it was a blast!

We all met up at Crown Burger (we needed a fast place) and by the time we got on the road, traffic was horrible! We spent an hour and a half heading west. We missed Foreigner all together and got there just in time to see Styx. The girls needed a bathroom which was an experience in and of itself. The mens restroom door was completely open and 'Jethro' was our new best friend! Imagine our horror when he was sitting 2 rows behind us! There was definately a different crowd there....but, there were plenty of 'normal' people like us....Mike even ran into a mission companion, Ritchie, who lives not too far from us. We were joking that we missed ward temple night and came to Sodom and Gomorrah!

We had a great time rockin' to our old favs. Def Leppard sounded just like they use to. They gave a great show and it was fun to be at a rock concert again where you could feel the base guitar beat in your chest. We had a great time with our friends, Brad & Jeni (Jeni was my friend who would dance with me....I don't know how you sit still at a rock concert), Casey & Nicole (Nicole who didn't know most of the songs because she's too young), Tony & Hillary (Hillary who didn't know any songs because she's even younger than Nicole), and Brad & Jeni's friends, Rod & Jill. Getting out of the parking lot took about an hour, but we found a quicker route home without any traffic.

Thanks to Renae who came and watched our kids! I felt terrible that she drove home at 1am! We tried to get her to sleep over....the kids would have loved that. Thanks for taking them to dinner and the park!

The 80's had some great music and it was fun to go back in time if for only one night!

West Yellowstone

Our kiddies posing in front of the buffalo.....
We had our annual Labor Day trip with the Arvy's this past weekend. What a great time we had. These are times that I wish that inner poet or eloquent writer would surface so I could do justice to our experience. But, you'll just have to deal with what you get.
We left after the school open house and didn't get to W. Y. until after midnight. When we got up the next morning, it was raining! But, it was a nice rain....and made the town look even more beautiful. We went right into Yellowstone Park to start exploring. Our first adventure was this elk that was grazing right next to the road! We had to stop and take pictures.

Kristine's boys checking out madam elk.

Then, on to Gibbon Falls (I probably remembered that name wrong). What an amazing sight.

Corvin and Sydney

Then to see some cool geysers and paint pots.

Maddie, Sydney, Amanda, Brandon, Zachary and Jace...so much fun with cousins!

Whoops...where's Brandon?

Oh! There he is! With Brock, Andrew, Kris and Daddy.

Next, to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone: They look like they are going off the edge! I was nervous.

This next picture is my favorite because Maddie had just punched Zach as I took the picture! Ah, sibling love...

Kellie and Emily

Our next little hike led us past a fallen tree which became a great trampoline! This was a great activity for the kids as they played there for a good 20 minutes. We would have a few opportunities to play on fallen trees throughout the weekend. Lots of giggles...

Amanda and I took the hike down to get a better view of the falls. It was a pretty steep hike and Amanda did it like a pro!

More poses at the falls....Amanda and Zach in a cool little cave along the trail.

Sydney and Jace
Mike thought it was cool to see this ribcage at one of the geysers. Circle of life......
I can't remember the name of this area, but Mike had taken the girls to see it because Brandon had fallen asleep in the car. I stayed with him and can I just tell you that it was a wonderful, relaxing time of renewal for me. I just sat in the car, eyes closed, feeling the breeze on my face and listening to sounds around me...mostly of nature, some of humans. But, it reminded me that I don't get time or I guess make time to just sit anymore. I could feel my soul being filled again as I experienced all that God has given us to enjoy in the world around us. I could have stay there forever. I enjoyed every minute of this personal spiritual experience. It was so peaceful.
Sydney is famous for not walking very far without complaining. Mike ended up carrying her around this area. What a good Daddy! Syd doesn't know how lucky she is!
Nice rack!
The kids favorite: Buffalo!

We spent all day at the park and couldn't wait to get back the next day. We woke up early and Mike and Scott took a bike ride into the park. The elk were along the road again and as they were riding up along side of them, a photographer took their picture. He told them it was a great picture! After they guy left, Mike thought I should have had him e-mail it to me! Oh well. When you see it in a biking mag or a hunter's mag....let us know!

I was amazed as we drove into the park this day at the beauty. It was a little foggy and earlier than we had been there the day before. As we past the area around Bald Eagle Mtn, the sunlight shone through the majestic Lodgepole Pines (my fav trees) and you could see glistening spiderwebs on the branches. I'm talking a ton of spiderwebs! It was an incredible sight and I was sad that we weren't allowed to stop along that part of the highway because it would be nice to capture that in a picture. We saw many buffalo and elk. We were able to stop and have a picnic lunch with the whole family that was a lot of fun. The kids ran around and played to their hearts content.

Visiting more hot pots, geysers, etc. Sydney was really hungry this morning and wasn't happy at all. We talked about getting a picture of her to take and show her school class. This is the best we could get! (Sorry it's sideways again. It was too funny not to put on the blog)

Greg, Maddie and Amanda

My boys!Old Faithful! Hillary, Amanda, Maddie, Syd, Zach, Corvin and Brando

Can I tell you how much I love my family!?!?!?

We were able to go to the Playmill theater and see Annie Get your Gun. The girls really liked that and keep repeating their favorite parts. Sunday, we went to church and were pleasantly surprised to see Elder Wirthlin in the meeting! He bore his testimony and it was so simple in its truthfulness that Mike and I were touched. We took the kids up to shake his hand after and tried to tell them they may never get to shake an apostle's hand again...this is a big deal! I was also touched throughout that testimony meeting with some of the testimonies given. We are all God's children and are experiencing similiar things. It was heart-warming to hear Ray Ray tell us how he used to come to the door with beer and cig in hand when his home teacher came over so he would know he wasn't welcome and to hear the break in his voice as he told us of his change of heart and how he was just called to be High Priest group leader. My favorite part was when Elder Wirthlin said we have gathered together to be counted with those who love the Savior.

After church, we took a ride into Yellowstone one more time. Our favorite part about this day was the buffalo that was walking along the side of the road as we came by. We slowed to get a good look and Sydney said she could almost reach out and touch him! We also saw a coyote and a bull elk pretty close as he was hanging out near a campground. It was fun to experience the kids seeing the wildlife. I really enjoyed this vacation. I love, love, love to spend time with my little family without any of life's normal interruptions. Being with them gives me pure Joy.

We had a great family meeting on Sunday. We are grateful for Jim & Renae giving us the opportunity to be together as a family. It was so great to be with those that live back east and to see their new babies. Monday morning, we all went to the IMAX and saw "Yellowstone" and then we were on our way home....mourning the passing of our vacation. We stopped in Rexburg and drove by the new temple. Also, a quick bite with the family and we were homeward bound!

De bus! De bus!

Can you see a little fear in Sydney's eyes? This is her first bus ride to school.....

So really today was Sydney's first day of Kindergarten and her first day to catch the bus! All morning she wore her backpack ready to go! Mike came home to support her. We sat outside and waited for the bus. During this time, Sydney went through a ton of emotions. First, she's mad that it's taking so long for the bus to come. Next, she doesn't want to go to school because she's afraid of bullies. Then, she is worried about getting on the bus. Back to frustration because it's taking so long for the bus to come. Finally, the bus arrived and she jumped on like a champ! The bus picks her up right in our driveway. I heard they will do this for kindergarten kids and since she's the only one on our street for about 9 houses, I asked the bus driver to humor me!

We made it! Sydney getting off the bus!
She sees Mom! Some relief and excitement in those eyes now!

Then, Mike and I had to go to the school to see her come off the bus, per her request. The bus first took them to the north side of the school where the kids would unload, walk through the crowded playground around to the south side of the school and the kindergarten doors. This was the original plan and I was nervous about that....I figured for sure they would lose one or two kids a day walking that far through the crowded playground (lunch recess). Then, the bus left, took the kids over to the Kindergarten doors and let them off there. That whole bus ride took a half hour! Sydney was very excited to be at school, finally!

Mike and Sydney lined up at the door waiting to go into class.

She had a great day and thank goodness Amanda was there after school to help her get on the right bus. She had lined up for the wrong bus! I guess the teachers were having a very hard time getting kids where they needed to be.....even though Sydney had her bus # and name pinned to her shirt. The PTA President just sent out an e-mail tonight asking for helpers for tomorrow's bus ride home....it must have been a nightmare!

Anyway, Amanda and Sydney arrived home safely and I'm proud of my girls! I did cry a little following Sydney to school today. There's something about seeing your baby go to Kindergarten. You know that it's just the beginning and that those days of staying home with Mom are over. I was a mess when we took Amanda to Kindergarten, too. Luckily, my girls didn't cry and were more than anxious to get into school!

Snow Horse Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

"Snow Horse Elementary School, Together we will rise above the rest!" Ok, so I know my girl's school song better than I knew my school song! Perhaps, because they had to practice to sing in this choir for the ribbon cutting ceremony. You can see Amanda above the man with the green shirt and you can see Sydney in the front row by the girl with the blue bows. The ceremony was held in the front west side of the school at 6pm at night. It was 96 degrees still and we were MELTING! The girls sang great and the choir sounded awesome. Then, after many shortish speeches, a couple of horses came to bring the ceremonial scissors to cut the ribbon. It was fun to have the girls involved. After this little program, the teachers held back-to-school night. This is usually held without students, but of course no one was going take their kids home and come back. Mike and I divided and conquered since we now have 2 kids in school. We like their teachers and the girls are anxious to get going in the school year. Sydney did her testing today and knew everything her teacher asked her. Hope she finds something to do in Kindergarten!
Soon after, we left for our Arvy family reunion in West Yellowstone....more on that to follow!