Life is Good

Father's Day 2009

2009-10-04T09:36:00.007-06:00

Father's Day 2009

A few gifts from the kids at home

I can't see what the envelope says, but I thought it was picture worthy at the time...

The kids are growing up way too fast! Brandon is 11 and Sarah is almost 14!

Little Sarah and I made these mosaic bird baths for Blake - this is before the grout.

We went to the Nampa airport to see the plane Blake has been flying - a Cessna 120 - small, slow and sturdy. But while we were out there we heard these Apache helicoptors and ran to get a look.

There were 4 or 5 of them doing take off and landing procedures - it was so cool to watch them! A definite highlight of the day!

Blake and the kids in front of the 120.

Having fun in the plane!!

Scary site - Brandon as PIC??? (That is pilot in command :))

This may be an even scarier scenario!!

After the airport, we went to my brother's for a Father's Day BBQ.

Brother Ben's ginormous burger!

I love my fam!

Little Sarah got herself in this predicament somehow. Mom and Angela sure had a good time torturing her. But if history is repeating itself - she instigated it and probably when given the chance to give up, didn't! Hummm - sounds eerily familiar.

I think I can see her adenoids!

LOVE the eyes on Little Sarah - also an eerily familiar look. I must have rolled my eyes a million times during my teenage years and according to Blake, I still do!

Will she EVER give up?? Not a chance - stubborness must run in the family!

Airshow

2009-09-16T19:11:00.007-06:00

Earlier this summer we went to the Caldwell Airshow. It was pretty chilly and overcast, but we had a great time together.

Here we are at the airshow - while not planned, we were all wearing green this day!

Releasing of the doves - it was beautiful

Some cool, fun planes...

Mother's Day 2009

2009-09-16T14:00:00.000-06:00

For Mother's Day this year, we flew to McCall. We had to drop the kids off too, so it worked out and was a lovely day. Blake doing the pre-flight

Kids patiently waiting and entertaining themselves.

Our passengers

The flight crew. I got to fly most of the way back home - which was fun and brought back a lot of great memories.

Sarah, me and Brandon

Blake, me and Brandon

Blake, me and Sarah

The passengers posing

While we were waiting for the drop off, McCall had this cool Super Goose on the ramp.

Blake in front of the Super Goose.

BBQ with the Mucklers

2009-09-15T13:30:00.000-06:00

We had a BBQ with our good friends and had a great time. We love playing with the twins and the twins love playing with our dog Maddie.

Jordan throwing the tennis balls for obsessive Maddie

Hannah and Jordan love their uncle Blake. Here they are looking at bugs :) Probably a roly poly. I used to love those things when I was a kid.

Sweet Hannah

Looking for more bugs with uncle Blake

Hannah petting Maddie. Nearly everytime I see or talk with Hannah and Jordan, they ask about Maddie and ask where she is and talk about playing ball with her. Hannah loves Maddie.

No Doubt Road Trip

2009-09-14T20:51:00.004-06:00

For those that know me, it is no surprise when I say that I LOVE Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. Blake and I went to their concert several years ago when they were here in Boise, but since Gwen went solo, they had not toured together in years. When I found out they were doing a comeback tour, I just had to go. I mean, who knows if they will ever tour again - right? So we took a road trip down south to Salt Lake. It has been years since we took a road trip, but with the economy, it was the most practical and economic choice, plus I thought it would be fun for us to spend several hours in the car together :) Blake was betting on me mostly sleeping, since I have to take Dramamine, not to mention, I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere!

We are on our way!

I can't even tell you how excited I was! We had floor tickets and I was part of the No Doubt Tour Club which gave us perks. The best one being, we got special access and didn't have to stand in line to get into the concert PLUS we got in over an hour before the general public, so I got front row seats! (Well, not seats, we were standing, but at the railing!)

Thank you Blaby for going with me - so glad to have you with me!

The next morning - tired eyes! One major blessing was the fact that I had enough Mariott points saved up, we were able to stay overnight for FREE!

My tickets to scrapbook. Notice my "Gwen" rocker nails :) I think I am getting too old for the floor though - more like a mosh pit with crazy young intoxicated and rowdy people. Blake had the worst of it as he acted as a guard around me keeping people from trampling me and pushing there way in front of me. It was insane - I don't know how many people I had to brace for and keep from pushing up in front of me - they would seriously put their hands on the railing under my arms and try to bully there way up or use there 4 year old kids as bargaining chips to make people feel bad and let them up. No place for children if you ask me! I had to hold my frame with my arms and use my elbows just to stand my ground. But I did it! Blake really didn't get to enjoy the show - it was more like a 3 hour workout for him. Needless to say, my floor days I think are over. I will get a seat up a level next time :)

On the road again - quick trip, but loved every minute. I didn't sleep on the way there, but have to confess I slept a lot on the way home! What can I say hun, you were right!

Mother's Day Celebration 2009

2009-09-13T18:01:00.001-06:00

Since we were all together for Brandon's BD, we decided to celebrate Mother's Day after the birthday festivities. Blake's mom and Les were there, my mom and Dave, Angela and Ben and their two cuties, Blake's sister, Jennifer, and her family and us. It was really nice and we were glad to all be together to celebrate both special occasions.

We decorated this flower pot for mom, clearly she was excited about the red geranium :)

For Blake's mom, we decorated a coffee mug (she also got a geranium, but we didn't put it in the mug :)

My neices are so darling - I just love them! All was going well...

And then...

(I don't know how Blake caught this on camera)

I guess it is something I better get used to!

Angela's girl was doing a great job holding Chloe and talking to my mom.

Beautiful girls!

Ben and Ang's sweet boy playing with one of Brandon's cars on the stairs.

Ben and Angela

More BD Pics

2009-09-13T16:47:00.005-06:00

Little Sarah, Grammy, Brandon , Chloe and Rylie

My sis Angela with Chloe

My BFF - lovely look Amy :)

I LOVED this look from Amy's son, Jordan!

Hannah and Jordan love petting and throwing the ball for Maddie. Maddie loves it too!

Sweet Little Sarah

Somersaults!

My sis Angela and her two young ones - beautiful.

Let's play ball!

Little Sarah and Ang's beautiful little girl!

Brandon's 11th BD

2009-09-13T08:29:00.005-06:00

So I have a lot of catching up to do, but better late than never. These pics are from 5/9/09 when we celebrated Brandon's 11th BD with friends and family.

So Blake got him this wretched card about stinky socks and the card was a scratch and sniff. Completely putrid. But the boy thought it was hilarious and awesome - go figure - he is ALL boy!

We could seriously smell the card from even a few feet away - I made the mistake of smelling it - how bad could it really be - right? NOT a good idea! They can put that stink in there somehow and pheww! it is rank!

Brother Ben - love ya!

Amy and her twins - Jordan and Hannah!

Flying to Sun Valley

2009-04-21T12:00:00.001-06:00

Blake got some flying hours in on Friday. He took his friend Josh and Josh's daughter Ali to Sun Valley.

It was a beautiful day for flying

Ali really wanted Blake to fly through a cloud - she thought that was really cool!

Ali kept herself occupied in the back of the plane by taking lots of pictures and operating the video camera. She was hilarious - filming herself for several minutes at a time - talking to the camera, rotating it from viewing outside to looking at herself - enought to make you motion sick!

She took video and pictures of her shadow puppets (although, I don't see the shadow) - she was cracking us up.

She also videoed and took pictures of the briefing cards - very important you know...

Ali's view from the back

A most excellent self-entertainer!

Josh and Blake

2009-04-20T16:08:00.001-06:00

Sarah had two soccer games last weekend, unfortunately I was sick and so I didn't get to go, but Blake took lots of pictures for me. Here are a few...

I LOVE her intensity!

Brandon couldn't be having more fun, I am sure.

Go Sarah!

She plays great defense and you can see below, they won their game!

Happy girl!

Happy Easter

2009-04-19T15:38:00.004-06:00

This year we celebrated Easter with Blake's family at our house. Although I was sick, I came down and visited for a few hours. Everyone chipped in, so it was a nice, easy, delicious meal. We had ham, cherry sauce, potatoes, salad and rolls.

Jennifer and Chloe (5 mos)

Sweet Chloe

Les

Blake and Chloe - Blake was announcing, "Look Aunt Sarah, I have my feet on the table - I am walking on your table..." trying to get a rise out of me - nice.

Sweet Rylie

Brandon in his special seat

Cousins Sarah and Kenzie

Aunt Megan and nephew Ashton

Kenzie and Jennifer

Rylie and Chloe

Chloe -12 1/2 pounds and Rylie - 14 pounds. Rylie has now gained 3 more pounds than her sister. When they were born, Rylie was 1.5 pounds smaller than Chloe, now she is 1.5 pounds bigger!

Chloe

Uncle Blake and Chloe

Me and Chloe (Rylie was eating)

Another Digi

2009-04-05T18:43:00.002-06:00

Boy is there a lot to learn about this digital scrapbooking and the abilities of the progam. It has been fun and frustrating, but here is another page...

Easter Eggs

2009-03-30T18:19:00.004-06:00

I am clearly no Martha Stewart, but it didn't stop me from attempting this craft project this weekend. In addition to digital scrapbooking, I spent HOURS (seriously - 4 1/2 hours) blowing, coloring and decorating the following eggs for Easter. All that time resulted in only 5 completed eggs, but I did like the results and plan on making more with my BFF this coming weekend!

Going Digital

2009-03-29T16:13:00.002-06:00

I have finally taken the leap to digital scrapbooking and I am LOVING it! I didn't quite understand how it worked or what I needed as far as programming goes, but with the help of my mom and some research, I figured it out. Both programs I was looking at had free trial periods so I downloaded both to see if one, I even liked digital scrapbooking and two, to see what program I liked best. I tried ACDSee first, and played with it for about 6 hours Friday late into the night. Saturday, I downloaded Photoshop Elements 7, and spent all day and night experimenting and creating. I definitely have my favorite and here is a sample of my first four digital scrapbook pages ever!

Friday Pick-up

2009-03-21T09:21:00.009-06:00

So we get the kids every other weekend and Blake usually has to meet their mom at Cougar Mountain Lodge in Smith's Ferry to pick them up on Friday and then again on Sunday afternoon to drop them off. I know it could be worse, but round trip the drive is three hours - so six hours out of the weekend really puts a dent in our visitation, not to mention the drive up the canyon is so dangerous, especially in the winter. I hate that stretch of road, so many accidents and deaths over the years.

Well, Blake just received his instrument rating earlier this month and now needs to fly, fly and fly some more to get enough hours to get his commercial rating. So, he and his friend Josh, took the DA-40 to go pick up the kids yesterday afternoon in McCall. The entire trip all the way to McCall took only 40 minutes AND he got some hours in.

Blake and the kids in McCall before take-off back to Boise

Flying over Cougar Mountain Lodge in Smith's Ferry - took just 30 minutes from Boise and about 15 minutes flying back. When Blake told them they were flying over, they couldn't believe they were already there.

Pretty skies

On final approach to Boise, flying over Orchard and I-84

Landing in Boise

Runway 1-0 Left

Live Every Moment

2009-03-19T18:14:00.014-06:00

In creating this blog, it reminded me of an old REO Speedwagon song, "Live Every Moment" which says - "Live every moment, love every day, 'cause before you know it your precious time slips away."

We (I) often get caught up in things that don't really matter and in looking back, realize there are way more important things in life. Life is way too short, which I try to always keep in perspective, especially after losing my dad at such a young age. Little Sarah is now the age that I was when I found out my dad was sick. Crazy to think about. What is even more crazy is how quickly the kids are growing up. I know it is cliche to say that time flies, but it really does. It constantly reminds me to really enjoy every moment and not to sweat the small stuff, which honestly, I have a hard time doing. I am definitely a work in progress.

I have been doing some online scrapbooking the past couple weeks and finished one album that collectively captures the past 5 Christmas's, from 2004 to 2008. I was shocked to see the difference in the kids from year to year, but especially from 2004 to a couple months ago. Here are some comparative side-by-side shots.

Little Sarah, age 8 to 13

Still a sweet smile my Sarah Belle, you are not so "little" anymore, you are almost as tall as me! Tastes obviously change too, Barbie to I Tunes.

Brandon, age 5 to 10

Make sure you keep eating those "Smarties"!

From Bobby Jack to A&F and Aeropostale, you really have a great sense of style and I LOVE going shopping with you!

From Power Rangers to Star Wars

We are truly blessed with wonderful kids. They are always grateful and pretty easy going. We are very proud of you two! And we really rock it as a family!

Here's to our band, the Vultair Clan!

Lead Singer - Lola Grace

Bass - Stark O'Nite

Guitar - Vultair

Drums - Rachel Soul

New Trick - Old Dog

2009-03-18T18:05:00.003-06:00

And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks! Here is Maddie's latest feat!

Valentine's Day

2009-03-17T17:24:00.005-06:00

I know today is St. Patrick's Day, but I have some catching up to do, so today's post is about the previous holiday. But Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! And a very special shout out to you Kel!
We not only got the kids on Halloween this year, we had them on Valentine's Day too! We had a great family day together. Things were low key, but the time we spent as a family was worth a million dollars. Blake and I made a nice dinner for the 4 of us and earlier in the day, Little Sarah and I made red velvet cupcakes and decorated them for dessert. I even bought some sparkling cider and we ate by candlelight. It was pretty special.

Little Sarah and her daddy

Brandon and dad

Even my Maddie girl gets some love

The funniest part of the day was watching Brandon read his Valentine card I specially picked out for him. It said something like, "You know son, when you were just a baby, I remember burping you..." then on the inside it said something like "Now that is one of the many things you can do yourself". Now for whatever reason, it completely cracked the kid up - see below...

He was laughing so hard he was crying!! He then had us all laughing! I finally got him composed enough for the last picture...

Sweet kids - Happy Valentine's Day - I love you!

Above the Clouds

2009-03-01T08:04:00.002-07:00

January 30th - one of Blake's flights during the many days we were under an inversion. It was a beautiful day above the clouds
Blake's flight instructor - Jake

The inside of the DA-40 - it almost looks like a video game - so different from the older Cessna's that I used to fly

Blake landing on runway 1-0 Left

The beautiful DA-40 - both Blake and Brandon like this plane the best

Brandon getting to go flying again with his Dad on January 20th

He loves when Blake has flights scheduled on the weekends he is with us - he loves to go flying with his dad

4-0-6 Foxtrot Papa - the design of the DA-40 is amazing too - the visibility is really good as you can see from the open canopies, especially in the front

Flying with Dad Part 2

2009-02-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

So, that was the plan, great family flying time! I really do love flying - it is one of my favorite past times in which I have great memories of my dad. He was a pilot before he could drive, an amazing flight instructor and taught me how to fly when I was 16 years old. Unfortunately, I never got my license due to problems with motion sickness - which I was told I would eventually out grow. Well, I never did, but it doesn't stop me from the love of flying (as long as I have drugs :)) I even sometimes get sick if I am driving and carnival rides are out of the question - even with a double dose of Dramamine. (I can't even do swing sets or most video games.)

But, with Dramamine, I usually don't get too sick when flying (I have to fly quite a bit for work). For this flight, Blake couldn't find me my normal chewable Dramamine, so he got something called Bonine. Needless to say, the new Bonine drug did not work at all!

We took off, turned south and before we were even to Kuna, I was asking how long the flight was and was desperately trying to get the air on my face and started my "breathing so I don't puke" technique. We were barely over Kuna and I was begging for him to land in Nampa. He called the tower and got us down in record time. I felt SO badly! I hated that I was so sick (Little Sarah wasn't feeling so great either) So I didn't know what to do - I was going to walk before I got back in the plane to fly back to Boise. I tried calling my mom to see if she could come pick us (me and L. Sarah) up, but couldn't get ahold of her. Blake was going to have to fly back to Boise, get the car and drive to Nampa to get us and take us home. He only had the plane for a couple hours and I couldn't let that happen. I finally got ahold of my mom and she graciously came to the rescue.

I really wanted Blake to continue the planned flight with Brandon and that is just what they did. When Brandon found out he was going to get to ride in the front seat - he was smiling ear to ear. He kept boasting how he had a stomach of steel and was just fine. Here is our elated 10 year old.

Still smiling - I think he had this smile on his face ALL day!

It was getting pretty dark when they got back

The Boise airport at dusk

They had a great flight and some quality father-son time together. Little Sarah and I made it home and had a great time together too - we made popcorn balls and caramel corn and enjoyed hanging out without the boys!

Flying with Dad

2009-02-27T19:46:00.006-07:00

New Year's Day was a very special day for Blake and the kids. Even though Blake got his pilot's license in 1995, this day was the first time they ever got to fly with him! Since Blake is now going back to school for aviation and working on his instrument and commercial license (and thanks to some much needed loans) he has been putting in the hours towards those goals. Thankfully, one of his scheduled flights was this day and we also had the kids, so we made a family day of it.

Brandon being Brandon

Sweet Sarah

Blake testing the fuel as part of the pre-flight check

Excited for the flight

Blake in front of the Cessna 172 (101 golf victor)

Me (thinking I was excited)

SO, Blake had this flight all planned out (we were both very excited). We were going to leave Boise and head southwest and fly over our house in Kuna, then head west to Ontario -land and then go to Weiser - land and then go to Nampa - land and head back to Boise. A great family outing and time in the air for Blake.

So far, so good - just before take-off - happy kids!

To Be Continued...

Birthdays and Babies

2009-02-26T19:58:00.005-07:00

There is a lot happening in the month of February for our families! First, February 3rd - it has been 9 years since the passing of my dad. Incidentally, it is also my cousin Josh's daughter Leah's birthday (7 years old this year). Then there is February 12th which was my parent's anniversary - so I always think of that. Next is February 14th - Blake's sister Jennifer's birthday and of course Valentine's Day! February 16th is my brother Ben's birthday. February 19th is Blake's birthday and February 22nd is my step-father-in-law, Les' birthday! Phew!

So for Blake's side of the family, we got together on February 15th to celebrate birthdays for Jennifer, Blake and Les!

Make a wish!

While at Jennifer's, we just can't get enough of those sweet new babies! This day they were 3 months and one day old. Chloe now weighs 10lbs 4oz and Rylie is close behind at 10lbs. It is interesting to think that some newborns are 10lbs and here the girls are 3 months old and are about the size of newborns.
Chloe and Jennifer

Chloe with Uncle Blake (Rylie was sleeping)

Me and Rylie (similar to the picture from my previous blog when she was 6 weeks old) She has changed so much and really filled out!

The girls are smiling and cooeing a lot, but it is so hard to catch the smiles with the camera! Here I finally got one! So precious!

Me and Chloe - she was talking to me and telling great stories

Funny expression from Rylie :) She was smiling too, but couldn't get the camera to take fast enough!

Brandon trying to hold Rylie - this only lasted seconds before she sensed how uncomfortable he was and she wasn't having any of it. Grammy Patti came to the rescue.

Me with Chloe, L. Sarah with Rylie - you can see how much they look alike now and how much Rylie has caught up to her sister Chloe - they are only 4 ounces apart!

Happy Birthday Blake and Ben!

2009-02-24T20:54:00.001-07:00

Saturday we celebrated Blake's 37th BD (February 19th) and my brother Ben's 32nd BD (February 16th) at our house! We had a great time and felt blessed to get us all together on a Saturday we had Blake's kids too. Thanks to everyone we had a great spaghetti dinner topped off with Anita's chocolate cake! We decided to forgo all the candles but still sang happy birthday. All the kids play so well together - they are a joy to be around. Thanks for the memories and mom, thanks for jumping in and helping with the chaos when you first came over :)
Love you all!

Blake

Ben

Brandon and Sarah

Mom

Angela

Ben

Sarah and Blake

Our New Nieces

2009-02-23T21:12:00.009-07:00

Blake's sister Jennifer gave birth to two beautiful baby girls on November 14th, 2008 - Chloe Joan and Rylie June. Rylie spent several days in the NICU, but all three went home together. These pics are from Christmas (about six weeks old) - Rylie was still trying to catch up to her bigger sister here, I think they were still over a pound apart. They are now three months old and only 4 ounces separates them and now, to the outsider, are very hard to tell apart! They are so very precious and so well loved by their older brother and sister, Ashton and Kenzie. Here are some pics from Christmas, I still need to upload the pics from last week, but will get some of those posted soon too. Love you girls!

Jennifer and Chloe

Chloe

Rylie and Chloe

Me and Rylie

Me and Chloe

Chloe and proud mama

Chloe

Some of the girls - Kenzie, Megan (Blake's youngest sister), Me, Rylie and Little Sarah

The Big Girls - Patti (Blake's mom), Jennifer, L. Sarah, Megan, Kenzie and me

Me and Rylie

Back in the Day

2009-02-22T13:21:00.009-07:00

How fun is this...my CeCe (Aunt Tracy) posted these old pics on Facebook the other day. Thank goodness for cameras! When I was younger, I dreaded the fact that my mom always had a camera in her hand and she was always making us take group pictures, but now I am eternally greatful. Now I am the one the kids, friends, and family dread as I am always trying to take pictures to capture the moments as well as everyday life. My favorite of these pics is the one of me and Ben (we all wonder what he is laughing about) and the one of my dad and Ben walking down the sidewalk.

Me and Ben

Dad and Ben

Mom and Ben

Ben - how sweet

Ben apparently trying to blow grass like his uncle Dan

After CeCe's wedding: me, Great Grandma Wilder, Ben and cousin Josh

Ben, me and cousin Josh on steps of PUBs (Uncle Bryan) apartment in Rupert

MIA

2009-02-21T21:56:00.003-07:00

So I have been missing in action since October with this blogging thing. Not for lack of trying though - I have had more frustrations with this thing than I can really explain - I have spent hours trying to change my background and template and have about had it! I finally got this kind of changed without losing too much, but I am not sure I have the patience for this! So here are a few pics from the past few months.

Blake embarrasing his 13 year old daughter by trying to get a picture with her and his Christmas tie and suspenders - she was mortified!

Becky and me after the YMCA Christmas Run!

Fun with lifelong friends - me, Lori and Laura

Little Sarah

Mom's Birthday - a toast to us all!

What I Know

2008-10-24T20:03:00.005-06:00

My wonderful sister-in-law emailed this to me and so I thought I would fill it out and post it since nothing much is going on right now. We were asked to trade weekends back with the kids, so that means we won't get them until next weekend. (That will be three weeks without them and I really miss them. I had even planned on carving pumpkins together this weekend). As for me, I have just been working - so that isn't fun to blog about (nor can I for confidentiality reasons) so until I have something more exciting, I thought this was a great time for reflection and maybe you will enjoy thinking about how you would personally finish these statements.

I AM: Sarah
I MISS: my dad and loved ones in other states.
I HEAR: BSU playing San Jose.
I SMELL: my caramel apple Yankee Candle.
I CRAVE: ice cream.
I WORRY: that I will never get to be a stay at home mom.
I REGRET: spending so much time (wasted time) worried about what other people think.
I LOVE: spending time with my friends and family.
I ALWAYS: strive to do my best yet am always hardest on myself.
I DANCE: I don’t know how to dance.
I SING: but try not to do so in public (althought there may be a story or two indicating that may have accidentally happened at the embarrassment of me and other innocent bystanders).
I CANT STAND: people who think they are better than others (Blake says it is called arrogance)
I LOSE: Lose? I am competitive, I hate to lose.
I DO: overreact.
I LISTEN: Huh? Blake says I need hearing aids.
I HATE: being wrong.
I HOPE: to pass my exam tomorrow.
I WANT TO BE: pregnant.
I OBSESS: about what others are thinking about me. (Note I have work to do here as it is my biggest regret)
I DREAM: of being a stay at home mom.
I LIVE: my life one day at a time and try to stay present and enjoy the little things in life.
I WILL: continue to grow and learn and try not to take things for granted.
I WILL ALWAYS: try to learn from my mistakes.
I CAN USUALLY BE FOUND: At work (lately).
I NEED: a break.
I KNOW: life is too short and that I am loved.
I AM ALWAYS: wanting things to be clean.
I WISH: Blake could find employment.
I CRY: when I'm sad or really tired. I have been really tired lately!
I FELL: but dusted myself off and got back up again.
I BELIEVE: God has a perfect plan for my life.
NICKNAME: Saria, Hunny.
LOCATION: Kuna
AGE: 34
HEIGHT: 5 ft 5 in
SHOE SIZE: 8 ½ to 9
PIERCINGS: 3
HAIR COLOR: Blond – in desperate need of a highlighting fix.
WEAKNESS/FEAR: of failing and spiders.
GOAL YOU'D LIKE TO ACHIEVE: Short term= start running again. Long term= get my personal training certification and take a martial arts class like Muay Thai.
BEST PHYSICAL FEATURE: Yeah right. (remember I am really hard on myself)
BEST MEMORY: Flying with my dad.
PEPSI OR COKE? Neither – I prefer water and coffee.
MARRIED: Yes, to the love of my life.

Soccer Season!

2008-10-12T18:59:00.000-06:00

Little Sarah LOVES Soccer! This year she is in the 7th grade, wears the #2, and her McCall team is now playing regulation soccer (bigger field, more players). Since the kids live in McCall, it is hard to find teams to play, so they have to travel all over the state. This weekend she had games in Kuna (yea! close to home :)) and Middleton.

But it was SOOOOO cold! It snowed here Friday night and this morning game in Kuna was bitter cold. You can see I was less than thrilled to be weathering the elements, but it was worth watching L. Sarah play!

Blake and Brandon were cold too, but at least they were smiling. Note: I was smiling on the inside.

Sarah played an aggressive game - she had some run-ins with the other player in this pic (yellow #11). The first thing she said to us after the game was about this player, there were no words exchanged - but if looks could kill...

Bagel Honey Locust

2008-10-10T17:11:00.000-06:00

I first saw this on my friend's blog and have since seen it floating around, but it was fun, so I wanted to share as well!

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Missy Altima
YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR'S NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Scrappin' Sunny Tour
YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Mint Chocolate Chip Sugar
YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) S-Spr
YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color + favorite animal) Yellow Dog
YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name + city where you were born) Jane Boise
YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) SprSa
SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color + favorite drink)
The Green Hard Lime
NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) DeVaughn John
STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent + favorite candy)
Happiness Good 'N Plenty
WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Lee Thomas
TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name + a major city that starts with the same letter) Alsager Austin
SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday + flower) Christmas Daisy
CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit + article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Strawberry Flannely
HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Bagel Honey Locust

Now it is your turn! :)

Mountain Home Airshow 9-13-08

2008-10-07T21:12:00.000-06:00

How Many of Me? How Many of You?

2008-10-01T20:36:00.001-06:00

So my friend Rachel had the stats for her family on her blog, so I clicked the link just to see how many people with my name were out there! Not too many! Rachel's husband's name is John Smith - can you imagine how many results that produced?! Try 50,414! Thanks for this fun fact finder Rach!

P.S. I just checked Blake's name and there was just one result! So he must be it!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
9
people with my name in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Young At Heart

2008-09-30T21:00:00.000-06:00

Did I mention that I am not as young as I used to be? Well, I guess last night I was trying to prove myself wrong! As Angela reminded me, you are only as old as you feel and by golly I feel young!

Last night was the first night of church basketball for the fall season. Several people Blake and I played softball with this summer were going to play, so they asked us if we were going to join them. Of course I was game (even though it is from 8-10pm which as many of you know is past my bedtime!) Blake can't play because of his knees, but he came to support me. I thought it had been 14 years since I last played Bball, but asked Blake to double check my math - it has really been 18 years!! Well that wasn't going to stop me. I was a little nervous at first, there were lots of young people on the court, but it came back to me and I even scored some points. It felt really good, although I forgot just how much running is involved in the game! So maybe I was a little too competative last night and maybe played a little too hard, but it felt really great...until I got home.

I took off my shoes. I knew my feet were hurting and I figured I might have a couple blisters, but I had no idea just how bad it was until I happened to look down at my feet. My pink socks were now a beautiful blood soaked red! It was disgusting - I not only had incredibly deep layered blisters, but had rubbed off most of the bottom of my feet!

I soaked my feet and then placed some first aid Adaptic over the wounds. (I had some left over from the MS150 in August when I rode myself raw over a two day period - you can see Blake's blog for details of that amazing ride at vultair.wordpress.com) Today was a bit painful having to wear nylons and heels, I think I am going to bring slippers to work tomorrow to wear at my desk :)

Despite my self inflicted state, I can't wait until next Monday night to play some more ball! (but I hope to be getting some new shoes before then!)

See you Monday!

And So It Begins

2008-09-29T18:24:00.000-06:00

Well, after some encouragement from friends and my own personal enjoyment of reading other blogs, I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and start my own blog! Most of you know that I love to scrapbook and love taking pictures, so this will be another way for me to create memoirs of our life!

So not that I don't already feel like I am getting older, I had even more of a reality check this weekend with the kids. So get this...Blake had a referee clinic out at Idaho Ice World Friday and Saturday, so I had the kids. Friday night, I was feeding Little Sarah and Brandon dinner (PB&J - I know - very gourmet!) and I had to give Maddie (my dog aka cash cow) her monthly allergy shot. Being observant, Brandon was telling me how the kids at school use their mechanical pencils to pretend they are giving shots. Trying to contribute to this dialogue, I explained that we did that too when we were kids. So Brandon, with a very inquisitive look on his face, asks, "you mean they had mechanical pencils when you were a kid?!?" I replied, half in shock, but mostly appauled, "are you serious?!!!!, of course we had mechanical pencils when I was a kid, I think my grandfather had mechanical pencils when he was a kid!!" I immediately had to call my mother and let her know what had just transpired. She of course laughed hysterically and then said "and so it begins"...