Friday thoughts. . . senior pictures

Ok just letting you know this post is super heavy on the picture side because they are Miss A's senior pictures.  They are amazing!  We had them taken in August.  Two years ago we had a sweet sister missionary serving in our area who had her own photography business.  She took our family pictures that year.  As she was taking them she said, "Oh, I would love to come back and take Miss A's senior pictures."  Well, she got off her mission and moved back to Utah.  Fast forward 2 years, and this summer I commented to her on facebook that she needed to come back and take Miss A's senior pictures.  I was just joking but was totally surprised and super excited when she said, "Yes! I am coming in August to do them!" So that sweet girl flew from Utah with her amazing mom to visit us and take these amazing senior pictures for Miss A.  We all loved them!  

Miss A has been taking piano lessons since kindergarten and will be having her senior piano recital in May right before she graduates.  She is an amazing pianist!  We are going to put this picture on her invite to her senior piano recital.

And you can just enjoy the rest without any commentary from me.  They all just turned out beautiful!

Love them all!  So fun!  So crazy though, her final cross country race was this week.  Man.  That was hard.  She has run that since her freshman year with the same coach.  Good memories!  Senior year is flying by!  Here we go. . .

First meet of the season

So in case you didn't know, our cute Miss A is a runner.  A very good runner, and I have no idea where she gets that talent from because it is definitely not from me.  This week she had her first cross country meet of the season.

Here she is with her cute teammate before the race.  It was a pretty hot day to be running--over 90, but she was ready to go. 

She is a sophomore, but this is her second year to run varsity.  Everyone lined up.  There were a lot of girls in that varsity race.

She did a great job!

I so admire her determination and strength to be able to run those 2. 5 mile (4K) races.  Her goal is to make it to state this year.  Last year she missed it by one place and 1/4 of a second.  She is looking good this year!  We just hope and pray she stays healthy and can run the races she wants because she works so hard and deserves the best!  Way to go Miss A!!!  We are proud of you!

Miss O also had her first volleyball game---conveniently it was the same day as Miss A's race.  One was an hour south and the other was 30 minutes north, so we went to the 30 minutes one.  We can't be to everything with 4 active kids, and our kids understand that, but they know we love and support them and will be there if we can, and Miss O has a lot more games we can go to which we are excited about.  She is also a super hard worker and dedicated.  Way to go Miss O!!!  We are proud of you!

Looking forward to a fun and very busy season!

Daily December 21--Christmas Program take 2

Miss A had her high school madrigal choir Christmas program recently.

It was very good.  I love their outfits.

The girls got to sing with Santa--too cute

Miss A had a solo and did amazing

It was a great concert and lots of fun!  They all did awesome!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 35

Monday holidays always mess me up.  I am always thinking, "so is tomorrow a Sunday or Tuesday?"  Where am I and what do I need to do?  But it is always so nice to have a holiday.  Our weekend was really fun.  We played more on Saturday, so we could really labor on Labor Day--like doing our Saturday jobs and painting our new windows inside.  So here is some pictures from our week.

We are so extremely blessed to live near my parents.  They came over for Sunday dinner, and after Mr J likes to read with Grandpa.  

Three years ago we replaced half of our windows, and this week we replaced the other half, so all our windows are new--yeah!  Cross that house project off the list and move onto the next.  They are vinyl outside and wood inside, so now we get to paint--another item to add onto the never-ending house 'to-do' list.  Anyone else have a list like that???

Okay, I did finally get up to see Ben's seminary class this week.   I am so not a morning person (at least not a  happy one) and waking up early is not my thing, but I did it today and got a picture of the awesome kids and my amazing husband who occupy our basement every weekday morning for New Testament study.  Way to go Ben and kids!

Today was Miss A's first ever high school cross country meet.  She is a freshman, and her coach felt she was good enough to run in the varsity girls race.  Gulp!  My freshman baby running with juniors and seniors, I was a little worried, but she did awesome!!!!  There were about 90 girls running, and freshman Miss A got 10th!!!  Way to go!  She was amazing!  It was so hot that day, and her cute teammate has a glass of water ready for her as she runs by on the 4K race.  Go Miss A!  It is going to be a great season!

If you know us very well at all, you know we are huge BYU fans.  Ben and I both graduated from there.  Both sets of our parents graduated from there also.  We sadly don't live anywhere near the campus and miss the games, but we always check the schedules to see if our team is playing anywhere near us.  This year the BYU women's volleyball team was playing in a tournament a few hours from our house this weekend, and we decided to go.  It was so fun!  We were able to see them play 2 different teams, and they won the whole tournament.  After the last game they had a big team huddle, and we saw the coach look over at us and then the players and then when they broke their huddle the whole team came over to us (there were not many people there, and we were sitting court side) and they gave us hugs and high fives and thanked us so much for coming.  The kids were super excited!!!  They got autographs and pictures.

This is Jennifer Hamson who is 6'7" and is an amazing player for BYU.  She is also on their basketball team.  The girls were super excited to meet her.

Mr J was excited to have her sign his shirt :)

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

** A special note to my Japanese friend Marie, yes, my browser translates your blog so I can read it.  I am happy you are going to church!  I love you and your family!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 4

I am really beginning to think that winter might have skipped us this year?  We have had a good week, and hope yours has been good too!

Sunday:  We get home from church around 1, have lunch, and then I always take a nap.  It is just programed into my system.  Sunday afternoon nap-necessity for me  :)  Now my kids know this, and sometimes they catch me at a weak moment, like today just as I was falling asleep Mr J asked, "Mom, can I build a train track in your room?"  "Huh?  Yeah, just don't wake me up."  Results from my weak moment above.  I am really glad those tracks are wooden because if they were plastic with as much as they get stepped on we wouldn't have a track left!

Monday:  She is official and legal--if  I am in the front seat :)  She is learning quick!

Tuesday:  Piano lessons night--we have a 2 hour block of lessons for 4 kiddos.  Our teacher gives them at a local church, and the kids know to bring their books as they wait for their turn in the church lobby.

Wednesday:  The kids get out 30 minutes early on Wednesdays for teacher meetings, and since the weather has been so nice, we have been enjoying the park after school on Wednesdays.  Today the kids wanted to roll down the hill.  I happily watched from below and took pictures :)

Thursday:  Free family bingo night at school.  Our kids' elementary does a free family bingo night each year.  They buy books for the kids' prizes and have themed baskets as prizes for the adults.  They have an optional chili dinner for $1.  It is a great, fun family night out.  We love our schools!

Friday:  Tonight we went to the big city to see our friend in his high schools' winter play.  It was Thoroughly Modern Millie, and the kids loved it.  An evening at the theater is always fun.

Saturday:  Miss A had a church volleyball tournament today in the big city.  It was a long day full of volleyball.  They started at 8:30 a.m. and didn't finish until about 3:30 p.m.  They came in 2nd place!  Yeah!  

Wishing you all a great week ahead!!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 2 and history

2012 makes my 4th year in doing a picture-a-day type scrapbooking and documenting of our family's life.

2008 was the first year I tried it.  I was lucky enough to get one of the Project 365 kits.  Becky's first kit like this when she was with another company. 

This is a page out of that album--sorry it is sideways I could not get it turned.  It had a little different layout with the pictures and cards.

This is my 2009 Project Life album.

And this is a page layout from it.

My 2010 Project Life album

And a page from it.

And now I am very happy to be starting my 2012 album, and these are the pictures which will go in this week's layout. . .

Sunday:  We are Settlers of Catan fans at our house.  Even my 6-year-old likes to play.  Sunday evening we were finally able to all play because we bought the extension that allows 6 to play.  Lots of fun!

Monday:  Lately Miss O and Miss E have been into having their hair braided at night after they shower so it is all curly and poofy in the morning.  Tonight after Miss O got out of the shower Miss A was nice enough to braid all her hair.  Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of it in the morning, but it was cute, curly and poofy :)  She said everyone at school wanted to touch her hair.

Tuesday:  This white bowl with this turtle in it has been on my kitchen counter for the last week.  Mr J bought one of those water expanding animals with some Christmas money and has had it in the kitchen to see how big it would get.  Those are really not one of my favorite things, but he enjoyed looking each morning to see how much it had grown.

Wednesday:  The day started out about 60 degrees, and the kids and a friend had fun playing outside, but then the wind picked up and dropped the temperature about 30 degrees, so the kids came in freezing and in desperate need of hot chocolate which is something we are never without at our house. 

Thursday:  End of quarter awards day at school today.  Miss E and Mr J show off their school awards.  I don't think Mr J was too excited to share :)

Friday:  Wow, thank goodness it is Friday, and we can relax!  What a little man with both remotes!  Too funny!

Saturday:  Sorry for the far away, blurry picture, but Miss A was in a regional honors choir this weekend and with how far away we were, this is the best I could get.  They practiced all day and gave a performance in the afternoon.  She is right above the conductor's head with a black hair band on.  They were very good.

Hope you all had a great week!