best.job.ever.

Jason and I have been married for over 17 years. I worked full time until Dylan was almost 2. I worked part time at FWB until Braxton was about 9 months. My boss begged me to do a monthly project from home which I did for a couple of years. I loved my job and the people I worked with. It really was hard when I quit but my kids came first. The bank was bought out & I lost my fabulous once a month job. I worked at a gas station (not my proudest moment - kind of had fun with a friend on Friday nights) for about 6 months. Had a crazy idea to teach preschool at my house. It was ok and worked out until mom got cancer. Then my dear friend, Angie asked me to watch her cute Riley which I LOVED and did for about 3 years. Now the kids are all in school all day and I'm just home. For the very first time ever I'm not working. To be honest, it's weird. I was completely lost for a month. I had this thought that with all of this time I would get so much done - cleaning, organizing, totally on top of everything. I was so very wrong! I feel more crazy now than before. I volunteer at the school quite a bit, still help with Grandma & Grandpa, and time just seems to fly between running errands for kids, appointments, carpool, dance, golf, soccer, wrestling, scouts, piano, and the list goes on and on. I am keeping my ears peeled for that perfect, layed back 10 hour a week fun job but until then I'll just keep swimming and enjoy my new job :)

 

 Spent quite a while looking for Dylan's phone and switching his service over to my old phone only to have him find it the day I switched the service over. Bless his heart!!

 My girl playing soccer with her little friends.

 Golf, golf, and more golf.

 Watching Tangled at the dentist office.

 Nati's class play - "The Little Red Hen". So cute :)

 Nati and Easton after the play - He's known as Buddy at our house.

 Braxton's play. He's the one on the left playing leap frog.

 Braxton and Grace after the play :)

Me with Riley. Such a sweet kid & I miss his funny, cute comments and personality.

Braxton was Student of the Week during the first month of school.

SHS Class of '93

Unite to Ignite

20 Year Class Reunion

 

Months and months of work

Stress

Finding people

Invitations

Waiting for responses

And more waiting

Wanting perfection

Excited and...

More stress

Looking through yearbooks

Memories

Bethany & I in the Light Parade. The one thing I was in charge of. It turned out great and the 40' trailer (thanks to Steph) was filled with everyone and their families. I started to exhale that night. But not fully until Saturday night at maybe midnight.

 Shavon, Kayla and Easton having loads of fun with glow sticks and candy.

 Ryan Anderson & I at the Homecoming Assembly. Kathryn did a fabulous job - way to go Kath!!

 The few that made it to the assembly.

Tailgate party before the big game. Cheryl, me, Julie, Bethany, Brandi and Shannon. Good job Beth!!

 Julie & I at the game. We've been friends since the 6th grade - love her!!

Kathryn & I greeting people at the dinner. There were only 2 people that I had to really dig deep to figure out who they were.

 Missing a few friends but we had a blast that night.

 We graduated when.... oh, that's right - 20 years ago. But we're still funny :)

 SHS Class of '93

The Fabulous Five

Jackie, Lacey, Kathryn, Bethany and I. Lacey was the chairperson over the entire reunion and did a fabulous job. It turned out so great!!

Golf Team 2012

It has been such an exciting year for Dylan. He made the Jr. High Golf Team. Big YEAH!!

He has only been golfing for about 18 months - and seriously golfing for maybe a year. Jason and I are so very proud of him. He has tried all other sports and just didn't find the one that clicked with him until now. He has been either up at Hobble Creek Golf Course or East Bay Golf Course at least 4 days a week since March. He knew he wanted to make the team and has been so very dedicated to it. I am in awe of him because I don't remember being that dedicated to something at that age. Tryouts were very stressful - for us all. I think there were about 50 boys that tried out. They all played and first cuts were made. Only 20 boys were called back. Dylan said he would have been happy to just get called back. He really didn't have high hopes. He got called back for another tryout (on my birthday no less). He golfed better than he ever has and..... the next morning he called home and told us he made it :) I could hear his friends cheering in the background. It was awesome! They had practice every day after school and tournaments every Monday. It's a very time consuming and expensive sport. I don't even want to add up how much we have put into this. It's all been worth it though. He had a great coach that was so supportive and encouraging. The team was great as well and took 1st Place in the district. The season is over but Dylan is getting excited for next year.

 

 Gladston Golf Course

His best score - 48

 Wearing pink socks to practice in honor of his Grandma for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

 First tournament - bit nervous but did great!

The whole team - District Champions!!

Goal!!

We had another successful soccer season.

Braxton and Nati both played so well. Although I have to admit that 3rd Grade soccer is a bit more intense than 1st Grade. Nati was usually (99% of the time) 10 steps behind the ball but she kept running. Braxton was fantastic. I think he's found his sport.

 

 Nati with her little friends.

 She ran her little heart out.

 The Otter Pops

The Scorpions

Here we go again...

Yeah!! We had a great summer filled with all kinds of fun. I really feel like we accomplished a lot, did some really fun things and all got along. It's usually about 2 weeks before school starts that everyone starts getting antsy and we can all tell it's time to go back.

 

Natalie is in 1st Grade with Mrs. Blunck. My sweet cousin who is a Kindergarten teacher tutored Nati all summer long and she loved it! She has already been bumped up a level in reading and she is doing great! She started her dance class again and still loves playing with friends :)

Braxton is a big 3rd Grader with Mrs. McAfee. After our horrific year for 2nd grade we decided to take control and request a certain teacher than I knew would be great for him. We are almost 2 months into school and he still likes it - a huge difference from last year. Yeah!!

My getting-too-big-for-his-britches 8th Grader. Dylan turned 14 just after school started and is loving every second of it. He got all of the classes he wanted and is enjoying Jr. High again. He is still a social butterfly and is such a good kid.

Good big brother making sure she gets to the bus in one piece.

My cute neighbor hosts a "Breakfast at the Bus Stop" on the first day of school. The kids love it and look forward to it every year.

 

It's hard to believe that we are in yet another year of school. With my baby in school all day I honestly thought I would have oodles of time to get things done. So far it hasn't turned out that way. I'm still running errands and trying to keep up with the kids schedules - dance, piano, scouts, golf.... I was struggling the first day so my sweet husband took me to lunch which helped a little. I'm keeping my ears peeled for the perfect 10 hour a week job but until then all I can say is life is crazy, good :)

13.1

One of my favorite runs - the Hobble Creek Half Marathon!

This is my second year running it and (with a huge grin on my face) I finished it 7 minutes faster than last year. Yeah!! And.... (with another huge grin on my face) Jason was here to see me finish it. He is normally on the bow hunt but didn't go this year. Dylan was my big helper and met me at mile 12 to get me through that last mile. He was great! My parents were there also which meant so much to me. I loved seeing my family there and it helped me run that last little bit without dying. The run is fabulous - mostly downhill, and its such a pretty canyon to see. Until next year....

 

 My great support team!

Cute mom with her sign for me. Love her!!

 Kelly & I - she's the best! We run together most mornings and I love her to pieces.

Whew!

Extreme Fun!!

Lowe's Extreme Air Sports

 

The kids love it there. Dylan has been there several times with friends. We all went for my niece, Audrey's birthday and then took McKenzi there while she was here. I was hesitant to get out there at first but it was fun and a great workout.

 

Firework Fun

July was a whirlwind of fun. To celebrate the 4th of July I took the kids to the Owlz Baseball game on the 3rd. It was hot but the kids had fun - although we left before the fireworks and Braxton sat by himself trying to catch a fly ball. The 4th was spent at a BBQ with my family and then

 with neighborhood friends for fireworks.

 

Nati's fun at the Owls game

Yup, he sat there waiting and waiting

Fun game on the 3rd. 

 Neighborhood fireworks

 The kiddos at Cam & Kate's Sidewalk of Fire on the 24th. We had a blast with the Carter family.

 She loves sparklers now.

Braxton talked his dad into letting him light a couple of smaller fireworks.