cinda-rella, dressed-in-yella...

Our jumproping mama, Miss Taylin, rocked her camp this summer. She learned double-dutch and criss-cross and all sorts of cool jumping techniques. She quite enjoyed it and worked really hard each day.

She took the camp with her friend, Julianna, and they had a great time! Way to go Pooks!

baby teeth

Kaylie had her first visit to the dentist this summer, just before school started. She was very brave and didn't cry, only maybe a little squirming while lying in the chair. She had two great examples to follow (thanks big brother and big sister!) and the tv show to watch was more fun than my old trips to the dentist as a kid. I remember the agony of having to be sure to have taken my antibiotics before going or they couldn't do the work. And if you know me and taking pills, it was never fun. Ugh.

But Kaylie was a trooper and she sure enjoyed getting her prizes. Who doesn't like the treasure box at the dentist office?! Way to be a big girl sweetie.

boys

They all really are just boys. Doesn't matter the age. But what does matter is your heart. And these boys have heart. They heart football. And this is how they play fantasy football.

I heart my boys and their love for football. I heart a party. I heart good times and good friends. Heck, I think I heart football, but shhh, don't tell Huy.

BYU vs. OU - you know the result!


That is Tanner, of course in the Y t-shirt amongst all of those red shirts. He is waiting in line to throw a football through a hole at the Dick's Sporting Goods booth.

Check out his form. Totally awesome. Notice the other two guys in the picture. They are thinking, "Whoa, this kid looks good. Let's see what he can do."

Now, you can't actually see that the ball went into that small hole, but trust me, it did - two times. See the guy in the orange shirt, he is very impressed! Tanner got a Dick's water bottle for his awesome throw!

Not great lighting on this picture, but yes, that is the one and only, Ty Detmer. He was leaning, kind of hiding actually, by this wall as we walked in to go to our seats. He was happy to have his picture taken with the boys. Many others were doing it too.

Almost to our seats and getting our first glimpse of the biggest stadium ever, and the biggest screen ever (those are my stats, but they just may be true), Tanner is in awe and has to take a picture to text to his friends back home. The screen is something like four stories tall. Nuts.

That may look like a close-up picture of Bronco (we are on a first name basis), but that is him on the screen. There was an ad that was played during a time-out at one point and it was him giving advice to students. I videoed part of it and thought it was worth sharing.

"...people are counting on you. Counting on you to be great. Counting on you to do all the things you are suppose to do as a representative of BYU. Please never forget why you are here. Never forget who you are. Never forget so much, so much depends on what you do T O D A Y !"

We (mostly Huy) are huge fans incase you hadn't guessed. Our kids have been brainwashed (I use that term lightly) to know that they will attend the greatest University ever, as we did, one day. Tanner hopes to play football for them. I tell him, "Yes sweetie, you can do anything you want to do!"

We met up with Huy's cousin, Nate and his wife Meri. They have moved to Dallas and it was great to see them and have family close. Well... closer!

Tanner and Lucas kickin' it while waiting for the game to begin.

Aaron and Cameron and Micah flew in to town from Arizona to go to the game too. It was great to see them! The whole experience began as a father son event, but I begged Huy to come to. He didn't put up too much of a fuss - he knows better!

Chris and Lucas came along too. Originally they were going to be coming from Panama, but their stay there ended earlier than planned and so they only had to make the trip from Austin.

Jeff and his girlfriend, Michelle, along with Connor and Spencer were there as well.

Ty and Karmen were going to bring their son, Cole and his friend, but turned out that they had an unexpected soccer tournament that they needed to play in so they weren't able to come. They were missed, but that did allow Marshall and his dad to come in their place.

About the only time Karmen and I have our picture taken is at a BYU game. Funny how that is.

This is proof that a crowd of 75,000 people can be loud. And when BYU fans are winning, it is super loud. This poor little boy infront of us had his ears pulled all of the 4th quarter.

The game ended with a 14-13 win for BYU! The crowd went wild. Well, the crowd that was left. It was funny how fast the OU fans cleared the stadium.

Huy couldn't have been any happier or any more horse. He yelled so much and for so long that a week later he still doesn't have his voice back.

We have an awesome group of friends who all love football!

BYU... will go all the way!

big dog

this is one of his favorite spots and oddly, one of his favorite positions to sleep in. look at how contorted he is - legs going opposite directions, eyes pulled way back, lips (if that is what you call them) hanging. we love this big dog. he is funny, that is if dogs can be funny. and because the kids are now is school, he is bored.

First day of school


Can't believe the summer is over! It was a busy, fun, and hot one, but I think we are all ready for school to begin.

Kaylie was pretty excited for her first day of Kindergarten. Her teacher is Mrs. Macias and she was glad to know Anna Ferguson in her class. She woke up happy and was cooperative when getting ready and it was a rush to get all three kids out the door, but we made it.

Favorite color - hot, hot, hot, hot, hot, hot pink

Favorite food - cheeseburger, ketchup only, with ranch

Favorite thing to do - hang out with my family

Favorite stuffed animal - horsey

Favorite movie and/or TV show - Thumbelina

What I'll be when I grow up - a gymnastic girl

If I were in charge of the world, I would stay with my family and ride horses.

Taylin was most ready to get school started. She was so excited to go and see the list that the school posts the week before school starts. She was happy she got a nice teacher, Mrs. O'Hara, but she was sad that her friend Kassadi wasn't in her class. She had no problem waking to her alarm on the first day (and has been doing a great job ever since too). She has shown great excitement and big responsibility starting the fourth grade!

Favorite color - blue
Favorite food - chicken nuggets/chicken sandwich
Favorite thing to do - play soccer and draw
Favorite stuffed animal - a dog
Favorite movie and/or TV show - High School Musical (all three), Full House
What I'll be when I grow up - a Pro soccer player and an artist and a Veterinarian
If I were in charge of the world there would be no dog pounds that would then kill the dogs.

Moving up to the middle school was not a problem for Tanner. He likes to think he is a big kid now, in the 6th grade. Secretly I think he was a little nervous, but only a mother would know, but he played it all off as being cool with the first day. Upon returning home, he told me with a smile from cheek-to-cheek, "It was awesome." He is going to like his new school.

Favorite color - blue
Favorite food - fries
Favorite thing to do - play football
Favorite animal - I don't have one
Favorite movie and/or TV show - Ironman
What I'll be when I grow up - NFL quarterback for the Steelers
If I were in charge of the world there would never be homework, everything would be free, there would be no jobs - only machines would build things.

This was the point I started to get a bit emotional, walking my three kids off to school. I had to lag behind so they wouldn't see my tears! Boo hoo!

I mean, look at her. Is she ready or what? She is and I know it, but I can still be sad that my baby is going to school with the big kids. When she came home, she didn't have much to tell us about her first day. She just said it was "goody." Soon after she looked at me and said, "What are we going to do tomorrow?" I told her we were going back to school. She promptly threw herself on the ground and cried, "Nooooo!" It is going to take some time to readjust to the all day, every day school thing!

The kids were ready and it will be a great year!

Before going back-to-school

We like to do one last get-away the weekend before school starts and so we had been wanting to float down the river in New Braunfels and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was a slow float, some paddling and some kicking, a little whining from our first-timer little munchkin Bubbas, but it was a good time.


Scary swimsuit picture - should have held the tube up to my chin!



Tanner is seriously a bundle of go, if there is such a thing. He loved the rope swing and of course wanted to do more. He was back-and-forth across the river, just finding things to do. I wish I could have taken the camera to capture the fun things he and the girls did!

The kids enjoyed the hotel pool before we made a quick visit to the Pottery Barn Outlet, one of my favorite stops.

The hot tub was hot. Imagine that. It has been a long time since we had been in one and it felt so nice on the old body, even though it was hot.

It was great family time before the crazy, busy schedules begin!

september word of the month

tell

tell someone you love them each and every day. tell a joke. tell your kids how cool they are. tell your very own story from beginning to end. tell the story of your home past or present. tell everyone you meet something you like about them. this month, tell the truth.

for some reason as i read this i think of someone who has one hand on hip, shaking their head, shoulders, and hips in a rolling wave motion and waving their index finger in a snap zig zag motion saying, "i tell you what..." funny. but anyway, if you should choose, imagine me doing the above saying, "i tell you what. i like comment posters. i like each of you who comment pretty darn much."