Ice Skating

In March Nates class (and all the 4th grade) at school got to go to the local Ice Rink and skate for about an hour. Nate was soo nervous that he would fall and not have any fun at all, but as you can see from the following picture--he had fun. They walked from school to the ice center in snow which was about 3/4 mile. I am sure their teachers loved that.
I just met him there to help all the kids get their skates tied and on the ice, then I just watched.

Basketball Star

Nathan played basketball this year for a city rec team and loved every minute of it. I think Drew and I loved it just as much too. He really loves basketball and excelled this year. He mostly played point gaurd and did such a good job at this position. We decided that we might need to put him on a competitive team to allow him more time to play and a longer season. The rec season is 8 weeks long and the kids just learn to play with each other as a team and they just get some good skills to play the game and the season is over. So we hope now that we have put him on a competitive team for the next little while he will gain more skills that will help him in the long run. One of the things that Nate had to learn this year was not to double dribble. Now this isn't the typical double dribbling where you stop and then start again.. No, Nate used his other hand to guard the ball for some reason and it got so bad that when he would bring the ball down the coach threatened to ace bandage is other arm to his side. We worked and worked with him, in fact Drew took him to our church to shoot around and made him wear his arm ace bandaged to his side. In games the coaches would yell...."Nate, arm up!" This was to help him keep his other arm away from the ball. We have pretty much conquered this, I hope for good. He is such a great ball player that I wouldn't want something so petty to cause him to lose confidence, which for a little while it was.

Derrek's first temple trip

Last Friday we took Derrek to the temple for the first time and he loved it. It was so fun to be able to watch him and he had such a great time. I am not sure he really knew what to expect but they took him into a little room with Drew and explained everything and that was great. When we left he asked when we could go again...I hope he always has this attitude and excitement with him for the rest of his life. After wards we went to Great Harvest for one of their ginormous yummy cookies...maybe that is really why he asked when we can go again :)

Updating--Christmas and everything else

I am finally sick and tired of my blogging hanging over my head...so I have uploaded most of the pictures I wanted to and have blogged about them. I was not wordy with any of it so that I could get it done, but the best part is the picture anyway (in my opinion)

This is what Drew got for Christmas--a spin bike. The kids loved playing on it and I thought this pic of Rylie was too cute. Drew was too sick to even enjoy it but we all enjoyed it.


We also got a ping pong table and we have really enjoyed it. We can't wait to have others over for big ping pong tournaments.


Rylie loved Nathans scooter when he got it this last summer so she was excited to get her very own pink razor.

What a poser...Nate and his new bat.

Buccaneers shirt....This is now 2 years in a row he has stayed with the same team. Lets see how long it lasts.

Rylie loves Polly pockets and got some new ones for Christmas

This is the one thing Rylie asked for Christmas, a purple Hannah Montana watch--quite excited.

Derrek wanted a watch too.

The kids running up the stairs when we finally said they could.

The kids waiting patiently to come see if Santa came.....

CHRISTMAS EVE--Gingerbread house

We normally do this earlier in the month with some friends, but we never could find a time that worked. So I bought one and thought it would be a good thing to do on Christmas Eve when they are going crazy with excitement and not sure what to do with themselves.

Haircut anyone???

Derrek really likes his hair long, and we have tried to be patient with him about it. But he is also a booger when it comes to getting it cut. I laid off most of the summer but he turned 12 adn he needed it cut.


Much better wouldn't you say? And it is still got the long look.


DECEMBER--Rylie still needs naps.

These are just a few of the times I have found Rylie like this late in the after noon after she has faught me on taking a nap. I know she still needs one, but she is thinking she doesn't...until of course it is 5 at night and she can't stay awake any longer.

SNOW FUN!

Nathan is always so great with Rylie and plays soo well with her. AFter it snowed he took her outside and they built little snow men and one big snowman.....

Rylie learns to ride a bike

All summer Rylie wanted to learn to ride a bike without the training wheels. So Drew took her pedals and training wheels off and let her learn to ride around just pushing with her feet. About a week later he put her wheels on and she took off. There was no dad by her side she just started off all on her own and was cruising right from the start. I couldn't believe it.... She is soo proud of herself

Drew tends to think he can do it all, and Nate thought we needed a picture of him being our plumber.

Conference Weekend--OCTOBER


I was cleaning out my craft closet and Nate was in there with me and he found all my stitching stuff and asked if he could do one for Halloween. I thought, sure, anything to keep him busy. It was the most peaceful conference, he sat and worked on this so diligently. It was awesome.


OCTOBER 11th--Derrek's Birthday

Him getting the one and only thing he wanted--an IPOD. He's not excited at all......

The shirt he is wearing is a T-shirt Nate made him for his birthday. Nate is soo thoughtful at times, it was a corny shirt but it was straight from the heart.

I am not a cake decorator.....my poor kids.



September--Primary trip to the temple

Doing dishes...or was he?

Nate has such a deer in the head lights look, what did he get caught doing?????

Updating the Blog!

So the whole not blogging thing has been weighing on my mind since we have some pretty fun pictures sitting on my camera. So I decided I would start updating this weekend and I would start off with the most up to date thing that has happened in our home. Derrek is now in Young Men's and on Tuesday for their activity the were going ice skating. This was a combined activity with all the boys and the girls too. Derrek was soo excited to go. Well he last just a few minutes before he fell and split is eye open. He still has no clue what exactly happened but this is the after math.


While Derrek was at the activity I went to my swim class and took Nate with me so he could play in the other pool. Drew go a phone call that said Derrek had fallen and cut his eye and come get him. The ice rink is literally down the street so Drew decided to leave Rylie home (yes my little 4yr old...alone...at night...we wont go there!) and he went to pick up D thinking it was really no big deal at all. As soon as he got there and they took of the temporary bandage so he could see, he soon realized that it was a bigger deal and D might just need a few stitches. So he rushed home and got Rylie and they made it within 30 seconds of the insta care closing. Good thing about this was they went right in and got stitched up right away. I got the message after my swim class and went straight to the insta care to play the whole "mom" role and they were closed and I could not get in :( that was so hard not to be there. We had to just go home and wait until they got home.


This is actually a picture I took today (3 days after) and you can see the bruising that is starting to appear, but it really looks worse in real life. The next day D had the option of staying home from school but I think the novelty of getting all the attention and questions as to what happened to him was just to great, so he went to school. He just soaked it all in....he was gloating when he came home from all the attention he got :)
That day at the gym, Drew ran into the Dr. that sewed D all up and was kind enough to come and ask how D was doing and if he was able to sleep well. I thought that was quite the Doctor to go out of his way like that.
Anyway, all is well with D and he is still quite proud of his battle wound (as he likes to call it).

LOTOJA

LOTOJA is always such an awesome experience to be a part of. This is Drew's second year of doing it and I thoroughly enjoyed it just as much this year as I did last year. For those who don't know what LOTOJA is, its a bike race done in one day that starts here in Logan and ends in Jackson Hole. That is 208 miles on a bike--ouch. Drew has been training for this ride all summer long and it is a bitter sweet moment when it is all over.

This is Drew's support car "CREW". Last year Derrek and I did it and this year it was just Nate and I. We had soo much fun together and what a great thing for him to witness their dad doing. After the race both stated that they would some day LOVE to do this race with their dad. Wouldn't that be soo cool.

This is at the top of King of the Mountain, which Drew placed 4th in. It is a pretty intense climb and they already have over 100 miles on their legs.

At the top of King of the Mountain once Drew got off his bike.

Two of the neighborhood guys Drew rode with, (left is Randy Bennion and middle is Neil Etherington) not sure where our neighbor across the street is but I thought it was great that 4 guys from the same neighborhood rode together, and we wives had fun being their support.

The Finish Line: Not a great picture but they are hauling into the finish so you are lucky to get any kind of picture as they pass you going 30+ miles/hr.

Walking his bike from the finish to us--what an exhausting and thrilling day.

This is Drew and Alex (my sister's husband) He finished before Drew but we always look for him at the finish line and they get to chat about the ride.

Nate and his cousin Max--they had so much fun together at the finish line--even getting lost together.

This is most of the "Joy Ride" team that Drew rode with the entire day. There were a total of 12. The funny girl in front is one of the riders daughters and though I wish she wouldn't have stepped in the picture, she turned quite a few heads today.

Way to go Drew, I am so proud of you and your accomplishment!