Riley's Gymnastics Season

Riley made the gymnastics team this year at MMS. She struggled with wanting to practice so much but stuck it out and had a great season. She has taken gymnastics for one year back in 5th grade but is totally built for it. She enjoys the floor. I think she learned a lot and her score improved at every meet. I personally feel that they should get an automatic 6 points just for wearing leotards in front of all the crowds!. They have every girl perform the same routine to the same song all season long. This is nation wide, I heard. So it helps the girls with their skills even though we hum that song in our sleep. Riley worked hard from the beginning. Finally, at the district meet, she earned herself a 10th place ribbon. Yeah, Riley! She continues to flip and bounce, bend and twist all over the house, so hopefully it will pay off with another great season next year!

Play(dough)-time

Once again, I am frustrated with my camera. I can't seem to get a non-blurred picture! Aaargh!
But anyway...Porter seemed to like me to play with the playdough more than play with it himself. Although, perhaps it is me that likes playing with it and I made him wait and watch. Hmmm... He enjoyed the little creations and it was very sweet at how impressed he was. Even Larry was impressed... maybe I should play with playdough more often...

Larry's big weekend!

Thank you, Suzy, for the buddy pass. And since I couldn't figure out where I would want to go and with whom, and we couldn't get away without kids, Larry got to use it! This was his very first "guys weekend". After catching up with Vasu a few years back, they have discussed meeting in St. George for golf and it finally happened. It sounds like it was a good time, too. Mark and Larry flew down and stayed in a house Vasu hooked them up with. Quite nice. They golfed twice, went to a Snow College basketball game, or is it Dixie? (I knew Larry should have done this post himself!) They met Vasu's family and got to check out the golf course that was in High School Musical 2 - yes, THE golf course! I don't have any video of them dancing or leaping on said golf course unfortunately. It was a quick weekend, Thursday-Saturday, but well-deserved and enjoyed!

Larry called me from the golf course asking how our camera could take timed pics. These are 3 of their attempts. Hee! Hee!

One of the homes on the golf course- St. George doesn't look so bad!

Mark and Vasu

Larry and Vasu

At the house...

The last day after lunch. I'm not sure where the fire engine comes into play, but nice backdrop none-the-less. Vasu, his wife and older daughter (the younger one wasn't with them)

Mark, Larry and Vasu: Then

and NOW....

Until next year I guess....

This is for Elizabeth!

I promised I would post pics of my kwakse (pronounced: cow-sway, a Burmese soup with chicken and coconut milk, noodles and lots of yummy condiments). So this is it. The whole family loved it- maybe not Riley, but that doesn't count. There was plenty to go around and I love the french-fried onions on top- so good! So there. Proof that I did make it and my family did eat it!

P.S. It's still better with the rest family, though! Miss you guys!

Valentine's Day

It was a pretty uneventful day, just another Saturday. But Larry and I did sneak away for dinner and our ward's temple night. We came home to sweet surprises all around! There were cute valentine's notes on the table (in the sparkling clean kitchen!).

And a bed covered with colored pictures, hearts made from candy and a platter of goodies, too. The floor was sprinkled with cut out hearts with darling messages on them. A very nice thing from a very sweet bunch of kids!

Larry surprised me, too, with a tickets to see Grease in May. Yeah! My gift to him wasn't so much a surprise (he was with me and picked it out himself) but a fun treat for the whole family- a pull-up bar! So turns were taken as we enjoyed the end to another holiday- Happy Valentine's Day!

Porter and his cars.

It cracks me up to watch Porter sometimes. He is such a boy. And, wow, what a difference between him and the girls! Yes, they loved sports and wrestling with Daddy, but nothing like this! The sun was kind of shining one afternoon in February. He followed his dad outside and proceeded to go for a "drive". He commands the entire back yard - lawn, patio, bball court - with his little jeep. One handed turns, checking his blind spots, and - new to this driving session! - pulling a trailer. He calls it his bike, but the scooter worked perfect as a trailer after Larry tied it to the back of his jeep. Boys!


Earlier that week, I was running around the house getting stuff done and came back to find this. It has begun. I don't know if it's because I passed on my anal retentiveness or this is a boy thing. But he now lines up all of his cars in a row and makes car noises while he is "working". Again... boys! I love this one!

Side note: As of today, April 13, Porter has been bottle-free for 8 straight days! Yippee! Yes, I'm taking a bow for this one. I never thought we'd here. Pacifier is only used IN the crib at nap and bedtime. One battle at a time!

Hide-and-Seek

Usually hiding to Porter is just covering his eyes.

But this time his sisters helped him. Quite clever, I must say.

Maisyn's basketball season comes to an end...

Maisyn had a great season this year. Larry coached her team and they were sponsored by Scott and Amy's business- Super Jump Party Zone. The Kober's added to their generosity by allowing us to have the team party at Super Jump. The kids had a blast, everyone had pizza and goodies, and the team used up a lot of energy on those jumpers! It was a good time had by all. (As you can see from the pictures, it was difficult to find anyone standing still.) It will be fun to watch as this team plays together for the next several years. They learned a lot and really improved their game. Go Super Jump girls!

Two-year Check up

It was hard to get him to stand still, but just wanted to show Porter's check-up boo-boo. He is too young to understand what the dr means at birthday time. He is so used to going for being sick. Poor little guy! He had to get blood drawn from his toe and shots in leg. He was quite the trooper- although he took every sister opportunity to show off his boo-boo bandage!

I'm Crunching for the Kids!

Event: Ladies Workout Express - Bonney Lake 2009
Location:: Bonney Lake, WA
Date: 2009-03-28

"Crunch for yourself. Crunch for the kids."

That's the motto of the Ab Crunch Challenge, a program led by the Lady of America Franchise Corporation through which their members raise funds for and awareness of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
St. Jude has treated children from all over the world and research discoveries are freely shared with the worldwide medical community. At St. Jude, children are treated regardless of a family's inability to pay so fundraising is essential to continuing St. Jude's groundbreaking research and treatment.
For more information on how you can support St. Jude through the Ab Crunch Challenge, please contact abcrunch@stjude.org.

https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/displayUserPage.do?userId=39086&programId=151&eventId=22485





Tomorrow I will be heading into Ladies Workout Express (this is your shoutout, Lindsey!) where I work out each morning. It is St. Jude's Annual AbCrunch Challenge. I get to crunch my abs for an hour straight for the kids! So for those of you who haven't already, please check out the link above. Donate if you can - $1, $5, $25, whatever! Every dollar helps. I set a pretty lofty goal and am not near it yet. So dig deep and give yourself some kudos for supporting an amazing charity! Wish me luck!