Some December Fun!

My boys!! Tyler-11, Ryan-9, Jacob-7

I wonder what he is telling them...maybe to be good!!

The Bairds and Warner boys!!

Our Family At Tuacahn

The Bairds and Warner's..we all didn't fit in one pic!!

Kashton, Jacob and Ryan waiting for some hot chocolate!

Tyler playing basketball

Jacob broke his hand playing dodgeball

Mom and Jacob

Our Snow! The boys were mad it didn't snow more on a weekday to miss school!

The school choir that Ryan is in...their Christmas program

Jacob and Mom

Ryan playing basketball


We have had so much fun so far this December and Christmas isn't even here yet!! We ended November with an awesome football tourney in Vegas. We also started December with another football tourney here at home! The Demons did well again this tourney!

We started basketball games! Both Ryan and Tyler play really well and always score in each game! Ryan has really become quite the basketball player! He loves playing!! We got up all our Christmas decor! We have quite a bit so it takes a few days to get everything inside and out put up but we did it without a problem! Erin had a fun cookie exchange at our house where we had close to 30 people show up! We had ALOT of cookies in the house for a while...but it didn't take long for all the boys to eat them up!! Ryan is in the school choir and they performed a few places throughout the area. We watched them at a tree lighting ceremony where we froze!! And then their Christmas concert at school was fantastic! Those teachers do a great job with those kids!! One week it was so cold and the news was predicting snow! The boys were sure we would have another snow day so they planned the day out...but it didn't snow! However, we did get some snow...on a Saturday!! Not enough they would have cancelled school but it was better than nothing!!

Having boys you never know what is going to happen but I guess we couldn't make it through the year without a broken bone! Jacob fell playing dodgeball in PE at school and broke his hand! He has a cast on for 2 weeks. He is doing pretty well dealing with it!

One of our favorite traditions each December is to go out to Tuacahn for their Festival of Lights! We have gone for quite a few years now. This year we went with our good friends the Bairds. They have 4 boys and a girl so you can just imagine all the boys!! We watched the Live Nativity Program (which by the way, all 7 boys didn't make a sound!!) and then we had some fun having hot chocolate, seeing Santa and taking some pics that Ashley and I wanted but the boys, all 9 of them (including our husbands) weren't too happy about!!

But, we got them and all was fun! We still have Christmas and New Years! We all love this time of year! We look forward to seeing family and friends, hanging out with each other and sleeping in cause of no school!!! And don't let me forget...NO HOMEWORK for 2 weeks for the boys!!! Yippee!!!

Thanksgiving Football Tournament in Las Vegas!

Desert Hills Demons

Dogpile after their win!!Leading the kick off

Tyler #40

Tyler and his friend Kaeson

Tyler #40

Tyler is on a football tournament team and has been so excited about this turkey day tournament for quite some time. They praticed so hard, with one week having back to back pratices (5th grade team for 2 hours and then driving over to Desert Hills for another 2 hours with the tournament team, named Desert Hills Demons) It was a little rough, I have to admit, a few times but we made it through!! So, we all headed to Las Vegas not really knowing what to expect. I really think when we headed up to the weigh in room, the look on the boys faces was "wow these kids are big!! There were teams from California, Arizona, New Mexico and even a team from Alaska!! So, we weighed in and played our first game at 3:15 on Thanksgiving. An hour before the game our good friends were in a car accident and it really shook us all, thinking "Oh no, this can't be happening" but they were all ok, thankfully and we still went on with the game. The car wasn't ok, but all 7 of them were and that is what matters. So, the first game starts and within about the first 5 minutes of the game, we score a touchdown!!! After that, our boys were on fire!!! They played so awesome!! It was so fun to watch them being a team and playing so well together. All that hard work and pratices payed off!! We ended that first game winning!! The team we played had played together for 3 years and had only lost 2 games..well now 3 games!!! The boys were excited and couldn't wait until the next game!! We left and found a Thankgiving dinner in Vegas (nothing to write home about) but we were together as a family and thats what mattered! The next morning we had some time to hang out before the game and Tyler was so funny! He was in the shower in the hotel singing the "Thunder" song getting all ready!! He was ready mentally for this game. The thing about this tournament was they had sealed in 2nd place with the win but if they could win this game they could get the gold (1st place). So, we played at 1:30 on Friday. The boys were ready!! After a few upset parents on the other team (I don't think they were used to loosing) we played a second game winning this one too!! In both games during the tournament, we had no other team score against us!! We thought the first game was good, the 2nd was even more exciting!!! These boys played so well!! And they were so happy after the game, they all dogpiled each other and some even had a few tears of happiness in the eyes (although they would never admit it!!) Overall, it was a fantastic weekend!! It was so great watching Tyler be part of something great and having some of his really good friends with him along the way! We have one more tournament coming up this weekend and the boys can't wait!!! Take note of how big the trophy is!! It was about 6 feet tall!! Way to go Desert Hills Demons!!!

A few things...

Tyler at the parade

Ryan at the parade

Jacob at the parade

Jacob after loosing the first front tooth

Football!!

Tyler in the Veteran's Day Parade

Ryan and I on our "date"

Ok, so I haven't been very good about blogging lately so I thought I would just throw a few pics up here. We had Halloween, it was alot of fun! Tyler and Ryan were both punk Zombies and Jacob was Shaggy from Scooby Doo. We had the parade at school and then fun trick or treating around the neighborhood. Tyler and Ryan hung out with friends and went trick or treating with them but Jacob and I went around with Grandma Cheryl. All three boys made out big time on the candy!!

Football is still going! Both Tyler and Ryan's teams made it to the playoffs so we have the 1st playoffs tomorrow. Tyler is also on a tournament football team, they first play Thanksgiving weekend in Vegas. Tyler is really excited about that! Ryan likes football but is ready to get going with basketball! Jacob's team played really well this season. He is ready to play tackle next year (I'm not sure about that yet!!)

Speaking of Jacob, he lost another tooth! And the other front one is loose, so I think we will be having a toothless little boy for Chith-muth (Christmas).

Tyler and the 5th grade at his school were in the Veteran's Parade. They walked the parade route and then were part of a program after wards. They all did a great job, what a great way to remember the veteran's and those fighting in the war today!

I think we made it through all the sickness! Jeff and Tyler first got the flu and then Jacob got it. Ryan and I have been lucky enough not to get anything!!

More football!!!

Tyler

Tyler in the huddle

Tyler is #40

Ryan running with the banner!

The game is about to start!

Ryan lost a tooth while warming up right before the game started!!

Football has started!!

Tyler getting ready to go in!

Tyler ready to HIT someone!!! I have been better about not closing my eyes when he does!

Jacob is the one with his hands on his knees! He really wanted to tackle but we kept telling him "NO!! Don't tackle anyone!!"

Ryan getting ready to go in the game

Ryan after his game! Man it was hot!!

Football has officially started!! For the boys and for NFL! We are excited for both! We have 3 games every Saturday! It's makes for a long day but we love it! I do have to admit it will be a little nicer once it cools down a bit! So, this last Saturday all 3 boys teams won!! It was a great way to start the season - On top of both Tyler's and Ryan's birthday parties! Tyler and his friends had a night time party, had a scavenger hunt, played night games and ate banana splits! Ryan and his friends went to the bowling alley for some bowling fun! We were so ready for it to be Sunday so we could relax!! Now we wait for Monday night to see how our favorite team, San Diego Chargers do!!

Scouts!!

Tyler with all the awards he earned while being a cub scout!

Ryan earning some awards and then moving on to Bears

Last night was a big night for 2 of my boys in Cub Scouts! Ryan finished up with Wolf and moved onto Bear! He is really excited about moving on and for the day camp in a few weeks! Tyler also moved on to Boy Scouts! He completed the requirements for The Arrow of Light and is now an official Boy Scout! He is really excited to get started! He got a fur with all the awards he earned while being a cub scout! It's already up on his wall in his room! I'm so proud of both of you boys!!

School Starts!

1st day of school! Tyler-5th grade, Ryan- 3rd grade, Jacob- 1st grade

Tyler was really excited that almost ALL his friends were in his class!

Ryan was so happy to get Mrs. Telford!

Jacob was so excited to just be at school all day and that gets to eat lunch there too!!

Ok, so I wasn't here for quite a few things during August, as many of you know!! But, Jeff was super good at taking pictures for me so we would have them (and he also sent them to my phone up in Alaska!) I didn't have my camera with me in Alaska (I was a little rushed to get out the door and one of them was left in my car up the mountain at girl's camp!!) But, my brother took some pictures of Alaska one day when we took a drive that was beautiful!!! I saw moose, mountain goats, bald eagles and lots of other wildlife. I will post some when I get them from him! But, one of the big things I missed (besides 2 of my 3 boys b-days!!) was the 1st day of school!! It was 2 hours EARLIER in Alaska than here so I made sure to set the alarm and got up really early to call my boys before they headed out for school. And, I called as soon as they got home to hear all about it! Jeff took some pics at back to school night the night before school started but only got one the next morning! Oh well, at least we got 1!! I have been getting tons of questions about my dad, he is doing good considering all that happened!! He is home in California and resting and taking it easy. Thank you to everyone who helped Jeff with the boys and texted me and were always checking up on things!! 3 weeks was a long time to be gone but now I'm home and back to normal! (whatever normal is!!)