GOOAAALLL!!!

Happy day! Jackson scored his first goal in his soccer game tonight! I was so excited, jumping up and down and shouting. I was the only one screaming because Coach Carrie lost her voice after the first game on Tuesday. Tonight her older son was running up and down the sidelines with her, acting as her voice and yelling to the players what she wanted them to do. Pretty funny!

The past four years have been pretty stressful for me when it comes to watching my boys play sports. Carson and Jackson are small and not particularly fast so I get discouraged that they don't get the ball very often. Carson has chosen not to play basketball and soccer this year and I was fine with that. I'm hoping he will play baseball though. Jackson still loves to play all sports and this year soccer is on a bigger field and there are actual positions. I am so proud of how well he listens to the coach and follows her instruction. There are some really good soccer players on his team, but Jackson is hanging in there and tonight he made the only goal of the game!

Crazy Eights, My turn!

My sister-in-law tagged me and this is the first time I've done one of these. Kind of fun but took me a long time! You would think I would know myself after all these years! Didn't have to dig deep, just a lot of debris on the surface!

Eight shows I love to watch: (only 8? how will I narrow it down?)
1. Life (my most favorite show)
2. Pushing Daisies
3. The Office
4. Chuck
5. Amazing Race
6. Fringe
7. Heroes
8. Robin Hood (BBC)

Eight of my favorite Restaurants:
1. Texas Roadhouse (I love, love, their ribs!)
2. The Landmark
3. Outback (best house salad)
4. California Pizza Kitchen
5. Olive Garden (lunch only-I could eat their zuppa tuscana and breadsticks everyday!)
6. Chick fil A (o.k. I don't know how to spell the dumb name, but favorite fast food)
7. Rubios (mainly because there is one in Casa Grande)
8. Joe's BBQ (well, it's Chad's favorite anyways)

Eight things that happened yesterday:
1. woke up at 5am (no reason, not normal) and folded 4 loads of laundry
2. drove kids up to the bustop on the 4-wheeler
3. organized master closet & office
4. worked on a couple mortgages
5. took kids to Jackson's soccer practice
6. made chicken enchiladas for dinner
7. watched t.v. while Chad was at scouts
8. Drank some theraflu and went to bed (trying to fight a cold that is threatening)

Eight things I am looking forward to:
1. Cooler weather!
2. going on an Alaskan cruise with my husband for our 10th anniversary!
3. not having to buy diapers!
4. no more car seats!
5. spending thanksgiving in flagstaff with 3 of my siblings
6. grandma's sleepover so Chad and I can go on a date
7. seeing 'Twilight' this saturday with some friends, sister, and sister-in-law!
8. getting Lauren to quit her security blanket!

Eight things on my wish list:
1. a cleaning lady!
2. that my friend Lacie would move back to Coolidge!
3. a temple here in Coolidge or at least Casa Grande
4. to see my parents more often
5. my kids could see their Granpa and Grandma Perrins more often
6. a cabin on the lake that we could escape to during the summer
7. my primary class would remember everything they were taught, and stop talking when I am talking!
8. more patience with my sweet children. They are great kids and deserve better!

Eight people I tag:
1. Carrie
2. Samantha
3. Laura
4. Jennifer L.
5. Jennifer W.
6. Amber
7. LeaAnn (oh, wait! you don't have a blog!)
8. You, if you're reading this!

Tammy...Tammy

Funny story and I know it's a bit confusing, so bear with me... So Tuesdays are usually a busy day for me, and this particular day, more so than most. After school Carson had piano at 3:30 then Ressa had dance at 4:00 and Jackson is now in soccer and he had a game at 5:30 and then I had a PTO meeting at 7pm. I needed to go to Casa Grande earlier to get Jack some shin guards and cleats so I put Lauren down for a nap at Grandma's house and left. After driving to several stores to find what I needed (no luck w/ cleats and shin guards I bought ended up being too small) I headed back to Coolidge. The kids have just started riding the bus and so it occured to me that I needed to call the school and stop them from getting on the bus so Carson wouldn't be late for piano. I came home first to get piano books and dance clothes then drove to school to get kids. Dropped off Carson to piano at Tammy Judd's house for his 1/2 hr lesson. Drove to Walmart with Jackson and Ressa to get some shorts for soccer (only $3!) and some more eye patches for Jack. Then drove to dance and took Ressa into change for class while Jackson waited in the car, not wanting to go inside because I made him wear a patch and he is self conscious. Got Ressa ready and chatted with some parents for a bit then headed home to feed Buck, get Lauren from Grandma's, type up agenda for PTO meeting and get Jackson ready for soccer game. Lauren is still napping so I get everything done in 1/2 hour and then just as I am ready to leave at 5pm to get Grandma and Lauren for the soccer game, the phone rings. "Hello?" "Hi, Sarah. It's Tammy." I think to myself, Tammy...Tammy. Tammy Judd, Carson's piano teacher. "Just wondering if you were alright." Carson' piano lesson ended an hour ago. What happened?!! Here I was, thinking that I had juggled my busy schedule effortlessly. How did I forget to pick up Carson? I felt so stupid! Tammy was so nice about it and hadn't called until later because Carson was fine there, playing with her kids. After a while she thought something might have happened.
There goes my mother of the year award! Shoot! And I was so close! Ha ha! I managed to pick Ressa up from dance on time and then get Carson before Jackson's game started, so it all ended up fine. The end.

Raincheck, Mr. Bond

I am sooo bummed that I wasn't able to see James Bond this weekend! Friday, Chad had youth conference and Saturday night our babysitter fell through. I guess we will have to wait until this Friday. I just really like Daniel Craig, best Bond ever!

Cans, cans, cans!

I forgot to take a BEFORE picture, so imagine this hallway wall stacked with food storage. Boxes of dehydrated food and cases of cans, sitting there for months until I could organize and put away. I didn't know what I had down here so it needed to be organized so I would stop buying things I already had plenty of!I bought this shelf 7 months ago but was not going to fit where I wanted it to go so it sat in a box. I decided to just put it in the guest room. As I was stocking the rows, I realized that I may have a 2 years supply of evaporated milk, chicken noodle/tomato soup, and fruit cocktail. I can't believe I bought 2 cans of fruit cocktail just 2 days ago because I didn't know how much I had!

This is the closet under our stairs that was supposed to hold ALL things food storage. Unfortunately you can kind of see that the floor is taken up by sump pumps, pipes sticking out of walls and there is also a large air condition unit in there. I guess these things had to go somewhere when they built the house, but I was still disappointed. We had them put these shelves in where they could to salvage some storage space.  This project took all day to complete but I feel so much better! Besides, the young men were coming to sleep in the basement for youth conference and I didn't want them playing football with baked beans and peanut butter cans!

Good night, fellas!

So this weekend was Youth Conference and the young men spent the night at our house downstairs again. Last year I remember all the noise they made, yelling down for them to keep it down. They got into an old drum set in the guest room closet and were banging them around at 3 am. Good, good times! Needless to say I was expecting roughly the same thing this time around. But I was pleasantly surprised! Maybe it's because they are all a year older or the fact that NO deacons stayed the night, but they were great! I think they played fooseball for a while and then watched a movie until 1am and then went to sleep. When they woke up they had

breakfast, put their bowls in the dishwasher, packed up their stuff and left. Polite as you like! I did hear that Mitchell fell asleep in the treadmill so they woke him up by turning it on. Pretty harmless, though!

Thanks, Frank & Elaine!

There are many benefits to living next to Chad's parents. Here are just 3 reasons...
#1 -Yesterday, Veteren's Day, I asked Frank to help me apply some sealant to our slate tile in the bathroom. It took us a couple hours and the fumes were pretty potent. We wore masks, but they didn't seem to help much. It has been 36 hours and our house still smells pretty bad. Chad and I slept in the guest room downstairs and we couldn't use our favorite pillows because they had absorbed the fumes. Anyways, the end result is terrific and hopefully we won't have to do it again for a few years. I am so grateful to Frank, for all the help he gives me and our family. I am usually too impatient with projects to wait for a weekend when Chad isn't too busy with scouts or service. Frank is very handy and supportive!
#2 - So we were careful to make sure we didn't paint ourselves into a corner and when we finally finished, we stood in the bathroom doorway and admired our handy work, finishing in just enough time to change our clothes and take the kids to see "High School Musical 3". Change our clothes...clothes...my clothes are in the closet...the closet is through the bathroom...the floor is covered in wet lacquer...HOW AM I GOING TO CHANGE MY CLOTHES?? You can see the outfit I was wearing below. Maybe if I was going to Walmart or the Dollar Tree, I would say, "Sure. No problem. Who cares?" But to the movies? I quickly thought about the laundry and wondered if I had done a load recently I could find something to wear. Nope. I had put it all away the day before. Shoot! And my toothbrush? I hadn't brushed my teeth yet and that is clear on the other side of the bathroom, but I knew I could climb up onto the counter and walk across to get it and my makeup. Still though, no clothes. I guess I would have to stay home from the movie and let the kids go with Grandpa and Grandma. Grandma! That's it! Fortunately, Elaine and I wear the same size clothing! I hurried down to her house and asked if I could borrow some clothes and she hooked me up right away! Thanks, Elaine!

And #3 - Taking us to the movies! As I mentioned, we saw "High School Musical 3" and it was fun! The kids had asked me if we could go and see it on their day off from school. Then in the morning Elaine called and asked if they could take the kids to see a movie. It worked out perfect and they even let me come along! Carson and Jackson sat mesmerized through the whole movie, Ressa like it but lost interest in the last 10 minutes, and Lauren fell asleep half way through in Grandpa's arms. The movie was a lot longer than I thought it would be, so Carson missed his piano lesson, Ressa was late for her dance class, but Jackson was ontime to soccer practice. It was a busy but good day. Too bad Chad didn't have the day off! His day was not as fun, delivering and picking up flags for scouts before and after work, then off to roundtable meeting for scouts. Sorry, honey!

My Poor Baby!

So this past Saturday we had a combined ward Thanksgiving party and the men played in a "Turkey Bowl" out in a dirt field. It was flag football but that doesn't it didn't get a little rough and tumble. Here is Chad's souvenir from the game, and they still lost by 3 touchdown despite his bodily sacrifice.

You can tell his leg must hurt just a little by this picture. I feel bad that he has to wear pants all the time to church and work, so that doesn't help. But he is not complaining as much as Terrance on "The Amazing Race"! Is that guy the biggest pansy you have ever seen? He drives me crazy!

Happy 2 years old, Lauren!

On November 6th our little Lauren turned 2 years old! Hard to believe that two years have come and gone! Lauren is still pretty little (wearing 12 month clothes) but her mom is so glad because I like light and portable. We had a little family party Thursday after Chad got home. I went to get her a birthday cake but wasn't sure which kind to get since Lauren doesn't really like cake, just the frosting. Well, when I saw this mousse cake with fresh fruit toppings I knew it was the one! Lauren LOVES fruit! She will eat an entire can of mandarin oranges in 1 minute and peaches are also her favorite.

You can tell by the pictures that she loved her cake and loved all of the attention. Lauren is pretty spoiled but even she could tell this day was special and that she was the center of it all.

Lauren has a pretty good set of lungs for such a little girl. She blew out the candles quickly but from the look of this picture, she might have had a little unessesary help. I had to hurry and cut the cake afterward before Lauren ate all of the toppings!

We asked Grandma Rowley to take a picture of our family. Where's Jackson? Hmmm ... Well Grandma took SEVERAL pictures, mostly because Lauren kept wanted to look down at one of her new toys. Finally we got her to look up and so I thought we got a few good ones. When I sat down and looked at the pics on my camera, I saw that Carson and/or Jackson were making silly faces in EVERY SINGLE picture! I might have over-reacted and made them both get their pajamas on early (7:30pm) and go to bed. Chad later had them come out and apologize to me so they could watch a movie.

So Grandma Rowley is always so creative with her birthday cards, usually making up a poem. She wrote this birthday card for Lauren and it fits her to a "t"! I just love it! By the way, one of Chad's nicknames for Lauren is "little beast" for obvious reasons!

Here are some things that describe Lauren:

• Loves oranges, peaches, tomatos, soda, goldfish, most candy, cashews, fruity pepples, waffles, cupcakes, pizza, capri suns, and popsicles or "po-pocks"
• She refuses to sit in any kind of high chair or booster seat even though she needs one. She stands on the bar stool next to her brothers and sister when she eats, tempting gravity on a regular basis.
• She sucks on the satin corners of min-blankets for comfort, leaving an attractive brown discoloration that will not be removed in the wash. She calls these blankets "ni-nights" and I have lost track of how many I have purchased and thrown away.
• Shares a full size bed with her sister. She is a wild sleeper so sometimes when Ressa gets up in the night to go the bathroom, Lauren rolls over onto Ressa's side. Ressa then comes and wakes me up to tell me.
• Loves to sing the "monkeys jumpin' on the bed" song
• Thinks she is the absolute FIRST person to get a turn riding the horse.
• LOVES her grandpa and dad first and mom and grandma a close 2nd. (Has grandpa wrapped around her little finger!)
• Loves to go on rides with grandpa on the 4-wheeler
• Not a morning person, much like her mother
• Very good at enteraining herself and loves to "play house" and play outside.
• Loves to hang upside down and ride on Jackson's back like a horse, saying "Gid-up!"
• Loves taking baths with Ressa
• Loves swimming and has no fear of going underwater. Hurray!
• Calls most kids her age "kiddie".
• She is pretty clear on what she wants and determined to get it. She is very sassy and bossy, but she is so cute that you find yourself smiling instead of scolding sometimes.
• Hated nursery for the first 6 months and then loves it now that there is a male teacher in there. She loves wooden puzzles and they have them in nursery so she calls her class "puzzle"

We love you so much, Lauren! You are so unique and fun and you charm everyone that meets you! It is amazing to watch you grow into a little person with your own opinions, feelings, and imagination. We all get such a kick out of watching you strut around and do your thing. You have no fear (except for dogs!) and you will try new things without a second thought. You have such a BIG personality for such a SMALL little girl! This next year of your life will sure to be full of many adventures!