WooHoo It Is Flag Football Time!

The season has begun. Flag football. Carter started his practices tonight. It is pretty cute to see 6 year olds out there trying to learn the game. Before we went to practice Carter asked, "so how do you play anyway?" Hmmmm, I didn't think about teaching him the game before. I went over a few basic things and I don't think it really made sense, but I just told him that his coach will tell him and that is what practice is for. He said that practice was "great." I was glad to hear it. He even scored a touchdown.

We shall see how it goes on Saturday for the first game. This will be Brayden's second season with the same team, so it should be fun. Crazy fun that is. Going to two games on Saturday should be loads of fun with a 2 year old. I think Taft and I will have to trade off for sure.

So let the fun begin!

(except for the case of having to take 4 children to practices every week, oh well, I will survive.)

Lost...And Never To Be Found

It happened to me. I didn't ever want it to happen, but it did. I lost my wedding ring. Gone. Forever. Sigh.

We were having a wonderful, fun time with my family at Bear Lake. The Bro-in-Laws, my sisters, and my neice Chelsea, and my nephew Josh were playing keep away in the Lake and they persuaded me to come and play. I finally gave in because I am the stick in the mud too often. And it looked fun! It was fun! But only after playing for a few measly minutes, something felt wrong on my left hand ring finger...my ring was gone! Taft and the others immediately started to dive down under the water to look for my ring, but after tons of time and them literally freezing it was time to give up.

We were hoping it would be one of the stories of a prayer being answered just the way we wanted it too. But nope. Not this time. I am heart broken. I am sad. I am a bit depressed. I got that beautiful shiny ring 12 years ago. The circle of love that never ends. I feel like I let Taft down by losing it. He looked at around 100 rings to find the perfect one for me. He wanted it to be just right. And it was exactly what I wanted 12 years ago. Now I don't have it. I feel like a little part of me was lost too.

Shanna=Birthday Taft=Father's Day

Father's Day

Well, it doesn't happen all that often, but it did this year. My Birthday on Father's Day. Not really fair for Taft or me. The other whammy was that I had to speak in Sacrament Meeting. Yuck! But I survived, barely. Taft was so so nice and made breakfast for all of us and then made lunch for the kids. What a sweetheart. I didn't pamper him at all. I too stressed trying to still pull my talk together. We don't have church until 1pm this year so I had lots of time to still be stressed. Anyway, I got Taft a T-shirt he really wanted, sunglasses holder for his FJ, and a button up shirt for work. He got me an arm band holder for my MP3 player, yeah! And a fun ice cream maker.

Taft's new favorite shirt

So the Mackays were so nice to have us over for dinner since Sharleen didn't want us to have to make the whole meal for our self since we were both celebrating our holidays. We had yummy salad, rosemary bread, baked potatoes, asparagus, shrimp, grilled bell peppers, tomato/cucumber cheese, and chocolate fondue for angel food cake and fruit! Can we say yummy! They are awesome. The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline and we had fun yaking like usual. They always make us so comfortable at their home.

Sharleen & Me

So next year will be better, I won't have to talk on my Birthday and Taft and I won't have to share our day. Maybe I will even make breakfast for Taft for Father's Day.

Boys vs Girls

It was the annual Father/Sons Campout in the ward. So that split the family up into two groups of threes. Boys vs Girls. The girls won! :) I say that because we got to sleep in our comfy beds and not on the hard ground. This is the first year that the boys made it to the campout. They had a good time, roasting marshmallows, playing kickball, talking, and playing outside. Todd went with them too. Brayden came home very dirty! He must have had fun. I packed a whole bag of clothes/jammies for the boys and they didn't even touch them! They slept in their clothes. That would have not happened if I would had been there! Funny how different men and women work. Makes for more fun! So I guess the campground was more an open field. close to houses, electric lines, etc for the guys than up in the mountains, oh well I guess they got to get out and be together. Carters favorite part was playing kickball (I guess he got to pitch). Braydens favorite was playing some made up game with all the other boys (you know, pretending sticks are weapons). Tafts favorite was talking with the guys. I am glad he got to spend some time with the boys and the guys from the ward.

Their home for the night

Playing Kickball

So us girls went out to good ol Tokyo Joes with Kat, Logan and Paige and got us some grub. Then I took Kennedi to Build a Bear so she could get an "outfit" for her bear and we went to Children's Place to look for some kids clothes. Ellie was out of control as usual, jumping all around, hugging other kids, running around/away and wearing me out! So no more shopping with an almost 2 year old! We did make some time though to go through the drive through for a frosty, yum!

Notice the Wendy's cup, Build a Bear bag, The Childrens Place bag too

We all stayed up until at least 10 (except Ellie), so that was fun for the kids, but they were a little tired today!

On another note, I have to speak tomorrow at church. I don't know what I am going to say. Usually I mull over the topic all week and start gathering in my mind what I want to say and share but it just hasn't worked this time! My topic is Teach them to walk in the Light. Hmmm. I don't know what to say about that. What a great Birthday gift to me! To speak at church, ick. But it is Father's Day too, so I guess I will focus on that. I am nervous...

One Night at Cub Scouts

I am a Cub Scout Den Leader. I don't think I am that great at it. I was not thrilled to get called to be a Den Leader. That last sentence was an understatement. I am better now about it. It isn't my favorite calling in the world, but it is just fine.

So this months cub scouting "theme" is "wheel" into summer. So we decided to have a bike activity tonight. For part of the activity we decided to go on an half hour bike ride. Not so hard right? Man! I was wrong! I thought these boys were tougher than they were. It wasn't quite 3 miles and it is hilly but I thought it was fun. I didn't know if 2 boys were going to make it. I did make the mistake of not bringing any water. But heck, the faster we go the faster we would get home. We had to stop multiple times, but at least the last part was a giant downhill trail. Phew! The boys did have a smile on their faces when we got home, I think because it was over. I was proud of my Brayden, he was strong and never complained and he had a good time. I will be sad next month when he turns 10 and he will no longer be in my Den. I don't know how much I will like it without him. I am secretly hoping that I get changed, but I really really doubt that will happen.

Anyway, just wanted to tell about my night. I like riding bikes! I wish I could do it more often.

Happy Birthday Mom!

It is my Mom's 60th Birthday today! Wow! I can't believe she is 60. I am a lucky girl to have her has my mom. She is an amazing mother. She pretty much can do it all. What a great example in my life. I am blessed that my kids get to have her example in their lives too! All my sisters and their families got to go to my parents house to celebrate and have dinner together and I wish I could have been there too. It is always a little sad when they all get together and our family is 8 hours away. We called and sang to Mom/Grandma and were happy to have a little chat. Here is to the next 60 years! I love you Mom!

Book Review #4 and #5

#4- New Moon by Stefanie Meyers

So I read the sequel to Twilight. It's not that I didn't like it, but it wasn't the same as Twilight. I missed Edward. We didn't get to "see" him enough. It was a quick read again and I read it fast. I would recommend this book, and again, it is pretty darn clean! Now I have to wait for the 3rd book in the set, Eclipse, which is suppose to come out this year. These are Young Adult Fiction books, but don't let that scare you, they are great! Not your typical vampire book.

#5- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Here is another Young Adult Fiction book. It was an interesting, easy read. I don't think I would put it in my best read books category, but it definitely wasn't the worst. The book is set in the future when every person turns 16 they are turned into a "pretty." They all receive plastic surgery to become beautiful. So before the surgery, they are considered "uglies." Not everyone wants to become "pretty." It is a pretty clever premise, but I don't know if I will be running to the library tomorrow to get the second book in the series, which by the way is called Pretties. It was clean though! So that is a plus.

A New Me

Let's pretend it is the New Year. I need a new me again. I feel like I have been in a slump, bah humbug. I think it all starts with the bad eating. I did so so so good for over a year and then bam! back to the bad eating. So here I am with 10 extra pounds again, pfzt. Then the scripture reading is in a downward spiral. And the way I have been talking to my kids lately, ick! I need a new me. I hope I can start it tomorrow! I will go jogging in the morning and hope that will jumpstart the new me. The one good thing I can say is that I haven't stopped exercising. I am still jogging and I hope to keep saying that. I could add some more exercise in and I plan on it. I have been slacking in the weight/strength training and I need to get back to the rec centers. So here we go again...and again... and again! (Hey, at least I keep on trying!)

So by now you can see that the Perfect Streak didn't last as long as I was hoping. But I will start new again and hope for the best. There is always so much to work on for self-improvement.

My CarCar is 6!

My sweet Carter turned the big 6. He is about done with Kindergarten and is getting ready to start the big world with all day school. He has grown up so much this past year and has learned to read and is getting smarter all the time! How fun to see the changes. He was the only baby of ours born in Sandpoint, Idaho by a midwife.





We had a fun time at his birthday party, but it was for sure crazy to have 17 kids. There were so many presents to open that Carter was tired by the end. He is funny. It looked like there was a possibility of rain during the party, but I crossed my fingers and it held off until about an half hour after the party was finished.

I don't know what I would have done with all of those kids in my house. The limbo just would have not been the same. It would have been difficult to have done the party by myself, actually impossible. I was so grateful for the help of my friend Sharleen, and the nice 3 teenage kids. Ya for them! They helped so much! I barely survived and was so glad to have it done with.









I ended up loving the volcano cake, it was so fun to make!






Note to self: Only have parties for 1 1/2 hours instead of 2!

That night we did the traditional pizza for dinner and had Kat, Logan and Paige over for dinner and cake. (Todd was out of town). My kids get to pick whatever they want for their birthday dinner and for whatever reason they always choose pizza. I guess they like traditions.

Is it over yet?

Rush, rush, rush. I have been running around all day long trying to get everything in order for Carter's Birthday/Party tomorrow. Now you don't have to tell me, I know I am crazy. I am going to have 17 kindergartners over tomorrow for the party. Ahhhh!!! I will be okay. I asked a couple of the neighborhood teenagers to come and help me (they are from the ward too) and Sharleen will come and help too. Phew! So I decided to do a Luau type party and I am still needing to make my volcano cake. (We shall see how that ends up, it might not be too pretty!) We are going to have Pin the coconut to the coconut tree, tiki toss, lei making, fruit bowling, and the limbo going on. Not to mention I am feeding them all lunch! Man, I still have a lot to do! And here it is 11pm already and I started a new job this week too! ( I will have to talk about that at a different time.)

I hope it is fun. I am just to the point now that I can't wait until it is over so I don't have to fret any longer. Now this is why my kids don't get a friend birthday party every year! Wish me luck!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

What is better than a hot dog at a baseball game? We got to go to a Rockies game and spend a little fun time together on a Saturday night. The kids school was selling tickets so we decided to give a Rockies game a try. We weren't originally going to take Ellie with us (busy body, noisy almost 2 year old), but we ran out of options of what to do with her. So we braved it and took her along for the fun. She did great! Phew! We brought candy to keep her happy (it kept me happy too!). It was also fun to see some familiar families at the game too. Parking is lame, they charge like 10 bucks! All in all, it was a great family outing and I would dare say I would do it again.

Look at all those cute baseball caps, ahhh...

Book Review Time

Yes! I just got done with my 3rd book in 3 weeks. I love it!
I will start with the first book I read...

#1- Twilight by Stephenie Meyer-
First of all, this is a Young Adult book which can put some people off, but I loved it! It sounds so corny, but the book is about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. Now forget all you learned from reading Dracula (which I HAD to read in 7th grade and did not like it). These vampires are different and it is a great book. I read it in a few days and told my friend about it and she read it in like less than 24 hours. It is just a fun read and it is 498 pages! The great part is there is a sequel to it, yeah! It is on hold at the library waiting for me to come pick it up. My Mom's book club is going to read Twilight and when she told me that the hold at her library in Utah was over 100 people, I knew it had to be good. Lucky for me the wait wasn't that long here in Colorado, just a few days and it was mine.

#2- Suncatchers by Jamie Langston Turner-
I just happened to see this book on the shelf at the library when I picking up my #3 book. It looked like a nice clean book by a Christian author. I am always on the lookout for a nice clean book! So I tried it out. This author had other books published also. It was a fun simple read, but I will admit I did skim quite a few parts in the book so I could get to the point. This was very clean book and enjoyable. I wouldn't be as excited to recommend this book to my friends and family but wouldn't be embarrassed either. All in all I thought is was an enjoyable read.

#3- These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner-
My sister Kristen recommended this book. A few months ago I had checked this out from the library and read a few pages and just couldn't get into it. I decided to give it another chance when others had liked the book too. Once I got past the first 20 pages I started to enjoy this book more. The book got better and better. It is "The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1901." So it is pretty much about a pioneer girl in the Arizona Territories. Great book I highly recommend!

I will probably pick up the Sequel to Twilight tomorrow. It is called New Moon. I am in the reading mood for sure!

Memorial Day

It is about over now...the glorious Memorial weekend. It is the beginning of summer and summer fun activities, yippee! We had a good weekend and it feels good. Taft & I got to go to the musical "Wicked" on Saturday afternoon. It was really fun! I will never watch "The Wizard of Oz" the same again. What a great play. What a great date. We even got to go to my favorite restaurant, Thai Basil, for lunch, yummy yummy. I had a great chicken and shrimp dish with fresh pineapple that was served inside of a pineapple. Enough about the food. It is always about the food with me! :) Todd and Kat were nice enough to watch the 4 kiddos for us so we didn't have to pay for a babysitter. Thanks guys!

Sunday was different. I helped in the nursery since they are short handed. Man! That little nursery is busy, busy, busy. I think that Ellie is what keeps it hopping though! Phew! I don't think I could do that every week. There was only 9 kids, but that was more than enough. It was fun in a way to see how Ellie acts in nursery. But she is a little pushy bugger. I had to keep telling her not to push. She sure has a BIG personality in that short little chubby body!

Today, I got to running in the morning around the trails here. I just love all the trails here! It is so nice! I have decided to try to be better in a lot of aspects in my life. I lost 30 pounds last year and some how I have let 10 pounds come back. (Actually I know what the some how is, FOOD, it is always about the food). So I am back to trying to run 3 times a week (which I have kept up with pretty well), and then go to the gym or do some strength training at home the other 3 days of the week. I want to get better at praying in the morning and get back to reading my scriptures. It just seems like I am always trying to get better at those things. Some day it won't be a fight to read my scriptures daily or to talk in sincere prayer. Anyway, I also really really really need to work on not yelling at my kids. It is just so dumb and juvenile. I love them, I don't want to yell at them, and I don't want them yelling either. So I will try harder.

So back to today, we spent most of it with Todd, Kat, Logan and Paige. The kids played on the slip and slide and we just watched and enjoyed being outside. We grilled some burgers and hot dogs (it isn't Memorial Day without grilling!) and just pretty much hung out all day. It was nice to be with them and have the kids play together. We are so lucky they live so close and that we have at least one family close by.

Let summer begin! Yeah!

Mother's Day

Here it is. Another Mother's Day. It was a good one too! First of all, starting Thursday, I got to have a "retreat" with all my sisters and Mom. They came here to Denver so we could all take some time off being moms and just spend some time being us. We shopped until we dropped and ate yummy food. It was great. Oh ya, don't forget about the talking, talking, talking. Friday night we slept at a hotel which is always fun, but I wish we could have slept in longer. 7 am! You have got to be kidding me! Oh well. It was great. I am so lucky to have the best 3 sisters and mom in the world. We are all so alike yet very uniquely different. They went home last night so everyone could be with their own little family today.

I got such cute cards from my kids. Even though Carter's said I was 41! Hmpf, I will be in 10 years! :) They all said they like my cooking. (which surprises me since Carter only likes about 1/4th of my dinners, oh well, he will like more when he gets older). Brayden made me a neat clay magnet with great colors of paint on it. Kennedi made me a book and a neat poster that has her profile on it. And Carter gave me a cute little flower pot with his finger prints on it made into bugs and flowers. The kids were so excited to give me my gifts and I loved them all. They sang so cute in sacrament meeting with the Primary kids. I love them so much. Ellie didn't know that it was any day different and was busy as usual.

Taft had to leave today to go to Washington for some training, so my wonderful friends the Mackays invited me over an spoiled me with dinner. I had salmon, grilled peppers, broccoli, baked potato, cucumber tomato salad, bread, chocolate strawberries and chocolate cake! Whoa! I felt like a queen! They are such wonderful people.

It was a good day and I felt loved!

All by myself

So, it looks like the time has come that Taft will have to start traveling for work. We knew when we took this job, almost 5 years ago, that the possibility of him traveling was real. We have been spoiled so far and he hasn't had to travel for any significant amount of time. But things are slow here in Denver and not a lot of projects are happening for his company. A project has come up in Phoenix that looks like it would last until the end of the year. I don't know what to think about all of this. On one hand it would be interesting to see how I handle being a single Mom during the week. On the other hand it probably wouldn't be fun at all! It could all start as early as next week. It would be hard being the one in charge ALL OF THE TIME. The kids are involved in sports and other things and it is nice when Taft can do some of that during the week nights. I could handle it but I don't know how my patience would hold. The one nice thing is that I wouldn't worry much about making a nice dinner. Without another adult here to appreciate the meal it wouldn't be worth the time. So pancakes, and cereal would work just fine! Maybe a little Mac 'n Cheese thrown in there too! :) Taft would rack up the miles for plane tickets so maybe we could go on a nice vacation cheaper. Oh who knows. I guess we will find out soon!

PS- I am in the middle of "Twilight" and so far it has sucked me right in. I am loving it. So I guess I really was in the reading mood!

Am I really listening?

One day in the car I banned the word Mom from my children. I had heard it too many times that day and they had filled the quota. :) I think it is funny that they have to start every sentence with "Mom." Especially when we are in the car, since I am sitting right there. I think I would know that they are talking to me. But maybe I should really think about that. Maybe I do a little too much ignoring when they talk. Maybe they think that they have to start their sentence with "Mom" so I will answer them and then they know I am there listening. Hmmmm.... maybe I should listen a little more.

Perfect Streak

Don't get the title wrong, this is not about streaking. I read and participate on a Bulletin Board on BabyCenter that is Moms Losing Weight. Some of us started today a Perfect Streak Contest. The Contest entails:
For the Perfect Streak, each day you must have a No Cheat Day, whatever your definition is.
1. No Cheat Day
In addition, you must complete four out of five of the list:
2. Cardio 30 minutes.
3. Strength training (including yoga/pilates) 30 minutes.
4. Half your weight in ounces water.
5. Four servings fruit and/or veggies.
6. Post a journal on the board (any thread counts).
To continue with the Perfect Streak contest, you have to complete these things everyday.

I need this contest to get me going again on the weight loss. Last year I lost 30 pounds by finally starting to exercise and eating right! I have gained around 5 back and need to get better about eating healthy again. I ran this morning for 3 miles on our treadmill. I hope to get outside to run again. We have tons of wonderful trails in our neighborhood and it just feels so great to be outdoors and exercise. Much more interesting than in my unfinished basement on my treadmill in front of a concrete wall! I hope I keep this streak and get back to where I want to be. It will be tough because in 3 days my 3 sisters and mom are showing up for a fun weekend together! I love to eat with friends and family so I will have to watch it.

Let's get reading!

I think I am in one of my book reading moods. Throughout the year my mood for reading goes up and down. I will read for weeks and read lots and lots and then I burn myself out and don't read again for a few months and the cycle starts over again. It is feeling like a reading time again. My kids went back on track again today, whew! More time for myself. Of course I still have my youngest still with me, but life is much more doable with just one child than four. I can get all my errands done! I dropped over to the local library and picked up 3 books: Twilight, Suncatchers and These is my Words. I hope they are good! I will let you know.

The Starting Line

Well, here I am. I didn't think I would do one of these blogs, but last night I started reading some blogs and was inspired to start one of my own. I have never been good at keeping a journal and I regret that. I have been a mom almost 10 years and I wish I would have written more and kept track better. If I don't start now then I will regret that I didn't start today. I hope to share the ups and downs of motherhood, wifehood, and lifehood.

At this point in my life, I feel like my biggest title is of mother. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. With 4 children, being a mother is what takes up most of my time, but it would be nice to feel like I am someone/something else too. I don't know what that would be, but it is nice to be Shanna and not only Mom all the time. I have always wanted to be a mom. That is what I wanted to be when I grew up. I am glad I am a mom. I wouldn't have it any other way. It shouldn't be the only thing I am though. I wouldn't be a good mom if that is the only thing I am.

Well I hope this turns out to be as therapeutic as it seems it could be. I have already figured out that I am not the best at writing correctly, oh well! That's just me.