Basketball Season Begins!

Grant's basketball team, The Suns, had their opening game yesterday, Saturday, January 12th. Grant's basketball skills have improved tremendously since last year. He made 4 points in the game and made one steal. His team consists of 9 and 10 year old boys. Several of the boys had played on teams before and had great ball handling skills. Unfortunately, they were no match for "The Blue" team who had two players who made 70% of every shot they took. Although this game will go down as a defeat, The Suns are poised for a great season!

Going to Alabama!

On New Year's Eve, Brent and I boarded a 6:15am flight to start our trip to Huntsville, Alabama. Our goal was to spend some time visiting Brent's brother Neil and his family. The original plan for our trip was to fly from Phoenix to Dallas and then board a 1:05pm flight from Dallas to Huntsville. Unfortunately, while we were in Dallas eating a tastey lunch at TGI Fridays, we received notice that our 1:05 pm flight was canceled and we would have to go on the 6:30pm flight. That would mean we would be spending many, many hours at the Dallas airport. To avoid a long stay at the airport, the American Airlines reservation specialist arranged for us to leave Dallas at noon, fly to Cincinnati, Ohio, transfer to a Delta plane, and then fly into Huntsville, Alabama. This would allow us to arrive in Huntsville by 5pm. We agreed to the change and were anxious to arrive at our final destination. Although we were excited to ring in the New Year in Huntsville, the airlines "misplaced" our luggage in one of the cities we had traveled to (and they didn't know which one), so for the next 24 hours we were luggage-less. This is how our wonderful adventure began! Don't worry, the rest of the story is fabulous!

Christmas Day!

December 25, 2007

Christmas Day finally came! Our Christmas festivities were held at Brent's house. Mitchell and Grant tried to stay up all night, again, to catch Santa. Inevitably, their heavy eyes seem to miss him. It was a musical Christmas this year. Grant got an electronic piano and Mitchell got an electric guitar. We are looking for someone to play the drums and join our family band. Grandma taught Mitchell how to tune his guitar and got him started on how to play a song Grant likes to pick out tunes that he knows from being in the school band and play them on his piano.

We had quite the crowd for our Christmas afternoon dinner and dessert. It was great to see Lisa & Jake and their kids again. We hadn't seen them in a year and the girls have grown so much! It was fun to have Joe & Kami and the boys come by. The boys are adorable to watch and seemed to enjoy playing with Mitchell and Grant. Aunt Brenda came with all of the veggi's; she brought an amazing assortment! Grandma, Gramps and Julie came and helped with all of the meal preparation and keeping track of the Suns score. Brandon was able to join us for the party too. We are so glad he was able to make it! Daniel and Jana graced us with their presence just in time to go see the Temple lights.

It was a fun Christmas. Brent made a delicious turkey and kept the party going! We hope you all had as great of a Christmas as we did.

Christmas Eve..

December 24, 2007

Mitchell, Grant and I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Bonnie & Ray Ward's home. The food was fabulous. I tried apple dip for the first time and it was sensational with the Granny Smith Apples. Funny how it's the simple things in life that are appreciated so much. Our celebration activities included listening to Grant play Christmas songs on his clarinet, catching up on Jodi's world travel adventures and college pursuits, unwrapping presents and playing hide-and-go-seek. Every time we are at the Ward's house, Mitchell insists that we play this game. Grant is the best hider though. It's probably because he is still small and can fit into tight places. He hid down in the crack of a sofa upstairs in one of the games. Mitchell knew he was there and sat on the couch for a long duration of time pretending to be scanning the room for him. He was really just trying to see how long Grant could stand being squished. Grant didn't make a peep. Thanks Popo for being such a good sport and always playing hide-and-go-seek with them. This is a special memory for them!

Graduation!

December 14th, 2007

I graduated from NAU with my Masters in Education Leadership. This degree will allow me to advance my teaching career to take on additional responsibilities and pay. If I take 4 more classes and do an intership, I will be able to be a principal. But I need a break from classes so I can spend time with my fantastic boys who are growing so fast! I couldn't have done this without the support and encouragement of my wonderful family! I am very blessed!