HaPpY BiRtHdAy ABBY!!

Taylor, Abby, Savannah, Rachel & Hadlee

Abby had her 11th Birthday on July 1. Since we had just gotten home from California we pretty much kept it on the down low and she invited a few friends to go to the movie "Ice Age 3 - 3D", that had just came out that day, then they came over to our house for some cake and ice cream.

Abby's gifts... she could NOT wait to open, oh how I wish I still had that excitement. She counted down to her birthday for days! She was so happy for it to finally arrive.

Opening a couple of her presents in the morning.

An I-pod and an I-tunes gift card! Hooray!

Her huge cupcake birthday cake.

Make a wish!

Wow! I cannot believe that my baby is 11 years old. She will be starting middle school next month. Pretty crazy how quickly they grow, there are times that I wish I could freeze them. But then again, I have really enjoyed each stage of their lives and the joy they bring!

California for Nationals and Fun!

(You can click on the collages to see the pictures a little better!)

In June we had the opportunity to go to San Jose, California for Abby's National Tumbling Meet. We had a blast! Abby did an awesome job in her competition. It was her first time attending a National Meet and there were hundreds and hundreds of athletes there from all 50 states. They were incredible and it was amazing to watch. It was a great experience for Abby, we learned a lot about these National Meets and we are hoping to attend next year again. They are having it in Virginia Beach, Virginia next year. The girls had a blast spending time with each other and their coaches outside of the normal gym atmosphere. It was really a big treat for long year of hard work and as parents, we had a great time right along with them! .... not to mention that we were, of course, beaming with pride that our children were talented enough to even be in attendance and be one of these amazing athletes!

Here are some of the fun things that we did..

Only about 20 minutes from our hotel there was this great amusement park:

California's Great America

We spent one of the days at this park. The weather was perfect and hardly anyone was at this park. We walked onto nearly every ride. It was super fun and perfect. In most of these pictures it is Abby and JaeLynn Benson, that is who went to the park with us.

We braved some traffic to drive to Santa Cruz to spend the Saturday at the "Santa Cruz Boardwalk". Luckily, we had been to the amusement park the day before so the girls were not wanting to ride the rides at the boardwalk, because this place was PACKED like sardines. So, we put on our swimming suits and spent a few hours on the beach. It was a little chilly by the water, but perfect as long as you were just lying on your towel on the sand! And what more could we ask for! This was a great place (minus the people!).

In these pictures are Abby, JaeLynn, Carson, Dana (coach), and some athletes from another gym in Provo. They played in the ocean waves, buried each other in the sand, and even did a little tumbling in the sand!

This is competition day, which was actually on Thursday. Abby, JaeLynn Benson and Kate Atkinson all competed on the floor in the same flight, so that was fun. Thomas and Dana are their coaches that were in Cali with us. They are awesome coaches and really fun, too!

It was while we were at Abby's competition that we were told that both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson had passed away. I will always remember where I was when I heard that!

And... Last but not least, our extremely talented little athlete in pictures. Of course, I cannot take credit for taking these pictures, a photographer at the competition took them. But, I am always amazed when I see Abby in action. She is so crisp and clean and her body is so straight and aligned. She has very good form and hence why we were able to spend a few very fun days in California at a National Tumbling Meet with athletes from 50 states!

Super Job Abby! We are so proud of you!

Just add H20

Our newest addition...

Finally, after a monsoon of rain we had a beautiful sunny day and we took that opportunity to take our new boat out for a spin! Oh the relaxation of sun, the lake, the gentle rocking of boat... Except today we had to break in the engine! For the first hour we had to keep the rpms below 2000, the second hour below 3000 then for the next 5 hours we have to keep the rpms below 4000 (which is actually pretty high). But they recommend you run the engine almost to the 4000 for the 5 hrs to break the engine in. So the girls got in some great tubing! And that is the extent of our activities that we did today! Although, I must say - tubing is their favorite activity!

Brad bought some plastic totes to organize our storage space so we spent some of our time getting everything organized, this boat has quite the storage! We really like the seating arrangement and we love the color! It has everything we need, and we are so excited - it is going to be so much fun!

Just Brad, Abby, her friend, Rachel, and I went out today. Tanton was still on his adventure in California so he missed out on the first big DUNK! But we knew that he wouldn't be too disappointed since we were breaking in the engine and he wouldn't be wakeboarding anyway.

Abby and Rachel - waiting to go.

Hanging on...

Until our next adventure...

Jammin'

Last night I made jam (with my sister, Kathy). Tanton is out of town this week and we ran out of jam just before he left. It was pretty funny to watch him ration the last little bit of jam before he left. I try to make jam every year, so usually we have an abundance and so there is no rationing going on... but as Tanton got down to that last little bit in the last tub of jam he was pretty sad to know that there were not any more tubs of home-made freezer jam to fall back on. So I told him that I would try to get some made while he was on his road trip with his friends this week. I think he will be pretty happy when he comes home and sees that he has a fresh supply to fall back on! Everyone in the family likes my jam, but Tanton is the only one that really seems to "love" my jam and eats it faithfully on his peanut butter sandwiches and especially his waffles. Here you go Tant. I kept my word. And thanks Kathy for coming over and helping me, we do pretty good work as a team! :)

On another note, I got a new pair of running/jogging shoes this last week:

They are Asics - gel cumulus, I have super duper high arches and I really needed to get a new pair of shoes that were made for someone with high arches. I have worn them a few times to work out on my elliptical and to go walking, but I have not actually gone jogging in them yet, so I look forward to seeing how they work out for me. Hurray! I hope they are a cure for an aching knee!

Randoms...

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I have posted anything! So, the kids are out of school now and that sure is going to be fun! Abby already can't adequately express how bored she is on a daily basis. But she is still going to be in tumbling 2 or 3 times a week and we have found someone that is going to come up to our house and give her tennis lessons. So that should help take away some of that boredom! To think of all the crazy things I used to do during the summertime to keep from being bored, my how times have changed.

Abby's eye has healed up very well, in fact, you can hardly even tell that she has such a nasty scar, her eyebrow is starting to grow back and everything. We were wondering if her eyebrow would grow back over her scar.

Tanton and a few of his friends are taking off on a road trip tomorrow for San Diego. He sure is growing up... I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. He sure is a good kid though, I am a lucky mom. I hope they have a great time. It's hard when they start to get older and become independent, but it is also fun to see him enjoying life and having such a great time with his friends. Oh the bitter sweetness of motherhood.

We sold our boat. It was more of a family inboard /outboard boat. The kids have really been wanting a "wakeboarding" boat for the last few years. It was kind of sad to see our red/white family boat go, but the family that bought it will have a great time. It is a super boat and in excellent condition. So, last Saturday Brad and I spent the day in Salt Lake looking at "wakeboarding" boats for our family and we got one! We are excited. We got a new 2008, so the price was pretty good, since it was last years model. They had to add a few things and make covers for it, so we are picking it up next week. I will for sure post pics when we get it.... I will probably be posting pics of the kids (and parents :) ) tearing it up on the lake! It will be a great new addition to our family!

Well, I think that is about it for now!

Lacrosse...mania

So the lacrosse season has come and gone...and it seems like it was a blink of my eye. What an awesome season Sky View lacrosse had! They went all the way to the State final game! It was so exciting and so much joy for me, as a mom, to watch Tanton play and suceed so much.
I totally don't want to sound too PROUD... but I am so proud I just can't help it! Tanton broke the Sky View Lacrosse school record for goals this year! He had 42 goals in 12 games, he missed 2 games with an injured shoulder. When I watch him in all that he does, I continue to be in awe of the talent that this boy possesses and how humble he remains...

This whole group of lacrosse players just seem to be such great kids. I love to see my kids be so involved in activities at school and really have fun and enjoy these years, what better way to make memories that will last a lifetime?

Tanton on the go at the Sky View vs. Orem State Championship game.

Getting totally slashed! Lucky his trachea is okay!

Tanton poking a shot in during the American Fork game,

......and everyone

cele-

brating

afterwards!

Tanton making

a couple of

shots during the

West Jordan game.

What a FUN, fun season this has been. Too bad Orem came with all of their guns loaded to the championship game on Saturday because our guys really had a shot of going all the way this year. But, all the way or not, I can only speak for myself and I am so proud, I am almost ready to burst. What a super season. Our Sky View team played with spirit, sportsmanship, skill, and pride. There was never a moment that we could have been embarrassed about any kind of action that any of our players did nor did they posess any kind of unsportmanship throughout the entire season... now that is a winning team in my opinion, regardless of the championship game.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Last but not least, I have to give credit for all of my pictures to Marnie, Tanton's other mom, she takes a million pictures at all of the lacrosse games and does an awesome job! Thanks Marnie! :)

No Bathroom Breaks Allowed...

Last Friday Abby was at school playing softball, a girl asked her if she could cover first base so she could go to the bathroom. Abby said she would. Well... while she was covering first base for the girl that went in for her bathroom break she got a ball thrown to her and she did not even see the ball coming. She said that she was talking to another friend (now I cannot even imagine that! :) ) ....Unfortunately, those softballs don't seem to be too soft!
Brad and I were actually in Salt Lake and fortunately a very nice neighbor of ours was at the school at the time. She called us and totally took care Abby for us (Thanks Colleen!). She took Abby over to her sister, Krista's house... Thanks Krista! Where Abby stayed for about 2 hours until we could get home.

Once we got Abby home and could clean her up and look at everything, Brad could see that it definitely needed stitches. It was pretty deep as you can see from the picture above. She ended up getting 3 stitches inside and 7 stitches outside. Abby was so brave, she did not cry one time from the time that she got hit with the softball through getting the stitches!

Dad at work...

All put together beautifully. We are actually very lucky that the ball did not hit her in the eye, or hit her temple or do any worse damage. It could have broken her orbital bone that surrounds her eye... but nonetheless it is a pretty bad injury, we are just grateful that it wasn't any worse.

After she got all fixed up Abby got in the shower and went to a birthday party for a couple of hours.

That night Colleen called me to tell me how impressed she was with how well Abby handled herself after the injury at school. Facial injuries bleed A LOT and Abby fell to the ground after she was hit. With all of the blood etc. and not being able to really see what was going on, all of the kids at school were surrounding her wondering what was going on, it was pretty dramatic and Colleen said Abby was very brave and very mature about the whole thing.

Unfortunately, the next morning her eye had swollen shut and it took half way through the day for the swelling to go down. Throughout the weekend the swelling kept going down and her eye is starting to heal up. But what a brave little sport my girl has been through all of this. She even said that when she went to school on Monday some of the kids made fun of her. Kids can be so mean! Her eye is looking much better and should heal up to be just fine. Thank heavens!