The Sexton Seven

Getaway

2012-01-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Thank you David for taking me on a late anniversary trip to our favorite tropical getaway! It is hard to leave the kids when things are busy, and I at first just thought we better not go, there was too much going on, but I am so grateful that David made this trip happen. Every time we go away together and catch our breaths from the craziness that is our life, I am grateful. I'm so grateful to be more in love today than I was 21 years ago when we got married. I'm grateful to be married to a man who loves me more than I thought possible. I'm grateful that we had a few days to spend on just us. ( Thanks grandparents and Allie for making that possible!)

I wish I could wake up to this every morning:

I wish I could watch sunsets like these every night:

I wish I had more time to read and have this view while doing it (:

I wish my kids would fix us gourmet candlelight dinners every night, ha!

I wish I could have video taped the hilarity of one of our sailing adventures. Everyday we set off sailing and exploring little uninhabited islands. One day was particularly windy and I was afraid the boat was going to flip so I jumped out. The water was only up to my knees but David, worried about leaving me, jumped out after me, as our little sail boat took off in the wind! Thankfully it only went a short distance before slowing enough that David caught back up with it, because I really thought we were going to be stranded out in the middle of the ocean while our runaway sailboat landed on some island with all of our stuff.

David: sailor

Trey's mission call predictions

2012-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

When Trey came home for Thanksgiving he told us he wanted to turn in his paperwork for his mission right away and go right when school gets out in April instead of waiting until June (after the family reunion) as originally planned. So when he came home for Christmas he had his doctor's visit/physical and dental appointment, filled out all the health history forms and other paperwork and thought that it was pretty easy and straight forward and not as daunting as I once thought. And then the snags began......

First, his doctor couldn't run one of the tests, blood typing, so he had to go somewhere else to get that done. No problem, we found a lab that said they could do it and have it back in a couple of days. Well everyday we called the lab they said the results weren't back yet until finally the day Trey boarded the plane they called to say it had been delayed in shipping and therefore could not be tested. Ok, irritating but fixable. I found a lab near Provo that Jenica so nicely took Trey to on the way back to campus to get his blood typing done. Ok, check. Now he just needs his Bishop and Stake president interviews.

Bishop's interview: check
Stake Presidents interview: Trey shows up and is told that his paperwork is not all there from the Bishop, some of which they track down except for the dental form, which apparently his Bishop lost. So, interview is postponed a few days but does not delay paperwork getting sent off to Salt Lake as they just do this once a week so "no time will be lost" as long as he can get his dentist to resubmit the form in time.

I get another form from the dentist, David scans it and emails it to Trey's bishop in time for him to have his interview Wednesday night and the Stake President to submit all the paperwork Thursday morning (the one day a week they submit mission papers) to the Brethren to make the mission call, which happens on Fridays we are told. EXCEPT, Trey's dentist filled out the form saying he didn't have his wisdom teeth removed! Ahhh!!! SOOO, the stake president still lets him get his interview, and tells him if he can get a new form filled out, scanned and emailed directly to him the next morning it should still make it out in the mail, not delaying his call. So we do just that, go back to the dentist Thursday morning, get a new form filled out, scan, email, etc....

But it was too late, he missed the deadline for this week. He really wanted it to go in this week. When he got back to school he thought he would have his call by now, but he will have to wait a few more weeks to find out where he will be serving for 2 years. I wanted to write this all down so when my other kids serve missions and there is a snag with paperwork I'll remember that it's just the way it is sometimes. Who knows, maybe the mission he is supposed to serve in is not filling any spots this week.

HERE ARE THE PREDICTIONS:

Trey: Argentina or Jerusalem
David: Spain
Lisa: California
Allie: Argentina
Tanner: Mexico
Connor: London, England
Sydney: Arizona
Mom: Seattle, Washington
Dad: Argentina
Allen: Germany
Julie: Hong Kong
Carter: Texas
Jared: Venezuela
Claire: Utah
Scott: Africa
Lori: France
Emma: Australia
Ben: Australia
Josh: Australia (They were not together when I asked the Cruze kids)
Lydia: California
Troy: San Francisco, CA
Dan: France
Brad: Curitiba, Brasil
Susan: Rostov, Russia
Andrew: South Africa
Joel: Chile
Jenica: Salt Lake City, UT
Jonah: Paris, France
Silas: Middle Earth (New Zealand)
Koen: New York
Hale: Utah

I haven't decided what the prize should be if anyone guesses it (besides bragging rights)......maybe a map or globe? Hopefully we'll know the first week of February.

Connor

2011-12-01T13:45:00.000-08:00

Connor is the middle triplet. He had a lot to say when he was fighting to survive in the womb and still always wants to give you his opinion. He cracks us up a lot. He is not hesitant to let us know what would make him happy. This list of A "Connor" day especially made us laugh!

He decided we all needed to be reminded of some family rules and posted these up

A while back he made this timeline that included the dates of all of our births, our marriage, and the date Trey got his car and then the day Allie got the car when Trey went to college. We're not sure why the car made it on the timeline (:

The other day he made up these posters for his door. If you look closely he has quoted 2 family members. Maybe if you say something really intelligent you can make it on his wall of quotes too!

Something else that cracked us up was last Monday Connor was in charge of the FHE lesson and he made up a great game of pictionary using gospel words like temple, Holy Ghost, etc. The spin he put on it was that each clue was worth different points. He told us there was one clue that was worth 6 points while all the others were between 1-3 points. We cracked up when we got to the 6 pointer word: eternal damnation! When we started to crack up he said "what?! It's in the scriptures!" We love you Connor!

TREY comes home for Thanksgiving and surprises lots of kids!

2011-11-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

Surprising the Cruze kids at the bowling alley: David thought it would be hilarious to see if we could fool some unsuspecting cousins and tell them that Trey was actually a wax statue. But how to do this???....He came up with a brilliant story: the bowling alley wanted to be a part of Hoops for Hope but they found out about it too late so they decided to make a wax statue of Trey and display it in their establishment. Sure, what kid wouldn't fall for that?

Josh will reminded of his hilariousness many times for the rest of his life.

Scott thought it was hilarious too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving has been an extra wonderful one because Trey got to come home for a visit! (I will post some awesome footage of the surprise reactions from siblings and cousins soon!) My heart is so full of gratitude for family. It couldn't have been a more perfect day!

RAGNAR!

2011-11-08T10:55:00.000-08:00

So, about 2 months ago my friend Crystal said "hey do you want to do Ragnar with me?" At the time I had never heard of it. After she explained that it's a relay race between Chattanooga and Nashville (196 miles) where 12 runners trade off running non-stop. I thought it sounded fun. Then she explained that it meant you have to run 3 legs in 24 hours and would probably not sleep in between. Hmmm, now I wasn't so sure. I told Lori about it and even though she was like me and really didn't run at all she said "Wow, I'd like to do that!" So, Lori talked me into joining the team made up of other Farragut Ward members. Lori and I started meeting at the gym and running outside 3 times a week. She had looked up the training schedule and made sure we stuck to it. And I have to admit I would not have done so if she had not been there!

After training for 2 months we finally had the big race last weekend. I was plenty prepared for the running (I drew the easiest leg: 4.4 miles, 1.6 miles, and 4.5 miles), but I wasn't prepared for the no sleep part of it. It was hard. And it was fun. The amount of times I used port a potties during this one weekend probably quadrupled my lifetime usage. The dance of hydrating, eating and peeing at the right times between your legs was interesting. I was surprised that after 24 hours of no sleep I felt great running, I could have gone a lot further I think. Adrenaline is a powerful thing.

Biggest positive of the whole experience: my kids were so proud of me. Trey called while I was on the race and told me he had been bragging to all his friends about me and how hard core he thought I was. The kids made a sweet sign and David ordered a trophy for me. It's a good feeling to accomplish something hard.

Two of my legs were through little towns, which was fun. The trees were in perfect color changing mode so the views were amazing!

At the three major exchanges we were able to go into real bathrooms inside a high school and wipe down with baby wipes and change into clean clothes.

This was at the end of my last leg. The six fingers represents "kills" or how many people you pass

I was the last girl runner and Scott was the first guy runner so it was fun to be able to pass off to him each time.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

70's costume party!!

Notice David's chest hair (:

Notice what my hairdresser did with my hair

ROME

2011-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is what was right outside of our hotel: The Pantheon

Trevi fountain:

The Collosium:

Caesar was killed:

Roman Forum:

Bath made out of marble from Nero's garden

We gained a new appreciation for the amazing sculptures created by Michelangelo. The Peita is the only sculpture signed by him (1499). It is inside St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

Outside the Vatican:

A few evenings, after a long day of sight seeing, we would sit out on the rooftop of our hotel and watch the sunset, watch the happening in the piazza down below and play cards.

Italy part 1: Venice, Florence and San Gimignano Oct. 2011

2011-10-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

It's overwhelming to think about posting about Italy...... We had a wonderful 10 days with Julie and Allen in Venice, Florence and Rome. The weather was beautiful, all our tour guides were fantastic, loved our hotels even the flights weren't too bad. A big thanks to the many who helped with the kids so we could go on this one in a lifetime trip. We will never forget it!

VENICE: Enjoyed walking through the whole city. We were surprised at how many houses were abandoned and the amount of graffiti.

We took a train to FLORENCE. Loved the open markets and the statue of David.

FLORENCE:

On our way to Rome we stopped in

San Gimignano (small walled medieval town in Tuscany):

Happy 11th Birthday Tanner, Connor and Sydney

2011-09-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

My kids love hearing about their birth. As they grow older we tell them more and more details about the miraculous way they came to this earth. We had a few minutes before the bus came on their birthday morning and so I found myself answering their questions as I looked at their amazed faces staring into the distance trying to imagine that when they were born their dad's wedding ring could fit around Connor's arm or that Sydney was the sickest in the NICU or that Tanner was supposed to be born 2nd but they found him inside of me before Connor. As they left for the bus I found myself thanking my Heavenly Father once again for the blessing of having them in our family.

David and I enjoyed a Chic-fil-A birthday lunch with the kids outside on the school picnic tables. They chose to go to Wasabi's for dinner, YUM. An elderly couple was at our table and couldn't stop gushing about the fact that they were triplets. They are used to this attention, and it's interesting to see their different reactions to it. We ended our night with cake and presents and a video chat with Trey. What a perfect day.

Package from Trey with BYU presents!!

That fire is hot!

Below Sydney's face you can see the missed rice ball

BYU bound

2011-08-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

The day Trey has been waiting for finally arrived. He's officially a college student at BYU!!! Trey was made for BYU. There couldn't be a better fit. We are still struggling to let go, but seeing how happy he is sure makes things easier. He loves his roommate, has met TONS of new people and it has pretty much been a party from the time he stepped into the dorms. The first night he stayed there he was out with people he just met until 1:30 a.m. His favorite activity so far: sledding on cardboard boxes in a rainstorm. Classes started this week and he loves his schedule. David and I felt so grateful to be able to see him integrate into his new surroundings, meet some of his new friends, and see how ready he was for it all.

The Sunday before Trey left all the aunts/uncles/grandparents, who have been such an important part of Trey's life since birth, spent some time together and shared memories of Trey and gave him advice. It was such a special night and I know he will never forget it. We liked it so much, the night before Trey left for BYU we had the kids give Trey some advice as well. Here's what they said:

Connor: Think hard. And when you go bowling get higher than a 60. (he still remembers visiting the bowling alley in the Wilk and considers it a big bonus to attending BYU)

Tanner: Study a lot, because tests are hard. My teachers told me that. And be nice like you always are. And study

Sydney: If there's an emergency, go to Brad's house.

Allie: Have fun, date a lot, don't study past midnight

Trey at the bookstore

home sweet home

The Canon Center Cafeteria = all you can eat ice cream

Helaman Halls

And the HUGE extra bonus to taking Trey out to BYU is getting to see more family!! A big thank you to the Lehi and Provo Barbers for letting us stay with you. Thanks for helping make this transition easier and thanks in advance for taking over as surrogate parents! We love you!

first day of school 2011

2011-08-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

"Mom, can you make sure my hair isn't puffy?"

"This is my favorite back-to-school outfit I've had so far!"

"mom, I need new shoes!"

After all her excitement of driving to school on the first day, Allie forgot to pick up a parking permit....She did get one the next day!

Wisdom Teeth

2011-08-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

Trey, 30 min. post surgery, still loopy and unknowingly drooling frosty all down his chin

This was the summer of getting your wisdom teeth. Pretty much all the teenagers in our ward from the ages of 16 to 18 got their wisdom teeth out this summer, Trey and Allie included. I was completely impressed with the system in place for getting them out. They think of everything nowadays (steroid packs that practically eliminate swelling, wrap around your head ice packs) and it really is a pretty simple event.

Allie went first because she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Trey had a busier schedule and finally got it done this week. Allie did really well with recovery except for the dry socket! (the Dr. said there is no real science as to what causes this, except that suction, say caused by a drinking a smoothie king with a straw bought 2 days after surgery, could be a possibility) I have to commend her on handling the pain. I have often heard people say that a dry socket is the worst pain they have experienced. Allie really was a trooper with the whole experience. She had to go in 3 times to get the incision cite packed with clove gauze.

Trey only had 3 wisdom teeth. While Allie was a little frustrated and agitated coming out of the anesthesia, Trey on the other hand was talkative and happy. Although I talked to him on the way home, picked up a frosty upon his request, he later said he didn't remember any of that. I was talking to him as we went through the drive thru and then a few minutes later he "whoa, I don't remember getting that!" He kept repeating himself to me, which was quite entertaining. For example, He was eating his frosty at the kitchen counter, and mumbled "oh, if I didn't already tell you this, thanks for the frosty mom". Then he would just smile at me while I tried to hide my laughter and told him he just thanked me 5 minutes ago. He also told me "oh, I do remember one thing, Dr. Brooks said I would recover faster than Allie". (he was right...he went on a date the next night and is completely off pain pills on day 2) Then about 10 minutes later he said the exact same thing to me with no recollection of saying it before. When he asked me for the 3rd or 4th time if he woke up in the car because he didn't remember walking out to the car, I started thinking how this is what it would be like to live with some who had short term memory loss. He also had 5 visitors within the first 30 minutes of being home, so they got to enjoy some of the goofy Trey as well.

Oak Island 2011

2011-07-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July at the beach again this year at Oak Island. With perfect beach weather, great company (the CRUZES!), lots of good food, and lots of Dominion tournaments, it was the perfect week.

Scott started something that I'm sure will be a continued tradition at the beach....night crab catching. He took the kids down to the beach one night with one flashlight, a bucket and a net. When they all came back to the beach house, no one could stop talking about catching crabs. There was this awesomely spooky heat lightening that night, so that, combined with crabs darting toward you in the dark was pretty exciting. We all went the next night and it was just as exciting as the kids described. David held the flashlight, Trey held the net and caught any poor crab that happened to come across our beam and then Scott would pick it up and put it in the bucket. The best part was when the kids would gather around the net watching when all of a sudden the crab would get away and go right toward them, sending everyone, including me, screaming and running. I wish I had some pictures of that adventure.

Afton became everybody's friend!!

My favorite beach moment was when Sydney surprised me by buying me an icee on the beach with her own money. And then she wouldn't let anyone take any bites of it. (:

Last year Trey and Lydia became beach buddies. I'm not sure it happened, but Lydia always hung out with Trey in the water. This year it seemed like Lydia remembered this and they has some more Lydia/Trey beach time.

CHOPPED, Father's Day Edition

2011-07-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Sydney has been a avid viewer of the show "chopped" forever. And she has been begging me to let her do a "chopped" competition for just as long. When the Langford's blogged about doing one, I knew I could no longer put it off. We decided to do a special Father's Day version. So the competition began. The mystery ingredients that were required to be used in their desserts were: Peanut butter, frosted flakes and cinnamon.

Meet the contestants:

TEAM ALLIE/SYDNEY

TEAM TREY/TANNER:

Final Products:
Can you tell which one belongs to who? The boys made a chocolate cake with straight peanut butter for icing. They used the cinnamon in the cake mix and made a smiley face out of the frosted flakes and some marshmellow cream on top. The girls made chocolate cupcakes and mixed the peanut butter with cream cheese frosting and using it inside the cupcake and on top with frosted flakes as a crumble. They also made a smootie with various melted chocolates drizzled on top. Connor helped David and I judge......and the winner was........ the girls.

Congratulations to the chefs!

Taylor Swift Concert!

2011-07-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Taylor Swift has been a long time favorite in our house, so we were so excited to be able to get tickets to her concert in Knoxville. It's so nice to be able to attend a wholesome concert with your teenagers and see the smile never leave their faces the whole night!

Eating at Tomato Head before the concert

water damage is our middle name

2011-06-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

We have been having some pretty amazing storms lately. Tuesday night a strong wind/rain storm hit our area and knocked off our chimney. I was at home and heard a loud bang and scraping sound. I opened the blinds, thinking it was our patio furniture blowing off our deck. As I looked outside I realized how severe the winds looked and thought maybe I should go to the basement, momentarily forgetting that I had not figured out what had made that loud noise. A few moments later my neighbor called and asked if I was home? I knew something was wrong and asked "what happened to my house?!" She said "your chimney is in your side yard". Of course it is. The attic upstairs now had a gaping hole and it was raining in our house. Our good friend Scott Rainey came over right away and spent the next few hours patching up our hole. (David was recovering from knee surgery) We had the Cruze kids staying with us for a few days, so with no power, a big storm and a chimney blown off the house we had a houseful of nervous kids! Allie saved us and kept everyone in her room and played church music and played games with them to keep them calm. (the next morning Allie was getting her wisdom teeth out so she had her own reason to be anxious/nervous)

So we get to process yet another claim with insurance and pay another deductible and deal with more headaches. I guess the good news is we had not had our roof or gutters fixed from the hail storm yet.

Banff, Canada

2011-06-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

David and I went on a belated 20 year anniversary trip with friends who were also celebrating their 20 year anniversary. Our friends suggested Banff, Canada which we had never heard of before but upon arriving we were instantly blown away by the majestic beauty of the Canadian Rockies. David's knee was bothering him so we weren't sure how much hiking he'd be able to do, but he didn't slow us down at all (: We hiked everyday and saw some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in my life.

Our favorite hike was at Lake Louise. This lake was the most must unique color of turquoise. I kept thinking it looked photo enhanced. We learned that Glacier fed lakes have that color because of the light filtering effect of rock flour (a powdery substance that the glaciers grind off the mountain rocks) in the glacial runoff.

Victoria glacier in the distance

Often, we would come across an area where there had been a snow avalanche and all the trees would be pushed over like this.

David feeling proud at far we had come! (Lake Louise in the background)

We saw a grizzly bear with her 2 cubs on one of our hikes, about 200 yds off the trail. Later, we saw a black bear that was right off the interstate and just ate grass while dozens of cars stopped to take his picture.

We saw elk everywhere, here they are resting in the local H.S. baseball field

One of the many hikes around Lake Louise led up to a tea house, overlooking yet another lake. We enjoyed some hot chocolate while enjoying the breathtaking views.

memorial day/Allie's family celebration

2011-06-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Perfect Birthday celebration with the family!

Allie's Sweet Sixteen

2011-05-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Allie and 3 of her friends from church turned 16 in the same month so we gave them a joint sweet 16 birthday party at our neighborhood clubhouse. The picture above went on their invitations.

Oh and today, on her birthday, she had her first date. Actually she is on it right now. Lunch and laser quest with Jared. (:

Allie had a pretty stressful school year so it is so fun to relax and celebrate with her. She is such a hard worker (Barber genes). She is my most dedicated child, giving 150% to everything. I can't wait to see what life has in store for her. We can hardly believe she'll be a junior next year. We love you Allie!!!

p.s. I'll blog more later about the family birthday bash at the Langford's yesterday.

Dwight David Sexton III, the graduate

2011-05-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

When Trey started his senior year, I asked him if he wished he had already graduated and done with high school (which is pretty much how I felt going into my senior year). He said, "no way, I can't wait for my senior year!" He had such a fantastic time at Farragut High School. He loved most of his teachers, was a part of Freshman and JV basketball, was a member of National Honors Society, loved being a peer tutor, enjoyed homecoming and prom, was voted "most integrity" by his peers, graduated with a 4.3 with straight A's and 7 AP classes. As I looked through his yearbook autographs, it was clear that he influenced everyone around him. Many people referenced him being a mormon or said something about one of his favorite sayings "come on man, don't swear." I'm so happy that he is the kind of person who is comfortable letting his light shine.

I can't even still really believe that this chapter in his life is finished.

SENIOR PICTURES:

SENIOR PROM: SENIOR HOMECOMING:

GRADUATION!!!

Dinner at Cafe 4 before graduation:

Trey, with Matt, Ross and Zach, his best buddies since middle school.

Graduation was fantastic! Over 400 students graduated in under an hour and a half! Yes! (FYI: The valedictorian had 16 AP credits and a 4.58 GPA!!!) Thank you Grandparents for being a part of this special evening with us.
P.S. This was the 2nd FHS graduation Trey had been to. The first one was when he was 2 and he went to his Uncle Brad's graduation.

The Beautiful Smoky Mountains

2011-05-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Notice Tanner and Connor's packs? They were filled with things for Pokemon adventures in the wilderness.

Safety patrol!

2011-05-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

For years Connor has wanted to be a safety patrol. I don't think he was even in the Intermediate School yet when he first saw the safety patrol badge and coveted it. He would talk about it all the time. A few Christmases ago he asked for one for Christmas, and thanks to ebay he got one. Connor has always liked playing school, being the teacher and telling his students what to do. So, a few months ago the kids brought home a form to fill out and had to get 5 references from various teachers and adults. It was really quite the process to apply for safety patrol.
Anyway, today they found out that they all made it!!! Tanner, Connor and Sydney are all p.m. safetys. Watch out FIS, there's a few new sheriffs in town.

Easter Sunday

2011-05-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

With all the excitement from the storm I forgot to post Easter Sunday pictures

Tanner poses himself and asks for me to take a picture

We hosted our first ever Easter dinner this year. The Stoner family joined us and I wish I had taken pictures of their pretty daughters, Jessica and Lauren, in their easter dresses. In honor of this event, we broke out the china, using it for the first time in our 20 years of marriage. As I told our guests at dinner that this was the first time using our china, even Trey said "oh, that makes sense, I thought it looked really old-fashioned".

Holy Hail Storm

2011-04-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

Wow. Said to be one of the most horrendous storm systems in 4 decades, Knoxville got off fairly easy. I want to document this because I'm pretty sure I'll never experience anything like it again. 4 major systems came through yesterday evening, 2 of which produced HEAVY hail. The whole family was hunkered in the basement listening/watching our house get pummeled with hail. It sounded like our house was being hit by a million large rocks. The little kids were very nervous during the hail, you had to yell to be heard. They are very scared of tornadoes and ask about them a lot, so it made them very anxious to be under a tornado watch for so long. Trey and Allie were excited, texting and on facebook. Finally, after over an hour we told Tanner, Connor and Sydney they could sleep in the basement together, while the rest of us went upstairs to examine the damage. Our van was outside and dented up, gutters and window trim dented and one window (the outer pane) broken. Very lucky. With the noise, I would have thought all the windows were broken. Watching the news this morning to see how bad surrounding states were hit was humbling.

easter egg hunt

2011-04-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love an easter egg hunt? And who doesn't love to take silly pictures? Even the teenagers don't want to miss out on this family tradition.

Say yes to the 19 dresses

2011-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Allie doesn't like to shop, unless it is for athletic wear. So when she needed some new church clothes I headed out alone and got a little carried away. I was in and out of 5 stores and just bought everything that I thought she might consider not-too-frilly, was comfortable (knit is a good thing), and on sale. I was surprised that I found so many I thought she might like and just kept buying, knowing I'd be bringing most of them back. Little did I know that I had actually purchased 19 dresses by the time I was done. Allie's worst nightmare was about to happen.....trying on clothes.

The first 7 out of 10 she tried on she liked, amazing!! She tried on the dresses in a record 2 sessions, equally amazing. The final "thumbs up" count was 10 out of the 19. I was pretty impressed with myself. I think I should be a personal shopper. To find 10 dresses that Allie actually really likes is pretty much a miracle. I think we've narrowed it down to 7 that she's keeping, and I'm thrilled. Great bargains (one dress was only $11) and a dressed up daughter!

Salsa

2011-04-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

We have a new tradition. It revolves around food..what a surprise. We started making salsa. All the time. The Cruzes make salsa often when we get together to play games and we love it, except for 1 ingredient...avocado. We finally decided to follow Scott's lead and create our perfect salsa with everything we like in it. As long as you have the few main ingredients you can throw whatever else you have on hand and it turns out yummy! Tomatoes, pineapple, mango, any type of onion, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, green, red, yellow pepper, a dash of salt, a teaspoon of sugar. I'm anxious to create a non-fruity corn and black bean salsa next.

Nourishment

2011-04-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

For a few years Allie and I have had the tradition of making cinnamon rolls the night of the Priesthood session for Sunday morning. I don't know why, but tasty food just seems to go with conference weekend to me. We added conference quiche in the last year to give us some salty with the sweet. This year Allie was doing her lifeguard certification so I didn't have my baking buddy that night. Instead I made scones for the first time with the new scone pan Julie gave me for my birthday. YUM! They were a hit! I love conference weekend where I am spiritually and physically nourished (: A few of my of my favorite conference quotes: "If you've been offended, do a lot of forgiving and a little repenting." - Elder Packer, "Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words." = Pres. Uchtdorf

Storms

2011-04-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

So, east Tennessee is known for having some pretty awesome thunderstorms. Last night we had a powerful storm that lasted about 5 hours of heavy rain, strong winds and thunder and lightening. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

The next morning we woke up to find one of the glass panels in our sideboard shattered. We assume it's related to the storm somehow, as it appeared to happen after we all went to bed. WEIRD. Another water related accident?

I'm old

2011-04-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

So I recently turned 41. For about the last year I have noticed that I was having to squint and hold small print a little further back to be able to read it. I would think "Why is everything looking so blurry and hard to read? I'm waaay to young to need reading glasses." Complete denial. A couple of friends took me out for a birthday lunch and as I was struggling to read what they had written in a card in the dim lighting, I finally said, "oh well I'll read it at home." My seasoned friend said "here, try these" and handed me her reading glasses. I burst out laughing with surprise and excitement as I could actually read the words, clearly!! It's a miracle! Why had I not gotten some of these a long time ago?? All those nights of reading in bed, squinting in the dim lighting...Needless to say, when I left the restaurant I went straight to the store to pick up a pair for myself. Even though I feel old. It's worth it.

Akumal

2011-03-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

We decided we wanted to have a memorable vacation in celebration of Trey's last official spring break at home. After searching around we finally decided on Akumal, Mexico. It's a very small town about an hour and half south of Cancun. The kids were so excited to get passports and asked if maybe this might be where Trey goes on his mission. (who knows? maybe)

Highlights of the trips: XelHa: An amazing lagoon with snorkling, cliff jumping, zipline, dolphin swim, and more.

This was the kid's first experience with snorkeling. It took Connor a while to get the hang of it. Sydney was loving it until she saw a very large barracuda!

There were giant lizards everywhere!

Connor's favorite thing there were the hammocks and all you can eat buffet.

This rope bridge was intense!

The highlight for Trey, Allie and Sydney was when they swam with the dolphins!

The Tulum ruins

We had the beach to our selves. The cousins spent their time running between the beach, pool, and grassy area that they played "world cup" on and chilled in the hammocks.

The kids never did get used to the idea of brushing their teeth with bottled water. They loved saying Gracias and Hola to everyone. We enjoyed walking about a mile up the beach to one of the few restaurants in the town. (and were happy we got to see BYU play during one dinner!) So happy to enjoy this family time together...a trip we'll never forget.

We ♥ Basketball!

2011-02-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

The four oldest Sexton's have always loved basketball. The three youngest have been pretty indifferent about the game......until this year. Something clicked and instead of asking if they can stay home from going to a game of Trey or Allie's, they now get more excited than if they were going to a birthday party. Between Trey and Allie we sometimes had 3 games a week, so everyday the kids would ask "is there a game today?!?!?! It didn't stop with watching their siblings. Tanner, Connor and Sydney are college basketball fans as well. They have each been to 2 UT games this year and prefer to watch college basketball on tv over pretty much anything else. Their enthusiasm can be seen in the handmade signs they make to go to games, and in the comments they make to the refs when there is a bad call, i.e.: "oh, come on ref! You've got to be kidding me!" Connor needs to work on not getting upset with a loss, however.

When Connor was the "student of the week" he even answered that shooting hoops was his favorite thing to do. He goes outside to shoot pretty much every day.

Tanner and Connor like to take turns sitting on the bench with David during Trey's games and being the assistant coach.

Watching Allie play in her church ball games is especially exciting since I help coach and the kids know all the girls playing on the court.

We wish it could be basketball season all year long!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

We celebrated valentine's day with the kids yesterday with a belgium waffle lunch. It is so fun to do something festive for them because they are such appreciative kids.

Allie texted me today and said she received a card/balloon/flower at school today...from her dad! And Sydney walked in the door from school beaming, holding a balloon and card she got at school today from daddy as well!

Connor and Tanner said they didn't have a special valentine to give anyone at school because they are still in love with Grace (a friend from swim team). They each don't understand why the other won't give her up. So far neither of them are budging.

I'm excited to go to dinner with the love of my life tonight. Happy Valentine's Day!

snow days

2011-01-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

It took a while to get all four on the sled, but they had sooo much fun doing it! After some failed attempts and lots of laughing they finally did it! (they realized the rope was caught under the snow)

Notice the snow pants that are meant for a 5 year old. We haven't bought snow clothes in a while (:

And where was Trey during all this fun sibling sledding you ask? Walking, in his new boots he got for BYU, to his second home, Nick's house. He and Allie did some pretty awesome sledding the next day with some friends.

christmas 2010

2011-01-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Used a delicious sugar cookie recipe from a friend this year, best cookies so far!

Best tradition ever - siblings draw names and do secret service for them during the month of December and then reveal their identity on Christmas Eve when they give them a gift.

Christmas Eve at Grandmother and Grandpa's house

Allie got about a dozen books for Christmas, and has read 1/2 of them already.

Connor asked for two things from Santa this year Eclipse gum and a DS.

Taking pictures after church

2011-01-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas I try to take some pictures of the kids dressed up on a Sunday before church. I love how many pictures I end up taking before everyone is smiling, looking at the camera and not blinking. This year was going pretty good until Tanner, Connor and Sydney got the giggles and could not stop laughing. I love Trey's patient stare ("stop laughing so we can get this over with").

Up High

2010-12-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

Afton. The one that everyone wants when the family gets together. She's cute as can be and plays hard to get. Every cousin, aunt and uncle tries to win her over and get her to play with them. We use any tactic: food, toys, drinks, iphones, jewelry, etc. Sometimes we are successful but usually it's not long before she's looking for her mom again. David has always gone with a little trick he started with our little baby Trey called "up high?" He will ask the nearest toddler if they want to go "up high" and then throw them in the air and catch them. It usually wins them over and they come back for more. So, this game was a hit with Afton and worked like a charm to win her over. So well in fact that she calls David "up high". He never was uncle David to her, just "up high". She will see him in a picture and say "there's up high" with her cute little voice. Or ask when he's not around "where's up high?" We hope that name sticks.

18

2010-12-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to Trey! He had a fantastic 18th birthday! David and I carried on our high school tradition of checking him out for an Aubrey's lunch. Then that evening he chose Bonefish grill to celebrate. We surprised him with orange Hyperdunk basketball shoes that he really wanted but didn't think he was getting. The best part of the night was the tickle fight that broke out right before cookie cake time.

As for me, I don't like being the mom of an 18 year old. I know I've been whining a lot lately about it, but I can't help it. I like life the way it is. Right now. I don't want my 10 year olds to be teenagers and I don't want Trey to grow up and leave our home. Ok, enough whining.

I'm so proud of the truly remarkable (young) man Trey has become (always has been). He is an example to me everyday of how to live a Christlike life. I love you Trey!!!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed our traditional go to both sides of the family for Thanksgiving again this year. When David and I first got married we couldn't bear to not go to our parents house on Thanksgiving day, so we've always shared the holiday with everyone. Since we've been married David has always gone to the Turkey Bowl. He started out playing with the men, then when Trey came of age he played with the Young Men, then Allie started going and he would spend some of his time coaching the powder puff game, and then this year Connor, Tanner and Sydney went and he helped coach a fun flag football game with them. For years I have made my assigned side dishes and then headed off the the gym to meet Julie and Lori for our "pre-feast" work out.

So, this is how we celebrate Thanksgiving, and we like it. I have to admit I have never made a turkey in my life and probably never will.

A tradition that we always enjoy at grammy and grandpa's house is the basketball shoot off. This year there was a 3-way tie with the kids and Grammy convinced Grandpa to fork over the cash instead of having them shoot again...score!

This year we went with Sexton's to Mimi's Cafe for lunch/brunch and back to their house for pie, that Allie made with Grandmother. So most of us ordered breakfast and then has the traditional dinner and Grammy and Grandpa's.

Integrity and Service

2010-12-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Senior Superlatives came out this week and Trey won two of them!! No it wasn't for best hair or biggest flirt, he was voted "MOST INTEGRITY" and "Class Dad". They called him in the office and told him he had to choose one because he couldn't win them both. He went with integrity. How cool is that?!?! I'm one proud mom! Being voted and known by your entire senior class as the person with the most integrity is incredible to me. I asked him why he thought he was voted "class dad" and he said it was probably because he's always telling people to quit cussing.

So Allie is up for a service award at school. She has been filling out an application this past week where you have to record in detail all your service since May. Man, this girl has been busy! She's has accounted for about 150+ hours. Way to go Allie!! Anyone needing any volunteer work done, just call Allie.

kids are amazing-ly funny

2010-11-29T15:29:00.000-08:00

Tanner continues to be such a sweetheart in our family, always the first to tell everyone he loves them and always very concerned about others feelings. A few weeks ago we had some landscaping redone in our front yard. Tanner apparently thought that the workers were doing a good job and needed to know about it. The day after I found this note on our front porch along with 2 water bottles. It reads "you are doing great! Keep it up! Awesome! From Tanner: (Lisa's son)." I wasn't sure if the landscapers drank some of the water or Tanner had put out some 1/2 empty water bottles...

Connor's teacher (the most amazing 4th grade teacher ever) puts out the class announcements in the form of a class newspaper called the Shaver Scoop. Connor loved this and decided to publish the Sexton Scrub. He has published and circulated 5 issues to date. His teacher told me at my parent conference that she is a recipient of the Scrub. Look out Barber Pole!

Last Sunday Sydney came into our bedroom and asked with an innocent face, "where is Kroger's?" To which I said "what do you mean?, it's in Farragut." She then said "I mean what's the address?" I was in the middle of having a few moments to finally talk to David for the first time that day so I quickly dismissed her with a "I don't know honey I'll have to look it up later." She shut the door giggling hysterically. Hmmm, oh well. Little did I know what she was up to. Later that night when Allie went to bed she came down laughing with this in her hand:

David said: "I guess that's what Sydney meant earlier when she said she wanted to do a prank."

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Connor is not Harry Potter, he is Connor, a wizard friend of Ron's.

Tanner is not Ashe, the well known Pokemon trainer, he's just a regular pokemon trainer.

Sydney is exactly what she looks like, a cute little blue m & m.

Oaks Farm

2010-10-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

It had been about 5 years since we had been to a corn maze/pumpkin patch so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall day and go. We were impressed with the high quality destination of Oaks Farm in Corryington, Tennessee.

We started off with the hayride pumpkin patch where Tanner and Connor took about 30 seconds to pick out their perfect pumpkins. Sydney surprised us by choosing one in just a few minutes and only changing her mind once. Tanner said he knew right away which one was his pumpkin because it was warm and had a small stem, like him. I thought it was interesting that they picked small, medium and large pumpkins.

We then ventured into a huge corn maze, which at an aerial view is cut to spell out "corn maze". We each took turns finding the next number station to punch on our cards and loved climbing up the bridge which gave you a beautiful view just above the tops of the corn stalks.

The kids said one of their favorite things to do was run around and chase each other on the hay bales.

NYC!

2010-10-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic, full, whirlwind fall break with Trey and Allie in the Big Apple. We walked and walked and ate and ate...not sure if it balanced out or not. Some fun things we did: NBC studio tour, Madame Tussauds wax museum, Museum of Natural History, Circle Line ferry tour down the Hudson River to the Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Top of Empire State Building, King Tut Exhibit, walk through Central Park, Times Square, Mary Poppins Broadway show, 39 Steps off broadway show, National Comedy Theatre show, Ground Zero, FAO Swartz. And just as important, here is where we ate: Crumbs, Juniors, Eatery, Lombardi's, 5 Napkin Burgers, Shake Shack....Mmmmm

Conference weekend = cinnamon rolls

2010-10-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

I love conference weekend. Watching conference together as a family is an uplifting spiritual experience, and it's good cuddle time too! Something I look forward to is when David and Trey go to the Priesthood session together and Allie and I make cinnamon rolls together. It's been a fun tradition for us. We usually watch something like The Biggest Loser or Chopped while we wait for the dough to rise and then by time the boys come home the house smells like cinnamonny deliciousness.

This year was a little different. We were chatting away while we added ingredients and when it came time to combine the two it was obvious there was a problem. Hmmm, what's wrong with the dough, it's all liquidy and not pulling away from the bowl? Ahhh! With much discussion we realize that we made the following mistakes:

1 cup of brown sugar was added that was meant for the cinnamon filling
1/2 c. of butter was added instead of 1/4 c.

Instead of dumping it out we go ahead and make them for a comparison to the real thing. We then made another batch, this time double checking our measurements and not chatting as much. The messed up version did not rise at all but we went ahead and baked them with our good batch. This morning Tanner and Sydney tried one of each and said the messed up one "wasn't too bad".

Allie, wearing the 100% party girl apron, hand sifting the flour with a cheese grater

Can you tell the good from the bad?

Sydney gets her ears pierced - take 2

2010-09-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sydney has been asking to get her ears pierced for a few years now. I decided and told her I thought she'd (I'd) be ready when she was 10. I had to wait until I was 14 (clearing throat sound.... dad!) ;) to get mine pierced and so I remember how important it is to a little girl who really wants to get her ears pierced. She was not nervous at all, which surprised me. She said it didn't hurt at all and has been the proud owner of daisy earrings ever since. Hey, this makes Sydney the first cousin to have her ears pierced!

They're 10!!!!

2010-09-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

It's really hard to believe my babies are 10. We celebrated the weekend by having a cousin sleepover, watching lots of home videos of Tanner, Connor and Sydney as babies/toddlers, and all the family coming over on Sunday for some cinder cake.

Happy birthday to our miracle babies!! Life would not be as joyful and fulfilling without you in it!

I took the girls out to get Sydney's ears pierced, but sadly the owner had gone home for the night so it had to wait until the next day. The girls cheered up as we went over to Justice to do some shopping.

Happy Birthday Honey

2010-09-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

David and I often talk about how old we are getting, but how we still feel so young...we'll discuss things like how he was talking to a client the other day and thinking "hmm, this guy is way older than me" only to find out he's a year younger. Huh. Sigh.

Things I love about my old guy:

The fact that he always takes my side
That he will go run/walk in the neighborhood with me even when he's tired or his knees/back/legs are sore
That he knows just what to say when I'm upset
That he tells me multiple times a day how beautiful and in shape he thinks I am
That when I go out of town he will always work on a project b/c he knows it makes me happy
That he loves desserts as much as I do
That he is such a wonderful mediator
His compassion
The sacrifice and service he renders to our family
His strength and confidence
His loyalty to friends and family
His sense of nostalgia
His sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself
His generous heart
That he spoils me

Ok, I guess this could go on all day. I can't believe we've known each other over 25 years!
Happy 43rd to David!!

zipline!!!

2010-09-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

Trey and Connor tandem

We had an unusually non-humid, clear Saturday with the high only in the 70's here in Knoxville. We were excited that this PICTURE PERFECT day coincided with our planned trip to do the zipline course in Sevierville with the Langford family. Connor was a little nervous, but with a pep talk from Jared who had been before and was equally nervous at the start, even he was tentatively excited. All I can say is: amazing, beautifully breathtaking, awesome, fun for the whole family.

Carter and Allie tandem and then racing each other

Trey and David racing

Tanner and Jared about to go tandem

swim team

2010-08-25T07:28:00.000-07:00

I know summer is over, but I finally have time to catch up on blogging so here it goes. Summer meant sleeping in, lots of friends, no homework and swim team. All 5 kids participated again this year. Connor, Tanner and Sydney moved up to the 9-10 age group this year. Sydney swam against someone as tall as Allie at one of the meets! The boys were excited to master breast stroke enough this year to consistently be able to compete in that race. Connor and Tanner usually raced each other, were very evenly matched, and were always good sports with the outcome . Sydney, Allie and Trey all took turns racing in the IM again this year. They all claim to dislike that event immensely, but I think the girls secretly like it.(: We love swim team because of the routine in gives the summer, the exercise, but mostly because of the friends!

Allie's makeover

2010-08-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what Allie would look like with makeup on? Well some of the Young women in our ward like to do make-overs on Allie for dances and such. The other day Natalie, Cortney and Lizzy came over to do a back-to-school makeover, manicure and pedicure included- thanks girls! Lookin' good Allie!

Back to School

2010-08-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

This year the first day of school went pretty smoothly. It helped that the triplets had "meet the teacher" night last night. The 4th grade has about 18 classes so the hopes of getting a good friend in your class or a teacher you're hoping for seems pretty slim, but somehow it worked out for Connor, Tanner and Sydney. Before they found out what class they were in they all told me who they wanted to get for a teacher and somehow they got who they wanted! (they based their wishes on how nice some of the teachers were to them in the hall and what they had heard from other kids, except Sydney wanted a particular teacher who she noticed dancing and singing a lot)

Sydney was all about the clothes of coarse. She has begged for converse shoes for a year and I finally relented so the outfit was carefully picked out with the shoes in mind. Sydney also wanted to try a "bag" instead of backpack this year. She has her best friend from last year in her class. Her first words to me about her first day at school were: "my teacher is hyper!" Lots of dancing and singing I guess!

Connor somehow got a teacher from heaven again, who's personality is exactly what he needs. He was not nervous at all this year, but didn't like that the poison ivy he got while camping hadn't gone away yet. His teacher is the former TAG teacher, which was evident on this first half day of school orienting as she somehow had time to do 2 experiments with them involving coke and diet coke.

I told Tanner he could pick out his first day of school clothes if he wanted, something the boys have never cared about doing. He grabbed a star wars/aquarium black t-shirt, looked at me, and then said "hmm, I think I'll wear something nice instead since it's the first day of school" (whew)

Allie tried to con me into a new backpack again this year until I reminded her that last year she got a more expensive backpack with the promise of keeping it more that one year. So she quickly started working the angle that because she wasn't getting a backpack then she surely deserved to get a new pair of $80 shoes for school. What? HAHA! I don't think so. She was excited to welcome new students to school as part of her SGA duties, but was not excited that she had to wear an SGA t-shirt on the first day of school.

Trey was as casual as he was last year, asking me as he walked out the door "what class do I have 4th block again?" I asked him if he wished he was graduated already and going to college instead, to which he quickly replied "no! I'm ready to be a senior!" Excited to go to lunch and the gym after school with friends.

We love to read

2010-06-22T16:46:00.000-07:00

David and I love to read. When we both have a good book at the same time it's even better. Trey and Allie both loved to read at an early age. They would choose reading over other activities then and now. Trey got hooked when he read the Redwall series and for Allie it was probably the Harry Potter books. They both still love to read and do it all the time. Tanner, Connor and Sydney like to read, but I rarely see them picking to read over say watching a show on TV or riding their bikes. It was more of a "ok, it's close to bedtime, I'll read for 30 minutes before I go to sleep". And for Connor in particular he never really stuck with a book (besides small chapter books like Harry the Horrible) til the end. He'd just read parts of a book and then move on to something else. Until now. A friend told him about the series Warriors. It's about the adventures that different clans of cats have as they battle and enforce laws in a forest that they share. There are 6 books in the first series and then it goes on to a second series and so on. Well the light clicked for Connor and now he reads all the time. He chooses to read. He started reading them right before school got out and has just started the second series. It has also inspired him to start writing his own Warriors book called The Desperate Rise.

Oak Island 2010

2010-06-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

Oak Island never disappoints. May is especially nice, the weather is good and local schools are not out yet so the beach is uncroweded. The Cruze Family made our trip even more pleasurable. Highlights included: "survivor" game on the beach, year two of buying the raft/boat, digging for clams, catching fish, adults + Trey Puerto Rico tournament, adult dinner out, Provisions with the kids and outside games for Allie's birthday.

Happy Beachy Birthday Allie!

2010-06-06T16:01:00.000-07:00

Allie is now 15! I'd say more than half of Allie's birthdays have been spent at the beach. Most of the time there are aunts, uncles and cousins there to make it even more special. Allie was pampered by her cousins with a good 6 person (that's 12 hands and 2 feet than belonged to Josh) massage.

p.s. she has been on me everyday to take her to get her driver's permit....watch out motorists!

Strawberry picking

2010-05-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the most perfect strawberry picking day ever! Grandpa's farming skills showed as he picked as much as the five of us put together. Fun, fun, fun morning. (It was not as much fun to come home and wash and de-stem 22 lbs. of strawberries.) But the crepes, jam, and pies are worth it. I love strawberry picking season!

Demolition = Father/son bonding

2010-05-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

The year after we moved into our house we got the play set in the backyard. It was used for many things: a fort to fight off Indians, a place to have picnics, a place to hide, a construction site, a barn, and most recently a goal for Allie to kick soccer balls into. It was not an expensive set and has been deteriorating the last few years but we put off taking it down because just when we thought the kids had outgrown it, they would find a new purpose for it. Recently, however, besides the fact that it was infested with hornets, it was falling apart and was becoming unsafe.

David had a dumpster delivered for clean up and was ready to start Saturday morning. After about 15 minutes of watching him swat at flying insects with a cardboard box he comes inside and announces there is a problem. "It's swarming with hornets." Also, the bolts were not cooperating and were stubbornly not unscrewing for easy dismantling. After some brainstorming with Trey, they borrowed 2 cans of hornet/wasp spray and a mallet and were ready to start again.

The next stage of the demolition consisted of David and Trey chasing after and spraying hornets. Finally I noticed David start to take some swings at the play set with the mallet. I notice Trey is just watching, and it appears it is going to be slow going, so I go outside and suggest Trey get started on the weeding until David needs his assistance. David tells me "oh no, Trey's staying right here". Then I notice that Trey is holding the can of bug spray and is poised to knock out any pesky flying insect that might get the wrong idea.

I went outside periodically to take pictures of their progress and laugh at them. They had a lot of fun deciding the best way to make the play set crumble. Nothing was as easy as it first seemed. There was a lot of pushing, pulling, hitting, tugging, swinging and spraying. Each time a different large section was conquered they felt empowered. I finally had to leave for a soccer game but they reported they finished up the job just a the skies opened up with a rain shower.

Vice president Allie

2010-05-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

Apparently, Allie likes to get involved. Little did we know how much. Everyone knows the story of Allie not making the soccer team then deciding to try out for and making the basketball team. We are seeing a pattern with Allie. A characteristic that she seems to be developing, or maybe it was always there, that no one else in our family has......she's fearless. She does not get intimidated and is not afraid of failure. She is not afraid to take a risk. She joined the track team with a friend to "stay in shape for basketball". She takes after her parents and is not a very fast runner. However the team needed someone to do shot put and the discus and she said "why not?" There is no coach for this sport so she is sort of on her own with it but she doesn't care. Because she and one other girl are the only ones who compete in these events for Farragut, Allie represents her school at the meets even though she is just a freshman. It was very clear from the first meet when she was in the bottom 1/4 of the throwers that this was not going to be something she was a natural at, but did that stop Allie from continuing forward? No. She's having a great time.

A few weeks ago Allie announces that she wants to join SGA at school. Great, sounds good. She later tells me that you have two ways of being a member: one is you have to be voted in and the other was based on an application. Then, last Friday she texted me from school and tells me that there is one more way to be a member of SGA.... she found out that officers are automatically inducted into SGA so she thought she might as well run for a class officer and announces she is now a candidate for Vice President of her upcoming Sophomore class. Huh? Where did this come from, Allie? "are you sure Allie?" She tells me "yeah, I've already turned in my application with 50 signatures on it." So it was on. Allie vs. the current freshman VP. She had posters up (Tanner, Connor and Sydney helped in making the posters and had some cute slogans on them like: "vote for Allie, if she's not elected, you'll be suspended", passed out candy, had "team leaders" that were in charge of getting people to vote for her. She found out today that she is the Vice President! She won!

David says Allie would make a good lawyer. She's fearless.

Happy Earth Day

2010-04-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Tanner, Connor and Sydney take Karate. They have a love hate relationship with it. They love it when they are there, but they hate to be interrupted from their riding bikes, playing wii, playing with friends, etc. to have to go to Karate.

Once a week Tanner will come in from school saying casually to me, "um mom, I'm planning on going outside to practice basketball, then I'm going to play some soccer and throw some football. So, I guess I don't have time for karate today." He knows that I love for him to do all the things he listed, so he's hoping for a pass.

Today I was outside planting flowers when the kids got off the bus. Tanner walked up and said "mom, do we have to go to karate today? It's Earth day you know."

The evolution of the Dining Room

2010-04-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

After 19 years of marriage we have a dining room with furniture in it! The first townhouse we lived in (for 2 1/2 years) didn't have a dining room. But the Harbour Shore house that we lived in for 9 years and this house that we've lived in for 7 1/2 years both have a dining room. The purpose of the dining room in the Harbour Shore house was for our kid's toys. It got interesting when the triplets were toddlers and it was like a play ground in there. That dining toy room served us well. In our current house the main purpose of the dining room until about 2 years ago was a place to put our Christmas tree and presents in for the month of December. Then a few years ago we inherited Granny's piano and it became "the piano room".

The curtains, accessories and lighting are still a work in progress, but hey, we have furniture. The kid's reaction to it has been fun. We haven't eaten in there yet but when we do, it will be great. We moved the piano across the foyer to the study. It's a tight fit, and when someone is on the computer at the same time as someone is playing the piano it's a little much, but it works for now.

It was fun to unpack crystal, china, table linens, etc. that we had received as wedding gifts, but had not seen since Jan. 5, 1991. I learned that it's not a good idea to pick out a china pattern in the trendy colors of the day, a.k.a. mauve and light blue, because more than likely you won't like those colors for very long.

Trey + ACT = 34!

2010-04-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Wow.

He's taking it again tomorrow with the writing section added that may or may not be required by BYU in 2011. Wish him luck!

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful Saturday evening egg hunt at Grammy and Grandpa's house. With new eggs and a couple of five dollar bills to be found the kids were excited as ever. With all the kids equally able to run and find the eggs I think this was the first year that the backyard was not divided down the center with a garden hose with big kids on one side and little kids on the other. It was fun to see Allie dropping some of the eggs she had found back on the ground for the younger ones to find. Allie yelled to Josh after she had dropped one telling him there was an egg nearby and he should go get it. He smiled from the top of the playhouse and said "Allie, I saw you do that". Connor also made a sacrifice and decided to give Lydia ALL of his candy. Later in the car when all the other kids were eating their candy I heard him say to himself "I wonder why I did that?"

Conference weekend

2010-04-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

After an action packed spring break filled with hiking, indoor water parks, go carts, exploring and camping in caves, two sessions of conference was just the right activity for these tired kids.

The Smoky Mountains

2010-04-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

We debated about which hike to take and finally decided on the perfect hike in the Elkmont area. There was no destination for us, we just walked along the river and let the kids explore as much as they wanted, skipping stones, collecting sticks, and letting them decide when they were ready to turn around.

The Scientists

2010-03-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Connor, Tanner, and Sydney love to play scientist. It started last summer during our visit to the Utah cousins and it is still going strong. The boys put on some of Trey's old white button down shirts as their lab coats and they play scientist. If Sydney is involved it can get a little messy with experiments, but when the boys play it they usually just construct different "inventions" from an electronics kit they got for Christmas. Apparently Tanner was telling his teacher about it the other day and she agreed to let him show the class an experiment during science. Tanner told her how "there would be a hypothosis and everything." He came home telling me all about how he was going to do this the next day. I filed away in my brain to help him come up with a presentation later that night. Then, I forgot all about it. Today the boys came home excitedly telling me all about how the showed the class their experiment. They had even brought their lab coats and safety goggles. Tanner asked if anyone in the class had a hypothosis for what he was about to do. Connor recorded some of the kids answers. (they reported that no one's hypothosis was right) Then they linked a bunch of things together which ended up turning a lightbulb on and spinning a helicopter-looking blade. The kids were impressed and their teachers said it was "magnificent". Evidently their teachers told Sydney's teacher about it because they are now presenting their experiment to her class tomorrow. :)

Sunny day

2010-03-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know any more than point and shoot on my new camera but I couldn't wait to try it out. My birthday afternoon was spent at the park enjoying the beautiful sunshine with the kids.

The boys were told they couldn't bring weapons to the park, but they soon found plenty of sticks that would do the trick.

Happy 40th to me

2010-03-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Kids really know how to make you feel special for your birthday! There is nothing like walking into a decorated room with your kids jumping out yelling "Happy Birthday", beaming with joy. My favorite was my "throne" where they had me open my presents and the paper chain they made with all the things they love about me written on them :). My favorite ones: Mom is stylish and Mom is happy when we're happy and sad when we're sad.

David surprised me with a new camera! Thanks honey! I loved going out to eat with the kids (and then the adults), and the slideshow that David put together. I'm a very happy 40-year-old.

Farming

2010-03-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

My kids love to play outside. Whenever they can they create some new adventure and try to get as many friends involved as possible. Recently they played at two different friends' houses and came home talking all about playing "farming" outside. Even with the freezing temperatures they have continued playing this outside whenever possible. They asked me to come out and take pictures of their adventure. They also ask me watch them through the window while they play, waving up at me periodically to make sure I'm watching the riviting farming take place. Farming consists of gathering sticks, brush, leaves, berries, logs, etc. They use these things to rake the wheat field, gather food and make fires. Buckets, tools, and towels are usually involved. They work like a team so they can get their work done before sundown. Weapons are a necessity because sometimes they have to fight of indians that try to take over their farm.

Bedtime=reading with dad

2010-02-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

We are all big readers in our family. Well the oldest 4 in our family are big readers. Anyway, David has always enjoyed reading books the Tanner, Connor and Sydney at bedtime. He loves it and so do they. They just finished reading Dragon Slippers and have started the Fablehaven series.

One night David went up to tuck the kids into bed while Trey and I set up a board game for us to play whenever David finished reading to the kids. We finished setting it up and waited and waited. We could hear David enthusiastically reading upstairs. I thought "well it must be a really good part and he's going long tonight." Finally I went up to tell him the kids really needed to get to bed because they had school in the morning. I started cracking up at the sight I found in the boys room. There was David reading his heart out, kneeling down at one of their beds, facing the boys who were both laying in their beds....only the boys were both sound asleep! Snoring! David was so engrossed in reading the book to them that he had no idea they were asleep and probably had been for a while!

RELAXATION

2010-02-16T13:43:00.001-08:00

Turning 40 is going to be hard. Next month I join David in the 40's club. To soften the blow he took me back to Cayo Espanto, my favorite tropical paradise. We enjoyed a few days of complete relaxation. Other than a snorkling excursion and a kayak exploration we just chilled out. We spent the days reading, playing a game or two and eating. (we did start our day out with a workout too) Nights were spent watching the sunset and a movie and eating.

I've never had so many tropical drinks in my life!One of our favorite parts of the trip were the four course meals served by candlelight by the water.

We forgot our sunglasses but were lucky enough to score these attractive $2 pairs at the airport

Good clean fun

2010-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

One night after a ward party, Allie and some of her friends spontaneously decided it would be fun to have a peanut butter eating contest. I bought into it because I knew I had a huge tub of peanut butter in food storage that was about to expire. This was one of those experiences that "you had to be there". These teenagers had so much fun doing something so, uh, "clean". They decided they want to have some kind of eating contest each month. Next month it's either going to be marshmellow fluff or mayonaise! BTW, Trey won this contest hands down. He was eating it like it was a bowl of cereal.

Winner!

New Barber Family Renunion game?

The Popcorn Popper Addict

2010-01-31T11:34:00.000-08:00

Allie had a new favorite snack this past month. She made popcorn virtually everyday for 2 weeks. But not the ho-hum microwave popcorn. She thoroughly enjoyed our brand new air popcorn popper that we won in bingo! That's right. The Cruzes provided it as one of the prizes and little did we know when we won it how much joy it would bring into our kids lives. Something about dumping in the kernals and watching them pop into white fluffy deliousness is addicting. And you can add just the amount of butter and salt that you prefer. Allie would make it for an after dinner snack and then pack some in her lunch box for the next day. When her friends would come over she would wow them with her popcorn making skills. Hearing the popper hum reminded me of all those Sundays at moms when popcorn would be our staple.

It's never too late to learn basketball

2010-01-30T11:54:00.000-08:00

We finally signed up Tanner, Connor and Sydney in a basketball league. As of last year they could barely dribble, so we weren't so sure how they would do on a team. But there is a very non-competitive church league that they all get to play on the same team and so far have had a lot of fun on. The coaches are so nice and the games are very relaxed. The coaches match up players according to ability and they are only allowed to guard that person. Everyone gets a turn to bring the ball down and feels a part of the team. They are really enjoying learning how to play and they actually practice dribbling and shooting at home. Allie has even had them all outside with cones doing drills (along with push-ups if you are not respectful). We are happy that they are at least learning the game and having fun!

Christmas Traditions that carry on

2010-01-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to mom and dad instilling the importance of traditions while I was growing up our family continues to enjoy many of the same traditions. Many of them happen during the Christmas season. Some of the traditions we carry on from my childhood: Delivering Christmas goodie plates (sorry no picture, but just imagine a some delicious treats on a plate)

acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve pizza dinner

Opening one present on Christmas Eve

All the kids sleeping in the same room Christmas Eve night

Decorating the tree together, everyone placing their own ornaments

David looking like a crazy person shooting airsoft guns in the backyard on Christmas day....Ok, I guess that's not a tradition.

One tradition that we started that our kids love is they draw from a hat one of their siblings names and that person is their secret person for the weeks before Christmas. They are supposed to do little acts of service or be extra kind and they get to buy a present for them too. Then on Christmas morning they give their present to their secret person, revealing their identity.

Good Grades = Melting Pot

2009-12-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

This semester's classes were especially challenging for Trey and Allie so we thought we'd help motivate them by telling them if they got straight A's we'd take them to The Melting Pot. Trey ended up with 98 averages in both his AP English and AP Biology classes! Wow. Is it possible for someone to get their smart genes from their uncles? Allie is still waiting on the Honors english and Honors Algebra standardized state-wide tests to be graded to find out her final averages but she assures us they are A's! UPDATE: Allie finally got her final grades and she did indeed pull out straight A's!!! Yeah for Allie!

Anyway, we had such a FUN time with our wonderful teenagers. It was their first time going to this fondue restaurant. Allie said she could just go for dessert next time and be happy. We got the cookies and cream this time...YUM. Trey ate all his dinner and most of hers (b/c she doesn't really eat meat).

I still can't believe that I have a 17 and 14 year old. I'm so happy to see them making good choices and enjoying life so much. We are truly blessed.

A perfect afternoon

2009-12-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Trey was working at the Empty Stocking Fund this morning downtown so we decided to pick him up and take the kids ice skating in Market Square. I wasn't sure who would like this activity when it actually came time to hitting the ice. Happily, everyone loved it! David was the only one who had no interest in skating. So he took pictures instead. The kids liked it so much they asked if it could be a family tradition. I love a happy family day!:) (The best part was there was no fighting the whole day.)

parties and celebrating

2009-12-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

Last year when Trey turned 16 I told him that after 13 birthday parties, this was going to be the last real party. It was fine to have a couple of friends spend the night but no more "parties". Anyway this year Allie and a friend Lizzy gave Trey a surprise party! It was Taylor Swift themed, b/c Trey loves her. Allie and her friend Hannah even performed "Thug story" by Taylor Swift and T-Pain. He was genuinely surprised and was so happy to hang out with the church kids all night.

On his real birthday we let Trey choose where we would go out to eat and he chose Lakeside Tavern. It was so fun and festive this time of year. We then had a family celebration at home with cake and presents. He was thrilled and surprised to get the new Droid phone.

Random arm wrestling

Last night we celebrated Trey's and Afton's birthdays- cousin style. So many cousins, so much love. What a fun night!

Warning: A cousin may have been hurt during this dog pile.

SNOW

2009-12-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

You really can't have a snowfall in Knoxville and not blog about it, even if you are the last to do so. So here are the kids having fun in the snow. After they played in our backyard David took them over to see Koa and they played in the snow some more before we rushed off the piano recitals, basketball games, and church meetings.

Tree decorating

2009-12-09T04:33:00.001-08:00

Sydney asked me to take a picture of her holding her favorite ornament.

Can you see something around Connor's waist? Usually that would be some kind of belt to hold his light saber, but on this day it was a home made safety patrol badge --something he desperately wants to be next year.

Next Christmas our tree will have to find a new room to shine in as we are finally after 19 years of marriage going to get dining room furniture. In both the houses we've lived in our tree has always been in our empty dining room, or shall I say "christmas tree room", with plenty of space to pile up all the presents.

I'm glad we have a big tree for all the hundreds of ornaments we have to hang. And yet they still seem to get bunched up in a few areas.

The future

2009-12-08T04:56:00.000-08:00

Trey turned 17 this morning. As he was walking out the door to seminary he turned to me and said "mom look at the time, 6:51". His time of birth. Why is it that I've had such a hard time with him getting older lately? I know why. I don't want him to leave us. Everytime I hear the word college or mission I have a pang of sadness. I never knew it would be this hard. But he's helping me see that he'll be just fine as he moves on to his new phases of life. Like when he was loading the dishwasher and I asked him to go ahead and start it and he remembered to run the disposal first. :) Like when he bore his testimony on Sunday and shared what he knew to be true. Hearing my child proclaim his knowledge and belief in the gospel is one of the best gifts I could receive. I wonder if they realize that? As I listened to him I couldn't help thinking he sounded like a missionary. I'm not ready yet, but I see him preparing himself.

Here's to the next 18 months!

Thanksgiving Eve

2009-11-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

The kids were out of school early this year for Thanksgiving so we got to spend a fun pre-Thanksgiving day together. The weather is beautiful today. I asked the kids if they wanted to rake leaves. Sydney was all over it. She worked with the rake while the boys piled the leaves into the bags. Why is it that raking leaves is never a chore for kids but it is for adults? Meanwhile Allie and I got busy making sides to take to Thanksgiving dinner. We made our traditional Potatoes Divine and cottage cheese jello salad. I'm going to try a new wild rice salad too.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Classes

2009-11-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

So I did it. I finished Biology. When I first got the text book all I could do was laugh when I read it because none of it made any sense to me. I did not enjoy a single chapter. It was 2 months of suffering really. I did however get to ask Trey questions a few times, which was fun. He is currently taking AP Biology, which by the way appears to be way harder than BYU's online course. During the first few chapters about cell structure I thought I was going to explode. I just couldn't wrap my brain around much of it. So Trey sat down with me once or twice and was my teacher. He was just as good as any college professor. I found myself saying "oh, ok, now I get it!" After he finished tutoring me one night I thanked him and he said "Sure mom, it's nice that I can finally do something for you for a change." Now that's pretty cool. And, I don't know how in the world this happened but I actually got an A- in the class!!

Now my life is wonderful because I am taking a class called Food Preparation! The text book (Betty Crocker's 10th edition cookbook!) has chapters called "quick breads" and "stews, sauces, and chili" instead of "photosynthesis" and "eurokaryotic cell structure". And I'm actually learning things that I either never knew or have just forgotten. Like what the difference is between baking soda and powder. My big accomplishment so far is that I successfully, for the first time ever, made yeast bread! Seriously, this was my first time. This past year I used yeast for the first time when I made cinnamon rolls with Allie for conference weekend. But I had never made bread. I have always just been intimidated. But now I see that there was no reason to be intimidated at all! It was easy. And my honey-whole wheat bread turned out beautifully delicious. Or at least my family said so. I was like a proud mom showing off my twin loaves when they came out of the oven.

Water: So good and yet so bad

2009-11-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

Water, why do you hate us so? About 2 weeks ago I noticed that a piece of our baseboard in the laundry room was starting to pull off the wall. Hmmm...maybe just settling with the weather change. Then about a week ago I happen to be notice the girls' toilet had a little ring of water around the metal thing connecting to the floor. I mentioned both to David and we both got busy and just kind of watched for anything more to happen. THEN, yesterday I noticed the beadboard in the laundry room had a big buckle in it and it clicked......the leaky toilet upstairs is right above spot in laundry room when baseboard and beadboard are reacting!! AHHHHH!!! Thankfully, Scott, our handy friend who did our re-build came right over and removed the affected wood and fixed the leaky toilet. The all familiar hum of a fan is running and things are drying out nicely. It shouldn't be too painful to just replace that one area of wood and be good as new.

Phone calls from school

2009-11-03T06:31:00.001-08:00

This post is the first of mine with no picture. It's not a cute story either. I just want to record it so I'll remember to tell my kids about it when they are older.

The kids have been in school about 2 1/2 months. To date here is a pretty accurate list of calls I've gotten during a school day:

1 call from FIS nurse telling me Tanner is in the clinic with a headache
3 calls from FIS nurse telling me Sydney hit her head on the bars at recess
2 calls from FHS nurse telling me Allie is in the clinic injured with ice packs and 1 call from FHS nurse telling me Allie is in clinic complaining about coughing
At least 10 texts from Allie telling me she doesn't feel well in some way

1 call from Tanner saying he forgot his lunch
2 call from Sydney saying she forgot her lunch
4 texts from Allie saying she forgot her lunch
5-6 texts from Allie asking me if would take her out to lunch

1 call from Sydney making sure I knew the time of her fall party
5 texts from Allie telling me she forgot some misc. item, like clothes to change into after gym
There are also many random texts from Allie during the day telling me about something she has to bring to class the next day, asking me if she can go shopping for shoes that weekend, telling me she's cold, asking me what we have going on that night, etc. Oh and of course there was the phone call telling me she made the basketball team!

So pretty much when the phone rings during a school day I expect it to be from one of my kid's schools. Notice that I've not had any calls having to do with Connor or Trey. Trey has texted me before to let me know about a good test score before. Good thing I'm a stay at home mom!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

No surprise on what the boys wanted to be for Halloween. Sydney however surprised me when she asked if she could be Dorthy. When I remembered that the Cruzes had been the Wizard of Oz last year I quickly told her I thought that it was a great idea! Other than the rain, it was a fun night. Least amount of time and money put into costumes to date!!

Allie is amazing

2009-10-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

A few months ago Allie was very let down and discouraged when she did not make the high school soccer team. She worked hard all summer but it was not meant to be. We were all worried at how she would handle the disappointment. As a parent you want to take away all of your children's hurt, frustrations, and disappointments. You go through every ounce of pain with them and only pray that you are making a difference in their suffering. You wish you could take it away. But you know that they will grow in times of trial. Allie surprised me with her resilience after not making the soccer team. Her immediate reaction was to get some girls together and form an AYSO soccer team. Which she did. She also pretty quickly announced that she wanted to try out for the FHS basketball team. On the outside I encouraged her and said "that's the spirit, Allie". But on the inside, I didn't want her to tryout for another sport. I didn't want her to go through all the hard work and then not make it...again. I didn't think I could go through it with her again. So she started attending some of the pre-season strength and conditioning a few months ago with the basketball team. Monday and Tuesday night were tryouts. And she found out today that she made it! She made the JV basketball team. Allie is courageous. She was not about to let the fear of failure stand in her way of trying again. While she had our support, this was something she did on her own. She put herself out there again, opening herself up to possible defeat. I am so proud of Allie. I wish I had her courage. She is amazing.

Stylish Sydney

2009-10-26T13:46:00.001-07:00

Sydney is a teenager. It's almost official. Between the phone talking and the fashion opinions she's pretty much there. A few weeks ago I was having her try on all of her last year's winter clothes to see what we needed to buy for this year. As she tried on all the clothes she enlightened my on her new style. First and foremost she let me know that she did not like Gymboree anymore. That store is for little kids. As I picked up one shirt after another from that very store trying to talk her into believing that they were not too little-kiddish she says: "mom, you've just got to let me grow up." What?! You are 9! Ok, deep breath... She continues on to tell me that she really wants to go shopping with me and show me the kind of clothes she likes. "you know mom, like the t-shirts with writing on them that Allie wears?" Uh Sydney, I hate to break it to you but American Eagle and Aeropostle don't carry size 8 girls in their stores! Boot cut jeans are not on her "in" list right now, only skinny jeans go on her body. She is very into the whole look: shoes, accessories. It bugs her to no end that you have to wear tennis shoes to school for safety reasons. Oh boy.

Buddy Walk

2009-10-08T10:56:00.001-07:00

Trey was invited to read a proclamation from the mayor to announce October to be National Downs Syndrome Awareness Month at the 12th annual Buddy Walk. The Buddy Walk is a fund raiser attended by thousands of people in downtown Knoxville to raise awareness about Downs Syndrome. They invited Trey to read the proclamation and then surprised him on stage with a plaque expressing their appreciation to him for all he has to done to raise awareness. We were very touched and honored by their thoughfulness.

Trey's first date

2009-10-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

It's not often you get to document your child's first date I guess...but since Trey's first date was the Homecoming dance I got to take pictures without it embarrassing him too much. He had a great time with a girl named Emily. They ate a Lakeside, were too late to go to the game, but had fun at the dance. Rave theme.

Lucky guy!

2009-09-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

It's coupon selling time in Tennessee. Every fall the schools have a fund raiser selling coupon books. It's a hassle when you have a lot of kids. Well, Connor is my only child this year who even asked about selling coupon books. He kept asking me about it daily and I kept putting him off. He explained that if he sold 5 books he would get to spin a wheel and maybe win $1.00. Oh boy! Well, I finally reminded him to sell one to his grandmother and he turned that money in on Monday. THEN, he came home from school on Tuesday and tells me "mom, I've got to sell another book! They are having a drawing for a 50 dollar bill for anyone who brings in money for a sold coupon book, but it's just tomorrow!" "Ok", I think, "I'll indulge him." So I tell him I haven't bought one yet and to call Grammy and see if she wanted one this year. She did, so he brought in money this morning for 2 sold coupon books. Well guess what?! He won the drawing!! His principal called me at the end of the school day and tells me she has good news and wanted to know the safest way for the 50 dollar bill to make it home. You've never seen a more excited young boy than Connor coming in the door with his prize money! What a lucky guy!

Happy 9th Birthday

2009-09-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

Tanner, Sydney and Connor enjoyed having their birthday on a Saturday this year. It's just not right to have to go to school on your birthday. I started making them chocolate chip pancakes at about 8:00 in the morning. When it was ready I called them in for their birthday breakfast. Tanner looked a little hesitant and tentively asked, "mom, um, I just had a really big breakfast so I'm really full....but, um, does that make you sad?" Tanner then got to celebrate by going to get a flu shot because he missed getting the flu mist at school.

This year was the 1st ever separate girl and boy parties. Sydney had wanted just a girl party for a few years and I had not gone along with the idea mainly because it just didn't seem right to celebrate their birthdays separately and because it's double the work. I have to say it was so fun to see Sydney in her element at the "groovy pad" with hair, nails and makeup done, dancing with her girlfriends.

The boys were equally as happy with their star wars movie party at home. Success all around!

Phone talking

2009-09-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

If you've been tried calling our house lately and gotten a busy signal there is good chance it is because of this little girl:

Sometime last school year Sydney started talking on the phone. All of a sudden she needed to talk to her friends that she had just seen at school. At first we thought it was just a passing thing, but no. If I don't pay attention Sydney will easily be on the phone for an hour! Is this a normal thing for an 8 year old? How old were you when you started talking on the phone? I know I was older than 8!

Connor = Costumes

2009-09-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

Connor loves to dress up. Even when he was little I remember him piling on hats, gloves, or whatever was handy.

When Connor received a Davy Crockett costume for his birthday last year it basically became his lounge wear. As soon as he got home from school he would go put it on, as well as his coon skin cap of course.

You can currently find Connor in some form of a jedi costume. It usually varies from day to day, capes, pants, belts, tunic, and light saber. He had been having to improvise lately and use a Harry Potter cape until Grammy and Grandpa bought him a real Jedi cape. It cracked me up tonight when David took the kids outside to shoot some basketball to see Connor dressed up like usual. (Last week I missed the opportunity to take a picture of Connor dressed up throwing football in the front yard.)

He really would prefer to keep some sort of costume on when he is at home. If we are running errands I'll usually let him stay in the force-like clothing, but there are times when I draw the line. Some months ago I had told him to go change before we left to go somewhere and he came downstairs in a very overstuffed long-sleeved shirt and pants on. Hmmmm.... "Connor, didn't I tell you to go change?" "Um, Well, I did, see?" "Connor, you can't just put clothes on top of your costume." "Oh."