Soccer Mom

I have always loved soccer. All 5 of my boys have played. It can be a pretty intense game. Thus far this season Dallin has had a concussion and a broken nose! Yikes!

Yesterday he got a yellow card and had to sit out for a bit. When he went back in, he was going for the ball against the goalie and the goalie hit him in the nose! The coach yelled out, "He owed you one!" Okay. I am pretty sure that Dallin had GOTTEN a card AND sat out. He paid his pretence. NO ONE owed anyone anything! Their stupid immature coach kept yelling at their players to get him. Our coach had me fill out an incident report at the school today. We were told that there would be administrators from both schools when we play this particular team again. Here are a few pics from the game and YES we won! 2-0! HA! (I don't sound a bit "in your face, do I?") I really HAVE mellowed. There was a time when my oldest son was playing that he held me back and I punched him, yeah...

He has some hops, don't ya think?

K, here is the play where he got the yellow card... does it look to you like he deserved it? Looks to me like he is TRYING to MISS the goalie!
So, my question to you is this... Are you competitive? Do you get a little loud at ball games?

Are you listening?

The other day Chad came home from school and told Brad about a story that they had read in English. The story went something like this...

A zookeeper had noticed a little boy standing on the fence by the monkey's cage but didn't think much of it. He looked up and saw him attempting to climb up it, he thought he should go over there and tell him to get down but didn't. A few minutes later the little boy fell inside the cage! The female (probably a mommy monkey) went over and raised his arm and let it fall, she did this a couple of times. I guess she was trying to tell if he was dead.... anyway, she picked him up and took him to the door where the zookeepers brought in her food and sat him down. The zookeeper promptly went over, opened the door, sprayed the poor monkey with a hose and grabbed the little boy. The little boy was not hurt! Luckily the sweet mommy monkey had taken him "to the zookeeper".

Chad's take on the whole story was the man was "being prompted" to tell the little boy to get down so he would be safe but he didn't listen! So, Heavenly Father helped the monkey to know what to do! What a sweet little boy to recognize this... I guess the question I ask is...
ARE WE LISTENING TO THE PROMPTINGS THAT WE MIGHT BE GETTING??!!!

Happy Birthday, Diana!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Diana,
Happy Birthday to you!
(We love you!)

Today is our cute little daughter's birthday! We are SO glad to have her as a part of our family! She is so sweet, and with all boys, I sure need some of that ~ Sweetness!

And, it is so fun because everyone thinks she is mine! (Well, she IS) But, it wasn't me that birthed her! I think it is so fun that people actually think we look so much alike! (Thanks for the compliment people!)

Once she was trying to reach something and couldn't and she told Brad she couldn't reach it "coz she is just little". That became our little joke! She can't do this or do that "coz she is just little"! Another time Brad asked her about her new jeans and she said, "No these are ADULT jeans"! LOL... once again, we get to tease her! Poor thing, a family with all boys... she DOES get teased a lot! I am glad she just laughs with us and knows how much we all love and adore her Diana is a great sport! She cheers with all the boys for the Laker's!She puts up with Devin's Herping...

Herpetology (from Greek: ἑρπετόν, herpeton, "creeping animal" and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of Amphibians_and_Reptiles.

This one and the next one were from their trip to Florida and cruise this past summer!!! YEP, you heard me right... see, I told you she is a good sport! (This little guy was tangled up in some fishing line and Devo had to "save" him. This was in Florida, sure glad a gator didn't get him!!!)
Yes, he is a little obsessed, I had a rattlesnake in my garage over night during the Christmas break, and YES he was locked in an aquarium!


I think she might even enjoy it a little too...
Aren't they beautiful?!!! I love the different colors!

The night Devo proposed...
Engagement photos...
At the temple... To see more wedding pictures, go HERE
At the beach...
Honeymoon...
To our sweet Diana... Happy Birthday, we love you!!!

Oh, what a beautiful morning...

Oh, what a beautiful day...

Amazing... it is a gorgeous day! 80° in Jan!!! Oh, how the sunshine FEELS good! I was sitting in the back yard, talking on the phone and had to take a picture, it is absolutely beautiful out! I have on capri's and flip flops. I wanna go to the beach!

I've got a wonderful feeling,

everything's going my way...

Okay, maybe not EVERYTHING, lol, but I just got a call from Brad and it looks like things are picking up at the office... what a blessing! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! Trials come and trials go... we are so blessed! I just had to kneel and say a prayer of gratitude!

All the sounds of the earth are like music,

All the sounds of the earth are like music,

The breeze is so busy it don't miss a tree,

And an ol' Weepin' Willer is laughin' at me.

Oh what a beautiful morning,

Oh what a beautiful day,

I've got a wonderful feeling,

Everything's going my way.

It is time to stop and enjoy the day...
stop and say a prayer of Thanksgiving...
WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR???


Thought for the day:
Share the gospel always
And sometimes use words.

Catching up...

Till we meet again...


One of my favorite talks is "The Play and the Plan" by Pres. Boyd K. Packer. He likens the Plan of Salvation to a three act play, with the pre-existence being Act 1. We enter Act 2 with no knowledge of Act 1. (hence the veil) Act 2 is full of trials... He says that "Happily Ever After" happens in Act 3. It is a great talk! You can go HERE to read it.

The death of a child is especially poignant, or that of a young person, or of a needed father or mother. We do miss those who die. No matter how many friends or family members one has, the loss of one beloved person is difficult.

One great difference for us is our added knowledge that death is not permanent, that families can be forever. The understanding we have of the reality of the resurrection makes the waiting endurable and purposeful. Indeed, "sweet is the peace the gospel brings". (Joy F. Evans Ensign, Nov. 1987, p. 93)

We love you Gabe... until we meet again!

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At the end of the football season there was a football banquet to give out awards. We had a nice dinner and then the awards were handed out. Just before the football season started our head coach lost his father. His father had played football, coached football and was helping as an assistant coach for our team the last couple of years. With his passing our booster club thought it would be nice to do a scholarship in his name, they asked our head coach and he was very pleased with the idea. No one on the team knew that they were going to do this. At the end of the night, after the MVP etc had been announce the coach told about this new award. He then had his mother stand and tell about how strongly his father felt about each of the players and about how he wanted them to all get their education and told that they had decided to give out a scholarship in her husbands name. The coach then stood and announced that Dallin would be the recipient of this scholarship! We were shocked and thrilled! Congrats Dallin!

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On New Year's Eve Dallin and some friends went to the dollar store and played like little boys... they crack me up! Notice the play guns, swords, and horns!

Tanner, Dal was so glad to have you home! Good luck during baseball season! We will miss you!

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Dallin had his 18th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dallin, you are a wonderful son, we are so proud of you!!! I love you
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Jan. 4th we headed to Utah to see my parents and Derek and Brittany. Here is a picture of Derek cutting grandpa's hair!

It was nice to see everyone!

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While Chad and I were in Utah Dallin had a couple of soccer games. In the 1st one he got a concussion and then he played again 2 days later... important game, ya know... and he broke his nose! I was driving on my way home Friday evening when I got a call from one of his friends who happened to be at the game. At first I thought, yeah, right... so it is bleeding... but broken??!!! Uh, yeah, it was! The trainer asked him if he was 18 (Brad was on route to the game but not there yet, yep, happened at the VERY beginning of the game!) Yep, Dallin was 18 years and 6 days old, LOL. So, the trainer told him that he could give him permission to set it. He did and he did. When Brad arrived they were icing it... the trainer did a nice job! It is bruised but it is straight! The trainer told Brad that it had looked like J... yikes! Sorry no pics of the bloody nose, I wasn't there! You KNOW I would have taken pics IF I were!

Kaitlin, thanks for these great pics! Love ya!

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TODAY is Blake's 22nd Birthday! Happy Birthday bubba! It was so nice having you home for a few weeks during the holidays! I miss you already! I love you!