In the Wheelhouse (My Personal Blog)

Performing at our church...

2011-04-22T14:30:00.003-07:00

The City Harmonic - Manifesto (OFFICIAL)

Excited to be able to see this band perform!

Too busy...

2011-04-02T00:55:00.001-07:00

Signing in here to say hi. I am in the middle of "too busy" right now to give some love and attention here. I will be back soon and update with all that we have been busy with.

It's a Zoo

2011-01-31T23:40:00.002-07:00

Today we spent the day at the zoo with our homeschool group. Even with the rain, it was a GREAT day! I am so thankful for the homeschool group that we are a part of and the wonderful friends and friendships that we all (the boys too) have made and share. God is so good to us!

The only bummer part of the day is that I forgot my camera. So, if I can get someone to forward some of their pictures from today then I will post them here.
_________________________
Well, I forgot about this picture that I took on my phone. Probably not the best quality, but still a good one of just a few of the kids in our group.

Seeing God at Work

2011-01-18T00:40:00.000-07:00

This past week our constant thoughts and prayers have been with a very dear family that we know from church. They were here for a short time while helping to develop and grow a new ministry for our church, a marriage ministry. They did a fantastic job with it...many new innovative ideas and events came from them.

This family is Toben and Joanne Heim. This past Tuesday Joanne suffered a severe stroke and is currently in a coma. Not only are all the details too long for me to write out here, but I am one who feels very strongly about not telling a story that is not mine to tell. Toben has been so gracious to post updates on her blog site and keep in communication with EVERYONE that knows Joanne (and her family) and follows her blog. You can read their story here.

Joanne is such an amazing women of God with many amazing God given talents. The biggest talent that is ever evident to me is her ability to communicate through written words. She writes an amazing blog and has also written and published many books. She is so encouraging and inspiring. I had the privilege of participating in a Bible study that she wrote last spring. The study was on Psalm 23. She did and wonderful job with it. I have a new perspective of Psalm 23 now.

Please join me in praying for Joanne. I know God is at work in this situation. Prayers have already been answered and miracles performed. There are truly no words to describe the emotion of Seeing God at Work right now through her .

1st Marching Band Experience

2010-11-20T15:28:00.002-07:00

Here is Tyler's band Marching in our local Gilbert Days Parade. It was a perfect day for a parade and they did a great job!

Here is an up close look, in case you can't see him in the previous picture.

Honor Band

2010-10-19T01:09:00.000-07:00

I have to write, brag and post here to let you know that my oldest tried out for district honor band and ended up making it. He will be playing the tenor saxophone in the band. He is so excited! In fact, during this past week of fall break he was actually bummed and disappointed that there was no school becasue he missed going to his band class. Now that is dedication!

Way to go Tyler! Congratulations!!

New Time Consumer

2010-10-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my wonderful sister and brother in law, I now have an iPhone. I love it! I have already poured tons of time into learning it and playing around with new apps. I am looking forward to learning and playing around with it some more as the days go by. I just wish it had an app that would clean the house and do laundry. Now that would be wonderful!

Some of the apps that I have discovered so far are: Facebook, Words with Friends, Twitter, Poynt, Geocaching and Angry Birds.

Flagstaff

2010-09-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Flagstaff this past weekend and it was, oh so nice! It is still in the 100's here and to be able to get a little relief from the heat was very much welcomed. We went for one of Kyle's soccer tournaments. They played 4 games all within a 30-hour time period. It was a tough tournament with only 1 win out of 4 games. However, they had to face the #1 and #2 teams in the state, for their age group. They could have very well beat them both as the scores were within 1 goal during both games. All the boys on the team seemed to take a pretty good beating through all the games and most of them ended up (from what I know) staying home from school just to recover. It was some pretty intense and competitive soccer, for sure. We have another tournament that is only 2 weeks away. I hope everyone recovers quickly.

My hubby is the one behind all the pictures. I will have to see if he can share a few for me to post here.

"Do as I say, not as I do"

2010-09-22T18:09:00.001-07:00

Oh my! Well, after reading my last post and then counting the weeks that we have been in school, I realized just how long it has been without a post here. Okay...I guess I can claim many excuses, but I would like to think of them more as just staying busy with family rather then excuses.

We have been really busy with soccer, soccer and more soccer. It seems like I am always saying that . But, hey, that's what we are all about right now. I just started playing indoor at a new place that is much closer to home. My outdoor season starts this Friday. I am the one coordinating everything for my team. I can not believe how hard it is working with adults. They are worse then kids. It is like a supernatural act to get them to even return an email. Uhhggg.

Kyle's season is officially underway, although it seems like it is never ending and therefore has never really even started. That kid is always on the soccer field, it seems. We started official games with an out of town tournament in California at Huntington Beach. Yes, I enjoy soccer, but soccer in Huntington Beach...ah, now that is double the fun! It was a rough tournament, but by the last game they seemed to find their groove, with a 5-0 win! Kyle's team also participates in local league play. This year, to everyone's surprise, the team was placed in state level play. It is an honor to play at that level, as it is by invitation only. However, for the parents it is turning out to be driving, driving and more driving. In the end it is a lot of fun and excitement.

Tyler is also playing soccer again this season. We thought that he would be returning to hockey soon, but that has not been the case. He is discovering that he really likes soccer. He played on an indoor soccer team this summer (you have to do indoor in AZ, it is just too hot otherwise) and loved it. I predict that once he finishes the outdoor season that he is playing right now he will return to indoor. Tyler has also discovered this past summer that he likes tennis. So, who knows what he will be doing next.

So, I know what you are thinking now...so what about the hubby and his soccer...well...no, there is no soccer for him. Our church has a triathlon team that trains and competes together. He is thinking about join them sometime in the near future.

Shifting gears a little....We are in our 6th week of school and things are moving right along. We are learning some cool stuff. I will do my best to share our cool stuff and experiences here. One of the assignments that I have for the boys is completing a blog post on their blog, at least once per week. Yes, even the kids fall behind with their posts. So, now that it is an assignment for them, I guess I should set the example and do the same myself. It is starting to sound like that aweful saying, "do as I say, not as I do". I don't like that saying, so I had better get to posting!

So, with good intentions, see you next week (if not before).

Back to School

2010-09-01T00:28:00.001-07:00

We are in our 3rd week of school and things are finally starting to feel like we are in a groove. YeaHa! For some reason it has been hard to settle into a routine. So with that, it seems like we are already behind becasue a lot of our time has been spent on redoing and undoing, specially with our new science book this year. Having the boys getting used to the "higher level of learning" books (ie Jr high and not elementary) has been really difficult. It is taking more time then I had expected but it is coming along.

Other then the massive science book, our other books of undertaking for the year are: Math, Latin, Grammar/Composition, spelling/vocab and Bible. We are still working towards finishing our American history book from last year. That is the only book that we did not finish. With moving, and everything else, during the summer, I decided that it was not worth it to make the boys work through the summer and finish it.

In addition to the academics, both boys are involved with music and sports. Tyler is taking concert band at the local school right by our house and both boys are playing soccer. Tyler plays in the rec program and Kyle is still playing competitively on a travel team. Kyle stays very busy with his soccer as he is on the field at least 4 out of all 7 days during the week. I would say that is quite a bit being that he is only 10yrs old. He loves it though.

It should be a fun year. I will do my best to keep posting updates here.

Back to blogging

2010-07-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

I guess this is the story of my blog...catch up and updates.

We have been REALLY busy with moving and all that comes with that. What comes to mind right now are Boxes, Boxes and more Boxes. Uuuggg. And we still have boxes scattered around.

Mixed in with moving we had soccer practices, soccer games, church camp, tennis camps, a family reunion and birthdays. Whew...that is a lot to keep up with. At this point I am so glad that we are homeschooling again this year. Most schools started this past week. I am not sure that I would handle having to send the kids to school right now, too.

Our new house is wonderful! For the first time in 17 years I finally feel like I can settle in somewhere. With every place we have ever been in the past we knew that we would most likely not be staying for longer then about 7 years. This one...well we are staying until it is time to downsize (kids are out of the house) or we get too old to take care of the place. So what does settling in mean? It means unpacking everything and if there is not a place or spot for it then it does not stay. For someone like me...that is so freeing!

So, now that we are finally feeling a little settled, I will do my best to make this site a priority and get back to blogging here.

New Home

2010-06-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well the BIG Day is finally feeling like it is in sight. The "IT" that I am talking about is our move in date for our new home. WooHoo. We are all so excited for this BIG day! We are on a countdown now and the number right now is 18. Yeah Yeah!!

Fun in the SUN!

2010-06-09T20:57:00.001-07:00

Well, my ideas of putting my "blogging time" on my calendar or on my daily lists (so I would write more here) didn't work. None the less, I am here now and this is becasue I have intentionally made myself not think about "my list" for the day. In fact I have not been home most of the day to even look at it much less think about it.

We took the day today and went out to one of the most awesome public city pools. Seriously, it is like walking into a miniature water park. They have it all: the water slides, whirl pool, lazy river, adult pool, kid beach play pool, diving boards and even lap lanes for those that are the serious swimmers. Whew! That is a lot. And the best part...it cost less to spend the day there (for a whole 3 people) then what most Starbucks drinks cost. Now that I like!

So, the worst part of the day was definitely, with out a doubt, stepping in the shower at the end of the day and realizing that you are burned even more then you realized. I guess it is time to start teaching my wonderful boys how to rub sun screen on their poor moma's back.

All in all we had a great time. I even joined them on the water slides and lazy river. Yes, we had a lot of Fun in the SUN!

Time to Write

2010-05-25T23:40:00.004-07:00

I hate that I go for so long between posts here. For some reason I just can't find the time, energy and motivation to pull myself to this "post" screen on my blog to write. There is so much to write and share here, that is not the problem. I might have to schedule it into my calendar or add it to my daily lists. Maybe I will try that....Or maybe by next week you will find more of me here, after all our schooling for the year is complete! Yeah! Can't wait for that. I think I am more ready than the kids.

W & P Sunday: Addison Road - What do I know of Holy?

2010-05-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

I has been a while since I last posted a W&P Sunday song. I thought that I would get one in today.

The one that I would like to share is from Addison Road called What do I know of Holy? We were fortunate enough to have this band visit our church this weekend. They performed a concert last night and then lead us in worship this morning. I have not followed the band that much, although I do listen to and love their songs that are regularly played on KLOVE and Air1. It is always more special and significant when you can meet and learn more about the people behind the songs. I am sure I will follow them more closely now. They started their band in college and have been together for 10 years.

This one that I am sharing today is one of my favorites by them. I did not post the lyrics here as they are in the video. Enjoy!

A God Thing!

2010-05-08T16:11:00.001-07:00

I haven't talked much about this with most people and have never posted anything regarding it here on my blog. However, this definitely, now, deserves acknowledgment so I though I would share it here.

A little over one year ago, I went in for a routine doctor check. As with most routine doctor checks, I also had blood work done. This blood work showed that I had possible issues with my Thyroid. So, I was referred to a specialist. Being that there are not very many specialists that treat thyroid issues where I live, I had to wait 3 months for my first appointment. Finally the first appointment had arrived and I was so upset and frustrated becasue all the doctor wanted to do was put me on medication right away, before really studying what was going on. If you know me, you know that I am not one to just take any medication. I only take it if I REALLY have to. So, with that I was on the search for another doctor for a second opinion. Again, another 3 month wait. Finally, the appointment arrived, I met and talked with the doctor and then began the process of many more blood draws. This doctor did what I thought the first should have done, and that is study and watch some blood counts over a period of time. So after a few blood draws and more numbers I was back in the office again, only this time, all the counts came back normal. I could tell by the look on the doctors face and the way that she spoke to me that she was even a little surprised at this.

There is really so much more to the story, but the bottom line here is that this is definitely a GOD thing. I had peace from the very beginning and knew everything would be okay. I just prayed and prayed that I would not have to take any medication. Specially for Thyroid issues, as once you start on Thyroid medication it is usually something that you end up taking for life.

ALLELUIA!!! I give all the Glory to God!

Mighty Mitered Flanged Pillow

2010-05-08T15:36:00.001-07:00

Here is my final pillow that I have been working on for my Grandmother. I have to make this its own post as it really deserves it! I say it deserves its own post becasue this was the first time that I have made anything that has a mitered flange on it. It sounds and looks easy enough, right? Well, it isn't. At least it wasn't for me.

With all the pillows that I have made in the past month, I have learned how to do 2 new t hings. The first was I learned how to sew an invisible zipper and the other was this mitered flange. The difference between the two were day and night. I used the wonderful internet (YouTube) to find tutorials on how to sew an invisible zipper, however you would not believe that I could not find ANYTHING on how to sew a mitered flange. I could not believe it (and still can't). I thought that maybe I was not searching for the right thing so I tried everything I could think of. When I finally gave up I asked my wonderful hubby to help. He can find ANYTHING on the internet. So, I began to give him a quick lesson on what I was trying to do and told him all the possible names and "terms" that this could possibly be found under and then let him go at it. Even he couldn't find anything (video tutorials). Finally, he did find a PDF document with some basic and mismatched steps. So, I printed it out and studied it for days, trying to make out what to do, how to do it and where to begin. In the mean time (during these few days of internet searching), I decided to try and figure this all out on my own. It never happened. I can't even remember how many times I ripped all the stitches that I sewed.

Finally, it clicked, after much time of reading and rereading this list of steps that I found, I did it! Now, I have to say that it is not the best. There are quit a bit of nips and tucks around the pillow, specially around the corners, but overall it looks okay and it is completed. Here are a couple of pictures of this "mighty mitered flanged" pillow.

This last picture is the back of the pillow where you can see the invisible zipper that I put in it. I am still working on perfecting the invisible zipper as you can see just a little bit of it on the left. You shouldn't be able to see any of it, hence the name "invisible" zipper.

The Band Star

2010-05-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again... the "end of the year" ceremonies and concerts. Although we are a home school family we still participate in couple of the programs that the local public school has to offer. One of those programs is Band. Tyler has been attending band classes all year long at the middle school. He took a mini band class last year when he was in school and played in the percussion section. This year he decided to change instruments and learn how to play the Tenor Saxophone. Changing instruments meant he had to start back in the beginner band all over again. He was fine with that and has loved every minute of it. He worked hard all year and made tremendous improvements. Just a few months ago he was given the honor of moving up to play with the intermediate band.

This past Monday we got to see (hear) the fruits of all his labor at their end of the year concert. As it turned out, we learned that there were only two students the entire year that got to move up to the intermediate band, and Tyler was one of the two. The teacher had both students stand and recognized both of them for all their hard work all year long. I, actually, had no clue that Tyler was one of only two students. I also didn't realize what a big deal she was gong to make about it. So, I have to say, I was one PROUD mama! I also didn't realize that the intermediate band only has 9 students in it (out of probably 70-80 total band students). So I guess you could say he was definitely in the top minority.

Way to go Tyler! We are so proud of you!

These are the 9 intermediate band students doing their performance.

Tyler playing with the intermediate band.

The two students standing and being recognized for all their hard work.

Tyler doing a "speaking" part and introducing the next song that they were going to play.

The entire beginner band. They all did a wonderful job.

I can't end the post with out recognizing the Band teacher. She did an awesome job with all the students.

May Already?

2010-05-03T14:18:00.001-07:00

Oh my! I can not believe that it has been a full month since I last posted here. Man, how time flies. So much has happened in this past month. Here is a quick recap of life around here:

-The biggest news and most exciting for us is that we finally are getting somewhere with finding a new (to us) home for our family. It seems that 99.99% of all homes for sale (where we live) are all short sale or foreclosures and that means WAITING WAITING and more WAITING...on the banks! We had an offer on a home that seemed to be going NO WHERE and then Bam! there was actually a home that came available that was a "regular" sale. We jumped on it and are now only 2 weeks away from closing and finally having someplace that we will be able to call "home". We are very thankful for the rental roof that is over our head now. Somehow it is just different when you know you have someplace to really call home.

-With April also came the end of the NHL hockey season and the beginning of the playoffs. Our awesome Coyotes actually made it to the playoffs this year and we splurged and went to their home games. It was so much fun and great family times and memories. They didn't make it past the 1st round but we still love and support our team!

-Sickness has hit our house pretty hard this month. We very rarely get sick around here (thank you Lord) but unfortunately most of the month of April we have all been fighting some sort of sinus and respiratory illness. We have gone through more tissue in one month then we normally go through in one year.

-Soccer was in full swing as well. Kyle spent most of the month in tryouts for next season. Tyler's team wrapped their spring season and I was right in the middle of my 2 seasons (both indoor and outdoor).

-In the midst of everything else we are still moving right along with school. Yep...we are in our 31st week of school and counting down until we are all done for the summer. It will not be long. The nice thing with home school is that we don't count down by weeks or days but rather by how many pages are left before finishing up the work in our books. It looks like, if we stay on track, we should be all done by the end of May. Woohoo!

I will leave you with a picture of us at a Coyotes White Out game. Fun times and lots of memories!

Something Fresh from the Familiar

2010-04-04T00:17:00.002-07:00

Thanks Jen for your post about Max Lucado and his words on this day, The Saturday of Silence. I have often thought about this day and wondered: "What about Saturday? There has to be something that God has for us on this day, too." Well, today God revealed it to me through Max (via Jen).

Once again, I found the words to describe it while sitting in front of my facebook page. Here is what I posted regarding my revelation on this Saturday of Silence.

There is Good Friday & Resurrection Sunday, but have you ever thought about the day in the middle, the Saturday of Silence? Here again, as God does all throughout scripture, He uses this day of Silence as a parallelism to show us that we too have a day (time) of silence when ever we experience times of suffering and trials here on earth. But, there is always new life (resurrection life) at the end. Hallelujah!

Ahhh, I love it when God reveals something to me that is Fresh from the Familiar!

Sewing projects

2010-04-03T17:29:00.010-07:00

I finally pulled my sewing machine out, after moving a few months ago. I had a small pile of clothes that needed a little extra help, a few pillows and a BIG quilt project to get started on. I finished my clothes mending and one pillow. I have 2 more pillows to complete and then I can get started on the quilt. Here are a few pictures to share with you on what it all looks like.

This is the one pillow that I have finished. It was hard becasue I am learning how to sew invisible zippers. I purchased the special invisible zipper foot attachment for sewing machines, but of course it would not work on my machine. So, I logged into my online friend, ebay, and found the exact one that I needed, that would fit my machine. I received it yesterday. Yay! I never would have thought that I would have been so happy to receive such a small piece of plastic. Ha!

Here is the "before" picture of the next pillow that I will be putting together. I am so excited about this one as I looked and looked for the perfect fabric to match the rooster. You can't really see just how perfectly all the colors match, but they do.

This picture is one of the blocks that will make up the king size quilt that I will be starting soon. This will be a BIG project. I hope that I can cut out time each day to work on it so that I can finish in a short amount of time. I hope to have it completed by mother's day.

I will try to post and document my progress here. Maybe it will help motivate me to get it all done by the deadline that I have given myself. We shall see...

Autism Awareness Day

2010-04-02T10:20:00.001-07:00

Today is Autism Awareness Day and even though I don't really have anything profound to share with you about that, I did share a little about our son on my hubby's Facebook page the other day. I thought that I would share it here too. This is what I posted...

Even though we have been through the "ringer" with all that we have had to deal with over the past 10 years, I would not change our son for anything. I love our son so much for who he is and who God made him to be. He is an awesome child and person. God has used him greatly to teach us and others about many things in life, some things that most people never learn or come to appreciate in life. Most of all God has used him to bring our whole family closer to HIM. That is more wonderful than anything! God is Good! "Thank you, God, for what we see as trials, and carrying us through them."

When it comes to Autism and all the information out there about it and how it has changed our lives, I tend to get a little overwhelmed when it comes to sharing and documenting in a place such as this blog. There is so much...Where do I begin? I never know. So, for any of you out there that might want to know more or those that have specific questions, please ask here and I can use that as a guide for a future post here. I would love to share with you becasue I truly believe that the LORD gives us trials and situations in our lives so that we can help others. Not to say that we have it perfected or our son has been "cured" but rather, we have found things that work and have learned to rely and on each other as a family and have grown deeper in faith becasue of it all.

Going Natural...

2010-03-31T00:39:00.002-07:00

...or at least trying!

A few years ago I was introduced to the idea of what it would be like to totally replace all my cleaning supplies in my home with ones that were non-toxic and "all natural". That's when it all began. I was a bit skeptical at first, but thought that I would take the advice and see where it went. So, I slowly (emphasis on slowly) started to try these new products (new to me anyways). I was raised on the basics of the everyday grocery store cleaners, so before I could purchase anything to try I had to open the mental envelope and start to dump out what had been stored for many years and make room for some new ways of doing things. Old habits and learned behaviors are hard to break. So, once that was done, one of the first things that I replaced was my everyday basic cleaner (the basic 409 stuff, you know). Along with that was my laundry soap and dishwasher soap. It took a little while to get the ball rolling, so to speak, and convert over to my new products. Once I did I knew that I would never go back. So, after I was (pretty much) convinced I did some more research and started to find many other things that I needed to replace (at least try to). After spending many hours on the internet I was amazed at how much bad "stuff" is in so many things that we willingly bring into our homes.

So, one thing lead to another and before I knew it I was thinking, "change it all". I started with the cleaning supplies. Then I turned to body products, stuff that goes on our bodies, such as lotions, shampoos and conditions (etc). And now I am trying to change what goes in our bodies. I have to say that cleaning supplies and external body products were a whole lot easier to research and change then all the "stuff" that we eat and put "in" our bodies.

I have only begun to scratch the surface with reading, learning and changing these foods and products. There are so many food options and choices out there, not to mention all the manufactured and synthetic stuff that is used in all of today's manufactured foods, too. For now, I am just taking it a day at a time and trying to make wise and logical choices. I will share that the one rule I made for myself and have come to adopt is the "ingredient" rule. That is, if the list of ingredients is too long to keep my attention or if the list of ingredients are ones that I can not even pronounce then it is probably not good and it should probably not enter my body. Now, I obviously can not say that my rule I made up is accurate or fool proof but rather just a guide that I personally use to help me learn and keep track with what I am eating. I am not a nutritionist, by any means. In fact, now I realize why that is a 4 year degree plan. Ha!

After a few years of working to make these changes there are a good selection of products that I have grown to love. I will share some of those in future posts, so check back to find out more.

W & P Sunday - "The House of God, Forever" by Jon Foreman

2010-03-28T00:00:00.002-07:00

I have chosen this song today for W&P Sunday for a few reasons. The first is simply because it is one of my new favorites. Also, I started a Bible Study this week where I will be walking through Psalm 23 verse by verse. This song is just that, Psalm 23 to music. Very Cool! I am excited about my study over the next 6 weeks and when I can tie a song to something that I learn about or experience it makes it that much more memorable and significant. Another reason I like this song and wanted to share is because I love the beat and the music. The beginning of the song brings visions to my mind that transports me to the early 1900's where I am sitting in a small church house, in the middle of an open prairie, somewhere. Ahhh...I love going places like that in my mind.

Enjoy!

The House of God, Forever

by Jon Foreman

God is my shepherd
I won't be wanting
I won't be wanting
He makes me rest
In fields of green
With quite streams
Even though I walk
Through the valley
Of death and dying
I will not fear
'Cause you are with me
You are with me

Your shepherd staff
Comforts me
You are my feast
In the presence of enemy
Surely goodness
Follow me
Follow me
In the house of God, forever

God is my shepherd
I won't be wanting
I won't be wanting
He makes me rest
In fields of green
Like quiet streams
Even while I'm walking
Through the valley
Of death and dying
I will not fear
'Cause you are with me
You're always with me

Your shepherd staff
Comforts me
You are my feast
In the presence of enemy
Surely goodness
Follow me
Follow me
In the house of God, forever
In the house of God, forever
In the house of God, forever

So Happy and Sad all at the same time!

2010-03-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that I just posted about not really knowing what direction I will be taking with my blog. Guess you could say I have the Blogging Blues". Well, wouldn't you know, as soon as I post about having these blogging blues, I am suddenly finding things to share here.

This post is about something that I witnessed today with my youngest child. Now really, all you moms (and dads, if you are really reading here) don't you just love talking about your kids. Yea, well I am not any different.

Okay on with the story...The other day Kyle got a phone call from one of his best friends that he met in school last year. This friend ended up suddenly moving with his family to Texas during the middle of the school year, last year. He left but said that he would be back to visit on occasion as his Dad (he moved with his mom and step-dad) lives near us in the same area.

The purpose of this phone call was to let Kyle know that he would be in town for spring break and was looking forward to getting to see him again. Well, yesterday (and today) was the day they got to spend some time together. In fact his mom extended their trip by one day so that he could spend the night with Kyle and have a sleep over at our house. They get along so well and truly enjoy being with each other.

This Morning, when it was time for his friend to leave, I chatted a bit with his father while they said their goodbyes. You could tell that neither one really wanted to depart from one another but had to. As they drove away and we turned to walk inside, I looked down at Kyle and noticed that he had a flushed face and was working really hard to fight back the tears. I almost started to cry just watching him. Oh my! I know goodbyes are hard but this totally caught me off guard. Most males have that non-emotional side to them when it comes to stuff like this. It is good to know that my son really does have a sensitive side to him, although it hurts to see him so sad. He was so happy to be able to spend time with his friend but so sad to see him leave. Their next time together will be in a few months when he is back for another visit in the summer.

Question...Running?

2010-03-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

For any runners out there...How do you get started and then once you do how do you know that your body can handle it?

I have been wanting to start training my body to be a runner however, it just seems so overwhelming. I have started by forcing myself to walk (a fast aerobic type of walk). I will admit that I am having a hard time being consistent though. The thing that is hard about being consistent is the getting into a routine and doing it at the same time everyday. I am really not a morning person and it is painful crawling out of bed to do it before "Starting my day". Evening is hard because I am always fretting over what to do or make for dinner (for those that REALLY know me, they know that dinner time is my LEAST favorite time of the day) and I forget about getting out to exercise (plus in a couple more weeks it will not be possible to get out in the afternoon due to the extreme heat). I guess I am going to have to pull myself out of bed and do mornings. Ok now that I have that taken care of....

How do you know if running is something that your body can handle? I have been walking for a while now and the other day I found myself walking so fast that I thought "I might as well run", so I did. Well, it didn't last long as I found myself huffing and puffing like a panting dog. I also started having really heavy chest pains. I don't know about you, but this didn't seem right or normal. I have yet to try again. Maybe I need a little more time and conditioning, or maybe it is time to find something new...hummm?

Anyone out there?

2010-03-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

After a long evening of reading through other peoples blogs I find myself here, at mine...wondering...Is anyone out there...reading mine? Is my blog really worth the time and effort like other people put into theirs?

Yes, I know, to all of my whole 8 followers, you are thinking, I'm here. And yea, I know you are and I am thankful for you. However...really? I mean, what is my blog writing for anyways? As you can see I have not posted much at ALL (starting back from when I first began). I guess I feel like it is a little bit of wasted effort for me. I mean really, my blog is not the only way I communicate with my family so I can't really say it is for them. And my personal friends out there, well I see and talk with them on a often enough occation for us to "keep up" with each other. So that leaves everyone else...do people really care about what I have to say, my family, my thoughts, yadda yadda yadda?

Sharing is really hard for me becasue I am a really private person. I am so private that I don't even like keeping a journal or diary for me to share with myself later in life. I have so many thoughts that run through my head all the time but they are never spoken or written down. I am not sure way I am like this. Just am. I still have to consciously make an effort to communicate and share with my hubby on a daily basis, after almost 17 years of marriage.

Maybe it is time to attach a purpose and a vision to my blog. Maybe that is what it (I) needs. Instead of making it all about me, my family, yadda yadda yadda....I will make it about some vision and purpose. You know, like others have on theirs...from sharing recipes, Bible studies, book reviews, movie reviews, I don't know...need time to think about this one.
Any ideas...?

W & P Sunday - Live Life Loud by Hawk Nelson

2010-03-14T22:27:00.002-07:00

Ok, this would not typically be "my" kind of song, however after many years of living with all males things are starting to change in our house and with me, specially as our boys are getting older. The more upbeat and "heavier" songs are really starting to grow on me. This is a new "hit" on Air1 and one that always gets the "turn it up" request. :)

Live Life Loud

by Hawk Nelson

Someone throw your hands up
If you wanna take a chance, then
You gotta sing a little louder
Let’s wake this crowd up

Someone throw your hands up
If you wanna take a chance, then
You gotta sing a little louder
Let’s wake this crowd up

I got a hankerin’ for something special
Tonight’s the night it becomes official
Don’t stop the rock, hold both your hands up
S-show these people how to shake things up

I’m not sittin’ down ’til I’m older
And I’m not shuttin’ up ’til it’s over
Raise your hands and shout if you’re with me
Then once we start it won’t make a difference

If you wanna live life loud, throw your hands up
If you wanna scream and shout, lemme hear you
Takin’ all the fakers out if you’re with me
Everybody work it, just keep living

Wow oh oh, wow oh oh, wow oh oh

I started figurin’ with good intentions
Listen up now, give me your attention
Don’t make a sound if you don’t believe me
You won’t wake up, you’ll just keep living

I’m not sittin’ down ’til I’m older
And I’m not shuttin’ up ’til it’s over
Raise your hands and shout if you’re with me
Then once we start it won’t make a difference

If you wanna live life loud, throw your hands up
If you wanna scream and shout, lemme hear you
Takin’ all the fakers out if you’re with me
Everybody work it, just keep living

Wow oh oh, wow oh oh, wow oh oh
Every time that I close my eyes,
I catch a glimpse of the west coast sunrise
And I can tell you you’re just as beautiful

Someone throw your hands up
If you wanna take a chance, then
You gotta sing a little louder
Let’s wake this crowd up

Someone throw your hands up
If you wanna take a chance, then
You gotta sing a little louder
Let’s wake this crowd up

If you wanna live life loud, throw your hands up
If you wanna scream and shout, lemme hear you
Takin’ all the fakers out if you’re with me
Everybody work it, just keep living
Wow oh oh,
Wow oh oh (Just keep living)
Wow oh oh

Worship and Praise Sunday - "Rise" by Robbie Seay Band

2010-03-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

This is a song that I first heard at our church that we sang for worship. Again, as I always say, I really like the beat and feel of the music and the lyrics are great. The song is a reminder to us that we need to give of ourselves. The words at the end are powerful... "We're not safe, but we will rise."

Slow down, be still
Let go, we will
Be here, be now
Slow down, be still
Breathe in, refill
Be here, be now

If you choose to love
To know that the call
Is to give all you are
To give love away, away
Rise, rise, people of love rise
People of love rise, give yourself away
Rise, rise, people of love rise
People of love rise, give yourself away
Give yourself away, give yourself away

Slow down, just breathe
Be still, believe
Be here, be now
Slow down and see
It’s all you need
Be loved and free

And to hear the call, is to give your love away
And to hear the call, is to give your love away
And to hear the call, is to give your life away
Is to give your life away

We’re not safe, we’re not safe
But we will rise

Send "Rise" Ringtone to your Cell

Commercial From Our Church

2010-03-05T11:36:00.001-07:00

Our Church, Mission Community, created this commercial to share with everyone what we are doing in celebration of moving into our new expanded facility. Instead of spending the money on someone who is "famous" to come talk, give a message or lead in worship through music, our church is giving the money to help others in need. That is just so awesome and classy. I can not think of a better way and use of money.

Worship and Praise Sunday, God of Justice by Tim Hughes

2010-02-28T11:11:00.001-07:00

Wow, it has been a full week since I posted last. It has been a long and busy week, I guess. Anyways...

Today, for worship and praise Sunday I want to share a song with you that talks about what the mission of our church is all about. It is an awesome song about doing justice, showing mercy and walking humbly with our God. This is taken from Micah 6:8 which says:

"He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God."

God Of Justice

by Tim Hughes

God of Justice, Saviour to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served

Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

We must go live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God

You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give

Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out

Fill us up and send us out Lord

This song really touches my heart becasue I love our church and what it is all about. We attend a church that truly GETS what we are to be about in this life. About doing justice and loving mercy all while we are walking humbly with God.

I could make this a very long post focused around our church and why we love being a part of it, how it is doing justice and showing mercy and walking humbly, and how God has showered blessing after blessing upon it but I will save that for another post. For now, enjoy this song and be blessed in the LORD!

Worship and Praise Sunday

2010-02-21T14:09:00.003-07:00

This is one of my new favorite songs and thought I would share. I love the beat of the song, as well as the message in it. This is the type of song that would go great with a jazz or hip hop type of dance routine. I can just see someone dancing to it in my head. Maybe I should try being a dance choreographer...awww then again, maybe not. :)

For more Worship and Praise Sunday head on over to Following The Footsteps.

Beckah Shae - Here in This Moment

So here I am, ready to have all of you
So here I am, waiting for you

Oh, nothing can change the way I feel when I'm with you

You give me a peace that surpasses all understanding

And no one can tell me there's a better place Than with you, you give love everlasting

Oh, here you come (come) with arms open wide (come and fill me)

Oh, cuz you are the one (you are the one) who fulfills all my desires

chorus
You are Love, you are Life
You're the air that I breathe, you're my day and my night

You're my Joy, you're my Peace You're the wings for my flight and vision to my sight

You are Truth, you are Power

Gave me faith to believe, brought me straight to my knees

Now I'm standing here in this moment with you

There's nowhere I'd rather be

Oh, there's only one who can truly satisfy me

Only You can give me everything that I need

And as high as the heavens are above the earth

You show me your love so unconditionally

Oh, here you come (come) with arms open wide (come and fill me)

Oh, cuz you are the one (you are the one) who can fill me with this fire

chorus

There's nothing that I can do without ya

I know life only because of your love

I just can't breathe without ya, I'm so crazy about ya

And I know love only because of your life
Oh, you overwhelm me with your love (all your glory overflowing)

Oh, you overwhelm me, you overwhelm me, you overwhelm me, you overwhelm

chorus

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T19:08:00.002-07:00

We had a great family day today. We have been attending church on Saturday evenings for the past few months and since we already attended church last night we were able to start the day with a little sleeping in time. Aww...that was so nice. We were able to turn off the alarm clocks and not have to worry about being up and ready by any certain time. After we finally crawled out of bed, we exchanged our small valentine gifts with each other. We, typically, don't go all out for the kids or each other (me and the hubby) on valentine's day. It is so encouraging to see the kids get so excited over the smallest gifts.

This year I had the idea to do something a little more fun for them. About a month ago I was in Paradise Bakery and saw that they were advertising heart cookies that were iced to look like the "conversation heart" candies. I thought that was such a cute idea and decided that I would order one for each of the boys for valentines day this year. I didn't order them that day because I wanted to get hubbies thoughts before I did. After talking with him about it he thought it was a great idea but made the comment that it might mean a little more and actually taste a little better if they were home made. My first reaction was "whatever", but after thinking about it I decided that I would give it a try. I have to say that even though they didn't look as professionally done, they were quit tasty.

In addition to the home made cookies there was also candy and cards that we exchanged. Of course you have to have the valentine's chocolate, at least for Tyler and I. Hubby and Kyle like the sweet and sour sugar candy (what are they thinkin'?). ha!

Here are the cookies that I made the boys. They are Sugar Cookies with Butter Cream Cheese Icing. Mmmm...

You can tell by the look on their faces that they were a little surprised that I actually made the cookies.

One last gift that I received from the hubby was a night out next weekend to hear Gary Thomas speak. Gary Thomas is the author of the book "Sacred Marriage". Our church has started a new Marriage Ministry, called TwoIgnite, along side Ted Cunningham's church (Woodland Hills Family) in Branson, Missouri. (Ted Cunningham has co-authored a couple books with Gary Smalley) Each month there is a focus/theme for the ministry and the church usually has something cool to go along with it. This month is called Two Risk. To go along with this month's theme of Two Risk the church is bringing in Gary Thomas as a guest speaker. This is something quit special to me as Gary's book was a huge blessing in a desperate time of need for me almost 5 years ago. I am so excited to be going to a marriage building night together at the church with my hubby but it is even more thrilling to be going together to hear Gary Thomas. I can't wait. Oh yea...and I don't even have to plan the child care. How awesome is that!

Worship and Praise Sunday - Divine Romance by Phil Wickham

2010-02-14T00:00:00.003-07:00

Divine Romance by Phil Wickham

With today being Valentine's Day I thought I would choose a song that communicates what our love and our relationship with Christ should be...A Divine Romance. This is an older song from Phil Wickham. If you are not familiar with this artist I encourage you check him and his songs out. It is very evident by the songs that he writes and sings that he has an amazing love for the Lord. He is a very talented writer and musician. His songs bring you to the feet of Jesus and prepare your heart and mind for worship with HIM, our God.

\

The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied

For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love, to show my love

A deep deep flood, an Ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life
In Your presence God I’m completely satisfied

My Latest "Deal"

2010-02-12T16:35:00.004-07:00

I am so excited about this awesome deal I found, I just have to share.

I took a quick trip to Sports Chalet the other night to try and find some new soccer cleats for Tyler. Well, I didn't have any success with finding what I went for but I did finds these...

They are Asics Harumi running shoes. Ok, I am not much of a runner but have found over the past few years that running shoes are some of the most comfortable shoes that you can find. I have always wanted a pair of Asics but all the ones that I like or that fit me right are never in the "affordable" category for my budget. These are SO comfortable that they almost feel like wearing slippers. I have worn them the past 2 days now and my feet have not even slightly hurt by the end of the day. Ok...so I know your asking...how much did I pay for them?....a whole wapping $25. Yep that is it! YeeHa!

Gem and Mineral Show

2010-02-08T18:25:00.003-07:00

One of the coolest things ever about homeschooling are the wonderful field trips that you get to take. The past couple of months we have been learning about some earth science. Specifically, rocks, minerals and gems. The boys have been learning so much about the different types of earths rocks and minerals. There are so many kinds and types and so much information that it would take years and years of learning and studying to even begin to come close to learning everything that this earth has to offer.

This past week we took a couple of days and hit the road to attend one of the worlds largest Gem and Mineral shows. It is located right down the road from us in Tucson. We met some family there who attend every year. They know the place and the vendors like the back of their hand. They were our tour guides, so to speak. It was great to have them there to show us around and tell us where all the good deals were for a few items that we purchased and brought home with us.

Here are a few things that caught our interest and decided to bring home with us:

This is a small Amethyst Cathedral. It is amethyst crystals that are what is called "In Matrix" or their natural form. These are pretty pricey just to walk into any retail gem shop and purchase. One like we purchased would cost anywhere from about $50 to $80. We were able to get it for $14 at the Gem show. It is the coolest thing, specially at a price like that! The Cathedrals are priced based on their size and the quality of the crystals. The larger and darker the crystals the more valuable they are. Maybe next year we will get a larger one.

These are different types of lava rocks. The name "Lava" is their everyday street term. The scientific name for the top one is Spider Web Obsidian. The spider web name comes from the small lines throughout it that looks like spider webs. This type of lava is real smooth and looks almost like glass. The bottom rock is called Hematite and has little bubbles all over its surface. The differences in the two rocks is determined by the rate at which they cooled after erupting from the volcano. The top one has a glassy surface becasue it is cooled at a very slow rate where as the bottom one has bubbles all over it becasue it cools almost immediately after leaving the volcano. The bubble rock probably came from an underwater volcano and cooled instantly upon hitting water after the volcano erupted.

This is what is know as Peacock Ore, or more scientifically speaking, Chalcopyrite. This is a type of rock that naturally has all different colors through out it. It is just amazing all the things that God created...even rocks!

We brought home quit a few more samples with us but I don't have any pictures of them. One that I don't have a picture of is a rock that looks like it was perfectly polished by humans, but actually was not. It is a rock that is only found in a river in India. They are all the same shape (an oval egg shape). They are called Shiva Lingam rocks. They are known, mostly in Asia, for their spiritual powers. That is not the reason why I think they are cool. Again, I see it as another amazing act of God. He isn't just our creater of all things he is also the perfecter of all things.

Worship and Praise Sunday

2010-02-07T00:00:00.041-07:00

Here is my first post for Worship and Praise Sunday. It is a song that we have been listing to and singing in our home for a while now. To be honest I am not sure what the spiritual side of the song is. However, we first heard it and it is played a lot on Klove. It has a very upbeat rhythm and some fun lyrics.

It is Fireflies by Owl City. It is one of those poetic type of songs where you have to read more into the lyrics then just taking them for face value. There have been several thoughts and explanations from different people as to what exactly the message is in the song. I will not try to give a full explanation, but if you would like more information on it you can find it here.

Thanks Jen!

2010-02-06T21:12:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Jen I have a new look. She rocks!

I also have to give credit to my wonderful hubby for the awesome photos.

Thanks guys!

Hiking

2010-02-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

We went on a hike the other day with some other families from our home school group and discovered that it is something that we all enjoyed doing together. It was just so awesome to be outside on such a beautiful day and having so much fun together.

We hiked the Wind Cave trail. It is a 3 mile round trip hike. We didn't actually make it all the way to the cave because there were some families with younger children that were not able to make it all the way to the top. We hiked about 3/4 of the way there and turned around and headed back. The boys are looking forward to going back so that we can make it all the way to the cave next time.

Here is a picture that I took when we stopped for a quick rest.

New Blog Look

2010-02-03T22:58:00.001-07:00

I know that I have not been keeping up with my blog and making posts like I used to. I hope all that will change with a little inspiration and help from my sister. She is the one that put my blog togehter and designed it all for me. She is planning on helping me again with updating the look a little. She is so good at it!

With my husband being the aspiring photographer that he is, I have some new and awesome photos to use that will help spruce things up a little. He actually does not like the photos but then again he is really critical and has a real keen eye for photography. I know Jen is working on it now and the new look should be up soon. So, only time will tell if the new look will give some new inspiration.

55 in 6

2010-01-23T12:57:00.001-07:00

I just saw on this blog a video that stated that kids (if on a recommended vaccination schedule) receive a total of about 55 vaccinations by the time they are only 6 years old. Oh My!! This just screams...."Not Right"! What have we come to? Is our nation really that endangered by disease that it has to recommend that many vaccinations for children. How pathetic!!! What it really screams is...."MONEY!!" There is more money then we can even imagine that people are pocketing every time a child gets "stuck" with a needle. It is all about money...NOT PROTECTION!

Really? Think about it......don't be a lemming!

BTW....this statistic was from the summer of 2008. I am sure it has increased since then.

Bit the Bullet

2010-01-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't literally bite a bullet. The figurative bullet that I am talking about is the new cell phone in the family that we purchased. Yep, we "bit the bullet" and bought a cell phone for the boys to share. Although I say it is the boys, it is actually "our" (mine and hubby's) phone.

After moving into our rental house the boys have discovered a whole new world. See, we came from a house that was on an acre of land with not much around us. There wasn't much to do right around our house and they would have to cross very dangerous high traffic streets or open fields with all kinds of wild stuff around to get anywhere. Now that we are living in a neighborhood with sidewalks and parks all around us the boys are out and about a whole lot more then they used to be. I think it is great for them to get out and explore a little and even meet some new friends here and there. However, I am not used to them being gone and I get a little freaked out at times when they are not around. So, for my peace of mind (somewhat) I got them a cell phone to carry with them so that I can get a hold of them when I want to check on them. We just got it yesterday so we will see how they do with it.

Being With Family

2010-01-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

When asked of Tyler, from the many people that he saw after Christmas, "What was your most favorite gift that you received for Christmas?" he would answer, "Being with family". Wow! What a response. The first time I heard him tell someone this I wasn't sure that I heard the entire conversation correctly. Then, I think it was the next day, someone asked him the same question again. His answer was the same. Yep, I did hear him correctly the first time. What an awesome response from a young kid. I was and am so proud of him for seeing and realizing that all pleasures are not just found in material things but in things that money can not buy. You rock, Tyler!

Welcome 2010

2010-01-16T19:13:00.004-07:00

Well, I guess I can't say that I made a new year resolution to keep my blog updated. No, I don't see me keeping that one. I can't believe that it has been almost a full month since I was last on my own blog. Oh my!

A lot has happened in the past month. Here are a few things going on here:

We had an AWESOME and very blessed Christmas
We had a wonderful time in TX visiting family.
We are finally moved into our temporary rental home and somewhat settled for now.
We are back in full swing with our schooling
Soccer has started again.
We submitted and had an offer accepted on a new home.

Yep, the last one there is quit exciting for us. However, it is an offer on a "short sale". For those out there who are not "up" on what a short sale is, well let me sum it up with one word...."waiting"! We put the offer on the house before Christmas (about 4 weeks ago) and have not heard a single thing from the other realtor except that the seller accepted our offer. We assume that the other agent has things under control and is working on getting some answers from the sellers bank but that is just all assumption right now. Who knows what to expect in a housing market like we are in right now. It is am awesome house that has about 99.9% of what we are looking for AND perfectly in our price range. SO...we are willing to wait right now.

Our visit to TX was one that was well worth the trip. My boys were able to meet some family that they had never met before. It was so cool, but at the same time makes me feel really old because the last time I saw some of the same family members I was just a child and we were all playing together. Now we are all (most anyways) grown and have our own families.Kind of weird to think about.

After returning home I gave the boys a few more days to relax and unwind before hitting the books again. With school also comes soccer. Kyle's team has played 2 games already this year and has won both of the them. One was today and boy was it a nail-bitter! They ended up winning but only in the last couple minuets of the game with a score of 4-3. Kyle had 2 of the goals and one assist. Way to go Kyle!

Officially on Christmas Break

2009-12-18T12:29:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday, we finally finished all our planned school work for this semester. (WOOHOO) Even with our move and all the madness that goes along with moving we were still able to stay on track with most of our school subjects. Our main goals were to complete our entire math book and Bible study book before the end of the calendar year.

On Monday the boys took their Final Book Exam for Math and they both got 100% on them. I am so proud of them! They did a great job with the entire math book. The book we used was Math U See, Epsilon, which is a full course lesson on fractions. The next book that we will do (in the series) will be on decimals. I love the Math U See approach to teaching math skills. After a certain level and understanding the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division rules the curriculum teaches on full "topics", such as the one we just completed, Fractions, and the next one we will be doing, which is Decimals. Also, at the end of each topical lesson they are learning a little bit of Geometry and Algebra as well. It was really cool to see them doing algebra and they didn't even realize it.

The other Lesson Book that we completed was our Bible Study book. We are using books that are an Inductive Bible Study series for kids. They are written by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt. I love these books. The inductive part of it really teaches the kids to use their Bibles and look up a lot of scripture. They get to see how scripture supports scripture. The book that we just completed was "Abraham - God's Brave Explorer", from Genesis 11-25. The boys really enjoyed learning about Abraham and how he is an example to us, even today. The next book that we will work through is called "Extreme Adventures with God", learning about Isaac, Jacob and Esau. We are excited to see what God has to show us about these three men and what we can learn from them.

There was much more work that we completed through our first semester together. We are working through a US History and Science book that we hope to have completed by the end of the school year. We will be starting a new Writing curriculum in January and in the midst of it all we are ALWAYS reading!

I assume that today is also the day for most people to finally be all done for the year and you too can relax and enjoy your Christmas break.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

New Place for the Holidays

2009-12-07T00:04:00.002-07:00

Let's see...since my last update on the house situation we were waiting on our close date (on the house we were selling) and actively looking for a new place to call "home". Our close date was December 1st and all went smoothly. After a lot drama we finally found a rent house and started the moving process right away. We only moved 1 mile from where we were so we thought that we could handle things all on our own and move ourselves. We did handle it all on our own but it was a lot of work and we were exhausted at the end of each day. It took us a total of 11 days to do it. All the days included packing and cleaning, too. We had cleaning at both houses. The rental we found was very dirty. It took me 3 whole days to clean it before we could begin moving anything in.

We are now, finally, all moved into our new, temporary home. It feels so good to have it all behind us. It all seems so weird though. I guess everything just happened so fast that we really didn't have time to process the fact that we would no longer be calling that house "home".

Where to go from here? Well, we are settling in to enjoy the Christmas holiday and relax a little. All the while, we are actively looking for our new place to call "home".

Week 14...of Homeschooling

2009-11-12T15:51:00.000-07:00

We are just completing our 14th week of homeschooling and I have to say we are still going strong and things are great!

It is amazing how much the boys are learning and how much information we have gone through and learned these past 14 weeks. At the beginning of it all (back in August) I set out a plan for most of our curriculum and where we would need to be by Christmas (end of the calendar year) in order to be on track to finish it all by May on 2010. I am happy to say that we are right on track. And actually, if we had not had a few interruptions with the sale of our house and all, we probably would be ahead. So, all in all we are doing very well.

The one thing that really blows me away is how fast we have gotten through our math book. I have both kids on the same level and with the way things are going right now they will most likely complete 2 years of math in only one year (school years). Just amazing. In fact, just today they were introduced to the beginnings of Algebra...already! ...and they "got" it! Amazing! Can you tell that I am blown away? They are just learning SO fast (much faster then they would be in a classroom setting having to go at a slower pace). Wow!

Still "Moving" along just one day at a time...

2009-11-12T15:30:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since my last post and informing you about the sale of our home and our upcoming move.

Since signing the contract back in October, we have gone through the inspection and appraisal period. I am so happy to say that we got a near perfect inspection and the appraisal came back at even more then the sale price (not by much though). We could not be happier about that. We do have to complete some work (minor repairs) to one of the A/C units, but honestly that is to be expected for a place like AZ where you live by your A/C and depend on it almost everyday. (Yes, we even had to run it a little yesterday in the middle of Nov.) The rest of the inspection came back "clean". That is, kind of, not surprising since we are very particular people about our home.

We also get the privilege of having an extra week in the house so we can enjoy one last Thanksgiving here. That was an added blessing. Our new closing date is Dec.1st. It looks like my traditional "after Thanksgiving shopping" weekend will be a weekend of moving instead this year.

Even though we know we will be moving and not shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving we still do not know where we will be moving to. We have looked and looked for a home to buy. After, finally, finding one we were informed that the house we wanted was a "flip" house and had to go through a "seasoning" time. So much for that. So this week we have had to change our direction and start the hunt for a rental. We hope to be able to sign a rental contract this weekend so we can have a slow move and not have to rush through it. AND...after a full day with our realtor yesterday I know that we will need at least a week to just clean before we can even think about moving in. Seriously! What do owners do with the so-called "cleaning fees" anyways. ALL the rentals (except one) we looked at were horribly filthy!! Such a disappointment!

Looks like were moving!

2009-10-23T15:37:00.002-07:00

After being in our house for almost 6 years it is time to move on. Over the past few years we have been kicking around the idea of adding on and expanding for some more square footage. So after we stopped kicking and getting more serious we looked into adding on and realized that in an effort to keep a little money in our pocket it would be more economical for us to just sell what we have and find something else that has a little more space.

We decided to hire a realtor and throw the house on the market to "see" what would happen. Upon talking with our realtor we were informed, with the current economy and housing market, that we would probably not be able to sell at the price we needed AND walk away with any cash for a down payment on something else. Well, God sure does have a way of communication and working when he sells your house after only being on the market for 4 weeks AND for the price that we were hoping to get. Can you say AMEN to that!

So, as things look now, we will be out of our home before Thanksgiving (yes, the buyers are kicking us out so they can get in for the holidays haha). Don't get me wrong, this is all a big blessing. There is still, however, emotions that I am overcome by just thinking that I will not be in my home for at least one more holiday season. So sad and exciting all at once. I think this all just happened so fast and very unexpectantly.

Where to go from here....we are not sure! Yep, at this very moment only the Lord knows. We "think" we are planning on staying close by but then we have also talked about seeing if this might be our time to get back to our home state of TX. Who knows. Moving out of state would definitely depend on the hubby's job. Right now we are just taking things one day at a time.

Starting Adventures in Photography

2009-10-21T00:00:00.001-07:00

Well, after many years of my hubby learning, studying and having fun with photography I have decided to start doing the same. I picked up one of his photography books this week and began reading. I quickly learned that I should have started with the "dummies" book. I found myself skipping over more than half of the information as I was reading because I had no idea what certain acronyms and terminology meant.

There is so much to learn and know to really create some good photographs. Someday, when I learn a little more and start shooting, I will share it here.

Oh yea, I got my hubby's hand-me-down camera as he just got himself a new one. We are Canon people so I will be starting and learning on the intro EOS Canon Camera (the Rebel XT...I think ?? ha).

Completed Week 10

2009-10-17T16:48:00.010-07:00

Wow! I can not believe that we have already completed our 10th week of homeschooling...last week. We are having a such great time.

We have learned so much (yes, even me).

There are so many great things that we get to enjoy and benefit from because we homeschool. One of the best things is that we get to do Bible studies together. We would try to fit it in our days before, when the boys were attending public school, but there just never seemed to be enough time or I could not get them to focus and be interested. Now I plan it into our day as part of our schedule and lesson plans. It is great!

I have discovered that I can get the boys to do just about anything that I want them to do if I put it on their daily schedule. It is awesome. I can even put their chores on their schedule and they do it. How cool is that?

Our field trips are some of the best, too. Well, I have to say that we have not been on that many, however we have a couple planned that have not happened yet. We went to the American Heart Association's Halle Heart Center Museum and learned about the heart and being "Heart Healthy". It was neat and I learned so much too. In fact, it is the only American Heart Association museum in the US...and it is here. Pretty cool!

Two field trips that we have yet to take are to the Hoover Dam and in Feb '10 we will be attending the Rock and Gem show in Tucson. If I am not mistaken, I think that show in Tucson is the largest Rock show in the US. We have already completed our Hoover Dam studies and are currently studying about rocks, gems and minerals in preparation for the show in Feb.

Oh yea, and did I mention that I can't believe how much I am learning too. I am definitely finding out that you are never too old to learn new stuff.

4 weeks and still going

2009-09-01T23:56:00.003-07:00

Well, we are now in our 4th week of learning at home. Tyler really wanted to be a part of a concert band so he is attending Band twice a week at the middle school. He loves it! He, basically, has the best of both worlds. He still gets to go to school, see some of his friends (that he has gone to school with for 5 years) then come home do his school work and be done for the day (with out having to worry with homework). Kyle does not attend any part of the public classes, however he will be a part of a home school Math Olympiad group (the math stuff that he can figure out and do in his head is absolutely amazing). We are also going to join a science class with the homeschool group from our church. The math and science groups don't start for another 2 weeks.

There are always advantages and draw backs to everything. With learning at home, I have to say that the boys do go a little crazy at times being in the house all day. That part is an adjustment. ...with out getting in the car and spending money. We tried to go for a bike ride the other day but it is still way too hot here in AZ. I am learning to be more creative with keeping the boys busy. It has been good for me to use my brain a little too. :)

The other day the hubby wiped all the dust off our old Monopoly game and the boys LOVED it. It actually made for a good lesson in economics. As we were playing we were teaching the boys about the value of money, buying, selling, investing, and even how to negotiate. I have to say, it was cool watching them learn and enjoy it. I feel like a kid again playing games with them.

I just learned of Geocaching. I can't wait until it cools down and we can go Geocaching around town. I have never done it before but it sounds like a lot of fun. Anyone ever done it before? I have a few other ideas to tryout to keep us busy and learning outside of the written work we do at home. If anyone has any fun inexpensive ideas I would love to hear about them.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Until next time....

2 weeks complete

2009-08-22T22:47:00.002-07:00

Well, we have made it through our first two weeks of learning at home. It has been really great! We have learned SO much (yes, even me). It is amazing how much can be fit into so little time. The BEST part of the whole thing is the fact that we don't have our entire evenings taken up by homework. Now that we have found ourselves with extra time in the evening we have started playing more games and watching more movies together as a family. It has been so much fun...and relaxing.

Our main topic in "History" that we are studying is the Hoover Dam. It is very interesting! The boys are excited about studying it because we are planning a trip soon to go see it. (How's that for a cool field trip?)

Summer Hockey Finally Over

2009-08-11T00:43:00.008-07:00

This summer both boys played in the summer hockey league at our local rink. Kyle played on a squirt team (ages 9-10) and Tyler played on a squirt and peewee team (ages 11-12).

Both boys played on the same squirt team, the Red Wings. They didn't have a very good season (according to the win/loss record). Although they did have a lot of fun.

Tyler is the goalie in middle and Kyle is behind him over his shoulder on the left.

Tyler's peewee team, the Bruins, had a better record overall and ended up almost winning 1st place in the final tournament. They ended up losing in the last 3 min of their final game. It was a big bummer, but they played hard and still ended up in 2nd place.

Tyler is the goalie in the middle on his knee.

Hockey is the best sport and so much fun to watch. We will take a little break before returning back to it in a couple months. (...sigh)

Kyle Turns 9 on the 9th in '09

2009-08-09T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty cool year for Kyle's b-day. He turns 9 on the 9th in '09.

He had a great day spending it with a friend. We all went to Red Robin for lunch and then back home so he could enjoy his new "toys" and play with his friend.

Interesting Birthday Activity - Spa Day

2009-08-05T22:07:00.007-07:00

Well, as it is with everyone, we DO get older with every passing year. Yesterday was my day to celebrate that wonderful moment. Raah!

So, in an effort to make the day a memorable one I decided to make my trip to the spa for a pedicure a semi-family affair. I decided to take my boys to experience their first spa pedicure. When I asked them about joining me, to my surprise, they were actually excited to give it a try. Their only request is that I didn't make them get their toe nails painted. ha!

Kyle sat back and relaxed and really enjoyed it and Tyler was asking questions the whole time about what they were doing, why they were doing it and the products they were using. I think the lady that worked with Tyler couldn't get done fast enough. lol

Another Hockey Win

2009-08-05T22:04:00.002-07:00

Tyler played in his PeeWee playoff game this evening. They were 3rd place going into the game. They played against the #2 team and won. Now they get to play in the championship game on Saturday for 1st place. Yeah! Good job Tyler and team.

Hallelujah!!!

2009-07-31T21:54:00.006-07:00

The boys are in the home stretch of finishing up their summer hockey season. Tonight was the last season game before heading into the play offs. After a full season of being the bottom ranked team and not winning ANY games, well, they finally got a win. WOOHOO!! Way to finish with a bang! The score was 4-1. Kyle had one of the goals and Tyler stopped over 30 shots!!

Weird Day

2009-07-29T13:47:00.004-07:00

Today is the first day of school for all the kids in our district where we live. However, it felt kind of odd not getting the kids up early this morning and heading off to school. We have decided to try homeschooling this year. We are all very excited about it. I know we are all going to learn a lot this year (me included) and have fun doing it, too.

Happy Birthday Tyler

2009-07-27T13:43:00.003-07:00

Tyler is now 11 years old. Here is a picture of Tyler and Kyle at the driving range on his b-day

3v3 Midnight Maddness Under the Stars

2009-05-31T23:45:00.004-07:00

Kyle was invited to play in another 3v3 soccer tournament this past weekend. Being that it is SO hot out here already this tournament was an all-nighter. It started at 4pm and ended around midnight. It was a late day/night but it sure beats sitting and playing in 100 degree + heat. Even though the days are hot the nights are still cool and very enjoyable. It was a perfect night for soccer.

Here is Kyle with his team. There are only 5 on the team. Aren't they so cute!

Here is Kyle with one of his team mates, Peter.

Last Day of School and More Awards

2009-05-31T23:26:00.006-07:00

Last Thursday was our last day of school. It feels so good to be done and have a nice long break ahead of us.

Not only was it the last day of school it was also award ceremony day for 3rd graders. Kyle received the Principal's List Award again the 4th quarter. He also received recognition for earning Principal's list for all 4 quarters. Principal's List is the award for making straight A's on your report card. Kyle had all A's for the entire year. In fact, out of about 120 third grade students, Kyle was one out of only eleven that made straight A's all year long.
Way to go Kyle! You rock!

Promotion Day and Awards

2009-05-21T20:20:00.004-07:00

Today was 5th grade promotion day at school. Tyler will be heading into middle school next year. I can't believe it!

In addition to having the promotion ceremony they also received their quarterly awards. Tyler made honor roll again and, even better, was selected by his teacher for the citizenship award for his class. I am such a proud mom! Growing up my mother would always make such a big deal about citizenship awards and tell me that citizenship awards were always better then any grade you could make. Being a mom myself, I now understand what she was talking about. Being a good citizen can take you much farther in life then any grades can!

Way to go Tyler! I am very proud of you!

Another shut out and a new game of 3 v 3 soccer

2009-05-11T00:01:00.004-07:00

Tyler recorded his 8th shut out as a hockey goalie this past week. Yeah Tyler! I am so proud of you!

Also...

This past week, we have gotten to learn and experience a new kind of soccer play (well new to us, not sure how long it has formally been around). Kyle was asked to join what is called a 3v3 soccer team and has already competed in one tournament. One of his friends that he plays club soccer with decided to form and start a team that can compete together. There was a 3v3 tournament this past weekend and Kyle's team ended up taking 2nd place. Not bad for the first time playing. It was so much fun to watch. It is quick, very fast and usually lots of goals. Kyle had 8 goals in 4 games. Way to go Kyle!

Dream becomes reality

2009-05-10T23:50:00.006-07:00

Playing Indoor soccer....That's right. I have always wanted to have the opportunity to try and my hand (or feet) again at playing indoor soccer. Well, last Friday I played for the first time after almost 15 years. It was great, a lot of fun and an exhausting workout! Can't wait until our next game. It is the perfect thing to be doing right now out here in hot and sunny AZ.

Made it to the finals again

2009-05-10T23:44:00.003-07:00

Our soccer team made it...again...to the Championship finals game this season. We play for first place this coming Friday evening. We placed 5th (out of 6) at the end of regular season play and somehow made it back to the final game. wow!

Count down

2009-05-10T23:42:00.001-07:00

Only 2 and 1/2 weeks until school is out and summer is here. Yeah! Yeah!!

Darn those Wings

2009-05-10T23:38:00.002-07:00

Well it is that time of year again...The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs!

The Red Wings and Ducks are playing a best of 4 out of 7 right now to move on to the western conference finals. The Wings won again tonight to lead the series, 3-2. Come on Ducks...beat those Wings!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T00:00:00.001-07:00

Many blessings to all on this Resurrection Sunday!

Easter Service

2009-04-11T23:35:00.004-07:00

Being a part of a rather large church we had the opportunity to attend an Easter service this evening (Saturday) instead of the traditional "Sunday morning". It was an awesome service!

We had the privilege of having Kendall Payne leading us in worship. She has such an amazing voice and is a very talented musician. She has written songs that have been used in numerous films and tv shows. The biggest one is Grey's Anatomy. Her most recent CD is a praise and worship remake.

I would add in some of her songs from YouTube, but being that I don't know how to add those to my blog I will leave it up to you to check her out on YouTube for yourself. Or, you can find her on her web site at www.kendallpayne.com .

One of my favs (that she performed tonight) is a remake of U2's "One". I never really listened to the words of that song before. Great song!

End of Season Video in Review for the Ice Dogs

2009-04-01T08:26:00.007-07:00

Part 1

Part 2

The coach's wife put a lot of time in and made a video of the Ice Dogs season. She did a great job and I wanted to share it here. It is a long video. I had to split it into two different segments.

I know that the picture size is small and sometimes hard to see clearly. It is so much better on a big screen. Enjoy!

Wrapping up and Starting New

2009-03-31T22:55:00.007-07:00

It is official, the Ice Dog days are over. This past Saturday Tyler had his end of season team party for his hockey team. It was fun to all be together (parents and players). Of course it was an ice skating party with pizza, drinks and tons of other munchies. Most of the team will probably not be together next season as some players are moving to a different rink (the new one in town) and some will, most likely, be split up when teams form next season. This has been the best team and season EVER for Tyler (and us as parents). The WHOLE team got along and everyone developed close friendships with one another. Tyler developed some of the best friendships that he has ever had with his teammates. Even though we are all sad it is over we realize how much we have been blessed by it and thank God for a great season and the wonderful new relationships we all have because of it.

Looking ahead, we are already on the road to starting a new season. We got a call this afternoon from the new hockey coach for this new season and found out that the first practice is already here, this Friday! Wow! We are one of the families that made the move to the new ice rink in town. I am not sure what to expect with it all. When you are so used to one thing sometimes change can be hard. We decided to make the move to the new rink for mainly one reason...LOCATION! The rink we were at last season was a 1 hour round trip for us from our house. This new rink is only 20min at the most. Yep, it is only about 10 min from our house. SO NICE! Another change for this season is that Kyle will also be playing. Tyler and Kyle will be on the same team. This will be the last time that they will be able to play together for a couple of years. I am excited to see what this new season will bring!

**I am working on uploading the Ice Dog team's video recap. It is a video that was put together by the coaches wife for all the players. So stay tuned.

9 More Weeks

2009-03-23T08:48:00.002-07:00

Well, today was back to school (and work) for us. Spring break was so nice and much needed. Now we are on the count down to summer...9 more weeks. Woo Hoo!

2nd Place

2009-03-23T08:26:00.005-07:00

Tyler had his championship game yesterday. They ended up with a loss. The score was 3-5. Big Bummer! They played a very tough team that held 1st place the whole season (they play a 6 month season). Overall it was a good game. They played their hearts out! He did a great job all season long and learned a lot. Way to go Tyler!

Tyler receiving his 2nd place award with his coach.

The Ice Dogs!

They all look so sad :(

My NetMinder

2009-03-21T21:08:00.002-07:00

Here is a rare picture of Tyler in his gear without his helmet. It was taken this past Friday evening after their 8-0 win.

So Sad

2009-03-21T20:21:00.003-07:00

We found out this week that one of Kyle's best friends will be moving to TX. I am not sure who is more bummed about it, me our Kyle. Raising kids is hard and when you see your child develop friendships with kids that are "good" for them, you don't want to see it end. This kid is such a good kid, so kind and polite. We will miss seeing him and having him around. We wish him all the best as he moves to TX.

New York in Arizona

2009-03-21T20:00:00.004-07:00

Last summer (I think it was) my hubby and I totally remodeled one of our spare bedrooms and made it into a really nice functional office for both of us. We tore out the carpet and put in laminate wood flooring. We painted the walls. We added new lighting and purchased all new office furniture from Ikea. It has been one of the best things that we have done with the house since moving in almost 5 years ago.

If you have ever been to Ikea you know that most all of their furniture comes in a handful of colors (or finishes). The finish that we chose was black. With 10'+ high walls we needed something that would work with our black furniture and large off white walls. So where else to look for just the right thing then...you got it...Ikea.

This is what we found... a New York Times Square picture. It is mostly a black and white canvas print with a "pop" of yellow (the taxis). It is awesome. It fills the space and looks great!

BTW...if you have never been to an Ikea and have the opportunity to go...you must do it. They are awesome!

Hockey Update

2009-03-20T23:10:00.004-07:00

Okay, now for some hockey updates...

*2 weeks ago Tyler's team played the #1 team in the league. They won! It was the best game that I have EVER seen him play. The old phrase, "he stood on his head"was just about reality for Tyler. He almost literally stood on his head to make some of the saves that he did. Wow! It was a great game!

*We are at the end of another hockey season and with that comes the playoffs. The first round was this evening. Tyler's team was awesome. They won 8-0. Tyler got credited with another shut out. They will be playing Sunday morning in the championship game for 1st place. Go Ice Dogs, Go!

*So with the end of one season comes the start of another. Oh yea, they do not waste any time. Tomorrow morning we are off to skate evaluations for the new season. They use skate evaluations to help divide up the teams. Kyle will be playing this season as he will (mostly) be off from soccer and not have any soccer commitments over the summer.

*Oh yea...and the Coyotes...They are not doing too well. But still, we support them and love watching and going to the games. We thought that there might be a little glimmer of hope that they might actually make it to the playoffs...but I don't think it is happening this year. oh well!

note: Hubby got some great pictures at Tyler's game this evening. I will try and post some tomorrow.

Soccer Update

2009-03-20T22:57:00.003-07:00

Ok Here are some soccer updates...

*Kyle officially finished his first year of club soccer. He is still practicing with the team to stay sharp for tryouts coming up in April. He had a great year and learned a lot.

*We are half way through our recreation soccer season. Hubby and I are coaching, Tyler and Kyle are both playing. It is a Family event this season. Overall our team is not doing too well. We have 2 ties and 3 loses. Hopefully we can put a win on the board before the end of the season.

*I officially started my adult co-ed soccer season today. We played in our first game of the season this evening. We won 3-0. woohoo. I love it!! It is SO much fun!!

*One of the major sporting teams that AZ DOES NOT have is a MLS team. There are many groups, organizations and people that are really pushing to bring MLS to AZ. So with all of the efforts they were able to get an MLS exhibition game here. We went to see the LA Galaxy and the Chicago Fire play last Saturday. It was awesome! That was the first time that I have ever been to an MLS game (or any type of pro soccer game). I would love to have a team here in AZ. I know, just another place to burn the paycheck. HA! But it would be fun!

Featured Blogger! WooHoo!

2009-03-20T09:36:00.003-07:00

Thanks Jen for adding me as a featured blogger for today. That is pretty cool. Thanks, also, for the sweet words about me. Your the BEST! Yes, you did beg (pretty much :)) for me to start blogging. I know I am not "in to it" as much as you are but I do still have fun with it. Thanks for getting me started and for all your help with the blog "look" and such too. You are so talented with all that you know how to do with blog design. So, if you are a guest reading this and working toward winning a blog make over for yourself, well all I can say is keep working towards it because if you are her lucky winner you are in for a big treat.

On another note, if you are a guest here today and have never been to my blog, thanks for stoppin' by. As you can probably see, I am not an "everyday" blogger (I don't post everyday). I mostly use my blog to post about my kids, family stuff, all our sporting adventures (we are a sports crazy family) and a few other hot topics that come up from time to time. One of those hot topics you will find here are autism related posts. My oldest son is mildly autistic and I have found that posting and communicating with a few others out there has been an outlet for me as we (my hubby and I) walk this autism road together. So, if you would like to know more about our autism story I would love to share. Just leave me a post in the comments.

I guess I had better update a little on the latest with the kids and family soon. It has been a while since my last post. I will try and add some updates in a while so make sure to check back. We have been on spring break so there is plenty to post on, I just need to do it. :)

Big day for boys, Another 1st

2009-03-04T21:04:00.004-07:00

Today was a big day for both boys. We are to that stage in life where we get to add another doctor to our "list". The Orthodontist! Yep. They are both starting a 2 stage process of ortho work. Kyle gets to experience having his upper pallet expanded and top front braces while Tyler just gets the top front braces.

Since Kyle's process is more involved he will not be getting his braces for a while. He has to go through the process of expanding his top pallet before he will see a different "smile". He was fitted for "rings" today and is having to wear spacers between his top molars. The spacers will help the rings fit better and not hurt as much when they are permanently attached. The rings will hold his pallet expander in place that will fit in the top of his mouth.

Tyler on the other hand gets to jump right to having braces and he got those put on today.

Here is a before and after picture. He is such a cutie! I can't wait to see how even more handsome he will be once his braces come off.

Spring Break, Almost here!

2009-03-04T21:02:00.002-07:00

Yeah! Spring Break is almost here, only 2 more days. Can you tell we are READY! :)

One More Week

2009-02-27T09:59:00.003-07:00

One more week until we get a break from school and we are on Spring Break! I don't think it can get here quick enough. We are all ready! No big plans...just ready!

First Club Season Comes to an End

2009-02-26T23:14:00.002-07:00

Yes, we are officially done with club soccer for the year. Kyle completed his first year playing on an Arsenal team. It was a great experience for him. He learned a lot, scored a lot of goals and took a lot of falls. He is already talking about next year. This is his first week off and he is already missing it. But a break is good. He will have a few months to relax until tryouts are upon us once again.

More Vaccine Injury Information...thought that I would share, this is REAL!

2009-02-04T22:23:00.005-07:00

From happy vacation pictures (below), to this...

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/02/managing-editors-note-below-is-the-story-of-iam-gromowski-a-boy-who-lived-47-days-after-his-hepatitis-b-vaccination-thank.html

This story just makes my heart hurt and at the same time makes my blood boil. When will doctors and the medical community start thinking about "lives" instead of their "kick-backs"?

Some Vacation Pictures

2009-01-26T10:03:00.006-07:00

Boys at Disneyland

Here we are driving Mickey's Car

The boys with Minnie

Boys with Mickey

Family Picture at Disneyland Entrance

The Boys with "Cars"

The family in front of the Hollywood backdrop

Boys playing Rock-Paper-Scissors on a ride

Kyle's first time to do the driving all by himself (finally tall enough!)

Waiting in line...

Busy Times

2009-01-25T22:35:00.003-07:00

Where has the first month of this new year gone? That is the question that I found myself thinking today. It seems like it was just the other day that we were fighting to stay awake to see the new year in. Now we are one month through it.

We have had so much going on that I feel like my body is literally spinning in circles at times. Between starting back to school and all the sports games and practices it is always something going on.

Yes, we did just get back from a nice little get away to California to see Mickey and friends. We spent most of last week walking the parks of Disneyland and California Adventure. We were so exhausted from all the walking that we almost felt like we needed a vacation from our vacation. HA! :) We had a great time but it has been non stop every since we drove back into town.

The night we got home we had just enough time to unload the car and then we were off to Kyle's soccer game. The next 3 days we found ourselves driving an hour each way to more soccer games. Kyle played in a tournament that was really far away. It was so far that most families from the team ended up staying at a hotel by the fields for the weekend. One of the days we had to be at the fields by 7am. I had to set my alarm for 4:30am that morning. Blah! (way too early or me). It was a fun tournament, they always are. Kyle's team ended up in the consolation round and won it. Overall, Kyle had 7 goals this weekend! He was on fire!

There is always Hockey on the weekends as well and this weekend was a big one for Tyler's team. They played the #1 team in their league and beat them with a 4-3 win. It was very exciting to say the least!! It has been a long time since I have seen grown adults jumping and screaming uncontrollably with such passion. hehe!! I think all the parents were more tired then the players from all the screaming, yelling and cheering.

Now looking ahead from here...we still have the crazy hockey and soccer schedules in addition to the start of a new recreation soccer team that the hubby and I will be coaching, and... Tyler will be picking back up with his song and dance group at church (more practices during the week to be at). Oh yes, these are busy times!

Another trip tp Disney

2009-01-14T15:45:00.005-07:00

Yep, we are planning another trip to Disney in the near future. Last Fall break we took the kids to Disneyland. After a few days there we enjoyed it so much that we decided to upgrade our tickets to annual passes. So being that we already have our tickets to the park we thought it was about time to return to the "happiest place on earth".

I am also looking forward to seeing the ocean. I LOVE the ocean! I look at the ocean and think of how truly awesome our God is!!

Belated Greetings

2009-01-05T23:14:00.003-07:00

Let me start by greeting you with a belated, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated with family from out of town, we ate lots of In-n-Out (for the out of towners), went to a Phoenix Coyotes game, shopped for Christmas gifts together, wrapped Christmas gifts together, shared many late nights together and had lots of fun! Thanks for making the time to spend Christmas with us, Jen. It was wonderful to have you here. I look forward to spending many more Christmases with you.

We had so much fun that the time went by way too fast. In fact, the kids started back to school today. Blah! It was hard for everyone this morning to get up to alarm clocks, instead of the sun.

Favorite Christmas Song

2008-12-17T09:31:00.003-07:00

After reading Jen's blog over the past few weeks and her posting about some of her favorite Christmas songs, well it has gotten me thinking about what my favorite song is. Being a fan of more upbeat and contemporary music, some of the more traditional songs never have really stuck with me as "favorites". I always like hearing and singing any and all Christmas songs, however none of them really hit home with me as a favorite until a couple of years ago when I heard this song from Todd Agnew. It is called "In The First Light"and from my understanding it is not a new song but rather one that many artists have remade over the years. I have listened to a few different remakes on YouTube and none of them hold a candle to Todd's version. He has such an awesome voice that brings you right to the moment that he is singing about. Other than Todd's voice and the way he brings the song to life, the main reason why I love the song so much is that it brings a full circle of the the entire story of Christ and the purpose of his life, from his birth to his resurrection and second coming. In fact my most favorite lyric in the song is ..."But how much greater will our song be when he comes again...to rule... the earth."

Ahh, so awesome!

p.s. I am sorry that I do not have the song posted directly on my blog. Still not quite sure how to do that. So for now you have to just follow the link.

Wins All Around

2008-12-17T09:23:00.004-07:00

That's the way...uuhh, uuhh...we like it..uuhh, uuhh!!

Yep that is right, ALL wins this past weekend. There was a total of 4 soccer game wins for Kyle and one hockey game win for Tyler. Kyle ended up with a total of 5 goals as well.

Way to go boys!!

Here is a picture of Kyle's team with their 1st place trophies!

Big Day

2008-12-14T08:13:00.003-07:00

Today is another big day of sports here. As I posted in my last post (last night), we have two more soccer games to finish out this weekends tournament and in addition to that, Tyler has a hockey game today as well. It is going to be a busy day. I will try and post some more pictures here with all the updates on how everything goes. For now, it is time to get the day started!

2 wins for the team, 2 goals for the little man!

2008-12-13T22:30:00.007-07:00

Kyle's soccer team played in the first 2 games of this weekend's soccer turnamnet today. They won their first game 4-2 and their second 4-0. Kyle played mostly defense in the first game and then scored 2 goals in the second game where he mostly played offense. It was a fun and exciting day. We will be headed back to the fields tomorrow to play in 2 more games. I hope they come away with some more wins.

Getting ready for his first game.

This was his second goal in the second game. Notice the ball in the net. Yea baby!

Recruited at my age? ...!!! What?

2008-12-08T21:03:00.002-07:00

Yep, that is right. With our coed soccer season coming to a close this past week, many teams are already planning and preparing for the winter/spring season that is just around the corner. The biggest preparation is that of making sure that the teams have enough women registered on each team in order to sustain them through the entire season. It is mandatory to have and play at least 3 women on each team. So...with that most teams are usually on the hunt to fill their female spots as soon as possible.

Being with the same team now for years (not sure how many now), I have never even given thought to moving to another team...until now that is. The other day I was asked by another team if I would consider moving to play with them. After the initial shock wore off of another team wanting to have me on their roster, I actually gave it some thought. Being a loyal person like I am, I am having a difficult time making this decision. I am honored that another team would like to have me play with them, however I still really enjoy playing with my current team as well. Oh...Man... I am not sure what to do.

Kyle on New Club Team

2008-12-08T20:50:00.003-07:00

With the start of a new season of club soccer play, Kyle was asked to move and play with a new team that is just getting started (within their club age bracket). This should prove to be a good move for him with some great opportunities down he road and much more added play time, too. We are excited to see where this "road" will take him. It is a very ambitious team so far. They have only had a week of practices and are already preparing to compete in a tournament this weekend. Wow! We shall see how they do in a few days.

Third Shut Out

2008-12-08T20:45:00.003-07:00

Tyler had a hockey game yesterday. Not only did his team win, he also achieved his 3rd shut out!! Shut outs in hockey are hard to come by and, typically, very rare. Way to go Tyler! I think this win also brought their team up in the season standings from 3rd to 2nd place. Woo Hoo!

2008-11-23T22:22:00.004-07:00

I came across a really cool web site and thought I would share. Some of you may have already heard of it or seen it. If you haven't, then take the time to watch a few of the videos. The guy has a lot of interesting view points and things to say...he'll keep you laughing, too.

The web site is called What You Ought to Know.
You can find it here:
http://www.whatyououghttoknow.com/

The end at last

2008-11-23T20:31:00.010-07:00

This weekend marked the end of 3 soccer seasons and a much needed hockey break.

I had my champion playoff game on Friday night. Even though we did not win we still felt like we were successful. Due to winning the past 3 (or 4) seasons, playing in the recreation division, we were forced to move up to the competitive division. Let me just say that the start of the season didn't look to promising for us. However, as each week went by we stepped up to the challenge and in the end, somehow, found ourselves playing for the #1 spot again. Wow! We amazed ourselves at how we all stuck together and ended up, overall, in 2nd place. The team that we played for 1st place is a great team and was known for "taking no prisoners" with scores like 5-0 or worse. However, in the last game we held them to a 2-1 final score. So, in our minds we still won.

Tyler ended his soccer season as well this weekend with his last game on Saturday. The score was 5-0, with Tyler contributing one of the goals. Way to go Tyler. He is really becoming quit the soccer player.

Kyle's soccer team plays continuously through the year until about March, however his first round of play also ended this weekend. They played a double header against two local teams. They lost the first (4-5) and won the second (5-0). (They took first place overall for this season.) Kyle also contributed toward the overall goal count with 1 in his first game and 2 in the second. He plays forward and most of his goals are scored on break-aways. He is really fast and usually out runs all the other teams players. It is really exciting and very fun to watch him.

Hockey is not over but on a 2 week break until December. Tyler played in a very exciting game this morning. They played the #1 team in the league and kept it a really tight game all the way to the end. They ended up taking the loss with a score of 2 - 3, but only because of very bad officiating. I am really not being a whiner with this one...really!!

I have never in all my life, of watching sporting events, seen a coach talk a referee into making a call that should not have been called. Yep, that's right. It was a young referee being intimidated by the other teams coach. The other team took a shot at Tyler (he is the goalie) with the puck sliding right behind him from one side to the other (from post to post). When Tyler realized that he had missed it he turned around and saved it on the other side of him. The whistle blew and the play stopped. Right after that a time-out was called and during that time the other teams coach disputed the call and convinced the referee that it was a goal (when it clearly was not). (I know it wasn't. I was sitting right behind the goal watching Tyler and saw it clearly....all the while the other coach was way across on the other side of the rink.) So, when the time-out was over everyone was confused (even the other team players) because the only ones that knew about the change in the call was the other coach and the scorekeeper. Even Tyler's own coach had no idea what was happening and let me just say...you could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears. He was MAD! It was amazing and unbelievable. I have never seen anything like that. I guess there is a first for everything. After all we are all human and intimidation does happen. Oh well. I hope we don't have the same ref's next time.

All in all it was a good weekend. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and the much needed break through the holidays.

Never Would have made it doing NaBloPoMo!

2008-11-20T09:34:00.002-07:00

Jeeesh! Wow it has been a long time since I last posted anything. Where has the time gone? Not sure...I guess if I had to quickly look back on things...oh yea...Hockey and Soccer (that's our life right now). I am so glad that I did not commit to NaBloPoMo this November and put the pressure on myself. Actually, I have never done NaBloPoMo. Maybe next year...or maybe I might pick my own month to try and post everyday. If I do that then it would be like training for when next November comes around and I might be able to do it. hehe. aahhh we will see.

Yes, it has been a lot of hockey and soccer lately. Things should start to slow down. Let's see, 2 out of the 3 soccer teams will be coming to an end after this weekend. The other one will be on break until after Thanksgiving. And Hockey...well the end of the season is still a few months away.

We have had a lot of professional hockey and soccer happenings too. Last night we went to see the ECHL Roadrunners play. Tyler's hockey team was invited to play in a scrimmage during the 2 intermission breaks. They all got treated like royalty, got to sit in the special seating area up next to the glass and even got free popcorn and drinks. And then tonight we are going out to cheer on our local team in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Division 1 National Women's Soccer Championship games. It is going to be another late night, but should still be a lot of fun.

We got some great pictures and video of the kids last night at the hockey game. I will get more tonight at the soccer game and then I will post them for you to see.

Kyle's report

2008-11-07T17:55:00.004-07:00

Kyle had to do a research report on Cocker Spaniels for his class at school.

Here is a picture that he used for his presentation of him with our Cocker, Sadie. He was so thrilled and actually learned a lot about the dog breed. I have to say I was pretty impressed.