::lock n load::

Yesterday, the Mr. and I (and Matt's dad and Reid-a huntin' buddy) went up in the mountains in Mantua to shoot some guns. I've shot a gun once before in my life, and I think Chloe was a baby then. So it's been a while. We took a short ride on the 4 wheeler up the rocky dugway and shot into the mountain.

I couldn't resist getting a photo of the beautiful fall that's going on up there. I love it. I've lived here for going on 10 years, and still can't get over the fall colors. We didn't have that in Texas :)

(no artificial color saturation in this photo, just fyi)

Matt shot a few with the big gun. He hit the target a few times(I shot with that gun too. It was loud. I was scared. I closed my eyes. I'm pretty sure I missed the target. No photos of that).



We all shot the little gun too. I was still scared. I closed my eyes. I missed the target again. I'd probably do better if I'd keep my eyes open.

(Ready...)

(Aim... )

(Fire!! )

Matt's going deer huntin' on Saturday with his Dad and Brandon (and some others). He doesn't have a rifle tag, he's just along for the ride. Next year he might try to get a rifle tag and take the little boys. They'd love it!  

In other news...
We're on Fall break around here. It's been kinda nice. We'll probably go to the park today and then maybe to a pumpkin patchy type of place tomorrow.

::Port's last game::

This is Pioneer Park (in Brigham City).

We've been here every week since June, and now we're done until next summer.

Thank Goodness!


Port played his last flag football game last night. They had a really good little season. All the kids are just learning, so it's pretty cute. He pulled a few flags, scored a couple of times, and learned a few things over the 8 game season. I think Matt enjoyed it. He held practice once a week, and taught the kids a few plays. He was way excited last night because they successfully ran a reverse (?) play and ended up scoring twice! We wondered if he shouldn't have coached because Portie sometimes does better when he learns or takes direction from somebody other than his mom or dad, but he did well for the most part.

(The team. There were 12 kids, but a couple of them left before we grabbed this photo. & Port's football tag. Sweet!)


In other news...
We've had parent/teacher conferences this week for Chloe and Port. I just thought I better document how they're doing:

(these are folders they decorate with their report cards, some assignments, and their assessments inside)

Chloe's teacher said she's great to have in class and very smart. She started off the year with a spelling test with 40 or so words all different levels of difficulty. Chloe scored 100% on it. Her teacher called me and told me about it and about how rare it is that a child gets 100%, and asked if I would mind if she had a more advanced spelling list than the standard for the class. I told her we'd be glad to take on an advanced list. On her report card, she scored a few 3's (which is the at grade level score), a few 3.5's, and some 4's (which is above and beyond grade level standard). We were way excited about that! Her teacher showed me one of Chloe's worksheets that asked questions about a story they had been working on. It was about a girl who moved from Korea and had to adapt to American standards as far as writing and spelling. She didn't like it much, she missed Korea-particularly the writing (from Korean symbols to English letters). I love Chloe's answer to question #9:


Porter's teacher says he's doing great too. He had several worksheets (shapes, numbers, letters, segmenting, blends, etc) with 100% on them. She was excited about his reading and how he already knew how to read when he came to kindergarten. She said he's a great kid in class (which surprised us a bit :) ). His report card showed a perfect citizenship grade and 3's for everything else. He's been learning about shapes (which he already knew from preschool days). When I asked him one day what he learned about in school and he said shapes, Matt asked him (what he thought was) a tough question: "how many sides does an octagon have?" Port said kind of casually "8." We were a little surprised. Then he told us all the numbers of sides for all the shapes.

(I love how he writes his name)

I love parent/teacher conferences. I love to see their classroom, and they get so excited to show us stuff in there and stuff they've been working on. Portie was excited to show us where his classroom was (even though we already knew) and show us his desk and everything. I'm so proud of both of them. I'm glad they're doing so well in school-it makes me feel good and a little like I'm probably doing a good job with them at home too.

::watch out::

Avie's sittin' up and takin' names eatin' crackers.

(Ava- 6 1/2 months)

She's still pretty wobbly and falls over a lot, but I just sit her inside my legs or in her nursing pillow, and she's good!

Speaking of nursing, Ava and I only have about another week of it left. It's kind of bittersweet for me. I'm always a little glad to be done nursing, but this time I know she's my very last, and there will never be another! It makes me a little sad. Not in an I-want-another-one kind of way, but maybe in a more time-goes-by-too-quickly sort of way. She's growing so fast. They all are. I'm always so paranoid that I won't remember the little things about her (and all of the kids for that matter). Like her smell, for example. I LOVE how she smells, and it's not just the baby lotion. She has her own sweet baby smell. I burrow my nose in her neck a lot and give her kisses and take in a good whiff of her beautiful smell.

Her 6 month (and 3 week) stats:
weight: 15 lbs 12 oz (31st)
height: 27 1/4" (87th)
tiny little head: 41.8cm (20th)

In other news...
Port's teacher teaches a lot with songs (days of the week, months of the year, spelling, etc). You know that Mexican song that goes "ayayayay canta y no llores..." (Ricky Ricardo sang it on I Love Lucy). So, Port's class has one that goes (to the same tune) "I, I, I, I...Always a capital letter..."
hahaha

::tonight::

Outside...




Inside...


Pizza, a movie (Lion King-came out on DVD this week. Did you get yours?). This is Matt & Port's movie. Matt's Mufassa & Port's Simba or "Sindiba" as Bubb calls it. Portie sat cuddled up to Matt pretty much the whole movie. Avie ate a few graham crackers (and she was a mess after it was all said and done), Bubb got bored and wandered around pestering everybody, and Chloe just watched and sang the songs. It was a comfy, cozy night. I love nights like these, especially when it's nasty outside.

In other news...
Just because one turns 8, doesn't mean one won't throw a fit and scream and yell and stomp down the stairs, slam one's door, and yell loud enough so we can hear through the floor about how mean one's mom is. Just sayin'.

::eight::

Chloe

is

8

!!!!!!


Her birthday was Monday(where has this week gone??), and we celebrated with a few friends at Kangaroo Zoo.



It was SO fun! We invited 6 friends, and only 3 came (it's partially my fault. I forget how people around here are about driving 15 minutes). I was a little sad about that, but Chloe didn't care at all. She just had so much fun with the girls that came. They (along with Portie, Bubb, and Alyssa-Brianna's little sister) played hide and seek, raced each other down the slides, shot some baskets, had a dance competition, played tag. Our party room was, of course, the princess room. It was SO cute! There was a castle painted on the wall, bright green tables, and bright pink chairs, and even some rainbow colored lights above. We had some cupcakes (pink, of course), ice cream, and juice, opened some presents, and headed home. I drove Chloe and 3 other girls home, and OH.MY.GOSH! they were so funny in the car. The little gift/favor bags had nail polish, bracelets, and clip in hair extensions in them. So these cute girls were talking about colors-what goes best with their hair, which nail polish looks prettiest on whose nails, who had the cutest and smallest shoes, etc, etc. It was so funny!! Such girls!!

So after we took everyone home, and before it rained, we gave Chloe her gift from us.

It was a bike. A big one. Thank goodness! Now she doesn't have to feel like the only kid her age in the whole world with a tiny bike :) I'm not too sure if she likes it, though. :D

So we all know how I am about my kids' birthdays. This one was no exception. It's kind of a big deal. She's 8! In our faith, that means she can be baptized (that'll happen on November 5th). I'm so excited about it (and also a little nervous), and so is she. I want to make sure she knows what it's all about and that it really is a choice. I want it to really mean something to her, and I want her to remember it. I still can't believe it's upon us. I remember her blessing day in January of '04.

I just can't believe she's 8. I kept telling her at various hours throughout the day what we were doing 8 years ago at that time. I remember it so well. I remember waiting ALL day to have an epidural so she could be born naturally. I remember Jared and Matt playing the playstation for a while. I remember Matt's face so close to mine as she was being born. I remember him telling me how good I was doing. She was finally born at 9:46 pm. I remember not hearing her cry the very first second, but then she did, and I felt better. She was beautiful. She stuck her tongue out a lot. She turned towards Matt when she heard his voice. I remember her little mullet. We just stared at her for hours and hours and hours. We touched her fingers, toes, and feet. I always wanted to hold her-I never set her down. I even had her sleep in my room with me both nights. I wanted her with me all the time. I'm so proud of her and who she is. She's so smart, so beautiful, so sweet, so funny, so thoughtful, and SUCH a drama queen :) I'm thankful everyday for her, and I feel so blessed to be her mom.

::6 months::

Look who's 6 months old today!!


She's such a little doll! We love her SO much! She's squeally, hungry, smiley, wiggley, drooly, fussy (when she needs something-diaper change, food, sleep), sleepy, and just plain cute.



(Ava & Port -5 years old)

She's a good eater. She'll eat 2 containers (plastic Gerber) of food at a time! She likes fruit best, but she'll eat squash if it's mixed with rice cereal. She still nurses, and probably prefers that over food, but only does couple of times a day. She fights her sleep (just like Chloe did), and gets a little fussy before she falls asleep. She almost always pulls her bows out/down (not like Chloe-but I guess Ava's are much bigger than hers were). She knows her name. She laughs a lot. She thinks Porter is hilarious! She loves to be held. She loves to look in the mirror. Loves when I talk to her in a high, soft voice. She still spits up all the time (even with baby food). She rolls back and forth all the time. She scoots backwards, and is getting up on her knees already-which I think is weird because she can't sit unsupported yet. But it's cute. She looks like she just wants to go somewhere. Her hair is getting longer and blows around in the wind. She puts everything in her mouth.

I love how she smells. I love her laugh. I love all her little goo-goos, and when she squeals and plays with her voice. I love when she gets excited and wiggles her arms and legs really fast. I love when she holds stuff and sort of flicks her wrist back and forth with whatever she's holding in her hand. I love her long, dark eyelashes. I even love her little girly cry. I love that she wiggles herself into a slumped, squished position in her swing, and then fusses so we'll straighten her out. I love that she smiles with her whole body, and that she does it when she sees me. I love that she has to stare at her da-da for a few minutes when he gets home from work.

I always think babies grow too fast, but I feel like Avie is growing WAY too fast. She's my last one, so I just want her to stay little!! She's beautiful and so much fun.

::high school reunion

"You may all go to Hell, I'll go to Texas."

-Davy Crockett

My 10 year high school reunion was last weekend. Matt, Ava, and I flew to Dallas for it. It was SO much fun to see everyone and everything. I'm not too sure if Matt thought it was all that fun. He didn't know any of the people, and just kind of had to sit and listen to memories and stories that he really didn't care too much about, but he was a good sport. He served his mission there, so he got to see his old apartment, and try to remember how to get places.


I scanned in some photos from high school days. This was our group. We had a group of about 6 girls who hung out together all.the.time. It wasn't only us, but it was pretty much always us.

(senior prom 2001. Sue, Liz, Me, Ash, Nat, & Clara)



(senior breakfast 2001. Me & Ash)


(Mrs. Gaskin's 4th period-Jeff Watts (he was such a fun friend) & Me & junior prom 2000-Sue & Me)


(senior night (after graduation) 2001-Nat & me)


(our graduating class of around 450 & a bunch of us girls. graduation day 2001)

And here we are now (some of us)

(Ash, Me, & Nat-Eno's Pizza, Dallas. 2011)

So we flew into Dallas on Friday afternoon. After we talked to the airline about our lost bag (I swear that always happens to us!), my dad picked us up and we went to lunch. Mexican. Gooood! We stayed here, at Dad's house in Arlington (right on the edge of Arlington & Ft. Worth-he works in TX, so he bought it so he'd have somewhere to stay).


We wanted to do a little driving around and sight seeing (and by sight seeing, I mean drive by our old houses, schools, visit old friends, etc). We got out to Sunnyvale (where I lived almost my whole life), and oh my gosh! It has changed! There's a middle school (separate from the elementary-used to be k-8th all in the same school), and a big, nice high school. There are TONS of new houses and subdivisions. We drove past my house...

(201 Manhattan Blvd. Sunnyvale, TX. -where I did most of my growin' up. I used to park my blue Jeep right out front-sometimes with two of the tires on the curb, just to look tough.)

We went to the North Mesquite game on Friday night (it was homecoming). We only stayed until half time because it was raining. Yeah! Raining! Texas hasn't gotten any rain in like 3 months. The whole state is in a major drought, the lawns are all dead, half the state is on fire, and it rained Friday night. Nice.

(Memorial Stadium. Looks EXACTLY the same! It was the wildest thing walking in there. I remember doing that with all my girls when I was in high school. This time I walked in with my husband and 5 month old baby)

Then, on Saturday, we went shopping. Northpark mall is a vision of pure beauty! I can't believe the expansion and all the new stores! It was amazing. It made me completely happy-right down to my soul! :) We drove back to Arlington with expectation of touring Cowboys stadium...

...but (DUH!) they were having college games that day. Why didn't we think of that and go on Friday?? Ugh! We were kind of bummed. We (well, I-hopefully I can get the Mr. on board) are hoping to go back next year with all the kids, so hopefully we can go in and maybe watch the 'boys play!

That night, we got all prettied up to go to the banquet. How'd we do??


(all us girls together again (minus Sue-she had a baby 4 days ago. I went and visited her after the party. He's a doll!) & all our alum in attendance)

Avie-Mavie stayed home wiss Papa.

(Ava-5,almost 6, months old with Papa Guitar in Texas)


I'm SO glad we went! I just love Texas, I don't know what it is. It's just Texas. I can't even count how many times I told Matt how much I love it there. I heard the locusts, I smelled the air, I heard/felt the bumps on the road when you change lanes, I ate some Blue Bell ice cream, saw the sideways traffic lights, I felt the humidity (!!!), saw the beautiful Dallas skyline, I drove in the traffic, even caught a mild thunderstorm, and I loved every second of it.

Matt was such a good sport. He just went where I said I wanted to go, and didn't really complain about it. I'm sure he was bored out of his mind, especially since we didn't get to go into the stadium, but he was so sweet about the whole thing. I haven't seen any of these people for 10 years, and since I don't live there any more (or even close), I don't get to drive by our old school or run into people, or anything like that. It was so fun to catch up with my girls and hear all about their lives, and see others that we went to school with. Everyone looked beautiful, and were completely wonderful to visit with!

Thanks for babysitting the teeny girl, Dad. She loves her Papa. And thanks for watching the big kids, Grandma & Papa Snowman. We didn't worry a bit about them (other than Chloe missing her Mama).
Love y'all.