Student of the Day

The phone rang yesterday and when I looked at the caller id it was from South Hills Middle School.  At first I thought it must be Devin calling to come home because he was sore from wrestling.  I was a little bit bugged because he had already missed the whole week before while we were in California and 2 days the week before that because he was sick so I didn't want him missing any more school.  When I answered the phone it was the assistant principal calling.  I was a bit worried because I thought something bad must have happened.  I was pleasantly surprised when he told me that he was calling to let me know that Devin had been chosen as student of the day.  A teacher that Devin was sure hated him had nominated him.  This is what his teacher said about him.  "You are an awesome young man with a great sense of humor.  It is a pleasure having you in my CTE class.  Thanks for always working hard, participating in class discussions and being willing to help others who may need help or additional instructions.  You are a super influence to all who have the priviledge to get to know you.  Keep up the great work." I am so proud of Devin and so glad that I am his mom!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

We had a blast at Disneyland!  We usually go in the spring, but decided to go now because we had heard how cool it was when it was decorated for Christmas.  It was fun to see the Haunted Mansion redone as "The Nightmare before Christmas".  Also seeing the lights on the castle and Small World was "magical".  (Becca thinks I am silly to use that word, but it really is!)  It was also fun to see the Burton's and the Rogers' while we were there.  The weather was great.  It was a real bummer to have to come back to snow!

Newport Beach

The first place we went when we got to California was the beach.  I love the ocean and could just sit and watch the waves come in all day long.  The kids had a great time out on the rocks catching crabs with hot dogs.  It was fun to watch the crabs come out of the holes in the rocks and pinch pieces of the hot dog off and eat it.  Devin was even able to get one of them up to the surface, but as soon as Megan saw it she screamed and scared the little crab to death I'm sure.  While we were out on the rocks we noticed a bunch of seagulls by our stuff on the beach.  When we got back to our blanket all of our food was gone.  We had bought bagels, turkey and potato chips and everything was gone so we ended up eating dinner at a resturant on the end of the pier. It was such a beautiful day and the kids had a blast playing in the water and making sand castles.

Las Vegas

We decided to stay in Las Vegas on our way to California.  We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel and when we checked in I was surprised to see that our room was on the 13th floor.  I was a little bit freaked out and so were the kids.  I didn't think hotels had 13th floors.  We faced our fear and survived the night thank goodness!  We went to the M&M factory and the Coke factory and then the kids just wanted to go back to the hotel room.  They think Vegas is a yucky, stinky city.  Hopefully that attitude will never change! :)

Halloween

For the first time in many years I didn't have to go trick-or-treating.  Becca went to hang out with friends and Devin and Megan both went trick-or-treating with their friends.  It was kind of nice to be able to stay in my warm house.  It would have been more relaxing though if the door bell would have quit ringing! lol  After all of our hard work carving pumpkins here is a picture of how they ended up after some hoodlums got ahold of them!  Now everytime I run over them when I pull out of my driveway I think I should clean up the mess.  Maybe tomorrow.......

Megan's Halloween parade

Megan looked so different with her face painted and her hair sprayed black that I almost didn't recongize her as she walked by.  I tried to get her to smile for me, but it was too hard for her to smile with her vampire teeth in.  I was thinking that I will only have the wonderful opportunity to attend 3 more Halloween parades at the elementary school.  Pretty crazy how fast times goes by.

Pumpkin carving

Here are some pictures of the kids carving their pumpkins on Halloween morning.  I have been such a procrastinator this year.  Becca made hers polka dotted, Devin's was a vampire and Megan's was Jack skeleton.  When they were done it was still light outside so we had to go into the bathroom to take pictures of them lit up.

Picking out pumpkins.

A couple of days before Halloween we finally made it to the pumpkin patch.  Of course we waited until after it had snowed so it was cold and really muddy.  Devin thought we should just go to Harmon's to buy them, but I had to have cool pictures to use in my blog! The best part of the pumpkin patch experience was hearing Megan scream when she got close to some chickens.  When she was two we took her to the state fair.  We were looking at the chickens in their cages and she stuck her finger in one and got pecked.  Since then she is deathly afraid of chickens.  I'm sure she would not even remember this happening if I hadn't scrapbooked about it.  Maybe scrapbooking is not such a great idea! lol

Becca at Region

Here is a picture of my cute Becca running during region. Her time was  over 2 minutes faster than her first races. She has really improved and loves it. She has made some really good friends on the team. I am really proud of her! I have a dilema though. When she started cross country during the summer she told me about a race that they go to in California in December and at that time I though no way, but now that I know some of the kids she would be going with I'm thinking it would probably be okay. They will be doing the run, going to the beach and a day at Disneyland. They are doing fund raisers so its not the money I'm worried about, its just thinking if I could really put my baby on a bus to go to California for 5 days without me. I know she will be just fine and she would have so much fun. I need to make a decision soon. I only have 4 more days to make it. Oh the stress!! What should I do? lol

Cross country

Becca decided she wanted to run cross country for the high school this year. If has been a bit of a pain for me since 9th grade is still at the middle school I have to pick her up everyday at 3:00 to get her to the high school to run, but it is worth it because she loves it. I am very proud of her! She does a great job! Go Becca!

Locks for Love

Megan has been growing out her hair forever so she could donate to Locks for Love. We went to Cookie cutters the other day just for a bang trim and I ask the stylist how short her hair would be if she cut it for Locks for Love. She said it would be to her chin. I ask Megan if she wanted to do it and she said yes. I got a little bit sick when she cut 10 inches off. I was afraid Megan would hate it, but she loves it and so do I. The best thing about it is that it is not so snarly anymore. It makes brushing her hair a much more pleasant experience! I am very proud of Megan. She did a great thing!

Pioneer Becca is home!

I was so excited for Becca to get home from Trek today. She had such a fun time. It was a great experience for her. She is exhausted and is not sure that she ever wants to eat beef jerky or rolls again. She is sure that she was in the best family and loved her Ma and Pa Lisl and Pat Barney. I am so glad that she was able to go and that she survived. I posted some before Trek pictures so here are the after Trek pictures. I still think she is pretty cute!

Palisades Lake

Mike's family was having a reunion at Palisades Lake down by Manti and he invited us to come down for the day. The kids had a blast. We rented a canoe and Devin told Mike's son Preston that he didn't need to worry because he had his canoeing Merit badge. Thanks to the scouting program he is a pro. lol They swam, pushed each other off of the dock and fished all day and I enjoyed sitting in a chair and watching them. It was very relaxing. I can't believe that I grew up 20 minutes from Palisades and the only time I had been there was golfing on a date once. (I must have been a bad golfer because my boyfriend only took me once.) We are for sure going back.

Swimming lessons

Megan finished her swimming lessons today. She swims like a fish. It is totally worth it to go stand in line at 5 am in the freezing rain to get signed up for lessons at Shinsel's Pool. They really do a great job. I enjoyed having an hour to sit and talk to my friend's while I watched Megan swim of course! ;)

Sending Becca on Trek.

I was so excited for Becca to have the opportunity to go to Trek. She was even excited once she realized that her clothes weren't any uglier than anyone elses. I couldn't get to sleep the night before she left. I was worried that I would forget to send something that she would need. She gets home tomorrow and I can't wait to hear about all of her experiences. Here are some cute pictures of she and her friends getting ready to leave for their great adventure.