What's Happenin' at the Roost...

Vacation Day ONE/TWO

2011-08-12T06:21:00.001-06:00

Okay okay, I realize that I have been very laxed in updating my blog lately and I apologize for that. It's been a busy busy summer.

So, on April 30, 2011 Alex graduated from Snow College. About one hour later we were out the door and on our way to California for our cruise. We got about an hour or so into the drive and it became a blizzard. Kotah had been driving so we made him pull over and let Kelly have the wheel. Eventually, we drove out of that storm and into some sunny skies. When it seemed like we have been driving forever, we drove up on Vegas. We hadn't been to Vegas since the kids were tiny. The last time we were there it was more family friendly and the buffets were good priced so we decided that we would try to find a buffet to eat at for dinner. BOY... has Vegas changed! We couldn't get off the strip due to the traffic and Kotah had to close his eyes the whole time due to the porn that was so openly displayed everywhere. When we got to a buffet [we stopped at Circus Circus] we learned that the buffets had raised their prices too... they were now around $16.00 a person! Egads... for a BUFFET ??!! Well, we promptly walked out and found the closest fast food place; I think it was a Taco Time and grabbed a quick bite. Then we made the rest of our drive for the day, ending in Barstow. It was so nice to get to a bed and sleep after all that. Early the next morning, we were up and showered, had our breakfast and were ready to get to our boat. We made the drive from Barstow to Long Beach and on to our port. By the time we reached Long Beach, we were all getting pretty excited to get on our boat. We got our car parked in the garage and then headed over to homeland security checks. The line was horrendously LONG but seriously, for all that we had to do while in that line, it did not really take long at all to get thru it and to the boat. I think it was maybe an hour at the very most. We had to go thru a beeper thingy, have our bags checked, show our birth certificates[or passports] for each person; they made sure we were really who we said we were by comparing our licenses and B.C.'s and we got our sign and sail card that was also the key to our room and would be our way back onto the boat after we got done in Mexico each time. Once that was all done, we got into another line and those who were checking in their luggage did that and those who chose to carry on their luggage continued on to where we took pictures and finally got to walk across that incredibly LONG over the ocean bridge.[Nope... I did NOT enjoy it, especially when Kotah jumped up and down to make it shake.] Ah, but getting on the boat was almost magical. I had dreamed of going on a cruise since I was a kid and Love Boat was a big hit on TV. I never dreamed I would actually go on one!
The boat was HUGE! We took our luggage to our cabin, then went for our first meal... Lunch!
Shortly after lunch, we had to go to our mustard stations to learn what to do if the ship was sinking... that's all I needed to hear before starting a long journey on the ocean. ha ha...
We just enjoyed walking around familiarizing ourselves with the boat and all it had to offer until dinner time.
We had friends who met us and went on the cruise with us... The Cope Family. We have been friends for along time now and it was fun to go on this cruise together. They had just been on a cruise a few weeks before so they showed us the ropes. The boat had so much to offer. There was putt putt golf on top, water slides, swimming pools, hot tubs, a movie screen that showed family movies each night out on deck under the stars, broadway type musical shows each night, karaoke, comedy shows[they had both family and adult shows, so we chose to go to the family show], Trivia contests, stores to shop in and FOOD FOOD FOOD... all the food you could eat! Ice Cream 24 hours a day! Pizza 24 hours a day! Hot Cocoa 24 hours a day![all of which made Kotah's cruise even better lol]
The sunset was beautiful over the ocean and so it was hard to leave it to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was AMAZING! The food was great and they even had vegetarian selections for Alex. The Melting Chocolate cake was to die for and so I had it almost every night for dessert. Our waiters were so kind and so helpful. Over the course of the week, they got to know our likes and dislikes and had things ready when we got to the table, such as Kotah was in LOVE with the lemonade on the boat so they had him a glass of it every night as well as his hot cocoa with dessert. They knew which salad and salad dressing we would like each night; all the little things like that. It was amazing... I just know they must have been taking notes in some little notebook they had hidden away.
After dinner the first night, we went to the broadway musical show. It was fun. Then we were starting to get tired so we made it back to the cabin... well, Kelly, Alex and I did, Kotah had found a group of friends by then that he had met at the 15-17 year old club and so he and Austin[our friend's son] went to hang out with them.
Somewhere around dinner time when we had been at sea for probably a few hours, Alex and Kelly discovered they were getting sea sick and couldn't stand up very well. So, out came the motion sickness pills... they would become a mainstay of their diet for the next seven days.
*Note- motion sickness pills make you sleepy.*
Oh, a couple of other AMAZING things... the PILLOWS [seriously to die for comfort] and the FRIENDLINESS of the whole crew.
Now to some pics... and hopefully tomorrow I will get around to posting about day THREE.

We're in Barstow!

Kotah is READY to get back on the road!

Alex and Kotah take a moment to pose with the

Queen Mary behind them.

FINALLY in line... look how incredibly long it is.

Not sure if I wanted my pic taken or not... I was

more concerned about making sure all our paperwork

was there, in order and ready to go.

Almost on board... just a quick pic first.

Just before we crossed that terribly long bridge across the ocean to

our boat.

See how long it was. You can't see all of it in this

picture. We were in that dome building for all our

security stuff.

Me and Shelly, while we waited for the ship to sail.

Look how small Alex looks!

Watching as we set sail.

Kelly enjoying the mustard station drills...

maybe a little too much. ha ha

Alex showing off her cool bed that came

out of the ceiling. Our room was actually

bigger than it looks in this picture. It was hard to

get a good pic of it.

Look how pretty that sunset is.

We wondered where we lost these two to, they just couldn't

resist a last look at the sunset before dinner.

At dinner this pirate came around and took pictures with everyone.

I love Kotah's face! ha ha

Kotah is Ordained an Elder

2011-06-22T05:33:00.001-06:00

On the day after Graduation, Kotah was ordained an Elder. When he was being interviewed for his Seminary Graduation, the Bishop asked him if he wanted to just make that his first interview for becoming an Elder. Of course, he said Yes! As soon as he turned 18 and we got home from vacation, he went in for his interview with the Stake. He was so so excited about it. When Don and Velda came down for his Graduation he wanted them to stay until that Sunday for him to be ordained but they couldn't and they wouldn't be able to come down again in the next week or two so they wondered if we could get permission from the Stake to ordain him on Friday before they headed back home. So, the Stake was so nice to let us do just that. He was ordained May 27, 2011 to the office of Elder. Kelly ordained him and Don, our High Councilman and a member of our Bishopric took part. It was a neat experience for us. He was blessed with many neat things and told if he would stay worthy that he would be able to work miracles thru his hands.
That Sunday, he started attending the Young Single Adult Ward with Alex. He absolutely loves it. The Stake President was in our Ward visiting and he happened to ask Kelly how Kotah was doing and while they were talking it came up about Kotah and becoming an Elder and Kelly told him that he thought Kotah was more excited about that than Graduating High School. He thought that was pretty cool.
About a week later, he called and asked to speak to Kotah and Kotah wasn't available at that time so Kelly said he would have him call back. When Kelly told Kotah that the Stake President wanted to speak to him, he was a bit scared trying to figure out if he had done something wrong he didn't know about... ha ha
The Stake President asked him to speak/bare his testimony in the Stake Priesthood Meeting that week. Kotah was happy to do so. Kelly said he did really really well, and that his testimony was awesome.
The Stake President based part of his talk on Kotah's talk and testimony. Oh... and he told them that he didn't know if he was going to embarrass Kotah or not, but that he had heard that he was more excited about being ordained an Elder than graduating High School. Kotah laughed and said, no it's true I was.
Since that time, Kotah has been able to take part in his first blessing. I was feeling sick about a week ago and so he helped Kel give me a blessing. He was so nervous! Afterward, he said it was amazing how strong the spirit was while he was doing his part.
I am so proud of this boy... turned into spiritual man. He is so excited for a mission. He can hardly wait until January when he can put his papers in.
I am thankful daily for the kids I have been blessed with.

Kotah The Graduate

2011-06-14T17:04:00.003-06:00

Well, he did it... he GRADUATED from High School. Did I cry... Yes I did. Although, not as much as I did at his Seminary Graduation. I bawled at both of my kids Seminary Graduations and at Alex's High School Graduation I teared up a bit, but then at Kotah's Graduation, the tears streamed down my cheek more readily, as I came to the realization that this was my baby. I would no longer go to parent teacher conferences, no more sporting events, or school productions that involved one of my children. To have had children who were so VERY INVOLVED in their High School, it will be BIG change to no longer have that. I will miss the days of Cheer and cheer camp, Track Meets, Football games, School plays, Parades, Homecoming Week and the myriad of other things my kids were involved in, but I do, however, look forward to the new adventures they will be taking us on along their path of growth.

Yes, I will miss the days of childhood. It was a special time for me as a mom, but I realize it is time for a new phase to begin and I look forward with faith that we will continue to grow together as a family and that our love for one another will continue to become deeper and more eternal as we do so. In the end that's what this life is all about... learning to love more deeply and having experiences that help us to become more like our Savior, preparing us to go back home to live with Him and The Father.

Processional

Getting his Diploma

Hugging

I put these two hugging pics in to represent that he hugged

EVERYONE as he went down that line. We overheard

this guy behind us say: "look at that kid hugging everyone."

Alex turned around and said, "that's my brother, he's a hugger."

He was the only kid who hugged everyone, the rest just shook

their hands. But, that is just one of the reasons we love Kotah...

his unconditional, LOVING kindness.

With Grandma and Grandpa Hancock

With his little big sister. They are the best

of friends. I love that they are such good

friends to one another.

Just with the parentals... that face cracks me up.

Kotah with one of his most favorite people EVER!

He loves and admires this man so much. Thank you

Brenan for being such a good influence in his life and

most of all for loving him.

Had to put this one in... GREAT jump boys!

ha ha ha... love these boys.

That's my boy...

Kotah Seminary Graduation

2011-06-03T16:14:00.000-06:00

I am probably more proud of Kotah for graduating from Seminary than I am his graduating from High School. He has grown into such a spiritual young man and I know that Seminary has helped him in becoming such a good man who has strong desires to serve the Lord. He can hardly wait until he can serve his mission. I love when I pass his bedroom and peek in to see him reading his scriptures or saying a prayer. It makes my heart smile. I am so thankful to have this boy in my life and to have had the blessing of being his mom. He has taught me so much about unconditional love. He has one of the kindest most noble hearts of anyone I know and I am thankful for that. I know he will make a big difference in the lives of many as he remains worthy and faithful.
He had amazing Seminary teachers and I am thankful for their influence in his life. He also got all 100 Scripture Masteries this year. :) And then, he proceeded to help everyone else get theirs. I just love his spirit of love and helping others to do and be their best.
Well, enough about how wonderful my kid is... here are some pics from that night.

This is Kotah with his friend BJ with their dads, but the cool thing about

this picture is that Kelly and BJ's dad were roommates in

college and both their sons were graduating this year, together.

This is us with the Jackson family. Kotah and Braden have gone

to school together since 6th grade and Braden's dad, Brenan was Kotah's

Little League Football Coach and he has been a HUGE influence in

Kotah's life. I think he may be one of Kotah's biggest fans too. lol

We absolutely love their whole family and are so thankful to

have them as friends.

With the family

SOOOOOOOOO BEHIND!!!!

2011-06-03T15:56:00.002-06:00

Wow, I am so so behind on everything. Since I last wrote, Alex graduated from Snow, we went on our vacation, Kotah graduated Seminary and from High School and he got ordained an Elder, and then we started getting the building ready for pageant and costuming. So, I will post pics from all those events.... probably in different posts. I posted pics from Alex's Institute Graduation in the Easter post so we will start with her Graduation from Snow College in this one...

All Smiles...

Graduating Cum Laude

With the Grandparents

With the family

Easter... and other thoughts

2011-04-25T15:06:00.001-06:00

Well, it was a nice weekend but I started the first of the crying moments to occur this next month last night.
After we did Easter in Tooele, we came back home and attended Alex's Institute Graduation. Out came the waterworks. They will return, I am sure, on Saturday when she graduates from Snow College. Next, will come Kotah's graduation from Seminary and then his High School Graduation. EGADS... they can't do this to a mom... it's just NOT fair! My babies are all grown up and soon I will have that empty nest thing going on. I am not sure what to do without my kids here all the time. I am so thankful that I have the summer with them and that Kotah has chosen to stay here and go to Snow next year before his mission.

Here's a couple of pics from Easter and then of Alex at Institute Graduation and then one of her and Kotah in their Graduation gowns.

The Grandkids minus Kent; who is on a mission.

Getting ready to run... Easter hunt.

Alex/ Institute Graduation

Alex with us after Institute Graduation

The kids in their Graduation Gowns...

Someone needs our HELP!

2011-04-15T19:32:00.000-06:00

As a skin cancer survivor myself, and Alex being a big proponent of Skin Cancer Prevention and Awareness I thought I needed to share this with you. I came across this blog raising funds for a 19 year old girl fighting Stage IV Melanoma. Her treatments are very very costly and so her friends and family have set up this blog to sell some really fun stuff and all of the proceeds go straight to helping her family with financial costs. I have posted a button to the side of my blog so you can easily go and visit this blog and give what support you can. They not only need people to buy stuff, they also could use contributors to the boutique.

Thanks in advance for visiting her site and any help you can give to this worthy cause.

To check out this boutique click on the link below or the button to the right side of my blog:

Can't Kick this Chick Boutique

**REMEMBER: HELPING OTHERS IS SWEET!**

Here's where I find my solace...

2011-03-24T16:21:00.000-06:00

2011-03-15T03:09:00.000-06:00

So, tonight, I am feeling a bit down. We paid for our cruise with an inheritance we got and tax return. We thought we would be getting enough business in to pay for the extras such as our gas out to California, eating on the way out, souvenirs etc... well, now business has slowed down and we are not having enough come in to pay the bills much less the trip extras. I am freaked out about it all. I don't know how it's going to happen... but the cruise is all paid for and it's past time we can get the money back so now I have to figure out what to do.
I have two kids graduating and the costs involved with that, Kotah needs new track spikes and he needs them yesterday. It's time to pay for graduation announcements and cap and gown and stuff like that. Oh and our TV went out last night and a client who had ordered a big job canceled. Why does everything come at once?

Don't get me wrong, I know I am not short on blessings. I have wonderful kids who are doing awesome things and they put the Lord first in their lives. I don't have a car payment. We have down sized a lot. I have great friends and family who love me. I have the gospel in my life. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know He hears my prayers, even when I can't figure out what the answer is that He is giving.

I just don't know how to remedy our situation... we have never been in quite this bad a situation before. Two years ago, Kelly was laid off due to the economy and he was never brought back in to work. He began to do his artwork freelance and has been doing that since. BUT... we had unemployment to help out when it was slow. We haven't had the unemployment now, for the past 4 or so months and it's been really hard to make ends meet. Kelly has applied to work at Wal-mart part time but they haven't called and there really isn't much more to do in this small town as far as work.

I don't usually like to put our problems out there but tonight I am just broken hearted and needed to get it off my chest. I don't want to tell my children the wonderful vacation we planned isn't going to happen and I don't want to tell them, I can't pay for a cap and gown, or that we may not have the basics of life much longer. We lived on our food storage when this all happened and haven't been able to replenish it yet, so we don't have that to help. I don't want to tell my son, I don't have anything for dinner... I just think of all the things that need to be paid and done to keep a household running and I don't see how we can do it with what we are bringing in now. And I feel like a horrible wife because Kelly thinks I don't have any faith in him or his ability to bring in money, because I asked him how we can do this without him having a guaranteed income and because I am so worried about it all. He doesn't want me to work outside the home, because we still have Kotah at home and so when I mention me going to work, he gets upset at me. I just feel like he is trying to make a business so I should go out and work to help us out right now. I just feel like a failure as a wife and as a mother. I am supposed to be able to take care of my kids and their needs. This is not how I envisioned my life... not even close. I can only hope that I am up to the challenge and that I will grow from all this and be a better person for it.

Well, whoever reads this, thanks for listening... and allowing me to vent. When I am feeling down, it helps me to get it out by writing.

I will continue to pray and I will try to have faith that something good will eventually come along and we will be able to take care of our family better.

It's about TIME... time for some FAMILY TIME

2011-02-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

Alex graduates from Snow College in April and Kotah graduates from High School in May. Alex's Birthday is May 17th and Kotah's Birthday is May 5th. The last time we took a FAMILY VACATION was when Alex was 8 and Kotah was 6. We figured it was about time we took another one; so in CELEBRATION of both of their GRADUATIONS and BIRTHDAYS we are taking a 7 DAY MEXICAN RIVIERA CRUISE! This is our GIFT to them... well, and to us too. We don't know if we will ever be able to take a vacation with just the four of us again, with them both getting older. The next time will probably include spouses.

We told our dear friends that we were going on a cruise and they should come too and celebrate with us. To our surprise, they said they would! They booked it and are going to be just three doors down from our cabin. We are so so excited! It's going to be so FUN!

We SET SAIL May 1st :)

p.s. The picture above is of the ship we will be sailing on.

She's made a Decision...

2011-02-24T17:34:00.001-07:00

Alex has made her decision. She will be going to Southern Utah University.

For as long as I can remember... since she was just a little girl, she has wanted to and planned on going to the University of Utah. She does still plan on going there for Medical School. She has put ALOT of prayer into this and as much as she wants to go to the U, she said that SUU keeps coming up in her mind and programs have presented themselves... she really feels like she is supposed to be there. She has applied to a program called Rural Health Scholars which would help her prepare to get into Medical School. We have our fingers crossed that she gets accepted into the program. She is already accepted at SUU and has applied for scholarships... keeping our fingers crossed on that too.

As a mom, I hate that she is going so far away... I know it's only like 2 hours and 45 minutes away BUT... I've had her like 8 BLOCKS away for the past two years. I have enjoyed being able to have her come for Sunday dinner and seeing her during the week sometimes. She has put a lot of thought into it and has prayed about it though. She knows she should be there for whatever reason and I as her mother have to accept that and put my trust in her and the choice she has made. BUT... that doesn't mean I won't miss her TERRIBLY!

We add to our list of teams to CHEER for... Go Thunderbirds!

When you get THREE FEET of SNOW...

2011-02-24T04:42:00.003-07:00

You gotta do something with it! So, Kelly and the kids decided to build a snow sculpture. I came up with the idea to do a Mr. Potato Head. They started around 1:00pm and worked well into the dark to get him almost complete. The next day they added his extra arm and ear laying on the ground next to him, and then they went to work on the little aliens [if you've seen Toy Story, you know what I'm talking about]. We had so many cars driving by and stopping to take pictures! Kelly dug out some spotlights and hooked them up so the passers by could see them better at night. I think it was just as fun for us to see people stopping as it was for those doing the stopping.
After it warmed up a bit and Mr. Potato Head started to melt, Kelly carved him into Shrek and then it got so cold again that it froze and so we had Mr. Potato Head for a couple of weeks and then Shrek for another week or two. Kelly and the kids are already working on ideas of what to build next year if we get a good snow like this one. We have snow on our lawn for a big part of the year, so was nice to have something fun to look at! Here are some FUN pictures:

Starting a pile to carve out of...

Look how tall it's getting...

Into the night they worked...

Finished for the day

Starting on the aliens...

Stopping for a quick picture...

Aren't they cute?

Can you see the extra arm and ear laying on the ground by Mr. Potato Head.

The aliens at night...

I wish this was a better picture, but you get the idea...

Kelly and Alex with Shrek...

Fun With Kotah

2011-02-24T03:24:00.001-07:00

Kotah always enjoys the SNOW. We can always talk him into doing some silly stuff, and as you will see, he can sometimes talk us into doing some silly things too.

He let Kelly cover him up to his neck in snow and he only had on shorts and a T-Shirt. We had just gotten about 3 feet of snow thru out the day.

Ha Ha Ha...

Here he is diving into the snow!

This is what I mean by Kotah talking us into silly things... he made us all see how long we could stand barefoot in the snow. He won, I came in 2nd, Alex 3rd and Kelly last. Oh the crazy things...

Don't you just love Kel's face...

BOARDING... A FAVORITE WINTERTIME ACTIVITY

2011-02-24T02:01:00.001-07:00

So, I couldn't get past Winter without posting some fun Boarding pictures!

Alex, Kotah and a friend of theirs after a day of boarding in Fairview Canyon

Alex and Kotah on Christmas Day in Fairview Canyon.

Sweet Jump

2011-02-23T22:51:00.008-07:00

I know that it's been a LONG time since I posted! I am sorry about that. I guess it was an emotional time as well as a busy time the past few months. Since I last wrote, Kotah finished up football season and is now onto the next thing. He's been Snowboarding and Rock Climbing on the rock wall over at the College. He is winding down his Senior year and I sure will miss the High School days. He is taking Missionary Prep classes on Sunday evenings and loving them. He will go to one year at Snow and then he will go on his mission. Alex is finishing up at Snow College and is making decisions about the next school she attends. She's done another pageant and came in 4th overall... TOP 5 isn't too bad [all the girls who got higher than her had been to Miss Utah at least once or twice each]. She says that was her last pageant... we'll see, she's said that before. Although, she is now getting more and more focused on her education and career goals.

Here's a few... okay ALOT of pictures...

Grandma and Grandpa came and did an AWESOME dutch oven dinner for the Football Team Dinner.
Grandma made friends with all the players. EVERYONE LOVED the FOOD!!!

Homecoming and Senior Night were the same night. Kotah was one of the Captains #54

Kotah with Kel and I when they were announcing the Seniors and honoring them.

#54... that's my boy!

If you ask Kotah who his football coach is... this would be the man he would tell you about. This was his little league football coach. His sons have played with Kotah for all 7 years of football. This man made a huge difference in Kotah's life and Kotah loves him so much. He was a fair and honest coach who rewarded the boys for all their hard work. He and his family have become very dear to us over the years.

This picture has a story... it tells just what kind of person Dakotah really is... he has the kindest heart of anyone I know. The other kid in this picture is a year younger than Kotah and he is a favorite of the defensive coach. Well, you know how that goes; he ended up with Kotah's starting position(Kotah was the starter last year for JV and was set to be the starter in that position this year for Varsity). Rather than hold it against that kid; like most of us would tend to do, Kotah instead, helped this kid to be better at the position. We would see him on the sidelines coaching this kid... every single game. Kotah never held any malice for this kid... he just loved him. This picture was taken the last home game of the season. We caught them walking off the field together. What a sight for a parent to see. I think that even more than seeing my kid play football; this is the kind of thing I love to see my kid doing.

~John 13:34~

P.S. He did have a starting position this year on Kick Off Team. He just would have loved to play starting Defensive End one last year.

Kotah's Homecoming Date group... some GREAT kids!

Kotah and his Homecoming Date

Alex did Miss Castle Valley in early November. She came in 4th place. She did so good. The girls who came in above her had all been to Miss Utah at least once or twice, so she felt really good about her finish.

Opening Number/Miss Castle Valley

Talent/Miss Castle Valley

Evening Gown/Miss Castle Valley

Some of our dearest friends; the Cope Family, came to watch and

support Alex. It was so fun to have them there.

In November, I believe it was... Alex and a couple others joined

a hip hop dance competition and they came in 2nd!!! Yay! They did

so good. It was fun to watch them.

Ford Reeder

2010-10-26T22:02:00.000-06:00

One of my dearest friends in all the world has passed away. He fought colon cancer for over 11 years without going into remission. He fought valiantly and with great faith and all along his family fought with him... bringing more awareness to this horrible killer. Please keep them in your prayers. If you recall awhile back I posted a picture of his family and asked you to donate to his fund at Wells Fargo Bank Donations account. I ask now, that you once again donate if you can, but most of all I ask that you keep this dear family in your prayers.

Before he passed, he was able to see the last of his children get married on the 15th. What a bittersweet time... for everyone.

He was an amazing man who had so much love to give to everyone. He lifted others with his kind and loving heart. He was always there with an ear to listen and an arm to give a hug. He was very giving to anyone in need. He was a shining example of Christ like love, in every sense of the word.

I am so thankful to he and Dianne for saving my life, as it were, so many years ago when they wouldn't give up on me and they helped me find my way back to the Church; back home and then invited me into their family, as if I were their own. I will never forget all that he's done for me and all the examples he and Dianne and their family have set for me. I love them all so much. They really are my family.

I love you all, Reeder Family!

Jenkins - Soffe Funeral Homes & Cremation Center: Obituaries

Look at this handsome young man

2010-09-02T02:09:00.001-06:00

His yearbook photo/it's a rule this year, they have to be in a tux

or a suit with tie. They provided the tux for the photo.

Kotah has taught himself to read music in the past year and has taught himself to

play the piano, the uke and the guitar. It's really come to him pretty easy. Didn't know

he had this hidden talent.

This is my favorite photo.

This is Kelly's favorite photo out of the pics.

Here is the shot with all the activities he enjoys... actually there should also be

included; his guitar, keyboard, and bike... he enjoys lots of things.

Back to School

2010-08-23T20:58:00.000-06:00

I admit it, I am SAD that my kidlets are back in school! I absolutely LOVE having them around! They are amazing people and I learn so much from them. They bring Kelly and I such JOY! We are having to get used to this new phase in our life... having to let go. Alex is a Sophomore in College this year and so we only have a year before she leaves town to go to the big city to the University of Utah. Kotah is a Senior this year... our High School years are nearly over! Oh, how fun they have been!

Alex in her new bedroom in her new apartment

First Football game of his Senior year against ALA

He was going for the sack here. #54 in Red and Black.

We won 37-0

That's my boy!

School Song after the game.

Duty to God Award

2010-08-04T13:55:00.000-06:00

Pretty proud of my son, so I just had to share. This past Sunday he got his final Duty to God Award... the one for the Priests. He also got the Award for doing all three; Deacon, Teacher and Priest... the BIG Award. He is the only one in our Ward who has done all three, so it was pretty neat to see him get that. He has also gotten a tie tack for each one that says Duty to God on them. His persistence in working towards these awards has inspired our Bishop and Young Men's leaders to start working on getting the other boys to get theirs now.

It was time consuming, and also lots of hours of service, all done while holding a busy High School schedule, but all the growth he got from it far outweighs the time it took to earn them.

** On a side note, the girls can get their Young Woman's Recognition Award by 8th Grade if they are working hard (Alex got hers at the beginning of 8th Grade) but the boys cannot get their Duty to God for deacon, teacher or priest until they are actually a deacon, teacher or priest AND they can't get them until they are in their second year of each due to some of the requirements such as give talks each year... you can't give the talks all in one year and then just count them for both. So, while the girls can get to High School and not have to worry with fitting it into their busy schedules... the boys are not allowed that luxury. They have to earn it while doing all of the busy stuff they are doing in High School too. I admire these Youth of today for all that they are doing and for their desires to work on such worthy causes! So thankful for the Young Women's Personal Progress Program and for the Duty to God Program! **

See Kelly and Kotah on the news! Remember to turn off my music at the bottom of the page!

2010-06-19T02:30:00.002-06:00

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

This is what our family does in the summer, come and see:

2010-06-19T02:21:00.002-06:00

It's time to SHOW we CARE!!!

2010-06-05T14:01:00.005-06:00

Ford and Dianne, most AMAZING people and best set of 2nd Parents EVER!

Okay, everyone, you have always helped when I have come calling for support of different things... well, this one is VERY dear to my heart and so I come calling once again, to ask you to help one of the most AMAZING families I have ever had the opportunity to be friends with. This man is one of the most amazing men I know and has been fighting cancer for 10 1/2 years now. He has fought hard and has been such an inspiration thru it all. He has recently been told there is nothing more the doctors can do for him and he is in alot of pain and unable to work. His bills are quite costly so his children have set up an account at Wells Fargo Banks. Please go to this link and read the information provided and PLEASE make a donation to help their cause, even if it's just a little one. **FORD REEDER YOU ARE AN AMAZING MAN! Thank you so very much for the examples you have set for me. REEDER FAMILY... I hope you know by now, just how much I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!**

Here is a link to their facebook page explaining everything. There is an account set up called "Ford Reeder Donation", so you can go to any Wells Fargo Bank and donate to that account! Thanks Friends!

One SUPER AMAZING FAMILY!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=102408846474391

" Dad, you can't let the lady with the stroller beat you!"

2010-03-29T01:05:00.002-06:00

Alex was going to run a 5K at Snow on Saturday and couldn't get over to register herself due to football practice so Kelly went over to get her registered and when he went to get her school ID (so she could register for free), she tried to talk him into doing it with her. Well, he came back home, walked in the door and stated... "well, I've done it; I traded in my coke money for an entry in the race (it only cost 2 dollars...lol). So, at noon he and Alex ran the race. Kelly figured he would come in last and just hoped he would even finish, after all these years of riding a bike rather than running in races. Kotah rode his bike along side him to make sure that he was okay and was his inspirational heckler... "Dad, you can't let the lady with the stroller beat you!" He kept him moving and in the end, Kelly did a fine job and he didn't come in last, in fact, he even BEAT some COLLEGE KIDS! I say for a 41 year old man, that's AWESOME! It was a much better use of his coke money. He is paying the price a bit today, of course, but not as bad as we thought he would.
Here's a few pics from the day.

Before the race started

Yes... PROOF they SURVIVED and FINISHED! Kelly only finished about 9 or 10 minutes behind Alex. GO KELLY!

Kelly and his helper... they let Kotah have a shirt too, because he helped Kelly with the race.

Official Prom pics are here!

2010-03-22T02:04:00.000-06:00

Kotah and Marie

Kotah's date group

My boy

"Forever for Tonight" (Junior Prom/March 6, 2010)

2010-03-10T01:46:00.009-07:00

***Warning: Long post... lots of pictures... but so worth the read!***

Kotah had his Junior Prom on Saturday night. Talk about make a mother nervous! You know, there is the all day date and then they stay out late after... and my anxiety runs wild! Will he be safe? Will the other drivers on the road be safe? And will he have enough money to cover everything? You might not realize it but there is a lot of money that goes into these things... especially Junior Prom!

So, for their day date, the others in Kotah's group went out of town to Denny's for breakfast but we asked Kotah not to leave town so he took his date for pizza for lunch and then they met back up with the group at Wal-Mart to buy supplies to make tie dyed t-shirts and then went to one of the boys houses to do that. Later, they headed over to the High School where there were activities for the kids to do who wanted to stay in town rather than leaving town for the day. (The school is trying to get the kids to stay closer to home for their dates, rather than being out on the highways). Around 4:30 or 5:00 they took the girls to eat at Stockman's (a nice restaurant in town). After they had a nice dinner they took the girls home to get ready for the dance and came to home to get ready themselves. They picked up the girls about 7:45 and headed over to the High School so they could get lined up for Promenade. The Juniors do Promenade. They are announced and the boys escort their dance partner out and then they do a dance. It's all very neat. I had never seen this until Alex was a Junior; my High School did not do a Promenade dance at our Prom. After the Promenade dance, they announce the Prom Royalty and then they have the mother/son-father/daughter dance. Kelly had his turn 2 years ago with Alex and this year it was my turn to dance with Dakotah. He was having lots of fun and danced me all over that floor so he could tell all his buds good job at the dance. We got him and his group to let us take a few pictures before it was time for the parents to get out of there and let them get back to their dance. After the Prom was over, the local theater had a special showing of the new movie "Alice in Wonderland" just for the High School kids, so Kotah and his group went to that and then took their dates home.

Kotah drove one of the boys in his group and his date home and then had to take his date home. Alex and Kelly wanted to follow him to see if he gave his date a goodnight kiss (so they did... ha ha) but like the good boy he is he did NOT give her a kiss... just a nice hug. He figured out that he had been followed when we did not make it home before him... lol. He wasn't mad... after all, he's picked on Alex on plenty of her dates. He said he is too chicken to try to kiss a girl. I am fine with that...

Oh, in the midst of the night, he lost his phone (it fell out, outside the theater) and so he looked at the theater and outside our house and then he and Kelly went back to the theater and looked again. It was supposed to be snowing that night and thankfully the weather was stayed until probably a couple of hours after Kotah was home safely tucked into bed. Sunday, after church, I got a text from a girl that graduated with Alex and she had been at the theater that night and she had found his phone. THANK GOODNESS! Phones don't come cheap. She gave it to one of the teachers at the High School to give to Kotah on Monday. It had not been out in that snow all night and it had not been run over and crunched... such a blessing. The whole night turned out great and Kotah had a magical Junior Prom. It was all that he had dreamed it would be and that's just as it should be.

Tux-$125.00

Corsage-$20.00

Pictures(couple & group)-$44.00

Tickets to the Dance-$20.00

Lunch-$20.00

Tie Dye T-Shirts-$10.00

Dinner-$26.00

Gas to drive all around-$10.00

Movie after Prom-$12.00

Tickets for Kel, Alex & I to attend Promenade-$18.00

*Getting to capture these memories with my son: PRICELESS!*

Kotah escorting his dance partner...

Kotah was so funny, he bent down and picked up her dress

right in the middle of them being announced. He was so

worried about her dress getting stepped on.

Couldn't leave out this pic... he is saying "take the pic already!"

Promenade

They got to do a lift during the dance... so cool.

Mother/Son dance... see he's being silly... so Kotah.

Three of the five couples in Kotah's group wore yellow.

Yellow seemed to be a big color this year.

Kotah and his friend Braden, with their dates. Kotah

and Braden have played football together since 6th Grade.

Kotah and his group minus one couple who we couldn't find at the time of this picture.

Kotah and Marie dancing

I think this is my favorite, it's so CUTE! And

so spontaneous!

*You do not find the happy life, you make it.*

~Camilla Eyring Kimball~

Sweet Sweet Valentine's Day

2010-03-05T06:08:00.001-07:00

A day commonly known, as Valentine's day or as the teenagers call it, Singles Awareness Day... but nonetheless a day to celebrate a love for someone in our lives. I love this holiday because I can use that opportunity to let those I love know it through little acts of kindness. This year, Kelly bought me a BEAUTIFUL, HUGE frame that you can put a multiple amount of pictures in. He had wanted the Ice Cream maker attachment for our Kitchen Aid Mixer so that is what I got him for his gift. He absolutely loves it and makes some YUMMY ice cream in it! I had wanted to see the new movies, "Valentine's Day" and "When in Rome", so on Saturday, Kelly took me to BOTH! He took me to a matinee to see one and then to the regular showing of the other. I couldn't believe that he took me to TWO chick flicks! What a sweetheart. On Sunday, after Church, we had a nice meal of BBQ Ribs, Twice Baked Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and Salad. It was nice to have all four of us together on Valentine's Day... we celebrated the LOVE we share as a FAMILY! After dinner we took some fun family pictures. One of them is the one I used as our new blog header; I will post some others here. We just had such a fun weekend being together. Kelly and I made the kids up cute little Valentine gift baskets with some candy in them and a couple of shirts, each, from Aeropostale. They loved their shirts and dug right into their candy, so I guess we can assume that we picked good. :)

My beautiful frame I can't wait to fill with pictures! You can't tell but my table is one of those high tables and the frame stands higher than the table.

It's about time to eat!

Yes... we are a silly family!

Alex and I can't do our eyes as good as Kotah can.

I ADORE these three!!!

I am so blessed!

Such cute kids!

It time to give out a PROM invitation...

2010-03-05T05:29:00.002-07:00

Kotah is a Junior this year which means he will be attending the Prom and doing the Promenade. I continue to be intrigued with the whole Promenade thing, because at my High School Prom, we didn't do a Promenade dance and we didn't do Prom Queen and King either. The Juniors are presented and then they do a dance, which I might add... is usually a complicated dance. After the dance, they announce the Prom Royalty and then there is a special dance where the mothers dance with their sons and the fathers dance with their daughters. It's all very surreal... I am just enthralled with the whole idea. Some things about small towns are just so incredible! I'm not quite sure why but here, they have Prom the first part of March... it's STILL SNOWING for pete's sake! Those poor girls freeze in those spring/summer type dresses! That is probably the one thing I would change about this hometown tradition if I could. I would delay Prom until late April or early May. I can still recall the warm starry night of my Prom and how nice it was to wear my new formal gown... and I didn't have to wear a coat and galoshes!

So, Kotah asked a cute girl he's been friends with for quite sometime. He is pretty excited about the whole thing. I think I have told you before that they ask each other for dance dates with fun and sometimes elaborate ways and they answer back in the same way. For his invitation, Kotah got the big thing of ice cream and an ice cream scoop and some chocolate syrup. We made a really cute package out of it, which I totally spaced taking a picture of. :(
In the ice cream we hid his name(we put it in a baggie so that it didn't get wet) and then we attached a cute poem on the package that said:

I scream, you scream, dig through the ice cream
Even though it will be a mess,
I hope your answer will still be yes!
Will you go to Prom with me?

She answered by having a Pepperoni Pizza delivered to Kotah and with the pepperoni they had spelled out YES!
Cute cute cute!

Here is the note we attached to the package.

His name thing in the ice cream

His answer!

Alex and some College Fun...

2010-03-05T04:59:00.001-07:00

Alex has been enjoying college and all the fun activities they have. Just a couple of fun things lately, that they had were an 80's themed dance and a toga themed dance... so they all got to play dress up... Alex dressed up a bit like Madonna/Cyndi Lauper for the 80's dance and then we made her a toga out of a couple of yards of material and we just wrapped it up and around her until we ran out of material. It turned out okay. It was interesting, to say the least, to see just how those college kids think we dressed in the 80's. They had lots of tie-dye... ha ha can we say 70's?! I never wore tie-dye in the 80's. And I think they seriously think that we walked around in leggings with a pair of shorts over them, all the time, or that we lived in exercise gear. Oh and that we never wore our hair any other way than in a side ponytail. What happened to our big hair, big bangs? Ha ha... Kelly and I had a good laugh as we looked at some of the pictures of the kids. Ah... FUN TIMES!

Alex and her roommates at the 80's dance. Alex is 3rd from the left.

Alex just before the Toga dance... she came here and had me help her get into this getup.

Something Different...

2010-03-05T04:24:00.001-07:00

I don't want to say something new because it really isn't new... but it is a different car for us. We got a pontiac grand am used. It runs nice, and has power everything. We are enjoying it. Kotah now drives the black car... well unless there are two feet of snow on the road, such as today. UGH... I hate these storms that take you sort of by surprise... you know the weather man says light snow mixed with rain but instead you get a sudden almost BLIZZARD and within minutes you can't see the road in front of you and within a half hour you have at least 6 1/2 inches on the lawn, only to watch it continue to grow through the night until there's at least a foot and sometimes two. But, I digress... back to our something different.

Yes... that is lawn you see... it's been covered in snow since about early November... but, alas it was only free of snow for about a week and a half before today when it once again got covered in white. Anyway, the reason for this post... our car.

Saying goodbye to family is so hard...

2010-03-05T03:38:00.001-07:00

Our nephew Kent, left to go on his mission on the 3rd of February. He had his Farewell on January 31st. Before he left, he and April and Guy came down and we all did a session at the Manti Temple together. It was so so nice. They stayed the night before and we had a nice visit, just hanging out and playing games, and the kids were glad to have the time to visit with Kent before he left for two years.

April, Guy, Kent and Kel and I

Kent did AWESOME in his Farewell talk and I know he is going to be an amazing missionary and will serve his Father in Heaven well. He is going to the Vera Cruz Mexico Mission, although right now he is still in the MTC learning to speak Spanish.

We will really miss Kent and his smiling face at the Family Parties for the next two years, but we are so so proud of his decision to serve.

Kotah, Kent and Alex pose for a quick picture at the dinner after his farewell.

Making a change...

2010-01-20T19:40:00.001-07:00

In the past month, my body has been telling me in a variety of ways, that it does NOT enjoy soda pop.
So, Kelly who drinks it much more than I do, has decided to go along with me on the journey to get off of the pop.
We are easing our way into more water and juice than pop. I am finding it relatively easy, as my body is feeling so much better without it, but Kelly is having a harder time of it. We will work thru this together; just as we do everything else and we will be all the better for it! Sometimes, I think we could all take an example from our children in various things... and this is something we can take from our health conscious children; they rarely have pop and they drink LOTS of WATER.
So... here's to MAKING A CHANGE...

All it takes is a bit of CREATIVITY

2010-01-06T05:39:00.001-07:00

There is a place the local kids call Little Hill. It's just in town out past the Elk Farm and Kotah and his buds will go there after school and on days when the snow won't allow for going up Fairview Canyon. They have a good enough time and they can practice their jumps... so it works.

See what I mean... creativity.

Working on jumps

If you get bored, why not jump over your friends? lol

Time to Ring in the New Year...

2010-01-06T05:27:00.000-07:00

On New Year's Eve Day we went up Fairview again for part of the afternoon, boardin'. And then later, had Pizza, and played games and then at Midnight, Alex and Kotah got pans and ran around outside and banged them together to ring in the New Year. Then we toasted with some Sparkling Cider, before returning to our game.

Kotah

Alex

Kotah

Ha Ha Ha... our kids

Christmas Day Boardin'

2010-01-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

We like to go up Fairview Canyon, as many of the locals here do; it's close, it's fun and it's free!

Kotah and Alex on the way up

Mom, enough with the pictures already, we wanna

get boardin'!

Just one more with Dad

Alex coming down the hill

Kelly catchin' some air

Kotah in the middle of a jump

Alex taking a quick break

Kotah

A Visit from St. Nick

2010-01-06T04:48:00.000-07:00

Santa delivered a few nice little gifts for everyone. Alex wanted these slipper boots and a new straightener. Kotah has wanted a keyboard for like a year now. He has taught himself how to read music and to play the piano. He loves this thing... now he can practice LOTS! He knows some hymns and actually takes a turn playing for priesthood at Church. It's amazing how fast he learned... and that he taught himself! Kelly wanted a new Wacom Tablet(used with his computer so he can actually draw... it has a pen instead of a mouse) because his was getting old. He loves it! I didn't have anything special on my list and ended up with a movie and a new Christmas book. After we had some breakfast and a nap... we got ready and headed out to Fairview Canyon to go Snow Boarding... it's become tradition to go on Christmas day... but that is another post.

Alex's new slipper boots and hair straightener.

Kotah's new keyboard.

Kelly's new Wacom and Stocking

My goodies.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-06T04:20:00.004-07:00

When I was growing up we always spent Christmas Eve with my grandparents and had a nice dinner and then opened gifts from each other up before we went to bed in anticipation of Santa's visit. It was my grandparents Anniversary on Christmas Eve, so I think this may have started in celebration of their anniversary. I brought the tradition to my own family when I got married and had children. Kelly and I also started a tradition when the kids were babies; we give them only three gifts each and that is to represent the gifts the Wise Men brought to the Savior. We wanted them to learn that Christmas was NOT all about them, it was about our Savior and his Birth. It was about learning to be more like Him; learning to love and to give to others. It was more about giving than receiving. Just as a side note, we aren't mean parents... on their own Birthdays they get lots cause that's the appropriate time for them to get more... it is their day. I do believe they have grown into giving people, as they have matured. We do have a few traditions of giving that we do every year and one of them is TOP SECRET... lol. (that would be one they really look forward to). We had a nice Christmas Eve, we finished up a project, ate a nice dinner, opened up some gifts and played a good game of Hand and Foot, before retiring for the night. One other thing we do, sort of, as tradition... we challenge the kids to ONLY spend $10.00 or less on their gift for Kelly and I. They can choose to spend five dollars on each of us or the ten on both of us. We don't care... but they have to meet the challenge. It makes for some FUN, INTERESTING gifts! This year, we got magnetic letters and numbers to put on the fridge, tiny old fashioned video games and plastic animals. Ha ha ha... LOVE IT!!! Last year, they got us a Santa Mr. Potato Head. We get so excited to see what they will come up with! And they have so much fun going together to get something for us. Christmas morning would come early and with it a day of snowboarding so we got to bed fairly early.

Our tree is so so beautiful in person but it

is always so hard to get a picture of it that

does it justice. It has about 1500 white lights on

it this year and the beaded garland is glass and

there are many many glass ornaments on it and a

pretty glass angel sitting on top. I envisioned something

a bit victorian when I started working towards this tree.

It makes me happy when I look at it and really isn't that

what's it's supposed to do.

Alex and Kotah heading out on a TOP SECRET mission.

Opening up our magnetic letters and numbers.

Kotah got a new boarding helmet and goggles... and promptly posed

for this nerdo picture... ha ha

Our plastic animals... I made mine be nice and give each

other a kiss and Kelly made his fight.

A gift from Kel. I LOVE it!

The kids pose for a picture

Kelly being silly in Kotah's new helmet and goggles.

YES... he did play in that helmet and goggles. He lasted

quite awhile before taking them off.

Silly Times

2010-01-06T02:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I really can't recall how it all started but Grandma made a deal with Kotah that if she could crawl between the spaces under her table that he would do breakfast dishes the next day. Well... she DID IT! Then we all had to do it. When Kotah did it, everyone squished the table up right next to the banister so he couldn't get out... ha ha. It was just a silly good time.

Grandma starting her crawl thru.

And she's thru! :)

Grandpa's turn now.

Kelly's turn.

My turn... I can't believe I am actually doing this.

Alex's turn.

And finally... Kotah! Ha Ha Ha

Family Christmas Party

2010-01-06T02:05:00.001-07:00

The Family Christmas Party was at Suzanne's house this year and for a fun activity she decided we would make bottle rockets and shoot them off. It was fun BUT... very very COLD! We shot them off at Don and Velda's house and then we went over to Suzanne's house to eat, open gifts, play games, make crafts and relax. We had nice warm soup for dinner which was so nice after that time out in the cold. At one point, everyone was so cold that Grandpa got out his blow torch and heated us up... ha ha ha. We stayed the weekend at Don and Velda's house and there was more fun to be had with them... lol. I am getting ready to post about that after this post. Kotah and his Grandma and their crazy deals... Also, if you'll notice, Alex got bangs over the holidays. She was ready for a change.

Alex with her bottle rocket. She didn't put a lot

of work into it. lol

Kotah with another bottle rocket. He used one Grandpa made and

it went higher and faster than any other one except for the other

one Grandpa made.

Grandpa's rocket taking off

Grandpa warming us up with his blow torch.

Kotah is so funny.

Alex put a WHOLE Crunch Candy Bar in her mouth at once!!!

She is a silly girl!

Alex showing off the wreath she made.

This is my lovely wreath and my goofy face... oh gosh.

Alex took this of us while we were waiting to open gifts.

It's time to build a GINGERBREAD HOUSE!

2009-12-17T17:27:00.001-07:00

Me and Alex have wanted to do a gingerbread house for along time now, so this year we took the plunge. Since Alex got home for the Holidays, we have done some cookies, dipped pretzels, peppermint bark popcorn and a few other tasty treats. A couple of nights ago, we built our VERY FIRST gingerbread house. It's sure to become a family tradition for us. It was so much fun! Kelly and I mixed the dough and Kelly cut out our little house and then I baked it and from there we all put a lot of work into it. It was a lot of FAMILY FUN for us! We enjoyed the time together and we enjoyed creating. Kotah even built a jungle gym in the back yard and Alex put a candy cane man falling off the roof after his ladder fell and Kelly put reindeer poop behind his reindeer. Well, we're off to deliver some Holiday gifts to neighbors and friends. Hope everyone is having a WONDERFUL Holiday Season!

Making more Icing

Alex made a peppermint guy falling off the house

with his ladder on the ground ha ha ha

Kelly did this... ha ha ha

The finished product

Christmas Spirit

2009-12-13T10:28:00.001-07:00

Love this great reminder of what Christmas is all about. As always, scroll down and turn off my music player before you play this video so you can hear the video and not my music.

Do You Have Room for the Savior?

2009-12-09T13:04:00.002-07:00

*BEFORE WATCHING SCROLL DOWN AND MUTE MY OTHER MUSIC

This is beautiful. I just had to share

Top of the Mountain Bowl

2009-12-07T01:21:00.001-07:00

Snow College went to the Top of the Mountain Bowl this weekend against Grand Rapids, Michigan and THEY WON!!! The final score was 41-37. It was an intense game and no one knew who the winner would be until the very last second! It was COLD! It was SNOWING for part of the game! It was CRAZY! Alex went up with the team on Friday morning and they did a walk thru practice and then later that evening they had a Banquet for the two teams playing and the trainers all got to go because they are considered part of the team. Alex said it was a nice dinner and they had Gifford Neilson who played for the Oilers speak to them. They all got game programs and every team member including the trainers got a wrist watch that said Top of the Mountain Bowl and the year on the face. It is a nice watch. She got to get some pictures with a lot of her friends on the team. She gotten to know these boys quite well and they have become some of her best friends. Some are leaving after this semester and she will really miss them. She has really enjoyed her season with the team and this was a great end to the season for them all.
We left the game a bit early due to all the snow. We wanted to try to get home before the roads got bad. We listened to the last of the game on the way home. Alex didn't get home till later that evening with the team. It was a very busy fun filled weekend.

Family Fun Time Again

2009-12-06T23:24:00.001-07:00

Another Family Fun Project... SUGAR COOKIES! We had a ton of fun making and cutting out cookies. We did SNOWMEN and CANDY CANES. Kotah and Kelly had a lot of fun with the ICING! We made enough for us to keep and for Alex to take over to all her roommates and the apartments by her! They were really YUMMY!

Time to get a tree...

2009-12-06T22:17:00.002-07:00

Standing in line at 5:00 a.m. so you can get a tree permit... CRAZY? Probably, but it's tradition for us and usually a couple of us will go and one will keep the car warm and the other will stand in line... and then take turns back and forth. We make a thermos of Hot Cocoa and off we go. After we get our permit, Kelly and the kids like to take that time together to go and pick out the tree. I usually have the Hot Cocoa and Soup ready for them when they get back. We like our tree to be tall, skinny, and have a few holes in it's branches so that our glass garland and glass ornaments will be able to hang and glisten in the light. Kelly did 1500 lights and garland and we did the rest. Think a bit victorian and there you have our tree. I love it!

Thanksgiving and a GREAT Family Tradition

2009-12-06T20:21:00.004-07:00

We went to Tooele for Thanksgiving. It was the off year for everyone so it was us, Don and Velda and then, Grandpa and Grandma Chick. We had a WONDERFUL time! On our way, we stopped in Orem to take our camera to be fixed... they think it's the image sensor... THANK GOODNESS for INSURANCE... we will owe nothing on that! We also shopped for a tie for Alex to send Brigham for Christmas and while we were in the tie shop Kotah put on a baby tie... it was hilarious and Alex took a picture of it. Then we stopped for lunch at the new In n Out in Orem! We LOVE In n Out and have been waiting for it to FINALLY get close enough for us to eat at!
We got to Tooele the day before Thanksgiving and that evening Suzanne and David came over and we spent about 4 hours making butter creme mints. It's a FAMILY TRADITION in their family to make them. Kelly taught Kotah how to stretch them a few years ago and now Kotah is pretty much a pro at it. Our kids love the tradition of making mints in the winter. They love to give them to their friends.
Thanksgiving Dinner was YUMMY and filled with wonderful conversation and thoughts of gratitude. That evening, some got a good game of HAND AND FOOT going while some watched a Christmas movie. Later that night, after Grandpa and Grandma Chick and Don and Velda went to bed, Kelly, me and the kids went out to the trailer (that is where Kel and I were sleeping for the night) and it was heated so it was nice and warm. We took out a game to play and the four of us just had a good ole time laughing and playing. Early(like 4:00 a.m.) we went to the Black Friday Sale at Wal-Mart. It was crazy but pretty fun since we weren't really there for anything special so we weren't disappointed if something was gone by the time we got to it. It's just fun to watch all those people go crazy, and if we come away with a DVD for $2.00 then all the better for us! :) This year we did find one of those digital frames for like $29.00 so I bought one with my Birthday money from Don and Velda. I love it... rotating pictures I love of my kids... what could be better?! Then we came back to the house and had a little nap before it was time to get back up and have breakfast and Grandpa and Grandma Chick left and shortly after that, we got packed up and left. We had to get Alex back to be in the Light Parade that night and then be up early on Saturday morning to get a Tree Permit and go cut down the Christmas tree. I will put up pictures of that in another post.
It was a FUN FILLED BUSY BUSY weekend and I wouldn't trade the memories of it for anything!

A Bittersweet Goodbye

2009-11-21T01:40:00.006-07:00

Last weekend we said goodbye to a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, sister and friend. It was a bittersweet day to say the least. We said goodbye to Kelly's grandma but we also got to come together as a family and renew relationships with some we had not seen for years. It was so good to see those family members and to reconnect. We love them all and have missed them all so much. We love Grandma and although we miss her deeply, we are excited for her and the new phase of life she is beginning. She is finally back with grandpa after 31 years. We know that was a wonderful reunion for her, as well. April found some Christmas ornaments that Grandma had made of the grandkids and so she put up a Christmas tree, and placed all the ornaments on it and everyone got to come and find theirs before they left the dinner and take it home with them. We also tried to get pictures of each of the families before they left. Grandma had nine kids and seven of them are still alive and have nice big families. We are so thankful for the blessing of FAMILY!

Don, Max, Alice, Donna, Janeen, Rulon, Dean

Janeen's Family

Don's Family

Donna's Family

Julie's Family

Max's Family

Rulon's Family

Dean's Family

It's all about the Pumpkins

2009-11-14T03:14:00.007-07:00

Well, we have our carved pumpkin pics for this year and I guess it's time I put them up. Illness went thru the household and then when we thought all of us were over it... somehow it started over again... first Kotah, then Kelly, then me! That would be why I'm just now putting up pics! It seems we are all on the tail end of it, and so I'm hoping we don't start a third round! UGH!

I don't really have any cool costume pics or things like that this year. Kotah had planned to dress up and go to the Haunted Tunnels and then to the Halloween Dance but he was so sick he missed it all. He made it thru the last Football game of the year and then came home and went straight to bed and stayed there til Wednesday of the next week! He did dye his mustache for the Friday before Halloween(when everyone dressed up) He didn't feel like dressing up more than that. Alex had planned to dress up and go to the Haunted Tunnels and then to the Halloween Dance at the College but she ended up getting asked out on a date to go to the Tunnels and then up to the Haunted Forrest which she said was way fun but scary too. Then their group went to eat at Denny's and then to one of the guy's parents house to watch a movie before driving back down here to Ephraim. She had lots of fun BUT... for me, that means no Halloween Costume pictures! I guess I could whine and cry about it but, really, what good would that do? Kids grow up and we deal.

**There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.**

**When you have brought up kids, there are memories you store directly in your tear ducts.**

Funny Faces and Finished Pumpkins

Kelly's was an Eye, Alex's was the old atari game

space invader and Kotah's had a surprised look with

the arrow in it's head.

They were pretending to be like Kotah's pumpkin

with an arrow in the head... funny thing is just before

this pic was taken, Alex actually stuck it to her head

too hard and well... can you say OUCH? lol

Funny... huh?

Poor kid was feeling so sick here... this was taken just

after family prayer before he left for school.

Family Fun the Hancock Way

2009-10-23T10:52:00.007-06:00

Okay, so I like to find fun things for us to do as a family. The other day, we did Carmel Apples! Oh my gosh, thought it was gonna be fun but not this much FUN!! We laughed we played... it was good. We haven't gotten to do as much as a family with Alex gone to school so I think it was a much needed evening for us all. We kept some for us and Alex took a bunch over to her college buddies(well... there were some boys... lol... who live by her too).

Anyway, you will just have to look at the pictures to see how much fun was had by all... oh my, Kelly and Kotah... I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!

Kel pretending they were weights

Gonna get Kotah for this!

The finished product... too bad the pic doesn't really do them

justice. They looked much prettier than this.

Listen to your wife... and take care of those EYES!

2009-10-09T02:49:00.006-06:00

Well, you might be wondering why on earth do I have a picture of Kelly's eye on here... it's just mainly to illustrate that it is all about the EYE!

Kelly wears contacts.... the DISPOSABLE kind. He didn't want to spend the money to go get his eyes tested when it was time so he just KEPT ON WEARING those contacts until one finally tore the other day. I have been telling him for quite awhile... if you keep on wearing those old contacts you are going to ruin your eyes. He, of course, said I am not... they are totally fine. They just want you to buy more contacts so they say they need to be replaced sooner. Yesterday, he learned that he was WRONG in his assumption that no harm could be done in wearing them long past their renewal date.

After a VERY LONG LECTURE about doing what the Doctor tells you he was given a new subscription, that might or might not change in the next week due to the SWELLING in his eyes. YES, you heard that right... SWELLING! Because of his stupidity... yes I said it... stupidity, he ended up with astigmatism in one eye and an ULCER in the other eye. He has to wear a special weighted contact in the eye with the astigmatism now, and he has antibiotic eye drops for the other eye. It turns out I was right about him ruining his eyes by continuing to wear the old contacts. The DISPOSABLE contacts are indeed, just that, DISPOSABLE. As they get to end of their wear cycle... they begin to not let oxygen get to your eye... and that is what caused the problems in Kelly's eyes. He is lucky he went in when he did, because apparently it was getting pretty bad. The Doctor took pictures of his eyes to put on his slideshow of bad eye cases and to show what will happen to your eyes if you do this sort of thing. GEEZ... why didn't he just listen to me in the first place? By now, he should know that I am ALWAYS RIGHT! It would have saved him money, because it cost more for the eye appointment with all the added stuff he needed. Oh, and it would have saved him from having to come home and say Honey, you were RIGHT! Ha Ha Ha...

**Moral of the Story: First of all... take care of your EYES and Secondly, never ever forget that the wife will ALWAYS be RIGHT.**

LOOK at my SUPER CUTE KIDS!

2009-10-04T05:06:00.005-06:00

The kids were both out of school for UEA and Alex had a free day one afternoon, so we took a ride up in the canyon to see all the pretty fall leaves! They were gorgeous! We got a few pics of the kids while we were out. I just thought they turned out so cute I had to share!

On a side note, it's been a nice conference weekend. We didn't plan the weekend the way it ended up, but being able to have Alex back for a few days has been so NICE! We've all missed her being here, even though she drops in from time to time and comes home for Sunday dinner. It's just been nice to have her sleep at home again.

A week of FUN and FOOTBALL... all culminating in the Homecoming Dance

2009-10-01T00:24:00.009-06:00

I don't know why... but we totally spaced Homecoming Game pictures which sadly we lost, as we played against the #2 team in 3A and this is just our first year in the 3A Class. The JV traveled for their game (Sept 17,2009) and that was the night of the horrible car wreck I mentioned on here in an earlier post. We had not traveled to that game because I had been sick with something... maybe the flu. Anyway, I didn't feel good but went to the Homecoming game anyway. I didn't feel good enough to even think of reminding Kel to take some pics. Oh well... life will go on.

Saturday brought the Homecoming Day Date and Dance that night. Kotah's group went to eat lunch and to see a movie and then they later fed the girls a nice dinner before they all got dressed and ready for the dance. It was a fun day and he had a lot of fun for his FIRST Date Dance. He is definitely enjoying being 16!

Putting on Ashley's corsage

Getting his boutonniere

I love this pic

With another couple in their group.

Their official dance pic

Their group pic

Letterlighting, House Decorations and Volley Buff... all part of a GREAT Homecoming Week!

2009-09-30T22:44:00.012-06:00

Ah... LOVE Letterlighting! It's always fun to go and see what the classes have come up with for their year. This is Kotah's Junior Year and they did a fun thing with theirs... they did a lightening bolt as part of their R in JR. The kids will spend all day setting up these luminaries in preparation for that night when they will light them and see who has the best design.

This one is usually done by the student body officers

this is before they lit it up

doesn't it look cool?!

The Varsity players get their houses decorated the night before the game. They usually get a sign with their number on it and some candy and streamers etc... we got streamers on our door this year and candy all over our porch and the house sign... fun fun fun.

Ah... for the last two years we went and supported Alex in the Powder Puff games in her Junior and Senior years and now, it's time to go and support Kotah in Volleybuff. It was fun to go and watch him and his friends play volleyball against the Senior boys.

It's Homecoming... a WEEK of FUN!

2009-09-30T21:59:00.004-06:00

Well, to start out Homecoming... Kotah asked Ashley Soper ( a super cute girl and one of his good friends) to the dance. Alex and I helped him come up with an idea and then while he was playing in the football game and she was also at the game watching... Kel ran his invite over and left it on her front porch so it would be there as a surprise when she got home.

Here is how he did it: He gave her a box of "Ding Dongs" with his name on a piece of paper in one of them. He left a note with it that said I'd be a real "Ding Dong" not to ask a cutie pie like you to Homecoming!

She came up with a SUPER CUTE way to answer him back. She made him wait like a week to get his answer... ha ha so he was surprised when he opened the front door to go to school and there was his answer!

She decorated our yard and front door with balloons and streamers and then all along the sidewalk and porch were every kind of tootsie pop product you can imagine. In Tootsie Rolls, she had written "YES" on our porch and then on the door she had posted a note that said Dress up Toots! We are going to Homecoming!

It was all so cute. He loved it! I don't know if he will ever get all that candy eaten though! He even gave Alex some to take and share with her roommates ha ha AND he STILL HAS A TON!

Kelly's Birthday Cake

2009-09-30T16:50:00.005-06:00

The 23rd was Kelly's Birthday. Well, Kelly told the kids he wanted them to make his cake this year so that's exactly what they did! They had a ball and really used their creativity in making the cake. We were in our room when they came in and turned out our light, we then noticed they had turned out every light in the house... then we saw WHY... ha ha ha this is the best cake ever... they had made what they called a "MOON" cake... it was like a crater and they even used Reese's(one of Kel's favorites) in it. They put glow sticks in it and it actually looked pretty cool, so I just had to post a picture of it. The things a teenage mind can come up with... lol.

The "Moon" cake... it could be a crater... lol

This is how it looked with all the lights off.

our girl

2009-09-20T18:14:00.005-06:00

Well, just last week Alex was laughing at her roommate who came home from Church and told her she had already gotten a calling as a Relief Society teacher in their new college ward. Alex said to her well you should be like me... my records aren't transferred yet... ha ha ha so they can't call me to anything. FAMOUS LAST WORDS!!! That Sunday afternoon, they called Alex in and gave her a calling. She got sustained and set apart today, as the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. She is spiritually strong in so many ways and we are so thankful for that. I know that she will be up to the challenges this calling will bring her way and I know that her testimony will grow from the experiences she will have in this calling. Already, this presidency has a grave situation to deal with. There was a horrible accident this past week involving two families in our community. Both are well loved by us all. One of the drivers of one of the cars(the one who actually crossed over into the other lane and hit the other head on) is a college girl who is in Alex's college ward. The passenger(one of Alex's good friends) in her car sustained critical head injuries and is probably not going to make it. This girl who was driving has had some abdominal surgeries since the wreck but is expected to make it. Among those in the other car, the mom will be fine but has lots of bumps, bruises and stitches. The dad has been thru surgery for a broken femur(in three places) and his lower back has some breaks. The son has a broken neck in two places and a fracture in his femur and hasn't had much feeling in that leg. They have operated on his neck. There are so many lives being ripped apart from this accident. Back to the reason I started this story; Alex and the rest of that Relief Society Presidency are going to have to help that girl, who was at fault, deal with all the emotions she is surely going to feel. They are going up with their Bishopric tomorrow to see her in the hospital. I pray they will all carry the spirit with them and they will be guided in what to say to her and how best to show her the love our Father in Heaven has for her. I can't even imagine how she must be feeling right now. Nor can I even imagine how these families are all feeling but oh, my heart is breaking for them.

*You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make. ~Gordon B. Hinckley~

Football Football Football...

2009-09-14T16:57:00.010-06:00

Football Season continues in our household keeping us busy busy busy... I have some pics of Kotah and also some of Snow College from this past couple of weeks to post. This year, Kotah is the starting defensive end for the JV team and he also gets playing time on the Varsity team in that position. He is also the Long Snapper for the team. This is his first year for that; he is really good at it... who knew? lol...

Alex is an Athletic Trainer for the college which means she tapes ankles, wrists, feet, thumbs, hands... etc... before every practice and game. She also has to be on the sidelines in case they get hurt. She was pretty excited to get accepted into this because it gives her a lot of experience and it will look good when she applies to medical school. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

In these next two pics, you can see Kotah causing the other team to

FUMBLE the football! Yay!

In the next three photos there is a progression of Kotah sacking

the quarterback... he also got a bruised collarbone from this tackle

but he will surely live. ha ha... it's all part of the game!

In the next two photos, Kotah is in the middle with his

hand between his legs ... he just got thru snapping the football.

Look close and you can see the ball.

After every game the team sings the School Song,

whether they win or not. Love the School Spirit!

Now, on to a few pics from Snow's game on Saturday.

Alex wasn't too happy that she had to go over and work

on the opposing team's side because they didn't have enough

trainers with them. She was yelling for our team on a good

play at one time and this player turned around and very

firmly told her "NO CHEERING". She said it scared her so

she didn't dare cheer anymore. She couldn't see over their

guys (on our side she just usually walks in front of the boys)

and so she stood on their training table... ha ha. Kelly caught

some pics of it.

I'm pretty sure this was when she got told no cheering...lol

Now for some just fun action shots of the game.

Snow won 32-6

TOUCHDOWN!

Awesome catch!

Nice interception... the other team wasn't too happy

since they were close to a touch down when we got this

interception.

It's FOOTBALL Time in the Hancock House!

2009-08-31T18:25:00.006-06:00

Aren't they the cutest kids?!

Football Season has begun... we have a few teams we follow regularly. We follow the Snow College Badgers(we live just a mile from campus and our daughter is an athletic trainer for the team) we follow the MIGHTY MANTI TEMPLARS(our son is a part of that team) we follow the BYU Cougars(Kelly and Kotah are fans) we follow U of Utah Utes(Alex is a fan and will be going to school there after she finishes at Snow) and we follow the Oklahoma Sooners( I grew up in Okla. and have been a fan my whole life). This weekend it will be quite the time in the Hancock house. Starting with Thursday we have Kotah's JV game and then on Friday we have his Varsity game and then Saturday will be quite the day... Snow is playing at Home AND there is the BYU-Oklahoma game on ESPN! Kotah and Kelly will be yelling for the Cougs while I yell for the Sooners! All I can say... is those Sooners better take BYU down!

I have a few pictures to post from Friday's game: Manti beat Union 41-0

Kotah is #54 in the red, white and black uniform.

I love this picture... they are such good friends. He was

so happy that she got to part of his game to watch him

play.

Sanpete County Fair

2009-08-31T18:13:00.002-06:00

This past week has been a flurry of activity at our house... or should I say out of the house. Since Alex is in the Miss Sanpete County Royalty she had a lot of duties at the County Fair. The Royalty had to be to most every event going on, to represent the county. They started off by Emceeing the Talent Night and also performing their talents they had done in the pageant for the audience. They also got to give out the awards to those who won.

They had a huge night with the Demolition Derby; they came out on 4 wheelers to greet the crowd and then they sang the National Anthem to start the night off. In between the various events they came out and threw t-shirts to the crowd and also got volunteers to participate in some races and games and then they got to help out with a marriage proposal which was fun for them. The girl said yes; of course. They were present at the BMX Stunt Team's performance and got their picture taken with the team. Alex volunteered to let a guy jump his bike over her head and wasn't nervous until he came up the ramp to jump. She said then it got a bit scary! But, he didn't fall on her head or anything and she got a poster for letting him use her in the stunt. She got to chat with Barbara and Ivo there for a bit. She owes those two a ton. They have been a huge help to her in her pageant preparation.

Alex wanted to take some pictures with the animals so we went in early before the rest of the royalty was to be there on Saturday and got some pictures for her. There was a huge bull there and Kel says there was a sign that said his breed was used with the oxen or something like that. Anyway it's his job to come to things like this so he is really tame. When we walked in the door, we noticed a mother cow was in the process of giving birth. There was a crowd of kids looking on and she seemed to be a bit stressed with the crowd and a bull next to her (we think maybe it was the fatther) looked so worried about her. He kept putting his head over the railing as if to somehow comfort her. It was sweet. A man came and made the kids all back away and right after he got them away she calmed down and out popped that adorable baby calf. It was a neat thing to witness. We met up with the rest of the Royalty soon after that and we got a fun picture of them all with the huge bull, before they had to head over to the grandstands to sing the National Anthem again to start off the Horse Pull. I've never watched a horse pull before so it was actually pretty interesting. Later, we met back up with the girls (they had been making their rounds at various things) to see them all do the Pie Eating Contest. It was so funny to watch! These so called princesses having to put their faces down in that pie. Alex, however didn't mind it at all and in the end, she came out in 2nd Place. Ah... our little piggy. Ha Ha

After the parade, we went over to the Cox's house(their daughter was last year's Miss Ephraim) and had a little luncheon for the girls and then they were able to get all prettied up for the parade. The Miss Sanpete County float went towards the first of the parade and then Alex and Hannah(the queen) ran back to their City floats. It was a mad rush but we got it done. After the parade, they went straight over to the Rodeo and had to go out in the Grand Entry parade and greet the crowd. They brought out a little girl; I think she is like 4 or 5 and she sang the National Anthem to open that Rodeo. Kel and I missed the Rodeo on Friday because we were over at the High School watching Kotah's football game. Alex got done with her royalty duties and ran over to catch the last quarter of his game. So, after all of her activities and Kotah with two football games this week... by Saturday night we were all beat! After Church, we all just basically passed out... well all of us except for Alex, her College Ward meets at 2:00 p.m. Ha Ha... and she had a Fireside at like 6 p.m. so she couldn't have a nap in between. And then she had to go and do treatments for the football team at 7 p.m. She was so tired by the time she got to go to bed. But, it was a fun week and has many memories for her to hold.

Miss Sanpete 2009

2009-08-18T11:38:00.005-06:00

I am sure you are all on the edge of your seats to see how she did! Sorry, I didn't get this up sooner. We went to the Dinner for the parents/contestants on Friday night and it was really nice. They fed us well, and we got to meet with each other and get to know the other parents and girls. They honored the outgoing Miss Sanpete and that was really nice. The outgoing Miss Sanpete, Christine, is such a sweet girl and one of Alex's best friends. Anyway, we got to visit with Des after the pageant (she is the pageant director) and she just loves Alex. She was already telling her she should do Miss Ephraim again next year because Alex has amazing interview and modeling skills and anyway, Alex just loves Des and she has really helped Alex to grow and become a better more well rounded woman. So, finally the night we've all been anticipating for what seems like forever arrived. Alex was contestant #11 so her interview was late in the day like at 4:00p.m. She came home for about 20 minutes between her interview and going over to get ready to start the pageant and she told us that she felt her interview went really well and they were impressed with her platform and how much she knew about it and how much she had already worked on it. They were impressed with her knowledge of the health care issues going on now and she said a few more things I just can't recall at this moment.

The actual pageant started at 7:00p.m. and it was really a very entertaining pageant to watch. They danced to a newer version of "Let me entertain you" and it was a fun number and as a break in the middle of that production number they introduced themselves and where they came from. Then, it moved into the swimsuit competition, the talent competition and then casual wear and onstage question and finally rounding out the evening with the Evening gown competition. And then we were onto the waiting and the waiting... which probably wasn't really as long as it FELT! Alex was announced 4th attendant. She was happy with that. This was a County Pageant and so all the girls competing were already in royalties for their own towns so it would naturally be a harder competition. It's really neat to be included in the royalty. Afterwards, she was swarmed by friends, her last year's pageant directors and the new ones who started this year(one of the new pageant directors was Alex's hostess mom for Miss Ephraim last year) and others who have helped her in this journey. It was a really fun night for everyone.

Alex's ex best friend... they had a little tiff in June and since then Alex thought they had settled things and were okay with each other but apparently not because they were going to be roommates at college but the friend changed rooms and then didn't tell Alex until like 2 days before they were to move in. And then, at the pageant, this same friend came back stage and gave a good luck gift to another girl and visited with that girl for a bit and did not say one word to Alex. Alex was so hurt. And then, she said the reigning Miss Ephraim was saying she had this whole thing in the bag and had it won. She said I guess that was enough... I decided right then and there, I was going to go all out in this thing and kick some butt... ha ha... and that is just what she did! The reigning Miss Ephraim (Alex is 1st attendant to her) did not make it into the royalty at all. I think there's a lesson there; don't ever just expect you have something won without putting in all the hard work, long hours and heart it takes to do so. Nothing worth having is just given to you... it is achieved thru HARD WORK! Alex put in many many LONG hours working on her platform, studying the current events and issues going on, practicing her interview skills and perfecting her dance and in the end she was rewarded with a place in the royalty. We are proud of all her hard work and even if she hadn't made the royalty we would have still been proud of her for her determination and all the hard work she put into this goal. We have enjoyed watching her grow and learn. She is an amazing girl and it's a blessing to call her ours!

**We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures**

Here's a little slide show of the evening's events. Enjoy! And remember run your mouse over a pic and you will see a caption if I wrote one... didn't on every pic but quite a few of them have them.

Moving Day

2009-08-15T16:08:00.007-06:00

Well our girlie moved out to her apartment yesterday and today. She is all grown up and in college now... as much as I don't want to accept it! Last night, none of her other roommates were there yet so she had Kotah sleep over at her apartment with her so she wouldn't be lonely or scared by herself. He's decided that he is going to give us joint custody of him... weekdays with me and Kelly and weekends with his sister... ha ha silly boy. He won't be able to stay now since the roommates are starting to show up but he loves to be with her and will miss her so much. I am glad they had that night to just hang out and have some fun together before everything starts and they are so busy with everything that the school year brings for them both.

Her apartment will have six girls in it. It has 3 bedrooms(2 to each room), 2 bathrooms with full tub/showers, a nice kitchen and dining area and a living room. It is furnished with beds, kitchen table, couches, a huge bean bag, a TV and a washer and dryer in each apartment. They have cable and wireless internet also. Their apartment complex is just for college housing but is so much nicer than the dorms would be. They also have a hot tub, and sand volleyball courts and a club house with a TV, exercise equipment, pool table etc...

So, it is a nice little community for them. And she can walk to class or ride her bicycle while it's warm and she won't have to look for parking at the college. She is excited for this new adventure in her life.

Here are a few pictures from her moving day.

Miss Sanpete Time

2009-08-05T21:06:00.003-06:00

Well, it's that time again! Miss Sanpete is August 15th... a week from this Saturday. I am getting nervous for Alex... she doesn't get nervous so someone has to... right? Anyway, that is the day she is supposed to move into her apartment but she is going move in the day before and pay the $12.00 fee to do so. That way she doesn't have to worry with anything the day of Miss Sanpete. She will be involved with that most of the day with an interview and then getting everything ready for that night's competition. It seems like she has so much to get ready before then and it seems like she has so little time... to me anyway. She always seems to make it all work though, so I guess she will this time too!

This picture is the picture she used for the judges this time around. She really wanted a new one so that she could show off her new teeth... lol. (well, 5 years is a long time to have braces and she is excited to have them off). Doesn't she look beautiful. I can't believe how grown up she is!!!

SUMMER 2009 all summed up...

2009-08-05T19:26:00.003-06:00

So, since Pageant got over our summer has been a whirlwind of parades and town festivitites. We have been to every parade in the area I think. We have also spent time helping Alex to share the dangers of skin cancer and how to prevent it and spot it before it gets to a bad point. It's been informative and it's been fun to talk to so many people. It was a nice break from Pageant laundry and cleaning of the costume building lol...

There is a picture in the slide show of me working with Alex's float dress in a parking lot and it needs explanation. It was the 3rd of July(Manti has their parade the night before the 4th) and it was like about 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. so it was still quite HOT. Well... Alex was hot in that long dress so she pulled it up quite high so her legs could cool off. When it came time to get on the float the built in slip had gotten all twisted and in the heat was stuck to her skin! We tried everything we could to get that thing back down over her hips but to no avail. We finally unzipped it and pulled at it and at one point we had a group of people surrounding us next to the church building and we were trying to see if we could get it to budge but we could not and in the end we ended up having to go across the street and knock on a door and see if we could use their bathroom to see if we could get it fixed. We had to almost pry the dress off of her because it was so sticky and hot under that slip. We did succeed in getting it off and then shook it out and got the slip back in place and the dress back on! WOW! I was so ready to beat that girl and all she could do was LAUGH!!! I now officially hate mermaid dresses... at least in the heat!

While we were at the Manti City Park on the 4th to do Alex's booth Kelly got a team together and did the 3 man and the 4 man greased pole climb. They did GREAT on the 3 man but on the 4 man the guy just on top of Kelly lost his balance and they went down before they got the ribbon. Kelly was the bottom man because he is pretty strong and can handle all the weight on top of him. He looks forward to doing this each year. He doesn't really care about the prize, he just wants to be able to say he won. Funny man!

Later that night, we watched the fireworks from the football stadium and they were amazing, especially when you can see the temple in the background. They retired the flag that hung over the Manti Cemetery at the evening program before the fireworks. It was quite a touching thing. I didn't think I would get so emotional at that, but I did. We all did. Kelly got some amazing pictures of it.

Well, then we moved on to more parades... Lamb Days in Fountain Green. Then for the 24th of July/Pioneer Day we did two parades... one in Spring City and one in Fairview. It was a bit crazy so after the one in Fairview we went back to the Spring City Park and had some good ole Sanpete BBQ Turkey. It was tasty and a nice little break in the day. They had a climbing wall there so the kids decided to climb it for fun even though it wasn't that high... at least for our kids... they have been climbing since they were little, but it was fun for them, nonetheless. Alex even did it in her crown ha ha

Last week, we took a few days and headed out to Tooele for a quick visit before school starts. We got to work in the humanitarian center for 3 hours one of the days and we got about 700 school kits made with six of us working on them. GREAT time, GREAT feeling being able to help those less fortunate than us. It kind of takes away all of your own stresses and worries. I don't know how many of you who read this know that Kelly was laid off with this economy about 3 months ago and so he is trying to start up some freelance work... but anyway, back to my point. This was one of the only times that I haven't thought about our worries with no job. It was such a nice respite from our cares. Kotah got to go back with Grandpa and do another 3 hours the morning of the day we were going home while the girls had a sewing morning and Kelly worked on some freelance stuff. He had a good time and worked hard. Oh and Grandpa gave Alex this old bike that Kel says they've had since he was a kid. She LOVES it!

This week, Kotah started 2 a days for football and so he's been really tired after he's done each night. He loves it though! He has also been teaching himself to play the piano this summer. He is actually pretty good and he loves it. If there is something he is having trouble reading he will get one of his musical friends to help him out.

Also, this week, Alex has started her Sports Medicine Program at the College. She helped check in all the football players and had to take stats and ph counts etc... on their pee. She says she thought she was gonna die with all that pee smell. WELCOME to the medical world... ha ha. That's why she will become a doctor, so she can order the tests not give them lol. Anyway, she already knew how to tape ankles and wrists but she has learned how to do it better and has learned how to tape just about anything else now too. She already has players who won't let any of the other trainers tape them. They will wait in line for Alex if they have to. She does do a good job at whatever it is that she is doing. She is excited to be starting College and she will be moving out in the next week and a half! I can't believe it's already that time!

*on the slide show if you run your mouse over a pic it will stop and show you the caption for that picture.

FINALLY... PAGEANT PICTURES!

2009-08-05T16:59:00.002-06:00

Finally, I have had the time to get a little slide show ready to put on this blog and now I can get on to posting all the things that have occurred since... ha ha... which is plenty! Okay ENJOY!

With Gratitude

2009-06-30T17:26:00.006-06:00

This year has been a particularly HARD year for me at the Pageant. Just so many people with so many problems and so many others with HUGE attitudes! I have never had so many people yell at me or blame me for things beyond my control like I have this year. It was discouraging to say the least and there were many times that I really wanted to give up and quit. But, I got the to associate with some of the best people, too and it's their love and the sunshine they brought my way each day that got me thru all the hard times.

It seems that when I am having my hardest of times, it is then that Heavenly Father sends a little sunshine to me and lots of times that is thru another person. To those who brought me so much sunshine this year... it has not gone unnoticed. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

This past week, I was delivered FLOWERS... not only once but twice! One was from my good friends and the costume designers for the pageant, Barbara and Ivo Peterson. The other... well, that remains a MYSTERY; it was NOT signed... only said thanks for all I do and that I was AWESOME! I wish I knew who it was, that was so thoughtful, so I could thank them for remembering me at this time... so if the person who sent them to me... reads this blog, then THANK YOU for thinking of me!

Aren't they PRETTY?!!!

My note from Barbara and Ivo

My note from my mystery sunshine

YAY for FAMILY!!!

2009-06-26T03:11:00.004-06:00

The kids love it when they go down into the audience and they see cousins who have showed up to watch the pageant. They try to make sure to take a pic with them when they do... they don't always have a camera with them or their cell phones but when they do... we get some fun pics. So, here are a couple they got this week.

Thanks FAMILY for coming to watch the pageant!

**Cousin to cousin, we'll always be, special friends from the same family tree**

A Pageant Update

2009-06-20T13:40:00.005-06:00

I will obviously be doing more posts with pictures from pageant this year but last night we were given the rare opportunity to have an apostle come and speak to us in our devotional meeting before performance. L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us and it was AMAZING and so powerful. The spirit was strong. We all went forth with renewed vigor and the pageant went forth and either there were less protestors there last night or maybe, we just didn't feel their presence after such a neat experience. Whatever the case, may be, it was just an amazing night. Both kids got their picture taken with him and got to visit with him for a bit before he went down to watch it. They were touched by him and I am sure that they will never forget that night. I am grateful for these types of experiences they are able to have in their lives.

Pageant Season is starting...

2009-06-01T00:12:00.003-06:00

Well, tonight was the opening fireside for the Manti Pageant. We've been trying to get the costume building back in order for this year, before we have fittings which start on Tuesday! We inherited a semi full of costumes and props and supplies from the Oakland Pageant. They have decided to no longer do that pageant. Anyway, it's been quite a job but we are so close. Tomorrow we will finish it up hopefully, since we will start on Tuesday whether we are ready or not... lol! Okay, so Kelly didn't really try out for anything but told them to put him where they needed them. Kotah tried out for John Taylor because he was sitting in there shooting the bull with his favorite second mom and she made him try out for it and then she promptly gave him a call back. Then, Alex offered him 3 cheeseburgers if he would go and tryout for Zarahemnah and Samuel. Ha Ha... he got call backs for those too. Alex tried out for High Priestess again. Well, when they posted the cast list tonight, Kelly is going to be 3rd Nephi again. Alex is going to be a High Priestess again. And Kotah got a role he didn't even tryout for... he is going to be Captain Moroni. He was shocked at that one. But, they do take these parts and go to the Temple and pray about them so I guess that this is the role he is supposed to be playing this year. He will do an awesome job. And they trust him in a big part like that after so many years of working with him. It will be another interesting wonderful year... someone said... the family that does pageant together, stays together... lol. But, honestly, I am thankful for the influences that the pageant has made in the lives of my family. We are all better for it.

**On an extra note... CONGRATS Taylor on the role of Young Joseph... YOU WILL LEARN AND GROW SO MUCH thru this part and your testimony will be strengthened so much!

Scandinavian Days 2009

2009-05-26T23:12:00.004-06:00

Well, the day after Graduation, Alex had her first parade for the summer and then she worked on her platform: The Burning Truth: Skin Cancer Awareness and Prevention

She taught people how to spot themselves and how to protect themselves while in the outdoors and sunshine.

The Royalty also had to give tours of the Pioneer cabins in Pioneer Park for part of the day.

Anyway, here are a few pics...

Parade Float

Alex is in the purple dress. Isn't she

pretty?!

Teaching someone how to spot themselves

more information

Tours of cabins

GRADUATION

2009-05-24T22:54:00.009-06:00

Alex graduated on Friday night. She graduated #1 in her class and she got to wear the High Honor Roll Chords and then her National Honor Society Collar. They don't get to keep their collars or chords because apparently they are pretty expensive so the School just loans them out for the ceremony to the kids. The kids were all wishing they could keep them... lol. They give them empty diplomas so that they kids can basically sit where they want and then they just give a card with their name to the announcer as they go down(they pretty much all just sat where they had been practicing all week). Anyway, we got a funny pic with the empty diploma holders. It was a nice program and it was crazy to see our girly graduate... even made the daddy cry. She looked beautiful.

After the graduation they had games and food at the High School until midnight for the Seniors and then at midnight they had rented out the local movie theater and the Seniors got to watch Night at the Museum 2. They got in free but if some of the younger kids wanted to go with them then they just had to pay their way in, so Alex stopped by and got Kotah and took him to the movie with her. After that, they made the Seniors breakfast over at the College and had drawings for prizes. Alex won a 2 GB jump drive. But, more than anything it was a fun time for them and the Administration was there the whole time at all of the activities for the night and so there wasn't any bad situations like earlier in the week.

Alex and her best friend, Tara before Graduation...

aren't they pretty?

Walking...

Alex getting her diploma and a quick kiss

Hats off to Class of 2009

Kelly is funny... showing off her High Honor Chords

This is the funny pic I mentioned in my post...

"What??? Where are our Diplomas?" lol

Alex and Ellen... she has been a huge help to Alex in

helping her with Miss Ephraim this year and she is also

like a 2nd mom to both of our kids. They just love her!

Yay! We are graduated!!! Alex is the one farthest to

the left.

Alex is again on the far left...

This is so cool and it is only a small portion of what

was there. The Principal of the School believes it is

all about the students and so he always takes pictures

and puts them up in the office and he always acknowledges

their accomplishments. So, all the way down the hall way

he set up this display of the accomplishments of this Class.

It was AMAZING and so nice!

So, I played with Kel's camera settings... ALL BY

ACCIDENT, of course! And so this pic didn't turn out

as good as it definitely should have. He has to go and

figure out what I did and fix it...YES, I am in trouble... lol!

Seminary Graduation

2009-05-22T14:05:00.008-06:00

Last night Alex graduated from Seminary and it was such a nice night. GREAT talks and the Seminary Choir(which both of my kidlets sang in) was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Kelly snuck a video in on his phone because it was so beautiful! The first song they sang was great but for the closing song they sang "I need thee every hour" and OH MY, the arrangement and their director worked wonders with them. They practiced 2 hours every Sunday for the past month and then did 2 or 3 practices this week and boy did it show. By the end of that song, there pretty much wasn't a dry eye in the house. After the closing prayer, not one Seminary Council member could stop the tears. They have had such a spiritual year this year and the things they did behind the scenes for those students were amazing and the love they had for each and every one of them... I watched these kids; on their own... without their advisors even knowing... fast and pray for those kids lost from the program. I watched them love these kids and I watched them bring many back into seminary. These kids felt the weight of their calling, they took it to heart and served their very best. I have been amazed at the maturity and dedication of these seven students and I know their presence will surely be missed next year. I am so thankful for the seminary program and the difference it's made in the lives of my children. They are such good kids and they always put the Lord first in their lives. It makes makes a mom happy.

Wednesday night after the yearbook dance, all the seniors went up to the Gunnison Reservoir for a Bon Fire and then were to go to sleep on the football field that night. Alex and her best friend started having a bad feeling about it on their way up. Well, two things went wrong... first the guy who was driving them (probably going a bit too fast for a gravel road) went around a curve and lost control and then over corrected and they spun out and slid down the side of the mountain and thank heavens a bolder stopped them from going down the rest of the way into the lake. The car started to tip over and teetered for a bit and then, thankfully landed right side up. If it would have continued to roll they probably would have all been dead. They were all praying for their safety and so were the girls in the car behind them that saw it happen. Oh, the power of prayer.

After they got the car out and back onto the road(it ended up with just a dent from the bolder and not more extensive damage thank goodness), they went the rest of the way up to the bon fire. When they got there, they saw things occurring that they did not feel comfortable being around. There were those who showed up drunk and were causing a lot of problems for those who weren't and there were things of a sexual nature going on that they did not care to see... so they got back in the car and came back down the mountain and came back to our house and watched a movie on their own. It was quite the night for these kids and I am thankful they are safe for one, but I am also so thankful that they made good choices and left a situation where things could get bad. That took some maturity on their part; not to just follow the crowd, but to follow the promptings to leave and to stand up for what they truly believed in.

* Religion is meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions. *

Seminary Council for the past year. These kids are

absolutely amazing kids.

**These next three pics are of Alex with the men who have

taught her so very much in the past 4 years, and have helped

her learn who she is and what her purpose is. I am so

thankful for the wonderful influence they have been in

her life. She is a better person for it.

Brother Pace and his wife with Alex (he was her teacher

in her sophomore year) and they are amazing! We love

them so much.

Brother Russell with Alex (he was her teacher in her

freshman and senior years)

Brother Bingham and Alex. He is the Seminary Principal

and he was her teacher in her junior year.

Alex and her best friend Tara(she was in

the wreck with Alex)

Alex and her baby bro. They are so

close and I am sure they will miss each

other terribly when she moves out.

State Track May 15-16, 2009

2009-05-17T22:23:00.008-06:00

Well, Friday Alex competed in Long Jump at State and she scratched on two of her three jumps and her scratch was her longer jump... oh well... she ended up in 12th place overall and I think for a BEGINNER that is pretty dang good! After less than a month of jumping she was able to get to state and to place 12th. Pretty AMAZING!

She also got awarded the Academic All State Award on Saturday at the State Track Meet. It is quite an honor to get this award. It is for athletes who have high GPAs. You have to be nominated by your Coach and then the UHSSA (Utah High School Activities Association) chooses who gets the award. They select 10 girls and 10 boys out of each class section (ex. 1A, 2A... and so on) to receive the award.

So, here are some picture highlights from those events.

running down to jump

jumping...

landing...

getting her award...

Here it is...

The Academic All State Award

Region Track 2009

2009-05-13T14:11:00.013-06:00

Well, the kids had Region Track last week and they did okay. This is just Kotah's first full year of doing hurdles(he started them at the end of the season last year) and so this year has been spent getting his form better and better. He did well, and qualified for Region but he did not make it to State this year. We are proud of him for all the hard work he has put into it this year. We look for good things next season for him. Now, he's onto his summer training and weight lifting program for football. Alex went to Region in her 100m, 200m, 4 x 100m. She spent a lot of time on Miss Ephraim this year and less time on her track training so even though she made it to the finals in all of her races she ended up not making it to State in any of them. She missed them by hundredths of a point...UGH! This will be the first year she hasn't gone to State in these races so it will be weird for her... and us too, I'm sure. The 4 x 100m relay was in first place... Alex is their lead leg(the one who starts the race) and she had them ahead and they kept the lead until their last girl(who has had a knee injury that has been healing) collapsed when her knee gave out. It was sad for them all! But, in a shocking turn of events her coach made her try long jump the week before Region and she did so good that he made her go to Region in the long jump. And in yet another shocking turn, she QUALIFIED for State! She came in 3rd at Region giving her the State qualification. We CANNOT believe this! She's only been jumping for about 2 weeks now total and State is Friday and Saturday. Friday she jumps and then on Saturday she has to go back up to receive her Academic All State Award. Then Sunday, she turns 18 years old... thus making me and Kelly all that much older.

Next week will be filled with many activities for Alex as it is graduation week for her... I am sure there will be something out of that week to blog about lol

*Here are pictures from Region*

Kotah is in the red and black(almost middle of pic)

Kotah in red shirt and black shorts

Kotah

I just put this one in because I can't

believe how big my boy is getting!

The runt starting a race

Alex in red shirt, black shorts and yellow and green shoes

Yep... the FIRST hand off (she made up all her staggers

and was first to her next leg)

Yep.... here is the long jump...

Dakotah is 16!!!

2009-05-06T16:12:00.004-06:00

Well, yesterday was Dakotah's 16th Birthday and so Alex made him ask a girl out on a date and they doubled with Alex and one of her many boyfriends. He was SCARED TO DEATH to call and ask someone out! So, he called a girl who is just one of his good good friends that he feels comfortable with. They had a good time and I think he will not be so scared in the future now to ask someone out...lol. Anyway, Kelly videoed him asking the girl out on the date so that we can forever more tease him about it! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND CINCO DE MAYO KOTAH!!!!

P.S. scroll down to the bottom and turn the music off so you can hear the video.

YAY! Miss Ephraim is over!

2009-05-03T15:21:00.004-06:00

Well, Miss Ephraim is done! YAY! Alex had an amazing interview and they say she was the top interview. Another girl and her were really close after the talent portion and as luck would have it... Alex came out in her beautiful Evening Gown and there was a slick spot on the stage and she slipped. She recovered but that was the breaker... and the other girl came out queen and Alex came out 1st attendant. This other girl was in the royalty with Alex last year(she was 3rd attendant and Alex was 2nd attendant) and she missed half the parades and she missed most of the things the girls were required to attend. Her parents didn't even show up to the pageant last night. After the pageant, everyone was talking about how we are going to have to take up the slack for her family and for her not doing anything... it's things like that, that upset me. I wish the judges could know these things about these girls before hand, but alas they don't. UGH! Oh well, looking at the pictures you will see how AMAZING our baby girl looked! She will now go to the County Pageant... Miss Sanpete in August! And she swears she will never slip again...lol. Well, you live and learn... right? She did awesome and she is a beautiful girl and we are proud of her accomplishments.

Opening number...Alex is on front with the long hair...

wow, look at those legs... can you tell she's a sprinter? lol

Contestant # 6... Alex Hancock

Platform: The Burning Truth: Skin Cancer Prevention

and Awareness

Evening Gown... after the slip... didn't I tell you she

looked amazing!?!

Royalty 2009: Taylor 3rd attendant, Ally 2nd attendant,

Mo Miss Ephraim, Alex 1st attendant

Just another of the Royalty with last year's Queen, Rachel

Alex and one of her very best friends, Tara. They are

going to be roommates next year for College.

Alex and us... the parentals

GUESS WHAT????????

2009-04-27T20:10:00.004-06:00

Guess what??? Alex got her braces off today! Five years ago our little girl got braces put on and then the very next morning we sent her on the trek with the youth of our ward and the poor girl could only eat soft things the whole trip... she had a squeeze tube of peanut butter she snacked on the whole time!(I don't even think they make that anymore) And today, our young woman of almost 18 years, got those braces off! Oh my, I think it was worth every contraption they put in her mouth, every rubber band she had to wear, every day of that 5 years! Didn't she turn out beautiful?!

Drumroll please... and the winning picture is...

2009-04-17T12:40:00.004-06:00

I thought I would share what picture Alex finally chose to turn in for Miss Ephraim. I think it turned out really nice and a special thanks to my friend, Lisa, who was so kind to make this pretty girl even prettier! She took Kelly's picture and she just made Alex pop. :)

Everyone WATCH OUT! He's on the road...

2009-04-13T21:32:00.002-06:00

Today Kotah got his Learner's Permit! He waited and waited and waited it seemed like forever before he decided to get busy and take his Driver's Ed but he finally did and now he will have to wait until he's 16 1/2 before he gets his license since the law in Utah requires you to have your learner's permit for 6 months before you can get your license... no matter what age you are. I can't believe my baby is turning 16 already! May 5th will be here before we know it. He's a great kid though and brings a ton of fun to our house!

Just a couple more pics to see

2009-04-13T21:13:00.004-06:00

Well, Alex changed her hair and got blond highlights this past week so we had to go and take some new shots for her Miss Ephraim pictures. Here is her fave of the them all. The weather was rainy on Saturday and so the pics were rushed but for it to be rainy they turned out good. And then on Sunday, we took a few more and that is where this black and white one came from. Anyway, what do you think? I can't believe that this gorgeous creature is my daughter... lol

Which one do you like?

2009-04-05T16:40:00.011-06:00

Okay, so these are a few pics that we are thinking of using for Alex's Miss Ephraim picture that she has to give the judges and then to display for the entrance to the theater. So, which one is your favorite? Let me know... and if you think none of them are any good then let us know that too, so we can do more... lol

Thanks so much guys!

picture 1

picture 2

picture 3

picture 4

picture 5

picture 6

Prom Pictures from the Dance

2009-03-17T01:06:00.003-06:00

Okay, so today the official dance pictures came so I thought I would post them. I think they turned out cute.

Alex and Kelton

Their Group

Prom 2009

2009-03-11T13:35:00.013-06:00

Okay, so I have some pics to put up from Prom... not the official dance ones yet but for now this will have to do...lol

Alex wasn't sure what to expect from this date... the guy who asked her was quite unexpected. They have been friends and are on the Seminary Council together but she never thought he would ask her to prom. Anyway, since she had never been on a date with him she wasn't sure what it would be like but she ended up having a WONDERFUL day and date. For their group day date, they took the girls up the mountain and they did some shooting, some rock slinging(by the way... Alex says she is going to be the next David and she will slay Goliath...ha ha ha). She says she got pretty good after a bit of practice. And they did a bunch of hiking and they even found an eagle's nest. Alex was totally in her element. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the outdoors and most especially being up in the mountains. After they came down out of the mountains they had a lunch at one of the boys houses and then the boys brought them all home around 4:00p.m. so they could get ready for the dance. They picked up the girls around 6:00p.m. and took them to a place over in Manti where they had a nice formal dinner catered for their group. They had chicken cordon bleu and other stuff I can't recall at the moment...lol and then a nice dessert. Then they went over to the dance... obviously took pictures, then watched the Juniors do Promenade and danced the night away.

So, this was on our doorstep one night when we got home

from a trip up north to Provo. It says " Alex- It would make

my "LIFE" if you went to Prom with me!" His name was cut

out and hidden in the cereal... Kelton

So, I don't have a picture of her answer because she and her

friends were apparently a bit too loud doing it and almost

got caught and had to run hide. BUT, her answer was hilarious.

She got about 3 packages of little bitty boys underwear and hung

them around his yard in the bushes and trees and then left a

sign that said "Don't get your undies in a bunch, of course I'll go

to Prom with you." She said his whole family was out in the yard

and finding all the undies and teasing him because they were like

spiderman and transformers and power ranger ones... ha ha.

Alex and her date; Kelton Shelley, on their day date.

Okay... so only my daughter, would be silly enough to

stand in an EAGLE'S NEST for a picture! I can just see

an eagle soaring down on her head for being near it's

babies. SILLY GIRL!

Yes, this is our not so dainty girl trying to get her shoes

on with all that dress in the way... ha ha

Our pretty girl... this was her Junior Prom

dress and she just wore it again this year.

She really loved it and most of the Senior

girls did the same thing and usually do, I

guess. But, she was happy and that's all

that matters, right? lol She looked gorgeous!

This is the sort of pose you get when your daughter

has been involved in cheerleading since she was 3!

And from a flyer... a scale in high heels...priceless!

Couldn't resist this pic... she is so funny.

Silly Alex... but still so pretty. She did her hair

herself and I thought it turned out amazing!

The mother and the daughter playing around... ha ha

She is so much prettier than me!

Pinning on the boutonniere. This is the FIRST time she

has ever done it and got it right. She can never get them

to stay on... so we usually end up helping her out. She was

so proud of herself this time!

Alex and Kelton posed for us just before they

left for dinner and the the dance. Don't they

look GREAT!

It's all going by so fast...

2009-03-04T12:30:00.011-07:00

We've been so so so busy this year... getting thru Alex's Senior year. She will be graduating in 2 months and I don't have her last year of Cheer in the scrapbook and I don't have her last two years of track or her last year of dances put in it either!!!! ARGH! I had hoped to have that all done by now! I really need to make some time to get it done. Every time I think that I will be able to just sit down and do some scrapbooking... something else comes up and well... that always adds more pictures to the mix...lol... ya... sooo NOT KIDDING!

Right now, we have ended the Indoor Track Season and are starting into the Outdoor Track Season! Alex and Kotah are both doing that. Alex is in charge of the Track Team practices after school everyday and then after that, she does her own extra workout. Umm... she is working on her Family and Consumer Sciences Sterling Scholar (click link to see what this is) Binder to get it ready to take to Region. I am here to say, it takes a lot of time and effort to get one of those books together. She had to dig back into almost Grade School to get stuff that needs to go into it.

She is the President of the FCCLA Club and she keeps that club hopping with on going service projects. She serves on the Seminary Council... what a GREAT group of kids they have this year and they are very pro-active in their service. They sometimes amaze me, in that they are just teenagers.

She got her housing all taken care of for College next year and so she will move out in the fall... but only about a mile away... YAY! We will still be able to see her... ha ha... she says she's coming home for Sunday dinners.

She has applied to be in the Sports Medicine Program at Snow and so we are waiting to hear if she gets in that or not. She is still thinking about if she wants to tryout for Snow College Cheer or not. Oh... and lets not forget... she has decided to do Miss Ephraim; once again...

And to top it all off... Prom is this week! So, you can see... it's a crazy time at the Hancock household!

Kotah is busy taking Driver's Ed and weight lifting and Track and soon, he will have his summer job going and summer weight training for Football... so he keeps us busy too.

I am so used to the busy by now... I am not sure what I will do with myself when I don't have it...lol

It's all gone by... WAY TOO FAST! I have enjoyed every single minute of my children's lives and I am so glad that they have never been embarrassed to have me in them. I will miss Alex's High School days but I am ready to move onto the world of College Life and see what new interests she will get Kelly and I involved in. She has a way of doing that, you know.

New Family Pictures

2009-02-23T15:10:00.007-07:00

We finally took some new photos... I will add more later... but here are a few for today.

A BRAND NEW YEAR

2009-02-19T12:50:00.002-07:00

OH MY GOSH! You really have to see this set of videos and songs the Church has done for the Youth. This was originally a program put on for the youth in the Conference Center for New Year's this year! They have supposedly sent out a DVD of it to the different Wards and Stakes but our kids hadn't heard anything of it yet so they sat down here at home and watched them on the computer. I am definitely going to try and get the DVD if they have it available at the Distribution Center. Go to their website and if you don't have any more time than to watch a bit... take the 16 minutes it takes to listen to Jeffrey R. Holland's Welocme video from that night... oh my... such wonderful stuff for ANY of us to hear but especially for our youth just getting started with life. I don't know if I can say anymore than it's simply AMAZING! I am so thankful for Church leaders who are ever thoughtful of all of us and always seeking ways to help us learn and grow.

Encourage your teens today to make that commitment to stand up for what they believe in and make this a great new year. Here are the links to the website for the program and the Church news story on it.

ENJOY!!!!

http://abrandnewyear.lds.org/index.html

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/latter-day-saint-youth-celebrate-a-brand-new-year

Senior Ball

2009-02-02T14:15:00.013-07:00

Yes, I should have written about this awhile ago but I just didn't get around to it... it was January 10th. Alex had a really good time. Their group divided in half and did a video scavenger hunt(they had certain tasks to do and they had to video them to prove it) and then the first group back won. Then they ate pizza while they watched the videos, before leaving to get ready for the dance. Alex said the dance was fun and Nick was a perfect gentleman. She said they danced nearly every dance and when she took him home he gave her hug and kiss on the cheek, goodnight. She was surprised at how much fun she had and what a great date it turned out to be. She was really glad she chose to ask Nick.

*We do not remember days; we remember moments*

Alex and Nick

The whole group

Isn't she pretty?!

Just before going to the dance.

The official Dance picture... I think they

posed her weird but oh well.

The group all decided to do funny faces...

Just some Inspiration

2009-01-30T13:21:00.002-07:00

Last night, the kids were both out and so Kel and I took the opportunity to relax and watch a movie. We had been hearing from lots of friends that Fireproof was a feel good movie and had such an inspirational message. So... we watched it! Oh my gosh, you will sit on the edge of your seats at times, you will laugh at times and you will cry at times. I think everyone should see this movie. There are so many lessons to be learned in there... about how we can nourish our relationships with one another. There is a thing called the Love Dare in this story and I think all of us could use a little bit of a love dare in our lives at some point. The only concern we had with this movie BEFORE watching it was that it was a religious movie but not done by LDS people so we wondered if it would push different values than ours but it did not. It was beautifully done. As a side note, I wanted to share something Kirk Cameron(the star) shared with the Today show when this movie was coming out. He made a promise to his wife when they got married that he would never kiss another woman, even when acting... but it called for a kiss in this movie between the husband and wife, so his real life wife came in and she is the one he actually kisses in the scene. They did it in such a way that you don't notice the different person. But, to me that is one of the sweetest parts of this whole movie, that he stuck to his promise and they were still able to make the scene work.

Well, I hope you will all take the time to give this movie a look. It inspired us... we walked away better people with renewed dedication to one another.

Visits with Friends are the BEST!

2009-01-06T22:45:00.008-07:00

So, after a long day of boarding at Sundance we met the Cope family at Applebees for some food and FUN! We met them when we lived in Spanish Fork; in fact we lived across the street from them. We all just hit it off immediately and we have been friends ever since. It was really fun to get together because 1) it's always nice to get together and we got to have some yummy food and 2) we haven't gotten to see them in almost a year due to busy lives and living in different towns. We used go out and eat with them; our two families at least every other week... and it was just a nice time to be together and have fun. Our kids love each other and look forward to spending time together each time. Anyway, it was fun and before we left Applebees we got the kids a dessert to share... you know the big brownie thing with ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce... well when the waitress brought it out, she had to back away fast... those four spoons went flying... that dessert was gone in about a minute and a half! I wish I had the video camera going but Kel did get a good pic of Alex putting a huge spoonful of ice cream in her mouth ha ha ha... we went to their house and we just visited while the kids played Rock Band. It was a good visit and we really need to do it more often.

Oh and I forgot to add that while we were up at Sundance we ran into another family from that Spanish Fork Ward... The Merrills. It was so FUN to run into them and visit with them for a bit in the Lodge before we took off. I love meeting up with old friends... that is one reason I love this whole blogging thing... I have been able to get in touch with many of my friends from the past... and keep in touch with many friends who have moved away from me...Kristen. I love all of you and I am thankful for you and the influence you have been in my life.

*Friendship isn't a big thing-it's a million little things*

I'm guessing that dessert tasted pretty good if

they gave it a chance... but I think they inhaled

it rather than savored it...lol

Cameron, Austin, Alex and Kotah

Kel, me, Cameron, Austin, Alex, Kotah, Shelly

and Jim