Rope Bridge

We hadn't really been down to the park in several months, however the weather is starting to warm up so last week we took advantage of it. It took Bryce and Preslie to the park right by my house. Last year Bryce needed my help to cross the rope bridge. He wanted to do it this time and asked for help. I told him that he had gotten a lot bigger and I thought he could probably do it on his own now. He was so proud of himself we he did!!! It made me realize how much Little accomplishments are a big deal for little kids. I am proud of him for being willing to try.

Hunters Safety

Chloe and Brydee took a Hunters Safety Course. It took them several tries to pass the actual shooting section. It was because they have 30 shots and they have to get 15 of them in the kill zone. They were hitting the Target, but not quite getting the 15 in. They weren't far off though and all of there shots were still in a cluster. The instructor had them try it three different times. Finally he measured it a different way and passed them. He said I know they can shoot and they have great gun handling skills. I think it was just that the guns were a little heavy so they would kind of drop them when they shot. The time the instructor had Chloe take some shots using a prop to hold her gun steady she go 4/5 dead center in the bull's-eye. So she can definitely shoot. Of course Landon has already put her in for the deer hunt this year ;)

 

Basketball End of Season

We ended out the basketball season. All in all I would say we have had a successful season. The girls all learned a lot and progressed. As a team we did a great job especially defensively. We lost a few games, but the most we ever lost by was 4 points usually it was 1 or 2 points. We had lots of wins and a few ties.

Here is our cute girl.

For the end of the season I made all of the girls on my team these fun basketball trading cards.

We put them in a little treat bag. The tag said "Orange you Glad you played Basketball". The bags had the trading cards, orange Gatorade, goldfish, and Reese's. I think they were a hit with the girls.

Here are a few shots from our very last game. We ended up losing by 1 point :( . Chloe had a great game-she did the jump ball at the first and won it, she made all of her foul shots, and she did a great job leading the team.

 

 "Besties"

 "At the foul line"



5 Ways you Know You Are Raising a Teenage Son

This is my life right now as humorous or unrealistic as it may seem to some of you whose sons haven't hit the teenage years yet, just wait your day will come.

7 Ways you Know You Are Raising a Teenage Son

#7-An Increase In Your Water Bill-Seriously how many times a day can one kid shower?! Sometimes my husband and I will just look at each other and be like "how many showers is that today?" Or "Is he seriously showering again or right now." Don't ask me what the sudden attraction to water is when just a few years ago we had to fight with all our might just to get him to take a shower.
#6- Growth Spurt-I often look at my son and think to myself who is that "man" towering over me complete with facial hair and muscles and where has my little boy gone?
#5-Every time you get in the car with him in the drivers seat your blood pressure immediately goes up. Maybe this doesn't happen to all of you, but I have talked to several who have told me that yes there is a definite difference between girl and boy drivers. Why is it that boys think they are training for the next Indy 500? I feel like every ride there is lots of yelling and arguing and me holding onto the handle above my seat. Also did I hear correctly that you and your friends were racing at lunch?! And why is there suddenly a stigma against wearing a seat belt? Can we please get through this phase quickly.
#4-Food Disappears at an Alarming Rate and You constantly Hear the Phrase What is There to Eat? Every single day when I pick my son up from anywhere I can almost guarantee that I will hear the phrase. "Can we go get some food?" At home it is always "What is there to eat?" or "Do we have any good food?" I can buy something and if it's something he likes most likely there will be none of it left come the next day. At odd hours of the night my husband and I will wake up and look and each other and be like "What is he doing?" as cupboards are banging, the fridge is opening, or the microwave is dinging as he fixes himself a midnight snack.
#3-One Sided or One Worded Conversations- No matter how much you would love to have a great heartfelt conversation with your son about how his day went or what is going on in his life it just isn't happening. Most of the conversations you have are pretty one sided with you dragging ever word from him. :How was school today?" "Good." Okay elaborate Please! Either that or you are opening up to them and suddenly you hear them say as they are staring into the mirror "my hair looks dope today". Really did you just hear one word I said to you! Then when they finally do open up about something its maybe something you wished they hadn't shared like the fact that he spent his lunch hour lighting golf balls and history text books (that one by accident) on fire. Yeah maybe it's better if we just go back to the one sided conversations and you keep this stuff to yourself.
#2-Sudden Attention from the Opposite Sex wherever you go. Does it seem that girls are suddenly giggling as you walk by, or how about coming up and exchanging phone numbers with your son. It could be the treats showing up on your doorstep or the parents asking you how old your son is and then saying that there daughter thinks he is cute. Then there are the pictures of him and his "girlfriend" showing up on Twitter and Instagram. Whatever it is you have a problem on your hands. Can we please just lock him away for a few years until all of those raging hormones calm down.
#1-You suddenly know how to speak a foreign language. Apparently sometime over the past year My husband and I have learned to speak a foreign language. That must be the case, because maybe the most frustrating thing for me about my teenage son is the fact that almost every time I talk to him he just looks and me and smiles or looks at me with a goofy or mocking face. At times when my husband or I will say something to him he will just bust up laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. Was it really that funny? In fact we didn't think it was funny at all? Obviously we must be speaking a foreign language to be getting this type of reaction either that or he has really learned how to push our buttons and he thinks its funny to see us riled up.

If you have experienced one or many of these things then you like me are probably raising a teenage son. Though I love him to bits at times I find myself wondering if we are going to make it through the next few years. Those of you who have raised a teenage son please tell me it gets better?!

Valentines

We had fun celebrating Valentines Day this year. Landon of course helped the kids make boxes. Only Chloe really needed one, but Bryce really wanted an R2D2 one so he made him one too.

He was so excited!!!

We made these cute valentines to send to grandparents.

And this one for Chloe's teacher.

 



For Bryce I did something I haven't done in years. I bought valentines instead of making them. GASP! Haha seriously though he only needed a few to hand out and how could I pass out a set of star wars ones complete with suckers for $1.

We made some cute emoji Valentines for Chloe to hand out to go along with her emoji box.

Bryce made this special Valentine for his Grandma "Marshmello" (Marshall)

Of course Tanner got in the Valentines giving. He had me make this candy bouquet for his girlfriend to go with the roses he got her. She gave him a bunch  candy along with some baseballs with cute sayings written on them like "I scored a homerun when I met you".

In sticking with tradition-Landon gave me these chocolate covered strawberries. DELICIOUS. I look forward to them every year.

The high priest group held a Valentines Date Night. Complete with a catered dinner, entertainment and corsages. There was also dancing, but we had to skip out on that to go to a ball game. 

We had a great Valentines...glad we got to spend it with each other.



Happy Birthday to Me

I really did have a great birthday this year. 34 years can you believe it! I worked all day teaching Kindergarten. I gave out fruit roll ups for a birthday treat :) After that I attended a curriculum committee meeting. In the meantime Landon had gotten off early and picked up the kids and they all made me a birthday cake. Bryce was in charge of putting the candies on. Bryce was so excited when I got home that we immediately had to have cake and open presents. After that we went to dinner at Red Lobster with my Grandma Marshall. If was a fun and relaxing night. No running around here and there and everyone was home. After dinner we went home and watched the movie Bryce had given me "Hotel Transylvania 2" (he picked it out himself), but seriously it is one of my favorites. The best part the whole family was seriously in bed and asleep by 8:30. WOW! That never happens! Happy Birthday to me.

Quilt #3 and #4

I now have 4/52 done. I'm getting behind-maybe I won't make my goal, but I'll keep on trying who knows maybe I will. I have just been working a lot more lately than I usually do plus have been super busy with the kids, which is normal. I have about 5 that I have supplies for or have started to work on. So now if I could just get those ones done. Of the four I have completed I only have 1 left in the stockpile-I feel like they are going out faster than I am able to make them, and with at least 6 babies within my family to be born this year I'm sure that's not going to change anytime soon.

#52Quilts

Auto Parts Store Reader

Some days he test us and will through a tantrum, but usually at least when we are out in public he is pretty well behaved. He can usually find something to do to entertain himself pretty well-like sit down in the middle of the floor at the auto parts store and read his book, while he waited for me to get the parts I needed. Yes it was dirty, but at least he was quite and not running around getting into things.

I'm a Super Hero

As we were walking out of Wal-Mart Bryce was riding on the back of the cart. Suddenly he was like Mom "look I'm a super hero". He would kick his legs back behind him and only be holding on with his arms so it seemed like he was flying. HAHA! What a cute little super hero!

Competitive Basketball

We always said our kids could only be in one competitive sport at a time. Well you know when you say something like that or say my kid will never do that-that is usually exactly what happens.

Yep that happened for us this past month. It was nothing we were really planning on it just kind of happened. You see Chloe plays competitive soccer, which she doesn't want to quit anytime soon. SO she plays soccer year round and then in their respective season she also plays basketball, softball, and swims.

Well as the regular Junior Jazz basketball season progressed this year we could tell something needed to change. Chloe was completely dominating the league (not just saying this cause she's my child-she really was). She was having a hard time making progress and some of the girls on opposing teams and even on her own team were starting to be mean to her-due to resentment. An opportunity came up for Chloe to play on a competitive basketball team, and we decided to try it out. (one thing I should mention is that this is a team from Snow Canyon as I wasn't aware of any from Dixie) Within the first week we could see it was the right choice. She still played in the other league, but she was able to make progress on her own and when she played games in the competitive league the scales were a little more balanced.

 

For now the competitive league has mostly just been practicing and doing scrimmage games. There official season starts the first part of March. We are a little worried how this will all work out with soccer and softball coming into full swing during that time as well, but hopefully it will.

At this time Chloe has also decided that she probably won't do swim team during the summer, which will leave more time for her to attend some basketball and soccer camps during this time instead. This is a big step for her, as she loves swimming and is good at it, but eventually she needed to narrow it down to three sports anyways. She really wants to focus on basketball and soccer and then just have softball as her fun thing. Wish us luck in the upcoming months.