Twilight at Midnight

Sammie, Sydney and I all read the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and were really excited when we heard they were going to make it into a movie. Until... we found out who was in the cast. The book describes Edward, the lead vampire, as the having the most beautiful glorious face on the earth. Well, the actor playing Edward certainly is not as described. I thought I'd skip the movie since it already took such a big step from being like the book. But then Sammie & Sydney asked me if they could go to the midnight showing. Of course like a good mother I said NO WAY can you two cute girls go out at midnight. Then I thought again and decided they could go if I went with them. So, we're trying to figure out when the tickets would go on sale so we could get some and then wait in a really long line for seats. Just then one of our neighbors sends an email out to everyone asking if they would like to go to the movie, and she was trying to reserve an entire theater. Anyway, she did get the whole theater, assigned seats so we wouldn't have to wait and run for seats and even gave prizes out. It was so much fun.
Here's how it went for me, Sam & Syd:
The girls wanted to get Twilight T-shirts to wear to the movie so we went to the mall the night before, but they couldn't find anything they liked. We went home a little disappointed. The next day I bought each of us black T-shirts and iron-on letters and we made our own. We looked kind of silly at Walmart when we went to get candy before the movie. All 3 of us were dressed in our black "Cullen" shirts and red or black pants. At the theater we got to our reserved seats and Sydney wanted to sit in the middle since she has this phobia about sitting next to strangers. We went to get some popcorn and Syd decided she didn't want any so Sammie & I would have to share with Syd sitting between us. Sammie slightly bullied Syd into changing seats with her. Only a few minutes after the switch Sydney's seat number was called for a door prize. Needless to say, Sammie was pretty irritated and claimed that the gift should have been hers, but there was no way Sydney was giving in to that one. I ended up dozing off toward the middle of the movie but that's what happens when you get to be my age. We had a really fun time together. I'm so glad I have two fun daughters to play with.

Body Builder

Ok, so that last post of Sydney may not have been the most "appropriate". But I sure did get a laugh out of it.
This little piece of history was during the Body Building phase. I think I was about 21. Oh I was so strong! Just check out those guns. Pretty gross for a girl. If you look closely you can see a little bit of pink behind my jeans. That's my body building brother Tony standing behind me. And, yes he is wearing pink pants. I think they were "parachute" pants even. Kind of girly for a manly man. Go figure.

A Little Comic Relief

I think Sydney was about 2-1/2 when this photo was taken. She had smashed her finger in the door or something and had to show us where she was hurt. It really doesn't look like she's hurt ~ just being devious. Check out the expression on her face ~ PRICELESS. (I'm just glad she turned out to be such an ANGEL)

Be Strong

Well, it seems like our family has had it's share of health trials in the last few months. Starting with Dad's stroke, John's prostate cancer and now Zach's leukemia. The one thing that has been on my mind through all of this is how much my family really means to me. It's really hard to be so far away when trials hit and not able to be there to help. I hope they know that there is a prayer in my heart always for their safety and well being.
It is hard to comprehend how this leukemia could just appear out of nowhere and attack Zach with such intensity. He is so young, it just doesn't seem fair. We all have trials that we have to work through and this one will be a long road. We just have to remember that bad things happen to good people and that underneath all of the sorrow and worry there is a lesson that will be learned and knowledge will be gained.
I have been impressed with the dedication of my brother and his family to care for and support Zach. I want them to know that I love them all and that I know that Heavenly Father will carry through this rough time. It has been hard on all of them and they have been strengthened by the prayers and love of family and friends(and people they don't even know).
BE STRONG ZACH! You can kick this thing!

Cheap Entertainment

So, it is apparent that not much has been going on at our house. It looks like the kids got the camera and went wild. I just LOVE each one of these goofy kids ~ they make me laugh. It's moments like this when they let it all out and just have fun that I love so much!

Now a quick update for the last couple of weeks: work and school. A tennis tournament and flag football play offs (neither of which we will talk about any further). Basically it's the same day over and over and over with only small differences.

Marathon Mom

So... After 4 months of training, I ran 26.2 miles in the St. George Marathon. It was one of the hardest, most exciting miserable things I've ever done. I had this awesome picture in my head of how it was going to be and it turned out completely opposite. Almost everything that could go wrong did. It began with a late start to St. George. I was nervous and anxious and wanted to get an early start so I could get my chip and number and then have a relaxing night with the family at the pool. We ended up spending the night at the Instacare getting stitches in Amanda's finger. Then there was the late night search for my lost iPod. (Heavenly Father does answer prayers!) I went to bed around 12:30 and up at 3:50 to get to the bus and up to the starting line by 5am. It was pitch black outside and raining. There were about 5,000 people dressed in trash bags sitting around smoldering fires trying to keep warm and dry. It looked like Armageddon. I ran about 8 miles in a trashbag and finally ripped that off only to be soaked to the bone from head to toe. The rain never stopped, the headwind was cold and strong and my feet were sloshing around in my shoes for 4 hours and 46 minutes. - Like I said MISERABLE! But it was so worth it when I rounded the corner toward the finish line and saw Blake. The kids were a little farther down standing on the fence and gave me high 5's as I ran by! (at that point I'm not sure you could call it running) It was definitely not pretty, but well worth it! Anyone want to run with me next year? I just have to do it in the sunshine.

Homecoming 2008

Last week was Springville High's Homecoming. Sammie was asked to the dance by her latest "boyfriend" Sid Whiting. They went 4 wheeling all day and then to dinner at Macaroni Grill and then to the dance. She was home by midnight, which made mom & dad very happy.

Syd's Soccer

Sydney started soccer again this fall with Blake as her coach. Go get 'em Syd!!

Tennis Anyone

Sammie made the SHS tennis team again. We were pretty stressed about whether she would make the team or not because she didn't play all summer. She got a whole summer's worth of lessons in 1 week and beat out some really good girls. Way to go Sammie!

RUN BABY RUN

I love to run~! This was my 2nd Half Marathon, and I just can't get enough. It was so fun to get to the last mile (which is near our house) and look over to see Blake driving really slow next to me with the camera. Amanda was in the back waving frantically. Sammie was supposed to be running with me, but we could never find time to train together with our work schedules, so she took the easy way out and drove to the finish line. I had just less than .1 mile to go when Sammie, Ethan and Sydney started yelling MOM! and then running next to me for a little bit. It was so much fun to have them all there cheering me on!
Running for me is time I get to have just for myself. I don't have to think about anything, I just put my music on and go. I finished a bit slower than last year, but I have excuses galore ~~ 10 extra pounds, had to potty at mile 5, stood on my feet for 3 days before the race arranging wedding flowers with my friend Lori (seen in some of the photos)and got only 4 hours of sleep before the race. I was a little disappointed because I wanted to beat my time from last year, but oh well. This is only half of the St. George Marathon mileage. I just finished a run yesterday that was 19.5 miles. After that distance, I'm sure I can finish 26.2 in less than 6 hours and not in the back of an ambulance.

Rockets Red Glare

At the last Pack meeting, Ethan's Den was in charge of the Flag Ceremony. He led the Raising and Retiring of the Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance. The Scouts then made rockets and then shot them into the air. I helped Amanda make one of her own. It was fun to see how high they would go.

CAMPING

Every summer we try to have a campout with Greg and Amy and their kids. We always go to the same secluded spot near Kamas. They boys like to shoot their BB guns and play with fire. There is a creek nearby for cooling off that the kids love! We are guaranteed to catch as many fish as we want at the Family Fun Fish Farm. The food is always great and the campfire stories memorable. We had such a great time, I can't wait til next year.

Road Trip

In March, Sammie bought Grandma Noni's car. We flew to Denver on a Saturday night and Drove back Sunday. This was one of the most fun road trips I've ever taken. We forgot our sunglasses, so thanks to the Quickie Mart, we got some glasses that were left over from the 70's. We really did enjoy grandma's glasses that we found in the glove box. We sang Picture to Burn at the top of our lungs all the way home. I let Sammie drive when we got near Grand Junction. As we were looking for Chick-fil-a by the Mesa Mall, Sammie cut off a guy with tattoo's and an anger management problem, so I was back in the driver seat for 4 more hours. It was a trip that I'll never forget. Thanks Sammie!

Who are we...

~~ BLAKE & SHAUNA~~
We are MOM & DAD~ We are HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEARTS~ We are 18 YEARS MARRIED~ We are 40~ We are STILL YOUNG~ We are EVENING WALKS~ We are MEAN PARENTS~ We are RACQUETBALL AND RUNNING~ We are DENVER BRONCOS~ We are COLORADO AVALANCHE~ We are BEST FRIENDS~ We are AWESOME TOGETHER~


~~AMANDA ~~ I am SUGAR~ I am 100 KISSES~ I am SNUGGLES~ I am a GYMNAST~ I am 7~ I am TOOTHLESS~ I am CHICA~


~~SAMMIE ~~ I am SPICE~ I am Fun and Laughter~ I am TENNIS~ I am a RED DEVIL~ I am 4.0~ I am determined~ I am TWILIGHT~ I am 16~ I am a DRIVER~ I am SMLFRI~ I am SUPER SAM!


~~SYDNEY~~ I am EVERYTHING NICE~ I am SWEET~ I am THOUGHTFUL~ I am 12~ I am a BEEHIVE~ I am TWILIGHT~ I am a MUSTANG~ I am SOCCER~ I am a CHEF~ I am BUNNER~


~~ETHAN~~ I am FROGS AND SNAILS AND PUPPY DOG TAILS~ I am LIZARDS AND DRAGONS~ I am MASTER CHIEF~ I am THE BOY~ I am BB GUN SNIPER~ I am STAR WARS~ I am a CUB SCOUT~ I am FLAG FOOTBALL SUPERBOWL CHAMPION~ I am BUBBA~

THESE ARE MY PEOPLE

These are my people
This is where I come from
Were givin' this life everything we got and then some
It ain't always pretty
But its real
It's the way we were made
Wouldn't have it any other way
These are my people