{Karate Kids}

A few weeks ago, Brock and Kaleb had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake to compete in a Karate Tournament.

Derrick and I waited patiently for their turns ;)

Mr. Brock
KK

They both decided to compete in Kata's and Sparring.

It always cracks me up to see the kids with all their sparring gear on. I looks hard to walk, let alone fight. In addition to the helmet they have a mouth guard, plus feet and hand things....Yep, feet and hand things are the technical name in my world. But, despite all the gear, they get some pretty good hits and punches in.

Brock looked so serious as he listened to the instructions they were given.....

and also as he received his scores for the Kata he preformed. We had a good day and it was fun to see how much the boys had improved over the last year.

{Blue & Gold}

Last week our Scouts had their annual Blue & Gold Banquet. Honestly, even after having a boy in Scouts for 2 years, it all still confuses me. That's bad, since Scouts is one of the things I oversee in my Primary calling. I'm sure I'll get it all figured out, right about the time my boys are finished! I'm just thankful for our Scout leaders....they all do a great job.

Brock just had his Birthday and turned ten, so he'll be moving on to Webelos.

Kaleb will be turning eight this month, so they welcomed him to Scouting and presented him with his Wolf book. He was so excited, and can't wait to be able to go to his first den meeting. I couldn't believe how little he looked up there next to the older boys!

And now my friends, I'm off for a "Wicked" girls weekend! Can't wait to tell you all about our fun and excitement!

{SNOW Much Fun}

One of the boys Christmas presents from Derrick and I were tickets to the Western Nationals Snocross Races! So Saturday morning we packed up all our warm gear, jumped in the car with Damon and James and headed out! Oh, and we dropped Miss Carlie off at Grandpa and Grandma Dearden's. I think she was really excited to spend the day with "big Syney" and could have cared less that we were leaving her. After a few shopping stops, picking up Kami, and dinner, we made it to Rio Tinto stadium and proceeded to add layer upon layer of warm clothes. Yep, it's chilly outside at 7:00 pm, and even colder at 10:30!
Honestly it wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be, my nose and my toes got cold, but otherwise I was good. I bet the guy we saw walk in wearing shorts and a light jacket couldn't say that!
The races themselves were pretty fun to watch, especially the hole shots, when there were 15 sleds all piled up together trying to get the best spot!
But my favorite part was, and always is, the freestyle riders! I love watching the jumps not to mention the back flips!
The boys were so excited and had to go down and get a front row view!

I think we all had a fun day....good times, good memories!

{What a Great Date}

I feel bad.... I know I'm going to make some of you really jealous when I tell you about my Valentines day date, but, well I'll just apologize in advance. Are you ready to hear about this most fantastic date? Derrick, the romantic sweetheart that he is, took me (oh, yea and our boys) to Monster Jam for valentines day. I mean seriously girls, what could be better than great big huge noisy trucks and lots of rednecks all packed into a stadium? Just add in a little bit of motor cross and it's a pretty great date, right? We really didn't plan this as a valentines day date. The boys both have birthdays coming up and we took them for their birthdays, it just happened that it was valentines day also. The roads were horrible and it was a long tense drive, but the boys were so excited and I'm glad we got the chance to take them.

What could be better than a date with THREE handsome guys?
AWWW, look.....♥Hearts♥ on the cars and the ramp, how sweet!
Franken-Freak! What a silly boy, hehe!

(he came up with the name Franken-Freak)

And another silly boy!

Well heck, if we're all pulling faces, top that!

Maximum Destruction
I think the freestyle motor cross riders were both Derrick and my favorite. It's amazing to me the way they can flip, and jump and the tricks they do. I think we may be in trouble though, now all Kaleb wants to do is learn tricks and he's sure he can do it, no problem! UMMM, mom thinks NOT!
Aren't they cuties?
Of course we had to spring for the souvenirs......how could we not, they were a bargain?
Spoiled Rotten Dang Cute Kids!

We had planned to go out to dinner, but spaced that it was not only Saturday night, but Valentines also and everything was super busy, so we settled for Fazolli's and the kids thought that was great. I have to shout out a big thanks to Sheri for keeping Carlie. I knew there was no way she would sit through the show not to mention 5 hours of driving is too much for a little girl, so I was super happy when Sheri offered to keep her. Even after being there all day, she cried when we got there to pick her up, she just wanted to stay with "my Siney" (Sydney). In Derrick's defense, we did go out last weekend for a great dinner. We went to Monroe to Sagebrush Grill for Ted's birthday. We'd heard rave reviews and I must say it was very good, so if you are ever in the area, try it, I think you'll be glad you did!