Rockin Christmas Spirit

Our good friends the Matthews are so kind to us. They really help out our family. Sandra has been picking up Shauna for me from dance lessons , since I can't be in two places at once and I travel with Donovan for swim everyday. So today Shauna went to their home and they were making gingerbread houses as a family and they were so kind to include Shauna. It was really nice because Shauna was feeling a little left out the night Audrey made hers. So here it is Shauna's masterpiece in front of our Christmas tree at home. Now for sure the Christmas spirit is so strong that it's Rockin'.

Tumble Maddness

While Donovan is swimming the girls take a kid exercises class. They do different things everyday. They have so much fun and have meet so many nice kids. The instructor is pregnant but is full of life. Today they set up an obstacle course for them to do. They first had to go across a balance beam, then jump up and down ten times, do a cartwheel down a foam wedge, jump up while twisting in the air over small hurtles, then 10 times each do toe touches, sit ups, jumping jacks, push ups then windmills. It was exhausting just looking at them.

Rowdy Swimming

Today instead of a normal swim practice Donovan's team had a swim clinic with the 3- Time Olympic Gold Medalist ROWDY GAINES! He gave all kinds of tips for the free-style stroke. He got in the water and showed them what to do and swam with the kids. He even brought 8x10 poster of him winning at the Olympics in 1980. Then signed them for all the kids. Donovan's Say's," Go Donovan! Rowdy Gaines". How cool is that! In case you recognize the name and still think you heard it more recently it is because you have. He was the commentator in Beijing for swimming.

The Christmas Spirit

The youth in our ward had a wonderful gingerbread house making night. Well....Donovan enjoyed more of the destroying then the making and didn't have one to show for all the time he spent supposedly working on one. However they let Audrey make one. It was sure sweet of them. So we put her in front of our Christmas tree at home and took a picture of her masterpiece. Ahh... the smell of sugar and frosting sure helps get you into the Christmas spirit.

4th Grade Christmas Program

Shauna is into everything it seems like and the crazy part is she is good at it all. Today all the 4th and 5th graders preformed for each other what they had learned in music class. It was held in the morning in the multi-purpose room. Lucky me I was able to sneak in the back and film Shauna's Class. Wouldn't you know Shauna had a mini solo however the girl in front of her who had a solo before Shauna didn't know where Shauna was standing and so Shauna missed out on her peers hearing half of her solo. But the part that was heard was absolutely beautiful. Of course I will always think that I'm the proud mom!

A live Nativity

Our primary program was tonight! What a busy day. No rest for this mom and Primary President. A while ago I saw in a magazine while waiting to be drilled on in the dentist office the ideas for the decorations for tonight. Christmas trees cut out of wrapping paper and a balloon Christmas tree. However the magazine had no instructions how to build the balloon Christmas tree. But those that know me know that when I have something in mind I am determined to figure it out. But you know what? I know I was inspired to call the counselors that I have because they are just as creative as I. I was able to tell them what I saw in the magazine and my first counselor quickly went to work. She went dumpster diving at a cemetery of all places to get those tri-pod wire things that hold up the flowers at funerals. She found some and they worked out great as a mold for our Charlie Brown Balloon Christmas Trees. We placed one on each side of our stage. The wrapping paper trees all over the walls of the gym, with a few snowflakes. I was also able to get Christmas Stocking Ornaments for each child at the farmers market and we engraved their names and year on the back and hung them all over all the paper trees. We set up the chairs for our little theater and hung paper chains along all the backs of the chairs. My other counselor made a wonderful slide show of the children's activities throughout the year and set it to primary music. We invited the whole ward and we asked if they could bring a finger food to share. Some did but there was not quite enough to go around because there was so many investigators that came. What a special night to come because the children did such a wonderful job. You felt the spirit and it was sweet. Shauna played the roll of a Shepard(est), and all the children had memorized their parts. We hope you enjoy and feel the Christmas spirit like we did. Merry Christmas!

School Winter Fest

The elementary school puts on a winter fest. It has jump houses , carnival type games, food and local craft people selling all kinds of things from jewelry to woodwork and all of it is Christmas Holiday themed and every year all the different after school clubs preform at the event. Shauna is in the Recorder Club and did a very beautiful job. So we thought we would share a song called Fas do do(Fae doe doe) with you.

Jingle Bell Swim Meet

This swim meet was 2 1/2 hours away in south Florida, in a city called Clearwater, it is near Tampa. So Randy and Donovan made it a Father Son weekend. They came home with some fond memories that only those two will ever know and the rest of us get to stare at them every time they crack up and you don't understand why? Now the swim meet, once again Donovan did another awesome job! His first race was a 50 freestyle and his time was 30.60 seconds. Then he did a 500 freestyle and he did that in 6:40:29. Then he did a 200 IM and his time was 2:52:42. Then on Saturday he did 200's in freestyle and his time was 2:38:39 but was disqualified for a false start and his 100 back time was 1:19:53. He also did a 100 butterfly and his time was 1:33:00, however he was disqualified for improper leg movement. Then unexpectedly his coach came up to him and wanted him to join in on a 400 freestyle relay with the senior team. This team had a 20(Trevor Lowe),18(Tyle Petersohn) and 16(Jaron Lowe) year old on it. They were one short and they asked Donovan to join them. Donovan did it and didn't even get disqualified.The team had a time of 3:50:66. I think Randy was pretty excited because he called me from the meet right away to tell me about how Donovan was swimming with the older boys! I think as parents we get just as excited or more so than our son.

Kindergarten Christmas Program

Audrey was so cute today... she was very nervous about her performance. After school today she told me that she didn't want to go any more. We talked her into it and what a treat. It was very sweet. The kids sang all kinds of holiday songs including one's for Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.

Christmas Ornaments

At the YMCA they had a nice little activity for the kids. They had about 6 different tables set up in a room. At each table they were able to make a different Christmas ornament. Well, they went around the room and made such lovely looking ornaments and had fun doing it too! At one table the "Y" employee asked the kids what kinds of things they were into. The first kid said I play soccer, the next karate, and so forth down the line of kids. It got to be Shauna's turn and she told everyone about how she loves to dance and it's her hobby. Finally it gets to Audrey and when she was asked what it was she did she said," I do nothing absolutely nothing, I just stay home." We all started to laugh a little it was so cute I had to share that story with all.

The Spa Treatment

Audrey asked if she could take a bath in my tub. I thought it was because it is bigger and deeper then her tub so I said sure. We warmed the water and put some good smelling stuff in then I put her in. I left to go and get her PJ's and when I got back she asked me for the round things that go on her eyes. I stood there for a while trying to figure out what she was talking about then she said it was in the fridge. Then I knew what it was that she wanted. CUCUMBERS! So I went and got them for her and as she put them on her eyes she said Ahh.... and I took some photo's to remember the day of the cucumbers.

Thanksgiving

Well, I know it is December already and we have been busy putting up decorations for Christmas already but I must tell you about Thanksgiving before the New Year arrives. We were going to try out a Turduckin( A chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a Turkey) however the duck would not fit into the Turkey. Oh! Well. We still cooked them all. We also had home made noodles that our friends made and she puts them inside her gravy which you put on top of your potato's. Talk about a carb. overload! We also had sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberries, jello salad and to top it all off pumpkin and apple pies! YUM... We ate and ate and in between were able to play some games. We played a new one called "Lights out in Moscow" Really fun! However the best part of Thanksgiving was Audrey lost both front teeth that day! Now she can truly sing the song "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth". Hope where ever you are you had a memorable Thanksgiving too!

Thanksgiving Swim Meet!

Well, once again it was another exciting swim meet. This meet, Donovan was doing all 200's. His first race was freestyle and he placed second with a speed of 2:24. He did this race without kicking his feet. His coach said that he would pay for this mistake in future practices and he would be kicking all the time. His second race was Breaststroke and he did very well he placed 1st with a time of 3:12. For the whole swim meet he placed 19th in this stroke he was so hoping that someone would scratch their race because the first 16 were in the finals. But no one did, so close yet so far away. The final race was Backstroke and the last time if you remember he was disqualified. Well this time was no different. He ended his race too early (we need to practice counting) and therefore was disqualified. Bummer. There was another race that we wanted to enter it was the 50 freestyle. But his coach said that he was not allowedto enter that only babies could enter 50's. He is not in that league she said. Well I think this just about covers it. Till next swim meet.

High Fashion

This last week I let my girls watch with me on T.V. "America's Next Top Model". It was the last episode of the season and so there was named a winner of the whole thing and many photo shoots. Right after the show was over Audrey went into her room and proceeded to pull out of her closet all her church dresses and insisted on having me take pictures of her. It was late and so I made a promise that tomorrow night we would be able to do it. I was sure she would forget. But the next night she got her sister Shauna into it. They both put on make-up and where ready for their photo shoot. Outfit after outfit they would come out wanting their photo taken. So what was a mom to do but to get into it and take some photo's. The funniest part was Audrey saying that instead of growing up and becoming a doctor she now wants to be AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL!

Patriot Meet (Nov.15th)

Donovan was amazing! His first race was a 100 free-style. He jumped in the water and to his dismay his goggles slipped off his eyes and into his mouth. However Donovan was a true athlete he swam anyway. As water came pouring into his mouth with every flip turn and he was unable to see a thing he still managed to plough through the competition and managed to come in second with a time of a minute-five. Wow! It was amazing!

Blast Off!

Tonight at 7:55 pm we went outside to what looks like the sun is rising then all of the sudden you see it! The Space Shuttle leaving for there mission. The second part is that it looks like a big streak across the sky, then lastly you see a separation and the streak ends then the shuttle looks like a bright ,bright star moving across the sky.It is so cool to witness!

Halloween 2008

Once again the spooky and silly come out in the night, and for what you think... for a sugar rush!! We had lots of fun! Our church had a Fall Fling for the kids including hay rides, ring toss, cake walk, fishing for what else candy and so much more. Donovan was Kiba from a Japanese Animation cartoon called Naruto. Shauna was a Brazilian dancer. Audrey was of course a Vampire. She really loves to be scary! The kids on Halloween night cleaned the neighborhood out. They each collected 2 gallon zip lock bags full of candy! Pray for me. Until the candy's gone and the kids are done bouncing off the walls you'll probably find me on the ceiling clawing my way out of the crazy house!

Donovan's Do's

Donovan is continuing to excel in swimming. He is really amazing! He had his first real swim meet. There was over 750 swimmers there. He was able to place 2ND in the 50 freestyle. He missed his backstroke race do to his coach not getting him in the water on time. So he was to swim the next race and was trowed off his game. He didn't realize that he was to swim a 200 and stopped half through and it disqualified him. Bummer! However, It was a lot of fun and I think he is more prepared for the next big meet. (Look for the Red Cap!)

15 years

Wow! Time does fly when you are having fun. Randy and I have made it to our 15 year wedding anniversary. Looking back through our years together we both agree that we have had some pretty wild times. To celebrate this momentous occasion we took a cruse to the Bahama's. The islands were beautiful and we had a wonderful time even though the last day I sprained my ankle working out in the gym. All in all it was fun to spend just husband an wife time.