Kailyn Got Glasses!

 After she found out she needed them (she is losing sight in one eye) she was soooo upset- especially because she found out she isn't a candidate for contacts. She was crying and asked if we could get a milkshake and fries. As we went through the McDonald's drive through I was warning her of the dangers of eating to console yourself especially when you are older and don't have the metabolism for it.

 I don't think my lesson sunk in because when we got home and I asked her what she wanted for dinner she said "pizza- I need more comfort food"

She picked super cute glasses that are totally funky and original and totally her. She hasn't adjusted to wearing them yet because they are forcing her bad eye to work and that makes things seem less in focus then when she has the glasses off and her brain just shuts the bad eye off all together. Plus by the end of the day her eyes are super tired because they are having to work so hard in the glasses. She is probably going to end up having vision therapy but they want her to wear her glasses for a bit first so we go in January for the consultation.

Nostalgic

Travis surprised me for our anniversary by taking me to relive parts of our first date.
Instead of visiting Jimi Hendrix at his grave we went to the Experience Music Project museum. They are featuring Nirvana right now which was very cool!
Instead of staying up all night listening to Pink Floyd we went to the Dark Side of the Moon Laser show. I have never been to a laser show before and it was super trippy. I felt like I was being hypnotized lol!
We also added Thai dinner and a trip to the grocery store lol!
It was so much fun and I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing man. It was so cute to see him trying to plan the surprise. I eventually caught on and he let me help him plan our date- He had a lot of good ideas but he is super indecisive so he kind of needed my help anyway.

Happy Birthday Jimi and Happy Anniversary to us!

What if 6 was 9

High school sweethearts!

After the laser show. Is it sad that I fell asleep during the last few songs?

He likes the picture above better and I like this one better so I am including both

School Pictures 2011

I FINISHED MY BOOK! (saturday lol)

I can't believe how grown up my kids are now!!! Time sure seems to be speeding by. Sometimes I want it to go faster because I am so curious to see what these kids do and become and I want grand kids lol. Other times I just want things to slow down because I am not ready to be an empty nester. A friend of mine shared her awesome talent with us and took these pictures of Allias and Kay. She took several more but these are my favorites from the shoot!

 Allias is a junior this year and 16! He is all about looking fresh- it cracks me up when I go shopping with him- he is such a girl about outfits lol. And whooaa is this kid a charmer!
He isn't driving yet- we would like him to get his Eagle first but he did agree to be on the Youth Conference committee. He seems excited to be helping with the planning.
He is trying to read the Book of Mormon by March- I told him if he does I will by him a plane ticket to visit his friends in North Carolina this summer. He is also blessing the sacrament at church. He has such a strong clear voice that it really helps you focus on the prayer.
He has a super heavy class load this year with Trig, Chemistry and French plus three other classes. His grades aren't the best butttt they don't exactly suck either and he is doing a little better than previous years. We are kind of letting him be in charge of his own destiny when it comes to his grades this year.
He is trying out for the basketball team this week and I really hope he makes it. There is so much politics involved in school sports- not to mention how many select and AAU teams there are around here that parents pay thousands of dollars each year for and kids start playing in when they are seven or eight. It makes me nervous with him being the new kid and all.
When he isn't doing school work or playing basketball he is lifting weights at the gym. It is a serious obsession for him this year. We never let our boys lift weights growing up- we wanted them to wait until they were nearly done growing so he has been thrilled to start and is getting pretty buff lol.

 Kailyn is 12 and in Middle School!!!!
She really is growing up and it is just crazy to me. She is as tall as me now (five foot six!) and we have worn the same size shoe for several months.
She just finished her volleyball season and starts basketball this week. She is a little nervous about playing basketball since she has only played one other time and that was a few years ago. I think she only agreed to play because a lot of people said she should with her height. I just hope she has fun. She is a hard worker and competitive so I think those two things should help her.
 I love homeschooling her and she seems to be enjoying it a lot this year. I think a lot of her enjoyment comes from the fact that she takes a few classes outside of the house and she likes the social aspect of that. She gave her first talk at church on Sunday and did really really well. She was so excited to get up in front of the congregation. She really is my child in that way. I think her favorite part of the classes she is taking is when she gets to present projects. She has to work really really hard to get good grades because of some processing issues she has but I have been so proud of her and the effort she has put in this year so far.
She is getting glasses next week and is NOT happy about it. She is losing sight in one of her eyes though so they are trying to stop it from going completely blind. Allias and Travis are both blind in one eye though so I am not sure what good the glasses are going to do but I guess it is worth a try! People constantly tell me how beautiful Kailyn is and it is so true but she really has such a shining personality to match!

Tyler is back in Utah working and hanging out with friends. I talk to him often and he always sounds so good. I am really proud of him. He got promoted at Chick-fil-A to a kitchen manager and works at 5:45 every morning!!!! The owner and his boss both really love him and look out for him which is nice. He wants to get a license, car and his own place and I am sure if he puts his mind to it he can achieve all of those goals and more. I am excited to see him after Christmas!
Maybe I will be able to have my sister n law take a family picture of us while we are there!

“All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality -- the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.”

One of my best friends, Denise, gave me a wooden block that now sits on my bookshelf- it says "books fall open you fall in" There probably isn't a truer statement about me on the planet and well.... I have fallen in and deeply. See you all again when I come up for air!

 "I was born with a reading list I will never finish." -Maud Casey

"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."- Dr. Seuss

Pumpkin Failure

Trav carves pumpkins with the kids every year and they usually turn out super cute- this year we invited my niece and nephew to join us. Allias and Gavin decided to make a Miami Heat pumpkin and the girls were going to do a haunted house on one and a ghost on the other. Needless to say things didn't quite go as planned- all of the carving tools broke and everyone gave up except for Allias who tried to do his with a regular knife. He was just about finished when the whole thing collapsed. He said "wow it is just like Miami in the playoffs- it took so much time and hard work and  looked so great right up to the last minute and then it just fell apart"
All three half finished pumpkins are sitting on my counter- I wonder if Trav will buy another carving kit and finish them! I am just thankful that he likes to do this kind of stuff and I can just sit behind the camera and watch!

Kay wasn't sure she wanted to touch the "guts" this year

Travis explaining what perfection looks like to Allias

these two LOVED pulling out the goop

ewwwwwww

Fighting over who gets to scrape it out

everyone disappeared lol

almost done!

the finished products!

Future American Idol!

I finally remembered to upload this video!!! Hopefully next semester Kay can take some formal vocal lessons. I think she has a lot of potential! Oh and Britt is just awesome! She was so sweet to work with Kailyn on this and play it with her! I only wish I could be half as talented!
Contrary to what the title of this post says she really doesn't have American Idol on her mind. We are still homeschooling but taking a few classes through the school district. For each class she has to reflect on what she has learned and how it will help her in the future. When I read the reflection for her beginning guitar class I almost started crying. Here is what she wrote for practical application, "I will be able to use this in the future when I want to play the guitar to my children considering I want seven of them. I could play when they go to bed as a lullaby or if we go camping together I could play it at the campfire. I could also use it if they wanted to learn how to play the guitar."
seriously can it get any sweeter than that?????
(also none of the other videos that pop up at the end are of my Kay or my Britt!)

So Angelic........

I love Halloween- especially the dressing up part- oh and the candy part.....
This year Kailyn decided (for the first time since she could choose her own costume) to be something sweet and unscary.
Here she is- my little angel............

if you want to see the rest of the pictures they are here

I forgot to put this in the previous post!!!!

I was out of town when Allias got ready for the dance and when I came home Saturday evening this is what I found open on the computer!

Spirit Week and Homecoming

I think Allias is finally starting to find his groove here! He seems to be making friends, working hard on his grades and having fun. It makes me happy to see things working out for him!
He won the most spirited award for the Junior Class and had a blast at the homecoming game and dance.
I really hope the year continues to go well for him!

With the Belgium exchange students

Tacky Day

NERDY!!!!

well golly!

Love it!!!!

Hillbilly Day! He talked in a southern accent all day lol!

Living in North Carolina for 12 years really helped us get this right!

All growd up and hangin out with gurls!

Super FAN- I wish I would have got one with his eye mask on!

Homecoming

so stinkin cute!

One more of the whole group!

Being Silly!!!!

they had to get to the dance somehow!

homecoming on parade!