How cute is this girl? This is my niece Erin, and she is the cutest, most adorable 7 yr. old around! She has been one busy girl this summer, so I haven’t been able to see much of her! I miss her "SMOOCHIE KISSES"! I love you Erin!
Ali
Okay, so everyone has been posting 5 random things about themselves on their blogs. SO, I guess I’ll just jump right on that bandwagon, cause frankly, I want to play too!
1) I CANNOT curl my tongue! How weird is that? It must be a recessive(?) gene or something because my parents can both curl their tongues and both my kids can. BUT….. neither my brothers nor I can. And my kids don’t understand why I can’t. Their like "Mom, just curl your tongue"…. like it’s that easy! We’ll it isn’t for me! Ü
2) I am a Reality TV junkie! Seriously! I’ll watch almost anything and everything reality tv related. Currently I am watching the following: Big Brother 6, Laguna Beach, That 70’s House, Surreal Life, Hogan Knows Best, Celebrity Fit Club, So You Think You Can Dance, Brat Camp, Tommy Lee Goes to College, Being Bobby Brown, and School of Rock. I think that’s it. Although I like to watch whatever is on the Reality TV Channel too!
3) I LOVE to iron! It relaxes me somehow! And I think starch is a girl’s best friend. I can’t get enough of starch! I think my ironing fetish is related to sitting on the bed watching my mom iron my dad’s shirts while I was growing up. I can still smell the steam from the iron.
4) I LOVE to write lists! I love the way a nicely written list looks! I use my best handwriting and usually a colored sharpie fine point! Now mind you… I NEVER take those lists with me on errands, or ever cross anything off my lists. I just like writing them and the way they look. That is pretty random AND weird, huh!
5) Worms and snails give me serious heebie-jeebies! Do you know what the "worm rain" is? I can’t even go outside after it rains and there are worms all over the ground. I’m actually getting a bit naseaus right now thinking about the "worm rain". And if I am planting flowers or weeding and come across a worm or snail….. I’m DONE. Can’t do it anymore. Carl must take over! YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! Now my skin is all crawly!
Okay, I challenge any of you that read my blog, to either email me 5 random things about you, or if you have a blog post them there! Go on…. you can do it! It’s fun!
Ali
It’s off to school they go! Tyson to high school and Madi to middle school. Where has the time gone? What happened to my tow headed, rambunctious, five year old boy racing off to kindergarten full of excitement and energy? And my shy, hesitant, leery little girl who wouldn’t let go of my hand until I sat down at her kindergarten desk with her? They are still there, but boy have they changed and grown. It is hard to believe so much time has passed. Tyson, 5’10" and looking so handsome and grown up this year. Gone are the days of walking him to his classroom door. Now I just drop him off at carpool with a quick hug and kiss and the call of "Have an awesome day!" Of coruse, he is a sophomore now, and this high school thing is nothing new anymore. I’m sure as he walked through the doors of the high school this morning he thought "I’m so glad I’m not a freshman anymore!" And Madi….. I remember the days I was "allowed" to get out of the car with her and snap a few photos of her in front of the school. In her school uniform. Soooo cute! We laughed and remembered this morning as I dropped her off. There were so many cute kindergartners with their parents in front of the school taking pictures. I miss those days! This year I dropped Madi off in car-line…. she looked so cute with her hair done "just so"…. and her "skater" backpack and "skater" shoes! Her only individuality in a school full of uniforms and dress codes.
And so they are off… to school. And I feel sorta sad. They are growing up. Each new school year means they are another year older and another year closer to leaving the nest. I am happy for them and happy with the individuals they are becoming! And I hope they have the best school year yet!
I wonder what they are doing right now? What class are they in? Do they like their teachers? Are there any cute new kids? Are they happy? Do they miss me, like I miss them?
Ali
According to my friend Nic and I thought it was a great idea! I visit and read way too many blogs everyday, but I am making a point to comment every single one of them. Now, most of the people have no idea who I am, in fact a lot of them are "scrapbook celebrities" to me, but everybody LOVES to get comments, right? So…. if you are reading my blog, please leave me a comment! Thanks and have the best day ever!
Ali
Just a quick post to show you a tag I did for Donna Downey’s blog layout. It isn’t the greatest….. just my blog addy, my pic and a few phrases. It was fun to do though…. and how cool to have my tag be included in Donna’s blog album! Cool!
The colors look way more neon and bright than they are in real life. Why do scans do that?
Ali
Can you beleive it? Carl and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday. Well, we didn’t really "celebrate". We had a busy weekend with football games, school shopping and errand running, and Carl had to work on Saturday so we spent yesterday just relaxing at home. It was nice. Carl gave me a very cool silver bracelet that has the following words etched on it: courage, truth, balance, grace and wisdom. So, so cool. He got it at Chico’s. I tried to find a picture of it to post, but they don’t have the bracelet on their website. Bummer. Trust me, it is very cool!
So, eighteen years…. very weird. So long and yet it doens’t really seem like it. We have had our ups and downs and our good times and bad, but through it all we are still together. Working together to raise our children, balance it all and remain the best of friends. We don’t find a lot of "couple" time these days, but we are feeling the kids start to slip away from us and we are trying to enjoy our time with them and our time as a family. Good times.
Carl, thanks for the last 18 years…. and here’s to many, many more years together! I love you!
Ali
Woo Hoo! Judge Bulldogs win….. 41-6! Yippeee! It was awesome and so much fun! Tyson played ALOT! He played on special teams the first half of the game, but played most of the second half on defense and was in on some major tackles! It was cool! Mad props going out to a few of Tyson’s friends that had great plays! CD (Cort Dennison) going like 95 yds. on an interception for a TD! Very cool! Jordan Benson scooping up a fumble for another TD! Jordan Weidle had an awesome circus catch in the end zone for a TD and Chad Meske played defense like a kid twice his size. Man, that kid can hit HARD! It was a good win for Judge and a great way to start the season! Next weekend we head to Boise for a game against another catholic school (Bishop Kelly). Should be a ton of fun… Marianne, if you are reading this… COCKTAILS are on the agenda for sure! Plan on it! Go Bulldogs!
Ali
The high school football season officially begins in …..1 hour and 47 minutes….
WOO HOO! GO BULLDOGS! I am so excited for this year! Tonight is the first varsity game and the first time Tyson will play as a starter. This year will be tougher for him as far as playing time goes. Last year the freshmen had their own team and Tyson got a lot of playing time. He led the team in TD’s with 7. It was a great year and he was chosen to "dress" for 5 varsity games including an "away" game. He played 6 downs in the last varsity game of the season and was one of three freshmen to earn a varsity letter. Fastforward to this year. He is a sophmore and must play JV or varsity. The team has a lot of talented juniors and seniors ahead of Tyson, so his playing time will be limited to starting special teams on varsity and then more playing time with the JV team. Nevertheless, Tyson has commited himself to try hard each and every practice, so if the time comes when they may need him at running back or linebacker, he will be ready!
I think my favorite times over the last few years is sitting at a ball game or cheerleading competition watching my kids do their thing! I just can’t think of anyplace that I would rather be. They are growing up so fast and I want to treasure every possible minute with them. Tyson will be getting his drivers license in the next few months. It makes me sad! Even though it will be great not to have to drive him around everywhere (since his high school is 15-20 minutes away), I will miss our car talks. It is one of the few times that we can talk uninterrupted and I love it. I find out more things during car rides than any other time. Another thing I will miss is driving carpool! Oh my! Those boys say the funniest things! Especially the boys that don’t belong to me! As I’m sure my boy does in other cars! I love it and will miss it for sure!
Okay… football starts in 1 hour and 35 minutes!
Wish us luck! GO BULLDOGS!
Ali
Okay, these are AMAZING! I had no idea! Tyson’s high school sells t-shirts and all kinds of jewelry and stuff to support his school and football team. All the shirts are men’s style t-shirts though… and I am not a big fan of them. So…. while I was at Paper Creations in SLC, I notice the Heidi Swappp Iron-on transfers. I thought I could swing by Target or Old Navy and pick up a t-shirt for Madi and I and try the iron-ons. Well they works SO WELL! I can’t believe it. I have used the iron on transfer paper from hp and other co’s and this was by far better! Here are the t-shirts… sorry for the bad scan…
Ali
Don’t cha just love it? And sometimes it comes at a time or on a day when you need it soooo bad! And after your time together everything seems so much better. Like you have just had a huge weight lifted off your shoulders. I have had two of those times recently.
The first was at CKU-A in SLC. We have had such a busy summer with the kids and all of their sporting events that there has been no ME TIME. And believe me, I NEED MY ME TIME! So the weekend of August 3-7 I got to spend quality time with my friends Angie from Indiana, and Marlo and Linda from Cali, along with Linda’s darling daughter-in-law Julie. We had THE best time! It was so great to just relax, enjoy good friends and renew my desire to scrapbook.
Last night was the other girlfriend time that came on a day, during a week that I really needed it! I spent the evening drinking wine with my awesome friends Debbie and Patti. Debbie had just returned from 10 days (or something like that), in Lake Tahoe so we needed to catch up with each other. It was so nice to relax and talk about everything and anything. These two women are just amazing! I can’t say enough about them. They always listen to me unload all my problems and offer me friendship and support. They never judge me or make me feel like my concerns are invalid. They are both incredible mothers and wives. They truly are an inspiration to me. I am so happy that we somehow found our ways into each others lives and families.
So, here’s to the amazing women in my life! Too many to list, but I thank you all for the frienships, fun times, laughter and tears!
"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
– Anais Nin
Ali
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