Salem Hills Basketball-life lessons.

This has been quite the ride for the Salem Hills varsity boys basketball team this year. There have been many life lessons learned. They started out very hopeful, and with lots and lots of potential. They had a few major set backs, like finding out one of their teammates has cancer, and losing some very important games. They found out what it means to be a team, to rally around each other, to depend on each other, to win and lose, with dignity and sportsmanship. They supported and loved their cute manager, Zeke, who has autism, and helped him get his first and last winning basket. They sweat, and swore a lot! They wrote the number 5 on their arms, shoes, and wore "strong" shirts in recognition of Eric. They travelled together, ate together, spent every single day together and played their worst and best together. They got frustrated, they lost, they pulled it together and they won! These boys are like brothers, family, teammates on and off the court.

As a mom, I felt like part of my heart was out there on that court, in that locker room, on the bus, being yelled at, being praised, being frustrated and heartbroken, and being so happy. I am so proud of my biggest boy for learning so many life lessons this year. His character has grown, his compassion has increased, his passion and love of this game has dwindled, faded, burned brighter and gotten stronger and will always and forever partly define him. I'm sad that it's over, I'm so glad he had the opportunity to play all three years of high school, I am thrilled he got to play with such amazing kids and know these memories will shape his outlook on life for many years to come. Way to go #23!!!! We love you!!!!!!

Aloha!!!

If I just went to this beautiful state for nothing other than the sunsets, that would be enough! Hawaii has the most beautiful, amazing sunsets in the world! I love them!!!
We went with the Trapnell's, some good friends. We had a blast!!! (Cousins !!!)At the Polynesian Cultural Center, I became a MASTER at the Ukelele (ha!ha!NOT!)
Waikiki Beach was the sight of Jon's first surfing experience, he did pretty dang good!!!In Maui, we went to the top of Mount Haleakala, which is a dormant volcano that if measured from the bottom of the ocean to the tip of it's highest peak, is higher than Mount Everest. We were way above the clouds for this sunset, it was an absoloutely incredible sight. 50 degrees felt very very cold compared to the 85 we were getting used to down below!
Don't look at me, look behind me to the right, yes that's a whale fin. We went whale watching and had about 10 whales all around us. We saw them come right out of the water a few times, their fins, their huge faces, their tales. These massive whales weigh up to 90,000 lbs! We got so close we could smell their breath (which was disgusting!) and could reach out and touch their dorsel fins. It was a bit freaky, but OH SO COOL!!!!
We went on a helicopter ride around the huge sea cliffs of the island of Molokai. We also saw 1000's of feet high waterfalls and lush green valleys. It was incredibly beautiful and so fun!
Did I mention how much I lOVE Hawaiian sunsets?
Oh.....it was SO nice to be warm!!!!!!!!!
We went sea kayaking! Jon was so hoping we'd be overturned by whales or at least a massive tortoise. We did see lots of whales in the distance, but thankfully, none of them wanted to go swimming with us!!!!
We had a great time snorkeling and saw beautiful fish, turtles and coral.

It was such a great vacation! I love Hawaii, I love traveling with my hubby, and I love seeing the wonderful places our Earth has to offer us! It is definitely one of my passions. I love it!!!

Christmas!

I love Christmas.
Going carolling and visiting with Great Grandma Dyer. She is about the sweetest thing on earth and we love her dearly!
Grandma and Grandpa Chisholm always give gold dollars, which the kids look forward to with great anticipation! This year they were in cool glass ornaments, all the boys got balls and all the girls got purses, shoes or nutcrackers! So fun!
Brotherly love in front of the Christmas Story lamp........
Me and my sissies with the stockings from when we were kids! We love them!!!
The whole family gave my parents a "Count Your Blessings" quilt, a lot of love, time and energy was put into it, it was really neat!
Visiting with special people is always fun.....even if this "special" person was "DEFINITLY NOT THE REAL DEAL", Jaemon figured out real quick that it was Uncle Richard and thought it was HILARIOUS!
Don't ask......well ok. We go fishing for ornaments on Christmas Eve, the ornaments are wrapped in paper bags tied with festive ribbon. Somehow, someone got the fantastic idea of tying the ribbons in Josh's hair, it's quite the masterpiece, really. And it has stuck, so every year, Josh has about 28 ribbons in that big massive curly head of his!!!!
On Christmas Eve we always make candy cane cookies to leave out for the fat man, everyone fights over the red dough, and no-one really knows how to make the balls into the canes, no matter how many times I've shown them. We usually end up with red and white swirled balls....not sure what old Kris Kringle thinks of em.....but we like them!
Special gifts for special people!!!!!
A little arts and crafts moment, amid the all out, drag out, craziness of the season.
We LOVE Christmas jammies and special books on Christmas Eve!
Our first EVER snow day! We spent OUTSIDE!!!!! We built 3 beautiful snowpeople!
A 13 year tradition, going on the Polar Express, except this year it was the "North Pole Express". Still lots of fun, but not quite the same!
My kids think the treat giving is out of control, I love it, I love making things and delivering things for friends and neighbors. The other thing they whine about is the Christmas cards we make and that I enlist all their help in. I think it's a great thing, they need to learn that making things is part of giving of ourself!
Sleeping under the Christmas tree with Christmas books on December 23 is a well loved tradition!
And this, this is my favorite. (well, this and watching SCROOGE, the original black and white version at 11:30 on Christmas Eve night, I LOVE IT! I love these funny, cute costumes. I love singing carols around the piano. I love reading the Christmas Story and just being together as a family. Cozy and Warm, just having fun and re-enacting the true reason we celebrate this season. I am feeling melencholy that my babies are growing up, but they will always have these memories, and so will I. Yes traditions take time to carry out, but the memories are worth every single second.

This is what it's all about, Family. Time. Memories. Traditions. Most importantly, a Christ Child that made it all possible.

I love Christmas.

12 and 10

Brennan and Tyler are constantly asked if they're twins! They're not, but their birthday dates are only 14 hours apart! Brennan's is Dec 15 at 8:20 pm and Tyler's is December 16 at 10:13 am! I love that they are such great friends and share a room, friends, and most especially great brotherly advice. They are so good for each other and I love them both so much!
Happy 10th Birthday Ty-Bug! You have always been pretty tough! You started out with some rough times, but pulled through and now you still fight through things and excel! Some things we love about you....your kindness and tenderness to your brothers and sisters, your intensity in everything you do, your thoughtfulness, and that you love life and work hard!!! We love you!!!
Happy 12th birthday Brennan! I can't believe you're going to be a Deacon at church and almost be a teenager!!!! Time goes so fast! Some things we love about you are, your personality: you love to tease and joke and sometimes be sarcastic, but always loving and kind. You think of other people and are always the first one to ask to help. You are responsible and do well in school, sports and everything you put your mind to! We love you!!
We had a WAY COOL party! A big Semi came full of video games for the boys and 16 of their friends to play. Inside were 4 big screen TV's, and every video game and console out there. They had such a blast! It was fun to see them have so much fun! Happy Birthday to my two middle boys, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

Let me explain

This is what all the girls decided to do on Thanksgiving dinner AFTER it had all been cooked, cleaned, washed, swept, put away, bathed, folded, de-germatized, you get the general idea. We were tired so we went in my room, put this sign on the door, and watched sitcoms for an hour on my bed. It was wonderful!!!!!!!!
This is how the daddy's behaved.................while we were doing the afforementioned various "Thanksgiving duties"hence.............the sign on the door and the mommy "time-out"
32 people is a heck of a lot of people to feed turkey to. My arms are about falling off here, while Jon tried to take a "not blurry" picture. It actually was pretty gosh dang yummy if I do say so myself.........just call me Martha. HA HA HA!Here is the crazy lot of us. It really is insane when we all get together. We have a lot to be grateful for. I'm grateful they all came, that we had a blast, and that they all have homes to go to after the festivities are done!

Gracie's 5th bday!

We had a lot of fun celebrating our big 5 year old's birthday! (pink cupcakes, build a bear, and Color Me Mine....so much fun!)

I am having a very hard time believing she is really five. We are so grateful for our sweet Gracie and love so many things about her!

Here are some of the things we love about Gracie Ruth.

-she still can't say her F's or V's so she says "S" and "Z" for them, and I am adamant that no-one corrects her because I love it! She also calls Family Home Evening, "Has, hasning" and I will also kill anyone who dares try to change it!

-she loves to sing and dance and does so regularly all over the house!

-she is through and through ALL girl. Loves pink, loves purple, loves dresses, loves bows and frills, loves her dollies and is sugar and spice and everything nice!

-she loves salad more than cookies and chocolate, which is wierd, (being that she's my daughter) but so so cute.

-she gives big hugs regularly and tells us all she loves us soooooo much all the time.

- We LOVE that she is such blessing in our home, we are so grateful she chose to come to our family.

Happy birthday sweet girl!!!