Home Life

We had a fun Halloween evening tonight!  The boys were so excited to go out, they were ready as soon as they got home from school!  They looked so cute in their pirate costumes!

We went out around 4:30 to start the candy scavenging, and were out for about 3 hours!  The boys were not cold, they weren’t tired (until the very end), and they got a ton of candy.  For awhile, we went out with our neighbor and his two boys.

Kirstyn also went out with Ashley and they had a fun time as well.  They weren’t out for as long as we were, but they got a ton of candy as well. Brittany went out late with one of her friends but we didn’t get any pictures of her.  🙁

Unfortunately, Sarah had to work, but we did get a picture of her in her witch hat there at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!  🙂

When we finished up and the boys had their fill of candy, we sorted and bagged everything to be “rationed” out in the future.  If we didn’t do that, the candy would be gone the next day!  🙂

Happy Halloween everybody!

Today was an insanely busy day!  We had our next to last football game and it was REALLY wet and muddy!  The kids were totally filthy by the time they got done.

It just happened to be the day that one of the team moms decided to take family pictures of everyone!  🙂  Because it was cold, I had my sweatshirt underneath my coach’s shirt.  When the family picture was taken, it looked like I have a huge spare tire around the middle (even more than I do right now) because my sweatshirt was bunched up.  🙂  Yikes!

After the game and haircuts for Zach and I, we spent the rest of the day preparing for the evening’s activities!  The Bishop’s Storehouse open house was tonight for VIPs.  Angela and the Public Affairs committee has been working on this forever and the time is finally here.   They had a bunch of VIPs come.  Among them was the Mayor of Aurora.  It turned out great!

In the meantime, the rest of us were preparing for Sarah’s huge 18th Birthday Bash!  She invited 50 people and we were very worried that we wouldn’t be able to fit them all in our basement, so we called the Anderson’s who live in NY now but still have their monster house here.  They said we could use their basement, complete with full kitchen, bar, popcorn machine, movie theater, full-size PacMan, ping pong, pool table, etc.  We decorated it up and then waited for the friends to come.  Angela joined us when she was done at the Bishop’s Storehouse.

Sarah and all her friends had a GREAT time!  There were about 35 or so that came, and there is definitely NO way we could have done this in our basement.  😐  They were all very respectful of the home and we were very glad for that.  The theme of the party was Black and White so everyone was supposed to wear those colors.  All the decorations as well as most of the food was black and white.  We got a bunch of pizzas, pop, and such and the kids hung out, watched a movie, played ping pong, pool, arcade games, and other games.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to take the group picture, some of the kids had already left.  The party was supposed to get over at about 10, but we were still down there with friends until past 11!  🙂  We then had to pack up everything and clean up the basement, so by the time we got home, it was almost midnight!  Whew!  We are really tired!  Happy Birthday, Sarah!

Happy 18th birthday today, Sarah!  Where has the time gone!  I don’t think that it’s really sunk in yet for Sarah either that she is now officially an “adult.”  🙂  We had a fun day today.  Sarah opened her presents and per her request, we had cheesecake.  🙂

Today we just hung out and celebrated as a family.  In the next couple of weeks, she’s going to have a large party with a bunch of her friends.  So far, I think, the count is around 50!  😐  Not sure where we are going to have it, because I seriously doubt that 50 kids will fit in our basement (at least not comfortably, anyway)!  🙂

Happy 18th!

Aaaarrrrgh!  Zach went to the doctor today and the guy put a new cast on him for another 2 WEEKS! He “didn’t” say anything about not playing football, so we’re not going to ask…  🙂

Zach was pretty bummed (although laughing in the picture above with his old cast on his other arm), but we talked to our friends who were in the same situation last year about how to pad up a cast.  Zach and I went over to their house and she showed us how to do it.  It takes awhile, but when it gets done, he looks like he has a huge padded club on the end of his arm.  🙂

He only will have to play with the club for 2 games then for the final 3 he’ll have it off.  He thinks he’s pretty cool with it on and it makes him look really tough!  🙂

Today, Zach’s team played the Falcons.  They were undefeated and still are.  🙂  Our guys played hard and Zach wished he could play.  In less than a week, he will have his cast off and be able to get out and hit someone!  🙂

After the game, we had our team tailgate party!  It was a lot of fun and there was a ton of work that went into planning and preparing.  We had hot dogs, brats, and Italian sausages, along with a ton of chips, pop, veggies, and desserts!  The kids had a total blast!

Our family brought a great dessert that everybody loved!  Zach came up with the idea to make a football out of cupcakes and decorate it so we did…

We were so full when we got done with the event, that all we felt like doing when we got home was sleeping.  We did some of that and still have a TON of stuff to do around the house.  It never seems like we can keep up with the cleaning and projects.  Ben and Zach especially mess things up faster than we can clean things up!  🙂

Tonight, Angela and I went up to the temple for our monthly Ward Temple Night.  We took some more of Tracy Raketic’s family names and did work for them.  We’re really excited, because in a couple of weeks, the youth are going up to do baptisms and we have about 360 names to do (including the rest of ours that we submitted).  It really means a lot more and makes things a lot more personal when you can do work for someone that has a connection to you!  🙂

Tonight, Zach’s football team had their only night game and they played the Cowboys.  Zach was there, wearing his jersey and hard hat, and cheering his team on!

They played really hard and had a great time, but in the end, we lost by one touchdown (I think).  🙂  That’s OK though.  In this league at this level, they don’t keep score and they don’t have standings.  They just want the boys to have fun.  The referee there tonight was outstanding!  He just LOVES doing what he does and has a great time with the crowd and with the kids.  🙂

Today was Zach’s first football game of the season.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t play because of his broken thumb (still not sure I agree with the Doctor).  🙁  He dressed up in full uniform, however because before the game, they had pictures.  I’ll post the team and individual picture when we get them.

Although he didn’t get to play, he won the hard hat award, meaning that he was one of the hardest playing players on the team.  He practiced and scrimmaged this week with a broken thumb and never complained!  The head coach is really great with the kids.  He got two yellow hard hats and put the Packers “G” on it along with stripes. These two hats go out to the kids that are the hardest players for the week.  He also does two “Crunch” bars for those who play hard as well.  He rotates through the kids so that everyone will eventually get the hat and the bar.

We’re so proud of Zach!  He could have just given up and told us that he would stay home from practices and not play the rest of the year, but he didn’t.  He wants to go to every practice, help out where he can, cheer his friends on, and then get out there and play as soon as possible.  🙂  What a great little guy!  And, even though he isn’t doing much at practice, he still tells the coach thanks every time.  🙂

Hang in there Zach!  You’ll be out there and playing soon!