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Monthly Archives: October 2011

//October

Happy Halloween!

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!

By |2011-11-22T06:43:31-07:00October 31st, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Last Game and Trunk or Treat!

Today was Zach’s last football game.  He was sad that the season was over.  We as the coaches are kind of relieved but we will really miss the kids.  It’s been a fun season!

Tonight we had our Ward’s Trunk-or-Treat activity.  Everyone got dressed up in their costumes and we went to eat some food, enjoy our friends, and let the kids get some candy.  Angela, the boys, and I were pirates.  Kirstyn was a flapper girl from the 20’s, and Sarah and Brittany were princesses.

The dinner went very well and there was a ton of food to be eaten.  We filled right up and then the kids went upstairs to go through the Young Men’s Haunted Hallway.  The Young Men did a GREAT job with it and the kids loved it.  The only issue was that one of the young men left the smoke machine on for too long, and it set off the fire alarm in the building.  We finally were able to figure out how to turn it off, but the system is monitored, so it triggered a 3-alarm fire alert!  😐  The police arrived first and I told them it was a smoke machine, so he hurried and called off the “other” two fire trucks that were on their way.  One truck came and they inspected the building just in case.  We told the firemen they looked great in their Halloween costumes and offered them candy.  They got a laugh out of that.  🙂  Whew!  The kids all loved the sirens and the truck coming into the parking lot!  That’s a first!

After getting a bunch of candy, we helped clean up a bit and then came home.  Angela and I are tired, but the boys are wired due to all the sugar!  😐

 

 

By |2011-11-22T06:29:41-07:00October 29th, 2011|Church|0 Comments
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Metea Marching Band Banquet

Tonight was the Marching Band Banquet for Metea.  As usual, the food and entertainment were great!  The skits the kids put on to make fun of themselves were pretty funny, although 90% of the stuff they did was “you had to be there” things.  The directors were honored and the seniors were as well.  It was bitter sweet for Sarah.

The final performance was sad for them, but this was the “final” event for them as a marching band, and it was kind-of sad.  Brittany is looking forward to Marching Band next year, and Sarah will be auditioning for BYU Marching Band in the spring.

By |2011-11-26T06:45:17-07:00October 25th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Kirstyn Fall Band Concert

Tonight, Kirstyn had her Fall Band Concert!  She did a GREAT job!  She has been practicing hard and really wants to do well.  She loves playing the clarinet.

Great job, Kirstyn!  Keep up the wonderful work!  We love to hear you play your music…

By |2011-11-21T06:00:47-07:00October 24th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Storehouse Open House

Today was session #2 of the Bishop’s Storehouse Open House.  Sarah and Kirstyn went up and helped Angela with the event and they had a great time!  We had our neighbors come and they enjoyed it as well.

I brought up Brittany and the boys later on and we did a session.  Nothing got broken or messed up which made us very happy!  🙂

Overall, the 2-day event was very successful!  There were a ton of people that came up for the public open house and really enjoyed it.  It seemed as though the tours never stopped.  The boys particularly loved the refreshments!  🙂  When Angela came home, she gave a huge sigh of relief.  She had put tons of hours into working on this and it’s nice that it was a  huge success and that it’s finally over!  🙂

 

By |2011-11-21T05:53:10-07:00October 23rd, 2011|Church|0 Comments
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Dirty Football Game, VIP Tours, and B-Day Party!

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!

By |2011-11-14T06:47:16-07:00October 22nd, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Senior Night at the Game!

Tonight was Senior Night at the football game.  They recognized all the seniors from the football team, cheerleading, marching band, and color guard.  It was fun!  Angela and I got to go down on the field and be recognized with Sarah and they gave a flower to Angela.

The marching band did a GREAT job!  It was the senior’s last performance and for some, it was very emotional.

We also won the game and ended up with a 4-5 record.  Not bad for having our starting quarterback out for the last half of the season with a busted-up knee.

By |2011-11-26T06:46:23-07:00October 21st, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Brittany in Fall Orchestra Concert

Tonight, Brittany had her fall Orchestra concert and it was awesome!  They played some pretty difficult pieces.  We really love the Metea auditorium.  It has great acoustics.  They really put a lot of work in to designing it well.

It also helped that we have extra babysitters to stay at home with the boys so we can enjoy the concerts without having to take Ben out half way through.  🙂  Brittany is a second violin and is first chair!  Way to go Brittany!

By |2011-11-14T05:58:18-07:00October 20th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Sarah in Fall Band Concert

Tonight, Sarah had her fall band concert at Metea in the auditorium.  She did a GREAT job playing her flute and piccolo.  It’s really cool that she was asked to play both in the concerts.  They played some really nice music.

At this level, they play more than just typical marches that you would expect from a band.  The music is “prettier” and more symphony-like.  We are very blessed to live in a school district with one of the best music programs in the nation.  The kids are really pushed to excel and they rise to the task!  🙂

Great job Sarah!

By |2011-11-07T08:04:30-07:00October 18th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Roadshow Performances and Football with No Cast!

Today was a fun day.  Although Zach’s team lost, they played the Broncos (Zach’s old team from last year).  It was fun to see all the kids he played with last year, as well as Coach Tim and the other coaches.

Tonight, we had our Stake Roadshow performances at the Naperville Stake Center.  It was a hoot to watch them.  Our ward’s performance was one of the better ones and the kids had a blast doing it.  The olio’s were also pretty funny as well.  There are a lot of talented kids (and kids who aren’t afraid to get in front of others and act crazy) in our stake.  The theme of the night was Bedtime Stories.  Our ward’s performance was around reading “For the Strength of Youth” and Rapunzel (Denzel), Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo (Nema), and others.  We hope to get a DVD of the performances soon.

I tried to get some pictures, but we were a ways away and with our small camera, it was too dark.  I only got one of Sarah that turned out blurry but recognizable…

Sarah played Nema’s mom and they were dressed up like clownfish.  🙂  Brittany was a cute pink fish and had her face painted up as well.  Kirstyn was one of Rapunzel’s (Denzel’s) flock of girls who thought he was really cute.  🙂  I guess you really had to be there to understand.  🙂   I’ll try and get some better pictures posted.

Great job girls!

By |2011-11-07T07:57:20-07:00October 15th, 2011|Church|0 Comments
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Scrimmage and Band Performance

Tonight was a pretty busy night.  Football practice was moved from last night to tonight and Zach and his team scrimmaged against the Steelers at their park.  Zach did well.  He was very excited to play a game with his cast and club off!  🙂  Everybody was excited to see him “castless” as well.  🙂

Right after practice, I dropped Zach off and hurried up to the high school to help with Marching Band.  They (as usual) did a rockin’ job in their performance.  We as the pit crew have things down now so we can get the equipment on and off the field pretty quickly.  It helps to have a bunch more on the crew than we did last year as well.

Unlike the Marching Band performance, the game didn’t go so well and we lost.  It stinks that we were able to start the season 3-0 and then lose the rest so far.  🙁

By |2011-11-07T06:04:05-07:00October 14th, 2011|Home Life, School|0 Comments
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Sarah Gets a Scholarship!

Today was a VERY exciting day!  First, Zach got his cast off!  He is sooooo excited!  He can’t wait until tomorrow’s football game so he can play without his club!  🙂

Tonight, Sarah and Angela went to a meeting with Utah State University to learn more about their programs and to see what kind of scholarships Sarah might be eligible for.  They took Sarah’s transcript and ACT score information with them.  The understanding is that there were some “spot scholarships” that would be given there and Sarah was hopeful.

They had a great time there and learned a lot.  The best thing, however, was that Sarah was awarded a pretty good-sized scholarship!!!!!  🙂  She gave them her transcript and ACT information and talked with the admissions folks for awhile.  They were very impressed with her and ended up giving her a non-resident tuition scholarship worth about $13,000 the first year, and about $4,000 the second year!  🙂

Needless to say, Angela and I are very happy about this too!  She still wants to go to BYU Provo, but USU is a great school for education and we’ll see what happens!

Congrats Sarah!

By |2011-10-31T11:26:48-07:00October 13th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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