Sweet 16 and never been kissed!!

O.K. I am not that naive. I know Kalin has been kissed.
Happy 16th Birthday, Kalin. I cannot believe that you are 16. There are times when I look at you and wonder how you can possibly be my son, because I am not old enough to be your mom!! I love you so much and am glad you are a part of our family. I love how you work with your hands. I love all the tinkering you do. I love watching you with Kira. She lights up when she sees her K-K. She waits for you to come home after school. I am glad you are my texting buddy. I am grateful that you come to me for advice. I love hearing all about your life, the good things and the bad! I am excited and scared and terrified to let you grow up and go out on your own. High school is an exciting time. You have some great memories ahead of you. My birthday wish for you is that you enjoy this time and make all the good memories that you can. Never look back on this time of your life with regret because of something you did or something you didn't do. Also, remember that there is a purpose to life and life continues beyond today. I hope all your dreams come true(except getting lost in the wilderness, I couldn't survive that even though I know you could). I love you. Happy Birthday!!

First Dance

Is there anything more nerve-racking than sending your son out on his first official date? I swear I am more nervous than Kalin. Even though he is 6 days shy of being 16, he is taking a date to the Harvest Ball at the high school. He is going with Jenna Lewis. They have known each other since preschool so I am sure they will have lots of fun. There is a lot to worry about with even a casual dance. It is a good thing that his first date is not to Prom!!

He asked her by text, but it is not as lame as it sounds. Jenna and Kalin always steal each other's phone and try to read the texts. They have tried to figure out each other's key lock code and stuff like that. So they were together one night and Jenna stole Kalin's phone. So I sent her texts from my phone asking her to Harvest from Kalin. She answered him back by doing a treasure hunt at our house.

She put one of the clues in the toilet and poured Mountain Dew on top. It was pretty funny.






Now they are getting ready to go to dinner. Crazy, huh? I don't know if I was this nervous for me on my first dance.

Trick or Treat

The weather for trick or treating wasn't too bad this year. That is unusual for Utah. Usually it is soo cold that ever costume is hidden by the layers of warmth. Morgan and Mason got to trick or treat with their friends this year, without a parent following them. They had to check in with us periodically, but they thought they were cool to be so big. Kira got to trick or treat a few houses. Then she had to come home with the parents. But she loved to answer the door and give the candy out. The trick or treaters had to be patient because it took her a while, but we tried to make up for it by giving them extra candy.

Halloween

This is my Bunco group. We dress up every year. This year I was Miley Cyrus. I told Morgan, Brock, and Mason what I wanted to be and they advised me what I should wear. When Kalin saw what I was wearing, he told me he didn't think Miley looked so trampy. It was surprising to me how what a mom is wearing is trampy, but what a girl is wearing is HOT!!

Our Little Pirate! Drop the hat on and snap the picture quick, because the hat is not staying on!!

Our other pirate! With the attitude!

Scary Werewolf-Mason

And this is Kalin dressed up as a teenager with nothing to do!!

The End Results

Pumpkin Carving with Power Tools

Carving pumpkins is an annual tradition. We invite Becky, Chad and their family over, spread newspapers all over the kitchen and start carving. First, we scrap out the pumpkins. Then, we pick the designs. No ordinary pumpkin faces for our family. We have to do complicated pumpkins. Kalin decided he was going to try carving his pumpkin with his Dremel this year. It worked, but not as well as he had hoped. He needed a longer blade.

Kira hated the pumpkin guts almost as much as Becky's kids. She did not want to sit on my lap for very long when I was working on the pumpkins. She didn't even want Aunt Becky because she was working on pumpkins.
Or maybe she was scared we would try to put her in a pumpkin! Mason's pumpkin was the perfect size to put Addy in. She didn't like the pumpkins either.

Our busy, busy girl

Just a few pictures of our very cute, sweet baby. She is getting so big, it is hard to believe. She just jabbers all day long now. I am trying to get some video of the words that she says, but she doesn't like to perform for the camera. Stay tuned for Kira's first words.

Kevin was doing the dishes (true story!!) and he heard a little squeal. He looked up and there was Kira's head peeking up over the counter. She quickly climbed up so she could help Daddy with the dishes. Now she thinks she has to be up everywhere, on the desk, on the kitchen counter, on the bathroom counter, on the table, everywhere.

First Ice Cream Cone

Jabber, jabber all day. Especially on any phone someone will give her. She especially likes Kevin's cell phone and the office phone with the cord. But her mean brothers won't share their phones very often!!

Cold weather finally came!! Don't I look cute with my coat.

Kira's very bestest smile

Our baby in the pumpkin patch!!

Hunting Season

This is a WARNING!!! This post is not for the squeamish.


Fall means football, baseball (yes, Matt), lacrosse, and.......
Hunting Season.


I become a Hunting Widow as Kevin and now Kalin and Colton go hunting for anything they can shoot. The official start begins on Labor Day when the boys head to Montecello to go Dove hunting. I am not sure why Montecello is the place of choice, but it has been a tradition for a few years.

Next comes the Muzzleloader Deer Hunt.
For the past two years, Kevin has had a landowner tag to hunt by Vernon. This is the deer he shot this year. It is not as big as last year's deer but it has a nice cheater (small horn) on one side that is unique. If his children were not involved in so many sports, Kevin might have hunted longer, but he had to get back.





Kalin also shot a nice 4x5 deer on the muzzleloader.

Here are some quotes from the story he wrote about his hunt:
"This year we decided to hunt the last few days of the hunt because there would be less people around.Tyler, Connor, and Kaulin left a day early to take their trailer up and get it all ready to go. They left their Yamaha Rhino with my family so we could bring it with us because they had their trailer. The night before we were supposed to head up, my dad and I decided to get the Rhinos put on the trailer. We had two Rhinos, ours and Johnson’s, and a four-wheeler. We figured we could put the two Rhinos on our trailer and the four-wheeler in the back of the truck. That is when we ran into a big problem. Two Rhinos will not fit on a 16 foot trailer! So we pushed and we pulled and tried to somehow situate the Rhinos to fit on the trailer, but nothing would work. My dad remembered hearing somewhere that people had been able to fit a Rhino in the bed of their trucks. We decided that this was the only option. This was when we ran into some more problems. One, the only ramps we had were skinny four-wheeler ramps and two, my dad’s truck has almost a 2 foot lift on it. With these small ramps it was going to be quite an incline and have a high possibility of the ramps breaking. After a couple of tries of making sure the Rhino was perfectly straight my dad started to drive it up the ramps into the truck. They started to bend, so he drove back down. He decided to try it one more time and push the ramps to their limit. It worked; our Rhino was now in the back of my dad’s truck. We put the four-wheeler and the other Rhino on the trailer and went inside to get a good night’s rest.
The next morning we woke up and headed up the mountain. We finally arrived after what seemed like days of driving. When we pulled up Connor was the first to see us. As soon as he saw the Rhino in the back of the truck he yelled to his dad that he had to come see this. As soon as Kaulin rounded the corner he laughed so hard he almost cried."
"We woke up later than usual on the last morning and headed up to where we had seen the bucks the day before. Sure enough there they were. Connor and I went the same way we had before while Tyler followed my dad’s path. Kaulin sat across the canyon and watched the bucks. Connor and I passed by a little spike still in the velvet and made our way to where we were supposed to sit and look for the bucks. We saw one two point run below us into the trees but couldn’t see the other two so we decided to get a little closer. Finally we saw one of them running around with a bunch of does. We thought he was a three point. When he got within shooting range I tried to give the gun to Connor and make him take the shot, but he refused. I pulled up and he started to trot through the trees to my right. Finally he paused and I had a half an inch opening in my scope to shoot him. I pulled the trigger and then saw nothing because of all the smoke. I turned around and asked Connor where he had gone? He had no clue at all. We decided to hike up and see if we could find any blood. When we got with 50 yards of the spot where he was stand we saw him. He was lying dead not 10 feet from where he had been standing. We called up Kaulin and Tyler on the radio and they hurried to us. After a long drag and a quick ride back to camp to meet my dad we scored my buck. He was an OK 5x4 with a cheater on his left side and scored around 122. On his right ear it looked like he had a bullet hole through it. As soon as my dad saw the hole he started claiming that this buck had been the buck he shot at and missed the day before. It had been a successful deer hunt with many ups and downs."

Then there is the elk hunts, (which we missed this year due to Lacrosse and Football), the pheasant hunt, and the duck hunt. The duck hunt goes on continually until January or February. So on any given day, you can find Kalin and his friends at various bodies of water trying to find ducks. And Colton and his friends can be found wherever their parents will take them. So far this season, we have not had too many ducks brought home. Thank goodness.

But you cannot forget the varmint hunting such as: potguts, coyotes, rabbits and squirrels

If anybody wants some deer jerky, come on over and we will share. It is the ONLY thing to do with deer meat, I think.

Happy 14th Birthday Colton

Happy Birthday October 31st

Happy Birthday to our Spook Baby. It is hard to believe that you are 14 years old. It was just yesterday that we were bringing you home from the hospital. Now you are growing so fast--4 inches in 6 months. We think you will be taller than me by January or February. I love you so much! You are an incredible person. I love how you ask me if I am coming to each and every one of your games (even though I have only missed a few and only when absolutely necessary!). I love how you play store with Morgan and Mason, even though you are way too old. I love to cheer with you for your favorite teams: Baseball-The Red Sox, Football-The Colts, Basketball-The Jazz. I hope you know how special you are to us and to your Heavenly Father. My wish for you on your birthday and every day is that you will achieve your dreams. Reach for the stars!!!
Thank you for being a part of our family!!

A week in my life...

Becky wants me to get up-to-date. Here is why it is impossible to get up-to-date.
This is a typical week in September/October.
Sunday-
**Attend Church, teach the Mia Maids about kissing boys.

All Week-
**Drive the Junior high and High School carpool. (How many more weeks until Kalin turns 16? 9)

Monday-
**Baseball games









**Drive to Gymnastics.

**Go the the Red Sox party.
**Make everyone do homework.



Tuesday-
**Keep Kira from falling asleep in her lunch.

-







**Drive Morgan to Junior Drill class


**Watch Colton play football in Spanish Fork or Springville













**Make Everyone do homework and read!!

Wednesday-
**High School Parent Teacher conference--Come home and yell at Kalin for a D in Spanish. ("If I worked just a little bit, I could have an "A", says Kalin)
**Send Kalin to Lacrosse Practice
**Watch Mason play football.











**Come home, make everyone do homework and read!!

Thursday-
**Go on the 3rd grade Field Trip to Vivian Park (after convincing Mason and his friends that they cannot take guns to hunt while we are in the mountains!!)


**Watch 1/2 the Spanish Fork JV football game so we can see Morgan perform at Halftime










**Chase Kira up the bleachers.









**Take Morgan to Gymnastics
**Go to the Junior High Parent Teacher Conference
**Come home and ask Colton why he has a B+ in weight training??? and a B- in English!!!
("My bellwork won't hurt my grade, Mom", says Colton)
**Stay up until everyone is home safe and sound in their beds!!

Friday-No School
**I get to entertain the kids for the ENTIRE day!! Let's see what can we clean???
**Stay up until everyone is home!!

Saturday-
**Watch Mason play football










**Watch Colton play football










If you can't find Colton-look for the red shoes!









Luckily for me, the weather was beautiful almost all fall!!


**Watch Kalin play Lacrosse











(I think I almost underdstand the game-kind of, sort of, almost)

**Chase Kira off the field and convince her that Ka-Ka can't play with her now!!












And this is what we pack to a game!! I need to hire me a pack mule or purchase a scooter that goes on the back of my car!









**Go to bed and try to stay up until everyone is home!! After all it has been a LONG week and tomorrow we get to start all over again!!!
But what else would I rather be doing??? NOTHING! I love watching my kids do the things they enjoy. It is fun to see the rewards for all their hard work and commitment.