Ball Girl

Little Girl started basketball this year...in February, to be exact.  Our school district didn't have a regular basketball season (LAME!!!), so we put her in another league.  Good news: 3 of her friends from our "old" ward (more info to come in a later post...) are also on her team.  Bad news:  this basketball schedule is interfering/overlapping with her softball team, which started about 2 weeks ago.  Such is life.

She has had a really fun time.  Her game face is pretty awesome.  She has played 2 games so far, and in the first one she surprised us all and made 2 baskets...no baskets in game #2.  She is pretty short to be a basketball player, but she gets to be the point guard and gets to handle the ball a lot, which she likes. Instead of paying for team pictures, I just had Tim take some for me with my camera, so she's only with her good friends in these pictures (Ellie, Sydney, Ashlyn, and Kylee).

Go Angels!!!

Football

Once again, Brandon is playing football.  It's his last year of middle school.  This year he has been playing defensive end.  For his game last week, I finally remembered to take my awesome new camera.  I have to say, it does take amazing pictures.  I was pretty far away, and the pics are still really good.  Here is a collage of some of the better shots I got of him.  He's number 33 in white.  Click on the picture to see it a lot bigger, Mom. :)

Run, Forrest, Run!

My cute little 6th grader has a new interest. One or two days before practice was to start, he decided he wanted to run cross country. Really? You want to run and run and run on purpose, with no one chasing you? O. K. Sure. I fully believe in letting my kids follow their interests as far as sports go. And amazingly, this has been a good thing for him. It's something that his older brother doesn't do, something that is just him racing against himself, and something that has truly whipped him into shape. I've been so proud of him for trying something new and not giving up. A couple weeks ago was his first meet. This was my first time at a cross country meet, and I have to say, they are nice and quick. First, the girls raced. Then about 30 minutes later, the boys started. Ryan might have just been the smallest boy that was racing that day, but he did great. He beat his personal best by 2 or 3 minutes, I can't remember exactly.
Clearly, I'm not in the running for Mother-of-the-Year...  But I did go, and I did cheer, so that has to count for something, right??

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Yellow Belts

First off, a disclaimer as to why there have been no blog posts from me in a month: I repainted the entryway, family room, kitchen, and dining area over the last several weeks. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time now, but just never took the time or jumped in. Well, as part of my New Year's resolutions, I jumped in! It looks awesome and I'll post about it soon, but for now, I need to play catch up on what we've been up to over the last few months.

Ryan and Sydney had their first karate belt advancement tests in December. Pretty much nothing cuter than those 2 in their uniforms...especially Sydney with the bow in her hair... They are both doing an awesome job in their after-school class and love it. In fact last week, I asked Sydney if she still thought karate was better than dance, and she just rolled her eyes like she does and said, "DUH, of course!!!" (No offense, Ashley, if you're reading this...that's just Syd!) So I guess the lessons will continue. This is the 2 of them when we first got to the gym. Here is Ryan doing a kick. So focused.

Sydney preparing to knock this guy's socks off.

I love this shot of her side kick!

Another kick from Ryan.

We found out once we were there that each child was going to be able to try and break boards that night. That made Syd pretty nervous since they had never tried that before. It just made Ryan super-anxious! Here he is getting instructions on just how to do it. I remember something about it being very important to have your thumb on the outside of your fist...

Here's his practice, just to make sure he has the form down.

He did it!

Now my girlie gets a little instruction...

And of course, has to bow.

I love her expression in this one!

I didn't get a good shot of the break, but she did it! None of the other kids as little as her were able to break their boards with their fists. I wish I could say I was surprised, but she is just one tough cookie! She's so satisfied with herself in this photo!

Now to try and break one with a kick...she was successful in that too, as was Ryan. They both pretty much rocked!

Not the best angle, but this is Sydney being presented with her new yellow belt. Gotta love the guys covered in tats. And here's Ryan getting his new belt. He can't wait to advance again and break more boards!

Karate kids pictures

As promised, here are some pictures of Ryan and Sydney in their karate uniforms. What's cuter than Syd in that uniform??? And after lesson number 2, they both seem to like it even more--especially Syd. They haven't really learned much yet, but they sure like to pose as if they have. :)

Sage Valley Football

This year, Brandon is finally able to play for his school football team, instead of in Optimist. For those of you unfamiliar with Optimist, it allows younger kids to play flag and tackle football, which is great, but they practice 4 nights a week for 2 hours and have games every Saturday--rough! Now that he plays for the 7th grade team, he just stays after school and practices and is home by dinner. And games are on Tuseday afternoons! It's been a fantastic change! We actually have dinner around the table most nights now. :) BTW, he is #33 in the navy jersey and while pants.

That's him with his hands up in the air, just before a tackle, haha!

Going in for a sac--watch out, Mr. Quarterback!

Here he is starting to take a guy down. He still really loves to tackle. This year he has been playing mostly defensive end, but then last week he started at fullback and even got to carry the ball a couple times. It's always so fun for me to watch him and cheer him on. At the particular game, he had a nice run at fullback, a great sac, and was in on several tackles. Go D-backs!

Karate Kids

Ryan and Sydney started an after-school karate program today. At first, only Ryan was going to do it, since he isn't in anything else right now...but Sydney has been bugging me and bugging me about it. I kept telling her that she couldn't do it because she was already taking dance, and every time she would say, then take me out of dance. But I really didn't want to rip her out of something that just started back up a month ago... But is it fair to not let her choose what she wants to do??

So today, I signed Ryan up (he's been wanting to try this for a while, and this year it finally works out, schedule-wise...) and Sydney, Jake and I were just watching. Sydney started in again with the "pleeeeease" and those big brown eyes... So I told her she could try it out and see if she liked it and the instructors. She loved it, of course. Long story short, ballerina-girl has been replaced by karate-girl.

I should've known this is the type of thing a girl w/ 3 brothers would want to do. She can be so girly sometimes, but it's not that way most of the time. She loves worms, frogs, getting dirty, and helping her daddy with all things manly. And she can't wait til she's old enough to go hunting w/ him. Go figure.

But I really can't wait to see her in her little uniform...should have pics of that in a couple weeks...

And...we're done!

Well, we made it to the end of football season! It was a lot of fun, but I'm not gonna lie--I'm happy to see its end. Five days a week is grueling! Last night we actually all sat down at the table and ate dinner in a relaxed, unhurried manner. It was awesome!Brandon did so well this year! He started out on defense at middle linebacker and then for the last couple of games, he also played offense at tight end. For one of the games, he only sat out for one play the entire game. He loved that! He is excited to play for the school next year. So am I, since they practice right after school and games are not on Saturdays. :)
Here he is (number 63) bringing down a guy on the other team. If there's one thing Brandon likes to do, it's hit people. This is SOOO the sport for him!

Good job, Brandon!!!!

The streak is over!!!!

Brandon's football team this year has struggled...that's the nice way to say it. :) Before yesterday's game, they were 0 and 4, and hadn't scored all year long. Last week's game was 30 to nothing...it's been more than a little painful at times. We've tried to be positive, and just try to get him to learn what he can this year.

Yesterday was another game. Tim was in the mountains with his dad getting ready for the hunt in two weeks, so I had all the kids by myself there. THEY WON!!!!! And Brandon had an awesome game. He had probably at least 20 tackles, a couple of sacs for loss of yardage, and a fumble recovery. He was pumped up the whole time and I don't think he missed a single tackle. It was so fun to watch! I'm just sad Tim wasn't there...

His team's offense actually scored a touchdown for the first time this year and they won...I still can't believe it! Such a good feeling!!!

Football season is here again!

Brandon started football practice last week. We now have football 5 days a week, with 6 this week. This is a picture of him at the Jamboree at BSU stadium last year. This year he is on a new team, since his coach from last year and a lot of the boys didn't come back. I was a little nervous about how he would do joining an existing team and being the "new guy." We talked with him a lot about proving himself and really pushing hard. AND HE HAS! It's been so fun to watch him practice this year! He has really tried hard and it's paying off. He's starting at middle linebacker, a coveted position. He was so excited when they called his name for that position--so cute to see his expression! Tim and I were talking about how cool it would be if he kept up with the sport and we could still be watching him in high school in a few years... More pictures from last year...I haven't taken any this year yet, but he's made some amazing tackles and sacs at practice and I can't wait to see what he'll do at this year's games! (He's number 33)

I can't wait for the games to start! Now you know what I'll be doing every Satuday for the next couple of months! Go Brandon and the Cowboys!!!