Let The Games Begin

Well after practicing and working out all summer it is time once again to start the games. Micah had his first High School game on Thursday @ Weber. Micah has been working hard all summer. He started in June and even missed the annual trip to Lake Powell so he would not miss any of the football workouts. He started at cornerback on defense and wide receiver on offense. He had a great game and even caught a TD pass. Plus the only minor injury he had was a hole in his tongue because he did not put his mouthpiece in on a play and ended up getting hit and biting his tongue. The team looked really good the final score was 28-7 and they actually had one other TD called back. On the way home the bus broke down so they had to wait for a replacement bus, they did not get home until about 8:30.
Then Saturday it was game day for Payton. She is playing on a Comp. team with Davis Football Club. They have also been practicing all summer. Her game was in Mountain Green. In the first half she played forward and in the second half she was the goalie. She was awesome at goalie. Payton is fearless and throws herself on that ball when it gets close even if girls are still trying to kick it. She caught several hard shots. Her team the Yellow Jackets won 5-1.

LAKE POWELL 2009!!!!!!!

Well it is that time of year when we again head to Lake Powell. We normally have 21 of us make the annual trip but this year Micah did not make the trip because he did not want to miss any of the football conditioning. I was impressed with his dedication, this is one of Micahs favorite trips. The water was 80 which still feels refreshing when the outside temp. is 100+. Some of the highlights were Riley learning to deep start on the wakeboard, not only did she learn but she went outside the wake. Riley also caught a pretty good size catfish on the "Barbie" pole. Payton drove me around that lake for hours on Pa's Jet Ski. Payton has been wakeboarding for a few years but she is getting really good at cutting accross the wake. And Mariah wakeboarded and also surfed. So here are a few pictures from our trip.Payton soaking up the sun

Karrie showing off her mad skills

Mariah Surfing

Payton wakeboardingRiley getting set

Riley outside the wake!

The Eagles Concert!!!!!!!!

Saturday Karrie and I were lucky enough to go to the Eagles concert. The Eagles are probably some of the first music that I remember hearing growing up. I remember my Mom had an Eagles album that she played all the time. But I had never seen the Eagles live before. Now I have been to a few concerts starting when I was about 10 I went and saw KISS. I have seen bands like Def Leppard, Scorpions, Oingo Boingo, Howard Jones, Erasure, Journey, Styx, REO, etc. I think this might have been the best concert that I have ever been to. Before the concert I was wondering how a band like the Eagles who have been performing for so long, bring the energy every night. Well they were nothing short of AMAZING. Glenn Frey and Don Henley sounded incredible. I never realized how great Joe Walsh is on the guitar. They came on stage and played two of there newer songs and then for the next two hours it was all there good stuff. I don't remember a concert where every song was great. Glenn Frey was funny he came out and said "Welcome to the Eagles assisted living tour". This was there last stop in North America now they are headed to Europe for the summer. Karrie thinks we should follow them, that would be nice. I went to the concert as a casual Eagles fan and I left a FANatic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Riley Cracks Me Up!

Well two weeks ago my Dad had open heart surgery. The night before the operation I took the kids in to the hospital to see him. He had been at the hospital all day under going about every test possible.We were all feeling very anxious about the surgery. As we visited with him he was telling all of us what they were going to do to him the next day. He told us all the i.v.'s he would have including one in his neck, the tube down his throat. How they would cut open his legs to take veins out for the bypass. Then he told us how they would take a saw and cut open his chest and then spread it apart. Not a pretty picture to say the least. Well Riley was sitting on the foot of his bed just taking all of this in. As my Dad finished the gruesome details Riley looked him straight in the eyes completely serious and said "Well atleast you don't have to get a Strep. test".
A week before Riley had been to the Dr. and they swabbed the back of her throat to test for strep. It was so funny and really lightened the mood. I guess it is all about perspective.

Payton A-Z

Sunday was Paytons 10th birthday. Wow double digits. I can't believe she is 10 already. So here is Paytons A-Z list. When I think of Payton I think of:

A- Athletic, Adventurous, Active
B-Beautiful, Brave
C-Caring, Competitive
D-Dependable, Daring, Determined
E-Exciting, Eager
F-Fun, Fast, Fighter
G-Good, Guitar player, Girl Scout, Goal Keeper(soccer)
H-Happy, Hard headed
I- Individual, Independent
J- Jokester,
K-Kind
L- Laughs, Loud,Loving
M- Music(She plays the guitar and is always listening to her MP3 player)
N- Nice,
O-Outdoors, Observant
P- Polite, Perseveres, Protector, Positive
Q-Quick witted,
R- Rugged, Reliable
S- Snowboarder, Soccer, Sister, Swimmer, Strong
T- Tenacious, Teacher, Tough
U- Understanding,
V- Vacations,
W-Wake boarder, Water Skiier, Winner,
X- Xcaret where Payton and I swam with the dolphins
Y- Young
Z- Zest for life

Spring Break Part 2

So after a day at the pool it was of to Disneyland. Disneyland is a great place to go especially with young kids but if your an adrenaline junking and like the big fast roller coasters it is a bit of a let down after Six Flags. We had fun at Disneyland though, we hit all the classics like Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain etc. And not to brag or anything but I got the High Score on the Buzz Lightyear ride. We had to practically had to pull Karrie away from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.Just look at the excitement and joy on the faces of Mariah and Riley as we get on the "It's a Small World"ride.
The next day we went to Huntington Beach. The water was still pretty cold but Payton and Riley and Ace got in it all the way. The rest of us went in up to our knees. Ace loves the water and got mowed over by the waves a few times before he caught on and learned to get out of the way. We also flew a couple of kites I had found at the store. If we only had a beach and ocean in Utah it would be perfect.
Well after a long day at the beach we went and ate at Chilli's then headed back to the hotel. We took an air mattress and they Kids took turns sleeping on it. Micah and Riley were on it this night. All the kids got in bed and we went to sleep about 11:30-12. Well at 2 am Payton came up on my side of the bed and said "Dad I just threw up in the Bath room" she was very calm trying not to wake everyone up and I thought oh it couldn't be that bad so I went into the bathroom and yea it was that bad. She at least threw up right on a big towel that was on the floor so clean up wasn't to bad. Well she felt a little better so I put her back in bed with Mariah and gave her a garbage can just in case. Well about a 1/2 hour went by and I heard her jump from bed and run towards the bathroom she did not make it. At this point I moved Riley out of the bed with Micah and put her in with Mariah. They were next to the bathroom. Well again about a half hour after she went back to bed she was up again. She was so sick she was actually sitting on the toilet and throwing up in a garbage can at the same time. At this point I woke Micah up and told him to go get in my bed and I spent the rest of the night with Payton on the air mattress. She got sick one more time that night. I am not sure what time it was but the last time we went back to bed it was starting to get light outside. Oh I forgot about 4 am I decided to go and find her a Sprite in the vending machine. Well I took my wallet headed to the machine and I had no $1 bills or change so I had to go down to the lobby from the 10th floor and get change. I went back to the vending machine by our room put my money in and the Sprite was sold out. Now this is a huge hotel 1600 rooms so I walked to the other end of the floor and the vending machine was not working, I finally found one on the 9th floor. What a night! Well the next day she felt better but was drained. I was a bit tired myself but she wanted to go to California Adventures so off we went.

It was a fun day and we were all done by 6 p.m. We had gone on every ride we wanted to at least twice. Then on Saturday Mariah, Micah, and I went to an Angels game. We had a great time I had forgotten how much I use to love baseball when I was growing up. There is just something about a Major League game. The game went by really fast and we enjoyed some snacks. You have to have a dog at a baseball game right? Even Mariah loved the game. She was asking me questions all through the game.

Spring Break 2009 Part 1

For spring break we packed up the Acadia and headed to Southern California and yes even Ace came along.

We drove to Las Vegas the first day about six hours. And Payton and Riley headed straight to the pool.

Then the next day we drove 3 1/2 hours in to Anaheim. The next day we headed to Six Flags. Six Flags ended up being are favorite park. They have more roller coasters and bigger and faster coasters that my kids love. Riley was able to ride most of the rides there were a few she was not tall enough for. The weather was warm (85 degrees).






The Next day we decided to take a break and the girls just wanted to hit the Pool.