Friday, March 27, 2009

Thankful Thursday...oops Friday :)

Well this week has totally gotten away from me and I just realized it's Friday. :) This week I'm thankful for a kid who is thankful! I was running errands with Nick this week (which of course is always his favorite thing...hahaha) and he asked if we could get a drink somewhere. So we stopped and got a drink to help him endure the rest of the errands and what came out of his mouth next was music to a mothers ears...he said, "Mom, I know I'm spoiled and I appreciate everything you do for me." (Cue the angel choir and heavens opening...lol) Did my child who always tells me about everything everyone else has or gets to do and tries to convince me he lives a life of deprivation just say he's spoiled and appreciates what he has?????? It's a good thing we were just at a convenience store getting a drink because I probably would've bought out the electronics store for him that day! :-) Motherhoods rewards...we have to enjoy them while we can!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Track Season







Bryson had his first track meet last week...he's a sophomore so this is his first high school meet. When I talked to him the night before he was pretty frustrated because they only had him running the 4x400 relay. In junior high he ran the 100 meter dash, the 400 meter, the medley relay and the 4x400 relay so this was a let down to him to only be in one event. But instead of wanting to quit, he had the attitude of "I'll show them..." and "Just wait until next year." I was proud of him that he was using this to motivate him rather than quitting (which would've been his natural reaction a year ago). When he got to the meet though he was told that they also wanted him to run the medley relay. His relay teams ended up taking 2nd in both races and the awesome thing was that his 400 was the fastest 400 recorded that day by any sophomore so he came away from it totally excited! Yeah Brysey Kyle!!!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Thankful Thursday


Today I'm thankful for balance in life. In the last week I've spent time taking care of and having fun with my family, eating lunch with and hanging out with my parents, working and making progress with some things at work, hanging out and laughing with friends, meeting with the awesome women I serve in the primary at church with, and spending time with my brother & his family. (The picture is Hailey & her cute cousins having a sleep over.) I think balance in life is so important and I'm so thankful for the people, job, and church in my life that allow me to have that balance.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for a daughter who tried REALLY hard this morning to be satisfied with how I did her hair. She's at that wonderful age where she has VERY strong opinions on how her hair is done, but not quite old enough to do it herself. She's great about being pretty patient while I curl, crimp or straighten it, but when it comes to pony tails or braids...let the battle begin. She needs every single hair slicked back into the pony tail holder with no lumps, fly aways, or uneven parts and unfortunately she doesn't have a mother who is perfect at doing that. :) So, I do the best I can and inevitably she wants it redone time and time again until she ends up just wearing it down because I can't do it right. The problem is that I am not very patient with the re-doing so even though I agree to do it, I express my displeasure at having to re-do it and then she starts defending why it needed to be redone and on and on and on. Well the whole scene came back to smack me in the face when we were all watching TV the other night and a preview came on for some movie where a mother and daughter were yelling at each other and Nick said, "Hey that's you and Hailey when you're doing her hair." Nice! Kids just call it like they see it, but neither one of us liked hearing it. :) But this morning Hailey asked me to do braids and she was trying so hard to be fine with how they were turning out that I voluntarily redid one to make it more even with the other one!! :) But I'm thankful to have a daughter...even if doing her hair is going to make my own go prematurely gray. :)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Thankful Thursday


Today I'm thankful for the people who have high expectations for the kids they interact with (including mine) and teach them how to commit to those expectations. Nick's basketball coach was a great example of that. He raised the expectations for these boys beyond what any other coach has done (for a 5th & 6th grade team) including all the running drills during practice. If you would've told these boys about all these drills they probably all would've said they couldn't do it...but they all did! He also wouldn't ever let them walk on or off the court, over to huddle up during time outs, or up and down the court during play. If they weren't hustling, the weren't trying. He was a very passionate coach and got VERY into the games, but I appreciated him holding them to a higher level and teaching them about commitment to that level.

Because of that, I've noticed a different kind of confidence in Nick. Last summer he and I ran a couple of 5k fun runs and we're planning on doing a couple more this year. Last year he was satisfied with doing a run/walk but this year he is committed to running the whole thing. We went out for our first run of the season a couple nights ago and we follow this program that helps us work up into running longer distances. Because he is in such good shape from basketball season and because he's no longer satisfied with "good enough" he pushed himself to run more than what he normally would have in that 30 minute training cycle. So, I'm thankful for a man who pushed my son into making fewer excuses for why he can't do something and has gained the confidence to just do it!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Bryson turns 16


Ok so I'm a dough head and got so caught up in the people and food that I didn't take one picture of the party we had for Bryson for his birthday. But, I did take this one today up at Bryson's church of him and Brian. I cannot believe the fiesty little curly haired toddler that I met 14 years ago and had the priviledge of helping raise, is now 16 years old! So, in the spirit of his 16th birthday, here are 16 things about him...

1) As a 3 year old he was EXTREMELY particular about the seam in his sock being right directly at the end of the toes...if it moved one inch we would be removing the shoe to fix it in the midst of him having a complete melt down. :)

2) At our wedding reception he removed the fruit from one of the fruit scewers and hid beside the stairs leading to our backyard and would poke people in the leg with the sharp end as they went down the stairs.

3) He was a dare devil and was riding his bike without training wheels by the age of 3 1/2.

4) He LOVED chocolate milk as a little kid and woke up asking for it and went to bed asking for it. When he wet the bed one night after drinking his chocolate milk we decided no more at night. So the next night when he asked for it we reminded him why he wasn't going to be drinking close to bedtime anymore and he responded, "Oh, that wasn't pee, that was just my bum sweating."

5) When we were walking to church one day he asked how come our church doesn't have a trophy on top. (He was refering to Moroni on top of the temples.)

6) He spent a lot of time on time out as a child. :)

7) He was very particular about his stuff and would lock all of his "special things" in his trunk in his room.

8) He has a very special blanket that he's had since birth that he always called "nanny". He would put it over the vent in the summer to get it cool from the air conditioning then lay his little head on it to cool off. He still has nanny. :)

9) When he was in 6th grade he got very experimental with his hair color...he went from bleached hair, to dark brown, to a reddish auburn color, to bright yellow gel coloring, to blue gel coloring, etc.

10) He was always the fastest kid on his soccer teams.

11) He played football in 6th grade and I think I ran the whole field with him as he was running down the field for his first touchdown. It was awesome! He was even on the news when he played in the mascot bowl.

12) He started running track in the 8th grade and it's so fun to go watch his meets!

13) He once had 12,000 texts in one month...he got his texting priviledges taken away at that point for several months. :) He's earned it back now though and has followed ALL the rules. :)

14) He is doing great in school...we're thrilled with how much he cares about school!

15) He LOVES music and always has his ipod on!

16) He is an awesome kid!!! We decided he got all of his naughtiness out as a kid and has been a dream teenager. (Knock on wood!) :)