Homecoming 2010

 So our Disnee went to her 1st real dance, Homecoming this weekend. Wow was it scary for us to send her off on a date with a boy!! Yikes! Luckily, Colt is a nice kid. We were ok with this date! So Colt is Disnee's friend, and so he asked her to go with him. She wasnt sure about the dance, but was excited to get all dressed up and pretty!

 She did her own hair, and did a super job, and got lots of comments on how cute it was! Great job girl! She had a good time, went and took pictures, went to eat at Monical's Pizza, and then headed to the dance.

Our beautiful girl..how about the pretty bouquet he gave her??? Wow!!

The beautiful, but lousy weather bahamas!

So Troy and I had the priviledge of getting to go on our yearly "work conference" trip.  It has been a while since we went to Vegas last year, so we were ready for a great trip to Paradise Island, Bahamas!! We were going to stay 5 grand days!! We flew out of St Louis, to Miami...then a short flight on a tiny plane to Nassau. We got there and took a shuttle to our hotel. This is us on the shuttle, ready for fun! We were sporting our new shades from the mall at $5 each! Nice!

 So after changing rooms once, we finally got into a nice room with a king size bed and an ocean view. The first room was a "villa" that was kind of out of the way, outside of the hotel, with 2 double beds. We didnt love that. This was one of many little water aquariums that had different sea life.  These are nurse sharks...ya they are just right there, with a sign that says, keep your feet away from the sharks!!

 We stayed at the Atlantis Resort.  Here we are on our way to swim the first day. Of course we woke up to rain..but soon it ended, so we got to hit the water park. The resort was huge and beautiful.

 After we swam a bit and went on some water slides, we headed over to the beach.  It was so pretty! There was some tropical weather residual from a passing hurricane...so the waves were pretty big, but the water was so warm and nice! It was perfect temperature. I love this man!

 So we got the priviledge finally of eating at Mesa Grill!! This is one on Bobby Flay's restaraunts. We were excited to get to eat some yummy food! It was really good. We ate some chicken quesedilla with goat cheese and avacado or something. It was different, but good. Oh ya, and the cornbread muffins were different but yummy! real corn and peppers and stuff! Even Troy liked that! Then Troy had a steak and twice baked potato with horseradish and creme fresh. I got some seventeen spice chicken or something like that with cilantro garlic mashed potatoes. It was good, but different than the mexican we are used to! It was a great experience. We sat and watched the rain pour down and the trees blowing like crazy out the window! The weather was horrible!! Yes we are wearing pants and I'm sporting a hoodie!! BRRRRR..

 So we had to spend a lot of time inside, keeping dry and having something to do. We walked around the resort alot, seeing all the buildings and sea life and such.They had this fun chair for pictures...the King Triton throne...fun!

 I made Troy get in it, even though he really didnt want to.

 So one day it was finally sunny in the morning, so we headed in a taxi downtown to Nassau to see the shops and stuff. There is where the cruise ships dock, and so there is alot of tourists all over. We ate at Sbarros for lunch! yeah, it only cost us $10.47 for lunch. Back at the resort, its $3 for a bottle of water, we were shocked at how expensive food was there! We found a bag of Doritos in the hotel shop for $17!! Anyway, so we went to the shops, and then headed back to the island and took the water taxi. It was pretty risky with Troy's seasick tendency, but he said he would be fine. Of course we were the first ones on, and they wait 30 minutes from the time the first person gets on...here we are waiting for some more people or 30 min to come quickly!

 This was the view of our resort from the water taxi.  Its so neat.

 There were tons of aquariums all over the resort. This is an underground one that had lots of sharks, called Pretator's lagoon.  Its pretty scary, but cool too!

 So here was the view from the library in the hotel...waiting for the rain to go away!

 This is what we did...sit around, read some boring dumb magazine, troy playing with the camera picking my nose..etc.

 We woke up the last day to sunshine! yeah!! The bad thing, the wind had picked up.  this was our beautiful view from our balcony..but the wind was CRAZY!!

 Yes, this was the flag that tells of the beach conditions...this means, the beach is CLOSED.  The wind blew it straight out!! So..no beach at all the last day. They wouldnt even let you walk on the sand!!

 So, we decided to do what we do best, go shopping again! We took a taxi back over to Nassau. This green van was our taxi! They just take their cars they have, and put some taxi stickers on them and drive people around.

 Troy in front of the straw market. We went back for some more goods. We always buy way too many souveniers! I did however find some really nice coach purses...of course the zipper on one broke before the day was out!

 Later, we had fun in the elevator taking pictures of each other..ya we were bored!

 The ocean was so pretty, but we could only love it from afar. The color of the water is to die for!

 Another shot of the hotel. Nice!

 So this is the tiny plane we had to take from miami to nassau and back. yes it has propellers!! yikes! It was so scary! The plane was rattling and vibrating like crazy, and it was sooooo loud! Wow it was nice to land in Miami!

This was the view of the island as we were leaving. The blue water so nice. We were tired and ready to go home back to our kiddos. We missed them alot. We had a stinkin 4 hour layover in Miami...and then home to St Louis was wonderful. We stepped outside and it was warm and the sun was shining! Wow was it nice to find the good weather!! It was a great trip we got to spend time together, but the weather was definitely a bummer. Tip...dont go to the Bahamas in hurricane season!!

Wow what an evening

The group

                Macee and Elder Thomas

                  The guys hanging out and eating cake

 We love this guy, he's like our son....wow that makes us old! haha

Wow! Is all I can say! So last night, we had the absolute privilege of having the St. Louis Mission President and his wife over at our house for dinner.  We invited the Elders and them over, as well as the Hood's, to come and eat and visit. We had such an amazing time! They were so amazing, down to earth great people! We were a bit nervous, but as soon as we met them, we felt at ease and drawn right into them.  We had a fun dinner of Navajo Tacos.  We ate and laughed and shared stories.  Then we got to have a special FHE where the Elders had us each tell something we loved about a person there.  That was a very special, tear filled event that was so wonderful.  Many neat and special things were said about each person there.  We almost felt like we were telling the Elders goodbye, as transfers are this weekend, and Troy and I wont see them again if they leave.  We are hoping they stay one more transfer! We ended the evening with delicious Chocolate Cake that Val made, YUM! It was definitely an evening to remember, even if the girls got benched for their game Friday because they missed cheer practice to be there! Makes me actually glad, this was soooo much more important than cheerleading! We were so blessed to get to know these amazing people and share their spirit in our home and with our kids!

Sports

So our kids have been very busy with sports as usual. This was the other night at a home football game we got to go to. This is the only picture that turned out not blurry. Its not too great, but at least I can see my cute girls in it! They are really enjoying cheer this year, and are super cute!! Britton decided to join the cross country team with Jalan this year for the jr high. Here he is before a meet last week. Shorts are a little big!

Jalan has really been usure this year. He wasnt sure if he wanted to run, but we urged him to do it, to stay busy and involved. So he did, but has had quite the struggle, as his little brother has been beating him in the races. As hard as it is for Jalan, I am proud that he hasnt quit-which is what I expected him to do!- and has continued to try harder and work harder. He has been doing very good this year, and improving over his placements from last year.

There were 2 races at the same place last week...so these might be mixed up some of each...but you get the picture. Here is Britton coming up a hill. He is a fast little fella! We didnt expect him to be a fast runner, but he is! Coming into the finish line! Go Britton go!

Come on Jalan, you can catch them!

They both did good on this race, and I think Britton ended up 11th and Jalan 17th.

Here they are just starting out another race. It is 1.2 miles long! Britton pretty close up front..not sure where Jalan is in this pic. Rounding the first lap...here goes Britton holding strong.

And here comes Jalan hurting a bit...but still doing great!

They both did great here too. Not sure what places they took here, but good. We were very proud of them. There were over 100 boys running! Great job boys!

Ball Games

So we got to have a very neat experience a couple weeks ago. The St. Louis Mission had a Cardinals day, and the whole mission got to come and attend a game together. It was Mormon Night at the Park or something. Luckily, the Elders love us, so we got invited to go drive them to the game, and therefore got to go with them! So, Troy, me, Jalan, Britton and Kyle (we traded Macee with a friend for her little brother to come) and Elders Thomas(right) and Hemenway(left) got to go. Disnee and Brooke had cheer practice, so they couldnt go. Here we are waiting to get a glimpse at some of the players and coaches. I guess its picture day where the fans get to go on the field and take pics as they all come out and walk around the field. Pretty cool. We LOVE these Elders, they are so much fun! Here is the good ole Big Mac...Mark McGuire. He is a coach now, so we got to take a pic of him. Pretty cool. I think that is their head coach next to him, but I dont know his name:)

We got to see and take alot of pics of the players, but we didnt have a very good view from where we were. Britton took the camera to take pics of Pujols when he came out, but unfortunately, he forgot to push the shutter all the way down, and didnt take any...haha. But we got a couple. Here is Jalan and Matt Holiday, and a random other lady. The Elders got a bunch and are supposed to get us them, so for now this is all we have. Troy and me sweating to death and melting in the hot sun..even though it was only 70 degrees...it felt like 100! we were drenched from head to toe after the game..ugh! We were right in the sun the whole time, except our faces!

Here is the view of the missionary section. See all the white shirts...awesome huh! All the members got to sit in Big Mac Land...I guess where he hit alot of homeruns...and so we all got bags, and license plate holders and a coupon for a free big mac! It was cool. The missionaries had a different section, all the way across from us.

Actually, this is 2 days before the Cardinal game, but Troy got some Rams tickets from a friend at work, so he took the boys and I with him for a preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens. Britton wore his Cardinal jersey with Boldin on the back in support of Boldin who now plays on Baltimore..even though we were cheering for the Rams...pretty confusing...here are the cute but hornery boys waiting for the game to start. All my boys. Troy had a hard time finding me I guess. Our seats were pretty good, but right at the end zone. It was alot of fun for Troy and I to be there, but I guess our spoiled kids didnt have as much fun. The boys were more worried about getting cotton candy, ice cream, soda and nachos to even care about the game, and when we didnt buy them all of the above, they started pouting, so we left at half time, sick of their complaining...hint, dont take young kids!

Love this picture! Look how similar their hair is now! CRAZY!! where did the blonde locks go??

Latest and greatest

Life around here has been pretty crazy and busy, and I have neglected updating here. So a few weeks ago we got to take a trip to Denver to visit Nic and Casey and family. We also got some dental work done while we were there as well. It was a great last fling before school started the next day after we got home!!! While we were there, we had such a great time! Nic and Casey so generously got us tickets to a Rockies game! We got to go and use the Comfort Dental suite! It was SWEET!! Here we are all hanging out inside. The kids are over there by all the layout of food...pizza, wings, hotdogs, salads, deserts, you name it. It was so great! In the 7th inning the kids also got to go meet Dinger, the mascot. Here they are with him. It was mustache night, hence his mustache..

Here is the view of the field from the seats outside. It was so much fun, and a great way to take kids to the game! When macee got bored, she went inside and jumped on the couch for a while! Loved it! Here is Troy, Britton and Ryan watching the game.

Ok, so these are all mixed up, sorry. Now jump to the first day of school this year. Wow what cute kids we have! Plus i just love our backyard we get to have in the pictures each year! sooo beautiful!! Brooke all ready for her sophomore year! wow. crazy.

disnee is a Junior!!! how does this happen???

Jalan all ready for 6th grade! Holy cow Jr High! He was pretty nervous to go to the big kids school, but has already gotten in the groove of jr high life! cute britton posing! what a kid! Britton is in 5th grade and in Mrs Williams class. At least I think thats her name..oh boy Im bad!

My little sister sue! Macee in 1st grade!!!! HOLY cow!! She is such a cutie, and has such a personality! She got put in Mrs Stroud's class, and we are thrilled! she is an awesome teacher, the best in the school...sooo nice and fun! She loves school!!

So back to the Denver visit.....We got to go to a fun lake there and rented jet skis. It was a blast. Here is Uncle Ryan and Britton going. Ryan was trying his hardest to make the boys fall off, but didnt succeed, they had too tight of grip! So funny... Here is Nic and some kids and Troy and some kids coming back into shore after a fun filled ride!

Troy and Jalan getting ready for a trip out.

Lately we have been seeing alot of these around the yard....cute little baby deer...

This is the mama and 2 babies that are always out. Yes that is our garden that they LOVE and have consumed the entire thing...watermelon, squash, peas, broccoli, you name it! Stinkers!!