Dang Deer!

Remember my nice little garden that Sean and the boys got ready for me for Mother's Day? (see post here) Well, it was our first garden since moving to this house and just a couple of weeks ago we opened our last jar of salsa. So, we planted tomatoes and peppers so I could bottle more salsa this year along with our zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers. Well, the zucchini, cucumbers and peppers are fine, but the dang deer have discovered our tomatoes and summer squash. My cherry tomato plants are gnawed about half way to the ground, my almost ripe regular tomatoes and roma tomatoes have huge bites out of them, and the squash is in the same shape! It is so depressing. I was so looking forward to making salsa and having BLT's with garden tomatoes. My neighbors sleep with their windows open and they have heard them and chased them away numerous times. Sean has told the boys to go out at night and pee around the garden because the scent will deter the deer (but none of them have done it) I guess next year we will have to plant lavender around the edges. I heard that will keep them away because the scent is so strong. Plus, it looks pretty! I guess that is what we get for building our home where their home used to be!

Family Photo Shoot

Well, we did our annual family photo shoot on Monday for family night. My boys like the waterfall pictures the best and I like the ones in the leaves. So, I'm posting to see what you think!? We did part of them up the canyon with the timer and the tripod as the photographer and then we did a couple in my neighbor Kelly's back yard in front of her waterfall. We only had a couple of family ones that turned out because Sean kept making a stupid face when he was telling everyone to smile (wrinkled up forehead and bug eyes), so there wasn't a whole lot of choice there. I think Tyrel is out a little far to the left, but it is pretty good.

I liked both of these. I kind of like the casualness of the one by the waterfall.

I narrowed down the choices to 6 of each boy and then I had them pick their favorite two. I did lighten up the one of Trevin for the final, this is the one before I lightened. Aren't the leaves gorgeous?

This is the last three. I even photoshop'd Tyrel's braces off the picture below. Cool huh? It was almost too dark to get these last few. Let me know what you think.

One Year Older and Wiser Too....

Well, a week and a half has passed since Sean's party and I finally got some time to make the layouts so I could post the pictures. These are the few I got with my camera while I was running around trying to entertain. I think Jen got some with her camera that I'll need to get later.

So if you are wondering how I pulled off the surprise, it really was quite easy. He had a scout campout Friday night, so he was gone from around 4:00 Friday to around noon on Saturday. So Friday night I went to work on the food. I baked two of the sheet cakes (my friend Kara offered to cook the third one when she brought her crock pots over for me). Then I put the roasts in 4 crock pots to cook overnight. We had BBQ pork sandwiches, Sean's sisters and mom and my mom and one of my neighbors all brought salads. Then we had cake and ice cream for dessert with Sean's moms yummy hot fudge sauce.

I think MaKayla liked the cake, don't you?

On Saturday morning I shredded the roasts and left some in one of the crock pots to cover for the smell and put all the rest in my big oven roaster and put it downstairs in the mother-in-law apartment because he never goes in there. The one I left cooking upstairs worked well to explain why the whole house smelled like BBQ pork. When Sean got home at noon, I sat down with him and the boys to watch the BYU football game. After it was over, Sean went to his office to listen to the postgame show which is exactly as I had planned. One flaw.... he got hungry and about 15 minutes before everyone was to arrive went up to the kitchen and was scrounging around for food and watching college football on the TV in the kitchen. Frantically I sent Travis up to ask him to come down to play guitar hero with him so he wouldn't see everyone arriving. Once everyone got there (I stashed them all on the deck outside and closed the blinds) I hollered at them to come up for dinner. As he went over to turn on the TV, I opened the door to the deck and everyone yelled, "Surprise!" He definitely was. I gave him a scrapbook with stuff from the boys in it. The boys gave him a new Guitar Hero Aerosmith game, and his family got him a tree, which he promptly made them plant. He got some money from my parents and various cards from some of the neighbors along with some Depends Leak Guards from the Smiths and a Mountain Dew T Shirt along with some EZ open bottles of Mt. Dew from the Kolibars. It ended up being a fun night with lots of neighbors stopping by to visit. Raymond and Bernice (his best friends parents) were able to come also and it was fun to get to see them.

Fall Festival

Last week at the elementary, they had a Fall Festival. Trevin came home all excited because he was chosen in his class to get to be in the pie eating contest. He had a note stuck to his shirt that he needed to be there at 6:15 to eat his pie. We only had 2 million other things going on that night including scouts, YM/YW, Tyrel had to ref, and Travis was scheduled for a hair cut. So, I wasn't too thrilled to have to add yet another thing to the list but because he was so excited, I told him we could run down at 6:00 and stay for about 45 minutes so we could get back for YM/YW. So, we ventured down there, camera in hand, paid the $5 admission and worked our way back to the pie eating table by 6:10 only to find out that they were ahead of schedule and it was over. As you can imagine, I was upset that we had to pay and didn't even get to do what we came for. So, I let Trevin play on the bouncy stuff for 45 minutes to make it worth the admission price. He used his own money and he had a ball, so I guess it turned out okay. He went down the inflatable slide a few times, waited in line for the dunking booth and then decided it was too long, then he went to the inflatable obstacle course and ran through it about 10 times. He thought it was fun. I tried to get a picture of him tumbling over the wall, but he went too fast and I just got his feet every time. I told him after about five misses to pause at the top of the wall the next time so I could get a picture and I still just got his feet because the power had turned off on the camera and even though he paused, I missed it by the time I got it turned back on. So, I had to settle for a picture of him climbing out the end of the obstacle course.

Over the Hill?

I wanted to wish my wonderful husband a wonderful birthday today. I'll post layouts and details of his party later this week when I get them all edited, but today, I'm giving you the list of 40 things you may or may not know about Sean for his 40th birthday.
1 - Is a wonderful husband to his wife and father to his boys
2 - Knows how to play the guitar, trumpet, french horn, melophone, a little piano and the kazoo
3 - Loves the Pittsburgh Steelers and BYU football
4 - Served a mission to Michigan
5 - Likes to go camping, fishing and hunting
6 - Is a level 70 on WOW (World of Warcraft)
7 - Likes to ride his 4-wheeler, jeep, and go for Sunday drives in the golf cart
8 - Doesn't really enjoy reading unless it is the Rush Limbagh website, Ford Enthusiasts Website, or KSL.com
9 - Rush Limbagh is his favorite speaker
10 - Has 2 cute dimples on his face
11 - Earned his Eagle Scout award
12 - Used to have his own Landscaping business
13 - At one time owned 3 Jags
14 - Spent a few years as a cabinet builder and installer
15 - Enjoys playing golf
16 - Favorite question to ask his boys is "How'd you get so stinkin' cute?" And the response is supposed to be "I got my good looks from my dad."
17 - Doesn't really like Italian food - he thinks it all tastes the same
18 - Mt. Dew is his favorite drink - he wanted to have Mt. Dew fountain drinks at his wedding reception
19 - Is the oldest of 9 children
20 - Likes mission style furniture
21 - Loves chocolate - especially ice cream, and peanut m&ms
22 - His favorite season is Fall - he likes 70 degree temperatures
23 - Honors his priesthood
24 - Loves his Harley Davidson edition truck
25 - Likes to mow the lawn
26 - Thinks his wife looks good driving his truck
27 - Favorite room in his house is the covered deck
28 - Doesn't like to play board games but will occasionally play cards
29 - Hates reality TV shows unless it is sports or hunting shows or the Discovery Channel
30 - Dream job would be to build and sell computers for people but there is no money in that
31 - Went bungee jumping once
32 - Likes vegetables - even brussel sprouts, artichokes, and asparagus
33 - Is a good story teller
34 - Doesn't like to travel but does like to drive - at one time he wanted to be a long haul trucker like his grandpa
35 - Has only changed about 1/2 dozen diapers in his life
36 - Has always had the dream of retiring at age 50
37 - Likes sunflower seeds, beef jerky, pistacios, pine nuts, and black licorice
38 - Likes fireworks (watching them and setting them off)
39 - Likes pumpkin pie for his birthday instead of cake
40 - Hates watching a movie more than once

So how many of those things did you know about Sean?

Soccer!!

We are in full swing with soccer this fall. Tyrel and Trevin are both playing and Tyrel is also a ref for Kindergarten soccer as well as 1st & 2nd grade league and 3rd & 4th grade league. They also wanted him for 5th 6th, but his games are on the same night as theirs so he had to pass on that league.

Trevin's team is having fun, but they haven't won a game yet. They did look really good at their last game though. I think it is starting to come together for them.

Tyrel's team is awesome! I love watching them. Tyrel's position is left forward most of the time. The coach usually ends up pulling him back to center midfield the last quarter though. They beat Santaquin their first game 5-0 with Tyrel scoring 2 goals. Then last night they played Genola. The Genola team was pretty tough but we still won 4-2. It would have been 3-2 but on our 2nd goal, Tyrel had it almost there (see picture) when he shot to score he kicked it and for some reason the Genola goalie tried to hit it with his head instead of just grabbing it and it ended up going in the goal and scoring a point for us instead of being hit out of the net back on to the field. Tyrel also had the assist on the first goal we scored. It was a great game!

9/11

I know it is late in the day, but I couldn't let this day pass without sending out a thanks to those that fight for our freedom. I remember 9/11 well. I had just showered and got dressed. I was combing my hair and the TV was on that morning, which is odd for us to have the TV on in the mornings. Anyway, I was standing in the living room combing through my hair and saw the story and happened to tune in just seconds before the plane crashed through the 2nd tower. I saw it live and then couldn't leave the TV. What a sad day in our history. It reminded me of when I was a senior in high school and the space shuttle exploded. I remember just being glued to the TV and watching it over and over. I pray that we won't forget that day and that our prayers will always be with those who have and who still do fight for the freedoms that we enjoy and sometimes take for granted.