saturday's storm and lightning...

When I said in my last post "here comes the storm" I wasn't meaning literally!! Saturday was freezing and wet but Jackson and Ayden both played their first Lacrosse game of the season. Ayden's game was at 11:00 am and he was so nervous he barely ate any breakfast. We gathered hats, gloves, umbrellas and blankets and loaded up the car with all the boys equipment and headed out into the cold.

Ayden had a great game vs Alta. It was cold and we had a bit of drizzle but he had a fun first game. Ayden was a great blocker and fought for the ball with every step. The grass was really long and he tripped a couple of times trying to run and cradle the ball at the same time but jumped right up and kept on fighting for his "green gloves". He was glad when it was over being tired, cold and wet from the rain and sweat and he was starving :) I guess he nerves had calmed. He looks forward to playing next week in the sun :) *fingers crossed*

Jackson's game was at 1:00 pm and he had a fabulous game. Within the first minute of the game Jackson took the ball all the way down the field and shot for his teams 1st goal of the season *Cheer* it was awesome! His team played great and he assisted on 2 other goals with perfect passes. The pouring rain and cold didn't seem to bother him or his team one bit but Ayden, Landon and I retreated to the car the last quarter soaked to the skin. Ryan had a blast coaching and getting to see the team in action was great. We look forward to next Saturday's games and I am hoping the the only Storm and Lightning will be on the fields!!

Way to go Jackson and Ayden you ROCK!!

here comes the storm...

If you asked Ayden a month ago if he was going to play Lacrosse the answer would have been an very loud and adamant "NO" but as you can see he has changed his mind :) Ayden went to one practice (by the coaxing of his mom) and was hooked. He is an awesome little lacrosse player and it has helped that Jackson and Ryan has been working with him at home. I don't think there has been a time when they have been outside in the past month that they haven't been holding a lacrosse stick or in the house now that I think about it. We look forward to his first game on Saturday...it will be so much fun. Jackson keeps encouraging Ayden saying "can you imagine how good you will be when your my age, you are so lucky to have started in 1st grade! Jackson LOVES all things lacrosse and his first game is Saturday too. What a great way to spend a Saturday, cheering for your sons! Now only if the weather will cooperate *grrrr* GO BENGALS LACROSSE!!!

spring time treat...

60 bottles later....I hope everyone is enjoying their jam as much as we are!! I think hot bread/rolls is the BEST with fresh homemade strawberry jam. It is also yummy on vanilla ice cream, peanut butter sandwiches and pancakes..I think we have had them all this week!! The blackberry turned out yummy too but I am a strawberry girl at heart. I can't wait for peach and raspberry!!

ayden's saturday...

spring means one thing...yummy fresh strawberry jam!!

I am going to make and sell Strawberry Freezer Jam on Monday so if you are willing to pick them up at my house next week you can buy 2 8 ounce jars for $5.00. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks for the great idea Nancy :) Yes, I think spring is here!!

practice makes perfect...

happy easter...

That cute little bunny has hopped all day,
delivering baskets for the holiday.
His paws are so tired and his nose how it itches,
He left you something special
to fulfill all your wishes-
Lots of cute little Easter bunny hugs and kisses.

lollie pop lollie pop oh lollie lollie.....

It was a rainy cold spring day and the boys were board so we decided to make lollie pops. I was paranoid about someone getting burned so they took turns in the kitchen helping. I let each boy choose a color and flavor and my whole house smelled like root beer by the time we were done...yummy.

days on the dawn....

We set sail on our boat The Norwegian Dawn from Miami, Florida towards the beautiful Caribbean. We had to do a evacuation drill as soon as we got on the boat. The boys life vests were too big and it was very hot. The sea was very rough for the spring storms and we got seasick the first night and it seems like one of us ended up being seasick every night. Our tiny cabin 10515 had 4 tiny beds. When we would come back to our cabin, the stewards would make us animals out of the towels and leave us chocolates. One night I (Renee) slept on mine and it melted all over me and the bed....not such a good idea to put them on the pillows.

We enjoyed 3 full days at sea while going from island to island. I kept busy on the ship playing shuffleboard, basketball, swimming and our new favorite pass time playing BINGO...we won $160.00!! We also saw a magician Greg Gleason who taught a memory class on the ship, it was really eye opening. We enjoyed lots of yummy food and even ate dinner at a French restaurant on the ship and had snails..surprisingly they were really good. We meet lots of people who worked on the ship who make the ship their home 9 months of the year to support their families at home in all different countries. We had a great time on the Dawn.

he's on the move...again

As many of you know Ryan has been working away from home for 3 years now. For the past 10 months he has been in Denver with Exempla Health Care. He has enjoyed his time in the Denver area and we enjoyed a fun family vacation exploring the area last July. It has been hard on all of us but you have to go where the work is and we are so blessed for his sacrifice to work away from home. It hasn't been easy during the week I feel like a single mom juggling 3 very busy boys schedules with school and sports...at times it has been to say the least very stressful. Ryan has been alone working sun up till sun down away from his family...I honestly don't know how he has coped and not to mention the commute back and forth. I spent 2 days in the airport coming and going from our wonderful cruise and hated every minutes of it!! An opportunity was presented to him to work again for Stanford University but instead of commuting back and forth to the bay area he will be working from home! Yes, you heard right he will be working remotely from home :) Ahhh, the blessings a computer and the WWW!! Since Christmas Ryan has been working from home a majority of the time and we have dreaded the weeks that he has been gone...we are all so excited that this opportunity has come along and that he will be home. We know that it may not be permanent but look forward to him being home while he can :) I am sure it will take some adjusting on all of our parts but we are thrilled he won't have to commute anymore. He is very excited to be able to attend more school and sporting events for the boys and looks forward to being able to help coach whenever he can. So if you need to reach him he will be in the area, just a phone call away :)

special samana...

At our first port Samana, Dominican Republic it was raining. Last year when we visited Samana we met a boy named Jordan and we wanted to find him that was the only reason we ventured to Samana. We asked some locals if they knew him and they helped us find our friend Jordan. He didn’t really remember us because he meets so many foreigners but it was fun to see him again. He took us around on his motorcycle/rickshaw. He pulled us through the mountains weaving in and out of the cars and led us to a beautiful waterfall in the jungle. Along the hike (in the mud and rain) he and some other local boys showed us local plants like coconut, mango, cocoa bean (chocolate), and the boys favorite the mimosa (like a Mexican fly trap plant). It was a very eye opening experience for our family. We were sad to see how the people lived and had absoultly nothing. The city was very rundown and covered with garbage. It was sad for us to think of Jordan and the people of Samana living such a hard life and we are very thankful for what we do have and for the blessing of meeting Jordan. We found out that we has 2 children and got his address so we could keep intouch.

memorable miami...