Date Night?

Surprisingly, I've managed to have Friday nights off for a couple months now and since we don't have football practice on Friday nights I thought it would be nice to actually spend some time alone with my husband. So far he's managed for one reason or another to spoil or avoid most of my best laid plans. So.. I'm looking for ideas for Date Night, other than just dinner and a movie..or a Bingham football game. Anyone have any suggestions??

Miners vs Buffalos

Boys in Blue
No one gets past him!

We traveled to Tooele this week to play the Buffalos. The drive is kind of a pain but the fields there are pretty nice and not too crowded, and I'm not the one driving so I don't mind it much. Cody, as usual, played really well and scored 2 of our 3 touchdowns and both of our extra points. He's decided he likes to dive and stretch the ball out as far as he can. It looks really cool when he does it, I just hope he maintains control of the ball and doesn't drop it, it scares me!! He had a penalty called for "roughing the kicker" when he hit the kicker before he was able to get the ball off. Our coaches and sideline went crazy! Everyone was yelling for Cody to do it again. The referees said we have to give him time to kick the ball but he was taking forever and Cody plowed over him! The weather was awful and alternated between rain and sun and wind that didn't stop. We survived until the very end when the downpour came. We drove home soaked!! All in all a good game. These boys don't quite seem to have the heart that some of our other teams have had, but we are working on it. Final score Bingham 20..Tooele 0

Braxton's team lost to Alta 33-7.

Swim Party!

Last week our team was invited to a swim party at the home of one of our players. They have an awesome indoor pool with a slide and rope swing and the boys just loved it. What a bonding experience for them. Here are a few pics. The ones in the pool didn't turn out so well but the ones from the BBQ are pretty cute. I love that I know some of these boys so well and I love being their team mom. I get to do all the fun things and bring them pizza and cook them hot dogs and give them candy, and none of the bad things like make them run and yell at them for fumbling the ball!!

Love these boys like they were my own. Thank you Sasine's, we had a great time!!

Too Cool Not to Share!

I love my camera and the sports setting it has. I didn't even know I got this until I looked at it again last night. I love the dive he makes! Kid is just too awesome for words!

Tuesday Tell All.. September 16th

So I found this website on a friends blog called Tuesday Tell All.. They pick a topic every week for you to blog about on Tuesday. I liked that it gives you new topics to talk about and something new to blog about every week! So here goes.. This week's topic is: "September 11th. It has been seven years since the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania field. Where were you when you heard the news? How did you react? What are your feelings now seven years later?"On September 11, 2001 I had just dropped Cody off at kindergarten and was driving home with Kellie, who was two at the time, when the DJ on the radio broadcast what had happened in New York. I came home, turned on the tv and stayed there for the rest of the day. I called Jon and we debated my going back to the school to pick Cody up since we really weren't sure if the attacks were over.

I had been working at my job for SLCPD for about 5 months and had a whole new perspective of this kind of tragedy. I can't now and couldn't then imagine sending my officers into a building and never hearing from them again. To call them on the radio, one after another, and get nothing but dead air on the other end. There must have been millions of 911 calls that flooded their centers and no way for these dispatchers to help. They must have been so overwhelmed and unprepared for what they heard that day. I personally have calls that I will never forget, and I'm sure these dispatchers remember calls from that day in their nightmares.

My feelings now, seven years later are still the same. I wonder if something on this scale will ever happen again. I know that as a city Salt Lake is not prepared, but is probably more so now than it was seven years ago. I know that if something like that were to happen here, that I could be expected to go to work, while other people head home to their families, and the odd part about that is I would want to be there. I know I am not prepared as an individual to sustain my family in the event of a major disaster and that scares me.. What a wake up call to all of us that we are not as safe as we once thought we were. I hope it is something our country never has to witness again.

Elmen Olympics!

(The only picture of the Elmen kids together in years!)

Jon's sister had a BBQ at her house this weekend while his parents were visiting and for his brother that is moving away and planned Elmen Olympics 2008! The kids chose not to come so Jon and I were on a team with my mother and father-in-law. It was a ton of fun! There were 5 events, Corn-Hole (which is like a bean bag toss), Table-Tennis, Darts, Foosball, and Croquet. Other than the table tennis and the corn-hole, I have all these games at home and we never play them! We beat out all the other teams (which all had kids on them, I'm so proud!) and took the Gold! Gold was some candy and some garage sale stickers (inside Elmen joke!) Jaime is always good about planning stuff like that and having everyone over, definitely a party person. Both my kids were less than thrilled to find out what they missed out on. Kelz cried for an hour after she got home that she really did want to go. Maybe next year... Thanks for the fun, Jaime!

Hilarious!

"Your Cheerleaders Deserve Better.""

"You Can Go Ahead and Give Them My Number"

I found this shirt for Cody when I was doing his back to school shopping. I laughed like crazy in the store when I saw it and had to call and read it to Jon before I bought it! I still laugh every time I see it. He wore it to school the other day for the first time and I just had to share!

Graduation!

So I've been in round two of physical therapy at Jordan Valley PT for about 10 weeks now and I am finally starting to feel more normal. There is a large part of my knee/leg that is still numb and may stay that way forever..who knows! I still have to go to my doctor every 6 weeks or so until I hit the one year mark, which I have yet to do. Last time I only made it to 4 months post-op. I will be the first to admit that I'm not really good at wearing my brace when I am supposed to. And now that I am not in therapy anymore I really need to make time to hit the gym at least once a week. Even if it is just for water aerobics. But seriously, who has the time??

So in honor of my graduation, my therapist Margo, who I love (love the person, not the pain!) agreed to let me take a picture of her (after she added her make-up!). Margo is great at what she does and so doesn't take any crap from me or anyone else! There is no negotiating with her and you have to do it her way. But I guess she knows what she's talking about, she did go to school long enough for it! And this time I seriously hope that when I say I never want to see her again..that I never have to!! At least not under these circumstances. Thanks again, Margo! I never would have made it through a second time without you!!

Bike "Of Death"!

Treadmill and Elliptical "Of Death"!

Total Gym "Of Death"!

Bingham 35..Park City 0

We played the Park City Miners on Saturday.. It's so wrong they have the same name as us..my cheerleaders were so confused! And I had one boy on our team tell me that I messed up our game reminders by putting Park City down as the Miners too! Our boys came out in full force and dominated the game. I sorta felt sorry for the Park City team because they haven't won a game yet..and they have yet to score this season.. It must be hard to keep a team positive when that happens.

"Smash" was awesome, scoring one touchdown (pictured here) and 4 of our extra points. Not the fastest kid out there but definitely a force to be reckoned with. He doesn't hesitate to hit and lay a player out flat!! Cody would like to thank his many adoring fans for coming out to support him this week. He's so much fun to watch! This week is a road game to Deseret Peak Complex where we play Tooele.. See ya there!

Also congrats go out to little Elmen (little..ha!) his team played a great game beating Hunter 21-6.

Birth Order

Does birth order determine not only your place in your family but your personality too??

"First Borns are usually natural leaders and often high achievers. The majority of politicians, spokespersons and managing directors are first-borns. They frequently live with a sense of entitlement and even superiority. They are often either compliant nurturers/caregivers or aggressive movers and shakers. Both are in control; As a rule, first-borns are picky, precise people - they pay attention to detail - tend to be punctual, organized, and competent. They want to see things done right the first time. They don't like surprises. They are often moody and occasionally lack sensitivity. They can be intimidating, particularly by pushing people too hard or refusing to take no for an answer. Sometimes they can be a bit 'know-it-all', and often they are poor at delegating - largely because they don't trust other people as much as they trust themselves. They also tend to be bossy, perfectionists and overly-conscientious."

This is SO me.. The good and the bad.. Both my parents are first borns too and it fits them to a T.

Middle kids are said to be great negotiators and peacemakers, with laid-back attitudes and a love of socializing. As such, they're thought to be natural schmoozers and consensus builders when they grow up. They're the most likely to move far from home once they grow up, partly because they're seeking a clear identity after having spent their early years sandwiched between siblings. Some middle kids suffer from the firstborn's long shadow, and because of it, it's said, are prone to rebelliousness and competitiveness.

Jon is a middle child and so is my sister Chanel. I think some of this fits them but mostly I see Jon fitting in the first born category.

"Last-borns have the most experienced parents, of course. Experts say they're the least likely to be disciplined, perhaps because Mom and Dad are by then too laid-back --or worn down -- to freak over every infraction. Popular wisdom also has it that youngest kids are doted on, and because of it become adept at wrapping people around their little fingers and clowning to get attention. They tend to pick interests that are diametrically opposite to those of their older siblings. They're the risk takers, the adventurers, the people who are constantly trying to find something new and different to do."

The family baby! Do they have it the best or the worst?? Both Kelz and my sister Brooke are the babies and I can see this in both of them..

So what are you??

Student Council

Kelz came home last week with an application for Student Council, and since I am involved in everything these days I thought it was a great idea for her to get involved too. There are things I always wanted to do in school that I never did and I hope my kids try everything, since I feel like these are years they can never get back. So she signed up and her class voted on Friday and she won! She took a little treat for her classmates and got to feel very special for the day. Kellie has always been pretty shy and it's sometimes hard for her to make friends and open up to her teacher so I am hoping that this will start her year off right! I wasn't so sure how I felt about her leaving Monte Vista but I love all the things this new school has planned and the people in charge of the PTA are awesome. Being part of a new school is actually a lot of fun. Somehow I am in charge of all the room moms and having never been one myself I'm not so sure how I feel about it. These are moms that have done this sort of thing for years and I haven't! But I've worked with our PTA president, Carolee with cheer for the past few years and she knows what she's doing so maybe it won't be so bad! Not sure how I will find time to be team mom, cheer mom/president and head room mom..oh and work full time but I'm excited for all of it! The things we do for our kids!

We Won!

We played Riverton this week, and I have to admit I was a little scared because last year they were a really hard team and beat us twice. This year they didn't look as great and our team was ready! Cody played great and we won 6-0. He had a few long runs and some great tackles. We had one touchdown called back and a flag thrown on Jon for running on the field.. (Well down the sideline anyway, he gets a little carried away!) All in all it was a fun game... Looking towards this week when we play Park City at Home @ Noon. See ya then!
Braxton's team also played Riverton and won.. Elmens 2.. Riverton 0.. Keep it up boys!

Defeat..Ugh!

"Losing doesn't make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder."

Coach Bear Bryant

We lost our game this week against Highland.. so sad! I hate to even talk about it!! For some reason it seems our boys just didn't show up to this game.. It was brutally hot and there was a 45 minute game delay after a Highland player was injured, making the game drag on forever!! My cheerleaders were melting.. I think they quit on me in the 3rd quarter and were only revived in the last 10 minutes of the 4th because they knew the game was ending..

"Smash" on the other hand.. (Sorry, but I love it!! And I hope to make it stick!) He is such a great team leader and gets his job done. He was blocking 2 Highland players and then going after a 3rd. In the last few seconds of the game he scored an amazing 60 yard touchdown to keep us from being scoreless. Even in the face of a loss that was so awesome to see! I love to watch him run! And hit! And play!! We need another 18 boys like him on our team and we would be unstoppable! In other football news...Brighton Bengals' #48 Braxton Elmen played a great game (so I was told) and lost to Bingham 30-0. Not a good day for Elmen football! Looking forward to next week where we play Riverton at home at 3:00 pm. Be there!!