White lightening and Black Panthers - Hannah's Spring/Fall volleyball

Anna Marks and I were lucky enough to coach some very cute girls last year for the Spring and Fall seasons of volleyball. Anna took a turn being head coach while I assisted and I took a turn being head coach while she assisted. I much preferred being her assistant. I am much better looking for things someone might need help with than running the practice. We are both very loud but in a positive way. It was a lot of fun. Since there was not an option for us to use a gym for practice, we held them at Anna's house in her backyard court. It worked out pretty good. The girls learned a lot and I think they had a lot of fun too. I had hoped to scan in the picture above but apparently my new printer only has an option to scan and print and not save to a computer (dang) so I had to take a picture of it on my phone which is why it is so fuzzy. The girls are Jessie Boydell, Annalynn Pamler, Aubrea Glade, Christina Hamilton, Caroline Montierth, Marissa, Kiersten Hancock, Avery Park and Ashley Marks.

Hannah and her friend Christina. Sadly, Christina moved to Hawaii after our second season.

Science Fair survival

This year was our first year with two science fair projects. I have to say, it went pretty smooth. First off, I DO NOT do science fair projects. I will support my kids by getting any supplies they may need and I will use my cutting board to cut any paper they may want for borders. Other than that, they are on their own. Nathan doesn't really care too much about being neat and putting a lot of detail into things. He kind of slops it together and calls it good. Whatever. Hannah is a little more like me in that she wants it to be perfect. All the lines and borders have to match. I like straight lines so I understand. She is a little more intense than I am about having to have it perfect so I was a little worried at first but she did a great job. Nathan did an experiment with sleep and temperature. I did not let him turn the thermostat way down so his numbers he came up with were probably a little too close to the same to make a big difference but he did not care. He would set the thermostat at a certain temperature (of course, he could not let Hannah and Isaac know what his project was so they wouldn't change any outcome), take a picture of the temperature and then wait until they fell asleep and take a picture of them sleeping and of the time they were asleep. He would see which temperature had them to sleep the fastest. Of course, there are many variables that would go into that (how tired they were based on what there day was like etc.) but he just did time/heat. I believe 72 degrees was the winner. I thought the pictures of the kids sleeping were just too cute not to post! He got an 85% (yay)
Hannah decided to take dirty pennies and see what liquid would clean them the best. She had coke, White vinegar, rubbing alcohol, lemon juice and water. She left them in for 24-48 hours. I can't remember for sure. I believe the winner was Coke. Don't know what that says about what coke does to your body if it is a stronger cleaner than rubbing alcohol:) I forgot to take a picture of her board but it looked very nice. Thanks to Kellie for using her Cricut machine for all her letters for her titles on the board! I think she got a 93%I am sure things will not go as smoothly when we add Isaac and a third project! Next year's post may not be as nice.

Boise State vs. San Diego State

With Boise State being in the Mountain West this past year instead of the WAC, we got to go see them play in San Diego. We usually head the other direction to New Mexico. The best part about them playing in San Diego was that we got to see Sara, Adam and their family again! We drove over to their house in Dana Point Friday and spent that night with them. Adam made his famous taco shells and Sara made the yummy fillings! We LOVE having tacos with the Johnson family!! After we stuffed ourselves, we just hung out and talked and watched some TV. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Sure wish I had gotten some pictures of Noah, Spencer and Reid! Saturday morning Adam and I went for a run/workout on some trails near his house. The run was perfect but he totally kicked my butt on the park equipment with pushups, dips, leg lifts etc. It was in a beautiful park. I love the vegetation by their house. The trees remind me of what the Tree of Life must have looked like. Such pretty trunks and large leaves. After that, we got ready and went to the beach. We love to go to Salt Creek Beach by their house. It almost makes me want to move there! Their little boy Spencer had a soccer carnival so they took their boys with them and we took Grace with us. Hannah always has fun with Grace. Nice to have another girl to play with!It was a cold day and kind of drizzled the whole time we were there. Didn't stop the kids from getting a little wet though. Can you tell which kid is from California:)Mine are freezing and Grace is loving it!The water was very choppy and there was a little boogie board event going on so there were lots of kids with short boards and boogie boards in the water. It was fun to watch. I was very mean and made them try and stay dry. I did not want them to freeze at the game! Isaac accidentally slipped and got wet. Luckily, he was not in his pants yet! We had lunch and then met Adam and Sara at Adam's mom, Glenda and her friend Barb's house. We love Glenda and Barb!! It was so good to see them. We borrowed their dryer and got Isaac's jacket and shirt ready for the game. Then, we said goodbye to everybody and headed down to San Diego. I was a little worried that we would all freeze since it was still drizzling a little. Add the wind coming in off the ocean and it can feel really cold! Luckily, we had perfect seats right under an overhang that kept us protected from both. It turned out to be a really great night. Boise State won 52-35. San Diego's announcers sure know how to bring a great game atmosphere into the stadium!My cutie! Unfortunately, I took a couple other pictures but they are on my broken phone. After the game is the kid's favorite part. They get to wait and give the entire team and coach Pete a high five. I like this part too:)We stayed at a hotel close to the stadium and then headed for home the next day. It was a great weekend!

8.5 mile Pecan Classic

The season I miss most living in Arizona is the Fall. Growing up in Idaho, I loved when the air turned crisp and you would get to wear jeans and a sweater. That is what I would wear everyday year round if I could. Of course, that usually only lasted the first football game (end of August, first of September). By the second game, it was already too cold and you had to cover up with a heavy coat and blanket! I don't miss that! Anyway, I miss having all the fall colors. There is a local race close to where I live that is at a pecan orchard. It is ran by our friend Steve Taggart. It is in November. I ran it a couple years ago and just remember it was so cold (like 30). This year, it was not as cold which was very nice. I was able to start off the race with my friend Debbie. We ran the first two miles together and then I couldn't hang any more. This is the last time we were next to each other.About mile four I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and then I remembered where I was running...in a pecan orchard where the leaves were actually showing fall colors. All I had to do is look up and let the gold and red leaves refill my soul. I put in my headphones and turned on my MP3 player and found a few surprises Justin had put on for me. I hardly ever run with music anymore so I was very glad I brought it with me. I was able to get in a groove and have a very good last 4.5 miles. The cool air, the dirt ground and the beautiful surroundings were so peaceful. It seemed the deeper into the orchard we got, the more colors there were. I could see Debbie in the distance most of the way but could never regain enough ground to catch her. She ran a great race! I was just happy to finish:) I ended up finishing a couple minutes faster than the time I ran it before so that was good. I guess I'll have to run this every year to take advantage of the beautiful pecan tree leaves turning to red and gold.Well, I'm into November....Only four months left to catch up on!

Our UTE family comes for a visit! November 4-6

Justin's family has kids who have gone to BYU, University of Utah, Utah State and Boise State. This has led to some fun competitive spirit when teams may win or lose but also a lot of fun watching games together and many times when vacations are planned around games and seeing each other! In November, we had one such weekend. Our brother-in-law Adam graduated from University of Utah and has started his kids off as little Utah Ute fans as well (well, all but his sweet girl Grace. I think she is rooting with her mom for BYU but I'm pretty sure some of that is to get dad to tease her:)) Utah was in the same conference as Arizona this year so as soon as the game was on the schedule, we knew we would get visitors in November! It was a fun, quick weekend. The kids had a blast playing with each other. Adam and Justin took Nathan, Isaac and Noah to the game. They had a lot of fun. The little boys might have enjoyed the stadium food better than the actual game:) Utah won 34-21 which made one big boy particularly happy! Sara and I took the other kids to Hannah's Activity Day Girl achievement night and then we had the responsibility of picking up the pizza for home for the next game, the Boise State game! We introduced them to Mamma's pizza which is as delicious as it is huge! Boise beat UNLV 48-21 as well so it was a good night all around! Some good looking boys ready for the game! Fun that both teams have red in their school colors.
Two beautiful girls using their imagination to cook marshmallows. All that is needed is a red spray-painted rock, some plastic forks and some marshmallows! Love these girls.
Mamma's pizza! We had pepperoni...and garlic bread. Their sauce is so yummy.