catching up

Some happenings over the last week or so-

Austin started karate!  He has begged to do karate for the last couple of years but I have not known where to squeeze it in, not to mention it is SO expensive around here.  Then last year, at our end-of-the year parent/teacher conference his Kindergarten teacher suggested that Austin could benefit from karate and the lessons of self-discipline. Fast forward to a this year, they offered a 6 week Karate class as an after-school activity at his school, BINGO, he was signed up.  This was his first class.

I was kind-of disappointed when I learned that I had to attend the karate class also.  It is right after-school at the height of chaos, but after this first class I was sold!  Karate was less about kicking and punching and more about-

• listen to your parents
• do things the first time you are asked
• do things without being ask
• show respect by looking at adults in the eye and saying yes sir/mam
• pay attention
• learn your phone number

This is going to be GREAT and so worth the hour of sitting there!  Austin with his newly earned white belt.

Holden has been working very hard this summer on his Scouting and was awarded his Star and 18 Merit badges last week.  He has a goal to get his Eagle by next summer, let's hope he stays on track!  Nicholas is creeping up right behind him.  Wouldn't it be great to get 2 eagle projects done for the price of one!

We went boating on Saturday and had a great time!

Everyone did a little wake-boarding but I only have pictures of Holden, sorry Nic & Chloe.

Nic and Holden are getting pretty good. The more daring they get, the harder the crashes.  Ouch, I can't believe they are so tough...I am a wimp!

Austin is happy to knee-board and thinks he is the champ at that.

What a difference a year makes- Austin was even daring enough to do some cliff jumping.

Chloe and her friend Meg getting ready to do a jump.  I think Chloe has the shocked look in this picture because Austin had just jumped off without a second of hesitation (can you see his splash?).

Those two looking pretty tired after wake-boarding and several crashes.

But the most favorite thing of all was getting pulled around behind the boat just holding onto the rope.  They liked to see who could hold on the longest and the winner was NIC!

romney fever

Have I ever told you that we LOVE Mitt Romney around here?

maybe Travis loves him best

(and will you notice how young Travis looks,

 he could almost be a Romney with all that hair!)

 

I know my sister loves them too,

 the "black beauties" included.

 

Read her funny post about stalking the Romney boys back in her BYU days here.

 

AND GO MITT!

 

words of wisdom

Thought I would share these wise words I liked from a lesson a few weeks ago.  Sorry the picture turned kind of blurry-iphone pic.

celebration

A couple of weekends ago, Isagenix had it's annual convention, which they call Celebration.  This year is their 10 year anniversary so it was an extra exciting celebration.  Due to a scheduling error the Celebration was held here in Phoenix which made it great for the kids and I. Since school had already started I wasn't sure how much of it we would be able to attend, it ended up that we were there A LOT!  I drove back and forth several times to downtown Phoenix.

The first family of Isagenix.

Friday, Holden and Nicholas were asked to help with a skit that they were doing in the main session.  They had to skip a day of school which was the 3rd day of school I might add, but they did it! Both were excited and nervous to do there part but they loved the attention they were getting, the chance to go backstage and have a glimpse of what it is like to be a movie-star. Here they are with their back-stage passes.

 Getting their make-done.

 I was trying to hurry and get out front so I could see their part so this picture was seconds before they went on stage.  If you look closely it shows their microphones.  You can see Nic's better.  They thought this was awesome but both said they knew Austin would have loved to try one.  Austin's idol Justin Bieber wears this kind of mic and Austin has been known to use a piece of rigged wire to imitate this exact thing!

This is some not-too professional pictures of their skit.  They played the young-version of 2 Isagenix scientists, John Anderson and Bill Andrews.
Here are their lines-
Nic (little John): I’m John Anderson…I just got this chemistry set for Christmas
Holden (little  Bill): I’m Bill Andrews…my Dad wants me to become a scientist when I grow up and cure aging.

They both said their lines flawlessly and the crowd loved them!!! Nic and Holden both thought this opportunity was awesome.

Austin's very FAVORITE thing of the whole celebration was this-

Eric in a monkey suit.  When you got into the elevators, at the convention center, this was on the doors.  Austin roared with laughter every time we got in, so needless to say we rode the elevators up & down, up & down.  Sometimes Austin is so easily entertained.

One of the reasons we spent more time at the celebration than we had planned was because of this fun family!

Our kids met on the cruise we took with Isagenix a couple of years ago and were so happy to re-unite!  The Cepeda family lives in South Carolina so chances to see them are not too often.  Although these kids made all kinds of plans to get together in the future, as well as face-time, face book and text each other.

Austin and Monique

 Nic in the Isagenix "A"

 

 

Part of the "Green-Out"

I had not planned on going to the formal  Gala Awards Banquet on Saturday night because Travis would be on stage announcing awards for 98% of the time.  We had talked about it ahead of time and I was heading home with the kids when several people said "you have to come to the Gala tonight", I explained why I had not planned to attend, and they pressed "you have to come".  Finally one of them clued me in that Travis was receiving a special award at the Gala and they thought I should be there.  OK I said, of course I wanted to be there and then panic set in.  It was nearly 4:00 p.m., I had to drive 40 minutes home to drop off the kids, come up with a formal dress to wear, figure some shoes, throw on some jewelry, do hair and make-up, drive back 40 minutes to convention center and be there by 7:00 p.m. I raced around. Thank goodness I had an old formal. A terrible accident nearly shut down the freeway I was taking.  I kept texting Travis' assistant that I felt like Cinderella going to the ball, late with nothing to wear.  She helped me out and made arrangements for the hair/makeup lady to stay and do me up and I made it to the Gala at 8:00 (not looking like Cinderella mind you).

Travis was nominated by Jim Coover, President of Isagenix for the President's Award.  This is usually given to an associate who has significant impact on others but this year it was given to an employee (Travis) instead. He was very surprised and hadn't clued in. 

 

 

 Some of his co-workers had arranged for a little party in his hotel room after the Gala.

 It was a fun night but this picture captures how we really felt.  Celebration is long days and long nights.  I didn't get home until 1:30 a.m. and I haven't stayed out that long in years! Until next year..Congratulations Travis!  You work very hard at your job and I was so proud of you and so grateful that your dedication was recognized.

 

memorial day weekend

Just a note- I started this post on May 30th. It is August 24th. I just wanted to get it out there before Labor Day. Ugh...I'm so behind!

I am not even going to mention or try to excuse the 4 month absence from this blog.

On to Memorial Day weekend.

Last minute, some friends invited us to join a group going camping in Sedona. We had to go a little bit late because Nicholas was playing in his league's championship game on Friday night. WHICH THEY WON!!!! His team really came together in the double elimination play-offs and won five straight games that week in order to win the championship. It was very exciting.  Nicholas is his team's catcher and #3 hitter.  By playing five games in one week they burned through all of their pitchers so Nic even pitched in the final game.

At 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning we headed north to Sedona.  The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful.

The people we camped with made it extra fun too!  There were a lot of kids around,27, I think.

There was a very cold creek at the campground.  A few of the boys braved the frigid water but mostly the kids just caught crawdads.  Holden did a couple of cliff jumps and Austin caught some itty-bitty fish with his hands.

Wild things were a big part of this camping trip.  The kids ended up with twenty or more crawdads. I heard multiple pleas to take them home as pets.  The next adventure involved a bunch of boys with BB guns, this is what they brought back to camp.

These are the mighty hunters.

And this is what went on later that night...

Tastes like chicken!  Believe or not Holden, Chloe and Nicholas all ate a lizard or a bite of one!  I think they all got eaten as a matter of fact and not by a single adult.

Much later that night when I was snuggled up tight in my sleeping bag with Austin, I heard a bunch of commotion from the boys and dads. I was too tired to go outside and get a picture of what was going on but according to my family it was the highlight of the camping trip.  Have you ever heard of a javelina?  I hadn't until this trip.  A javelina is basically a wild boar or pig.  I guess there are javelinas in Sedona.  Everyone was sitting around a lantern, due to the "EXTREME FIRE DANGER" no fire rule telling bear stories when a javelina comes running into camp. Seven dads, and around twentyish kids sprang into action.  You would think this thing would high-tail it outta there! I kind of wish I would of gotten out of the tent to see the mob with flashlights and sticks chasing the pig through the woods. I am pretty sure it would have been comical!

This picture makes the thing look cute and harmless.  But what about this one? Yikes!

The next day we went on a hike to a place called Devil's bridge.  Here are a few pictures from the hike up.

We enjoying the beautiful scenery and wildlife along the trail.  I helicopter whizzing by mesmerized Travis and Nicholas and made them drool with envy at the chance to get to fly in and out of canyons and around the rocks like that.

Half way through we found a nice shady spot to take a break. 

While he had a captive audience Travis did a little "public speaking".  He told of one of his favorite stories he is using for work at Isagenix meetings as of lately.

Here is Connor, Holden & Katie listening intently.

After our motivation speech we headed onward and upward to arrive at the Devil's Bridge.



This is the bridge.  And it scared me to death!  The older I get the worse my fear of heights becomes. My boys nearly gave me a heart attack running all around and getting so close to the edge.  This is why we haven't visited the Grand Canyon yet!

50 Feet down at least!!! This scared Chloe almost more than it did me because she wouldn't even walk out onto the bridge.  She is now absent in our Christmas card picture :).  I couldn't convince her for anything to walk out and snap a quick pic.

These boys were equally excited to do a family picture to remember the moment :).  I'm sure it will make the Christmas card!

Sedona was BEAUTIFUL and the weekend was great! Definitely a fun time had by all-as my Dad likes to say.