Presten's New York results!

Presten has returned from the Great West Conference Championships in New York. They were held in the National Armory Building which also houses the Hall of Fame. The track was on the third floor of the building. He placed in the Triple Jump!! Not bad for a freshman in his first collegiate indoor championship meet. He had a really great time sight seeing in New York.

No more injuries...

I know it's back to school time, because all of my kids are back to sports too!!!

Naomi is sporting a beauty of a bruise on her hip from playing volleyball. (We've since determined that she is most likely diving wrong) She broke some blood vessels and it looked... colorful!

Presten started in with football pads and had to ice some swollen and sore shoulders.

Austen was going for the goal, slipped and landed on a previously injured elbow.

Isn't Larson sweet? Tying big brother's shoes?

I am hoping that we'll get all the injuries taken off right off the bat and we'll be good for a while!!

Post script.... Since this was written Austen has jammed his thumb a real good one and sprained his Achilles Tendon. Oh joy... it continues!

First Day of School!!

I am really not happy that school is already starting. The summer just went by way too fast. I didn't play enough. It might be because of the fact that my kids aren't little anymore. They were working, working, and working, plus scout camps, swimming lessons, volleyball camps, football and basketball clinics, etc.

It's a good thing that we didn't try to schedule a real family vacation, because I seriously don't know when it would've been "squeezed" in.

Nevertheless....

First day of school is always such a bummer for me, but the kids are mostly excited to get back!

Cutie pies... I miss them!

Presten's new wheels

I know some mothers out there would freak out, but I am actually really excited for Presten to have his new wheels.

He has been waiting for a long time and has gone through a lot of garbage just to get to drive his motorcyle, but finally everything is all in place and he has a new sense of freedom and independence.... and I get my car back!!

Like Father... like son

Anyone who knows Rick, knows the many stories of head and mouth traumas that have occured in his lifetime. Our oldest son is following in his footsteps by having his own series of head and mouth traumas. Can you remember the post about Presten breaking his tooth at basketball practice? Well, Dr. Hatch miraculously repaired the tooth and all was well. Then....

Presten was celebrating one of the few times he wasn't working this summer and actually had time to hang out with friends. They were swimming and having a great time. Presten has recently learned to do a "gainer" and was demonstrating it when the board that he jumped off of came up and whacked him in the head mid flip. This caused a jar to the head (obviously) which slammed his mouth shut and broke off the tooth that Dr. Hatch had so marvelously replaced.

When I got the call from Presten, I told him to walk next door to Dr. Hatch's and ask if he could help. Once again it was after hours, once again Dr. Hatch had company and plans for the evening, once again Dr. Hatch's assistants were unavailable, and once again he came to our rescue.

There was no finding the broken tooth this time so that we could put it back on, so he "built" a new one for Presten. Boy, did he do a great job. Amazing! You can't even tell. He will have to get something more permanent in the future, but we are going to wait until football season is over!!

Before.....

After....

By the way... Presten had this huge gash in the top of his head... I wanted to go get stitches, but he said "No Way". I think the tooth trauma was enough for one evening! Besides boys like scars right?

Things are settling down... a bit!!!

Since the last post... much has happened! I will try to catch you up!

Ashli got married to a great guy.. Josh! Isn't it crazy how life is so backwards and inside out sometimes. The last few years I have been struggling to deal with the fact that my kids are growing up and leaving our home. The home is different and the table is smaller. Now I turn around and my family is growing and the table needs the leaf put back in!!! Isn't family wonderful!

Presten had an amazing track year! He was the region champ in the 100 meter, long jump, medley relay race, and 2nd in the 200 meter. The team also won the region championship. We went to the state meet at BYU and he did well there also. State champ in the long jump, medley relay team, and..... the team took the STATE TITLE!!!! He was so happy to be a part of that!

Naomi won all kinds of awards for academics including top ten in the national testing in 7 areas. Plus she was inducted into the Junior National Honor Society. She finished up volleyball by placing second in the intermountain volleyball tourney with her team in May.

Austen is still going like gang busters. He is currently preparing to participate in the Utah Summer Games with his soccer team. He is also preparing for toe surgery in July. If he ever grows into his feet he will be towering above us all (he has already passed me and he's only 12).

Larson is non stop energy. He wants to swim EVERYDAY!! Right now he likes spending time on his new bike, playing baseball, and this week his dad taught him how to pan for gold. He was so excited to see those little gold flecks in his pan. What a thrill!

Rick is getting stronger and better every day and I am so grateful for the technology and knowledge we have in this day and age. He has such a great attitude and just keeps on moving on and smiling along the way. The garden has been great therapy too.

Tia is working part time in Springdale, and really likes working with the many different types of people who come to visit (except the grumpy, cranky ones :)) She spends nearly every free minute with the singles ward and friends. She is also taking more and more photos and getting really really good at it!

Rototilling

As I mentioned before, we are doing some super duper remodeling of the backyard! (Don't even get Rick started on it... it just gets him all worked up). We had a rototiller break down, so Rick rented one for the day and he a Presten went at it like gangbusters. I think if the truth be told they were really having fun with a Big Boy Toy!

Presten's room

Now that Tia has moved out, the traditional room shuffle has begun. Presten decided to move into her room, but refused to deal with purple walls and yellow daisys.

Enter mom (and grandma Johnson) ... we spent the better part of two weeks scrapping paint off the walls, retexturing, priming, and painting.

We were smarter this time and painted the walls white (Presten wanted black and red... a Tiger room!). I did consent to paint one wall red. That was a trick... every sample we tried was either pink or orange. Presten was happy when we finally go it RED! Then I took an idea Denise sent to my college girl for using contact paper.

I just finished painting the contact paper stripes and got them up. They really helped to break up all of the white ( I love color!)

We still aren't done, but he's moved in and we'll keep working toward accessories and bedding in the future.

I think Presten is pretty happy about it.

Presten's Goal Wall!

On our way to State!!??

The Tigers Football team is doing awesome. We enter our first round of play-offs this weekend. They are a bunch of dedicated and fun guys who have a dream of a state championship. It is going to be fun to follow them as they work to achieve their dream. We'll keep you posted on their progress toward a state football championship!!

Ballgames Galore!

(I love how Austen is resting his arm on the helmet of his teammate!)



If you can believe it... our family attended six different games in six days! Normally we don't do any extracurricular activities on Monday, but it was Austen's playoff game, so we held our family home evening activity at the stadium!! Austen caught the first TD of the night and had an awesome defensive tackle later. He's really getting the hang of blocking for the running backs too!

The next two nights were spent watching Larson play some awesome defense in the flag football league. Boy is he speedy! Next was a couple nights of football for Presten. He plays JV and Varsity, so that means two seperate nights of games! He does a great job. On the Friday night game we even got to be on the Fox News TV show. The helicopter flew in and there was all kinds of hoopla for the sports guy! It just made the game all the more fun to watch. The JV team ended their season undefeated. (more on the Varsity later).

Then on Saturday we caught part of Naomi's games as she battled for the border-league championship. Volleyball is pretty fun to watch, and she did fabulous! Whew! Six days of games! Guess what? I loved every minute of it!

Summer Games Medalist

Austen, Ashli and Presten all competed in the Summer Games!


Ashli competed in the javelin and did really great considering she hasn't thrown for over a year. She is getting geared up to throw for her school next year. She took the gold in her division. Way to go Ashli!



Presten competed in several running and field events ( the 100 meter, 200 meter, and the long jump). He also got invited by some other guys from up north to be in the 4X100 meter relay. He took the gold in each event! He is coming along really nicely with his racing as well as jumping and looks forward to helping the track team next spring! Keep it up Presten!

Austen's soccer team played and fought hard to earn the bronze medal this year. They are getting better and stronger every year. I'm sure the gold is on it's way for this group of hard fighting soccer players. Keep it up Austen!

Track star and Rebel

Presten has had an amazing two months. He is only a sophomore and really doing great things with his track team. He broke all of his own personal goals and was able to be on the team that broke the school record in the 1600 medley relay. They were so determined to break the state record when they went to state that as a sign of team dedication, they all got mohawks. It took all of the parents by surprise, but they are all such good boys we couldn't get mad. They did end up breaking the state record, unfortunately two other teams were ahead of them! He had a great season and hopes to continue to improve! Academically he earned several awards at the end of the year in English and Human Biology as well as being selected to be in the Leadership Academy and playing the oboe to accompany the choir at graduation. Now his main objective is to find a job where he can make big bucks fast during the summer so he will have enough cash for all of his "fun" during school.