Austen is the Bass-masta!!

Whether it's jazz band or the orchestra, Austen puts his talents to good use. He loves playing his bass and and guitar. The only draw back is hauling the gigantic thing around, you almost have to rent a moving van...

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!

Pioneer Day Part 2

Foot races are always part of the fun tradition of Pioneer Day. Naomi was working so it was just Austen and Larson having the fun.

Notice Larson has his lucky feather in his hand. (it's actually from his headband from the parade) :)

Austen had a slippery start, but still made a good showing!!

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!

Air "Soft"???

School is out for the day and Austen called a bunch of friends to head up the canyon and have a little air soft capture the flag game. They started to arrive and the house was a buzz with boys in camo and protective gear.

(Naomi and I stood snickering outside the door at the way they were all trying to get each others attention and everyone talking at the same time:))

They left here marching down the street and heading to the trail head that leads up the wash by our house. They were energetic and spirited and excited to have some fun.

Three hours later they show up at the house thirsty, thirsty, thirsty, tired and talking about the "war wounds".

The more I heard I started wondering.... just how soft is air soft?

They didn't care... the more welts, bruises, burns, etc. the better.

The bonus was... I told them to aim at tummys and bums when they left and when they returned they were talking about getting shot in the bum too many times!!!!!!

(I didn't want to see those war wounds!! :)

They are already planning the next get together. They just need time for the wounds to heal and round up some more ammo.

Boys!!!!!!

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!

Growin up to be like Grandpa

So it was spirit week at the intermediate school this week, and one of the dress up days was career day. The kids all dress up in an outfit that represents what they want to be when they grow up. Most of Austen's friends were going to wear their football jerseys. Austen didn't want to do that because he thought "how likely is it that they will be pro football players"? After a few ideas tossed around, someone said how about a rancher. This was it! Austen loves to go the ranch with Grandpa Beatty. He looks forward to round ups and just hanging around all those great cowboys! So we started putting together a costume. He had the boots (Grandpa had just given them to him), he had the levis, belt and felt cowboy hat. The look was complete! The next morning Austen came downstairs all decked out in his costume looking pretty proud of his choice of careers. I kept hearing this jingling sound. I finally noticed a big set of keys fastened to Austen beltloop. I asked him about it and he said... "Grandpa always has a big set of keys fastened to his belt and they clink when he walks." Austen had even gone to the trouble of putting them on a fastner like Grandpa so he could mimick the way he takes his keys off to open a gate or door.

Ain't nothing better than being like your Grandpa... a true american rancher!

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!

Austen the Keeper

Austen is the most amazing soccer player! He thrives on pressure and intense situations. Mom on the other hand is a basket case in the stands whenever he is in goal. He has learned some amazing skills. In one game he was given the penalty kick from 30 yards out (twice) and slammed the ball into the net both times to score for his team. Then in the second half he was playing keeper and had some downright amazing saves. After one particularly hard fought game, the coach of the other team came over to tell Austen how outstanding he had played and that he hadn't seen too many goalies with his kind of skills at this age. I attribute some of those skills to watching countless hours of his older sister as she too demonstrated amazing skills. Austen is a great team player and a good leader on the field. He loves the game and it shows when he plays.