He Likes His Present!

I got Darren a 40 calibur gun for his birthday. It was fun to suprise him and keep it a secret for about 3 weeks. I had his friend help me out a little. . He would ask Darren everyday if I had caved in and told him what I got him. I think it was harder for him to keep the secret from Darren than me. Guys and guns, it's a strange thing! This last weekend we had, or generously, went to go pick up Morgan and Jensen from Casa Grande. We stopped on the farm on our way out to do a little target shooting. It was Darren's first time to shoot his new gun. I couldn't believe his shot. He hit this can the very first shot and then hit the milk jug on the first try as well.


I have to mention that I shot the can and jug on my first try too!

Jensen's Soccer Career Has Come to an End

Jensen is done with another soccer year under his belt. I didn't think that he would want to play this year because last year he pooped out towards the end and didn't even want to go to his games. However, when I asked Morgan if she wanted to play this year, Jensen piped up and said he wanted to do it again! I couldn't believe it! The kids don't really get the opportunity to be involved in any activities over the summer so I think this is why they really jump on the chance to do stuff like this. I think it's good for them to learn how to be part of team and to realize that they can't give up when things get hard. Jensen had a hard year this year, but I am so proud of him for sticking with it and being to all of his games, but three. He missed the last game, which he really wanted to play in, to go see his father in Casa Grande. I was disappointed to see him not be able to finish out the season strong and most importantly to be there for his team who counted on him. His coach was a single man without any children who volunteered to coach these young children after work and every Saturday. He will get his trophy tomorrow night at Bashas in the Deli area (I don't know, it is just were the coach said to meet)! He is so excited!

We Have a New Driver in the Family!

Watch Out, Matthew is on the road! It seems like just yesterday our little Matthew was having his dad push him down the road teaching him how to ride a bike. Well, now I am the only one brave enough to let him drive. We kind of broke the law because he didn't quite have his permit yet. Oh well, who needs a license! I would take my brothers car out on joy rides when they were in football practice when I was in seventh grade. We were headed to Nana and Papa's house for Sunday dinner. Garrett was too scared to ride in the car so he went with Darren who was taking back tables we borrowed for the big birthday bash the night before. Rylee, Morgan, and Jensen all braved it with me. He did really good and just needs some more practice. You can count on me Matthew!

AYSO Fun!

Morgan enjoyed her first year playing soccer. Because she was ten years old she was suppose to be in the league that is co ed. I took her to her first practice and just about died when I saw the other kids on her team. They were giants! Ok, so maybe Morgan is just a tad bit short! Anyway, this team was like crazy good because they had been playing since they could walk and poor old Morgan didn't even know what boot the ball meant. So I went home and told Darren and he of course fixed everything. He called someone he knew that used to be in charge of the AYSO program here and they gave him the information he needed to plead Morgan's case. So Darren talked to the commissioner and told him why we thought Morgan needed to go down a level. He said that he would take it to the board, but was worried that they wouldn't let her because of her age and being too aggressive and running over all the 9 year olds. They ended up letting her go down only if she wasn't going to bully the girls on the field. We assured him that he had no problem. I took Morgan to her first "new" practice and she fit in just nicely! In fact, she was probably the smallest one on that team too! She had so much fun and wants to do it again next year. She is going to have to talk me in to that one because she will definitely have to move up and I don't know that I want to give up all of our weekends to soccer again. It lasts FOREVER! I am a softy though, so we will see!She loved to be a defender which is the player the defends the goal before it gets to the goalie. She did wonderful! Her team ended up only losing one game all season and it was the game that Morgan missed. She got her trophy and is just so proud of herself. We love Mogie!

Happy Birthday Darren

Darren's birthday falls on Halloween so it makes it really hard to focus all on him. We try our best though! Someone once told Darren that you start counting backwards once you hit forty, so we are celebrating Darren's 39th birthday this year! Doesn't he look great! He will always be a thirty year old in my eyes no matter what. He is such a blessing in my and Morgan and Jensen's lives. We love him so much and appreciate all that he does to make our lives wonderful and fun. He is my best friend and eternal companion. I love you sweetie! Happy 39th birthday!

Happy Halloween!

This year's Halloween went pretty well considering it is Darren's Birthday, my first classroom party, all the kids being here, and Morgan and Jensen wanting homemade costumes. I love the fact they think by telling me they want me to make their costume this will save me money, but in the long run it always ends up costing something and most importantly my sanity.
Morgan was pretty easy this year. She loves to play dress up at Nana's with April's old Girls Dance dress, so she wanted to wear that and be a "princess". I ended up buying her a tiara at Wal-Mart in the wedding section and some sparkly shoes. She looked cute and we all got a good laugh at Aunt April's dress.
Jensen had his costume in mind for about a month. He told me it was going to be really easy to make. All we needed was a red shirt, white gloves, a hat, and overalls to complete the costume of Mario from Super Mario Brothers. Everything was pretty easy to find except the overalls and the red hat (go figure). They apparently do not make overalls any more. So I thought I would try the good ole thrift store. Well, I didn't find any overalls, but I did find a woman's dress! Now I am no seamstress, but how hard could it be to cut it down the middle and then sew a straight line up the two legs? So that is what we did and I only pulled out half of my hair working with the sewing machine! For the hat I found a white one at the thrift store and dyed it red. Jensen made his own "m" patch and I hot glued it on at school the next morning. He seemed to love his costume. It makes it all worth it to see how happy they are and to think that they are the cat's meow!
Matthew, Garrett, and Rylee came to Thatcher that afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Evans. Rylee was also a princess, but she said it was the princess from "Pirates of the Caribbean". I did her hair all up and she looked great! We ended up going to the school carnival where we met up with Cambree, Ridge, and Luke. We didn't stay long because we wanted to go see Grannie and Grandpa before they went to bed. So we all made our way over there. Grannie wouldn't let us leave until the kids all had candy. My mom and Aunt LaSchelle were at Wal-Mart trying to buy the candy.
We went over to G.G.'s house next and got our special treat (chocolate rolls and star crunches)! This has been a tradition ever since I could remember. Grandma always has something good to give!
Darren got home early that day because it was his birthday!! He ended up meeting us at Grannie and Grandpa's and then went with us to Nana's to trick-or-treat! We made our way around town a little bit and then ended up at Casa Manana for a birthday dinner for Darren. We met up with Darren's parents, Paul and Nelda. It is always such a pleasure to have them come and visit. We enjoy them so much.
All-in-all it was a great Halloween.

Kate's Baby Blessing

We all had so much fun together at Lan and Sarah's for the blessing of Kate. Lan has done an amazing job with his house. He is so handy. The cousins had a wonderful time getting to play with each other. We love cousins. We love family!

Warning!

This morning, from a cave somewhere in Pakistan, Taliban Minister of Emigration, Mohammed Omar, warned the United States that if military actions against Iraq continue, Taliban authorities intend to cut off America's supply of convenience store managers and possibly Motel 6 managers. And if this action does not yield sufficient results, cab drivers will be next, followed by DELL and AOL customer service reps. Finally, if all else fails, they have threatened to send us no more candidates for President of the United States !

It's gonna get ugly!!!

Mom's are Great!

I have been having one of the hardest years of my life, which seems really weird considering the past, and my mom stepped in and helped me out big time the other day. At school, each grade level takes a turn to feed the staff and it was our turn (2nd grade). I volunteered to bring the guacamole and lettuce (taco salad). I called my ever knowledgeable mother to ask her where avocados were on sale and she told me that she would be more than willing to make the guacamole for me. Normally, my mom is really busy taking care of my sick grandparents, but her sister came from Kentucky to help out. My mom has had a lot of time to herself that she rarely gets! Thanks Aunt Kim! Anyway, she smashed up avocados for over 30 people. Thanks so much mom. I don't get to tell you enough how lucky I am to live here so close to you. Thank you for everything you do. The kids really appreciate you coming and supporting them at their soccer games. Your the best and I love you!

While I am on the topic of mothers. I can't forget about my wonderful mother-in-law! I always wanted a mother-in-law that would love me just as much as I loved her, and guess what, Darren's mom is just that! She has helped me in so many things. She even sewed my classroom curtains! Thanks Nelda for everything you have done for Darren and I. We love you so much!

I'm In Trouble!

Darren came in and saw the video I put in. UH OH! He said, "Honey! You better put in there that it's a joke (the kneeboard)! Some people might think it's serious and think I'm really a dork. They might think that those shorts (his cousin's Mila's) are mine and that life jacket is for real!" So for Darren: The video of him kneeboarding is a joke. They all make fun of kneeboarding because they are really awesome wakeboarders! Good thing I didn't put in the video with him double skiing with a speedo on racing by fishermen yelling "HI!". Yes, he did that 2 trips ago!

What the Heck!

So how do you get to be special enough to view your cousins blogs? As you can see I have been taking a break from grading papers and making lesson plans to "waste time" as Darren would put it, to learn how to do this whole blog thing. I figured out how to add music, add videos, change the style of how I have my "friends and family", and even how to add more friends and family. However, I tried to add some of my cousins and I was very shocked to find out that I was not allowed to view them. So if you're out there, give me some compassion and let me IN!!!

Check It Out!

I found this hilarious video we took of my dear sweetheart (champion knee boarder) at Lake Powell. He loves to make Mogie (Palmer) laugh. This is her favorite. I guess it's a tradition. Hilarious!

To ALL of my family

For those of my family who do take the time to view my blog, I don't really understand how to do the whole invite thing. So here is the generic one- YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO MY BLOG!
I also don't know how to add you to mine. Chantel did that for me.

Lori, thanks for the comment about "Cowboy". I am not a pet person either. These kittens were just so darn cute and so LOW maintence (except for the whole car thing).

Hook'em Horns

Since we haven't had internet in awhile I am playing catch up while I can't sleep! Darren and I went to our first Longhorns game. It was good to be able to spend some much needed time together. It was great to get away and not worry about the farm, house, or classroom.
When we found out they were going to be so close to us, we jumped on the chance to go see our favorite (college) football team. Darren has been a fan for years and loved every minute of it. I don't mind good football either so I had fun too!
Thank you to my parents and to whoever else helped out with Morgan and Jensen while we were gone for the 12+ hours. I think there is COWBOYS game in the future!

They even brought BEVO!

Insomnia

So I randomly wake up every now and then and can never go back to sleep. I start thinking about everything. Does anyone have any suggestions besides Tylenol PM? My school kids are going to hate me tomorrow! Thank goodness it is half-day for them.

A very first pet tragedy, well kind of!

If you know Darren at all, you know that he is definetly not an animal lover. We had a dog named "Macho" that Darren just LOVED( can you sense the sarcasm?) Well, Macho was purchased for a lot of money one Christmas. He ended up not being exactly what we paid for, which was suppost to be this fluffy, curly, cute little dog. Instead, he was a skinny, straight haired, ugly dog that found its way over to my parents house (about 3 blocks away) every chance he could get. We ended up giving up and just letting him stay there. Sorry DAD! And he became more of my parents ugly little dog than ours. So when he dissapeared one day on one of his neighborhood adventures, we weren't too terribly upset.
As most of you know we built a lovely home on an amazing piece of land. When we first cleared the lot, Darren killed about 4-5 rattlesnakes. Even though he hates animals, he agreed and was really the one who pushed the issue of getting some cats. He said that they would keep the rattlesnakes, scorpions, and mice away. Lan and Sarah graciously let us have two of their kittens from like the 4th litter of their cat. Sarah said these cats would be great hunters. Darren loved the sound of that and jumped on the chance of having two more great hunters as part of the family.

We waited patiently as they grew to be old enough to leave their mom and "learn how to survive in the mean and cruel invironment in which they have to live". When we finally got them home, they were wonderful and Darren actually liked them. We let Darren name them. He named them after his beloved football team. The girl he named, "Dallas" and the boy, "Cowboy".

Yesterday, I spent all day trying to clean out the garage so that I could park my car in it. Since we have moved in, a lot of our "things" haven't been moved in and are just sitting in it. Dallas and Cowboy have this annoying love for the vehicles. They are always climbing up into them. I was getting tired of taking the 5 extra minutes in the morning to get them out of my car so that I could go to work. I needed the garage cleaned out so that this wouldn't be an issue any longer. Well, I got really close. I actually only needed Darren's help to get a few big, heavy things moved to the side. We ended up not moving them because we were so tired.

Darren and Jensen went to church a little early to save us seat (our ward is so much bigger now you know!) and Morgan and I finished primping. When we were done we headed out to the car, which was not in the garage, and called for the cats. They will usually come out if you call or honk the horn. I honked the horn about six times before deciding they were not in it. I even said to Morgan, "Well, if they are still up there, it will be their own fault if they get killed". I still didn't see anything jump out from the bottom of the car when I started the engine. I looked one more time to see if I could see them on the porch. I didn't and thought that maybe they were on the front porch. So I put the car into drive and started to move. As a made a turn I heard something that didn't sound right from under the car. Morgan thought that it was just the stuff in the back shifting. I heard this a few more times on my way to church. I looked behind me a few times to see if there was a kitten that had fallen out. Nothing. When I parked the car at the church, I told Morgan that I was going to check one more time to see if I could see anything under the car. As I bent down and looked, I saw Cowboy's cute little tail hanging down in the front. I screamed. Morgan looked and saw it too. I tried to keep it together for Morgan's sake. She had already started crying. We went into the church building to get Darren. Darren went to go see if Cowboy was alive. He came back and told Morgan to go sit down with Jensen and not to say anything to him. After Morgan left I couldn't help but cry. I had killed their kitten. All of the "what ifs" flooded my mind and made me cry more. What if I had just cleaned out the garage enough to park the car in it last night, what if I had just gone with Darren (we would have taken his truck), what if I had just taken the extra 5 minutes that I usually take to find them before I left.

We still didn't know where Dallas was. Darren told me to go back to the car and call for Cowboy. He said that maybe he wasn't coming to him because he was still scared or something. I knew that was wrong because they would both go to Darren before they would come to me (that is a MAJOR first). As I approached the car, I noticed Cowboy's lifeless body had fallen from the car. I cried uncontrollably. When Darren made it over with his truck, he had to come and lift me off of the ground. He told me to"hold it together, we are in public!" I wasn't even thinking about what an idiot I must look like. I got in Darren's truck and Darren put Cowboy into the back. We followed the path that I took to church. We didn't see Dallas anywhere. When we got back to the house we still couldn't see her. Finally, Darren found her in one of the hollow pipes laying on the back porch. She seemed a little scared or confused. I don't know if she was in the car too and had just made it out, or if she was there in the pipe the whole time.
We went back to church and after sacrament meeting, a sister came up to me and asked me if I was okay. I started to tear up a little and told her what had happened. She said that her husband had heard me crying from his house (not very far from the church, across the street infact) and started to rush over to me when Darren pulled up in the truck and scooped me up into his arms. I told her that I was sorry for making such a scene over a kitten. They probably thought that one of the children had died or something. After church, I had Jensen go home with Darren so that I didn't have to be the one to tell him. When we got home I watched for Jensen to get out of the truck. He was crying. My heart was breaking. It was breaking for my children, for Dallas, and even for Darren. Darren loved to come home from work and sit on the back porch and watch Dallas and Cowboy wrestle. He would laugh. It was quite a show to watch them.

It has been hours later and I still feel so heavy inside. I wonder if this how my mom felt when she ran over my childhood cat "Taffy". This is such a horrible feeling. The only thing that makes me have any comfort, is knowing that Lan and Sarah's cat loves being pregnant just as much as Sarah. She will give birth in about 4-6 weeks to a new litter. Sarah already said that we could have one to replace Cowboy. The children and Darren say that they will name it Cowboy. Is that wrong??? Anyway, I guess all of the kittens from the litter, that we got from Dallas and Cowboy from, have all passed on to kitty heaven the same way. I guess they were all CAR RIDERS. Dallas is the only one left. I hope this next litter doesn't like cars!

Sorry for such the long blog. I guess I just needed to get it out.

We have Internet!!!

We just got internet this afternoon. So hopefully I will find a little time to keep up with my blog. But, not right now! I'm off to a school board meeting!! My new life. IT'S CRAZY!

A New Beginning

Well, I thought that I would join in on the blogging world since life has slowed down finally. This past year has been quite eventful and has kept me pretty busy. A couple of my sister-in-laws have been getting after me to start a blog and my excuse has been that I am too busy. I am still busy, but not as much as I used to be. So yesterday Chantel helped me get up and going with a pretty layout and taught me how to post all the pictures. I will try my hardest to keep up with the posts. 

Yesterday was Darren and I's third anniversary! Every year just keeps getting better and better. I am so blessed that Darren walked into my life when he did. We are truly meant to be and enjoy being with each other. We still have never spent a night apart since we have been married. We think that's an accomplishment while others think we are silly, oh well! 

Tonight we are going to go get Morgan and Jensen. They have been with their dad for the summer. Fortunately, we have been able to see them on two different occasions this summer. It is so hard to go all summer without seeing them. They are such a joy to have around and I feel quite a void when they are gone. They have enjoyed their summer visit with their dad, but are glad to come home to a new house. 

Speaking of the new house, we have been busy building our dream home for the past 9 months. It has been hard, but so much fun. Darren was the general and did a fantastic job. He definitely does not want to quit farming to become a home builder though. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to build a home for our family and are very grateful to all our family who has helped out along the way and made it possible for us to do this. 

Matthew, Garrett, and Rylee have been here with us all summer and enjoyed being able to move into the house before they went home to be with their mom. They are amazing kids and I am so thankful to have them in my life. They never once complained about their living situation this summer. The apartment affectionately known to us as the "love shack" was very small and hard to endure during the summer months. Matthew and Garrett were such hard workers all summer long and helped me with the move. Rylee, bless her heart, had to do a lot of playing on her own and keeping herself busy while we moved in to the house. She is such a sweetheart and so well mannered. 

I am glad that I have started this blog. It will help me remember just how blessed I am and record it.