Christmas Day 2009

Christmas day was such a great day! The kids didn't get up until almost 7:30 and we actually had to wake up Cambrie. They were very excited to open their gifts, but very patiently waited for Grandma Linda to arrive. Santa was very good to us this year. The kids really enjoyed their gifts and we enjoyed watching the excitement on their faces as they opened each gift. We then spent the morning relaxing and playing with gifts. We went back over to Karee and Matt's for brunch, more game playing and relaxing with family. It was a great holiday!

Christmas Eve 2009

This year we celebrated Christmas with Kim's family. We went to Karee and Matt's home for a steak dinner, games and doing the nativity with the kids. It was a lot of fun! This is the first Christmas in many years that all of Kim's family has been together. It is great to spend time with family. We got home late and had the kids open their one gift, which was of course pj's, then off to bed. Cambrie, Mykenna and Cael ended up sleeping under the christmas tree upstairs, while Parker retired to his own bed.

Gingerbread Houses and Decorations

We went to the England's to assemble our gingerbread houses and make some decorations for Grandma Linda's Christmas tree. It was fun to see how each child really enjoyed having their own decorations to paint and took pride in painting them. When the gingerbread houses were opened, of course the candy began to disappear quicker than we could get it on the houses. We missed Dad not being with us. He had to go on an overnighter with the basketball team. He is helping with the team this year. Sorry didn't get a picture of the finished products, but we had a fun evening together.

Sledding

We went out to the Haws' home to do some sledding. The have an awesome hill right in their backyard. It was a great time with the kids and extended family! Thanks Kathy and Larry for the good time and we hope this becomes a holiday tradition.

Smashers Basketball

It was great to be able to coach Cambrie's recreation basketball team this year. The girls were awesome! They named themselves the Smashers. They had a great season and only lost 2 games during the season and then lost in the semi-finals of the tournament. I was so proud of them. The team they played in the semi-finals had actually beat them a few days before by about 20 points. In the semi-final game it was back and forth the whole game and we unfortunately ended up losing by 2. They improved so much throughout the season. We had a couple of girls that had never played basketball and it was amazing how well they played. We were a young team playing in a 5th/6th grade league and we only had two 6th graders on the team. They will be the team to beat next year!

Snow Fun!

The snow has arrived and the snow blower has been fixed and put to work. We all got the snow gear on and went out to play. We even got our neighbor, Al Hill, to come out and have a snowball fight with the kids until they sent him running for safety indoors.

Updated Blog

Sorry about being absent for a while. I have updated the blog for the last 2 months so check it out.

Strikers Soccer

What an awesome time it has been to have Cambrie participate on a club soccer team. She has had such a great time and improved so much. She has an outstanding coach who has encouraged her and been so positive. Thanks Coach Jon! They have finished their outdoor season and we are looking forward to the indoor season. Soccer is definitely in the blood within the Lake home.

Nativity

Our Stake put on a special evening with displaying many nativity scenes. One of the scenes was a live scene put on with all of the stake primary children. Every 5 minutes they replaced the kiddos with someone new. Cambrie, Parker and Mykenna were able to participate. They chose to do this, but when it came time to actually do it, none of them were very excited. Luckily it was only 5 minutes long and in the end it was neat to see them within the nativity scene.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah this year. It was our year to be in Oregon but with such a short weekend and a long drive we decided to spend it with our little family, Grandma Linda and Uncle Ken in our home. It was different not having a house full of people and multiple tables to set, but it was a great Thanksgiving. The girls were excited to help prepare the meal so we gladly let them. Cambrie helped peel potatoes or should I say a potato. Her peeler didn't work very well. But she didn't give up...she peeled that darn potato. Mykenna helped prepare the asparagus. I totally forgot to get a picture of us all at the dinner table, but I did catch the Wii action after dinner. Grandma bought the new Mario Brothers game and it was the entertainment for the day. Grandma, Kim and Cambrie woke up early the next morning, 3:30 am early, and did some black friday shopping. Cambrie definitely had her eyes opened to how crazy people can become when trying to get a deal. I think she will be a permanent member of our early bird club from now on. It was a great Thanksgiving and our family is blessed in so many ways.

Bobcat Award

Parker has loved being in Cub Scouts. He has great leaders that have helped him progress. He completed all the requirements to receive his Bobcat award this past Pack meeting. They really made it a special moment. He was pushed in on a small fire engine truck and rang the bell the whole way. He then pinned the Bobcat pin on me and received his patch for his shirt. We are so proud of him!

The nights theme was "Salute Your Hero". The boys were asked to tell of someone that was their hero and bring a picture. We asked Parker who is hero was and he told us Jesus. When we asked him why Jesus was his hero he replied, "Because he loves me." He didn't end up getting up with the other boys that night, but I am so grateful he knows Jesus loves him and he is his hero.

Go Spartans!

Rob's football team made it to the championship game again this year. Kellee and the girls were able to come with us to watch the game. The kids had a great time playing together and eating oreos. It was a great game and South played very well, but Walquist ended up winning. Looking forward to next year.

Halloween

Since we have lived in South Weber we have always gone to our neighborhood trunk-or-treat and then after we take the kids around the neighborhood to trick-or-treat. This year we were excited to have all of Kim's family come with us. We had a lot of fun! Rob even helped return a straying goat back to it's pen. What a man! After the trunk-or-treat we came back to the house and had some fun halloween food. Homemade root beer in a cauldron with dry ice was the hit of the evening. We had mummy hot dogs and jello worms. We then took the kids around the neighborhood. Rob took Cambrie and her friends and Kim took the younger kids. At the end of the night the bags were full. If we would have let them, Cambrie and her friends would have gone late into the night. We had to explain to them when the lights our out and it is past 9:30 pm it is time to call it a night. She ended up with two bags full of candy and a lot of fun memories.

Painting Pumpkins or Ourselves...

We have made it a tradition to paint our halloween pumpkins each year. This year things were crazy busy leading up to Halloween, so we finally got around to doing it the day before Halloween. It is fun to see how each one turns out. Cael and Mykenna competed to see who could put the most paint on their pumpkins, Parker's favorite color is red so of course his would be that color, and Cambrie really put alot of thought into hers and had a cute pumpkin face. They are all great little artists and we had fun getting the paint all over us...well some of us. Thanks Dad for letting us wear your cool shirts to paint in. Dad wasn't home to say "yes" or "no" on the borrowing of his shirts. ;)

Ward Halloween Carnival

The past couple of years the young men and young woman of our ward put on a Halloween Carnival for the younger kids. It is always fun to take the kids. So we got them dressed up and headed to the church. We were also watching my sister, Kellee's girls so they came with us. They had a great turn out, which made things a little chaotic, but fun still the same. Plus the kids got to wear their costumes more than once. Cambrie dressed up as a nerd. (My brother Ken told her that wasn't a very hard costume for her.) ;) Parker was a mad scientist. I found some glasses at the dollar store which totally made the costume. Gotta love the dollor store. Mykenna was a cheerleader and Cael was a doctor. It was a great time.

Field Trip to the Zoo with Parker

I was so excited to be able to go with Parker and the rest of the 3rd grade class to Hogle Zoo on their field trip. Thank you Karee for watching the kidlets. :) The weather was supposed to be wet and cold, but it turned out to be a nice day. I couldn't ride on the bus because there wasn't enough room, so Parker decided to ride with me to the zoo. It is so great to have one on one time with each of the kids. Even though he isn't much of a talker we had a great ride down to Salt Lake together. We arrived before the bus so Parker played with another classmate that had arrived early as well to pass the time. Once the rest of the kids arrived I was assigned 3 other kids and we headed off to see the animals. Parker liked the giraffes the best as well as playing on the playground. I could barely get him to stop and eat some lunch. It was neat to see some of the new babies that had been born. We had a great time! What an awesome day to spend with my bud. Love ya Parker!

Look what I can do!

Cael this summer mastered the scooter. He is 2 1/2 and is pretty skilled. It is fun to watch. Grandma Leslie asked for a video of him doing this so... this is for you Grandma! Love ya!

Park City Kimball Art Center

One of Rob's students told him about a Lego exhibit in Park City at the Kimball Art Center. Parker loves anything to do with Legos so we made it a family outing. It was amazing what this artist has made with Legos. The kids really enjoyed looking at everything. I must say, I am not a fan of the artwork not being enclosed in something. I kept having these horrible images in my head of Cael tripping and smashing a piece of art, or Parker trying to add a lego to another. But all went well and it was great! We then headed over to the outlets and did some quick shopping and grabbed a bite to eat and headed for home.

11 Years...

Cambrie is now 11 years old. It is so amazing how fast the time has gone! A few thoughts about Cambrie ... beautiful both inside and out, very social, loves to be active, whether it be playing soccer, volleyball, basketball or chasing her little brother, LOVES to read from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed, great student, has a strong desire to do things well, great friend, kind to others, and has loved animals from a very young age. We are very proud of the young lady she has become and are so blessed to have her as a part of our family! We love you!

We celebrated with extended family the friday before her birthday and then just with our little family on her actual birthday. She wanted an electric scooter so she asked for money from relatives and was so excited to buy it a few days later.

Mykenna's First Offical Day of Kindergarten

Mykenna was so excited to finally get to go to Kindergarten. The older kids had been attending for a week and it was so hard to see them go and she had to stay home. This was because the kindergartener's have assessments with their teachers the first week. She had a great day and loved riding the bus. Mrs. Peters is her teacher and she is excited to learn and have homework. We will see how long it last. :) Cael wanted to get in on the picture action.

Mykenna's First Soccer Game

We signed Mykenna up for AYSO soccer this year. She has been so excited to start. Her coach brought her soccer uniform a few days before her first game and she had to put it on right away. She is a great little player. She isn't afraid to go after the ball. We actually had to tell her to not steal the ball away from her own teammates. It is fun to watch her play! Her team name is the Rockstars.





(A few days before these pics she crashed on her bike and scraped her face and hands up pretty good. Her front tooth almost went completely through her upper lip. That is why she looks beat up. :) )

1st Day of School

The first day of school went great! The kids were up early and excited to go. All of the kids have great teachers and are so positive about the year ahead. I drove the kids to school so we could get some pictures and make sure everything went smoothly. They found their classrooms and settled in great. Mykenna was a little disappointed because Kindergarteners aren't on regular schedule this week. We went for a little introduction and then signed up for her assessment with her teacher the next day. She will start next Monday and ride the bus then. When the kids returned home it was great to hear that they had a good day. Parker's little buddies, that were placed in a different class this year, were so sweet and waited outside his door when recess came and they also sat together at lunch just like old times. This was such a blessing. Cambrie also had concerns because her best friend was also placed in a different class, but all went well with her as well. Off to a good start!

The Soccer Season has begun!

Instead of doing AYSO this year, we decided to have Cambrie play on a club soccer team. She has been practicing all summer and this week they officially started the season with the Striker Tournament. They played Wednesday through Friday. Wednesday the game ended in a tie. Thursday we lost and Friday we lost as well. The girls did a great job! We are very proud of them. I have to say the "crazy soccer mom", as one of the other mom's put it, has come out in me. I always said I would just sit and calmly watch my children's sports activities...but it didn't happen. My heart was racing and I found myself cheering loudly...at times! OK ... so I am competitive. I have never played soccer and I am slowly learning all the rules and position names. When Cambrie told me she was going to be playing the full back position I thought she was mistaken. That was a football position...right? It is a fun sport to watch especially when you have a child playing and know most of the girls on the team. Cambrie did a great job and had many compliments about her ability to play. Towards the end of the last game she had her big toe jammed and had to take a break for a few minutes and then got right back into the game. She is a tough competitor. We have a great coach and parents that help make it a great experience for the girls! The girls are a great group of girls and there is a lot of talent to go around. This is going to be a great year! Thanks to Carrie Grubb for taking these awesome pictures of the girls! I stole them off your facebook account. Hope that is o.k. :)

Mom's Birthday

Every year for Mom's birthday she doesn't want a party or anything big. She just wants a day with the girls. We had a great day! We did some shopping, because that is just what we girls do best. :) Had soup and salad at Olive Garden. So excited Hilly could join us! Then decided to do something different and went to Color Me Mine. You pick a piece of pottery and paint it and then they put it in their kiln and you pick it up a week later. It was so much fun! Kellee and I worked on a "Special Day" plate that we will pass around the family for birthdays and special events. Mom picked a hot plate and Karee picked a spoon rest for her oven. We arrived there at 4:30 and left around 8 pm, I think. The special plate ended up taking a little bit longer then we had anticipated. It definitely was a group effort in getting it done. But the finished products are so cute! We then ran home and helped put kiddos to bed and ran off again to catch a movie. It was a great day to spend with special people! Love you Mom!

Tubing the River

The Murphy's called and asked us if we wanted to tube the river with them. Of course we were all over that idea and planned to head up Monte Cristo. We pulled off into a campground and Patty spoke to a lady camping and found out where to get into the river and float down too. We had a blast. There were a few shallow spots where you had to be careful or your rear end would hit and nice big rock, but it was all worth it. At one point Jackson lost his tube so I tried helping get it, but instead almost landed right in Patty's lap. Oh, and yes she is I think 5 weeks from having her baby. What a Mom! Right before leaving the older kids and Rob and Mike decided to float a couple of more campgrounds down the river and Patty and I decided to pack up and meet them down there with the vehicles. We ended up meeting the meanest campground host ever. She seriously told Rob she was going to charge them $7 dollars each for walking through the campground to meet us on the road. When we got there and pulled in to pick them up she just sat there in her car waiting for us to leave. When we weren't leaving fast enough she actually started writing down our license plate numbers. We weren't even in her campsite, but boy did she have it out for us. Even though this happend we still had a great time, which we always do whenever we are with the Murphy's. Thanks ya all! :)

South Weber Days

We love attending the South Weber Days parade and this year the Yates and Englands joined us. The Northridge football team was in the parade and a few of Rob's young men are on the team. One of them tried hitting him with a water balloon and missed, but did get him with his water bottle. It was great! Later that evening we went to the fireworks early and enjoyed some of the entertainment. Cambrie's soccer coach, Jon Auger, has a band so went and listened to them play. The kids loved running around to the music. They were all worn out when it came time for the fireworks. It was a great day with the family!

Anything Goes - South Weber Days

Rob and I participated in the Anything Goes activity for South Weber Days. Greg and Michelle Fitzgerald asked us to be on a team with them and Matt and Sarah Mcfarland. We have never done this before, but knew it would be fun with these couples. There were 10 different things we had to do as a team.

1 - Catch a sheep and take him around some barrels in a gated pen.

• Poor sheep...our guys got in there quick and drug that sheep around there so fast. It was hard for us girls to keep up and not get in the way.
  

2 - Obstacle course: human wheelbarrow, gunnysack race, human cow milking, horse shoe throw.

• We got so lucky on the cow milking. We had just started milking and the judge looked at the previous teams milk line and told us to go we had reached the line.
  

3 - Move a haystack from one spot to another spot.

• There were 10 bails of hay. The girls took one each and the guys took two each. They were pretty heavy and the twine on the hay really hurt the hands. We really did it pretty quick.
  

4 - Push a tractor around the parking lot.

• We kicked you know what on this one. We had Sarah drive and the rest of us pushed the tractor. When we got to the end Sarah slammed on the breaks and actually left tire marks on the asphalt.
  

5 - Pie eating contest

• Note to self...don't push a tractor around a parking lot and then go and eat a whole pie as fast as you can. Another note to self...have Sarah Mcfarland on your team if you need someone to eat food fast. That girl can put the food away and I don't know how she does it with that itty bitty body. :)
  

6 - Lasso a cow head

• Yes I grew up on a ranch, but no I can not lasso a cow. A lot harder than it looks.
  

7 - Rope swing over water

• OK so this looked like it would be pretty easy right? NOT! Um, I totally brought the team down on this one. Feet dragging and didn't even make it across. Pathetic....yes.
  

8- Keep an oiled ball under water passing from teammate to teammate.

• Again, looked like it would be pretty easy. We talked about how we would do it before we started, but once we started...yep...I let them down again. Ball gets passed to me under the water and goes through my legs and pops out behind me. Hey it was very oily!
  

9 - Light a candle on top of a cow pie with steel wool and batteries

• Rob was a trooper and volunteered to grab the dried cow pie (aka cow poo) then Greg proceeded to wrap the poo, with the candle in the middle of it, with the steel wool and started the whole thing on fire with the batteries. I guess that is one way to light the candle. Just light the whole darn thing on fire. Go Greg!
  

10 - Knocking down milk bottles with a sling shot.

• This was the finally activity of the night and I think we all pretty well stunk at this one except for Greg.

So before we started all of the above activities each team was given a small container with ingredients to make butter. You did this by continually shaking the container. If we had made butter by the end of the activities we would have a certain amount of time taken off of our total time. Towards the end of the night we had tried many different techniques on shaking the container and Rob caught me during one of my turns.



We had a great time and ended up taking 3rd in the 30 and over age group. Woohoo!

First Scrimmage

Cambrie is on a club soccer team year and they had their first scrimmage this week. They played a team in Salt Lake City, so Uncle Kyle and Aunt Hilly were able to come. Grandma, Aunt Kellee, Brooklyn and Kate were also in SLC so they showed up as well. Cambrie had a great cheering section. Coach Jon didn't tell the girls until half time, but the team they were scrimmaging was actually ranked 2nd in the state. They did great, but ended up losing. For their first scrimmage they did outstanding! This is going to be a great experience! GO STRIKERS!

American Idol Tour 2009!!!

Grandpa Bry and Grandma Leslie surprised Cambrie with an early birthday gift. They bought tickets for us to take Cambrie to see the American Idol tour in Salt Lake City. We kept it a complete surprise right up until we were inside the E Center. We asked her what she thought we were doing and she said, "Is it a rodeo?" WHAT?!?! I don't know where that came from. :)

We left early so that we could grab something to eat. She wanted chicken strips so we stopped at Dairy Queen and got their meal. She is very easy to please. Traffic wasn't as bad as we thought so we arrived earlier than expected. Even though there were signs outside the E center with American Idol Tour written on them she still could not guess what we were doing. It was very cute! As we were walking through the E Center Rob finally pointed to a Kris Allen and Adam Lambert picture and asked who they were and she then realized what was up. It was neat to see the excitement in her face!

The concert was great! Cambrie definitely had a favorite. She stayed calm until Kris Allen came out on stage and then she began screaming. I would have to say that Adam Lambert stole the show when it came to being entertained. We had a great time! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Love ya!

Roy Aquatic Center

Candi had some free passes to the Roy Aquatic Center so we loaded up and headed to the pool. The kids had a great time and Jaxon even got Cambrie on the big slide. It was a great afternoon! Thanks Candi and Jaxon!