I declare December 28th FAMILY DAY!

Since we are so rushed around the holidays I declared today Family Day! I made chicken enchiladas, Steve made fudge (the food thing again!) and we played Wii and watched movies! It was nice to just hang out and relax!

I also have proof of our first Wii accident. Zac hit my hand during tennis the first day and boy do I have the bruise to prove it!! Brat!!

December 27th Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa

Today we all met over at Grandma & Grandpa's for Christmas! We had oh so yummy food (again!! do you see a pattern here!) and opened presents! We had a good time hanging out with everyone and seeing each others gifts. Laura and the girls got a Wii also so they brought it and we brought our Guitar Hero and everybody took turns jamming! Fun! Fun! Fun! and after all that wonderful food it was good that we got to work some of it off!

CHRISTMAS DAY!! Santa Came!!

SANTA CAME!! SANTA CAME!!

Was the joyous tune I woke up to. There were gifts and they were so cool looking!! Of course! Zac got some cool new clothes and a warm new sweatshirt he asked for! He got a BSU blanket he wanted and......drum role please...... Santa brought us a Wii!! It was THE gift this year! He was sooooo excited!! We played and played!! He loves tennis (my arm was a burnin'!!) and now we don't have to return the Guitar Hero World Tour!! We have put in quite a few hours....yes I said hours on that too!! In case you didn't know.....SANTA ROCKS!!

Christmas Eve!!

On Christmas Eve we had our usual (if at a different time) Christmas with all the kids. They all 3 get to open their gifts from Mom and Dad and to each other.
I was too involved (and tired) to remember to take a lot of pictures but it we had a great time. Zac got a Chargers jersey he hasn't taken off and everyone got some fun stuff. Kelly got the family a Guitar Hero World Tour! We were soooo excited but he accidentally bought the one for Wii not Playstation so we will have to exchange it after Christmas. But as the pictures show there were 2 big hits to play with!!
Dad bought Zac a new nerf machine gun (cause he doesn't have enough nerf guns!!) and it was flippin' AWESOME!! You should have seen the bullets come flying out! Everyone was ducking and dodging!! But I can't remember did the tag say Zac or Steve?!!?
The other big hit was Cory's gift to Dad. He got him a shocking game. I am sure some of you remember Steve's shocking marker.......this one you both held the handles and the shocks start out soft and get more and more voltage as you go. The first one to let go loses. My family loves this game!! Crazy people!! But it was fun to watch their faces and we all had a great laugh! Hopefully no permenant damage was done!!

After we all played (napped he!he!) and got ready we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and more fun.
Dinner was wonderful as usual!! How can you go wrong with homemade chili and chicken noodle soup! Yum Yum!! Grandma always has a great spread and we love her for it! It makes it extra special that she goes to so much trouble for us every year! We love you!!
Steve had to bring his new game and everyone thought it was pretty funny.

Grandma got the kids good. She didn't get lists this year so she gave them all coal and told them to do better next year. They were all good sports and apologized (and blamed it on we parents!!) so she brought out the real gifts! Fun was had by all before we headed off for home and getting ready for Santa!

Well everyone else did. My troops and I went to see Christopher and all the rest of the Jewell's for their traditional Christmas Eve party. It was nice to get to see everyone!

December 19th Cory's game!

Cory had his last game before Christmas break!! He is doing great this year! Unfortunately with about 4 minutes left Cory stole the ball and went up for a layup. When he came down he landed on another player. He hurt his ankle and was in so much pain Dustin had to shoot his foul shots for him. He was out a few seconds it seemed (in my mother's perspective!!) and then wanted to go back in. The crowd went crazy!! Yeah Cory!! He went up for a rebound and came down on the other ankle and hurt it even worse!! He had to be helped off the court and it was horribly swollen and did not look pretty!! Since I am so far behind I can tell you that he is off crutches now (probably shouldn't be) and it is still swollen but not as bad and yucky bruises!! He is anxious to get back out there and of course you can't tell Cory anything so I hope it heals soon!!

December 19th School Christmas Party

Zac had his school Christmas party today!! Holy cow!! I was supposed to organize it but talk about dropping the ball! I was not in an organized mood I guess so things were a little crazy! The kids didn't seem to notice (enough chaos and sugar and they have fun!!) so I guess it is all good! Thanks to my dear friends Koli and Debbie and my wonderful husband for being so helpful!!

December 13th Basketball is at an end

Today was Zac's last game of the season!! I am so proud of him and all the boys!! It was great to watch them learn and improve and meet new friends!! I would like to admit that I took the pictures so Steve could have a break and as you will see they are not up to par!! Steve makes it look much easier than it is!
Thanks to everyone who came out to watch. Zac loved knowing you were there for him. It meant a lot!
We also had an end of year party and I took a few shots of the boys with their trophies and Coach Ben!! What a great guy and a fun season!!

December 7th Christmas Tree!!

Well we finally got the Christmas tree up!! For any of you who truly know me you will know that this is late for me. We got it all decorated and the fireplace and all the little knick knacks out.
Cory, Steve and Zac helped me do the outside this year and I just love it. Didn't go over the top this year but it looks great and we have 2 new small balloons to add to my collection!! Yeah!! My husband just shakes his head at me but he says it makes me smile so it is worth the work!! Oh what a good husband!! Gold star for that!! I don't have an outside picture I can find but check back and I will add one soon I hope!!

Zac's Basketball!! December 6th

We had another game!! The boys were just amazing and it was so much fun to watch!! Zac really missed not having a game last week!! Goooo Broncos!!

Idaho Stampede basketball!!

Last night we went to the Idaho Stampede basketball game. It was the AAU/Y-Ball game so they had extra stuff for the kids. We had quite the party.... Steve, Zac, Jamie, Cory, Mike, Koli, Nathan, Carlos, Andrea, Drew, Adam and I!! While the players were warming up the boys got to sit on the court and watch, then when the introduced the players the kids made a tunnel and the players slapped their hands!! It was a great game and we had really good seats. Jamie went out at quarter and did a contest where she had to dress in boys clothes and make a lay-up. She won!! Go Jamie! Cory played game and won tickets!! Go Cory!! Then after the game all the players came out and signed autographs. We got Zac a basketball and all the players, cheerleaders and the mascot signed!! The players were so nice and the boys had a GREAT time!! OH!! and Cory got his phone signed also!! By Coby Karl!! What a fun night!! Now I have video of the boys making a tunnel and Jamie's race but getting it from the camera, to the computer and onto here I haven't figured out yet!! Check back later and I will figure it out!!

Oh, in case you were confused I thought I should mention Zac has decided to change how he spells his name. He came to me and explained because it is Zachary everyone spells it Zach and he doesn't like the h he likes the k. So since everyone was spelling it wrong he would just make it easier and go with ZAC. Now you know!!

Day after Thanksgiving shopping

Funniest thing!! Steve and Zac got up on Friday morning and braved Walmart with me for the day after thanksgiving day sale!! 3:30am and Zac is up and ready to go. Zac shopped with me until noon (Steve had to work at 9) and then we went home for an hour or so before I had to go to work and Zac went to Grandma Rose's house. Did he rest?? Oh no they played and watched football!! (Go Broncos!! Kicked Fresno's butt!! Ian Johnson tied the most rushing (? is that right) touchdowns!! Amazing game!!) So I pick him up after work and we are on our way home. We are almost there and talking about dinner, I take a call from Steve, one mile later I try to confirm what Zac wants for dinner and he is snoring in the back seat!! Poor kid made it until 7pm. Then we got home he ate dinner and stayed up until 9pm. What a trooper!! My little buddy was so helpful and in a good mood all day!! I love him!!

Thanksgiving in Cascade

For Thanksgiving this year we went up to see April in Cascade. Zac went up a couple days early to play and then Steve and I drove up for the day. April made us yummy rolls for breakfast and then we went to Mom's for dinner. We had turkey, potatoes, stuffing, rolls and even ham. Crystal and her family were there and so was Christopher. We watched some football, played some football and then Arthur and Mark(friends of the family) got out their toys and we played. Now I want you to know that there isn't a picture because I of course had the camera but I took a few turns on the 4 wheeler too!! We had such a wonderful day and loved being with our family!! We hope you all had a good day too and we are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family!! We love ya!

Idaho Stampede practice

On November 16th we got to watch the Idaho Stampede's first practice of the season. Steve, Cory, Zac and I met up with Nathan, Koli and Mike. We got to sit right up close and see the different drills they run (made me tired just watching!!), their warm-ups and got to see who the players were for the year (some even talked to us!)

October stuff I missed!! Sorry!

Ok..... I was just noticing that I didn't tell you guys about some fun stuff we did so I am rewinding really fast so this is a little out of order. First, did I mention Jamie got a puppy?? Lexy is an 11 month old 160lb mastiff who is the biggest baby I have ever met. Scared of her own reflection. (you should see her in front of a mirror!!) She came to Grandma and Grandpa's and then has spent some time at our house. Zac is of course in love he got his lap dog and monster dog in one. We love her and it's fun to get to babysit now that we taught her how to go up the stairs (she was scared of them) and her and I came to an understanding about sleeping on the floor and not the couch or my bed!! Jamie spoiled her!!

Okay also on October, I think, the 15th we went to the corn maze with our friends Dave, Angie, Emma, Brandon, Mike, Koli and Nathan. We had such a great time!! We bounced, we drove, we walked and we slid!! It was a beautiful night not cold or windy and everyone had fun!!

Also I didn't tell you about Halloween!! We did something different and went to Nampa to trick or treat with our friends Debbie, Jonathon and Lizzy. We met up with a bunch of friends and wandered around the neighborhood and then went to a party at Debbie's mom's house. There was food and games and scary stories (Debbie frightening the children!!) Zac was so excited to see Lizzy and Jon anyway because they go to a different school now and he got to dress up as Cory for the day. Cory let him borrow his jersey, helmet, gloves and all still dirty, freshly used after the Nampa game. Zac was in hog heaven!! Thanks Cory!!