One more good luck tidbit for this week...

The saga: Kyson didn't go to the 3 weeks of pre-season soccer workouts,

cause he wanted to go to the 3 weeks of free baseball clinic

put on by the baseball coaches.

Half as many kids came this year as last year,

(new H.S. in town took 1/2 the boys off the baseball team)

so the coaches decided not to have a freshman team.

The coach is in our ward and told us this was 80% certain.

So, Kyson decided to try out for the soccer team.

He didn't even go to the mandatory conditioning for the baseball team hopefulls.

Monday, he went to soccer tryouts from 3pm to 515 pm.

I made him take his baseball glove just in case he decided to try out for baseball, too.

Baseball tryouts were 5pm to 7pm.

He was late for baseball-big no-no.

Tuesday was the same schedule.

Since 20 freshman tried out for the team,

they decided to go ahead and have a fr. team.

Hubby and I

waited at baseball practice long enough

to find out that soccer only kept 4 freshman

(only the ones the coaches had seen play

club soccer teams.)

Kyson had done fairly well at tryouts, but the coaches

didn't get to see him play much

since he didn't go to the soccer workouts (he was at baseball).

From what I saw at baseball tryouts,

Kys didn't perform that well,

but the coach had seen him at the 3 weeks of the clinic,

and knew he had "raw" talent and was "coachable".

This coach talked to each boy to tell them him if he made it or not and why.

He hasn't taken this thing off since he got it.

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These pictures

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are just

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to make
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a point.
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cause it's not "cool" to smile for the camera.

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A few lucky things:

just in case we are part Irish...

Kashton bawled all the way home from baseball practice last night.

He kept missing the ball (not like him, but it was the 1st practice of the season)

and his new coach kept yelling at him for it, "Stop missing the ball!"

(Kash can't perform for a coach if he knows he's going to get yelled at.

It stresses him out.)

This is not even the Major League, we avoided that

so we could have a good experience this year.

I made a few phone calls:

He is no longer on that team!!!!! YAY!!!

Apparently the LL Board was in the process of taking kids off

each team to make another team, so there wouldn't be 14 kids on every team.

(That means 5 kids on the bench every inning.)

Kash had one friend on the yelling coach's team,

so I called that kid's dad.

The dad said he would help my hubby coach!

Not only that, their family is great friends of ours,

and he actually knows a little about baseball. (I just found out.)

He played on the high school team all through high school

and the 13 yr old all-star team that took state

with a guy (RandyWillstead-who used to play Pro baseball.)

who is the head coach of the high school team, who also

has been the YM 1st Counselor over Kyson since he turned 14.

So, Kash WILL get to have a positive experience with baseball this year.

AND, although we got last pick of the team names,

the one we wanted was STILL AVAILABLE.

The team has a brand new logo and colors (deep red)

and is the best logo out there.

It's the D-Backs!!

We also made an agreement with Kash's last year's coach (that we loved)

that my hubby will be his assistant for Koby's and Kyson's team.

My hubby WAS going to be my boys' head coach

to make sure Koby didn't get a really lousy coach for 3 years in a row.

All this took place after 9:15 pm last night.

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a few other lucky/cool things happened this last week.

You will need to stay tuned in,

so I can drag out this blog and have a reason to update it.

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Some of our time spent at cabin in P. V.

Here's Kort getting ready to....

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lick the snowman.

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Kash, Kort, and Kauri playing on the merry-go-round.

Kyson digging snow caves in the back yard at the cabin.

The merry-go-round is now where the trampoline was.

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Koby mowing the lawn in 08.

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The boys set up their tents on the porch.

The wrap-around porch goes all the way around the 2nd level.

The snowmen are dressed in attire from the

"snowman kit" I gave Ann for Christmas that year.

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Looking toward the kitchen area.

some of the family enjoying T-Day at the cabin.

One tenth!

We might as well call it a "tie".

Kyson got his highest score ever at the level he's at.

Koby has never gotten a better all-around score

than Kyson in the same year.

This last meet, Koby had Kyson beat!!!

Till one of Koby's best events: the vault.

Koby hit the vault table wrong with his hand

and got the worst score he's gotten in a long time.

Kyson beat him by .1 in the all-around score.

Koby on p bars.


Koby got his best score on the high bar of the last 2 years.

His high score last year was 3.0.
His best this year is 6.0 at the 1st meet.
This was his 2nd meet. This meet he got a 12.7.
In case you don't follow this sport,
getting your "best" score by 1 point is HUGE.
Four weeks ago, he couldn't even do the routine.
Before the meet, he couldn't do the WHOLE routine.
He just "went for it." He did the whole routine.
I'm so proud of him.
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Kyson got his best score on the high bar by 1.3 points.
Good thing, or Koby would have passed him up!

Kyson says this is his favorite event now.


Those other boys are 12.

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Kyson got his personal best score by 2.3.

Koby got his best score by 9.7 !!!!!!

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Kyson, you'd better kick it up a notch,

or you're gonna be hard to ride home with.

Luv, Mom

An ordinary, uneventful weekend...

Getting ready for the "slam dunkin'"

basketball party...

Cooking "Sulli-dogs" at the "Sullivan Dome"
(cut in half, fried on a grill,
with or without dill pickle, mustard relish)



Kashton's fave gift. MONEY!

These are most of the boys in his scout group. 3 boys couldn't come.

(yes, poor scout leader...)

The man of the (3) hour(s).

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Then.......We had a choice between

Disneyland

and cold showers.....

guess which one we chose?

The hand cart was a clearance special at Toys R Us

years ago. Has come in handy many, many times.

Also doubles as a children's toy.

Then, our ward had an un-birthday party.

This is our Bishop and the scoutmaster

trying to win musical chairs.

The scoutmaster won:

at the very last second,

he dragged the chair with him and sat on it.

We also played scattergories,

pictionary, and the newlywed game.

Then, we came home to find out that today is THE DAY!!!!!

Like I said

I love 11-year-olds when they're

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asleep.

There are 11 11-yr-olds playing night games

at my house for Kash's party right now. (Help Me!!)

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But, I guess I didn't have to tell you that.

Cheryl can hear them and I'm sure Jana can, too.

Only 98 minutes to go.

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I Love 11-year-old boys

when they're asleep!

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his choice for dinner............

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my choice for the "family" cake........

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all he wanted was a ds to replace the lost/stolen one.

(We think my hiding spot must be a good one.)

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Thank Heavens, back in the day,

we used to spend $15,000 a month on concrete & materials.

This ds is compliments of Amex points,

or he might have gotten socks for his b-day.
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I call this:

Cake From the Devil

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1 choc fudge or dark chocolate cake

2 eggs

1 t. almond extract

1 can cherry pie filling

Spray pan.

Mix and bake according to directions.

Or 350 degrees for 25-30 min. Check with toothpick.

Frosting:

1 c. sugar

5 T. butter

1/3 c. milk

Mix together. In a sauce pan boil 1 minute

take off heat, stir in:

8 ounces milk chocolate chips

Cool cake, and let frosting cool a little bit.

Pour frosting on warm.

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This cake is from the Devil,

cause unless you hate chocolate or cherries,

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you will eat the WHOLE thing!!!

Kauri's Commentary

It's hard being a princess.....
Laughter from the front seat of the car...
It's not funny......

It's VALENTINES Day, people, not the prom!

You get a box of Valentines, tape a piece of candy to each card, and give it out at school (x5 kids)!

What are some people thinking?!

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Kinzie got this "Valentine, You Rock!"

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and Kashton got this wrapped around some chunky candy bars....
in a mini baggie with a matching label stapled at the top.
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Kortlen got several baggies with 3-4 snack size candy bars in each.
I just keep telling myself that each of those families only have one kid.

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Good news though,
we used up the candy that the kids didn't eat
after they went Trick-or-treating ...

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lol

Kauri's Commentary

Have you ever remembered your vt's were coming 3 minutes before they got to your house?

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So, as I am running around clearing counters and corners,

I looked out the window and noticed my VT's

had just pulled up to my house 7 minutes early.

I told Kauri, "They're here...."

She prompltly replied, "I'll answer the door."

I frantically pleaded, "DON'T open that door till I tell you to...."

The doorbell rang.

I scooped the last of the easy-to-hide stuff into a basket

to hide in a bedroom

when I heard her yell out the front window,

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"Don't come in yet!"

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Here is my strawberry surprise!

Surprise! It actually tasted pretty good.

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It is a strawberry jell-o poke cake with cream cheese cool whip frosting.

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She wanted to be in the picture with him.

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His piece.....

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The tail end of the spanking machine.

Too bad our kids think he's 43.

He doesn't even try to hide it like some of you out there.

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Kauri says:

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I love you so much!

You make me so happy!

You are my King!

You should've seen the look on his face

when he found out what dvd I redboxed (rented).

It was Mamma Mia.

But truth be known, he chuckled the whole way through it.

We got Madagascar 2 for the kids; it was pretty funny.

Our weekend:

I don't know what he's been whining about, this looks FUN!

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The leaders made a lein-to against the baseball backstop to the left.

Then hubby borrowed some handy-dandy heaters

from his brother-in-law, Bruce.

They put the heaters inside their "tent",

and stayed cozy all night-except for when the wind

would blow and drip ice water in hubby's face.

Koby's scout troop has 21 (add more after today) boys in it.

Only 16 of them went on this camp-out. This is how wet he got from digging his snow cave.
It's a good thing he took Kyson's snow suit, too.
He slept in his cave all night and stayed warm.
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Kort says, "Eww, I HATE broccoli!"

Here he is 5 minutes later asking for some more.

This is my Broccoli, cheese, French fry soup.

(The French fries kind of dissolved.)

It was yummy.

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Here's some legs......

Here's some arms.......

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Which one belongs to which?

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Hint: they belong to boys.

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He ended up being on an alternate team for an alternate team.

Didn't swim.

But, was convinced that if he shaved his arms and legs,

he would swim faster just in case he did get to swim.

?????????
LOL

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