Never Enough Basketball!

February 5, 2011, we met the Petersons in Las Vegas, NM to watch Alyssa's brother Daniel Steffensen play. He plays for Ft. Lewis, in Durango, Colorado. It was a lot of fun to take a little road trip! Las Vegas is only 1.5 hours away, so it was a fun little trip! We have watched Daniel play since he was in high school, so it was fun to be part of his fan club! We just can't get enough basketball in this family!

Here are the kids while the teams were warming up, showing the cute signs the Petersons had made on the trip up! Halle, Lexi, Lydia, Loralyn, Bobby, and Kayla!
Loralyn LOVED to hold up the sign! She wasn't too into the game, until it was time to hold the sign! :) Really clever to make the signs from the Dion's boxes they had for dinner!
Lydia and Lexi showing off one of the signs. A fan of girls told Daniel the game before that he was on fire! They had to put it on the sign!
Here we all are after the game! I can't believe how fast these kids of ours are growing up!
Ray was holding up the sign in all different directions! It was upside down and wrong side out! :) He is a cute little fan! He just loves being part of things, and Brig just loves to do whatever Ray is doing! They had both been to the drinking fountain, as you can see the water all down their front!
Loralyn just got her hair cut! And she was flipping it back and forth the whole time! She just loves it this length!
Ray just being a cute fan! He is holding the sign, just waiting to hold it up...upside down! :)
Halle and Loralyn were good little cheerleaders! They would have a few little power struggles over who was the head cheerleader, but they always have fun!
Lexi and Lydia after the game! They are just always glad to have a chance to hang out!
Bobby is a great Big Brother! I love this picture, because you can see how much they look a like! This is after the game just hanging out!
The Peterson girls are great to entertain our boys! Here is Kayla giving Ray a lift!
All the kids with the star of the night, Daniel! What a cute fan base! :) Daniel always helps Scott with his b-ball camps, and our kids just love him!
Our boys! Small, Medium, and Large!

It was a great little get away, and we always have fun when we party with the Petersons! We just love Daniel, and were glad to be able to see him play!

Bobby's First BYU Bowl Game!

So, we are back tracking a lot, but I finally got these pictures downloaded! On December 18, 2010 BYU football came to the New Mexico Bowl! It was a lot of fun! Steve and I decided to take Bobby, because he was such a good fan all season, and we knew he would love it!

The Eschers took Tysen and Weston, so it was a lot of fun for those boys to get in some football! Bobby loves doing anything with his cousins!

We went with Arthur Gariety! Arthur and Sharee are always great to let us crash at their house during the season to watch the games! It's probably a big reason why the kids love football season! There is an excuse every week to get together with good friends!

Bobby and mom waiting for the game to start! The UTEP fans were really great. They were funny and good sports about loosing! There also were a lot that dressed up in fun costumes!
And the team came running out on the field! There is something so fun about seeing the flag followed by the team! It was time to get the game on!
Bobby totally was watching the game, and looking for his favorite players!
We ran into cute Cindy Frame, and she took this picture of us together! It was a really fun outing for us, and Bobby is just such an easy kid to have around! He just enjoys life, and is a great addition to anything we are doing!
Bobby ended up going down with Tysen and some friends to be in a louder cheering section! They ended up being on TV and everything for cheering so well! He ran into Lexi and Kayla Peterson too! It ended up being a lot of fun for him! I don't know what it is when a lot of kids get crazy together, but it makes for some great times!
When I told him to stand with Kayla and Lexi, he was hesitant because of all the other boys around! It is so funny they are getting old enough to know!
Some of the crazy crew! Lexi and Kayla loved it too!
The final score! BYU did great, and it made us excited for next year!


After the game, everyone rushed on the field. Bobby was with Tysen, so I was looking everywhere for him. When we connected, I took him as fast I as I could to meet as many of the players as we could! This was he and Heaps, BYU's quarterback! He looks very young, because he is! He is a true freshman, but an amazing qb! We are all very excited to see what his future brings!
So this nice lady, we don't know! But, she was nice enough to lift Bobby up, because she saw him trying to see the ceremony! In fact, it was him being up above the crowd that caught my eye! I look up, and there is Bobby...a head above everyone cheering them on! So funny!

Teams shaking hands after the game!

This is another young player, that is exceptionally good! He is Van Noy, and plays defense! He was really nice with Bobby! I just think it is so great how these big football players take time to let these little fans meet them!
This was so great! So, this is the kicker Payne, and he broke some record in this game...and it was his senior year. When I asked if we could get a picture, he said, "Oh ya, sure." Then he looked at Bobby, handed his helmet over and said, "Do you want to hold that for the picture." Bobby's eyes widened with enthusiasm and said, "Oh ya!" Then he proceeded to take off his hat, and put the guy's helmet on! It was so cute, and the guy just loved it!

This is Logan. He is one of the defensive backs. Very quick, and as you can see not very tall! :) But works really hard to get the job done!
This is another one of our favorites! Everyone calls him "Juice"! He is young too! A freshman, and a running back!

We left the field, and Bobby was very glad he came! It was neat to see him meeting all the players and enjoying the game! We are all very excited about what the future brings for these Cougars! There is just so much young talent!

Brigham and Prayer

So, Brigham is a very stubborn little boy. He is the type that if he comes up with the idea, it is a good one. If anyone else is telling him to do something, he usually puts up a fight! Well, with our family prayers, we have been trying to get him to kneel and hold still. If we had him in our laps, he was fighting and screaming. As you can imagine, those weren't the most reverent prayers our family shared! :) But, back in December (doing a little back tracking here!)...it was December 16, 2010 (I know because of the wonderful digital print from the camera!)...he went and kneeled by his dad and brothers. And all by himself! It was a great idea!

...and we won't even talk about Ray's funny sticker in the middle of his forehead! He is such a funny guy, and comes up with little quirky things all the time! Who knows what game he was imagining with that sticker! :)
Seriously, what is a mom suppose to do with this? He loves his "Queen Car Jammies"!
It was so cute, and such a mile marker...we had to get it on film! That cute little stinker! He does keep us always guessing!

WICKED 2/12/2011

In the words of the cute neighbor boy on the movie Incredibles:

"That was TOTALLY WICKED!"

The above picture is the girls posing with fear in front of the very impressive dragon that spans the stage! When the play starts, the dragons eyes turn red, smoke comes out, and it moves back and forth! It is very impressive and loud! It scared little Daphne back to sit with the grown ups! We had it set up 8 seats clumped together, 4 and then 4 behind....so, we had the kids sit in front of us. She felt safer moving back with the grown ups!

We were going to take Loralyn, but she decided she wanted to go to Brentyn's b-day party instead. We took Gabby instead of Roo. We probably should have just taken Loralyn, because she would have loved it! But, it was fun to see how much Lydia and Gabby enjoyed the show! Lydia had the advertisement taped on her wall for 8 months hoping we would get the hint that she wanted us to take her! We did! And she LOVED it!

It's a girls pose! Gabby, me, and Lydia...what fun we had!

We are SO GRATEFUL for the Garietys! They were able to get tickets early. They called and asked if we wanted them to order some for us, and of course we did! They were FANTASTIC seats! We were close enough to see the facial expressions of the actors! And, they are some of our favorite people in the entire universe, so it made it fun to be able to go with them! This is Arthur, Sharee, Dallin, and Daphne. We asked Bobby when Roo backed out, "Do you want to go to Wicked with us? " "No"! That was it! :) He would've loved it too!

Here is Steve joining in for the group shot! And what a handsome addition! It is so fun for me to think he is my date forever! :) What a great show: great music, clever story, hilarious lines, and wonderful acting!

We were all STARVING after the show, and so we stopped a Fudruckers! Here are the kids waiting for their grub!
I was so glad Sharee had Steve take this picture of us! She said, "We never get pictures taken together", and sadly that is true! We have done TONS of fun things together, she is one of my very best friends, and I think this is our first picture together in the 7 years we've been friends! We have a lot of our kids together through the years, but we are the ones behind the camera! Good job Sharee on making sure our friendship did get documented! :)
Cute Gariety's Daphne and Dallin holding up their Wicked program and enjoying good eats!
Gabby and Lydia with their program! LOVING the whole expererience! Lydia still talks about how much fun that was!

What a fabulous outing for us! It was really fun to see Lydia just enthralled with it all, and to be with such great friends! Great show, good company, good food...makes for an OUTSTANDING afternoon, and a terrific memory to had to our collection!

Great to be Eight!

Sunday March 6, 2011:

Loralyn had her "Great to be Eight" night. It is where all the soon to be eight year olds meet, and they talk about their upcoming baptisms and joining the Activity Days (for girls) and Scouts (for boys)! It was at the Thompson's home, which is near our home. Since it was a nice night, we decided to walk there. We got to the Thompson's home I was thinking of, and it was the other Thompson's home in our ward! Luckily, they both live in our neighborhood. We were a few minutes late, and got quite the work out speed walking to the event, but we made! :) And Loralyn loved it! I got released from Activity Day Leader, so she was a little sad about that, but I told her she did so much while I was in with Lydia that it would be fine! :)

Here she is holding her new book they gave her! Loralyn has carried this around ever since! It even made it to school with her today! :)
Mom and Dad kissing there little Roo! (or Bubba...for mom! :) ) They grow up way too fast!
Looking really cute! She is the only little girl in her primary class, and there are 3 little boys getting baptized the same month!
Dad's little girl!
Bobby and Lydia got to each take some pictures! They would argue over who took the best! I think this was a Lydia shot! She said, "Mom, you need to let me take it, so when I grow up I can be a photographer!"

We've got 7 more months, but it has been so cute to see how excited she is about it! That night she had me read her the papers in the binder, and she has been saying, "I just can't wait to get baptized!" I am sure part of it is the pretty white dress hanging up in the closet that she just keeps adoring! :) We just love you little Roo, and hope this is the beginning of lots of good choices made! :)