Fun City Golf Tournament

Today was the 7th Annual MDS Mini Golf Tournament at Fun City Golf. To keep tuition to Gavin's school reasonable, MDS has a fundraiser type event every month. This Golf Tournament was for the month of September. Gavin had to sell tickets for the event to raise money, and there was an auction of items and services donated by the community businesses and such. We all had such a fun time putting our Pro Wii golfing skills to the test!!

Gavin was so excited the entire time...and Caden enjoyed the taste of golf balls!

Reese was by far the most cute 'n fair little girl on the course this morning!

Check out the mad skillz our daughter has! Just 14 strokes on a Par 3!!

Gavin and Reese race for the Birdie!! (More like triple bogey...but Gavin keep saying he was birdie!)

Caden was more than happy to find golf balls and remove them for us! He was never without a ball in hand! What an adorable helper we had!

Christopher's hole-in-one and under Par!

Fun City Golf's 18th Hole! We made it through and had a score of 48, 3 over Par! Not too bad for our little family!

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Today was also Caden's NICU and Special Care Nursery Reunion at the hospital. It was happening during the same time as Gavin's tournament. We were hoping to finish up with the Golf and then head up to Dallas for Caden's little party, unfortunately, we finished too late.

We are eternally grateful for the care that Caden received during his stay in the NICU. We couldn't have asked for better nurses, doctors and specialists and feel blessed every day because of them.

Now off to East Texas for the weekend! Have a good one y'all!

Baseball As America

Christopher and Gavin had a "daddy date" Thursday night. The Museum of Nature and Science here in Dallas had a special VIP night for members to tour the Baseball As America exhibit that will be going on during the Texas State Fair.


Here's the front of the special VIP ticket that came in the mail. Only the truly cool get something like this in the mail, and Gavin and Christopher ARE truly cool.
Notice the back of this ticket actually has the directions on it... nevertheless, Christopher drove all the way to the Fort Worth Museum of Nature and Science because Sariah mistakenly said it was at the same place the Star Wars Exhibit had been. It wasn't until he pulled into a vacant parking lot in front of a museum that was under construction that Christopher realized he was in the wrong place. So they sped back to Dallas to the correct museum. Gas really isn't that expensive anyway... DOH!
Christopher and Gavin in their business casual attire ready to enjoy the high society life as VIP's

This is what the correct museum looks like from the outside.

They walked up the steps and into baseball land. The ticket said they would be serving free "ballpark hors d'oeuvres". They had no idea what that meant. But it had the words free in it so Christopher was 'game' ... pun intended.

It turned out they had tables and tables of concession stand food. It was Gavin's dream dinner come true! He had a hot dog bun (no hot dog) with ketchup, some nachos with cheese, a few handfuls of roasted peanuts, a few baby corney dogs, a bagel pizza, some popcorn (buttered and carameled), blue and pink cotton candy, and a nice cold orange soda to wash it all down.

After spending about 45 minutes eating junk food, the boys decided it was time to view the main attraction. Gavin was a little disappointed to find out that he wouldn't actually be playing baseball at the museum, but rather just looking at baseball "junk". So he and Christopher looked around for a few minutes and took a few pictures. Here's Gavin in front of an old baseball scoreboard. It probably has some serious historical wealth and significance, but Gavin wouldn't stick around long enough for Christopher to read anything about the exhibits.

He wouldn't stick around because he found the dinosaur exhibit that was attached to the baseball exhibit and wanted to spend the rest of the time in the "paleontology dig site" looking for dinosaur bones. There were a few little boys there with him, but for the most part he had the whole exhibit to himself and he was having tons of fun!


Gavin made the comment more than once that this was the "best Daddy Date EVER". They had a great time and Gavin has been telling everyone about how much fun it was.

Sole Survivor

Yesterday Reese and I made these yummy pumpkin cookies while Gavin was at school...and let's just say they didn't last long! SO GOOD!! Many more pumpkin goodies to come this season! Here's the recipe we used for the cookies:

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Need a Pick Me Up?

This pouty faced little boy sure could! Of course, he sports this face too many times to count in any given day!

I on the other hand got my "pick me up" this morning from a blog of my dear friend Cherie! I admire her in so many ways. Besides being a mom to 3, wife to 1, a Garden Girl for Two Peas (check out all her work!!...W*O*W), a scrapin' diva, I love her blog b.c she writes about life pretty openly in ways I wish I could, but have no words or talent to express! Like this post (motherhood) for example! Couldn't have said it any better! Or even this (flying solo w/ 3) or this (some people)!! These are just recent posts! I wish I could openly journal about real life like she does...why can't I? I'm pretty sure I'm too insecure to admit too many things about myself to myself and many others! But, she does it, and it helps this little 'ol housewife from Texas in so many ways! Thanks my "mighty" friend! And I hope you aren't too embarrassed by me posting this!

For Cherie's "pick me up" today (which I copycatted) she had us do the following and I ask that you do the same...I promise you will feel empowered after you do so:

so about that "pick me up." are you are needing a little pat on the back today? maybe a little recognition for how amazingly talented you are at changing diapers? do you need to be reminded that you are indeed wonder woman? of course you do! here's what you do:type yourname.youaremighty.com into your browser window and hit enter. for example, i would type cherie.youaremighty.com
now go ahead. feel the power! you are mighty!

Hello. My name is Sariah, and I am MIGHTY!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Let's hear it ladies!!

Operation Back Yard Liberation

A lawn chair was overtaken in the backyard and we had to send in a search and rescue crew. 1st Lieutenant Gavin himself was up to his buttocks with the tyrants and nearly overtaken.
Fortunately, the "John Deer" Battalion, lead by General C.S. Lloyd, was quick to deliver a searing cut and is slowly regaining ground! Once "Operation Back Yard Liberation" is complete, who knows what other besieged items might be found!

3...2...1...BLAST OFF!!

Gavin and Reese on take off!!

Or make that 3...2...1...BUG OFF!! ;-) My children have been driving me nuts today with their soundtrack of madness on repeat...he yells, she cries, the 2nd he screams!! (Thank you Cherie!) I forgot that Gavin gets bored WAY too fast and needs constant structure when he isn't in school. An intervention was needed (more for me, than them) to channel their energies into something (heaven forbid productive, that's just another chorus of madness)so, we made Rockets!

Gavin's colorful rocket!

Yes, this Spaceman is wearing his Birthday Boy Badge still to this day. He's hoping the magic never ends!Reese's finished rocket!

I really liked Reese's "paint job" on her rocket. The picture doesn't do it justice. Once I have my photo editing program reloaded to the computer, my pictures just might have some life to them again. Meanwhile, suffice to say, she's got red and silver glitter "paint" job. Very hip rocket!

I felt that I should add this picture of Reese and her rocket b.c her rocket is a force to be recon with. As is her ever piercing cries!!

Lastly, Caden did not participate in the Rocket making, however, he did find something fabulous to do...read. I love finding my children off in some place of their own reading to themselves! He may have stolen some of his brothers books off the shelf, but no matter! At least he has learned to respect the paperbacks!!! No eating or ripping the pages! (Again, sorry for the poor picture quality...this time it was Reese "borrowing" my camera and putting her fingers all over my lens!)

No Tricks, Just Treats

Reese had her BFF Madison come over the other day for some play time. There were My Little Pony playing, dolls, Dora the Explorer, board games and books...however, it was baking that rocked the morning!

Yes, it will be fall (by calendar) soon and I have already begun getting my Halloween together and it will officially make its 2007 debut this weekend. I must not wait another week. I can hardly contain myself...I'm going batty!! :-) I LOVE fall decorating and the fun baking season ahead of me!!

Caden's Dino Bash

I couldn't leave this part out of the Transformer Weekend. The big to do was Gavin's party, however there was a small Dino Bash for Caden that happened as well. Cristi (Christopher's mom) and Cori (his sister) were busy all morning making a Dinosaur cake that looked like Caden's Dino from his first days of life while in the NICU. They did a beautiful job, considering the type of cake they made typically takes hours to set, and they did it ALL in 2. Cristi's brother, Gary had just passed away suddenly the day before, adding further distraction. Anyway, I think they did a fabulous job trying to duplicate the dino from memory, even though Cristi was too embarrassed to pose with the finished product! Perfectionist!Caden was hesitant in jumping into the cake at first...we think he was a little scared! It was too life like for him!It wasn't long before he was done with the cake!This is all the damage he could muster! Although, once we cut up the cake, he devoured his piece and was soon eating off my plate! Great tasting cake, Cori! I'm excited to see what you come up with after school!!After cake, Caden spent most of the afternoon pool side...lol.
Or playing in the dirt and making holes in the front walk for Pa to get upset!
My favorite part of the day with Caden was when he went to play with Cheryl and Lloyd's dog. He was a little apprehensive at first and would bury his head into Christopher, however, he soon warmed up. Caden is fascinated with pets and he is just too cute around them. He's very gentle with animals in general and doesn't pull and grab at them like my other children do!
A year ago today, he came home from the hospital to join our little family after a rough start! I love him to pieces!

Gavin's 5th year Transformation

Finally, the moment has arrived. The highly anticipated, extremely hyped, computer crashing, 5th Birthday party/Transformer Fest 2007 video EXTRAVAGANZA!!! Enjoy it...

Look who's "5" today!!

When Gavin woke up today he asked if today was his "original" birthday. I had to laugh. He had a party over Labor Day weekend, then a home party again this past Friday 'cuz Christopher is in San Antonio today. Today we had a party at school and that was fun and Gavin is busy playing with all this new Transformers. Here are a few pics below. You may have to click on the photo to read the captions.


BTW, we are back up and operational after our computer crash. We were able to retrieve everything important and that mattered the most. Kudos to Christopher for making this mess and then doing a splendid job in cleaning it up...even if I was without a computer with internet for a week! Whew! We will post the "Transformer Weekend" this weekend. So, stay tuned, if we haven't lost you already. Please read the other 2 posts below that were recently posted.

Caden's 1st Birthday - Home Party

Caden turned one year old today and became an official toddler. Since we had had his birthday party the weekend before (the post and video that caused our computer to crash- unicron? ;-)), we did a little family outing to Toys R Us where the kids get to pick out a gift. Here was Caden's trip through pictures. I tried a new program (my other was erased) and put them together in an album layout. We'll see how it turns out! You might have to click on the pictures to see the captions.

Gavin's First Day of Pre-K

Gavin's first day of school was today at MDS. He misses the cut off for Kindergarten by 10 days, so he is the oldest by far in his Pre-K class. (Caden will be by 6 days and Reese by a month. They will all start Kindergarten when they are 6...better for dating and driving earlier in HS right?) I have come to realize I would much prefer it this way verses him being the youngest. I'm glad I didn't have to make the decision whether or not to have him go early or not. It is amazing the difference just within his current class between kids who turned 4 this year and those that turn 5. Besides, he's so tiny, everyone thinks he just turned 4!! He needs time to grow! Here he is at his "hook" outside his classroom. This is where they hang up coats, backpacks and lunches. He was excited that his hook is by this friends Andrew and Asher.
Gavin as he was being picked up and signed out from his first day of school! As you can see, he was all smiles! A real smile at that! This kid can't get enough school! Last year after preschool he would always want to take a nap, not happenin' this go around. Mom's not too happy about that, but glad to see Gavin is having a great time learning and socializing.

A moment of silence for my dearly beloved...

Christopher decided to "clean up" our home desktop computer (the one that is my life) Monday night to make room for more of his home videos he was making from our much anticipated "Transforme(r)d Weekend". Imagine our surprise when we rebooted to find out the computer was missing our operating system and much more. NIIIIIIICE! So, now he is in a mad marathon (many, many late hours) in trying to restore my computer and pull my life off the 'ol computer and store it on our external hard drive, etc... (as seen in pic) Oh, how my sanity is slowly slipping away with each passing moment without my daily Prozac delivered through my dear friend. He is sorely missed!

Meanwhile, there will be a delay in posting. I was finally on a roll and trying to post at least something everyday...I'll have to play catch up when I'm finally back on. Blog on my friends, and please email me your blog addresses as, those have been lost, along with my Internet Explorer!!

Ten Years Ago Today...

I became a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Hard to believe it has already been 10 years. But, then again, since that time, I have served the Lord for 19 months in the Spain Barcelona Mission, come home and finished my degree at BYU, got married and have had 3 children!! My first companion was Julie Green and she went to the Malaga Mission in Spain and the other sisters were Angie Randolf who went to Chile and Sara Broadbent who went with me to Barcelona. This picture above was our district in the MTC. 62C baby! We had too much fun together!

And for kicks, here is a picture (right off the plane from NYC, first day in Spain) of my Mission President Clate Mask and his lovely wife, Carol Mask. LOVE THEM!! Still to this day I admire them very much!

I have to say those 19 months (Sept. '97 to April '99) were some of the best years of my life. I grew to love my Savior and myself and make some life long friends. I draw upon my mission experiences almost daily! I know it sounds so cliche, but it's true. I can't wait to serve again with Christopher once our kids are all grown up!!

P.S. - Sorry for the poor picture quality, however, these were taken back in the age of pre-digital cameras and had to be scanned. I could also elaborate on much more of my mission, however, Christopher is anxious to kick me off this computer so he can finish....

the "robots in disguise" post that has yet to be finished and make its grand appearance on the family blog! Caden ain't too happy about that as you can see!