Forgotten treats…

Oh my poor faithful friends, who read on while I drone about my sorrows and hardships…

I forgot to post pictures of my new treasures and treats!

From Ava JoFrom Ginjer  The most fabulous impulse buy ever! Amie made me buy it!My first Anthropologie purchase, LOVE!I won this family tree necklace from a blog!    You can get your very own custom made piece from Kelly Annie. She has a great Etsy site with lots of great things. I have already bought 3 gifts from her, and will do some Christmas shopping too:)

Oh and what the heck, who wants to see my new shoes again?

The Zebra dream!And the ‘Wide Shaft’ boot:)

Fun, Fantastic, and UnFair!

Oh what a few days! It’s been full of excitement and frustration and shoes!

We started off with Meliah having a Halloween party! It was 7 little girls in costumes, they ate scary food, played games, trick or treated and watched a Halloween movie.

The girls eating monster toes and drinking swamp water.Chloe (cat), Riley(minnie mouse) and Allison (Punken Princess)Skeleton fingers Anna the ‘dead’ bride eating her frankenstein. Meliah (Minnie Mouse) and Savannah (Tooth Fairy)   The crewDarth Vader   Soya, I love her, what a mom showing up all decked out! The sugar consumption Then on Saturday, we got to go to a BYU Football Game, where something overcame me… I was  cheering machine, jumping, shouting, it was way to much fun!

We celebrated by going to the Bombay House with our good friends John and Jen. YUM! I had the Chicken Coconut Kurma and Garlic Naan Bread….. We then went to the BYU Creamery where I partook of some Bishop’s Bash…. Oh happy day!

Sunday we went out to the Budge’s house to celebrate Monica’s birthday. Oh how I love Monica! She is such a kind hearted woman, she gives gives and then she gives a little more. I was super excited to make her a cake. I made Strawberries and Cream Cake except in true Heather fashion, made it huge. I used 1 1/2 sheet cakes, doubled the berries, doubled the cream cheese  mixture and covered the entire thing with whip cream. I used 1.5 litres of whipping cream! But it was pretty Yummy!

My Monday day went great, I went to run a couple errands and look for some snow appropriate shoes… Well never found any of that but look what I did find!You know sometimes you just have too… it’s like there is no choice in the matter! And when its BOGO! Seriously they fit my cows, I mean calves! I have been looking for a pair of  “Robust” Boots for years, well apparently that is called wide Shaft… and Shoe Carnival had them for $45!!! All you wide Shaft ladies better run and get some! They are loose even!

And then Monday evening hit, and have I ever mentioned, I sometimes HATE team sports….

So here is my Caleb

Caleb eats sleeps and breathes a love for football. He will play in heat, snow, rain and mud without complaint. You want to see him light up, talk about football. Caleb has been at practice every single day since April. 3-6 pm during the school year, 6am-9am in the summer, 1 week of camp and 2 weeks of double practices. Caleb was told by the head coach of the school that if you want to play your always at football.

So then tell me why, he gets 1 –3 plays a game (for non football fans, that may add up to 45 seconds per game). We talked to to the coach,  Caleb talked to the coach. They admitted that he was getting missed.  And what happens…. diddly squat. Instead of Caleb and other boys who have been there everyday playing, the boys club boys (who have missed practice after practice, even weeks sometimes) get to play the entire game while he and the other boys not in the club watch.

I mean it is freshmen Football! And already these 14 year old boys who come from a ‘Football Line’ get treated superior, whether or not they have the skill to back up the title. I had no idea that we would see politics already.

That my friends is heart breaking for a mother. To see your son losing passion, to see him standing shivering on the sidelines of a game after 6 months of 110% dedication.  To see your son learning that it isn’t always your dedication and your heart that gets you what you want, but who you know. 

I mean I get that the best players will play more, but at this level, this is where they get experience. This is where they all should play.  Even when the 1st string botches the game, they still stay in, I mean come on, isn’t that what a 2nd string is for, to fill in when the 1st isn’t performing?

This is where they are taught dedication. But instead we now have a several freshmen who think they can act however they want with no consequences, they never learned dedication for the sport or perseverance or team sportsmanship.

Caleb, who has won Most Sportsmanlike and Captain’s Choice for his dedication on his other team, has learned life isn’t fair… He has watched these favoured boys ruin practices, be disrespectful to coaches and team mates, and that there is nothing he can do about it.  And I was not ready for him to get that lesson.

My husband thinks I am insane and need to relax, but I feel terrible that bad coaching decisions has changed the attitude of these young men, jaded them already. Such a shame. How I wish I could have asked them to get there heads out of their rears… but I thought that might be inappropriate. In fact the only reason I can blog about it, is because I know my kids would rather do anything than read my blogs!

Now, disclaimer, I know coaching is a taxing thing and without coaches we wouldn’t have teams. And Caleb’s coaches are not terrible people, in fact I am sure they are wonderful men, but it wasn’t the benched kids who missed practices and goofed off at practices and decided they were better than the other kids, it was the coaches that made that choice, and announced it loud and clear by favouring those very kids who were breaking down the team…

Growing up sucks sometimes!

Sister’s nothing trumps a sister!

I just got back from a trip to Canada, I spent 10 days with my baby sister while she entered a new phase in life. MOTHERHOOD!

Let me tell you about my little sister, Amie. Amie is an addictions Councilor, she loves to make lists and she loves her chickens. Her and her husband have a hobby farm and currently have laying hens. In fact one lives in the house… EWWWWW is right, it’s name is bubbles and has a crooked neck and poops, a lot!  Amie is VERY easy going and kind hearted. She is generous and loving. Amie is not just my baby sister she is a friend and I truly love her.

When I arrived she was 4 days over due, so she set out to teach me something's I might need to know. Like how to put chickens to bed.We ate at some of my favourite restaurants that we don’t have in the states.

• Boston Philly Cheese Steak
• Thai Chicken Bites
• Artichoke Spinach Dip from Kelsey’s
• Gramma Lambe’s Cherry Pie

I forced her to nest, we cleaned her front room and bathroom, washed all the floors and got the nursery ready. I made Ganache and strawberry cheesecake for her.

It was fun, I read 4 books (The Host I read 1 1/2 times, loved it) and relaxed.

Friday they gave her gel to induce her. Twice. No go.

Saturday I took Amie to the hospital at 9:00 am and they put her on the drip. That worked.   Someone was a little to chipper… So she thought she would practice being in hard labour… Yeah incase you didn’t notice, our family is hilarious!But then it did hurt…  But she just couldn’t contain her excitement! This is Rich, he is able to contain his excitement a little better. Can you beg for an epidural? They give you a stylish new hat!   This is Danielle, she thought she would help Amie out. Luckily we seen the sign that forbids anyone doing examination besides the hospital staff… Darn! Oh can you tell the epidural workedThis is Amie getting ready to push the baby out…    Can you tell what has happened by that smile?Ava Jo is here! So much for the guy who could contain his excitement!  Here she is!I do have to say, it was beautiful to see Ava Jo’s arrival, and the feeling in the room while mommy and daddy finally held what they had waited so long for… WHO they had waited for!          8lbs 1 ozHey nurse hands off!  At least Aunty Heather is close! haaaa not so bad!   Daddy gets to hold his little girl!     Ava Jo Beatrice FosterNana and Grand dad come to visit! Oh how Nana (Jo) loves you Ava Jo! Granddad is smitten! Aunt Danielle crying with Ava JOY!  

The cute little family!

I have to say my trip was a bundle of emotions. I missed my family so much it hurt my heart. I was so happy to be with Amie during this special time it warmed my heart. And I felt so grateful to so many people!

• Shane for working so hard so I could come! Taking care of 4 kids with no help is HARD work! Plus the financial aspect of it! Thanks babe, I really appreciate it!
• Danielle for being my sisters sister! I have to admit being so far away from your baby sister sucks, so it makes me feel happy that she has someone so close to take care of her…
• Sandy for being her other mother, who doesn’t need one of those! Sandy is a co-worker who always makes sure Amie was doing what she needed to and has a free offer of help when it come to Ava Jo.
• Rich, for loving my sister so much! I had no idea how cute and in love you two are! Keep it up!

Love you baby sister!

I still don’t like you Bubbles!

A lazy blogger, that’s me!

I don’t know what my problem has been, why I haven’t been blogging… maybe it is the 8-25 hours of football I watch each week… But here are some quick facts!

• Got some family pictures done and they rock.
• I got my Utah driver’s license!
• I lost 32 pounds
• My out of shape butt ran 20 minutes straight today, haven’t done that in a long time! LAZY!
• I am going away tomorrow with Shane, so he can run a marathon… Ouch!
• I leave on Tuesday for Canada! 10 days alone, I am getting an ulcer, I hate leaving my family… 10 days is a long time!
• All my kids are in school full time!
• My sister Kat and my nephew came to visit me for a week!
• I want to wear jewelry, but don’t know how…
• I have the best kids ever!

A new blog I love!

Hey everyone that needs new recipes, check out this blog
http://envymycooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/another-giveaway-starts-now.html

They are currently doing a giveaway if that helps you out. I love all the new recipes:)

A bit of August…

Summer has been a blur, and thought I better some August blogged before the kids start school on Tuesday!

Football has gone on all summer, it started June 7th 6am – 8:30 am practices 2 days a week. They had a football camp in July followed by a week off. (the boys went to scout camp for their week off) when football started up again, it was 5 days a week at 6am.

After a couple weeks of that, two a day practices started! Crazy, but the boys love it. They had their first scrimmage.

You can see Caleb number 61 walking on the field, but one of the things that amazed me is look at their portable water fountain. It’s the blue trailer! How cool is that?

You can see my baby Josh tackling in this photo, #59 This photo is off the Freshman and Sophomore teams. Huge hey! Beautiful field and grand stands!

I also enlisted Terann to help with a birthday/farewell cake I was asked to do.ThisThis book of Mormon, was clearly obviously ugly, but I wanted to try it… Next time I will do it differently. Lemon poppy seed cake with a lemon butter cream frosting.

Terann did all the decorations out of modeling chocolate.The cake is peanut butter with a peanut butter whip cream filling (peanuts and white chocolate grated on) peanut butter icing and marshmallow fondant.

Next time back to school photo’s:)