Snider Family Shenanigans

Basketball game!!

2012-02-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

Cameron decided to switch it up and play basketball on one of his school's team. Ophir has a 5th grade team, a 6th grade team, and a 5th/6th team!! Cameron plays on the 5th/6th team!! Here are some pictures from his first game. The scored was 29-14. We lost, but for only having 1 practice together, I think they did pretty well. 20 of those points were scored in the first half, to our 4 points. Not too bad!

He's #8 today!!

New Years 2012

2012-02-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty low-key New Year's. We stayed home and had chocolate fondue!! We played some Wii and watched movies. Kayleigh's friend, Loran, came over!! We had a pretty good time, although Chris was in bed by about 9pm!!

YUMMMM!!! Chocolate!

Kayleigh enjoying her fondue!!

Cameron and Ashlan didn't eat too much chocolate, but the did enjoy the pound cake!!

Dancing fools!!

Sparkling apple cider!!!

Ashlan almost didn't make it!! This was at about 11:55pm!

Loran and Kayleigh

Mom and Cameron

Mom and Ashlan

Mom and Kayleigh

Christmas Table

2012-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

So, I did it again!!! I decorated my table for Christmas!! I have to say it looked better than Thanksgiving!! What do you think?

Glass jars held silver ribbon, ornaments, and candy canes.

A silver tinsel garland and red ribbon went down in the center of the table. A white tablecloth set off my red place mats on which sat silver chargers, cute paper plates, red napkins with a napkin ring around it!

Red bows were tied around each glass jar.

Candles were placed on a wine glass that was upsidedown!

Band Concert

2012-02-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Cameron had his first band concert!!! The concert itself was video taped, so when I figure out how to get them off my camera, I'll get them up here!!

Playing his trumpet (coronet).

Goats

2012-02-03T11:47:00.000-08:00

So when I went through my camera, I found almost 200 pictures of Kayleigh, Ashlan, and the goats. I think they went a little overboard!! Here are a couple I thought were cute!!

Azure Blue saying hello.

Azure Blue thinks she's a lapdog...I mean Lapgoat!!

Azure Blue

Morning Star Blue

Christmas Cards

2011-11-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

So I started making Christmas cards for the two shops that sell my cards. Here are the ones I have finished so far. Hopefully I'll be able to get some time to make some for myself!!;)

Snowflakes

Christmas Tree

Pink Poinsettias

Happy Santa

Gold Tree

Cute Elf

Holiday Banner

Thanksgiving Table

2011-11-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

So at the beginning of the month, our RS activity was given by the 1st counselor in RS. She is an Interior Designer. She had set up a table and chairs in the cultural hall. She had it all decked out in decorations. She then changed the decorations 4 times to give us some ideas for decorating our tables for the holidays with things that we either have, or that are really inexpensive. The idea is to make the holiday feel special, not just like any other day. So, I decided that I was going to try this. Make Thanksgiving dinner at least look special, since it was just the 5 of us for dinner. ;( Here's my 1st attempt. Total cost: $8

Tall vases-$1 each, Green plates-$1/4, pumpkins and gourds-$.50 each
Had: lemons, candles,ribbon, wine glasses

I took wine glasses, turned them upside down, put lemons in the bottom, and a candle on the top.

I took ribbon and just wound it around the vases, plates, and glasses.
Colors: Rose, Yellow, Olive, and Orange

Not too bad for my 1st attempt. I forgot to get a picture with all of us sitting there!

Fun Pictures

2011-11-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

Kayleigh found this cute hat at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. Cameron was being weird and put some fun 80's glasses on with it. I LOVED it, although Cameron thought I was making fun of him. Poor guy couldn't stop crying, even after he realized we weren't teasing him. So, here we all are!! Even the dogs got wrangled into it!!

Ashlan

Cameron, tears and all.

Kayleigh

Chris. Scary, right?

Charlie

Tucker

Thank You Gift

2011-10-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

So, last Thursday my truck broke down on my way home from picking the kids up from school. I carpool with a family in my ward (church), so I had an extra kid!!! Of course, it's the day I left my cell phone at home, so I didn't have any contact info. Luckily I broke down across the street form a business and they so very kindly let me use their phone. This friend I carpool with VERY graciously came and picked us up!! Not only that, but she drove to seminary, school, and pick-up on Friday and then again all this week. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! Sarah, You are a lifesaver!!!!!! I wanted to do something for her to show my appreciation, so I made a matching card set and holder for her.

80's Workout Day

2011-10-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Last week was homecoming week at Las Plumas High School. One day was 80's Workout Day. Here's Kayleigh's outfit:

Halloween

2011-10-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I volunteered to head up the decorations at our Halloween themed gymnastics meet in a couple of weeks. WOW!!!! I know, right? Me head up a committee? What was I thinking? Anyways, I've been online trying to see if there was anything inexpensive that I could do to add to the decorations we already have at the gym. Here's what I came up with:

The gym already had the little jars, so I thought I would do one of these for each of the judges tables, one at the front desk, and one at the snack bar.The front desk will say "Velcome" with a vampire, and the snack bar will say something like "Ghoulish Treats". What do you think?

Kayleigh's 2nd Level 5 Meet

2011-09-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

So Kayleigh had her second meet on Saturday. It was held at Gold Country Gymnastics in Grass Valley. Kayleigh had an awesome meet!!!

1st place on vault: 8.675

The team won 1st place!!

2nd place on Bars: 9.150

2nd place All Around!!

4th place on beam: 8.750

4th place on floor: 8.175

Bar routine

Beam Routine

Love this shot of Kayleigh coming out of her handstand!!

Dismount!

Kayleigh's favorite picture! (floor routine)

My favorite picture!!!

Back handspring

Vault

The vault pictures are a progression of her vault!! Thank you sports setting on my camera for rapid fire shots!!!!

More Halloween Cards

2011-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more Halloween cards that I've been working on. Some of them are ideas from someone else, some are my own brainstorms!!

Digital Images by The Cutting Cafe. This is a great idea for those who don't want to buy an entire stamp set. You can buy single digital images, print and color!! So fun!

Love these witch's shoes!!

This owl is a $1 stamp I found at JoAnn's.

I love this bat!! He is too cute!!

Spiders!! EEK!!

This one isn't Halloween, but I needed a Thank You card. I used some scraps of paper that I soooo need to use up, and also some bits of ribbon! EASY!!

More Vinyl

2011-09-01T13:21:00.001-07:00

Okay, I finished the vinyl for my craft room wall. Well, at least the words. I am going to cut out a few more owls and stick them up!

Craft Room Wall

2011-09-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

So, I am slowly putting my craft room together. While the kids were at my mom's house, I got the "focal" wall painted a very pretty dark teal color. It isn't as bright as I wanted, but I really like it!! Chris helped me put my shelves up and I got some vinyl cut and put up. It was a little awkward to put up and it is off-center, so I may have Chris help me rearrange it. I'm still working on how to store things on the shelves, so excuse the mess that's there. I'll be cutting more vinyl out to go in between the two bottom shelves. It will say "Creativity is messy...and I am VERY creative!". I think that sums it up about how I work. I do like everything to have a place, but I like to put everything away after I am completely done working for the day. My table ends up looking like a tornado passed through!!

1 More Halloween Card

2011-08-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

I ordered a couple of owls stamps from Side Show Stamps and bought a small grab bag of stamps. This vampire was in the mix and I thought he'd make a great "Man" card!!

Halloween cards

2011-08-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

So, I've set some goals for myself in the card-making department. I lost my mojo there for a while, but I think it's back!!! I painted my craft wall, and cleaned out my supplies. I'm slowly getting organized, but it is good enough for me to make cards!!! Here are 4 Halloween cards I just finished!!

Trick or Treat cat!! I added some homemade "Flower Soft" to make the cat look fuzzy!! Can you tell?

I found this little witch in the $1 bin at Michael's!! I thought she was cute!!

Here's the witch's friend, Frankenstein!! The thing that took the longest was hand drawing the "stitches" on the cardstock!!

I saw a similar card on Split Coast Stampers, and wanted to re-create it!! The spiders' silk is drawn in with a silver pen!!

1st Level 5 Meet!! Pictures

2011-08-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Kayleigh had her 1st Level 5 meet in Rancho Cordova and Technique Gymnastics. The judges are a little harder on the Level 5 girls, so Kayleigh didn't do as well as she thought she was going to. I thought she was amazing, but I think I'm a little biased!!;)

Bar Routine - Look how straight her legs are!!!

Bar routine - I don't know how she does it!!

Doing her kip!

Beam routine

Floor routine

Back handspring

Splits

Back walkover

Vault

I just thought this was a cool picture!!

Up and over

Waiting with Coach Megan and Coach Carrie

She hurt her knee doing her vault, so she's icing it before awards.

5th place on vault!!!

1st Day of School!!!

2011-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday was the first day of school for Cameron and Ashlan!! Cameron is in 6th grade and has Mr. Becker for his teacher. Ashlan is in 3rd grade and has Ms. Johnson for her teacher. This year for 1st day of school teacher gifts, I did pencil jars. I found the jars at Wal-Mart, filled them with pens and pencils and then added vinyl to each side. 1 side has a "P" and "Pencils", 1 side has a "P" and "Pens, and the 2 remaining sides has the teachers' names and initial. Easy!!!! And the teachers LOVED them!!

Kayleigh is 14!!!!

2011-08-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Kayleigh is 14!! It certainly doesn't feel like it's been that long! Kayleigh is an AMAZING person!! She loves people and can talk to just about anyone! She is a great gymnast with the most beautiful lines I've seen! She is going to be a great gymnastics coach, too! The kids love "Coach Kayleigh" and she loves them! She LOVES to text, which often leads to trouble. She is funny and has an awesome sense of humor!! She is fun to be around and has a great laugh. Kayleigh is a beautiful girl and she is very loved!!!! Happy Birthday Kayleigh!!!!

Chocolate cake with 7 minute icing and black and orange sprinkles!

Singing!

Blowing out the candles.

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Finishing dinner before Young Women.

Kayleigh, Jade, and Loran

Reading Grandma's card

Ashlan Being... well, Ashlan!!

2011-08-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's pretty much self-explanatory!! WEIRD!!

Calling all Bloggers

2011-08-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow bloggers,
Our ward is wanting to start a Relief Society Blog. I'm interested to see any ward blogs that you know about. If you can comment and leave the web address, I'd so appreciate it!!! Thanks for all your help!!!
Megan

Ashlan Ripped One!!!!

2011-07-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

HEEHEE!!! Well, she finally ripped her hand. She spent about an hour trying to get her kip on the bars. It's a move that you don't have to get until you are a level 5. Ashlan is a level 2-3. She's kinda right in the middle. She almost had her kip last night!!! Sooooo close!!! She was VERY excited about "ripping"!! In gymnastics it's a sort of "Badge of Honor"! This is her very 1st rip!!!

It's a fairly small rip, but it means she's been working hard!!

I'm Still Alive!!!

2011-07-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

I have been MIA the past month or so. Life in the Snider household is all about gymnastics in the summer!! Monday and Wednesday are my easy days as I'm only at the gym from 4pm-7pm! Tuesday and Thursday are long days as Kayleigh starts at 11am and we are there until Ashlan finishes at 6pm! Friday is my longest day. Kayleigh starts at 11am and Cameron is done at 7pm! We don't have much time for anything else!
Here are just a few pics of the kids so far this summer.

4th of July!

Gymnastics Team Pool Party!!

Kayleigh and Ashlan

Cameron and the goggles!!

Ashlan

Ashlan loved these water guns!

Kayleigh and Charlie relaxing!!

New family member!!

2011-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

We adopted a new dog on Saturday. We named him Charlie and he is a great dog!! We think he is a poodle/lhasa apso mix. (Those two breeds aren't supposed to shed.) He is super sweet, although Tucker is still getting used to the idea. We saw pictures of him when the SPCA got him and he looked like a filthy mop!!!!

Cameron Turns 11!!!!!

2011-06-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Cameron is 11! He is an amazing kid!!!! He still love everything Harry Potter, Star Wars, and most things Sci-Fi!!!! He is obsessed with Legos! He loves the build all sorts of things, most he makes up himself and are pretty darn good! He is a straight A student and loves to learn. He can read something once, remember it, and then spend hours telling you all about it. Cameron is also on his way to becoming an excellent gymnast. He works hard and loves to work out!! I have a feeling that in high school, Cameron is going to be a cross country runner. He's not real fast but boy does he have stamina. He can run forever!!!! He can't wait until we can visit Derek and Dylan to prove to them that he is an athlete and can do more push-ups, sit-ups, and v-ups than them!!! (They are both baseball players.)Happy Birthday Cameron!!!!!!

Birthday Cake: White cake and buttercream icing!

Harry Potter Legos

Cuponk Game

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Wii game

New underwear!!!! He IS growing!!!!

Blowing out the candles. This is Cameron's best friend, Isaiah!

Chris' Boat!

2011-06-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well, Chris managed to snag a boat. The family of one of Kayleigh's friend just wanted it off their property, so for the price of tires for the trailer, Chris got himself a boat. It's a project of a boat, but a boat nonetheless.

Tadpole Time!!!!

2011-06-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

We went to our friend, Aricka's birthday party. The Hickman's own a vineyard and winery, so they have a bit of property. They have a pond in which the Hickman girls catch tadpoles. After they catch them, they put them in an old tub. Cameron, Ashlan, and Kira were in the tub catching tadpoles. We had a lot of fun!!!!

Ashlan had a tadpole between her fingers.


Tadpoles

Cameron dropping tadpoles.

More tadpoles


Cameron, Kira, Ashlan, and Aricka


Kayleigh with the birthday girl, Aricka!! Stacey is the other little girl and calls Kayleigh her bestest friend.

End of 5th grade!

2011-06-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Cameron ended 5th grade on the Principal's Honor Roll. That means he got all A's on his report card. He also had perfect attendance for the year. Good job Cameron!!!!

Waiting.

Perfect attendance.

Principal's Honor Roll

Friends

Cameron with his teacher, Mr. Goodwin.

Kayleigh Ripped!!!

2011-06-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here's another rip courtesy of Kayleigh!!!Getting rips in gymnastics is a good thing. It means you were working hard!

Kayleigh Graduating 8th Grade

2011-06-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of Kayleigh. She made it through Jr. High! They did it up big for the graduation ceremony.

Strutting it with her friends before the ceremony.

The one picture I made her take!!

Getting her diploma.

YEAH!!!! A graduate!!!

Walking out!

Friends forever.

Fishing on Memorial Day

2011-06-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

We decided to take the family fishing on Memorial Day. Too bad is was windy and cold. What the heck???? We had a good time even if we didn't catch anything.

Ashlan trying to fish.

The only way I could get a picture of Kayleigh...by sneaking one!

Chris was really trying to make a go of it. It was too windy.


Cameron looking for something.

Chris putting worms on the hooks for the kids.

Kayleigh's New Dress

2011-05-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

Kayleigh went to a school dance with some friends. She had a blast!!! We found her dress at a thrift store for a whole $4.75!!! It had the tags still on them and everything! She also needed new shoes, so she bought these pretty red ones!!

Air Show at Beale Air Force Base

2011-05-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great day!!!!

Walking into the airshow! Us plus one...Isaiah Coon joined the fun!!

Ashlan thought it was so cool. We had to watch her because she would not stop looking up!!

Holding up the plane

Cameron in the cockpit

Ashlan in the cockpit

Her are the three kids in a rescue helicopter.


Cameron holding up the plane

It was a little windy!!!

Cameron wanted to go and do everything!!!!

Kayleigh didn't want her picture taken.

Ashlan posing

Gotta LOVE the Thunderbirds!!

Mirror Image

I don't think they can get any closer!

PARTY!!!!

2011-04-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

After Ashlan's baptism, we had the Moglers and Coons over for dinner and cupcakes!!! We feasted on teriyaki sticks, chicken long rice, potato salad, and lots of other good munchies!!! After dinner Ashlan opened her presents and we had cupcakes!! YUMMY! We are so grateful to have friends that take the time to support us! Thank you guys!!!!! We had a blast with you all!!!!

It was getting a little chilly!

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Opening gifts!!

Chris and Chene

Ashlan got an Easy Bake Oven!!!

Andrea wants to see what she got!

I didn't have Isaiah in any pictures because I couldn't find him!! He was cold and went to find his jacket!!

Blowing out the candles!

Cupcake in her face!!!!

I got her good!

She said it was "excellent cake"!!!

Ashlan gets dunked... I mean baptized!!!!

2011-04-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a very special day for us! Ashlan was baptized!!! Our stake does baptisms once a month for the kids who turn 8 during the month. Luckily for us, that day fell on the weekend of Ashlan's birthday. She and one other girl, Sophie, from our previous ward were baptized on the same day!! It reminded me of my baptism when my best friend, Becky, and I were baptized on the same day!!! Thanks to the Moglers, who had a busy, problematic day, for coming up to share this day with us!! And a special thank you to Chene who gave a talk on the Holy Ghost!!! Thanks to the Coon family for coming too!! Also a special thanks to Jesse Nicholai and Jimmy Nore for helping with the confirmation!!We are so lucky to count these families as our friends!!! We are so proud of you Ashlan and so is your Heavenly Father!

Waiting to leave!

Getting excited!

At the church

getting a little nervous!

Soaking wet!!!!

Our helpers getting Ashlan ready to be confirmed.

So happy!

Thanks to Jesse Nicholai, Chene Mogler, and Jimmy Nore!!

Ashlan hamming it up!

Ashlan with mom and dad!!

Ashlan turns 8!!!

2011-04-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time goes by. My baby turned 8 on the 6th of April!!! Ashlan is a wonderful person and we love her very much. She is a crack up and makes us laugh just about everyday. She has a crazy sense of humor and is very quick-witted. She can tease with the best of them(her dad, Uncle Harry, Uncle Pete, Uncle Michael, and Uncle Spencer)!!! She is an amazing student and loves all subjects in school. She is going to be a great gymnast, too!! On her birthday, mom and I took her shopping with us and then out to lunch! We had a really fun time!!!

Ashlan love to wear mismatched socks!!!

She got Tangled!!

I don't remember what was in the bag, but she liked it!!!

She got a Zooble mom and baby! (Think Bakugan for girls)

Big party,huh? Thanks mom for being here with us!!!!

8 candles on a little cupcake!!!

Lake Oroville

2011-03-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

We have lived in Oroville for almost 3 years now. We used to live near the lake and loved to sit on our deck and just look at it. Unfortunately, the lake was always really low. With all the rain we have had this year, the lake is just about full and the snow hasn't even started to melt!!! We were so excited to find out that they were going to start releasing water from the lake into the Feather River. This is very exciting for us because we've never seen the spillway in action!!! Here are a few of the pictures we got:

Dress Like a Rock Star!!!!!

2011-03-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ashlan had "Dress like a rock star" day at school. She and Kayleigh came up with this outfit. They went the 80's route with Cyndi Lauper!!!! She posed herself in all these shots!! She cracks me up sometimes!!!!!

San Jose Meet

2011-03-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Cameron competed at a meet in San Jose this weekend. Here are some highlights...

Floor Routine Score 14.3

High bar Score 14.6

Pommel Horse/Mushroom Score 11.5

Pbars 11.7

Rings 12.8

Vault 14.7

This was a huge meet and there was really good gymnasts there. Cameron ended up in 69th place out of 80. Not great, but he had a great time!!!!

Round Off!

Dismount

Circles

Love this one!!!

Yeah!!! Pointed toes!!

Swing on the rings!

Coach said this was his best vault to date!!!

Let 'er rip!!!

2011-03-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

Kayleigh has been waiting for this rip to happen and it finally did! She ripped while doing a kip on the bars! The coaches get very excited about rips because it means the girls are working hard!! She came home and took a picture before she even washed the chalk off her hands!

News and Cards

2011-02-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

I have been neglecting this poor sad blog. Life gets away from me sometimes. There have been some good things happening in our lives, the biggest being that Chris is now employed!!!! Yippee!! This has been a long time coming and something he sooooo deserves. Cameron has been happily competing at his gymnastics meets and Kayleigh did really well at her Xcel meet. Ashlan is excited that she is now back in her advanced gymnastics class. She was getting so bored sitting at the gym 5 days a week and not being able to participate. I have been busy selling cards and vinyl window stickers. So here are a few cards that I did in the past couple of days.

Gym Pictures

2011-01-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

One of the moms at gym took team and individual pictures at the Christmas Party. Here are how ours turned out:

Oroville Gymnastics

Level 4 Girls

Kayleigh

Cameron (He's actually standing on Coach Cory's shoulder!!)

Together!!! Love this one!! (except for Kayleigh's toes!!!)

Someone borrowed my all boy team picture, so when I get it back, I'll post it!

Cameron's 1st Meet

2010-12-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

Cupcake Holders

2010-12-07T00:49:00.000-08:00

I found a template online for a cupcake holder. I was playing with the template and figured out how to add a name or phrase to the holder!!! I'm so excited to see if these sell. I'm going to try and put images around the top next. It will probably be gymnasts!!!;)

Ashlan

Cameron

Flowery Scallops!

Happy Birthday

Kayleigh

Kayleigh's State Meet

2010-12-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

Kayleigh competed at the NorCal State Meet on December 4th. We are so proud of how far she has come as a gymnast. She did some of her best routines, although she fell on the beam and the bars. Her coaches told her if she hadn't fallen, she would have taken 1st on those two things. She tied for 5th on the vault!!! She also competed with Mackenzie Cook, a really good friend from our old ward in Lodi. Mackenzie lived down the street from us and Kayleigh was always down at her house! Kayleigh is proud of how she competed and so are we!! She had a great time and has vowed to ROCK Level 5 next year!!!!

Bar routine

WOW!

Leap on beam

Beam routine

Dad and daughter!!

Love her handstand!

Floor Routine

I love her lines!! And her toe point!!

The other girl got on the wrong box!! Not 4th, 5th!!!

Right box!

Kayleigh and Mackenzie (right behind the 7th place plaque)

Vault!

Scorebooks for Byers Roseville

2010-12-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

I got my first order for Megan's Makings!!! I was super excited to say the least! A lady that bought a scorebook at our home meet ordered 56 books for the compulsory girls team for their Christmas gift. I got busy and got them all done, including adding some Swarovsky crystals!!! On the first page of each book was the girls' name, level, and the Byers logo!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T00:27:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little slow getting these up...but here they are at last. We had a very quiet Thanksgiving at home. (Not enough money to go to my mom's house) :( Our dinner turned out YUMMY!! I must say I'm getting pretty good at this holiday dinner thing!

Miss Mandarin Mouth

2010-12-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

This is a normal sight in my house right now... Ashlan with a mandarin orange in her mouth. Our neighbor in back has a couple of trees and we have been finding bags of mandarins hanging on our fence. We love it!! Here she is hamming it up!! I love this girl and her sense of humor! She cracks me up!!

Principal's Honor Roll!

2010-11-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

We are so proud of Cameron! He made the Principal's Honor Roll. This means he got all A's on his report card!!! Here he is getting his award from his teacher, Mr. Goodwin.

Cameron was one of three students in his class to get all A's.

This is a 4th/5th combination class.

Way to go Cameron!!!

Darts!

2010-11-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

We finally got around to putting up our dart board. We have a great time playing darts, although Chris always beats us!!

Ashlan was too small before, so this was her 1st time playing! She did pretty good, although she has to stand very close. Chris and Ashlan played 10 games and Chris only won 3 of those games!!! (No, he didn't even let her win!)

Ashlan being Silly!!!

2010-10-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been posting so much about Kayleigh and pretty soon quite a few of Cameron that I've been forgetting someone! Oh yeah, Ashlan!!! Ashlan is a ham and loves to pose for pictures. LOVE HER!!!

Kayleigh's Second Meet

2010-09-13T15:54:00.001-07:00

So Kayleigh had her second meet yesterday in Brentwood. She was amazing!!! I'm so proud of what she is acomplishing in gymnastics!!

Kayleigh

Love that her feet aren't touching the ground!

Splits, OUCH!

Running

Love her beautiful lines!!

Swinging like a monkey!

Concentration

Beautiful lines!

Wow!

Grandma Came To Visit!

2010-09-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

My mom came to visit us this past week. She came up on Friday so she could be at Kayleigh's 1st meet. We were so glad she came! The kids were so excited to see her. Mom and I kept pretty busy this week. We went to a fruit stand and bought tomatoes and peaches. We made peach pie filling! YUMMY!!! Unfortunately the tomatoes weren't quite ripe, so she left before she could help me make stewed tomatoes! She made bread dough on Wednesday so we could have some griddle cakes!!! Double YUMMY!!!! We were sad to see her go, but can't wait for her to visit again.

Scorebooks

2010-09-03T10:08:00.001-07:00

I made these cute scorebooks for the girls on team as a good luck gift for the season. I ended up making 22 of them for the girls and 2 for the coaches. I tried to make a book that matched the girls' competition leo. (They were all dk blue with another color.) The little one is for the girls to keep track of their own scores this season. I also made a bigger one for the coaches. It keeps track of all the girls on team, divided into levels. I think they were a big hit! The girls and coaches loved them!!
Coach Scorebook

Girls Scorebook

Scorebooks

Kayleigh's Medals

2010-09-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Kayleigh ended up with 3 medals at the meet. She placed 6th on bars, 9th on vault and we think it was 10th all around! Congratulations, Kayleigh!! We are so proud!

1st day of school

2010-09-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

I missed posting the pictures I took of the kids on their 1st day of school. Here they are:
Ashlan is in 2nd grade and her teacher is Mr. Scott.

Cameron is in 5th grade. He started the year with Mr. Robertson in a 5/6 combo, but was moved to Mr. Goodwin's 4/5 combo class just yesterday.

Kayleigh is in 8th grade this year.

Here they are right before they left for school. Ashlan cracks me up. She decided to do bunny ears right before I snapped the picture!

Kayleigh's 1st Competition!

2010-09-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

Here's some videos of Kayleigh's 1st gymnastics competition. Please excuse the video quality, as I'm still learning. I think Kayleigh ROCKS at vault!! She's awesome!! They get 2 passes at the vault and the higher of the two scores is given. Kayleigh scored a 9.125, for he 2nd vault! As a bonus, there was a cute little boy that was dancing to the floor music!

Her uneven bars routine scored an 8.750.

Her beam routine scored a 7.950. She was a little nervous and bobbled a little more then she normally does.

Here is Kayleigh's floor routine. She scored an 8.050.

Some pictures that I took at the meet. She's beautiful!!!

Kayleigh's Competition Leo

2010-08-25T16:19:00.001-07:00

Kayleigh just got her competition leo and wanted me to share. Each girl on the team picked a different accent color. Kayleigh wanted red. (it looks purple here, but it is actually a royal blue)

Happy Belated Birthday Kayleigh!!!

2010-08-20T10:39:00.001-07:00

This is a little late, but I've been having problems posting things from my laptop. Mostly the problems were with my WiFi connection. So, this is being posted from my home computer and the pics I wanted to post are on my laptop. So I'll post those pics later! Now for what I wanted to post:
Wow! Can you believe I have a teenager? I can't! Kayleigh turned 13 on the 17th!!! She is a wonderful young woman. She loves to watercolor and draw. She loves to make flower clips for her hair. She makes wonderful button rings, chokers, and headbands. She is an amazing gymnast!!! She is one of the funniest people I know and she can always make me laugh. She is a good friend. We love her sooo much and we are so proud of the the person she is becoming. Happy birthday, Kayleigh!!!!

Happy Birthday Sara!

2010-08-05T09:45:00.001-07:00

Today is Sara's birthday! We love you!!! Have a wonderful day!

Rips

2010-07-08T09:01:00.001-07:00

One of the things that happens in gymnastics is a thing called "rips". It's pretty much a blister they rip open. It happens because of spending time on the bars or, in Cameron's case, the rings. This is Cameron's 1st rip!! Poor baby was crying in the shower because it stung.

He had to put Bag Balm on his hands (yes both, because he has a blister that's about to rip on the other hand), and then socks. This is how we found him right after he fell asleep last night!!

Ice Cream Cone Cards

2010-06-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

I made a couple of Ice Cream Cone cards the other day!

Slip N Slide!!

2010-06-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

We decided to get a slip n slide to try and beat the heat this summer.
We had some friends over to play.
Here are Cameron and Isaiah.

Cameron on a solo run!

A view of the fun!

Ashlan and Mackenzie!!

Here's Ashlan. I couldn't get a good picture of her on the slip n slide because she would turn her back as she got down to the end.

Happy Birthday Cameron!!!

2010-06-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little boy is 10 already. Cameron is growing up to be quite the young man. He loves gymnastics, Legos, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and playing video games of all sorts. Girls, with the exception of his sisters, LOVE Cameron. Everyone I know tells me that he has the most contagious and beautiful smile they have ever seen. Cameron just finished 4th grade on the Principal's Honor Roll (all A's), and loves to learn. We love having him in our family!! Happy Birthday Six-pack!!!! (Have you ever seen a 10 year old with six-pack abs?)

Cameron and his school buddies!

Cameron's Skateboard Cake!!

2010-06-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Just a few of the cards I've done lately!

Check Out What I Did!

2010-06-03T16:23:00.001-07:00

I was feeling a little crafty today and here's the result! My last ward did something similar to this a while back and I bought the board. I changed things up quite a bit! I'm happy with the way it turned out. The colors are the colors in my business card and hopefully (eventually) they will be the colors of my craft room.
Each ribbon represents a month, and a heart it attached for each person's birthday or anniversary. I need a LOT more hearts!!!

Here's a close-up of the board. It got a little beat up, but I think that adds to the charm! I did the "Happy Birthday",the little flowers, and the numbers on my Cricut! (LOVE IT!!!) The months are stamped on and I wrote the names. It was fun!!

2010-05-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

We went on a nighttime boat ride to see Miami at night! Beautiful!!! It was a really amazing ride.

Here's a sign I saw on the trip! We didn't see any manatees, but we saw a few of these signs!

Here's Miguel, Sara, and Mom!

Me and Mom

View of Miami at night.

Beautiful!!!

Our Solo Adventure!

2010-05-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

On Monday, Sara had to go back to work, so Mom and I were on our own. We ventured up the A1A, which we though would take us up towards Tallahasee. It didn't.

Here is a cool bathroom building. There were many of them in all different colors! Kinda different.

A view of Miami from the car.

Some of the many palm trees in Florida. I didn't realize there were so many different varieties of palm trees. Miami is in the background.

One of the many "Rich" Islands. People with lots of money build houses on these Islands.

Here's where Sara now works! She just started on Monday. It's a daycare center/after school program called Fun Club. She's been working Saturdays there for a couple of months and the owner wanted her to work full-time.

Coral Castle

2010-05-14T08:27:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Coral Castle in Miami, FL. It's not really a castle as much as it is a rock garden! This place was built by a 5 ft, 100 lb man named Ed. This place was amazing!! Nobody knows how he did it, because nobody ever saw him work. If you are ever in Miami, this place is a must!
The side of the castle. This is where he dug up the pieces of coral.

These are the steps leading up to Ed's room. He lived here in a little tiny room. He housed all of his tools in a little room right below his room.

When it was complete, he charged people 10 cents to visit.

Here's mom taking some of the many pictures both she and I took. The planets and the moons you see in the background are carved from the same piece of coral as the wall they sit on. Crazy Amazing!!

Ed did live here and he built the three chair for reading. The one on the right is for reading in the morning, so the sun is shining over his shoulder. The chair in the middle is for reading at noon when the sun is directly overhead. The chair on the left is for reading in the afternoon when the sun is shining over his shoulder. Sara and mom sat in these chairs and said they were actually very comfortable!!! They liked the afternoon chair the best!

I'll be back!!!

2010-05-02T15:07:00.001-07:00

I'm leaving tomorrow for 10 days in Miami with my mom!!! Here we come Sara!
I'll be back next week with TONS of pictures to share.

Happy Birthday Ashlan!!!

2010-04-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Today my baby turns 7. How can she be 7 already? I'm not that old. She got a new outfit to wear to school today, along with a birthday badge. She is super excited that today was the 1st day back to school from their Easter break. (Last year her birthday landed during Easter break.) We took her out for her birthday dinner last night. She picked Papacitos and ordered the camerones (cheese filled, bacon wrapped shrimp)! Boy does she love those!!!! She is very excited to have gymnastics tonight, so they will sing happy birthday to her!!!

I really wanted to find some baby pics of her, but they are on the old computer, which is not set up yet. Sorry!

2010-04-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

Silk Tie Easter Eggs

2010-04-03T11:43:00.001-07:00

I saw on a blog how to dye Easter Eggs using Silk ties, so I decided to try it this year. The kids are getting older and get a little bored with the normal dying methods. Here are the results:

We started with old 100% silk ties from thrift stores.

Kayleigh with one of her eggs.

Cameron with one of his eggs.

Ashlan with one of her eggs.

Here are the finished eggs. Some didn't do so well, but most of them are beautiful!! We will be doing this next year!!!

New Patio!

2010-03-22T11:41:00.001-07:00

We decided to make our front porch/patio a little bigger. We want to put a small tale and 2 chairs out front to enjoy the evenings.Cameron and Ashlan worked hard and even had fun posing for the camera!
It's not done yet, so I'll post when it's done.

Our Newest Family Member

2010-03-10T11:00:00.001-08:00

Here is our newest family member. His name is Tucker and we adopted him from the SPCA on Saturday. We think he is a sheltie mix, although his tag said he was a Jack Russell Terrier mix. What do you think? He is a very sweet and lovable dog. He loves to just sit with us and cuddle! He is finally getting used to us and we finally heard him bark yesterday. (Yeah not a barker!!!)

Ashlan's Mini-Meet

2010-02-25T21:57:00.001-08:00

Ashlan had her Mini-Meet tonight. We are so proud of the progress she has made. She is going to be a wonderful gymnast! Here she is waiting for the meet to start. We were there way early because Kayleigh had team practice before the meet.

This is Ashlan doing her warm-ups. She is becoming very strong and very flexible!

Ashlan's Mini Meet 1

2010-02-25T21:50:00.001-08:00

I love watching Ashlan on the beam! She has learned to slow down and concentrate since she fell off and sprained her wrist. She was one of the few girls who remembered all the routines!

Ashlan loves doing floor exercises!

Here she is on the tumble track.

Uneven Bars!

Ashlan and Coach Skylar, Kayleigh, and her medal and ribbons!

Kayleigh at the Mini-Meet

2010-02-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

The team girls got to participate in the mini-meet. The started the night with a dance routine! This was the 1st time Kayleigh has ever performed in front of an audience. She had a blast!

Here the team girls are demonstrating how they warm-up on the beam.

Kayleigh loves the bars!!! She has such pretty lines and this is where it shows!

The team girls were demonstrating here a fe2 tumbling moves on the tumble track. I got a couple of great shots of Kayleigh in the air. (Sorry about all the blurry pics. Can't use the flash in the gym.)

Cameron's Mini-Meet

2010-02-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Cameron participated in his very 1st Gymnastics Mini-Meet! We are so proud of the progress he is making in this class! He had a great time!
Here is Cameron walking out onto the floor!

Cameron doing warm-ups!

Cameron's Mini-Meet 1

2010-02-25T09:28:00.001-08:00

Cameron on the pommel horse!

Cameron on the parallel bars!

The high bar is one of Cameron's favorites!

Rings is Cameron's favorite thing to do! He loves doing all these moves!

Cameron's Mini-Meet 2

2010-02-25T09:22:00.001-08:00

This is Cameron on vault. He did a front flip. My camera just wasn't fast enough to catch it!

Here is Cameron's floor routine. He is soooooo much better than when he 1st started!

Cameron and Coach Cory and his medal and ribbons! He had a blast!

New Gymnastics Stamps!!!

2010-02-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

I've found two gymnastics stamp sets!! Boy, are these hard to find! The first and the third are from a set by Clear Dollar Stamps and the second one is a Close To My Heart set! Enjoy!

New Job!

2010-01-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

Well, Chris now has a new job. He will be an outside salesman for Stockton Tri Industries. We are very excited about this because Chris worked for Stockton Tri right before he went over to PDM. We are grateful for the work at Hub, but this will be a huge step up for us. (Thanks Mark for the Hub contact!!!) Chris will be covering the Sacramento area , so the drive is still long, but it will be worth it.

Planes!!

2010-01-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah!!!! I can stamp again!!! I soooooo needed to de-stress!! My stamping stuff is out of boxes and almost organized! I was glad to get back to card making! Here's a card I made for a lady at gymnastics. She needed a birthday card for a little boy!

Stamps: Martha Stewart
Inks: SU
Paper: Bazzill , unknown patterned paper
Accesories: pop dots and Crystal Effects

I'll Be Back Soon!

2010-01-18T16:38:00.000-08:00

I'll be making some more posts soon. Things have been a little hectic around here. We are all moved, but now the torture begins. I have to find places to put all this stuff!!! I did get my stamping stuff out and ready for me to put out some cards. I've been missing my stamping time! I'm hoping that this year I'll be able to get my cards to some craft shows, so I need to get busy making some!
My kitchen is almost done, so I'll be posting pictures soon!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

2009-12-28T10:33:00.001-08:00

Here we are trimming our little Christmas tree. The kids called it our "Charlie Brown" tree, but it wasn't quite that sad. We decided to do a color theme for our tree this year. We chose blue and silver. It turned out very nice!

Christmas morning amid all the "booty"! We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Crazy Christmas Program

2009-12-18T08:21:00.001-08:00

Cameron had his Christmas program yesterday. The 4th graders' theme was "Crazy Christmas". All the songs were familiar Christmas music with different lyrics put to them. So fun!!!

Cousins

2009-12-17T09:29:00.001-08:00

We took this at Josh and Jessica's. They are standing in order oldest to youngest (I think). Allie, Garrett, Daniel, and Kayleigh. They first 3 were born in 96, and Kayleigh was born in 97. Allie, Garrett and Daniel are actually my cousins, so Kayleigh would be a 1st cousin, once removed? Does anyone know if that's right?

Ashlan Sings Songs!

2009-12-17T09:26:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I went to see all the 1st graders put on a Christmas program! So fun!!! They did a wonderful job!! Ashlan is in the back row and her best friend, Mackenzie, is on the left with the glasses. More pictures to come. I get to go watch the Cameron and the 4th graders today!!!!

Cameron and the Stale Chex

2009-12-17T09:22:00.001-08:00

While we were packing up the kitchen, we found a box of stale Chex. Cameron decided that it might be a nice treat for the deer. We thought he'd go out and just dump the bag out. Oh no. He very carefully poured out the cereal on the path that the deer made in the grass. He told me that way the deer can eat while they wailk. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to a "drive-thru"!!!

House Phase 4

2009-12-17T09:12:00.001-08:00

This is the front of the house with the garage door gone, wall up and window in.

From the garage/bonus room looking at the new wall and window.

Garage/bonus room looking at the side wall. Hopefully the door will be in soon.

Master bathroom looking at the new closet where the door used to be!

Look!!! There's a tub in my living room!!!

Really? A Job?

2009-12-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like Chris may be starting a new job this week. Crappy timing, since we need to get the house finished so we can move in next week, but so needed!!!! We are so grateful to my Uncle Mark for putting this job into motion. Chris is so excited to get back to work. He will be driving into Sacramento everyday. This is like an early Christmas present for us!! Thank you to every prayer that was uttered for our family. We knew that our Heavenly Father was answering our prayers, we just had to wait for the timing to be right. We will forever be grateful for all the support and love that came our way this year. We are hoping this will be the start great new year!

House Phase 3

2009-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Phase 3 is the garage. The General Contractor has jackhammered all the concrete. The kids were very excited that there is only dirt in there now!! Here are some more pics!

Here's the hole where the French door/sliding door will go.

Same hole, from the outside!

They took the garage door off. They are digging so the footer can be poured.

Looking at the garage from the front of the house.

Kayleigh

2009-11-19T08:51:00.001-08:00

Wow! I finally got pictures of Kayleigh at gymnastics!!! She is really excited about making team! She isn't competing this season because they brought her in halfway through. She is really progressing fast! I'm so proud of her! Isn't she beautiful?

House Pictures Phase 2

2009-11-19T08:36:00.001-08:00

Here's the garage getting started!

Looking from the kitchen into what will be the main bathroom.

Here's what is going to be the main bathroom.

Living room.

Kitchen minus cabinets! (And minus the cockroaches!! YUCK!!)

Beware! It's the house!

2009-10-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of the house! Beware! Some of these pictures are scary!!!! Gotta love the colors these people used. We are very excited to get started on the remodel!! I'll try to keep everyone updated with pictures of the remodel.

Here is the front of the house!

The backyard! The house sits on a little under a quarter acre!

These are two of the scariest rooms! Lots of work to be done here!

Here are the beautiful bedrooms. We can't wait to paint!

The laundry room is being turned into another bathroom, and the existing bathroom door will be closed off and a door put in through the master bedroom. The laundry will be moved to the garage.

Ward Halloween Party

2009-10-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

Our ward had it's Halloween Trunk or Treat on Saturday night. I forgot to get a picture of our trunk. It was sooo cool!! We were a hit!! I did help that even with 2 wards there, there were only about 15 cars doing the trunk or treat. So Sad!

Kayleigh was supposed to be a Princess, but it sort of morphed into this!

Here is Sir Cameron! This knight was super cute!!

Princess Ashlan! She looked beautiful, sprained wrist and all! (She sprained her wrist when she fell off the high beam at gymnastics.)

Here are my 3 beautiful children! We had a blast at the party! It was funny that they all picked costumes that worked with each other. Kayleigh's changed, or else they would have been "Damsels in distress, saved by the brave knight".

Final Papers!

2009-10-21T09:15:00.001-07:00

We signed the final papers and wired the money yesterday! The 26th will be a 15 day escrow, but we think it might close sooner than that! As soon as it closes and we can get into the house I will post pictures!

We got it!!!!

2009-10-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

We put an offer in on a house here in Oroville on Friday morning. We just heard that our offer was accepted!! We are excited to set out on this adventure we are calling "Operation Redo"!! We are going to have to gut the inside of this house and pretty much start from scratch! This house is truly going to be ours. We will be putting the sweat, tears, and labor into it. We get to put things into it that will be OUR choice. Yeah!!!! Thank You to everyone who has prayed for something to fall into place for us. We are still jobless, but hopefully that will follow shortly. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can get them.