Merry Christmas!

Since I didn't get around to sending out Christmas Cards this year, here are some pictures from our Christmas morning! :)

The whole family!

Damon

Brady

Evan

Sean

Evan's Preschool Field Trip

Evan's preschool class came to visit me at Harmons today for their field trip to learn more about the food groups. I do preschool tours quite often as part of my job at Harmons so it was really fun to have my little Evan there with all his friends. They got to try on hair nets, sample a cookie, watch how a cake is decorated, watch the forklift in action, sample some pineapple, look at the venus fly trap in the floral department, get a balloon and a coloring book. I had fun and I hope that they all did too!

Halloween 2009

We had a great time on Halloween. It is so fun getting all the cousins together in all their costumes. This is all 12 Karren cousins. It isn't easy getting a picture of them all looking in the same direction. They all have such personality!

Here are my boys just before leaving for Grandma Karren's.

Damon is a Vampire Soccer Player, Evan is Superman, Brady is a Vampire and Sean is a pirate.

Here are our awesome pumpkins! I always seem to forget how long it actually takes to carve 4 each year. They turned out cute though. Well worth the effort!

Scouts

I am the first to admit that I am a terrible scout mother. I know nothing about scouts. Damon has been fortunate to get some great den leaders that have helped him get his Wolf badge. We did some of it together at home, but they did a lot at the den meetings. I appreciate the help and maybe by the time Sean is in scouts I will have it down. :) Here is a picture of Damon at Pack Meeting last Thursday getting his Wolf Badge as well as 2 silver arrow points and 1 gold arrow point. He is so excited to have grandma sew them on his shirt. Way to go, Damon!!!

Look Mom! No Training Wheels!

Evan has been practicing riding his bike without training wheels for most of the summer. Just the other day he decided he was ready to practice some more. He caught on pretty quickly other than turning and starting by himself. Well, I am proud to say that he has mastered bike riding! He can start, turn and stop all by himself now! What a big boy he is becoming! Way to go Evan!!

Damon

Here is my sweet Damon with his new glasses. He was so excited to be able to see! Isn't he handsome??

Last day on the lake

So, here we are...at the end of summer. :( It is always so sad to know that we have to wait 8 months to get out on the lake again. So, for our final day on the boat we decided to try something fun. Darrell is getting really good at wake surfing at has been able to stay in the wake for quite a while. He told me to get on the back of the boat and try to kiss him while he was surfing. Here is the picture that Damon (our new little photographer) took of our successful attempt!

HCG Diet Day 15

So, I made it through another week, but this time not so great results. I must admit that I did cheat and have some bread once and that may have stifled my whole losing process. I am up to a total of 12.2 pounds lost and 13 inches. I still feel great and am re-motivated for my last week! I am hoping to get to a total of 20 pounds. Wish me luck!

Preschool!!!

My baby Evan is now a big boy and had his first day of Preschool today. He was soo excited and couldn't wait to get there. After dropping off his big brothers at school, we proceeded his preschool. I asked him if he was ready and he said "Yes!" I asked him if he was nervous and he said "No!" I took him in and helped him get situated and he said, "Bye Mom!" No worries. When did my baby get to be so big and independant? He is so smart and I am so excited for him to start learning to read and write.

My Handsome Evan

Sean wanted to get in on the picture taking this morning.

HCG Diet Day 8

Wahoo!! I made it through week 1 of 4! I have some great results to post! I have lost 9.8 lbs and 11 inches in 7 days! I must admit that it has been very hard to stick to the 500 calories each day. I am HUNGRY and it has been hard to cook dinner for my family and not be able to eat it. As long as I continue to see these kinds of results, I will keep on keepin on! I can't really "see" the difference yet, but I did put on a pair of pants that I haven't been able to wear for most of the summer. That felt good! Anyway, I will keep you all posted.

HCG Diet

So, Day 3 of the diet has come to an end and so far all is well. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to eat only 500 calories. I am hopeful that I will be busy enough with soccer and working to not think about the fact that I am not eating as much through this next month. I am excited to see if the results come as easily to me as they have to those around me that have done this program. I will post about results as they come in. Wish me luck!!

More than our fair share!

We have definitely had more than our fair share of accidents this month!

Sean fell and hurt his leg playing on our trampoline on Monday, August 3rd. We debated on taking him in to see someone. Even after taking a nap, he would not put any pressure on his leg at all. The InstaCare doctor told me that it looked like it was fractured, but he would have the radiologist look at it closer. I then got a phone call the following Wednesday from the radiologist telling me that it was NOT fractured. So, we removed the splint and he spent the next week and a half crawling around not wanting to put any pressure on it. After 2 weeks, he is still limping a little, but running and playing like normal.

Last night it was Brady's turn. We were at Damon's soccer practice and the other boys had all brought their scooters to play on while Damon practiced. Brady snuck over to Geneva Park which is right behind Suncrest Elementary and was riding his scooter down the hill there. He fell on his arm and wasn't able to come over and tell me for quite a few minutes. Evan finally yelled for me and told me Brady was hurt. Needless to say we left practice early. It was quite swollen when we got home and we debated on going to InstaCare or the ER. After taking X-Rays, the ER doctor said that it was broken and he was going to have to sedate Brady in order to put the bones back in the correct place. He is wearing a splint for 5-7 days and we have an appointment for next Tuesday to get an actual cast put on. Poor kid doesn't get to enjoy our last camping trip up at Starvation this weekend. No more swimming for Brady. Good thing summer is pretty much over.


The only good thing to come of this for Brady is that he will have an excuse to not do too much writing for the first few weeks of school!

I will be happy to not go to another ER, InstaCare or doctor appointment for the rest of the year!! (other than getting the cast on and off!)

Brady's 7!

I feel like we have been celebrating Brady's birthday for 2 weeks now. My family has a LOT of birthdays in July so we decided to go in together on renting out Classic Skating. SO MUCH FUN!! I highly recommend it. It isn't too expensive and it is AWESOME to have it all to yourselves!! So, on the 21st we had all our friends and families come skating. Brady got some great gifts and we all had a great time skating and scootering and we even got to play on the bounce houses that they had there. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Brady and his table full of presents.

This is Brady's camera grin!

Daddy helping Damon skate.

Evan playing on the bounce houses.

Sean scootering!

Everyone in this picture has a birthday in July. From Left to Right....Missy, Braxten (in stroller), Jordyn, Daniel, Crystal, Kaden, Kenzie, Skylee, Katie Lyn, Brady, Ruth & Ethan (in stroller). Missy, Braxten and Jordyn are my sister's sister in law and neice and nephew. Katie Lyn is my brother's neice. Ruth is my sister in law and the rest are all cousins and my parents grandkids. SOOOO many July birthdays!

On the actual day of Brady's birthday (July 31), we took our little family to Nickelcade to celebrate. Then went home for some cake and ice cream. We had so much fun with our boys.

Evan & Sean
Damon
Brady
Yoda Cake

At the Park

This picture was actually taken on Memorial Day. We went to the park next to the Scera Shell to listen to the Bee Gees Tribute Band. The boys played at the park until it was too dark to even see them. The band sounded great and it was lots of fun!

Coach Pitch

Damon and Brady are having fun playing Coach Pitch this year. They especially like being on the same team. Darrell got some great pictures of them today!

Tee Ball 2009

My little Evan is getting so big! Today was his very first Tee Ball game and he was sooo excited. Unfortunately, Damon and Brady had their first game at the same time. So Darrell and I had to split up and each go to one of the games. He took the camera and got some great shots of sweet Evan. He is already a pro athlete! He's a natural!

Last Day of School

We have had a Tradition at our house for the past several years where we buzz the boys heads on the last day of school. Now we are officially ready for summer!

Buzzed Boyz
Damon

Brady

Evan

Sean

Like Mother, Like Son?

Sean likes to "help" me do laundry and one of his favorite items of clothing is my bra. He put this on all by himself. I am sooo proud! :)

Lost and Confused

We spent the evening at my sister's house watching the race last night. The boys love playing with their cousins and are usually not seen much when we are there. After the race had finished, we started getting everyone gathered with their coats and shoes. Oddly, we were unable to find Damon. After looking a little harder, we found him. He had fallen asleep across the bar stools. It was so funny to see him there. I guess you never grow out of being able to sleep anywhere! :)

9 years already?

Yesterday was our 9th wedding aniversary. My how time flies. Looking back at pictures, we look so young and we were so in love! Life has brought us some ups and downs, and my hope is that it will only get better! So much has happened in 9 years. We have 4 amazingly smart and fun boys that keep us on our toes every day. I couldn't be more greatful for the joy that being married and having a family has brought me. As we being our 10th year together I am excited and anxious to know what the future holds. I don't ever want to be without my high school sweetheart and the love of my life!

(I couldn't get my camera to take a good picture of our wedding pics, so this is the best one I've got of us!)

Turning 29

Both Darrell and I are now 29 years old and not so sure where the time has gone. Last night we invited our siblings and parents to dinner to celebrate Darrell's birthday. Only a handful were able to come, but we had a great time. Another year older and we both still feel like we are 18. I don't necessarily mind getting older, just as long as we can still have fun and feel good about ourselves. Hope you had a good birthday, babe!

Goal Update #2

So, another month has passed and I am only down 3 pounds total for the year. I don't want to make excuses, but we have had quite a rough month. The boys have been sick on and off, passing whatever it was from one to the other for about 6 straight weeks. I believe we are all over everything. I have sanitized their room, bought new toothbrushes and washed all the sheets over and over again. It's a new month and I have new motivation. Darrell is home from work for a little while and he and I have decided to "diet" together. He wants to bulk up and I plan to slim down. Today is Day 3 and we are off to a good start. I am taking it one day at a time and I am confident that I will have some much needed results this month. April's starting weight is 172. Wish me luck! :)

Girls Weekend in Park City

My best friend, Mandie, and I decided that we deserved some time to be girls. Away from husbands and kids, even if it was only one night. We headed up to Park City and our first stop was to get manicures and pedicures. Surprisingly enough...this was my first experience with both. I assure you, it won't be my last!!

Here we are enjoying the massage chairs.

And here are my cute painted toes!

After our lovely afternoon at the spa we decided to go chill in the hot tub at the hotel. Then it was off to a night of dinner and shopping. I found a great new purse at Liz Claiborne for$17.99! It was originally $50!

This is not the one I chose.

Mandie modeling her new sunglasses!

We were kindof in a silly mood and decided to find some matching earrings to remember the weekend by. We walked into Clairs and I saw the ear peircing station. I have been wanting to re-peirce my upper left ear for a while now. I have had it done twice before and both times it got infected for different reasons and I had to let it grow over. So, on a whim...I asked Mandie if she would be willing to get hers done too.

I was brave and went first. I did appreciate the teddy bear to hold onto. :)

Right after. Owie!

Mandie's turn...she looks nervous!

All done!
Our ears look pretty red...but it really wasn't too painful.

Chillin' in the hotel. We found some girl scout cookies on the way up!

Mandie is proud of her savings!

At the Utah Olympic Park.

It was quite a windy day.

On Main Street in Park City next to the moose statue.

I Love Lucy chocolates were a little out of our price range for chocolate.

I want to thank Mandie for such a great time! I hope this is something that we can make happen more regularly. Anyone else interested in coming next year, just let us know. :)