Carew Joins Riverton High School's Cross Country Team!!! Yippee!!!

When Carew came home from school and told me that he was going to join the cross country team I almost fainted! ;) I thought to myself, "I wonder what her name is? You know, the cute girl that is on the team that he wants to get to know...:)"

I teased him about it and he laughed at me. Actually it was his friends that told him he should do it with them and how much fun they would have...so he joined! And his friends were right. 

It had been so good for him, and they have had such a good time together, surrounded by some amazing, self-motivated, leader type of kids.

I love it!

The team started the season off right at the beginning of the last school year by practicing every morning all summer long at 7:00 am! Do you have any idea how hard it is for a 16 year old boy to wake up at 6:30 in the morning 6 days a week for their entire summer????

Needless to say, Carew slept in a few mornings, but overall has become a champ!

The team had a 3 day Cross Country camp in August where they went camping up the Little Cottonwood Canyon. they went running all over those mountains! I kept telling Carew how jealous I was! I would have loved to do something like that!

On the last day of their camp they invited parents to come and watch and support the kids in a team relay event. Carew's team ended up taking 1st place! It made him feel so happy!!!

And, although this picture doesn't do it justice, here is what one of Carew's very first meets looked like! A bazillion boys lined up on the football field waiting for a shotgun start where they would all funnel down the field and out a fence to the race course. It was crazy how many kids were there!

Clint and I took a walk around to the other side of the course where we stopped and watched all the runners as they came barreling through  these hurdles of hay bales! Some boys flew through tripping and smashing to the ground into the hay, while others, like Carew never missed a step!

Way to go Carew! :)

High knees!  High knees! You're awesome Buddy! :)

Here is a picture of Carew after he came through the finish line...feeling awesome and accomplished!

I'm not even sure what place he took, but at this point with thousands of other racers, you learn to be happy with your own personal goals. I think Carew finished the course in a sub 13 time which was what he wanted! Great job Carew!

I could not be more pleased and proud with Carew's decision to join the cross country team! He is setting goals, achieving them, learning healthy life style habits, becoming much more self motivated, and hanging around with one of the best group of kids in the entire school. He's becoming more and more strong, happy, making sooo many friends, and all while learning to do something that his mom absolutely loves!!! Maybe now when I ask him if he wants to go on a run with me he might actually want to go! AND he will probably even beat me!

Awesome!!!

I love you Carew!!!

Our Dancer Moves On...

Here are just a few action shots from Kierra's Dance Company Concert...

She's beautiful and amazing...a talented dancer!

(Front and center in a Needle)

Above: Front and center

Below: 2nd from the right with long hair flowing

At the end of the year, all of the dancers got together for the final Awards Banquet where Kierra was honored with kind words and gifts that described her to a "T"...

She is a leader among her peers in so many ways, but most importantly, as a pure and virtuous young woman who always stands for what she believes in...

She was able to perform her 2nd pau de deux (solo partner dance) 

as a finale' to her dance with Canyon View Arts Center as well.

Kierra is a Senior in high school this year and has set some very lofty goals for herself...

One of which is to increase her ballet skills to try and go for a scholarship in Ballet. 

With this goal, she felt like she needed to push herself, and so since has decided to join the 

Ballet West Academy at Thanksgiving Point. 

She is growing exponentially in her dancing skills and loving every minute of it! 

Graceful!

Beautiful!

Take a Bow!

What I love about watching Kierra dance is that it really moves her...She feels the music and it fills her soul, and it shows in her grace, fluidity, and movement. It is absolutely stunning to watch.

And, not only is it beautiful, but inspiring and almost magical to see...

Here is a candid shot of Kierra, Kambriella and I delivering smiles and a Box of Fudge (not flowers) to our favorite Prima Ballerina! :)

With the closing of Kierra's high school dance career and the opening of her next step in the Dance world, she is working hard, being brave, and pushing herself to heights that she has never been to before. She no longer has practices before school, but she has practices 4 to 5 days a week, along with CNA clinicals, classes at the JATC,  and 6 concurrent enrollment classes,

She is a hard working, fun loving, go getter of a girl!

She is more than that though...

She is MY daughter, and one of my very best friends.

I love you Kierra!

No matter where you go or what you do, 

keep reaching for the stars and you will achieve your dreams!

A Land, Air, and Sea Animal Birthday Party!

Oh my!!!

 How quickly time flies!!!

Somehow life gets so busy, and the little things get "pushed aside"...(like keeping up on my blog!)

But to me, it's the "little things" that really matter! 

So, I am going to try to get back to recording some of my favorite things...

after all, it's all of these "little things" that make my life so incredibly enjoyable :) 

and, help me to see just how immensely blessed I am! :)

On June 2nd, Kambriella Noel turned 6 years old! 

She had every element of her birthday planned weeks before it was actually here, which made the planning part pretty easy for me! I simply had to follow her wishes, and I KNEW that I would have one happy little girl!

Kambriella wanted a "Land animal, Sea animal, and Air animal" Birthday party!

Yes, my friends, my children have unique, sophisticated, and complex birthday planning skills!  ;)

Thus we had pink cheetah cupcakes with each of those animals represented on top.

Great idea Kambriella! ;)

Kambriella also had picked out little "Wild Cat" accessories for her and her friends Emrey and Mya to sport during their birthday party activities! Don't they look like a true bunch of "Party Animals?" ;)

We all headed to the new Living PlanetAquarium for par tof our "Sea Animal" celebration...

The girls loved getting to actually touch the Starfish and Sting Rays...

And I think the underwater observatory was one of MY favorite parts to see! The girls sat in front of the huge window watching all of the sea life swim by... I could have sat there for hours...

They also had cute little penguins that were so fun to watch!

There was even an area that had different exotic birds...which made me soooo happy since I knew that would satisfy Kambriella's "Air animal" portion of her little birthday wishes! They even had this fun little rope bridge over there that they loved crossing time and time again! :)

After the friends went home we had our own little celebration with just our family.

Here is Kambriella with one of her classic favorites...Her Birthday card from Grandma Panter with her very own money tucked inside. :)

And then how could any little girl have an "Animal" themed birthday party

 and NOT get an animal of her very own???

            

Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Colby have a special place in their hearts for little Miss Kambriella. They knew how much she loves animals and got the OK from me to give her a pet fish for her birthday...

She was sooo happy and lit up the room!!!

And...just about melted everyone's heart in the mean time...:)

What a special little birthday girl! We love you Kambriella!!!

"Lost Connection"

This is a picture of one of my most prized possessions. :)

My wireless headphones and my arm sleeve for my phone!

I use these two babies every single day!!! ~ Usually first thing in the morning when I head out for a run...or a walk...depending on how I am feeling that day. :) ... and then other times I use them when I am doing my household chores...laundry, dishes, toilets...

 it makes the job soooo much more enjoyable!

What I love so much about them is that I am "hands free" and "care free" as I go about my work! I listen to conference talks, or the Mormon Channel, or my Pandora station...or talk to someone that I love on the phone! It's absolutely awesome.

Today when I came in the house from my run, I set my phone down on the counter and proceeded to head downstairs to wake up the little brothers for school. 

At this point I still had my headphones on, and as I entered their bedroom and flipped on the light I heard the voice on my headphones say,

"LOST CONNECTION"

I paused for just a second since I hadn't yet said anything to my boys...and had the most profound thought and prompting from the Spirit...

"DON"T EVER LOSE YOUR SPIRITUAL CONNECTION!!!!"

In just a few seconds of time my testimony was strengthened from a simple lesson I had learned from my phone...I had walked far enough away from my phone, that the blue tooth connection could no longer reach my headphones...and so, I had "lost connection."

In my life I rely so heavily upon my "connection" to my Heavenly Father through my spiritual studies, through prayer, and through the Holy Ghost... that I don't EVER want to lose my "spiritual connection." I want to try to keep a healthy balance in all aspects of my life and I know that if I keep close to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and try to live it every single day, then I can always be "connected" to the one true source of joy and happiness in this life.

I'm so thankful for the still small voice that whispers to me each and every day...and for the "connection" to my Heavenly Home while I'm here at home on earth. :)

A picture and a Surprise :)

This photo was one of Kierra's individual shots from her 2014-2015 school year on the 

Riverton High School Dance Company.

When I saw this picture I was in awe because Kierra really is so talented at dance and I love having such a beautiful pose captured...it seems to say a lot...

Then, the other day I got onto the school web site to check some things and found out that apparently I was not the only one who loved the picture!

THIS...was what I saw...and I'm sorry...but I was a proud mama! :)

They had selected her picture to be the advertisement for the Audition Packet for the 2015-2016 school year Dance Company try outs.

What a neat thing to see..especially when you very least expect it!!!

So proud of my kids :)

I love them to pieces!!! :)

PROM 2015!

PROM 2015!!!

Just look at these 2 cuties!!! I can hardly believe that I sent 2 of my children off to PROM this year!!!

It was so fun shopping, asking, planning, and helping these 2 get ready for their big dates!

Such fun times!!! :)

This year PROM was on March 21st, which happened to be 5 days after Carew's 16th birthday!

So, lucky for him, he was old enough to go! AND...he was lucky enough to have such an awesome experience for his very first date! :)

His date's name was Alexa Milne...an absolutely beautiful girl with  a personality that matched! Alexa had also just turned 16 so this was a "first date" for both of them!

(I think because of where my children's birthdays fall in the beginning of the spring, PROM ended up being the first date for both of them...Kierra's was last year with Adam, and Carew's was this year with Alexa...so fun!!!)

They were absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen!!! They were both so excited and so nervous all at the same time...and I'm pretty sure I probably embarrassed both of them the whole time

 I was taking their pictures...:) ...but I just couldn't help myself! ;)

...and then there was Kierra and Jacob!

The funnest thing about these 2 being together for PROM is how they are such good friends! Kierra was so excited to go with Jacob just for the fact that she knew she was going to have an amazing time with him! Not only is he a great friend whos so outgoing and funny...but his cousin is Kierra's best friend, and they all ended up going in the same group together...

I think it was Kierra's funnest night ever. :)

Watching these kids exchanging their flowers was a treat too...so excited and yet trying not to stick the guys with their pin ;)

I'm so grateful for my good kids, for their good friends, and for such neat opportunities to grow and have fun in this life. They are some amazing kids...and I'm glad they're mine! :)

The "Dating Date" with Carew!

This cute boy of mine turned 16 on March 16th! :)

And....as per family tradition, we were privileged to be able to take him on the "Dating Date."

This is one of my favorite family traditions that we have with our children!

This is where we take our children for a special dinner and a one on one date with mom and dad to talk about their next big adventure in life...Dating!!! :)

I love going to the restaurants at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake City simply because of the perfect view there of the Salt Lake Temple...which is ultimately the final destination of where we want our children's dating experiences to take them to...eternal marriage in the Holy House of the Lord.

With this view set as the backdrop for our dinner and conversation, I feel like I am planting seeds of testimony and strength in the truths of the gospel and eternal marriages and family.

When I made the reservation for the dinner, I told the people there that it was for my son's 16th birthday...so they set out this little sign on the table 

with a white helium balloon attached to it...drawing just enough attention to Carew 

for him to feel a little embarrassed, but a little special as well. :) AND...they set us right next to the window with that beautiful view of the temple. It was perfect.

We enjoyed our food and conversation..which we drew mostly from the pamphlet put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...For the Strength of Youth...

as we talked about dating..dancing...chastity and moral purity...we told Carew stories from our own dating experiences and bore testimony of setting HIGH goals in order to find the perfect spouse one day. I thoroughly enjoyed being with Clint and Carew and watching him absorb what we were saying, and then watching him crack jokes just like his dad would do..:)

After we were done eating our waitress asked Carew if he would like to make a birthday wish...So she took him and his balloon to the center of the restaurant where they opened up the ceiling!

Everyone seated around us sang along to the "Happy Birthday" song as we watched the ceiling open and then Carew made a wish...

...then he let his balloon go!!!

(After he was finished the guys there all asked..."What is her name?" (with a *wink *wink...SURE that THAT was what he had wished for! :)

After we were finished with dinner and dessert, we walked around the Joseph Smith Memorial Building taking pictures...I don't ever want to forget these special times...:)

Carew is a strong spirit with great things to accomplish in his life...He wants to serve a mission one day, and I pray that all of these lessons we teach...not just the "big" ones...but the little ones that we experience every single day will touch his heart, strengthen his testimony, and make him a strong leader. I know he will do great things.

I love you Carew! Happy 16th birthday!

P.S.

Since this day...Carew has been ordained to the office of a Priest and has had the opportunity to bless the sacrament. He's also gotten his driver's license, and gone on a couple of dates, with some outstanding young women! Yay!!! The fun is just beginning! :)