Just me and the Boys

This One's About ME

2009-08-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

This One's About ME

I was tagged by Paige

What is your current obsession? This will surprise you all. But my current obsession other than anything fitness would be making jewelery. I Started it a few months back. I go once a month, and I am still working on getting really good at it. This is a challenge for me therefore my Obsession.

What do you hate the most that everyone else seems to love? Face Book.. I am not quite a hater yet but I am becoming close to it, to the point I may never go on again. Why? Even though I think it is a great networking tool and great to get in touch with people you have not seen in a while i also see it as some peoples obsession, keeping them away from there lives, families etc.. I tend to be a Busy person and do not like spending time on the computer to begin with as well as being indoors.. Now before you get mad at me, this is my answer not yours. i am not knocking anyone for being on it. Just for me i have other things i really enjoy doing. it has also kept me away from Blogging...by the way Hackers have been getting on it and causing problems with some of the applications this makes me feel very uneasy.

What are you wearing today? Sweat shirt and Roxy cut offs. I have been cold all day. Was suppose to have a girls night tonight but i am so comfortable and still recuperating from my back packing trip I decided to stay in. I absolutely love dressing up and looking like a girlie girl. and i am making a deal with myself to wear a dress anytime we go out for the rest of summer, unless it is cloudy and cold like today...But today it is lazy day for me..

What's for dinner? Leftover spagetti(turky italion sausage, my recipe) but I have a craving for Ramon. that does not happen very often so I am going with it.

What would you eat for your last meal? Sushi, oysters on the half. Then an assortment of Seafood cooked a variety of ways, mushroom risotto, followed by Cheesecake.(homemade Kahlua recipe) I would have a bottle of my favorite Champagne "Veuve"

What is the last thing you bought? Adidas dry release shirt. I was going to hit the mall today for the boys back to school so that would have been a different answer like something cute at American Eagle:( oh well.

What are you listening to right now? Boys hanging out together playing Legos and getting along. Man i have the coolest kids. I don't have to entertain them when we are at home...

What do you think of the person who tagged you? I find her very nice, intelligent, funny and creative. She's opinionated but also appreciate other peoples opinions and such
She is also a go getter and will succeed in anything she does.
She lets people be themselves and would not be mean sprited in anyway
I am learning I need to have these types of people in my life and to steer clear of people looking for the worst in you(as i like to call them Haters) She's a good person.:)

If you could have a house, fully paid for, and totally furnished anywhere in the world, where would it be? somewhere in Oregon up in the mountains. we would rarely be there since we would be traveling all the time, it would be a nice pit stop..

If you could go anywhere for the next hour, where would it be? I am home with my boys. I am never home with nothing to do(this is the 1st day in such a long time) so this is good for me:)
What is one of your hobbies? My newest one would be backpacking I plan to do it more with my Dee and also with the boys for sure, it will be one of our vacations we take each year

What are 3 things that annoy you most?
1. Ignorance BIG TIME to the point that i am very pickie who I choose to have as my friends

2. Parents who push there kids in Sports. it makes me sick and sad for the kids and it's unrealistic. it is very bad where we live and being in the industry I am in, it is destructive for the children not just physically but mentaly as well. I have seen it happen first hand so this is where #1 answer ignorance plays into as well.

3. Just nasty/negative people in general. God put us here to have a kind heart not to look for the worst in people. it drives me insane.

What is your favorite color? Pink and I do love white as well

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe?
My Citizens of humanity jeans with this very attractive Halter i will only wear when i am out at a very "high end" club or on vacation.

What is your dream job? I have it. both that is.(mom and fitness instructor) however i would like to travel more and teach fitness across America as motivational speaker. My children still come first and always will.

What are you going to do after this? Take a bath with a glass a wine.. forgive me Bridget and girls for not making the movie. i will go to the next one

What inspires you? Knowing i can do anything i put my mind into. Example... I backed packed nearly 50 miles in under 3.5 days carrying over 33lbs, i filtered my own water, set up a tent, made my food(Deanna with me as well) and was able to leave all 3 boys for more than 1 night( i was away for 5 days). i did this without any training i was too busy to train. We didn't need our husbands to help us we'll always need our husbands but i know i am self efficient

Who was the last person you kissed? Dax of course. he just left for work

What are you currently reading? I have a book at the St. Helens book store waiting for me.. Stephen Kings memoir. "On Writing"

What delighted you most today? Sleeping away the whole day. have not done that since my 20 something days.. Thinking the backpacking caught up to me hee hee.....

Tag Eight People:
1. Candy
2. Rochelle
3. Sherri
4. Michele
5. Scott
6. Aundrea
7. Jenn
8. toshia
I realize I do not have many blogging friends and the ones I have are from my same circle...:)
And anyone else who just so happens to see this as a Note on Face Book..

Wow

2009-08-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

I know a while back I said something to a really good friend of mine about my lack of Blogging and basically the reason being is because i am living life. She had liked my comment so much she actually blogged about it on her blog. So it's been 5 weeks and before that i believe it's been 4 weeks..Well even though i do enjoy this for my kiddos i also have come to the realization that i am A. I am not into technology as much as i would like to be just the desire is not there. B. I will always pick the outdoors over being indoors in the summer..
C. I rather live it then write about it and feel like i cannot do both.
Well what to do?.. Well I have had a fantastic summer.My Boys all three of them have had a fantastic summer.. No Sports(besides TKD that's a lifestyle BTW LOL!), no homework, some fairly decent time off work.. We are living life, loving life. i always say when school starts back i will Blog the highlights no matter how long it takes.. I have over 1,000 pictures to share and memories to last a life time..I WILL play catch up. just be patient.. in the meantime if your not on FB here's a picture of my latest adventure with a girlfriend.. 1st time away from all 3 boys for more than a day...Yes I know i finally cut the cord just a little more.. LOL.. what can i tell you.. love hanging with the Boys...

Pre-Summer and Summer fun(lots of catching up)

2009-06-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

Jake has a friend b-day party every other year and always in June. His b-day is July 6th so now you know why we do it early.. we have always wanted to do a pool party but always chicken out because most of his friends swim but there are a few who still cannot and the pool is big and can be over 5 feet deep. maybe next year.. we invited over 35 kiddos from school, the gym, TKD, and b-ball. about 20 showed up.. Sunshine was perfect for this large amount.. they were allot of fun and very well behaved.. i was proud of Jakie he read every card out loud before opening the gift and said thank you.. He got sponge bob Lego's, Baku gons(no idea what they are and how to spell it) more Lego's. gift cards from a couple stores, money, a chalk sprayer(cool) transformers and a cool rocket.. it was a great time for all of us.. on his real birthday we always have a family party. i cannot believe my baby will be 8 soon.. the time has flown!!!

Jake was kind of mad here.. after Tanner lit the candles someone else blew them out. then they went out again by accident by Tanner(that was funny) third time was a charm and good luck i told him....

good friends Darrel and Laura on one of our Date nights.

Summer fun consists of swimming at the pool few times a week.. water balloon fights and making there own jewelery Ashely, Jake and Evan. They also made a balloon man and popped him to make him skinny again.(don't we wish it was that simple? LOL

he's loves to swim would go every day if we could... well i guess we could when were home...

baby Anna banana(Seths baby sister...

This was a great party for the kids. the following day i bounced in it at 7am!!
Happy Birthday Ashley

showing his football skills.... and track and field day...

baseball end of the year party... Great year for Jakers

last day of school..

last day of school fun.. track and field day and a picnic at the park.. i received a reminder that day that Jake could be really good at football and i am not sure my feelings on that...
Jake being creative...

Garden after the planting.. as of June 25th you should see how well it's doing:) (As long as i don't wait another month to post!!!

my garden dated mid-may after all the planting and my new fountain...

roses from my husband......

Garrett, Jared, and Jake at a party...
these three are always together.. i really hope they get in the same class for next year...

What better way to catch up by letting the pictures tell the story....

Yes i realize not many of Tanner..(he's a teen now you know) he has dedicated this summer to helping out with some church things, working out and hanging with a few friends. He has also just received his RED belt and will have those pictures posted soon(probably in Aug LOL)
He may have a tournament in July but have not decide if he should do it... in my opinion summers are for playing not doing too many sports however i do plan to run the Sauve Half to try to PR. my bike riding is on the back burner but did some killer hill rides before school let out. i did Vernonia (long way and hills) in a little over 4 hours not too shabby for being almost 40. Dax is fishing his hiney off i am making jewelery and were both enjoying life. nice dinner(Portland City Grill) last week. and doing our fire pit thing..
These were all pictures from my old camera my new one has much more still learning and really want to edit.. this camera had almost 400 pictures and i had a heck of a time picking and choosing what to post in the last 2 months. i know crazy huh? well i had to replant my strawberries this year. i have no idea what happen but my little crop was no more this spring. i have a ton of mint though.. we love strawberries but not strawberry jam(we love raspberry here) but we did pick and enjoyed Lemon strawberry shortcake and muffins. i also freeze a bunch for our smoothies. we eat them by the flat i tell you.. we do like raspberry jam and hope to go picking for that and blueberries.. but it's the blackberry's that i really love....We are most excited for some trips but will posts those as we do them... Summer is definitely my favorite time of the year... Enjoy yours everyone and do not sweat the little things in life don't worry about a "clean house" play with your kids because before you know it they are 13 and you are lucky if they even let you run with them.. LOL...

So many things to write about.....

2009-06-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

But never seem to be able to get on here to do it... As i wait for my infamous GPS to find it's satellite so i can go yet again another long run i find myself checking my friends BLOGS messing with my farm on FACE BOOK and wondering where i shall begin...Bottom line.. it's already been a great SUMMER!!!Oh and my GPS in now ready to go which means i am ready to go... i do promise however to get all caught up maybe post a few pictures at least by the time we are ready to go on our long vacation:)

messing around with editing..

2009-05-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

I have ALOT to learn but messed around with these two pictures... i LOVE black and white. If you have been to my home you'll know that.. anyway hoping to get some more fun shots this weekend...The one of the boys i tried too blow it up but the resolution started to look off? i don't know.. just playing whenever i have a free moment which isn't very often..

i enjoyed a decent run 6 miles with one friend(Stephenie) and my other friend Candy for a little over 2 miles.. As Steph and I were finishing we ran into Candy and I wanted to play "catch up" with her more than anything since we havn't seen one another for onver a week. It was the motivation i needed to get back in the swing of things:) I got 9 miles in and have not ran a long day in over a week.

I am on a Roll!!!

2009-05-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have been playing catch up today on blogging. I am about 6 BLOGS in Check them all out:) All the way back to SUMMER...:) Are you just so proud of me? LOL!!!

Jake getting his first belt in TKD and Tanner Gold in another competition!

2009-05-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

Jake started TKD near the end of Jan this year. He tested for his first belt at the end of April. it just dawned on me I never posted this on my blog... He really enjoys it and has picked it up quite fast. With the baseball season so demanding we have done a fairly decent job and with the luck of only a few games falling on Mon/Wed. He has done great keeping it up... With the help of Tanner he has picked up his 1st form well. Like his brother he loves to Spar and break the boards.. Keep up the great work. On a side note. In any martial Art you are required to keep up good grades. both boys have done so with Jake excelling and Tanner remains a 4.0. TKD is not just about Sparring it also teaches kids Respect for other as well as themselves and to lead and make good choices. Tanner had another competition and had gotten a Gold in sparring. Here's his medal picture. i was not able to attend because of a baseball game. It was the 1st one I missed. he has done so well this year in competition.. I am proud of you Tanner!

more baseball Jake

2009-05-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

first day with the NIKON D90...

If you are just looking at my BLOG and have not done so in the past day. i suggest you continue back on some old posts. i am playing major catch up. So bear with me everyone:) at least i am posting now LOL... I think this is my 5 th post in the past few days:) If you also compare these B-ball pictures to last Thursday pictures you can already see some improvement in my shots.. Not to sound greedy but i am already thinking of getting other lenses right away....

Memorial Weekend part 2 (BBQ, Ape Caves and a Silly B-day party...

2009-05-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

I wont say much on this post being i am running late to class now.. If you haven't looked on my BLOG lately. you should go back a few and get caught up.. just a few more pictures.. these were copied making them smaller on here.... Good Times!!!

Memorial weekend Part one

2009-05-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

I love my Boys!!!

We did decide to spend the weekend at home except for some day trips due to the fact "The Hood" was having another BBQ get together(Sat) and we never seem to all be home for them. I already said this was the summer we see all of Oregon and try to avoid major traveling. We have a Camper and want to use it. One day we spent the day at Sauve. It was a great day not only for hiking but also a last minute dip in the River!! as you can see i was not very prepared. the boys didn't seem to mind though as did I. After a swim we did some hiking and off to Dairy Queen for a late lunch! Then of course a great day always ends with some visit time with the neighbors and a last minute movie for the guys and a late dinner at El Tapitio for the girls... more to post of the weekend later

Jakie and Baseball 2009

2009-05-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just some random shots of a great season so far.. he has really gotten into the game. 1st year pitching machine, he was slightly cautious but when he realized he can hit he's been hitting more than striking out.. a few friday camps has done him wonders i wish we had time to go to the pitching machines but we may just do that more often as the season comes to an end.. he loves fielding and really puts himself out there.. It makes me enjoy watching the game which says allot being it has always been my least favorite to watch and play.. i am so proud of you jakie...

SUMMER

2009-05-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

Lots to update being I have not been on here for a while.. a long while.

Lets rewind a little bit. as far back as March...

To start, we are enjoying the camper allot. and have done a couple trips since buying it last Jan. It's great to camp and stay dry:).. Even though the 1st official trip I was the sickest I have ever been in my entire life. Need less to say I am still fighting the Asmaha(how the heck do you spell this?? LOL) and will probably always will unless I resort to allergy shots.That is one of the tedious things I have to take care of this summer(getting my allergies tested)..I am still running though and ran a half marathon in April while still sick, didn't do too bad either(1 hour 52 min. tough terrain)..I am up to 40-50 miles per week and my max miles per day at 16 once a week.. once I get my breathing under control at mile 3 I am pretty good..
I plan on to PR at the Suave half in July 1 hour 40min. we shall see it is a flat run. I am planning on doing allot of road biking as well maybe a little Mtn biking with Dax. We do run together a couple times a week but would love to start riding with him.
Work is still work.. It's fine I get it done and get home. glad to only have AM classes.

We had such a fun garden last year so we are hoping to have a even better one this year. we have some Fall landscaping plans and I am really liking the work we have done so far..
The yard took a beating with all the snow this past winter and some of our bushes didn't survive, strawberries too:(. but we got it all back on track.
We have done so much yard work and I am excited to have a pretty yard this summer to enjoy since we decide we were staying Stateside this summer and "Explore Oregon" This will be a fun treat being this will be the 1st summer ever we didn't take a long vacation... I love to travel but need a break as well as the rest of the Family.. So if you want to see us you have to come out here.. I know we are going to Crater Lake, the coast, and Bend most likely. I want to hit the McKenzie as well and some Hot springs.. Me and some Girlies(tom boys too LOL) are taking a Backpacking trip up in the Mt's in August I am excited for that as well..
For our 16th Wedding Anniv. we went and got the NIKON D90.. We have wanted a Great camera forever and finally got one..I have been playing around with it allot and cannot wait to get some pictures posted. Since it's been nice here I have avoided the computer at all costs... I did spend a week getting ALL of out digital pictures organized to one computer and saved on Disc. now I can start fresh with the new camera.. I want to take some photography classes online and hope to do so soon.

The BOYS:)
Both our still exceptional students! Both boys are good about doing there homework the second they get home we rarely have to get on them. Jakie is the top of his class and has had such a wonderful year..( I realize I have been really lucky in this Department so far) his teacher and the neighborhood he is in his wonderful. I am so praying he stays in the neighborhood (or god help the principal). LOL. he is a total number kid and does some crazy stuff with math.. he comes up with3 and 4 digit sums.. Our summer goal is to have him multiplying all the way up to 12 (he's up to 9 now) and mastering the carrying over 3 digit problems . I am hoping to have his old private school teach to teach him over the summer. Tanner again is a 4.0 student. the class he is in our all exceptional students or the school system is really failing us. they had over 60 students 4.0 i think they have 400 on the class... so I am hoping the kids are being challenged I guess we shall see.
Both boys are doing great in TKD. Tanner will test for Red belt next month Jakie is a white/black stripe now.. we are done with the tournament season and Tanner placing GOLD in sparring was a great way to end the season. Next year we decided to go to Orlando for the Junior Olympics if he qualifies.. His Track season was what it was.. nothing exciting , running may not be his Forte but he loves the social part and i love the visiting of friends I don't get to see.. I think he could be a great sprinter but being running is my Love I don't want to be that parent to push my kids just because I love it.. so I let him do his thing and i sit back and watch ALL the events.. I know someday I will coach(if they ever need a non-teacher) it's a given.. not sure what school but I will be coaching track and field somewhere someday. I just want to wait until Jakie is older and be home for the boys for there things that is way more important to me right now...

Jakie is also in baseball this season and again has done really well... A shaky start but now he is hitting like crazy (they have pitching machine this year) and is a great fielder, still working on the catching pop flies though.. He Loves it and wants to get better. Again not my favorite sport but I love watching him and he wants to play fall ball as well as soccer(we will have to see).. Starting to wonder if he'll be that kids that with a little practice can accomplish any and everything... He's so funny.. His reaction to everything is so laid back for the most part.. It's fun to watch him and I am sad that my BABY is growing up so fast... I really got to enjoy every moment with both of my boys but realizing he is growing up so fast I just want to hang on to every moment. We have maybe 2 more years and Tanner will officially want to be more or less doing his own thing with his friends.. I really hope we still spend allot of time together but I am also realistic. He keeps doing well in school we want to give him more responsibility..
He takes on summer jobs wants to make money, he treats the younger kids well. he is so respectful to the grownups. he's just such a nice young man.

we are going to try to get allot of family vacation time before he goes through the I don't want to hang with the parents thing.. I had always hoped we would and could be the COOL parents with the fun house and have kids over but that doesn't seem to happen very often because we are never home.. We have a huge game room with Wii, PlayStation, pool, ping pong, Foosball, darts.. anyway maybe we will maybe we wont we can only try right... Dax and I are hoping to golf allot and take the boys at times as well.. and then there's fishing of course. Speaking of which Dax and the guys are "Sturgeon" fishing as a type this.. This being the reason for this LONG update...

Hopefully I will post pictures of the highlights of the last few months this week. I still have to install the NIKON program to this computer. I like that we keep all of our photos on a non Internet computer.. we are a little over cautious but that's the way we roll:) anyway I think I pretty much summed things up.. We are enjoying life and each other. Lots of culd-a-sac fire pit nights. Dax and I are getting out allot more together(since the boys are growing up) went to a comedy night, some nice dinners.. I Love Portland in the early summer months.
Been having my girl nights out monthly. making jewelery with some great gals once a month. Dax and I are making some very good wine with some friends..(another new hobby of ours)

we plan on lots of trips in Oregon.. we are Happy and "Living life" as i like to say the main reason I am horrible about my blogging. I will try and I will try hard...TAKE CARE..

PAY IT FORWRD

2009-04-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

This is SAD in a way.... it took a cute little project to get me back on here..Thank Jenn for starting it..

Since Feb. i have allot to catch up on.. Remember my Post from last year? "Living Life"? Well in a nutshell that is what we are all doing... the nicer it gets outside the less time i am inside and when we are inside i am cleaning and or hanging with the Family.. i kind of go unplug. I don't mess on the computer or talk on the phone and so forth.. It's a great thing just bad for BLOGGING!!! haha.

Just now the door bell rang. and there are 2 packages here for Dax.. i wonder what they are??

hmmmm..

well. i do promise to play catch up this week. it is suppose to rain so i do plan on getting some computer stuff caught up along with cleaning the carpet and baseboards.. So if i am lucky enough to have 5 people to respond this pay it forward should be fun.... read the following....

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have restrictions and limitations:

I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

What I create will be just for you.
It will be done this year. You may have to be patient.

You will have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't invented yet. I may draw or paint something.

I may bake you something and mail it to you. I may even sew something for you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who comment on your blog.

I am excited to create something just for you! Hurry quick...comment! Then go pay it forward.

Feb Happenings

2009-03-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

Well I figured it is time for an update. Thank Paige because after seeing her at Safeway and having her say" hey I have been keeping updated on you through FB" Made me realize I need to get updated on my Blog. Well last i wrote i was sick well being sick has lasted a month. Why you ask? Ask my Dr. and ask him why was he so stubborn about giving me "Flonase" and not an antibiotic. Long story short i had and have sinus issues, with walking pneumonia and was in bed for a week. no running, no working no parenting just sleep.

Dax stepped up to the plate and pretty much took care of me and the house and kids. He was great!
I am better not fully but better and hopefully this will be the end of it for now. moving on. Feb was still busy.we went to a Winter Hawks game, went to the beach, got sick, went out with some friends, made some wine with friends and went to a tawkwondo Tournament where Tanner placed Gold in sparring and forms. (which by the way we are very proud of him) He has the best sportsmanship for a kid his age. He he's a definite competitor but when it was all over he shook both his opponents hands with the back pat and was a gracious winner. He did great now it's on to the next competition in April. All in all a good month just wish i wasn't sick. I am excited this month we have spring break coming and i get to see "Wicked" at the end of the month. I cannot wait. Jake started Baseball and seems to be Juggling the martial Arts and baseball fine. I like the fact he has a Sat. practice as well. Well wanted to keep it brief i am still here all is well, now it is catch up week for me since I am a whole week behind on life:)

I Told you so!

2009-02-21T12:11:00.001-08:00

So, I have allot of updating to do. It's been a busy couple of weeks. allot of activities, We were out of town at the beach for the weekend. And Tanner and I have spent the last 10days very sick. I got my bi-yearly sinus infection which had gotten out of control thanks to my GO GO GO mentality. Tanner and about 190 other students at his Middle school fell very ill. He has not been sick in over 2 years and he got it bad. Anyway we are going to enjoy this springlike weather. (live life) and i will play catch up next week. posts some pictures of our new TOY and give a brief update. BTW. I told you Face book will interfere with my blogging.. LOL

FB and Blogging

2009-02-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

well while posting my 25 Random things on my Face Book I sort of figured out how to transfer my blog over to FB for friends to read. Well I only got one quarter of 08. my blog goes back to Dec 07.. I am almost hoping people will just go on here and look back through 07 and save me the time to transfer it all over.(that's if your even interested) anyway i am now determined to figure this transfer out and to get it all on FB..
You know I have Never been a fan of My space. Why i started FB I have no idea but I did . I like it don't get me wrong I just hope to keep up with it. This Blog is for my Boys Tanner and Jake. When I lost my drive to scrapbook and discovered blogging I thought well why not try this. One thing I realize is Jan is a pretty boring month. I guess that's good because it is after the Christmas parties, presents and snow we could all use a breather, but at the same time I do not get allot of pictures. Feb. things start cooking again. I look back on my 1st year of my blog and realized a few things. I cannot mention them all but will mention a couple. One I am a great mother( tooting my own horn) and the most joy i find day in and day out are those two boys. trust me they can drive me bonkers too but how lucky to have them, i could never dream of anything else. the 2nd thing is i am pretty busy. Sometimes too busy, sometimes too busy too blog...living life is what i like to call it. i already feel i have worked on this and i am having a more laid back approach to things.
well wont bore you with the rest but wanted to share a few thoughts. Since i didn't wish myself a Happy blogversery in Dec I will do it now. Here's to one year and hopefully many more...it wouldn't be my blog if i didn't post any pictures on it. so here's jake getting his trophy for basketball and me and a couple of my girlies at our monthly game night ..Later

I'm Still Here!!!

2009-01-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

Brenda's husband sent this shot to me from bowling. these are my friends i spend time with at the pool in the summer he call us the Rat Pack. we always go to our kids birthdays and even though our kids are different ages by a year or and also we all go to separate schools i think (Michele and I are the McBride moms) we and our kids are still really good friends. they are a FUN bunch.

Me and My Jakie!

Just "LIVING LIFE" (see post from a couple months back, or maybe it was Candy's post about my comment to her when she said she hasn't posted forever..)
Now that we are back on schedule I almost secretly wish for more winter white so we can stay home and play in the snow and forget everything else.

One thing i did notice is our poor grass. and some of my poor plants. I am really hoping they spring back but it doesn't look too good from some of them. two of the palm trees by the front of my house died. (one was snapped in half the other just died. my friends butterfly bush died too. my vines look pretty sick and some of the grass is dead. it will be allot of spring cleanup when the time comes. i will have to plant some new things as well.

So now Jake started Tae Kwon Do(it's his 3rd week) he needs to go to the starter class(Tue/Thur or a while until he gets the basics down so now i am driving the kids to practice Mon-Thur. it's not too bad but i try to get dinner done early so we are not rushing around. Once Jake gets most of the basics down maybe in a month or so then he can go Mon-wed like Tanner. Tanner is moving up to the later class because he needs to spar practice with adults for training, it would help him prepare more for Tournaments, so Mon-wed i don't get home until 8:30pm.

We decided to only stick within our state tournaments until he is a black belt and then if he still wants to we will get into it more. I still am not one to push them into too competitive mode he tends to push himself at times so that's more than enough, i see so much burn out with the kids especially this age in any sports they do. He did ask me to take him running 3 days a week so we go to the track and do no more than 3 miles Tue/ Thur/ sat. well now Jakie wants to go so i take him Mon-wed and he goes no more than 2 miles one day he was like " you promised mom" i was so tired but i do want to discourage him either (it's better than playing video games I reckon")so i went. if this routine of there's keeps going maybe I'll lose that extra 10 from XMAS that wants to hang on for dear life.(wish i could stay away from my freezer"LOL)

Anyway we are having very beautiful weather here in Oregon. It is cold but SUNNY!!! we enjoyed our weekend we had Youth Group Friday, Sat. we had a b-day party(Bowling) , a bonfire in our Culdasac, Dinner and a movie with my girlfriends Sunday. Bride Wars was very funny. love Kate Hudson. And basically hanging out outside enjoying our weather. The house can wait to be cleaned. I went on a great run today. hope this weather lasts for a while. It's been such a nice winter here. well just a quick update i think it's time to go and enjoy the outside for a while

MYTHBUSTERS

2009-01-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Grant Tanner and Tori.. Up in Washington State

Last month Tanner was invited to view a taping of Myth busters on the discovery channel. My friends have some friends that were involved in this specific episode. Tanner has not missed a day of school going on his 2 nd year however i felt this was a excellent opportunity and life experience so I let him miss school to go.

(Plus the fact he was overlooked at the awards ceremony at the end of last year not just for not missing school but academically too i figured what difference does it make.)

Right now your probably thinking "that's not a very good attitude Lynn" however it's something i didn't and wouldn't say to Tanner but expressing here only. He's works so hard each and every year it disappointing when not just mine but other kids are overlooked.

anyway moving on and off my soap box...

It was a great day for Tanner however he couldn't tell me anything and we have to wait until it airs. As soon as i know you'll know I really wish I could of gone too I love this show and they do some of the coolest things.. Mythbusters is one of our favorite shows we watch as a family. the boys and I actually watched a marathon New Years Day. All the cast members are so hilarious. Tanner got to meet Grant and Tori and watch as they tested the MYTH. Anyway here's one picture I can share right now..It was a long but exciting day for Tanner. I'll share more later....

Christmas 08

2009-01-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

our snowman.(yes he has large candy canes for arms)

Tanner got a ipod.. he has been saving for one by doing odd jobs so we decided he earned one without spending his money..

legos legos and more legos.. we must have gotten thousands on Christmas day alone.

opening the stockings...

cookies for Santa

getting PJ's Xmas evethe boys got so many gifts we had to stack them over by the couch.
maybe a little too much this year

my friends

can't get enough of the snow:)

Jake's homemade bird feeder came in handy for the birds. how cool is that?

I am just getting around to posting Christmas. and what a Xmas we had. The single best thing was having 3 weeks of being home bound.. Quite honestly i could of gotten around but i took advantage of our surprise snowstorm and stayed home. all of our Christmas shopping was finished and all i really needed to do was get a ham for the big day. As i type this and reflect on the past 3 weeks i came to realize that i can take this as a sign to slow down. Not just me but the kids as well. i am very fortunate to have great neighbors and spending allot of time with them during the holiday season was like having a 2nd family. With the snow we spent time at each others home eating playing games and just hanging out together. we played so much in the snow, got our exercise and just enjoyed life. I cooked up a storm something i love doing but get to busy to do. it was a very stress free few weeks. i want to take that time with me and try to just live everyday like that. i know now that were all back to the grind it is easy to jump on that good old super busy bandwagon but i think now i may change a few priorities. with all that said it is good that the boys are back in school, i am glad to get the house back in order, put all the Christmas deco away, clean etc. here's some December and Xmas shots. the kids had a great Xmas. they opened there pj's eve night, left out cookies for the big guy, we actually woke up before them Xmas morning, we made oven pancakes and sausage. and as you can see Grandma and Grandpa Loff spoiled them beyond belief. dinner was great and we stayed in sweats all day that is why there is not a official Christmas pictures of us. tee hee..

Time to Reflect and Tanner's TKD test

2008-12-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

Tanner tested for his belt last Friday, no sparring shots but got a few of his form and self defense he also Reffed and coached a couple other fights. He did great.
This is Tanner's good friend "it was for there self defense" and they were trying not to laugh at some points just thought this shot was funny
breaking a board
receiving his blue belt/black stripe
splintering another board
i couldn't see

too cute
my hubby!

Needless to say a week ago last Sunday i would of never thought we'd have the Christmas that we will have. Exactly a week after the first snow fall we got hit with a what Oregonians like too call a "Artic Blast"( they did give the mid-west a slight run for it's money LOL). I have to say we lucked out on the traveling. Dax flew in Friday no problems and my folks flew out Saturday morning(with just a 2hour delay). I insisted to my dad they will close the airports on Sunday as we are not equipped for winter weather here and i was right. Growing up Minnesota as a child and young adult we didn't miss school unless it was over 70 below wind chill and a blizzard at the time the buses would be moving. my dad had a good laugh at us(it got old after a while). I am glad my parents made it home however i would of loved for them to be stranded and stay with us longer instead. We enjoyed our first Xmas meal last Friday Prime Rib and then we played in the snow some more. Sunday night when the storm really hit was a fun night. we played and watch the news and enjoyed being warm in the house. I still am a little shocked we actually got over a foot of snow all together. it was 40 years to the day that was the last time Oregon was hit like this. I do love it. We are getting around with little problem, i skipped out on work Monday "just because" but went for a walk that turned into a jog for an hour. (yes i got allot of funny looks) We went to Fred Meyer and got our Christmas dinner and Dax's Birthday stuff. Going for allot of walks. Sniper went to the field on Sunday and the snow was so deep after three Frisbee catches he was pooped. We go to our hill at 4-5pm like clock work with our neighbors and sled for a couple hours. Scott brings out the heater to warm our hands. I am training Sniper to pull me and we've had some good laughs with that. The boys fort is a work in progress. Tanner made $30.00 shoveling. Dax and I have gotten a good work out shoveling our driveway. You really can break a sweat it's very hard work.Dax started his puzzle(John Wayne) and is almost finished.(i hid his last piece as always and he always fall for it teehee) I almost think my boys are more active during this snow than they would of if it was just rainy and cold. Today the driving is much easier. (thanks to a huge truck and 4 wheel drive) work was a piece of cake and people were happy to have a good class. Dax and his friend have gone to Costco( i guess the pass is pretty clear). i am making more bread and a little house cleaning. then back outside. I told the boys to savour this because Sunday it could start to disappear, and I will be sad and what funny i am on a short list of people that feel that. I really do like it i am not cold it's pretty i am just dyeing to buy the camera i really want just to get some awesome shots. I will miss it. i wish the track at the high school was cleared, but i am making due doing my jogging in boots and snow pants and using the god-awful treadmill. Cabin fever could come about if i stayed cooped up but as long as i am out i am good to go. Just think we may never see this happen in Oregon again. I think it is something else that for sure. Will friends and family this is probably my last post until after Christmas. so enjoy your family and the blessings you've received through out the year, take this snow as a gift spend some quiet time together, work on a puzzle, play games, bake, watch movies. if you are driving, be safe and aware of your surroundings. Merry Christmas!

more Snow photos

2008-12-20T07:12:00.000-08:00

Tanner and Jake has pretty much lived outside the past week. This sure beats laying around the house. I have done some nice long walks with my friend and we've been building and sledding. Now that the boys have actually full 3 weeks off it will be interesting to see if we start to get on each others nerves. Dax is home and off work until the New year as well. I love our neighborhood. our neighbor across the street has been blaring the xmas music as we play out front, we've had a cookie exchange and have been snacking allot. it is very festive. My walks usually start out at the field and go around the fair grounds. it was so pretty last Wed. The dog is loving it too.

Showing off

2008-12-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

A very special gift that a special person made for me for my birthday.
for me getting a gift after my birthday is allot more exciting because you don't really know it's coming. Candy(my Friend) can do anything. She is so crafty. i strive to even have a little bit of her creative juices. Anyway I love jewelry any one that sees me outside the gym may notice. This week however i feel like i have lived in my work out clothes.

Happy Birthday LUCKY!!!

2008-12-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

Technically he is probably 1 1/2 years old but since we got him around this time and Sniper's B-day is coming and lets not for Dax's big day on Christmas. ( as a matter of fact all our birthdays either fall or are right on the holiday) i figure why change it. He was a stray at the gym and i fell in love. very friendly and very trained. My boss took him to the shelter and since no one claimed him he became ours. He's got a curly tail and his eyes are crossed. he loves being outside as much as i hate having him go out he makes it up to me by hanging around the house and coming right home in the morning. He's a hunter and has the habit of bringing me presents. (YUCK) he's cuddly and playful. Sniper loves him and they will sleep together sometimes. He is loving the tree a little too much and has knocked done allot of the ornament's silly cat. he'll also get a hold of my pony tail bands and i find them in the oddest places. uses his scratching post but not the carpet or furniture. I think we were the Lucky ones!

My fun runner

2008-12-16T15:19:00.000-08:00

Jake and Grandma Loff

Jake just got home from school today and told me he won a Tee shirt at school for running the most laps during our "FUN RUN' fundraiser in October....This little guy is always asking me when i will start taking him to the track to run laps with him. I told both boys, Tanner wants to start too as soon as the snow melts at the track...today was gorgeous. I too the dog to the field(forgot my camera) and we ran and played fetch until his nose started acting up. I told Dax on the phone that if we lived on the mountain i would be in hog heaven. I love the snow and the sunshine that's when the cold doesn't bother me. I would take this over rain any day. I guess we should be prepared we are getting more snow Wednesday. The downside Jake misses his play on Thursday.. Teacher said we'll reschedule it in the New Year though...

We are lovin it!!!!

2008-12-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

Any chance to wrestle one another
building his fort in his usual "fort spot"
love my back yard before with the fresh layer of snow.
snow ball fight
hot cocoa anyone?

Grandma helping with Jake's fort in his "fort spot"

The only way to eat snow i think
one of many sled races
my boys are so Darn cute

loving my house right now

weeeeeeeeee!!
my guy

my other guy
Jake's ready to throw
coming up with snow ball fighting strategy
Dax and I are from places with a abundance of snow(Minn and Utah). Dax played hockey and skied, he nearly skied his life away( He's a amazing skier). I skied cross country and figured skated. We lived for the snow. i drove in blizzards like it was a regular day of sub-zero degrees and non-stop snow. Anyway one thing we miss is the convenience of winter sports and fun. We have to drive to it now. Well every now and then we get the pleasure of snow here in the valley, and so i have to say i am glad for a no-school day. today consisted of snow ball fights fort building sled racing, hot cocoa, soup, and best of all after dark falls and it gets icy enough ice sled races. (yes i join in too) as a matter of fact i am pretty darn good at it and i am on the top 3 ranked in our culd-a-sac. tried to get pics of the night races we just got done. we have a decent enough hill and great parents to watch every move and for cars. (thanks Darrel and Jose). i love this the best part. we are suppose to get more snow tonight for more fun tom morrow. We miss Dad though,this is something he loves too we promised lots of pictures.. hopefully we'll have more for Christmas break when he's back!! here's just a few pics from our day.

Girls night at the beach

2008-12-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

Dee, me, Theresa and Lisa. Amy took the picture. we didn't even get pics of us looking "cute" the night before. It was too dark for the camera phone and i didn't bring my camera...

Every now and then i get an over nighter with some friends. This is the 2nd time in 3 months so i consider myself very lucky. We went to Seaside even though it was suppose to storm. they said winds as bad as 17 years ago and a foot of snow. We got the winds, which were fun by the way. but no snow just yet. We shopped at Nike of course and the out-lits, We had dinner then went to a bar called "Girtles" found that pretty entertaining. then we sat up and talked until 1 am. I was the 1st to crash out before midnight, that was big for me by the way. In the morning we decided against the walk and had breakfast at Pig in a Blanket of course which will make the boys very jealous. We had fun and are hoping to plan another one and go snow shoeing in Feb. Our big trip hopfully will be going back packing in August I hope this is the year.

Family Christmas Tree

2008-12-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

I need more lights and Ribbon i did not realize how big we went this year. it doesn't look as big as when we 1st cut it down. but the kids had fun decorating it and I am thankful they want to decorate it. So i am glad we have a family tree this year. however I am on the prowl for a Fake tree after Christmas when they are on sale dirt cheap. I could not imagine not cutting one down every year and i know as long as the boys are in the house we will be doing that..

Weekend happenings

2008-12-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

Yes i do get out every now and then
my boys house art work, i am sure this may be Tanner's last year but i could be pleasently surprised and he'll want to keep doing them
Grandpa and the boys
Popping away. (homemade houses don't come with packing popper things) hee hee
just starting on the tree. ( i think this is the biggest tree we've gotten to date) this tree is huge, haven't gotten a good enough picture to show how big it really is. next year will be hard to top but i am sure Dax will manage.

We have spent the week gradually decorating the tree and house. I was thinking that this is the year I'll get a second tree and decorate it like the display trees you see at Macy's. I want it to match my colors at home. My neighbor/ friend did it this year and i love hers she didn't spend allot either. Not sure I may still do it but for sure I plan to do it next year. i thought maybe the second tree can be a fake frocked one( it will be on sale after the holidays and will be worth waiting another year). anyway. Dax really loves the tree with all the kids ornaments and the ones we collect year after year. he calls it our "family tree" and when i brought it up that i may do a themed tree instead he sounded crushed. So the family tree will remain this year and every year ever after even when were old and gray, but i am having that second tree as well...

Sat. after the games i picked up my parents from the airport. they are staying 2 weeks. we got settled in had some fish and chips, then later in the evening i went with a group to a wine tasting and pairing class and then off to dinner at Beaches on the river. I love the river during the holidays. This morning off to a class in Hillsboro. Lunch at red robin with my friends for our 3 birthdays then home to make our gingerbread houses. i keep it simple and buy a already made house, the boys like it. a few years back a friend gave me a great gingerbread recipe and the whole how to. she's an artist of gingerbread houses, they never fail year after year. i am not as lucky so i remain using the good old Costco or Walmart pre built houses.

i did get involved in a cookie exchange but wasn't able to attend, my friend took my cookies in for me and came back with a great assortment. i plan to freeze them for small plates for the neighbors. I watched a movie with my parents and off to bed. Monday it's Portland to shop til we drop...

Cards

2008-12-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

Okay just a quick FYI.. You may or may not receive a card from me this year. One of my goals was not to stress out this year and I am doing a great job so far. my parents are coming out today for 2 weeks i cannot wait. i have allot planned with parties and Christmas ships and what not but already plan to do what we really want to do and not feel obligated. my shopping is all done thanks to Dax.. Thanks honey. sometimes his traveling comes in handy. we have our tree, it's almost decorated. the house is clean and decorated, i got the outside lights up, i ran 30 miles this week, i got cookies made for an exchanged, i planned a beach weekend. i have to say life is pretty good.. but as for cards you'll just have to wait and see.. if they don't make it out you can always check on me here.. hee hee. i almost feel like i don't have to do a holiday letter.. but a nice picture card would be cool... well off to Jake's game and then to the airport.. YEAH!!!! oh and i have to tell you about Tanner's Myth Busters adventure he had Friday.. waiting on pictures from my friend, then i can tell you all about it. remember i have about 4 blogs back i did in one day.. it was a fun thanksgiving week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2008-12-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

YES, WE STAYED IN OUR PJ'S ALL DAY!!!

To me hehehe. the Big 39.. Last Sat. we went to the melting pot for dinner. We figured maybe we should do my birthday 1st(before the holiday craziness) because typically i am pretty sick of eating and food by the time the 30th rolls around. My birthday was just the way i wanted it. Got up, went for a 10 mile run up in the hills with Dee Anna and Lisa. came home took a bath.

You know I have the most amazing boys in this house. the boys had decorated the house while i was gone and made me my favorite breakfast of chorizo and eggs. They both made me homemade cards and a homemade neckless from Tanner. I got a good book some fun money. AND my Garmen GPS arm band that will tell me everything from how fast i am running, and how far my pace at all times throughout my run, my milage my calories. a final run down on my run and sets me up to make goals for myself etc etc. you name it it does it. even tell me where to go if i get lost... It will do the same for when i am biking too I LOVE IT. I am pretty stoked.
spent the rest of the day playing mexican trains and watching movies. it was a great day exactly the way i wanted to spend it..

ZOO Lights

2008-12-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Cocoa fix..
After getting the tree home and in the stand we ate some chicken pot pie and then ventured out to the zoo for the zoo lights. we go every year again we try to make it Friday after thanksgiving. Every year it's the same but always so much fun. This year they had a few new lights.

Pigs flying my favorite
Lights are my favorite this time of the year.(I'll probably post a zoo trip 2-3 times this year. (just like those pumpkin patches) I would love to go all out at my home and have at our old house but when we moved into the house we are in now, it sits extremely high. higher then you would think, making it very difficult to get up there. we thought of paying some one not even sure if someone would do it but i have a hard time justifying it. we did ask these landscapers who also do gutters and they said NO! so sadly we do the bare minimal at the Boyle house. few icicles and over the doorway. our next house we'll keep that in mind.. hehe.

Getting our Tree

2008-12-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

Instead of Black Friday Our Post Thanksgiving Tradition is that we get our tree if not Friday sometime during the weekend. Because Dax has another trip planned we wanted to be sure we went.
We always have to get the biggest tree, we go to the same farm we have went to since moving here. we always spend a good 1 1.5 hour looking for the biggest and fattest Doug Fir. (no nobles here)

this was my fave even with the bunny ears. The one we got we were sure was the biggest one yet in the 15 years we have cut our xmas tree, when we got it home it looked as big as last years, sure smells good. i do the lights and the boys deco. i still do gold ribbon and beads even though the past few years i have been tempted to go the blue silver route with the tree and the rest of the house. maybe gold will be back in style next year. tee hee

Random Pictures

2008-12-01T15:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks giving Day

Tanner's 13th Birthday Can't beat Mint Ice cream Cake and Guitar hero

Couple of our Rocket adventure
It really did work but only once:(
Sniper

Tanner sparring (he's in the Red)
Breaking a board

Doing his Form. ( he tests for his blue belt/black stripe December 19th)

Leftovers

2008-12-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

I made my two favorite things with Turkey leftovers.. Homemade pot pie. and Today Chicken wild rice soup.. YUM! waiting for pictures to upload so thought I'd share a tid bit with you. Not sure if i have enough to make my dumplings may have to wait until my folks come out and we make another turkey. I thought i may make beef Shepard's pie since i have a ton of potatoes left..

HAPPY THANKGIVING ALL

2008-11-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

Wow, allot has happened in the last week, Dax is off shopping right now so I thought I needed to get caught up on the blogging. This is the time of the year I start falling behind again. I hope to post some pictures as well. Last Sa. we had our typical basketball game schedule for Jake and at the same time Tanner had a Tae Kwon Do Tournament. I took on Jake's game and Dax went to Tanner's Tournament. I got to the competition just in time for Tanner's sparring. he took first. he took second in forms and board breaking. Then Sat night we went to dinner with some friends for my early birthday(It's this Sunday) We went to Melting Pot. That was the start of my bad eating for the week let me tell you. I really do not remember eating so much in one sitting. My goal for the week was to put in extra running miles to make up for all the food I plan to eat. Dax is usually either working from home or off Thanksgiving week so all we do is eat eat eat. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather Sunday and went to the field to play with the dog and finally let Jake play with his rocket, I actually got it on video and it was funny you can hear me shrieking when it actually took off. we ran into a couple obstacles while setting up and i didn't think it was going to work. This week was such a short week while Dax worked i got things done here. got the xmas stuff out to get ready to decorate did some baking. Tanner turned 13 on Tuesday so we went to his favorite place to eat and had a small birthday for him here. he is going to have a friend b-day next week after the holiday. he was happy to get the new guitar hero for the Wii and already finished the game. he got money a pretty cool book from his Grandma and more money and Lego's. We had his favorite ice cream cake so for my officially teenager he seemed pretty happy. I just found out that the school had gotten a grant and he is excited about some new after school activities that isn't just sports. i am too i never want my kids to rely just on sports to get them places.. grades and other interests are good too so i am pretty happy. he wants to do the finance class in Jan. and his friend is starting a juggling club. i would still love to See a debate club going as well. Wed. was a baking day and seeing my friends new preemie baby who just got home in time for the holiday. we choose to stay at home and just have us for Thursday, with Dax being on call we thought it would be the easiest plus with him being gone so long i wanted to just be us four. I make the pies and Carmel rolls the night before. i start Thursday am with a traditional track run. this year we did one hour of 200/100 meter sprints. (Friday my obliques we so sore) it gets me motivate to cook stress free so it was worth the pain. we always play games on thank giving watch football wear our jerseys the whole thing. Dax loves working on a puzzle as i cook. i made everything homemade as usual and still went all out. i did do a 12 pound bird this year and it still turned out great. i have yet to get a dry bird but i am sure my day will come LOL. I ate so much this week already that i swear my stomach was out a foot..The boys all did the dishes and we enjoyed the rest of the night watching movies.
So Friday comes and i am a ANTI Black FRIDAY PERSON, i have never gone and wont. i feel it takes away from the whole meaning of the holidays. we are into the whole Christmas thing but the gift part we are not. we do do gifts but typically we buy when we need it during the year so we make it for the kids mostly and every year we shop for other families that are less fortunate. we've been blessed through the years and especially this year we see were even more blessed. i know allot of it was from hard work and planning but i also know bad things happen to good people and our goal this year is to focus on the less fortunate. anyway reading the news online about the walmart worker that was stampede just ticked me off. people basically murdered a man to save a few bucks. it just confirms my feelings on black Friday.

Okay off my soap box i'll stop. you know i cannot help myself. but i do think people really forget what xmas is about.

plus sales are going to be crazy all month with the economic crises. now it didn't stop us from shopping a little after 11am. we got some hard drive stuff for the computer. there is no way i am getting up early unless it for a early run LOL!!! So it's Sat. now i think i am caught up. it's my last day as a 38 year old. i may not look it but i feel 29. it's been a good year, allot of growing and learning and i feel we are closer as ever as a family. I feel i am more fit then when i was in my top form many many years ago. i feel i have a good balance in my life. i look forward to my final year as a 30 something. i only see good things for myself as well as my family...
today i get to get my tree. we still cut a fresh one every year. we got all the fall stuff put a way and the Xmas stuff out. it takes a week for me to decorate. tonight it's our traditional zoo lights we are taking our friends with us being they have never been should be a fun day/night. well that's my weekly update hop fully post some photos soon..HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT THANKSGIVING with the ones they love. we all have allot to be thankful for,

Catching up

2008-11-17T12:56:00.000-08:00

Trying to think back two weeks and play catch up on here..Got through the October fun craziness and basically crashed by getting the flu bug/baaaad cold that lasted about 2 weeks . i figured it's because i just don't rest like i should. Dax came home 11-8 for 5 days and that was the only time we actually hung out at home and vegged. i forget how nice it is to do that.

when were together were homebodies and love just hanging out playing games, watching movies, going for a short run or walk and maybe getting a bite to eat. i notice that he really calms me. so i did rest i guess.. anyway while he was home, we went to the boys conferences together.
Both boys had great reports. Jake is in the top 5 and is 1st to complete now two math workbooks.(they don't do A-F grading system just yet, he got all +'s) She wants to throw a bit more at him to challenge him so that make me happy. she says he's a great kid to have and makes her laugh. I volunteered in her classroom and have to say she impresses me how she keeps the kids in line. they listen so well and yet she's fun and kind.(my type of lady)

Tanner has done well too. he did break his 4.0 streak this year and of all classes it was ART that gave him the B at 89.4% to be exact. i don't think the teacher liked him either because out of all his teachers he said nothing about Tanner. He only said he turned in his work and he just didn't seem all that friendly to me. I was worried about Pre-algebra but his teacher was so nice and friendly and really enjoys Tanner. Anyway his other teachers were great.I was told Tanner is quite the writer and I notice he is really into writing short stories here at home. I just wish we had more to offer our kids here.More writing courses, There's no student council, no debate or chess club or any clubs. Tanner decide not to play B-ball this year and i have to say i am glad they put 30 kids on the"B" team and the "A" team coach they hired doesn't set a good example he also only takes the kids he actually likes.(good old boy network in play) so the 'B' team kids have to split up there games between them not fair if you ask me especially when you pay $50.00 a sport.. okay back on task about our weekend.. sorry I always get heated on the political sports thing I think it's the only time I get a little riled up I am always about all the kids...

Dax was able to watch Tanner's soccer game(he only got to a few games this year) and they WON yeah.. Tanner played well as always and made allot of great assists. (he plays right midfield) i didn't take pics because it was the 1st downpour rain they had since the season started.
We then went to Jake's 1st b-ball game that was fun and it was nice to sit and be a bystander, however i am tempted to "coach" the kids. it was fun seeing some familiar faces from soccer. i got lots of hugs that day:0) It was still storming so it was the perfect time to have grilled cheese(Tillimook of course) soup and hot cocoa. we watched "get smart" together and then we had a harvest party to go to that evening. Sunday we had a party to go to but most of the day was spent recuperating. Dax left Monday so it was back to the grind for me. keeping house, homework, sports driving around. I managed to have a couple lunch dates with friends. when the weather turned nice on Friday i got the chance to really clean up the yard. it looks so nice now. I went to a Zumba work shop Sat. that was a long day of physical and mental work. Learned allot.I need to practice allot to understand this type of Aerobics class, it not as easy as one would think. to do it yes to teach it no. I came home late in the evening to find out Jake played a great game made a basket did some great passing. Tanner played his last soccer game and then went to his party after. Sunday was church and dinner out(HWN BBQ). Today is work catch up and house cleaning although being we have nice weather I am wishing i would have maybe dug out my Christmas light and get those up. I found out my parents are coming DEC 6Th so I am hoping we have Christmas set up before they come out. Dax comes back Thursday until the 1st, then the 20Th permanently.. Anyway I almost want to take it easy until Thursday i just started feeling better this weekend and don't want to relapse. well that's about it on this end. I think we are caught up for now anyway. since the month started these are the only pictures I have taken...

Dax was so Happy to hear Jake read. His teacher from last year said he could read but wouldn't read for us all summer. Well I found out why. Because another kid in his class last year was a faster reader than Jake. so Jake just wouldn't do it. Suddenly we start 1st grade now he wont stop reading.. He reads to Dax almost each night on the phone. I think Dax was happy to sit with him in person. I LOVE IT!!!

Last Soccer Game for Jake

2008-11-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun this Season Coaching Soccer. When they originally asked me to coach i wasn't so sure.Even though it's my boys favorite sport to play, my knowledge is limited and geared towards older kids. In my line of work i tend to push people to work there hardest, i didn't want to be that drill Sargent to the kiddos. I was hoping i would be able to balance love for the game, fun for the kids, but also to learn and understand some skills/rules that they will need later on. Plus being mom and dad right now with a busy schedule i wasn't sure i could balance it all. Well the parents really stepped out and helped. i had preplanned a couple of weekends out of town before i planned on coaching. We had to change fields in the middle of the season, but everyone was understanding and went with the flow. I could not have asked for better parents and especially better kids... They were just a great bunch and really wanted to learn about the game. They really worked on there passing and communication and it showed. If i knew i could get the same kids i probably would coach again, I do want to learn about the game more.. Tanner is thinking about getting into reffing when he can to earn some money, so it would be good to understand all the rules of this great game. Considering we are in Oregon we only had rain a few times and it was light drizzle, we lucked out and had great weather this season. After our final game it was off to the local pizza joint for pizza, trophies and cake. I got a surprise when the team mom gave me a gift certificate for a massage... WOW..She doesn't realize what a gift that is for me.. I try to go once a month but actually should get in more so this is perfect. I'll miss this season it has allot of great memories for me...Well Tuesday BASKETBALL STARTS....

Part 2

2008-11-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

(me Laura and Diane)My Friend Diane gets so creative too. she also plays the part of her character the hunch back(she's also the BEST cake maker and decorator)it was too funny..

The 2nd party was later in the evening and i stopped by for just a few minutes. it was a adult costume party and a little risky so not many pictures of that one. There was a Joe the Plumber though. i didn't get a picture of him but it was funny on his back he had written. i am not licenced. and had a heart with Sara Palin's name in the middle. he did the bald head cap and a goatee it was too funny. My neighbors were looking sharp as hippies and it actually fit there personality it was cool... Well it was a fun way to end the month of October.. For as busy as it was it was all for fun... I want to enjoy the years of when the boys are young, Tanner is getting to the age where I wont get to do all these things so i am Milking it for every thing now. I have at least 4-5 years more with Jake..I ask the boys if they had a fun weekend and they both said YES.. They were so good. they got up and were ready for church and everything, then Tanner was working on his homework before we had to leave. Must be that extra hour of sleep they got.LOL

2 parties in one night!!

2008-11-02T12:12:00.001-08:00

This room was neat for the kids. they had fog and a bubble machine with glow in the dark bubbles.. how cool is that?

I could post 25 pictures of this night but i wont do that... The 1st party was soo fun. My friend has done this party for 11 years now and they go all out.. they invite everyone and they transform there basement into a festive good time. They have tons of games.. Foos ball,pool, video games ping pong, air hockey. we do karaoke and dance. the best thing about this party is they always gear it towards the kids, they ask you not to dress scary but dress up(you don't they have boxes of stuff they WILL dress you in. Dax likes going to this party so it was a little bitter sweet. (he dressed as Earl 2 years ago before"my name is earl became such a hit) and when i saw the photo album of that year and him i was a little sad..Our plan was to be Zorro and a Spanish dancer. on the computer today though he said allot of people in Taiwan are dressing like sad clowns so now he wants us to do that next year. So the theme at my friends party was "The Bail out" so not only they were decorated for Halloween they also had money everywhere and games that were rigged not to win the big money but a negative number.. it was tooo funny. DJ again was creative and became a Executive of AIG.. all dressed for his Spa day..Too funny. Michele became Twister..so many fun costumes.. the food is always way good. lots of hot dishes, chili and appetizers. again i pigged out and my stomach ached for the rest of the evening..
The kids had a blast and this is always the party I try not to ever miss.. next year will be better having it the day before Halloween....

I always get a kick out of guys dressing like girls.. it just cracks me up but Dax wont do it for anything...

I love the dollar sign shorts this was ultra creative...

HALLOWEEN 08

2008-11-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Tanner a marine zombie(GPA Boyle supplied the shirt, Dad supplied the Cammie's.. We have Sea bags full if you ever need gear). Jake a ninja(supplied by Tanner 2003 costume)...Can't beat Free! Tanner had to paint his face Scary though but i say he didn't do too bad, he may have a future in special effects.
Jake and Caleb (our good friends nephew)I miss that age so much!
scary house!!!
Everyone really thought this was some one in disguised to jump at us when we took the candy.. nothing happened but it was a litl suspenseful
our neighbors and good friends getting ready to go
Caleb getting his sugar rush.(he had a blast) he's the sweetest boy reminds me of Jake at that age.
Caleb was in awe of this guy
looking up at Shelby
Tanner and neighbor boys
Candace and Shelby
the Crew
My sons ninja in pose
At Meadow park... Love the Hat!!!
smile Jakie....(LOL)
Fishing game, He went to this and the candy walk twice.
Day time party crew
eating jello gummy treat!
Tye Dye. (my friend was ultra creative)

Our day started with Jake and I going to his friends house for a Halloween party at 10am(no school for us). Leslie went all out they made Tye die pumpkin shirts, they decorated cookies, she made hallow mummies or what i like to call hallo weenies(a tradition we have), made jello gummies and apple cider and cookies. they all took home a goodie bag. It was a fun day planned and was glad to be part of it.
At 1:30 we went to meadow park home to do indoor trick or treating and games. When we moved here 4 years ago we started this tradition of going here. I think it's great for the residence to get to part take in the handing out of candy and seeing all the kids dressed up. The boys always like taking part and know why we take part. Tanner was officially to old this year but I would maybe like to have him do something else there around Xmas time, i may see of the church wants to do a youth activity there.

At 6pm Jake and i made our rounds in our neighborhood. Tanner was picked up by my friends so our older boys can(venture out on there own) We all then met up at Arbor Hill at my other friends house for a get together. They did a taco bar and everyone came and went as they pleased. I found Shelby so then Jake and i Caleb Shelby and Troy all went around the neighborhood then met up at Candace's, with the older kids and hung out til 10pm. Boy I saw so many people it was pretty crowded but fun. Tanner did good on his own and didn't wrecked havoc so he earned some more independence. LOL. It was a perfect night. Rain was predicted however it was clear and warm.. we had a great time. Jake loved the scary houses. Tanner spent a good hour scrubbing his face before i jumped in and suggested vasoline to wash it off before you scrub with just soap.. afterwards he decided NOT to paint up for tomoorows parties...Ohh the candy they brought home.. they even got some large size candy bars. big bags of popcorn, and a large bag of my fave.. Milk duds...about the majority of it gets tossed, i get creative with the candy bars and baking. about 10lbs of it goes to my behind.. LOL!!!

1 dozen cookies and SORRY

2008-11-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

That's all we made and all we decorated.. between ALL of the festivities I usually put on 10 of my winter 15(LBS) on October alone, but it's all soooo good...We have been playing a continuous game of Sorry since Thursday. We keep playing SORRY on each other, this game may go on forever...

I always wanted a girl and a boy with a mullet!!!!

2008-11-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

This gave us some good laughs Thursday while battling that flu bug!!

I hope you all had a FUN Halloween evening. I know we did. The weather was warm and no Rain.. It turned out perfect.. Will play catch up this week of our fun filled weekend... And by the way, I would never trade my boys in for anything!!!!

I GOT IT!!!

2008-10-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

The Flu!!!!
And of all weekends I hope it only last 24 hours. As long as I don't eat anything but soup I might be able to get through my day... Work, fun run, soccer practice and suppose to have lunch with friends today, then my card night. That might have to go... Wish me luck.

Old School Pumpkin Carvin

2008-10-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well this is a BIG tradition for Dax and with out Dax here it took some motivation on my part to get the family excited to carve there pumpkins yesterday. It didn't help that Jake suffered what most of his school mates in Pod D suffered Friday. The 24 hour Flu. He was just wiped. Anyway we broke it down into a 2 day affair. Tanner and I gutted while Jake laid and watch. (he was hit bad with this Flu) Tanner did his and The pets pumpkin yesterday, Today Jake and I finished. No fancy templates just free hand carving. Tanner broke our tool yesterday and I managed to only break one knife today. LOL. I am telling you Dax is the season pro, but this is what we came up with...
In the last photo Jake is trying to have the same expression his pumpkin has.. As you can see in the sleeping photo Jakie was wiped out that was where he laid all day Sunday(did i also mention he lost one of his teeth after one of his SICK sessions)He got it buck for that this AM...,
Tanner was a god sport and went to church/confirmation on his own(he got a ride with some friends) he made us a microwave coffee cup cake in class that day. It was so very moist and delicious. In the end of carving we have huge bowel of seeds to bake(my FAVE). (Jake's pumpkin had these big jumbo seeds) i have them soaking in sea salt water bath. i am going to bake half and my neighbor is going to smoke the other half, should be interesting, i have never had them smoked before.. Now Jake is feeling like his old self again, hopefully in time for his game tomorrow.

Busy couple of days

2008-10-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Friday Chores, errands and my Hair Apt. Tanner is hoping this is the last time he has to cut grass this season, Then off to Mayes Yearly Halloween Party Jake and I checked out the activities down town but they were geared towards teens and not little kids until Sat. Wished there would of been more advertising about the Halloween town because Tanner and his friends would of liked it. Sat. We had Tanner's game and as you can see Jake was entertained by Nicks brother Michael by wrestling.. They actually played really clean and that's why we let them just go at it.. they were having fun...Tanner's team played Tillimok They are the best team right now. But also they are the best sportsman that i have seen all season.. We held our own but we lost again.. then I had to train youth for 2 hours at my work, then it was off to the children's fair.. Jake loves making those pine cone bird feeders. (we actually had plans to make our own and never got to it so this is good)..Micheal Curry had this set up of the Dinosaur above and i thought that to be the coolest thing so did Jake. The it was off to another harvest party that i actually had Tanner go with our friends which was good because at 6am this morning Jakie throw up.. Yep he got the Flu bug. he's resting right now, Tanner went to church and our plans is to watch a movie carve our pumpkins unless Jakie still feels bad. he's sleeping now and this is the only time he lays around is when he's sick.. poor thing...Hope he gets better for Halloween...

Jakie "The Math King"

2008-10-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

That's what his teacher had called him and put on his award. He told me he had to get up in class or something and recite his last math work page, he told me afterwards he was suppose to study at home and he had forgotten. Anyway he was soo excited when he got home. He was the first in his class to finish the 1st booklet and so far the only one in his class to finish.. Now it's on to the fun stuff.. When he left Janis's class he was adding subtracting double digits and learning the basics of multiplying.. She gets all the credit. She was good so with her students.
As for reading he is finding such joy in reading now. He read to the neighbor boy who's 2years old last week and loves to read to dad on the phone. Dax was so excited to hear him read so fluently. I kept saying it will take off just a matter of time, just like most kids. Anyway he's had a pretty good year so far and he's loving being in a big school this year.. The pumpkin was a craft he made last Friday(at the neighbor/friends house) while me and Tanner were out for the evening. It's a pumpkin cat....

More fun at the Pumpkin Patches

2008-10-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

We went with some friends (Becky and her daughter Summer)
Tanner opted to stay home this time, we needed to get the perfect pumpkin for Dax, and as you know I love going to Sauve.. Again my favorite place (Amazing Grace) was closed again(not sure why) so no sling shot pumpkin shooting.
Jake flinging hay at mom

Sauve's new bridge I love the fall leaves
Krugers has the best food... More carmel apples for us yumm
me and Jakie

Becky and Summer
Jake was in a destructive mood that day kicking at hay and corn maze signs he also thougt it would be fun to chase the tractor during a hay ride...

Jake throwing hay at the cow 2 weeks ago
For Dax!!

On the hay ride
hay ride Tanner before his hair cut.(he got a whole half inch cut)ohhh!
corn maze with Jose and Seth our other neihbors/friends
tanner chasing chickens(never too old for that i guess) he spent a 1/2 hour chasing this one...
ahhhhhh one of many carmel apples

Jake loves his dog....

2008-10-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

At least 2-3 times a week We try to take Sniper to the Field by our house (a short 5 min walk if that). It is one of those things I said I would start doing more..And we have.. Sniper loves Frisbee but when he is at home he does act like the old dog he is he sleeps, lays around stays out of trouble but the second you say Frisbee he is just like a puppy again, it's great.. He is an excellent Frisbee catcher (he would of made a great hunting dog if Dax had the time to hunt). Last Wed. after school we were all in a "MOOD" and my friend/neighbor called to see if i wanted to walk the dogs, She has two. I said "NO" were all mad right now and i just don't want too. i hung up, then it occurred to me i am wasting a beautiful day becuase of our MOOD, lets get some air. I forced the kids to go, they were all still mad but within 10 min. all our troubles were gone and all was right and well again.. The fall air cleared all the negativity away of all of us, we all agreed it was the perfect remedy.

On a sad note, my friend had lost her older Dog Friday night. She passedaway while we were all out for the evening, just like that.. My friend is very sad right now, She and her husband got a puppy(there second dog) in August and they were all adjusted and enjoying there lives together. They have no kids and I know they had Suika for 12 years she is a huge part of there lives. My boys are sad especially Jakie and I think he's worried about Sniper now, which got me thinking...
They sleep together and play together everyday what will we do when it's Snipers time to go..Sniper was in the picture before Jakie came along(we got him 10yrs ago when Tanner was 2)but when i did get pregnant with jake that was when sniper became more protective especially to me.. It seems they always had a connection, he's always slept with Jake even as a baby, I hope we have even more fun years with Sniper..We are lucky to have such a great dog.

just wanted to show you

2008-10-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

The size of some of these kids...
Now this was Scappoose... This is nothing compared to the other teams we've played.(Forest Grove) had a kids with a beard!!!! And yes this is the kids that Tanner was covering, lucky him...

35th Annual NW Open Martial Arts Championships

2008-10-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday and I am Tired so if this is a sloppy post forgive me now, if i don't do it tonight I wont do it another week and fall behind... Too busy....

Well another busy weekend for the Boyle's... Friday while Jake stayed over at a friends house(had a pizza, movie and pumpkin craft night) me and Tanner and some of our friends went to the Portland Colosseum to the Haunted Houses called Fright Town. 3 haunted houses in one building.. We had a blast! I love being scared and love scary movies I finally felt Tanner was at the age to take him.(being in middle school he's probably been exposed to worse) SAD but true.. Trust me He's told me stories..Before the haunted houses we had Tacos at this hole in the wall Mexican place very good and cheap tacos then of course off to Starbucks.. it was a perfect fall evening..beautiful weather and good company being with my Brown eyed guy.

Sat we missed our soccer games because Tanner had a tournament,
Our friends the Sundeens also came along there son Drew was competing in his 1st tour.
It was great because I had Shelby and Jake had Maddie and Caleb to entertain us for the long day ahead...
this was Tanner's second tournament and although i felt this one was much more organized and flowed then the Mount hood state championships he didn't have the greatest experience.. He place 2nd in forms..(even though I am his mom and biased) I was told he was cheated by a few people. I just didn't say a word, he did great and he knew it and was happy with what he got..

In sparring it was a tough day. In Mt hood he competed with bigger kids up a rank and placed 3rd which was awesome for a 1st go.(he is really good in sparring) After seeing the competition he, his coach and myself were pretty confident I was sure he'd just run away with it. However 30seconds into his 1st fight his opponent who was wirely kicked him square in the SORRY FOLKS (bread basket) It's considered dirty but they treated it like a accident.(i cannot tell if it was or not i dont know) Right before the match the opponent had screeched really loud i should of known right then that it wasn't going to go well...

It was bad.... he was down for a long time fetal position, i saw him wiping his eyes, head on the mat He couldn't get up for a long while my heart was racing(wanted to run out there but couldn't do that to him in front of everyone)(Tanner thanked me later), the medic and his coach talked for a while and advised him to be done(he said it wasn't worth it) but Tanner refused to quit the match and finished the fight, he came back 4-6 but not in time to win it.. the ref had also overlooked when his opponent ran off the Matt and actually started crying when Tanner put the heat on, I knew Tanner's instructor Marty questioned that.. I was told though just like every other sport there is some politics so it is what it is.. I am soo proud of him.. I didn't want him to finish we could of went Right home for all i cared but he said later something clicked in his brain and told him to finish, he said he was in agony yhe whole time.. he would of had the match if it wasn't for the cheap shot. After seeing the other fights Tanner felt he would of placed if not 1st for sure 2nd. But next time...He was pretty good about the whole thing, the other kid had a pretty intense coach so i can kind of see why he had behaved the way he did.. All in all a learning experience, Tanner said he should of slowed down from the get go and then he wouldn't have gotten kicked.. I also told him the way he acted during the whole thing well show them how much control you have and that your also a good sport..(Tanner did tell me in his mind he wanted to just pound the kids but of course knew he shouldn't) It's tough being a kid in this day and age I am glad that Tae Kwon Do has taught him the discipline, control and to respect people and treat people how you want to be treated. He's an awesome kid.. Well instead of a celebration supper and shopping at the nike outlit, Tanner choosed a bath and a ice pack and tyonol for the night.. POOR KID!

Sunday after church off again to Sauve but I am Tired and will save it for another day..

Pumpkin Patch 1

2008-10-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

The "1" is there because I am a pumpkin patch addict.. I Absolutely love this time of the year.. I love the apples, Carmel apples, apple dumplings (i make dumplings a few times every year) apple cider. The pumpkins, carving, seeds.(YUM) pumpkin pie, bread and cookies... I love Sauve and going on a fall bike ride. I LOVE the colors, my house all warm and cozy.. I love walks to our field and lots of fall pictures.. I go a little crazy. I love decorating the house all Harvest like.

I usually end up at 3-5 pumpkin patches a year. this is trip number two ( i went with my motherinlaw 2 weeks ago)..
I hit all of Sauves patches, then over on cornelious pass there's two i really like, if i am really ambitious we go to the big train one in north plains, you alsocan take a boat that has a shark come out of the water(that's the boys favorite).. my favorite ones however are the old school pumpkin patches non-crowded and little commercialized...

We usually have a system where we go on the weekdays because i hate the crowds, well we tried it today, we had some free time and it was sooo pretty out i couldn't resist. however driving up and seeing all the cars lined up i second guessed.. had fun though.. did the corn maze, got muddy, had a elephant ear, hay ride, next stop Kruger's had a hot dog with Jalapenos, mustard kraut(the best) and a Carmel apple chased chickens (tanner) got chased by bees (all of us) the crowds got to me so we'll hit my fave next week on a weekday of course and hit the BIG CORN MAZE(Tanner loves that one too)!!! We also need to get Dad his BIG pumpkin....

Prayer Box

2008-10-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

Jake and his Sunday school class made prayer boxes. Jake is usually the one who says prayer before dinner time and he also has a prayer at his bedtime.. They are usually the ones that motivate me to get up and get ready for church. Tanner is in his second year of confirmation and is learning so much about the old testament. I enjoy seeing both of them as there faith grows. I am very proud of both my boys....

I am so proud of my Jakie

2008-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

He loves getting awards and the 1st few weeks of school he was bringing home every single McBride Mustang award he got until I explained to him that he needs to put them in the box for a weekly drawing. He said he doesn't care about the drawing he loves the little awards.. Well the teacher has always been commenting on his great handwriting so today right when he got off the bus i look in his backpack and here it is a BIG award for handwriting. This award stays home with us and is on our Frig as we speak... GOOD JOB BUDDY!!!!! Even Tanner commented on it when he got home... I love it.. oh yeah off subject.. On another BLOG there was a post about family games, well we just played ONO Attacks for an hour until Jake won a hand. however our favorite family game is from my mother in law and it's called Garbage, it's like a reverse rummy/phase 10 type game but has been in the Jordan family for many years.. Other games we like, phase 10( cards and dice versions) Mexican trains is always a fave and Monopoly (here and now playing with the big bucks) I think Sundays should always be game day for all families even when all four of us are not together the rest of us try to play at least one game on Sundays... FUN FUN....So what are your favorite games your families like to play?

20 year Reunion

2008-10-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yes I know 20 years.. Honestly I was not too thrilled about going to my 20 year class reunion. reason 1 Dax was in Germany he would of went with me otherwise, I explained to him later you should thank me for not subjecting you to a boring evening after seeing how bored other spouses were. I would of preferred to have gone to Germany with him, see some wonderful history. (Martin Luther's statue,(the founder of the Lutheran church if you didn't know) The buildings that were affected but rebuilt after WWII, and eating Brats and Drinking a Beer. Anyway Reason 2.. I don't live in the past I live for the moment and I only keep in contact with one person on a regular basis. She wanted to go therefore i figured what the heck. We can hang out all weekend and I can visit with my family as well.. Those two things plus enjoying the beauty of where my folks live.. Maple Grove. (The lake Oswego of Minnesota),were the highlights of my weekend. The reunion was like a Science experiment that could and probably did go wrong(i didn't wait to find out after they cranked the 80's music, the Bar was flowing with liquor and people were starting to dance). I was out of there...Anyway High school was fine for me I just don't have the ambition to relive my old high school days and that's just me.. But Andrea thanks for a fun weekend hanging out laughing and watching movies and eating, same to you mom and dad I loved spending time with you. The leaves were just starting to change and this was a picture i took during one of my awesome runs around the lake.. I'll always love my home in Minnesota but will never live there again, I love the mountains to much.... Just a great place to visit as often as possible....

Soccer Games part 2

2008-09-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is How Jake cheers his Big Bro while he plays his game.. Hey guys is this wrestling or soccer? I think they were playing soccer/wrestling / mix martial arts at some point.

Jake's game was a blast, since I am coaching I don't get to have to many chances to take pictures so i asked my friend Michele to help me. Jake's is a hardcore player,(as coach i try not to overplay him i also try not to underplay him that's hard to do) i definitely already seeing him following suit playing midfield or forward. I have a great bunch of kids and feel very lucky to be coaching such nice kids, I love seeing some of the shy ones come out of there shell.. They really love playing and want to learn as well. we have are silly days too but that's what makes this age fun. Balance... Here's Jakie playing his heart out...

Here's Jake at Goalie..... (I guess it gets boring over there....)

I am guessing goalie wont be his "thing" Defense either since i saw him sitting there during one part of the game... the ball played the other side for a while, i would of loved a shot of that to share with you guys...

Soccer Games

2008-09-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Tanner had his first game today. They are playing as a "younger team" this year, where as last year they were more balanced. It will be good for them to be challenged. They played A great first half but the second they got tired out. (typical pattern for these guys) They did great. We lost our goalie this year but gained a new kids that has never even played soccer however He is just the most amazing natural at goalie. I got a few shots but it's always hard to get great ball handling shots. i have all season right......

Tanner has always played Midfield and is very good at it. He has the stamina to play the whole game and usually does. He has great endurance i seriously love watching him play.. I only wishes he wishes too that he could play here year round.

Taking the plunge

2008-09-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Jake really wanted to start riding the bus, although he really likes having our walks home too. He asked if we can do both, so i decided alright. I have always been lucky the bus picks both the boys up right in front of the house and takes them directly to school. I am sure the glamour of it all will wear off and I will be more than glad to take him to and from school again.. It's so hard to see your youngest grow up so fast...

Free Time

2008-09-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

On my free time I have been taking advantage of our awesome weather and doing some biking. I took this with my phone to send to Dax, as you can see i am hot, sweaty and tired(I had just finished climbing Cator Road YUCK! but FUN. plus biking clothes are NOT flattering(the helmet the glasses and for sure the shorts, I do however have cute NIKE riding shoes that are pink and grey LOVE THOSE!) As very ugly the shorts are they are comfortable during a 4 hour ride. I went 40 miles yesterday and 30 on Tuesday.(my best riding season is during Sept and October being the kids are in school I try to ride at least 100 miles per week.) I do try to do a 7 hour day once a year but the kids are still young and I hate being a way from them too much. I got my bike tuned up Monday and i have been having fun since. Since i teach spinning Tuesday/Thursday i figure i might as well ride to the gym those days.. my goal is to gear up and try to ride all winter long(we'll see) even though i love cycling running will always be my number one passion.

Jake

2008-09-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

So, the other day Jake gets home from school and says, "lookie what i have hear" an award. me, "good job what was it for buddy"
Jake, "i corrected the teacher on how to properly make the lower case "p"....
Oh i said. I guess another boy held the door for his whole class right before recess kids can be so darn sweet and funny.
He now is planning on collecting them all(awards) and not put them in a drawing (something Tanner would do and still does, he doesn't care to win prizes he just wants to collect them all. I guess whatever makes them happy...
So today when i go to pick Jake up his teacher whispers, he's a very smart boy to which i respond thank you. Then she says he's definitely a boy(meaning he loves to be rowdy is my guess.) I love his teacher( she runs a tight ship but she is also so very nice) we instantly clicked i can tell she has the same way of doing things, she's funny too. I think I really lucked out this year.....

Lucky

2008-09-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

When Tanner went to leave this AM, Lucky our Cat wanted to come in so Tanner was letting him come in and the cat runs into the front door, this is the 3rd time this week. He's got the prettiest blue eyes but there cross eyed, it just cracks me up, but now i think he may be semi blind. poor thing. he is the sweetest cat too. I love his crooked tail.. only we would have such a silly critter...

SAUVIES ISLAND

2008-09-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite Fall things is going to Sauvie's Island with the kiddos and also on my bike for a 50mile ride

from home to Linton back to Sauvie and around.. I am soo excited for Harvest season and pumpkins, hay rides, candy apples, and tacos, hay mazes, corn mazes fun fun fun!!!! here we are hiking to to light house,finding a football and playing football( my sons favorite beach thing to do), and eating massive amounts of black berries, we ended the day at Sunshine Pizza for dinner, fun times....

BACK TO SCHOOL WEEK

2008-09-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

It's a week late but I think I am finally caught up yeah!!!!!

Tanner is in 7th grade now. He's a middle school er. (it makes me so sad and proud at the same time) i actually love having my boys home and i think it will take me some time to be adjusted to the all day school thing..(i guess i can ride my bike allot until the rain comes)
He does have the teenie attitude and I am just playing along, trying not to be that over bearing parent. He asked me not to volunteer at his this year. I am okay with that. He loved his 1st week. I saw his teachers and I am pretty sure he'll be challenged this year, I have prepared him letting him know that you will have homework everyday and just do your best, thats all we ask from him. He's always been a straight A student and hasn't missed a day of school in 2 years now. I think that usually changes come middle school, it did for me anyways.We all decided that he wouldn't do cross country this year being I just got his feet back in shape from the track season last year(his heals were in bad shape) got him "Asics" for his flat feet plus between Rec Soccer, Confirmation Classes, Tae Kwon Do tournament team and school work which is number one on our priorities plus he wants to do guitar once a week, I feel his plate is over flowed and I stepped up and said no more....
These preteen years I am a little worried about, we are going to have to do the best we can. There are so many growing pains, and allot of his friends are a little more spoiled than what we allow. He has limited Tex ting, I know of a kid that gets 1000 texts a month. In my opinion If I was the parent I wouldn't allow that or think it was CUTE or FUNNY. I feel like we are forgetting to teach our children values and more worried on whether they are cool or not. I always hope we are doing right with them. he has a cell but he pays for the minutes and texting himself(that's why he did the lawn mowing business) he doesn't use his phone because he sees the value in it. The kids also think having boyfriends/ girlfriends is cool too. I know I can't stop it but I can set down boundaries. He's still pretty open with us and I want that to continue, I feel we are good about talking about things. he also has expressed pressures to me about being accepted. football over soccer(his sport is soccer and he's good at it but not the cool sport as they say) how many girlfriends do you have, etc etc. anyways I'll quit while i am ahead. I remember going through this stuff in high school not middle school. Middle School everyone was friends any sport was cool and band was cool...

I unplug the boys all week from TV and video games and Fri.through Sun. they can play limited. I think we are to a good start of scheduling our weekly lives. they have followed the rules pretty well this week they have gotten themsleves ready each morning even Jake has made his own lunch(they hate the hot lunch or Tanner does anyway Jake just mimics Tanner he doesn't know any better.) Tanner has been pretty responsible and helpful..

On To JAKE now......
Jake is in his 1st year of public school, he feels so grown up and I forget how FUN these days were with Tanner.. I am happy with my choice to do Mc Bride/Berry Bright over the Charter(weve been there done that with Tanner) These 1st few weeks i am driving him in and then i run to the school to pick him up and we walk home together.. I love the talks we have been having.. one of them is this."mom, I wonder how ants feel?, you know, they have to get there own food, do they get tired carrying crumbs do they get hot on the sidewalk. Other talks are about what he did all day from start to finish, his new friends, his awesome nice teacher he calls her. This is bonding time I love it takes about 20min to walk home and I love it...I think his teacher and i are off to a good start she seems nice and allot of moms are saying i got a Good one.. guess that good.. i guess.
Jake loves being older and he cannot wait to start riding the bus. I am planning on vollunteering allot there this year... Jake may start Tae Kwon Do in a month, right now I coach his U-8 team ( a great bunch of kids) Even though jake is playing a year up with second graders we are having fun. the kids seem like they want to learn so much that i am trying to be creative, they want to know positions and play them and they all love trying goalie, I am challenged because soccer has never been my sport. give me conditioning training, aeorbics, spinning, Basketball, running and track and I am all over it.. I think I am doing okay, just wish I had more time to understand all the rules of playing soccer(it's my kids favorite sport) thank god there still young and I can make mistakes..The kids just want to have fun and thats what I hope they are doing. Jake will also start Fall Ball anytime now, he'll have Sunday School, I am giving him one more week off before we start so they are not overwelmed.

My plans/goals at least for the month are... getting my black and white wall up of photos.. ride allot before the rainy season starts, clean my closet/garage and minor repairs in the house, study my personal training guide, seeing some friends, going back to my teaching AM classes officially, maybe getting a part time afternoon gig at one of the school districts. (we'll see,Ii applied) I know i'll get bored and I am ready to ease back into the working mom world, preferably getting home at or shortly after the kids get out of school..(I know I am aiming High but anything is possible) anyway this is long and drawn out. We have picnic and a b-day party to go to today. I feel like a am finally caught up on blogging and hope I can keep it up....

POOL DAYS

2008-09-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

Our summer traditions always include the pool at the gym. I am trying hard to only post one picture. This is just part of our "pool gang" These kids are all excellent swimmers, and i feel it's because of all the time we spend here in the summer, the kids have all been in lessons and i also see allot of future Saint Helen's swim team athletes.
Our typical afternoon at the pool(twice a week at least) is a great workout then a big lunch KFC wed. or pizza and water and play time. If the temp is over 100 degrees then i go in the pool. I always get teased but i am always cold and i can't help it. They know if it's hot, sunny and the pool is warm i am in,otherwise forget it. Brenda is the fun mom and plays games with the kids she also lets them tackle and chase her all over the place. what a Gal...I was happy to get a good month of pool time in and I hope we get a Indian Summer to have a few days in Sept.

The Best Teacher in the World!

2008-09-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Being we were away for over half the summer we missed out on Jake's Kinder teachers summer program, but as i was running the other day by the school, here was Jani.. She invited us to the final summer program party and Jake got to see his buddies from last year, plus I got some time with Jani. She and Mo her husband are the most caring people I know. I cannot begin to express my gratitude i have for what she has taught Jake academically. I always joke with her saying that I would pay her to home school my boys for me. I plan on always having her in our lives. she is one of the kindest most caring christian person. We've had some of the greatest talks about LIFE and the lord. She has taught me so much in regards to ones faith and how we live our lives here on this earth. anyone can learn so much from her to me she is a wonderful speaker and understands her faith more than anyone I know. Big statement coming from me

Tanner

2008-09-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

This young man went to camp this summer. He was gone a week and as much as I missed him I was glad he went. He was too. He had so much fun up in Bellingham. They did all the fun outdoor camp things and he met allot of people.. It floors me that he is growing up so fast. This guy will be in middle school before I know it...

SNAKES

2008-09-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Tanner has pretty much taken over the mowing the lawn this summer. When we were here he has made a decent income mowing neighbors yards and watering while neighbors do there travels. For about two weeks now, he has found baby snakes in the path of cutting, being the kind heart he is he picks them up and puts them way far away in the IVY to avoid the Blade. They are so cute when little, I'd love to keep one but tell the boys they couldn't survive, so they let them go(sadly i cut a big one last week) it always bother me when that happens he is alright just wounded, but Tanner is always looking as he cuts. He has found about 7 so far....

Went to the water park

2008-09-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

We went to the water park up in Tacoma. The company was great we went with the Fitzgerald's the Lulls and our friends son for the day. We packed lunches and off we went.. I know the Lulls were at Disney world over the summer and I know we agreed that maybe if we went next year to the water park the kids wouldn't be like "oh is this it?"(TANNER) Still had fun of course but we were still on our Disney High....
We didn't come there for the rides we went on them until it warmed up but we came for the water park. The slides were fun, Jake was again Fearless and being a good swimmer he was able to go on anything. The wave pool was good. I didn't get too many shots because we had allot of kiddos with us and was too busy playing(I'll bring a water proof camera with me next time, disposable)
We ended the day with dinner at Elmer's. fun times

Annual Boyle Ice Cream Social

2008-09-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

Tried doing the homemade route but we resorted to Dryers Cookie Doe and Rocky road, The process was fun but I really have to stop trying to make it Low Fat (it doesn't work) Anyway I picked up all the goodies everything you can think of, I also have an Italian cookie maker and we made our own waffle cones and formed them onto the sundae dishes which turned out great.. Our whip cream can quit working so no whip cream but still you cannot ever go wrong at a ice cream social.. Just don't try to make low fat on your own unless you do have back up LOL

The Caves In August

2008-09-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

The boys had a couple BOY days together, so I can get some cycling in, I ran across these as I am catching up on summer pictures. Dax is the most awesome father to Tanner and Jake I have never seen any dad actually get on the floor and "PLAY" with there kids like he does he can go hours on end(lego, Lincoln logs, games, puzzles and even Army men he never gets bored(I only wish I had I can be as fun). This two day adventure took them to the caves up in Mt St. Helen's, and to the beach to fly the kite, play football and skim board (our Boyle tradition and routine at the beach). I remember the boys bragging about there dinner at "Pig n a Pancake", no fudge for mom this time I think i was being very strict diet wise at the time.
It's actually hard for me to let them go off and have fun with out me, but being I am always with them I think it is important for them to have guy time as well as me having girl time. Now most of you may find it strange that my idea of a good time is to ride 70miles on rolling hills but hey we all have our Things... I think Dax prefers it over me shopping because he's seen that side of me as well, i can rip through the stores like a hurricane, tee hee... I love the first photo of the three of them, that's how they are my BOYS!! I love you guys!!!!!

Look at My Garden Aug 08

2008-09-06T16:35:00.000-07:00

I am sooo excited about my garden. Look at all my Produce!! We enjoyed green beans, carrots, peas, now tomatoes and zucchini! i spent a day shredding freezing zucchini, we also made some bread. we have also been grilling zucchini with olive oil. YUM! I love all the tomatoes. One of my favorite things is to eat through the garden, a tradition i had as a child and a tradition i am passing down to my children. My sunflowers are gigantic i am hoping to get some seeds and smoke them for Dax. (a favorite snack). My grapes will be going to my friends and we are making wine together next week.Jake loved helping me weed the garden and loved digging carrots. I was surprised after being gone all summer to even have a garden. good thing for drip system. Next year I have more ideas for my little garden area...Were hoping to enjoy a few more fire pits before the rainy season god willing.....

July 24, 08 My Garden when we got home WOW!

2008-09-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

On the road again back to Oregon July 22nd 2008

2008-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Wrapping it up finally....

2008-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

I decide this will be my last post of our Calf. Vacation. realizing i now have over a month of posting to still catch up on... After going to Sea world we decided to spend out last day at the Wild Animal Park instead of the San Diego Zoo. We went on a Safari, saw lots of African animals, got to pet the deer and so forth.. needless to say it was fun although I think we were zoo ed out being we have had annual passes to the Portland zoo 4 years and counting and attend the zoo an average of 9-10 times a year. Still it was someplace different and fun. We were pretty tired but decided at about 3pm to head back to Scottsdale. We got home in time for another monsoon and went right to bed A great trip to say the least....These final pics are a few more of seaworld(petting the Rays, the Shamu night show(my favorite), the circus(pretty cool) we didnt see the Portland baby elephant yet but saw two on this Safari trip..

2008-08-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

Don't make fun, i had this in my back pack from when we went on the Jurassic park ride at Universal..They sold them for 1.00 at universal and 5.00 at Sea World... Best dollar i spent, being in my opinion "Chilly" out....In San Diego.

I love this one of the Sea Lion he was sooo hungry!

2008-08-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

This was the 1st time at Sea World for me...I finally got to see Shamu!!!! It was a perfect day. We got to feed the sea lions,That was great for the boys they loved that! It was funny though because the seagulls kept flying and taking the fish right out of our hand.It took a few "trial and error" to learn to be quick so the seagulls wouldn't fly over and steal the sea lions food.
We petted "Rays" I really loved that and really wanted to get a great shot of the boys petting them, but was so excited to get to pet them(the rays were so friendly which i know sounds strange but they seemed to like being petted(if thats possible) along with the dolphins(i think we have some pictures on our last and final Disc. of the dolphins), The shows were great especially the night Rock and Roll with Shamu. We ended the day with yet another display of fireworks and crashed out at Midnight... One day to go and vacation is over...Maybe i will finish all this by Monday "Labor Day" then i can catch up to the rest of Summer....

Sea World

2008-08-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Beach in San Diego

2008-08-30T08:30:00.001-07:00

I Saw this pretty church when we were driving in "circles" and tried to get a shot of it because Dax didn't want to "stop in the middle of street" We got a little lost for about a half hour, it was an adventure as we like to call it.. Got to a spot on the beach and hung out(to me it's like going to the Oregon Coast/Northern Calf. Thought it was chilly here hi 60's.. Tanner saw some tweenie's so he was having one on his preteen moments(you can't say anything to him let alone look at him and you are embarrassing him...) it's sort of funny and i remember doing the same at his age...

2008-08-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Few more random pictures from Universal... Had to get the shot of Dax with the Raiders logo behind them. i got some cute pictures of Sponge bob with the boys on my cell phone i will have to e mail them to here...We were so tired that night we didn't get home until midnight. The following day we decided to take the day off from everything and just drive to San Diego get our room and rest go get a bite and see the beach. I was glad we broke up the trip a little... Next stop Sea world and the wild animal park.....

2008-08-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

After the day at Universal City we went and hung out at City Loft and had a great dinner there. They had shops restaurants and bars, and lit up like a mini Vegas. it was pretty neat.

universal

2008-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

I thought universal was just okay. It was fun but i felt like we were nickel and dimed to death. Our favorite was the new Simpson ride. it was definitely one of the better rides there. (another flight simulator) It was like you were really on a roller coaster, silly plot line too typical Simpson's.. We did the whole day there went on everything. Mummy was cool. The Water World show was cool. The tour was Fine.. Loved the desperate housewives block and Norman Bates of course. (see Above) being a Hitchcock fan i liked it, boys loved the jaws and earthquake. We saw where the fire was just recently.

July 16,08

2008-08-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

Universal Studios July 16th, 2008

2008-08-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Disney Last day!!!!

2008-08-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Every trip to Disney needs to end with a ice cream.. (The best ice-cream) I was craving Cold Stone for about two weeks after we got back.. The with drawls were hard... LOL!
This was our Disney part of our vacation... Next stop, Universal Studios......

2008-08-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

This picture here shows the start of there only Semi serious fight... I can smile about it then and now because it really was almost a record. The fight was funny Jake was so mad he chased him through the kids water playing area and Dax and I smiled at each other let them go at it and then intervened... Priceless..I love Jake's expression on the "Tower of Terror"Me and Tanner were trying for our "Scary Movie" facial expression..
And of course the surf pictures at Calf.Adventure"

Disney disc 3 last day!

2008-08-29T07:57:00.001-07:00

One thing I had failed to mention is this whole week Dax developed what became a very serious Sinus infection. You wouldn't know it by the pictures, between having Jakie ride on his shoulders through out the day, riding the coasters various times and swimming... He didn't complain at all.. That's who he is he just deals with everything like that...
I tried so hard to get good pictures at the pool and failed!The pool area was so cool.. very tropical.Dax started taking the camera out for the coaster rides and got some fun looking shots.(see jakes on the other posts) they crack me up because we were having so much fun....

Disc 2 Disney.....

2008-08-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

You have over 2 pages of pictures to look at so i figure i stop here to give you all a break and resume tomorrow...

i published numerous posts for Disc 2 alone i know i know getting a little carried away... We spent a total of 3 days in Disney/California Adventures. We got Fast passes the 1st 2 days which was great, thats why we got to hit our favorite rides so many times....It is hard to pick what pictures to post must of taken thousands...One thing I did get burned out on was all the 3-D rides. but i did love the 4-D toy story that was so Cool...