mAN i'vE BeEN An AwfUl BloGgER LAtElY....

Since I haven't blogged is soooo long I thought I would post what I had then add my pics later......So they have been added down below......

I forgot to update everyone on Kaiden's state tournament games...They did AWESOME!!!! The first day they won one game and lost one. They lost to the #1 SF team and only lost by a few runs (everyone else was losing by 12 and even 2o to this team) The next day they won both games and were going to be playing the next day (Wed) for 3rd or 4th. place. If they won that one they would play for 1st or second. I think I was more nervous and excited than Kaiden was. He is just a lot mote laid back than I am.

On Wed the team came out of the first game with a huge win! Well, 6-0 (I think that was the score) Then they faced the #1 SF team that they had lost to the first day. It was such an intense game. Both teams were back and forth with the lead, then with 20 min to play, the SF team hit 2 guys in and we were down by 2. Man, I was so nervous. I felt so sad for our pitcher and catcher because they were under so much pressure that they started crying. They aren't sissy boys either, they are those tough, athletic-type boys (I guess as tough as you can get at 12 LOL) They had come so far and could feel the weight of the game on them.....

We never pulled out ahead and SF won the state championship. The Giants did so great though and took 2nd in state!!! The whole week was pretty exciting for all of us!! I was able to take off work every day, my mom and grandma came down a few days and Kaiden got to hang out with all of his teammates, practicing and goofing around. Kaiden said that he wished baseball didn't have to end but I think it was a great ending to the season!!! NICE JOB Kaiden and the rest of the Giants team!!! Thanks Grandma and mom for coming all the way to watch Kaiden!!

That weekend, Paul and I, our neighbors and Kaiden and a few of his friends from the team, celebrated at the Lindon Pool. We had TONS of fun and are thinking about getting a family pass next year. It's a really great pool, with a lazy river, waterslide, kiddie pool, regular pool and Wave Rider (not sure if that's what it's called)

STATE TOURNAMENT

Yesterday was the first day of Kaiden's State Tournament for baseball. The Giants had two games, right in the middle of the sweltering heat but they did great!!! They won both games!! The scores were 9-2 and 11-1. Today they have two more games and one of them is against one of the first place teams. I know they will do great and that Kaiden will do great!!! Way To go Giants!!! I have lots of pics and video but will add them later. (Hopefully soon, when I am updating everything ;)

Carry on.....2009 Stake Trek

Sometime in February, Paul and I met with the 1st Counselor in our Stake Presidency. I was really nervous because I knew that I was being released from the Relief Society Presidency and wondered what calling I was going to get. (Stake Conference was a few weeks away and I prayed we weren't being called in for something to do with that) I was relieved when President W asked us to accept the calling to be Mas and Pas during our stake Trek in June/July. As embarrassed as I am to admit it now, my first question was, "What am I going to do with my hair?"(Yes, President W heard me say it and hopefully forgot it right after.)

I was actually really excited, because I have heard SO many great stories from those that have been on past Treks. Paul knew that it would hit me eventually what I was REALLY in for, and he was right.... I am NOT the best outdoorsy girl out there and REALLy having to rough it like the pioneers, started to worry me a little. The thing that made me worry even more though, was the idea of 6-10 teenagers that would be part of our "family." This might seem a little dumb to some, but I haven't served with the Young Women for almost 10 years and that was for only a little while, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Brayden is a great teenager so I don't know what it's like to deal with REAL teenagers. I had dreams of bratty teenage girls and cocky teenage boys, talking back, sneaking out of their tents and running all over the place. Needless to say, I did A LOT of praying before we went on the Trek.....

The Stake leaders that were in charge of getting everything ready were SO great. We had several meetings before to answer questions and let us know what to expect. My mom and mother-in-law were great to help me round up clothes for Paul, Brayden and I. My mom sewed a lot of my stuff and they turned out pretty cute (for pioneer clothes)

Finally the big day came! At 5:30 a.m. on July 30th Paul and I headed to the stake Center with all the other Mas and Pas and our Big Siblings (They were older kids that would help us out and be a leader to the other's in our family) The person in charge was calling out the Big Siblings and matching them with their Ma and Pa. There was one kid with a HuGE sombrero-looking hat that kept yelling out every time one of his friend's names were called. He would yell, "YAY! you have a family!" Oh man!! That's not my family!" and just kept yelling things out....I kept thinking, "That kid would be fun to have as our Big Sibling. He seemed really fun and crazy.

When mine and Paul's names were called, so was sombrero boy's. He ran up to us and gave us a hug and said, "I have a Ma and Pa!" Paul's first thought was, "Great we get some punk kid." As we were walking to the cars to drive up the canyon, Zach said' "I'm really not handicapped, I was just being funny." We had a good talk on the way up to wait for the rest of our family. Zach seemed like a really great kid and even proved to be so much more than that, the rest of the Trek...

Oh! I have sooo much to write about the Trek but I am going to have to finish it later.... If I would have known before how it was going to turn out, I wouldn't have worried at all. We had the BEST kids in our family!! Everyone of them pitched in pulling the handcart, helping around camp and were SO strong in the Gospel. I think I came out of the Trek with a stronger testimony of Prayer...I know that God was watching out for us (especially me because I was seriously terrified that we would have these unruly teenagers that really didn't want to be there and I wouldn't know how to deal with them.) I have tons more to write but I will stop for now. Here are few fun pics we got while we were there.....

All of the girls on Faith Hill during the Women's Pull. All of the girls were AMaZinG!! The boys were so great to walk right beside us the whole time. Two of the cute boys even carried HUGE boulders up the whole way, to put under our wheels while we stopped to take breaks. (I was there too, just in the back in this pic. All of us took turns pulling and pushing)

This is after the Women's Pull (Notice how cute I look. Hahaha.) It was really hard with just the girls but it just made me realize a little of what the real pioneer women had to go through when they had to go days, weeks and months without their husbands.

Paul and Zach doing the stick pull. I think they broke every long stick we had

Zach split his pants during the second day and thought our table clothe would work to cover it....It didn't work so great.

BIG 8!!!

Akoy turned 8 on June 5th!! YAY!!! Being 8 is such a fun age!! We celebrated his birthday the day after, with cake and ice cream and all of our family.

LAGOON

The second weekend in June all of us (minus Brayden, because he had to work) went to Lagoon for my companies Lagoon Day. They were so great to schedule it when we had all of our boys! Yes, they love me at work so they did it just for me. Just teasing, I helped a tiny bit with the planning. Well really just reminded the guys in charge that we should probably start planning something soon, so everyone would have time to figure out their schedules. So they asked me what weekend they should do it and I said the 13th would be a great weekend. So that's how it worked out that we had all of the boys...

Since the weather has been so weird this summer it just so happened that rain was predicted for that Saturday. I felt soooo bad because I chose the date. It all worked out perfectly though, the weather was just a little overcast and it didn't end up raining until around 4. Most people got a good days worth of rides in before it rained.

All of us had a really fun time! Paul talked Akoy into going on the Colossus but couldn't talk Kaiden into going on Wicked. Just like I thought, as soon as we got home, Kaiden regretted not going on Wicked. Maybe next year.... Next year I am going to take Dramamine before we go. I don't do as well on all the crazy rides like I did when I was younger. After riding Wicked, I seriously wanted to puke but didn't think that the Lagoon workers would be too happy about that so I rode a few safe rides like the train until I felt better. (man it sucks to get old)

Kids say the funniest things.....

Paul and I teach the 6 and 7 year old kids in Primary. I haven't been in Primary for such a long time, I forgot how funny the kids can be. I've heard some pretty funny things since I have been back in there:

They were doing a spotlight and the counselor in the Presidency said "This person loves helping their sister clean her room."

The room was pretty quiet until one of the little boys, with a disgusted look on his face said, "THAT is NOT me."
All the adults in the room burst out laughing because you could tell that the little boy thought that was the dumbest thing ever,


One of the little boys whose class is right in front of us, loudly said to his teacher,"Teacher I don't want to sit by him. (again with disgusted look on his face) He told me that he didn't brush his teeth today so I don't want to sit by him." (As he is scooting to the edge of his seat)

As we were driving home from church one of our boys asked Kove where he got his sucker. He said, "The Prophet told me that I could have it." When one of them asked, "Are you sure it was the Prophet?" Kove answered, "Yeah, I was in the Prophet's office and he said I could have it."

After all of us teased him for a few minutes about the Prophet REALLY being at our church, he realized that he meant the bishop. It was pretty cute.

Slacking.....

I have sooo many posts to do, so stay tuned for our Lagoon day, Akoy's baptism, Paul, Brayden and I on our stake Trek and Fourth of July. You don't want to miss out on these........

The Giants are going to State!!!

Kaiden's baseball team ended their regular season with a win last night, which puts them with a 7-2 record AND they are going to the state championship!!! This is the first year that any of his teams have gone to state, so it is really exciting. (Kaiden is arguing that the first year he played, his D-back team went to state. I think it was the city championship, that all teams go to. Maybe we will never know who is right.... I guess it doesn't matter, they are going this year so that's all that matters. YAHOO!!)

Kaiden has improved SO much this year, I am so proud of him!! He is hitting WAY better, has made a lot of great plays in the infield and has even pitched quite a few games. Paul has been working with him on his pitching and hitting and he has a great coach and assistant coach. They are so patient with the boys and have put in a lot of time with them. (My neighbor and Kaiden's best friend's dad is the assistant and he has been great to help Kaiden) The state championship starts in July so the team will be practicing quite a bit until then, and then it's off to the championship. Stay tuned for an update of how they did......

Dance Festival

This past Wednesday, Kaiden's school had their annual Dance Festival. I think the school has had this tradition since my brothers went there and even when Paul did (Wow! that's a LONG time.) It is so much fun, I'm glad that they have kept the tradition. Kaiden has been able to participate in it since he was in kindergarten. I'm not so sure he thinks it is so fun,especially now that he is SO old. A few days before the festival, he was telling me about the different songs they were dancing to and said, "There are a lot of girl moves that we have to do, you'll see." He was pretty cute doing the dances but you could tell that he was embarrassed. He was smiling pretty much the whole time though but I think it was more that he was laughing. I got a little teary-eyed thinking that he is growing up so fast.

I can't believe that he is going to be in 6th grade this coming year. He is so smart and a really good kid (with the exception of the few arguments we have had over doing jobs and pulling weeds :) I don't know if this is a normal mom thing or just a weird Kristen thing, but there are times that I worry that I am not teaching him all that he needs to know. I worry that I need to do a better job at teaching him to be a hard worker or a better team player or more about the Gospel or about always being nice to others. He is starting to become more independent and I wonder if I am running out of time for teaching him things. It seemed to be a lot easier when he was younger because he did everything I said and didn't question it. (well, not too much) Now he has his own little personality and he is starting to question some of the things I tell him ( not anything bad but some things like thinking I am overprotective when I want him to take my phone when I let him go over to the park with friends or he complaining about ALL the jobs he has.) Really, it isn't that bad but I start thinking about all the things my parent taught me (some that I know I hated) and hope that I am teaching Kaiden all the things he needs to know to be a good young man. Ooops, I am rambling...

Anyway, Kaiden is going to be in the 5th/6th grade class split again. It's funny to think that he was worried at the beginning of the school year, about being in the harder 5th grade class. He did a great job though and loved it! At parent teacher conferences his teacher would tell me that he was a great student, well rounded in academics and sports and he loved having him in the class. Kaiden is even a little sad that school is over, he says that it is mostly because the fun 6th graders will be gone. He got all A's and one A-. I gave him a hard time about the A- but was just teasing. I am so proud of him. I'm soooo glad that we started early on with our homework and reading routine. He always gets his homework done before he does anything else, if he doesn't do it at school, and he LOVES to read. I just hope it continues this way.....

The Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend this last weekend...... My cousin graduated on Friday night so Kaiden and I went to that with my mom. I'm not sure if I am weird but graduations make me cry, like weddings, babies being born and other things like that do. I wasn't sobbing or anything, just a little teary watching the senior video and thinking that these young kids are leaving a part of their life and starting a new chapter, a BIG new chapter.

My mom and I were talking to Kaiden about how fun high school is and we wondered what kind of sports and activities he would do when he was that age and what kind of kid he would be. We told him that he needed to try to be nice to everyone, no matter if they were popular, quiet, smart, not so smart, athletic or not, that he should be friends with everyone. I know it was funny to be talking to him about stuff like that but I sometimes I just think of those kind of things.... When I started thinking of the time when Kaiden graduates, THAT made me cry..... (I'm weird I know)

Akoy had a game later that night so I dropped Kaiden off at his dad's and rushed over to the game. Luckily it started late so I didn't miss too much. Akoy even hit a double, so that was fun to watch.

On Saturday morning we got up too early for a Saturday, to go to our towns Fireman's Breakfast. Akoy and Kove thought it was pretty neat that we got to eat in the fire station and that there were tons of fireman serving them breakfast. Of course we had to take their pictures by the fire truck.

Paul's brother-in-law built a little motorcycle track behind their house so we headed up there after breakfast. Paul was riding as crazy and fast as the boys and got pretty banged up. (I don't think his body is as young as he thinks it is) It was a busy but fun weekend....