First runner up

Tanner competed in the School spelling bee again. There were 20 kids competing. Each 4th, 5th, and 6th grade class sends 2 representatives to compete in the "finals." Tanner was his classroom's winner. The winner of the School then goes on to compete in the district competition. One time during the competition, they asked another speller to spell the word "sequin," Tanner looked at me in the audience and smiled. That is the word he messed up last year and he for sure knows how to spell it now. He did very well, this year and spelled 11 words correctly before making a mistake. When he misspelled his word in the 12th round, there were only 3 spellers left. But all 3 kids got their words wrong and so they all got to stay and try again. The next round someone messed up and that left only 2 kids--Tanner and Dean. It went back and forth between these 2 for several more rounds. One of the kids would misspell a word and then the kid who got one right would have to spell one more word correctly to win. Then that kid would misspell his "winning" word and it would start the round over. Tanner eventually got out-spelled on round 22. There were some hard words at the end of the competition, and I was impressed that both Tanner and Dean did so well since they are both 5th graders. I'd write some of the words they got wrong but I don't know how to spell some of them myself. I'm so proud of him that he made it to 2nd place. The teacher in charge said he made it as "First runner up" because she thinks that sounds better. Good job Tanner!

The final two! At the end they shook each other's hands.

It was great!

The number to beat is . . .

Here's another one of those "we crack ourselves up" stories. (Hopefully it will make you laugh too.) Jerel and I watch the tv show "The Office" and sometimes the kids see it too. A couple weeks ago, they had the funniest intro on the show. We called the family in to watch it and we all laughed and laughed. A few days later we all went to the zoo as a family. And while we were there, we had the opportunity to reenact the scene from "The Office" that made us laugh so hard. Fans of "The Office" will appreciate it more, but I think you will still have a little chuckle out of it. Sorry that there's 4 videos, but the first is the clip from "The Office." The next 3 are each of my kids reenacting it. Have fun!

Here's Jordan--he claims he didn't even try:

Here's Chase and Trevor:

Here's Tanner and Trevor (again):

The funniest part was afterwards. We had all had our fun and were walking down the path to the next exhibit when Tanner said, "Dad you should have run. If you would have got like 20 mph and then you would have been only like 4 or 5 miles slower than the fastest man in the world!!"

Jerel replies, "Well, while I am glad that you think that I could run that fast, I'm not really a sprinter. I'm really a long distance runner."

So Tanner replies, "Well, then start from back here and run it!" By that point we were a ways away from the speed sign. I'm sure Tanner was thinking Jerel could surely be fast if he ran it in a long distance then. We had a good laugh out of that.

Isn't it cute when a son thinks his dad has a chance of being the fastest man in the world?! It just makes me smile.

Dinner anyone?

The other day I was making dinner and Jordan came in and said, "Hey mom, thanks for making dinner every night. A lot of my friends and other kids at school have mentioned to me that they think it's nice that you make dinner every night because a lot of their moms don't. So thanks. I know it's a lot of work and I'm glad you do it. "

I was overwhelmed with gratitude that my teenage son noticed something that I do for the family and was thankful for it. I just do it automatically and sometimes with not a lot of thought. And I have to be honest, I was surprised that so many of my sons' friends go out to eat a lot. I thought everyone had dinner at home every night. So I had to take a picture of the dinner table right then and there so I could remember the nice compliment.

p.s. We do go out to eat sometimes too. I'm definitely not perfect you know. :)

The parable of the serving spoon

(I stumbled across these pictures while trying to find some other ones for the next post. Remembering how hard we all laughed when it happened, I just had to post them. Hope you think it's as funny as we did.)

Once upon a time there was a boy named Chase. One week he felt really sick. He even came home early from school one day, missed wrestling practice and slept the rest of the day away. He really felt pretty crummy all week. During one of those crummy days, he decided he wanted some leftover jello. (If you don't have teenage boys--let me enlighten you. They are always hungry--even when they are sick--seriously, hungry ALL the time.) He ate some. It was delicious! He wanted more and proceeded to scoop more out of the container with the spoon he had been eating with. His mom walked in. (I'm sure you can see where this is going.) Chase's mom taught him the lesson of not eating directly from containers, licking serving spoons, etc. --ESPECIALLY when you are sick. She let him eat the rest of the jello since he contaminated it for the rest of the family. Chase thought , "No problem. I'll eat it right now. I love jello."

"I like jello, this isn't going to be too bad."

(This picture doesn't do it justice--there was a TON

of jello and it filled the whole plate.)

"Wow that was a lot of jello.
I don't think I'm going to eat jello ever again!"

Moral of the story: When you are sick, don't let your "germaphobic" mom catch you licking the serving spoon.

p.s. He ate jello again last night--he was hungry! LOL

Fabulous family fotos

Well, I'm sure you noticed my new family picture on the side--and if you haven't, now is a good time to notice. :) It's my favorite and is now displayed in my living room. Today my sister-in-law posted some beautiful pictures of my 3 year old niece, and I just loved looking at them. So then I decided that I needed to share some new pictures of my kids. Many of my friends and family don't live nearby and probably would like to see what we look like now. Hopefully you will enjoy looking at them as much as I loved looking at my niece's new pictures. These were all taken (November 2008) by my friend Mary who is an awesomely fabulous photographer. I wish I could share all the pictures she took because there were so many great ones--literally tons and tons. But here are some of my favorites.

Enjoy!This is my second favorite family picture.

(It's displayed in my family room.)

Aren't my 4 boys so handsome!
I love the one where they are all laughing. I love the candid shots.


Trevor -- age 6

Tanner -- age 10

Jordan -- age 13

Chase -- age 15

Cute quips

Yesterday Trevor wanted to eat some of the leftover jerky that Jordan had on his campout. After about 15 minutes he said, "Hey, I really like beef jerky."

I replied, "You do? Well, I'm glad."

He then continued, "Yeah, I like it cuz you can even drink it sometimes."

I said, "What? Drink it?"

He explained, "Yeah, if you chew it for a long time, then it gets juicy and then you can drink it."

So there you go. Who knew you could drink jerky. lol

College Basketball

This is such a great time of year. The weather is gorgeous and college basketball is in the air! Last month, our family was able to take in the Stadium Shootout at the University of Phoenix stadium (where the Cardinals play football). This was a one day tournament featuring four excellent college basketball teams including our beloved BYU Cougars. We purchased sideline tickets that included an all-you-can-eat buffet as well. We were treated to hot dogs, chili dogs, nachos, prime rib, bread sticks, pasta, brownies, cookies, soft drinks, water - basically everything you could want. There was plenty of food and it was all really good. Our seats were only a few rows from the court so we had an excellent view of the games.



The first game featured Louisville vs Minnesota. It was an okay game with Minnesota pulling out an upset win over ranked Louisville (although Minnesota is better than the experts say). We had trouble getting into the game but there were still some impressive plays. What I was more impressed with was the fact that Muhammed Ali was attending the game (he's from Louisville) and was sitting a couple rows in front of us albeit he was courtside. I was a bit star-struck with seeing him up close but it was interesting how many people around us, especially those younger than us, had no idea who he was, what he had accomplished and what he meant to the sports world. Boxing has not had many "class acts" as of late but Ali was the greatest! It would be like someone not knowing who John Wooden, Wilt Chamberlin, Knute Rockne, or Walter Payton where. Anyhow, I'm glad my kids were able to see him and learn a little bit more about sports history.


Some of the BYU team came into the stands during the first game to watch and relax. Camille took the kids over to meet the players and get a few photos with them. They were more than happy to accomodate, even letting the kids sit amongst them and watch the game.


The second game featured BYU versus ASU. This was the game most of the crowd came to witness since ASU is only a few miles to the east and they are ranked having only lost 1 game thus far. BYU has also started out strong going undefeated through their early schedule although they haven't played many strong opponents. The crowd was definitely pro-ASU; in fact we were surrounded by ASU fans, many of whom had a few drinks in them by tip-off. But everyone was respectful of us and complimentary of the BYU team and players. We had a great time cheering on the Cougars and the game was well-played by both teams. The game came down to the final seconds as BYU fired up a shot that was initially counted but after video review, was waved off. BYU lost by 1 point!! It was a disappointing end to an otherwise fun outing.

Snow Day

Yesterday, our family traveled to Flagstaff to spend the day enjoying the winter weather. My co-worker, Bill Beverage and his wife Sue, own several acres of land in the area and they invited us to spend some time with them at their cabin. They have named their property Whispering Pines and we enjoy the opportunity to visit. It is always very relaxing and peaceful and Bill and Sue are the best hosts, catering to our every need.

When we were outside, we spent the day sledding, building snow forts, and having snowball fights. Then we would go inside to warm ourselves by the fire, dry our clothes, watch football, and eat. It snowed some while we were there and I had forgotten how peaceful the world feels when snow is coming down. The day was over much too quickly and we all wished we could have stayed longer.