Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!!?

Today are the season opening games for both my brothers Rocky and Jordan. Jordan is playing at the high school in my hometown. He is a junior and plays wide receiver and corner back. Honestly, who of you know what the heck that means? :)Tonight they are playing Puyallup, a big rival. It's fun to go the high school games and take a little walk down memory lane. Unfortunately, then I feel old. Rocky is a senior playing at Eastern Washington University and is a starter at the Left Tackle/Guard position-it changes depending on how others are playing. Basically he is one of the big dudes on the offensive line that protects the quarterback. I LOVE LOVE LOVE football season! I live for it. I listen to all of Rocky's games on the radio via the Internet if I'm not in Cheney watching them. (Due to Nate's big test, I will not be in Cheney for this season opener.) Going to Rocky's games is totally fun too. My family gets WAY into it. We cheer loud and get super excited, at all times. It's a little sad for me that this is the last football season for Rocky, but he's happy, so I'm happy. In case you feel like listening in on tonight's game click here.7:05 kick off. I love football. I always just pray that my brother's don't get hurt. Go EAGS!! Go Sparts!!


A few pics from last season. Those are eagle tattoos on our faces.





This reminds me I need to make Gage and Kyah new shirts. How cute are they?!

If Laughter is the Best Medicine, then I'm Super Healthy!

The kids have had me laughing all day long.

Kyah has decided that she is funny and has been walking around all day professing, "I funny Momma, I funny!"

Then today I noticed/heard Kyah really working on some "business" in the middle of the living room. She has been a little constipated lately and it is really sad. So I said in my nicest voice, "Are you working on some poo-poos Kyah?" And to my surprise she got a big smile on her face and proclaimed, "Got it!" I just about died laughing. Sorry to those of you who would never use the word poo-poo in a post. :)

Gage was drawing races from Mario-Kart on his little Doodle-Pro today. I was suppose to guess what they were. So I asked him if it was Daisy Cruiser? A race that take place on a cruise ship. Then he replied, "you say it 'Da Boat' in Spanish."

Funny how their minds work.

It's Officially Official- for Brad.

Remember Brad?

He has decided to join the half marathon craze! He is officially registered for the Super Jock n Jill half marathon. He is number 209 and I am number 257(all prime numbers by the way-I like that. Did you know I was double majoring in Secondary Math and Elementary Education before I got married?) Anyway, I am sooooooooo excited to have someone to go with me to the race. He has basically informed me that he will be leaving me in his dust as soon as the gun sounds. AND that he will beat me by 20 to 30 minutes. Now, if he had been training, say at all, I would believe this. But 13.1 miles is a long way to go for someone who hasn't been running, even for a young 19 year old dude. So do I think he will beat me, yes, but don't tell him that. :) But I do not for one second think he will beat me by 30 minutes. Maybe 13. Of course, this is assuming my knee doesn't give out on me first. I can't wait to see how Brad does. He's a stud just for signing up!

Happy Birthday Quintin!

Quintin was the very first baby I ever tried to photograph, besides my own. He was two weeks old at that time. I think back to those photos and almost cringe. I took every single one with my flash on and at the time never even opened up photoshop because I had no clue. I snapped a few shots of him one day when I was babysitting. It think he was 5 months old-ish. I also photographed him when he was 8 months old. Last weekend was his party and I snapped some shots of him eating cake. It is kind of fun to see how I have improved in a year. (Quintin is the son of my good friend Liz.)

I just went to find the CD of those first shots of Quintin and they are no where to be found. So much for a look back in time. :)


5 Months old-ish.







8 months






1st Birthday







Happy Birthday Buddy.

A Major Week Ahead!

This is a monumental week for our family!!! Nate will be taking his long awaited GMAT test! As I mentioned before, he has done everything in his power to prepare for this test. I'm just a little concerned that he may catch this bug that has affected our family. (Kyah started out with it last Tuesday and then I caught it by Sat.) Because Nate has waited kind of up until the last minute to take the test, he really can't afford to be sick and miss it, or be sick and not do his best, or be sick and miss some last minute studying time. I think he could handle missing some studying time because he has logged hundreds of hours, but mentally, I don't think he could handle it. Also, taking the GMAT test is SUPER expensive, in my book at least, and I would hate to see that money go down the drain by rescheduling. So please all you women of faith, pray for the health of my husband!!!! :)

Also, less than a week now until my half marathon!! I'm really anxious about it for two reasons. 1. The last two weeks have proved to be less than stellar training wise. It has been hard to run because Nate goes to work and then goes and studies and by the time he gets home, it's too late for me to run. Two weeks ago I only got in two runs, and last week I only got in three. I missed training runs last Saturday and yesterday because I was sick and I can't imagine that I'll be feeling like an eight mile run tonight-Nate won't be home until late anyway! Plus they say you should take it easy the week of the race, but I haven't read anywhere that you should take it easy three weeks before the race like me!! Three weeks ago, I wouldn't have been nervous at all, I was a running machine. 2. My knee is really bothering me! A week ago I did a 10 mile run and almost cried and stopped running because I had sharp pains shooting down the outside of my right knee. It kind of comes and goes. On that run it started about mile six. I rested the day after and on my next run it was killing me by mile 2. Anyway, I'm just worried about how it will hold up on the half marathon. The good news is that the course is fairly flat, much flatter than the places I run here. I think that will help a lot. I guess all the resting will be good for my knee in the long run. Thanks for listening/reading about my worries!

P.S. For anyone in my family who is reading this, I'm not being a baby either. I know that's what you're thinking!

Those Who May Be Wondering......

A couple of you wanted to know how I put up my banner. I basically did it the cheater way. First of all, you have to be using the new blogger template. You just go under template and then click update or something like that. You'll have to redo your links, in a new easier way, but all your posts will remain in tact. Then there is a time when you will be able to edit your header. When you do this there is a place to add a photo. Basically, what you see as my header is a jpeg image. I made it using the publisher program. Publisher is something that Nate bought extra and put on our computer, so I'm not sure if everyone would have it. You could use any program that would arrange pictures and add text for you. Then I uploaded it to my header and chose the option to hide the header that the template provides. I'm not exactly thrilled with the look of my new blog, so don't be surprised if it changes a lot in the next little while. I do want to have pics at the top, but I think I may continue looking for a better way to do it. I hope that helped those of you who were wondering how I got those pics there.

On the Upside.

Saturday night was one of the longest of my life. This may sound dramatic, but it's true. I was in my hometown on Saturday when I started feeling my stomach rumble. I hurried up and packed the kids in the car and headed home as I didn't want to repeat the incident at Thanksgiving! (I got sick in the car on the way home from Centralia-seriously one minute from home after an hour and a half in the car) Luckily history did not repeat itself and I did make it home. To put it nicely, I had one heck of an attack on my digestive track that lasted all through the night. Luckily by the Sunday morning the worst had past.

Nate put the kids to bed at Saturday night and I could hear what was going on through the monitor and even in my agony it made me laugh. Typical Gager. It went something like this.

Gage: What's wrong with Momma?
Nate: She's sick.
G: Why?
N: She caught a bug.
G. What kind of bug?
N: A germ bug.
G: Where did she catch it at?
N: I don't know.
G: Where is it?
N: I don't know.
G: Where is it?
N: I DON'T KNOW
G: But where is it?
N: ::Sigh:: In the house.
(At this point I am imagining the look on Gage's face, probably horrified)

Gage: How big is it?
N: It's really little
G: Is it this big?
N: Smaller.
G: This big?
N: Smaller.
G: This big?
N: It's so small we can't even see it with our eyes.
G: Oh, this big.
N: Gage, we CAN'T see it.




A little silence................







Gage: Oh. Where is it?




Anyway, I'm feeling much better today, but certainly not great. And at the moment I am trying to figure out how to get into my bedroom because Kyah locked the door and shut it behind her. Great huh. Especially since I haven't showered in two days and would really like to and I'm in my pajamas still. Ohhhhhh dear. I hope no one comes to visit. Sorry if this post has been a little graphic. I tried to keep it calm.

Me, Competitive? Never.

Gage, Kyah, and I were playing Hide-n-Go Seek. It was getting intense. I was serious about hiding and not being found easily. Gage was only counting to 10 though making it difficult. He was in his bedroom and started counting and I went SPRINTING, no joke, sprinting down the hall through the dining room/living room and into my bedroom. As I approached the door to the bedroom I hear him say 10. Ahhh, I was out of time. I needed to get to my spot fast. The shortest distant between two points is a straight line right? I took a few strides and before I knew it, I was air born leaping over my bed. As I flew through the air, parallel to my floor looking down at my bed, I realize that- Oh Crap, Nate's guitars are on the other side of the bed in the two foot wide space between the bed and the wall, leaving No space for my 5 foot 7 body. I apparently had used the exact amount of muscles needed to clear my bed and land in the little space. On the way down, my shin hit the bed frame that was sticking out and it hurt. BAD! It also hurt to land on Nate's guitars as they are in hard cases. Lucky though right, I'd rather be hurting than have broken guitars. I started yelling in pain and then worst of all, I gave up my spot. :) Actually worst of all was seriously, how bad my knee leg hurt from absolutely nailing it on the bed frame. Don't forget that I had generated some serious speed from sprinting. Gage came in running asking me what was wrong and I told him I broke my leg, as I was on the verge of tears. I got a nasty bruise. I meant to take a picture of it in all it's glory, but kept forgetting. Well, I did get a pic, it's just I took it when the bruise was almost gone. You'll have to use your imagination on how bad it was.
Most moms, I'm guessing, would have heard their child get to 10 and not really cared and maybe would just have just hidden behind the door or something. No biggy. I however, am not like most Mom's in this regard- I guess. I do not mess around when playing hide-n-go seek. :) Or any other sort of competition for the matter. :)



This picture does not do justice to the bruise, and the bruise did not do justice to how much it hurt! I should have photoshopped it! :)

A Traumatized Gager

Last Saturday as I posted, we took the kids fishing. That night I went to my brother T.J.'s and took the kids so Nate could study. Gage just HAD to take our two fish along with us to show T.J. I really didn't mind because in my head I'm thinking I will just leave them with T.J. and if he wants to cook em up, fine with me. Except for that apparently Gage was attached to these fish and remembered that we needed to get them out of the fridge when we left.
The next day after church, Nate said to Gage, "Should we cook the fish for dinner?" Gage immediately responded with an emphatic, "NO Daddy!" and a confused look like why on earth would we do that. Then I said, in all of my tact and glory, "Gage, the fish are dead!" As the words were coming out of my mouth I was simultaneously realizing that was not the right thing to say. Gage was crushed. He didn't say much, but the look on his face said enough. He really thought that we went fishing, caught the fish, and then we took them home for pets. I guess he didn't realize fish can't live in a plastic bag without water or without their insides. I had just assumed that he knew that when they were out of the water, they couldn't live. And when Daddy was getting them cleaned out, that meant the fish were dead. He had no clue. Gage did seem to recover quickly after I broke the news to him. He hasn't mentioned it since. He has mentioned though that tomorrow is Saturday and can we go fishing again. I'm sure the next time we go fishing, we will have all sorts of conversations about life and death in regards to fish. I can't wait.

Baby Tanner.

If you read Leslie's blog, you know that I went over there yesterday to take some pics of Baby T. It was so much fun because Leslie was up for whatever I wanted. So when I said naked, she had him undressed in two seconds. :) Baby Tanner is such a little cutie and was a great subject. He actually had his eyes open for most of the shoot! And when he did relieve his bladder, he shot it all the way across the room so neither Leslie or I got wet and I think he would have missed the black sheet had the sliding glass door not been there. :) I was the problem. I got home and probably 85 percent of the pics were blurry. I was so embarrassed, frustrated, and upset. Especially since I let Leslie download them on her computer and so I knew she got to see exactly how many were blurry. I knew some would be because the lighting wasn't the best and so my shutter speed was slow. Then I had to use my lens that has a smaller aperture because my portrait lens was too zoomed into his face, and that made it even worse. However, of the ones that were in focus, there were some gems. That's what matters right. No one needs 230 in focus pis. Right? Five printable ones will work. Can you tell I'm trying to make myself feel better? Anyway, I emailed Leslie and told her I would post my faves that I had photoshopped today, and I know she has already checked the blog and they weren't there yet. I don't want to disappoint her again when she checks, so here they are. Oh, I am not posting one of my faves so that it can be a surprise on her baby announcement. It is adorable though. Thank you Leslie for letting me come over and enjoy you and the baby!

Thank You, Thank you!

A big fat huge thanks to everyone who has left me a comment on my "who are you" post. I hope that if you are reading this and you haven't left a comment, you will. I had such a good time reading all of them and getting so excited every time I checked and someone new had left a comment. I loved your shocking comments too. I'm not sure who shocked me the most, but I'm thinking it will be Kim when I finally get a hold of her to hear it in person. Thank you everyone! I love ya!

Hello, my name's Angela. What's yours?

Two of my friends now have done this little test to see who actually looks at their blog. I have about four of you that leave me comments on a regular basis, and I love every last word of them! Blogging is one of the ways I connect myself with other human beings and many times, your comments feed my self esteem. It is one of the few things I do to keep myself balanced. Which is actually ironic because several times I find myself not balancing daily routines very well because I am obsessed with blogging and seeing if anyone has left me a comment since the last time I checked it 17 minutes ago. Anyway, I'm basically I am asking anyone who looks at my blog to leave me a little comment telling me who you are. Since I suspect I know all five of you, I will copy my friend Kim's even further by asking you to leave a fun fact about yourself that I would not know. I want things that will shock me people. What don't I know about you? And if by some chance, someone I don't know is looking at my blog, I'm pleased to meet you!! Please, everyone, make my day and leave me a comment. All you have to do is click on the link at the bottom of this post that says comment. A box will pop up for you to leave your comment in. It will ask you to sign in, but if you don't have a blog, just mark the anonymous button, but don't forget to leave your name and a fun/shocking fact! I appreciate everyone in advance for making me feel valued and leaving a comment. :) Love To All!

Life With a Four Year Old: Part 3

Gage: I going to get married Momma.

Me: Oh, who are you going to marry?

Gage: My sister.

Me: You don't marry your sister Gage, you marry your friend.

Gage: Is Lydi my friend?

Me: Yes

Gage: I'm going to marry Lydi.

Me: Are you going to get married in the temple?

Gage: Ummm, maybe a castle.



Later in the day when I'm filling up the bathtub.



Gage: That's too much water Momma.

Me: I think it's alright.

Gage: Why do they call it too much water Mom? Why don't we say three much water? Or Four much water?



Funny Guy.

A Day at the Trout Farm

We got up this morning and had a little fishing trip to the trout farm. Gage had a great time catching fish, two in all. Kyah was a little hard to keep track of as she wanted to either play on the toys, join the party that was going on-she can't resist ballons, or splash her pole in the water. All in all we had a good time.

Kyah Jo A.K.A Pretty Girl!

I have been less than faithful in journaling Kyah's new things in a separate word document. Something I was really great at with Gage. I was actually really good with Kyah until I started blogging. So here are a few things about pretty girl that I would like to remember forever.

Kyah loves loves loves "lippy." Lippy is basically chap stick. She will put it on over and over again, and not just on her lips! She also loves to put on lotion when I do and sneak into my makeup! She loves the color pink and the movie Peter Pan. She thinks it's especially hilarious when Tinkerbell gets stuck in the lock of the drawer. She is very nurturing towards her babies and loves to hold them and love them. She also loves to wear a coat, carry a purse, and wear sunglasses or a hat. She also enjoys picking out what she wants to wear. She can be very opinionated that way. She is a climber and will scale anything piece of furniture in our house. She can be mischievous and get into things I would rather her not. She loves her brother and gives him hugs and kisses all the time, but they do have their moments, especially because everything is hers-so she thinks. She likes to say/yell "MINE" which drives Gage crazy when it really isn't hers. She is a girl who knows what she wants and is not happy at all if she doesn't get it. She is a ball on energy always on the go. As far as food goes, she loves hot dogs, mac and cheese, fruit, yogurt, spaghetti, and crackers. And of course any kind of treat, especially chocolate cake. She will not eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for anything! If we are at the park, she will go to the swings first and want to be pushed high, via underdoggies, for what seems like forever. Then she will venture to the biggest slide she can find. She started talking pretty well around 18 months and now at 22 months will talk in sentences. Not huge sentences, but things like, "I want that." or "Read the book please." At 18 months she weighed 23 pounds and was 33 inches tall. She is a joy!


Do you notice the stars in her hair? Very fitting. She does love stickers too.

It's Officially Official

I have paid my money and registered for the Super Jock n Jill Half Marathon. I have referenced it a few times, but now it really is official! I got a cool shirt long sleeved running shirt and everything. So the count down is on until Sept. 3rd.

20 days until my first ever Half-Marathon!

Angela Reads a Book

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS



*****Warning: Spoiler Alert******Warning: Spoiler Alert******Warning: Spoiler Alert**




I do not intend to give away big secrets, but if you're anything like me, you do not want to know anything about the book before you read it. With that said, here we go. Read at your own risk.
















I really really enjoyed this last installment of the epic adventures of Harry Potter. Right from the beginning it was enthralling and full of action, not to mention a death fairly soon. With the first half of the book, I read it at night after the kids went to bed. I tried to practice self-control and go to bed at a semi-decent hour, according to my standards at least. Plus, I kind of wanted to savor this last book. However, on my seventh night of reading, right about half way through, it go super intense! I stayed up way late and could not put it down. On day eight, I got up with the kids, put in movie after movie and finished the last 300 pages. Not my best parenting day. There were a couple of times in the book when I was thinking, if this goes the way it's headed, then this is the stupidest book ever and I am going to quit reading right now. But of course it was way to good to quit reading and I had to see what was going to happen. The book ends in a way that is pleasing and everything comes full circle and there are no loose ends, just the way I like it. It is definitely a must read.

See, I really didn't give away anything. I might have implied somethings though. Sorry it's not a really good book review, but I really didn't want to spoil it for real.

My Boy Gives His First Talk

Today Gage gave his first ever talk in primary. We started out the morning with him doing his own hair. I'm not going to complain as any sign of him showing independence is great in my book.



However, I did fix it before we left. :) We practiced his talk several times before church. It entailed holding up items that were like the Holy Ghost. His blanket (little B) was comforting, his flashlight guided him, his bicycle helmet protected him, and he had a picture of me and him because I teach him, just like the Holy Ghost. He was so excited to give his talk. When the time came to give it in front of the other kids he was a little nervous. I gave the first half of the talk and then he gave the last half. He really did a good job. I'm a very proud Mom. He gave the talk three more times that day. After church to my friend Lois who missed it the first time. Then at home he gave it to Daddy. Then later he gave it to Lois's husband Kim. (Kim is the author of If God Loves Me, Why This?) Lois came over because she promised Kyah in church that she would make her chocolate cake. You would die at the little cakes she brought over for the kids.



It was fun to visit with her and her husband. They are such neat people. Lois and I serve in the primary together. She has taken care of me in the new ward. She is a good friend and kind of a motherly figure. When we went on our trip to Idaho, she showed up the night before with goodie baskets and all sorts of CD's she burned for me with personalized labels. I love Lois!
Anyway, it was a good day for our little family. Way to go Gage. My boy is growing up.
Note: At our primary activity a couple of weeks ago Gage told me, "Momma, your boy is growing." Yes you are Gage.

A Shout Out......

Just a quick shout out to my friend Leslie who just had a new beautiful baby boy! I am so excited for her and Victor. Click on Leslie's name to the right of this post to see her new little guy. She posted lots of pics. He is a cutie! I love newborns! Way to go Leslie.

Last One

I promise this is the last post about this particular photo shoot. It's just such an easy way for me to show their mom.

Major Realization

Yesterday I'm talking with my sister Kimm about Jordan and Hunter going back to school and then it hits me. In one year from now I will be sending my first born precious little Gager to school! This is enough to make me want to throw up, cry, and stay in my bedroom and never come out while holding Gage hostage. OK so I'm being dramatic, but seriously, it has snuck up on me. Only one year left. Wow, where has the time gone? As I am sitting here typing these words, barely by the way, my stomach is in knots, seriously, I am on the verge of tears again. Is anyone else having anxieties about sending your first-Born's off to the vultures, I mean school?



Why can't kids stay like this forever? Tucked up right next to Momma.

Wait, what's this? I'm in some pictures!

TJ was playing around with my camera at the zoo a couple of weeks ago when he took these pics of me comforting Kyah after she fell and cut her lip open.

Debbie, this one's for you.

Debbie is the Grandma of the cutie pies I took pics of last week. Michelle told me which photo was her Mom's favorite and I went to town. Actually, I had to enlist the help of my husband as there was a little problem I was having difficulties with. The original photo had a rope and a yellow bar that I wanted to get rid of.




I had no problem with the yellow bar, but the rope was difficult right next to his head. Anyway, Nate fixed that and came up with a couple versions of this photo. I also came up with a few versions. So Debbie, which one is your favorite? And everyone else who may read this blog, which one is your favorite?


Click on to enlarge.

Angela Goes to the Movies

Late Friday night was "girls night." I went out to dinner and a movie with my two sisters and my sister in law Lindsay. We say Hairspray. Oh my goodness. LOVE IT. Of Course it was over the top in it's drama and silliness, but that's what was so funny. I didn't know how funny it would be. John Travolta is hilarious. I had never seen the original so I really didn't know what to expect. At first I was kind of thinking things like, did they really just say that when they made reference to Negro day. Then I remembered that the movie takes place in 1962 at a time when integration was just beginning. The movie addresses the troubles with changing peoples' paradigms, taking a stand for what's right, and going after your dreams. All in all it was a funny, feel good kind of movie, just the way I like it!! All of us loved it actually. A definite must see folks.

P.S. As a bonus, it's rated PG. I love a good clean flick.

P.S.S. Next movie on my to see list, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Couldn't Leave it Alone.

I decided the previous storyboard was too busy. So I did a new one that I like better. (Read previous post).

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

I spent WAY WAY too much time this morning working on a storyboard of the kids. I was agonizing over small details that probably no one will even notice:a little crop here, a little crop there, removing a spot there, trying to match the colors, switching the spot of the picture a hundred times...etc. etc. They were photos from the shoot I did with them yesterday at the park. I'm kind of mad at myself for using my whole morning on it since I probably won't ever print it. So please, click on it to enlarge it,then tell me you love it and I wasn't wasting time this morning. :)

Blue Angels

Yesterday I heard this really loud sound and wondered what the heck was going on. Right as I thought that the lightbulb in my head went on and I remembered that the Blue Angels are in town for Seafair and are practicing- one of the wonderful things of having Lake Washington in my back yard! So I packed up the kids and some lunch and we walked to the nearby park at the top of our hill and watched the Angels practice. The kids love airplanes and thought it was cool. Nate was out on the building of his work having lunch and we got to wave to him. The kids loved that too. I was also able to do a little photoshoot with the kids. (Those were the pics I posted yesterday.)It was a good day. Here are some photos.






Click on to see the writing.



Waving to Daddy.

Speaking of Green-Eyed Babies......

Have I mentioned how much I adore his dimple?!


I love everything about them.


Note: I posted this blog and then looked at it and noticed that Kyah does not look like the little spunky wild thing that she is!! So here are more true to character pictures.



I feel better now.

Also, this is why there are less pictures of Gage than Kyah.

It's blurry, but you get the picture. He's figured out that if he closes his eyes, I will stop taking pictures. Lovely.