WACKY HAIR DAY

The picture speak for themsemves really they do...

 

B BALL- THE JUSTICE LEAGUE

 

 

Christian was the Captian of his team and they all were named after didfferent members of the Justice League adn he was fittingly called Captain America

{he designed the shirts too}

 

Q AND U WEDDING

In Jensen's kindergarten class the have the Q and U wedding and it is a big deal. 

 Q and U get married in words only.

It is truly the cutest and best gift for a parent to see and feel the love your child has for you.

  It is my 4th Q and U wedding and I have cried everytime.

 

 

Here come the guests....

 

The Wedding Party

 

Them singing Its a Beautiful World with sign language

 

Dancing too

JULIANNA'S BAPTISM

She LOVES her daddy that is for sure

 

 

and mommy too!!!

 

Here is all the children being baptized that day

{George, Grace, Lawerence, Louis, Julianna, and Stanton}

 

They were all so excited and I was glad I was able to witness them all choose to be batized.  They are the most fabulous children and I love each one of them.

 

Julianna is definately loved by all.  She is sweet and sassy all in one and has such a love for smaller children and they love her too.  She loves the scripture stories and whenever you need to teach her something important and you really want her to understand its importance it is best if you turn to the scriptures. 

 

Congratulations Julianna on your special day!!!

 

 

 

SEMESTER BREAK RETREAT

We headed off to Great Wold Lodge for semester break and it was a "great" break!!!

 

 

Here they are at story time...

 

 

...after storytime it started to "snow"

 

The next morning was Julianna's birthday so we has a small celebration with balloons and donuts....

 

...then off to playing we went

 

She loves books and wanted this picture taken for a wall in her room.

Jensen's Kindergarten Gingerbread House

Decorations for Granny

While I was up in my bed my sweet husband took pictures of the family

decorating ornaments for our grannys

 (she broke her ankle and spent the holidays in a nursing home until she could walk again) little tree.

 

SNOWY DAYS

Loved the snow atop our unpicked apples it was gorgeous to see....

 

 

I share these because the day after I took these I started to run a fever of almost 104 and remained ill for the rest of the holiday season and so these are really the only pictures of Christmastime I have.

Thanksgiving 2011

OUR TABLE

{we wrote with fabric marker on the table clothe a tradition all loved and we will continue to do}

 

 

PLACE CARDS

 

CUPS

 

FOOD

{love the little "turkeys"}

 

MANTLE

 

TURKEY POPS

{to give to friends}

 

PILGRIM CHOCOLATE BARS

Santa Parade 2011

 

 

A lot of catching up to do so here we go.

 

Here are Jensen and Julianna waiting for the parade to start...Where's David you ask?

 

 

Here he is dressed as a wiseman for our church float in the parade.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Soccer Boys Just Want to Have FUN

Here is the team with their Conference Trophy

These 6 boys crack me up and they are the best young men around.

They titled themselves, wait for it, wait for it....

Team Good Looking!!!!!

Christian's shirt says it all!!!!

Coach Ripke and the 2 captains: Christian and Spencer

Now these 2 as you can see are the best and I am absolutely 100% partial but these 2 are great and I love them both. 

*with the announcer voice from Space Jam

They are goofy, they are hams, they are best friends,

They are

Travis and Christian

The Last Touch

Christian is a senior which is hard to believe but I am so happy for all the new adventures that lie before him. 

This fall he had decided after 14 years of playing soccer it was time to hang up his soccer cleats his senior year and run cross country instead... he LOVES LOVES to run and after having a rough couple of seasons on the varsity team this seemed like a good option for him..  This posed some complications he was already named captain of the soccer team and was a very hard decision for him but it was his decision and after much dialogue did I say MUCH he went to the soccer coach and let him know he was not going to play this season and thanked him for the opportunity.  His stance was he would be one of only 3 other seniors on the team and the team was going to be young and wasn't going to do well, plus he is a runner and he didn't want to risk getting hurt and ruining his track season. It was going to be a rebuilding year for the soccer team and it was not something he was geared up for again being a bit tainted from the previous 2 years and not wanting to be injured. I felt like he could make a change in the soccer team and he is a great leader and if he could get them to play like a team they could do wonders. One of his track coaches and teachers talked with him as well stating the soccer team needed him and after much thought and more conversations he had a change of heart.

We were right he made an immense change in the soccer team and they certainly needed him.  The coach said in all of his years of coaching soccer this was the most fun year of coaching.  They started off doing all kinds of team building actvities and they played as a team and their record showed. They were not the most talented team they didn't have the best and biggest players but they were a team and they won their conference with a 9-0 record and their season record was 19-2-1.  I could not be more proud of the team and Christian. 

There was such a sweet spirit about the team and you could feel it at every game and it all started with this:

they would pray before every game.  This is a rare rare moment in sports to have a team so united, so brave to be willing to all kneel in prayer in front of their peers, opponents, and spectators and ask God the Eternal Father to bless their efforts.  See the pink around their shin guards it was for breast cancer.  It was such a fabulous group of young men and I miss having them hanging around and the pile of 22 pairs of teenage boys shoes by the front door, track starts soon so I am sure I will have a new pile of shoes soon!!!

The team aside Christian played almost every minute of every game(as the coach said he was the work horse of the team), made the Dream Team, the Saginaw Valley Team(voted by all the coaches in the league) and by his team mates best mid fielder. 

 I know he was very leary of playing this season but he has not regretted playing having his last touch on a soccer ball with a great group of young men.

Update 2

Yes we bought a new home, sold our old home in record time of 3 hours on the market.

 Went to Mackinaw Island with my dad and stepmom(remember camera being stolen no pictures from there either) had a fabulous 2 days with them,

Labor day at the lake

The kids started  a new school year(no pics again).  I have a Senior(AHHHH) can you believe it, a 3rd grader, 2nd grader and kindergartner. 

I had Super Heroes for Halloween(super girl, spiderman, captian america)

Great Grandma and Granpa Kepler came to visit from California around Thanksgiving.  We had fun spending time with them and we even were able to spend extra time with them due to the fact that Granny broke her ankle(boo hiss)