Batmantopia

Katie has a school project due tomorrow in Mr. Saltas' U.S. History class. Their assignment is, "Make your own colony".

Katie has spent the last few weeks working on it with three other classmates.

The first item on their agenda was to come up with a name. Katie, being the outspoken member of the group (and having a fascination with Batman), came up with Batmantopia.

The next item on the agenda was to come up with a founder. Katie quickly decided on Bruce Wayne.

This is how the story goes:

In 1650, a sailor named Bruce Wayne was on his way to South America when his ship was blown off course. They were shipwrecked on an island that was sunny and pleasant. When they dug into the soil they struck gold. (Imagine that.) Bruce Wayne was so happy that he claimed the land and called it Batmantopia.

I had Katie lay all the papers out on the counter so I could take a picture.



Courtney saw that we were taking pictures, so she had to get in on the action. (She is a very needy child.) Katie is not flipping her off, she is holding her fingers in the shape of an "L", which stands for "Courtney" -- I mean "loser".



This is my favorite ...money. On Batmantopia, their money is in the shape of the batman symbol. The caption at the top of the page says, "The bigger the batman symbol is, the larger amount it is worth."



Here is Katie holding up a picture of their weather. The caption at the top reads, "Climate is sunny, pleasant with average rain fall. The winters and summers are average length." (Once again, Courtney needs to be included.)



I love projects like this. I also love teachers that give the kids in their classrooms the opportunity to use their imagination. I hope Mr. Saltas is ready.

James

Courtney has a boyfriend.

She has had a boyfriend for a few months now. I guess I was hoping that it was just a phase that she was going through... It's not.

Isn't it illegal for a 15 1/2 year old girl to have a boyfriend? No? Well...it should be!

Not that I don't like James. He is very nice and handsome and very, very, very tall.





I just don't think I am ready for my Courts to grow up yet.

But if she is going to do it anyway, I don't think she could have picked a nicer guy.

The first time he came over he brought me flowers. He really is a sweetheart.



James is a sophmore (no... seriously, he is!) and plays varsity football and basketball. His parents are super-nice, too. In fact Courtney is with his mom right now at a "girls night out".

Hopefully having a boyfriend means that she will start keeping her room clean. I'm not sure how, but wouldn't it be cool.

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year we had Thanksgiving at my sister Michelle's house.





It was delicious. My mom makes the best stuffing in the whole world!

We didn't have a whole lot of time to visit because we had to leave for a soccer tournament in St. George



Emily getting hugs from Nana.



Sean and Ryan were able to squeeze in a little football watching.



This is my little sister Michelle and her family.



Here is my brother Steve and his family, the tall one is Landon. His older brother, Justin, is standing next to him with his girlfriend.



We had a few minutes to relax...



and then we hit the road.

We got rained on a little while driving down, but the next day the weather was beautiful and sunny. The girls played really well.





We went to a sports bar called "Players" for dinner Friday night. Here is Sean with his team.





Here is Tyler sitting on the sidelines. He kept bugging Pam by pretending to bite her ear. Everytime he did it, she would turn and try to bite his chin. She got him a few times.



Courtney's team ended up losing in the semi-finals, but Katie's team took second.





It's always a little crazy around the holidays and this makes it even more so, but I wouldn't change a thing. I love spending time with my kids and watching them play sports. I am thankful for every minute I have with them.

The Denver Broncos

Saturday morning, Sean and I flew with Matt and Aimee to Colorado to see the Denver Broncos play the Oakland Raiders. It was the first time Sean had been to a real live NFL football game, so you can imagine how excited he was.

Here we are at the airport waiting for the bus to take us to the Marriott.



That night, Sean and Matt wanted to watch the BYU/Utah football game, so they went and stood in line at ESPN Zone while Aimee and I went shopping.

We found some really great deals. Denver has a walking mall on 16th street that covers 16 blocks, and there are buses that take you up and down the whole length of it.



We only spent an hour, but we sure had a fun time. By the time we got back to ESPN Zone, the boys had just been seated in a booth with their very own TV screen. Aimee and I chatted for the next 2 1/2 hours while they watched their little game.

The big day finally arrived. Matt surprised Sean with a Broncos hat right before the game! He's such a nice guy!

What cute boys.



It was finally time to go, so we piled on our warm clothes and headed for the stadium.



We got to the game 2 hours early, just so we wouldn't miss anything (like the cheerleaders running out on the field).

Here is Sean at a small museum that they have inside Invesco Field.



I had Sean pose for me, even his shoes have the Bronco's colors.



Sean and I before the game started.



These two looked happier than a kid in a candy store.





I have to admit, I am not a huge football fan, but it was pretty exciting to be there with a kajillion Broncos fans, cheering the players on.



It was a beautiful day and the weather was pretty nice until the sun went down, then it got downright cold! Aimee and I had to run down to the sports apparel store to get warmed up.

The Broncos didn't play as well as Sean and Matt had hoped they would. Here is the final score.



We promised the boys that if they were good, we would buy them some cheesecake after the game. That cheered them up a little.







All in all it was a fabulous weekend. Good food, good friends, a little alone time... Maybe the next time we go, the Broncos can pull out a win!!

Happy Birthday Katie

My baby turned 14 on Saturday.

I feel old!

We had to celebrate her birthday on Friday because we left Saturday morning to go to Colorado with some friends.

Here is Katie with all her presents.





I left her in good hands, Taylor's mom took them to the mall, and then to get a pedicure and manicure.

Bennion Jr. High Volleyball

Katie made the volleyball team again this year. I am so proud of her, she is such a great athlete. It is so much fun to go back to my old Jr. High and sit in the stands and watch my daughter play. They have had some pretty exciting games this year.

It is a welcome relief from soccer. Not that I don't absolutely love soccer, because I do, I am just saying that it is a nice little break.

For some reason, my camera doesn't like taking pictures in a gymnasium, so they are all a little fuzzy.

Katie's Birthday Dinner

Every year we celebrate the kid's birthdays by going out to dinner. Katie always chooses Texas Roadhouse! Their rolls are amazing and the honey butter that gets slathered on them is even more amazing.



Katie's friend Taylor came too.



We all had a great time!



Here is Katie listening to Fergalicious on Taylor's phone. She really is a good dancer.



I usually don't lie to my kids, but if she knew she was being recorded then she would have stopped. I also lied and told her that I wouldn't post this on my blog. Hopefully she won't see it, she doesn't check my blog very often.

The Young Women

As most of you heard on Sunday, our Young Women's Presidency has been through some major changes. I have been called as the Camp Director along with Jana. (I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to work with her. She is so much fun to be around.)

I am still going to be acting as Secretary for "a little while" as the Bishop put it. Who knows how long that will be, I told Jen that I would stay in as long as they would have me.

There were tears of sadness and tears of joy on Sunday as we said goodbye to the old leaders and welcomed in the new.

Courtney got this great idea to make cookies for the leaders, all those leaving and coming in. We had cookies all over the place.



Luckily she invited Tara and Tierney over to help, along with little sister Katie, we had enough cookies in no time.

They decided to leave their aprons on and put some flour on their faces, just to be funny!



Here are the girls with Ann. We are truly going to miss her and her sarcastic sense of humor. You knew you were always going to have a great time when Ann was there.



And then there's Amy. Luckily she is just "getting a promotion", she is first counselor now. We still had to take cookies to her just to let her know how much we love her!



Here are the girls with Amy D. (Former President). We are really going to miss her. She always had a huge smile on her face and made everyone feel so important!



And here is Jenn. She is such a sweet lady. I am lucky enough to be her visiting teacher and have gotten to know her since she moved in. She is such a friendly person, I am not sure that I have ever met anyone nicer. She is going to make an awesome Young Women's President!