Hoop Shoot Round 2

Remember not too long ago Miles earned a spot in the second level of the hoop shoot competition?  After quite a few practices at the church, I saw Miles go from making 9 out of 25 shots (that's how many he made to move on in the first round of hoop shoot), to 15-20 out of 25.  I was so proud of him.  In practice he was around 17-18 every time and stunned me once when he hit 20 out of 25…  He was ready for round 2!

The day finally came.  

The boys lined up and they took their shots…  I was so nervous for him, I didn't even keep count of how many he made, but I could tell he wasn't hitting as many as he did in practice.  But he was still doing a good job.    

Waiting with the finalists in his age group for the results….  

Turns out there was a tie for 1st place…  Miles and his friend Bryson both made 15 shots.  There had to be a shoot out to determine a winner.   Such cute, nervous boys!!  (Later Miles told me he could feel his heart pounding through his shirt at this moment).  And even though Mike won't admit it, I could tell he was nervous too because he couldn't stay in his seat and was watching from the back… Same way he gets when he's watching a big OSU game.  

They both got 5 shots and Bryson was up first.  Bryson was a champ under pressure and made 4 out of 5.  Then Miles stepped up to the line.  My heart was pounding for my boy.  I knew 4 of 5 was tough to match, let alone beat.  

But Miles had practiced for this very moment…  

He stepped up to the line and tied Bryson again with 4 out of 5 shots.

They had to shoot another tie breaker!

It was so quiet in the gym that you could hear a pin drop. Such pressure for such little guys!

Then Bryson went back to the line and made another 4 out of 5…  Impressive! These boys are only 8 years old after all...

Miles then stepped up to the line…  

Shot #1- Make!!

Shot #2 - Miss (big gasp among all the boys along the sideline - he has to make the rest!)

Shot #3- Make!!

Shot #4- Make!!

It's down to the this last shot…  And he knows it….

Shot #5- In and out… Miss

It was so exciting to watch.  I know it broke his heart to go out that way, but we were so proud of him and how well he did under pressure.  It gave him something to work towards next year!

And he was excited for his buddy Bryson.  They've played basketball on the same Jr Jazz team for a couple years now and they like to cheer for each other.  

Second place award - a new soccer ball…  

Way to go Miles!  Thanks for such a fun show.

Peek at baby

This week we had our first ultrasound to see what we lovingly refer to as our fifth and absolutely final baby.  

Just like with Meg, my belly started poking out immediately after I took a pregnancy test.  It's like my body knows just what to do and it doesn't waste any time :)  

Weeks 5-10 were pretty miserable. I was completely exhausted all the time and I had to eat around the clock just to keep from getting too nauseous.   

But the past 4 days have been wonderful.  I'm back (for the most part anyway).  I hope it stays this way.  

Here I am waiting with Mike for the Dr to come in and show us our baby...  

And there it is.  I'm pretty sure I know what this baby is, but I'm not ready to tell yet...  The question we're trying to figure out is if we want to wait and be surprised on delivery day, or if we want to find out at our next ultrasound....  I don't know if I can wait!!    It's so fun to see how excited we all are to have a baby around.  Just keep growing little one!  We'll see you soon enough.

Meg turns 3!

I can't believe my baby is 3.  That just sounds totally nuts to me!

Meg had a really low-key birthday this year.  It stated with the traditional bday lunch and shopping with Grandma and Grandpa.  (And because she's 3 they invited me to come along too - score!)

After looking around at two stores, Meg finally picked out a little toy kitchen.  It's been a huge hit with all the kids!  

Meg requested her favorite food, chicken nuggets, for her birthday lunch so we took her to chick-fil-a.  YUM!  She sat so nice and felt so big sitting with Grandma and Grandpa.  

Then she opened a few more little things from us.  We gave her a couple little plastic shopping carts because she has to be able to buy groceries for her new kitchen!    Meg and Will have been cooking up a storm lately :)  She also loved her fun birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa in Ohio.  When she opens it, it plays a fun little birthday song.  I think we heard that song 500 times on her birthday.  SO CUTE!

We sure love this little lady!  I'm glad she's getting older, but not too old to take a nap with me in the afternoon :)  Happy Birthday our little Meggie! 

Weekend in Columbus

Last weekend Mike and I went to Columbus for the weekend… WITHOUT KIDS! 

The week before our trip Mike called me and asked if I wanted to go to Columbus for the weekend.  He asks me that all the time, but I always say no because I don't want to leave the kids and find a sitter, etc… It's such a pain.    But this time when he asked I couldn't resist.  

Luckily Grandma and Grandpa Beckstead jumped at the chance to have the kids to their house for the weekend.  The kids were sad that they didn't get to come, but they had a blast at Grandma's and got over it quickly!! 

Here we are on our flight…  Maybe it's because I'm pregnant, but I really hated flying…  GET ME OFF THIS THING!  It made me appreciate Mike and all the traveling he does for work that much more.  I don't know how he does it with such a good attitude.  Flying stinks!   

But it was so worth it to meet our new little nephew Miller.  Isn't he adorable.  

A few days after we booked our flight to Columbus, our Stake President called to meet with us.  To our surprise they called Mike to be on our Stake High Council.  They asked if there was any way his dad could come out to ordain him a High Priest.  We knew Mike's mom was having surgery and that it would be hard for his dad to get away… Then we remembered we were going to Columbus that week and his dad could do it then.  Sometimes it's interesting how these things just work out :)  I hadn't agreed to go back to Columbus for years since we left, but then the weekend we make it happen, is the same weekend it's really important to be there.   Could it be a God Wink?  Tender Mercy?  Whatever you want to call it, it was really special to have Mike's dad perform his ordination.  

(So mad I didn't take a picture afterwards of Mike and his dad… We were all bad about taking pictures while we were there…)

We couldn't be in Columbus without seeing an Ohio State Football Game… It reminded me of our newly married years before kids.  Mike and I went to so many games together.  

We did a little tailgating before the game and watched the band (TBDBITL!) come into the stadium.  I was reminded of how awesome this band is!  And how fun it is to tailgate and watch college kids get drunk before the game.  Silly kids (mainly boys) that don't know any better…. peeing all over the place, acting like idiots…  Very entertaining for us anyway.

Steve hooked us up with sweet seats in the faculty section.  We got the cushion seats baby!  

It wouldn't be a game without the band doing "Script Ohio".  

I'm so glad we were able to go.  We sipped on hot chocolate and ate Donato's pizza.  It was cold, but we had a blanket and huddled together and had the best time. Of course Ohio State won!  

I love watching Ohio State Football in the Horseshoe almost as much as I love this man of mine.   

Our Big Halloween Announcement

About 6 weeks ago Mike found this in his car….  

We managed to keep this to ourselves for about 9 weeks and then we just had to tell the kids!!  (I hate  keeping secrets so I was about ready to explode :)  

We decided to tell them on Halloween dressed like this…  

They were so excited when they figured it out.  Esp Morgan and Miles!  They both were jumping up and down and gave us the biggest hugs.  It's so fun to see how excited they get about having a new sibling.  We just can't wait! 

Halloween was full of sweets…. Both surprises and candy.  

Our neighborhood rocked the treats this year - check out all those full size candy bars.  The kids thought they were trick-or-treating in heaven :)  No wonder no kids want to stop by our house - we give out the dinky fun size stuff.

Our friends stopped by at the end of the night and reminded us of why we adore them so much!  They never disappoint on Halloween!  

What a great Halloween!!  

School Halloween parade

Don't they just look lovely!!  

Morgan the Roman Empress

Miles the Sumo Wrestler

Will the Ninja and

Meg the Pumpkin

Halloween at Grandma & Grandpa's

My parents (well actually my mom!) loves holidays.  Every holiday gets a party.  

Halloween is one of the favorites!

This year all the kids made funny face plates with stickers.  So cute!  

Meg hung out with Aunt Mindy for the piñata portion of the evening.  Meg figured out quick that Aunt Mindy was fast at getting to the candy :)  

Eating donuts in the dark off a string :)  

Games!! BINGO, piñatas, and candy corn throwing.  I love the bottom picture of Meg's turn… Notice my mom hiding under the tablecloth…  Who knew Meg had such an arm :)  Her candy corns were flying around like bullets!  So fun!!  Thanks Grandma!!  

Sometimes life gets crazy busy and a little overwhelming…  When it gets like that, I'm getting good at tweaking things to make life a little more simple….  

Take pumpkin picking for example.  Usually we make a night of it and take all the kids to a pumpkin patch and pick just the right ones to carve for Halloween…

This is how we did it this year…

When Meg and I went grocery shopping, Meg picked out our pumpkin right there in the parking lot!    We like to call it multi-tasking.

Then we took it home and put the single little pumpkin on the kitchen table.  That's where it still sits today, not carved and untouched :)  It will stay there for a few more days until I take it to the trash can.

Oh well, at least one of our kids had somewhat of a pumpkin experience this year :)  

The funny thing is, I was feeling guilty about breaking tradition, but then I realized not one of my kids mentioned anything about pumpkins or seemed to care at all that we didn't have any!  Sometimes we pressure ourselves to do everything, but once in a while, it's okay to forget it and take the easy route :)  

Will's soccer wrap-up

Will (age 5) just finished up his fall soccer season.  He was so fun to watch this year!  He's understanding the game better and has improved significantly.   I think he improved so much because he had a great coach (Coach Brian!) that held weekly instructional practices that got the boys really excited about soccer.   

Team picture:

Some action shots:

The Gatorade stained face of a boy that scored 7, yes 7!!, goals in one game!  

Ending with a team cheer!  Good season Red Flash!!