Reflections of Christ

St.George and many other updates

Well, we are back from St. George! What a crazy trip!! This is Oly's Thanksgiving dinner....freaking mac and cheese and spaghetti noodles with cheese sauce!! Uhhhh I think we sunk to a new low with our Thanksgiving dinner...WE ATE AT GOLDEN CORRAL!! I was not about to cook dinner and then have to cleanup and drive 5 hours to St.George, so we opted for an easy (yes, gross) out and ate there...moment of weakness?!?! Anyhow...this is what she got as her meal and I thought I was going to die watching her eat that on Thanksgiving!!
So, we get done eating and then hop in the car for our 5 hour jaunt to St. George for a soccer tournament (we are freaks, yes). Right after we pass Scipio (this is the WORST town ever....we broke down here several years ago on our way to Lake Powell and I have hated it ever since....didn't gain any more love for it on this trip!) we HIT some LARGE item in the road (Brandon will never admit to it being so HUGE you could see it a mile away) and get a freaking FLAT TIRE!!! So we pull over thinking "ahhhh, no problem!! We have a full size spare tire in the trunk, we'll just fix this baby right up". HA HA HA HA....(a) the tools were not the right size to get the lug nut covers off, (b)it is PITCH BLACK at this particular spot, and (c)the spare tire has a HUGE A bulge in the side of it!! So we call highway patrol to see if they can shine some light here for us (UMMM, they never showed up...EVER), so we then called Audi Roadside assistance (BONUS for Audi owners...he was there in 20 minutes...on Thanksgiving!!). HE didn't have the right size tools either, so he BUSTED the lug nut covers off, got the new (BULGING) tire on and away we went....at 50mph. By this time we had been in the car for 4 hours, on the side of the road for almost 2 hours and still had an hour to go...now when you go 50mph you don't get there in an hour....more like almost two hours!! Now mind you, we have Olyvia with us who is afraid of the dark, car troubles, strange men working on cars, not having anything to eat, etc, etc, etc.....I thought I was going to gag her before we got going again!! When she gets nervous or scared, she starts talking, and talking, and talking.....ARGGGHHHHH!!!
We got there...at 10:30pm and had to be on the soccer field at 8am MST (Morgan Standard Time). We had three soccer games on Friday and one on Saturday. We split down the middle...won two, lost two. The girls played really great and OLY scored the FIRST goal of the games!! GO OLY!! She got a lot of play time on the field and did really well!! We are so proud of her!
We also are FINALLY ALL MOVED IN!!!! Hip Hip Hooray!! I never thought I would see the day that we got all of the boxes and furniture to one house....we were split between two houses for several weeks and it is NOT pleasant!! I will update with pics of the house soon!!
Love you all and hope you had a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Now let's think CHRISTMAS!!!

OlY's GoT cHiCkEnPoX!!!!

This is Oly's friend Maya from her soccer team.....she sent this via email to Oly telling her to get better soon!! I thought it was so cute that I had to post it!!

~~Happy Halloween~~

hi my name is buddy....

ok, so anyone who has ever read my blog for awhile has probably seen other pictures of my brother-in-law Josh...um, i am not sure if it is a mental deficiency or what, but he loves to dress up (in some cases dress down....way down) and then have people take pics of him....and then have it posted on blogs across the world...

AWESOME OPPORTUNITY...

Hey, everyone should check out www.ldsmessage.com !! You can sign up to have "a scripture a day" sent to you via text message on your cell phone!! I don't know about you, but what a better way to get your daily dose of spirituality than this?!? I mean in today's busy world this is a great opportunity!! I signed up my kids cell phones too....
CHECK IT OUT!!

Oh Im soooo sick....

Of looking at those same pics over and over and over and over....and it's my house!! So I know YOU must be sick of looking at them too....
No new pics to post, but I will update about SOCCER...heck yeah!!

Jensyn finished her outdoor fall league in SECOND place...not too shabby for having THE POWER team split up!! They did really well, and Jen got to play on the older Stars team for a few games as well....JEN YOU'RE AWESOME!!!

Riley finished 5th....again, not too bad!! They came from last place up to 5th place and did great.....RI YOU'RE AWESOME!!!

Olyvia....oh Olyvia our little soccer star!! The Zehno's are ABSOLUTELY amazing!! They took first place and only had 3 goals scored against them all season long!! They scored 40 points against other teams!! They are so fun to watch and so great at what they do....OLY YOU'RE AWESOME!!!

Ok, so I will update with some pics later....OH, and by the way...WE SIGN ON OUR HOUSE TODAY!!!! HOORAY....now it's just the moving (oh yuck) that we need to do....HELP!!!!!

ALSO, I should post the October (and November) birthdays:

OCTOBER:
1 B & K Anniversary (ok, not a b-day, but still totally awesome)
1 Tage
2 Brock
2 Vayda
5 Addison
12 Cortnie
13 Hudson
15 Tyler
16 Jensyn
25 Justyce
will little baby Brighton Olyvia Bigelow make the October list?????

NOVEMBER:
1 Dad Smith
5 Brendy Loo
23 ME, ME, ME!!! (hey Jaime, now I will finally be as old as you...hahaha)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

My house!!

LOOK at my house!!!

Address: 349 SUNBURST LN
Type: Single Family
Style: Rambler/Ranch
City: Richmond, UT 84333
Isn't it sooooo cute!!! We will be moving in at the end of November!!!

Can you imagine.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afv5jTrC7nM

Time for some updates....

Well, well, well....it is soccer season at our house!! Ok, really....when isn't is soccer season here right?? But right now we are in FULL SWING, with all 3 playing regularly!! In a typical week we go to 6 freaking soccer games!! But this week must be extra special cuz we have 7!! We usually have 4 soccer practices a week to get kids to as well.....good thing the girls aren't doing dance this year (kinda sad, but also what a relief!!). They are really enjoying it and doing well this year....here is a kid/team update:
Oly (Zehno's) are UNDEFEATED!!! They have scored 28 points and only had 3 scored against them (the next highest in their division has 14 goals scored against them)!!! Oly is the third highest scorer in her division!! She is loving soccer and is the "quarterback" of her team...she gets/keeps them organized. She is so fun to watch play soccer, she is a natural at it!!

Jen (CN Stars) are doing well for being torn apart. During the summer her coaches decided it was best to split the team and have the older girls on the team play the u-14 division and the younger girls (Jen's current team) play down into their age bracket u-12 (we have always played up when we were one team). It has not gone very well.....we were the current u-13 division champions (we have taken 1st place every year/every season since 2006, and took second in 2005 fall league play). This season we are sitting 4th . Jen is really improving and looking very good out on the field. She is becoming a strong defender and has the most amazing kick you will ever see!! What a leg!

Ri (Fireball) are doing so much better this year!! They are finally playing as a team and working hard to reach their goals!! We have only won once this season, but every game has been won only by 1 or 2 points (they have come a long way since last year when they were getting blown out almost every game). Riley is very aggressive and speedy. It is fun to watch him chase the ball down and fight for it. He has a pretty strong leg as well.....they must get it from me ;) !! haha

We will try to be good parents and get some pics of them playing so we can post them, OR you could just come stay with us and go to a game or two!!

FOO FIGHTERS!!!

SO, Dave Groll is sooooo freaking amazing!! We went and saw (FINALLY) the Foo Fighters Concert in Denver at the Red Rocks Ampitheater and it was AMAZING!!! It is the most beautiful venue for a concert ever!! It was well worth the wait.....we will def go again!! Check out their awesome music on our blog!!

3 NEW posts.....

Bow down and worship the blogging goddess!!! See below......

Waxy, Waxy!!

HA HA HA HA.....I love this picture, it reminds me of the pain he went through each time Bobbi filled his nose with wax and a stick then PULLED!!!!! Poor B.....the crap we talk him into!!

Oly's soccer team!!

How freaking adorable are they?? Their coach is the one in the blue shirt!! This is the Rampage tournament they took second in!!

bAcK tO sChOoL!!!

Jensyn....6th grade!!
Riley 8th (freaking) grade......I feel sooo old!!
The three "little ones" as I call them, guess I can't call them that anymore....3rd, 2nd, and 1st grades!! They said they would name the school after us this year, it is now Pence Park Elementary!! HAHA
Don' t ask me what Cash is doing in this picture.....he is soooo weird!!

Well, it is that time of year again!! I cannot believe how FAST summer went by. The kids were bouncing off the walls the night before and were all awake very early ready to get to school!! Hanna was kind of nervous to go to first grade....her teacher is a BOY and he has a PONYTAIL!! She was soooooo freaked out by that (not judgemental at all is she?!?). Anyways at Back to School night, I had to CARRY her big ol' first grade bum into the room to say hello....I am so glad that by the next morning she had decided he was ok, she walked right in ready to go!!

It seems so strange to have EVERYONE in ALL DAY school !! (imagine me doing a little happy dance with a big smile on my face) I actually almost got bored today (notice I said almost)!! It will seem weird to come home from work at noon and have afternoon to myself.....although as Jensyn reminds me evertime I say this "well, I will be home by like 2:30 ya know!"....haha, if only they knew how great 2-3 hours alone is!!

Just an update on our little "zoo" we have at home....cash just got a hermit crab (Crabby....shocking name right?) to add to our petting zoo!! We are so crazy!! And I am bottlefeeding a kitten again.....stupid feral mammas!!

PTA....uggghhh

Ok, so I am totally disliking PTA right now!! I am feeling soooo overwhelmed with everything that has to get done for back to school night (i had no idea how much the PTA did for that!!)!! I feel like I am constantly on the phone or in my notes looking over PTA stuff.....and making and remaking lists of what needs to be done before thus and such a date!!

Anyways, I won't complain about PTA any longer....WHY??? Cuz I am so freaking excited to go to CALIFORNIA to see WICKED with Cort and Cha!!! I am leaving and going out over Labor Day weekend!! I am soooooo excited!!!

THEN, on September 7th we are going (back out) to Denver to (hopefully, cross your fingers for no illness or bad weather) see FOO FIGHTERS in concert!!! I am so stoked!! I hope we really get to see them this time!!

Anyways.....just wanted to quickly update for all of you. School will be starting on the 21st and I will probably be drowning in PTA crap and won't even have time to blog (sigh)...poor me. HAHA!! I will try to get on here and update more, seeing how EVERYONE of the kids is in FULL DAY school....YEE HAW!!! I never thought I would see this day arrive....there was a time when I had a little assembly line of baby bums to change and thought they and I would be stuck there forever!!

Sorry there are no new pics....this new camera is too advanced for me to add pictures onto my computer. I will have to work on that!!

C'mon catch up....

Ok, so sorry this post will not have any photos (another day I guess...)!!

Here is a quick update on what has been going on the last little bit with our fam:

Olyvia's soccer team, Zehno's, went to their first tournament in Roy, Utah and took second place!! They were awesome, especially since this was the first time they had played in a game setting as a team!! Our first two games were absolute blow outs!! We beat them like 12-1 and 14-1 or something like that!! Then we ran into a team that was really good (they have played together for over a year and have been playing boys teams!) and they beat us (9-3 maybe??). The fourth team we beat, which put us into the championship game playing the good team again (the are called La Roca :( )!! We played them really hard that second game and they only beat us 5-3. The girls did great!!!

We also went to Island Park and West Yellowstone as a family. We stayed in Mom and Dad's trailer (what an experience to have 7 people crammed into such a small space)!! We took the kids into West Yellowstone and shopped, ate, and went to the Playmill. The kids always enjoy the Playmill, its crazy and funny!! Plus they have the BEST fudge on earth!! We went thru the park and saw almost every animal there was to see!! We got very lucky! We stopped at EVERY freaking mud pot, geyser, stinky place there was....these were Cash's favorites (surprise, surprise....I don't know if he actually liked them or if he just enjoyed that everyone else didn't)!! The kids got to swim in the river there in the Park near Firehole....they had a blast and wished they could stay longer!!

This Friday (the 1st) we just finished up THE CACHE VALLEY CUP soccer tournament that Riley, Jensyn, and Olyvia all competed in!! There was one day where I had to go to 5 games and sit there (I was gone from 9am until 8:30pm)!!! It was sooooo HOT, but it was a blast to watch the kids play!! Let's start with Riley's team, let's just say they played State and State Premier teams who were AMAZINGLY good!! Those poor Fireball got creamed :( ! Jensyn's team did really well, we were excited to see how they were going to do as their coaches just split their team into two teams (U13 and U12). Unfortunately, Jen's coach lost his head and argued with a ref and knocked the red card he was given out of the refs hand...we got disqualified :( !! Olyvia's team is the BOMB!! They are soooo cute!! They did very well, they won their first game (it was a shut out) and then tied the next two (one of which was a super hard team, a Premier team). They ended up taking third place in this tournament. Not too shabby. All in all we had a great time and a good experience, even if it was 100 degrees!!

We are now getting ready for Riley to head to Scout Camp tomorrow morning (thank heavens). We love him, but he is a pain in the butt.....he really loves to tease lately!! Hope he has fun and enjoys that last little bit of summer before we go back to school (Aug 21st...yuck)!

I will get some pictures up soon. Hope all is well with everyone!!

Please excuse the mess....

I am currently trying to update and change the background of my blog and add some FUN elements to it....please be patient with me while I accomplish this....my computer sucks so it takes WWWWAAAAYYYYY longer than it should!!
WILL POST SOON!!!

Summer games!!

Jen in her NEW Stars uniform!! They finished 2-1 at this tournament!!





Here is Jen's team right before opening ceremonies at the Athlete's social getting ready to sing Chick's Dig It!!
Here I am doing a little dance...I said don't ask!! I had fun, everyone thought I was crazy and B would not admit to knowing me the rest of the night!! HAHA Also a pic of my groupies !!!


And then the last picture is of Jen's team walking in the Athlete's Parade at opening ceremonies!! It is soooo amazing to see all the athlete's walk in and parade around the track!!

Single Word Tag:

I was tagged by Cort so here goes:

Where is your cell phone? lap

Your significant other? working

Hair color? brown (today)

Your mother? tending

Your father? golfing?

Your favorite thing? sleeping

Your dream last night? crazy

Your favorite drink? water (bottled only....but i truly like a good fountain coke)

Your dream/goal? survival

Room your in? dining room

Your hobby? driving (my kids believe this is my JOB)

Your fear? dying (not me, but of B or kids dying)

Where do you want to be in 6 years? vacationing

Where were you last night? rec center

What your not? boring

Muffins? blueberry

Where you grew up? idaho

The last thing you did? type this

What are you wearing? clothing....

Your tv? cartoons (all day long)

Your pets? adorable

Your computer? slow

Your life? busy

Your mood? content

Missing someone? brandon

Your car? dirty (what's new....)

Something your not wearing? socks

Favorite store? kohl's (hooray for gold star clearance)

Your summer? short

Like someone? everyone (almost)

Favorite color? RED

When was the last time you laughed? this morning (i live with Cash)

When was the last time you cried? this morning (i live with Cash)

Who will do this? angie...she's reliable

Angie I tag you....seeing how you are the only friend I have who blogs!! To the rest of you (Landi, Jess, Amber, Cami, Laremi, Jaime) get with it and BLOG!!!

Ok, since then....

We have finished up the school year (thank heavens every one is progressing to the NEXT grade)!!! They are excited for the upcoming school year (probably not as much as I am...EVERYONE IS IN FULL DAY, WOOHOO)!!

We had soccer tryouts for RILEY, JENSYN, and OLYVIA....they all made it!! SO we will have 3 kids on competetive teams this summer, fall, and spring seasons!

We went to SUMMER GAMES (Jen's team was the only one we went for this year). We won 2 lost 1, but we were unable to advance to the semi-finals beacuse the two other teams with the same record (2-1) scored 2 and 4 more points than we did :( . BUT we had a blast!! It was warm , the kids swam, and we had night parties...I did a little dance (don't ask)....I will post pics from summer games, but I haven't downloaded them onto my computer yet.

WOO HOOOOO.....it' summer!!

VIVA LA MEXICO!!

...then onto Mexico!

Where we "bargain" shopped, ate authentic fish tacos, and took some VERY touristy pictures!!

Catalina Island....

Here is the remainder of the cruise pics...we stopped in Catalina Island and rode around on a golf cart and bought WAY too much candy.......

More Sea World pics....

STOP number 1....SEA WORLD!!

TO ALL OF YOU READING THIS: I promise we brought Riley with us everywhere, but he was never to be found when we took pictures....he was always "somewhere else"!! So it looks like we have 4 kids!!

Here are some pics of Sea World in San Diego!! The kids really enjoyed Sea World (which they should have....they charge an arm and a leg to get in!! We got to feed the sea lions, and the sting rays (and pet them....I even petted one)....the kids got a kick out of feeding gross, dead, raw fish to the animals (they stunk like dead fish all day long!!). I think Jen would live at Sea World with the dolphins if we would let her....that is her most favorite part of this place!! We got to see Shamu, the Dolphin show, and the sea lion show while we were there (Cash wanted to sit in the splash zone for the dolphin show and he talked his dad into sitting with him). There was also a Flamingo Parade that was hilarious!!

Our family cruise.....

We recently returned from a cruise with my fam....we went on the Baja Mexico cruise (May 5-9) and had a BLAST!!

The kids thought it was great to be on such a BIG boat!! There was always something going on and something to do!! The food was great and no one was too sea sick....a little rolly tummies here and there, but nothing a little dramamine couldn't quickly fix!!

The weather was OK, it wasn't blazing hot and it wasn't freezing cold....not necessarily "go up to the top deck and swim weather" unless you are under 14 years old and too dumb to realize how chilly it really was!!! All in all it was great, we had a good time and got a lot of great pictures from our stops!! I will post more in the next few days, so keep checking bask and STOP harrassing me to update!! HA HA HA

Vienna....

Here are our pics from Vienna. We only got a few...our camera was CRAPOLA!! The first picture is of me bossing Brandon around (I know, I know....you are all shocked that I do that to him). The next picture is of St. Stephensplatz, a cute little shopping zone that we went to daily!! Then the picture of the FAMOUS lipizzaner stallions that they teach to dance and perform.....we went and watched them practice one morning (all shows are sold out way in advance). The last picture is of Gloriette, at the Schonnbrunn Palace....it was beautiful there, tons of gardens, fountains, and marble statues!! We also went to an orchestra performance at one of the many palaces in the area and toured the famous Veinna State Opera House. It was fabulous!! I would love to go back....our hotel was right on the Danube River (which by the way is NOT blue!!).