A full week of activities and Aspen's Christmas

This past week was a full one.  Monday was the only day with minimum activities, just karate for Colten.  The dojo is going under a revamp with Josh having to take some time away due to family and work.  But he has brought in his teacher to take his place.  I think Colten will do very well still.

Tuesday was Aspen's big day and her turn for her Christmas experience.  She choose to go to the Florida Georgia Line concert in Las Vegas.  Colten would be staying due to football practice and he ended up staying with his friend Brody.  I am sure they had a good time.  Aspen, Zac and I headed down to Vegas Tuesday afternoon, got checked into the condo and then went to the Cheesecake Factory.  When I asked Aspen where she wanted to eat she immediately said Cheesecake Factory.  She enjoyed her chicken sliders and fries and ordered the celebration cheesecake to enjoy later.  Zac was our driver and dropped us off at Planet Hollywood for the concert.  Aspen wanted a picture with the Eiffel Tower so we quickly went to a spot to take a picture before heading in for the concert.

This concert was a little different than the one last year.  We were expecting two opening acts but gone none.  Aspen was hoping to see Dan & Shay.  But she still enjoyed FGL,  There were just a handful of songs that she didn't know very well.  But she sang a long with all the ones that she did know.  It was fun to spend the evening with her.

We didn't stay long because the kids had dentist appointments the following afternoon.  Both of them had cavities so they'll be returning soon.  And they have ortho appointments this week so their mouth may be hurting.

Friday and Saturday was spent traveling to Mesquite for the football tournament.  Our coach was begged to have our team go down to the tournament.  So the parents agreed, especially since the league was paying for half of the entrance fee.  Friday night we were going against West Lake from Salt Lake.  The first impression of this team was "How can these boys really be in the 5th grade?" They were huge and they play really good football.  We ended up losing 20-0.  It's the first time Colten has lost so I had to talk him through how to best handle it.  We stopped by Dairy Queen on the way out of town for a treat.  We also talked about some thoughts he could think to help him not be scared to hit the bigger boys.  I think it worked cause at Saturday's game he got into the plays more.  On Saturday, we played Herriman.  While they didn't have as many big boys as West Lake, they still had their fair share.  Again, we lost 20-0 but we were also playing against the referees.  There were may questionable calls they called and yardage they gave Herriman but didn't call against Herriman when a punch was thrown at one of our team members.  All in all it was fun to have football extended one more weekend.  Wish the outcomes were a little better.

Also on a side note....Zac and I finally decided to get married.  He has been asking for a while and I said yes but finally set a date.  The kids are excited for our families to blend.  Good thing this is a very low key ceremony...no reception just a ceremony.  Will do a bigger show when we have our temple sealing.

A fairly quiet week

Since Colten had his championship game and his tournament games aren't until next weekend, we've had a pretty low key week...in some aspects.  Aspen had art on Monday.  Haven't gotten a picture of her art yet but I will lol.  Colten also had karate on Monday.  He is ready to test for his green belt, just waiting for there to be enough other kids to test.  

On Tuesday, the kids and I headed out to LaVerkin to celebrate Annika's birthday with Zac.  We went to Wal-Mart to let her pick out her present, then to McDonald's for food and back to his house real quick for some cupcakes and to open the other present from Aspen and Colten.  It was fun hanging out with the girls and getting to know them a little better.

Wednesday I headed up to Provo for an appointment with Dr. Sanderson's "phone a friend" to figure out what my next medication should be.  I stayed at Jonah's parent's house and got up early to get to my appointment.  Dr. Belliston was extremely nice and very considerate of my opinions.  So I left there with a plan of going back on Tecfidera.  Well he called later that evening (unfortunately I didn't have my phone with me) stating that my blood work had come back and my counts were low so Tecfidera was not a good choice.  His medical assistant called me the next morning and explained a little bit more.  My white blood count, lymphocyte and Vitamin D levels were all low.  He sent my blood to the hematology lab to try and get more information.  But in the mean time, he wanted me to take some Vitamin D pills.  So that was bummer news for me but I know that we will find the right medication for me.

Saturday found us over at Zac's house helping him with cleaning and measuring baseboards.  Darcee and Jay also came out.  Jay was the biggest help of all (as usual) ripping out the carpet and padding and taking off the old baseboards and helping Zac rip off the door trims.  Zac is working really hard to get his house in order while still trying to work.

Oh and Colten got invited to a pancake breakfast for 5th grade on Friday.  Still not sure if it was some kind of reward type thing or what but either way he is really excelling in school.  Aspen did well first trimester as well.

Can't get any pictures off my phone right now...I need a new port so the computer is not recognizing the phone is plugged in.  I'll try to get them uploaded when I get the new port. 

Got a little behind....again lol

Well let's see if I can remember what has been going on over the past week and a half.  I think I am going to recap per child.

Colten - Well not much new has been happening here.  He had the football playoff game against Desert Hills and won (I think the score was 38-6).  And that meant another week of football and preparing for Virgin Valley.  This would be the third time to have these two teams in the championship game, each team winning once, so in essence it is the tie breaker.  The weather had turned completely winter during the two days of full pads practice.  The boys were cold, the coaches were cold.  I decided to stay in the car and make sure the heater was going when I picked up. 

Thursday was Halloween so that meant no practice.  Grandma Chris was able to go help at his Halloween Party.  I tried to make it to his last Halloween Parade but must have gotten the times mixed up.  I got to see him (although I had no idea where he was) walk as I was walking up to it.  But I was able to pick him up early and not make him ride the bus home. Zac had come out for the evening so we headed over to the mall to enjoy some Pizza Pie Cafe.  I had given Colten a couple of options for that night.  I told him we could go trick or treating or we could go buy some candy and stay indoors to watch Thursday Night Football...he chose the later.  It ended up being not too bad for going outside especially with no wind.  But I think he is happy with staying indoors. 

Colten got to do an activity with the principal for getting two Eagle 200's awards.  He is pretty excited about his pumpkin.

 Oh we went to Menchie's...it was pretty good :)

 Zac tried to scare the kids in the mall lol.

Friday he had a short football practice and then went to play at Aiden's house for the evening.  Saturday was the big championship game against Virgin Valley.  Luckily we played at Dixie High School so no traveling to Mesquite for us.  Snow Canyon had a great turnout.  Colten had his Grandma and Grandpa Chris, Grandpa and Sheila Higgins, Jay and Darcee's family, Dianne (Grandma's friend), Zac and Aspen and me to support him.  We knew the turn out of this game at the end of the first quarter (21-0) but the final score was 38-0.  It was a fun game to be at.  Colten strictly played defense and the great play he made was clear on the opposite side of the field so no video or pics.  We had the team party that night at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center.  Aspen got into the thick of it playing a football "you catch it you get to throw it" game.  The team had been invited to play in the tournament down in Mesquite so our season has been extended yay :) . Colten's karate is still progressing.  I think he is ready for the next test for the green belt.  He has been doing better at home with obeying when asked to do something.  Having so many positive males around him is doing a lot of good :)

Aspen is still doing her art class 2 times a month, I wish I could have her do it every week, but she has also been doing the paint nite so I don't feel too bad about it.  She is loving the teens after school at the library.  Not entirely sure what she does there but glad she enjoys it.  I am trying to expand her reading library and introduced her (and Colten) to the Hunger Games movie.  They both loved it. Got Aspen the book from the library and she read it in like 2 days.  She is currently working on the second one.  She is definitely getting into the teenager mindset and gives attitude at times.  But for the most part she is still my sweet Aspen.

She also had a music concert for her music class this trimester.  She played the recorder and ukelele.  It happened to be during her school's drug free week and crazy hair day.  The students could wear concert best or their Halloween costume lol.  She did a great job.

Oh forgot about Halloween - yeah she totally ditched us for going with Audra.  She went around to a few houses before it got dark.  Then she ended up sleeping over there that night.  So she definitely was in heaven for Halloween.

Oh and a big announcement at our house....we got bunnies lol.  Bobo and Thumper, daughter and mom.  They are so cute and kind of like cats.  We are doing our best to get them used to use being around.

I've been keeping busy running the kids to their various activities and trying to stay warm.  I start my next course in my master's program and work is keeping me busy.  Yay....I am all caught up :)