Go Pink Cheetas!

Volleyball is in full swing for the younger girls.  Jill decided to give it a try this year, and so far loves it.  They had their first tournament this weekend and didn't do too bad.  Here the Pink Cheetahs (name inspired by their socks) get ready with a cheer before their game.

 

 

Even with an early Saturday wake up time of 6:30 Jill is all smiles.  With all the excitement of her first tournament she had a hard time falling asleep the night before.

 

 

After a long day of playing seven different teams the Pink Cheetahs won third place. 

 

 

Not too bad for the first tourney. 

 

It was fun to watch as the day progressed, because so did Jill's ability.  At the start of the day she couldn't get any of her serves over.  This series of pictures made me smile.  The end picture is her realizing that the ball didn't make it over the net.  I wish I would've captured when she finally made her first serve over.  Not only did she get a few in a row, but she scored two points for her team.  From that point on she made all of her serves.

 



One Small Gift

Happy Birthday to Kay, at 35 years-old and holding ;)  After opening his birthday gifts we were off to Richfield to watch one of our greatest gifts perform her solo dance in competition.

 

 

Sam has been blessed with a great talent for dancing.  It was such a joy to be able to watch her perform.

 

 

And when it was all finished, it was so fun to see her rewarded for all of her hard work; she took fourth place in the 2A division of schools.  After the competition we took Sam and another drill member who had competed to Wal Mart for some food.  While we were there we walked by some flowers.  Miki pulled at my sleeve and as I bent over I learned that she wanted to buy some flowers for Sam and her friend because they had danced so well.  She tried her best to hide the flowers so she could surprise the girls.  Both girls were surprised with such a thoughtful gift.

 

 

Over the Christmas holiday, we were lucky enough to draw out for tickets to go see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square Christmas concert again.  The only down side is they only give out 4 tickets.  So, we took Sam and my dad.  If we're lucky enough to draw out this year, the other two will get a turn.  Back to the concert... this was my favorite out of the years we've been able to go.  The performer was Alfie Boe and the narrator was Tom Brokaw.  The singing, dancing, and performing was all fantastic.  When it came time for Tom Brokaw to tell the story I was completely blown away.  He told the story of the World War  II candy bomber.  As he told this familiar story "snow" was falling from the ceiling and pretty soon little parachutes with a piece of candy began to fall.  Before I knew it the Candy Bomber himself was standing on stage.  It was such an awesome moment, and listening to him talk was so enjoyable.  The take home message from the evening was one of small gifts.  It doesn't matter how small and simple the gift is, you never know how much it may impact the person on the receiving end.  Only I don't think it ends there.  Thousands of people were affected by the candy bombers small gift of a stick of gum.  Something simple to him, but very meaningful to those kids.  This simple act of sharing was contagious and a whole nation got involved. 

Over this past weekend I've thought a lot about this story.  The gifts the girls gave their dad were simple small things; but each girl picked them out and it came from their heart.  Samantha has the gift of dancing, a talent that our Heavenly Father has blessed her with.  She touches my heart every time I watch her.  Miki has a gift of making other's feel loved and special with the little gifts she gives.  Jill has a gift of lifting other's when they are sad or have had a bad day.  Everyone has a "gift" they can give to those around them, and we never know how far reaching it may be. 

Blogger has been giving me issues with uploading pictures, so I've been back logged a bit...

Happy 2013!  What a year it's been, but I'm going to start back at Christmas Eve.

 

 

Christmas Eve day we realized we hadn't put our ginger bread house together yet. 

 

Sam, Jill and Miki

Miki

The finished house

 One of my highlights for Christmas Eve was our snowstorm.  It was a beautiful storm,  with big fluffy flakes.   I thought of it as one of those signature hugs from heaven.

 

Snowbirds enjoying the storm

 

Max watching the storm

 After dinner the girls opened their gift representing the myrrh, which is the memory present.  This years memory was simple but fun.  Inside a big box was their traditional pj's with this ticket inside.  It says, "the Walker express, Believe, admit one. round trip." 

 

 

We've been on the polar express a couple of times, and our youngest has been asking if I thought the elves were going to invite us again.  I reminded her that it's a big world and we were lucky to have gone twice, but it's probably someone else's turn this year.  So, after the girls were all in their jammie's we loaded into the car and drove around town looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music.

 

 

Once we were back from the Walker Express Miki started tracking Santa.  This is where she stayed until she headed for bed.

 

 

But, not before leaving almond milk and cookies, or in this years case whatever treats we had left over. 

 

 

Christmas morning finally arrived.  Miki was so excited to see the My Twin doll that she'd been asking for.

 

 

 Jill was very surprised to find a camera,

 

 

Kay was excited to be able to finally shoot the red ryder bb gun he'd picked out,

 

 

And Samantha was excited to get a full length mirror to go along with all those clothes she'd asked for.

 

Sam trying her mirror out

 Fast forward a bit to Dec 30th, but rewind about 19 years ago.  Nineteen years ago my sister had her 2 and 3 year-old kids taken away from her.  It wasn't the first time, and she was facing loosing them for good; either a family member needed to temporarily take them, or they would be put up for adoption.  So, Kay and I had the kids come and live with us, Kattie and Curtis were their names.  We had them for 2 years before the courts determined their mom was fit to have them back.  Anyway, Kattie and her cute little family came to stay with us for a night and visit.  She's married with three kids now.  I'm not sure where the time has gone.

 

Her oldest daughter loved playing with the girls in the playroom.

 

Miki, Cylee (Kate's daughter), Jillian

 Kattie's little boy loved our gingerbread house.  He couldn't stop eating it.

 

Diezel

 Her baby is such a doll! 

 

Akadia

 Grandma had a great time visiting with her great- grand babies.  Diezel didn't want to hold still for anything but the gingerbread house.

 

 

New Years Eve day they left and headed back to Washington.  I tried to get a family picture, but Kattie refused.  She hates her picture taken. 

 

 

Now it's time for our New Year's Eve festivities.  With one of our trees re-decorated for the occasion, the night is open for games.  With Sam off with friends,  Miki and Jill picked monopoly, so as you guessed it pretty much took the night. 

 

 

Jill was the first to go broke, shortly followed by Miki.  I was the gracious winner (I kicked Kay's butt!!!).
 

 

After watching the ball drop in New York the girls got to pop their balloons to find what treats awaited them. 

 

 

Happy New Year!!