IT HAS BEEN 4 YEARS !!! BUT NOW IT'S DONE !!

We moved into this house four years ago, all this time we have been dreaming of painting the house a color that is substantial, not a Easter Egg color like all the other houses in our neighborhood. So, yesterday we got it done!! If it wasn't for our sons to come and bail us out.... we would still be painting yet this morning!! It took ALL day, but we gotter done!! :-)

Briggs' First GIG

Briggs has been practicing with friends from church over the last summer and TODAY was his first gig!! They set up early and practiced for hours beforehand and the end result was great!! Each of them played three songs together and then each of them played a solo and Tate (dark hair boy) played a solo of a song he wrote himself. VERY IMPRESSIVE GIG especially for their first time ever in front of a neighborhood crowd!!
Those playing are Briggs (drums),Spencer (guitar blond boy), Tate (guitar dark hair) and Megan (piano), tho Megan isn't in the picture I posted. What a great day!!!

Grand children are the BEST!!!

Look at these cuties!! This is what I got in the mail today from Alex, how did he know I needed a nice picture of all three of my "G-kids" for my blog??!! :-)
Ellie (left) is 5, Jack (middle) is 7 months, and Anny (right) is 7. They are really growing up so fast, and they're doing it without my permission!! I guess they are like all kids.... they have to grow up!!! I'm coning to see you soon I promise!!!

OK, I will be the first to say...

I don't know anything about football, I don't know the moves, plays, or well, even why anyone would want to play this game, but I do want to show my son Briggs in his second football game out of the 4 game season for his middle school. Just the fact that he is let out on the field is good enough for me. Picture taking is hard, as when I downloaded the pictures from yesterday, I had tons of sky and field with no players... guess they move too fast for me!!! So proud of Briggs, he is loving playing along with his buddies, but I am hoping that I will be able to go to football games next year and watch him play in the band instead... :-)
Briggs is the furthest right player, closest to the ball!!

I Told You!!

Now look at this cute little boy playing in his backyard... isn't he adorable??!!
Briggs had this same kind of swing when he was a little guy so when Jack was born, I HAD to get him one just like Briggs'. Jack's father Alex would spend hours it seemed outside with Briggs swinging him on the airplane swing, so I hope Alex is ready to spend hours swinging Jack!! Oh... and look at that hair!! Grammie loves you Jack!!

THINGS ARE RETURNING TO NORMAL

Now that the laundry is done and the house is straightened up I can begin to settle back into reality!! Briggs kept telling me that nothing new had happened when I was away, which made me feel great, but then he went on to show me his mid semester report cards and that totally made my day. He is making all A's again and it makes me so proud of him. He is in the 8th grade this year, all new stuff and so far so good. He has been accepted to participate in the Show Choir again this year and is currently working on the music for the All State Band, which is causing him to work hard at it. He is playing the French Horn and I can honestly say that for the first time I can stand to listen to the music he makes from that instrument. I know what your thinking... what kind of mother is she... but those old memories of Ryan and him learning the clarinet came flooding back in and I had to hold tight just to get through his practice times. Really!!!
He played the Trumpet for Jazz Band and I really LOVED that... his band teacher is awesome and made this whole learning process fun for us parents. His Jazz concert at the end of last year was awesome and I was so pleased with the fun they had and also the music they played. Great job.
Briggs has a goal this year to stay on the Honor Roll at school and if he does this he will of been on the Honor Roll for all three years of Middle School. I am giving him as much positive reinforcement as I can. I am posting his latest sculpture he has made in his Art class. He tells me he has another one that I will just love. (It's the Phantom of the Opera). I will post that one too later!!

I'm Back!!!

It just seems unreal to me that I was in New York City and now I'm already back home and sitting at my computer once again... It was the fastest 5 days on my life. I don't think I have ever toured, sight saw, eat or slept, walked and talked as fast as I did these last few days... The pace in New York City is crazy, your up early and going to bed late, and not relaxing for a second when your there... There's just too much to do and see!! But, this is the life style of New York City dwellers... it was fun to watch and sit back and consider for a while. When we think of going to work or somewhere, we get in our car and cruise to where ever we're going... in NYC they get up and get on a ferry or walk to wherever it is that your going. I guess it's not so different, just a different way of doing things.
I can tell you this trip was worth every dime I spent, truly a life experience.
We got to go to the Manhattan Temple while we were there. It is right on the busy street, as if it were a store, but of course, the inside was just like we expected it to be and I am so grateful that I got that experience also. I am going to post a couple of my most favorite pictures cuz... I have literally 100's of them, but only my favorites will be posted here. Next time your going to NYC, let me know... I'll go with!!

Pictures From New York

I'm havig such a fantastic time here in New York City, I have tons of pictures but I can only post a few of them. The picture I've decided to post is of the New York City Shoreline coming back from Staten Island. We took a ferry over to Staten Island and came back to New York in just a matter of a few minutes. Here in the city you can buy a perfessional picture of this same thing... but I will post one that I took.

NEW YORK CITY... IT'S A MUST SEE!!!

This is me when I got back from 6 hours of shopping in the middle of New York City,
this was an experience I will NEVER forget!! I think I now have only $4.00 left in my pocket book!!!! Anyway, it's been the greatest experience. No one can describe New York City with any accuracy... you gotta see if for yourselves. The buildings, the shoreline, the people, the fast pace... all this and more!! Next time I will visit here with Mike and Briggs... they've gotta see this place.

LOOK AT THE NEWEST MEMBER OF OCC !!!!!

Look who I ran into at the Minneapolis Airport!!!
Yeah... that's right... it's me asking for a picture
for Briggs and the guys... they were cool and Dawn took
it for me!!! Mikie and Paulie without their bikes!!!
They traveled to New York City with us!!
Just a side note... when I got home from NYC, all Briggs wanted to know
about was meeting Mikey and Paulie, he heard me talk about the statue of
Liberty, skyscrapers, all the people,and ground zero, but all he really
wanted to know about was about Mikey and Paulie... Whatever??!!! :-)