Syd's Voice Recital

We are so lucky to have such a talented
daughter (or two...and a son). :0)
Last night we got to enjoy Sydney's
voice recital. She sang 4 beautiful
Christmas songs and she relaxed
Ty so much he even fell asleep.
Now, how is that for
the ultimate compliment!!!

We met Santa and Mrs. Claus!!!

Last night was our ward party and
we had the privilege of having Santa
and Mrs. Claus come. They had to be
booked well in advance, and it was
worth it! Mrs. Claus read us 'Twas
the Night Before Christmas' and Santa
read us the story of Christ's birth from
the bible. It was incredible!!!

Santa even brought each child a wrapped
gift. Ty got an entire set of building blocks!

Sydney got Jenga and we've already
played it twice....I can't believe we didn't
already own it! Thanks, Santa!!!

Summer got to be Santa's elf...
she even had a cute hat I forgot to get
a picture of her in. She helped pass
out the presents and played Kick the
Can with the 'cool kids' outside. :0)
She was pretty proud of the fact that
she kicked the can! Way to go Summer!!!
It was a great party!!!

Not a mans best friend...

....but a boys! Ty loves his dog
which he named (are you ready for it???)
Scoop of Cookie Dough Ice Cream Stewart!
We call her Scoop for short.
They roll around on the ground
together all day long. If we would
allow Scoop to sleep with Ty, he
would be in heaven....but the dog hair!
My goodness, the dog hair!!!
Someone help me please!!!!!!!!

The Results!!!!

It was a long day!
The finalists for the voice competition
were getting their phone calls today.
At 7:00pm, our phone finally rang.
It was a no for the competition, but
a YES for a SWEET SPOT! 3 of the
judges favorites that did not make
the top 20 were selected to perform on
stage in January...and Syd is one of them!With an audience of up to 200 people,
Sydney will get to perform a song of
her choosing, with accompaniment,
during the show. She is really excited
and cannot wait for the opportunity.
I am so proud of my little rock star!!!

One Warm Thanksgiving!

The gang: my mom, Syd, Uncle Randy,
Aunt Cheryl, Jason, Summer,
me, Ty, and my dadWe enjoyed an 80 degree Thanksgiving!
We went to my parents new house in
Laguna Niguel (The Fosters Resort and Spa),
in Orange County. It is amazing! If you want
to see it, check it out here on my mom's blog.

We played soccer, football, and volleyball
on Turkey Day. We proved that Volleyball is
not our sport, although it was fun!!!

We hit Legoland the day after Thanksgiving.
The weather was cooler and we had a great
time. Summer likes hanging out with her dad
and doing the freaky rides. I like to hang out with
Ty and my mom...they are more my speed!
Thanks for a great CA trip, mom and dad!

KFC with Kade!

Tonight is the night we have been
waiting for! After over 2 months,
we got to see Kade and his family!

Kade Backus is an awesome family friend
who was hit by a car while riding his bike.
If you need a refresher on his story,
click here. He is AMAZING!!!

Kade and Summer are true friends. They
went right back to the way things were...
although they were texting each other
from across the table (that's a new one)!
They got to hang out for over 4 hours
and they never stopped flirting!!!

Mason and Ty acted like they never
said goodbye! It's a good thing we knew
everyone in the restaurant...they were
a little wild, but sooo cute!!!

Cali is as beautiful as ever. She is such
a sweet girl, unless she's attacking her
brothers. She can hold her own!!!

Alec Backus is impossible to take a
picture of! I tried many times and this
was the best one I got. Teenagers!!!!

It was great to see them, but
now we will miss them even more!!!
We'll have to head to Utah to visit them soon.

Soccer Season Ends :0(

Summer's team Benfica ended up
being a really strong team. They had a
rocky start but ended very strong!

Sydney's team ended up being undefeated!
As the coach, I must say that is a really
good feeling. Syd really found her powerful
kick and scored 3 goals from the fullback
position (which isn't very common).

Ty led his team to victory. He scored at
least 2 goals every game and he was the
one to watch on the field!

All in all, it was an awesome season!
We all look forward to next year!!!