Amigos of Honduras.org

I am off to Honduras in about 3 hours... I really should be getting some sleep, but thought I would update one more time. I will be gone for a full week visiting the projects and hanging out with cool, cool kids in Honduras, and Kerry will be staying home with our kids! He is an awesome, supportive,and encouraging husband and I am lucky to have him. The kids adore their dad and are looking forward to having time with him. I'm going to miss Kerry's 38th birthday (JUNE 6TH) and I wish I could be there to celebrate it with him!! Call and give him a hard time for me :)
Kerry and I have been able to be involved with a humanitarian group called Amigos of Honduras . This foundation was started by Dave Riley, who is one of the business partners with Kerry at YES, and he has done some pretty amazing things in a really short time. It started almost 3 years ago and already with this foundation and all the generous supporters we have built 3 schools, provided water projects for 3 mountain communities, helped with orphanages, provided funds for a community to rebuild after being misplaced from hurricane Mitch, donated money and supplies to help mothers and babies with aids on the Island of Roatan, and so many other awesome projects that help individual families and communities. It is such a great thing to be a part of. The thing I am looking forward to the most is being able to practice my Spanish with the little kids and being able to hand out all of the goodies and toys that people here at home have donated and put together for them. That is the best part - if you've ever helped with donations or putting humanitarian kits together for service projects, Thank YOU for doing the hard work and just know that they really are making a difference and ending up in a little childs hands or delivered to schools, and there really is a very grateful and receiving hand on the other end. We get to do the fun part! We take duffle bags full of these kits and clothing to different families and groups and then we fill our backpacks with toys and candy and get to hand it out to the kids. They love it - they come from very humble living conditions - many are the poor of the poor. But they are happy, energetic, smiley, and loving kids. They are awesome. I have been so grateful to be able to experience this part of it.

If you'd like to see some of the projects and kids, go to amigosofhonduras.org

Hasta Manana!

Congrats Eva!

Eva Diva made the Layton Strikers soccer comp team this last week and we are so excited for her! Last year was her first year of soccer, so I think she felt a little outleagued at tryouts and was telling us she didn't want to do it because the girls were better than her. We told her that if she didn't make it, no big deal. She can do her AYSO team next year and try out again if she wants. If she did make it, it would be an awesome opportunity for her because she would get really good if she was training with others that had a higher skill level than her and give her tons of experience. When the coach called after the practice to tell her she had made the team, we could tell she was really excited because she started smiling and then tried to hide her excitement by burying her smile in the pillows on the bed. We went out to dinner to celebrate with her on Saturday night. We're so proud of you, Eva!

Eva is such a headstrong kid that even though all of her friends were playing soccer the last 3 years, she refused to play because she couldn't use her hands!?? What?? That was her reasoning and she wasn't going to budge. I'm still not quite sure what made her change her mind...It certainly wasn't her mom or dad.

We have had so much fun watching her games and seeing her improve between seasons and her coach Bill Harvey was fantastic!. She is really fast, scores a lot of goals kicking with her left foot, but she still need the strategies and skills that many of the other girls on the team have. This should be a great opportunity for her to learn from her peers and improve quite a bit. She is a quick study and I think she will do really well.

Her coach has a great philosophy about making this a positive experience and helping them to improve skills, but not having soccer be their life. They have other things they want to do,too. He will only do a couple of tournaments each year and keep practices to once a week. I don't want soccer every other night(either does she) and then there are all the issues with kids being overscheduled and missing out on downtime to play and to just be imaginative. I also don't want to be a crazy (crazier) mom driving my kids around all hours of the day to lessons. I think we miss the point of it all... To much time away from family. That being said, I think this is a great opportunity for her to get the flavor of comp soccer without having her completely absorbed into it. I'm so glad that there are coaches out there with the same values. It's refreshing. The tricky part is balancing it all out when they want to do so many things......I don't think it is easy. Hopefully it is fun along the way as we figure it all out!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Happy Birthday Ethan!
Yesterday was Ethan's 6th birthday - he has been waiting, planning, and talking about his birthday since last June, so he was pretty excited! He wanted a bubblegum cake - super easy as long as you can find the bubblegum - and we took 7 energetic friends over to Hungry Bear for pizza and arcade games. Better there, than at my house. He had a great time and he was really glad that everyone could come. Grandpa and Grandma Darrohn came and also Uncle Mike - (hey Mike - he has been playing w/that nerf gun all morning. It's got some power!) He has some great buddies to share his day with. Kerry and I gave him a big Indiana Jones lego city set that I'm sure Kerry and I will be painstakingly building for the next 2 weeks. It's so funny how excited they get for their birthdays - he LIVES for them. Happy little 6 year old~!

Dooders: Air guitar and Vibrato

Ethan - both of these little videos make me laugh because you are such a nut~! The first is when we were filming Beckham doing flashcards and you wanted to make sure that your air guitar talents weren't forgotten. The 2nd clip is of your Cowboy song from kindergarten- you sure love to sing! You are so much fun to have as a son -you are passionate about the things you enjoy: Legos, Star Wars, Soccer - you get so excited to tell me about how Darth Vader was really Anikan and his arms and legs got cut off and.......all day long there are fascinating tidbits I learn from you. The best part is that you have such an animated face when you express yourself that it is a delight to watch you talk about the things you love. I sure love you Doody!

It's Gonna Hurt

I went running about 4 miles outside for the first time after a 2 month hiatus on Saturday night and had a moonlit, soul-finding run. I had to get back into my groove. Great run.
I went running this morning - 1 mile steep uphill. It hurt and I wanted to throw up. I only actually ran about a 1/4 of it and walked the rest. Because I have some drive to want to climb that mountain - not on all four, but actually upright, I am going back again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Yes, It's gonna hurt.
I am training for the Wasatch Back Relay race coming up in June - 2 days of team running from Logan to Park City. You don't sleep, run in the middle of the night, have crazy team names, decorate vans, and run up steep road and mountain passes that really should be left to people who know what they are doing. Yet, here I am and truth be told, I'm actually looking forward to the challenge. This race is different - it sounds so insane, but people that do it, KEEP going back year after year and when you talk to them about it they have this crazy, excited look in their eyes. I've got 3 different legs-one that is up Old Snowbasin Road 4 miles, another that is 6 miles - moderate, and the last leg is 7 miles downhill coming out at the top of Deer Valley. Good mix of a lot of stuff that will probably eat my lunch!! Can't wait!~

New Sandbox!

We have a big tree that has grown over our flower garden - a wild tree that nobody planted and is too close to the fence. We have grape vines along that same side of the fence that send shoots way way up into the tree and in the middle of the summer it feels a little like a jungle in that corner of the garden. The roots at the base of the tree have made it so that nothing will grow in the ground, so we thought it was the perfect place for a sandbox. Smack dab in the middle of the garden, right in moms line of sight from the kitchen window, lots of shade for the kids to escape to from the summer heat. Much to my surprise, the kids are completely occupied by these 'digging and building things'. They will play forever in my friends sandbox and always cry and scream like unbehaved little children when we have to make them leave. So now we have one of our own and hopefully a fun spot for the kids and their friends. (hopefully not the cats). I'm thinking this is going to give me a little summer sanity. It's much better than trying to keep Becks from constantly running in the road in the front yard - Anyone want to come over and play?

Conversations with the kids

Beckham got a small bump on his head and told me that he needs to go to the Dr's to get a shot. What kind of kid requests to get a shot?? He's requested it many times before. Weird 2 yr old.

Yesterday Ethan and I had a conversation in the car about being a team player in soccer. He said, "Yep. It's all about having fun." and I said, "that's right." Then he quickly added, "But it's all about WINNING when you are playing Slug Bugs, huh mom." (Slug Bug What Color! Ethan and I are on a team and we always beat Beckham...Ethan keeps score and organized our alliance. Together we are inVincible!)

Eva has informed me that we will not be able to pick up her bed from the furniture store on Saturday because she is teaching a dance class to all of her friends in the neighborhood and will be doing so every Saturday through the summer. She mentioned it a few weeks ago and I thought she would forget about it, but she told me again yesterday and has also made up some props that they will be using. I hope that all her friends remember that they are signed up for this class!

Nothin' to see here, people. Go about your lives.

So Ethan broke his arm last Tuesday night jumping/wrestling/playing ninjas on our neighbors trampoline. One of the older boys fell on him and he broke his left arm - a complete break. He wasn't able to get it casted for 3 days because of the swelling, but he finally got his light blue transformer cast put on on Friday, and he's been a rockstar ever since! He missed 3 days of school, had all of his family and friends sign his cast, and loves to tell people about it to get as much sympathy/gifts as he can.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from getting it casted and as we are walking down an aisle he yelled out to some unconcerned shoppers, "IT'S A BROKEN ARM, PEOPLE!!" (He said it like," Geez! Haven't you ever seen a broken arm before?!! Move along, people, move along. Look away all you rubber-neckers -nothin to see here. Go about your lives.) I'm not quite sure where he gets his nerve - I think it is from Kerry's side.

He is back to everything and anything boy. Running around w/squirt guns w/his buddies, playing on the swing set, totally upset that he couldn't play in his soccer game, and already figuring out how to play his spiderman video game one handed.

This wasn't his first visit to the ER, and I highly doubt it will be his last. Is it a right of passage? In our family, probably so. Kerry was just a youngin' when he had the clever idea of jumping out of a tree to land on a dog -just like a cowboy would jump out of a gunfightin' townhall and land on his horse. Well he missed the dog and landed on his arm. Dog/Horse? Little boy/professionally trained stunt man? What's the difference? He went inside and said matter of factly, without any crying, "Mom, I think I broke my arm." Kerry's parents have story after story and Kerry has scar after scar of fun life events that happened to him on a consistent basis. Just check out his cockeyed arm sometime! I'm sure Ethan will have a scrapbook of stories to add on as well. Poor kid!

TipToe through the Tulips

Becks brought me a bouquet of flowers today! In fact, today hasn't been the only time -they have been coming to me from my little 2 year old almost every other day for the last two weeks.
"Here Mama - I got some flowers for you!" (big grin, so proud)

......This is why I have no tulips blossoming in my front yard. Maybe next year ~

BYU Women's Conference

There are few things that are life altering: Running has been one for me, discovering dark chocolate, and another is being able to attend Women's Conference at BYU. I am so grateful for my lifelong amazing friend of 20+(!!!) years, Lori Gertsch who suggested that we go to women's conference last year. It has helped me in so many ways, but I don't know if I ever would have pursued it, being that it was going on at BYU (Born and bred Ute fan, here.)

In fact, I kept having minor panic attacks saying to myself, "What if I would have missed this!!" I needed to hear exactly what was just said or what I just felt. If you have been before, then you know what I'm talking about. If not, then if you ever get the opportunity to attend Women's Conference, sieze it! It is empowering and enriching, focus driven and filled with so many revelations for your own life. I know this is sounding dramatic, but this is truly how good it is! I feel strengthened and renewed in my resolve to become a better mother and wife and woman over-all. It is so encouraging and I learn so much.
I'm going to post some of the nuggets of wisdom I took note of and insights I had from women's conference as soon as I get a chance.

This time we did a couple of things different from last year:

This year we stayed in the dorms - wow! A few words (don't) come to mind: plush, luxe, chic, un-cinder-blockish, lavish, spa-like. But who knew we would have had so much fun ! We met our roomies next to us - one of whom had been there 30 years prior when she attended BYU and told us that the dorms were EXACTLY the same. I completely believe her. Staying in the dorms was an experience in itself! I would totally do it again.... If we would have been 10 years younger we would have had a huge dorm party and invited ya'll.. (But we're not.)

Our 2 days were also spent with a couple of Lori's BYU roomates - Mimi and Tanya. Mimi flew in from Houston and Tanya - a former Dart! Very cool and impressive girls and it was fun to finally put a face to the names that I have heard stories of before! We attended a few of the classes together and then hit PF Changs for dinner that night. So much fun to make new friends, + we got to tell our favorite stories of Lori which is always hilarious.

Women's Conference is on a Thursday and Friday, which makes it nice to come home and still have the weekend. Not only were the classes excellent, but Thursday night night was followed by a fantastic concert at the Marriott Center- one of the groups was Mercy River...Yeah!! Brooke Stone - a great friend and one blessed with an angelic voice and unfair talent, is in that group and they are so good. It was so cool to see her in her element...


Lori and I have plans to go every year. We are women's conference veterans! Of course, getting out the door (from home) was the hardest part and I couldn't have done it without my Mom, Kerry, and friends Lori and Carolyn shuttling kids and watching my little angel/destroyer, Beckham and his big brother Ethan. Thank you so much! (again.)

Kerry - thank you for being my soft shoulder to fall on. I love you!