Halloween 2010 - Michael Moves - Sara's Birthday - Morgans Tux

I have to place a few pictures here as I got ahead of myself with the next posts about Arizona. In early November we traveled to Blackfoot, Idaho to help Michael and family move to Poccatello, Id. They were able to get an apartment close to where Michael works and Bridgett got a new job as well. They will save alot on gas not having to commute to work and school. It's a nice space with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and a one car garage.
My birthday on the 9th was terrific as lots of people offered greetings on email, facebook and calls. When I got home from work Ethan had a spaghetti dinner ready with neighbor gifts and a small cake decorating the table. Thanks Ethan, it made the day so special!
Morgan got asked to Preference Dance, (girls choice) and he looked dashing in his tux and tie! The black and red looked great on the couple as they went to dinner and the dance.

We had a great time at Halloween with Mike & family and Nick and Michelle coming for the weekend. Harris and friend Leslie came for Sunday Dinner and we had my super fabulous BBQ Beans with Bread. On Saturday we went shopping for a couple items at Costco and then we went to Ross. I bought Mike his first pair of new "thin" pants. We got him a pair of 38x32's !! Go Sexy Mike! Gavin's favorite expression was....Booooo Yaaaaa....said with a giggle! Michelle was feeling quite nausiated as her morning sickness is taking hold. We luckily had a box of saltine crackers on hand. It was great to see the newly weds. Friday Night was my ward 'Trunk or Treat" along with a chili cookoff. It was great fun to see Gavin with his "How to Train your Dragon" costume. As always, he's a terrific little guy, and he loved playing with Ethan and Morgan.

Oh we're goin' for a ride...Sally go sa moo....

The Lloyds are dear friends and the Durochers are coming to town! They live in the South-East corner of Arizona right now, but we plan on seeing them at Thanksgiving. WhooHoooo! I found these pictures on FB and thought I'd share them here. Can't wait to see you.....in a month! When Shanda and I are together everyone asks if we are sisters! Yep, Soul Sisters we are, best friends too! Shanda has a nickname....Pitt Shanda! It's really come in handy a few times too. More than that, she's the most awesome person inside and out. I'm one lucky girl to have this family in my life. Love you always.

School Pictures 2010

Morgan and Ethan have sure matured and took a great school picture. Ethan was lucky and had Picture Retakes the day he got his braces off. Morgan is in his Senior year and Ethan is a Sophomore. Handsome fellows I have!

Annie takes a trip to Seattle, Washington

Annie is on her way to Seattle to visit her friend Amanda. I took her to the airport this morning and she was on a stand by ticket. I waited with her till her name was called to make sure she got on the plane. Her flight had a connecter flight to LAX, and then on to Seattle. She's excited for a fun adventure and I hope she has fun! Love you Annie!

Ethan AFHS Football Pics.

Ethan played his last game of the season against Hillcrest High in SLC last week. These photos were taken of him by a lady with a huge lens and a love for football! Ethan sure is handsome and got to love his new smile without braces. I'm having trouble uploading these pictures from a zip file. I'll work on that later. Ok! got it to work. These are some great shots. AFHS won the game 28-31.

Soccer Dog...with a basket ball

Bear loves to play with this basket ball that looks like he's playing soccer. He's a happy dog, but not so good with his manners with people and other dogs. He is 2 and a half years old now.

Holy Moly, how do they do that!

Annalisa works for a company named APX Alarms and the company party this year was an exclusive show for employees and their families by NITRO-CIRCUS, featuring acrobotics with motorcycles! It was utterly amazing at the jumps and flips the crazy riders would do in such a short space. The lead rider, named Travis Pastrana, entered the areana (which was the front grounds of the APX complex that the Architectural company I work for designed) by parachute via a helecopter. He landed with 3 others with a great entrance to start the show. It was a pretty exciting night with even the APX owner, Todd Peterson, taking a shot at a jump! The terrible part was I forgot my camera and only had my cell phone for pictures. Sorry about the quality, but it was an unforgetable night that had to be remembered if even by a poor quaility device. One photo, though blurry has 6 riders taking the jump together! The Jazz Bear even tried a jump on a bicycle and made a great show of it.

Intramural Volleyball - Morgans team

Morgan loves to play Volleyball and has played every week with a group at the church. He joined an Intramural team with a friend that happen to be on a UVU team. Tonight they (5 highschool boys and 1 college boy) played the college teams at the Institute building at UVU. It was great to watch the team in action and they made some great plays. Go Team! (the college student is second in from the left!)

Brace Face No More!

Ethan has looked forward to this day for years! His first appointment with Orthodontist, David Christiansen was in 2004 and through a series of appliances to move his lower jaw and upper palate, he is finally done and Hurray for him! Hurray for me! Six kids all in braces has been quite costly. Morgan has had his braces off over a year, but we have to get him an implant on an upper tooth due to him being born with no permanent tooth and the baby tooth was small with no root. His retainer has a 'flipper' which is a faux tooth attached to the retainer. Ethan was all smiles on Tuesday when we left the Ortho office. Hurray for Us!

Autumn Colors

The cooler weather has brought a fantasic aray of color as the red, orange and yellow hues dance upon the trees in the Wasatch Mountains. Ethan and I and my friend Cindy went on a great ride up Tibble Fork Canyon. Cindy is originally from Florida and when I asked her if she wanted to go on the 4 wheeling outing, she redaly agreed as the adventure was on her 'bucket list' !!! Ha....great going Cindy! This was her first time on an ATV and she did great! Ethan was a good sport to wait up for Cindy and I as he could climb the hills alot faster than the 4 wheeler. We had a great picnic along a beautiful creek and we even had a chipmunk for company. The day wasn't done yet. We got back to my house and got ready for the General Womans Conference that was broadcast from my Stake Center. We thouroughly enjoyed our Saturday extremes from wilderness to church pew. It was a great conference and supurb company with Cindy and ward sisters. Cindy actually recongized a friend from Florida who was visiting family and came to the Stake Center. Small World!

CMA Annual Volleyball Tournament - Sept 10, 2010

Every year Herman Butler, a furniture systems company hosts a Volleyball Tournament with area Architectural firms. This year there were 22 teams competing and Curtis Miner Architecture was able to have 2 teams this year. We didn't so so well, but we had a great time! after winning a few, and losing more, we stayed for the carpet toss and door prizes to be announced. The ultimate prize is a $1,000 Erganomic office chair. Curtis won the Oreon chair which retails for around $900. Our team name was Ready Fire Aim

Fabulous Football - AFHS

Ethan played a great game with his AFHS Soph. Team. I arrived just in time for a 3rd quarter sack by Ethan and he was cheered by the crowd and the statium announcer applauded his name..."#64 Ethan Durocher made the sack." Whooo Hooo! The score was 42 - 0 with AFHS winning by a landslide. When we got home a sign made by the cheerleaders was on the front of our house....Ethan was very pleased and amazed.

Labor Day Camping Adventure

Determination seemed to rule the upcoming Labor Day weekend. With the near end of summer and the pull of nature to enjoy some back country, we just did it! Ethan, Morgan and I met up with Nicholas and Michelle in Logan on Friday night and had a great visit with David and Ashlee too. I never knew the Wii offered such entertainment to the point I was flapping my wings like a duck! Too bad, no photo's of that spectical, but we were so impressed with N & M's new place and it's so big and decorated so cool! On Saturday morning we set off for Malad, Idaho, to a campground called Devils Creek. Nicholas and Michelle came at nightfall after they got off work. After setting up tents and such we headed straight for the trails and had a challenging ride through rocks and rills! (don't ask, I just write what pops in my head....?) Meal times were a production for the 14 people we had there (Bridgetts parents, Aunt & Uncle, G-ma and friend,) but camping food always tastes better doesn't it! Sunday was a terrific day with another ride in another direction. The weather was perfect. 70's - 80's, nights above freezing. We braced ourselves for apparent rain, but it never showed and the winds calmed down to our delight. In all we had seven 4-wheelers and two dirt bikes to stir the dirt up so our caravan on the trail left the rear riders quite dusted. Bridgetts dad, Brent, aka, Papa, was the fire master of the group. Mike and he made a "white man's fire' one night that roared high into the trees. We played a fun game called, Smurf. One person goes out of earshot, and the others decide on a VERB, an action word. The one comes back to asking questions one by one to the group, trying to deduct what the word is. When answering the One, the group person replaces the verb with "Smurf", without giving too much information. Its very funny to hear the inquiry questions answered with smurfing. Monday we folded up camp and had a great brunch to be followed by one last ride. Ride we did along a great trail....except gravity took it's toll on Brent and Shari and they suffered a Roll Over. Not fun and Shari ended up with a bruised kidney, a cracked rib and pulled ligaments on her sternum. She tumbled back on a rock with Brent landing on her and the 4 wheeler tumbling over both of them to land on it's wheels and started right up! Whew, we were all feeling bad for them and helped get them back to camp and on their way to Insta-care. We sure had a great time though and wish well for Chapmans.