Lucky Duck

I've been on a lucky streak lately.

Last week I was able to score some tickets to the premier night of our new local Chick-Fil-A. woot! It was a facebook thing a friend of mine shared, and it was for the first 50 to post on some comment or something. I was like #49. WOOT!

It was my turn to use the Aggie tickets and take Douglas to the football game on Saturday. Douglas and I were walking through the parking lot on the way to the stadium, and passed by a Pita Pit dude handing out free pitas. We also scored some free corn nuts and drinks. SCORE!

Maceys was there with a little football toss game. We watched all these tough college guys trying to throw footballs through the hoops with little success. Douglas was hesitant to try, but decided to give it a shot after seeing that the prize was a free Aggie T-shirt. Since I waited in line with him, I thought I may as well give it a shot, also. Well..... drum roll please..... Douglas and I each threw two for three into the hoop. Free t-shirts for both of us! CHAHOO!

USU was playing against New Mexico State. They are the Aggies also, so it was tricky to cheer for USU appropriately. We had a blast anyway. It was a great game and USU pulled a win 27 to 20. GO AGGIES! ummmmm, I mean GO UTAH STATE!

BoOoOoOo

Happy Halloween Y'all!

The LaMont Halloween started a little rough, but ended pretty sweet.

Problem 1: Mom procrastinated (boo). I totally didn't have time to worry about Kira's costume until Saturday the 30th (aka Mormon Halloween). So I took off Saturday morning in search of a puppy or sheep costume. Found a few, but all in baby sizes- not toddler (boo). I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased some darling fluffy white material and figured I could whip up a little lamby costume for Kira. As soon as the lady started cutting it for me, I knew I was in trouble. Little white fluffies were flying everywhere (boo). I did not let that stop me. I figured I could always clean it up later... I started sewing the costume around 1 pm. The church party was at 4 pm. I finished the costume around 3pm. Phew. In summary, Kira's costume sewing: 2 hours. Kira wearing the costume: 2 hours. Cleaning up costume mess afterwards: 2 hours +. Not sure that it was worth all the effort.

Problem 2: Douglas wanted me to sew him a costume, too. He was a cute forest ranger for school, but wanted to be Frankenstein for Halloween. I happened to have some black material and purple material. I whipped him up a vest and purple frankie-pants in 30 minutes flat. I did not do any finishing on his, but a Frankenstein is raggedy anyway. I also did not add elastic to the waist- he had to make do with a baseball belt. I did his and TJ's makeup and we headed to the church around 4:10pm. I had 0 minutes for my costume (b00), so I just threw on a jumper and some fabric for a makeshift apron, tied a ribbon in my hair, and called myself Mary (Kira was my little lamb). My little lamb did not love her brothers' being so creepy, but got used to it after a little while.

TJ's costume was easy. He wanted to be a football player, but since he was a football player last year, he decided to change it up a little and be a football player ZOMBIE. Creepy.

The ward party was short and sweet, and we were out of there in time for some serious Trick-or-treating... only it was POURING RAIN (boo). We went anyway with umbrellas in tow. Kira wasn't sure what was going on, but soon caught on to the fact that she was getting candy from all the houses. She started running and saying, " Next house! Next house!". She was also very good about saying Trick-or-treat.... only she would freeze up and not say it to the actual neighbors upon them opening the door. We just went around the block with Kira and back home for some chili for dinner. I was pretty bummed about how Halloween was turning out.

The boys were ready to hit the street again after dinner. I reluctantly bundled up and we headed out. Luckily, the rain had cleared and it was only slightly cool. We had a great time running around. The boys got spoiled. I guess the Trick-or-treater turnout was lower than expected due to the weather, so most neighbors offered double or triple the treats. On the last block towards our house, Douglas was starting to get tired and his bucket was heavy. Being a drama king, he flopped on a lawn and lay there for awhile. TJ still ran to the door to get more goods. The neighbor seemed confused at Douglas' act, but I assured her I was not forcing my kids to get more candy. The boys had a blast overall, and were very pleased with how well their buckets overflowed with sweets. Watching the boys full of giddiness was awesome. No fighting or arguing. I wasn't bossing them around. I really enjoyed being part of their childhood moment. Not too many more of those left with TJ I'm afraid. He already suggested they hook up with friends next year to go. *sniff*

Our actual Halloween day today was pretty low key. We slept in, went to church, watched some ball, saw the Rangers lose again (boo), and had some dinner. I did manage to make some festive punch (orange frappe- yummy). I wondered if we'd get any trick-or-treaters tonight, but I guess not. I guess the non-Mormon locals have adjusted to our demands (ha ha).

Well, I'd better go and vacuum the living room for the 7th time. I see some more white fluffies laying around. Agh.

Falling Around

Guess what we found lurking in our gate? A little creepy, but the kids thought it was awesome. It didn't even move while we were gawking at it. I thought it might be dead or hurt, but it was gone the next day, so it must've been okay. In case you haven't figured it out, yet. It's a bat. Besides finding creepy critters, we've been enjoying this beautiful Fall weather. Saturday was a bit overcast, but not too chilly. Troy and TJ went to the Aggies Homecoming game after some debate. We have 2 season tickets, and Douglas and I wanted to go, but it was decided we would wait for the next game. A bit disappointed, I decided to go play with the kids in the park for something fun to do. We went to one of our favorite parks only to find tons of leaves. We ditched the playground to make a big leaf pile, and just jumped around in it.

After playing in the park for a few hours, we grabbed some Aggie ice cream on campus. Upon leaving the station, we discovered it was POURING rain. I then realized that Troy and T.J. were ill prepared for this weather, and were probably not enjoying the game. We picked the soaked boys up and headed home. They were cold and sad and pathetic (and so were the Aggies). I only laughed a little bit. Douglas and I didn't feel too bad about having to wait for another game.... then again, we may have snow by then.

Here's a few more shots of our football stud prior to playing Bear River. This game was memorable for a few reasons, but the main one that sticks out in my mind was the fact that the field was pretty much in an actual field.... surrounded by alfalfa and corn fields. Kira hated the scoreboard because of the siren that rang at the end of each quarter. It did keep her close by though so she could leap into my lap and bury her head into my shoulder.

Up and Running

That had to be the busiest September EVER. Probably due to football, football, and a little more football. Glad the season's over. TJ's team didn't win any games, but he learned a lot, improved and had a great time. We've also been busy with the new school schedule. The boys have homework each night. Kira says she needs to do homework, too. She prefers to sit as close to TJ as possible and needs a pencil and paper to do her work. I took this picture this morning as Douglas and I arrived at school. I love the colorful mountains! I can't complain about my drive to work. Amazing view. I guess I can complain next month when it will be too dark to actually see the amazing view.

We've spent a lot of time looking for missing shoes lately. Hmmmmm.... I wonder where they are running off to?

Our family had a big event on Saturday. It was our first time participating in a run all together. The Health Department sponsored a run for Red Ribbon week (Drug-Free Awareness). TJ and I ran a 5k for the first time ever, and TJ and Troy volunteered to walk/run the mile with Kiki. They want to run next race, though. My goal was to jog without stopping, and I did it! Sure I was a little slow, but it was an accomplishment for me. I've been running since about June doing the couch to 5k program. Great to finally be able to do it in an actual race. I ran under 35 minutes (my goal was to get under 40). TJ ran it in about 22 minutes. Yeah for us! We all got ribbons and T-shirts to show for our accomplishments. We did not get an after picture, so here we are smiling and preparing to run! The boys are already asking when we can do another race, so maybe we've found a healthy, new, family activity.

Kinderfunnies

I get some of my greatest Kindergarten moments/quotes during the first week of school. It is an exhausting time. Kids are so used to getting snacks or drinks at home whenever they want to, and most are used to full adult attention at all times. I do a lot of talking, demonstrating, planning and directing and even my voice gets tired. However, it's been a fun week to meet all these new great little faces and introduce them to the world of school. I wanted to share a few little funnies with you from this past week.

We meet with the child and a parent to do a little assessment a few days before class starts. One test was naming colors. One little boy wasn't sure what to call brown. He thought about it for a few seconds and then said.... "Chocolate Milk!"

Another part of the test was counting objects. I have the children count ten blocks and then I ask them to hand me 3 of them. After doing this several times, I got a little lazy on my wording. One child counted the ten blocks, I held out my hand and said, "Give me 3". The child then slapped my hand 3 times and smiled.

I have a child who has proven to be quite the handful so far. He was getting very impatient with me talking about procedures, and wanted to get on to doing things. On the playground, I took the children in front of the jungle gym to discuss appropriate playground behavior before letting them loose. This boy sighed with impatience and I heard him say, "I already know EVERYTHING!". This is funny when you realize a kindergartner is saying this on his very first day of school.

So we go through a few rules and procedures, but I also let them play a bit. I pulled out some animals and blocks, and one boy was SOOOOO excited and said, "Mrs. MaLont is the best teacher in the world!". Brownie points.

We have extended day kindergarten which means that the morning and afternoon leave and arrive at about the same time. We have a reading aide come to read stories with the kids while I go have lunch. I welcomed the kids to school and told them I'd be right back after I ate my lunch and that my friend Ms. Julie would take care of them. One little girl wasn't very pleased with my leaving, and told me when I got back, "You should just eat a big breakfast so you won't be hungry for lunch."

Gotta love my job.

Back in the Saddle Again

Back to work is a harder concept to accept than Back to School. Always a stressful time for me, and I feel like the kids don't get a great start because their mother is half crazy. BUT it is also a very exciting time. TJ starting Middle School (wow), and Douglas starting third grade, and me meeting 42 eager little kinderfriends. I always love meeting the new students coming to my class. I think we will have a fantastic year together. They are so stinkin' cute, too.

Douglas with Mrs. Olsen. He is so excited to be in her class.

Here is TJ's first day of school picture. I didn't really get a chance to take one that morning- he was embarrassed that I even thought about following him into the middle school for a picture. Soooooo I snapped a few photos at his football practice that evening. Football is pretty intense; 6-8 four nights a week. This is tricky because practice often goes late, and he has to catch the bus by 6:40am. If he didn't love football so much, I'd make him quit.
Below is a picture of TJ at his game today. He is #36 on the right in the white/red/gold. They played this HUGE Clearfield team today and got creamed (77 to 0- yikes). TJ did have a reception today which was pretty exciting (especially considering the QB could only get off 3 passes during the whole game). TJ plays a receiver on offense and cornerback on defense. Apparently he has to cover the entire right side by himself as shown below. They have only had 2 games with teams that aren't in our division (one opponent weighed in at 192#). And what's the deal with running up the score? That team kept their starters in the whole game. TJ's little team has yet to score any points in a game. Hopefully they match up better with our own division. We'll start playing those teams next week. This little monkey hasn't been adjusting well to the whole Back-to-School business. She kept asking her dad all morning, "Where's Mommy? Where's Shee shay? Where Lullas go?" Then when daddy took her to the sitter that afternoon, she BAWLED. She also refused to go in her crib that night (which is unusual), and all her potty training seems to have gone out the window. Hopefully the recent trauma of everyone abandoning her will wear off, and Kiki will be a happy, well-adjusted toddler again.

I took this "BEFORE" picture before getting the boys' hair cuts, but forgot to get an "AFTER" picture. But as you can kind of see from the above pictures, they didn't get a whole lot cut off (just cleaned up a bit). They like the longer hair. Since their dad and grandpa are bald, they know that hair won't last forever... may as well enjoy it, right? Douglas was the only one playing nice for mommy's picture. Gotta love these kids!

What I Read This Summer

I love to read. I read a lot in the summer to make up for lost reading time during the school year. I enjoyed all the books I read this summer, but my favorite was The Hunger Games. My least favorite was "The Passage". Here are my official and not-so-thorough reviews of my summer reads:

Little bit scary. Little bit violent. Pendergast is one cool detective solving his wife's murder.



Just finished this one last week. It's pretty dark and some parts are disturbing. I found myself very involved with the characters, though. Takes place in the future... a future where vampire-like creatures (created by a virus) have pretty much taken over the world. A six year old girl is the only hope to save humanity. Ponderous, man. Really ponderous. BTW, it's super long so give yourself a few weeks to read this one.

So I read this one on the way to guess where? That's right. A Tom Petty Concert. The book was mostly pictures and quotes, but it was oh so cool. Gotta love me some Petty.

Best read ever. So the government has taken over and divided the nation into districts. To keep these formerly rebellious districts under submission, the gov't holds a game in which 2 children from each district compete in a death match. Winner gets food for their district and glory or whatever. History repeats itself? Love the conflict and fight for humanity. It reads like a movie. Heard they are making one. Hope they don't screw it up.

Just as good as the first one. Can't wait for the third.

This book had a wonderful, romantic feel to it. Just an overall good book. Granddaughter solving the mystery of her grandmother's past. England, gardens, love.

One of my favorite authors. His books are really hard to put down once you start them. Fast paced and fun. Mysterious. Troy started locking the kids' bedroom windows after reading this, though. Tee hee.

So I like the Twilight stuff. Big deal. I guess I'm on the bandwagon or whatever. Like it or don't. Whatever. This novella was interesting, and a must read before watching the 3rd movie. BTW, the 3rd movie was the best one so far. The movies aren't really that great, but are movies ever as good as a read? Nope.

Douglas got these for his birthday. I picked one up and read it. Hilarious. So funny. I read all of them.

So now you know why I didn't blog so much this summer. I was too busy reading. :)

Burned

Back to work today. Ugh. I love teaching and all, but the idea of getting out of bed and actually having to go to work is just.... well..... let's just say I'm not quite ready for summer to end. It's a nice start this year. Last year I was moving my house. The year before that I switched schools and had to move a classroom, so this year I should be TOTALLY ready. Well, I'm close. Feeling pretty good. Excited to meet the cute, new kiddos. It was just hard to get up so early this morning. By lunchtime, I was missing my own children and had to call home and touch base. First day of school coming on Thursday. Just a bunch of meetings until then.

We hit the pool on Friday to celebrate the last days of summer. I forgot to bring the camera. We had a great time playing in the sun and water. Kira loved the waterslide. She calls slides "Wees", so she said, "Mommy, more water wee! More water wee!". She was nervous about floating around in the water with me at first, but was jumping off the side by the end of our visit. The boys had a great time, too. I can't believe we only went to the pool once this summer. Well, Douglas had swimming lessons, so I guess he had more pool time than the rest of us. I was pretty good to keep the kids lathered up with sunblock. I guess I forgot to coat my shoulders on the last round, because I have a pretty good sunburn. Burn #1.

TJ's first football game was Saturday. They played against Layton and pretty much got creamed (25-0). Burn #2. TJ did pretty well. The offense just couldn't score. The other team seemed so big, and the little QB just couldn't see anyone to pass the ball to. TJ gets to play a receiver (offense), a cornerback (defense) and special teams (kickoff return). This means he is on the field nearly the whole time. He was pretty worn out, but said he had fun. He liked returning the ball on the kickoff. He ran 2 returns for 5-10 yards. I hated everytime he caught the kick because I knew it would end in a tackle. He practices from 6-8 most nights of the week and games every Saturday. That seems like WAY too much football. But, he likes it and works hard. Hopefully they can play a smaller, more evenly matched team this Saturday. I took my camera, but neglected to take pictures. I'll catch some next time. He looked so grown up in his uniform. On a side note, I nearly got tackled for watching a play by the fenceline. Some dad from the other team was running sideways with extreme hyperness cheering for his kid and rammed into me. He apologized. I told him, "I didn't know I needed to wear my pads just to watch the game!" Luckily he hit the side of my shoulder instead of the top where my sunburn was.

We've had a few cold nights of late, and I was worried about our fish tank getting too cold, so I plugged in the little heater on the fish tank. I boiled all the fish. Burn #3. I shouldn't say ALL of the fish, because somehow 3 of the 13 fry managed to live. I really like being a fish owner. I'm just sorry I've killed so many. I'm seriously paranoid about killing the last 3, so I'm being super protective. We have platys and they give birth to LIVE fry. So cute. The momma (aka Flame RIP), was preggo when we bought her, so we got to enjoy watching her give birth. The platy fry lived in a mason jar for about a week and then were put back in the tank. I have now wiped out the little family except for 3. Guilt. Sadness. Poor fishies. Poor... poor fishies.

Can't think of anymore burn stories for now. Oh wait... I burned my forehead (sunburn via reflection off of bleachers) at TJ's football game. Burn #4. Let's see about making dinner now. Hope I don't burn it.

Smores, Songs, Sports & Slides

We did a little camping out at Willow Flat in Cub River Canyon. We love it there! We had a nice evening of tinfoil dinners and roasting marshmallows. Everyone slept well in the tents, and we hiked to the Spring in the morning. It's one of my favorite places to visit. So beautiful! The hardest part was keeping track of Kira. That little ragamuffin likes to explore!
Troy took me to see Paul McCartney in concert at Rio Tinto stadium in South Jordan. Wow- what a great concert! He played a lot of beatles stuff. The pyro-technics were pretty awesome when he played, "Live and Let Die". It was also the first time I've been to ReAl's stadium. It's really nice.

Our seats were awesome because nobody sat behind us. We could stand or sit at will. Did I mention it was a great concert?

Douglas played some baseball this summer. Last year of coach pitch. His grandpa bought him cleats, baseball pants, a belt and a baseball shirt to look professional. The other kids just wore t-shirts and shorts for the most part. Douglas was looking sharp. The Indians had a great season despite the hands-off, non-coaching, coach. Douglas' favorite part about baseball is batting. TJ didn't play baseball this year since he chose to do football instead. His season is just starting now. We'll have lots to share about that soon. I'm still a bit terrified of him getting broken. He's barely 61 pounds!

It's nice to have a big backyard now! Our first summer in our new home has been great. I love that I can garden a little, take care of a yard, and play with the kiddos outside. We set up a slip and slide to get wet on a hot day.

TJ slides well, but is careful.

Douglas has no restraint and clobbers it at a full run, hitting the end every time. Spazz.

When it was Kira's turn, she would walk carefully on the slip and slide all the way to the end occasionally stopping to brush the sprinkling water with her hand. She loves getting in her swimsuit. I sure am having fun with her this summer!

Supa Scouts

We have been busy with all kinds of scouting activities this summer. Our ward scouting program is awesome. Douglas is totally into the whole scouting thing, and has been an active little cub since his 8th birthday in May. He got to go to scout camp in June. His favorite activity was the zipline. He also liked shooting with a bow and arrow. He is preparing for the zipline below. He has no fear. So in July, TJ gets to go to scout camp. He has been every year, but never has braved the zipline. Once he heard Douglas did it, he knew this was the year to not be shown up by his little brother. This picture is his first run down. He looks traumatized, but claimed it was awesome and even did it twice.

Our scout camp also has a BMX track for the kids to ride on. Not my boys' favorite thing at scout camp (since they're not the best bikers), but they did enjoy watching the leaders racing on it. Our leaders are awesome.

Douglas was proud to earn a few patches at the last den meeting. He has earned his bobcat, but it's blocked by the Camp patch.

The first few months of our summer, we worked really hard to help TJ finish up his arrow of light award. He was also determined to earn ALL 20 webelos pins. He got them done just in time! He's excited to be an official BOY scout now. We are happy for his great scouting attitude and his example to his brother. Scouting is a lot of work for the parents, but I think it's soooo worth it. Very valuable for these young boys to set goals, accomplish things, and experience nature. We use the scout books for Family Home Evening activities, too. WE BE SCOUTING.

Bouncing in Boise

In July, we went to Boise to play here... Looks like fun, huh? Douglas enjoyed the bounce houses.

So did Daddy and Kira. So guess where where these were set up?

A wedding reception, of course! My niece Krista got married in 2008 to Jorge. They met on her mission to Brazil. Due to some nasty US paperwork, they have been unable to be together and get Jorge legal here. Finally, he was able to come join her in the US, and they were able to have a wedding reception. We were excited to go visit our family in Boise, and meet Jorge. He is doing well learning English, and is a lot of fun. We ate some delicious Brazilian food at the reception, but my favorite meal was one Jorge cooked on Sunday night. He was great with the kids, and Kira likes to drag his picture around talking about her new buddy Jorge. We're glad he's part of the family now. And how cool is it that they had bounce houses at a reception? It was awesome.

Messes Muchos

I was pondering today about all the messes I've cleaned up lately. I realized how much of my day is spent cleaning. A much higher percentage than during the school year for sure- even though I teach kindergarten. Here are the top 5 messes so far this summer:

#5: Douglas grabs the 2 quart container of yogurt out of the fridge and it slips out of his hands as he is shutting the fridge. The torque of his hands made it more of a "throw" than a drop and it exploded all over the tile, the kitchen cupboards and best of all... the back of my legs (because I was in the kitchen cleaning dishes of course). Douglas really did help clean this one up, but it was hard to get the stickiness gone from the floor.

#4: Kira and the season salt. She snuck it off the table and emptied it. In her room. On her play kitchen set. On her rocking chair. On her floor. On her puzzles. On her stuffed animals and dolls.

#3: Kira and the lemon pepper (the very next day). She got it off the counter this time as I was cooking. Pretty much sprinkled on the same places she dumped the season salt, only the block bin happened to have the lid off. I got to have a sneeze fest cleaning this one up.

#2: Troy accidentally put a bag of tortillas on the ceramic stovetop while it was still hot. I'm still working on cleaning that one (suggestions besides nail polish remover?).

#1: Kira is working on Potty Training. Enough said.

Douglas Baptism

Douglas got baptized on June 19th. It was on a beautiful Saturday at our stake center with a small crowd of family and friends who love him very much. Aunt Sue, Grandma LaMont, Aunt Mona, Cousin Krista and Cousin Kelsey all came for the special day. Grandma said the opening prayer and Krista gave a really cute talk about the Holy Ghost.

Aunt Amber came with Baby Malleya. See Kira wandering in the background? She did that most of the ceremony. We were glad the doors shut to the room.

My mom played the piano for our small ceremony. She is so talented!

My cute family after the baptism. TJ gave a talk on baptism. He did a great job talking about the promises we make.

My dad and brother (Brady) were also there for the big event- don't know how they missed getting in a picture. My dad confirmed Douglas. We had a picnic in the park afterwards. I asked Douglas if he wanted sandwiches or sloppy joes, and he suggested nachos. So, we had nachos at the park. A little different, but still awesome. Thanks to the crock-pots for keeping the taco meat and cheese warm for us.

My favorite part of the baptism was when Douglas first entered the font. He wandered right up to the front of it and folded his arms and cheesed right up at us. It gave us a good giggle before getting reverent. Douglas' arm came up out of the water the first time, so we had to do a "take 2". I'm not sure was an accident because he asked me if he could get baptized twice a few days before...

He was also VERY excited to get his very own scriptures from Grandma and Grandpa Olson. He got a black Book of Mormon and a green bible (much to the dismay of the store staff). He got called up in sacrament meeting to be welcomed as a member of the church, and took his scriptures right up there with him. So cute. So grown-up. I love his enthusiasm about being a member of the church and studying the scriptures. Hope it lasts. I'm so proud of you, Douglas!