So proud!

So, I haven't blogged in twelve years or something...I'm a slacker, I know. Anyway, this past weekend was filled with so much! I don't have pictures yet, because of a slight malfunction on my part, but I want to at least write about it. First of all, my bubba boy Blake had his first concert with the Colorado Children's Chorale. For those who didn't know, he auditioned back in August and he made it in. I was really nervous at first because he wasn't really excited to be in it. I kinda felt like I was forcing him to do it and living vicariously through him. Well, much to my relief, he had his first few rehearsals and LOVED IT!! Yay!! Well, so this past weekend was their Christmas concert at Boettcher Concert Hall, downtown. I was once again nervous when he went in for dress rehearsal and, thankfully, he had a blast! I thought the huge theatre and stage and all the thousands of people in the audience would make him nervous, but he did it and loved it. So, when it was time for the performance, I was a crazy, psycho woman and he was the calm, cool, and collected one! Regardless of all that, the performance was, wonderful and my baby boy did an AMAZING JOB!!! I was so proud of him and I cried at the sight of him doing something so well and loving it. So, that was my first tearful proud moment this weekend. My second came with my princessa. She has been loving her cheer leading! Saturday, her squad was one of the children's squads in the CHSAA cheer leading competition. They didn't do any competing but they got to perform in between the groups. I was nervous for her because it's been hard for her. She loves it, no problem, but she is only five and she hasn't been catching on to the cheers very quickly, so naturally, dropping her off at the performers door at the Denver Coliseum knowing that she was about to perform in front of hundreds of cheerleaders and their family and friends and coaches was a bit nerve racking! I had no reason to be nervous. She got out there, rocked her little blond head off and nailed it! I was bawling like a baby! I will get pictures posted as soon as I can, but I had to at least tell all. I am SO proud of my babies and so grateful for such amazing and talented, and extremely cute I might add, children! A mother couldn't ask for better.

The first colors of fall

Fall is awesome! I love the colors of fall. Despite random blasts of snow, the weather is tolerable and frankly, very refreshing following months of scorching hotness! Summer is still by far my favorite, but I was in awe when I saw the colors on this tree! I pulled up to my house and it caught my eye right away! I thought it was so beautiful I had to take a picture of it. It makes me wonder how people can deny that God exsists. Just look at everything around us! Wow! Anyway, a little random, but fun still the same!

Spartans Cheerleading!!

Brianna recently joined the Spartans Cheer leading squad. She is loving it!! It, according to her, is, "why she was born!" It's funny how quickly she picked up the "cheerleader attitude and lingo," she says things such as," like, totally! Duh mom, I'm a cheerleaderrrr!" She is such a girl! It is so adorable and funny to watch her. She thinks she is the cheerleader of the year! They practice a lot though! They practice two times a week and they cheer at football games every Saturday! Not to mention the upcoming Veterans Day Parade and the endless competitions they have planned! She of course is still a little too young to get all the different cheers. But she does great, considering she doesn't really know her left and right quite yet, and she can't spell so the whole, "give me an S, give me a P, gimme a blah blah blah, what's that spell," yeah, that doesn't always work to her advantage. But, she sure loves runnin around in her little purple uniform, shakin her spankies everywhere! Oh man, I can't get enough of it all! Here are a few pics!!


This is her squad. See that tiny girl in the front row? Yep, you guessed it, that's her!

Here she is posing at a game!

More cute girlie poses!

Here are some "first day of school pics!" I cannot believe how fast my babies have grown! They haven't grown much, considering their gene pool, but fast anyway! Brianna was sooo excited to go to her first day of kindergarten. She loved it! I cried like a baby. I didn't lose it when Blake went off to kindergarten, but man oh man did I cry me a river when Nana went! I just don't want it to all be over. Ya know, babies, I mean. It didn't last long enough with those two! Oh, but they were stinkin cute, walkin to the bus together. Blake was telling Brianna everything he knew about kindergarten and her teacher and the building and where the principals office is and why you would have to go there. Imagine that, Blake knowing that little piece of info? Hmmm??!! Not a coincidence! I, of course have nothing to do with that portion of the gene pool, just to get that straight!

Random thoughts, By: Jack Ha...er...Lara Erickson!

So, I sit here thinking about how horrible of a blogger I am. It's not that I don't enjoy it, it's just that my computer, that dates back to 1983, is slower than CRAP! Not to mention my lack of time. Anyway, I'm at work right now with a little free time on my hands so I thought I'd just type...er something. My brother types random, sometimes...stoopid stuff, so it's okay for me right?! Anyway, I started a new job a few weeks ago. I'm at Grandview High School. (I know, for those of us former or current BUFFS, it's a little dissappointing, but you'll get over it soon.) I am working in ILC, (special ed,) and I am loving it!!! The people I work with are awesome and the kids I help out are pure gems! I get to work with Linda Snelgrove too. That's a bonus in itself!! Anyway, it is so rewarding to help these kids everyday of my life. I am so grateful for my ability to work and to help out such great kids. I truly believe this is what I am supposed to be doing iwth my life right now. It is a bit of a downer to not be performing constantly, but not when I think of what I get to do everyday! On that note, I had better get back to work!!

So, the other night Nana begged me to keep the light on for a few minutes so she could read. I gave in, of course, and told her she had five or ten minutes of reading time. Well, I lost track of time and about thirty minutes later I walked in to her room to tell her to go to sleep and this is what I walked in on! It cracked me up! I of course, had to blog it!! She is so funny!

The pups are finally getting along! Look how cute and inseperable they are. Awww. Bowser is getting super big. He's a pain in the neck puppy, but SO worth it!

Nerrrd-yness

There ya have it...I am friggin' cool! Yeeeah baby! Ha...what's funny is that not too many people would agree with this test! Just ask my husband.

Bowser

We got a puppy!!!! Isn't he adorable?! We named him Bowser, even though Uncle Lynn gave me guff about it! :) Todd and I had a Mario Party one night and we defeated Bowser in a few hours. So, because of our triumph, we decided that Bowser was a sweet name! He has been really good. The only annoying thing about him is that he pees on the floor often. But for the most part, he goes outside to do his business! He sleeps through the night and takes at least 2 naps a day. Todd was NOT ready for a puppy, he's being...well..."Todd" about it, but because I get my way, no matter what, we got him! He is perfectly precious! Thank you Aunt Christy for the puppy, he is doing great!!

We went to a Rockies game with our ward last summer. It was so freakin' fun! We had lunch on the patio of a restaurant right outside the stadium, before the game, we took lots of fun pictures during the game and Blake and Nana were with their cousins and some of their best friends, it rocked!

Brianna and her bestest friend Lily!

Hunter, Blake, Parley and Ethan

Blake and Nana waited in a really long line for this picture, but they were pretty excited to meet Dinger!!

Take me out to the ball game!!

We went to this way cool park in the DTC for Taylors birthday. All the cousins played together and the whole family was there. Fat kids don't cry, especially in swings and the two duos in those pics are inseprable! As you can see, Taylor got a new lacrosse stick, from us, naturally. I mean, what else would we get him, considering that lacrosse is LIFE! Duh?!

Grandpa Fred, Blake and Nana

Auntie Anna, Blake and Nana

Jetcar Nationals at Bandimere Speedway!
The Jet Car Nationals are Auntenna's (Auntie Anna) favorite races so they invited us to go along. It was so much fun, even though I was hiding with Blake in the souvenier shop because he was TERRIFIED! Brianna loved it! I was surprised at them both, but whatever!

Back in August Brianna and I went to see Little Mermaid (live theatre.) A long time friend of mine was playing the part of Ariel, so you can imagine how excited I was to see her playing a lead role in a Broadway production. More importantly though, it was Brianna's first experience with live theatre! I was so proud of her. She did great! I thought she would have to get up every thirty seconds to pee or cry or whatever, but she was so enthralled and in awe over it all that she didn't budge! She even got to meet my friend Sierra after the show, but she wasn't wearing her Ariel costume, so Nana didn't even know it was who she saw on stage! She was so excited to go and as you can see, she wore her Ariel Halloween costume. I kept over-hearing people saying how cute she was. That's my girl!!

So...we all know that I am exceptionally behind in blogging pictures and fun info. As such, I will attempt a quick recap of the last 8 or so months so bear with me!!

Thanks to Sammy for getting me a cute background. I'm off again for a while so hopefully I'll blog something...but don't count on it. I am obviously horrible at it and plain just don't have ANY time!