Did I say time flies? I think it evaporates!!!!!

Whew, time is amazing.  I've had my 30 yr class reunion this month and it was so fun.  It was great to see old friends and reconnect a bit.  I came home and my daughter, Alexa, had met a very special young man.  This is their engagement picture.  The official engagement date is Aug 24, 2013!   The wedding date is Oct. 26th, 2013 and their reception will be on Nov. 2nd.  What an amazing story!  They are absolutely in love and working to build their future together.  His name is Luke.

This is all wonderful, but as mother of the bride, my time just evaporated!  We have the dress, the shoes, the wedding location, the reception hall and have finalized the decorations.  Yes - all this in one week!  We are so happy for them.  

I guess I don't need to wonder how I was going to spend my 'spare' time in the next two months.  Lots of work, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

I have enjoyed watching my children become adults and how fast that change can happen.  I enjoy being with them, spending time together and then seeing them in their own lives and what they have built.  

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Love Ya,

Bren

Time Flies!!!!

The New York trip was fun and then it was getting thru June to our trip out West.  That was a long drive, with a new water pump in Cheyenne, WY.  That has not been a good state with us for vehicles.  8 years ago we ended up with a new mini-van on our way home.   We are very grateful to have found a repair shop open and open long enough to fix our car!  It was great to see Bry, Mark and Korbin.  Little Korbin is at a very fun age and very full of energy.  Meg and Scott had a great time at Especially For Youth conference.  Awesome experience for them!  We had more adventure on the way home, which was AGAIN a long drive.  Scott has his temporary driving permit and did quite a bit of the driving - good experience for him.

We got home from the trip on July 10th.  Back to work later that day and we've been on the go ever since.  Meg went to Girls' Camp and Scott got back in a car 5 days after getting home from Utah to head to New York State for a Young Mens trip with Leaders and Young Men from church.  I've been trying to get some yard work done, but the weeds are a chore to get rid of.  So, I am doing other projects,  like this one.  Alexa is home from college and we decided to begin having Family Home Evening again.  It always seems to take so much to prepare and corral everyone that we've let it slide for a long time.  The kids wanted a FHE chart of some kind and this is what I did.  (Also did a Chore Chart - we'll see how that goes!)  Cheap baking sheets from Family Dollar, drilled two holes in each for the ribbon to hang them.  Card stock that I printed titles on, left-over poker chips from another project, magnets and some cutting.  Voila!!!

I printed everyone's names on cardstock, used a circle punch and adhered them to the poker chips.

Little did I know that the 'official' poker chips are weighted and magnets are attracted to them.  :)

Here is the finished FHE board.  I decided to go with the colors of my kitchen because that's where I'm hanging it.

Here is the Chore Chart.  It will also hang in the kitchen, but used paper to match the colors on the ribbon.

I've been trying to only begin projects that I think I can finish.  This one was completed in just two days.  Sweet!!!!!

Have a great week!

Love ya,

Bren

New York was amazing!

Let me explain all these great pics.  I took just over 400 on the 5 day trip.  Yup, I'm a photo hound.  :)

Our first view of the New York City skyline. Incredible!

Meg and Alexa seeing each other for the first time since September!!!!!  Happy Day!

Steel Girder from the Twin Towers.  Very moving visitor center.  Left there with tears in my eyes.

A few flowers were placed by names at the Sept 11 Memorial.  Also very moving.  Our Choir sang the National Anthem and one other patriotic song.  Very moving and appropriate.  Several visitors thanked the choir for singing and paying honor to those who we should remember.

Times Square . . . fun, amazing and zany.  Lots and Lots of people.  Some were questionable.  Naked Cowboy - Yes, Naked Cowgirl - No.  They each had bottoms on - neither had tops and the Cowgirl was over 60.  Yup, not a pleasant sight.

Here the 3 of us are at a castle in Central Park.  Cool place.  Right there you couldn't here any city noises.  Pretty impressive for a city of over 1.6 million!

Chrysler building - If you have watched the Sorcerer's Apprentice with Nicholas Cage - those are the metal birds that they fly in the movie.  These don't really fly, but it was fun to see them glisten in the sun.

The 12+million $ clock in Grand Central Station.  Incredible place.

Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.  Pretty fun to watch the sunset behind the Manhattan Skyline.

Statue of Liberty.  Took this picture while on our dinner cruise.  Very nice way to end the day.

Near the end of our cruise, it was fun to watch all the lights come on in the city. 

Steve, our tour guide for New York.  Very fun and entertaining.

Megan singing a solo part for their concert on Madison Ave in the atrium of one of the Trump buildings.  You Rock, Girl!!!!

Meg and Alexa posing in Rockefeller Square. 

Meg and Evy finishing up shopping on Fifth Avenue!!!!

Yes, we did shop at Tiffany's & Co.  Nice jewelry that I will never be able to afford, but it was immensely fun looking.  I wouldn't have any place to wear that fancy stuff anyway.   :)

Meg and Alexa just before we walked to see the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.

Awesome evening!  

Love ya and happy travels this summer!

Bren

Busy, Busy, Busy & More Busy

Track season was kinda crazy.  I had fun with the workouts and those middle school students had no excuses - especially if a 'grandma' could do the workout!  I was the core conditioning coach.  I used P90X, Boot Camp, and Yoga exercises to create my 20 min workouts with them.  We split the group into 3 smaller groups and each coach would have 1/3 of them for about 20 min.  So, I would do it with them, which meant my workout was X 3.   I'd like to say I ended up in great shape and trim, but no.  Now that the season is over I have been super busy and no motivation for working out.  I will start again next week when I get back from the HS Music Tour to NY.

Yes, I am not the brightest.  I have traveled with the teenagers before and let's say I am not looking forward to the trip like the kids are.  I signed up for it and paid - my own choice.  Ouch!!!!   I am not going for my sightseeing, I will be OK where ever we go and will try to just be a positive force on the trip.  Wish me luck!

Anyway, getting ready for the trip, I wanted a purse with a longer strap and didn't have one.  I also didn't want to spend a small fortune on a new one - have you seen what a new purse costs theses days?  Yikes!

I went to a good will type store Wednesday at lunch, found one with a Prada label but the straps were too short.  (It really isn't Prada, but the idea was amusing - inside it says Made in China)  I bought it for $7, took it home cut off the straps, drilled two new holes (on on each end), braided 3 colors of ribbon, doubled the braid and tied them to the body of the purse.  Voila!  A fun purse with the length of straps I want!

 

Before                     After

Didn't it turn out perfect?!!!

Gotta run, we will be on the tour bus in an hour!!!!

Have a great week!

Love Ya,

Bren

Still Waiting . . . for Spring

  Well, still waiting for Spring so we can get our middle school track team outside.  We are teaching what we can indoors, but there is limited equipment at the middle school.  All events have equipment at the track.  With it being so snowy and wet we haven't been able to get over there.  Just two days.  Not near enough time to work on everything we need to.
   I am excited, though to work on what we have been able to.  We can practice some sprinting, relay hand-offs, core, core and more core workouts.  Tomorrow we will work on hurdles; start with the basics and see what they are able to do.   Today I put them through a pretty good yoga workout.  They balked a bit at the word 'YOGA', but it isn't a whimpy workout.  Yoga helps with balance, strength, muscle control and flexibility.  What sport doesn't that work for?  :)  I am pretty sure every one of them that was truly trying was working up a sweat.   Since I did the workout 3 times, I feel great!
   Hopefully, the forecasted snow for tomorrow will be very little and the sunshine on Saturday will really dry things up.  We can only hope, wait and watch.  If all goes well, cross your fingers and toes,  our first meet is on Monday.

Have a great weekend!  THINK LOTS AND LOTS OF SUN!!!!!
Smiling, helps, too!

Love ya,
Bren

I was poorly mistaken!

Spring has not yet arrived.  ARRGGGHHH!!!!     It was so promising a few weeks ago.  Now beginning our 4th week of track: meets have been cancelled, the kids can't get outside to practice and to top it all off, we got 3 more inches of snow/ice/sleet/ rain two days ago.  We are all stir crazy!  The one meet they had coming up this week has been cancelled, so it is 5 more days of practice/conditioning.  They will be well conditioned - we hope.   :)

Here is a pic of Megan and Garrett at his prom on April 6th.  They had a great time and looked very nice.  Garrett will come to Meg's prom on the 27th.  Score for Mom!  Two dances and only one dress - Sweet!!!!  Beautiful dress.  Meg found the shrug at Deb, great find - only $13!  We had black ribbon straps added (to stay up where it's supposed to) and the black piece in front, so it wasn't so low cut.

  

They had dinner at Olive Garden, there was a group of 6, 3 couples.  Then to the dance and to Perkins for shakes after.  One last activity was a photo scavenger hunt at Walmart - Yup, everyone running around in their prom outfits.  A great time was had by all!

I am still trying to shed some pounds, with not much luck.  I think it will be a battle of my will against the fat cells.  I have been doing the core workouts with the middle school track team, which is a plus, but not feeling like it is enough to win a battle, much less a war.  I will keep at it, though.  I have nothing to lose except those stubborn fat cells.  This time I am trying the Total Lean Challenge boot camp workouts.  I like them, too, and they are similar to the P90X.

I wasn't sleeping very well the last two weeks or so and that hasn't helped to have any type of quality workout.  Sleep has been much better the past couple of nights, so maybe I am on a roll?  Hope so.  Always so much to get done and on  my plate.  Feel like it will be easing up just a bit later this week.

Guess I didn't put any pics on of Meg as a cheerleader.  Here is our Cheerio!  She is holding the 'Falls' Sign

Here she is cheering at a game.  Who'd a thunk she could be so girly?    :)

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy family and friends,

Love ya,   Bren

I think Spring finally decided to show up!

    Today the weather was so nice.  My Sis, in Phoenix, would think it was still chilly, BUT not here in Wisconsin!  Highs in the upper 40's means . . . .  no coats!  I love being able to leave my coat in the closet.  Us track coaches are hoping that the 10" of snow we had covering the track on Monday is going to make a rapid exit.  The kids are itching to get outside to run and do field events.  So for now, we are getting them conditioned indoors.
      I have been able to work out with them - at least in my part of the rotation.  We divide them by grade and each grade does training with a coach and then they rotate to the next coach.  I have been working on core and arm exercises.  Some great workouts - and I get to do them 3 times.  I am really liking it - so we'll see how it goes.  After watching some of them do agilities (which are walking a certain way the length of the gym) I am amazed none of them fall down walking in the halls each day at school.  Although, it has been cool to see improvement in them in just 3 days.  Some kids are very coordinated and athletic, some are far from it.  There is a place for everyone, though.

    Today was a day off for me.  I got to sleep in, the weather was warm & beautifully sunny, and Fred & I bought a brand new bedroom set (the first one ever in our 25 years together!)  We've had bedroom furniture, but it has always been owned by someone else first (we got new mattresses, of course).  I think it was a triple bonus day!  Oh yeah, and a really nice nap this afternoon.  Sweet!!!!

   To catch you up on a few things that happened recently:  Scott's Eagle Court of Honor went very well, short, sweet and now done.  It was nice to see all those that either came, sent a card or called to congratulate him.  I am just so impressed he wanted it and completed it in such a timely fashion.  Being in the two troops really helped him, but was a bit of a dilemma in planning the program.  We kept it short so we didn't have to find too many people from each troop to participate.  Each Scoutmaster had a part, the local troop did the flag ceremony, church troop did the prayers.  Other than that no one else was needed.  But there was the issue of only one Mentor pin for Scott to hand out.  Just by chance we saw on the BSA Scout Shop website that they do sell individual Mentor pins.  Perfect!  He sent the one in the Eagle award set to his brother Tim because he is the reason he wanted to be an Eagle Scout in the first place.  Then we bought 2 more, one for each Scoutmaster.  Worked out very well.

    Megan has a prom dress and we already have it back from being altered.  She's almost set for Prom next weekend with her good friend, Garrett.  It is his Prom next weekend.  I just have to fix some spots where the  beads are loose or missing - nothing major.  :)   He officially asked her to Prom last Sunday at church by filling our car with balloons.  She was in a very good mood the rest of the day.

    Much to almost everyone's amazement, Scott is now taking his Driver's Ed class.  No one can believe he is old enough for this - time has passed so very quickly.  He looks and acts old enough, it just seems like yesterday his brother Tim was throwing him up on his shoulders for rides around the yard.  Where does the time go?

Hang on the to good things and may each day be a triple bonus day!

Love Ya,
Bren

Oops! Slipped up again. . .

I really intended to blog sooner than a month.  Time got away from me.  Guess I've been busy.

I got the airline ticket for Alexa to fly from Salt Lake to New York to join us on the high school music dept tour in June.  Should be tons of fun and lots to see.  She will fly back to Salt Lake and then back up to school because she will be in the middle of her second semester at BYU-Idaho.  She is having a fabulous time in class and with all her new friends.

I also got the airline tickets to fly out to Phoenix in October.  It will be a great week! I am so excited to spend a week with cousins and my sis!!!!!

Still trying to workout and take some weight off.  My body adapted to the higher protein, low carb diet and won't let go of a single ounce of fat.  I've had some great workouts, too.  Very frustrating and not sure what to do from here.

I am an assistant track coach this year for the middle school and that starts the last week of March.  I was hoping to be a little trimmer by the time it started, but no such luck.  It should be fun.  The kids are great and we are just laying a foundation for them, which takes a lot of pressure off as a coach.  Don't have to worry about training Olympians, just get them started on their skills and see what they do best.  It is a very short season, only about 7 weeks.  Megan and Scott have started track at the high school already.  They went right from ending cheer into track.

Really looking forward to driving out to Utah at the end of June to see Bry, Mark and that sweet grandbaby!  Korbin has gotten so big, he's 33" tall and not even 18 months old yet.  While I am visiting with them, Megan and Scott will be at EFY.  It is an amazing youth program in our church.  The youth have a great experience meeting new people and building their testimony.  If the youth have hope in Christ, they can withstand a lot of the bad things in this world.

For right now, we are all set for Scott's Eagle Court of Honor tomorrow.  Family coming in to town and friends from all over the area.  It will be wonderful to have it all done.  I don't think he realizes how big a deal it is to have achieved the rank of Eagle before age 16.  He will someday, but it means that I can begin to ease out of the local troop committee.

I am not hurting for things to do, but would be nice to let one thing go.

Meg is getting ready for her Junior Prom.  We got her dress on Wednesday.  Now it needs a little bit of altering (which I will not be doing) and a black shrug.  I will post pics after Prom.  Tomorrow we get shoes, jewelry and the shrug, if at all possible.

Like I said, always lots to do.  Work is going pretty well. I love being at work only 4 days a week.  It is so flexible.  I can take a day off or bank them until I need to use them.  I have to days banked right now, but will use them up with the middle school track season.  I will need to leave work at 3 each day for practice and earlier on days we have away meets.  I can use the banked time a little each day.

I have been meaning to post my new year's resolutions.  Just haven't come up with them yet.  I don't really begin things at New Year's, but work on new things year round.  The create a list means I would have to take the time to sit down and think about it.  It is usually going from one project to the next with me, so beyond that takes quite a bit of thought.

We'll see how this goes.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Love Ya,
Bren

No Way!!!!!

Unbelievable, I haven't posted since December.  My humble apologies.  Life has been busy and not slowing up any time soon.  We had State Honors Choir in January, the weekend of our Anniversary.  There have been cheer competitions almost every weekend.  It's fun to be active and support my kids, but some days it gets long.  However, it has paid off for our Cheerleaders.  They took two routines to State competition last weekend.  Cheer Dance took 3rd and the Varsity Non-Stunt did not place, but the privilege was being there.  The coach was not too impressed with the Non-Stunt routine before regionals and told the team they wouldn't perform at regionals, but pulled it together right before so she let them compete at regionals as it would give them experience and we'd paid the entry fee.  Darned if they didn't do well enough to go on to State!  They were awesome.  Both routines were performed very well at State - the best they had done all year.  It was a good trip for all.

Now, I am planning Scott's Eagle Court of Honor for March 16th.  Cake is ordered, so are Eagle Scout cups and two extra Mentor pins. I have the program pretty well outlined and need to tweak that tomorrow.  I am going to speak in the program and need to prepare my talk of 5 min or so.  Some family is coming for the event and it will be good to see them, too.

This weekend will be a trip for an Aunt's 80th birthday party.  should be fun to see lots of the relies there!  The following weekend (9th) is District Solo & Ensemble Festival for our high school musician's (vocal and instrumental).  There goes another day.  Then the 16th is the Eagle Court of Honor.  The 23rd is the Scouts District Pinewood Derby - our local troop runs it and the concessions.  Wow! Next is Easter.  Did I say time was going fast?

Add to this my workouts.  Yup, still trying to keep my body in shape.  Much harder this time.  I think my body has adjusted to the meal plan and is clinging to every fat cell it can.  I still feel great after the workouts, but not as much success with the body re-shaping as I had the first time.  Other workouts don't work as well.  I did try the Insanity workouts for about a week and a half, but wasn't the same, besides didn't feel good with the bulging disc in my neck - way too much jumping.  I really feel it's a better workout with the P90X.  That's what I am sticking to.

Just when I think I might get a break, I won't.  Track season starts for our Middle School and I am one of the assistant coaches this year.  Need to be there every day for about 8 weeks.  The kids are great and we are just helping them build a foundation for the events.  I attended a CPR course tonight, which was pretty informative, but amusing with the group that was there - a town rescue squad.  Some pretty funny guys.

Well, that's a quick 'catch-up' for now.

Always face the sunshine and the shadows fall behind!   "Helen Keller"

Have a wonderful week!
Love Ya,
Bren