When The Coaches Are Away, The Wives (&kids) Will Play!

So most of you know that my husband coaches high school football, and it's not just a fall sport. Yes, yes, it is a year round sport with a few weeks off throughout the year. And even though we are both teachers and have the summer off, he is still at school Monday thru Thursday from 7-10am for conditioning and passing, and once a week for passing league and one Saturday passing camp. My husband has been coaching for longer than I have known him and has played the sport since...forever! When I met him, I had 2 choices, learn football or find a new boyfriend!!! Guess what I chose?! It's kinda in his genes though, since his dad and uncle were both college football coaches!

Here he is on a Friday night from last season where he is the Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator for the WCHS Wildcats! I must say that I have come to love Fridays and watching him on the sidelines! The boys and I are his biggest fans!

Here is Ryan with the Head Coach Hud...or Mutt and Jeff!

Doesn't Ryan look like Hud's Mini Me?!

So this past Sunday, the players and coaches loaded up in a big charter bus and headed 4 hours North-East for cooler weather and football camp. This is a yearly event where I think the coaches have more fun then the players!

So since they are away, why not have a little fun! Once you are a coach's wife, you are kinda in a club! We are fondly referred to as 'football widows'! Nice name, don't ya think?! So we stick together! Hud's wife, Dawn, and I have become very good friends, and so have our kids! We hang out every Friday during the season and lots during the summer! And today was one of those days! We headed to the bowling alley for a few games!The kids had so much fun!

After bowling, we headed here for lunch! It was the best place to go since everyone wanted different things!Brendan said, "If you want to eat like a king, eat here!"

Isn't that funny?!...he thought Golden Corral was the best! And for those of you who don't know this restaurant, it is a home style buffet place with tons of choices! I personally think he wanted to go there for the dessert bar!

After lunch, we went back to Dawn's house for a little swimming!
And it was so hot, that they jumped right in!
Well the boys came back late last night and they have today off! They will continue summer conditioning next week, and start 'real' practices the week of August 3. They will hold double sessions for 2 days and then start afternoon practices as we start school August 10 already! (aagggghhh!) And on top of Ryan's football schedule, both boys are playing Pop Warner Tackle this fall, which means just as much practice for them!
It's a good thing I Love Football!!!
Ryan's first game is August 28 and the boys' first game is August 29.
Be sure to look for my football posts;
Friday Night Lights
and
Saturday at the Field

Where's Mom?! 21/52 Photos of ME!

Are YOU a mom? Are YOU missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, but here is a fun meme that brings us moms out from behind the camera and puts us into the spotlight! Carin over at Forever In Blue Jeans is the hostess for this year long picture project! It is lots of fun, and just think after 52 weeks there will be at least 52 pictures of YOU in them! It can be scary, but com'on, give it a try! It's easy, all you have to do is hand over the camera and smile (or not, it's completely up to you!). And the best part is, you can jump in whenever; for me this will be my 21th week!

I have a few that I would like to share today from my trip to MI! We were there for a week and had so much fun! We have only lived in AZ for the last 5 years, so going back to MI is like going home! And of course the weather there during the summer is so much more cooler....aaaahhhhh! And one of the things that I miss the most....day light savings, and how much later is stays lighter!

On our last day in MI, MiMi took us to a park near her house to do a photo shoot of my boys. I am still in the process of going through and editing the 300+ pictures that MiMi took, which are fabulous by the way, but Colin was able to sneak in a few too, while Mimi was snapping away! Here is a picture of Stunt Man and me. I love this little man so much, it hurts my heart!! Oh, and he is my Godson too!

On Friday, I was able to leave the boys with my parents and meet up with these 2 lovely ladies! And of course all 3 of us blog, which makes it even more fun! Here we are posing while Stunt Man snaps the picture: Tarah, MiMi and Me!

Here I am with my Nannie, who is my Mom's mom. She is 89 years old and not in the greatest of health, but she holds her own. Back in March we thought she was going to meet Jesus, but He had His plan and she is still with us today. She lives in an assisted living center not to far from my parent's house in Michigan due to Alzheimer's and Dementia. She didn't remember my name, but while I was there had a 'good' day, as my mom described it. She was alert and smiled and laughed a lot. I was able to see her twice while there, once with the boys and once by myself. It makes me sad that she doesn't remember me, but I know she loves me and that is all that really matters! Love you Nannie!

I was able to meet up with 2 of my cousins and their kids while there too! It is always fun to get with these girls! We are very close in age and grew up together! Trish, the cousin on the left, is the same age as I am, so we did EVERYTHING together....hung out, danced together, double-dated...we stood up in each other's wedding and now her oldest and my youngest are the same age! Sue, the cousin and the right, is just a few years older than us, but that didn't stop us from playing Charlie's Angles growing up! You know what I am talking about!!! She, too, has a daughter the same age as Colin! When all of the cousins are together, they have so much fun!

Here I am outside the bestest ice cream stand in the whole wide world! It is so yummy! I made MiMi bring us here while out on Thursday and it was just as I remembered it! It was built in 1947 and still in the original building! My hubby used to come here as a kid and brought me here while we were dating and then married and then we started bringing our kids here! Not sure why Colin was pouting...maybe cuz his ice cream was all gone!!

And last, but certainly not least...here I am with my mom and dad the last day that I stayed with them! Having only a week to visit everyone is like a whirlwind...literally speaking! We spent 2 and a half days with my parents, 2 days with my in-laws and 2 and a half days with MiMi and the gang from He & Me + 3! Next year I would like to spend a few more days, but I will take what I can get!


I know that I have lots more pics of me from this trip...but I will save those for another time! I enjoyed looking through all of my 800, yep that's right 800, pictures for pics of me!

Now it's your turn to join the fun! It's easy, hand the camera over, smile and say cheese!

WW~ BFF & Always!

Vacation #1...Com'On Down!

This will be my last post on our trip to Colorado. I promise!!! We made the 14 hour drive the night of June 28 to arrive in CO on June 29. The boys did a fantastic job and we had a very safe and uneventful car ride! For more on that you can read this post!!

Here are the boys are we are pulling out of the driveway on that Sunday night! We were all very excited to get there!
This is Pike's Peak! I loved seeing the snow on the summit! We have mountains in AZ, we are known as the Valley of the Sun, but not mountains like this!! It was so green and lush and pretty! I took lots of scenery pictures of all the mountains and sky...so amazingly beautiful.
Once we got to CO and reacquainted with all of our family, we spent most of our mornings at the pool! Most of the time, we swam,but after that we....
ate...cuz everyone needs to eat!!!
After dinner, Uncle B did baskets for bucks. Which either ended up in cash or push ups! On Thursday, 21 of us headed here...Water World! We had so much fun!
After Water World, it was my turn to cook. Since there are so many of us, each family chooses a night, shops, prepares, cooks, and cleans up for the entire gang, buffet style! Ryan helped choose the meal, but that was the extent of his helping!!! I made a Mexican buffet with enchiladas, nachos, tacos and all the fixin's!! It was so yummy and then for dessert I made my favorite peanut butter chocolate brownies for ice cream brownie sundaes!
After dinner, the Top 12 was hosted! This is where the entire group sits and listens as each parent tells everyone the accomplishments that their child has made in spiritual growth, academic growth, physical growth and social growth throughout the year. It is a praise session for each child individually and it was amazing! I could hardly get through it and as I type this nearly 3 weeks later, I still get chills and tears in my eyes to think of the response that each of my boys had after being singled out in such a loving and positive way. It makes me think that I don't praise them enough and I really need to make it a TOP priority in my life. Don't get me wrong, I am always quick to praise them, but is it meaningful. That's all I'm sayin'.

On Friday, I was able to meet up with Nicole, a friend from High School, who I haven't seen in nearly 20 years. It was so much fun to sit, eat and catch up!After visiting for almost 4 hours, we hugged and said good bye! I needed to get back as we were headed to dinner with the entire group of 24 to Pasta Jay's on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder! It was so yummy and so much fun!Pearl Street is the heart of the University of Colorado (Go Buffs!) and it was fun to be able to walk around and take it all in. Along the street there are lots of quaint shops and lots of street performers. Here is one that had some sort of bubble that he floated. The kids were memorized by him!Here are all the kids (minus the oldest!) in front of the big boulder!Saturday was the 4th of July and of course a BBQ was the plan! Uncle B was the grill master and all the families made a side dish or 2 to contribute! I made taco salad and something else, but I can't seem to recall what it was! (yes, my memory is just that good!)

Here is the BIG family picture! To see more, go here.Here are some of the kids waiting for the fireworks to begin! On the other side of the fence was a golf course, so while waiting, they played tag on a tee box! And right in the middle of it was one of the uncles! Silly kids!

And here we are on our way out of town on Sunday July 5! The boys are wearing their CU stuff that they picked put on Pearl Street at a store called Where the Buffalo Roam!!

Almost home...stopping to get gas and a picture of the Red Rocks of Sedona. So pretty!

Thanks for hanging in there with me, I know this was a long post, but I just wanted to get it into my blog since this has become my mode of scrapbooking! We had such a fun time getting to know all this family again, as the last time we had seen them was 9 years ago! They met Brendan when he was 3 months old and Colin was still a wish in my heart!

Colin's favorite part of our CO trip was "playing with my cousins".

Brendan's favorite part of our CO trip was "playing with my cousins and making the movie"

I didn't even mention the movie...one of the Uncles worked with the kids every night and they made a movie!! A real movie with characters, dialogue, edits and credits! It was so very cute and entitled High School Musical 4: 4 Years Later! Brendan was Coach Bolton and Colin was Jason Cross!

This will joyfully become a yearly trip for us and we couldn't be more excited to see them again next year!!

Sending Brithday Wishes MiMi's Way!!

Many of you already know this pretty lady posing with me in the photo...why of course it is MiMi from He & Me + 3! Well Today is her BIRTHDAY! That's right....she turns thirtysomething today and although the boys and I were with her last week, I am kinda sad that we had to leave before her special day!

Before leaving though, I was able to take her, kidless thankyouverymuch, to get one of these!!! Mine are the purple toes, and she has the orange toes! So relaxing just to sit and talk while someone else pampered us!!!

Here is MiMi with my youngest son, Colin. MiMi is Colin's Godmother and they have a very special bond! He was very sad to say good bye on Friday, but we all will remember the fun that we had with the gang from He & Me + 3!

So here's to you, MiMi....

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday Dear MiMi, Happy Birthday to You!!!

We ♥ Love ♥ and miss you (already!) very much and hope you have a blessed year!

And I promise to recap on our CO vaca and get you updated on our MI vaca this week!

11 Years With MY Dearly Beloved!!

11 Years ago today, I said 'I Do' to my hubby Ryan! It was the best day ever! It was a beautiful sunshiny day in the low 80s with no humidity! We were married at half past four (cuz I liked the way it sounded on the invitation!) in the afternoon and had a dinner & dancing reception immediately following! I wish my scanner worked, as I would scan a picture from our wedding, but since that is not the case this evening, I will share the pictures that Colin took of us celebrating!

Nothing fancy today as the boys and I just got home from Michigan yesterday and Ryan leaves for football camp early tomorrow morning. We will celebrate next weekend!

We decided to have ice cream cake for dinner, I know, I know, but it happens only once a year so we decided to give them cake! It was so yummy!

So do you want to hear the story of us?....Sure you do!!

We met at Ann Arbor Country Club, May of 1996, where I was a waitress and Ryan was a golf course ranger...it started out as just friends, just hanging out and then eventually turned to dating! We really started dating in July of 1996. On February 20, 1997, I came home from school (I was a jr. in college at the time) from one of my night classes to find Ryan at my house talking to my parents. This was unusual since it was a night class, but whatever! He talked me into going to the library to help him with a paper, in the pouring rain no less, and when we got there he parked in the way back. I asked him what he was doing and he said he wanted me to listen to a song. Fair enough. So he played Billy Joel's "She's Got A Way About Her" and then pulled out a ring and the rest is history....happy history!!! But I have to mention that he originally wanted to propose at the gazebo in Heritage Park, but since it was raining he did it in the car!!

Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary

HAAAAAAAppy Anniversary

as sung by Fred Flinstone, thank you very much!!!

Happy Happy 11th Babe...love ya!

♥Here's to another 11 and many,many more!♥

And We Are Off Again!

I know, I know...we just got back! But isn't that what summer is all about?! The boys and I headed out to Michigan last Thursday (by plane this time!) and won't be home until this coming Friday. Ryan stayed put since he had already missed a week of football; I know Heaven forbid!!

So since I am not my computer where I am able to easily upload pictures, I am taking a short blog break! But fear not, I will be back very, very soon! So until then, take care my bloggy friends!

Family is the BEST!

Even though this was our first year with Ryan's Aunt & Uncle, they have been doing this family reunion with their kids for the past 15 years. We were so excited to be invited this year and it was as though we hadn't missed a beat. We fit right in and we are so lucky to have such a great family!

Every 4th of July, family pictures are a must! Here we are with Ryan's Aunt & Uncle.

Cousin Kristy with her boys

Cousin Tom with Wife Pam and their twins

Cousin Marc with wife Robin and their girls

The McCraken's!

Cousin Mike with wife Jenni and their fam

The whole gang


Aunt & Uncle to us, but Grandma & Grandpa to everyone else!

Thanks so much for the super fun time!

Can't wait until next time!