Matt & Kristen Player

What a gorgeous couple!

Crossfit is really paying off for these two! Can you say Hot! This was the very first picture I took and we could have stopped there........ adorable family! Love the girls dresses! I love pictures where people are looking up. Just a nice change in perspective I guess!

This is my favorite picture of them. I love this location and I have to brag on Maliya.........

she did that pose all on her own. She seriously is a great model!

Train tracks always make for fun pictures!

So cute!

I know these two girls miss their daddy so much while he has been working hard at school!

All their sacrifice and hard work are paying off.........Matt will graduate in a month. We couldn't be prouder of him.........and Kristen as well. She held down the fort while Matt was away and we all know that is no easy task!

Matt and two of his girls

What a great fun family!

We sure love these guys!

Happy to have them over!!!

FAMILY PICTURES!

I got the clothes back in November........ hence the reason they are long shelve!

I have taken pictures for many friends and family members....

you know how you always put yourself on the bottom of the list.

Well it took 9 months but we finally got them done!

This is one of my favorites, especially after I swap out Mr. Grant's face for one where he is actually smiling!

Can't wait to print it and hang it in our family room! You'll notice Mr. Grant constantly trying to grab his tag. That little guy is obsessed with the tags on the side of his shirts. What a good looking family!

My friend Wendy took these for us. I set everything up and she just snapped away. Two of her girls helped to get the kids to smile. They did a great job...what a wonderful friend she is!!!

Reality!

Mr. Grant is not nearly as trained as the other kiddos!

When I look at this picture I think.......

"Man did I get luck! Look at the Hottie I am blessed to be married to! Tall, Dark and Handsome....... oh and sweet as can be!"

Love this guy more and more....

Sorry for so many pictures......but after taking 9 months to take them (and I am the photographer) I want to have a lot in my blog book!

I love old rustic places!

Seriously look at him........ isn't he Sexy!

I love my family so much!

Taking family pictures is much easier when you have adorable kids!

Thanks Wendy for helping me out with these!

Now this is the smiling Mr. Grant I love to see!

I love the wash out by our house. It's a great refuge from the wind! We almost always have motorcycles or quads almost hit us during a photo shoot but that's just part of the fun!

So glad they are done and turned out great!

Frog Giggin'

Our kids were ECSTATIC when their cousin Rieley told them he wanted to take them Frog Giggin'!!

They waited until dark and then went down to the pond behind my moms house (one the Uncle Bud made). Boy was it full of FROGS......and BIG ONES!!!

This was like a dream day for Hunter especially........he loves this kind of stuff! Jeff, Rieley, Kiersten, Logan, and Hunter with several frogs too. They all thought it was funny that their tongues were handing out. Yes they are dead....they killed them so they wouldn't jump away........we were catching them to have frog legs so don't just think I let me kids hurt animals. Nope our rule is you can only kill it if you are going to eat it. They caught 6 Frogs in all and they had a grand time doing it!

Look at those legs!

Rieley getting the frogs ready to be cooked.

We didn't fully think this whole thing through because we didn't have the breadcrumbs we needed for the recipe we found...but it was around 11:30 at night and we just made do.

The crazy thing was that the legs were still twitching at this point..........kinda gross!

I told Rieley if the frog legs were still twitching after they were cooked I wasn't going to try one.

They turned out great! They taste like a combination of chicken with a hint of fish.

Lot of fun!!!

The project that confirms.....I am CRAZY!!!

So Hunter wanted his bedroom to be Lego themed....

So I got online and looked up other Lego themed bedrooms.

They all were cute but there was this one that was AMAZING!!! And I couldn't get it out of my mind and I couldn't talk myself out of attempting one similar.

The person that did the other room was probably an actual Artist, I am not!

We wanted to incorporate CKC somehow in the room as well..........

and so without further ado....

this is what I came up with....

This project would be the main reason I have not blogged in over a month.

Any chance I had I worked on the room.......which between kids, neighbor kids, swim team, Crossfit, Little League, violin lessons, archery, laundry, cooking, etc...there wasn't a whole lot of "extra" time. But there were many nights I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. or later. It is so hard to give up those quite kid free hours.......even if I paid for it the next day!

I took advantage of Mr. Grant's long naps many days as he was not so much help when it came to painting!

I added the CKC Logo very last and Hunter was just beside himself.

He LOVES it! Many days Hunter would keep me company while I was working on the room. He would tell me what a great mom I was and that I must really, really love him to make his room look so cool. At that moment is when I knew it was worth it to me! I enjoyed seeing his excitement and listening to him call me an "artist." So there are two murals that I painted...........yes I used a overhead projector. There are very few perks of being the PTO President but borrowing things from the school is one of them. It was a grand day to hang the shelves back up! Justin helped me here and there for which I am so grateful for ! This was my painting attire........every color of paint is on these clothes and plenty of black marker! This picture gives you an idea of how big the mural is. It looks awesome with the Lego's Hunter has built put back on the shelves! I am excited to get a new bed for the boys........they have been sleeping on the floor for about 4 months now. We sold the bunk beds and I didn't want to get anything else until I had painted the room and I needed time to save up money. Four months later I have saved enough money for the bed I want in there! It was a HUGE project...... many times I wondered what I was thinking...... but the closer I got and the more I heard Hunter's enthusiasm...... the more I was determined to finish! So the crazy project is finished!!!! And yes I am confirmed CRAZY! I already told Justin the first night the bed is in there I am sleeping in there!!!

Celebrating Summer on the Swim Team

The kids look forward to Swim Team every summer and this year was no exception. Especially because Logan was able to join the team as well.

I spent most of my summers as a kid racing on the Safford Swim Team and then later as an adult I was a coach for 8 years. This is Calvin James one of the assistant coaches and Life Guard at the Pima pool. He adopted both Logan and Hunter this summer and boy did they LOVE every minute of Calvin's attention. Still if they run into Calvin somewhere he scoops them up and hugs them. He is a great influence for them! Thanks Calvin! I always got a babysitter for Mr. Grant because I knew he would not be happy sitting in the heat and not being able to get in the water. It is nicer now that the meets are in the evenings, but it's still pretty hot! I always packed the ice chest, loaded up lawn chairs for everyone and took this all in to the meets at the different pools.......just the kids and I. Justin would come somewhere about half way to 3/4 way through the meet. I even had two people comment to me that I was like a single mom doing it all on my own. It was amazing to see how many people had husbands that were off and able to help with all the load of getting things ready, carrying everything in and getting there about an hour early to get a good spot. That's just not my life so I am kind of use to doing this all on my own. I do get tired of people asking when Justin is going to come to the meet. Because their guess is as good as mine!!! Having a blast playing around with Calvin! Logan on the left getting ready to step up on the block. Doing the breast stroke baby!

Hunter doing the breast stroke.......this is his best event.

Logan is a social swimmer and always watched as he swam........I guess he was being competitive.

Yep looking at the other racers in most the pictures I took of him swimming.

Hunter is in the middle lane getting ready to race.

Taking the competition in the breast stroke!

Kiersten is such a competitive swimmer and she gives 110% every time! She even started training with the older group of kids that swim at 7:00 a.m. just to push herself.

It is hard because one year you'll be the oldest kid and it's easier to win. Then the following year you're the youngest kid and it's harder to win. This year all my kids were the younger ones, but they still did a wonderful job and won ribbons and even metals! So there is really nothing to complain about!

Missy Windsor..............I just love her!

I love all the fun people that are at the swim meets. The meets are just a blast for even me and I am not even swimming!

Stacy Moore is such a great friend. She came to a couple of the kids swim meets with her boys. I told her last year that she just needs to put her boys in swim team if she's going to come to the meets anyways. She is just a wonderful friend and is always so supportive of my kids...........I guess we kind of do the same for her boys!

I just couldn't be prouder of Kiersten and the boys. They worked so hard this summer on swim team and they did wonderful at the meets!

It's interesting because Kiersten and the boys are so different. They eat the whole meet and they eat everything I bring. Kiersten on the other hand can barely get down some water so she doesn't get dehydrated, but after the meet she is beyond starving! She got my nerves.

Kendall, Hunter, Brinner and Logan

What a bunch of silly boys!

Kiersten had to join the fun! She is so good to put up with all these crazy boys!Kendall and Hunter

Such great friends!

Hunter and Calvin having an oreo eating contest! We all just adore Calvin!

They were laughing so hard they could barely eat the oreos.

The final meet you had to of qualified for your event at the previous meet..........the qualifying meet just two days prior to this.

This shows Logan on the steps.....he took 3rd in backstroke.

He was just so happy to get his metal!

Great job Logie Bear!

Hunter was beyond excited when he took first in the breast stroke. And he should be .........look at the size of the kid next to him. I had to remind Hunter that he is a year younger then quite a few of these boys and he took first. His hard work paid off!

Pretty happy Kid!

We are so proud of you Bud!

Kiersten got 6th in backstroke. She did a great job! Her group was the strongest group of swimmers out of the whole meets. There is so big competition and she is the youngest, but she still pushed herself and did great!

The rule is that we have to be happy no matter what place we get. It isn't always easy but it is something I am helping the kids to work on. Because I just want them to be proud of themselves and enjoy being a part of the swim team. I am happy with them no matter what place they get and I want them to be positive as well.

Logan took 2nd place in Butterfly...........the hardest of all the events until you get to the age of the four laps events!

Nice job!

Showing off his metal!

Hunter took 2nd in backstroke.

Now seriously look at the kid to the right of Hunter..............I told Hunter you need to be very happy with how well you swam because you had to do two strokes at least to stay ahead of that kid. He is like twice your size..................so Hunter really did have to swim fast to beat him.

We do have the best coaches here in Pima. Natalie was my coach when I was a kid and then I worked with her for many years helping coach. So I know my kids are being taught by the BEST!

Kiersten got 6th in the IM..........that is the individual medley. They swim one lap of each stroke............so four straight laps. That's a lot when you are just 9 years old.

Every single meet Kiersten insisted on pushing herself and being in every event that she could. Once you are in the 9-10 year old group you can start being in the IM and the 100 free, plus doing all four regular events and the two relays...........Kiersten never got much rest at any of the meets. But she never complained about that!

She was happy with this race because she beat Danika by quite a ways. Danika got 8th this race.Hunter is always happy to get a metal!

Kiersten took 5th place in the 100 Free...........that is four laps of Freestyle. She beat her qualitfying time by almost 30 seconds, which is huge. She really did kick it that last lap!

Great job Kiersten!

And seriously look at the girl two kids to the right of Kiersten. I told Kiersten she should be proud of herself because she had to work, kick and pull twice as hard as that girl because of the size difference. She was happy with herself and how hard she worked.

Showing off her well deserved 5th place ribbon!

This is Kiersten with her cute friend Emma Hackett from the Safford swim team!

Great job to them both!

You work it girl!

Logan, Justin James and Hunter

The team calls themselves the Pima Lemon Heads because of our yellow racing caps. Which my boys hate wearing. They do kind of pull your hair. Justin was in Logan's age group, he turned 7, Hunter's age just days after the deadline. It's just crazy but the way it goes.

Danika Derek, Cloie Mattice and Kiersten

These girls are the 3 Musketer's.

They just had a ball with each other all summer long.

They did a wonderful job cheering each other on even though they were racing against each other. After every race they all told each other who well the others did. It was great to see this ages of girls show so much maturity!

It was another wonderful year on the swim team and I can't wait til next summer!

It's only of the highlights of the summer for me. I just love every minute of it. I kind of go back into coaching mode............I am not the parent that can sit up in the stands and not cheer. I guess 8 years of coaching swim team it would be hard to do that for anyone. So I am up cheering my kids on during their races............and boy does my high school voice come back to me! I had two ladies this summer tell me they would have never guessed I could yell so loud. But put me next to a pool and have kids race and boy howdy can I yell...................."KICK, PULL, GLIDE, KICK..........PUSH IT!!!" My kids were talking with Liz, another assistant coach and she said he remembers me cheering and yelling for her during her races.............I was her coach years ago. Both her and my kids talked about how they loved that I wasn't the type to just sit in my lawn chair and watch...........that I got up and cheered them on, as loud as I could. Hearing my kids agree with Liz just made my day and I cheered them on proudly for the rest of the season!