Jon, Michelle & Family

Spring Brand 2009

2010-05-04T16:35:00.001-07:00

. Gathering and cutting brands at Temple Pond

The Gates & Foremaster ranch is on the Arizona strip and every spring it's the "Big Brand"!! It is always an exciting time for the boys to go out and work, work, work, until the cows come home or at least until they have all the calves branded! Tanner was the only one from our family going out until we realized how much fun it would be for the whole fam to go out so we arranged our heavy work schedule, put on the old duds, loaded the ice chests and met up with Tanner and the rest of the gang early afternoon on a very hot & dusty day. I had so much fun with this photo shoot and had great models to work with! Tanner wasn't so happy to have me videoing and snapping every second but was really glad I had cut up watermelon to drop into his mouth during the hot & dusty brand! It turned out to be a very fun and memorable day and I got some amazing pictures that I will share in a slide show as well

Relaxing on horseback and four wheeling while the big boys do all the work!

Clint tricking the calves that branding doesn't hurt, only getting pulled by the nostrils does!

Tanner & Shaydon doing the muscle work pushing the calves through the shoot.

Our work is done. What a dirty but happy family!

Mother's Day '09

2009-08-11T15:32:00.001-07:00

My special day started out just right with my favorite breakfast prepared by Cassidee. Whole wheat pancakes and omelettes! She is amazing in the kitchen and very efficient. We had a huge breakfast and still made it to church on time at 9:00a.m.! Tanner surprised me the night before informing me he was one of the speakers in church too. He did a great job bringing in humor with his talk stating that he could out psyche me!! ya right Tanner! His talk was a heart warming tribute to me. It was sweet but tore at the heart strings as he mentioned that one year from now he would be calling me from Chile! UGH!!! Thanks T, for the reminder!

Lots of hugs all day especially from Jaxon. I have unconditional love from all my children. I love being their mom!

My beautiful 85 yr. old mother!

My mom and brothers and sisters all met at Betsy's home this year for a Mother's day luncheon. It worked out perfectly to attend Betsy's ward and listen to Ben & Kirsten sing and then go to her home for wonderfully prepared food! Mom had all of her kids present which is a feat all by itself! We had a great time laughing, reminiscing and even got to watch Gordon do his traditional "skip" down the sidewalk as he went to his car! Too funny! A private and fun joke to all members of our family.

In the evening, we all gathered at Jon's sisters home in Santa Clara for more food and fun. Tyler & Mary Dawn have a beautiful home and backyard! There were cousins galore as always to hang out with!

Jon & his amazing & beautiful mother

Trying to get a good family picture is hard enough at our house. It didn't help when our dog Sonny spotted a lizard on the wall of our garage and went crazy until she snatached it with her teeth! She then took it to the grass and rolled on it. You can see the kids' reaction in the picture above! Weird dog!

My queen for the day comes to an end! Thanks for a wonderful and eventful day and especially for the Toby Keith tickets babe! I can't wait to go in August!

Elder Gates' Blog Address!

2009-07-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

I have started a blog for Tanner's mission. If anyone is interested, you can follow along at:

eldertjgateschile.blogspot.com

I'll probably get even more behind with my own blog but oh well! Such is the story of my life..........

Clint's Homerun Caught on Video Finally!!!

2009-06-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

Look what I can do now!!! I found the right connections to upload my DV movies!! This is going to be soooo fun! This was Clint's final at bat on his little league team the "Blue Jays". What a way to end his great season with a beautiful bomb over right field!
I couldn't get the video clip I put background music with to work on my blog......oh well.

The Other Members of Our Family!

2009-06-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

We love our pets so much at our house. First you have our cat Cali the queen of the house who would love to go outside and hunt for birds & lizards.Then you have our dog Sonny who would love to come inside and get out of the heat and simply hang out with her favorite buddies, us!

Cali loves to play hide and seek waiting for me to turn the corner so she can leap out at me and then take off running to hide in the next spot. She talks to us all the time especially in the morning when she first gets let out of her laundry room. We have to keep her locked up at night so she won't wake us up at 5 in the morning because she wants to play!
Sonny on the other hand has to stay confined either in her pen or on a chain since she was put in the slammer almost a year ago! She scared us when she bit a cop who was trying to catch her after she got loose down the street! After the cop passed out and the ambulance came, all was well. The cop never lived it down from his co-workers and we were lucky he was too embarassed to punish our dog any further. It was a hot day and Sonny did show her teeth so putting those two things together would make anyone pass out!

Sonny is the great lizard hunter! She barks like crazy when a lizard is spotted and her "boys" love to help her out by causing the lizard to "fall" off our wall so Sonny can catch it! She is too quick for the lizard everytime and loves to kill it (not eat it) and then roll on top of the dead carcus. Very weird dog......

Here's is our beautiful queen of the house! She loves me the most and is usually following me around the house. She loves it when I fold laundry because I'm usually sitting on the floor and she'll come right in and plop either in the empty baskets or right on top of the clean clothes! For some reason, she has to know where her "mother" is at all times.

We absolutely love our animals and they love us. I had to include them in our family blog!

Tanner's BIG 19

2009-06-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Cassidee was so thoughtful giving Tanner BYU golf club socks a week early. He loved them!

We can't believe Tanner has hit the magical age of 19! He is a great example in our family and treats everyone with respect and kindness.

His all time favorite baseball team is the Atlanta Braves. He's liked them since he was 7 years old with his favorite player being "Chipper" Jones. We wanted to surprise him with tickets to their games against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the end of May. He's never been to a Braves game but hasn't missed many that have been on TV! We thought this would be a great family trip with Tanner before he ventured out into the mission field.

He also got mission stuff such as a digital camera & of course luggage.

T's favorite cake is cinnamon swirl. I couldn't find it in a box cake for some reason so I made it from scratch. Pretty good......

We love you Tanner!

April - Busy Month 4 Sports!

2009-06-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

Snow Canyon 7th Grade Border League

Clint did really well playing point & shooting guard. He is a hustler and got many steals and break away layups. He was a joy to watch and his team made a strong showing during the tournament winning one and losing a close one at the buzzer by one!

Competitive Soccer League -
Clint plays defender & sweeper on the "Surge". He's 12 and plays on a U15 team (fifteen years old and under). He is the perfect spoiler for the other teams plays. He may be one of the smallest players but by far has the biggest heart!

Jaxon is the Great Defender!! As seen by video,(#17) he is quick and gets to where the play is and then crushes the other teams attempt to score! He is very competetive and aggressive out on the field.
Church Ball - This was the most serious sport of all! Our ward had a stacked team this year as always. 3 sets of brothers including the Gates, Brush's, & Benson's made up most of the team. It was fun having Tanner, Shaydon, & Clint play one year together. Our ward took 1st in stake and won the first game in the regional playoff. The 2nd game was a nail biter but we ended up losing by a close score leaving us frustrated with some of the calls. They are an awesome bunch of friends who have fun playing together and are thrill to watch.

Red Mountain's qualifying track meet for the Hershey - Jaxon & his good friend and neighbor Cole finished 1st & 2nd in the 200M. They both advanced to the regional track meet at PVHS on May 8th.
Jax finished 1st in both of his heats in the 200M & 400M. He barely missed qualifying for the 400M!

Little League - Jaxon's on the "Angels" in the 9 yr. old minor league. Jon helps coach. Jaxon has improved a lot gaining confidence on the mound, plate, & the field. Jaxon has been the top pitcher on his team. Real good accuracy but hates it when the other team hits off of him! He can't wait until he can throw curve balls etc. to strike the batter out every time!
Clint's final year on Little League. He's loved playing for the Blue Jays for 3 years. His team is the team to beat. He's been coached by his uncle Chad with his dad as the assistant. He is the anchor for the team with his seniority, pitching abilities, & consistent hitting and RBI's. Very important player who plays to win every time and always gives it his all. 4 home runs to boot so far.

Shaydon's Priesthood Ordination - April 26th, 2009

2009-05-22T17:42:00.001-07:00

Shaydon was ordained a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood by his dad. It was really special that Tanner could participate in the priesthood circle as well whereas he had been recently ordained an Elder in the Melchizadek Priesthood.

Sixteen is a pretty cool age! He can now bless the sacrament and drive! Crazy!!!

Proud parents as always. What a fine young man our Shady is. He honors his priesthood and takes care of all his duties.

In Loving Memory of Uncle Heber - April 25th, 2009

2009-05-22T17:19:00.000-07:00

We were sad in the passing of our Great Uncle Heber. He always greeted us with a warm smile and hug and called everyone by their first name. He was very personable and we always knew how much he loved and cared about our family. He lived a long and healthy life to the age of 94. We know he is happy being back in the presence with his loved ones gone on before him. We love you Uncle Heber!

Cassidee & I played a violin duet at the funeral service. What an honor to be on the program. We played a medley of "Beyond the Sunset" & "Lead Kindly Light".

Tanner was one of 8 pall bearers all nephews and great nephews of Uncle Heber.

Military salute with a beautiful backdrop at the Santa Clara cemetary.

Shaydon's 16th Birthday!

2009-05-22T16:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Shaydon!! Traditional picture on birthday morning.

Yes, Shaydon will be driving! He's been cleaning out Jon's old Toyota truck getting it ready to drive. He was excited about the camouflage steering wheel cover.

Our cat Cali had so much fun with the ribbon and packages! What a cat!

Shaydon is so handsome, kind, funny, thoughtful, hard working, athletic, smart, and a great son.
Cassidee surprised Shaydon by coming down earlier than expected. We love having her home!

Shaydon had a fun and busy day. He also played in a church basketball game in the region playoffs!

Shaydon & his friend Zach went to a stake sponsored dance with a Las Vegas stake later on in the evening.

We love you Shady!!

Tanner's Temple Day - April 18th, 2009

2009-05-22T15:49:00.000-07:00

It was a great day at the temple on a beautiful Saturday morning. We were so touched by the support of ward members, friends, & family that came in support of Tanner and Bryce. I was humbled in witnessing my eldest son participating in sacred temple ordinances. I'm so grateful for his worthiness to be there and to also serve a mission. Tanner had a positive experience and has since been back to the temple several times with Bryce. They made a committment to go together every Saturday and they've been pretty faithful with that promise.

Cousins with birthdays 2 days apart. Bryce will serve in Honduras entering the MTC June 24th and Tanner will of course serve in Chile entering the MTC July 15th. Both spanish speaking missions.

My brother Ed and I with our missionary sons. They sure look like cousins or maybe more like brothers!

We had a great turn out from our wonderful ward. Sister Packer is a great supporter! I wrote down all the names in attendance so as not to forget the love of friends and family.

Pictured from left: Dianne (sister) & husband Garth, Jill (sister), Robert (brother), My mom Irene, Betsy (sister), Brian & Chandi (niece), Shelly (sister-in-law), Bryce (nephew), Ed (brother), Tanner, Jon, & Michelle

This is just a few who came to the temple that lingered long enough for a picture. Saturday is an extremely busy day so we understood when others had to leave right after the session. We had great support from the Gates' as well with Jon's mom, 3 brothers, 2 sister-in-laws, and sister in attendance. I counted 41 people in all that came to be with Tanner. Thank you to everyone who made a special effort in sharing this wonderful day with us!! We love you all!

Easter Weekend

2009-05-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

We had planned on a picnic at Snows Canyon with the Goodwin's but the weather didn't cooperate. It was one of the biggest storms with rain all day and a cold wind. Instead of cancelling our get together, we all decided to go to the temple visitors center and watch the Joseph Smith movie since April represents the restoration and first vision too. We reserved the room for the film all to ourselves. It was a wonderful movie leaving me in tears and speechless thinking of how Tanner would be preaching the true gospel in Chile. I'm so proud of him and this opportunity to serve.

We all have so much fun when we get together. It's just hard to be all together at one time because there is so many of us going different directions. Mom loves to be around her children. She loves us!

Listening and laughing to one of many stories told by Ed. He thinks he knows spanish!

Grandma will soon have 2 grandsons serving missions at the same time. Tanner leaves July 15th for Chile and Bryce leaves June 24th for Honduras. They were born 2 days apart. It will be fun for them to be in the MTC together learning spanish.

Easter Sunday early in the morning finding the hidden eggs and baskets. It's still fun for all ages, just not the picture part!

We always like going to Grandma's on Easter Sunday. She has the "good" candy for her Easter egg hunt, not the sugary crap!

Traditional raw egg toss in Grandma's backyard.

It all comes out in the wash Jax!

Grandma decorates wonderfully for the holidays especially her traditional holiday tree! She dresses as the Easter bunny each year and delivers eggs to all members of the family with $ inside. Cute!

Tanner and the "Easter Bunny"!!

One of Jaxon's many great hugs as Cassidee heads back to Provo for school.

Elder Gubler's Departure

2009-05-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Our nephew & cousin Kason Gubler left for his mission to Burmingham, Alabama on April 8th. He and Tanner are the same age and have gone through their high school years together at Snow Canyon. They both participated in football & wrestling and have always been close friends since they were really little (Yes, Kason was little!). We will miss Kason but know he will do great and we are so thankful he was able to serve a mission despite his health challenges he's had this past year.

Uncle Brandon, Kason, & Tanner - The golf crew! These 3 have a lot of fun together. They have loved going golfing almost weekly. They also went to the world baseball classic at Dodger's stadium in March. USA vs. Japan. Brandon is such an awesome uncle who is so supportive and involved in everyone's life.

Good Luck Elder Gubler! We love you!

Spring Break!! - 3-21-09

2009-05-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Spring break was a busy one as usual. Anticipating the mission call was the biggest part and by the weekend, we were able to relax and enjoy a rare picnic at Red Cliffs! The weather started out breezy but turned out beautiful with the sun shining and the wind haulting. It was great to get away together and enjoy the beauties that are so close to us. We don't take advantage of our beautiful surroundings in southern Utah near enough. We enjoyed the short hike to the water fall, threw the frisbee, played catch, and of course had KFC!

Since our camping trip fell through due to a baseball tournament (and the weather), we roasted hot dogs & smores in our own backyard later that evening. We should do this more often. Great fun! We gave our dog Sonny a roasted marshmallow and laughed as she tried to get it out of her teeth!

Live Footage of the "Call"

2009-03-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Arrival of Tanner's Mission Call

2009-03-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

We were anticipating the arrival of the "letter" Thursday morning. Tanner was in the front yard weeding. I was talking to him when I spotted the mail truck turning the corner towards our cluster boxes. Tanner kept acting nonchalant. I of course grabbed the video camera to his disapproval! The mail lady took forever to finish and drive away. As she drove on by, Shaydon went and got the mail key for Tanner. He kept shoveling dirt driving me, Cassidee, Jaxon, & Shaydon crazy! He finally got his car keys and drove to the mail box. He took his own sweet time coming back to the driveway and continued to sit in his car! I had to walk over and see the call letter on the front seat. He couldn't contain his smile! We had agreed he would open the letter that evening at 7:30 so we could invite friends and family over for the "grand opening"!

7:30 p.m. Thursday evening greeting the arrival of friends and family. The house was packed full of people so we had to move the "grand opening" outside.

I planned a little game to play before Tanner opened his letter. I divided the crowd into two groups. Those that thought he would be going on a foregin mission stood to the left and those thought it was state side to the right. The majority thought foreign. I then had them shout out where they thought he was going. I had a package of mini 3 musketeer candy bars to give the winning group whereas they are Tanner's favorite at the moment.

The final moments before opening!

Here we go!! Shout where T's going!

I'm screaming with excitement mixed with anxiety at this point as he reads the letter!

Elder Tanner Jon Gates, you are hereby called to labor in the Chile, Santiago north mission! You will enter the Missionary Training Center July 15, 2009.

The winning group catching the flying candy bars!

Congratulations Tanner! We are all so excited!

Cassidee is so proud of her younger brother as we all are.

Cell phones were going crazy with everyone calling friends & family. The younger generation were texting of course! What a thrill to finally know where he's going!

Missionary stuff is just plain fun! From filling out the papers, to sending them in, and waiting with anticipation is the best! This day turned out great. Thanks goes out to all of our family and friends that came out in truck loads and phone calls to support Tanner. He is definitely loved by all!

Video Clips from Cassidee's Ballet Showcase Performance - March 12,13 2009

2009-03-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Cassidee is such a beautiful ballerina! It was so fun to watch her final spring performance at BYU last weekend. She continues to amaze me! It was fun to go to the dress rehearsal so I could take pictures to my hearts content. I did get in trouble once for using my flash on my nice digital camera. Oh well it was worth it cause the picture is beautiful! As you can see from the video clips, she has such grace, poise, and stage presence. We are so proud of her and her accomplishments. She is a hard worker and totally dedicated to her dance. Great job Cass!

President's Day Champions!

2009-02-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Clint's 12 yr. old baseball team the "Sliderzz" recently participated in a 3 day President's day tournament in St. George. There were 26 teams from all over in their age bracket. The sliderzz went 7-0 to capture the 1st place title! They played teams from Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, & Utah. Clint made some great plays on First Base, outfield, & pitch. This is a great bunch of boys who are all friends and come from great families. We feel lucky to be a part of this team. The coaches do a great job as well. This was the last tournament as the "sliderzz". They will now be affiliated with the Performance Baseball Academy coached by Marc Nielsen. On to bigger and better things I guess!

Tanner Update

2009-02-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

Tanner recently earned his Duty to God award! This award takes 6 years to complete. We are so proud of him for reaching this goal and remaining worthy to do so. It is the highest award in the Young Men's program requiring him to receive his Deacon, Teacher, & Priest Duty to God certificates. He's also met with the Bishop and he's been filling out his mission papers. He only needs to finish at the dentist on Feb. 24th to complete his end of the papers. It won't be long before the mission papers will be submitted and the waiting game will begin! He is very excited to serve a mission and we are too! We couldn't ask for a better son or brother. He will make a great missionary!

Clint made the 7th grade Border League team!

2009-02-14T17:03:00.000-08:00

We are so happy for Clint making the final cut on border league tryouts yesterday. They posted the teams late Friday night. Snow Canyon will have two teams this year. His games will be every Saturday starting March 7th and run about 5 weeks. Congrats Clint!

Nice Hit Lefty!

2009-02-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

Clint's nice bunt!

2009-02-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

Clint's baseball team the "Snow Canyon Sliderzz" are playing in a tournament this President's day weekend. The games are really fun to watch. Clint's fun to watch too!!!!

My Friend & Nephew - ksl.com - Featured Story

2009-01-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

ksl.com - Utah firefighter uses fatal fire to teach others

Click on the above link to see a featured story on KSL news that was on Wed. night about my nephew Kendall Bryant that died in a house fire almost 9 years ago. It brought all the memories back to me and gave me a good cry. I miss him sooo much. He and I were the same age and grade in school. We were very close and had fun together on the wrestling road trips. He as the wrestler and myself as the cheerleader. He'd called me Auntie which in turn had all of his friends calling me auntie as well. I'm so proud of him and the way he's been honored through all of this.

Wrestling Update & Schedule

2009-01-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Wrestling season is winding down. I can't believe how much wrestling the schools squeeze in in such a short amount of time! This past week, Shaydon wrestled varsity at 145 lbs. He's normally been wrestling JV 140 but due to an illness, the regular varsity guy wasn't able to wrestle. Shaydon did great winning his Hurricane guy 6-4. It was an extremely exciting match with Shaydon breaking a tie at 4-4 with a reversal worth 2 points and held on for 50 seconds to win! No one was screaming louder than his mother (or pounding the floor harder!). Yes, I was on the floor taking pictures! SC won the dual by one point! He then wrestled a 2 day tourney in Cedar as the 145 lb varsity. It was a great opportunity to fill his belt with experience. He wrestled hard and strong winning his final match with a pin against Virgin Valley after he was down 5-1. Shaydon most likely will be wrestling varsity the remainder of the season due to an injury of the 140 lb. varsity wrestler on our team.

FINAL SCHEDULE: Thursday, Jan. 15th - SC @ Desert Hills (JV 5:30 - Varsity 7:00)
Fri. & Sat., Jan. 23-24 - Page Tournament
Thursday, Jan. 29th - SC @ Pine View (JV 5:30 - Varsity 7:00)
Fri. & Sat., Jan. 30-31 Enterprise Tournament
Feb. 5-6 REGION @ PINE VIEW
Feb. 11-14 STATE TOURNAMENT

Christmas Scrapbook 2008

2008-12-29T11:59:00.001-08:00

The Best Santa Ever!!!

2008-12-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

Our traditional Goodwin Christmas party was at our house again this year. We love Santa soooooooo much! He's the cutest, funniest, most talented Santa we know. We love all the fun jokes & extremely quick wit he comes up with especially when making fun of the names on the packages. I especially liked when he had Tanner & Bryce come forward since they are both leaving for missions next year. Santa opened his bag and had them look like they were throwing up in it! He said, "now every time you look at this picture, people will think you are looking inside but we'll know you were throwing up!". He's hilarious. We had over forty people for the party and it was a blast.

Shaydon's 4th place finish!

2008-12-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

Shaydon did a great job at the JV tournament in Syracuse last weekend. It was a two day tourney with Shady wrestling 5 times to clench 4th place out of 24 wrestlers in his weight class of 140 lbs. Jon & I missed his first win on Friday night by 20 minutes (thanks to our new work schedule!). He went on to wrestle 4 times on Saturday pinning 2 of his guys, and winning by decision 4-3 on the other. He worked so hard! All of his matches were extremely exciting leaving me jumping and running back and forth! (not to mention screaming my lungs out!)
Good job Shayd, we're so proud of you!

Thanksgiving In New Harmony

2008-11-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

Michelle's side of the family has hit the 93 mark. Mom is 84 years old! There were 75 total for dinner. The food was delicious and the entertainment is always fun when Betsy has the microphone!

Happy Birthday Cassidee!

2008-11-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

Cassidee's BYU Ballet Showcase Performance

2008-11-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

We met Cassidee in the hall before the show.

She looked so radiant in her new BYU sweats! We

were all so excited to see her first performance.

Cassidee was the ending soloist for the first piece.

It was a surprise to me! The choreography was centered

around water. Cassidee's whole body swayed and moved

as if one with movement of water. It was so beautiful!

It brought tears to my eyes seeing our beautiful daughter

live out her dream of dance and all the hard work she's

put in to be where she is today. It was an emotional but

proud moment as her parents. We were glad for the

support of everyone who came to share this with us & Cass.

The Tango. Fast paced and wonderful!

Lights were never on very bright so few pictures

turned out. This was a real modern ballet piece which

was totally in Cassidee's element! She is such a beautiful

& versatile dancer.

The Final Bow!

What a wonderful show. Everyone loved it. We love you Cassidee!

Happy 94th Birthday Uncle Heber!

2008-11-06T22:37:00.000-08:00

Uncle Heber turned 94 today! He still has his

quick wit and keen mind. He needs a wheel chair

to get around but is as sweet as ever and always glad

for company. He got to wear the birthday cowboy hat

at Ruby River Steakhouse. We love you Uncle Heber!

Halloween for the Books!

2008-11-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Jaxon was my only trick or treater this year!

Kind of sad but exciting too! His school had a

costume parade at 9:15 a.m. I then left for

Clint's baseball tournament in Mesquite.

We met at Grandma's house for her traditional

soup, pictures, & her chocolate ghost suckers!

Clint played 2 baseball games in Mesquite Halloween day.
I only stayed for the first one because Tanner was having
his 4 wisdom teeth out at 2:30. They won both games
and went on to win both games on Saturday as well.
They were ranked #1 team going into the finals but
they opted not to play because it was on Sunday.
This is a wonderful group of boys & coaches.

Happy Halloween Tanner! Surgery went really well. He went in for surgery on his wisdom teeth at 3:00, out
of surgery by 3:25 and home on the couch by 4:00.
Dr. Scott Bulloch is amazing!

Football season over for Shady

2008-10-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Shaydon had a good year of football playing

linebacker and special teams. This is a before pic

of his quarterback sack against a Vegas team.

He was privileged to dress for varsity against Pine View.

On his final game,against Dixie,

he returned an interception for 15 yds!

We were all pretty excited especially Shayd!

Cousins born the same year!

It's fun having Shaydon, Reggie, & Tori all

attending Snow Canyon. Two football players

& a cheerleader are even more fun!

I call them the R S T's.

Good job Shaydon! We're proud of you and all of your

hard work! What a fun game to end on!

Beating Dixie 42-6

More of Jaxon's B-Day

2008-10-27T09:05:00.001-07:00

Does the kicker look a little familiar?

Action Jaxon #17

Thanks dad & bros for coming to my soccer game
Mom came too she's just taking the picture!

Thanks Mom for a great birthday!

You look a little tired.............

Has this been a big day or something?

We forgot to mention the burnt corn bread

for the ward party.

Jaxon's Birthday!

2008-10-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

Birthday morning with the tradition of waking up to

presents wrapped in comic paper on the fireplace.

Birthday Breakfast Party starts in an hour!

The only way to squeeze in a birthday party this year

was to make it a breakfast one. Jax had a soccer game at 11:30.

Clint played soccer in Cedar at 2:00 and ward party was

from 4:00 - 7:00.

Soccer cake! If you look close, you might

see a player that looks vaguely familiar!

Yes, that's Jaxon ready to score a goal!

Jaxon's favorite football team is the Patriots.

One of his favorite gifts from mom and dad was

this jersey of Randy Moss.

Eight friends came for an early breakfast party

from 9:00 - 10:30. At Jaxon's request, we

served biscuits & sausage gravy, pancakes,

scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, chocolate milk,

& orange juice. Everyone got stuffed!

Short but sweet party. They played flag football

in backyard & had lots of fun timing themselves

on a sports drill: Kick a goal, throw a strike,

throw football through hoop, & make a basket!

It was an exhausting but fun day! We are so

glad Jax is in our family. What a fun, clever, & sweet boy!

We love you Jax!

Jon has a 2nd Job!!

2008-10-17T10:57:00.001-07:00

We are so grateful Jon was able to find this job. We were truly blessed and fortunate to be hired by PCI West. It's a company that works with banks and realtors on repairs etc. on foreclosed homes. Unfortunately our economy is in great need for this kind of business but it will give us an opportunity for work until the market picks up again. I will be involved processing the paper work via the computer. There is a lot of picture taking etc. (This will be a challenge for Jon since I'm always the one taking pictures in our family! I'm hardly at any family vacations!) It's keeping us very busy and has kept us from some special family events because of deadlines and such but we'll get the hang of it. It also gives our kids an opportunity to help out with a lot of the work orders needing cleanups around the homes. Tanner & Shaydon have both helped out a lot! Hopefully I'm not too old to do all that is required with submitting bids etc. It's been quite stressful around here to say the least!! I can't believe how stupid computers can be! This job takes in Washington County and as far north as Parowan and as far south as Mesquite. I'm so grateful I can work from home helping Jon.

Photo Shoot for Cassidee's upcoming performance

2008-10-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

0810-28 Ballet Showcase

Here's the link to view the photo shoot for Cassidee's upcoming performance. These were taken for the publicity poster. Scroll down to see Cass in the "box" and on page 2 also. She looks so beautiful!

Cassidee's Performance Tickets on Sale Oct. 6th

2008-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Ballet Showcase

http://www.byuarts.com/calendar/eventdescription.php?id=846

FYI. Cassidee's Ballet Showcase Company at BYU will be performing a concert Nov. 7th & 8th at BYU. Tickets go on sale Monday, October 6th. From what I understand, the tickets sell out quickly. Let me know if anyone's interested in coordinating tickets with us! I'm not sure on the cost yet.

Summer Worth Mentioning!

2008-09-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Alaska Cruise

Jon & I went on an Alaska Cruise the first week of June with my mom, her husband Jack, my brothers and sisters & their spouses. Jack's 2 children and their spouses went too. There was 20 of us all together. We had a good time and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

It was rather cold at times but nothing a coat or jacket couldn't handle. The highlight was being together in one place at one time. There was a lot of laughs as usual.

Eagle Scout

Tanner earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the spring. We held a special Eagle Court of Honor for him June 18th. We had a live eagle presentation from a bird sanctuary and Cassidee put together a slide show of Tanner's life and eagle project. His project was putting a chain link fence around the in field at the old Ivins baseball park with cement curbing and spreading new fill dirt.
Yeah!! Mom finally earned her Eagle Scout award!!!!!!!!!!
Jon has always been involved in scouts one way or another. He is currently serving as the varsity scout leader.

Girls Camp

I was the stake young women's camp director again (2 years in a row!). We headed for Jacob's Lake the last week in June. I had a great time! Great weather, young women, & leaders!

My committee of 15 was outstanding. Camp is always a lot of hard work but at the end, it is all worth it. Moving on.........

4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Park City. Clint had a baseball tournament with his club team the "sliderzz" in Park City so we turned it into a mini family vacation.
We rented a condo for 3 nights, swam, rode the gondola, went to a rodeo in Oakley, shopped at the outlets, and of course watched a lot of baseball!! It was an exciting tournament with Clint the clutch Gates pitching extra innings in the semi-final game with an exciting victory!

They went on to win the championship game!

Little League All Stars

The following week in Cedar City was the all star tournament. Clint was chosen to play for Snow Canyon.Games were played throughout

the week.

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They did really well winning the first 3 games but losing a close match against Dixie in a pool play situation. Clint pitched great during the tournament and got some good hits.

Lake Powell

The following week was our annual Lake Powell vacation on Jon's family's houseboat. We had a total of 40 people during the week. We look forward to this every year.

Shaydon wasn't able to come out until Friday evening because of football but loved all the hours he was able to spend there. Cass came in early for work at Zions Bank.

The weather was cooperative with cool, cloudy days for most of the days out there. Everyone stays busy at Lake Powell. There is something to do every minute from fishing, swimming, sleeping, eating, reading a book, watching movies, and of course wakeboarding, skiing, and riding on the waverunners. Thanks Mary Alice for a wonderful week!

Osmond Family & Mormon Tab Concert

We had a few days off after Lake Powell and then back to Salt Lake City we went! We were able to get tickets for the Osmond Family concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir July 26th. It was their final tour and it was amazing!! Jon, Cassidee, & I were the only ones from our family to go. My mom was going to go with us but had to suddenly have her gall bladder out. She was very disappointed as we all were that she wasn't able to come. She watched the concert on tv the day she got home from the hospital. We were just glad everything went well on her recovery. For an 84 year old woman, she did great! We stayed at the Kimball which was convenient right across from the conference center where the concert was. Robert, Marsha, Benton (&friend), Betsy & her family all came too. On Sunday morning, we went to the spoken word where the Osmond's again performed. President Monson made a surprise appearance and spoke at the end of the broadcast. It was so cool to be a member of the audience and witness all of it. The Osmonds are wonderful entertainers. After we checked out of the hotel, we all caravanned to the Salt Lake Cemetary and found notable graves such as past presidents and general authorities of the church. I loved doing that! Then we drove home.

Clint's Surprise Birthday Party!

We spent the last week of July catching our breath as to get ready for Clint's baseball tournament with the "sliderzz" in Steamboat Springs Colorado Aug. 4th - 9th. I surprised him with a party on Saturday the 2nd before we left for Colorado the next morning. It seems his birthday always falls during a baseball tournament so I decided to surprise him early with a real party. He was totally surprised. It was an easy and simple party playing games in the backyard with lots of food.

Steamboat Springs Colorado

We left for our nine hour drive to Steamboat Springs Colorado on Sunday, Aug. 3rd. Cassidee & Tanner stayed home to work and Shaydon stayed home because football was starting. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The drive was pleasant and beautiful. The boys got along pretty good without much fighting. Clint's team won their first game on Monday, but lost 2 games on Tuesday. They went on to win their first game on Wednesday causing to play a second game on Wednesday but lost in a very close and intense game.
We had Thursday off without any games and had fun riding the alpine slide and then floating down the Yampa river on small inner tubes. We each had our own tube but ended up tying Jaxon's tube to Jon's. It wasn't as nice as a river as it looked!! I got stuck lots of times and was totally worn out by the time the one hour excursion was over! It was a blast! We saw an elk farm and met the town of Craig's mascot "Clyde" the elk which they've raised since he was a calf. It was fun getting up close and personal with the elk. We also saw a lot of deer and antelope along the roads. Clint played his last game on Friday losing another close game. The final loss was disappointing but we had a great time. We stayed in Craig for 3 nights alone and stayed the other 3 nights sharing a 3 bedroom condo in Steamboat with 2 other families. Jon and the boys had fun fishing in a stream further up a canyon Friday evening. Swimming in the condo's pool was a favorite as well. We drove home Saturday morning taking our time sightseeing. We wished our whole family could've gone!!

Aaronic Priesthood Ordination

Clint was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic priesthood Aug. 17th by his father. Great day!

Our Dixie College Freshman

2008-09-13T08:47:00.000-07:00

Tanner is attending Dixie College this fall. He graduated from Snow Canyon last spring. He received a great scholarship to Dixie for use over the 4 years. He's got a difficult load including business calculus, and a business law class. He has classes M- W - F until noon and then works on Tuesday's and Thursday's for Jon's brothers in the Heating & Air conditioning trade. He'd like to earn a degree in business of some sort.

Sports Schedule for September

2008-09-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Shaydon is 15 and a sophomore at Snow Canyon. He is busy playing on the JV football team. His games are on Thursdays at 6:00. Most of the games are at home. He plays linebacker and is loving it! He had a great quarterback sack against Bishop Gorman high school from Las Vegas.

Clint turned 12 in August and has been busy with baseball. HIs club team the "Snow Canyon Sliderzz" traveled to Steamboat Springs Colorado for the triple crown world series. Clint's final baseball tournament for the year was this past Labor Day. The championship rounds which they qualified for were unfortunately rained out and I don't think the team plans on traveling back up to Provo to play for the rescheduled games. He's busy with soccer every Saturday playing on his club team the "Surge". They placed 1st in their division last spring.

Jaxon is 8 with a birthday in October. He plays on a club soccer team as well. It's called "SC Ivins". He is super fast and is a great defender of the goal. His games are on Saturday's at Dixie College. He will play in Cedar on Sept. 20th with game time at 3:15. He is also playing flag football in Ivins with games on Monday's and Wednesday's. It's his first time playing flag football and seems to be really good at it!

News From BYU

2008-09-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Cass left for BYU Aug. 25th in her new car! School started the following Tuesday, Sept 2nd. She has registered as a full time student with 18 credits last time I checked! She loves the dance program and was selected to perform with the Ballet Showcase Company. She has worked hard to get back her ballet technique being out of ballet classes for 2 years. It's all coming back to her and she couldn't be happier and more sore! She enjoyed the University of Utah where she was involved in the modern dance program for 2 years but she loves getting back to ballet where her first passion has always been. She lives in a nice apartment with 3 other girls and has her own room. Her roommates are really fun and super nice. She also loves her ward and the activities that go along with that. It is a complete change from the U but she is loving it and thriving on the challenges it brings. Her dad and brothers couldn't be happier that now she bleeds blue!