April 4th, 2012! Katelyn Elizabeth turns EIGHT!

This sweet little munchkin turned EIGHT! I know I'm blogging this nearly 18 months late . . . but what a kid! I'm so glad she's ours. :)She adds an enormous amount of sparkle :) to our lives and most definitely keeps us on our toes. So proud of her!

More MARCH of 2012 (only 1 1/2 yrs. later) :)

Just a few cute pics from March of 2012 that never got put up. :) Apparently Kate and Jared had a fight . . . this does not surprise me in the least. In case you were wondering??? Yes! They still fight. The next shot is of Jared with Matt and Cole. I just looked out one afternoon and they were swinging a hammer sitting by a chicken. What a strange world we live in. Sweet baby Jayne arrived to change our lives for the better in October of 2011! Oh how we love that child and all of her sassiness! She is still adorable and is even CUTER . . . if that's possible. :)

March 2012

Here are Hunter’s basketball pics. CUTE LITTLE BUGGER!! J

NOTICE: Little boy in the background picking his nose. I love this! J

 

March 2012

March turned out to be a better month. Weather improved, kids were busy with sports, some fun activities . . . makes for a GREAT time. J

EMILY: Stayed BUSY with school. She’s working hard to graduate early and we are proud of her for her efforts. Picked up a little on the guitar and has been working out a ton, trying to get into shape.

JENNY: Track, social life, studying. She has been working really hard in Biology, her least favorite subject, and has enjoyed track . . . MOSTLY. She HATES the mile.

JARED: Basketball, basketball, and more BASKETBALL! He thoroughly enjoys every minute of it. One of the great blessings of living where we do is that he gets to participate in sports with his cousins. This year he did NOT get on the same team as Thomas, but they did get to play against each other in the tournament. Top 2 teams! Of course . . . Sperry’s are on both of them. J

KATE: Kate had a good month. Busy with friends and school. Soccer hasn’t started yet, but boy-oh-boy is she ready for it. Funny girl keeps us hopping. She’s the “SEAT BELT POLICE” and if you enter our car and do not immediately put on your seat belt, you are going to hear about it. Loudly. And forever. So buckle up for safety.

HUNTER: Hunter got to play basketball with his best friend, Cooper. They had SO much fun. He kept busy playing, as all 6-year olds should. Hunter started a new thing this month which I find extremely adorable. He likes to tell the joke, “Why does the chicken cross the road?” The cute part? You can answer however you want and he responds with an enthusiastic “YES!” For example: Hunter: “Why does the chicken cross the road?” Tyler: “So he can get to the alien ship and peck the aliens so he can get their dog food.” Hunter: “YES!” So. Stinking. Cute.

Obviously, they are all still cute! Love my babies. J

Jared and Thomas at their championship game. Cute little guys!

Jenny at her track meet. We LOVE watching her run. I’m not sure if it’s the “Forest Gump” quote of “RUN, JENNY!” But it sure helps. Love this cute girl. A lot!

We took a Sunday after ride out to the lake and visited with the Summerhays. Such a beautiful day! Max jumped in the lake to chase a stick too many times to count. He was in HEAVEN. We all had a blast and look forward to many more lazy afternoons just like this. J

FEBRUARY 2012

Another NOT SO stellar month in the picture taking. I did, however, get some pretty cute shots of my boys jumping on the trampoline. Yes . . . in February! Utah weather is always extremely iffy, and I ALWAYS enjoy a day of AMAZING weather. The kids do as well. Enjoy!

January 2012

Let's face it! NOT A FAN OF JANUARY! All too quickly, I dump my New Year's resolutions and move onto bigger and better things . . . like eating even MORE chocolate or exercising even LESS or losing my patience even MORE. It's just what every January looks like and I'm glad it's over. :) It was a crazy month where the camera rarely found itself out of its bag. Lot's of really great things happened in January but I do not have the visual proof. So please just take my word for it and enjoy the few pictures that were taken. THANK YOU!

Nic

Here are the three babies and a cousin enjoying the first snow of the season. Jared is being a big brother and trying to hit a sibling or a snowman with a snowball.

 Max did all he could to catch every single snow ball. Pretty funny to watch. I sure have cute kids! :)

Another sport season! This year will be extremely busy with sports activities.

Hunter: Basketball & Football

Jared: Basketball, Baseball, & Football

Katelyn: Soccer & Gymnastics

Jenny: Track

Emily Volleyball

This is Jared's first or second game of the season. He did an awesome job and worked extremely hard, as always. So very proud of our cute boy. (sorry for the blurry pictures. I STILL don't know how to work my camera!)

December 2011

Grandma Parrish turned 100 years old! WOW!! What a great example to all of us! :) Tyler and I have been married 18 years and Grandma Parrish has never missed a birthday call. She even calls me . . . and I just married into the family! What an amazing woman!

The cutest little boy in the whole world turned SIX!  BOY oh BOY is it hard to have a December birthday! This little guy asks several times a week ALL YEAR LONG when his birthda will be. I am very grateful that it finally got here and that he is OURS!

The sixth grade at our school does a NOVA program very similar to the DARE program that I did as a kid. This program trains students on how to be safe, protected, and clean! Jared did awesome and we are so proud of him for making those commitments! This was graduation day and he worked so hard to finally get to do it! What a great boy!! :)

Katelyn started gymnastics this year . . . and not to brag or anything . . . but she is AMAZING!! She's the type of kid that will work her tail off to be the best at everything she does . . . and gymnastics is really no different! She loves it and is doing so well! :)

I will post some Christmas later . . . but WOW!! Can we believe that I actually posted the entire year and didn't give up somewhere in February!? I started out thinking that 2011 had been the worst year ever . . . and after doing this, I realize that through all of our trials there is always GOOD! There always has been. It's just so important to focus on that and enjoy those moments . . . because there are MANY to be had!

So . . . on to 2012! May the trials be few and the good times roll! :) HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Marley and Me

I have NEVER been a dog person. Frankly, they are smelly and annoying. But I DO adore my boy and because he is a dog person, I have tolerated having one. Monday night we watched "Marley and Me" as a family. I LOVE this show. It is so very sweet and it makes Max look like a really good dog.:) My sweet little Jared was laying on the floor using Max as his pillow. Max was sound asleep perfectly happy being used as a pillow, and they both looked so very cute. If you haven't seen the  movie and plan on it, don't read on . . . because I'm about to give the ending away. So Marley gets old . . . as we all do . . . and it becomes very clear that his life is about to end. With about 15 minutes left in the movie, Jared stands up and says, "Well, I guess I'm going to bed." I asked him why and he responds with, "I don't want to see the dog die. Come on, Max. Let's go to bed." We all turned the movie off at this point and went to bed. So sweet! I went into their room a few minutes later and he and Max were cuddled up right next to each other. The boy loves his dog and I love it! :) So . . . just a very sweet moment at the Sperry house and one I felt like documenting.

If you are looking to buy a dog for your kids . . . I think a lab is the way to go. They are extremely loyal to their people, they think they are human (which can be a bit ridiculous at times), they are very protective of the ones they love, and they are just cute. I could also list about 3 million unattractive traits (like the gas that they get when they relax) but I won't. For today, I am so glad that we have Max.

November 2011

The month of November, as all of the months, proved to be insanely busy! I don't why but, like January, I don't seem take a lot of pictures during the month of November. I never have. Even Thanksgiving was completely neglected.

This month was Mom's birthday so we (Amy, Ciara, and I) decided that it would be a great idea to get Mom a picture of all of the grandkids together! WHAT AN IDEA!! While the afternoon was insane and the kids rarely cooperated all at once, I LOVE THESE PICTURES! I love them!! They are funny . . . they are beautiful . . . and they are together! We laughed a ton! (and hollered a ton). But it was all worth it! So . . . enjoy! :)

And my all time favorite . . . . while trying to get the ONE PERFECT SHOT, I took a string of pictures. If you read this next photoscape like a book, you will see Jared smacking Jenny in the head. Next, her head hits Em's head. Jenny then grabs her forehead . . .all the while, Katelyn is screaming. Enjoy!

Little MONSTERS!

I sure love all of these kids! They are beautiful in every way and I just want to kiss their faces looking at this. I have hundreds of funny shots . . . and so many capture the uniqueness of each one. It was A LOT of work but it's always great to spend the afternoon with my favorite people! :)

OCTOBER -NOVEMBER: THE BLASTED CANAL!

I am so sad about the canal! We bought our home five years ago and one of the things that I love very most about this place is the country feel. I could walk out my back gate and be right on water. When the canal was full, we would lock up our gate so the little ones wouldn't run up there. We would go for walks and just enjoy the peacefulness of it. Max would jump in the water to cool off and the kids would throw sticks in there for him to chase. I was never worried about my kids falling in. They knew the rules. We don't go up without an adult and if we are old enough to go up there alone we DO NOT GET IN THE WATER! Well . . . the tragedy of the year . . . the canal has been covered! They have covered the canal and are turning it into a stinking walking path. We would get some runners up there and that didn't bother me. I just fear that now we will have LOTS of traffic! I'm more afraid of creepy people than I am the water and I just worry about the amount of people that could be coming through . . . able to look in my yard! And to add insult to injury . . . they dropped a big piece of cement right on our gate. GRRRRR!! So, we are all in mourning here. But life is life and it just happens. Anyway, I will now quit whining and complaining. Here are some shots of the bloody massacre. :(

Bleh!

ON A HAPPIER NOTE: THANKSGIVING! MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY!

I'm so sad that I only took a few pictures of Thanksgiving. It is my FAVORITE holiday!! (right there with the 4th of July). It was such a great day! :-) This year it was at our house and we had twenty-one people! Mom, Dad, our seven, Jim and Amy with their four, Ty, Ci, and Livi, and my Aunt Kathy with Ryan and Kacey. What a fun group! We ate like complete pigs and played games for hours on end. :) I loved it!! Jim and Amy were the last out the door at about 9:30pm. I got to love on baby Jayne for hours and the kids all got along beautifully. In fact, I'm pretty sure we didn't hear a peep from them for hours straight. So . . . Enjoy the only TWO pictures I took all day! You will just have to trust me . . . IT ROCKED!!

October 2011

October turned out to be a pretty amazing month! Even greater than all the football, our cute little niece, Jayne Alyse Easley, arrived on October 3rd! (Yep . . . she shares a middle name with Jenny) We chose that name because my grandma Alice and Grandma Aileen. We couldn't choose a grandma so we combined them . . . Alice + Aileen = Alyse! I think Jenny felt very honored that Jim and Amy would consider sharing a name with her.

Love that baby!! She is just so beautiful . . . like her cousin Jenny! :)

So when one amazing thing happens it must be counteracted by one stupid thing! It is no secret, to those who know me well, that I am not a fan of Halloween! Call me the Scrooge of Halloweentown! I DON'T CARE! I don't like it and I never will. HOWEVER . . . even I was able to find something good about this day. Enjoy it! It may never happen again!

Jenny invited a few friends over and they attempted to learn the Thriller dance. It was lots of fun to watch and everyone in the room participated. We carved pumpkins, roasted the seeds (and burnt them), and Jared vomited them up. Okay . . . not really! :)

Katelyn, Hunter, and Cooper got their groove on. So stinkin' cute!

Katelyn was a cheerleader (which somehow I missed getting a picture . . so I took one from football), Jared was a spooky football player??????, Hunter was a vampire, and I was a witch! (but what's new?)! 

And that's all I have to say about THAT!