Because I Had Children

Update: As of 10/31/2013, our team goal has been met and exceeded. We are so grateful for all the support that has been given to our team. If you still feel like you want to sponsor a special needs squad, there are Pop Warner leagues all over the country, please follow the link below to our national website and consider searching for a team in your local area. We will always need sponsors so keep us in mind for next year as well. In the last week, I have already heard from three new girls who want to join our squad for next year so our need will be even greater if we are invited to compete at the Regional level again. We want every child with special needs to have the chance to participate. Again, thank you for all your support. _____________________________________________________________ I have belonged to many organizations, specifically those dealing with coaching youth sports. But, the best one I've worked with EVER, is Pop Warner Football and Cheer. My husband and I hav...

Please tell me you recognize that iconic phrase from Princess Bride movie?!?! The subject of marriage has been on my mind for quite some time now.  Well, let's be honest, I met Ben when I was 17 so it has been on my mind for a SUPER long time.  This anniversary means we will have been married for 22 whole years.  When we had been married a short time, I told Ben I had never loved another boy as long as I had loved him.  He thought I was being corny.  OK, I was. Several months ago he found several of the letters I had written to him while he was serving a mission for our church. In one of them I had answered his question as to if I remembered the first time he told me he loved me.  It brought back such sweet memories of me sitting in the driver seat of my red chevy pickup, my body turned facing him as I was getting ready to head home.  He kissed me and then he said it.  I replied back that I loved him too. I still feel weak in my knees and I ge...

Less than a week from the end of the year, the kids at our local high school instigated a food fight. Several kids were suspended and were required to take their finals after school and several seniors were not allowed to walk at graduation (on the condition that they were eligible in the first place). It was on the news several times that night and it was all over Twitter and Facebook. This is big news to our community and devastating to our already struggling school.  A lot of people are upset with the way the administration handled the consequences. I get it. I'd be mad too if I had heard that my kid wasn't graduating because he was part of a food fight. I want to make it clear that while I think the punishment doesn't quite fit the crime, what is really bothering me is the childish behavior on behalf of grown adults who have NO IDEA WHAT THE ENTIRE STORY REALLY IS. I suspect only the principal and parents really know both sides.  That being said, why do we all feel li...

I love a good parenting book.  “But this is a football book?” you argue.  Why yes, it is.  And it is a WONDERFUL resource on how to run a family too!! While Bronco isn’t the author of the book, he assisted them in putting together how to build a successful team by sharing the things he has done during his career as BYU head football coach.  Much of what he learned came from the mentoring of author Paul Gustavson and can be applied to managing a business, coaching a team or running a household.   Bronco’s approach uses the analogy of five smooth stones, just like the ones that David used in the Bible to slay Goliath.  The chapters go in depth on how to apply these principles. Smooth Stone #1 – Organizations Can Craft a Sustainable Competitive Advantage through Differentiation Smooth Stone #2 – Organizations Are Perfectly Designed to Get the Results That They Get Smooth Stone #3 – Organizations Are Made Up of Business Processes, and N...

On a busy Thursday afternoon, my husband got a phone call from our 14 year old who called to say he had been in a fight. After making sure he was all right, we listened as he told his side of the story. He had been hit from behind and quickly turned around with his fists up to defend himself. Luckily, nothing else happened. A teacher saw the whole thing and took them both to the office to meet with the principal. My son was allowed to go back to class and the other child was given a three-day suspension.   When I figured out the other boy was my friend’s son, I immediately wanted to call and talk about it but we were on our way out of town. I decided to go with my "10 rule" ( see that post here ) before making the call.  I wasn't really mad because it turns out my son had been teasing this kid for quite a while. A few years to be exact...and I had no idea. How is it that a good parent, like me, doesn't know her son is being a "bully" at school?...

I recently had dinner with three wonderful friends I met while attending ASU.  We are all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we each hold a batchelor’s degree or better and we all are mothers and were or are married for more than ten years.  The thing that makes us different is that two of these women are divorced.  One of them I have only known since after her divorce.  She is beautiful, intelligent and devoted and among her other talents.  She has always been (to me), happy and content with the direction her life is going.  That isn’t to say it has been easy, but where she is today is more peaceful than when she was married. My other friend has only been divorced for a few months.  She has always been beautiful, intelligent, devoted and insightful but only until recently did she seem happy like my other friend. Her countenance had significantly changed and the light was shining from her like I hadn't seen before. As...

We took the kids to the Easter Pageant.  For more information on that, click here .  Our 12 year old daughter Katy was able to invite a non member friend to go with us.  It is a pageant about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is fabulous and I have fond memories of going as a child. We stopped and got Ned's Krazy Subs  "to go" and we took our blankets and ate our dinner picnic style on the lawn of the temple.  We always sit on the lawn, I think it is more intimate and personal to be huddled together with my family. My babies, Anny age 4 and Derek age 3 would not stop asking me questions all throughout the performance.  I'm glad they have a basic knowledge of Jesus Christ but at times I wanted them to just stop talking so I could enjoy it in peace but who tells their kids to be quiet and stop asking questions about Jesus?  For reals.  Anyway, I tried to be patient. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, I thought Anny w...