A long time coming!

I cannot believe it has been since 2011 since I have updated the blog.  So much change has gone by. Our children have grown!  Zac is now 19 years old, Megan is 17 years old, Aubrey is 15 years old and Garrett will be 13 years old next month.

Zac is now Elder Zachary Garside serving in the Ghana, Accra Mission in Africa.  He flew out on July 25, 2013 arriving at the MTC in Ghana on the 26th.  Such change in lifestyle from what he has had in Utah.  He has been there a year and loves the people.  He has been in two areas, currently he has been in his area for 7 months with some amazing companions.  He is currently a trainer and district leader. His mission president (The Judd's) finished their mission and he now has President and Sister Heid as his mission president.

Megan is a senior at Herriman High School.  This is her third year on the Ballroom Team which she loves, she is the Advertising/Social officer.  MDT (Musical Dance Theater) comes next in her joys of which this will be year two and she will be female dance captain.  She is joining Acapella this year at the pushing of some friends, we are exited for her to share this talent.  Megan is currently working on college choice and major, it is currently looking like Utah State.

Aubrey is a sophomore at Herriman High this year.  She is joining Megan on the Ballroom Team with Megan, she is to shadow the female dance captain to learn.  Aubrey has spent the majority of her time learning gymnastics and cheerleading.  She has learned fast and is on the cheer team at Black Diamond. They have asked her to consider working or them as a coach when she is old enough for a job.

Garrett is going to be in his first year of middle school at Copper Mountain this year.  He has been playing soccer and continues to improve, he has played for many years.  He has spent his summer doing a film camp and band camp from his new school.  He will be in the beginning band this school year.

Zac with Elder Cichoski, Elder Aleman and Elder Caleb, all from his first area of West Adente.

Zac giving service.

Megan and Kaylie in Palmyra

Aubrey in Palmyra

Garrett with Mrs. Rettie, 6th grade teacher!

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful holiday this year!  Last year my sister had dinner at her house on Christmas Eve.  We liked it so much because it left Christmas day open that this year being our turn we decided to do the same.  We were able to cook all day and clean in time for everyone to come over.  It was a wonderful night.  Our family came over as well as our friends the Rudy's and the Turner's.  Dad dressed as Santa for the kids.  Christmas Day was spent as a family opening gifts and going to church.  This was a wonderful stress free year!

Merry Christmas 2011

Zac's score on Highland

Zac's rugby team played on March 30th against the Highland reserve team. He scored a try which was so awesome! Congrats Zac! Please ignore my talking and direct all your attention to number 15! This is a phone video taping of our tv as we played the teams disk.

Thankful for people in my life!

I forgot how much I loved to do this blog until recently. It is kind of therapeutic for me. Today I got overwhelmed when I got an email about my little boy. Garrett is such a sweet little boy who has so much energy in such a small body. Sometimes that gets him into trouble especially at school. He and his friend are like brothers to each other and sometimes act like it at school as well which is not good when they are in the same class. Garrett also has no filter sometimes on his mouth and tells his opinion sometimes a little too strongly. He has had such a hard time and wants people to like him so badly and cannot understand why sometimes they don't. I love this little guy and want to see him happy.

Anyway, it got me a little depressed so I started getting stressed and overwhelmed. I started to question everything I do and why I do it. So, I thought about those friends that I have that are so good to me:

Alan, my wonderful husband who loves me to no end. This man is the best thing that ever happened to me. He sent me a text today of one of his favorite pictures of Garrett and told me how much he loves him to help me out. This man works out of state for his family to put them in a better place, what an amazing person.

Janeil, my wonderful neighbor. She is like a second mom to Garrett and understands him. She is so patient and loving to him. We can talk through the problems with the boys and not be afraid to call one another if there is a concern. She is so willing to let me talk to just to get things out of my system. Janeil is also a weekly single mom whose husband is away during the week and home on the weekend. She is super mom. Having this in common we understand things about each other that maybe aren't apparent to someone else.

Michelle, my amazing other half as PTSA presidents for next year at the high school. She and I have been working together for the past 5 years at the middle school. She has become a close friend that I can depend on. Lately she and I are so sarcastic with each other, it is fun just to goof around and not have to worry that you will offend someone. Michelle is also one that I can tell anything that happens and there is no judgement on her part even if she does not agree with my opinion.

Lisa, my friend through my entire life. Lisa and I are so different but yet we have stayed close since we lived by each other back in elementary school. I moved away a week before I started high school and she still remains in my life. I remember the day I said goodbye to my mom when she died. I was in Utah by myself while my family was in California. My mom had complete brain damage except for her brain stem that kept her alive. Mother's Day was the last day I spoke to her and it was only a few seconds because she wasn't feeling well. She was suppose to call me later but never woke up again. (As you can imagine Mother's Day is a tough one for me). I had not had a chance to wish her a Happy Mothers Day or tell her I loved her that day. So, we knew what was coming but wanted a second opinion to make sure that we were doing the right thing with taking my mom off life support. I had to return home to take care of my kids. That day I had my kids call on the phone and we had them say goodbye to my mom since they were not with me, then I had to say goodbye knowing that the next time I saw her would be her funeral. I went out to the waiting room after and sat down and cried. I was having a hard time and knew that I could call Lisa. She listened to me for as long as I needed and was there for me. No matter what has gone on in our lives we have always been there for each other. My life is better having her in my life.

Then there is Joke (pronounced Yoka, she is from Holland). She is my amazing friend that is the mother of one of Megan's best friends Josh. Joke and I met when Josh and Megan were in 6th grade so about two and a half years ago. As teenage years have come upon the kids Megan has gone through some trying friendships. There have been a couple of times where the anger and heartbreak have been pretty tough. No matter what rumors have been spread Josh has been there for Megan and once said to me, "Megan is a great friend, I know her and would never believe something like that". Amazing young man! His mom is the same way she talks me through situations and is not judgemental. She is another amazing PTA friend as well. You can tell that I have met some great people through volunteering at the schools. Joke is a second mom to Megan as well and I adore her for the way she treats my daughter. She is so cute too, the other day she put her arm around Megan and said to someone "Have you met my future daughter-in-law?" Too cute!

The other Michelle is the mom of Zac's friend Orion. She is yet another mom whose husband is away 5 days of the week. Do you sense a theme with my friends here, the single mom types and those who are in my kids lives. She like Joke is a second mom to Zac. He spends a lot of time with her son. She and I get along well and I love going to lunch to chat with her. I appreciate that I can depend on her especially when it comes to the boys.

Last but not least is my newest friend Sue! Just because she sent me over flowers the other day. She is such a cute person and a wonderful activity leader to Aubrey. She has only lived by me for about 6 months but has become a fast friend.

I am grateful for the wonderful support I have, I know how high maintenance I am and love these people to no end.

MormonAd #3

Do unto others. from Tyler Bastian on Vimeo.

MormonAd #2 Meg's video

Mormon Boys from Tyler Bastian on Vimeo.

Here is Meg's video. This was such a fun experience. I will post the others done as well!

MormonAd #1

Our ward youth created their own MormonAds and we had a viewing night as a ward. It was so much fun. This is Zac's Ad, he is the mean boy who steals! Megan"s video will be posted as soon as we get it!

Change of Heart from Tyler Bastian on Vimeo.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Celebration

McKell, Kip, Zac, Brooklyn and KC in this picture
Levi, Turner, Kailee, Nick, ?, McKell, Kip, Zac, his partner Brooklyn

The stakes, I believe 54 or so of them, that live in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple boundaries had a Celebration where the youth of each stake performed.  Our stake, Founders Park, teamed with the Daybreak stake which we had just split from to perform a 50's number.  Zac was able to perform, Megan missed it by 4 weeks.  We found out after that had we asked we probably could have gotten her in as well, but we wanted to follow rules.  The celebration was a huge success!  Our wonderful Young Woman leader Whitney Chilcote took these pics at the dress rehersal and let us have them.  The event took place on May 30, 2009 but I wanted to put these up today so that everyone would see them since I never put them up.  If you can imagine the prophet was sitting right in front of Zac as he sits on the stage.  They were having so much fun and looked at the prophet at one point to see him and Elder Eyring pointing at Zac and Kip because they were really getting into it as you can tell from these pictures.

Herriman High Football Meeting

Zac and I went to the first meeting with students wanting to play for the new school football team this coming school year.  There must have been three hundred people there.  It was very interesting and we found out that they starting on the 9th of February.  My Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be crazy (weight class for football, cub scouts, gymnastics all in the same two hours, don't expect to find me at home!).  We have the luck of having one of the coaches on our street which helps for information, thank you to Coach Kalisi Uluave!  The only downside to the evening was when a man turned and told me that the area in front of me was very icy and despite the warning I still fell, how uncoordinated am I!

Talent Show Video

Elk Ridge Talent Show

Zac and a bunch of his friends have been planning and practicing for months for the school talent show today.  The school has tryouts because they cannot fit all the kids that want to do it.  The kids group "Boys, Boys, Boys" made it in.  They did a great job!  Good job Zac, Angel Morrison, Kenzie Sargent, Wyatt Williams, Wyatt, Chase, Erinn and Kelsey.   The pictures came from the school web site so they  came out weird, two came out the right size and two were tiny.  I still wanted to put them on.  Zac in the group picture is the boy in front in the pink tie.

New Years Mania

Zac and Michael before the stake dance.

Aubrey

Emily, Brennon and Garrett

Caitlyn and Megan

Chloe, Megan and Kindra

Caitlyn, Trevor and Cole

Michael, Zac and Adam after the stake dance.

New Years changed from day to day for us.  We wanted to have friends over but waited to long to try that one, one couple was going to come over but we changed that when I got sick.  I ended up being fine by the time the night came, our bishops family found out and invited us over.  It was very nice.  We owe Jenn and Chris a new night, thanks guys for being such good friends.

Twilight

Everyone knows that I love the Twilight movies, Alan got me the scene it game for Christmas.  The girls have played it more than me.  Aubrey, Bryn and Megan sat on my bed playing it.  The sad thing is that I have yet to win the game.

My Last Bobcat

Garrett started going to Cub Scouts in September and worked hard to earn his Bobcat award.  He did a great job.  I cannot believe that all the scouting that I do with him is the last time I will do it with on of my kids!

Football Party

Some of them did not want a picture taken but I got them anyway!

I got the opportunity (good word for it) to be the team mom for Zac's football team, Bingham Junior Blue.  At the end of the season we had a party at a hotel downtown managed by one of the players mom.  It was fun, we had a great turnout.  The hotel did not have enough food which caused a delay but it worked out in the end.  We had a great parent who put together a team video as well.

Our Footabll Season

Meg and Aubrey holding up our banner

One of my favorite pictures taken at the playoff game, I love the team unity!

Another football season has come and gone, Zac has now aged out of the rec league and plans to try for high school.  He played this season on the Bingham Junior Blue team with Coaches Glade Best, Coach Bowles, Coach, Briton, and Coach Mecham.  We have lucked out the past two years with amazing coaches who truly care about the boys.  I was warned about the harshness of the coaches and their attitudes before we started football, but we have not had to deal with that.  

The team had a great season, we won 6 and lost 3.  We made it to the playoffs and faced off against Jordan in the first game.  It did not go as we hoped.  

The biggest event of the season was at the 1st game of the season when Zac got hurt.  His was pulled down hard and hit his elbow.  The coach asked to keep playing.  When it was over a nurse came over and said "from the way he is holding his arm I would get an x-ray done.  We took him to an instacare (big mistake) to be told that he fractured his elbow.  This crushed Zac, he was devastated to learn that he would miss the entire season.  The doctor said a radiologist would call the next day after looking at the x-ray.  After church on Sunday we finally got a call to say oops, we made a mistake.  His elbow was only bruised internally.  We were told to keep the soft cast on for a week and then rehab for a week and then he could play only missing two weeks.  Little did I know that he went to practice that Friday without the cast on and he felt great.  In the end Zac did not miss a single game.  What a great season Zac!