MVHS Class of 2000 ++ 10 year reunion

Has it really been 10 years already????! Sometimes it feels like high school was an eternity ago, but at the same time, it's hard to believe that 10 years just flew right by!

Friday night, there was an unofficial class reunion family gathering at a park in Mesa. It was very low-key and casual and there was a pretty good turnout! Nothing near our entire graduating class of 800+ students, and I was hoping to see a few more people that I associated with in high school, but it was good to see so many familiar faces. It is rather awkward seeing people again after 10 years has passed, wondering if they remember you, or even care what you have been up to. I didn't approach too many people because of that. Matt did have 3 cousins and a sister that graduated with me as well.

Last night was the "official" reunion at the Marriott in downtown Mesa. Tickets were CRAZY expensive ($90 per PERSON) and with hard economic times, a lot of people just plain couldn't afford that. I'm lucky that the cost wasn't an issue, but consequently, there was a less than stellar turnout, which was disappointing. I'm glad we went, though, because I would've always wondered what I missed. Now I know I wouldn't have missed much! LOL!

My babe and me

Again, I'm sad that I didn't get to reconnect with more acquaintances from back then, but good thing for Facebook, I guess! There were three band girls there that represented ;)

Me, Nicki Robbins, Kathryn Koniuszy
(excuse my fatness next to these skinny minnies!!!)

And just for fun, if you will, a walk down memory lane; some pictures from my senior year :)

Band was pretty much my life!!! I was head drum major for the marching band. Some of these are scrapbook pages for a book I never completed. Oops!

Three drum majors- Sara Rosenhan, Anthony Jimenez, Lindsay Hamilton, October 1999

^^Mr. Burgener (band director), Anthony Jimenez, Lindsay Hamilton, Sara Rosenhan at the State Marching Festival where we won a Superior rating for our band show (patriotic theme)

Professional drum major picture

Friday night football games -- On Toros On! State Championship football game

... me & Lindsay Peterson, ^ picture from underneath, me conducting the Toro fight song

Lindsay Peterson & I (best friends) at Disneyland on band trip, April 2000

Me & Lindsay Peterson at the end of the year band banquet, May 2000Dad, me & Mom at graduation, May 2000

Senior pictures

Looking back, I wish I had more, BETTER photos of my senior year. Too bad digital wasn't the "in" thing yet! High school was an awesome time in my life and I have some great memories tucked away from those days. It'll sure be fun to look back again in another 10 years from now!

BIG D, little d, what begins with D?

This last week was my turn to teach for our preschool co-op group on Tuesday and Thursday. We are following the letter of the week curriculum and my letter was D. Plus I was given the five senses to cover, going along with our monthly theme, All About Me.

I was a little nervous, not quite knowing what to expect, but I have to say it wasn't that bad!!! Six preschoolers (plus a busy toddler) can be a little crazy, but as long as I kept them busy, we were good!

I'm gonna back up a sec and post some pictures of our very first preschool field trip, to
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which so nicely went right along with the letter of the week. :) We got to get a behind the scenes peek at the doughnut production process then had a treat afterward.
So on Tuesday, I introduced the letter D, we sang "Do as I'm Doing" and Five Little Ducks," I read Go, Dog, Go & Dinousaur Dinosaur. We practiced writing the letter D at the table and put together a little paper booklet about things that started with the letter D. For our craft, we made Dog-ear headbands, which also went along with our hearing segment.

After our snack, we talked about the senses of sight, hearing and touch. I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? We looked at things with magnifying glasses, listened to different sounds while blindfolded, and touched different textures. I had a mystery box that had an object inside that each child had to guess what it was just by touching it. We wrapped things up that day by playing Duck, Duck, Goose.

On Thursday, we were wild about Dinosaurs!!! We reviewed the sound D makes, how to make a D in sign language, then I read How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? & Danny and the Dinosaur. We moved to the table for practicing our letter Ds, did some beautimous dot art with the letter D. Outside, the kids became jr. paleontologists while Digging for Dinos! Our snack for the day was a dino-shaped sugar cookie and a {dino} bone-shaped Jello jiggler. Next, we started our awesome dinsosaur skeleton pasta craft, which the kids loved.

Near the end of our time that day, we shifted gears a bit and finished up our senses by talking about taste and smell. I was mean and had the kids see if they could taste the difference between sugar & salt, vanilla yogurt & sour cream, and oranges & lemons. Then for the rest of the time, the kids played with scented playdough (strawberry, orange, mint & lemon) that Gav and I made the day before. It was a HUGE hit!!!

I'm so glad that I get to be a part of this group and that Gavin has this opportunity to go to preschool and learn through different experiences. Next time, the letter I (should be interesting!) with a monthly theme of Gratitude (November).

Soccer Mom ♥

Yep, the title is official!

This a sport we haven't tried yet but Brooklyn has been begging for years to play, so we signed Brooklyn, Blake and Gavin up for the Fall season through AZ Soccer Club. We got all our new gear- soccer balls, shin guards (love these ones for our kids with skinny legs!) and cleats for everyone. It's a different realm with this stuff because neither Matt nor I have ever played soccer before. I guess we'll all learn together! :)

It seems like most people start their kids in soccer when they are 4 so I was afraid Brooklyn and Blake would be at a gross disadvantage coming in for the first time at 7 1/2 years old. But I was surprised how quickly they caught on and I think they did pretty well considering!! They have a great coach, whom we met during last baseball season. There are 5 girls and 3 boys on the twins' team. Today they played a team of all boys!

Blake has the ball!

I think Blake had a smile on his face the WHOLE time! Soccer is much more suitable for Blake [than baseball] because it's constant movement so he doesn't have time to get bored.

Kicking in...
#8{keeper}Go Brooklyn Go!Hustling to the ballAtta girl!We do need to get a little more aggression flowing though their veins.
Brooklyn is just too nice.... Get in there and GET that ball!!High-fives to Karsen after he scores a goal!We did have an injury....
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.....or TWO!!!

Blake got kicked in the toe (you think?????) and Brooklyn took a ball to the face! Oh my!

Cute twins post-game

This is Gavin's first time playing an organized sport so I was little nervous he'd cop-out, but he didn't cry or complain once!! He was SO excited to wear his new soccer shirt!

Kick it!Running after the ball#2Little goalieGood job, Gavin!

It's been a little crazy around here, adding three kids playing one sport plus our other extra-curriculars during the week! We're talking Monday soccer practice twins, Tuesday nothing, Wednesday soccer practice Gav, Thursday karate Blake, Friday ballet Brooklyn, Saturday soccer games for all three!! Whew! I have a feeling this is just the beginning of the madness!!!!! No wonder I'm so exhausted! Love it, though! Being busy, not exhausted.

Labor Day Weekend in the Mountains

Every year, Labor Day weekend is the Palmer family (Matt's dad's side) reunion. We headed up to the cabin in Christopher Creek, pitched our tent, enjoyed the great outdoors, played games, and caught up with extended family members we hadn't seen for awhile.

Minute to Win It seems to be the hot thing for family reunions right now! We did this game again for our activity on Saturday.

All three older kids participating in the tissue box emptying competition

1. Dan water bottle toss 2. Blake & I pingpong booty shake 3. Matt blowing balloon

ME!!! Getting cookie (a melty chocolate one) from forehead to mouth with NO hands!!!!

We did plenty of quad riding, thanks to Derek & Kristin!!! We may have to invest in a couple of these babies in the not-so-distant future!! I had a blast riding them and so did the kids!

Saturday evening, most of us headed down to the CC branch for a potluck dinner.

Then back to the cabin for a talent show! Uncle Kevin started things off with "A-Tooty-Ta"

Preston gets some snuggle time with great-Grandma PalmerThe twins sang The Star Spangled Banner after I so nicely volunteered them ;)

Daddy carrying the monsters to the tentMonsters in BED!!!

Preston went absolutely BONKERS in the Pack ' n Play!!! He was spinning around in circles, saying, "Ready, set, GO!" and running from one end to the other, falling down then doing it all over again!

More quad riding Monday. This guy couldn't get enough of the quads!!!!Aaaaaaaaaand this is what happened when you removed that guy from the quad! LOL!

Ready to ride!

Brooklyn did ride quads but I guess nobody took a picture of her!

Blake & Andrew -- you can tell they are related by those blue eyes!!

Brooklyn showing off her crawdad catches down at the creekI got plenty of snuggle time with Derek & Kristin's new baby, Sophie!!!

He's a little FiShY!!

For the last two weeks in July, we took one session (two weeks, M-Th) of swimming lessons at a neighboring city pool. And by we, I mean ALL of us! Blake and Brooklyn were in a class, Gavin was in a class and Preston and I did a parent/tot class. I wanted to do more than that, but I guess that's what I get for slacking off and waiting until the last minute to register! It ended up being just something to get us out of the house more than learning how to swim. None of the kids advanced to the next level so we'll be back again next summer, more on top of things!! It was so fun and I couldn't believe what Preston (at 19 months old) actually could do in that short amount of time!!!

But this isn't about Preston, it's about Gavin. ;)

Matt really wanted to get Gavin swimming completely on his own so we looked into private lessons. There is a lady nearby that does lessons in her backyard pool so we signed Gavin up for semi-private lessons. There are just 5 kids in his class. It's been amazing to see his progress in such a short amount of time!! His confidence in the water has increased a billion times. I think he loves that this activity is for him only, not Brooklyn and Blake doing it too, just Gavin.

Before starting public lessons, Gavin would barely put his face in the water and relied on arm floaties in the pool. After public lessons, he would plug his nose and wiggle around under water. Now look at him today!!! With little help and prompting, he can get across the length of the pool thanks to Miss Suzy!

Money well spent, in my opinion! Mission accomplished, babe!