football family.

last night was so cool for my dad and my family. it was also a date night for james and i to boot. my dad was honored and received the distinguished service award as a football coach from the National Football Foundation Utah Chapter. quite an honor for my dad. we got to sit right up front as a family, eat a delicious meal, and watch my dad receive this well deserved award.

saying his thanks.

all the collegiate coaches in the state were there and matt asiata was honored as an athlete. really cool.

it was a great night spent celebrating the sport that my family loves most. the take away from the night was that football is not life, but football is a lot like life. and though i've never played the game, i grew up with it, and it has definitely taught me life lessons that will impact me forever.

here we are with long time deseret news sports columnist amy donaldson. she has written so many stories covering my dad and his teams. we took advantage of having her there as well and had to get a picture with her.

my dad said, "i thank God every day for a wife and kids who love the sport of football." and it's true, we do. and so do our spouses. the game of football has meant so much to us because the time it allowed us together, and now we have so many memories that are so precious to us because of it.

after pictures and hugs goodbye, we picked up our kids from my aunt suzanne's house. they'd had them all evening. such a huge blessing to have family that can help and are so willing to help out in these situations. i'm so grateful james and i were able to be there to support my dad.

brooklyn and kendall loved playing with addie and beckham.

thanks again reynolds and lynch families! (and manda for the pictures!)

saving me

the sickness did not leave our home. kendall got a fever (we're talking 103.1 kind of fever) at 2AM sunday night and again monday night. these were horrible sleepless miserable nights. poor baby. after talking to my FIL (who is a pediatric nurse practitioner) i decided to take her into the doctor. they tested her for the flu but luckily it came back negative. it's a mystery, this virus. i hate it. and i want it to go away. 

after the doctor visit, i got myself some caffeine, and put on a brave face and called my mom. i gave her the update and how the appointment went. i was so down. and just plain exhausted. we are going on week three of sickness around here. no sleep people. serious. a couple hours later she called me back informing me that she and my dad were on their way down to help me. to save me really.

they ordered take out from the mandarin, and took care of everything. my laundry got folded, my dishes done, things straightened up, and of course, they held and loved my girls. they were good company too. james had school until 9:30 so it really meant more than they know to have them come. i was an inch away from having a meltdown/breakdown, but they swooped in and saved the day. brooklyn loved having them there to give her all sorts of attention, and kendall appreciated having someone else hold her besides her mommy. 

i could spend the rest of my life trying to repay my parents for everything they've done for me and i wouldn't even come close. they truly are the greatest and i am so lucky they're mine. 

thanks again mom and dad. i love you and am more grateful for you than you'll ever know.

fingers crossed that maybe we are on the downside of all this yucky sickness...

come on wednesday!

a night of reading

monday night we got to go as a family (minus kendall) to my dad's reading foundation kick-off. and just in case you read this and didn't know, my dad is the superintendent of the school district in the community my parents live in. he was an english major and reading in our home was always important, not just to him, but to my mom as well. we were always read to and i am so grateful. 

so, my dad decided to start a reading foundation. 

the night was a success. there were four different stations and we rotated every fifteen minutes, with information mostly for parents on how to read to your child and why it's important. brooklyn was so good and sat through all of it. james and i walked away with two new books, a summit county library card, a t-shirt for brooklyn & a onesie for kendall, and lots of new ideas about reading to our children. the most important thing of all: read to your child 20 minutes EVERY DAY!

thanks again to my dad, his committee, and the presenters, and my mom for watching kendall so we could really sit and listen to the presenters.

h a p p y  r e a d i n g 

dad's birthday.

tonight we celebrated my dad's birthday.

he's not been too happy about his last few birthdays so my mom thought he needed something fun this year. she called all of us (my and my sibs) and asked us if we could meet at taggart's for dinner thursday night. luckily, we were all able to (except for james, darn school). my mom was able to keep it a secret the whole time. we showed up at the restaurant and he had no idea. it was so fun!

^^^these two love their grandpa.^^^

we showered him with gifts and then ate some awesome food. if you've never been to taggart's, you're missing out. it was a great place for all of us to meet 'halfway'. 

^^^kendall's yawning in this picture, not crying thankfully.^^^

it really was a nice summer evening to all get together to celebrate the patriarch of the family. we all love each other so much and it definitely stems from his love for all of us.

h a p p y  b i r t h d a y  d a d !

when the girls and i got home, the house was nice and hot. our swamp cooler isn't up to par and we were sweating to death. we spent a lot of the evening outside. but my favorite was just a few minutes when brooklyn and kendall just loved on each other and there was no crying. kendall loved that brooklyn was mauling her for the first time in her life. i really couldn't believe it was happening. but my goodness i loved it and i'll remember it with a happy heart for a long time.

h a p p y  w e e k e n d i n g  

celebrating.

tuesday night, we got to celebrate my dad and his awesome coaching career. and like he said in his speech, it is definitely bitter-sweet because being put into the utah sports hall of fame means his coaching career is over. we all (as his family) miss him coaching.

it was a special occasion full of special people from my dad's life. he had 90 supports there (at the ballroom at the little america) and that's amazing. we were all overwhelmed by the support. 

and the food wasn't bad either.

it was so fun to sit at a table with my siblings, their spouses, and my parents. it was sad not having james there, but he had class darn it. we had a great time visiting and celebrating together. we were anxious the whole time for my dad's turn to finally come. he did not disappoint. i only wish they would have given him more time. 

it got over a lot later than we thought, but it was fun to stay around for a little bit after and visit with family. it really was awesome for them all to come and support my dad. but that's what family's about right?

my siblings and i talked about growing up on the football field thursday nights (helping paint the field), summers spent helping clean out the locker room, weight training, at basketball games and tournaments, and loving every second of it. we loved being a part of it and because of my dad we got to be. we got to sit in our hotel room at state basketball and listen to my dad give one last final pep talk to his senior players. i cried every time. no joke. even at the tender age of five. we all connected with and loved my dad's players just like he did. we did. we loved it all. 

and i'm so glad we got to do it as a family.

congratulations again dad! we love you!

the best drive.

brooklyn got to visit her grandpa at work yesterday. we pulled into my parents' house and realized no one was home. i called my mom. she promptly came home and took us to my dad's office. brooklyn was  a little shy at first, but then more than happy to perform for everyone. the usual: animal sounds, the few signs she knows, all of her good tricks. 

she thought she owned the place. grandpa gave her a pad and pen (and then later a highlighter) to just go crazy with. and she did. including writing all over her shirt. amazing how that happens. 

we said goodbye and then she was left in the care of her auntie googs. i was off to park city to get my hair done. it was so fun to catch up with one of my best friends and have my hair freshened up all at the same time. two hours was definitely not long enough! we'll hang out longer next time. for reals!

then, after a nap for brooklyn, and some mugging on baby olivia, we were headed back home. brooklyn didn't make a peep. not a peep. it's going down in the record books as her best longest drive home. i did have to listen to 34 tracks of her halloween cd, but hey, i'll take that any day over screaming in the back seat. it really was a glorious drive home. hopefully this streak continues as she will have a couple long drives ahead of her in the next few days. but who cares...because...

IT'S FOR THANKSGIVING!

and i love thanksgiving.

we will be enjoying our thanksgiving dinner #2 and then #3 on saturday. i can't promise an update after today. not until monday anyway. we'll be eating too much turkey and doing too much idaho shopping. 

i. can't. wait. 

holy moly i can't wait!

can you???!

family night and a birthday.

our monday was spent inside. we stayed busy. i got some things done that i have on my weekly to do list and brooklyn thoroughly enjoyed playing with her blocks and watching the olympics most of the day. she did have to take a break to come grocery shopping with me. luckily, she was happy and content the whole time. this never happens. grocery shopping + brooklyn usually = disaster and tears. maybe it's because we went shopping on a monday. i usually go on wednesdays or thursdays. i might have to switch to mondays if she's happier to go at the beginning of the week. really. i probably won't switch. i'm a character of routine.

the evening was spent out and about celebrating my dad's birthday. he wasn't super happy to be celebrating being another year older, but we were grateful for the excuse to get together. sadly, we were missing three of my siblings. we missed you guys! those of us that were there, enjoyed some dang good food at the new and improved wingers (go check it out for real). i had the wings and waffles. soooo good. i loved it. my dad opened his presents at the table and we all splurged on dessert. good thing we had to walk a ways to the mall and all through the mall to get brooklyn's dress for her uncle dev's wedding. less than three weeks away! i also agreed to get on a very spinny kiddie ride with brooklyn to act as a safety post. not smart. i don't do well going round and round. brooklyn loved it though. she loved coming around seeing familiar faces and sticking hers out as far as i would let her.

the night ended in a very mellow fashion. we turned the olympics off, got brooklyn ready for bed, and james read her some stories. very much the kind of night i needed. we have a lot going on right now and being able to enjoy some nice quiet time at the end of a crazy day is just heaven.

(in her birthday jammies from auntie ween)

h a p p y  b i r t h d a y  d a d !

i hope you're out golfing or something fun like that. remember your birthday last year? 

we love you.

BIG announcement coming tomorrow!

Honored

Last night we made the short trip to Coalville to go to the alumni assembly for Homecoming week at NS.

My dad was being honored for coaching and I didn't want to miss it. It started out with a question on the game show "North Summit Stars": What event took place in 2000 to bring back the spirit of the Brave? The question went to Marge Simpson (Gina Black), "oh I know. It was when that cute Coach Holmes moved here." X gets the square.

There was then a musical number dedicated to my dad by a few students. It was the song from Wicked, For Good. I got emotional, my dad got emotional, we all got emotional. This was followed by a few of his past players talking about what they learned from him as players and as people. Then all of his past players in the audience came on stage to present him with a plaque. My dad was touched. He cried. There was a standing ovation. It was a touching moment. 

(the picture on the left is my dad and brother hugging after a state championship)

I'm so glad we could be there, including my siblings. It was a neat thing for my dad. It's times like those that make me never want to live far away. Far away enough that I miss things like that.



Grandpa's Birthday...

Yesterday afternoon the Holmes clan came down to celebrate Grandpa Jerre's birthday.

We ate, slept, and ate.

My mom made a delicious chocolate cake with homemade frosting and it did not disappoint. Mmm!

Brooklyn sure was glad to get to celebrate her grandpa's birthday with him!