Go Utes #1!

On Saturday Nov 6th, Cassidy and I woke up at 5am and headed to Rice Eccles Stadium for the ESPN College Game Day. It was a lot of fun. There were lots of great posters and Ute Outfits supporting our team. There were 2 TCU fans right next to us, and all the Ute fans around were giving them a hard time. It was fun cheering infront of the camera's and watching people go crazy! The guys right infront of us had some pretty funny posters, Their friends were texting them saying that they could see their posters on TV. So I bet Cassidy and I were in a few of those shots. We were in the crowd for 4 hours. The crowd cleared away pretty quickly and we were able to take some pictures. The Utah vs TCU game started at 1:30pm, I think we were in our seats at 11:30am. The game started and we knew we were in trouble....Utah didn't have very many good plays. We ended up leaving in the middle of the 3rd quarter, which is something I regret. If I am going to be a Ute fan (this is my first year) then I need to cheer for them win or lose. They did end up scoring after we left, but didn't have time to catch up. It's sad because they weree undefeated. We'll see how they do the rest of the season. Cassidy was able to go to all their home games except the upcoming BYU game. Maybe he'll get lucky and score some tickets! Tanner has been saying "Go Utes" for along time, he has recently added baby at the end. So it's "Go Utes Baby". He is as big a fan as his Dad...the girls too! The kids all wear their Ute shirts on game day... a few days later on Nov 9th was our 9 year wedding anniversary. It only took 8 years for Cassidy to convince me to be a Ute fan!!

Halloween!

This year for Halloween I wanted 3 witches and a vampire. I'm thinking this was my last year to have the kids all dress in the same theme. Last year they were Ute Cheerleaders and Tanner was a Ute Football player. And another year I had 3 ballerina's. I think it's so fun when they match. But they are getting too old for me to tell them what they are going to be. As you can see in the picture, I didn't get my Vampire. And I kinda lost on the 3 witches too! Alyssa ended up being a Vampire. We had been looking everywhere for Tanner a vampire costume, no stores had them in his size. The last store we were going to look at was Target. Tanner loves horses! And when he saw the horse costume, he wanted it. We tried it on him in the store and he went galloping through the store. It was too cute not to get it. He threw a fit to take it off when we had to take it off in the car. He wore it a few days before halloween, it was so fun for him. He even took a nap in it one day. Then we had our ward halloween trunk or treat, and everyone put their attention on Tanner and his cute costume. It was too much for him and he wouldn't put in on after that night. I carried the costume around so people could see what he was supposed to be wearing. I'm glad we got one good picture with him in it. My favorite thing about halloween this year was that the girls wore their costumes 4 days in a row which kept my laundry low. Some of the fun things we did were: We had our Ward Trunk or Treat, a school Halloween Dance, went to wheeler farm and went on a wagon ride, corn maze, and picked a pumpkin to take home. Visited the witches at Garnder Village, and went trick or treating. Everything was so much fun!

Peanuts, get your peanuts!!

I had some extra space in my garden this spring, so the kids and I went to J&J Garden Center, and all they had left were peanuts. Yes, Peanuts! So we thought we would get some and try them out. My garden wasn't very successful this year, so sad! I tore it all out last week and decided to dig up the peanuts. From the pictures you can see that I didn't get much. But something is better than nothing. I feel like I succeeded with the peanuts, I didn't know if I would get any. Next year I would like to try again. I pulled them up way too soon. There were tiny little peanut sprouts that I am sure would have grown if I would have left the plants in the ground. When Aniston and I opened the peanut today, they were small like pinenuts and did not taste very good at all. Better Luck next year!!

Tanner is 2 !!!

On September 22, 2008 I was blessed with the sweetest baby boy, and now he has turned 2!!!!It's bitter sweet. I want him to stay my baby boy forever, but at the same time, the older he gets, the funner he is. He still won't talk to most people. He gets really shy and embarrased for people to hear him talk. Tonight he finally said infront of his Daddy "I am Tanner" and "I am two". He goes around saying "Go Utes" and "Hi" and "Bye". Those 3 things are about the only things he'll say around other people. He'll try and repeat most words that I ask him to- It's so fun hearing him talk.

His favorite animal is a Horse. He's obsessed! He loves playing with his horse toys, and he pretends to be a horse all the time. We bought a new horse movie called "Flicka 2" He watches the whole movie and pretends the whole time that he is a horse. He is like a wild mustang!! He'll also pretend to be a dog and give me wet doggie kisses. When he wants people to follow him (when he is Tanner and not pretending to be an animal) he will try and snap his fingers and he kinda whistles for whoever to follow him. It's pretty funny. And when he isn't playing with his horses, he loves to look at books and also play with cars and airplanes. He loves looking in the sky to see all the planes that go by. He is fascinated with the jets and huge airforce planes. We see a lot since we're by Hill Airforce base.

Tanner loves his sisters. He calls them Sissa (Alyssa) Nannie (Aniston/Anna) and Babbie (Abbie). He plays with them all the time and loves hitting them and then giving them big hugs and kisses afterwards. The name we call him most is TAK (Tanner Andrew Keyes) it seems to fit him well. We also call him Mack. Just a take off from TAK.

He's my sweet boy and I'm so glad he is part of our little family!

P.S. Note to self: STOP buying cakes with black and green frosting!!!!!

School Days!!

A new school year is finally here. This year Alyssa is in 2nd grade. We found out a few weeks before school started who her teacher was going to be. Miss Coleman, a teacher who is new to our school this year. Alyssa has had wonderful teachers for Kindergarten and 1st grade, I was a little nervous about a new teacher. When I walked Alyssa to her class on the first day of school, we saw her teacher and I was so excited. She is a cute young teacher. Our 2 previous teachers, who we love, were older, and I was so happy that Alyssa is going to get a young teacher this year. She is super nice and is so excited to be teaching 2nd grade. She thinks it's the best grade. Alyssa is an excellent student and loves to learn. She is so stinking smart! Her first homework packet came home today, she wizzed right through it. The teacher also sends a book home each night that the kids have to read and turn in the next day. On the envelope that the book came in, it said that the student needed to read the book 3 times or until they could read all the words on their own. I laughed because the first time Alyssa read it she didn't have a problem. I only made her read it twice because she didn't have a problem with it. She also came home doing sign language. She could spell her name, and I asked her to spell other words in sign. She got mixed up with M, N, and she couldn't remember T. So we called her Aunt, and got it straightened out. Her favorite subject in school is Art. She really really wants to do science.... like make an exploding Volcano type science. She will probably have to wait a few more years for that.

Abigail started her first day of Kindergarten today. I was so nervous for her, I kept telling her that she could stay home and not go to school, but she didn't listen. I drove her to the bus stop (it was raining) and the bus driver (who is super nice) helped her up in the bus and took her to her assigned seat, which is in the front row. Abigail's name was even above the seat. Then the bus drove away..... and I followed it! I got to the school and waited outside in the rain unti the bus came and Abigail got off and went to class. It was really hard to see her walking away to school. She is getting way too big! Then after school I walked to the bus stop and Alyssa and Abigail got off together. Abigail was so excited she couldn't walk with us. I guess we were going too slow. She had a wonderful day at school! She loved it! She learned about the letter A, and the number 1. They read books and played outside.

It was so wierd having Tanner and Aniston at home. I took them to the store for some donuts, we went home and Tanner took a nap all afternoon. So it was just me and Aniston. I let her paint her pumpkin that we had pulled out of the garden a few days before, she loved that! Next week Aniston will start Preschool, and I'll blink and she'll be in Kindergarten. At least I have Tanner around for 4 more years.

Crazy kids!!

Happy Summer! We have been having lots of fun, I'm not quite ready for it to end. I can't seem to get anything done inside my house because we have been outside so much. These pics are of my girls and thier new little swivel car thing. If anyone knows what it's called, please let me know. I need to buy 3 more. I hear they aren't cheap, but my kids all love them. A neigbor gave it to us, and they love it. Even Tanner gets on and goes. The girls start at the top of the driveway and fly down and turn and go down the side walk. It's fun for me too taking the kids for a ride. I was just noticing in the pictures that non of the girls are wearing shoes and Anna has her feet resting on the wheel covers...probably not the safest thing. Oops! Oh well, no one got hurt and they were having fun!

KEYES our last name....

Before I was married, my last name was DeJong (De Young). It's dutch, some people thought it was chinese, until they saw us. For the last almost 9 years, I have been a Keyes (Kize). We are usually called Keys. Everyone asks why we pronounce our last name Keyes (Kize) when it is spelled like Keys. Hello people! There is an E in there. It just makes me laugh. It's EYES with a K infront of it. I really don't care if I am called Melanie Keys, it's just funny when people tell me why they think it's KEYS. I got the best one the other day, and that's why I am here writing about it. Because I thought it was too too funny! This person said "Did I say your name wrong?" I told this person it's Keyes (KIZE). This person's response was "Oh, because it's spelled like Keys, with an E thrown in there." REALLY?? That E in there means that my last name is not Keys. FUNNY!!! My husband served his mission in California, and his comps would always say "KEYS if you please". And that's where this blog address comes from...just with the last name spelled right. So I guess I am confusing everyone if you say the blog address in a rhyme. Keys Keyes....whatever...it just makes me laugh.