Happy Birthday Kelsey

My Kelsey Belsey is 15!  How did that happen?  My firstborn daughter.  I was so excited when I found out we were having a girl.  I loved my boy and all, but a girl was my dream.

Since I had the boy first, this little girl was ALWAYS dressed up. 

She had bows for every outfit. 

She was my little doll.

She sported those bows bigger than her head for years.

Even as she grew, the bows were there.  Of course, since she had no hair we had to do something so people knew she was a girl!

This is her first birthday.

Now look at her.

She won't let me dress her up anymore.  She thinks I have no fashion sense, and I am sure most days she thinks I have no sense at all.  She is my spicy, funny, crazy Kelsey girl.  I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming.  She will take on challenges.  She won't give up.  She knows who she is and she is proud of that, and I am proud of her.

I love you Kels!

Boys Will Be Boys

Received the following from Ryan.

I know it is kind of hard to see.  It has me crying he has left, Kelsey crying he has left, Eric eating twinkies and crying he has left, and his adoring Ryan fan club (a figment of his imagination) crying he has left.

OK. 

Then there was this picture, which he has entitled the "matrix" flip.

And this one of Elder Davis.  He is also going to Ogden.  His mother would be so proud.  Does this mean that Elder Davis has a similar picture of Elder Pearson in the same pose?

Then there is this one.  His district in front of the Provo Temple.

And this was the back of the family picture.  So, I guess he is being a normal 19 year old boy - but doing what he should be doin!

What We Are Doing

The twins had to memorize this (the preamble song).




It took me back to my childhood. Can I tell you how much I LOVE School House Rock? What was your favorite? I know you have one (unless you are too young to remember it!)

I'm Back

After the sadness of sending my boy away, I spent the next week travelling for work. I think I must be getting old because those long trips are killing me! Now I am back, and we are in full swing with the girls activities.

Both Kelsey AND Sophie have cross country meets today. Of course, they are not anywhere near each other. We will divide and conquor. GOOD LUCK to both of them. It is Sophie's first meet and she is VERY nervous. She will do great.

We have two soccer games tomorrow. Of course Sophie's is at the end of the earth - or south of Houston. So once again, it will be divide and conquor.

The highlight of the coming weekend will be BYU vs FL State. Poor Ryan is at the MTC where he will hear all the fun, but not be participating. Let's go Cougs. Lets keep our fingers crossed. Can they pull off three in a row?

Make sure and look for Michelle, my awesome student training sister Here she is on the sidelines - look far left. There she is - or part of her - from the OU game.

Ryan Is Gone

At the airport in Houston.

I am sad. We are all sad. Why is it that this is what you want for your son, but it is so dang hard? Here a few pics from his last days...

He had a list of dinners for his last days. These included ribs, papa johns, mexican chef salad and breakfast for dinner. He did not get breakfast for dinner until he got breakfast for breakfast his last day on the way to the airport.

This is the youth from the ward outside the Houston Temple. They had a temple trip and Ryan was able to go and do the baptisms.

One of our last days of dominoes and chocolate chip cookies. He came from behind and won (and believe me we did not let him. we are all a bit competitive!)

Outside the church as we went in for his setting apart - which was a great experience.

My boy is gone and I am sad. I am excited for him. I think he was a little nervous, but I would have been way worse. We are all adjusting to a Ryan free house. Not so fun.

Thanks for picking him up at the airport and taking him to the MTC Meg! To keep up with his mission, go to http://elderpearson.blogspot.com

Go Cougars!

We spent an awesome night in JerryWorld, new Texas Stadium, watching our number 20 ranked BYU Cougars beat the number 3 ranked University of Oklahoma Sooners. Our seats were way high - second row from the top, but we loved it.

Ryan really wanted to see the new stadium, and wanted to spend his last weekend watching football, chillin with family and going to Six Flags.

Our day in pictures:

We arrived very early hoping for some pre-game festivities sponsored by the alumni association. I guess someone would not let them do it - so we walked around and hung out until we could enter Jerry World.

Ryan and Kelsey chillin at the ESPN radio stuff. Not a ton to do, but it was something before we were allowed entrance.

This is from our seats. You can see the players are very small (this was the warmup) but the jumbo tron made it OK.

Everyone before the game.

Seeing the Kenningtons before the game.

This is during the game. Eric was playing with his phone on espn.com harassing OU fans who were also in the stadium on their phones. Have you seen the Verizon commercial where the kids are telling their parents to cool it with the technology - that is very true around here. And he said I was embarrassing because I yelled too much? Hello it is a football game.

Final score a thing of beauty.

After the game looking down. We waited for the drunk OU fans to clear out.

Grandpa and Ryan happy post game showing their BYU pride.

My baby sister Michelle is getting her degree in sports training at BYU. This fall she is assigned to the football team. She wanted to come to the game, and they only brought a few student trainers with them -and she was picked. We had as much fun watching her run around as the team. She was on ESPN. She is famous, what can I say. She had to hold in her celebration until after them game. We ran down to the lower level to say hi - and when she saw me we both yelled (she likes to cheer as well).

Great game, great night!

It's Genetic

Allie was named after her grandfathers - both of whom are named Alan (or Allan as the case may be).  She may look like her Grandpa Pearson, but that girl can sell a load of bull like her Grandpa Linford (and in all fairness I have been accused of having the same trait).

We are working on a project for Grandma Pearson - so if you see this don't say anything to her.  I am pretty sure she has never seen this blog.  Anyway, she needed to write her grandmother a letter telling her how she feels about her.  This is her letter (BTW I know the pic is crooked - I fixed it)

In case you can't read, here it is:

I love you because you are caring and loving and I would do anything to keep you safe because I love you for who you are.  When I see you It warms my heart like a camp fire.  You are 1 in a million and I choose you.  When you go away my heart breaks apart.  Health or vegetables or fruit doesn't keep me going you do.  Without you I wouldn't have this beautiful smile.  Love Allie.

She had no guidance, this is all her!

Fear The Gear

Sophie wears headgear when she plays. I could go into the long explanation, but basically she is small, soccer players get more concussions than football players, and her trainers have told her she has to wear it (thank goodness, because Mom does not know what she is talking about). So we have a new expression in our house - Fear The Gear. It makes her mad, which only adds to the joy.

Some pics from her tournament over the weekend.

And just to prove I am truly a crazy soccer mom, here is a series of pics of a slide tackle. Now, not to brag, but Sophie has an awesome slide tackle - it is always all ball and she has never been called for a foul. So, for your viewing enjoyment: