Our Life in Words...: January 2012

Monday, January 16, 2012

Full Weekend!

We have had a very busy and exciting weekend!

Friday night Mike and Carson headed to South Dakota wrestling. I stayed home with Payton and Aidan because it would have been too late for Aidan to be out. Carson had a great night and earned a first place t-shirt! He was pretty excited (as were we)!

We all got up early on Saturday and Mike took the boys wrestling while I took Payton to the Mall of America to do some American Girl shopping! Carson had another excellent day and brought home a first place medal!

Payton and I also had a successful day of shopping! This years AG doll of the year is McKenna Brooks - who just happens to be a gymnast! Payton was so excited when she learned that gymnastics was involved. We headed to the MOA to pick her up! While we were there we had lunch in the Bistro of the AG store. Payton also found a new favorite store called Little Miss Matched. They have crazy socks that are sold in threes. They all are different but go together. Payton did get the cutest pair of boots....she has not had them off since!

Today we headed to Windom for a team wrestling tournament. Carson was chosen as an alternate and did get to wrestle one match today. The team brought home first place! It was nice getting to watch all the boys wrestle today. They work so hard and do such a good job!

Below are some pictures of our weekend!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Gymnastics Anyone?

We had a full weekend of gymnastics! Payton had her first competition on Saturday and then her end of the year performance on Sunday. She is on the first level of the competition team so she only has one meet. We arrived a the gym on Saturday at 8:00 in the morning to practice for Sunday's performance. In the mean time, Mike took Carson and Aidan to a wrestling tournament in St. James. We were done with the practice at 10:00 but only had a one hour break before we had to be back to the gym for warm ups for Saturday's event. Warm ups started at 11 and went to 1:00 with the competition starting at 1:30. Payton was extremely nervous but once she got started with her warm ups and getting the feel for things you could tell she was having fun.

Mike ended up getting to Payton's competition late due to the high volume of wrestlers. Carson placed second only missing first place by a one point loss in his final match. So proud of him and how much better he is getting!!

Payton did so great as well and I was so proud of her. It is hard to describe the feeling you have as a parent watching your child accomplish huge things. The competition didn't get over until 5:30 and we were ready to get out of the gym!! BUT...we turned around on Sunday and went back! Mike's parents came to watch her performance on Sunday and then we all went out for ice cream afterward.

By this time, our weekend was over! Crazy times in the gym!!

Here are some pics of Payton at her performance:

Annie sporting her new leo!\

Payton Amundson!!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Happy New Year!

Well, let's hope that I am able to update our blog a little more frequently than I did last year!

Payton had gymnastics practice on Saturday until noon and then we headed to Ames for the Rickey family Christmas. We got there late but still got to see lots of family and the kids enjoyed opening a few more gifts! We actually were able to stay up until midnight this year! Payton made it until 11:30 and she just couldn't take it any more. I think this is the first time in many years I have made it that late! LOL!

We woke up on Sunday morning and had more present opening with the Amundsons. Payton and Carson were introduced to Hex Bugs and they are addicted! We were done opening gifts around 10 or 11 and Carson played with them non stop for the rest of the day! They are fun to watch and he got enough pieces that he can make multiple different sets for them. Payton got a cool pink BB gun and it is super cute! It came with matching pink safety glasses too!

Great Grandpa Rickey and Aunt Martha came over for lunch and it was nice catching up with them. It seems like time always goes by so quickly and you don't get to chat as long as you would like! Mike actually woke up sick on Sunday morning. He apparently had a touch of the flu and was out of commission. He was feeling better by Monday morning and none of the rest of us ended up getting sick. We headed back home on Monday in time to unload, get a little organized and get the kids ready to go back to school!

Today was the first day back for them. They were so tired when I picked them up today. Carson had an appointment to get his allergy shots so we headed there right after school and then he had a quick snack and he and Mike headed to wrestling practice.

Payton has dance tomorrow and Mike is driving in the car pool. I signed up to take a class on "extremely good couponing". I don't necessarily want to be like some of the people on TV but am really interested to see how people -- real people...in a small town -- are able to save so much money. I am pretty excited about it. I also signed Payton up for a duct tape class where she can learn how to make different things out of tape!

We are preparing for Payton's first gymnastics competition this weekend. In the past she has participated in performances but nothing where she was actually scored and competed with other girls. She is pretty nervous (as am I) but I am so proud of her and can't wait to see how it goes!

We hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2012! I know we have several things we are looking forward to this year!