Happy Birthday Harley!

It is true, she is 12! It was a VERY long and eventful day! And if it is any indication of what her teenage years will be like, I need a nap and a raise! It started last night when we went to Applebee's for dinner. Harley ordered pasta with marinara sauce and apple sauce. Hayden tipped off the waiter and Harley was surprised with a singing staff bearing a strawberry sunday! Thanks Hayden! Then the actual day of birth was upon us and she started it with breakfast, eggs and waffles, then off to school. (She would like to note that she did NOT get to wear a cute outfit due to the uniform she had to wear.)

At school she celebrated her B-day with a treat for her class and then while talking with a boy down the hall, she walked right into the gym doors, knocked her down and bruised her face. Of course she was so embarrassed she cried, then the other boys started making fun of her which made her cry harder...what a fantastic start for the teenage years!

After school she went to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Burningham, Sizzler to be precise, Harley's favorite place to eat. Then she got to open her present from them: 2 cami's, 2 books, 1 very cool hat, and a box full of candy!

She got home from dinner and rushed off to Bountiful High School where she got to be the water girl for the Sophomore game. She did a great job and had tons of fun, something about surrounded by boys...find her if you can in the time out huddle :) For someone celebrating such a BIG birthday, she looked so little out on the field. Her Great-Aunt Kathy was at the game and gave her some money to celebrate her birthday! Harley thought that was very sweet!

Then home to open presents from Mom, Dad, Hunter and Hayden. From Mom and Dad she got signed up for the Creative Arts Academy production of High School Musical and tickets to Bountiful High Schools production of Les Miserables (we are going Monday night!). From Mom she got a bag of girl essentials :) From Hayden she got monkey pajamas, and from Hunter she got a workout outfit for her rehearsals.

After that it was off to Baskin Robins for ice cream. Harley got Rainbow Sherbet and said it was the best she has ever had.

Then home and ready for bed...that is when the best thing happened to her! Her Unlce Brett and her have the same birthday and he called to talk to her. I would like to say it was something me or Dave did that made her the happiest on her birthday, but when I watched her talk to Brett, she had the biggest smile on her face and that was happiness. There is defiantly something special about sharing your birthday with someone you love.

All in all it was a good day and I hope it was all she had envisioned and hoped for, minus the gym door situation! I love ya Harley!

Coach Hayden

Hayden has been making football plays for various coaches, Bountiful High School's coach, Hunter's Little League coach, Dave. Yet, week after week he is sorely disappointed to see that not one of the above mentioned coaches have implemented his plays. He watches closely and sometimes there is a play that is close, but not quite, and he will say to me, "maybe they lost the plays, should I make more of them? Why do you think they don't like my plays? Maybe you should ask them to use my plays." It has been breaking my heart.

I have a good friend at school, and her husband coaches her son's team. I was telling her about the sad story of Hayden trying to get his plays noticed. She mentioned that her husband would love to see Hayden's plays. In fact her husband sent Hayden an email asking for some new football plays. Hayden was so excited he ran into the kitchen and wrote out 4 new plays. "Coon 24" and "Cheetah 47" were 2 of them. Hayden took the plays to my school and gave them to my good friend and hoped and prayed that the team would like and use his plays.

Today my really good friend presented Hayden with a game ball signed by the team and his VERY OWN jersey as a thank you for for the plays. Hayden was so happy and has not stopped talking about the ball and the jersey. He really is on cloud nine.

I want to thank the Kearns Cougar Mighty Mites Team and their coaches, you have made a little boys dreams come true.

Early Birthday Party!

On saturday after the football game we drove to Orem for Harley's 12 year old birthday party. Harley and Maka went to the mall to shop for a "Young Women's" outfit (her first day in YW is the 28). They literally walked through every store looking for a teenage look sized for a 6 year old...not so easy! But they ended up with 1 skirt, 3 shirts, 3 pairs of ear rings, and 1 ring. Success!

Maka also got her a circle journal, a bouquet of flowers in the Young Women's, 2 bookmarks with the YW theme's and values, and a magnet board with the YW values on it!
Great Grandma Miles gave her $12, then Grandma lost her keys and when Harley found them she gave her another $5! This was Harley's lucky day!
Dinner was great as usual, Harley chose roast, mashed potato's, and key lime pie for dessert. The day was long and full of fun times for us. We were exhausted when we got home saturday night. Thanks to Maka, Baka, and Great Grandma Miles for the gifts and Happy Birthday to Harley on Sept. 25!

Down with Bingham

Hunter's football team played against the Bingham Miners at Bingham on Saturday. Hunter was very nervous because Bingham has a great football program and their temas are big and tough. We went to the fields early to see Hunter's best friend play his game. His friends team beat Copperhills and his friend did a great job!Maka and Baka came to see Hunter's game and it was a windy, rainy, cold day, but we all had fun watching the game.
Hunter was a ball of nerves when the game started, but he quickly made the first tackle of the game and after that he made 3 spectacular tackles. Hunter has been working really hard on "containment", which means...blah blah something about defending your area something blah! However, I am proud to say he did an amazing job and no one got past Hunter!
The game came down to the wire and the ending score was 13 to 6 for Bountiful! Go Braves!

State Report

Hayden got to do a state poster on Kansas for 2nd grade. He did all the research on his own, cut out the papers, colored the pictures, and glued them to the poster board. He is so proud of his work, and I can tell you it was an extreme fine motor skill work out for him.

Team Captain

Hunter got to be the team captain for the game against Tooele this Saturday. It was an early game, but a home game which means Hunter walked down the street to warm up and I stayed on the couch wrapped in my warm blanket!

The score was 27 to 7 the poor poor Buffalo's just could not stop our offense. Hunter did a great job, he got the wind knocked out of him on a killer punt tackle. Every man around him was slapping his butt, pads, and helmet telling him how cool the tackle was (Hunter admitted later in the privacy of a conversation with his mom "It hurt, how can that be cool"). Here is a video of one of the kick offs for the Braves and for Hunter. He was so close to getting it, next week Hunter says he is diving for it!

The reality of it is, I was so into watching the game I forgot to take a lot of picture...

Homecoming at BHS

Bountiful High School had their homecoming week this week. There were many celebrations and events to go to. We went to the Homecoming Football game and each of the kids got to bring a friend. (Well Harley and Hunter did, Hayden's friend was there with her family and happened to be sitting 2 seats away from us!)

(yes, Hunter's friend is hidding in the background because we made him wear a BHS shirt and he is a WX fan)

BHS played the Bonneville Lakers and it was a spectacular game for the BHS fans. Dave did a great job manning the sidelines and smacking the boys helmets and pads to "pump them up."

The Braves killed the Lakers, there is no need to post the score, we will just say the Lakers did not score...at all...they did however start a fantastic fight on the field at the end of the 4th quarter. Hunter was embarrassed by the fighting boys, Hayden was yelling for the Braves to "kill the Lakers", and Harley was oblivious because she was with boys on the sideline...

By the time the sun went down it was so cold Hayden and I were huddled together in a blanket freezing out bums off. Hunter and friend were sweating from the football game they were playing in the end zone, and Harley was plenty warm, what with all the boys chasing her, her chasing boys... It was a great game and a fun night. Go Braves!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Quarterback Sacked!

B-town's, Hunter Munk #20, caught the Alta Hawks quarterback by surprise today and threw him to the ground. It was a bold move from this quiet Defensive End. He is nursing a broken foot, but that did not stop him from being a "wild man out there" said the coaches wife. It was an early game that started out with an impressive 6-0 lead for the Braves. However, Alta answered their call with an interception and touch down taking the lead 6-7. That fired up the Braves and they came out fighting. Munk was all over the field. Only when he slowed down was there any sign of limping, and he didn't slow down enough for fans to notice it. He snagged the foot of an Alta Punt Return player tripping him out of bounds and that seemed to be the break this young D-end needed. After that he was blocking, pushing, running, and sacking!

The sack took place on the last play of the game. Munk flew off the line, burning the Alta Offensive Line, and grabbed the quarterback around the waist, stripping the ball from his hands. When Munk threw him to the ground B-town jumped on the loose ball and gained possession of the ball, the score was 18-7 for B-town, it was a beautiful end to a great game. When the game was over B-town players and coaches congratulated the humble Munk, who looked down and smiled his crooked smile trying not to blush. After the fanfare died down Line Coach Gordy said, "Munk is a stud, he is every coaches dream. He listens to what we have to say and then he gets the job done. When Hunter is playing D-end we never have to worry about it, he does his job and he does it well. I would love to see that kid run the ball. He has a great future ahead of him and I hope he sticks with this team for the duration." Munk did not have much to say, although he did tell his mom, "It is only the 2nd game and I already met my goal for the year-sack a quarterback...nice."

There is not much you can say after that. So I will end this with the picture and play of the game.

Success!

Hayden was born with this strong desire to make and perfect a zip line. He attempted it at our house in Foxboro with a garden hose tied to our deck and a patio chair, after dropping straight to the ground and having the chair fly into him he decided it was not going to work (actually it was the neighbors calling me about the suicide mission my 5 year old was on that put a stop to the zip line). But giving up is not something Hayden is made of, so after years of calculations and strategy he seems to have succeeded in his attempt at the zip line.

We decided that slamming into the bank of the creek need to stop, so Dave helped him hook it to a different tree and added wooden boards to the tree for easy access. It was very helpful and Hayden now has himself a very efficient and successful zip line!

Harley even had a go at it.

Where was Hunter during all the fun? He was nursing his injured (seems to be broken-AGAIN) foot. Funny story about kicking a pillow, missing it, and kicking the dresser...painful, broken toes, swollen, blue, ice, pain killer, limping, welcome boot!

What would we do without Hayden? Our family would never have as much fun!