Happy Halloween!

I love halloween.  It is ONE of my favorite holidays. No pressure. . . just loads of fun and lots of candy.  Hannah and Isaac are at such a fun age for this holiday.  They were looking forward to it since the middle of September (when I put up our halloween decorations ;) ).

This year Hannah dressed up as Jessie from Toy Story.  Her homemade costume turned out great (kinda proud of myself).  The yarn wig was my favorite! 

Isaac was Ironman (for the school carnival and library story time) and he dressed up as Batman for trick or treating.  He couldn't decide on just one.  Its fun to have dress-up clothes!

The school carnival at Hannah Holbrook Elementary was great.  The kids got their faces painted, played lots of games, ate lots of candy, got to meet Batman (after a great deal of convincing that he was a nice Batman), and we all just enjoyed being together as a family! I even ate a caramel apple . . .YUM!!

For trick or treating we joined our good friends, The Stepans, in Farmington.  They live in a large, flat neighborhood where the homes are close together.  A perfect location for obtaining optimum amounts of  candy!  

That evening Jay and I decided to join in the costume fun.   

 I dressed up as Kat Von D (a heavily tattooed tattoo artist from LA) and Jay dressed up as Bill Walton (a b-ball player from the 70's). (Just a side note: the bandana, shorts, spandex, socks and knee pads were all mine - hehe).

We had a very fun night!  The weather was great (for Utah) and the company was awesome.  The kids were very proud of their candy collection.  Happy Halloween!

So grateful that the snow decided to wait until November 1st to arrive!!!!

Back to Volleyball . . . and LOVING IT!!!

I am happy to share that I am back to playing volleyball after my LONG hiatus from achilles tendon surgery.  It was about 5 1/2 months post-surgery that I played (only back row) in my first game and then this past week (10-13-11) at 6 1/2 months I played all the way around (front and back row).  I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am to have made the progress that I have.  It feels amazing to be playing again . . . I have REALLY missed the game and my awesome team members.  My tendon feels strong and I am playing without any hesitancy (which is what I was worried about the most).  I am able to run, jump, hit and block without pain.  What a blessing modern technology is.  I am truly grateful to be back doing what  I love to do!!!!

Look out for the Lions and the Storm

Today we attended Hannah and Isaac's first game of the soccer season at Hogan Park in Woods Cross, Utah. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time.  GO LIONS (Hannah's team) and GO STORM (Isaac's team)!!!  We are looking forward to a great season!

They looked awfully cute in their brand new gear!

Here they are doing drills with their coaches.

 What a great day!

School Time

We've come upon September.  September means end of summer, cooler weather and back to school time.  This time every other year had meant nothing new for me.  My babies were home with me all the time and I kinda liked it that way.  Well unfortunately, my little ones are growing up and are now ready for school! But hooray for them because they are super excited to start this new adventure.  Hannah started Kindergarten at Holbrook Elementary.  She has school Monday through Friday from 8:45am to 11:30.  These pics are from her first day:

We were all there to drop Hannah off and she went to class without a problem!

Isaac started preschool at Little Learners with Ms. Angela and attends Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 11:30am.

Isaac had a bit more difficulty when I dropped him off.  I think he missed his Hannah and wasn't used to doing anything without her.  Alas, he finally let go of my hand and joined the class activities.  Later when I picked him up he was all smiles and couldn't wait for his next day.  I knew he would love it.

I can't believe they are big enough for school :(.   It feels just like yesterday they were born. . .but that was years ago.  Wow, time certainly flies once you become a parent.  I miss those baby days . . .

I certainly don't miss how exhausting they were though :)  Love you Hannah and Isaac!!  Can't believe you two are getting so big!!

Summertime

Wow, this summer has flown by!  But we've had a great time together:

We made several trips to Lagoon in Farmington, Utah.

We enjoyed our annual Tipton Family Reunion in Reno, Nevada

Pioneer day (which fell on Jay's 33rd Birthday) was incredible in Bountiful, Utah, especially the fireworks . . . they were AMAZING (thanks Dusti & Erik for a great time)!!!

We had a great time visiting California.  First we visited Jay's grandma Mabel Bonham in San Gabriel, CA.

 Then it was off to Long Beach to set sail for our Cruise to the Mexican Riviera . . . what a vacation!!

Are we spoiled or WHAT!  Alas, it's time to get back to reality and back to school . . . Hannah starts Kindergarten, Isaac starts preschool, and Daddy starts his clinical rotations at Ogden regional in September . . . so much fun for all!!!  Everyone is very excited!  Fun times in the Tipton household.  We are truly blessed.

Dirty Dash 2011

Today Erik & Dusti, Jay and some of his CRNA classmates participated in the 5K Dirty Dash in Midway, UT (I would have joined in the fun as well, but yep, you guessed it, I hurt my foot remember?).  What a fun event it was.

We woke up early this morning, packed up the kids and some treats and made the hour+ drive to Midway (which was gorgeous btw).  When we arrived at Soldier Hollow Park we could see the obstacle course and water slides in the distance and were super excited to be a part of it!  I laid a blanket out for the kiddos and me directly across from the finish line so that we would have the perfect view.  We were also joined by cute, little Mason Moore (Stephanie's 1 year boy).  The race began at 10 and by 1040 I was searching for the group at the finish line.  When they arrived they were slathered in mud, hardly recognizable.  It was great!! At this point I was a little relieved to have my foot injury to be excused from this madness.  It was much better staying clean and getting a front row seat than being covered in filth!  Time to hit the showers. What a wonderful memory of our time here in Utah!

Hannah graduated

Last night Hannah had a wonderful preschool graduation.  She has been attending Miss Angela's Little Learners Preschool since September 2010 and has completed all of the necessary requirements to have graduated!! :)  We are so very proud of her!  LOVE YOU BANANA! Now we look forward to kindergarten and elementary school.

We've been back!

So we've been back from Sonora for a while now.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to post.  No excuses, just didn't feel like it.  The guilt has set in now though and I know I should be keeping my blog up to date.  So, Cali was a blast.  Wearing my achilles healing boot has been a lifesaver.  I couldn't have imagined many more days on crutches.  I was about to go insane being so dependent on others to help me with my responsibilities.  I had had enough of it.  I will forever know and have an appreciation for mothers of small children who are forced to used crutches because of an injury.  I luckily had a very supportive family to lean on and so my situation wasn't too bad (it was still very frustrating at times though).

The kids and I (and eventually Jay) really enjoyed the weather.  Grandpa Kent and Grandma Lois have a little wading pool that we used a handful of times during our visit (which meant that the weather was mostly sublime while we were there).  We enjoyed spending Easter with our family.  The kids participated in 4 easter egg hunts: 1) Sonora Public Library, 2) with the Day family,  3) at the Sonora United Methodist Church and 4) at the Hursky house.  They were all very fun!  We still have candy left over from these events.

 Aside from Easter we were able to visit my Hursky Grandparents (on my dad's side) in Merced, we celebrated Ronnie's 13th Birthday, we attended the Mother Lode Round-up Parade (always a good time), we had a big family and friend gathering at the Tipton property with all of our good friends from Turlock and spent a lot of quality time with both the Tipton and Hursky families.  It was a very cherished time that we had.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Since coming back to Utah, we have kept our selves pretty busy.  Hannah and Isaac have been able to join in on the end of their soccer seasons (first time ever playing for both of them) and are having an amazing time learning something new and meeting new friends.  I am so proud of both of them.

Hannah has joined back in with her preschool (Ms. Angela's preschool which she LOVES and will graduate from soon).  Isaac turned 4.  I can hardly believe it. We had a simple, low-key party with a few of his friends and it was a good time.

The weather is still very unspring-like here, have had snow and tons of rain since returning.  There is a T-storm abrewing as we speak.  Ah well, I know summer will be here soon, so I don't mind the rain every now and again.  We've just been loving life and enjoying each other as much as we can.  Jay is hitting the books hard everyday (as he should be) but enjoying all that he is learning and grateful for this opportunity (we all are).  Life is wonderful. So that's what we've been up to. Hope I didn't forget anything . . .