One Word Wednesday.

OK, my friend Sherrie, who lives in the blog world HERE, has a wonderful entry posted today. It's called 'Wordless Wednesday'. It's pretty awesome and you all should check it out.

Wwweeellllllll, I thought I might take a little liberty with her idea, here's hoping she'll still love me when I'm done, and do a.........

'One Word Wednesday'

HELP!!!

Soooooo, what do you think? Think I'm still Sherrie's friend? I sure hope so cause I love her and her kids.

Love to All,

midRae

Another Munk Family Adventure.

As any of our friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances, or the wasps on our roof will tell you, midMan, myself, and tailEnd love to go adventuring most weekends. Well most Saturdays, Sundays you can most likely find us in church. We usually start off our adventures just like we did this past weekend, with a destination all ready in mind, like going up to Cedar Mountain and getting some really good pictures of the leaves changing colors. I was also hoping to find a really cool spot for some new family portraits. I have lost about 35 pounds since our last family portrait and I hate it, although it is a great reminder to keep the weight off, especially when it graces the family wall in the family room, out for all to see.

Anyways, this past Saturday off we go up the mountain, after a little tiff/misunderstanding between midMan and myself, with good intentions of getting some good photos. Little tiffs/misunderstanding do not put a person in the mood to take good pictures, they just make you want to go home and crawl into your own little corner of the world and pull the blankets in with you. So needless to say, no pictures of pretty fall colors.

About two miles up the canyon tailEnd says, 'Hey, why don't we go to the Grand Canyon like you promised me for my birthday?'

Two muttered replies follow, 'OK, why not.' And a quick thought goes through my head, I can get really good pictures on our way home with the light to the West. OK! Now lets all work on our mood. After about 30 minutes midMan and I finally just let our tiff go the way all tiff's should go, like out the window and forgotten, and get on with our adventure.

After 3 hours of driving here we are, The Grand Canyon. I was a little worried about the entrance fee, it costs $25.00 per car for a pass that is good for 7 days, but as we pulled up to the pay booth the gentlemen manning the register informed us that Saturday was a free day because it was National Park Day. Whoa! How cool for us, now I didn't need to worry about the money, but you could see tailEnds mind working out how he was going to get me to let him go out to eat.

The light was all bad for pictures, but these few turned out OK. Going on all of the trails to the edges was a little unnerving, especially with a 14 year old, who has no fear and has no idea that he is not immortal. I also have to point out that we came out to the Grand Canyon when we were a lot younger, our oldest was about 5 years old, and I didn't get quite so nervous back then as I did now. I think as I have aged, life, and the life of my child and husband, have become very, very precious to me and I understand so much more about the frailty of our lives.

But OH!! the views. They just take your breath away. And when you stop and think about the time and all that had to happen for this amazing site to be formed it can blow your mind. We encountered a lot of different people from all over the United States and from Europe. I think we, the residents of Southern Utah, tend to forget what beauty is right there in our back yard. We have so many National Parks and just natural beauty that surrounds us that we begin to take it for granted and not really see what is there right in front of our face. What we have are some really amazing things to see and learn.

Oh and tailEnd did manage to talk me in to letting him eat out at a restaurant for dinner. It was 7:00PM and we still had two hours of travel time until we got home, so knowing how much this growing boy needs to eat, I relented and we stopped for a bite to eat in Kanab, UT. The food was OK and we had calmed the raging beast that resides in tailEnd belly.

So, another Munk Family Adventure put into our record books. We can also add about 300 miles to our adventure meter. Boy do I love our adventures. I have a few more pictures, which I will share in a later post. But alas, no pictures of fall colors, it was pitch black as we drove home, maybe this next weekend. I hope you all have enjoyed our adventure.

Love to All,

midRae

Not Me Monday.........

Sooooo......as you guessed it's that time of the week again and we are joining McKMama on her weekly adventures of what we definitely did not do this past week.

My week was, well let's just say it was a little stressful. I did not cry in front of tailEnd this past week because I had so much going on and I just could not take it any more. Nope that is definitely not something a mother would do, we would never let our children see us in our weakest moments. Nope, never.

And we definitely did not go to the mountains this weekend with the express purpose of getting fall pictures and only came home with this one.

Nope that is not something that I would ever think to do. And this picture was actually taken while we were in town looking up at the mountain. Nope I would never let a misunderstanding, little argument, with midMan get in the way of our fun family weekend. I would never do that.

Here's to a little better week with a little more of myself under control and I'm hoping that the leaves and colors hang on for one more week so that I can take a few pictures. But if not I definitely will not feel sad for the opportunities that I let slip by, nope not me. :(

Love to All,

midRae

Me...Unusual? Never! Never! Never!

OK, my blog world friend, Lynnette, offered up a challenge today. And the challenge is to share something unusual or strange about yourself that not everyone knows. I have thought about this all day and had just about given up. Then I went over to the one blog that had joined in the challenge and decided that I just might have an unusual something about me.


And what would that unusual something be you ask? Well I don't think that it would be all that exciting for most people but midMan and myself truly believe that we were born in the wrong century, we should have been born about 175 years ago. We have discussed this at length and really feel that we would have been so much happier with life if we could be living out in the middle of no where, being totally self-sufficient. You know, the really quiet life.


I would love to have a few chickens, a big garden, some meat hanging in the smoke house, a big old root cellar, totally stocked of course, and the know how to make it all work. Our idea of fun. Our three boys sure don't agree with us but I guess, to each his own, even in the same family. Now I'm off to football.


Love to All,


midRae

Culinary Magic.....NOT

This is one of my favorite books. It's my recipe book.
It has hand written recipe's from many years ago in it.

It also has a lot of recipe's from HERE.

The Pioneer Woman rocks and she is publishing a recipe book.

It comes out the end of October and I have already ordered my copy.

I sure wish she was coming to southern Utah on her book tour.

But, alas, no such luck.

This past weekend I made these sandwich's.

The only thing we could say was, "Yummmmm!"

Then I decided to make this,

so that I would be able to just throw it in the oven after church.

Give us an even bigger, "YUmmmmm!"

I decided to include these wonderful little things, too.

"Yum, Yum, and an additional Yum!"

Oh, and we must never forget dessert, ever!

The sweetest neighbors in the world brought over some apples,

so guess what I made? Betcha can't guess.

Actually I betcha did.

Mmmmmmm, Apple Pie.

You know I really should start taking pictures of the finished product,

even the ones that bomb, which is usually the outcome,

instead of just the recipes.

I'm sure that would be just a little bit more interesting than looking at my old recipe book.

Love to All,

midRae

PS...............the pictures seem a little dark, so I would like to say I'm sorry. Hopefully the next ones will be a little lighter. I'm still figuring out the camera and Photoshop so please bear with me. I'm sure this process will be going on forever, let's hope that we all see a little improvement over time, I'm thinking maybe a college course is in my future when it comes to taking pictures. What do you all think?

Not Me Monday.......

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not just go visit MckMama's blog and wish that I had something to share with everyone so that I could join in on "not me" Monday. Nope not me. I would never wish for something like that. And then I did not just sit at my desk, staring into space for 5 minutes, going over the last two weeks in my head and came up with nothing, I tell you nothing! Nope I would for sure not do that. I would never just stare into space and have nothing to show for it. NOPE!! definitely not me!!!

Hope everyone is having a great "not me" Monday, at least a much better one than I.

Love to All,

midRae

Where I Live.

This is where I live..........................and I love it. This is actually not a view from my front porch, but I sure would love for it to be, we live down in the valley. Our fair little city, Festival City, USA is perched just at the base of some really beautiful mountains. There are even cabins located in the big 'V', on the mountain, that you see in the middle of the picture, which are inhabited year round. That would be an even better place to live, except for all of the snow in the winter, I would definitely have to be a stay at home mom if I lived there, no way would I drive down in the winter.

As I said earlier I love where I live. It has the charm of a small town but it is also home to Southern Utah University, the Tony Award winning Shakespearean Festival, and so many other festivals that I would never be able to list them all. This past weekend they had the Skyfest, which is all about hot air balloons. I missed it, but my friend Brittany, who you can visit HERE, seems to have had a really enjoyable time with her cute little family.

I actually spent the weekend cooking, more on that wonderful culinary adventure later, which I forgot to take pictures of, but I will explain later. I didn't burn anything, not even my hand or fingers, and I did make my best ever pancakes to date, they have been a continuing saga of trying to get it right, which does not always work in my case. You know the middle child syndrome where we think more is better, I live by that a little to much when it come to cooking, not just in quantity but also in the measured amounts of the ingredients that I use.

But back to our fair city. I do really love it and I am ever so thankful that we moved here 6 1/2 years ago. The mountain that is above us each day has become a great and wonderful play ground to spend countless hours camping, fishing, hiking, and spending great family time together. We even got to spend a whole week camping this past summer, which I talked about in THIS post. As I said lots of family fun. I can not wait to get up their again real soon. The leaves are changing and I should be able to get some really great pictures. Wish me luck!!

Shopping in our little town is not so bad, but not so great either. We pretty much have only one Wal-Mart, no Target, and no K-mart. I really wish that we had a few more choices, but just a short 45 minute drive down I-15 and we can shop to our hearts content. I guess our town has just what it needs to be livable and lovable, but not so much that it gets to crazy to even think about stepping out your front door and attempting to drive in the traffic.

Did I tell you yet that I really love where I live?

Did I tell you yet that the best part about where I live is that my family is all right here, right where I can make sure that all is good in their worlds? Did I tell you that yet?

Love to All,

midRae

Going Green

Another point of interest on our awesome adventures this past weekend were the Windmill Field just North of Milford, UT. They are not operational yet but it is getting close. I was really excited about seeing them but then we got close to them and they weren't moving and I was not so impressed.

I wanted to take a couple of really good pictures to show how big they were but I seemed to not quite get it and then some helpful older gentlemen decided they wanted to be in the picture too.

I guess this guy was in charge of tours for the day and we went out of turn.

I guess he showed us, next time we will get permission.

Here is my favorite picture.

This was later in the day and clear across the valley to the West.

The mountains sit to the East of Milford, my mom and dad have a great view of them out their living room window.

Anyways, it was pretty cool to see.

Now I can't wait until they are going. It should be pretty impressive.

Love to All,

midRae

Nature's Greatness

This photo may not impress most but I love it.

This is an Pronghorn Antelope at full run,

close to 45 mph at this point,

turning on a dime as I snapped a picture. (lucky)

We tried real hard to keep up but as you can see he threw us a curve.

Isn't he beautiful?

Love to All,

midRae

Todd's Treasure

This past weekend, while on our adventures, midMan decided he wanted to get a Trilobite. So we traveled 32 miles west of Delta, UT and finally found the road we needed to take. We only found the road because of this big huge sign, we actually almost missed it because the road we were traveling was so long and so straight and so boring. midMan even said, "I'm gonna put the truck on cruise, just wake me up when we get there.'


As you can see from the sign we still had another 20 miles to travel, this time down a dirt road. The road was actually very well maintained, but gosh, we sure are traveling quite a long way for a Trilobite.

We finally reached the community dig site and away midMan went, he was in hunting mode. Now hunting mode is like walking down a tunnel and you see nothing but your quarry, whether that is a Deer, an Elk, a rabbit, or a Trilobite. midMan was definitely in the zone. tailEnd just stood back and watched as his dad pounded away at the rocks, no shovel needed. Actually tailEnd was trying real hard to supervise, but he soon gave up, just as I did, because when midMan is in the zone he does not take note of, or hear anything or anyone else. We just love him so much!!

JACKPOT!!!!!

and

TREASURE!!!!!
(even though it's only about the size of midMan's thumb nail)

midMan did better than tailEnd and I. I gave up, I wasn't feeling to good and it was hot. Poor, poor pitiful me. And tailEnd did find the shovel and was pretty excited about that, now he has a start to that pile of tools that all men have in their possession. midMan was excited about his Trilobite but I think next time we will plan on visiting the U-Dig Fossils site, find out information HERE, instead of just going to the community site.

Love to All,

midRae

So We Don't Forget.........

This Week's Topic
We're doing something a little different this week!
Sharing Main Dish Fall Recipes!
Soups, Casseroles...
Anything yummy we can eat for dinner!!

This is one of those recipes that is so easy and so yummy that it will always be a regular at our house. My family loves it and I am so glad that my Mother-in-law was willing to share. You taste it and you love it. I hope you all enjoy, my family sure does.

Grandma's Peach Cobbler

1 cup Milk

1 cup Flour

1 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Sprinkle of Salt

Mix together in a 7" x 11" baking dish.

Gently pour 1 large can of peaches over the top, you can use all of the juice or not, your choice. I like about 1/2 of the juice and I also cut the peaches up into smaller pieces. Sprinkle with Nutmeg, as much as you would like to season the peaches.

Melt 3/4 stick of butter and pour over the peaches.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes. It will be done when the top is golden brown.

It can be served warm with vanilla ice cream, my favorite, or you can eat it cold. It's really good either way.

Love to All,

midRae

The Power of Fear

This past weekend we visited the Topaz Internment Camp. I am sure that most of you are unfamiliar with what exactly the Topaz Internment Camp is so I will give you all a little history. I myself was a little amazed to learn about it, especially when I grew up only 75 miles south of it's location. I can remember back in school hearing a little bit about it but it never stuck with me. I hope that our visit has made an impression on tailEnd, seeing as how he had no clue that we had ever done anything like this in our country.


During WWII fear ruled our hearts, which is the truth in most cases of war. In our case the fear came from the fact that in our country there were a lot of Americans of Japanese ancestry, and Japan had just bombed Pearl Harbor. What to do?


Our government and the US Army, citing "military necessity", locked up over 110,000 men, women, and children in 10 remote camps. One of those camps was the Topaz Internment Camp located west of Delta, Utah.

As you can see it was a pretty desolate area located in a semi-arid desert where the temperatures can range from 109 degrees in the summer to below freezing in the winter. The camp opened on September 11, 1942, the 5th largest city in Utah at the time, although many barracks as well as the schools were not completed. The barracks, crudely constructed of pine planks covered with tarpaper as the only insulation, and sheetrock on the inside, provided little protection from the extreme living conditions. The camp housed over 8000 individuals.

As we explored the site we came across the ruin pictured above. The red sign states that this was the sewer and it is still a dangerous place, tailEnd wanted to look down the hole, we told him no. The white sign states that on 11 April 1943 James Wakasa, age 63, was shot by a guard when he was standing near the southwest section of the fence, which was just on the other side of this ruin. While reading on the Topaz Internment Camp website, which can be found HERE, I could find no reason as to why he was shot and killed. It is a good reminder of what fear can do to the human mind.

( We think this might be a well or part of the sewer)

These Americans, whom we placed in this internment camp, after much abuse and neglect, were asked by our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to volunteer to serve their country. 105 volunteers soon left Topaz for active duty. I find it almost unimaginable that these Americans choose to volunteer and serve and protect a country, and it's citizens, that did not show them the respect they deserved. What true Americans they are.


In 1976 the Japanese-American Citizen League erected a monument near the site of the camp. When we pulled up to the monument, we saw an older gentleman, clearly of Japanese decent, wiping a lot of tears from his eyes. What an impact, I had tears in my own eyes. It made you wonder, was it his dad that was interned here, or maybe his mother, or even himself. We made eye contact but I didn't feel that I should intrude, although I did want to apologize for what was done. My heart breaks for the people interned at this and all of the other camps. Fear can have so much power.


Fear. Such a little word.


Love to All,


midRae

Our Amazing Weekend Adventure

This past weekend, midMan, myself, and tailEnd went on an amazing adventure. This adventure entailed lots of driving, over 400 miles round trip, quite a bit of side roads, and a little bit of physical activity, with no relatives in site.

We saw a choice examples of nature's greatness and one choice example of the power of fear. We laughed and joked through many of our miles, and tailEnd only told me to 'Take a chill, mom.' a couple of times, and midMan only got mad at us a couple of times, too. We dug up some rocks, and wilted in the heat, but overall we had a great time and learned a lot on the way. Oh, and we also committed mass murder on about a million little yellow butterflies.

Updates to come shortly. I hope that you all enjoy them.

Love to All,

midRae

Mill Flat Fire, New Harmony, UT

midMan and I drove over to New Harmony this past Saturday. I just wanted to cry, it looked like the burned area kept going and going. It seems like the fire burned all the way to Pinto and all the way to the top of the mountain. Our thoughts and prayers really do go out to those who have been affected. If you look at the middle of the picture below you can see the town of New Harmony, just under the smoke line. Three homes were lost along with 12 out buildings, I think. And an amazing view was also lost, but thankfully no lives.

There is a trail that starts on the south west side of New Harmony and goes all the way to Pine Valley on the other side of the mountain. It usually takes quite a long time to hike, I think maybe a day, just guessing here. Anyways, in the spring we hiked up about 4 miles of the trail, it was so pretty, and what an awesome view of New Harmony, Kannaraville, the five Kolob Fingers and I-15. We had to turn back because we didn't even have water with us, it was just one of our many weekend explorations when we are usually completely unprepared, we did have drinks in the truck at the start of the trail, lota good that us. But we swore that we wanted to come back and see if we could hike up to the top. From what we could see, everything from the start of the trail to the top of the mountain has burned, we could even see the trail going through the burned area. I guess we could still hike it, maybe next year, but I am sure it is going to be nothing like it was in the spring.


Fire is necessary, but it sure can be devastating.


Love to All,


midRae

9/11/2001

May We Never Forget!

We need to also teach our children, lest they never know.

Love to All,

midRae

My Messy Place

OK, admit it. It's all right, you are not alone. We are all here for you.

I promise, we won't leave ya hangin.

Please, just admit it and you will feel so much better.

You have one to. We all have one.

And I am sad to say that it has become my kitchen table.

A ninth grade Freshman has claimed my table as his.
It is covered with Algebra, Biology, English, Spanish,

and even a football pad or two.

I think I saw a Chemistry book in there, too.

(Please disregard the Wasp Spray, up on top, we have been invaded.)

He won and I lost. It's OK I can admit it. I'm not OCD or anything.

Really I'm not, I promise.

But only until he graduates in four years, and then I swear

(which I try really really hard not to)

to you and the world,

I will reclaim what is rightfully mine!!!!

(laughing hysterically, near tears,with my fist clenched defiantly in the air)

Love to All,

midRae

So We Don't Forget

This week's topic is:


Tell us about your first house - after you were married.
OR
If you're not married, tell us a special memory about another house you lived in.

Come join in the fun.

Oh boy, what a topic, and did I wait for two long years for our first home? You betcha! (now who said that?)

When midMan and I got married we were both very very young and very unprepared. I was still in high school, with about three weeks to go, while midMan had graduated the year before. His family had just moved to my home town, where his grandma lived, after his dad had retired from the Air Force, and there were definitely no career choices or higher education available there. Needless to say neither on of us had a job, we didn't even have a car.

So on to married life.

We moved in with midMan's parents after I graduated and after they had found employment in another town. We lived with midMan's parents for the first two years of our married lives, amid many challenges, happy moments, and a few conflicts. I still have no idea how my mother-in-law put up with me. I've tried it and it is so hard to have a girl move into your home when you are used to being the only female in sight. My mom-in-law is an angel. It was a good thing that we lived with them for the two years though, they were able to finish raising us and give us a good start on being responsible adults.

So finally, after two years and the addition of our oldest son, all three of us living in one tiny little bedroom, midMan finally took the hints that his mom and I kept dropping and we finally found our own home. A cute two bedroom, one bath, brand new apartment. It was so exciting. I still had boxes and boxes of wedding gifts that we had yet to use. Image my excitement when we finally got to unpack.

Our first couch cost us $75.00 new and it felt like you were sitting on the rack in your refrigerator, I am not kidding, and we used that couch for 4 years. I was so glad to get rid of that couch. We also had two end tables that cost us $15.00 new, you know that wonderful pressed board that does not like to get wet, my sister is still using those two tables. With the addition of mom and dads old kitchen table, mom and dads old bed, mom and dads old dresser, and my brothers old crib and black and white 12 inch screen TV we were set. We had the wonderful pleasure of moving in all by ourselves, everyone else we knew were out of town. It wasn't so bad, we really did not have a whole lot to start with.

We finally got everything moved over to our new home, which was so cute and wonderful. It was perfect, the only problem we seemed to have was trying to remember the street name, 245 North Playa Della Rosita Drive. Could they make the street name any longer? I don't think so!

So off we go to the store. K-mart first for all of that wonderful cleaning stuff, the mop, the broom, and what ever else we thought we might need, including a shower curtain and rug. Then the plan was to go to the grocery store and pick up some food. Our first official shopping trip for our home. Yeah!! We were about to burst with the excitement, well at least I was, midMan probably could have cared less, he didn't like to shop much back in those days, but he sure loves to now. Anyways, here we are standing in line to make our first official-married-couple-for-our-first-home-purchase and the power goes out. Big big downer. And how dare the power go out, this is a very important moment in our lives. And K-mart was no help, they refused to take our money.

So off to the grocery store we went, which thankfully had a back-up generator, so that we could purchase our first food. I don't remember what food we bought but I am sure that it included soda, lots of soda like Mt. Dew, maybe a little milk for our oldest son, diapers, and baby food.

The power ended up being out for the whole night, so we pulled out the few candles we had, at this point in history people did not have candles in every room, and enjoyed a very quiet evening by candlelight. That apartment was so wonderful. We didn't have much but we did have each other and our cute little baby. Our family has grown a lot since that night, and I would not trade any of them for anything in this world. We have also moved a few more times since, but some days I think about going back to savor and enjoy the simpler times in our lives. That night was heaven on earth. Our first home together. Who could ask for more?

Love to All,

midRae

Motivation NOT Frustration

I need motivation, not frustration. It seems like lately I have been getting more and more frustrated and less and less motivated in my life. What gives? What is so completely wrong with me that I am unable to find motivation, me the one who always finds the bright side and pushes forward? Seriously, what is going on?


It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I hurt my knee a month and a half ago, while on vacation, and have been unable to work out on a regular basis since. Nope, can't be that. Wrong!!! I did not realize how much a person can accomplish when they are active and moving. I would start my days with good intentions and then by the end of the work day I just could not get motivated. I guess having just a little something wrong can have a big impact on your life, if you let it. And it seems that I have been letting it.


I went to the Dr. and he found that I have a rent or tear in the cartilage of my knee. It sounds like surgery will be in my future but not right now. I can deal with that. He also said that I could go jogging and do what ever I felt OK doing. I can really deal with that, too. I didn't realize that I was letting my fear and frustration of hurting myself more keep me from feeling good all over. Seriously, I was afraid I was going to hurt myself more by working out, and I am so excited to finally feel good and positive about working out.


I was so excited to workout that I decided to jog 2 miles Friday evening. I did so good, if I do say so myself, and motivation came to visit my house. I am not usually a jogger or a runner, I have never done either in the past and have always felt that I was just wasting my time, but this time was different. I do not know what was different but I managed to jog the whole two miles and not stop and walk at any time while doing it. And I wasn't gasping for breath either. MOTIVATION!!!


FRUSTRATION!!! I awoke Saturday morning with my knee being so stiff and sore, I just wanted to cry, throw my arms in the air, and lay flat on the floor kicking and screaming, only that would have really hurt my knee. Bummed was the word of the day. Yeah I know, I did to much to soon after not being able to really keep to a work out schedule for the past month and a half. But I really miss working out and I have gained a few pounds!! (said while stomping my feet gingerly, my knee still hurts)


Somebody or something please rescue me. I am feeling, as I said before, really really frustrated. I have decided that I will do the best I can and try my hardest to push myself just a little further each day, with the determination that I will overcome this obstacle and be triumphant here shortly. Encouraging words would be greatly appreciated.


Love to All


midRae

Freshmen Football

I really do not live and die, like some folks I know, for football. I enjoy watching it, but only if it is in person, not much into watching it on TV except for the Superbowl, and I'm sure that has a lot to do with the food. I went to all of the games in high school, but we all know why girls do that. Yup, we wanted to catch the eye of some cute guy and scream along with the cheerleaders, the whole time dreaming and wishing that it was us down their being the cheerleader. For a couple of years, my high school years number 6 because our school went from 7th grade to 12th grade, I was even on the drill team and a cheerleader.

OK............

Getting back to football, as you can tell I wasn't, nor am I now, a die hard fan that lives the whole year just for fall to come and football to start.

But then something happened. Can you guess what that something is? I bet each and everyone of you, who happen to have a child, could guess. Come on, think real hard. Oh, you already guessed? I knew you would. My baby is playing football and he loves it.

He loves coming home covered in bruises and big old red marks on his arms. He loves the camaraderie with his teammates and friends. He loves the recognition from his coaches, good or bad, because they build him up and help him to find that extra little push in himself which he didn't even know he had. He just loves it and I am so glad that he does.

Football has changed my little boy into quite a young man and has also reinforced our teachings of responsibility and respect. His coaches have also incorporated weight lifting with their practices so tailEnd is getting really strong, I mean really strong. Looking at the teams line this past Thursday, it looked like tailEnd had some of the biggest calves on the team, he's also one of the bigger players. I kid you not, he grew a least a foot in the past year and he wears a size 12 shoe, and he's only 14!

Their first games this past week was a real eye opener and a big learning lesson for the boys. tailEnd is number '77' if you were wondering. He got a few good tackles and he jumped the line once, but as I said they are learning. We have to give them all a break, after all they are only freshmen, and I am sure they will show us all how awesome they really are in the next few years. I'll keep you all posted on how the team progresses. Let's hope for a growing season.


Love to All,


midRae

PS.....Yup I definitely could turn into one of those sports parents, you all know the ones I'm talking about, the obnoxious ones, yup that could be me so easily.