September by the numbers

ZERO books read/finished...boo that! I am still working on The Forgotten Garden. Must read before 11 pm!
ONE fun Maroon5 concert with John.
TWO new songs purchased(Modern Love and Come On get Higher by Matt Nathanson)
THREE A. trips to Kings Beach in Lake Tahoe.
THREE B. the number of teeth that Garrett lost...expensive tooth fairy month.
FIVE more Merit Badges(two were Eagle) earned by Tanner and received at the Court of Honor.
SIX touchdowns scored by Tanner. It is his 1st time playing football.
SEVEN layouts were created.
EIGHT blog posts for the month.
NINE days of interval training have been completed. I completed each day at the time/speed my trainer challenged me to do. It was killer but I DID IT!!!!!
ELEVEN soccer games attended.
TWELVE cards created for a service auction.
FIFTEEN years of wedded bliss were celebrated.
TWENTY TWO Fit Club workouts attended(didn't miss a single one this month).
EIGHTY THREE.TWENTY FIVE miles logged(walking,running, intervals)

Feeling very thankful for another wonderful, fun filled month. I am so excited for Fall/October...my favorite time of the year, for sure!

Fifteen

Fifteen years ago, marks one of the happiest days of my life. I married my best friend, my everything. We were sealed in the Oakland (LDS) Temple for time and eternity. We were surrounded by family and friends. As I often think about the word eternity, it can sometimes feel very overwhelming. When I really stop and think about it, I am so thankful that I get to spend my life beyond this earthly life with John and the family we have created. What a blessing! Since that day, fifteen years ago, we have: laughed, cried, felt joy, mourned the loss of loved ones, witnessed the miracle of life(four times over), strengthened our marriage, grown(physically and spiritually),learned to be patient, tried to let go of those things that are just not that important, cheered each other on, made new friends, lost friends, tried new things, moved away from home, focused on careers while balancing home life, and have giggled ourselves silly with the inside jokes we share. Most of all(and most important), we have really enjoyed each other. I am looking forward to the next fifteen years + eternity. Happy Anniversary, my love!

spoiled rotten...

is exactly how I feel. John was away on business, all week. I missed him. The boys missed him. The overgrown grass in our front yard missed him-ha(more on that later). John got home late on Thursday night. I was so happy to have him home. When I woke up on Friday morning, he said, "I am not sure what you have going on today but just make sure you are home, packed and ready to go by 2 pm." He tried to leave it at that. I convinced him otherwise. A girl needs to know what to pack so she can be dressed appropriately, right? He caved and then told me that we were headed to Reno to see Maroon5 and that we would be spending the night in Lake Tahoe. What?????? Really?????? It was an early anniversary surprise. I was so excited. We don't get to get away very often, just the two of us. It is hard to ask family/friends to watch our children and then once they say "Yes" hand over the laundry list of places that they need to be. My sister in law Heidi told John she would watch them and get them all to their various destinations. SCORE! She is a saint.

I have always loved Maroon5, especially Adam Lavine. It wasn't until we were on the road that John asked, "do you want to know where our seats are?". He found tickets for the 8th row, on the floor. Our seats were amazing! Honestly, at that point, I did not care where we were sitting! I was sold at Maroon5 and a night in Tahoe with my one and only.



























We were close enough to see that one of his tattoo's read Mom-awwwwww :-)!















They opened the show with Moves Like Jagger and they shut it down with Hands All Over and an awesome rendition (with a ton of audience participation) of She Will be Loved. Again, it was an awesome show from start to finish. The entire crowd was on their feet for the entire show. I loved the pace of the show, they went from set to set and the energy was high. I also loved leaving the parking structure after the show, everyone had their windows down with their favorite Maroon5 song blasting from their ster-e-o.

We drove back towards Tahoe and spent the night in a little place right across from the lake.













We found a little cafe and enjoyed breakfast. We then enjoyed a beautiful drive around (part of) the lake. On our drive,we found our next home...until we saw the asking price. It was only 3.3 million-HA!

We spent the rest of the day lounging, reading, lunching and napping on Kings beach. It was a gorgeous Lake Tahoe day and it was just what we needed.













We came home to flowers,cards,a clean house(cleaner than I left it)and a front lawn that had been mowed in our absence. Even Aunt Heidi could tell that the yard had missed John while he was away on business :-).

p.s. I have decided that I am okay with the being spoiled rotten, every once in a while!

doing what I love

I am still scrapbooking. I am thankful for this creative outlet and for the job that I have. I came home from Green Tangerines with another stack of completed layouts. I LOVE that. I love putting those completed pages into our family albums. Here are a few of my recent Kit of the Week layouts for Green Tangerines.

Coyote of the Week

Carter was selected to be the Coyote of the Week in his classroom. The parents are asked to write a letter that will be read to the class. We sent in photos of Carter from birth up until now, highlighting his life. He was able to sit in the soft, comfy chair all week. At the end of the week, each classmate was asked to write a personal letter to Carter. Those letters were complied into a book that he brought home. It has been fun reading the very thoughtful, kind and funny letters.
Here is the letter we shared with his class.

Dear Ms. H. and the entire class,

It with happiness and a BIG smile on our faces that we write this little note about Carter. Carter was born on March 11, 2001. He was born in San Jose, CA. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, a perfect day to be born. When Carter was born, he had a full head of really dark brown hair. We called him our little Monchhichi. Monchhichis' were these cute little monkeys from a cartoon in the 1980’s. His hair was wild and crazy and perfect for his sweet little face. Everyone was jealous of his hair and long eyelashes. He was a happy baby and so easy to love. He lived in Campbell/San Jose until he was just shy of 2 years of age. We moved to Roseville four days before his 2nd birthday and have lived here ever since.

Carter has 3 brothers, one older(Tanner) and two younger(Garrett and Brody). No sisters. His full name is Carter John Krupp. The John is after his Dad, John. When Carter was a little boy, he would tell everyone that he had the same name as his Daddy. He was so proud to have John as his middle name.

Carter is a good friend to all of those that he comes in contact with. He is kind, caring, friendly, loyal and very thoughtful. Carter loves to play outside. We hardly ever find him playing video games. He would rather be out front playing baseball, riding his bike, throwing a football with his brothers or playing catch. Carter loves dogs and babies. We don’t have any pets but I am guessing that he will have several of his own when he is an adult. Carter is a big helper around the house. Out of our 4 boys, he is the one who never complains and gets his chores done. We LOVE that about him.

Carter loves ALL sports and is very athletic. He loves to play baseball, basketball and soccer. He can give you the play by play details about any sporting event that he has watched. He loves the San Francisco Giants and was so happy when they won the World Series. Carter’s nickname on the baseball field is Coach Krupp or Kruppy. His All Star coach said he would be the 1st player/coach in Little League history. He likes to cheer/coach his teammates on. His nickname on the basketball court is Nas-Car because of his speed. Carter just finished the 9-10 year old baseball All Star season. He played shortstop and pitcher. Carter and his team won the Northern California State title. It was a very exciting season with some very BIG wins. Carter knocked two home runs out of the ballpark during their Championship Title game. It will go down as one of the highlights of our 2011 Summer.

We are so happy that Carter is a part of our family. He has a great smile and a twinkle in his eyes. We are thankful for the example he is to all of us. We hope you all get the chance to know him better this year.

We love you, Carter!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Finally...

It is FINALLY Brody's turn to head back to school. It has been a long 3 weeks for this little boy...and for me. Ever since the big brothers returned to school, we have had the same daily conversation about when it would be HIS turn. The day has FINALLY arrived and he was all smiles.
















Brody picked out a new pair of kicks, got a new haircut w/spikes, decorated his bucket(portable cubby/backpack) and dressed himself in one of his new outfits. He was ready to go.






















The only thing left to do was wait for the 2 hours until school started -LOL! He was thrilled to see his favorites friends from the 3 year old class return to the 4 year old class. This may be or not be the girl he mentions every night during our happy and sads around the dinner table(part of his happy report,of course).














And we can't forget about his best buddy,Sam - aka Sambo.














We are excited for Brody and the opportunity he will have to learn and to grow this year. We know he will have an amazing year with his teachers and friends. As he tells us on a daily basis, "one more year of preschool and then it's off to kindergarten." This Momma is hoping that the year doesn't fly by...I am not ready for him to grow up. I am off to fill my 3 hours w/out kiddos with all things productive...do you think a nap falls under productive category:-)?

Labor Day 2011

We decided that there would be no Labor going on at our house today. It was a nice relaxing day. We enjoyed a yummy Labor Day BBQ with fun friends. There were 5 families with 13 children between the 5 families. 11 boys. 2 girls. Lots of splashing. Lots of laughter and squeals. Lots of food. Lots of new memories were created that will last a lifetime.




















Thank you to the Roberts Family for hosting a fun afternoon/evening.

lake day

One of our favorite Summer activities is to head to Lake Tahoe. This Summer flew by and before we knew it, the boys had started school. We realized that we had not enjoyed a day of play on the lake. On a whim, we decided to head to the lake. We were thrilled to have our friends, the Pinney's join us. It was a perfect California day. We spent the day playing in the water, fishing for crayfish, soaking up the sun, building sand castles, eating, reading books and enjoying each other. Perfect day in my book.