D.O.T.S. - Young Women In Excellence Style

***This file is no longer available! It died when my old laptop did.

We had a wonderful evening with the Young Women of our ward tonight! The theme for our Young Women In Excellence Program this year was Depend On The Savior. We had a DOT on the front door that simply told them where to go. They followed about 200 DOTS that we had sprinkled down the hallway for them to follow. This cute little table greeted them at the door.

Whether they had earned their Personal Progress award or not tonight, each girl had her very own DOT  that she shared with the group. If they were receiving their award, they shared with us what they had learned or loved about their Personal Progress journey. If they are still in the process of earning their award, they shared a project that they have completed and what they enjoyed/learned while completing it. We have some AMAZING Young Women in our ward. They NEVER cease to AMAZE me.

 After they read their DOT to the group, they placed it up on the chalkboard with the other DOTS.

WE had 3 Young Women earn their Personal Progress awards this evening. Bishop Brown spoke and likened the Young Women Personal Progress award to that of an Eagle Scout. These girls spend many hours working on Projects/learning new skills, bettering their lives and the lives of others. I am so very proud of Kylie, Hannah and Taylor(each one is one of my Laurels) for working so hard and earning their award this evening!

Each of the Young Women went home with their own picture of the Savior and a reminder of what we talked about this evening and what the D.OT.S. stood for.

Of course we can't have an activity without yummy treats. My friend, Amy made these darling, yummy (Dots if you will), mini bundt cakes with a cream cheese frosting! YUM!!!

Again, I am so proud of each one of these girls. They have strong testimonies. They know who they are. They have good standards that they uphold on a daily basis as they head out the door and  into the world each day! I am thankful for their sweet examples and kindness. I am so lucky for the simple fact that I get to rub shoulders with them on a weekly basis.

p.s. a HUGE shout out to my friend, Amanda who put a HUGE of time and energy to this wonderful evening! You ROCK, Amanda!

September by the numbers

1. book read (Silver Girl)

3. layouts created( Low #, I took a month off from the GTKC for Sept.).

6. Merit Badges were earned by Tanner (2 were Eagle required-YAY!!!).

11.  years since 9-11. So many  thoughts and memories AND thankfulness for all of those who helped others and for those who lost their  lives that day!

13. blog posts recorded for the month.

15. new songs were purchased(new Alanis Morissette album -LOVE it), Pink (Blow), Taylor Swift(Ronon and We are Never Getting Back Together), and Dave Matthews Band- Mercy).

16 a. years and counting of wedded bliss for the Mr. and I.

16 b. My nephew Kai turned sweet 16. Can't decide if he is old or if I am getting old???

17. TRAIN songs heard LIVE *sigh* it made me so happy!

19.soccer games were played by the boys and watched by the fans :-)

22. hours was all we needed to escape/feel re-energized.

139.75.  miles were logged this month.

WIWS - What I Wore Sunday

Here is the 2nd installment of WIWS. This is kind of fun! It is making me want to go shopping...ALL OF THE TIME! I am sure John will love that!

Today's outfit is another TJ MAXX find. I am a new fan of TJ MAXX, ROSS and MARSHALL'S. I have always been a MACY*S girl but when you have to rebuild your entire wardrobe, you need a few stores that are a little more budget friendly. It doesn't hurt or as John would say, "Help" that TJ MAXX is right in my direct path of soccer drop off/pick up for 2 of our 4 boys.

The shirt(it is a super soft cotton t-shirt) was $9.00 and the skirt(Black, grey, white and blue stripe) was $20.00. It is super comfortable AND happens to be John's favorite shade of blue :-). My necklace and bracelet were found at New York and Company. I happened to score those on a random 50 percent off the entire store day. I love me some bargains. The shoes are black sandals that I have had forever. They will be retired at the end of this warm weather.

Again, let me know if you decide to play along. I would love some inspiration.

Game #4

A little secret behind the 22 hour escape for our Anniversary. When you have 4 active boys who are all playing soccer right now you can't (guilt free) ask someone to watch your kids and then produce a laundry list of the various places/games they need to be at. We decided to enjoy a quick escape and planned on being back in time to get everyone to their Saturday games.

Yes, I know!!! Game #1 usually comes before game #4. When you have 4 boys playing soccer on any given Saturday, there is no guarantee whose game I am actually going to get to watch. The 3 older boys are all playing at the Comp./ Select levels so they are all over town and out of town. This is Brody's first season of soccer. He has literally been counting down the days until it would be his turn to play. John is helping coach Brody's soccer team this year and that usually means he gets to see all of Brody's games. The first game I got to see Brody play in, I showed up to the fields with a dead battery. Oh the disappointment! Game #4 would be the next one I would get to see and I made sure the battery was charged.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the game. Brody will show up to most games wearing the Goalie jersey and ask coach if he can be the Goalie! He loves it!

 Here is Brody nailing the ball right into the goal(#21). He kicked it so hard he fell down.

We have a team GOAL jar. When the kids score a goal, we add quarters (or whatever you amount you choose). I overhead one of the Dads say>|< " At this rate, our team party is going to be held in Vegas." The kids have scored quite a few goals so far. FUN!

 He is having the time of his life. We believe it is all he had hoped it would be AND more.

22 hour Anniversary escape

Yes. You read that right. 22 hours was all it took to enjoy some serious quality time with my one and only. For our anniversary get away, John had some fun things planned. He surprised me with concert tickets to see TRAIN in Reno.  This is the 2nd year in a row that we escaped to Reno for our anniversary! Some people might assume that Reno is our spot. Rest assured, it's not. There just  happened to be two concerts, two years in a row that we wanted to attend. We saw Maroon 5 last year!

We hit the road and enjoyed listening to the TRAIN set list that I downloaded from a previous concert over the Summer. It got us pumped up for our show!  A beautiful car ride over the Sierra's with my love, no kiddos and some good tunes. What's not to love??? We checked into our hotel, The Alantis. While it was a really nice place to stay, I still can't EVER get over the smoking in the hotels. We had a non-smoking room which was fabulous, it is just the getting in and out of places with all of the smoke. Blah! I am just not a fan of my hair and clothes smelling like smoke. The state of California did something right when they banned that years ago.

After checking into our hotel, we headed out for some lunch. Nothing fancy. We had sandwiches. I was trying to be good while away and I was. I ended up losing 2 lbs. this week :-). After lunch, we headed back to our hotel. We took a nap and watched the end of the Giants game. We agreed that is was just nice to be together without our brood in tow :-).

For dinner, we tried (again for the 2nd year in a  row) to eat at the Steak House in Reno. I had eaten there a while back while on a road trip to and from Utah with my Mom and Grandma and Grandpa Shore. I am not a big red meat eater but the steak dinner I had was soooooo good. John, on the other hand, loves red meat. I knew he would love this place. We showed up at 4:45 right when it opened. There was already an hour and half- 2 hour wait. We would be seated around the time our concert should be starting. We had to come to figure out a back up plan. We decided on The Outback Steak House that we had passed going to and from our hotel. Dinner was yummy and then we were off to the concert.

Andy Grammer and Matt Kearny were the opening acts for TRAIN. While we didn't think we knew who either of them were, we were happy to discover that we had heard one of Andy's songs. He sings Keep Your Head Up. I actually ended up really liking him and his music. So much so that I downloaded a few of his songs in between acts. Gotta love modern day technology AND new music. Check out his songs Fine By Me and a cover of Rhianna's We Found Love.

TRAIN was amazing. I have always loved them. They have some fun music. Some  of my all time favorite songs EVER are by TRAIN! The lead singer, Pat Monahan was awesome! Very charming and funny! We had 10th row seats on the floor, so the view wasn't too shabby. Some of my favorite songs that were performed were Meet Virginia, Bruises, Marry Me  and California 37. All of the songs were awesome! It was a fantastic concert and an even better evening spent with my sweetie!

 (see Pat signing autographs right behind me :-)? So close!)

On our way out of Reno, we decided to drive up to the Reno Temple. Neither of us had ever seen it in person! Like all LDS Temples, it was beautiful and very peaceful. It is definitely one of the smaller Temples but still gorgeous.

Happy 16 years of wedded bliss. Thank you for making me happy!

After School Sports - Carter

Carter has been part of the Cross Country team. He has stayed after school, Monday - Thursday, logging miles around the school campus and the neighborhoods around the school. You have to give all of the runners big props. The average temperature  has been 98-100 degrees...very HOT! Carter runs as a 6th grader against 6th and 7th grade boys. Carter participated in 6 Cross Country meets, running against other boys, from other schools in our area. On most meet days, there were 168 boys in his age bracket. Carter placed anywhere from 15th-20th place. WOW! We are so proud of him and wonder where he came from??? John and I are kind of shocked that we have a runner :-). Who knew??? Carter just learned that he qualified for the FINALS. He will get to run against the top runners from each of the other schools. Good luck, Carter. Run like the wind!

 One of the biggest reasons I love that our boys are involved in after school sports/activities in general, is for the  wonderful friendships they are making. They are building friendships that will last a lifetime and are continually learning  how to be part of something bigger than themselves.

After School Sports - Tanner

Tanner and Carter are loving their after school sports. They couldn't help themselves. They had to add a little more craziness to their extra curricular activities. I think, they think that my calendar was looking a little dull.
Tanner has been playing Flag Football. He loves it. He was the quarter back and a middle line backer. His coaches refer to him as the 4th coach. While the  Bears  may not have had a winning season(lots of new players-1st timers), Tanner gave his heart and soul to the game and that is all that matters.

WIWS - What I Wore Sunday

I have seen a few of my favorite bloggers do a post called WIWW - What I Wore Wednesday. Their posts have inspired me to mix things up in my own wardrobe. I am also trying to get inspired to blog again and I thought it would be fun to document my new (growing,piece by piece ) Sunday wardrobe. Since I have shed a few lbs., I have had more fun shopping for church clothes instead of everyday clothes. Go figure! Here is today's outfit, my first WIWS.

My dress was found @ Ross for $12.00 - SCORE( For that price, I had to purchase the grey one too. I am sure you will see it soon -LOL).
The tank top was found @ Old Navy, on clearance for $3.99.
The cardigan was found at Target, on sale for $15.00.
The necklace is an oldie but goodie! Who knows where it came from...it has been so long.
The shoes were found at TJ Max, on clearance for $30.00.

If you feel inspired to play along, let me know so I can check you out :-)!

Tradition

One of our favorite, yearly traditions with the Young Women is to head over to the Sacramento Temple for pictures. Our friend, Angela is so wonderful about sharing her photography skills/talent with us. She makes the girls feel like a million bucks! We spent about an hour, getting the perfect shots of the girls. We totally had their undivided attention until they learned that Jimmer Fredette was on the Temple grounds, preparing to give an fireside -LOL!  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the evening!

I am so thankful for these wonderful ladies. I get to work/serve along side of them in the Young Women's Program. They are amazing, talented, kind, strong, selfless and beautiful...inside and out!

16 years and counting!

Today, John and I  celebrate 16 years of marriage!
I say this often and I will say it again, I am so happy to have John by my side as we enjoy this roller coaster ride we know as OUR LIFE. I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to spend each day with him. We are a good match. He tends to be the calm to my craziness(crazy in a good. productive way). He is the Ying to my Yang. The Peanut Butter to my Jelly. He is the sunshine on a cloudy day. He is my ONE and ONLY!He works so hard to provide for our family. He is a great Dad and a fabulous husband. I had a friend who would tell her husband about the nice, kind, wonderful, fun things that John would do for me and for our family. When she would relay them to her husband, his response was "Well, you should have married John Krupp!" That comment would make me laugh every time and and make me realize how lucky I was/am. How did I get so lucky??? Our actual anniversary day(today) was filled with shuffling kids around town. We attended Tanner's Flag Foot ball game, Carter's Cross Country meet and Garrett's soccer practice. We have plans for next weekend, already penciled in on our calendars. We can't wait to celebrate then!

Life of a Scout

We attended a Court of Honor for all of the Scouts in our ward. These boys are all working hard AND they never cease to amaze me with what they can accomplish. They are so busy with school, homework, sports and scouting. We are very proud of Tanner. He earned/received  the LIFE scout rank tonight and 6 merit badges. Woot-Woot. He is on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout.

The Moms earn a pin each time the boys advance a rank! You know the saying "Behind every Eagle Scout is an awesome Mom"...or something close to that :-). I say "It takes a village!"
P.S. Yes, I know! Tanner is now officially taller than me-wahhhhhaaaaaa!

Carter advanced a rank too! He is now a Tender Foot. The Boy Scout program is new to him this year and he is busy working  on a few Merit badges. We are proud of him, too!