The Mitchell's

5th Grade Science Fair

2011-05-10T21:15:00.005-06:00

Marquel had the opportunity (alright had to) participate in the Science Fair this year. She choose Orbeez. Orbeez have been used since the early 1930's. They are still used today in plants, table decorations, and kids grow them, play with them, and in our case they are sitting in the kitchen. It was a lot of fun to watch Marquel try different experiments with the orbeez. Crazy to think they are the size of a pin when you start to grow them and then end up the size of your pinky.
Marquel didn't place in the fair, but when I asked her if she was sad that she didn't she said "Heck NO!" I don't want to do this again. He project was very popular with the other kids, and even had parents asking where they could buy them.
Way To Go Marquel! You did great! :)

You Learn

2011-05-06T09:42:00.002-06:00

Just a really neat poem, that I came across while I was surfing the net. Isn't it amazing when looking for answers you sometimes find them in the craziest places. I love the lessons that can be learned from this poem.

You learn.

After a while you learn the subtle difference

between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

and company doesn’t mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

and presents aren’t promises,

and you begin to accept your defeats

with your head up and your eyes open

with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

and you learn to build all your roads on today

because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans

and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

that even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,

instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure.

That you really are strong.

And you really do have worth.

And you learn. And learn.

With every good-bye you learn.

- Jorge Luis Borges

How I want people to feel

2011-05-05T10:24:00.000-06:00

Yes. This is how I would like people to feel around me…

Sometimes you meet somebody who just exudes contentment and you feel happy and safe with them, as if all is okay in the world and you lack nothing. Everything is easy and you are fully accepted as you are, no matter who or what you are. These people make us feel whole and good about ourselves.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

2011-04-24T08:47:00.001-06:00

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you all have a Great day Love the Mitchell

Christmas 2010 in photos

2011-04-03T18:53:00.003-06:00

As like every year, we travel to both Troy's parents and then to my parents. This year we had just as much fun, getting to see Santa, open gifts, and eat lots of food. Christmas is such a fun time to be able to spend time with family! Love the holidays!

Feeding the Deer

2011-04-03T18:40:00.002-06:00

At the cabin we always seem to have quite a few deer stop by and eat the deer food that we leave out for them. Infact that eat so much of it that we now have a small herd that are permanent residence. Marquel and Troy love going out every morning to see what the deer had ate, and if they need to leave some more feed. One this specific morning Marquel and Troy went to feed the deer only to find that all of the deer food was gone. Marquel decided that she would leave a special treat for the deer. An APPLE! (Now deer don't usually eat apples, but these deer were special, and they did eat the apple) With eating the apple Troy had the bright idea to put out a salt lick. So off to IFA to buy a salt lick and then to set it out and wait and watch to see if the deer will try it.

First Time

2011-04-03T17:57:00.007-06:00

When January rolled around Troy had made the decision to pursue a new career in Welding, so moved himself up to Manti to attend Snow College, while he is loving Snow College and life as a student he is really missing family life. Marquel and I try and go up at least twice a month and then go and do something fun. On this particular trip we decided to take a walk out on the ice! This was Marquel's first time! We were able to see people ice fishing and hear the ice shift and move under our feet! We had such a GREAT time!

I have what?

2011-04-02T08:42:00.019-06:00

So I went to the Eye Doctor for a check up and to get a new pair of these. Ended up finding that I have these.. My first thought was WOW! I have had a hard time with depth perception, and things have been getting blurry lately, but I was just thinking that my stigmatisms were getting worse, so to find out that I have cataract's was a shock. The Dr. said that the type of cataracts that I have look like there is an orange peel on the my eye, the dibbles in the orange peel look like black little dots that prevent my eye from being able to focus clearly. My options: Eye Surgery, which after the surgery I will loose almost all of my vision up close. When my eyes get so bad that glasses help my site I will have the surgery. Could be 6 months down the road, could be 2-3 years. As for now. I will be wearing these.

All-Stars 2010

2010-06-21T16:18:00.006-06:00

Marquel was choosen to play on the Cedar National All-Star Softball Team. She was up north when I heard the news and so I called her right away. Marquel was so excited that she cut her visit short and headed back home to start practicing with her new team. They started practicing a week before the games were to begin and Marquel loved every minute of it!

The games began on June 17th. CN was to face off with Washington. They had a rough first inning with Washington scoring 9 runs. All I could think was this was going to be bad... But the girls came back and scored 10 and ended up winning the game with a score of 19-9! They played Awesome!!

Winning the first game put us in the championship bracket and gave us a friday game bye. Play resumed Saturday morning with us playing Enterprise. Enterprise's team was a great little team and beat us by 10. We were then faced to play Cedar American. We beat Cedar American with a score of 14-9 and then had to play Enterprise for the championship. In order for us to take the championship we would need to beat Enterprise twice. The girls went out there playing hard and better than the early game but still came up short. Losing to Enterprise by a score of 7-4.

All in all it was a Great tournament and Marquel had a blast! She played short-stop, 2nd base and left field! She loves short stop and 2nd the best. Her batting was awesome, and she worked hard! Infact she worked so hard that a club coach invited her to come and practice with the local travel team. She is excited about that and will start practicing with them next monday!

Stealing 2nd

Giving a Cheer after beating Washington 19-9

Close up... Down and Ready

Playing Short-stop

Throwing a girl out at 1st

Getting ready to run home

Congrats Marquel and Cedar National on a Great Tournament!!

Sleep-Over

2010-06-20T07:16:00.006-06:00

Welcome to Grandma and Grandpa's Tahlia! This past week we were able to take Tahlia for a sleep over, It was lots of fun and I do believe that Marquel was in Heaven!! Marquel loves to take and babysit this little one, she packs her arounds, feeds her, bathes her, and will even put her down for a nap... If Only I could get her to change diapers (lol) Marquel was a big help... Thanks Marquel
I had totally forgot how hard having a little one around is and how much work they really are. Waking up 3 times a night, diaper changes and never enough time to get the house clean. Wow! I guess I have found and love my independence, and for awhile thought that I would love another little one around. My thoughts have changed. I will take this little one and then be able to return her to her mom.
Thanks Ange for letting her come and stay we had a blast!

Tahlia is strating to walk, so she would take a couple of steps and then regain her balance and clap... So Cute Yea!!

I believe bath time was her favorite. She was splashing and laughing

Splashing and Laughing!

Summer Time and Life is.... Well...

2010-06-12T13:53:00.007-06:00

School has been out for 2 weeks now and life has been crazy busy! I thought that once school was out you were to kick back, and relax. I have been mistaken though, as life here at the Mitchell's has not slowed down.

I had the opportunity to travel with a group of 8th graders from the middle school back to Washington D.C. It was an amazing trip with lots of sight seeing and lots of laughs. Let me back up a little: All of us teachers were eating lunch in the faculity room a couple of months ago and one said. I have an extra spot for the D.C. trip, Teresa would you like to come? I of course jumped on the opportunity and started helping with the plans. School ended on the 28th of May and we flew out on the 30th. We spent a week in the Nations Capital and was able to see many many things. We went to the Air and Space Smithsonian, the Native American Smithsonian (my personal favorite) The Natural History and American History Smithsonian's. We were also able to go to Ford's Theater were Pres. Lincoln was killed and then off to see all of the memorials. (Which were amazing!) I loved the WWII Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and of course Hiro Shima, Korea, and Vietnam Memorial's. They were all amazing. We were able to take a tour of the White House which was way cool and then on to Arlington National Cemetery. (another favorite of mine.)

We visited the Capital, more memorials, and then on Thursday we took the kids to Busch Garden's. This place is amazing holding more than 8 rollercoasters, water rides and lots of fun for the kids. Friday before leaving we were able to go and see the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill or Rights! All original documents and a must see at least once. It was now time to board another plane and fly home with a two hour layover in Georgia, we were figuring a nice relaxing trip home.... Wrong! It was raining in Georgia so we had to fly down to Knoxville TN to refuel the plane. By the time we take off from Knoxville our connecting flight was supposed to be leaving for Vegas, stressed and tired we were able to find out that the airlines delayed our connecting flight and we were able to board it and head for home. We arrived home just after 4:00 in the morning. Exhausted. But not wanting to trade the experience for anything in the world. Thanks Jen for inviting me... I will travel with you any where! :)

Well, that was last week and this week has been nearly as crazy, from picking Marquel up in Manti, to getting her ready for All-Stars softball! She had a great softball season as was choosen to play on the all-star team. I am excited to watch her and know she will do great! Great Job Marquel!!

With only 10 weeks left of summer, I am wondering if it will slow down at all! I have classes that I am scheduled to take this summer, getting lesson plans ready for next year, and just heard I may be going to girls camp! Whew.... I am already exhaused! It's going to be great... I'm really ready for a quick trip up the mountian to shoot my bow, or through a line out to catch a fish.. Maybe we can fit it all in!

Wow! This is a long post

2010-02-15T16:51:00.008-07:00

Well can you believe that I am really updating my blog..

Through Troy's Camera lens winter sure is BEaUtiFUl, but the winter days have lasted long enough! and I am having the winter blah's. I mean old man winter has really been turning on the cold! As soon as I feel like I am going to be able to get outside and do something another rush of winter falls upon us! This weekend all it has done is snow, so I have once again found myself inside our house, either staring at the computer or working on a puzzle. Enough about that though.. With that being said I have decided that I need to find a way to make life a little more fun, and not so drab.. These winter blah's are affecting everything I do; from teaching to being at home with my family. I don't want to do anything other than sit and veg with a good book or watch a little tv. I have got to get out of this "funk" I think "maybe I should start exercising again, or pull out my scrapbook stuff" yet all I find myself doing is nothing... It's unacceptable, and I have got to change....

Alright I am off my soap box, and Iwill now give you the lighter side of life... If there is a lighter side :) Kayla has decided to move out. She packed up her stuff with a couple of friends and is now out to see the real world! I am excited for her, yet worry about her hoping that she will make it! I think Troy is really worried about this, he is trying to put on a smile but down inside I can tell he is really sad that she is old enough to be on her own. Marquel is still keeping me busy, busy, busy.. Between gymnastics and school, and all of her friends it's an endless chase, but I wo would not change it for the world! Troy is out looking for work and still taking some amazing pictures with his camera. I'm not going to lie... He is one of the best around, but don't take my word, I will post some of his winter stuff and let you see for yourself. Tahlia is growing up so fast! She is 5 months old now... She is sitting up and rolling over! she is so much fun! Just wish we could see more of her.

Well, I sure have had a lot to say and have probably bored a lot of you.

Isn't this little girl just precious! I just love her!

SceNtSy

2009-11-15T20:16:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I am a Scentsy Distributer! I am really excited about it! If you would like to hold a party give me a call, I will go anywhere.. So even if you are living in Utah County, Salt Lake or St. George... I am your girl! Let me know :)
If you need any products you can visit my scentsy website at www.scentsy.com/mitchell or you can leave me a message and I will get what you need! I would love to help you out!

February Specials: We're making room for our new Spring/Summer merchandise, so all single items in the Fall/Winter catalog are 10% off in the month of February!
Take advantage of our End of Season sale by hosting a Scentsy party! Everyone will want to stock up on their favorite scents that are being discontinued!
Discontinued *ScEnTs*
African Mahogany
Bourbon
Boysenberry Moss
Bubblegum
Christmas Tree
Coconut Citrus Parfait
Coconut Macaroon
Coffee Shop
Cozy Fireside
Grapefruit Berry
Holiday Chai
Holiday Kiss
Key Lime Cookie
Olive Wood & Cypress
Poinsettia Pine
Pomegranate Ice
Raspberry Danish
Red Berry Tea
Red Chili Masala
Snowberry
Spiced Grapefruit
Spruce & Citrus
Winter Wonderland
Taj Mahal

Fall Colors and a short update

2009-10-04T16:07:00.006-06:00

Not a lot of words can describe the colors that we are able to enjoy during the fall. I love to take long rides in the mountains just to look and enjoy the beaty that God has created. Here are just a few shots that Troy took while he and Kayla were deer hunting this year! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Life has been so crazy for us here at the Mitchell home, fall has come and that means that school has started and volleyball is in full swing. Marquel has gone back to gymnastics and Troy and Kayla have started hunting again. I alwasy welcome fall, but by the end of October am completely exhausted! Ange's baby is growing faster than we can all imagine, and love when we are able to visit with Ange, and spoil that little baby rotten! She is coming upon her 3 month mark, and growing so fast! We love having her.Other than that, not a lot going on... Hopefully when October is over I will be more on the ball with my blogging updates... But for now this is going to have to do!

Happy Fall everyone!! :)

Simply Adorable!

2009-08-12T13:14:00.003-06:00

Yesterday Troy's phone rang at 6:00 am. I jumped up to answere it to hear Angelina's voice on the other end. "Teresa, my water broke, I am on my way to the hospital." I stammered a couple of things, hung up and then told Troy.

This is how our tuesday morning began. Troy called into work and said that he would not be coming in. They asked why and he said.. "Cuz I'm going to be a Grandpa today!" On the other end I heard a whoop, and a great big congrats! Troy got ready for the day and headed out the door. He had to be there.. I couldn't go, because I was right in the middle of volleyball tryouts, so I had to recieve information via the cell phone! But told Ange that I would be down as soon as volleyball was over. (Darn the two a days, right?) Troy called me with the news that at 2:30p.m. give or take Ange had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was perfect, and adorable. I was so excited and wanted to so badly to be able to jump in my car to see her, but had to wait until after my final session of tryouts! 5:00 p.m. could not come fast enough!

5:00 finally got here and I was off to St. George. I was going to see my grand-daughter. (now that sounds weird... but kinda cool too!) I got to the hospital around 6:15. I was so excited to see her, but would be put off a little longer, why you ask... Because Troy and I got lost in the hospital. Couldn't find her room and actually ended up on the wrong side of the hospital floor... But that is another story! We walked in to see Ange holding her beautiful daughter while she was sleeping. I couldn't resist.. I washed my hands and asked if I could hold her. She was so tiny, and precious... What an incredible miracle! I held her in my arms and watched her sleep and pull little faces, she at one time even stuck her tung out while pictures were being taken.

Ange and baby are still at the hospital, while test are being run to make sure all is well with Tahlia. She is having trouble breathing, which is resulting in her not wanting to eat. As far as we know all is going to be fine. I can't until they are home with clean bills of health. Troy and I believe they will go home tomorrow.

Tahlia Marie

7lb 11oz 19 1/2 inches long

Simply Adorable

Check It Out

2009-08-02T16:58:00.006-06:00

Saturday night Troy's friend Dave invited us up to his property on top of Cedar Mountain. Our plan was to get a couple of steaks, bbq, and shoot the bow's on Dave's small target range.

Let me tell you I was so excited. I have wanted to learn to shoot a bow for quite some time. Troy is an excellent shot and has been taking Kayla out to shoot. Marquel has wanted to shoot also, so Troy found her a small bow that she can begin to learn on, and I, well, I don't have a bow. I wanted to shot one just to see if I would like the sport. I got to shoot one arrow... Wow!! It was awesome! Only one problem.... I SHOOT LEFT HANDED!!! And knowone has a left handed bow. So while shooting right handed, I could not see the sights, so I just pulled back, and let an arrow fly! Sunk that arrow right into a tree... It was AWESOME!! I couldn't tell what I was shooting at, but loved the rush... I am not wanting to find and buy a left handed bow.

The one and only arrow I shot! Am I good or what... I should tell you the target was about 10 feet away from where my arrow landed... Oops. ;)

Our adventure didn't end there, Troy taught Marquel to shoot, and she absolutly loved it! Infact, she shot for a good hour, Troy also did some shooting and lived up to my expectation! He is an amazing shot!

Marquel learning the art of shooting a bow!

Her first shot.

Reload!

2nd shot! Looking good!

Arrow successfully hitting target!! Way to go Marquel!

My amazing husband!! Shooting like a Pro!

Dinner was Great! and the company was AwESomE! Thanks Dave for letting us come. As for my bow. I will be sure to keep you all posted:)

Mitchell History Tour

2009-08-02T13:53:00.007-06:00

Troy's cousin came down on Friday to visit the places that her and Troy's great-great grandfather had been, Their family were some of the original founders of Parowan. We had a lot of fun re-visiting these places. Thanks Marcie and James for coming down and spending time with us!

All of us in front of the "old rock church" in Parowan

Artifacts that were Troy and Marcie's gg-grandparents. Donated to the "old rock church".

Troy and Marcie on the road where their gg-grandfather was killed while bringing logs down the mountain.

James and Marcie at the headstone of her GG-Grandpa

Marcie showing us how big Dinosaurs really were!

Troy out at Parowan Gap

Marcie next to some petroglyphs out at Parowan Gap

The painting bug

2009-07-26T13:53:00.004-06:00

Since I painted my bathroom and I thought that it turned out so cute, I thought I would take up another challenge... Paint Marquel's bedroom! To take it one step farther, I thought I would paint some stripes on her wall, easy, right? Well, it wasn't that hard, just took a lot of time! I still need to add the chair rail but, so far I am really pleased with the end result.

Marquel has been staying with my parents and my brother Jared and his wife Traci for a week, so she hasn't seen the results. I sure hope she loves the new look of her room!

Getting Married

2009-07-26T13:29:00.006-06:00

So I am really excited to show off these photo's that Troy and I took of Craig and his cute bride to be Erin a couple of weeks ago. Now if Craig finds out that I did a post on him he will kill me so lets keep it on the DL. I just had to share though.

They are getting married on August 22, 2009. I am so excited for him. Erin is great and her and her two adorable boys fit right into the family!

FaTHerS Day Weekend

2009-06-22T12:56:00.008-06:00

For all of you that have been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to hear if Troy has been able to go back to work... I have GREAT NEWS!! He is working again! Has been for the past week. He is surveying again for Rosenberg in St. George!! We are so happy that they were able to re-hire him.. Unemployment is the pits! :(

For Fathers day we spent the weekend up at the cabin. All Troy wanted for a presant was "salt licks" that he could put out for the deer and elk, so, that is what he got. 6 salt licks. As for getting them place in the strategic postions, I will just say three have been placed.

Sunday Troy and I decided to take the 4-wheelers for a little ride up 6 mile canyon. Check out 6 mile pond and just get away. Since it had been raining all week we knew we were going to get a little muddy, but thought it would be fun anyway. We set out at about 11:00 in the morning totally enjoying our ride when we looked up and noticed some huge thunder-bumpers. Oh well, we thought and continued to the pond. As soon as we got to the pond the rain began to come down. (If any of you have been up 6 mile, you know you must get down fast cuz the roads become a slippery mess. ) We started down the road, and within 15 minutes the rain had stopped. We arrived back at the cabin, with just a little mud on our machines.... Alright A LOT!! It took Troy an hour and a half to get all the mud off.

So Happy Fathers Day Troy! It was a great day! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Bathroom Makeover

2009-06-14T15:36:00.003-06:00

A couple of months ago, I decided that I was tired of our bathroom, and felt like I needed to do something about it. The quickest way to refresh a room is new paint, so I went to Home Depot, (Now, I have never painted before, so I went and picked out some color samples, and a book on painting.) After much looking and reading on painting, I went and had the paint of my choice mixed. Next I was going to need the painting tools. There are so many tools to pick from, but I finally settled on a roller, and some sponge brushes, a paint tray and some painters tape. I was now ready to paint my bathroom.

After three days of painting and some serious clean up here are the results! I absolutly love the look of my bathroom. Now I do believe I am ready to move onto a bigger room! Just need to settle on a color!

Before the paint, boring white

Taping off the doors

First coat around the tub

Finished! I two toned the doors and just love them.

I finished off the bathroom with a great vinyl thought

Costa Vida Ranch

2009-06-03T15:46:00.002-06:00

So, a few months back, Troy and I were craving Costa Vida Ranch! There is a dish that I make, a simple one at that, called Chicken and Rice. Well, the dish just needed a pick me up so we began searching for the missing ingredient. Come to find out it was Costa Vida Ranch!! Now you can find it in our fridge daily.
I thought I would share the yummy recipe with all of you:

Copy Cat Costa Vida Ranch

1/2 jalepeno (seeds and all... Unless you don't like it real hot!)
1 clove garlic
1 tomatillo
1 handful cilantro
1/3 lime (zest and juice)
1 cup milk
1 cup mayo
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch mix

Blend all ingredients except the mayon in the blender until all green is very tiny
Add blended ingredients to bowl with may and whisk
Chill

On occassion I will add green onions (chives) I think it gives really good flavor. And if you are like Troy and I and don't know what a tomatillo is. It is a small green tomato! Hope you enjoy it! We sure do..

~Chunky Watch Bands~

2009-05-26T21:16:00.006-06:00

School is out for Summer!!

And so I thought that I would need a summer project... That summer project is watch bands.!! I am making and selling ~ChUnKy WatCh BaNdS~ Here are a few that I have already made. If you like them and are interested leave me a message and I will get back to you!
The Bands are $20.00 and the Faces are $10.00 I have white, silver, black and brown faces!

~Tribute to Troy~

2009-04-05T18:13:00.007-06:00

This is a short tribute to my hubby!

For those of you that follow our blog I have not mentioned that Troy has been out of work for 6 months! With the down economy and construction at a stand still there has not been a big need for surveyors.. So Troy has been searching for a new career. Well, he has found a new career in driving truck! He will graduate from Southwest Applied Technology College on April 14th! then be leaving on April 20th to train and drive for SWIFT! He is so excited to start!! We both know that a truck drivers life is tough. We will not see each other for about 6 weeks, it's going to be hard... But are ready for the challenge.

I am so PROUD of him! For the decision he has made and the excitement he has in persuing this new career!!

I love you Troy!!!

Long ago

2009-04-05T17:30:00.010-06:00

Friday Troy came home from school and said there were some really neat things that he wanted to show me out at Parowan Gap. ( I couldn't imagine what he would want to show me, for we have been out there tons of times! When we want to go on a short bike ride we always make the Parowan Gap loop. ) But I am always game to go somewhere with him, so Marquel Troy and myself jumped into his pickup and went to see the new sights...

The first thing we came upon was this rock formation.. Now I have seen it before, but if you look really close it resembles that of an Indian Chief! That's Cool!!! :) After looking at this, Marquel and I stopped for a few more photos and then on to see ,more... We drove about 5 miles and then pulled off the side of the road. Here is what we found! I thought it was pretty cool. Dinosaur tracks that aren't under lock and key..

Well, that ended our night of exploring! It was tons of fun!

Go BluE

2009-03-31T15:20:00.003-06:00

GO B L U E ! ! !

As everyone is aware I am a huge fan of "The Biggest Loser" I had the opportunity to meet a player from the blue team.

Softball anyone?

2009-02-08T16:22:00.006-07:00

Last weekend we officially kicked off the softball season with going to St. George to watch Kayla play in a 18U tournament with the Pegasas Softball team. The team she played on did a great job! They were the youngest team there. Most of them only 16. They were able to play lots of teams from California, Las Vegas and a bunch from Northern Utah.

The weather was great, and we all had a lot of fun. Kayla plays first base! And made some key plays.

Yesterday we were able to go back to St. George to see some college softball! There were some really big name schools playing. We were able to see the University of Tennessee play BYU. The game went into extra innings with Tennessee beating the Cougars by a score of 4-0 in the 10th inning. We were able to see Paige Afflec pitch for BYU! She played ball here at Canyon View and did a great job!

Next up will be High School Softball. Troy has been promoted to one of the Junior Varsity coaches. I am way excited for him and think he is going to do a great job. He on the other hand believes it has been a demotion! He loves teaching fundamentals to the freshman! I'm sure when the season gets going he will absolulity love it!

Well, there is our softball update. Until next time!:)

Ute's 13-0!!

2009-01-11T18:56:00.005-07:00

So if anyone know Troy and his family, then you know that they are all Ute fans. Well, all except one. There is one loyal blue fan in the sea of Red! Tuff Job right!?
Let me catch some of you up that don't know Troy's family! Troy's grandma worked at the University of Utah, which then means you must be a Ute fan!!! When Troy and I first began dating there were many question that we asked each other. Two of Troy's top questions for me were... Who is Ted Nugent? (Which I had to do some serious google searching to find the answer) and Are you a "U" fan of a "Cougar" fan... Well, I hesitantly answered "Ute" and found that that was the correct answer... (Don't get me wrong. I really love BYU's volleyball team and have known many that have gone and played there.. But, that is another story~~)

With the Ute's going to the Sugar Bowl, and BYU going to Vegas my brother-in-law (the cougar fan) had a bet going with his son.. If the Ute's won he would sport a Ute sticker on his truck for a year... and if the Ute's were to get beat then my nephew would sport a BYU sticker on his car for a year!!
At our Christmas party this year Santa came and we secretly believe that Gordy was asking for the Ute's to loose!! Well, we all know now the outcome!! Sorry Gordy... But I'll bet the Ute sticker looks great in your truck :) lol...

Bragging

2008-12-14T18:50:00.007-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last post, but we haven't been doing a whole lot. Just getting ready for Christmas.. Troy has been doing some photography, and I just wanted to show off the wedding he just recently shot! Hope you like them. I think they turned out beautiful!!

So Thankful!!

2008-11-26T17:27:00.002-07:00

Since Thanksgiving is on the 27th of the month, I thought it was a good idea to give you 27 things that I am thankful for. This was a lot of fun.

I am thankful for...

1. Troy

2. my parents

3. the gospel

4. my new car

5. Marquel

6. electricity

7. indoor plumbing

8. my education

9. my home

10. that I have a job

11. being in the mountain

12. Family

13. the moisture we are finally recieving

14. my health

15. my kids health

16. sunshine

17. my friends

18. money

19. someone else cooking thanksgiving dinner

20. Sports

21. sippy cups

22. hair straightners

23. air condition homes

24. my shoes

25. good books

26. the armed forces

27. our freedom
Wow! That was surprisingly easy. I was kinda on a roll and could have kept going, but I said 27 so I am stopping. Take a second and try this for yourself!

I tag:
Annette
Stephanie
Valorie
Kris
Haylee
Becky

Tagged 7 Things Now it's your turn

2008-11-26T16:59:00.005-07:00

Seven things I can do:
scrapbook
counted cross-stitch
listen
play volleyball
text
shoot clay pigeons
blog

Seven things I can't do:
a cartwheel
math (other than add and subtract-multiply and divide!)
speak another language (English is hard enough)
sleep in
draw --only stick people
wear a hat
do a back bend

Seven things that attracted me to Troy:
His voice! I totally fell in love with his voice while talking to him on the phone
his willingness to give
his sense of adventure
his big heart
his blue eyes
his love for the outdoors
his laugh

Seven things I say often:
oh wow
what ever
just kidding
darn it
just a minute
I'm comming
hurry

Seven people I admire:
husband
mother-in-law
dad
mom
Suzy Hodson
Andrea
Patty

Seven favorite foods/drinks
Diet Pepsi
Twix
steak
spaghetti
salad
Onion Rings
Dutch oven potatoes

Seven people I tag:
Emily
Kim
Tara
Carrie
Haylee
Mindee
Valorie

Announcement!!

2008-11-25T06:40:00.003-07:00

I just have to get this out! For all of you that know my brother Craig. He just became engaged this past weekend! I am so excited for him.:) We have always wondered if he was ever going to tie the not, and now he is! So you want to know the details? Well, if you do, then please continue reading...
Craig has been dating this girl oh, for about a year or so. Her name is Erin, she is so darn cute with 2 little boys that may I just add are attached to Craig's Hip. (So cute) anyway, Craig called me last week, and told me that he had talked to her parents are was going to ask her to marry him. Naturally I was very excited for him. And then yesterday he called me from Denver to tell me that she said yes!! Whahoo:)
Their brief engagement story: For Erin's birthday Craig bought her two tickets to the Denver Football game! She is a huge Denver fan, and he got tickets in a sweet! Craig has a friend that is a owner of the Bronco's so he was able to snag a great weekend. They were able to go to dinner the night before with some of the Bronco team members, and then see the game on Sunday. This same friend of Craig's also owns a jewely store, so while there Erin was able to pick out the ring of her choice! Now that is what I call lucky!! All in all he said it was a great time and to not forget that she said YES!!!

Congrats Craig and Erin!! I am so darn excited for the two of you!:)

Seat Warmers

2008-11-13T18:13:00.003-07:00

So you may be wondering; why is there a picture of my car seat here as a blog entry!! Well, it's because I just want to give a SHOUT OUT to Seat warmers!! This is the first time I have ever had seat warmers in a car, and can I just tell you that I really really love them!! I just can't say enough about the happiness they bring to me and to my behind every morning on my way to school! Every morning when I get into my car I just flip the switch and in a matter of 60 seconds, I have a warm behind! It is wonderful!

Oh, and Annette, if I was good at writing Ode's I would have wrote one of those to my delightful seat warmers!!! I absolulity LOVE them!!

Disaster Up-Date

2008-11-13T17:47:00.008-07:00

Life is good!! I have finally got my kitchen put back together again. My garbage disposal is working really good, and really grinding food. I am really loving that.

But to top off my week, Saturday night the dishwasher came. We have been waiting for about 2 weeks for the darn thing... And now it is finally here!! Yea!:) We bought it from Home Dept. and they were suppost to install the thing, so I figured that saturday night I would walk into a well put together kitchen, but that was not the case!! I walked into a kitchen where my husband was underneath the sink, wiring the plumbing for the new dishwasher. Mind you my husband is a Land Survey by profession, not a plumber!! He told me that the crew that came to install the dishwasher said that they would not do it, dropped off the product, and left. (Oh, they did haul away the old one thought) So that left Troy to install. By 9:00 p.m. Satuday night we had the dishwasher installed. So we thought that we ought to run a trial load, to see if there would be any leaking! So away we went... Not 10 minutes into the cycle, our new dishwasher starated beeping at us and telling us that there was a drainage problem.. Man we thought, we are not finished with this process. (I do believe Troy really wanted to scream, but he kept his cool :D) We stopped the dishwasher and proceeded to check into this new problem. Within 15 minutes we had the garbage disposal taken apart, and found the problem. We need to punch a small hole so the dishwasher could drain... Any way to make a long story just a little shorter, this was not the end of our kitchen flooding problem. Sunday morning I cooked breakfast and then began cleaning up. Do the dishes and loading my new dishwasher, when all of a sudden I was standing in water!! Not again I yelled at Troy, and yes, it was again... Our sink was leaking!!! A A U G H ! ! ! ! ! This problem was another small fix, if you are wondering we didn't need to buy anything to fix this. Just had to tighten the disposal. So there you have the dishwasher--disposal update. And to wrap it all up I could have just said!!

The inside of my new dishwasher!!! I Love it!!!

Disposal repair.............................................$110.00

Dishwasher replacement................................$649.00

Troy's repair costs..............................................$43.00

Mitchell Family Kitchen finally put back together again....UH--Priceless

Em--

2008-11-05T16:36:00.004-07:00

Hey Em-

Did you find who you have been looking for!!!? lol

Halloween?

2008-11-05T16:00:00.010-07:00

This year for halloween Marquel choose to be Hannah Montana. Now that will not be such a surprise to those of you who know her. But for those of you that don't... Well Marquel loves Hannah!! We watch her all the time. (I know that I have all of the episodes memorize, and I believe that she does too.) Alright, now that you know the costume, let me recap our eventfull night... Troy and I had been in Orem watching the 3A Volleyball State Tournament, and then ventured home to get Marquel ready for the big night. Our plans: Go to Manti, and experience the new and improved. (If thats what you call it) "Trunk or Treat" down Manti's main street. Now the cool thing about this type of "trunk of treat" is that they shut down all of about 3 blocks of Manti's main street and allow all the kiddies to visit the many trunks and gather as much candy as possible. It was a lot of fun, and much easier on me "the mom" for not having to drive "Hannah" all over town. But the candy part, well, it just was not that impressive.

All in all we had a lot of fun, my mom and dad came with and walked the street, and I got to see quite a few people that I haven't seen in a long time. (You have got to love small town gatherings!!)
Oh, yes,and one more thing, you are probably wondering why I put a ? after the word Halloween, and I am sure the suspense is just killing you. So is the answer.... My mother-in-law puts her christmas tree up the first part of October, so I thought I would test you... Is it Halloween or Christmas? hahaha Happy Halloween all, and well, I guess Merry Christmas too?

Just a little photo session in front of the Christmas tree

Now some may be wondering did we get Hannah to come to our house for Christmas..

Can you spell D I S A S T E R ? ? ?

2008-11-03T20:08:00.007-07:00

So I need to tell you all about the crazy week that the Mitchell's had. It all began Saturday morning when Troy and I got up and started looking around the house for something to eat for breakfast... Troy wanted eggs and hashbrowns, and I wanted pancakes. What-ev, Troy won and I began cooking the hashbrowns. (Real, from potatoes that I pealed and then shredded) After we ate breakfast I began to do the dishes. Well, I started up the garbage disposal, and to my surprise it didn't work. The disposal was just churning and churning.. So I had Troy check out the dang thing. Well, there was a big crack in the machine, and was no longer able to work. So off to Home Depot to get a new one. Well, an hour later and $100.00 less in our bank account we had a new disposal... Troy installed it, and we took if for a trial run... It ran without a niche.. So things are good at the Mitchell house right...? WRONG!! I started a load of dishes on Monday night, and off to work I went on Tuesday. I got home from work on tuesday, and thought that I should unload the dishwasher, so I could run my new dishes threw so we could use them. Excitement right? WRONG again. I opened the dishwasher and saw that the bottom was clear full of water, and beginning to leak all over the floor. Once again I called Troy over and we attempted to fix the darn thing. An hour later and not a lot of luck going our way we were back on our way to Home Depot to buy a dish washer. So an hour later and this time $700.00 less in our bank account we are new owners of a LG dishwasher. Now I only wish the darn thing would get here!!

Under our sink.. Anything missing???

The broken machine!!

Waiting for the new equipment!!

So in a totall of 4 days we are the proud owners of a new garbage disposal and dish washer.. Sure hope we don't have any other applience go out ;)

Where is my new dishwasher!!

So while waiting for my dishwasher I am having to do dishes the old fashion way... By HAND!! I have a new appreciation for dishwashers!! I just want mine to hurry and get here!!

6 Years..

2008-11-03T19:51:00.006-07:00

Can you belive it? On October 27th Troy and I celebrated our 6th anniversary!! This year we decieded to make it a weekend event. So on Saturday night we made reservations at a really nice steak house. On Sunday we just hung out with each other and then on monday we exchanged gifts. Troy got the usual. Levi's and a shirt (Troy gets levi's for every occassion.. He goes threw them so darn fast) and this year Troy surprised me with new dishes. I think he did a great job picking them out!! I love them!

We had a great weekend, and I just want him to know how much I love him, and how happy he makes me.

Thanks for making me the happiest girl in the world! I love you!

My new dishes!! I love them!

The BIG Hunt!!

2008-10-22T18:53:00.005-06:00

So as you all know it has been the deer hunt, and if any of you know me, you know that Troy is the most avid deer hunter around. Both he and Kayla look forward to 5 glorious days of bonding and looking for that "monster buck"They spends 2 days before making sure their guns are ready to go, that they have enough ammo and finding his "hunter orange" if they cannot locate a bright enough orange they must go and buy new!(and may I say it is not easy finding "hunter orange" anywhere in this great town that we live in!!) groceries are another must on the hunting list. Lunchable, jerky, water and trailmix are a must.

This year for the hunt Marquel and I were in Richfield where my volleyball team was playing in a tournament... So we were not around for the first morning adventures. But I do know that they were up and out of the house by 5:00 a.m. and on their way to getting the "big one" The two of them didn't have any success on saturday and came home empty handed on Sunday. They have been following two pretty large bucks for the last couple of years on and Monday morning set out to hopefully bring one of them home. But this year they would come home empty handed and lost the "battle of the buck"

Well, needless to say that while those two were out hunting deer, Marquel and I were out "hunting" department stores, that is. Marquel has been in need of a new winter coat, so while in town we stopped and were able to find this one.. I think it is adorable, and that Marquel and I had a very successful hunt... Now wouldn't you agree?

We also found this adorable shirt! We both fell in love with it, Marquel just had to have it, so I just had to buy it for her...:)

Picture Tag...

2008-10-21T21:21:00.009-06:00

So I was looking at Nikki's blog tonight, and saw this; *photo tag.* I thought it looked like fun, and so I gave it a try. Here is how you do it. You go to your 9th folder, then the 22nd picture. This is what I found.

This is a picture of Marquel just after I finished doing her hair and getting her ready for school. It never fails that when I finish getting her ready, and I think she is having a good hair day, that I take a picture of her. This picture is of just that. I got her ready for school, loved her hair and her outfit, and so snapped a shot!! Isn't she adorable?

I tag: Tara, Carrie, Stephanie, Emily, and anyone else that would like to do this. It was a ton of fun!!

Growing up in a small town

2008-10-20T20:35:00.003-06:00

Alright, all you small town people!! I went on to Valories blog and saw this... I was laughing my butt off, it is so true. I loved growing up in a small town where there was no stop light, infact you had to go 7 miles north to see one of those and that one didn't come into the county until I had graduated from high school, and I do believe that about 99% of this rings true to all that did grow up in a small town! I wouldn't trade my small town upbringing for anything and I sure do wish I could raise Marquel in a little town just the same!!
Sure hope you get a good laugh!

Those who grew up in small towns will laugh when they read this. Those who didn't will be in disbelief and won't understand how true it is.

1) You can name everyone you graduated with.

2) You know what 4-H means.

3) You went to parties at a pasture, barn, gravel pit, or in the middle of a dirt road. On Monday you could always tell who was at the party because of the scratches on their legs from running through the woods when the party was busted. (See #6.)

4) You used to'drag'Main

5) You whispered the 'F' word and your parents knew within the hour.

6) You scheduled parties around the schedules of different police officers, because you new which ones would bust you and which ones wouldn't.

7) You could never buy cigarettes because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old enough, they'd tell your parents anyhow..) Besides, where would you get the money?

8) When you did find somebody old enough and brave enough to buy cigarettes, you still had to go out into the country and drive on back roads to smoke them.

9) You knew which section of the ditch you would find the beer your buyer dropped off.

10) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town.

11) The whole school went to the same party after graduation.

12) You didn't give directions by street names but rather by references. Turn by Nelson's house, go 2 blocks to Anderson's, and it's four houses left of the track field.

13) The golf course had only 9 holes.

14) You couldn't help but date a friend's ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.

15) Your car stayed filthy because of the dirt roads, and you will never own a dark vehicle for this reason.

16) The town next to you was considered 'trashy' or 'snooty,' but was actually just like your town.

17) You referred to anyone with a house newer then 1955 as the 'rich' people.

18) The people in the 'big city' dressed funny, and then you picked up the trend 2 years later.

19) Anyone you wanted could be found at the local gas station or the dairy bar.

20) You saw at least one friend a week driving a tractor through town or one of your friends driving a grain truck to school occasionally.

21) The gym teacher suggested you haul hay for the summer to get stronger..

22) Directions were given using THE stop light as a reference.

23) When you decided to walk somewhere for exercise, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride.

24) Your teachers called you by your older siblings' names.

25) Your teachers remembered when they taught your parents.

26) You could charge at any local store or write checks without any ID.

27) There was no McDonalds.

28) The closest mall was over an hour away.

29) It was normal to see an old man riding through town on a riding lawn mower.

30) You've pee'd in a cornfield.

31) Most people went by a nickname.

32) You laughed your butt off reading this because you know it is true, and you forward it to everyone who may have lived in a small town.

I would not have wanted to have been raised any other way!!!!

Tough times don't last... Tough people do!!

Field Trip

2008-10-20T15:27:00.006-06:00

Entering Zion National Park!

Marquel's 3rd grade class got to go on an exciting field trip down to Zion National Park. Marquel was just so excited. First because she was going to get to ride the BUS and there would be NO Homework!! (If that is reason enough to be happy to go :o)) Another exciting reason would be that she would have to have "home lunch" (I never let Marquel take her lunch to school, I think it is because it is just to much work to make sure that it is made and that she remembers it!) Any way her class loaded the bus and 9:00 and were on their way to Zion's. They spent the day hiking, and looking at the different landmarks, she said they had a great time! They boarded the bus to come home, and Marquel said that everything was going well until they got to the 2nd Cedar City exit, where her school bus broke down...

Marquel had asked me if she could take my camera, and I had agreed, as long as she kept it in it's case and took extra good care of it! She wanted to take some pictures and these are the images that she captured!! Great Job Marquel!! I believe she takes after her dad...

Waterfall she saw on the hike

Pond on the hike

Leaving Zion National Park

Tiger Pride

2008-10-20T15:08:00.008-06:00

Last tuesday night Marquel brought home a red slip saying that she was going to recieve an award in school the following day, and parents were invited to see the presentation. Since I am finished with school every day at 11:30 a.m. I jumped at the opportunity, and told Marquel I would meet her at the elementary for the assembly.

The assembly started with the pledge, and then the entire elementary sang the "National Anthem." Sure wish I could have recorded it for all of you to hear. After that they presented Marquel and the other 9 students with the Tiger Award for Service! I have been told by many of Marquel's teachers that she is always helping and volunteering to do what ever is needed for any of her classmates.

Marquel, Congrats on earning the Tiger Service Award!!

SnOw

2008-10-13T20:35:00.018-06:00

Sunday we woke up to a winter wonder land!! After watching the weather, and telling Marquel that there could possibily be snow in the

northern part of the state, Marquel was ready to pack our bags and head north to gain a better chance of being able to play in the snow. So you can imagine the surprise she woke up too.

Enough snow that she could actually make a snow angel... So up and at um, snow boots and coat... We must make a snow angel! Marquel had to find the perfect spot on the lawn, spot found, and only one set of tracks to get to the site! She made her snow angel and then played in the snow for hours, the Mitchell family is so ready for winter! Well, the snow part of it anyway:)

So here is how you make the perfect Marquel Snow Angel.....

And there you have it!! The "Perfect" Marquel Snow Angel!!

Handbag give away---It's FREE

2008-10-11T20:31:00.001-06:00

Ok---so there is this cool website that is giving away free designer handbags! To celebrate the October 15, 2008 launch, they are giving away a free handbag every hour for 24 hours on the day of the launch. These handbags are usually priced between $30 and $80! After signing-up you can select the handbag you would like to win and it's so easy to sign-up! There's absolutely no catch - this means no shipping/handling fees or credit card required, so go do it!!Here's a link to their website:

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

6 odd quirks about myself

2008-10-04T22:26:00.005-06:00

Ok, I've been tagged. Here it goes....What are 6 odd quirks about myself?

1- I love to mow the lawn--The rows have to be straight, and I alternate my paths every week. One week north to south, next east to west, next diagnal.. I know crazy, but that is how it has to be..
2-My bed has to be made before I can leave the house... On the days that Troy doesn't work during the week, he always forgets to make the bed. I need the sheets to be pulled tight, or I can't get a good nights sleep.
3- My desk at school always has to be in order and the homework baskets have to be graded before I can go home..
4- I hate when people call my cell phone, and if I don't answer it they leave a message. I know, I know, that is what you are suppost to do, but I hate using my minutes to listen to a message when I would rather call them back.
5- I pick out the clothes that I am going to wear to school for the next day the night before. If I don't my day seems to not run as smooth.
6- When doing laundry I wait until all of it is washed and dryed and then I take an hour or two and fold them all at once. I can't fold one load at a time... What if a sock get lost... And it is with the 2nd load that I washed not the first...
Well, now that that is finished I tag... Haylee, Tara, Kim, Stephanie, Nia and Emily

Manti Volleyball Memories

2008-10-04T21:19:00.009-06:00

Alright, everyone... I am not sure what to call this, blast from the past!, Templar Volleyball in the 90's!, CEU? I'm not sure.. But one thing for sure is that we can call it a good time!! Tara (Christensen) Mogle played volleyball for me 7 years ago at MHS! Tara and her cute family are living in St. George and they come and see Canyon View play whenever we have a match down there. Well, after our match with Dixie, she waited for me to finish talking with my players and then pulled out these great photos. Her along with a bunch of other amazing girls played volleyball for me. A tradition at Manti High was to travel to CEU over in Price and attend a team camp.. (I do believe it was one of the highlights of the season... ) Well, other than going to state, and the girls always trying to one up the year before with a birthday bash!! *Remember the decorated door--the doors connected us and you blew up balloons to celebrate at midnight-you were suppost to be in bed!! But never fear. You couldn't be out done!!:)* Another trip down memory lane would be when we all traveled to So. Summit and everyone came home with food poison...Well, all the girls sickness went away, but mine stayed.....For another 8 months!
Times with the MHS Volleyball team were some of the greatest times of my life! I will never forget the hard work, their dedication, and their friendship! I always love seeing the girls and catching up on their lives after volleyball!! Volleyball at Manti was amazing... To get to the greatest part of this entry Well, you will need to scroll down and see these pictures!! They are great!! Tara thanks for the memories! I will cherish them always!!

Nina and Traci--Check out Traci's head phones!!

Traci listening to her "Walk Man"

Me and Nina Madsen!!

Traci my sis-in-law showing off her abbs!!

Tara letting me know that she needs more playing time!! Check out Haylee (My assistant--why isn't she helping me? haha)

As you can tell, we always had a good time, the girls worked hard on the court and played hard off!! I will always treasure the friendships that we made!! Thanks MHS Volleyball!

Fall Fun!!--Lori, this is a sneak peak for you ;)

2008-09-27T21:12:00.012-06:00

Fall is in the air, which means that the holidays are on their way.... Wait a minute, that isn't what we all wanted to hear is it... I mean, fall is in the air, which means it is time to get up the mountain and look at the beautiful fall colors!!

This past weekend we took a trip to Manti to stay at the cabin. Our main reason for taking the trip was to be able to go 4-wheelin and hopefully see some of the beautiful fall colors!!

We loaded up the car; with old clothes, our fishing poles, and high hopes for a great adventure. And a great adventure did we have. We got up saturday morning and Troy and Harold did a little work on the cabin, trying to get the rock work finished! Troy's sister Lori came and brought her grand daughter down for the weekend, and we were for sure going to show her a good time... Around 4:30 we meet up with my mom and dad for a 4 wheeler ride over on the west mountain. We had a great ride, and were able to see some of the changing leaves and the deer. Back home that night we bbq turkey and had a great time visiting, and just hanging out with everyone. Sunday morning we got up early to get ready for another 4-wheeler ride. We set out at about 10 in the morning and took off up 6 mile canyon. We rode up past 6 mile pond and then took the trail up threw blue meadow!! If you haven't take this ride, you for sure need to experience it!! It is a beautiful ride no matter what time of the year!! Fall is no exception. We stopped up on Skyline for a quick snack, and then rode over skyline drive and down north fork, and into Manti.. We all had a great time, especially Lori... All she could say was this is AWESOME... Just AWESOME!!! Well, Lori I am glad you had a great time... Can't wait for the next time!!

A quick photo before jumping back on the 4-wheelers

Lori and Alisha zooming up the trail

I have been working on my micro camera skills...

Gymnastics

2008-09-25T21:17:00.011-06:00

While the summer Olympics were going on, Marquel would not miss a session of the gymnastics. She was completely taken in by all of the tumbling, flipping, vaulting, and watching the bars routines. You just couldn't get her away from the T.V. at this time. While watching the USA Girls Gymnastic team compete, Marquel asked if she could take gymnastics. I said yes, and then started looking into tumbling and gymnastic programs. Marquel's two good friends had also seen the gymnastic competition and were talking to their mom about picking up the sport. After a couple of weeks of searching for a place for her to go, I found SUU's gymnastic program. We signed her up, and that is now all that she talks about. Gymnastics are every tuesday and thursday from 6-7. The girls get to work on the balance beam, the bars, floor, and trampoline. They also have to climb a rope and try and touch the bell.

Since volleyball has been in full swing, I have not been able to go and watch until tonight, because we had a bye. It was so much fun to see her flipping and working so hard. Tonight she got to practice on the uneven bars, climb the rope, and practice vault.

Marquel reached the bell on the bars for the first time tonight!!!! Go Marquel... I was trying to get pictures of it, but was kicked out of the area where the girls practice. But I was so happy and excited and proud of her!! Way to go Marquel!!

Getting the feel for the uneven bars

Marquel showing her dismount!

Working on the bars

V I C T O R Y ! ! ! !

2008-09-17T19:30:00.006-06:00

That is right!

Victory for the CVHS Volleyball team. We played Pine View High School last night, and my girls played a whopper of a game. We came out and beat Pine View in the first two games, let down a little in the second two, and then my girls played their personal best and beat the Pine View Panthers in the 5th game 15-12!! It was amazing! Getting that win is the first time in at least 4 years that the Canyon View Falcons and have beat a Region 9 team from St. George on the road! I am so proud of the girls!!

I had some past athlete's come and support us and just want to say Thanks!! It was so great to see you!!

I will say it again!! Way to go CVHS!!

Bump--Set--Spike!!

2008-09-12T19:18:00.005-06:00

Volleyball is now in full swing, actually we are officially a month into the season!! We have played 5 matches and traveled to San Juan for the 4-Courners Tournament. We have played

Enterprise (L)

Manti (W)

Delta (L)

South Servier (L)

Beaver (W)

The San Juan tournament was really good for the team, we traveled over there on thursday after school, and then began play on friday afternoon. This is the 2nd year that we have gone to this tournament and our wins improved dramatically. Last year we took 13th out of the 16 teams and this year we placed 8th!! Way to go CV!!:) I was really proud of them! We learned a lot about each other, our strengths and weaknesses! So I felt it was a very successfull tournament!

For all of you that played for me in 1999 when we had a season record or 13-0 and then traveled to San Juan only to be beat in 30 minutes... Well, those memories came flooding back! It was awful... Do you remember???

Anyway, season play begins on tuesday for us when we head to St. George to play Pine View High School! Hoping to get a win... To get us on the right road for State!! Wish us luck:)

For any of you that would like to watch the Falcon's play the Varsity plays at 7:00 p.m. J.V. and Freshman at 5:45 p.m. And Sophomores play at 4:00 p.m.

8 Things Tag

2008-09-07T17:36:00.001-06:00

8 things I am passionate about:
1.My Husband!!!
2. My Family!!!
3. My Friends!!!
4. Volleyball.
5.Reading.
6. Blogging
7. Blog stocking & reading about other peoples lives
8. Teaching-I really love it!!!

8 words or phrases that I say often:
1. Better Every Ball
2.Move with a purpose
3. Did you get your homework done?
4. Oh my heck, you haven't read yet?.
5. I LOVE you!!!
6. Just a minute
7. I'm just sayin
8. Get Low!! Move, Get low!! Just snap a little harder! (I think I need a shirt so I don't have to repeat so often!!;) ) --Can you tell it is volleyball season???

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Go to the Temple with Troy
2. Travel to Germany.
3.Go on a cruise
4. Travel-Travel-Travel
5. Go and see a Nebraska volleyball match
6. Go to Alaska and deep sea fish.
7. Own a BMW
8. See Marquel grow, and enjoy her life!.

8 things I have learned from my past:
1. Hard work pays off
2. Be a good listener - sometimes people just need someone to LISTEN
3. My family was and is really great
4. Never say it won't happen to me, because chances are it will or it currently is happening and you just don't know it
5. My parents DID know what they were talking about
6. I can be thankful for challenges in my life and even thank Heavenly Father for them
7. "He won't give me more than I can handle"
8. Family is always there for you, No matter what!
8 Places I would love to go or see:
1. Cruise Alaska!!!
2. The Azores!! (My father-in-law traveled there and it looks beautiful in pictures!!)
3. Disneyworld with Marquel
4. Travel the East Coast, I want to see all the historic sites back there
5. Europe
6. Hawaii
7. Germany! (I really want to visit the concentration camps).
8. Go on any vacation - I don't care where because it has been WAY TO LONG since I have gone anywhere that I would consider a vacation.

8 things I currently need or want:
1. More money from the job I LOVE so that I can live comfortably
2. My basement finished
3. To get my masters, but not in education
4. To live closer to my family
5. To be able to catch up on my Marquel's scrapbook and the family book and to keep them current. (This may take a MIRACLE at this point)
6. My backyard finished.
7. A new truck and four wheeler for Troy!
8. Good health for all my family

8 people I tag:
Haylee
Nikki
Stephanie
Kris
Valorie
Tara
Anyone else that would like to do it! It was actually a lot of fun!!

ZOOM ZOOM!!

2008-09-01T21:07:00.002-06:00

Well, I finally got my new car! And I LOVE IT!! I waited all summer for the new 2009 Mazda 6 to come out and my brother finally called me on August 9th and said that they were in. Brock called at 8:30 August 9th and we drove to Orem, Legacy Mazda on the 10th to pick up my new car!After getting into my car of choice, I new right away that this was going to be the nicest, sweetest car that I had ever owned! I jumped in the drivers seat and took it for a quick test-drive! Can I just say---Loved it! The photo's don't do the car justice.. It has 2 toned leather seats, keyless start and entry, 6 disk player with bose speakers. I can use my i-pod, and listen that way, there is also satelite radio. It has cruise control, and when I drove it off the lot--there were only 7 miles on it. And they were from the test drive! Did I mention that I love it!! After getting the car, Troy and I went to lunch with my brother Brock and his family at the Training table! It was lots of fun, and the food was great!
I love hanging with my brother, and all of his cute kids! Marquel also loves hanging with her cousins. After lunch, we said our goodbyes--Brock and his family were going to go home, Troy, well he was off to Manti to do some four wheeling and Marquel and I... Well, we had some school clothes shopping to do. If school was going to start on Thursday the 11th we had better get her into some new clothes! So University Mall---Here we come! Shopping-Shopping-Shopping!! I do believe we hit every store in the University Mall, and since that was not enough we went to Old Navy and then down to the Provo Town Mall- We were both tired by the end of the shopping trip, that we were wishing that we could have just slept in Provo.. But NO---Our next stop would be Manti- for we had to show off the new car to my mom.. right? We drove to Manti where we showed my mom the car, and then met Troy for a little dinner. We jumped back on the road, and headed for home! It began to rain on us on the way home, and low and behold I have case sensitive window wipers!! Now how cool is that? I couldn't believe! I called Troy right up with excitement in my voice to tell him about the case sensitive window wipers!! I don't think he was as excited for it was 11:00 p.m. and he was sound asleep! We got home around mid-night and jumped into bed!! What an adventure! But, did I tell you.... I love my car!!

Zoom Zoom

Finally an update

2008-09-01T20:58:00.001-06:00

So I use to be very faithful about checking my blog spot, and updating regularly, but as school caught up with me and volleyball season began, I have put my blog on the back burner! I promis to update, at least a couple...
Being a 1st year teacher has taken a lot out of me, and then teaching subjects that I have not taught before, has required even more of my time! Oh well, I am loving it! School started for us on August 11th, and it has been a whilwind ever since. I am really loving my 7th graders and learning every day to appreciate 6th graders!! My music class is going better than I thought it would and I feel like I maybe be finding my groove.
Volleyball has also began and we are off and running, ready or not! We played at home against Enterprise on tuesday, and suffered our first loss. Then on thursday we made the trip to Manti to play the Templars.. It was a great match and after a 2 1/2 hour match We (Canyon View) topped the Templars in a 5 game match!! It was a great match and a greater win for my girls! This week we will be traveling to Delta, playing at home on Wednesday and then leaving for the 4 courners tournament in San Juan on Thursday to finally return on Saturday.
Needless to say, we are all doing well and keeping very busy!!
I promis my next post will include photo's

Music Appreciation anyone?

2008-07-23T13:34:00.000-06:00

Hey all of you bloggers!!
I am teaching music appreciation this year! For the first time mind you, and I am asking for any feed back that you may have on fun things to do with my class. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you have any idea's you may have throw them my way!!
Thanks a ton!!

Memory Tag

2008-07-20T09:12:00.000-06:00

It seems like every blog I check has this on it, so I might as well be part of the "loop."

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

All I want to do...

2008-07-15T15:26:00.000-06:00

Courtney, Marquel and Kaylee bustin a move!

I don't know how many of you have heard the new Sugarland Song "All I want to do" but it has become a favorite song in our household. Marquel playes it nonstop. Whether we are in the car, on the computer, or if she has swiped my Ipod. So I finally made her, her very own copy. Well, just minutes ago she had the song cranked up in her room, so I quitly opened the door and snapped these photos of Courney, Marquel and Kaylee. Dancing and music!! Is there a better combination for anyone?

Weekend

2008-07-15T11:29:00.000-06:00

Well, it was a whirlwind of a weekend.. Marquel had been at my moms for the week so I was on my way to Manti to get her. I figured I would leave on friday, and then Troy would come on Saturday, for we also had a baby blessing to attend to on Sunday.

Thursday night I recieved a phone call from a man that was interested in my car, and by friday morning I had my car sold!! Yipee!!:) He was from Salt Lake so I told him I would deliver the car to him by saturday morning. The more we talked the sooner he wanted the car.. So we settled on friday night. I got the car to my brother Brocks house on Friday, and hung out with his family and cute brand new little boy. Well, the deal didn't go threw until friday night at 11:00 p.m. So here I was carless, and in Orem.. So I stayed the night at Brock's house and then Natalie took me to my parents house saturday morning.

After getting back to Manti, I had promised Marquel that I would take her swimming at the new swimming pool in Manti. What a fun pool for kids. Marquel found Braxton to swim with and I was able to see a ton of people that I hadn't seen in years. I got to visit with Sabrina Bolli and her family. Roxanne Squire and her family, Erin Miller, Celeste Christiansen (Jones) and many more. It was a lot of fun to be able to catch up.. I love going home just for that reason.

Troy got off work early at the motorcycle shop and headed up to Manti. I was so excited to see him. We have spent a lot of time apart. So I was counting down the hours until he got there. He finally arrived and we went to the Cabin.

Sunday morning rolled around and we all got up and ready to head for Spanish Fork. Brock was going to bless his newest addition. Corbin Buchanan at 1:00 p.m. After the blessing we had a lunch at Brock home and visited with family we all had a great time. It was so much fun to see the family and be able to hang with all of them. I miss family time..

Brock's cute family

Landon, Kamryn, Tristan, and Corbin

Brock and his buddy, Honestly how hard can it be to set up a tent!

Mom, Dad and Jared at the luncheon

Old Job--New Job

2008-07-09T10:55:00.000-06:00

After 21 long years in the surveying business, Troy has decided that he has had enough of 108 heat and leaving for work at 5:00 a.m. He has been working at Rosenburg And Associates for a number of years, and been driving to St. George to do it. He has been able to see a lot of the State and has built most of the modern day St. George.

As for his new job he has gone completely away from surveying and has become a motorcycle/atv/snowmobile salesman. He is so excited to be doing this.

His new place of employment is at Cedar Motor Sports and his new hours will be from 9-6. 5-6 days a week. He is not going to have saturdays off anymore, so that will end our many weekends in Manti. (which I am sad about)

All in all the trade between the jobs will be a great one. No more commuting, or working in the hot weather, he says he is most excited about air conditioning and being able to sell someone a new atv or street bike. He loves to ride and can't believe that he will be able to make some money doing something he loves!!
If any of you need anything like this, give him a call and he will he hook you up!!
Good Luck Troy, I am so happy and excited for you!! I love you and am so proud of you xoxo
Teresa

Volleyball Camp 08

2008-07-09T10:02:00.000-06:00

Once again I loaded up my vehicle with volleyball players and set out for a 4 day volleyball camp over in Price at CEU. Now many of you may ask... Why Price? Well, I discovered this camp way back when I was coaching at Manti High School, I took the girls to it and we had a great time, so I have continued on the tradition.

While there we were able to play 15 volleyball matches and get to know each other a little better. This year at CVHS we are loosing 5 seniors which means that there are really big shoes to fill. So it was nice to be able to see what is comming up. The playing on the court went well, but off the court the girls had a great time.

We usually have a DI fashion show, but this year we didn't get the opportunity to get to the DI so we decided to have a skit night, all the girls had 1/2 hour to come up with a skit and then come and perform it. They all did a great job and we all laughed.

All in all it was a great camp, we all learned a lot and are looking forward to the volleyball season. Which starts August 11! Go FALCONS!!

Summer Softball

2008-06-29T17:40:00.000-06:00

Summer softball is over for the Mitchell family, and in a way I am sad. We spent every monday and wednesday night at the ball field. Marquel loves playing, and had a really good season. She played on the Cedar City Summer League team. It is a machine pitch league. At first she was mad because she so wants to play Little League or be on a traveling team.. (She just didn't make the dead line) So machine pitch had to do.
Every inning you could here Marquel in the field yelling "come on ladies, just one more out!" now I wonder where she has heard that before. It was so darn cute.

Her 2 most favorite things about softball.

1- Playing 1st base--why? Because she is involved in every play.

2- Hitting-- She loves hitting against the machine, and would rather hit then ever have to field a ball.

Her biggest complaint
WHY DON'T WE EVER PRACTICE!!! that just drover her crazy. She is so competive, and after loosing her second game she looked at me and said "mom we would win if my coaches would just hold a practice... How are we ever going to get better and be able to win if we don't ever get to practice.!" All I could tell her is that she was right, her coach did need to have a practice.

As the season went on they all improved and she had a great time. She is just sad cuz it isall over.

Marquel and her team after the game!

Summer time=Pool time

2008-06-28T16:41:00.000-06:00

For two years now Marquel has been begging for a swimming pool that we could put into our back yard. So last year my mom and dad bought 2 new t.v.'s at R.C. Willey and were able to buy a 2 1/2 swimming pool for $50.00. My mom called that night and told Marquel that she had just got a swimming pool, Marquel was so excited that she could hardly wait to go and visit grandma and grandpa, my mom didn't inform me of this new pool, on our way to my parents house Marquel kept telling me that grandma was going let her go swimming, I figured the new Manti pool, but when we got to their house Marquel ran around back. In just a couple of seconds, I see Marquel coming around the side of the house with a sad face saying "Grandma didn't set up the pool, grandma didn't set up the pool." Well we got into the house and that was the first thing Marquel wanted to do. Yet instead of setting up the pool, my mom convinced me to buy the pool from her so Marquel could play in it all summer long, and not just a couple of weekends a year.

Reed, Marquel, Courtney, Kaylee

I bought the pool from my mom, and to much anticipation finally got it set up last week. Marquel patiently waited for another year, but is now enjoying it on a daily basis.
Here is a day in the life of Marquel with her swimming pool: Wake up, eat breakfast, and then wait and watch t.v. until 11:00 a.m.

It's finally 11 so she jumps into her swim-suit and take the net out to clean all the bug out of the pool (yuck) during this time her friend have come over and they are ready to take the plunge. Marquel and her friends will spend the remainder of the day in and out of the water. Ooh to be a kid again!

It's so cold was all I heard

Dead man float

Reunion

2008-06-28T16:19:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my pal Nikki called and said that she would be coming to Cedar for her little ones 1 year wellness check up and asked I would like to go to lunch. I was way excited to be able to see her again and said "Yes, I would love too!" We met at the famous Cedar City "Brads" for lunch, it was so much fun to see her and to catch up on each others lives. The one question she had for me was... "Now, we all saw that you are selling your car, but what kind of car do you want now?" I haven't said a whole lot about the new car I want, but I will now fill you all in. I don't want your lives to be incomplete without this information. (LOL :o)) I am planning on getting a BMW 328i or a BMW 335i. I am way excited, and counting down the days until it will come into my garage, and be part of my family!! Hope you all sleep better! ;0)

Well, here it is... This is the color and look I want!

wildlife

2008-06-25T08:30:00.000-06:00

So anywhere we go, Troy being a photographer, always has his camera in hand. Infact on the bike trip we took, Troy took over 350 photos. Can you imagine 350 pictures. Thank goodness he has a digital camera!! Well, most people take pictures of their kids or their spouse, well not Troy. (although he is getting better! A year ago this trip would not have had any human in the photos!)

Troy always finds a deer to take a picture of or an eagle, how about a prong horn.. Anything in the wild, and Troy will capture them on camera. So I thought that I would let you all see the latest wildlife photos that he took.

Cross Country Riding

2008-06-24T19:41:00.000-06:00

Capital Reef

Well, I haven't told anyone of the latest venture that Troy has been on... About 2 months ago Troy called me at home and asked me to meet him at the motorcycle store, and to grab my check book. Well, I looked at the time, and said it's too late. 15 minutes later Troy is home and telling me to get my checkbook and hop in the car. I could only imagine what he was up too. I was thinking a new 4-wheeler, cuz that is one of our favorite past times, but I was way wrong. He wanted a brand new street bike... How could I argue? (Mid-life crisis is what I was thinking!) Well, I couldn't and I didn't. So that night Troy drove home on a new yamaha 1700 street motorcycle.. 3 weeks later, I get another phone call from Troy, he is in Hurricane buying a new helmet, and to my surprize me a new motorcycle. I was thrilled! I had been on a couple of rides with him and loved it. Not 2 hours later, I was on the road to meet him so we could pick up this new bike for me. I am now the proud owner of a Yamaha 650.
As soon as Troy had purchased the bikes he began talking about a road trip. Just him and I riding the open road. I was all for it and could not wait to see where this trip would take us. We bought a Utah Road Map and began looking for rides... Well we found one that we thought would be perfect. We would leave our house on a friday morning, travel the back highways to Capital Reef, stay there a night and then head over to Bryce Canyon, stay another night and then back home. I was pumped, but knew I had a lot of work to do before we could go. Not growing up on motorcycles or dirt bikes, I knew I was going to need to practice, I would need to get a motorcycle licence, and become very comfortable on my bike. After about three weeks of practicing, I felt good enough to take the test. To my surprise I passed in one try... I am now a legal motorcycle rider.

Well, our Utah Road Map would now become a reality.. We left just this past friday and man did we ride. We rode 100 miles on friday to end up in Torry, we were able to visit one of my old volleyball players, we were both tired from the ride, so went to bed so we could get up early to ride through Capital Reef. What an amazing experiece it was to be on a bike riding threw the park.. I don't believe it can be explained. I would just say you need to do it. After leaving the park we rode threw the Grand Stair Case National Park.. This was my least favorite, but one of Troy's favorite.. We just can't believe how small we really are in this great big world. We then went through Boulder Utah and then landing in Tropic. To finish off our trip we drove to Bryce and then went through Red Canyon.

We got home on Sunday, butt's sore, wind blown faces, and very very tired. But we had the time of our lives...

Grand Stair Case National Monument

Indian Storage Boulder Utah

Marquel's Baptism

2008-06-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

It's official, today Marquel was announced as the newest member of our ward. It was awesome.

Last saturday we went to Manti to have Marquel baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was such an awesome experience to see my little girl go into the waters of baptism. Her grandpa Harold baptized her and confirmed her. Before she got baptized they had a small program with a couple of talks and a couple of musical numbers. My mom gave a talk on baptism, and then to our surprize Elder Pace from the 70's gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. What a neat experience it was to have Elder Pace speak, he spoke on the first time he felt the Holy Ghost. He did an amazing job!

Marquel and her Grandpa Harold and Grandpa Wally

Lots of family came to share in this special day; Uncle Jared and Aunt Traci, both her grandparents, her sister Kayla and then Troy and I.

Marquel and Grandpa Wally

After her baptism we all got changed and then headed to get something to eat. Uncle Craig meet us at Los Amigos to grab a quick bite.

Marquel I am so proud of you!!

Lumpia aka Egg Rolls

2008-06-12T14:14:00.001-06:00

During softball season we had a team party at one of the players houses and her mom made egg rolls and ham fried rice. It was delicious to say the least, Troy loved the meal, and I decided that I would love to learn how to make it.

Yesterday was the day... Mary and Bonnie (Christiana) came over to my house to teach me. I have to see before I can do. They gave me a list of the engridience that would be needed, and I set out to the grocery store. Here is what I came back with. I have never used some of the engridience so I though that this was going to be a lot of fun, and a great challenge. We spent about two hours making everything and then finally got to roll the egg rolls.

I was quite impressed with myself, for they turned out really well.

I was not the only one that thought they turned out well.

And by the look on Troy's face you can see that he absolutly loved them. I am sure that they will now become one of the top five favorite dinners in the Mitchell home!!

Selling my Car!

2008-06-10T14:19:00.000-06:00

I am so excited about this. I landed myself a job. Not just any job but a real job teaching school. It is going to be great, yet also an adventure. I am going to be teaching 7th grade language arts and Utah history and then two 6th grade classes of Music appreciation. I am way so excited to finally be teaching!! Well, now that I have told you all this you are probably wondering why I have titled it "Selling my car" Getting this job, means that I get a new car. Can any of you guess what it is that I am going to drive come fall? I am way excited about it. but I do have to sell my Honda first. So that is what I am doing. It is a 2002 White Honda Accord, with tan enterior. I am asking 7,200.00. I am hoping that it sells fast and have included some pictures for you all to look at.

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-31T13:14:00.001-06:00

Memorial weekend has forever and always been my most favorite holiday. I just love that were get to visit our loved ones that have passed on, and I love to see all the veterens that are honored too. We always travel to Manti and then on to Riverton. Troy's dad is in Riverton so we always go there and watch the Veterans services. Troy dad was in the Utah Air National Guard, he served in Vietnam and was then pulled out of retirement to serve in Desert Storm. It is so nice to see that he is still honored and remembered. It brings a tear to my eye every time I hear their program.

As most of you know I am a history teacher, so whenever we are out and about the state I am always looking for something historic. So while in Manti we ventured into Spring City. (What a historic little town.) and did some looking around. Troy's dad was born in Spring City, and so we wanted to see if we could find the place where he was born, and we did!! It is a small one room cabin.

We took some pictures of it. I can't even imagine living in something this small.

After finding this little bit of history, there was something else that I wanted to see.

How many of you know that there is a cemetery in Spring city right in the middle of town? Well there is. It is very small and in the shape of the state of Utah. The first people buried there were 3 pioneers that were killed during the Black Hawk War, and the last person buried there was buried in 1910. It was a great find, and I would tell everyone that likes historic things to venture to this little town of treasures.

It's GREAT to be 8

2008-05-22T21:02:00.000-06:00

When Marquel turned 8 and we realized that she is going to be able to baptized I new that I wanted to do something special for her. I want he to know how happy and proud we are that she has chosen to be baptized. So I got on line and started looking for cute white baptism dress, with a little searching I came across the perfect dress. I called Troy and told him that I had found a dress and that I was going to get it. We had also been kicking around the idea of creating baptism invitations. (With Troy being a photographer) I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get some professional shots done and create the perfect invitation. With these pictures done I just have to show them off. I think they turned out adorable!! Marquel will be baptized on June 7th in Manti at the Manti Stake Center at 11:00 a.m.

"Twelfth Night"

2008-05-17T23:04:00.001-06:00

Marquel's 2nd grade class put on the play "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespear last wednesday night. Each class member had a part in the play and Marquel part was that of Fabian~~ a servent. She did such a great job and had a really good time. It was so fun to watch because the kids had been practing for so long that they all had memorized one anothers parts. Each classmate was able to draw a picture of what there character looked like, and this is what Marquel drew. She is quite an artist... Don't you think.Who knows maybe we have an up and coming actress in the family. lol:)

Marquel turns 8

2008-05-13T20:17:00.000-06:00

Marquel turned 8 on May 10th. And boy did we have a big birthday bash for her. On friday night, Troy and I took her to dinner and then we let her open her presents from us. Of course she scored big time! She got some new clothes, (she is a clothes fanatic!) a Hannah Montana game for her Nintendo DS, and a new Stereo for her room! She seemed to love everything, and was way excited that she got to open some presents the day before her birthday. Birthday morning we traved to Salt Lake to see Troy's parents. His mom held a big birthday party for all the kids that have birthdays in May. When we arrived at his mom's house we found that the party had already begun. There was a big blow up bouncer, a chocolate machine, and the hot-tub was turned into a swimming pool for all of the little ones to swim in. As the day continued on we pulled out her birthday cake and her nana gave her a big box to open.. Inside the box was a princess lamp. We all had a great time! Sunday morning came and we traveled to Manti for yet another celebration. We arrived and of course there were more presents (my mom and dad spoil her to death!!) She got more new clothes and a Hanna Montana CD! Her birthday was complete. We bbq turkey and had a great time. Happy Birthday Marquel!!!

High School Softball

2008-05-08T13:24:00.000-06:00

High School softball has just ended for us here at CVHS. Troy and myself were the freshman/sophomore coach's and had a ton of fun. Kayla played 1st base and was our number three batter. She really excelled this year and had a great season. Our overall record for the year was 13-10. The kids that played for us this year had tons of talent, probably the most that I have see go through this school, so it should be a lot of fun to watch them the next three years.

We were all sad to see the season end, but are now gearing up to watch Marquel play "coach pitch" softball. Now that is going to be a lot of fun.

Shed Hunting

2008-05-07T19:12:00.000-06:00

Every year Troy and Kayla go out and look for shed.. Some years they are very successful others not so much. This last outing Marquel and I decided to go with them. I had to do a lot of photographing to keep Marquel entertained, for this was one of those trips that would turn out to be not so successful. We hunted shed for more then 2 hours, finding more ant beds and trees that had been hit by lightning then we did sheds. We did come away with one prize. Kayla found it right at Troy's feet. Marquel was so excited that she packed the shed about a 1/2 mile back to the car, and then had to take the shed to school with her for show and tell. We had a lot of fun