Up to Date

Okay... I've posted a few different entries (most recent on top), and I'll use this one to try and catch up. If you want to read them chronologically, just scroll down (might have to click on "older posts") and start with the first (bottom) Feb. 1 entry.


The holidays were fun as usual... lots of time with family. I love my family. :) It was a little weird and sad without Grandpa here, but I know that if it is possible, he was definitely with us at our family gatherings, watching the grandkids and enjoying every minute just like before. It was fun having Brittany and Joe here for Christmas... Brittany even helped us play "Santa." She and I built a train around the Christmas tree while Braden assembled Cheyenne's new drum set. I always sleep a little easier when they're here--it's such a blessing to have my family together under one roof now and then.



For New Years, Braden & I went to San Diego with Teri & Tracy (my sister & brother-in-law). We went to the Holiday Bowl and watched the UofA Wildcats get annihilated by the Nebraska Huskers... while sitting in a light drizzly rain throughout the whole game. It was fun though, and I LOVE San Diego! I already have a San Diego trip planned for our family this summer, hopefully Brittany & Joe can come too.



Then the kids went back to school. It was hard to start back again--the vacation didn't seem long enough for me. They weren't all too happy either. But it's been a month now and so far so good.


Oh I forgot... before the holidays, Logan was on a basketball team! At this age they don't keep score, but they did really well. At one game, Logan even made a tie-breaking basket right as the buzzer signaled the end of the game! Very exciting. He currently goes to a neighbor's house for basketball lessons after school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and he's gearing up for baseball (coach pitch) in a couple of months. It's so fun to see him play so many different sports at such a young age.



Okay I think that's all the high points of the last several months... I will try to keep this more current. Just for you, Shalyn! heehee :)

Rest In Peace, Dad.... Herman P. Young, 2/13/24 - 9/13/09

The next entry isn't very happy.. my dad passed away on September 13 of last year. He died at home, apparently of a massive heart attack or possibly a stroke, we're still not really sure. It was hard at first -- Braden and I were there when it happened (he had fallen and Mom called to have us come help him), and my brother Steve was there too. They were trying to help him up but that's when his heart stopped and he was gone. They tried CPR, and when the ambulance came they tried for a while too, but it was over. I don't like to re-live that afternoon so I'll skip over it, other than to say it was overwhelming how many people came to help and give love and support that evening and the following few days. All our family was together that week and we all drew closer, and the funeral was perfect. It was actually a nice reunion, with family and friends we hadn't seen in a long long time. We all miss my dad, but we're so grateful for the knowledge we have that we will see him again and that he is in a better place, watching over all of us.

Moving on...

The next thing I guess would be football season.

First -- Logan played quarterback, center, and defensive end for his Benson Bobcats Youth Football team. It's his first year playing football, and since he's only 6 he plays Flag instead of Tackle. (They don't get to tackle until they're 8.) His team did really well -- they only lost one game and won seven. Logan himself had one touchdown run and several TD passes. Such a good athlete already and he loves it.

Madison was involved in football as well -- as a cheerleader for the Benson Mighty Mites. Cheering is one of her favorite things and she made some good friends. She perfected her cartwheels and learned some "flying" stunts (lifts onto the shoulders, etc.) with the other girls. Her squad participated in a Cheer Competition and though they didn't place, they worked very hard and did a really good job.

Cheyenne was involved too -- but not with a team. She's become quite accomplished on the saxophone and enjoyed playing in the pep band for the high school games. She's only in 7th grade and has been playing since just last year, but is good enough to be in the Advanced Band and loves it. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of her playing in the band... not sure how I missed that!

But here's Taryn ... with her awesome quarterback cousin, Tyler. They're both sophomores. Taryn helped choreograph several of the dances for her squad and just looked so cute out there!

Hello again!

Well, I kinda stopped updating this blog because I didn't think anyone was following it and I was duplicating my efforts on Facebook anyway, BUT I recently found out that I do actually have a follower (hi Shalyn!!) so decided that was a good enough reason to keep it going.

And now it's been almost a year and I don't know where to start. Maybe where I left off. Our Spelling Bee champ (Cheyenne) won the school spelling bee for the THIRD time last month, and will be going to the county Bee on Feb. 20 to defend her title. Hopefully she'll get another shot at the State Bee and do better than she did last year. If not that's okay -- she has one more chance next year as an 8th grader.

Now to try and catch up .... So many things happened last year! I should probably do a separate entry for each of them... I'll start with Brittany's wedding! She married Joseph Michael Knight, from Benson. His sister Summer is our Taryn's best friend, and a few years ago they decided to set Brittany and Joe up so they could be sisters. We didn't think anything would come of it, and Brittany didn't seem interested... until she went off to college, and Joe was there, and things just sorta fell into place. We all love Joe -- he has been an answer to prayer and they are very happy together. And so cute! Here's another picture.

There are many MANY other pictures on my FaceBook profile -- or if you're not one of my FB friends, you can see them in our PicasaWeb photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/btcml53872.

Finally something else...

First of all, to update in case there's still someone who doesn't know, Cheyenne went to the State Spelling Bee on March 28 and was the 17th one down... and there were 10 kids left when she went out in the 9th round. Which means she made it better than halfway, which is pretty good! She went out on the word "noisome" -- she left off the "e". She was disappointed because she had seen that word before, just didn't realize it until she heard it spelled correctly. We were very proud of her anyway, just for getting there!

On to more recent things... it's getting close to the end of the school year, which means lots of things going on!

First of all, look at this cutest little "Tiger" .... Logan is playing in the Coach Pitch division of Little League this year and is doing very well. He loves it. He's number 11. :) Braden is the coach, and I've been keeping score for the team... so far I think we've won 3 games, lost 1 and tied 1. They play every Tuesday and Thursday for the next couple of months.

Last night I took the girls to EAC to see Spring Sing. Brittany is in A Cappella Choir and they are AMAZING!! It was an awesome show, as always. Tonight Braden & Logan will go -- we had to split it up this week because Taryn can't go tonight and the boys couldn't go last night.

Taryn is in a musical theatre production this weekend and next weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing that... she says it's pretty good.

We'll be going back over to EAC Monday night for Brittany's band concert, and Tuesday night Logan is in a Spring performance at the school. Then we're down to the final few crazy weeks, featuring Madison in "Wizard of Oz," Taryn's Show Choir Concert, Cheyenne's Band Concert, and ending up with Logan's Kindergarten graduation. :)

In just a couple of weeks, Brittany will be moving back home for the summer. She hopes to get a job and take some summer classes. We're working on getting the house expanded, and it would be nice if we could have it done soon so she can have her own room.... we're just waiting on our re-fi loan to come through so we can get started.

Okay... that's enough for today.

My Dumb Kid, Part 2

Well, she did it!! The Cochise County Spelling Bee was held last Saturday, Feb. 14, at Buena High School in Sierra Vista. Cheyenne went up against 31 other students, and came out on top, just like we thought she would!

The group was cut in half after the first round (seems like that's usually how it goes), then down to 6 in the second round, and 3 after the third. All three of them misspelled their words in the fourth round, so got to repeat that round, and one more went out. In the fifth round, it was down to Cheyenne and one other, who missed his word. She then needed to spell a final Championship Word, which she did correctly, to win First Place.

Her words were:

1: plateau
2: cavalry
3: bravura
4-a: kremlin - misspelled "cremlin"
4-b: sequin
5: alcohol
Championship Word: "musicale".

So proud of our little WORD NERD! :) The Cochise County superintendent, Trudy Berry, was there to present her with a trophy, and a $100 cash prize! It was a very exciting day. It was made even better because our whole family was there to cheer her on -- plus Brittany brought her friends Joe and Brooke, and both grandpas and Grandma Dorothy and Aunt Valerie were there as well.

She also got front page coverage in the Sierra Vista Herald, with a big picture of her with Madison and Taryn and Brooke.

She will go on to the State competition in Phoenix next month.

My Dumb Kid.... :)

Cheyenne competed in the school spelling bee this morning, AND WON! There were 19 kids to start with, from 4th to 8th grade (Cheyenne is in 6th grade). She will go on to the County competition in Sierra Vista on February 14. This is her second time in a row--last year (5th grade) she won the school bee and then came in 3rd at the county level.

It got a little tense this morning-- after 6 rounds, it came down to her and her friend Hannah (also in 6th grade). They went back and forth several times, until Hannah finally missed a word and Cheyenne spelled two words correctly to win.

Here are the words Cheyenne spelled correctly:

Round 1: thermal
Round 2: talc
Round 3: safari
Round 4: gazelle
Round 5: panzer
Round 6: souvenir
Round 7:
Hannah: benefactor
Chey: shogun
Hannah: vibrato
Chey: feldspar
Hannah: expertise
Chey: crochet
Hannah: ramada
Chey: popularity
Hannah: karate
Chey: excise
Hannah: gestapo ... which she misspelled as "gestopo."
Chey then spelled "apricot" and the winning championship word, "fiery."

So proud! Here's a picture I snapped while Mrs. Davidson (one of the judges and Chey's 2nd grade teacher) was congratulating her and announcing that Cheyenne also won last year's spelling bee.

Cheyenne worked very hard (okay, Braden & I "pushed" her just a bit), so I was really glad that all her practice paid off. She's hoping to win that $100 first prize at the County Spelling Bee... and she has a really good chance of doing just that.