Bragging

So my children need a little bragging-- HA!
Amy was Homecoming Princess- which was really cute and did good for her esteem. Her school soccer team didn't do so hot in play-offs but she and Paige just made the Hawaii ODP (olympic development program) team as guest players and are going to play in a National Championship Tournament in Arizona next month! How cool is that?! The coach is even being understanding about the no Sunday games thing! We are happy for them-- and they're both starting varsity on their basketball teams! (Paige in middle school, Amy at U-Hi as a sophomore)
Brandtly has been on "best behavior" this last month or so- he is really being fun. He took Tess and Macy to Family Fun night at her elementary school Fri.night while Don and I went to Amy's game. His 'girlfriend' went with him-- making it a chaperoned cheap date?! Football ended in not a winning season for them- but he was in the top ten in the district for receiving and played awesome! He has rethought not playing basketball as he is watching some of his friends play- but is working out hard getting ready for baseball and even earned some money working with the candidates in the elections-(a job?! too bad it was short lived!!)
Tessa's first dance recital is this week- and she started piano lessons last month!(Her teacher comes to our house in the morning before she goes to school- it rocks!)
Macy is working on a lot of words- and now runs from me when I want her! :) Love it!

Twilight

We are twilight fans at out house- and had a great party that night- Thurs. Nov. 21-- it started harmless, but ended with about 40 of us- which all but maybe 6 went to the midnight showing!! It was awesome! Thanks everyone for a great time. We had twilight necklaces, bella perfume, Edward charm key chains, blood drop earrings and replicas of Edward and Bella's cars for door prizes-- it was really awesome!! Randi gets the best dressed award- you'll notice her with a little of her "midnight snack" running down her chin!! (poor deer!) Hope you all enjoyed the movie too!!

From the Middle Child :)

Well hello! It's Sunday night and i (Paige) am stalling finishing my homework. So now i think since Amy has put in comments from the peanut gallery..just kidding!(sorta) i should get my chance at saying something too! Yes i played Softball for school and as i DID dominate it wasn't my favorite! This last Saturday i finished up with soccer...my team going 9-0-1!! now more of my focus will be on basketball and volleyball starts TOMORRW!!!!! YAAAA!O yes.i finally turned 14 and have gone to a couple stake dance's and they were fun .... Amy has been doing GREAT in soccer and recovered from her ankle pretty well. Their team is going to playoffs and that starts on Wednesday..(i think..) she is also finally working in the weight room so she can beat me in arm wrestling!!haha actually she's a beast!! hopefully her team does good in play-offs. Also last night the 25th she went to Sadie Hawkins dance with a bunch of girls from soccer!! sounded like they had a blast!!!! Brandtly's football season has not yet come to a close.. but he is doing great starting wide receiver and corner back. sadly the Titans will not be going into post season play but they have played hard and did really good this year. He has also started working for "Walking for Washington" it's something to do with the election... not exactly sure but i think that he is having fun. Tessa.. oh what a child!!! she (as most 4-6 year olds do) has decided to give herself a hair-cut! She just took a big chunk out of the back of her hair and "snipp snipp" it went... so when my mother returns home (ya Amy was babysitting) she goes to put her hair in a ponytail for school and finds that there isn't quit enough! but my mom being as skilled as she is evens it all out and now Tess has a pretty cute hair cut! Macy.... well i love that baby! she is running like crazy and will talk to you on like phone for a long time!! she's pretty energetic and love able!! As for my biological parental units....i would have to say we keep them pretty busy! Life is always an adventure at the Thornton's!:)

Cute Skirts!

We borrowed this skirt for pictures for Tessa- she LOVED it! My friend across the street gave me the link to a site of some reasonably (?!?!) priced skirts that she knows the seamstress. These are very comparable to those found in the specialty boutiques?! Anyway-- they are really fun and perfect for pictures. Her daughter wore one to church on Sunday and looked absolutely darling!
The link is emzedesign.blogspot.com

school...ugh

howdy! mom wanted me to jazz this thing up since i'm so spectacular w/ the whole computer thing :P so i thought i'd post some SWEET PIX--cuz thats the only thing really worth looking at anyway. :DD ha ha just kidding!! so i ((amy)) just sprained my ankle in practice..and as much as i would love to put a picture of it on this nifty little thing, my mom would probly kill me and everyone would just get grossed out anyway. i only tore one of the three ligaments however so im grateful that i'll be able to play soon! paige decided to go w/ the softball thing (as much as a i tried to convince her to do xcountry) and from what i hear is totally DOMINATING! i guess she is athletic or something...?? who knew. ha ha just kidding she is amazing!! and also loving ruling her middle school..i personally think it was the cupcake backpack that got her goin! so brandt is going to play his very 1st game of the season tonight--GREASY PIG!! WAHOOO!! kinda exciting. (for those who are unaware of the intense rivalry between us and the Central Valley Bears..the greasy pig is the rival football game but also a huge spirit competition! GO TITANS!!!) so everyone is looking forward to gettin him back on the gridiron and prayin he wont get hurt again. coach wants him to play both teams but we'll see if he ends up playing defense. tessa started kingergarden and is loving it! wellll...as much as she will tell me she is! and i've decided i love the things 5 year olds say. macy may is the cutest one year old i think ive ever seen in my life...and is just starting to communicate which makes things much easier! we're tryin to get her off her high pitched scream but so far our attempts have been unsuccessful! so far as i know dad still loves his job..he is always threatening to stick an iv in me so i figure he has fun :D mom is busy as ever..no wonder she doesnt get around to updating this thing! i'll try and remind her every once in a while :)

Here we go!!...again!

Brandtly, Tessa and Amy- Tessa's first day of kindergarten! Afternoon kindergarten is going to be great for taking our time in the mornings!

Paige and her cupcake backpack! She has matching supplies too!! :) Something every 8th grader needs!

We are back in full swing with school- early morning seminary starts Monday!
Brandtly opted out of the college option at the last minute (today!)-- !?!? He's decided he has too many friends! They just won their first football game 13-6. He is cleared for light contact so hopefully will suit up to play in the next two weeks?!
Amy is playing varsity soccer- first game tomorrow!
Paige is deciding about playing school softball- club soccer, basketball and student council may be enough until volleyball starts?
Tessa has started dance-- we're hoping she has more rhythm than the rest of us!
Macy is along for the ride and loves it!

Silver Mountain

We finally got away together for a little vacation!? We went to Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID.--- Beautiful and really fun! Indoor water park for resort guests only(means very few people most of the time!) with a surf wave- which was enough to challenge the big kids! We also went up the longest gondola ride in the world to the top of the ski mountain and hiked, played frisbee, ate, etc. Really neat. We didn't attempt to ride bicycles down- the whole two wheeled vehicle thing is still a little fresh- and some of the trails are EXPERT ONLY- which I am pretty sure means that 16yo males would have to try them just to say they did?!? Fun trip- good to get away!

I love my boy!

So it has long been known that Brandtly and Don want motorcycles (for boy bonding time?!!), so the deal was if Brandtly could ace a math test- he could have a motorcycle. Seemed like a safe bet!?! So he got 110%!!! Ahhh! So, after searching a couple months- we have a 200cc Q-link dual sport motorcycle. Not a bad idea for commuting to football/baseball, etc. since the school is less than a mile away and driving the suburban is the only other option!?! Good idea, right? Ya, it was for a couple weeks anyway!! Until Brandtly wrecked on the way to practice one morning--while cutting through the middle school field -- broken collar bone- displaced a good 1-2 inches! Ouch! Glad he isn't hurt any more than he is, but really put a damper on the State baseball tournament-- they could've used his help! The football coach isn't real thrilled either!? He will be out until at least mid-Sept. and then we'll see?! (he was on the starting line-up for offense and defense!) Crazy! I can't figure out how to get the pics of the xray on here- or I would- a good before and after pic! You'll just have to imagine! He also must have hit his head pretty hard because he came back from the baseball tournament this weekend with his head striped! He went from stud to dud in about two swipes of the clippers!?! He let another teammate shave and bleach stripes on his head!?! That is NOT something you will see a picture of! AHHH!! I love my boy!?!?!!!!

On to happier notes! Amy and Paige are at girls' camp bonding with other wonderful young women- and strengthening their testimonies! (I have to think positive!)- I think the worst thing they'll let them do to their hair is pin curls ratted up?? Tessa and Macy are cute as ever!

Trying to keep up!

This is our first attempt at blogging-- I have had so much fun reading and looking at others- decided it was time to try it! Maybe this will be a good family history?!?! (justify the time it will take to keep it up to date!)

I created this while waiting for Macy to wake up so I can go watch Paige play basketball. She and Amy are in a tournament here that their high school is hosting--- though our high school is an evactuation center right now- so it is actually at a school a couple miles away! (We had huge fires two days ago- evacuated within a mile of us, and one of Don's partners and two surgeons lost everything- scary!) Amy is playing varsity, Paige freshmen- tho she is just an 8th grader. They are having a blast. Both are also playing on competitive soccer teams and Amy is running daily with the XC team just for fun!? Don, Tessa and Brandtly are in tri-cities (2.5hrs away) where BJ is playing baseball this weekend. He leaves for EFY tomorrow morning early- and the girls just got back a week ago-- Thanks to my mom and dad who came for a visit bringing 6 girls from our ward home from EFY!!! Long ride, but well worth it! It's been great to have my parents here all week!!!



I chose the name wherewebegan because we moved to Spokane, WA last year -- Don and I lived here for the first four years of our marriage. He went to school the first time here at Eastern Washington University- and after quite a few detours-- he is now working at the same hospital Brandtly was born at-- kind of a full circle for us. We love the area- friends are numerous and everyone is adjusting. We have been here a year- rent a nice home in a great neighborhood but just got a notice on the house a couple weeks ago that the landlord hasn't paid his mortgage for 6 months and we could get booted in as soon as 100 days! The house search has intensified! We have narrowed the choices trying hard to keep the kids at the same schools- but the right combination of size, cost and location hasn't presented itself so we keep looking/praying and trying every avenue we can think of! -- another blog for another day!

We'll post more pics and events and get better at it (and shorter!)!! Still learning! Off to games!