Graduation

Well, for the first time in, I don't know, 20+ years it rained on graduation night in Mesa. Last minute backup plan was moving graduation into the gym and the auditorium. They had to split the class in half. It was a bummer not to have them all together but we survived it and Brandon received his diploma! We didn't get nice pictures which really stinks but he did it and we are SO proud of him. We will miss his school friends and sporting events but look forward to watching him grow, learn, and succeed at the next level. CONGRATULATIONS Brandon and the entire Class of 2008!! We are proud of you and we love you!

Athletes

Over the last few days we've had the opportunity to attend several end-of-the-school-year events including: choir concert; orchestra concert and various award ceremonies. Patrick received his first varsity letter from Skyline for track. Way to go Patrick! We look forward to watching him play football, wrestle, and compete in track again next year with Skyline.



Today we attended Westwood's Senior Awards Ceremony. What an amazing group of seniors they have there! Brandon received the Mutt Ford Athletic Award (which is basically best multi-sport athlete).



We are so proud of all of our kids and their accomplishments during this school year.

It's a Beautiful Thing!

Heather and I (Cathy) went to visit our good friends last week and got to see their beautiful new baby. She's only a few days old in this picture but she was very alert. She is just too cute so I had to share. CONGRATS to the Christensens on their newest addition!



Brandon and Patrick both went to Prom last weekend. Here are their great photos:




Dean had his last baseball game Thursday. He's a little bummed to be done for this season but excited to get his trophy!

MAY

Well, track, baseball, and softball are all coming to an end. Brandon and Patrick are getting ready for Prom this weekend. Brandon is gearing up for graduation. Heather's birthday is coming up (the big "13")! In the next month or so things should begin to settle down a bit. Summer is quickly approaching...UGH! We are all doing well just keeping extremely busy at the moment so this post will be brief. Here are some of Brandon's senior pictures.

Spring is here!

OK, so it's been a while. This is the time of year when we leave the house at 6:30 in the morning and don't return until about 10:00 Monday-Saturday. We've been just a little busy. The kids' sports are really kicking in. We had a great Easter and hope you all did as well. We had our first Easter egg hunt at the new house; 250 eggs...The kids all (even the older ones) had a blast finding eggs. We are still missing one (thank goodness they were all plastic)! Unfortunately, we didn't get any photos (bad, huh?)!
Dean absolutely loves Cub Scouts. On Friday he was able to participate in his first Pinewood Derby. Tyler helped him build his car. It was really cool, but unfortunately, it didn't go very fast. Neither Dad, nor Tyler were able to make it to the Derby so weren't able to help with the car. He had fun anyway and got some help from some of the other men that were there. He ended winning the prize for 'Best Overall Design'. Here's a picture of his car...


Tiffany had cheer tryouts this week and made the JV squad for next year at Skyline.

More to come soon... We really should be updating daily since there is so much going on.

Latest Update

It's been a while... Things are getting crazy busy around here. Several of us have had the 'crud' that's going around. Fortunately, it has now moved on, hopefully not to your house! Well, here's what's been happening around here:

Cathy went on her semi-annual scrapbook retreat last weekend. There were only a few gals there this time around so it was a little quieter than usual but we still had a great time. Derek has received a new calling as the Sunday School teacher for the 15-16 year olds. He will start that next week. That is a great calling for him. He is really good with the teenagers and they all love him. He's been busy working and trying to clean up/organize his garage. He and Tyler have also been talking and planning lately to get back in to racing 'Sand Drags'. They've been talking about buying a funny car that they can both race! We used to have a lot of fun when he raced before and now that Tyler is old enough to drive as well, they will have a great time with that.

Brandon has decided he will be attending Scottsdale Community College next year and plans to play football there for a year or two before moving on to a university. He is currently playing varsity baseball (pitching) for school and is also having fun playing basketball with the men from church.

Patrick and Tiffany are both in track. Patrick attended an invitational meet at NAU earlier this week. He said it was very different to be in the Sky Dome. He took first place in two events at his last meet.

Heather has started fast pitch softball. She's only had a few practices so far but loves it. She's very excited to start the games and she's learning a lot.

Dean has turned '8' and will be baptized this weekend. He is so excited he can hardly wait for Saturday to get here.

We are also having an Open House on Saturday, so, needless to say, Cathy is stressing to get prepared for that. It's been a very busy week so all preparations will have to take place Saturday morning. It will be a great day on Saturday but we will be glad when it is over as well.

Well, we hope to see some of you on Saturday and hope all is well with you and your families!

Just trying to find time...

The family is well, the weather is great, and schedules are packed...
Brandon is finishing up with basketball. They are heading in to the region tournament next week. He is preparing to start baseball as soon as basketball is over. He and Derek visited Western New Mexico University this weekend. It's a small town but not too far away (about a 4 hour drive) and they want Brandon to play football for them pretty bad. Adams State College in Colorado is interested in him as well. He has also been talking to the coaches at Scottsdale Community College quite a bit lately and they really want him as well. He has some decisions to make in the next few days...
Patrick is getting more excited about sports at Skyline. He's been talking to the track coach and the football coach and they are both very excited to have him there. The track coach said they would be hiring a personal pole vaulting coach for him. He was really excited about that. He will also be running for the track team.
Tiffany is also starting track and is still dancing and getting prepared to cheer next year.
Heather is getting ready to start playing fast pitch softball (through Little League). She's excited but a little nervous since she's only slow-pitch before. It will be good to prepare her for playing for the junior high next year.
Dean will be starting baseball soon. He is very excited to be turning '8' this week and is preparing for his baptism. He is SO excited about that. He will be baptized on March 8th. We're trying to get pictures taken so we can get invitations sent out but haven't been able to get that accomplished as of yet.

January 20, 2007

It has been a while since we've posted and we apologize for that. We've been busy getting adjusted to everything new but we are all well. The kids are making new friends and still really enjoying their new schools. Brandon has received a few college offers and is trying to decide where he would like to go and planning visits to a couple of schools out of state. Patrick has started to play soccer at his new school. We are starting to prepare for Dean's baptism next month and are hoping to find an open Saturday to have an Open House so everyone can come out to see our new place. We still have one more room to furnish but the house is coming together. Cathy was recently called (Derek is helping) as a Sunbeam teacher at church, teaching the 3 years olds. They can definitely be a challenge at times but they are so sweet. We generally have about 7 of them each week. They definitely keep us on our toes. Not much else has changed around here. We hope you are all having a wonderful new year so far!

New Schools

Well, the kids are all registered and attending their new schools. Dean and the girls all LOVE their new schools so far. Patrick is still not too sure about his but he's only been there one day.

Brandon was nominated as a Tribune Scholar Athlete and his profile is up on the VarsityXtra website.
You can view his profile at: http://varsity.evtrib.com/page/studentathlete

2007 Year in Review

OK, so here is the Christmas letter you've all been anxiously awaiting. Thank you for being so patient! It has been a hectic month, no surprises there...it's the Larges, it's December, the holidays are upon us, need I say more? It's been difficult trying to make time to just sit down and try to 'remember' what's been happening this year. As you have most likely already heard, we bought a new house and moved in during the week of Thanksgiving. We celebrated Thanksgiving in our new home. Our new home is about 20 miles east of our old house. It is a 7 bedroom basement home, almost 4500 square feet on about 1/2 acre with a large pool. We absolutely love it and are adjusting to the added driving time back and forth to school, work, and other activities. The girls and Dean are looking forward to attending their new schools in January. Brandon will finish up his senior year at Westwood. Patrick will also be changing schools in January. We love our new church ward and the few neighbors we've met have been very nice. There is a nice little neighborhood park right down the street that the kids love. It does have an HOA, which we swore we would never have, but they seem to be fairly relaxed and well, so far, so good...

Chris moved to Flagstaff in April to complete his internship at the Orpheum Theater. He was hired on and is also working at the bowling alley and has decided to go back to school at the community college as well. He loves Flagstaff "it's beautiful and the weather is great". He likes to ride the trails on his mountain bike and does some hiking as well. Chris has been dating his girlfriend Tiffany for over a year now but she lives here so he doesn't get to see her as often as he would like. He is considering moving back to the valley in a few months.

Tyler graduated in May and is still working at Bergeron Marine (now full time). He has decided to purchase our old house and moved in there as soon as we moved out. He has been fixing up the house and adding his own 'personal touches', including new carpet, paint and a pool table. His girlfriend Sharon lives with him as well as another family who lived with him at the other house (it's nice to have someone to help make the house payments). He spends his free time fixing up cars and riding his quad and sandrail.

Brandon continues to be the sports nut. He was the starting quarterback for the varsity football team and has been getting letters from many colleges/universities (some of whom have come to the school to talk to him). He doesn't have any official solid offers for scholarships yet but is sending out game film and hopes to get something soon. He definitely wants to play football at the college/university level though so it will be exciting to see where he ends up. Brandon received 1st Team All Region Quarterback and also earned 2nd Team at the state level. He skipped baseball his junior year but has been promising 'Dad' that he will play his senior year. He is currently playing on the varsity basketball team and they have been playing in several tournaments including one in Yuma where they took 3rd place and one in San Diego where they placed 4th. He also has a 4.0 GPA and is looking forward to having a short schedule next semester with only 2 classes starting at noon so he can 'sleep in'. Brandon also recently completed all the requirements to earn his Eagle Scout award.

Patrick played on the varsity football team and is now playing on the JV soccer team. His soccer team is doing really well. He has been attending the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) participating in their Health Sciences program. He would like to become a dentist. He has been working at Chick-Fil-A but will be looking for a new job closer to our new home. He just got his permit on Christmas Eve and is very excited about that. He will be attending Skyline starting next semester (January 3rd) and is not too happy about that but he will still be able to attend EVIT from there as well.

Kimberly is doing well. She is in the school and church choirs. She is doing well in school and loves to socialize! She loves having her own bedroom in our new house and is excited to meet new friends at her new school.

Tiffany is still dancing (surprise, surprise). She absolutely LOVES to dance. She helps teach the younger kids as well. Tiffany also loves to sing and is in the advanced choir at school. She is very excited to start attending her new school and is looking forward to meeting new friends. Her favorite thing to do is 'hang out' with her friends.

Heather loves our new ward and is making lots of friends there and looking forward to attending her new school. She didn't want to wait for the semester break but wanted to change schools as soon as we moved! She is in advanced orchestra, still playing the violin which she loves. She has also been playing the piano a lot lately and wants to take piano lessons again. She also loves having her own bedroom in our new house. She has been babysitting more and really likes that, especially the money that comes with it!

Dean is in 2nd grade now and is just the coolest kid ever! He loves hanging out with his older brothers (especially Tyler). He loves to work on cars and do all the cool stuff that Tyler does. He played baseball in the spring and is anxious to start playing some other sports (football and soccer). He is looking forward to getting baptized in February and is also excited to start attending his new school.

Molly (the mini Schnauzer) is still as spoiled as ever. I think she is more spoiled than our kids are and that is pretty bad! She and Misty (the Boxer) are adjusting well to the new house. They both love the big back yard.

Derek moved from working at the tow copany to another division within the same corporation, running their auto auctions. He has been enjoying that and has advanced again to Operations Manager, managing the auctions as well as the rest of the tow company. He has been working very hard to get our new home.

Cathy is still working at SRP and with the kids activities and moving hasn't had time to do too much else. Ocassionally she finds time to get a little scrapbooking in (although that's been only at the 2 retreats she organized with a few friends this year). She also started back to school, working toward her degree that she might some day reach! We've been having fun shopping for furniture and getting our house organized and decorated.

We have been truly blessed this year and love this time of year when we can celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and count our blessings for all he has given us!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and have a very happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!!!