For the love of fridays

This week I LOVE love and especially the love we have for each other as a family, the love we feel as parents for our children. The children are not always easy to deal with (today, Henry dump his entire cup of apple juice in his sister’s mac’n’cheese and Olivia blamed her brother for all the dirty handprints on the clean mirror, good thing their handprints are so different) but at the end of the day and many many times throughout the day we LOVE them to pieces. We LOVE them for all the cute little things they say and do. We LOVE them for caring and being helpful. We LOVE them for loving and forgiving. We LOVE them for being so smart and so clueless at the same time. They are so many ways we LOVE them. These pictures of Tyler dancing with the kiddos were taken at friends’ wedding (thanks Zack and Jocelyn for sending the pictures our way). Can’t you feel the LOVE?

Soccer pictures... a little late

So these are soccer photos that were taken last November but I had to scan them and I couldn't do it on my own so my mother-in-law was kind enough to do it for me. What can I say, technology and I are not friends! But finally here are the pictures: Olivia striking a pose!

Olivia's team

Henry. We got him to smile by telling him that Josie-a little girl who likes him-was around the corner, his reaction was hilarious!

Henry's team

They spent more time playing with their friends than playing soccer but they had a great time and they want to play again next year. We'll see what happens then.

for the love of fridays

My sister-in-law, Merideth, has been doing a regular post she calls “for the love of fridays”. In these posts, she describes things that she loves and that she is grateful for. I love the idea of expressing what I love and appreciate and I’m going to give it a try. Today, I LOVE my friends and one in particular. A friend who knew Tyler was out of town most of the week and that he would not come back until late tonight so she called me and invited Olivia, Henry and me to come have dinner with her and her family. We had a great time, a good dinner and lots of laughs. The “big people” played skip-bo (Tyler ended up joining us towards the end of the evening) and the little kids played well together. I’m not only GRATEFUL for a good evening but for a friend who knew I was in need of big people company and was willing to be that company. I LOVE my friends and I LOVE card games (any games actually.)

PSG

As mentioned in the Christmas post, while in France we got to go to a PSG (Paris Saint-Germain, the Paris soccer team in the French ligue 1). I’m not a soccer fan but as many of you know, Tyler is a die-hard fan and the PSG is the French team he has chosen to support. He hasn’t been lucky with his teams lately, the NY Yankees, the PSG, the Chicago Bears are not doing so well…or so I understand because when he watch the games I’m usually doing something else, unless it’s the super bowl or a BYU football game. Anyways, when Tyler decides to support a team it’s for real and he had been dying to see the PSG live but we never went to France during the soccer season, until three weeks ago. My father was kind enough to take us to a game (my sister, Roselle, got to come too), Tyler was in heaven and I have to admit that it was pretty fun. The atmosphere was crazy. I’ve been MLB games, to NBA games, college football (and BYU vs. Utah can get a little crazy) but I hadn’t really seen crazy until this game. The PSG stadium, le Parc des Princes, hold 48,000 people that night there were 45,000 people, all chanting, beating on drums dancing, lighting flares, you read me right, LIGHTING FLARES! And it was fun. We got to see Guillaume Hoarau (number 9, the blue jersey on the left side of the picture) a rising French soccer star Tyler has been following.

There was a lot of action for a final 2-2. It should have been 3-2 for the PSG, Tyler can tell you all about that.

And even I enjoyed myself. I really did have a good time, I didn’t just enjoy watch Tyler have a great time.

And now that Tyler has a PSG jersey with Hoarau’s name, number and all the official patches, he truly is a happy camper.

Christmas

A Couple of weeks late, here is our Christmas rundown. We went to France for the holidays, we also got a new TV and Santa brought a Wii so we weren’t expecting anything for us adults and explained to the kids that it’s not the quantity of presents that matter but the quality. We also tried, as we do each year, to focus on the birth of Jesus and family. But we were wrong and we were spoiled. Here’s a few of our favorite things. It was impossible to choose just one per person. Coleen, Olivia and Henry in their (by chance) matching Christmas jammies.

Olivia’s favorite gift: her robe (she’d been asking for one for years, and she’s only 6, seriously) and her PetShop things.

Henry’s favorite gift: a transformer sword. A transformer and a sword put together, and it makes battle sound, Henry is in heaven.

Daddy’s favorite gift: Guitar Hero for the Wii or a PSG jersey, and the PSG soccer game he got to go to. It’s a toss-up.

Mommy’s favorite gift: a WiiFit. I’m hurting in places I didn’t even know existed. My body is screaming a loud “I’m supposed to do what?”. I’m loving it but no pictures allowed at this point!

Thanks everybody for a wonderful Christmas. We loved all your gifts and we especially loved spending time with you.

Paris - City of lights, City of my heart

I have quite a bit of catching up to do. Life has been busy, which means not as many pictures as there should be to represent all that has happened recently and also, I was away from my computer and a QWERTY keyboard—typing in France takes me for EVER! So here goes with the catching up. Today: Paris. Paris has to be my favorite city. I love that it is familiar to me but that it can always be rediscovered, either through the eyes of someone you take around or through the many changing aspect of Paris (the new exhibits, the new colors of the lights of the Eiffel Tower, the different vendors in the markets…). Each and every time, I love Paris. Here are a few pictures (Tyler did take a lot of pictures of the city but never with anyone we know in it.) The Sacré Cœur - Climbing up the step is a workout but definitely worth it, especially when you reward yourself afterwards with lunch "Place du Tertre".

The Arc de Triomphe - One of the many symbols of Paris, one that usually means shopping on the Champs-Elysées.

The Eiffel Tower - Growing up I used to run up the stairs screaming out the numbers of the steps. I'm not running anymore, I'm not screaming either.

The Panthéon - This used to be a church "Sainte Geneviève" if my memory serves me well. But now it's a place for art and famous people (Victor Hugo, Pierre Curry among them) to be buried.

Notre-Dame - We love to go there, the place is magnificent.