new photos

Pie Eating Contest 101

Stephen realized a dream of his by participating in a pie-eating contest at our ward picnic. For a kid who has never done this before, he certainly had his winning technique down cold as the competition began. Nobody even came close - Stephen was the only participant who actually finished the entire Chocolate Cream pie.

Stephen surveys the competition

Stephen dives into the race

Stephen goes with the technique of licking the pie shell clean



Other participants note the effectiveness of his technique and do likewise.

Stephen then dumps the crust on the table and shovels it into his mouth.

He makes sure he cleans the table

As others struggle to eat, Stephen claims an easy victory.

Stephen bathes in his sweet success

He decides to seal his victory he must clean his fingers too.

After receiving the Gold Medal, Stephen continues to lick his pie tin, just in case there were any doubters in the crowd.

Stephen posed with the second and third place winners and then proceeded to eat a hamburger and hotdog at the picnic. I wish we could turn his appetite and ability to eat quickly into a career.

Updated house photos

We love our new home. It is in such a great location (close to the high school for the boys and quick freeway access) and we have great neighbors. Of course the house has become a money pit - there are so many things we want to do, but we just have to be patient. We worked on the boys' rooms first, but now all of our focus in on the outside. Since the house was in foreclosure twice in the past two years, the yard is not in great shape. It will be beautiful in a few years when we get the lawn reseeded, build a deck and landscape it. Here are pictures of some of the rooms:

Living Room/Dining Room

Family Room

We haven't finished this room, but this is where we spend most of our time.

Hayden's Room

Hayden fell in love with the dormer room when we first viewed the house. It was covered in paneling (hello 1970's) but it had a lot of space. We had a lot of fun remodeling this room. My friend, Tammie Burke, made the quilt, we found the lamp at a furniture store and the accent pillows at Target.

Hayden's Room - 2

We found a great swivel chair to put in front of the window that overlooks the back yard. It just happened to match the curtains and the quilt. Hayden loves to read in the chair.

Stephen's Room

Stephen's only requirement for his room is that it had electrical outlets for his laptop. I love the way his room turned out, but he honestly would be happy with white walls and a sheet and blanket on his bed. He hates the pillow shams and the accent pillow (they don't have any use) but he is great about making his bed and putting them on his bed to please his mom.

We Just Bought our First House !!!!

We are so excited that we just bought our first home! We didn't expect to do it so soon, but things just kind of fell into place and we found a wonderful house. We're supposed to close by Christmas Eve. There may not be many presents under the tree (in fact, we don't think there will even be a tree this year :-), but we feel very blessed.

The house has 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths. It is only about 3 minutes from where we live now. This will be our 5th move in 8 years. I was excited to tell the Elders Quorum president today that we were buying a home and we hope we won't be moving for a very long time.

Backyard

The kitchen

Family Room

Living and Dining Room

Hall bathroom

Master Bedroom

Debora's Bedroom

Hayden's room

Hayden's room

Basement

Basement

Bathroom in basement

Thankgiving 2008

We had a great Thanksgiving with our friends the Blackburns. We spent the day hanging out, playing games, watching DVDs and eating. It felt like the Thanksgivings my family used to have when I was growing up.

Hayden, Chris and the turkey

The pyramid

Stephen (15) and Hayden (13)

Gianni beating up Hayden

Hayden

Gianni's Trip to Italy

Gianni was able to make a quick visit to Italy to visit Debora. It was the first time he has seen her in more than two years. Gianni had a great time spending time with his daughter and we're very excited for her to turn 18 in May so she can come to the United States.

Unfortunately, Debora was a little camera-shy and Gianni didn't get any pictures of her. Debora has promised to email us some soon.

Gianni did accomplish his goal of eating pizza every night he was in Italy.

Despite my strenuous objections, Gianni ate horse meat on his trip. I have tried my best to explain that horses are pets and not food items. Apparently the movie marathon we watched that included Black Beauty, My Friend Flicka, The Black Stallion and The Man From Snowy River had little effect on his carnivorous behavior.

Gianni eating Mama's pasta

Gianni painting Debora's room




Gianni eating with friends

Gianni's family getting into the Christmas spirit a little early.

Some Italian guy making "mozarella fresh."