Why, It's a Major Award

I have a confession. Sometimes I forget to take my camera to important events. Like Christmas. Or like when your dad is receiving a major award. The events in this post took place on October 1st, but are too important to let slide without a major post, and since I finally got some pictures together, here it is.

My dad has been a teacher and coach at Moapa Valley High School for 37 years. Yes. For 37 YEARS he has been teaching, inspiring, and changing the lives of students and athletes. This is always how I will remember my dad.

I have been attending football, basketball, and track events at MVHS since before I could walk, and I gotta tell you, I have always been proud to say my dad was the coach.

When we found out the school was naming the football and track field after my dad, we all made every effort to be there to see him get a small piece of the recognition he deserves.

All you have to do is look at this group of people who all came to see my dad and you know that he is loved.

Pictured: Uncle Mike, Grandpa and Grandma Q, Baden, Taden, Tiffany, Jake, Charles, Kollin, Chase, Blakely, Uncle Tracy, Kaitlyn, Kelsey, Frank, Grandma Keel, Truman, Cassidy (sadly, no James.), John, Sandy, Art, Hillari. Front row: Aunt Laurie, Isaac, Keith, Finley, Lexi, Sareny, Grammy Jo, Rhys, Holli Jo, Joshua, Liz. And though he isn't pictured, I think we all felt the presence of my Grandpa Keel, who would have been so proud of my dad.

In addition to all the family members who came, I talked to one of my dad's old students who told me she drove several hours to be there after she saw the announcement in the newspaper.

Here is my dad standing by Larry Moses, who was principal at MVHS when I was there.

My Dad was honored during halftime, and the school really went all out to make this a special event.

 The current principal made some very nice remarks, and the cheerleaders used their pom-poms to spell out W-E (heart) K-E-E-L. Now, I've never been overly fond of cheerleaders, but that was actually really special and appreciated.

The sign had been covered up with cloth for the big reveal, and the when the people tried to take it down, it got stuck. There were a couple of moments when we wondered if they were going to manage to get it down, but they did.

The principal told us later he would have ran over there himself and somehow managed to uncover the sign.

My mom has always been my dad's biggest fan! These events actually took place on her birthday.

Here I am with my snuggly girl watching the events.

Sareny and Joshie at the game. Josh wanted to wear this hat the whole time...

Before the game started, we had a nice dinner in the school lunchroom. This is the only photo I have of that event, but you can see that Finley is sporting her Pink Floyd shirt.

And here is one of the reasons why we love my dad so much. He is so good at playing with the kids, and they all love him. Although I can't tell from the look on Rhysie's face if he is actually loving this exact moment...

The kids had fun playing outside in the water.

And here is a nice shot of Sareny's missing teeth.

These gals helped supervise the kids.

Another photo with tia Lexi.

And I absolutely love this picture! It is completely darling. The only thing it is missing is Josh and Charlie, and then it would be perfect.

Anyway, it was a really great weekend.

What do you do when you forget your camera on your Christmas trip?

You wait for everyone else to post about Christmas first, then snag photos from their blogs, of course. We had a fun trip to Grammy Jo and Bampa's house this year. All my sissies were there, and Jake and Liz came down the day we were leaving. We decorated some yummy sugar cookies.

As every kid's favorite Tia, Lexi helped out with the cookies.

Probably my favorite thing we did this year nobody took any pictures of. But the girls had a "super Saturday" activity and made some really cute felt Christmas ornaments while the Dad's walked down to McDonald's with the kids. We had a lot of fun together, and the ornaments turned out really cute.

We took a hike on Christmas Eve day.

It was also fun, but unfortunately my shoes had been left outside the night before and were all soggy, so I had to wear flip-flops. I was glad the hike didn't last too long...

Keith kept hiking up really high with Sareny and Isaac, which they loved. Those of us on the ground were a little nervous...

It took Finley a couple years of her life before she decided she like Lexi, but she has come around.

The sisters.

Me, Mom, and Dooze. 

Cute cousins.

A different day we went to the park to let the kids burn off some energy.

On Christmas Eve, we put on a nativity. Isaac had fallen asleep already, and so missed out on this. The Notos came over to join the festivities, and we also had a lovely feast. We had the traditional "crook cracks," or Swedish dumplings, bacon wrapped lil smokies, and lots of other delish stuff.

On Christmas morning, Truman was so cute with his new little stroller. I miss this guy! (and the other cousins too, of course.)

We had a great Christmas!

School Time

Sareny's class had a craft day in December and we all went to help out. It was pretty fun.

above: Susan, Abigail, Kristopher, Tahlia, Lindsay, Reyghan, Sareny, Isaac, Jacob, Jared, Isabella, Danny.

It was really fun for the little kids to be in Sareny's classroom working on projects.

Sareny loves art.

She made a snowflake Christmas ornament.

Hard at work.

The whole classroom.

I realize this is kind of a boring post. Possibly its because I am just really tired right now and am just not feeling it at the moment. But I just couldn't take looking at that last post for one more minute...