Christmas 2013

The tree after Santa visited!  Santa always adds candy canes to the tree - there are 13 dozen this year!

The girls - Kirsten, Brandee, and Hayleigh.

Opening gifts.

Keenan's first Christmas home in 2 years. (He came home from his mission this past January)

The girls and their new bikes!  So fun! (and yes, it was actually nice enough weather to ride them!)

Happily making a fashion statement - gloves still attached!

Not so happily making a fashion statement - hahahaha!

Emmy and Ariel.

Emmy has a very unique gift opening technique!

Bow earrings!

Merry Christmas

Working on the House!

Caitlin and I went Christmas shopping a couple of Saturdays ago, and I came home to this!  It's so exciting to see some changes!  The front of the house used to have 2 very plain sets of doors.  We changed it to one door and 2 windows, and it stayed that way - without trim, paint, etc...for a LONG time.  

It's going to be amazing when it's done!  

A Christmas Carol

http://www.mormonchannel.org/a-christmas-carol?cid=HPTH121213223

This is such a wonderful reading of this story! Wow!

Shhhh!! It's a Secret!

Ethan is getting a big box of Christmas gifts - one for each day up until Christmas!  It was a lot of fun putting these gifts together.  

Holy Moly - it's Cold!!

This past Saturday and Sunday, Dallin's team played in the Lake Norman Classic Tournament.  Saturday was cloudy and about 60 degrees.  They tied the morning game 0-0 and won the afternoon game 4-0.  The clouds left and IT GOT COLD!!  Sunday morning's game was FREEZING! - like 20 degrees in the sun! with wind!  They won 2-0 and made it to the final.  The 3:30 game was even colder!  Tim and I gave up, found a different parking space, and watched the game from the car.

TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS 2 YEARS IN A ROW!

It was so cold, everyone thought soup was a great idea for dinner - this is all that was left of a potful of homemade tortellini soup.

Signs of Fall Around the Farm

I actually located the "Thanksgiving Village" this year BEFORE Thanksgiving!  

The candle blocks were a project from a craft day we recently hosted here.  Each guest was to make a craft and then bring enough supplies for everyone else to make the same craft.  It was a really fun day!  (and yes!  That's a ladder in the background - there's some prep work going on to finish painting the walls - yay!!)

"The Ledge" - always have to decorate the ledge for holidays!

Most of the leaves are gone from the trees, but this guy in the front yard is apparently wanting to hold onto his!

I'm sure this lacy-feathery stuff is something that most people are allergic to, but it looks pretty anyway.

Hay's done been put up in the barn.  Yup.  

Teenage male cows aren't all that much different from teenage male humans.  He does this because he can.  The cattle are all getting fuzzy for winter!     

Doesn't that mouthful of dried whatever look yummy??

My Home's Love Story??

I just saw a pin over on Pinterest that said something like 'Your Home's Love Story' and it got me to thinking....I have such a like/hate relationship with the house I live in now. It's hard to love it at this moment.

This photo is the house that we had in Pennsylvania.  I took it the last time I was in PA in 2005.  

Yes, we planted those trees!  They were NOT that big!  Yikes!

It was such a big change when we moved here to NC.  We went from that little lot and not much to take care of to 73 acres and cows and lots of lawn to mow and barns to take care of.  I had a new kitchen and new carpet.  I had a route that I walked ON SIDEWALKS every day.  I had neighbors that were besties and just like family.  I had a fancy grocery store with childcare and I had dozens of cute shops and craft shows that I could go to within minutes.  Starting in September, I could take a short drive and find any number of barns with signs that read "Craft Show today" - filled to the brim with gorgeous stuff!  I could call the butcher and ask for a half side of beef and have it in a week with cuts of meat like "eye roast" and "flank steak". I was organized in PA and had my kids on a schedule and I baked every other day or so.  In our branch, the Relief Society met every month for Homemaking meeting and I learned and I made so many things!

Then we decided to move to NC.  Being on a 73 acre farm has its ups and downs.  The house is constantly under construction and changing.  The driveway is a muddy mess when it rains.  Heck, sometimes it's muddy and it didn't rain!  There's a creature called a 'skink' that gets into my house frequently.  I sometimes have to go in or out a different door because of a snake, or a little something the cat caught and brought to the door. There's always fence to fix and cows to monitor; chickens to check; and ducks to throw bread crusts too.  I don't have a new kitchen here.  In fact, the person that built this house picked out a kitchen design that might have been popular in the 60s even though the house was built in the 80s.  It's blazing hot in the summer and not cold long enough in the winter.  Something called bermuda grass takes over my flower beds (I only have one right now because the outside of the house still needs stucco!) and my vegetable garden.

Maybe in a couple of years I will be able to write a love story about this house.  I have some strong likes that might turn in to loves.  I like that we have 73 acres and no one complains about the drums being played (well, actually, I complain a little) and I can hang up my laundry in my pajamas because no one can see the back porch from the road.  I like that I can see the stars and the meteor showers without city lights interfering.  I like that we have a cat and cows and chickens and a duck.  I like being able to dream about what my kitchen and bathroom will look like some year when they are done.  I like that the summer is long and hot and we can ride the Harley from the beginning of May until the end of October.  I like that we have cattle that we can take to the butcher and have our own meat to put in the freezer even though the butchers here have no earthly idea what an eye roast or flank steak is.

I still miss the craft shows.  And being organized.  And walking on sidewalks.  And having Relief Society meetings every month.  And having an eye roast.  And having neighbors pop in the back door and sharing a bit of their day with me.  

Yep, the jury is still out on this house's love story.

Senior Night

Awesome poster for Dallin!  All of the seniors had one.

The Coaches

Running out to the team for the last time.

AND WE WON THE GAME!

Watsons a Staple of Raiders Soccer

This is in Today's Record and Landmark!

By Brian Meadows

With North Iredell soccer on the outside looking in, with regard to playoff prospects, senior night Wednesday against Alexander Central will likely mark the end of another Watson’s career.

The Raiders’ lineup featured at least one Watson family member on the field during the last decade. Dallin Watson, a senior midfielder, is the latest. He is part of the 2014 graduating class.

His sister, Brandee, began playing in 2003 and graduated in ’06. She was followed by Kyle (class of ’08), Keenan (’10) and Tyler (’11). That trio called each other teammates during one season.

Ethan completed his Raiders career in fall 2012 before graduating last spring.

Now Dallin’s last game in a Raiders uniform is drawing near.

“It’s a bittersweet time,” according to his parents, who include North Iredell coach Tim Watson.

During the last 10 years, the Watsons combined to eclipse 100 goals, with Keenan responsible for more than half. All of them were one -- or some combination -- of the following: all-county, all-conference, team MVP, or Raider Award recipients.

Emmy's First Birthday!

Emmy turned ONE on October 1st!  She had a fun birthday party and really loved her first taste of cake!

Caitlin put up 'look how she grew' banners - so very cute!  And boy - did that year go by quickly!!

Elder Ethan Watson

We took Ethan to the airport on Monday.  He will be reporting the MTC today!  We are so excited to see what the next 2 years brings for him!  He'll be a great missionary.

Last High School Soccer Season

Even though the girls might play soccer (Hayleigh really doesn't care, and Kirsten would rather hang out at home), it is surreal that this is our last year ever of having a son playing high school soccer!  We've been doing this for so many years, it's going to seem so very strange next fall.... Overall, it's been so much fun!  There's been many highs and proud moments - like Kyle being voted to receive the Raider Award by his team mates, Keenan scoring the most goals his senior year, Tyler making the Record and Landmark all-county team, Ethan getting the MVP award his senior year, and Dallin being the top scorer for the JV team.  There's also been many stressful moments - like Kyle breaking his nose during a game, Keenan getting a yellow card while he was waiting to be subbed in, Tyler getting a red card because he was the last defender and fouled a player who had a goal scoring opportunity, Ethan dislocating his shoulder several times in games, and Dallin getting 5 yellow cards in 7 games and having to sit out a game in the beginning of the season!

(and yes, Brandee, had I realized that your sisters aren't all that interested in playing soccer, I would've had a blog post just like this one for your last season.  You never know, I still might post some of those photos anyway!!) 

For All Eternity

On Saturday, September 14th, Tyler, Caitlin, and Emmy were sealed together as a family at the Washington DC Temple.  It was a beautiful (and long!) day!

Getting Ready to Go

Last week, Ethan and I went shopping for mission stuff.  (We also went to Philly Pretzel Factory and Rita's!) After having Kyle and Keenan go on their missions, we sort of have a good idea of what Ethan will actually NEED on his mission.  Since he's going to Arizona, we figured that instead of long sleeved shirts, short sleeved ones would be better - except we couldn't find a single one!  I ended up ordering them online - really hoping that they'll be here ASAP!  Having too much stuff as a missionary is just not fun to pack up and move from area to area.  Packing too much from home doesn't make sense either, since Brandee and Scott meet the boys in SLC and can take them shopping for all of the 'stuff' that takes up too much room in a suitcase or that the airlines won't let you take anyway.  Ethan was also able to go through the Temple yesterday at the same time as Tyler and Caitlin - it was such a wonderful day for our family!  Ethan is going to spend the next 15 days (YES - THAT'S ALL HE HAS LEFT HERE!!) packing up the things he wants to store for after his mission and packing up what he wants to take.  We're sure going to miss him, but 2 years goes by so quickly!

First Day of School 2013

It's come as quite the shock to us, but believe it or not - we only have 3 - yes, THREE!! - children in school this year!  One in Elementary, one in Middle, and a Senior!  So very bizarre....

Kirsten eating breakfast and looking semi-happy (until she came home and realized she was just too tired to play and school takes up too much time!).

Hayleigh - in 8th grade (early morning seminary for her next year!).  She is going to be the cross-country team manager.  She 'gets to' (hahahaha!) run with the team, but doesn't have to compete.  She's not fond of competition.  Just like the rest of the Watson family - (hope you hear the sarcasm!).

Dallin - Senior!!

Happy Birthday - You're a Quarter!

Quarter of a century - 25 years old for Brandee this year!!  She's almost catching up to Tim and I!