Blue vs Red *article from the Daily Herald

LEHI -- More than 4,000 players took part in what sponsor Property Solutions is calling the world's largest dodgeball game on Friday evening at Thanksgiving Point's Electric Park.

A Guinness Book of World Records moment, the challenge was a fundraiser for Camp Kesem, a charity for children of cancer patients. Strategically scheduled, the event was organized to take place the night before BYU and the University of Utah played their annual football game. Blue won this round.

Co-president of Property Solutions, John Hanna, said the idea for the tournament came from David Bateman, the company's CEO.

"My idea," Bateman said. "But it wasn't my idea to do it in the rain though."

A lot of the advertising for the event was done through social networking.

"To be honest a lot of it's viral, by word of mouth and on Facebook, stuff like that," Bateman said.

The company, which develops software for apartment complex managing, had ordered 2,500 red and blue T-shirts for the participants and ran out well before the game began.

There were 760 red and blue balls that flew high and low toward the opponents' side of the field. Once hit you were out of the game. Last player standing won for their team.

Brexton Wilding, a BYU student, said he learned of the game from a campus flier.

"My roommates were going and it sounded like fun," Wilding said.

James Carpenter married into a staunch BYU family even though he is a U of U student.

"We're here for a date night," he said. Both he and his wife, Tara, wore blue.

Property Solutions's goal was to raise $20,000 while matching donations up to $10,000. Ben Zimmer, company co-president, said the event would give the company instant credibility.

Hanna wasn't as sure."I thought it was dumb," Hanna said. "I wanted to break the lightning record in basketball."

On the flip side, he said it was one of the best things they have done as a company.

"We are growing very rapidly and we want people to know who we are and this gives us instant recognition," Hanna said.

** to see a video of James and me click on the link below and on the left hand side under "related videos", I think we're the first one. We looked pretty silly but it was the second take, the first take was good but the back ground was too loud. The game was crazy fun and James planned it all by himself!

Read more: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/north/lehi/article_7085a6ae-b7db-58df-9adc-c6a8dfcbeccb.html#ixzz1ZLr3yeud

Ears Pierced!

We bit the bullet and finally got Ava-Kate's ears pierced. I know there are ALOT of opinions out there about piercing your daughter's ears. I was 3 when mine where pierced and Robyne was 2 so here we are following in my mother's footsteps and piercing Ava-Kate's at 2. We actually did it on the eve of her birthday, I know, not very kind but so cute! She was amazing. James was a little hesitant and really didn't want to, but in the end he changed his mind and came with us. It's been 2 1/2 weeks already and she's done incredible. James' main concerns, besides the pain, were infection, AK ripping them out, and AK constantly touching them. Well we're still 0 for 3 of the fears. Mostly because James drilled into her head "no touching" and sometimes she even will say that to me when I clean them, it's so cute! If we have another daughter I really want to get her ears pierced earlier. I'm thinking like 6 months old. Sounds cruel, but it would probably be easier to care for them and not worry so much about falling out or the germ factor with a toddler, i.e. parks, playgrounds, dirt, swimming, etc. In the end, so far, no regrets.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Ava-Kate had her 2nd birthday Sep 3. I can not believe I have a 2 year old. We celebrated at Liberty Park, one of our favorite hidden treasures in the valley. We had friends and family that made the trip out to have fun with our little "hija". She was spoiled of course by both grandma's and aunts and uncles. Nana K (James' mom) and Alison sent her a Dora doll which she sleeps with every night, Dora DVD, and of course what would a package from the Tuscaloosa clan be with out some fabulous 'Bama gear. She also received a Dora cell phone and microphone. From James and me she received dress up jewelry and dress, and some puzzles. It was so hard not to spoil her and stay in our budget, but it all worked perfectly.

SuMmEr!

The kids are starting school up again in a few weeks, which I guess means Summer is almost over. Lucky for us we don't have school... or work so we still have Summer as long as the sun is shining. Here are a few photos; really they're just from one day. We went to Liberty Park to play in the rivers and then we went bowling. It basically sums up our summer though. We've done a lot of water activities because Ava-Kate is a little fishy! She loves playing in the water. Little splash pools, sprinklers, you name it she'll somehow swim in it. It's almost her 2nd birthday, I can't believe it; she's growing up so much and is starting to talk quite a bit lately, both english and spanish which is really fun to hear. It's crazy how much spanish she understands and even tries to speak. I still don't understand how she can learn two languages at the same time, but she is! Hopefully I'll post a little more frequently as things tend to slow down with the coming of fall.

Ava Kate Meets the Dentist

Ava Kate had her first dentist appointment a few weeks ago and she was great! They don't do very much. Mostly just introduce her to the moving chair, show her what all of their tools do, and get her comfortable with going. Dr. Jim Williamson is our dentist and we LoVE him and ALL his staff! They are so wonderful that they took all these pictures for us with their OWN camera, and e-mailed them to me. I'm so glad that some people are good at taking pictures of "first-times"; I am not one of those people. :) It was really fun because I learned some things as well. Ava Kate's favorite tool was the water sprayer. She just wanted to suck on it and drink all the water out. She also wanted to just lick the "toothpaste" that they scrub your teeth with, so her tongue was always in the way. Dr. Williamson counted all her teeth and said they look great with no brown spots at all. YAY! I have been losing sleep over the fact that my bottle-loving toddler would develop baby-bottle mouth. She actually has been bottle-free for almost a month now. Mostly because I didn't want to tell the dentist she was still drinking from a bottle. haha. And, we're done with teething until she's 6, YAY! If you need a great dentist check out their website here and tell them we referred you!

I love love love her face in the last one! How Ava Kate is that?

Alabama Tornadoes

Many people have been texting, calling, and emailing us asking if James' family is ok. We're so grateful to say that nobody that we know has been physically hurt from the devastation. However, James' sister Michelle's in-laws are going through what thousands of Alabamans are going through today. Their house was hit and completely destroyed. Our prayers go out to them and everybody in the south that is struggling right now. We've been following www.tuscaloosanews.com for updates. For anybody who reads our blog that doesn't know what's going on here's our story. James is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. When he was 17 a tornado hit his own home and destroyed it completely leveling everything. Michelle called us last night to tell us Adam's parents' house had been hit. We asked if everybody was ok, and she told us that they were. However, James couldn't get a hold of his mom or his brother. So we were only kind of satisfied with their safety. James' mom's house ended up being on the opposite side of town so they have power and weren't hit directly. James' brother, Matthew, and his wife Charity live in Huntsville, about 3 hours north of T-town and they've been out of power for a while as well. It's crazy to watch the footage of the destruction and know that "that used to be the mall" "or that was this" and "that was that".

Anyway, we just wanted to thank everyone for their love and concern for us and our family, even though we're safe and sound thousands of miles away.