Keeping vigil on the Vigil's

An Impromptu Trip to Utah

2009-12-11T11:57:00.000-08:00

Bethany had to have emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder (this is what they determined she had--Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses) so I got to get a quick trip to Utah to take care of her and it turned cold and snowy. Since I was there I decided to try and get some good pictures of the scenery.

State Swim Finals

2009-11-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

A quick post with the link to Ryan's 200 IM

video

http://www.swimmingworld.tv/2009-az-5a-championships/tag/di-mens-200-im

heat 2 at the bottom of the page

You're Never Too Old to Play in the Park!!

2009-09-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

As the kids

have gotten older I don't think about taking them to the park like I did when they were young. These pictures are a good reminder that

you are never too old

to swing or sit under a nice shady tree at the park.

SSHHH!!!! Don't Tell

Did it turn out??

Best Buds

***Green Valley Park in Payson***

A Long Time Coming

2009-07-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since a have posted, ok, not since school was out. School being out hasn't meant down time at the Vigil household. Baseball games several nights a week, early morning swim practice and early afternoon swim practice, piano, work for all they guys in the family and time just seems to slip away.

Promise I have lots of pictures to share and stories to tell, stay tuned...

Justin's Mission update

2009-05-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a long wait and some hard decisions to make, but Justin has decided to accept an honorable release for medical reasons. I know that he really wanted to go out in the mission field and serve, but Heavenly Father apparently has other plans for him. This has been hard to accept, no one saw it coming but reality has sunk in.

Justin will continue to attend MCC this coming year, probably earning an AA degreee before moving on to a university. Or he may go to a university sooner, who knows, time will tell. He does have to figure out what direction he wants to head now, he has most of the general ed classes done and will have to start taking major specific classes.

Ryan's Baseball Banquet

2009-05-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Mesa High,

another year done,

another baseball season past,

one more to go, how time flies...

Are you ready for this?

"What can I say about Ryan?? Oh ya, I got it, tell about his grand slam."

One Grand Slam is good for another. I was able to get Denny's to donate 5 Grand Slam Breakfasts so each of the 5 grand slams hit this season were aptly rewarded. Ryan happened to have hit one of the grand slams (if you missed the video, see it here --http://keepingvigilonthevigils.blogspot.com/2009/04/baseball-players-dream-come-true.html

Mrs. Downs took some wonderful pictures and spent a lot of time putting this collage together, she made a custom one for each of the team members

Alyssa School Awards Assembly

2009-05-14T10:08:00.001-07:00

Alyssa's First Award was for Academic Excellence, she had to maintain a GPA of 4.0 or higher for the first three quarters of the year. Here is Mr. Johnson explaining the award. The video isn't very good because of the view we had and the people in front of us were moving causing the camera to not be able to focus very well-oh well, we got the audio.

Here is her award:

The second award that she received was the Mayor Citizenship Award. Students who received this award had to meet the following criteria:

consistently demonstrates honesty in behavior and work habits
works cooperatively with others
respects rules and follows directions
displays self-control
takes responsibility for his or her actions
respects the opinions, rights, and property of others
shows community spirit by participating in volunteer or extra-curricular activities

End of Year Band Concert

2009-05-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

The highlight of the year, the kids got to play:

Phantom of the Opera

So, Here's Alyssa and the rest of the band playing Phantom

Alyssa goes to Washington DC & NY

2009-05-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

ummm.....well my mom just handed me her computer and said write about my trip. well um if any of you want to know its really exciting to take pictures the first day and then the picture taking excitement just gradually goes away. lets see what else well new york was fabulous times square is so amazing and very crowded. also it seems everyone in that city is always impatient to get somewhere. its probably a good thing i don't live there because i would end up getting myself lost and just going in tons of circles. the broadway show we saw was little mermaid and it was so cool to finally see a play on broadway. i looked right at a strobe light right when it flashed and was blind for about the next 5 minutes but other than that the singing was really good and it was just so cool to see. lets see going to all the monuments was lots of fun a few of them actually made me cry, tear, they were the holocaust monument and the vietnam wall, and arlington cemetary. well lets see its hard to think on the spot about what we went and saw unless i start this huge conversation and you probably wouldn't want to read that cuz i get off topic way to easy for that one, anyway well if you ever have the chance to go to these places i suggest you take it because it is so amazing well if you want to know anything else just post a comment or whatever it is you do on these things well all i can say was it was lots of fun and want to go again next year so bad.(im still working on that one with my mom, its not working to well at this point)!!! luv you guys!!! :):):)

A Baseball Players Dream Come True

2009-04-23T21:07:00.001-07:00

What could be possibly be better than hitting a grand slam??
Watch the video, it looks like the right fielder caught the ball when he jumped up and everyone is saying he got robbed, then as Ryan comes toward second base the Ump is circling his hand in the air indicating the home run, the ball went over the kids glove and we couldn't see it happen.

Alyssa, the cake decorator

2009-04-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Alyssa found something new that she likes to do. Cake Decorating! She had a mutual activity where they learned to decorate cakes and she decided that it was quite fun. She has now declared herself the official cake decorator as well as cake baker.

What's the fun of cutting your cake if you cannot lick the frosting off of the knife?

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks Ashley for the dyed egg, a perfect picture to start off the memories of family captured today.

Easter Baskets for Justin, Ryan and Alyssa.
(The Easter Bunny was unable to locate the box with their baskets in it and all the other fun decorations)

Of course, the only picture of me is when I sat down to eat. --I guess that is not quite true, there are several of me holding Alexis, you just don't see my face.

Kenny also got a chance to sit and eat after Bar-B-Que'ing

I think Shaun got lucky and finished dinner before getting his picture snapped.

KeriAnne got caught eating also.

Justin and Ryan sitting at the table after finishing their dinner (are we seeing a pattern about food and holidays?)

oops, not a one picture got taken of Alyssa, she must have been hiding which is unusual, she usually is in most of the pictures.

Bethany is away at BYU, so no pictures of her, She will be home for the weekend in two weeks and we will try to get a family picture taken then.

---More Family---

Ali (Travis' Step-daughter), her baby Alexis and Ashley in the background.

Chris, Ali's boyfriend and Alexis' Dad

Cody, Travis' son

Travis, James and Dylan (KeriAnne's boys)

Kaitlynn, KeriAnne's Daugher

Ashley Zimmerman

And then there's Cameron

Alexis with Aunt ChrisAlexis with Aunt Chris

Alexis

P.S.S. Alyssa just informed me that the reason she is not in any of the pictures is because I ordered her to take pictures!!!!!!!

More Baseball

2009-04-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ryan loves to steal a base and will try at any chance he gets. He is very successful at it, but today he didn't fare so well. Jesse hit the ball right to the 2nd baseman, he got Ryan out and turned it into a double and got Jesse out as well, It was a good double play, unfortunately it was against us. We ended up winning the game Mesa 6 Mtn. View 5.

Sports and Alyssa

2009-04-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

My dear busy daughter keeps us running from one activity to the next. Alyssa always has her hands in any activity that comes her way. YW volleyball, school track and field, club swimming, bowling league, piano, band, friends and school all seem to fit into her days.

Alyssa participated in the All City Track and field meet, took first place in discus, then ran immediately to her band concert. Shorts and T-shirt to church dress in a few minutes and she is equally at ease in either.

One busy day last week had her up at 6:30 am, off to school at 8, home from school at 4, swim practice from 4:15-6:30, volleyball from 7-9 pm, and then homework, to bed and then to start over again the next morning.

This morning brought an early morning cold and windy swim meet, then straight to bowling. Bowling has been a daddy/daughter activity, but I really need to go and get some pictures of her bowling.

Christmas Video

2009-03-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

Posted at the request of Bethany, who wanted to remember getting socks for Christmas!

A New Missionary in the Family???

2009-03-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! Justin's paperwork will be officially sent in Monday morning, so now we will anxiously await a call.

Birthdays, Baseball and Babies

2009-03-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

Alyssa made Ryan a cake for his family birthday party.

Ryan is determined to be in charge and lights his own candles.

Make a wish and blow out your candles!

More important than his birthday is being able to play baseball.

Ryan is leading off of 3rd base

Safe at home plate. The beginning of many baseball games to come over the next two months. Spring always means lots of strategic planning to get to games all over the valley.

Many babies have blessed our lives.

This is Alexis, Her mom is Ali. Ali is Travis' stepdaughter so Travis is officially a Grandpa. That makes my parents Great-Grandparents. Alexis was born on January 21st.

Cameron is now 10 months old. I caught him in a rare moment of sleep.

And lastly new puppy babies.

What a lot of things happening in the first week of March.

New Year's Eve

2009-01-25T11:10:00.001-08:00

Kaitlynn

James

Ashley

Cameron and Bethany

Dylan

We got together with a bunch of friends and family around the corner from our house. Some families in our ward that all live together closed off the street in front of their houses and rented jumping toys and inflatable slides, everyone brought food and drinks, we all sat around the firepits talking and laughing with each other while the kids played. Alyssa took a bunch of pictures of KeriAnne's kids with her new camera.

Snowboarding Fun

2009-01-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

One of the gifts that some of the kids received this year for Christmas was the opportunity to go snowboarding the Saturday following Christmas. Bethany, Ryan, Alyssa and Ashley (KeriAnne's daughter) set out to have a lot of fun snowboarding and falling. Or maybe I should say lots of falling and less snowboarding on the girls part. Alyssa will make sure to tell you that she had to fall on purpose once, one of the supports for the ski lift was 3 ft. in front of her and she couldn't stop or turn, we all agreed that falling was a good idea in this situation. Ryan had lots of fun leaving the girls in the dust (or maybe a better word would be powder). He got to take a run on his own first, then took one run teaching or trying to teach the girls and then it was every man or woman for themselves.

5K walk to remember Shane Cory Figueroa

2009-01-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Alyssa

Friends from our ward

Alyssa

Ken

Our family was blessed to know Shane while he was still alive. Unfortunately he was killed while on duty with the Phoenix Police Department. This walk helps raise money to help the families of fallen public service officers. Tragically, our state lost 4 valuable officers this year.

Shane's wife Melisha and her mother have given piano lessons to my girls for the last 7 years. Melisha's parents live just a few houses down the street from us and are very good friends of ours. Shane also leaves behind a now 5 month old daughter Kenzlie.

Christmas Day at our House

2008-12-26T07:11:00.001-08:00

Christmas just isn't quite the same without little kids,

7:00 -- I am laying in bed listening to a quiet house

7:30 -- no change

8:00 -- get up and start warming up cinnamon rolls, surely the aroma will get the kids out of bed. Finally Alyssa walks out looking half asleep still.

8:30 -- I can't stand it anymore and Alyssa Ken and I start trying to drag the other three out of bed for some good old Christmas fun, it wasn't easy but success was finally attained.

Christmas Eve at Grandma Deanne's

2008-12-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

Alyssa

Kaitlynn & Ashley

Dylan & KeriAnne

Grandma Deanne, Aunt Reesha and Cole

Ryan

Every year since Kenny and I were married we have spent Christmas Eve at his parents house. The last several years it has just been his mom's house. (since his parents divorce) The tree, the gifts, the reading of the Christmas story in the Bible or as in the case this year, reading about the true meaning of Christmas. Since KeriAnne and Shaun have moved back to the valley, KeriAnne and the kids have joined us most years. It was a small group of just family this year, very Some years there are so many family and friends that you can hardly move around. Here are some highlights from our evening.

Alyssa and Ashley, Alyssa with her everpresent book, doesn't leave home without one.

Kenny and Ryan

Kenny and Ryan debating something.

KeriAnne, Cameron & Dylan

Cameron is ready to walk and get into everything.

Cameron

Signs of Christmas

2008-12-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Fudge, Cinnamon Rolls, Clam Dip and Chips, what more could we ask for at Christmas time?

It really looks like Christmas around here. It seems that over the years somehow I started collecting snowmen. I didn't set out to, they seemed to have picked me as their target.

Christmas Tree, an Arizona fireplace, stockings and presents more signs it is Christmas time.

And, the most important sign of Christmas, our Nativities that remind us that the true reason for this Holiday season is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!!!

James and Kenny's Birthday's

2008-12-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

Since James' birthday is December 24th and Kenny's is the 20th, James has always thought it was fun to celebrate with Uncle Kenny because it meant that he got to celebrate earlier. We have continued this tradition, celebrating both usually on the Sunday closest to Kenny's. This has also given James' an opportunity to have his birthday separated from Christmas a bit. The funny thing this year is no one took a picture of Kenny, so we will have to rectify that on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Remembering Thanksgiving

2008-12-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

What are we most thankful for? Our Family!!! and the opportunity to get together with them on a regular basis. This year we decided to have a no frills dinner --paper plates and all --and enjoy more time together, I did cook a turkey and made creamed peas and boiled potatoes, KeriAnne made deviled eggs (her specialty) but we bought the rolls, the gravy, the pies, microwaved some corn, olives, broccoli salad from Costco, and forgot to get the cranberry sauce out of the fridge. (what's a holiday without some part of the meal staying in the fridge only to be found when putting leftovers away?) What would a family get together be without clam dip? That was Alyssa's job this year, her turn to learn how to make it just right and she passed the test.

Kaitlynn Christine Alyssa

Ashley, perusing the ads for good deals on Black Friday.

Cameron enjoying his version of Thanksgiving dinner with Justin.

Someone must have told a great joke for Bethany to laugh at.

Justin

2008-12-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

This is Justin is our oldest boy, I guess I should say young man, he is 18 and eagerly awaiting his 19th Birthday so he can go on a mission. He is very quiet, extremely quiet, loves to read fantasy books, do puzzles and have time to himself. He is currently attending Mesa Community College taking general ed classes as he is not sure what he wants to major in. He loves his dog Pakuna, and she sure loves him back. Enjoy this picture, since he is very shy it is hard to get one of him smiling and actually facing a camera.

Puppies for Christmas!!

2008-12-17T19:58:00.001-08:00

Paige has blessed us with two growing puppies just in time to have little ones playing under the tree.

Two of Pru's puppies are still here "visiting" until they go to their new owners next week. Next week better hurry up and get here before we get too attached to them. Above is a picture of one of them.

2008-12-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have done it, an official blog for the Vigil family!!!