Soccer Season is Here Again!

Soccer has come upon us again! This year we have THREE boys playing soccer so we are running around all day Saturday.

Seth is playing for the first year and Randy is his coach. He loves that his dad is his coach. He seems to be enjoying soccer, but he isn't as aggressive as our older two boys were at this age. I find this slightly surprising because he is super aggressive with them at home. Seth has scored at least one goal in each of his first few games, and to a four-year-old, that is called success.

Seth is on the Fire Dragons.

Seth scoring his first goal!!

Seth played pretty well in his first game.

Dax is playing on a team with no one that we know, but we really like his coach. Dax played goalie the first game and did really well, but he hasn't played it again. He scored a goal in his second game which was exciting because he hasn't scored a goal in quite some time. We were super excited for him.

Dax is on the Soccer Warriors.

Dax is a good hustler on the field.

Dax getting ready to play goalie.

This was his best save. He played really well at goalie.

Mark is playing with his coach that he has had for four years. We really like his coach and the good kids on this team (even though they are constantly changing). Mark has definitely taken a big leadership role on the team and all the other players look to him for guidance. He has scored many goals in the first two games. So many, that he ends up sitting on the sideline so others can have a chance (and I'm sure Randy is mad that I shared that, because he dislikes bragging!) Really, Mark is a remarkable soccer player, but his heart lies with baseball.

Mark's team hasn't decided between the Maroon Baboons and the Cherry Bombs.

Mark has great ball control.

Brittany's Wedding

Brittany and Eligah chose Labor Day weekend to get married. Grandma had worked hard on the dresses for all the girls, and our boys got lavender ties to wear for the reception. On Friday after school we headed up to Grandma's house. The traffic was bad, so we didn't get in until almost 9. Luckily, we were the only ones staying at the house as Mel was at a hotel and Tiff was at Steph's house.

Saturday morning we headed up to Rexburg because Brittany likes that temple and the Idaho Falls temple is closed for renovation. On the way we dropped the kids off at Stephanie's, where two babysitters had all the grandkids while the adults were at the sealing. It was a nice ceremony, and we had the kids picked up and went back to Grandma's by mid-afternoon.

We love going to the temple together.

They seemed very happy to be married (which is a good thing)!

Here is Nat's family minus one husband. 

There wasn't a whole lot of time to get ready for the reception, which was held in Grandma's backyard. Dad changed the turn signal on the van while Mom pulled together some decorations. Then we cut fruit until guests started to arrive. The reception wasn't very busy because of Labor Day and the East Idaho State Fair, but the cousins had fun running around in their best clothes until it got dark. By the time we got cleaned up and the kids in bed it was almost 10pm.

Here's a bunch of the cousins, but not all!

Randy photobombed this pic!

Seth loved "driving" on Grandma's bench!

Seth and I had a lot of fun dancing!

Mark danced with me, too. This one was taken after we finished our dance.

Aren't we the cutest little family?

We stayed the night at Grandma's house and went to church with her the next day, which the boys really enjoyed. It was their first time at someone else's ward in a long time, and Seth and Dax were a bit nervous, but ended up loving it. We got home by 7pm and had all day Monday to do a hike to Scout Falls!

I like this picture of me and my boys on the trail! 

The leaves were starting to turn. It was a beautiful day for a hike!

We actually got a few family pictures at Scout Falls.

We love being together as a family!

First Day of School 2016

This school year has definitely been a different adventure here in our house.

Mark is going to Highland this year with Randy. We did a lot of thinking, and praying, but we ultimately left the final decision up to Mark. He told me that he wouldn't get this chance ever again, so he wanted to go to school with Dad. So Mark rides to school with Randy every morning at 7:10. Then I go and pick him up at 2:15 in Highland. The first week seemed to be a little tough on Mark which is to be expected, but he has already made a lot of friends, and loves being in his Dad's class. I can already see a difference in the relationship with Mark and Randy. They are definitely closer which is what we hoped for. I think it's going to be a great year for them.

Dax is going to our local school here in Lehi and is in first grade. He has a great teacher, and his friend around the corner is in his class. Since I am out in Highland picking up Mark, our friend is picking up Dax and watching him for a few minutes until I get back. It is still a little sad for me to not be able to greet him every day after school, but we have found a good routine. I think Dax misses Mark more than I expected, but I am also hopefully that Dax will find a great friend to play sports with him this year.

Seth is going to preschool with Miss Tina. She is fabulous and he loves her! Seth has been to a few summer camps with her, so he felt right at home in her preschool room and was super excited to go to preschool. He wasn't sad for a second. I am glad that he loves school already.


It is weird to have a few hours two days a week that are just mine. Unfortunately, I am usually at the school doing something, so I haven't been able to fully use my free time yet!

Silly boys!

Dax wanted bunny ears, too!

Girls Camp

This was me after a week at Girls Camp!

I was the Girls Camp Director for my ward this year. Last year, I was the assistant and I went to the stake camp with the girls. It was lots of fun. But this year I was in charge of EVERYTHING.

Luckily, one of the leaders in our ward offered her parents cabin near Vivian Park. It was a little small for everyone to sleep inside, so some of the girls, as well as the priesthood, slept outside in tents. It was super nice to be close to home!

We went the first week of August (when the Olympics were starting in Brazil) and so we used the Olympic theme "Go for the Gold." I will spare you all the boring details of what we did, but it was a lot of fun! Everything worked out super well. The girls were so good and there was no drama. I felt blessed that things went as smoothly as they did, even when we had little snafus, it all came together. We had lots of Olympic competitions and we really bonded as a young women's group.

These are the awesome ladies who stayed the entire week with me. Other leaders came and went at night! 

These are the fun Young Women Leaders who helped with camp all week!

One of the fun things that we got to do was go to the Olympic Park in Park City. It was fun to watch the skiers practice their jumps into the pool. I had no idea that was how they trained. We also took a ride on the Alpine Slide!

The whole gang at the Olympic Park!

Crystal was my Assistant Camp Director! I love her! She was the best helper!

We were excited for the bobsled picture because we watched Cool Runnings the night before.

I make a great skier!

We also hiked to Upper Falls and it was awesome to see the girls help each other along on the steep climb. The waterfall was beautiful and we had it all to ourselves, which was probably good since there were 30 of us!

I was so proud of the girls for making it up to the waterfall! 

I have always loved Girls Camp from the times I went as a young woman to the times that I have gone since them. I think I figured out this was my 11th time! I can't wait for next year! And on a side note, the boys did survive at home without me!

We had a special speaker one night who inspired us to become more like the Savior and serve!

There is always a lot of hair braiding going on at camp.

My hair was braided all on top of my head with a laurel crown.

A few days later we took it out.

And it was a little bit crazy!!!

We had a lot of Olympic Events to compete in, and I was a very serious competitor.

We were the Queen Bees! Best team ever!

These are all my cute YW teams. First the BOM Squad--don't look at the spelling mistake!

Here is team Cool Runnings!

Team Africa had a lot of personality! 

And the winners of the Girls Camp Olympics was Team USA!

Seth the Model

Since I know only three people read this blog (Angee, Sandy, and Laurie ;) ), you guys will remember that Dax had the chance to model before for Little Adventures--a company that makes dress up clothes. Well, they called me one day and asked if he would be available to model for them again the next day. I let them know that Dax was in school all the time, so he probably wouldn't be able to, but I told them that Seth was interested (and he really was, I asked him first).

So I emailed them the picture below that I took of Seth while I was on the phone with them. And they said he would be perfect. The next day, we headed over to a small park to take some pictures. 

There were two other boys, and Seth was the best listener. He did whatever they asked and he loved it! Seth has always loved to dress up, so this is the perfect adventure for him. He got to wear capes and pretend to be a superhero. I wish that I could take pictures of him, but that is a no-no in the little contract that we sign.

This is the photo that I took of him before we left. 

When it is all over, Seth is allowed to choose items that he wants to take home. This is his payment. Well, he chose some blue muscles since he loves the black muscles that Dax chose a few years ago. He also chose two light sabers, and a pirate dress up set. He has used them all a ton! They also commented that they would love to use Seth again as a model, so he might get to choose some more dress up clothes soon. Nothing would make him happier.

He was super excited about these foam light sabers!

Seth is a serious Jedi with muscles!