Soccer...

...4-year-old's playing soccer, to be specific. What could be more entertaining? Saturday was Cole's first soccer game. His team met for practice this week and to decide on a team name. They chose "the Black Panthers." I was out of town when they chose this name at the team meeting and when Floyd told me the name, I was a bit surprised. I told Floyd I just didn't think that would be an appropriate name, but Floyd pointed out that they are, after all, just 4 and don't know anything about the political/racial implications of such a name. I guess he's right. Even still, I think I will abbreviate my cheering to a simple, "Go Panthers!" Yes, Cole really is that much taller than the other players on his team - and the other team. It kind of makes him look like a bully out there.


Cole loves his new cleats and was mostly excited about wearing them. He likes his uniform too. I was a bit nervous to see how the game went. Cole really hates losing and is definitely not one of those 4-year-olds that doesn't keep track of the score or can be convinced that everyone is a winner. It's our own fault, really, as we frequently challenge him to a race to get him to do something when he can't be motivated otherwise. Another parenting technique coming back to bite us.
Please note the excessive use of arms on Cole's part. We are working on that little problem. Also note the fierce look on his face. He is nothing if not competitive.

The game was entertaining and Cole did better than I expected. He only knocked down one kid (well, that the ref bothered to whistle him for anyway) and he scored a goal - even for the right team. The look on his face after he scored was so priceless. He was so proud, but was trying to hold back his smiles. So cute. His team won 4-2 and they had Capri Sun's for the after-game snack, so he was quite happy. On the way home, he did wonder why they hadn't given him a gold medal. That made me smile.

Flashback Friday...Back to School 1980's and 1990's

I'm nostalgic. I'm really nostalgic. I miss going "back to school." I miss the back to school shopping. I miss the back to school fashion shows. I miss the colored Lisa Frank paper and colorful Bic pens. I even almost - almost - miss the back to school LeVoy's underwear parties (that one might be a memory for only my sisters and cousins). In honor of my nostalgia, here are a few classic back to school pictures for your viewing pleasure...


#1 - circa 1988. I'm not sure exactly which grade I'm entering in this picture - my best guess is 4th since Kelli and Karlee are both headed back to school at the same time. Jake hopefully is not headed back to school. My mother was much too good of a mother to send him to school looking like that. Looks like it was a bit sunny this morning. Luckily Trapper Keepers serve a dual purpose as sun visors. I'm on the end in the white capris. I don't remember what my shirt said, but I do remember I loved it.

#2 - 1991. Starting 7th grade. Not 6th because I have my ears pierced. B.U.M. - loved that company. You can't see, but I have on some sweet white sandals that would actually be back in style. I would like my bird legs back.

#3 - 1993. Starting 9th grade. Yes folks, that is a body suit I am wearing. That took a little wrangling with my mom. Oddly enough, that particular body suit seems to have an identical pattern to the wallpaper that was hanging in the master bedroom when we bought our house. Was being the key word in the previous sentence. Also, please note the Esprit bags carried by each of us. And yes, Kelli's hair was always that pretty and mine was always that bad.

#4 - 1999. Sophomore at Ricks College. Yep, I even kept the tradition alive at Ricks. That's me with two of my roomies, Brooke and Michelle. the other three must have had early classes. That was a fun year, well half a year - I graduated in December. Looking at this picture reminds me that I really loved the shirt I'm wearing. It's just a fairly basic Gap t-shirt, but it fit me perfectly. I kind of wish I still had it, but about a year after this picture, I left in Ecuador with a Turi village woman. She is probably still wearing it. Lucky.

I really do miss back-to-school. Luckily, next week is Cole's big week. I can't wait!

Public Service Announcement

The Treehouse Museum in Ogden has a new display. Maybe not super-new -- we haven't been since May or so, but at least relatively new. I don't really know the name of the new display - it has cowboy dress-ups, horses to ride, a campfire, a barn, a cow you can milk - you get the general idea. Anyway, my kids really had a fun time there today and Cole wanted me to let everyone know about the new display. So, here I am letting everyone know.



Pretty handsome little buck-a-roos, aren't they?

P.S. The rest of the place isn't so bad either. My favorite part - they have a "no grown-ups not accompanied by children" policy. Took me just a sec to figure that one out, but I was sure grateful for it when I did.

Our own version of the scriptures...

Little Princess took her first turn reading scriptures with us tonight. It consisted of her repeating one or two words at a time. She got through "the Lamanites inside the city became desperate and soon surrendered to us" with only a slight pause on "surrendered." All was going well on her next sentence - "we had so many prisoners that we, despite our number, had..." at which point she inserted "had to go potty."

"Do you have to go potty?" might just happen to be a pretty frequent phrase at our house.

Floyd and I did a pretty good job holding back our chuckles. She continued on and when she got to the part where it should read "two thousand of them were killed..." she instead said, "were happy!"

Nice substitution. I'd go for two thousand happy Lamanites over two thousand dead Lamanites too my dear.
PS - for those of you wondering why you don't recognize those words from your Book of Mormon, we read from an old 1970's illustrated set. Love it, although some of the pictures are a little...too accurate. For the one person who may read this and wonder what the Book of Mormon is, look here.

PPS - the picture's for you, Aunt Kar. Sorry we missed her on the last one.

Island Park

We had a nice relaxing trip to Island Park this past weekend. We fished (some of us more than others), watched movies (turns out Annie is a Little Mermaid fan), ate lots of food, read, and watched the afternoon thunderstorms. Lovely. The only time I got out the camera was while we were fishing one evening. Cole was having a dandy time, but Annie went back to the truck with Grandma Ali when they felt the first drop of rain. Fair weather fishers!
Cole reeled in all of the fish except one that Grandpa caught while he was already reeling in another one. He's pretty good - and he'll let you know it too.

Towards the end of the night, two moose started swimming across the lake. They swam right towards us and I don't think they even saw us. I'm not usually one to take many wildlife pictures, but I snapped a few so Cole would remember watching them swim. Very cool.

Flashback Friday...1997

So, when my family was in Jackson a few weeks ago, we were talking about our memories of riding the Snake River. One river trip in particular sticks out to me, so I thought I'd share a picture and a few memories from that trip. When I was 18, the Priests and Laurels in my ward went rafting together. It was lots of fun. And to all my friends in the picture with me, you're welcome.


Memories of the trip:

1) The Laurels weren't actually invited on the trip, but at BYC the Priests were discussing it and we invited ourselves along. Our bishop was pretty cool and encouraged the YM to take us along. I'll take this opportunity to point out that a one year, the YM in our ward went to Moab and Lake Powell while us girls got to travel a whopping 8 miles up Smithfield Canyon for Girls Camp. We reminded our leaders of this every chance we got, so they probably knew what they were in for if they told us we couldn't go.

2) Kim, second from the right, was not actually in our ward at this time. After inviting ourselves along, we also told them we would like to invite Kim. She had been in our ward a few years prior to this, but had moved over to 2nd ward - "the dark side of town." Looking back, I'm wondering why they went along with this. It seems a bit unfair that of the entire 2nd ward girls, only Kim was invited to come. Not that I'm complaining, but it seems like some of them should have.

3) Did you notice in the picture that there was just one male? He was our leader, Chad. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to send five girls plus Chad down the river, but that's how it worked out. The boys in our ward weren't necessarily hearthrobs, so us girls tended to stick together. Apparently we were so tight we didn't even consider our safety a reason for splitting up and riding with the boys. So down the river we went. Things were fine until we hit Kahuna/Lunchcounter (I don't remember which was big that year). When we hit the rapid, several girls were thrown out, including Cami, who happened to be Chad's younger sister. Playing the role of protective big brother, he dove right in after her. Noble, but probably not the smartest move as that left me and Kim and maybe one other girl (Emily?) to paddle through the rapid and retrieve our lost passengers. Awesome.

4) At one point during out float, we hit a stretch of calm water. Kim, who had no trouble staying in through the big rapids, rolled over the side of the raft. I still have no idea how she managed that, but it was awfully funny.

5) Anybody but me wondering about the full motorcycle gear Chad is wearing? I can't remember now if he wore it for a joke or if he was serious. It really makes me giggle to look at it. Of course, motorcycle get-ups pretty much always make me laugh. If I were to categorize ridiculous clothing, they would be right up there with old-fashioned swimsuits and kilts. I understand they have an important function, but you'd think they could come up with something a little less silly.

6) There was one boy in our ward who really annoyed us all. It wasn't necessarily warm while we were floating the river and he kept splashing us and trying to throw us in. It got old pretty fast. He swam over to our raft and was trying to pull me in. Bad choice. I had a paddle. I smacked him with it. I feel a little bad about it now, but none of the leaders reprimanded me at all, so I'm guessing he really did deserve it.

7) My least favorite memory of the trip. During my first trip down the river, I wore a horrific life jacket that had been stored in someone's garage and the cats had been living in it. You may know that I hate, loathe, abominate, and despise cats and although I don't have a particularly keen sense of smell, I can smell them for miles. I was forced to wear said life jacket because I was the least well-endowed of the girls on the trip and it didn't fit most of the girls. It just so happened that on this float, our raft flipped and I was sucked under the raft. I was maybe stuck for ten or so seconds, but they were awful. I was certain that I was going to die engulfed in cat stench. Luckily, I struggled free of the raft, but the horror has never left me. Thankfully, the next day I did not have to wear the lifejacket.

And that's a wrap. Good times.

July

Usually by this time in July, I'm over summer and ready for fall to be here. A little early, I know, but the heat just gets to me. Not this year. I think our cold, wet June has let me enjoy the summer heat a little more than I usually do. Here's what has made me happy this month...

Fireworks (of course - who doesn't love fireworks?)Landon could have lasted all night. His mom eventually dragged him home.
Warm summer nights jumping with my kids on the trampoline. They giggle non-stop.
Fresh fruit smoothies - for dinner even! Hooray for not cooking in July. Quesadillas are about as fancy as I've made the last few weeks. I can't say I've really missed all the heavy food.
Our family's annual trip to Deer Cliff Inn. If it ever goes up for sale, I'm gonna buy it and renovate it a bit. First on the list - remodel the bathrooms. I'll keep the live music and the wandering mountain goats. Annie and Landon took their claim of "most romantic spot in the West" quite seriously and hit the dance floor together. So cute.
Summer afternoons resting in the hammock. Cole and I like to go out and tell stories while Annie naps. My heaven will have a hammock. With big tall trees to keep it shaded even during scorching hot weather (not that my heaven will have scorching hot weather).
Picnics! Oh the picnics...I think we've eaten outside more than we have inside this month. My kids especially love eating breakfast outside. Can't say I blame them.
Newton 24th of July celebration. Such nostalgia for me, even though the details change from year to year. There was no rock climbing wall when I was a kid. We did, however, have a revival of "Guitarzan" at the lip sync this year. Classic.
Annie doesn't quite get the concept of "race" quite yet. She pretty much just stood there. They gave her a sucker anyway.
And my favorite, golden wheat fields. One of my favorite sights in all the world. Too bad it doesn't last long - my dad and Jake are getting the combines ready this week.