4 Happy Kids!

Indoor Soccer 2011

This is what happens when you have an "smart" automatic focus camera! Actually it's really when you have a "smart" person who doesn't know how to take the camera off auto focus and use the manual settings.

Ethan and Rachel decided to play indoor soccer. Ethan has played before and learned alot and has done very well. Rachel saw how much fun it looked and wanted to try it for the first time.

Ethan usually did not play goalie unless they where really far ahead in scoring. He looks so tall!

He played with a few of the same players as last year on the house team. They had great ball handling skills and Ethan learned a lot. He also held his own by scoring an average of 3 goals per game.

Rachel can be agressive when she wants to. During the first game, she was getting used to the different feel of playing in an arena verses outside on a regular field and real grass. Her league was both boys & girls.

Finally near the end of the season, she scored!!!! Dad was so excited and she was too because he owed her a kingsize candy bar.

I might have a budding photographer in the family. Luke was constantly asking to take pictures with my camera. Yep, that's the backside of me with the long Rapunzel like hair!

Halloween 2010

Yep, I'm still going on the last year's catchup - these are pretty funny. Here are Luke, Brady and Rachel ready to head to school for their Halloween parties.

Then, on Halloween night (we celebrated on Saturday Oct 30th) the weather decided it wanted to play its own tricks on these treaters! We tried to dress more warmly, but that weather was just plain crazy. Jared was out of town so I stayed at home to man the doorbell duties while Ethan offered to take the boys around the neighborhood.

Rachel and her friends left only a coule of minutes later, a little more prepared with umbrellas.

But within 5 minutes the wind had kicked it into high gear and the rain was coming down sideways. But never fear, the tricker treaters would still appear!

Rachel's first science project

5th grade science projects, in full swing. Rachel and her friend Brynnlee worked together. Pinch me if I'm dreaming because they did most of their project weeks ahead of schedule. The idea was will bubbles last longer with other liquids mixed with the bubble solution. As you can see, they had about 15 different mixtures.

Alas, the mixture of bubble solution and dish detergent lasted the longest. Good job girls!

The BIG 4-0

I hit the big 4-0 this past summer. Really, I mentally think I'm in my 20's. My sneaky gray hairs are trying to convince me otherwise. Nope, not gonna do it! I'm not getting old. My sweet hubby has it stuck in his head too that I am now an eternal 29 yr old!

We had so much going on with the Oz play and job stuff that I told Jared not to do anything big for me. So he took me seriously. He and the kids made me a delicous breakfast and then Jared let me pick where to go for dinner. It was great but I must admit, deep down, I was kinda wishing for some kind of surprise. Greedy thinking, I know. I kept reminding myself all day about our incredible Cancun trip we had taken just a couple of months prior. That was definitely a once in a lifetime adventure.

Really it was no big deal turning 40. Haven't you heard - 40 is the new 30?

Luke (7th) & Brady's (5th) Birthday!!!!

I'm still playing catch up from last year. Here is last summer's big birthday for Luke and Brady. They both love legos, almost as much as their older brother, so we attempted to make a "lego" cake.

The traditional singing and cake in bed, first thing in the morning to start everyone off with a sugar high!

Ya gotta love the reindeer wrapping paper, right?!! Hey, I'm just using what I got!

Two very happy campers! Happy Birthday Brady and Luke! We love you!

We'll take water, any way it comes!

We needed a break from all the Wizard of Oz rehersals last summer, so off we headed to the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake. We've been many times before and the kids always have a great time.

I honestly thought the water was going to sneak through his fingers and shoot right up his nose!

Rachel even got into the action, slying moving in and out of the crowd of kids. Its like a mini Belliago water show, just not lights, but the water is choregraphed with music. The Olympic themes are still a big hit.

Grandma came to town to help with the boys during all the rehersals and performances of OZ. Couldn't have done it without her. We luckily found a little shade this day, because it was extremely hot and you didn't want your bare feet to hit the pavement if at all possible.

Can you believe this??? Ethan stuck his foot up right as I took his picture. This was an unusual day because instead of running around in the water with his siblings, he decided to sit with me and mom and read....what, yes, you heard me right, READ! This past summer, Ethan got the reading bug and has been reading several fun books...mostly in the sci-fi category.

I'm pretty sure this was Rachel's expression when I told her it was time to leave. Look at those blue eyes. She's beautiful even when giving her mother the scowl!

Grandpa & Grandma Pat visit (last summer)

It must say I've had it in the back of my mind to get these pictures posted from last summer. I could give a bunch of excuses but...I'll just say, better late than never.

Last June, my Dad and stepmom Pat came out to visit and also for him to attend his 50th high school reunion. (I took this picture right as they were leaving for the reunion dinner.) They drove out with their new trailer in tow and my kids were drooling, wishing they could sleep in it.

One beautiful afternoon, we tried flying kites in our backyard. I think sometimes the fancier the kite, the hard it is for them to fly. We've had these kites for several years, more for decoration than actually flying.