First Grade Accomplishment

This guy was getting anxious to lose a tooth after starting 1st grade. He watched several of his friends lose teeth during Kindergarten and none of his seemed to budge. He was thrilled to find out during a dentist appointment that one of his teeth was a little bit lose. Being the determined guy he is, that tooth was out by the next day (thanks to lots of wiggling and dad putting a string around it and slamming a door). He was a little disappointed that the tooth fairy's rate is still only $1 per tooth instead of $20. But, he also couldn't be more thrilled..

Lindsey's 9th Birthday

I can't believe that Lindsey is already 9!! We had a fun time celebrating her birthday! We spread it out over a few days - beginning with a birthday dinner for her and my brother Peter.
We just did a really simple dinner on a Thursday night and then went to a softball game that Rich, Mike, John & Jon played in.

I love this picture (except for Hannah's weird face). Peter is so great with our kids and is such a great uncle to them!

Then Saturday morning was Lindsey's birthday. She woke up to find a brand new bike! She was excited and then we began our busy, busy day! Jon was already at work. I left the kids with a babysitter to go to the Temple to see my Aunt Becky sealed to her husband Willie and her 4 kids. It was an incredible experience and I was so grateful to be there. While I was gone, a friend took Jack to flag football and another friend took Lindsey to her soccer scrimmage. When I got back at 11:00, we hurried and drove to Tooele for Emily's soccer game. Then we came back to Salt Lake and met at Becky & John's house to go to the circus. All of my siblings & Meg & Jason went and it was great! Jon was able to join us around intermission and following the circus, Jon took the kids and dropped Emily off at a birthday party and Becky & I went and watched the General Relief Society Meeting and then went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It was a great, exhausting day!

This girl could hardly stand to wait to open her gifts!

Her Stats are: 54 lbs (15th percentile) and 51 inches (30th percentile)

Then we had a birthday party for Lindsey on Monday. We had rescheduled it twice, so we were happy to finally do it. We did a Backward's Party. We sent thank you notes as the invitation. The girls came and we did everything backwards - decorated & ate cupcakes and icecream, opened gifts, played games, ate breakfast and then played. I was so glad Jon was home (he made the entire meal)!

The party favors

This is Lindsey's friend, Sierra. She definitely was the most into our backward's theme, including wrapping her gift in Christmas paper and using a Valentine's for the card.

decorating cupcakes

Lindsey and some of her cute friends!

We sure love you Lindsey! You are beautiful, talented, kind, loving & such an important part of our family!

Murray Max Soccer

A huge part of our lives (since June), has been Murray Max soccer. Emily & Lindsey had both played rec soccer for several years and after having some friends & coaches encourage them to try out for competitive soccer, we decided to let them try. Both made their teams (Emily made the U11 developmental team & Lindsey made the U9 team). We spend hours each week at practices, training & games, but it has been a really great experience.

We couldn't have asked for 2 better coaches and 2 better groups of girls. I have sat and listened to other coaches yelling at their team and being negative about everything the girls are doing and it has made me so grateful that our coaches are genuinely trying to encourage the girls and make them better soccer players.

Emily has been able to play with several of her friends and also make new friends on her team. Lindsey didn't know anyone on her team, but has become friends with several of them. They are cute, darling, great girls!

We have to travel a little bit to get to games (like to Tooele, American Fork, Kaysville, etc.), but it's been great! We usually bring 3 other little fans with us - Jack, Kate & Hannah - and they have been really great about going to the games.

Great work #27 and #29! We're sure proud of you!

Lindsey & her friend, Olivia being team captains for a game.

Lindsey does great on both offense and defense. She's scored several goals and is really a threat when she's on the defensive end too. We're proud of you Lindsey!

Emily has surprised all of us - including her coach! He has used her as a forward & striker and she's done a great job. She hustles out there and moves the ball well. Most teams that her team plays have played together for a couple of years (and hers is a brand new one), so it's been a learning year, but they've done great! Emily has scored a goal and I had to laugh because afterwards, she had the hugest grin on her face. I've only seen that big of a grin once before - when she walked into the hospital room to see Hannah for the first time. Great job Em!

Baby Quilts

This post makes it seem like I've had a lot of time to sew lately, but I had to wait to post these pictures until these quilts were given to the new moms!

3 of Jon's nieces have had or will have had a baby over the course of 6 months ...

This little one was for Genny, who is due with a girl in November.

This quilt was for Ami, who had a sweet little boy in May.

And this fun quilt (I loved the monkeys!) was for Mary, who had a sweet little boy in August.

And this quilt, was for my cousin, Meg, who is due any day! Meg picked out fabric to make bumper pads for her crib and then I went to same store to pick out that fabric to make her a matching quilt. We're excited to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl!

School Carnival

Last Friday, our school had a carnival and the kids had a blast! It was complete with:

Rides

Slides

Emily's friend Haylie came with us

(I love Hannah's face)

Prizes to be won

Puddles

Balloons

Face Painting

One of the teams our family cheers for

The other team our family cheers for

And yummy, sugary, greasy food!

Jack's rec soccer season

Jack just concluded another successful season of rec soccer. He's on the 1st/2nd grade level now and he was able to play on a team with several of his friends - Marshall, Bowen (yes, he has a friend named Bowen), Caleb, Thomas & Case. He played with his usual intensity and love of the game. Great job buddy!

This boy is even intense when the coach is talking to him. He's ready to get that ball!

Marshall (on the left), Bowen (kicking the ball) and Jack

Fun with Cameras

Jon's brother, Tom, has a new application on his phone that can show what people would look like 100 pounds heavier. So, for your enjoyment, our sweet little angels....

And their proud parents....