Halloween Party

Before I get too behind with actual Halloween pictures I wanted to post a few pics from my mom's annual Halloween party.  It was lots of fun as usual.  She goes to a lot of work to make it special, and the kids really look forward to it.  I also need to post about UEA weekend which was a bit of a disaster adventure.

Here are a few pics of the festivities:

The kids didn't exactly cooperate leaving me with pics like this...

and this...

and this....

to choose from.

After the scavenger hunt Ian ended the night with a cookie nearly as big as his head...and that's big!

Fall Soccer

Blogger hates me right now and despite my best efforts to get the pictures and text where I want them, even in the html view, it will not cooperate. We spent a lot of time in September and October at soccer games—a lot! I took very few pictures and hardly action shots.  I vow to do better, this requires actually bringing my camera, next season.  There were some fun times, but I'm so glad the season is over. Seth played rec soccer again this year. He had a lot of fun and improved a lot in terms of paying attention and hustling around the field. In terms of making contact with the ball and trying to score not so much, but it was fun. His team got beat by at least 10 goals every game—very painful at times. He spent the entire season in some hand-me-down cleats of Luke's that were too small for him. We kept saying we'd go get new ones and it never happened. It was literally a workout to get his feet in there and then they were bulging at the seams. Our cute neighbor Sammy was on Seth's team again. At the last game out of the blue Seth said, "When it's time to sign me up for soccer next time just don't sign me up!" I actually already paid for spring but we'll see. I don't take much coaxing to simplify. It is good exercise though, and he's so darn cute out there. Whenever he did something good he'd stop and find us and give thumbs up.

 Ian also did a little soccer camp this fall. He pretty much gets dragged around to all his brothers' stuff and doesn't do much of his own. He was so excited about it. I'm not really sure he learned much about soccer, but he had lots of fun and he loved his uniform and ball. The coaches were extremely patient with a bunch of three-year-olds that included the whiniest child I have ever met (that was not Ian by the way)!

 Luke played his first season of competitive soccer this year. It was a learning experience for all of us. We are committed for the rest of this year and then we need to re evaluate. He had a lot of fun at times but grumbled and was tired of it at others. Luke is a pretty good soccer player, but he really struggles to focus and give his full effort. He just doesn't have much competitive drive yet. His team really struggled at first and we had lots of losses, but they learned a lot. They ended up winning three games including their last two in a row. They played their last game against the "A" team of their same club. They won! That was definitely a great victory and way to end the season. Luke's coach is a very nice guy. He was one of the guys that drove around in the car w/hydraulics in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Luke thinks that's so cool. The fact that Luke has had lots of fluid on his ears since the beginning of September didn't help much. He cannot hear very well at all and will be getting tubes in about three weeks if it doesn't get better. Anyway, the verdict's still out on our future with comp soccer but winter conditioning starts next week. If nothing else it's great exercise!

Luke: Backpacker & Beekeeper

I'm way behind on blogging.  Back in September Luke had the chance to do two really fun things.  I wasn't there for either of them, but I got a few pics to post.  For the third year running Jer and Luke went on their annual backpacking trip to White Pine Lake.  They had awesome weather this year and had such a fun time.  Seth is excited to join them next year.  Luke was six his first year and that seems like a pretty good age.  They didn't get out of here until after 4:00 when Jer was able to get home and get everything together, so it was nearly dark when they got to the trailhead and got started.  They hiked most of the way in with headlamps.  Jer said Luke was such a tough hiker this year and was practically running up the trail.  The next morning they hiked back down to Tony Grove and ditched their packs and then hiked to Naomi Peak.  I'm so proud of Luke for being such a trooper.  It ended up being more than 14 miles in less than 24 hours.  They ended the day with a trip over to Bear Lake for a burger and shake.  They got home around 10 p.m. tired and happy.

 

Luke also had the chance to be a beekeeper for a day.  He didn't actually handle the bees but helped with the honey harvest.  He has been learning about bees in third grade and is totally into it.  He knows a lot about bees and is completely fascinated.  The guy my dad rents his shop space from happens to be a beekeeper on the side so Luke was able to go down and spend the day with his grandpa and the Dabb family.  He loved it!

Fall Photo Fun: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

Photography is becoming a fun hobby for me, and I'm learning more all the time. I'm getting better at both shooting and editing, but I still have a long ways to go. We've been about and about with the kids in the beautiful fall weather. This is the mildest, most scenic fall we've had in a long time. I absolutely love this time of year. The scenery was beautiful and the kids were cute, but I had a lot of photo flubs on these occasions. I've since fixed quite a few things and redeemed myself with some better shots like the ones of Leah in her room. I also took some pictures of my cousin's new baby that turned out cute.  He was so calm and sweet so that was a lot of fun.  This post though includes a lot of photos that should be in the reject bin...hopefully I'll see an evolution in my skill as time goes on.  It's fun though and my camera's already full of a bunch of new images if I could just find the time to do something with them!

Every year we take the kids up to Tony Grove for a stroll around the lake.  The leaves in the canyon were amazing...I won't bore you (not sure there's anyone out there) or myself with all the leaf pictures.  Leah absolutely loves riding in the car with the windows down.  She looks like a happy little puppy with her hair blowing in the wind!  Almost every picture I took on this day is a cautionary tale about focus...you just can't edit out blur oh and proper exposure would be nice.  My camera on auto would have done a way better job.  Whammy!

Isn't the group shot above sweet?  Nobody's in focus, Leah has a snotty nose, and Ian well I'm not sure what to say about him.  Seth found this raft and had to try it out.  It did indeed float.

On the pumpkin day I didn't do much better. This time it was mostly because I had it way too wide open for taking pictures of a group...sorry kids only one of you can be in focus at a time with these settings.  Sometimes I forget there's that little screen where I could just go ahead and check myself before taking lots of bad shots.  I remember that now.  The group shots of the kids could have been way cute...if only.

This last set is from a little jaunt up Prov Canyon. I've run up here a lot this year, and I love it. They have most of it closed off right now, but the leaves are amazing. I just took the littles to the bottom, and we explored a little. Again, focus and exposure were an issue. The lighting was pretty tricky. There are some cute shots though. The second shot of Leah is blurry, but the leaves were so pretty I kept it in. The shot of Ian on the trail would be so stinkin' cute if only it was in focus!

Ian's hair is so white that it can be tricky to photograph in some lights.  No matter what I did to these the other colors looked right, but his hair looked just a tiny bit green.  Hmm...he's cute though and it was a fun time.  Practice truly makes perfect with this, or at least better, so I'll keep clicking.