Thursday, October 27, 2011
Fall Soccer
Luke and Seth both played soccer this fall which made it busy but fun. This is Seth's first year, and they just practiced right before the games so that helped. Luke had a fun team and a great coach this year. I was terrible about pictures and didn't even get team pictures of either of them. Oops.
Seth's team was coed, and he had lots of friends from the ward on it. He was pretty cute out there. He just trotted around and occasionally made contact with the ball!
Luke improved so much this season and really played great. The very first game his team played a team that turned out to be a comp team from Logan that had been playing together for a year. That was bad. It was such a blowout, and I thought we were really in for a long season. The season got much better though, and it was fun to see them actually passing and learning some skills. For the first half of the season Luke's team was always shorthanded. They either had exactly enough or were a man down for several games. That is a huge field to run around on for an hour without ever subbing! We finally got a player from another team so we usually had a sub.
Plotting their next move.
Seth in action in the background.
Ian got rather tired of going to soccer games, but he was a pretty good sport about it.
Seth looks annoyed and for good reason. Luke would not release the head lock for this picture. I keep telling him he better watch out for paybacks...his little brother is no little brother!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Overnighter at White Pine
Last year Jer took Luke on his first overnight backpacking trip to White Pine Lake. He decided to make it a yearly tradition. Seth was a little disappointed he didn't get to go, but the hike is four miles each way carrying their stuff, so we told him he needed to be 6 like Luke was to start. They may try some other places too.
Jer and Luke headed out a few weeks ago on a very cold, rainy weekend. It poured nonstop Friday night and most of Saturday here, so I was kind of worried about them. They did get tons of rain during the night...in fact Jer woke up and their whole tent site had flooded. He said the tent bottom felt like they were on a water bed. Luckily, we have a good tent and they didn't actually get wet inside. Jer retrieved his shoes from where they were floating in the tent vestibule and got out and moved everything to higher ground. He had Luke standing outside the tent in his rain coat at like 1 am while he got everything resituated. He said Luke didn't grumble much though. It was an adventure.
They had fun just hanging out and hiking around and then they went and found a bunch of geocaches. Luke brought home some sweet treasures for me and his brothers. As for me, when Jer was a lot later than we had established I started envisioning lightning strikes or something (there was tons of thunder and lightning here) and started to get really worried. They got home just in time before I started scrambling the search party! They had a blast though and it's nice when the boys have a chance to spend some one on one time with their dad. (Seth had his own adventure a few weeks before on Labor Day afternoon when he and Jer headed out on the four wheeler to scout for elk. It was also raining that day and the four wheeler started having all sorts of weird electrical problems. I knew they would be back late that time so I wasn't even worried. I guess it was overheating and died, and he had to pull start it...and the brakes weren't working quite right. Sometimes it's better not to know! We've since had that fixed and Seth's ready to go out again. There is nothing he likes more than a motorcycle or four wheeler ride with dad.)
Here are a few pics of the adventure that Jer took with his GPS.
Jer took a picture of Luke on this same rock both years. He sure has grown up a lot. I put last year's picture on here for comparison.
Luke 2010 White Pine Trip.
Warning: Bragging Follows
I don't want to devote a whole post to bragging, but since I'm already posting about Luke I'll brag him up a little here. We had Parent Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Luke got such an awesome report from his teacher. It's no different from first grade, but it's still just nice to here that your child is doing well. I know he's an amazing reader and does great with his school work, but it's nice to have his teacher tell you as well. She also said he is a "joy" and is so "excited to learn each day" and is a "friend to everyone and everyone loves him." I was so glad to hear those last parts. I really want my kids to be good, nice kids and sometimes it's hard to tell from how they act around the house! When we were leaving it was obvious that he was so proud of himself, and he told me that he is always going to get a report like that. He really wants to do his best. Luke is a great kid, but he can tease his brother and be a turkey so it's nice to know he is not like that at school. He really is such a bright, funny, great kid and I'm so lucky to be his mom. (I warned that this was serious bragging, right?)
On a funny note, two different moms from Luke's soccer team that I didn't know have come up to me and mentioned how darling they think Luke is and how they just want to squeeze him. His teacher was also telling me that and she mentioned that she had a similar discussion with his kindergarten teacher. He definitely does have the cute kid thing going for him. He was blushing all over the place when his teacher was saying he was "just so cute and could be in a magazine." I seriously think part of it's the glasses. Well, I try not to have one of those blogs where all I do is say how awesome my kids are, but I don't even think anyone reads this anymore and I do think he's awesome...so there it is! (Here's a little reality check though--the rest of the day we were home and there were arguments, etc. I just had to keep reminding myself of all the praise he got for his good behavior at school. He's no angel, but he's a pretty great kid.) In general, my kids get along great, but they also fight like brothers. They spend hours playing together, but they also tease and torment. If there is anyone out there who has same sex children, close in age, who has a super peaceful home all the time...more power to you!
Jer and Luke headed out a few weeks ago on a very cold, rainy weekend. It poured nonstop Friday night and most of Saturday here, so I was kind of worried about them. They did get tons of rain during the night...in fact Jer woke up and their whole tent site had flooded. He said the tent bottom felt like they were on a water bed. Luckily, we have a good tent and they didn't actually get wet inside. Jer retrieved his shoes from where they were floating in the tent vestibule and got out and moved everything to higher ground. He had Luke standing outside the tent in his rain coat at like 1 am while he got everything resituated. He said Luke didn't grumble much though. It was an adventure.
They had fun just hanging out and hiking around and then they went and found a bunch of geocaches. Luke brought home some sweet treasures for me and his brothers. As for me, when Jer was a lot later than we had established I started envisioning lightning strikes or something (there was tons of thunder and lightning here) and started to get really worried. They got home just in time before I started scrambling the search party! They had a blast though and it's nice when the boys have a chance to spend some one on one time with their dad. (Seth had his own adventure a few weeks before on Labor Day afternoon when he and Jer headed out on the four wheeler to scout for elk. It was also raining that day and the four wheeler started having all sorts of weird electrical problems. I knew they would be back late that time so I wasn't even worried. I guess it was overheating and died, and he had to pull start it...and the brakes weren't working quite right. Sometimes it's better not to know! We've since had that fixed and Seth's ready to go out again. There is nothing he likes more than a motorcycle or four wheeler ride with dad.)
Here are a few pics of the adventure that Jer took with his GPS.
Warning: Bragging Follows
I don't want to devote a whole post to bragging, but since I'm already posting about Luke I'll brag him up a little here. We had Parent Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Luke got such an awesome report from his teacher. It's no different from first grade, but it's still just nice to here that your child is doing well. I know he's an amazing reader and does great with his school work, but it's nice to have his teacher tell you as well. She also said he is a "joy" and is so "excited to learn each day" and is a "friend to everyone and everyone loves him." I was so glad to hear those last parts. I really want my kids to be good, nice kids and sometimes it's hard to tell from how they act around the house! When we were leaving it was obvious that he was so proud of himself, and he told me that he is always going to get a report like that. He really wants to do his best. Luke is a great kid, but he can tease his brother and be a turkey so it's nice to know he is not like that at school. He really is such a bright, funny, great kid and I'm so lucky to be his mom. (I warned that this was serious bragging, right?)
On a funny note, two different moms from Luke's soccer team that I didn't know have come up to me and mentioned how darling they think Luke is and how they just want to squeeze him. His teacher was also telling me that and she mentioned that she had a similar discussion with his kindergarten teacher. He definitely does have the cute kid thing going for him. He was blushing all over the place when his teacher was saying he was "just so cute and could be in a magazine." I seriously think part of it's the glasses. Well, I try not to have one of those blogs where all I do is say how awesome my kids are, but I don't even think anyone reads this anymore and I do think he's awesome...so there it is! (Here's a little reality check though--the rest of the day we were home and there were arguments, etc. I just had to keep reminding myself of all the praise he got for his good behavior at school. He's no angel, but he's a pretty great kid.) In general, my kids get along great, but they also fight like brothers. They spend hours playing together, but they also tease and torment. If there is anyone out there who has same sex children, close in age, who has a super peaceful home all the time...more power to you!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Preschool
Seth started his second year of preschool. He is going to the Sports Academy this year, and he loves it. He gets to take tumbling, swimming, and tennis along with regular preschool stuff so it's pretty fun. We are carpooling with friends, so it's working out great. It is so weird to have just Ian and I on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Last year Seth only went to preschool 3 hours total per week, so this is a big change. It actually works out pretty nice because in the afternoons when Ian is napping I have some time to spend just with Seth.
He looked very handsome on the first day. I love this picture of him...he's growing up too fast. I know I always say that, but it's always true.
He looked very handsome on the first day. I love this picture of him...he's growing up too fast. I know I always say that, but it's always true.
Half Marathon etc.
I guess every so often I can post something that I've been up to instead of just the kids. I once again signed up for the Top of Utah half marathon. I printed out several different training plans and then proceeded to not follow any of them. I really struggled to be motivated to train! I did run quite a bit the end of May/June when I last minute filled in on my friend Desi's Ragnar team. We had a great time. I can now say I've done Ragnar, and I might want to do it again! I did spend the coldest night of my life sleeping outside. I have slept outside in lots of different weather but this topped it all. First of all, I did not take a pillow or my air mattress..genius I know. That weekend was unseasonably cold for June (which was great for running), but I spent the most miserable 3 hours freezing my butt off on the cold, hard ground in 30 degree temps. Misery! I've never been so glad to jump out of bed at 4 am, shake the frost off my sleeping bag, and get in the warm car! We had a lot of laughs though. Our team was the Ragnafarians. On the back of our van it said, "Don't worry about a thing, except the squirts." That generated a lot of laughs. You don't know how true that is unless you run. It can get sketchy.
Anyway, I buckled down the month before the half and at least got my long run in consistently on the weekends. I have been running faster this year despite my slacking, and I clocked my fastest time yet-- 1 hour and 46 minutes. I was pleased with that. I would have been more pleased if I hadn't tanked and dropped more than a minute per mile after about mile 9 but oh well. That's where the additional training would have come in handy. An added bonus was that it was the hottest weekend of the year...a real migraine recipe! I hate to admit it, but I even walked for a minute. I seriously blew myself up about mile 11. By mile 12 you are reaching the finish and there are lots of spectators, so before I was in that gauntlet I made myself suck it up and pick up the pace...only pride kept me running across the finish line.
My cute cheering section. They were so proud of me and thought I did great!
Jer and I headed down the Friday night of Labor Day weekend to Salt Lake. The kids had fun partying with their grandparents and cousins up in Preston. We went to P.F. Cheng's...love those lettuce wraps and stayed at Little America and slept in. We headed back to Logan Saturday afternoon and hiked/ran up to Naomi Peak. It was great. I haven't been up there since before Jer and I were married. It was a very refreshing 24 hour date.
Ignore the shorty shorts. I've finally embraced the fact that while not the most flattering actual running shorts are by far the best kind of shorts to run in. One morning this summer Luke looked at me and said "well those are kind of short aren't they?" You had to hear his tone. It was funny. Yes Luke they are...please don't be too embarrassed of your old mom.
I am signed up to run one more race this year. It is another half marathon in Park City with my mother and sister-in-law. My training commitment hasn't improved. At least it will be October and cool! Things are quite hectic around here right now. We've got soccer and flag football going on. I am definitely busy being a wife and mom and trying to keep my house from being a total pigsty (that's about as good as it gets right now). I'm also getting pretty busy with my online teaching gig, and I just started another master's class. I was about to throw in the towel on that whole program, but I'm so close I really do need to suffer through these last few classes and get it done. This semester is Organic Evolution, and it's a chore...bleh!
Anyway, I buckled down the month before the half and at least got my long run in consistently on the weekends. I have been running faster this year despite my slacking, and I clocked my fastest time yet-- 1 hour and 46 minutes. I was pleased with that. I would have been more pleased if I hadn't tanked and dropped more than a minute per mile after about mile 9 but oh well. That's where the additional training would have come in handy. An added bonus was that it was the hottest weekend of the year...a real migraine recipe! I hate to admit it, but I even walked for a minute. I seriously blew myself up about mile 11. By mile 12 you are reaching the finish and there are lots of spectators, so before I was in that gauntlet I made myself suck it up and pick up the pace...only pride kept me running across the finish line.
Jer and I headed down the Friday night of Labor Day weekend to Salt Lake. The kids had fun partying with their grandparents and cousins up in Preston. We went to P.F. Cheng's...love those lettuce wraps and stayed at Little America and slept in. We headed back to Logan Saturday afternoon and hiked/ran up to Naomi Peak. It was great. I haven't been up there since before Jer and I were married. It was a very refreshing 24 hour date.
I am signed up to run one more race this year. It is another half marathon in Park City with my mother and sister-in-law. My training commitment hasn't improved. At least it will be October and cool! Things are quite hectic around here right now. We've got soccer and flag football going on. I am definitely busy being a wife and mom and trying to keep my house from being a total pigsty (that's about as good as it gets right now). I'm also getting pretty busy with my online teaching gig, and I just started another master's class. I was about to throw in the towel on that whole program, but I'm so close I really do need to suffer through these last few classes and get it done. This semester is Organic Evolution, and it's a chore...bleh!
Monday, August 29, 2011
2nd Grade!
Luke started 2nd grade last week. It's hard to believe he's old enough. I'll admit I felt a little teary as the bus drove off. I was excited for him, but I do hate to have him gone for so long everyday. He was pretty nervous to start, but he has a great teacher and lots of friends in his class. He seemed excited for the first time after we went to Back to School night.
He had a fun time choosing school clothes this year and was very picky about it. He changed his first day outfit several times.
We have tons of kids that catch the bus at our stop.
There's my cute kid. He told me he was just a little nervous because he didn't know his teacher or who would be in his class. He's a worry wart like me!
And he was off. He came home with a big grin on his face and said he had a great first day. He also told me, "I'm growing up right before your eyes." Isn't that the truth!
Cute Cousins
My boys are lucky to have such cute cousins. They each have one that's almost exactly their same age. They get along great and have so much fun together. Luke has been dying to have the girls over for a sleepover, so they came and we had a fun night. They jumped on the tramp and played outside, rode bikes, frosted cookies, and stayed up late watching movies. The girls were so cute and helpful, and it was fun to have girls around!
We also spent a Saturday up at Cindy' house for Kelli's wedding, luncheon, and reception. Cid did so much work and made it so nice for her. I feel bad we didn't get a picture of the bride...she's been such a great babysitter for us. The kids were so well behaved for a very long, hot day, and they looked very cute if I do say so myself.
After it was all over and we were cleaning up I attempted to get a group shot. Ian was not having it.
We tried restraining him...
he rebelled...
and he was out of there! I think they were all pretty much done at this point!
We also spent a Saturday up at Cindy' house for Kelli's wedding, luncheon, and reception. Cid did so much work and made it so nice for her. I feel bad we didn't get a picture of the bride...she's been such a great babysitter for us. The kids were so well behaved for a very long, hot day, and they looked very cute if I do say so myself.
Last Weekend at the Lake
I didn't take many pictures but a few weeks ago we had such a fun weekend at the Liechty's cabin. We headed up there with the Liechtys, Jensons, and Hendricks to hang at the cabin and spend Saturday at the lake. We ate at La Beaus which was an added bonus. There were lots of kids and everyone had fun. It was quite a crowd at the cabin so all of the dads and boys slept out on the deck Friday night. Saturday morning the guys headed out on an early morning bike ride and then Steve cooked up one of his famous breakfasts. Saturday we had to hunt for a beach but found a really nice spot on the east side with grass and sand. The kids labored all afternoon to build the "hot tub" in the bottom picture. The water was pretty warm, and they swam and played all day while the adults mostly sat and ate!
Saturday night the guys grilled up an amazing dinner, and it was just a lot of fun to relax and hang out with friends. We stayed Saturday night and then made a beeline to get home and ready for church on time. Saturday night it was just us and the Liechtys left. We set up Luke, Seth, and Caitlyn on the deck to sleep. Steve and Jer were going to go out with them a little later. After we had been chatting for a while Jer went out and checked on them. They were all sound asleep but there was a bobcat up in the tree watching them! It ran away when it saw him. He and Steve went back out with a flashlight and it was back. I've never heard of a bobcat attacking a person, but we decided not to take any chances with out little people. We moved the kids inside and told them we thought it might rain. The truth in this case is the sort of thing that could scar Luke for life and make him never want to sleep outside again!
Saturday night the guys grilled up an amazing dinner, and it was just a lot of fun to relax and hang out with friends. We stayed Saturday night and then made a beeline to get home and ready for church on time. Saturday night it was just us and the Liechtys left. We set up Luke, Seth, and Caitlyn on the deck to sleep. Steve and Jer were going to go out with them a little later. After we had been chatting for a while Jer went out and checked on them. They were all sound asleep but there was a bobcat up in the tree watching them! It ran away when it saw him. He and Steve went back out with a flashlight and it was back. I've never heard of a bobcat attacking a person, but we decided not to take any chances with out little people. We moved the kids inside and told them we thought it might rain. The truth in this case is the sort of thing that could scar Luke for life and make him never want to sleep outside again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)