Soccer mom...kind of

Welp.  I'm offically a soccer mom.  Although when I think of a soccer mom I picture one with older kids, carpooling in a minivan to soccer practice a few times a week in the afternoon/evening.  That's not exactly what's going on here...my daughter is 4, I don't carpool nor do I own a mini-van (although I have to admit sometimes I have mini-van envy...the room, the space!).  Her practices are 30 minutes before her games on Saturday mornings.  But technically, I've arrived - I'm part of a prestigous group known as "soccer moms" and proud of it (by the way, does anyone know where the meetings are held?).

Mady's first game was this past Saturday.  My brother Johnny came in for the weekend and we were excited that he would get to watch her play...or pick flowers off to the side of the field - we weren't quite sure which would happen.  She is in the 4-6 girls age group and the other two girls (the only other two that showed up) were both 6 and had played before.  Lovely.  But, much to our surprise Mady was right out there running around the whole time, in her extremely oversized uniform, going for the ball.  And thanks to her generous, helpful teammates, she even scored a goal.  

It was so fun watching her and to see the excitement on her face and in her voice.  Mady: "Mom, when do I get to play again?" Me: "right now, that was just the end of the quarter" Mady: "Right NOW?!  Yay yay yay!"  If you know Mady, she's pretty serious...so for her to express her love for soccer was pretty shocking, but pretty great too.  

Practice before the game

We knew we were off to a great start when she got purple jersey #4...favorite color, favorite number

The cheer-ers

How cute are these two?  Mady loves her Uncle Johnny!

Love how big her uniform is on her compared to her teammate!

I mentioned my brother Johnny came in for the weekend and it was really great spending time with him.  I think he had fun hanging out and playing with the kiddos.  And he made for a really great frozen yogurt buddy, my new obsession these days.  We also had York's works annual summer BBQ this weekend which was lots of fun.

Johnny's first Lagoon experience.  Something about the bottom right picture just makes me laugh...

He even got to take her to school!

Thanks for the fun visit Johnny!  I’m pretty sure our weekends are booked from here till November, but we are loving every minute!  We are truly blessed!

The end of an era...or actually just a summer

Since Labor Day Weekend is approaching and we are settling into our school routine, I am finally accepting that our summer is basically over.  And what a FUN summer it was!  Tons of visitors, swimming,  super fun playdates, bike rides, and lazy days sleeping in.  Mady did summer camp at My-Gym once a week, and Sophie even joined her a couple times.  There were missed naps, late nights, and lots of Lagoon time.  Jack started crawling, Mady jumped off the diving board and learned to swim in the big pool without her floaties.  We spent lots of time bug-catching, jumping on the tramp, and swinging on the neighbors swing set.  I'm sad it's over, but REALLY looking forward to our busy, fun fall!  

We spent a lot of time at Oakridge this summer-swim lessons, afternoons with just me and the kids, and evenings with Daddy.  

Mady got better at riding her bike this summer.  We got Sophie and Jack new bikes so it was easy for York and I to walk and push while Mady rode.  

Love this picture.  Beautiful scenery and my favorite peeps:)

We had some lazy days at home too...The girls were so happy when we finally had to move Jack’s bed to the lower setting so they could get in it!  Oh, and Mady loves to get Sophie up in the morning...before climbing in she throws in toys, books, etc and they play forever.

Did I mention we got another Guinea?  Meet Ringo Softy.

My girls LOVE to paint

This is one of my favorite pictures.  Mady spent a lot of time trying to catch bugs this summer.  She got really good at catching dragonflies (or damselflies as she would call them).  One day her daddy asked "Wow Mady, did you catch that with your bare hands?" and she responded "No daddy, I caught it with my children's hands!"

Family Pictures

I've been dying to do an outdoor family pic, so I thought I'd combine it with Jack's 9 months photo shoot...and even with my less than cooperative kids that day, I am in love with the results! Thank you Paige!

The first day of the rest of her life...

...or at the next 18 years or so!  I cannot believe my little Mady is starting school!  She is in Pre-K at St. Olaf's in Bountiful and goes every morning from 8-11.  What a change it will be for all of us!  Today has been so bittersweet for me, I will miss her of course, but it's more "bitter" just thinking of how fast time has gone, and how quickly she is growing up.  today she is off to pre-k, then kindergarten, high school, and next thing I know I will be sending her off to college!  I heard this from a friend about raising kids..."the days are long but the years are short", and I don't think there is a better way to describe it.  The fact that Mady is SO ready to go to school makes it sweet and I couldn't be more excited for her to learn and make new friends.  

We have been talking about the first day of school for quite some time now, and I can't believe it's here!  We woke her up this morning at 6:45 and she was so excited and super cooperative.  After breakfast and a zillion pictures, York and I took her to school, leaving Sophie and Jack home with the neighbor girl.  She was a little nervous when we said goodbye, but she did great.  Since that moment I have had a nervous pit in my stomach that still hasn't gone away!  And all I could do after I got home was watch the clock to make sure We weren't late picking her up (which I might add we were 30 minutes early...A little anxious maybe?!).  She seemed to have a great first day, and I am really looking forward to getting into our new "school schedule" routine.  

Mady is overall a really great kid.  She is adored by Jack and Sophie.  She is smart, sensitive, and thoughtful.  She loves all animals, bugs, and dinosaurs.  She likes to play barbies and dress up.  She loves to color, sticker, glue, and draw.  She almost always has a band-aid on.  She loves anything and everything purple.  She pretends to be a purple lion cub with sparkles, and only answers to "SParkler" or "cubby".  For as long as we can remember she has had her lion cub, "cubby", at her side...a stuffed animal she got at the zoo forever ago.  She loves to mismatch her socks and shoes.  She hates ponytails but let's me do them now for school.  I wish I could freeze time right now.  I never want to forget how Mady is right at this moment, I want to hold her tight and never let her go!  I'm so blessed to have had her everyday all day for the past 4 1/2 years...I suppose it's time to share!  I will definitely miss our mornings together, but I'm also really looking forward to this new adventure!

Mady, we LOVE you with ALL our heart and are SO SO proud of you sweet girl!  

Love, Mommy and Daddy:)

Jack is 9 months old!

Oh, my baby Jack.  BEST BABY ON THE PLANET!  But I can't believe he's already 9 months old! He has been a busy guy lately too...crawling and climbing and clapping - Oh my!  And he's waving and saying "ma-ma" too!  Here is my screen shot of Jack (can you tell I'm screen shot obsessed?!) and the last pics I have to share courtesy of Liz Wampler.  

and a few more pics of my love...

Loook at that face!

Jacks room

Weekend Getaways

So, after our final summer visitors left we decided to do the same.  We Packed up the car and the kiddos and went up to park city for a night and spent this past weekend in St. George.  In Park City we stayed at the Marriott Mountain Resort, rode the Alpine Slides, and swam at the pool.  Because if there is a pool in sight, we swim.  My kids are fish.  York's parents and Ty and Sue joined us for the day and we went for sushi that night.  A fun little "Stay-cation" was had by all!

We haven't been to St. George all summer but decided to brave the heat this weekend just for funsies.  Ahhh, we love St. George.  it is family time to the max.  no computers, not many toys, just tons of relaxation fun.  the kids love it as much as we do, although now mady is old enough to not look forward to the drive...and if it seems long to me, it must seem like a lifetime to a 4 year old.  York's parents were there for their annual trip to the shakespeare festival in cedar city, and they kindly gave us their tickets to romeo and juliet Saturday night and watched the kiddos for us.  shakespeare is SO much more interesting to me now than it was in high school...among many other things i learned back then!  Anyways, here are a few pics of our last couple weekends...

Park City...

Like father like son.  Like Grandpa.

St. George...

Bryce Canyon

“Hats, no pants” Party