Back to School

Logan said his first day of school was "perfect". He loves his teachers and he is excited to be in the new K-2 school. Connor is jealous of the new building and playground. We didn't think the school would be done today but over the weekend the road was improved enough for the fire marshal to ok it. Both Connor and Logan have team teachers. It will be expensive at gift giving time but Connor's best year was when he had team teachers. I think he likes the variety of it. The kids are growing up too fast. The boys are going to a new bus stop this year. I walked them down to make sure they knew where to go. Although I know Connor needed me to go with him this morning, he told me to go home after he found someone he knew. He is already embarrassed by his parents. He didn't bubble over about his first day like Logan did but he is excited to be back. He likes both his teachers. I think it will be a great year. Ashlyn starts back to preschool next week. She can't wait (neither can I)!

I forgot the camera this morning (what's new) so these are their after school shots.

First Football Game

Today Connor (#89) had his first real game and he played great! He was so excited that he got dressed in full gear 3 hours before the game. They won in overtime. For the most part, he has been playing Offensive Tackle and Defensive End or Defensive Tackle. I would have never guessed that he would be one of the bigger kids on the team. It is South Weber's first year having a team. To make this team big enough they had to allow 2nd graders to play. Some of the kids on his team are pretty small. The line is where he wanted to be. For some crazy reason he loves tackling people. He is much happier this year than last when he played Quarter Back. He played almost the entire game both sides of the ball. I don't know how he made it through it in 100 degree heat. The game was going great until the last play of regulation when 2 kids landed on his right wrist (not the one he broke). One of his coaches was really concerned about it so we took him to Instacare. I wasn't about to look like a neglectful mom again. Luckily the doctor thinks it is just a sprain. I figured that it would be since I rushed him up there. Whenever I rush my kids to the doctor it is never anything. It is only when I wait and see that it turns out bad. His biggest worry was that he would miss the 2 swim parties he has this week. I don't even think it occurred to him that he would have to sit the rest of the season out. We are all happy it wasn't broken!!

Logan's Birthday Party

We decided to have Logan's friend party before school starts even though it is a couple of weeks early. He wanted to go to Classic Fun Center. The kids all had a blast. It is the first time ever that I have thought I should have made the party longer. It was such an easy party! We rented a room so we could have a quiet spot to eat and open presents. We will be doing that again.

Kemmerer

This past weekend we went to Sarah and Alan's property in Kemmerer with my family members that live in Utah. Those of us in trailers might have had a little more fun than those in tents. It poured rain the first night and into the next morning. We all squished in Sarah and Alan's trailer to play games while it rained. Luckily it cleared up and we were able to enjoy the outdoors. The guys all went shooting. My boys loved every second of it. Connor shot the pellet gun nonstop on Friday but he was excited to shoot the clay pigeons with the big guns. We were also able to ride the 4 wheelers. All of my kids think that should be our next purchase. Connor always insisted on driving. I was thankful he prefers Dad. We had a blast. The kids can't wait to go again. We are glad that Sarah and Alan have such pretty land!

South Weber Days

The past couple of years we have tried to get the kids involved in some of the events for South Weber Days. We have done the Little Buckaroo Rodeo in the past but the kids said definitely not this year. Last year Connor got bucked off the sheep so bad that his shoes flew off and his helmet cracked. I guess that was a deterrent. I was a little disappointed because I think it is cute but they decided that they wanted to run in the Kid K (around 3/4 mile run) instead. They have all been anticipating it for a few weeks. They all burst out sprinting. Ashlyn was even pumping her arms. It was equally as cute as the rodeo. Connor and Logan both did great. All three of the kids were bright red (they get that from me). None of the kids placed but I think Connor probably came in about 4th or 5th in his age which was an accomplishment considering he had just got home from and 1 1/2 hour intense football practice. Logan was our shocker. He is such a doddler that I thought Ashlyn might keep up with him. He did really well for his age. He even beat some kids Connor's age. Apparently we should have run with Ashlyn. We debated going with her but one of her friend's dad's was running so we figured she would stick with her friend. I guess she fizzled. She came around the bend running with some other mom who probably wondered what parents let her run it herself. Ashlyn claims she was tired and someone pushed her down. She was holding her side and wasn't very happy. She had been practicing all afternoon and must of run out of energy. I ran the last block with her and she finished. I don't she will ever be as excited to run it again. Maybe they'll add a karaoke to South Weber Days. She'd be all over that. Each of the kids won a prize and got a water bottle and t-shirt so they were all satisfied. Luckily the weather held out during the race because during the awards and prizes the winds picked up and it started pouring. If Ashlyn had been caught in that alone she would have never made it back. Connor also played in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Once again it was right after football. He looked pretty tired but he had fun. They came in second. (of course there were only 2 teams). They played the same team 3 times. They won the first game but lost the second two. We decided that kids that age shouldn't play 3 on 3 because they aren't old enough to call fouls. Sometimes it seemed like they were playing football instead of basketball. All of the kids knew each other so they just had fun playing.

More Camping

Who would have guessed that I would be up for camping every other week? We have had a lot of fun getting away to spend time together. This week we went up to the Uintahs. We found this great spot off the side of the road near China Meadows. We could walk this path down into a meadow with the Smithsfork running through it. It was perfect! We didn't see another person the whole time. There were pools for Logan to fish in and Chad and Connor could fish the rest of the river. Ashlyn fished a little but she eventually found her way into the water. She is a fish, she doesn't need to catch them. Connor caught his first fish unaided on the fly rod. It was a very proud moment for Chad. Connor is officially back into fishing now that he gets to wade with his dad. Logan didn't have much luck but he had a blast because he learned how to cast by himself. On the last night he had a melt down because he didn't feel he had got enough fishing in. We had fished all day and the night before but it wasn't enough for him. Chad took him out until it was dark so he could get his fill. Of course we forgot the camera again so we can't show you the beautiful site. We'll have to go back. We came home with dirty kids and a million bug bites including some weird bites that left Logan with dots of blood all over his neck and scalp, but, we had a lot of fun. Even I am glad that we bought a trailer.

July 4th Weekend

Our July 4th weekend was busy but, fun. We ended up at the South Fork again. We stayed Wednesday night through Saturday afternoon. Originally we were going to go to the Uintahs or to the Blacksmith Fork but we decided to stay close instead. Our good friends the Sargent's joined us for one of the nights. Even though we stayed in the same campground, we did completely different things. The first time we spent a lot of time fishing. This time we spent most of our time floating or playing in the river. We had a lot of fun although our behinds are bruised from hitting the rocks along to way. It was great weather most of the trip. The one rainy night we had fun playing games in the trailer. We can never go back to tenting it. The last day was a little colder so we kept the fire going most of the day which meant SMORES all day long. Yum! After we got home Saturday night we had a yummy dinner at the Sargent's and then we went to the Morgan fireworks with my Mom and Dad and Melissa, Matt and Mya. Ashlyn was really cute for the fireworks this year. She danced and cheered. I had more fun watching her than the fireworks. It is a big change from a couple of years ago when I had to walk her to the car before the fireworks started to prevent a melt down. Sunday night after church we had dinner at Amy and Dave's. The kids mauled their kittens and begged to bring one home. (Apparently they haven't figured out that I am barely willing to keep the one pet we have. They are lucky to still have Foster after the nightmare of taking him camping. We quickly fixed that mistake and took him home after the first night.) Amy and Dave had saved some of their fireworks for the kids to watch. The girls danced and the boys enjoyed lighting them.
Last night we had to go fishing to make up for the lack of fishing on our camping trip. Mellow Logan had an out of body when he realized we were going home from camping without meeting his fishing quota. I promised him we would go for Family Night. I had heard about a pond in East Layton so we decided to try it. The pond was full of blue gill. Although they were tiny each of the kids caught a couple. Connor's friend Sam caught his first fish. It was cute how excited he got. The water was clear enough that you could see the fish chase the worm. The kids had fun but Logan won't be satisfied until he catches a fish that he can eat. He caught a big fish at East Canyon a couple of months ago but we never got around to cooking it. He still hasn't got over it. If we don't make it up to the Uintahs soon we might have go the fish farm.