Freshman year!

Wow, this girls is now technically a Freshman! Only 4 more summers until she leaves me for college!

Pioneer Day

Today we visited my grandmother in North Ogden. My mom and aunts and uncle were at the table writing the obituary while we visited with my grandma. My cousin Danielle and her husband were there while we were too. My grandma talked about how nice it must be for Grandpa to be reunited with the mother he never knew as well as all his siblings. She received some visiting neighbors too who came to pay their respects. She was serene and gracious and as always so sweet and comforting to us all.

Later that night we lit some sparklers and then watched in the front yard as some neighbors did their Wyoming fireworks.

Comp Soccer

McKinley decided to try out for competition soccer this year. It is a more challenging level of play, which is what she is looking for.

She made it!

Practices will be Mondays and Thursdays, and games will be a bit more travel (but still in state) than the rec team.

This is her roster soccer picture all ready for the new team and new season.

The rest of the birthday session pics

These are the rest of the pictures from the birthday session we did on Sunday. I wanted to include them in the family book though because they were just too fun not to include. They are heavy on the the girl because she actually likes to get her pictures taken whereas the boy child was forced to come.

Birthday girl

Birthday interview:

What's your favorite color?  blue
What's your favorite food?  crepes
What's your least favorite food?  milk
What is your favorite breakfast food? crepes
What is your favorite animal?  giraffe
What's your favorite thing to do?  be with friends
What's your favorite thing to play?  soccer
What's your favorite toy?  phone
What's your favorite book?  Throne of Glass
What's your favorite movie?  Everything Everything
What's your favorite subject in school?  Drawing and History
What do you want to be when you grow up?  Marine Biologist
Where is your favorite place to go?  the beach
Where do you want to go on vacation?  the beach
What makes you happy?  going to the beach
What was the funnest thing about being 13?  California
What will be the best thing about being 14?  Stake dances
What do you really like about yourself right now? I'm good at soccer 

End of soccer season

Today was the last day of soccer for McKinley, Sawyer and Joshua. I was at McKinley's game so I only got a picture of her last day and not the boys. Now we get our Saturdays back for a little while.

After soccer and then swim lessons for Josh, we went to Kent's new work party. They had food trucks and a little carnival for the kids. Josh approved.

day 7 Friday

Our last day in California. Our Go Card included a whale watching tour. We tried the Newport Landing tour. They had an earlier tour when we arrived to check in, so we were on the boat by 9:30. No whale sightings today. We saw some dolphins and sea lions. The captain gave us $7 return trip vouchers to come back again another time and try again for a better sighting day.

It was still fun seeing the common dolphins and being on a boat on the calm ocean. It was perfect weather and sea conditions.

After lunch the kids wanted to swim in the hotel pool. So we hung out there for a few hours. We got some ice cream at Hans Homemade Ice Cream shop in Santa Ana and then went to Corona Del Mar beach to watch the sunset on our last day. It was a pretty beach with rocks and tide pools, but it was high tide so we didn't see any tide pools while we were there.

on Saturday, day 8, we drove all the way home. We got to our house around 9:30 and ready for our beds! Now back to real life.