Soccer Girl

Courtney only has one more game of the season so it was time for team pictures. She didn't want to do her hair cute or anything, which made it much easier, but she was excited to have her picture taken. It was really cold and the wind was blowing so I had her wear a turtle neck shirt under her uniform and she was really glad. Her knees were the only thing showing by the time we got her socks on and everything.

The coach is hilarious and kept cracking the kids up so the photographer had to take multiple pictures of the group before they got a serious one. But it was fun. She even kicked a goal this time...into the other team's net. Although she will say that she just assisted another little girl in making the goal. But we saw her kick it in.

She wants to play again in the Fall and we'll see. She usually just runs around the field watching what is going on but not getting in there and kicking. But she is having fun and that's all that counts.

Rollerblading

Ethan's friend, Carter, came to our house last Wednesday using his mom's rollerblades and my kids went nuts. Soon, we had out the old rollerblades Grandma Pack let us take once and they were off. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be but they had a lot of fun trying. Courtney loves it but she stays on the lawn and walks around balancing saying "Look, I can rollerblade!" Ethan keeps begging me to buy him rollerskates because "they are so much easier." I guess he has a short memory and can't remember complaining the one time we put him in rollerskates that it was "just too hard!" But we'll have to find an old pair and let him try. But they had fun!

Jaw Breaker Courtney

We have been trying to get Courtney to break the thumb sucking habit and it hasn't been easy. I think she is now sucking her thumb to spite us. Anyway, after Zumba today at the Recreation Center, I was getting our passes renewed and it was taking forever. I kept reminding Courtney not to suck her thumb and I was getting annoyed. She wandered around and then came back to ask me for money for some "gum." I checked out what she wanted and realized it was a jaw breaker and it was HUGE. I quickly paid the 25 cents and spent the next hour not having to tell her to stop sucking her thumb. I may have to buy some more of these. ;)

Camping

Last Friday was our first campout of this year and we were so excited!! We made a reservation at Sand Hollow Reservoir, invited my parents and Kathy and Don (my aunt and uncle) to come out on Friday night for a dutch oven dinner with us, loaded the van and were off.

Bryan biked from work out to Sand Hollow (about 20 miles, I think) and we met him there. We quickly started the coals and then set up camp. The kids were anxious to go on a bike ride, so Bryan went riding with them around the camp area while I watched the coals. We had a great dinner...roast, dutch oven cheesy potatoes, chocolate cobbler, salad, watermelon and ice cream. It was great food. Then we sat around talking until the kids finally got too tired to stay up.

It was a peaceful night and the next morning we spent forever making a dutch oven breakfast casserole. We decided, when we finally ate breakfast at 10:30, that next time we are doing cereal.

But we all had a great time!

Biking Riding

Courtney is so close to riding her bike without training wheels. She could do it now if she would just try. Bryan took the training wheels off last month and she didn't have any balance. But she goes into the garage each morning, alone, and glides across on her bike with her feet down to catch her. Now all she needs to do is put her feet on the pedals and she would be off. But...she is convinced that Hayley's grandpa (Hayley is her best friend) is the only person who can teach someone to ride a bike. So she is waiting until he comes to visit so he can help her. The problem is that he isn't coming back for a visit until Fall. I think she'll get brave before that!

Welcome to Relief Society Breakfast

We had a "Welcome to Relief Society" breakfast this morning at our house for the Laurels who will be graduating. This was a tradition in our ward in Las Vegas so I suggested it when I was called into the presidency in our ward now. We asked all the moms a few things about the girls, I made their favorite breakfasts (fruit, french toast and Cinnamon Life) and then we had them over to eat on our china. It was so fun. We got to know the girls better and they got to know us a bit more. We explained a little more about Relief Society and what each of our callings entails and then we gave them each a gift basket with a manual, bookmark, declarations, their favorite candy/treat/ice cream and a photo of their favorite temple. I think the girls liked it and I think they will have a good transition.

Here's our table (Bryan did a great job helping me get it ready and he was my clean up guy!):



I think it looked good, although I need one more place setting (I am one dinner plate and one goblet short but have 8 of everything else, go figure) and linen napkins would have been better. But it's a work in progress. Hopefully we will be able to do this again next year!

The Science Fair

Ethan's school was having their Science Fair and he wanted to enter. So we did some on-line searching for a project he would want to do and went for it. We decided on a Lego Building Displacement project where we determined that a Lego building was more stable when it was shorter. It was actually pretty fun/easy to do and Ethan was in total control of how it was accomplished so he felt great!

They have awards Friday and I'll run up to see what happens. Last year at the History Fair they only had two 1st graders who entered so Ethan got a medal and I wasn't there so he was a bit peeved with me. This year I decided to play it safe.

Making the display:

All set up: