COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD

goes to:

COACH J

What a fun group of girls B had on her soccer team this year and J really had a fun time coaching them!!

The girls spotted Cosmo at the BYU game

The Funky Monkey's, as they went by, got a chance of a lifetime to play during the BYU women's soccer halftime.  They came out ahead during the 20 minute scrimmage and Coach decided to get the girls off the field by running the ball himself.  I think he found that quite exciting!  (B is running next to him on the left side of the picture.)  Thanks Coach.  You done real good.  :-)

YELLOWSTONE 2011 TRIP

Us at the well-named Artist's Point

We took a super fun camping trip in early September before things got too terribly cold in Wyoming.  Of course we paid tribute to Old Faithful and did lots of walking and driving.  In the lower right corner the kids are trying to pick up Uncle T so he could get to something up in the tree.  It was pretty hysterical to watch this attempt and fortunately no one got hurt. :)

Who doesn't love the colors at Yellowstone.  Bright greens and blues, subdued yellows and orange and brilliant white.  I personally love the marbled cheese pic......yummm...

Me & my hunny at the Grand Prismatic 

Hiking to get a great view of Grand Prismatic

Cuteness all around.  

Little A has the cutest little grumpy face & the kids loved having Gpa and Gma with us on this adventure.

We saw lots of wild animals!  Coyote, wolf (from afar), bison (of course), elk (right in our picnic area) and even a mama Grizzly Bear with 3 cubs (also from afar).  It's been my dream to see a bear in the wild and I was delighted to see the grizzlies at a safe distance.  In the lower left corner you see a couple wild animals we picked up and decided they were cute enough to keep.

On the way home we decided to go the long route to see the Tetons

Soccer, Slippers {dance}, School and Seven Peaks

This is what we see at most of J's soccer games.  Him out in the lead of the other players and other kids on his team kinda just standing around, doing somersaults or taking a nap.   

Here J scored a goal, which was barely not tackled by the kid in red.  I have never seen so much handball and tackling of the ball in low level soccer as I have here.  I think J can't wait to be on a more competitive team where the kids actually care and follow more of the rules.

B is pretty awesome at soccer this year.  In years past she had always been in co-ed soccer and the older she had gotten the less fun co-ed was--because the boys are just a different kind of aggressive.  This year she is on an all girl team and loves it.  There's great camaraderie with the other players and last Saturday she even scored her first goal since cub soccer!

She is a great defender, here the ball is headed down the field after her big kick to get it out of her team's goal box.  

First day of school, first day of school!!  This is my big 3rd grader.  She has a male teacher this year and is thrilled once again to have a teacher who loves to do arts and crafts.

My J is all grown up and going to Kindergarten!!  But, this year he'll actually have 3 1/4 hours less of school than he did last year in the public preschool he was in.  Oh well, I love seeing him more!

Here he is in his new class!  Funny that he insisted he wear the same shirt that he wore on his first day last year.  How does he remember these things?!!

My littlest A ready for her first day of dance class.  She is taking ballet and tap and is thrilled!  The co-op preschool I'm setting up again this year starts on Tuesday and she can't wait!

SEVEN PEAKS!!  So fun!  Our mortgage broker reserves the entire Seven Peaks park every year for four hours for all their past customers so we gladly participated in their event!  This slide was a little tame for our 8-year old so even though she did like them we also made sure she got on some of the big, fun ones too.

Little A was not at all bashful about the slides and going under each time.

Little J had a blast on these slides.  He is more cautious than the girls when it comes to many things, including water, but he really enjoyed these slides where he could control his landings in shallow water.  They have great kiddie areas/rides here!!

Sad, sad day

I had to retire this beloved  towel yesterday after 20+ years of service.  My paternal grandmother made a towel for me and each of my siblings when I was probably 7-10 years old.  My mom might be able to research or remember exactly when we got them.  I LOVED my towel.  I thought grandma did the best on my towel, cuz she loved me most of course.  {I'm sure the others thought likewise.}  Purple was my favorite color, still is probably 75% of the time.  My grandmother passed away earlier this year and I remember her for being such an active woman.  She was always making crafts for us and she and my grandpa would drive down to Texas all the way from Montana in their pick-up and RV to spend time with us.  And she made such yummy food and sweets, she always had the coolest earrings and had some fantastic traditions.  Like hosiery for the girls every Christmas, trinkets in small little origami boxes made from Christmas cards, handmade kitchen towels to hang on the oven {that I now (mostly) learned how to make} and wearing very festive clothing.  I loved her and this is mostly why I loved this towel and used it for so long.  I use it all growing up, took it to college with me and on every move since.  I've known for a couple years now that I needed to let it go.  It was getting so threadbare (you can see through it there in the middle) that I could have dried myself with those brown paper towels and it would feel the same.  I've had a new towel sitting out for me for the past month since we've been in our new place, trying to work up the courage to let my special purple towel go.  After taking this picture my sweet husband kindly disposed of it for me but I felt better knowing that I had immortalized it with this picture.  Farewell dear towel.  Lost but not forgotten.  The memory of it will live on just as the memory of my sweet, dear grandma.  XOXO