More Kindergarten Soccer Cuteness

Every time we cheered Austin on Evelyn would yell too.  It was so fun.

Definitely not enjoying the lack of action at the goal.

Back in the game.

So happy.

The Pack.

As crazy as it is trying to get to soccer games every Tuesday and Thursday night I'm going to miss it when it's over.

An Ugly Tree

On Wednesday Sept. 7th I went outside to find one of the main branches of my peach tree lying on the ground.  It was too heavy with fruit and the wind from the night before ripped it right off. I was devastated.  There was a huge, ugly gash on my beautiful peach tree.  But more than that I was worried this gash could get infected and kill the tree.  I called a local orchard and asked what I should do.  The guy was so laid back.  He said, "Oh,that's no big deal.  We've got lots of ugly trees.  They still produce good fruit." He told me not to worry about it getting infected this time of year.  He also said that if the fruit was yellow near the stem it would ripen and be fine to eat but if it was still green I might as well throw it away because by the time it ripened it would be grainy and wouldn't taste good.

He also reminded me that it's important to "thin" the fruit on the trees every spring.  Not only does it help the peaches to get big but helps to not weigh the branches down to much.  He also said not to let the branches get too long.  He told me that fruit only grows on 2nd year branches and to keep that in mind when pruning.  i was very grateful for his help and advice and hope to take better care of my ugly tree next year.

A Day At The Park

After kindergarten on September 1 Austin had an appointment to get tested for allergies.  Since it was up near the mouth of Provo Canyon I packed lunches and we went to Bridal Veil Falls for a picnic.

This has got to be the cutest, bright yellow, fuzzy caterpillar I've ever seen.

Austin had the camera for a while and tried to get a picture of me feeding Evelyn lunch.

It was a beautiful day.

I got Austin's results two weeks later.  He's allergic to wheat, dairy, and soy.  Bummer.  I decided to get the rest of the kids tested in November.  I might as well know how it is for all of them so I can prepare meals everyone can eat.

Kindergarten Soccer

I LOVE kindergarten soccer.  I couldn't wait for Austin to sign up just so we could go watch.  It's the cutest thing ever.  A bunch of five year olds running around kicking a ball that may or may not go in the right direction.  They just find pure enjoyment from the running and kicking.

Austin's team this year was the Crocodiles.

I love his "running start" to kick the ball.  Watching Austin run is like watching happiness.

Being goalie wasn't his favorite but he always gave it his best effort which I was really proud of.

The best part of kindergarten soccer is watching the kids move like a pack down the field following the ball.  It cracks me up.  The other part is that there's no "I'm better than you" attitude.  And it doesn't matter who wins or loses, everyone has fun.  I don't think Austin knew half the time if he won or lost a game.  All he knew was that he got to run around and kick a ball with a bunch of his friends.  I've never seen him so happy.

Austin's First Day of School

Austin finally started school on August 29th.  I think that last week was the longest of his life.  He's so excited to be in kindergarten (aren't we all).  His teacher is Mrs. Lyman and I think she's going to be perfect for him.

He also has one of his best friends in his class, Trevin and some other friends he gets to play with at recess.  He's a happy camper.

Childproofing

When we bought this house Austin was 2 1/2 and we pretty much didn't have to worry about childproofing.  We have two sets of stairs and only one gate.  For now, though, I'm just worried about her falling down.  She can't crawl up, yet.

Poor Kitty

Remember that blog post about the cat sitting all nice and comfortable just watching the baby.  Well, he still sits and watches but not as comfortably as before.

He lets her get pretty darn close and then hops into the air and sits, yet again, just out of reach.  (Eden took these pictures one morning before school.  Peter didn't get to "hop" away this time but he's still faster than Evelyn no matter how trapped she tries to get him).

Smart kitty.

She doesn't care.  Crawling has opened up a whole new world to her and she's happy to explore it all.

What's That Baby Doing?

From sitting, all cute and innocent to...

wait for it...

and there she goes.  Evelyn's crawling.  She's 7 1/2 months old and crawling.  And once she starts, man does she move fast.  The rest of the pictures I tried to take were blurry because she wouldn't hold still long enough.

(pictures taken August 23, 2011)

First Day of School

Monday August 22 was the first day of school for Dallin, Cameron, and Eden.  It was a crazy morning (although not nearly as crazy as it is about to get) so I unfortunately didn't get a picture of Dallin on his first day of Jr. High.  I was so nervous for him I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  Ryan drove him to school and dropped him off and I had to fight the urge to run there and follow him to all his classes to make sure he was okay.  (We did go to the school twice the week before to make sure he could open his locker and find all his classes).  He rode home on the bus (another source of worry) and told me he had one of the best days of his life.  I was stunned.  He loved it!  

The girls were a little easier to send on their way.  It was Eden's first day of all day school but I was excited for her.  She has every one of her little friends in her class this year.  She was especially looking forward to school lunch and it didn't disappoint.

So what did those of us left at home all day do?

We danced.

Austin turned on the music on the ipad and set it near Evelyn and danced around the living room for about an hour.  It was awesome and Evelyn loved it.

Camping Up American Fork Canyon

That afternoon Ryan took the kids for one last campout before school started.

Mostly I think he just wanted to try out a little off roading in his new truck.

It looks like they managed to get everything set up before it got too dark and had a tasty dinner of roasted hot dogs.  For some reason those always taste better cooked over an open fire like that.

Dr. Jekyl

or is it Mr. Hyde?

What is it with men and fire?

I guess the bigger it is the better to roast marshmallows.

C'mon Dallin, just get up.  It's not that cold outside.

Ryan says this is just before Dallin slipped off and fell into the river.

Ryan loves taking pictures.  There were about a million pictures of the river but this one was my favorite.

Their final destination was Cascade Springs.  We've had such a wet summer that the water was still flowing, even in August.

I guess Eden slipped and landed in some mud and Ryan told her to wash it off.

This is the token "group" picture just for me.  Ryan loves taking pictures of nature and I love pictures with people in them, especially all the kids.

I must admit, some of his nature pictures are pretty cool.

All in all the kids and Ryan had a great time and it was a good farewell to summer vacation.