Soccer...

...4-year-old's playing soccer, to be specific. What could be more entertaining? Saturday was Cole's first soccer game. His team met for practice this week and to decide on a team name. They chose "the Black Panthers." I was out of town when they chose this name at the team meeting and when Floyd told me the name, I was a bit surprised. I told Floyd I just didn't think that would be an appropriate name, but Floyd pointed out that they are, after all, just 4 and don't know anything about the political/racial implications of such a name. I guess he's right. Even still, I think I will abbreviate my cheering to a simple, "Go Panthers!" Yes, Cole really is that much taller than the other players on his team - and the other team. It kind of makes him look like a bully out there.


Cole loves his new cleats and was mostly excited about wearing them. He likes his uniform too. I was a bit nervous to see how the game went. Cole really hates losing and is definitely not one of those 4-year-olds that doesn't keep track of the score or can be convinced that everyone is a winner. It's our own fault, really, as we frequently challenge him to a race to get him to do something when he can't be motivated otherwise. Another parenting technique coming back to bite us.
Please note the excessive use of arms on Cole's part. We are working on that little problem. Also note the fierce look on his face. He is nothing if not competitive.

The game was entertaining and Cole did better than I expected. He only knocked down one kid (well, that the ref bothered to whistle him for anyway) and he scored a goal - even for the right team. The look on his face after he scored was so priceless. He was so proud, but was trying to hold back his smiles. So cute. His team won 4-2 and they had Capri Sun's for the after-game snack, so he was quite happy. On the way home, he did wonder why they hadn't given him a gold medal. That made me smile.

Flashback Friday...Back to School 1980's and 1990's

I'm nostalgic. I'm really nostalgic. I miss going "back to school." I miss the back to school shopping. I miss the back to school fashion shows. I miss the colored Lisa Frank paper and colorful Bic pens. I even almost - almost - miss the back to school LeVoy's underwear parties (that one might be a memory for only my sisters and cousins). In honor of my nostalgia, here are a few classic back to school pictures for your viewing pleasure...


#1 - circa 1988. I'm not sure exactly which grade I'm entering in this picture - my best guess is 4th since Kelli and Karlee are both headed back to school at the same time. Jake hopefully is not headed back to school. My mother was much too good of a mother to send him to school looking like that. Looks like it was a bit sunny this morning. Luckily Trapper Keepers serve a dual purpose as sun visors. I'm on the end in the white capris. I don't remember what my shirt said, but I do remember I loved it.

#2 - 1991. Starting 7th grade. Not 6th because I have my ears pierced. B.U.M. - loved that company. You can't see, but I have on some sweet white sandals that would actually be back in style. I would like my bird legs back.

#3 - 1993. Starting 9th grade. Yes folks, that is a body suit I am wearing. That took a little wrangling with my mom. Oddly enough, that particular body suit seems to have an identical pattern to the wallpaper that was hanging in the master bedroom when we bought our house. Was being the key word in the previous sentence. Also, please note the Esprit bags carried by each of us. And yes, Kelli's hair was always that pretty and mine was always that bad.

#4 - 1999. Sophomore at Ricks College. Yep, I even kept the tradition alive at Ricks. That's me with two of my roomies, Brooke and Michelle. the other three must have had early classes. That was a fun year, well half a year - I graduated in December. Looking at this picture reminds me that I really loved the shirt I'm wearing. It's just a fairly basic Gap t-shirt, but it fit me perfectly. I kind of wish I still had it, but about a year after this picture, I left in Ecuador with a Turi village woman. She is probably still wearing it. Lucky.

I really do miss back-to-school. Luckily, next week is Cole's big week. I can't wait!

Public Service Announcement

The Treehouse Museum in Ogden has a new display. Maybe not super-new -- we haven't been since May or so, but at least relatively new. I don't really know the name of the new display - it has cowboy dress-ups, horses to ride, a campfire, a barn, a cow you can milk - you get the general idea. Anyway, my kids really had a fun time there today and Cole wanted me to let everyone know about the new display. So, here I am letting everyone know.



Pretty handsome little buck-a-roos, aren't they?

P.S. The rest of the place isn't so bad either. My favorite part - they have a "no grown-ups not accompanied by children" policy. Took me just a sec to figure that one out, but I was sure grateful for it when I did.

Our own version of the scriptures...

Little Princess took her first turn reading scriptures with us tonight. It consisted of her repeating one or two words at a time. She got through "the Lamanites inside the city became desperate and soon surrendered to us" with only a slight pause on "surrendered." All was going well on her next sentence - "we had so many prisoners that we, despite our number, had..." at which point she inserted "had to go potty."

"Do you have to go potty?" might just happen to be a pretty frequent phrase at our house.

Floyd and I did a pretty good job holding back our chuckles. She continued on and when she got to the part where it should read "two thousand of them were killed..." she instead said, "were happy!"

Nice substitution. I'd go for two thousand happy Lamanites over two thousand dead Lamanites too my dear.
PS - for those of you wondering why you don't recognize those words from your Book of Mormon, we read from an old 1970's illustrated set. Love it, although some of the pictures are a little...too accurate. For the one person who may read this and wonder what the Book of Mormon is, look here.

PPS - the picture's for you, Aunt Kar. Sorry we missed her on the last one.

Island Park

We had a nice relaxing trip to Island Park this past weekend. We fished (some of us more than others), watched movies (turns out Annie is a Little Mermaid fan), ate lots of food, read, and watched the afternoon thunderstorms. Lovely. The only time I got out the camera was while we were fishing one evening. Cole was having a dandy time, but Annie went back to the truck with Grandma Ali when they felt the first drop of rain. Fair weather fishers!
Cole reeled in all of the fish except one that Grandpa caught while he was already reeling in another one. He's pretty good - and he'll let you know it too.

Towards the end of the night, two moose started swimming across the lake. They swam right towards us and I don't think they even saw us. I'm not usually one to take many wildlife pictures, but I snapped a few so Cole would remember watching them swim. Very cool.