My boy is 8! Pics coming soon!

Saturday was Traeden's birthday. He turned 8 and now I feel really old. Given all the sadness that has been surrounding our family, I really wanted to make this a special day for him. He had made a comment to one of my friends a few days before that he was afraid everyone would forget his birthday too which made me even sadder then I already was. So I was bound and determined to make sure he had a great day.

It started of pouring rain Saturday morning which was very, very bad. You see, he had a soccer game (he never has soccer on Saturdays!) and he was so excited to play a game on his birthday that I started to cry (very easy to do right now) when I woke up and saw all the rain. I though for sure the game would be cancelled even if it wasn't raining because of the field conditions. But the league decided to leave that decision up to the coaches and so they ended up playing. He was glad, but they ended up playing one of the hardest teams. They ended up losing 3-2 but he was still happy that the game didn't get cancelled.

Right after the game we had a few of his friends come over and play some basketball. He was able to get in a couple of 3 on 3 games and a slam dunk contest. There were some pretty awesome dunks too. Kids can be pretty creative. Overall though I think that Traeden had the best dunk-course I'm biased though!

After they were all basketballed out (not really), we took everyone to Tepanyaki. It's a really fun Japanese Steak house where they cook the food in front of you on a big grill. It was me, Jordan, Elie, my dad, Jordan's dad, my grandma, Traeden, and 5 of his friends. All the kids got a riot out to presentation. They thought the parts with the fire were the best. Plus he really, really liked the food.

After dinner, he left with Grandpa Butch for the Jazz game. It was game four of the finals against the Lakers. Since the regular season ends the beginning of April, the Jazz haven't played on his birthday so was super excited about that. And he chose to go with grandpa too. He is pretty much his basketball buddy. Well, the Jazz didn't exactly win, but Traeden was still excited plus grandpa bought him another jersey. This time he got a Paul Milsap jersey. There aren't very many now that he doesn't have!

Yesterday my sister put together a surprise party for Trae. It was pretty neat. He kept asking when the 'family party' was. My kids are just way to smart now. I had to lie the best I could and told him that Kelly had a present for him and that's why we were going out there. We BBQ'd and had all the family there. It was a good time for all, I think. My sister bought a little slide for my 22 month old niece and all the kids had a great time on it.

Thank you to everyone that was a part of this weekend. Traeden had a great time with all his friends and family. Now it is time to focus on the baptism this Saturday. It's at 10 am and if you'd like to come, just let me know and I'll get you the details.

What kind of Mom...

What kind of mom lets her son go out like this?

ME*!

*I'm the one who did this. Not that bad for my first Mohawk!

HSM 3

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The true signs of fall

The leaves changing colors and the cooler temperatures are the usual signs that summer is behind us and fall is beginning. For me though, the signs are different. School starting again and the first soccer game of the season are what gets me thinking that fall is fast approaching.

Traeden had his first soccer game last Friday. He was so excited too. This year he is green (a new color for us) and his team name is the Rocky Mountain Green Grapes (?). Jordan was on his way to Michigan (another post for another day) so he wasn't able to be there. But Me and Elie made it and we picked up Grandma Grace on our way. My dad, Grandpa Butch, joined us in the 2nd quarter. So Traeden did have quite the audience anyways. This year it is 5 on 5 with goalies (something new this year) which is where he started. From the very beginning his team was obviously the dominant one. Traeden never had to worry about blocking a goal because the ball never made it down by him. I would glance down in his direction every so often to make sure he was ok, and he would be standing with his hands on his hips or biting his fingernails.

Eventually he made his way into the action. And he was pretty darn good (IMHO). He scored 2 points and had a couple of nasty spills, but as the saying goes 'No Pain, No Gain,' right? Just kidding. His team ended up winning 9-1. Of course it's nice to win, but we were just happy to playing again. We try to teach him that winning isn't everything, but it is kind of fun to see all the kids happy after playing a good game (and winning).

This Saturday is Elie's first game, so stay posted for those pictures. It will probably be pretty interesting.

The Rocky Mountain Green Grapes warming up

Trae as goalie (he looks bored, right?)

Playing the game

Whats a girl to do?

My dear sweet husband is leaving me (us) for the weekend tomorrow. He is joining his friend and heading off for Detroit. It is a total guys trip-an NFL game tomorrow in Cleveland, a MLB game in Detroit on Friday, and a U of U (can you believe it?!) football game on Saturday and then hopefully returning home on Sunday (you never know with standby so cross your fingers). Now I have to come up with ways to entertain the kids while dad is gone, so any suggestions would be nice.....

P.S. If I can get a sitter on Saturday I just might try to hit a movie or dinner of something kid free if anyone would care to join me.

What Fun Is!

Last Thursday we decided to pack up the kids and head up to Lagoon. They were having a 2 for 1 admission so we decided to take advantage of the deal, plus our friends were going. We kind of a late start, we didn't get there until around 3 pm (I was shooting for 1 pm-oh well). Leslie and Connor ended up joining us and we all met Chad, Ann, Tenney, and Christian.

We dropped off our stuff and the first ride we chose was Rattlesnake Rapids, then the guys (Jordan and Chad) took all the kids to Lagoon-A-Beach while the girls (Me, Ann, and Leslie) went on the big rides. At this point Lisa and Art met us. By the time we met up with everyone, Me and Leslie, with Art and Lisa, took the kids around the kiddie land while Jordan, Chad, and Ann went to Wicked (the most fun roller coaster ever) and few other rides. We all met up again and while the kids went on the new ride OdySea, Leslie, Ann, and I went on Jet Star. When we got up to the front, there was a sign that said 'No Single Riders' but there was no way we were all 3 going to fit in one section of the car, so we asked the attendant what we could do. All he did was point to the sign (he was such a jerk) and so Leslie didn't get to go. Me and Ann sat down and the attendant was still a jerk. He kept making snide remarks to us up until the ride started. I have to say that that was the least fun I had the whole day (and it wasn't because of you Ann), the guy just didn't make the experience a very pleasant one, plus it really hurt my legs because I was in a awkward position. After Jetstar, we joined everyone back at the OdySea. The kids rode that ride like 5 more times because they liked it so much.

After all that we went to Pioneer Village to get some ice cream. Along the way we noticed that there was no line for the Log ride so we did that first. We ended doing that ride 3 or 4 times and never had to get out of the log. There was absolutely no line! Then we got our ice cream. It was a pretty hot day so the ice cream was a nice treat.

After all that I took Trae on his favorite ride-Music Express. He loves that one. I had Trae and Tenney with me and Leslie had Conner and Elie with her. We did that ride a couple of times too. Trae and Tenney laughed the whole time.

The park was just about to close by this time, and we all kind of split up to leave, but not before making it on one last ride-the Carousel. The kids still have a good time on that ride and I like to see their faces.

First day of school.

I can't believe another summer has come and gone. In the beginning I was going crazy trying to come up with things for Traeden to do because he was getting very bored. I thought 'Man, this is going to be a very, very, long, summer. And then in a blink of an eye it was August. And now school.

Of course there always has to be alittle drama though. I called the lady that I carpooled with last year to make sure that we were still on-which of course we were and when I got off the phone Trae was whining (alot). He didn't want J to pick him up-he just wanted me to come get him. I thought he would be excited because he would get to see 2 of his friends (that he always plays with), so after grilling him for about 10 minutes I finally learned the truth. Apparently the last time the boys were here they got in a big fight. Usually when that happens though I hear about it immediately from someone, so this was a shock to me. Trae didn't want to go with them because he thought they were going to be mean and mad to him. I called their mom and explained all this and she said her boys were complaining too. They didn't want Trae to ride with them because of the fight-but they didn't tell her about it either. So we both said tough to our boys-and continued with the carpool. Of course I am the dorky mom who has to take pictures of everything-so here is Trae on his first day of 2nd grade:

Playing a little Guitar Hero to calm the nerves

Ready to go

Walking out the door

These shoes are a 3, he wears a 12.5-I just had to get a picture of what clown shoes look like.

It turns out that the carpool turned out OK. That's one thing you gotta love about kids-they can get mad and be in a fight and then the minute someone talks about a video game (of doll or whatever) they act like nothing ever happened.

I will be going through all this in 2 weeks with Elie as she starts preschool on Sept. 8th. Hopefully there will be less drama (but with her, I seriously doubt it).