Jersey #8

Austin had his first football game yesterday. As a parent I always get stressed out when my kids perform.
I want them to do their best, and never give up.
I want them to be proud of themselves.
The first of the game we got slaughtered. Austin was playing wide receiver, but they only did running plays.
Then the 2nd half of the game they had Austin play on defense, which is what we knew he was good at.
The other team had really big players.
One of their big players caught it.
Austin went after him and missed the tackle and was down on the ground.
The boy kept running in for a touchdown.
The next thing we knew Austin came out of nowhere and tackled him hard all by himself, after he had already tried to tackle him and missed.
It was awesome!
Austin can run.
That's why we nicknamed him Dash when he was little.
The team's spirit was back.
He sacked the quarterback.
Austin became a tackling machine.
They finally threw a pass at him and he caught it.
The only catch made on his team.
At the end of the game they awarded 5 trophies.
Austin won 2 of them. One for best tackler, and the other for best defensive player.
Once they realized how awesome Austin was on defense, offense, and the kick off teams he played all 4.
And he was able to hold the other team from scoring more.
He was tired, but excited.
We are so proud of him and his effort for not giving up when it would've been easy to do so.

Austin going in for the tackle.

And making contact.

What it's all about...

Recently the YW lessons I have been teaching have really made me stop and think.
What is life all about?
Why do we have trials?
I've also come across some blogs of people who have lost their little children to sickness and accidents.
My heart hurts so much for these people and makes me wonder how they can even cope.
And then I taught a lesson on eternal perspective.
We have such a limited understanding of the love our Heavenly Father has for us.
He give us trials to make us grow.
To refine us.
To make us worthy to return to Him.
I am so blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel.
I'm so grateful for callings that make me grow and expound my understanding of eternal principles.
I'm grateful for moments that help me remember what's important.
I'm grateful to be home with my children.
I'm grateful that I get to be a mom, a wife, a daughter, and a friend.
I'm so very blessed.
And I want to make each moment count with my little ones.
For that is what matters most.

New Camera

I finally got a new camera. I've wanted a DSLR for years and now my dream has come true. So yesterday after the kids went to school Olivia and I played with the camera. I'm lucky to have such a cute little subject for my picture taking craziness.

I love all the detail!

She is in full swinging motion in all these pics and they are crystal clear, amazing!

And here she is telling me she refuses to smile anymore. Now I get to play with editing software. :)

First Day of School

Well we now have a 4th, 2nd, and 1st grader. Poor Livy is going to be left alone. But the one on one time with her will be fun.

This year Austin has Gina Morgan who is in her ward and I currently work with her in YW's. I know he'll learn a lot from her.

Greta has Ms. Brown who was actually Alina's student teacher for awhile last year. We already know she's great and Alina is a bit jealous.

Alina has Mrs. Hollingshead. We know nothing about her, but so far so good.

When we went to check out who was in the kids classes before school started the first thing Austin noticed was that Madison Robinson was in his class. He has a little crush on her. We've told him if they get married she won't have to change her last name. Hahaha.

And of course a picture wouldn't be complete without Livy in her t-shirt and diaper.

Cameron and Bacon

We got chickens this weekend and Cameron says to me, "Now if we could only get one to lay bacon."

Weekend of Fun to Weekend of Puke

This year we decided to take turns planning our anniversary. This year it was mine. I had such glorious plans. Here was the itinerary.

Dinner at Tucano's
Harry Potter
Head up to cabin in Midway
7 Peaks
Picnic Lunch
Sonic Happy Hour
Dinner at Tarahumara's in Midway
Hiking
Movie
River Rafting
Picnic at cabin
Shopping at Park City Outlets
Ropes Course
Dinner
Home
Relax

But our weekend went a little something like this.

-Dinner at Tucano's (disgusting, luckily it was free)
-Harry Potter (boring, and then we got called by our friend letting us know Livy was sick)
-Midway (didn't happen, we had to go home to take care of Livy)
-Our River Rafting trip got changed to Friday instead of Saturday, but since Livy was sick we missed it.
-7 Peaks (success!)
-Picnic Lunch (nope we forgot to pack tennis shoes for our ropes course and hiking so we had to go all the way back home)
-Sonic (success!)
-Stopped in Midway to see if we could river raft on Saturday. They said that since it was our anniversary they would take us out on a kayak trip.
-Dinner (success)
-Movie (success)
-12am rolled around and Cameron spent the rest of the night puking.
-5am I wake up and realize he isn't there.
-6:30am when we were supposed to wake up for our river rafting trip
-7am I drive to Midway Adventure Company to tell them we aren't going to make it. If looks could kill I'd be dead. They were pretty upset we canceled since they were making a special trip for us.
-7:15am I'm buying pepto for Cam and bawling my eyes out.
-11am Cam finally starts to feel better. But I think it was just because all that was left to puke out was his internal organs.
-12am arrive at Park City and find absolutely nothing to buy
-2pm arrive at Plato's closet and find some great stuff
-5:45pm the time we were supposed to be at our ropes course but Cam still didn't feel well enough. Good thing we drove all the way home and missed our picnic lunch to get those shoes.
-6pm return home, watch a movie and Cam is out.

Then to top it all off he has to speak in church so we don't even get to sit by each other with our kids gone. And then he has to do tithing after church so here I am at home blogging waiting for him to come home so we can get our kids.

Am I complaining, heck yes. I couldn't wait for this weekend, and I'm really disappointed it turned out the way it did. But with that being said I couldn't be more blessed to be married to the man that I am. Here's to eternity babe, even if you are puking.

Here we are on "Bunker Hill." That's what I call it anyways. Every time we come to Midway Cam says, "what do you think that hill is with the flag on the top?" (And he never remembers that he says this). This year we found out that it's actually called Memorial Hill. It lists all the names of the men and women who fought in every war from Wasatch County.

And here I am being a snot because I had no desire to come up to this hill, so I'm trying to look astonished and jubilant. I don't think it worked. :)

4th Of July Weekend

What a great weekend full of friends, family, bbq's, fireworks, and the mountains.

The kids getting ready for "diving for candy" at the Riverton Town Days. They got hooked up!

It was so hot so we needed some shade.

I love this picture of Alina. It captures how much she enjoys life. She couldn't wait to go on this ride all by herself.

Awww....what a cute couple.

We conquered the zipper, but I almost barfed.

The next day we headed up to Silver Lake with the whole family. The kids had to eat on this rock. As you can see Greta is storing her food for winter.

Shane and Amy. They are getting married in September, yay!

The kids and I hiked up the ginormous rock.

And yes believe it or not there was still snow in July, so we went sledding.

And had a snowball fight, Greta won.

I love this picture of Cam in shorts in snow and just how cute he is with Livy.

And here's the cutest picture of all, my parents. Thanks to them I get to enjoy life with my sweet family.