Alex's first soccer game of the season

Alex had his first soccer game of the season (so did Johnathan, see post below). He did a great job for his team. His coach is very impressed with his abilities. Whenever they needed someone to kick it down the field they would tell Alex to do it. They had one penalty kick in the game and they told Alex to take it. At the end of the game it was down to sudden death and the coach gave Alex the responsibility to play goalie. Alex was very busy during his game and he did a great job. His team ended up winning (so did Johnathan's team). This first picture show Alex trying to kick a ball that went over his head.

This is the penalty kick that Alex did (he kicked it just over the goal)
Here he is stopping one of the kicks during the sudden death part of the game.
This ball that he tried to stop went over the goal but he tried to stop it anyway.

Johnathan's soccer game

Johnathan had his first soccer game today. He did a GREAT job. He played defense for his team. This is a picture of him ready for the ball to get to him. The ball was just outside the camera frame but Johnathan was so ready.

This is a picture of Steve being VERY excited on the sideline. Steve is a very passionate coach and his team loves him. Darrel also does a great job on the sidelines...thanks guys!
Kenneth is #8 and Johnathan is waiting for him to kick the ball. It kind of looks like they're just playing around but this is in the middle of the game.
Johnathan giving his all to kick the ball back into the other side of the field.

The Park

We spent the morning at the park and had a good time. We met some friends there and the kids played pretty happily for most of the morning. I've decided that going to the park with friends is one of my all time favorite way to pass the time. You spend a couple of hours at the park, wear your kids out, come home, eat lunch, do naps, get the older kids from school, do homework, eat dinner, do some more homework, go to soccer, and go to bed. That's your day. Not a bad life, either. I'd like to take a minute to give a shout out to my husband for letting me be a stay-at-home mom. Thanks hon! Enjoy the pictures everyone. The first two are of Emily (Elise's oldest) and the last one is Zach.

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My sister is in town

My sister, Elise, is in town with her cuteness children. I can't wait to get some good photo shoots with these two again. We had a great time in Colorado taking some awesome pictures and now that I have my new camera, well, we're just going to have to carve out some time for pictures. Elise and Les had this vacation to Vegas planned before Les left for Iraq and Elise decided to come with her children anyway. We're so glad that she still came. It's so much fun to have her and her two cute kids here. Kudos to travelling alone with her children (although I'm sure they were angels - they usually are). Anyway, great to have her here and we're looking forward to a couple of very fun weekends!

Our weekend in Utah

So this past weekend our family ventured up to Utah to see some friends of ours. We used our points with our timeshare company and got a couple of nights at a resort in Eden, Utah (up Ogden canyon). It was beautiful. The colors were amazing and the weather was just great. Now on Saturday afternoon it did rain on us, however, Darrel and I enjoyed every minute of the rain. We don't get that enough in Las Vegas and it was so nice to feel the cool, crisp fall air. We both enjoyed the weather immensly. Darrel took off work on Friday so we drove up to our friends (the Armstrong family) house and from there we met my mom and my brother, Ben, for dinner at Wingers in Lehi. We had fun seeing and visiting with them and after dinner we continuted our drive up to the condo in Eden. We pretty much just went to bed Friday night so we could all get rested for Saturday. We got up Saturday morning and went to this little restaurant in town for breakfast. They were horrible. Brenda and I had been there for lunch before and they were decent, but apparently their signature pancake is sourdough and all the pancakes we got were sourdough. None of the children would eat them and I actually thought they were pretty disgusting myself. We paid $62 for the privilege of eating bad food. Now, let me back up for a minute. While we were waiting to sit down at the restaurant Brian and Darrel decided that since it was such a nice day they were going to go back to the Armstrong's house and get the boat. So, they began their journey while Brenda and I stayed with the kids at the restaurant. Now, keep in mind that the Armstrong house is about an hour and a half to two hours away. Brian and Darrel drove all the way down the mountain and got to the house only to discover that they didn't have the key. They were unable to break into the house and so they came all the way back. By the time they got back the weather had turned very rainy and cold. The men took the children down to the condo's rec center to play tennis, raquetball, and basketball. They had a great time. We then decided that the two families would go together down to Ogden to go bowling. (That is a story for another day when I have more time) Needless to say, it took way too long and for that and other circumstances we got our money back (coke spills on the chairs, non-working lanes, moving lanes in the middle of the game, scoreboards that didn't take correct score, etc.) Our families always manage to have a good time together, though, and this was no exception. We then journeyed back to the condo and had a YUMMY meal that Brenda made for the two families. It was so, so, so good, I can't even tell you...my mouth and stomach were so happy! We put the kids to bed and the adults stayed up to watch "Against the Ropes" with Meg Ryan. Sunday morning we got up and had a great breakfast of crepes (made by Brenda) (and again...YUMMY) and we checked out about 9:30am. We drove back to Vegas and because of the time change we were able to get home by the afternoon and not feel extremely rushed or tired. We recoverd nicely from our trip and count it as a great weekend.

The picture above is one example of the awesome colors and the picture below was our view out the front of the condo.
This picture below is the view from the back balcony.
Brian, Brenda, Angela, and Darrel. We were looking down on the camera - (sorry Brian this picture was better of me :0) )


I stopped on the side of the road to get this picture - I just loved the sunflowers next to the wood fence.

My new favorite picture

I went to the park yesterday to take some pictures of a photographer family I know and so I snapped a few pictures for Joy and her kids - I think I got at least one good one of all of them. I was trying out this new pose that I've seen and liked with some people in the background out of focus and some (or one) in the foreground, in focus. I got this shot all ready and when Joy moved away from Caitlin she freaked out big time. It made for a classic shot - she even still has her hands in her pockets...I love it.

We had a wonderful weekend with our friends the Armstrongs and I will update about that soon (when I have a little more time). See ya!

the trip up the mountain

I found the pictures that Darrel and Johnathan took on the trip up the mountain. Hope you enjoyed them!

The First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for my boys. Both my boys are growing up so fast. They were all about taking care of themselves this morning when we took them to school. They met old friends and just settled right back into the routine. I am proud of my boys and how grown up they are. Johnathan was very excited to be in Kenneth's class this year. Both boys are excited to start a new year, make new friends, and eat more hot lunch (which they both wanted today) - hopefully they have enough money on their account from last year or they are going to come home pretty hungry. This past weekend has been pretty crazy for me because I have just felt awful. I have been sick since last Thursday. Whatever this bug is....it's nasty. I have been laying on my bed now for three days. A big thank you must go out to Darrel for being such an awesome dad. He just took over and was such a good man to let me be sick without other responsibilities. He even took the kids up the mountain on Saturday and they had a great time. I sent Darrel with the other camera so I'll have to download the pictures to share. Sorry I haven't been blogging lately but I've been pretty checked out. I feel so much better today - I am so glad. I am not 100 percent, but I can function so I am coping. See ya soon!

soccer practice

Alex didn't know I was snapping his picture - doesn't he look so grown up?

Zach laughing at the dog
playing in the sand
practicing soccer before his team arrived

just pitiful

I read other people's blogs every day. I always envy those who can practically write a book during each blog post. I sit here and have to think...ok, what should I say next...ok, what should I say after that? I wish I had the gift. See, here I am sitting here wondering what I should write. This is just sad, I type one sentence and then it takes me five minutes to think of another one. Holy Cow I am pitiful...here are some more pictures, at least I can do that right.

Lake Mead

sisters

I really do love living next to my sister, and I don't tell her often enough. Love ya sis!

The Natural History Museum

Joy and I took our kids to the Natural History Museum in Las Vegas yesterday. The kids had a great time.

Which one do you like better and why??

And soccer begins...

Last night was the beginnig of soccer season. Steve has agreed to be the head coach for Kennethe and Johnathan's soccer team and Darrel is going to be the assistant coach. I took a couple of pictures of them at the first team meeting. We're looking forward to an awesome and fun season!

These last two pictures are funny because Joy brought popsicles to share with the soccer team and gave one to Zachary and Caitlin. They were both making a huge mess so I told them to lean over to eat their popsicles to they would drip on the grass and not so much on their clothes. These are the results. They took me quite literally and ate the rest of the popsicle in the bent forward position. I just laughed and took some pictures....aren't they just so cute?!!

What a mess, Caitlin! :0)

Labor Day

Here are some pictures of our Labor Day fun afternoon. Thanks to Joy and Steve, my older boys and I got to have a fun afternoon on the lake. Darrel stayed home with the little ones...thanks honey! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Preschool starts today and I have butterflies galore, I have to get going...