Happy Birthday Landon!

13 years ago today, I was sprawled out in a hospital bed waiting for the grand entrance of Landon! At 12:01 p.m., he made his way into our lives and it has been a WILD RIDE since!

He picked these shoes out weeks ago and could hardly wait to open them.

Just waiting for everyone to get ready for the day and then we are off to celebrate. Landon is having a family party tomorrow with everyone coming over for cake and ice cream.

Happy 13th Landon!

Festival of the Trees

We made a visit to the Festival of the Trees a few weeks ago. We haven't been for YEARS. So many trees. So many people. So many (um) TREES! After rows and rows of trees, they all started looking alike. I'm not sure we made it through the whole bunch.

McKell was hostessing with her friend Kaitlyn.

Fun day.

The Competition Team (Run 'n Gun)

Here is a little video of L's competition team.

Basketball

Basketball: a game played on a court by two opposing teams of 5 players; points are scored by throwing the ball through an elevated horizontal hoop.

We had some excitement here last week as L made the VARSITY team at his Jr. High. As a 7th grader, this was quite an accomplishment for him. Things were pretty tense around here for a couple of days as we waited for word to see if he made first cut and then if he had made the team. It was super exciting to see his name on the varsity list.

As all major accomplishments call for, we decorated the house with balloons and banners.

So L had his first game (pre-season) last night. He did an awesome job of riding the end of the bench with the two other 7th graders.

Finally, with about 2 1/2 minutes to go, he got the call.

It was so much fun to see him play! I thought that he might be nervous and intimidated, but he came out fighting.

It was a genuine butt-whooping by the other team, but in the end they all held their heads high and boarded the short-bus for home.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Fall!

I know...I have been behind on posting, so you may get a few posts out of me today! To start off...it's finally beginning to look a lot like Fall. After warmer than normal temperatures, this last week has taken a sudden turn (for the worse if you ask me). I'm not a fan of cold temperatures, my flowers dying and having to be thrown away, or my tree dropping a mess of leaves all over my yard. But...there are a few things I enjoy about Fall.

I love to decorate for Halloween! M started begging me mid-September to decorate, and I held out until the last week of September. This is the first year that I have ever had my Summer flowers in the ground at the same time I had Halloween decorations up!

The next thing I like about Fall is our annual trip to Pack's Pumpkin Patch. Ron and the kids always make sure we go at the beginning of the month to get the best selection of pick-your-own pumpkins.

And finally, this thing about Fall makes me a little bit sad. The rule in our house has always been that if you are out of Elementary School, you are out of the Trick-or-Treating scene. Well...this is the first year in 19 years that I haven't had someone to dress up. Sad, huh? Fortunately, I got a little satisfaction when L had to dress up for a food drive edition of Trick-or-Treat in our neighborhood. He revisited the Mad Scientist again and had a lot of fun.

Happy Fall (finally)! I'm pretty sure winter will be right around the stinkin' corner!

Jello, Soup, Ice Cream...

These are the things that L can eat these days without any trouble. A few weeks ago I took him to the dentist/orthodontist for his six-month check-up. The visit before, the dentist told him that he would probably be ready for braces this time around. Nope! L still has nine baby teeth to lose before he is ready for them. That made him a little sad. He has always hated how his teeth look and can't wait for braces to straighten them out.

Well...since his dentist appointment, he has started dropping teeth left and right. In this picture, he only has three molars on the bottom and five nubbins of teeth trying to push their way up. Eating is a little challenging these days.

Jr. High???

When did it happen? When did this kid get old enough to leave the safety of elementary school and enter into the perils of Jr. High? I can't believe that he left the house this morning and headed off to Jr. High.

Here's the thing...I am pretty sure that I was far more worried about it than he was. What if he can't open his locker? What if he loses his class schedule? What if he doesn't have anyone to eat lunch with?

Guess what? He did GREAT! He opened his locker on the first try and even lucked out to have it all to himself. No creepy kid who wipes boogers down the locker door to worry about sharing with! He didn't get lost and he made it through lunch (pizza, of course).

He even asked me this morning when we were going to take pictures (he has learned so well).

I think he is thinking of all the new girls there were to meet today.

His big sister even crawled up out of the basement to see him off.

Good luck and have fun!

Last Year as a "Teen"

M had her last birthday as a teen last week. We didn't see much of her on her big day. She was on a retreat with her scholarship group all day. We picked her up a little early due to a rain out at the resort they were at. It just happened that we were leaving L's soccer match when she called so we picked her up and stopped off at Rio Grande Cafe on the way home. She stuck around long enough to have dinner and change her clothes and then was off again with her friend.

Saturday, we hosted a birthday bash for M and her BFF Megan who has a birthday two days after M's.

Waiting for the party to start...

Happy Birthday!

Saturday Rappel

This morning we went up in the hills above our house and did a little rappelling (ok, you totally know that I didn't do it! I was the photographer). L is leaving in just over a week for scout camp and they are doing a rappel in Southern Utah. He went up and tried it out a week or so ago and it didn't go so well. L is (insert adjective here such as petrified, terrified, scared, etc.) of heights. The guys that took him up wanted him to give it another try before camp to see if he couldn't get a little comfortable with it so we all went up!

Here are the two goofy ones. It took L a while to get mentally ready to go, so these two went up without him...

The kids made me post this picture. L was a little embarrassed at the way his dad was wearing his helmet...

M went first. She had to leave after her first try. She was ready to go again though. She was a natural and didn't seem to mind it at all!

She said she was a little nervous and shaky, but it looks to me like she was feeling pretty comfortable with the whole thing.

Next came Ron... He had gone up last time with L and was super excited to go again. He went more times than anyone in the group.

Poser...

Finally, L got up enough nerve to try it again. It was a hard beginning getting over the edge. He had a lot of encouragement from both the top and the bottom. The first few steps into the descent, he froze and one of the guys had to give him a little push to get him going again.

Once he started down, he loved it!

There was one part where the rock was too far back, so you just have to hang and lower yourself to the next rock.

It probably would have been more fun if his eyes were open (just kidding, I think I caught him mid-blink). I had to show the tongue sticking out. I was afraid he was going to bite it off!

Finishing off...

And after he conquered his fears, he had a great time. He did it three times this morning and has talked about it all day.

Good job Trusty's! I'm proud of you!