Happy Birthday to Carter

After playing his first basketball game on his birthday, he showered up and got ready for some presents and cake at our house.

Carter was selected to take one of the anole lizards home from school and raise it as his own. So his entire birthday revolved around the knowledge and supplies it takes to care for a lizard.

Complete with a terrarium and live crickets for the lizard to eat.

I cannot believe this little sweetie is nine years old. He is a complex personality, full of fun but also tender and quick witted. He wanted to pick his own store bought cake, so he did and it was pretty delicious.

The following day we took the anole supplies to school to pick up Cozmo the lizard. Due to several circumstances Cozmo was only with us for 8 days before passing away. We think there may have been something wrong with him, because we couldn't get him to eat. He ate a lot of dirt off the bottom of the terrarium, and I tried everything to keep him warm, including letting him live in my warm steamy bathroom for several days. He was cute little lizard. RIP Cozmo.

The Spurs

This year was Carter's first year playing Jr. Jazz or city league basketball. He loved every second of it, especially being with his coach. Christian coached Carter's team with the help of his friend Dave Stauffer. They had a great time and the little boys came a long way during the season.

Just like Caleb's first wrestling practice was on his birthday. Carter's first game with the Spurs was on his 9th birthday. He was so excited to be playing a game on his birthday.

Carter made some great plays and grew his confidence a lot. He's so fun to watch, especially his facial expressions.

He learned a lot about defense and how not to foul...

His ball handling skills got a lot better too.

He's now playing on a travelling team and really enjoys everything about basketball.

Crazy Bowling Birthday Party

Carter and Caleb had a combined bowling birthday party. They each invited six friends, which resulted in tons of fun. We had dinner at the bowling alley as part of the party. There was much laughing and goofing and a little eating. The kids got choose a meal off the menu and then eat it with friends in the party room.

Christian and I made brownie bowls and served them with a tiny scoop of ice cream. Then it was on to presents. There was much ripping and tearing and thanking and playing. Then it was time to get our serious bowl on! Carl and Vicki came with us to the wild party and we tried our best to supervise 12 sugared up 5-9 year olds.

I took the younger group, and Christian took the older group. The bowling scores were kind of low, but the energy was high, and we were all very tired and ready for bed by the end of the evening.

As long as these two will let me, I'll combine their birthday parties. We've done it for several years, and it's always such a wild fun time!

More Birthday Presents

Carl and Vicki came out for a birthday visit, and brought presents!

Having both boys birthday's within a week of each other is pretty fun, and results in a week of celebration and presents.

Try Hockey For Free Day

We tried it...

We kind of liked it....

But not enough to do it again...

Happy 5th Birthday to Caleb

I cannot believe our tiny baby Caleb is five years old. In some ways it's been the fastest and slowest five years of my life. He is the craziest kid, he does and says the most unexpected things, and I am pretty sure that he's on the earth to do big things.

He wanted a store bought cake, and picked this one out all by himself.

He's looking very grown up and not at all like a baby any more.

Making a birthday wish!

He got some cool warm up sets from us.

And of course more Super Hero Legos from Cali and Carter.

Wrestling Your Friends

Caleb's first season of pee wee wrestling proved to be pretty funny. He loves to wrestle, especially his friends. I'm not sure how much his friends like it, but they all seem to end up in one giant kid pretzel.

He got to attend his first wrestling practice on his fifth birthday. We thought it was pretty cool and during the weeks leading up to his first practice, constantly asked when his birthday and wrestling practices would start.

We learned a lot of things at this first practice. The most important being, that without the proper foam back before practice, there's a good chance you'll get ring worm. Good to know.

Saying Goodbye to Alexis and Kate

Our fun weekend came to an end on Sunday morning when we had to say goodbye to Neal and Gwen, and good bye for a while to Kate and Alexis. Kate and Alexis are on their way to meet up Brandt for his graduation in South Carolina, and then on to spend the winter and spring in San Diego until they leave for Japan.

We tried to get several good pictures with the cousins, this was the best we could do. We also tried to get Cali to take a picture of Alexis and I, this is the best we all could do. We will miss them, but thanks to modern technology we will all live in the computer now.

Birthday Presents

The Halloween/bowling weekend extravaganza wouldn't be complete without some birthday presents for the upcoming birthday boys. Superhero Lego sets all around!

Bowling

The day after Halloween, we decided to tryout some bowling. Neal, Gwen, Kate, Alexis, Bethany, Steve, Broden, and Brock all came along for the fun.

Cali loved bowling and thought she was pretty good at it. Carter was frustrated at first, but got the hang of it and decided that he wanted to have his up coming birthday party at the bowling alley.

The best thing about bowling is entertaining a bunch of kids until it's their turn again.

Halloween

The kids were off school for Halloween this year. Since it was on a Friday, the teachers used the day for a professional development day. The weather was so nice, almost hot during the afternoon. Caleb and Cali carved some pumpkins on the back lawn. Carter enjoyed riding his bike around the neighborhood, he wasn't very interested in carving.

We had our friends over for some soup and sandwiches before the kids hit the road trick or treating. Cali and her friends planned for several weeks to all dress up as crayons. They each picked a color and together they looked pretty cute.

Neal and Gwen and Alexis and Kate came for dinner and then the older kids took off trick or treating around the neighborhood. Christian and I took the younger kids to the church trunk or treat. Kate loved following Carter and Caleb around and we met Bethany and Steve there with Brock and Broden.

We tried to get a good picture of all the kids, but in some we were missing Cali and in others we were missing Carter. These kids are getting older and rounding them up is not what it used to be. Nonetheless, they all had a fun time.

Later that night Dorothy and Kyle stopped by. We put on some masks and snuck into the yard where Cali and some friends were playing. We tried to scare them, but we mostly entertained ourselves!

Frightmares

The fall is the best time to go to Lagoon. It's not too hot and it's not crowded, well, until the Frightmares start in evening and then things get real. We went to Bountiful on a Friday night and spent the night at Carl and Vicki's. We got up the next morning, I got my hair done, and then we headed to Lagoon to meet up with our friends. The Hunsakers, the Naceys, and the Carlsons. We a fun filled day riding most of the rides.


With so many fun friends to hang out with, the kids ran around taking turns with friends and the parents took turns supervising kids and going to the different rides. Caleb rode the Colossus for the first time and loved every second of it. Carter on the other hand was a little bit scared, and it took him most of the morning to warm up to the idea. We never did make it back to the Colossus, but he enjoyed several other almost scary rides. Cali ran off with her friends and went on every ride that she could.


I got to hang out with Carter, Caleb, Teag, Annie, and Claire for most of the day. It was really fun. We tried to win some junk at the carnival games. Carter and Annie won a small duck, and Annie gave hers to Caleb. Carter would have been content to play the carnival games all day and not go on a single ride.


When it got dark the scary haunted houses started up and goblins began prowling around the park. We were planning on driving home that night, but we went to dinner with the Pollastro's and ended up staying Saturday night and driving home in time for 9:00 a.m. church Sunday morning. It was a fun weekend, and I think we'll do it again next year.

Someone Was Having a Bad Hair Day, Someone Else Was Not

Fall Soccer

Caleb enjoyed fall soccer a lot more than spring soccer. We had some really nice weather on Saturday mornings, and Caleb loved playing on the same team as his two friends Max and Carter. Their coach, Derek Richins, was so nice and patient with the squirrelly little boys and Caleb loved trying to catch and tackle his coach... sometimes even during the game.

Carter's team did well during the fall season too. Carter is a great soccer player and it's my ultimate goal to have him pursue soccer rather than football, but that's an argument for a different day. Carter played on the same team he has for several years, but they got a new coach this season, and it made a huge difference.

Carter scored several goals each game, and his games are full of action and fun to watch. At the end of the season the coach had a fun pizza party for all the parents and kids.

Freezing Flag Football

Carter played in a city flag football league. It was fun for the boys to play under the lights on the outfield of a baseball field. Carter did really well and enjoyed being quarterback as well as catching passes. Their team was so big they had to split it into two teams and they only got beat when they played each other.

We experienced a cold snap in October, and this made watching the flag football games a little bit of an ordeal. It was so cold. The boys didn't seem to notice, but I sure did!

A Few Fall Funnies

Cali's hair is really something else! The combination of some braids and her t-shirt pulled up around her ears, created this masterpiece.

After a long afternoon of swimming, we stopped by the rec center playland and Caleb created this house. He was so proud!

Cali also likes to invite her friends over for makeovers, this was a pretty scary one!