End of Soccer Season 2011

Sophie and Bella thoroughly enjoyed soccer and plan to play in the Spring! Here are some more pics from the action this season. Bella's team had a dad who took awesome action photos . . . hence the greater number of pictures from Bella's team. Go Great Blue Dolphins and Arsenals!

Lunch Date Tradition

Every year Stephen has lunch with the kids in elementary school the week of Thanksgiving before they are out on break. It has become a fun tradition. Building memories. (He had lunch with Bella too but forgot to snap a pic).

Karatay

Harrison has been doing a Karate class at the Little Gym since September. It is really just controlled chaos, but he likes running around with the other little boys and kicking and punching like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Here are some grainy phone pics of the action taken through the glass that separates the parents and the budding Bruce Lees.

Candy Dandy

5 Years Old

Harrison celebrated his 5th birthday a few weeks ago. (I am a little backblogged right now. Did I just coin a word?). He had some friends and cousins over for food, games, and fun. Because he has an October birthday, he won't start kindergarten until next year. But he thoroughly enjoys preschool for now. Here are some pics from the birthday festivities.

Weekend Trip Solo

For my birthday this year, Stephen gave me a trip to a destination of my choice. Since I don't live by either of my brothers or get to see them that often, I decided to visit them. Originally I had planned on going to Greenville, South Carolina and running a race with Kumen. But then he got a new job in Cleveland, Ohio, so the plans changed.

I flew into Cleveland on the morning of Friday, October 14. We toured the Kirtland Temple that day, went out to eat, and then headed to Pittsburgh, where we stayed Friday night. Then Taylor and Jennifer met us on Saturday in Pittsburgh for the Utah/Pitt football game. Kumen went to U of U for undergrad and has one of his graduate degrees from Pitt. The game was cold and the fans were pretty rude to us with our Utah gear on! But we had fun. We headed back to Cleveland Saturday after a post-game dinner.

I flew home Sunday afternoon. Stephen held down the fort with all 4 kids by himself while I was gone. He reminded me a few times that he never takes trips away from the family just for fun. So his brownie points were not as high as they could have been.

College Tour

One of Stephen's nieces, Naomi, is a senior in high school. She has babysat for us many times and she is an all around great girl. When she expressed a little interest in touring the Texas A&M campus, Stephen and I happily volunteered to take her on her inaugural trip. Sophie and Bella joined us on the trek, much to their delight. Whether or not Nay goes to A&M, we had a great time that October day! In the picture above, we are eating at Freebirds after touring the Campus and the town. Good luck on your decisions, Nay! You will do great wherever you go!