Days that make you smile

Yesterday was a productive day.  Although the kids had to wake up and go back to school, and Haley was the only one excited to go back, it was a good day.  I got laundry done, the house was tidy, and I got Caleb signed up for summer gym.  Not excited about the summer part but hopefully his plans for 9th grade work out and summer gym is helpful to his graduation plan.  But the exciting stuff happened after school. Caleb had one more signature do get for his Eagle Papers, then he was done!  We headed to Beehive Homes, he got the signature and then we headed to the scout shop.  I thought it would be neat for him to turn his own papers in.....

 It was a bright day, so he blinked.  Also, I forgot the real camera, so memories are made with the terrible phone camera.  But things like this need to be remembered!!!!

The lady at the scout shop looked things over, and declared that he did everything he needed to turn them in!  Wahoo!  She was impressed that he is not even 14 and turned in his papers.  Awesome kid! He was able to put his own name in for the book and he walked out on cloud nine!  Now, all we do is wait until the send the papers back to the stake, and we can schedule his Eagle Board of Review.  He did it!  

That is not all.  We went home, he ate food, and we headed to his soccer game.  First half he only played field for a tiny bit.  The first half keeper was doing so good, I was worried that Caleb's days as keeper were over.  Second half started and nothing much was happening.  Our team was down by 2 goals.  However, I looked over and saw....Caleb in his keeper jersey and putting on his gloves!!!!!!  Excitement and anxious, all in one.  He was going in as keeper!  Of course, there are no photos.  But this is a photo of the gloves he used.  He did great.  While he was in, our team scored one goal.  Caleb took some shots on goal.  He charged and got the ball out.  Blocked one, caught one right in the gut.  The other team did not score on him!  The game ended with us down by one, but what was important to Caleb is he got to play keeper, and he did not let any by.  So happy for him and all he is accomplishing in his young life!  

Spring Break and Easter

On Saturday, before Jonah, Jonathan and Caleb went to the temple we had the AWESOME Gray Easter Egg Hunt at our house.

 The anticipation of getting out there and "vacuuming" up those eggs.

 Go boys go!  It is a mad dash to get as many eggs as you can.

 This year I hid the eggs in the front yard.  So fun to hide a couple in the tree!  William's and Caleb's eggs were in the tree.  Tricky mom. :)

 I think they rolled their eyes a bit when they realized I did it to them.

 Caleb and his pile.  If I remember correctly, he got 166 eggs this year.

 After the temple and before Jonah and Jon went home, Caleb pulled out a tinker crate and they made it together.

These kids are awesome together!

Spring Break - more fun together

 So, besides the temple we planned other things to do together.  To get out and play, to have fun.  Peter needed to do a service project for scouts.  He chose to plant some flowers at the assisted living center where Caleb did his Eagle project.  It was a nice day to be outside and plant some pretty flowers.

 On the day we went to the Ogden Temple we took the opportunity to visit the Hill Aerospace Museum.  The kids all loved seeing the planes so up close, they were huge.  Caleb really got into reading about each of the planes and learning more about them.

 Just a funny picture, Caleb looks like he is about to be eaten. :)

 So many cool planes to look at and be wowed at how powerful they were.

 After visiting the Mt. Timpanogos Temple we were looking for a park to play at.  We ended up driving in the canyon and found a nice, quite spot by the river to picnic.  Being my kids and near water, they took the opportunity to find sticks and get wet.

 It was such a beautiful spot.  The water was cold, but that did not stop them from sending sticks down stream, getting them back and finding all sorts of ways to play together and go home wet.  Good times!

 While we were in Provo we stopped by the UVU library to see their stained glass window exhibit.  It was really cool.  There were tiny things hidden in each of the windows that you were trying to find.  We all loved the colors and amazing way that art was created with glass.

Beautiful colors and so much to look at.

 This was Peter's favorite.  It is so cool how they took the image of a tree, with the hand and made it all wrap and twist together to become one.  Amazing to look at.

One other thing we made sure to do on our Spring Break.  Tasty Temple Treats.  We had ice cream, donuts, cookies, cotton candy and Toblerones.  Yum and fun, together as a family.

Spring Break - I love to see the temple

With Spring break approaching I knew we would need some activities away from home to keep us from going crazy.  Caleb loves going to the temple.  Haley loves going to see the pretty flowers.  We all needed to feel the spirit together and time together.  So, I created "temple-palooza."  Each day we would go to a different temple and then do something else fun in the area.  I think it worked well.

 On Sunday for family home evening, we played temple jeopardy.  Lots of fun with candy and learning some interesting facts about the temple.

 Tuesday we visited the Bountiful Temple.

 Then drove up to the Ogden Temple.

 Wednesday we went to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

 Thursday we were able to stay closer to home and visit the Salt Lake Temple.

Thursday we went to Provo.  All the kids loved seeing the different shape of the Provo Temple.

 Peter, as he always does, loved looking at all the plants.  He stated it was like "plant heaven."

 After the Provo Temple we went down to the Provo City Center Temple.

Finally, for our last temple of the week, we went to the Draper Temple.  Jonah and Jonathan stayed with us after the Gray Easter egg hunt and they went to the temple with Caleb.
It was nice to be together during the week and feel the spirit as we went to each temple.  Haley loves to have us go just inside the temple doors and sit there for a minute or two.  She loves the beauty of the temple inside and the spirit is so strong when in there.  Haley also loved being able to see a few brides at the temple when they came out after being married.  They all loved the fountains and the flowers.  William could not believe how much grass there was and just wanted to run everywhere.  However, we learned that they will call security on you if you have a picnic on temple grounds.  Oops.  Caleb likes going to each temple and seeing how they are different from each other.  But one thing is the same.  He loves the spirit that he feels there.

Spring Break 2017: starting it off right

So, Caleb's soccer team had the opportunity Saturday to help carry the Real Salt Lake flag out on the field.  That meant that we would get a discount for the tickets.  Rob had to work, but the rest of us were really excited to go. Never mind the fact that it was supposed to be the coldest game of the year.  Sometimes you just cannot pass up opportunities like this.  I was responsible for buying the tickets, and 2 of the other players wanted to come with us.  So, I was a little worried about getting good seats.  I was also worried about taking everything we needed.  But we loaded up the truck with some treats, lots of blankets, plenty of ponchos and we set off.

 Do not worry about good seats, we got them!

 Right there by the corner.  Such a good view, especially for second half when RSL was playing down on our half and we got to see them score.  The only thing I forgot was gloves and umbrellas.  It started raining about a half hour after we got there....and never stopped.  In fact, in the last photo you will see the game ended in a blizzard.  It was AWESOME!

 Windy.  Very, very windy!

 When it came time for Caleb and the other boys to carry the flag out, I wanted to be ready to get a shot of him.....opps, I missed.  They did not get to carry the flag out because of the rain.  Bummer.  But they still got to go on the field and when it came time for Caleb to be on the big screen, all I got were those #12 shorts jumping up with those yellow shoes because he was so excited!  Yeah, mom fail.  But to my credit, I was trying to tuck kids into blankets and make sure everyone was comfortable.  William had prepared well.  He wore 2 shirts, a big poofy coat and he stayed pretty much warm the whole game.  The only part of him that got cold was his feet.  Peter was an amazing trooper.  He was pretty cold from the start, especially his hands.  But he said he would stay the game through and watch it, he was a quite, tough kid. That part I feel bad about, he only had a tiny bit of fun. He did not complain, just quietly "suffered." :(  Haley ended up going home early.  She was having fun, but just not bundled up enough. And she was really tired.  Rob came and picked her up at half, Anderson's mom went home with them too.  It was just too cold for Haley girl.

 These boys were awesome and tough.  They were so excited to be at the game.  But they were also freezing!  Standing out on the field and waiting for them to go out so long, without ponchos on, soaked their clothes.  Their feet were frozen and they were COLD.  Even when Rob came and brought new blankets, it helped them get by, but they still got wet.  I even got them some freaking expensive hot chocolate (to tide them over).  In the end we took home 7 soaked blankets, but very happy boys.  The blizzard had started by second half but RSL was playing down at our end.  We had determined we would stay for 20 minutes of the 2nd half then go home.  Peter was frozen and stayed in his seat, but we moved closer to the field.  A few things to point out that I loved as small details.  They had to shovel the lines of the field to keep them clear.  The snow was coming down that much.  They switched out the white ball for a bright colored one, just so the players could see it.  And we saw the first goal of the game!!!!!  We were all so excited!  We stayed for a bit more, then the boys told me it was time to pack up and go.  OK,  I guess.  We loaded up all the soggy, wet stuff, and cold, tired boys and headed for the truck.  As we were walking to the truck we heard the stadium erupt because another goal had been scored.  We cheered with them.  Then as we were slowly driving home in the blizzard, Real scored their 3rd goal.  Real won, the boys were thrilled and thawing out.  It was a great night!

I did not take this picture, one of my friend's friends took it.  It is just a nice comparison shot of what it looked like at the game.  Crazy cool!  "Real Salt Lake: 3 Vancouver: 0  -  Winter: 1 Spring: 0"