Fall Soccer

This summer I was voted onto the Oregon City Soccer Club Board as the Secretary. My duties are to take minutes at each monthly meeting, attend executive soccer board meetings when necessary and checking the Oregon City Soccer Club Voicemail. In doing so, I'm allowing all my children the opportunity to ref soccer games at 15 bucks an hour when they turn 11 and also allowing them to play in the soccer organization throughout their childhood at zero expense to me. I feel privledged to be a part of something my children love and know what is going on at all levels. I'm grateful for having the opportunity to give to our community in such a way while allowing my kids to create wonderful childhood memories. Being on the board however has it's downfalls, like knowing we still needs coaches. So...I'm sure you can all guess, there is a new coach for the U4-5 year old co ed soccer team. His name is Coach Turner. He's has also volunteered his time as well to coach this young group of kids for their first ever experience in soccer. We've had many compliments from parents of our team who think we're (meaning me) super organized and doing a fabulous job coaching their children (meaning Rich). It's fun to be involved. Both the kids have had a game and several practices so far. So until the middle of November you probably wont catch us home alot in the evening as we're at the soccer field! Redden has a really good set of coaches for him this year who will be able to teach him a lot. He's come so far in just 1 year. He's not so timid anymore and has shown an interest in being a goalie as well. I think the coaches like that he's pretty versatile. Their team name is the Green Dragons and Austin team name is the Tigers. Austin thinks he's pretty hot to trot because he made 3 goals his first game and 1 in the 2nd game. We all love it and enjoy spending time getting some exercise not to mention that they sleep really really good and by they yes my husband is included.

Austin getting ready for a corner kick This is Austin closest to the camera with the really good form!!

Rich congratulating his team on a well deserved goal!!!

2008 Canning Season

Well, it's actually begun. I've been picking strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, carrots, peas, beans, zuchinni, summer squash and coming up on grapes. My canning season has actually begun. Although, my friend has finally forbid me from climbing the orchard ladders. She's such a bossy friend. She thinks that maybe I shouldn't (for some dumb reason! lol) I've given into her request so last week I officially became the "box holder". I taught Rich's boss's wife how to make and can sweet pickles (which she called and said she absoutely loved). So far this year I have made 8 freezer pies, 2 raspberry, 2 strawberry, 2 blackberry, & 2 peach. I have canned 25 quarts of pears, 15 pints of sweet pickles, 12 pints of dilly beans and lots and lots of jam. My peaches will be ready probably next week and I'll be sure to get those done, because that's what we eat the most of. Spaghetti sauce is this week! And grape juice and applesauce proabably next. Rich keeps telling me I'm going to have to start to take it easy but I'm not sure that's going to happen, because last time I checked...I'm the only one around here that would do it, so swollen ankles and all, here we come! Okay so I do have to give my husband a little kudos here. He came home from work at 3:00 the day I was doing pears and I'd only been going for about 30 minutes. He actually helped me until I was finished which was 9:00 pm. He peeled all 50 lbs of pears for me. Bless his stinking little heart. I appreciated that more than he knows.

September 2nd was Back to School!!!

We got ready for back to school and boy did Redden's bus come 25 minutes earlier than last year. They were trying to conserve gas so they changed the bus routes drastically. You can tell as well as I can, that I don't think he was quite awake. We've had him start showering again before school so that's seeming to help slap him around a little more in the morning. It really helps with waking him up and also with his attitude. He was so grumpy if he didn't shower before school, so that's what we do! He's adjusting well, didn't have a hard time, didn't care that I left or anything. This was my first non-tear year! Yeah for me. It's coming again next year though. This teacher is going to be fabulous for him. She's super structured (which he loves) and is very loving at the same time. She's an older lady and is going to work well for Redden. He's been talking about a boy at school named Dean that he really likes and is his "new" best friend. We'll have to see! So far this year he's seeming to be a very good speller and still has great penmanship and an interest in reading books that are WAY to big for him to read, he'll learn right? I've had lots of parents that he's been playing with tell me how glad they are to have their kids have someone to play with that has manners and is kind and loving and sets a good example for their children. I'm so proud of him that he knows what's right and when to stand up for something that is wrong. Hopefully those will be characterists that stick with him throughout his life as you can tell people are already noticing this great quality about him. I miss having him around home, Austin says he just misses his dad (lol) but he's an intelligent boy and strives for doing what's right. So I'm happy to have him somewhere where he's safe and can keep learning and growing and set a great example to those around him.

End of Summer Celebration

As our summer was winding down, Rich and I decided that it would be fun to do one last fun event before we dug into school again. I forgot to put new batteries in my camera before we got out of the car so there are no pictures and I apologize. We decided that we would suprise the kids and take them to something they've never ever been too. We took them to the Rose Garden and went to opening night of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. We had a yummy dinner and headed out to the circus. They loved watching 9 motorcycles race around inside this little tiny metal sphere. It was absolutely amazing that they could fit that many riders inside. They loved the dancing elephants and all that other good stuff. On our way home we stopped and got ice cream and put them to bed. We had a good time and really enjoyed spending time together to wind down our summer of 2008.

Summer Vacation to Utah

Okay so I've totally been slacking on the blogging bit, but not in any other way - Guaranteed! In the middle of August Rich and I decided to have me pick up real quick and take the kids on a little road trip to visit ALOT of people. The boys and I left Monday morning early and drove to Wendell Idaho which is an 8 hr trip. (now I must brag a little...some think I'm crazy...I think I'm awesome. We stopped 1 time in Pendleton Oregon to get gas and lunch and that was absolutely the only stop we made in 8 hrs. Now considering I have a 4 year old and a 7 year old and a 7 month pregnant lady that's pretty darn impressive. Yes Austin did have to pee 1 other time, but an empty water bottle worked just fine. (80 mph, cruise control and a rear view mirror work great for that.) When we got there, the little cousins played and played and played. Riley was super excited to have someone to play with and Madi I don't think knew what to expect but by the time we left her nick name was "shadow". She followed Redden all over the place, he rode the little 4 wheeler she was his passenger. Boy did she love him. Lily loved me or atleast I try to tell myself that she did and Austin was just happy to be there and play with everyone elses exciting new toys. I had a good time with Jenni and Billy and we enjoyed our time there so much. Thank you Jenni for letting us stay with you for a few days. Here are some pics of our 2 1/2 day stay in Wendell Idaho. Then we went onto Sandy Utah where we stayed with my mom. She took lots of time of to spend with us. We went school shopping, played fast scrabble, made good food, shopped for blessing dresses (we were in Utah, can't find a better place - because I was being super picky) and stayed up late chatting and laughing too many times. Here are pics from my moms

While we were down at my moms we saw a bunch of my brother Brian and his wife Mallory who live close by. We visited Brian one day at work and he gave the kids rides on his wheely chair. They loved seeing where he works and we're very proud of him. Here's some pics of that!

We spent a day and night at our good friends Brent & Kathy's house. The kids played and had a blast. Brent actually took my kids on his wards Father Son Camping Trip. So Kathy and I had a girls night with Kaiya. We were supposed to watch a movie and stuff but we have this problem called gabbing...instead we stayed up talking and laughing until I think about 2:00 am. It was so fun to see them. Sorry no pics from that outing.

When we came back we stayed at moms for a few more days. Thank heavens for my brother Brian who rescued my kids from boredom. They got flat tires in wendell from some thorn bushes. Brian came one evening and fixed their bike tires for them with only one little mishap. Do not exceed 40 PSI??? How the heck does someone do that on a bike tire? Ask Brian, he did it and needed a clean pair of underwear after the explosion! hahah. Thanks Bri

We then went back up to our old stomping grounds...good ole Logan Utah. We love it there and miss it in so many ways. We stayed at my dads and helped him a bunch at the fair with his booth for his insurance business. Jenni decided to come down to dad's and we spent a very long....fun day at the outdoor city pool. It was a blast and the kids couldn't get enough of the slides all by themselves. At the pool I ran into one of Rich's old Deacons from our ward there. He's returned from a mission and asked about Rich immediately. He couldn't stop telling me how much of an example Rich was for him and how much he helped him and wanted to see him. So we arranged a time and he met us for lunch so they could chat. They had a good time.

While we were in Logan, Rich flew into the SLC airport on Friday morning and my mom picked him up met me in Ogden. We went back and my sister had planned a surprise baby shower for Rich and I. It was so fun to be able to see so many members of my extended family that I would not have had time to see otherwise. Thank you Jenni and Mom for putting something together for me.

The day before we went home Rich, I and the boys went to visit our old neighbors Pat & Jennifer who we love. They've moved and it was so nice to be able to visit them. While at the fair the last day we ran into a couple of couples that were good friends of our in our old ward. Rich also ran into 2 of his really good old roommates from before we were married. We also maintained our friendships with them after we and they got married. My brother begged Rich to stay another day so he could see him because we had already left the SLC area when Rich had gotten to Utah. My mom is the only one that saw him down there. So Rich decided to stay an extra day. We drove home on Monday instead of Sunday and stopped at Jenni's on the way home to break the trip in half.

We had an awesome trip -thank you to Jenni and Mom for making it possible for us to have an unbelievable time with all our family in friends in Utah that we miss so much. I am so extremely grateful for my parents and siblings who show us absolute unconditional love at all times and who love my husband just as much as they love me. I wouldn't have it any other way. My family couldn't ask for a better family to belong to. We love you guys and miss you tons.