A Few Fall Firsts

Jaden has mostly hung up her dancing shoes for soccer cleats (minus one lyrical dance class). She was 4 years old the last time she played soccer, which doesn't really count. If you ask me, I think that after Jaden sat through a plethora of Ty's practices and games these past 2 years that she thought it pretty cool after all and wanted in.

It's quite an understatement when I say that Jaden came out for Saturday's game pretty fired up. Here's just one example of her over enthusiastic state of mind: The referee had just dropped the ball at center field to set up for the opposing team to kick off. Not a player on either team was moving around much as they were waiting for the ref to blow the whistle to begin play. Jaden had no idea what was going on really but she saw a loose ball and with everyone else still standing she ran straight at it and proceeded to kick it straight off the field! Only for the said referee to have to retrieve it once again, bring it back to center field and stave Jaden off until she blew her whistle. If I were to use one word to describe Jaden's first game it would be: eager! It was a blast to watch. Shown above with her good friend Reagan--this is their "dead deer pose." Don't ask.

Here's Ty as he begins his first season of flag football. But don't worry (Brenya) Ty will still be playing soccer as well. Only 3 out of the 9 games will interfere with each other, luckily. I just hope this kid doesn't run out of legs on Saturdays. Here's how Ty's Saturday mornings will stack up this fall: One flag football practice, followed by a flag football game, followed by a lengthy soccer game on an oversized soccer field (in my opinion) . . . and all before noon! But he LOVES it, so far. And he is OH SO FUN to watch! Kyle is a coach for all three teams and he's pretty fun to watch too.

And last, but never least, little Reesey is taking a dance class of her own. She is so thrilled to be doing so. I can, and do, hold the class over her head periodically throughout the day. Works like a charm. So fun to have this little one to dote over while the other two are away. We are having the best time together.

Two Digits

Jaden is 10! That is so very hard to believe. Here are ten things we want to remember about Jaden:

10. Jaden will automatically cry if she witnesses someone else crying.

9. Jaden loves a good sleep-in.

8. Jaden babysits every now and then so mom and dad can go out. Typically, we leave for a nearby restaurant after Reese is tucked in and Ty is glued to the Wii. She is paid in HGTV minutes. Which leads me to number 7.

7. Hands down Jaden's favorite TV show is anything on the HGTV channel. At any given time of day you can find episodes on home decorating, landscaping design, remodeling, etc. She prefers it over anything else. And if you ask me, I think it's well spent TV-time.

6. Jaden has a real knack for decorating and designing. She has recently taken on designing/redecorating a little neighborhood girl's bedroom. Her name is Elle. Elle's parents have given Jaden a small budget to work with. Jaden (with Elle's input) has sketched 3 different design options for Elle's room. It's been really fun to watch. Only every now and then have the other mom and I had steer them in different/less expensive directions.

5. Jaden loathes piano practice. It is like pulling to teeth to get her to practice. I guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree, huh Kyle? And thanks for sharing all of your childhood piano horror stories with her, it only fuels her fire.

4. Jaden is an excellent teacher. For the past 2 summers she has created and held her own little school in our home. Her students range from preschool age to 6 years old. This summer she had 10 students coming on 2 different days. She creates her lessons plans, makes lunches, designs and decorates her classroom (our game room), and collects payment from the mothers. She earned nearly $150.00 this summer. She even has the kind and bossy "teacher voice" going for her. Which brings me to number 3.

3. Jaden is bossy. I don't know where she gets it from. (We're both working on it.)

2. Jaden is: A pleaser. An excellent student. A great reader. A helpful big sister. A persistent dancer. A determined soccer player. And . . .

1. Jaden was the perfect way to start growing our family!

P.S. No, the cake did not fall off of the platter. And yes, I made Jaden hold the cake near the presents for a picture. Don't worry she was ever so willing. She too enjoys the presentation . . . just about as much as the gifts.

Moving up a chair . . .

Back to school today. Everyone woke excited. Ty will enter first grade and Jaden will begin her last year of elementary school in the 5th grade. In fact, this is the last time both Jaden and Ty will be in school together. Jaden would tell you that she can't wait to be attending a different school than her little brother. But that's what she would tell you and that is not how she really feels! She's going to miss him.

Ty wanted to set his alarm for 4:30 a.m. Thank goodness he was talked out of that. Instead he woke at 6:30 and was fully dressed and raring to go by 6:35. Ty's teachers name is Ms. Wang--hand selected by me, of course. I don't spend hours on end at the school volunteering for nothing. She is lovely and will be a perfect fit for Ty this year. However, if Ty would have been able to request his teacher, he would have chosen Mrs. Martin. Word on the street is that Mrs. Martin lets you bring toys to class. Yeah, I didn't hear about that all summer long or anything. Something else we often heard Ty utter during the last few weeks of summer was this: "I can't wait to go back to school so I don't have to do so many chores!" That kid can't see past the end of his nose. Even after diagramming and comparing how many hours he spends doing chores in a day to how many hours he'd be spending at school, it was still worth it to him to go back to school. FYI, the kid spends an hour at most doing his daily chores.

Jaden, well, I no longer get to hand select Jaden's teachers. Her grades do the selecting. So far she has been placed with those teachers I would have personally selected anyway. This year she will have Mr. Brantner and Mrs. Matula. We are excited to hear about Mr. Brantner's lessons involving his beloved guitar. Images from the movie School of Rock with Jack Black keep filtering into my mind. In fact, Mr. Brantner looks like a skinnier, similarly hairy Jack Black with beard and all. Stay tuned on that one. And both Kyle and I were thrilled to learn that Jaden would be studying US history in Mrs. Matula's class. Dinner conversations are going to be exciting. I'm sure I'll be learning a thing or two!

Here's to another big year learning and growing you two!

Copied from the blog of our recent photographer

Anything for a picture…

This is one of my most memorable sessions ever! It started out very “normal”. We were about done with the shoot but we decided to change locations to the mountains… This darling family lives in Texas so they wanted to get a picture by the mountains since they don’t have many where they live. They hopped in their borrowed car and followed me up to my home where we would take a couple more shots. Well half way there they pulled over. I was like oh their cute little potty training girl needed to stop, no big deal. Well it was actually a bigger problem… their tire had blown up!! Dad wanted to fix it but I still wanted them to have their mountain picture. This is my problem… I never know when to call it good. Dan is always on my case about this! So anyway, the mom and three kids all piled in my back seat. We left Dad to tend to the tire. We four wheeled up to this amazing spot and got the kids all settled down and ready for the famous “ONE MORE” shot. Mom hopped out of the way and I frantically turned around to back up so that I didn’t miss the shot and two inches from my foot slithered the biggest snake I’ve ever seen in real life!!!!!! It was not black and it was not a garden snake so that only meant one thing…. I wanted to DIE!! What was I going to do??? I couldn’t freak out the kids but I couldn’t even breath or move. I seriously just stood there. I finally mouthed to the Mom… UM…. SNAKE!! We just stared at each other in shock. How were we going to get the kids past the snake back to the car and were there more?? After what seemed like eternity we finally made it to the dirt road a couple feet from where the snake was and you know me. I made the kids all hold hands and SNAPPED this shot. After the TIRE and the SNAKE I was not letting this family go back to Texas without their mountain picture. Needless to say, I haven’t gone back to this spot. I am so tempted though!

Three weeks of vacation looks something like . . .

a 33rd birthday celebration for Kyle the day we flew in.

One Davis Family Reunion in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho

(Missed you Sarah and Charity!)

One Harris Family Reunion in Breckenridge, Colorado

(Missed you Jas!)

A Fourth of July celebration that (in my opinion) can only be done right in Utah

A visit to Thunderbird Stadium

A days visit to Temple Square with Grandma Patsy.

And lunch with Grandpa Kirk.

A hike to Stuart Falls in Sundance, Utah with Grandpa Lynn, Marshall and Kate.

A pirates dinner with Grandpa Lynn.

And, on the day we flew out, the baptism of our favorite niece and cousin, Kylee.

And last but not least, more than a few visits to a favorite restaurant of mine--Bajio.

Whew! There shall not be any blogging about these pictures. I will let ALL the pictures tell the stories. But I will say that we did have a fabulous time. Three weeks is much to long to be living out of a suitcase but we were willing to do it to ensure that we made each family reunion; one being at the beginning of our trip and the other at the very end. It was so great to catch up with all of you!