Brayden's First Soccer Game

This is a little video of Brayden's very first soccer game.  We were so proud of him!  The season is now over, but it was really fun to watch his skills develop over the season.  I think he just might take after his dad.  Let's hope he hasn't inherited my athletic abilities!  His team was called the Dinosaurs, and he had a great coach and he made a lot of little friends.  

Newest member of our family

We recently traded in our 1996 Honda Accord for a 2008 Honda Pilot!  We decided that the sedan just wasn't cutting it anymore for this growing family.  The Accord was very good to us.  We owned it for nearly a decade, drove it for over 100,000 miles, and registered it in six different states!    We just happened to sell it to our neighbor (who found us through Craig's List), so we still see it driving around our neighborhood.  The kids think that the Pilot makes a mighty fine playhouse.  They love climbing into the back seat and stashing toys in the cupholders and cubbies.  

April Fool's!!

Brayden came home from preschool on April Fool's Day and said, "Mom!  Mom!  We need to trick someone!"  So we decided to make cookies with a little extra something in them (lots of salt and cream of tartar).  They looked and smelled great.  When Dad got home from work, he did not hesitate to take a big bite out of a cookie left strategically on the counter.  Mike said the worst thing about them was it took a few chews to register the bad taste, and then they were really bad!  I wish you could have seen his face!  We also brought some over to our friends, the Larsens.  The kids all accepted a cookie unsuspectingly.  I felt kinda bad when they were spitting them out!  Of course, we made some good cookies as well!  Although everyone was kinda suspicious.  I can't imagine why!    

Family Trip to Yosemite - March 2008

Our family went on a little excursion to Yosemite on March 16, 17 and 18th.    We left Sunday after church and happened to pass through Sacramento during a Blue Angels air show.  We pulled over and caught a great view of the show from our car and the kids loved it.  We stayed in a charming little mining town called Angel’s Camp. The three-hour drive there was absolutely beautiful with green hills and valleys and lakes and streams.  The condo was just perfect; it had a kitchen with everything we needed to make a nice little dinner that we ate on the deck overlooking the golf course.  Monday morning we woke up early and made the two-hour drive to Yosemite.  Our kids are so good in the car.  They are very patient, rarely complain, and Brayden can even make long periods of time between potty breaks.  I guess it doesn’t hurt that they can watch all their favorite movies while we drive.   We saw Half Dome and all the famous landmarks, and then all four of us hiked to the Lower Falls and then we pushed Emma and Brayden in the jogging stroller to Mirror Lake.   We got back to the condo in the evening and ate homemade chili and watched a movie.    The next morning we drove to the Moaning Caverns where Mike and I did a zip line!  It was such a fun little family getaway.  Other than a night in a hotel here or there, I think it was our first family vacation that was just the four of us. 

Emma poses wearing mom's old shirt

Emma is wearing a peasant shirt that I wore as a little girl.  I can hardly believe she is old enough to wear it.  I really remember this little shirt. Emma couldn't get it off fast enough though as soon as I snapped the photo.  I told her, "Let's just take a picture and then you can wear what you want."  I guess she knows it's not cool to wear your mom's old clothes.  I wish the photo showed her braided hair.