We went to Lagoon for our annual trip.  We took along Dawn, Chad, Anissa, Anje, Shaylee, and Kaitlyn.  It was very rainy, but we still had fun.  On the trip we stopped at JC Mickleson’s, on a tip from a train club member that they had an awesome layout, and it was great to see, and the food was good as well!  Here are the pictures from the trip.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I took the daughters to Murray Park and we went around the park playing with the ducks and then went to the playground.  Taylor made lots of friends with the little kids as she was giving rides on the spinning wheels.  Then some older kids layed down plastic on the side of the hill and got a hose and made a giant slip and slide.  Shaylie asked if she could go and she had a great time!

Later Taylor and I went to the Real Salt Lake soccer game.  It was a really big deal night.  They had people parachute in.

And the main reason we were at the game, David singing the National Anthem:

Here is a picture at the start of the game.

Picture of us at the game.

Then after the game, which ended in a boring 1-1 tie, They had a mini concert, the real reason for the sold out stadium.

While Taylor and I were at the Soccer Game, Tonya, Shaylie and Grandma went to see the movie UP.  So everyone had a pretty great night!

After traveling late into the night (We got into Salt Lake at midnight) we slept in.  We traveled up to Salt Lake to go to the Gateway Mall.  We went to the Planetairum and then ate and then went to the children’s museum.  After that we watched the fountain for a while and then the girl’s went shopping for shoes. 

After that, we traveled down to a Trax station and left the car and hopped on Trax and rode that to FrontRunner, which we then rode to Ogden and back, it was fun passing all the cars on the freeway. The girls were happy to see lagoon (we will be back up here to go to that in a couple of weeks) and it was a nice relaxing ride.  We sat way in the back, so that when we were coming home, we were in the front and were able to watch the track out the front window. 

Tonight we are going to the Real Salt Lake game with David Archuleta singing the National Anthem before the game and having a mini-concert afterwards.

Well it has finally happened! Shaylie can ride a bike! Taylor said that she was going to ride a bike this summer, and it took less than 5 minutes to get her going.
We then went for a ride and Shaylie was saying to me, “why, oh why, did I wait so long to do this, this is better than riding a scooter! Now I can ride to the park and my friend’s houses.”
I can’t wait for more rides together.

We are making a trip to Salt Lake! We haven’t been to Salt Lake as a family for quite a while and now is a great time of year for visits. Plus, mom’s computer is not working very well, so I need to get up there anyway! She finally got high-speed internet, so I will get it setup so that she can Skype us and I can fix her computer remotely.

Taylor and I are going to our first ever Pro Soccer Game! We are going to see Real Salt Lake play, plus David Archuleta is going to be singing the National Anthem and performing after the game, so I am sure that will make her happy.

I will hopefully get to visit some real hobby shops and dream about buying things. It will also be good for me to get away from our DVR, I think I have watched “Glee” as many times as Tonya has seen “Twilight”

The girls cleaned up the pool and everyone set it up, we have been filling it since last night and it finally was full enough at 5:00pm, the girls have been enjoying it! Hopefully it will hold up, the pool had a hard winter.

It’s been a while since I posted, but I realized that we never blogged about the results of the girls Soccer Seasons! Taylor played in the championship game and they played so well, but in the end they lost 1-0. Taylor stopped about 10 shots on goal and there team was really technically superior to the opponents but for some reason they were a bit intimidated. I really felt like they played to the best of their ability, which is something to be proud of.

Taylor was pretty upset by it, but she pulled herself together to coach her final game with Shaylie’s team and her dad. Shaylie played a great game and they won with a goal at the last minute. The whole team was so thrilled and even more so when Scott pulled out the medals that every team got this year. Then when he announced the end-of-season pizza party, they were in heaven! I’m so proud of both Taylor and Scott for the great coaches they were this year. Taylor took this on as a project for her YW award and she really was awesome with the kids!

We’re actually pretty sad to see the soccer season end! But I think the girls both learned a lot this year. Taylor is learning that you can’t be SUPER AWESOME at EVERYTHING…ALL THE TIME! And Shaylie is learning that hard work and practice really can be rewarding…and playing just to play can be fun too!

Summer for us is going to be pretty low-key this year. We don’t have all the camps and activities going on that we usually do. We are going to try to get some work done on our backyard and I have Girls Camp with Taylor in July, of course. But other than that, we are going to hang loose. I am SO looking forward to down time with the fam! We might hit Lagoon again this year, but for now…not much planned. And what could be better than that?

It is hard for me to believe that my little girl is turning 13 on Sunday! An actual teenager…and she’s already so good at it! We are throwing a big bash for her and some friends tonight. Well, a party anyway… We are taking her to the Mall for a scavenger hunt and then to the movie: 17 again. She’s already seen it and loved it enough to take all her friends. Then, we plan to come back home for cake and presents. It should be a fun time.

Shaylie is staying over at Aunt Anissa’s and tomorrow when she comes home we’ll have a family bash. We might have some grandmas here too…we’ll have to see.

Taylor is excited, I think. I’m sure they’ll have a great time. I think she’s growing up to be an amazing person. Here are some of my favorite things about my wonderful daughter:

• I love her determination-she is a go-getter. Anything she decides to do, gets done. She is very driven and result oriented. From the time she was very small, she would decide she wanted to learn something–tie her shoe, whistle, blow a bubble, ride a bike, do a backbend, play an instrument–and she would never give up until she had mastered that goal.  What an amazing talent to have!
• She is very responsible.  She has always been an incredibly independent girl.  I never have to remind her to get up, or get ready for school. She is very good at getting her homework and chores done and she almost always does whatever she is asked.  It’s hard for us to remember sometimes that she is still just a kid..for a couple more days at least!
• She is very musical.  I love hearing Taylor sing, play the piano, play her flute, the guitar, the piccolo…even the trumpet, though she needs some practice on that..lol.  She brings such a wonderful spirit to her home with her ability. 
• She is a great friend.  Taylor has always gone out of her way to be a friend to everyone around her.  She won’t believe that this is true-but I know she is admired by so many of her classmates and the people who know her. Whenever we see her around her friends, it always makes me smile to see how many people know her by name and smile and say HI or wave.  It gives me a warm feeling to know she is kind to everyone she meets. 
• Taylor is beautiful, inside and out!  She has such a smile!!!  When Taylor is happy the whole world lights up.  Her laugh is contagious and we hear it often.  I know Taylor feels the ugly duckling sometimes, but in my eyes there is no one more beautiful and amazing in this world…if I had one wish for her, it would be that she could see herself through the eyes of those that love her. 
• She has an unusually mature ability to snap herself out of a bad mood.  I think this is a gift.  If ever Taylor is having a bad day, it shows..just like it does with everyone…but Taylor can get over it so quickly.  It’s like she just decides to be happy, and she does it.  (See first bullet.) She is a great example to me, since I’m a little slower to cool off. 
• Taylor is a girl with much faith and a strong testimony.  She is so much stronger than I was at her age.  She is a great example to our whole family of what it means to be a daughter of God.  I’m so proud of her for choosing to love her Savior and follow His plan for us.  She often shares her testimony with friends, and family and reminds all of us that faith is so important to our happiness. 

I could go on and on…but time is short and I still have lots of preparations to do.  We’ll post some pics, and highlights soon!  Love you Tater Tot!  Have a terrific 13th birthday weekend!

We had a very busy day yesterday. At 8:00am we had Shaylie’s Soccer Game, which was a 1-1 tie. So their record is now 0-2-3, I wish I could get that team a win, maybe next week. Taylor’s game was at 9:00am, which they won 3-1. The championship tournament starts next week and they are the #1 seed, due to the weirdness of the playoff, they are playing the same team again and since it is Taylor’s old team, it feels really good to beat them.
Then at 11:00am, Tonya and Shaylie went on a hike at Red Cliffs. When they came back, Taylor and I went to her friend’s soccer game, which they lost in a shootout.
When we came home, Shaylie and I went to the annual kite festival. There was only one problem, little to no wind. We got her kite up a few times, but the wind would die after a few minutes and all the kites would come back to earth. But the good news is, she made the newspaper! Our family is getting famous, here is a link to her picture: Shaylie’s Spectrum Photo!
All the while at home, we were watching the Star Wars Marathon on Spike (All six movies) and working on the train layout that is going to be displayed for the public at the scout festival this Saturday!