We had a fun soccer season this year. We tried a new club and really enjoyed it.  Madison grew and flourished on her team.  Her coaches were really good and taught tons of new skills.  They told us that we need to have Madison try out of the next step up next year.  This year was recreational soccer.  Anybody can play and we don't keep score.  Most clubs have a Competitive level that is very expensive and they travel quite a bit. The club has a step between Recreational and Competitive called Select.  We will have to try out in August and if she is at a high enough level, they will place her on a team that she will play with for fall and soccer.  Madison loves to play.

 I ended up being Emily's coach and our goal for our team of 4 girls was to just have fun and teach some basic skills.  She has a natural ability and is very coordinated.  She is also pretty competitive.

 Right after she scored a goal:

The Corn Maze

We visited the corn maze this year and had a ton of fun.  We road on a hay ride, played in a straw bale maze and then did the corn maze.  The girls decided that the corn maze wasn't quite as fun as they thought it was going to be, but we made it out.

Youth Cultural Celebration

In anticipation of the rededication of the Boise temple, the youth in the region were part of the Youth Cultural Celebration.  It was a huge undertaking and the youth practiced twice a week for 6 weeks.  The 12-13 year-olds were only able to watch and be part of the flag waving at the end.  Since I am over the Beehives, I was able to be a chaperone and be in the Taco Bell Arena with the youth.

President Monson was so fun to watch.  The youth treated him like a rock star and he was so cute about it.  He egged on the cheering a bit and he had fun with the youth.  It's a different side of him that you don't always get to see.

The camera on my phone takes terrible pictures.  The first was of President Monson walking in .  The second was the youth in our stake performing. Ours was of Boise State playing football.

Family Pictures

General Conference Notebooks - Mutual

For the next 7 weeks, the youth from 14-18 years old will be practicing for the Cultural Youth Celebration for the dedication of the temple. That also means for the next month that my lone Beehive and I are on our own. She'll be able to participate on the day of the celebration, but there isn't anything until then.  There are some fun things that we have planned for the next couple months and Ally and Madison are going to go with me so she isn't by herself. I think she was a bit releaved, too. Here are pictures from tonight of my girls.

First Day of School

We had some very excited kids on the first day of school.  When I picked up Emily from Kindergarten, she told me, "it was the best day of kindergarten ever!"  I think that she was ready.

 Madison:

Ally:

Emily:

Pinata

When we went to Utah on the 11th, we spent an afternoon with Ben and Suzannah.  Ben's sister-in-law was given a pinata for her last day of work from her co-workers and she was sweet enough to share it with Suzannah's kids and by default, our kids.  It was really fun for them and they did such a good job taking turns hitting it.

The funny thing is that Matthew didn't want anything to do with hitting the pinata. The little boy that likes to hit everything didn't want to when it was okay.