Ruby Throated Hummingbirds!

Jack got to play soccer again this Fall! I don't know if it was because he was 6 months older, or because I wasn't his coach, or because this time it was outside, but he was WAY more into it this time around compared to last time.

Here is my cute little soccer player!    

His team was called the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds (creative coach) and it was a great experience.  Here is a picture of Jack with his coach and most of his team!  

 Jack still didn't really like the games very much.  Too many people and only one ball!  But he  REALLY loved the practices.  He had so much fun with the drills, and really loves to kick and dribble the ball.  He did really well at all the practices.

 Please notice how his little tongue is out in like every picture! The kid can't do anything without his tongue out! :)

 Enjoying some drills at practice!

 Another fun practice! His coach was really great and did some really fun things with the kids!

 One of his games!  Even though he never scored a goal, Jack was actually really good at  defense.  He would run back and protect the goal, or even get in there a lot and steal it from people as you can see in these pictures!

 One of his last games, Jack got to play one of his best buddies, Phoenix.

They had lots of fun playing against each other and even more fun goofing off for pictures afterwards!   

Jack had so much fun playing soccer this time and still loves to kick the ball around the house, in the backyard, or back and forth with me or Dustin! I think he may have a successful future with soccer! He really is a great kicker and loves to play!  

Summer Wrap Up

Yes it is December 14th and I am just now doing a summer wrap up and then moving on to all of our Fall Fun. I have not been in the blogging mood apparently for months now.  I need to get in gear so we can document all of the fun we are having in our lives right now!  So here is our summer wrap up!   We really did have a fun filled summer just at home in Laramie, besides all of our fun trips.  

We took several trips to the splash park and wading pool here in town.

Love Jack all ready to go here!

Enjoyed some summer rain storms!  

Worked out! :)  

Snuggled with Daddy any chance we could get! (BTW, Jack's shirt says, Mom:  Like Dad, Only Smarter.)

Z made lots of messes!   

 Played at our house!

Went to a Carnival here in town!  I love Jack's face in this first picture!  

 Went to many parks, many times!

 Jack calls this one the Spiderman park because it has this thing to climb on that looks like a giant web!  

 
I really am so grateful that we live so close to so many parks.  We just hop on the bike or in the car and there are many parks to choose from!  

Jack and Dustin went on a Father/Son outing to "Cars 2."

 Painted toenails! :)  

 Here are my boys looking so handsome after church one Sunday!

 And one more final set of pictures that make me smile! My goofy, cute boys! :)  

An unexpected trip to Kansas!

The weekend after I got back from Utah, we took an unplanned trip to Kansas.  My father-in-law was in a weird accident and pretty much shattered his ribs and collapsed a lung when he fell off a carnival ride he was helping with.  We decided to head out there after he was released from the hospital to see if we could be of any help.  

Dustin and Melissa helped at the lumberyard.  Patty and I were pretty much in charge of keeping the kiddos off Grandpa and entertained.  

So we swam in the pool.

 Grandma worked miracles at breaking up and warding off competitive/jealousy fights between Gillian and Jack.

 Cute Gillian

 Lunch at the fun table with Grandma.

 Oh and then there was the bee sting incident.  Gillian and Jack were going outside to play in their Great Grandparent's backyard, when they both start crying and screaming.  I run out to find that they both had been stung by some bees that were living under the porch stairs.  It was pretty traumatic for both kiddos!  

 And we can't got to Kansas without enjoying some good fried food at Greg's!  Here is Zander eating either a fried mushroom or fried spicy cheese balls!  

 

 On our way out of town we met Lynn and Patty after his doctor appointment in Hays.  We decided to let me experience Long John Silver's for the first time and appease a craving of Dustin's.  

 Don't the boys look great in their pirate hats?  

It was a short, unexpected, but fun and hopefully helpful visit to Kansas!   

Hogle Zoo

I promise this is the last post from my Utah trip!  Then I will at least be to mid-August in catching up! :)  

While in Utah, I was able to take my boys to Hogle Zoo.  Lisa, Pace, and Lily came with us!  It was such a nice day, and the zoo was pretty cool!  

They had some pretty cool new moving, roaring, water spitting Dinosaur things!  And here are some of my favorite animals:  giraffes, elephants, and spider monkeys (cuz they look like my husband and boys!)  

 Lisa's boyfriend, Pace, was fun to have along.  He carried the kiddos, showed them cool stuff, carried them, lifted them, and got just as into everything as them!  He also was entertaining pretending to eat and punch dinosaurs in pictures and acting/looking like a gorilla! :)  

Me and the boys by the cool T-Rex!  

 

Lily and Jack wanted to steal the park patrol ride!  

Enjoying some fun stuff at the park.

Inside one of the cool buildings!  

Pace, Lisa, and Lily

Also in this building we witnessed the nastiest and most graphic part of the visit.  And yes, I will now share that gross story. 

So we were looking at this cool, yet nasty looking bird when all the sudden we realize there is another bird in there, a pigeon.  Well next thing we know we watch this vulture-y bird RIP the head off of the pigeon.  If you look closely in the picture you can see the pigeon head between the mean birds legs.  Yeah, needless to say, we quickly ushered our young children and their innocent eyes elsewhere.  

 

Did we measure up?  

Playing on/with some of the statues!  

Some other fun pics from the day!  

The boys and me on the train ride around the zoo.

 The boys playing at the kid play area!

We had a great time at the zoo and an long but amazing trip to Utah!  I hope the boys enjoyed the memories we made as much as I did! :)  

Yes...still Utah trip highlights! :)

I am almost done documenting the 3 weeks we spent in Utah this summer!  (Then maybe I can get caught up on Fall here on the ol' blog!)  I am glad that I am taking the time to put everything down though, because our time with our families is so precious. 

I had so much fun taking the boys to do different things. We went to fun parks and one day I took them mini golfing. Jack absolutely loved it and still talks about it to this day and wants to go again!  I love how his tongue is out when he swings! :)    

Here are just few random pics.  Popsicles outside, enjoying the lawn chairs, and my beautiful mom and me!  

 The boys couldn't get enough of their daddy in the short time he was there with us.  We played outside, swung on the swings, went mini golfing again, and snuggled lots!

Here are some attempts to get pictures of the cute kids in their church clothes after church. Of course we couldn't get one with them all looking! :)  

 And here are some fun pictures of us after church.  I especially like the one of crazy Lisa and Pace with me! :)

We were also able to be there to celebrate my Dad's birthday with him!  

 I was able to go and do a temple session with my beautiful mom!

I also got to go see one of my best friends from Bozeman who now lives in Draper!  It was so great to see Missy!  It is amazing how we can get together after not seeing each other and just talk and talk and we are still so close!  

 And Abe and Jack played together like old times!  They had a grand old time together!  I sure wish we could be neighbors!

Only one more post to come - Hogle Zoo!