Pioneer Day

Saturday our stake primary celebrated Pioneer Day with a wonderful activity. The girls had a great time. There was a petting zoo with a camel, goats, a baby yak, tortoise, and sheep. They beaded necklaces, made butter, and visited a general store where they bought popcorn, candy, and drinks.

They made their own bonnets or vests

Took a ride in a handcart, or could even take a turn pulling it.

Milked a cow

Dug for potatoes, picked apples, and gathered eggs.

Jumped rope and helped out in a tug-of-war.

It was a lot of fun with great weather and plenty of fun activites to keep everybody entertained.

Great News!

Final cuts were made this morning for the high school soccer team and Lauren is officially one of 8 freshmen on the roster! She is very excited and relieved. That was one nervous girl this morning as she went to talk to the coach and find out if she made the team, but she came out with a huge grin! Way to go, Lauren!
Now the real work begins. 2 practices every day next week!

Fairies and Princesses

(Before)

Last week I took the littles to a ballet camp for a couple of hours. They have been very excited about it and were so glad the day had finally arrived. They had a great time and have been dancing around the house ever since.

(After)

Ashtyn's had a fairy theme and Sierra's had a princess theme. Perfect!

(After)

It's no secret that our family loves soccer. It's been a part of our lives for 11 years, but we took it to a new level 6 years ago when Lauren started playing indoor soccer during the summer and winter. It's a much faster paced game and playing off the wall makes it more interesting. The indoor arena was recently redone and now has the plexiglass walls from the ground up. It's fun being able to see more of the play against the walls.

Mackenzie had her first 2 games of the indoor season today and won both of them 4-3, and 5-0. Mackenzie did great, scoring 4 of their goals. That's her taking a great pass from a teammate and making it count!

The results are in...kind of

First cuts for the high school soccer team were last night. The coach said he would email a list of the girls invited to continue training with them next week. We waited and waited and kept checking the email until we finally went to bed. Mark got up at 4:30 a.m. and checked again to find out that....(drum roll, please)...Lauren made the first cut! She is super excited and will train with the rest of the girls next week. She is one of 7 freshmen still on the list, but final cuts will be made sometime next week.

Soccer tryouts

That's Lauren in the blue with the goal. The tryouts have consisted of a 2 week, 7v7 tournament involving 4 teams from her high school as well as teams from 7 other high schools. She has done well and her team has done well, but we are still waiting. First cuts will be made Thursday, final cuts sometime next week.

Keeping the tooth fairy in business...

...and because Sierra wants to do everything that Ashtyn does, here's a picture of her cute little haircut!

Keeping Busy

Wow! What a busy couple of weeks! I love summer and the slow-down lifestyle that we lead during these couple of months. But the lack of routine and keeping kids entertained can be exhausting! We are staying up later and getting less done. My house is a complete disaster and just simply keeping up with the laundry and keeping food in the house has been a challenge this summer. But what fun we have had! Sierra loves to help Lauren make cookies!

Last week our Stake held its annual family week. We are encouraged to eliminate tv, computers, and anything else that distracts from the time we spend together. All church meetings are cancelled during the week and we make time to have some fun family activities. We played games, painted fingernails, played outside, went to the pool, baked cookies, went bowling, worked together, and spent some fun time with other families in our ward. One of our favorite activities during this week is our parents vs. kids soccer game. It is always a lot of fun, even if the kids take the bragging rights for the year.Ashtyn has lost a couple of teeth this summer, but this one has to be the cutest. I love it when kids are missing their 2 front teeth! It makes such a cute little smile, but she's had a hard time eating corn on the cob! We're working on getting the 2nd front tooth out...maybe the tooth fairy will be visiting our house again tonight! Ash is keeping her busy this summer!
Mackenzie has contacts! She's has wanted to get rid of her glasses for a while now and with the braces too there was just too much going on with that sweet little face. The first couple of days were a little hard, but now she is doing really well with them.
We celebrated the 4th with Mark's family in Atlanta. We were able to watch the laser show at Stone Mountain, swim, go to the movies, play games, eat great food, and watch fireworks. Sierra also got her first haircut! I have been trying to talk her into it for awhile now, but she finally agreed and Aunt Diane was there to cut 3 or 4 inches off. It looks so much better and is so much easier to brush through. It was a great weekend! We always stay busy and have a good time when we visit.
And now we are in the middle of high school soccer team tryouts! The coach has coordinated a 7 v 7 tournament with several other schools and will use this as he picks his JV and Varsity teams. Lauren has had a great time and has played well. The tournament will continue through next week and we hope to know the outcome in time for the soccer team's car wash fundraiser next Saturday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Spring Hill McDonalds.