My second family

I had the great pleasure of photographing my friend's family last weekend. I have been best friends with Stephanie since Kindergarten. (Not many people can say that they have had a friend for that long.) Her house was my second home and her family was my second family. I love these guys so much so I am always happy to see the. These were taken up at their farm in Midway. I so love it up there. Here are some pictures from that day.

Gotta have a tractor picture.

Looking up toward the hills.

A VERY old truck.

This is a familiar sight -- Steph's dad off on one of the motorcycles.

Out but not Down

Matthew's superleague baseball team ended their season last Saturday. They had to have a win to make it to the post-season tournament but unfortunately they lost. Guess what though, it is okay. Luckily Matthew is SO evenly tempered he didn't seem sad about it. To be honest, I am a little sad that this season is ending. Matthew has made great friends, Matt has made great friends, and even I have made great friends. The other families that we have spent our Saturdays with for the past few months are wonderful and I hope we will continue to "play baseball" with them for years to come. Thanks to all of the coaches that taught Matthew so much and made it fun to play.

Random Phone Photos

Matt was having a blast dragging the baseball field. He was zipping around happy to have an excuse to ride the 4 wheeler. This is one of the many behind the scenes responsibilities that Matt has in our little league organization. He does a great job. Matthew, his friend N. and Jake playing in the rain. This was probably the biggest rain storm we have had this Summer. We were at the park and the kids wanted to stay and see how wet they could get. They got VERY wet.
Claire and Kate after their dance performance. I would have posted performance pictures but there was no photography allowed so this is all we get. (BTW, the girls did their own makeup. Can you tell?)
I found Jake sleeping here one morning. He usually comes into our bedroom every morning but I must have kicked him out. I guess in his sleepy stupor this is the most comfy place he could find. He is wrapped up in his favorite "truck" blanket. A baby gift from Aunt Cyd.
This is for all of the Clawsons out there. There was a guy walking next to me giving me funny looks for taking this picture.
The following two are from our 5 minutes at the sand dunes in Snow Canyon outside of St. George. We were just driving by and did a quick stop for the kids. This is Claire.
Here is Jake.

RSL + David Archuleta = FUN

Last night we had the chance to go out on a family date. With all the stuff the kids have been doing lately that hasn't happened in a while. Matt's firm had a Summer activity where we got to go the Real Salt Lake soccer game and then as an added bonus, a mini David Archuleta concert afterwards. It was a great night and although they were exhausted by the end, the kids had a lot of fun.

Here is the new Rio Tinto Stadium. Apart from the fact that it is in Sandy (I wanted it to be in Salt Lake), it is a great place. Well planned and cozy. It was a good game but it ended in a 1-1 tie.Jake being goofy as per usual.

Kate and her "fingers".

Amanda and Claire.
Matthew the cool dude.

During the firm dinner they had a drawing to pick who got to go down on the field for the David Archuleta concert after the game. Kate, Claire and I got to go. It was so fun to see him up close. Below is my picture of David running down the aisle to the stage. He is the blue streak on the left.

Here he is again on stage. Again -- the blue jacket. We actually had a great view of him on stage but the bummer is that we couldn't really hear the songs very well. It was just a lot of noise. The girls wanted to give him five when he ran back down the aisle when it was over, but he was very closely guarded by his body guards.

We Love the Yankees!

We love the Yankees! You all know that we love Derek Jeter and Co., but we also love the Mount Olympus version of the Yankees. So far we have been lucky to get to be the Yankees in little league for two years in a row. That might not mean that much to most of you, but it is a big deal to us (mostly because we have extra hats and shirts from prior years, which means we don't have to wash the uniform twice a week). This year Matt coached Jake's machine pitch team. For those of you who don't know, this is the pinnacle of baseball -- kids aren't afraid of getting hit, there are no walks, and there is lots of action.

Our Yankees had a fantastic season - 20 wins and just two losses. It helped that we hit 40 home runs (of the over the fence variety) for the season. (Which meant we had to listen to steroid and HGH comments all season.) Unfortunately, one of those losses was in the tournament, which put us in the loser's bracket. That meant we had to win three straight games on Friday for the championship. Well, the team did it and after a mere 5 1/2 hours of playing, our Yankees were crowned Mount Olympus Pinto League champions. Oh the joy!

I think that Jake even had fun being coached by Dad despite the extreme yelling he had to endure because he is the coach's son. I think Dad enjoyed it too, even when Jake smacked him in the privates because Dad had yelled at him. Here are some pictures of our awards ceremony. Again - they are phone pictures because I didn't have my camera. What kind of photographer am I?

The team lined up for their trophies. Yes Jake is the one grabbing his crotch. This is not new for him. A combination of "sticking issues" and the world's smallest bladder lead to lots of this. Hopefully, he will grow out of it. :)

The team with their trophies and the GIGANTIC team trophy. Let's just say that trophies are great incentive. When you are 7 and 8 it is the not whether you win or lose, all that matters is the size of the trophy.
Jake and Matt. Best Buddies.

It has been a great year!

Today was Jake's end-of-1st Grade "Informance" (inform+performance=informance). Some of you may know, he is in a dual immersion program where he learns spanish. Their program was almost all in spanish and even though I understood none of it, it was fabulous! He has such a great year and this was so fun to see all these cute kids do such a great job speaking and singing spanish. They learn so fast! Here are some photos. I wish I knew how to upload video but I don't so stills have to suffice.

Mr. T., Mr. E., Jake and Mrs. McGavin. Quite possibly the NICEST person to walk this earth! Jake was very blessed to have her for language arts this year.

Jake and Matt. Who is Matt checking out over my shoulder I wonder?

Jake, his friend J. and the ever so fabulous Mrs. Foulke, his spanish teacher.

Jake has a little stage fright. At home he is always singing at the top of his lungs but when it came time for the show he was a little timid. Cute, but reserved.

FUN - A Belated Anniversary Wish

I just wanted to wish my wonderful husband and friend a very happy Anniversary (Belated of course because I am me -- always late with birthdays, anniversaries and other important days.) On May 11th we celebrated 16 wonderful years of marriage. We have had our ups and downs but mostly ups and certainly lots of fun! Life with Matt is always fun and that is one of the reasons why I fell in love with him many years ago. Here is a little list of other reasons why I love Matt.

• He is a high achiever.
• He pushes me to be a little better and a little more than I am. ( I actually don't always like this because I am a drifter at heart but I am grateful for it)
• He has a great smile.
• He loves our kids.
• He never makes me feel guilty for being a horrible housekeeper.
• He loves sports.
  
• He is a great coach. (at all sports)
• He loves to have laugh. (And can almost always make me laugh)
  
• He is a great story teller.
• He is really really smart.
• He is a great gift giver and forgives me for being a horrible one.
  
• He loves me.

Thanks, Matt, for all the adventures we have shared over the past 16 -- 11 moves , five cities, four pregnancies, four kids, and lots of FUN.