Soccer 2012

It's soccer season again!

We love watching the boys play soccer.

I put them on the same team again, because it's the last time they can play together for a few years.

They are doing amazing this year!

Saxon is the biggest kid out there and he goes for the ball every time.

He has scored a goal every game.

I have been so impressed with Bridger this year too!

Last year he hated soccer, and this year, he's awesome!

He runs after the ball and he's even had some really good kicks.

He plays almost the whole game every time!

Poor Dalton wishes he was big enough, but he's just not quite there.

He's a great cheerleader though!

Bridger tuns 4!

On July 31 our darling Bridger turned 4!

I can't believe he's so big now.

He's going to start preschool this year.

He is such a great kid, it was so fun to celebrate him!

The night before his birthday, Mike dropped off a huge bag of treats so that he could open them the next morning.  The morning of Bridger's birthday we got up and he opened his present from Mike.  Then I took the boys to go see Madagascar 3 at the theater.

After the movie we met Grandma Gailey and Aunt Melinda at McDonalds and let the kids play.

After McDonalds, we went came home to play and wait for Nate to come home and Mike to come over.  Once everyone was there, Mike asked Bridger what he wanted to do for his birthday.  He said "eat Mac & Cheese and french fries and go to the mall."  So we did :)  Mike let him pick a present (he picked a super-hero of course) and then we went out to dinner.  After dinner, we went home to get our swimming suits on went to a "night-swim" at the PG pool that was hosted by the library for summer reading.  We swam until 10:00 p.m. and then came back to open presents.

It was a busy day!

A few days later, we had Bridger's b-day party.

We invited all of his friends from his soccer team, plus Ms. Nettie came with Drew, Aunt BB came, and Meg brought the girls.

Bridger has been asking for an animal show for his party and so I was so excited that Jeff said yes.  He is so good with kids and so good at teaching them about animals.

Everyone that came to Saxon's b-day party last year remembered Cinderella :)

Bridger was really embarrassed to have all of the attention on him, but he warmed up after a while.

The kids all got to feed Gordon...

I usually make my kids a b-day cake, but this year Bridger begged for a Costco cake.

I took him to Costco and let him help me fill out the order form and pick the cake he wanted.  He wanted a dinosaur cake with all vanilla...no chocolate.

Bridger doesn't like chocolate.

He was a little shy while we all sang Happy Birthday, but he liked blowing out his candles.

And his favorite part...

opening presents!

He loved that!

Happy Birthday Bridger Dean, my sweet boy!

We love you sooooo much!

Shaver Lake

Before I get too far behind on blogging this summer, I need to post the rest of the Shaver Lake pictures...so here they are:

Me and my mom and Aunt Lori

Me and Dalton on the boat

Grammie and Dalton

Saxon learning to drive the boat

Lots and lots of swimming...

Finding things...

Playing with cousins

Dalton decided to swim in Kasen's mud hole after I bathed him.

And he knows he's being a stinker!

Tubing with cousins

My crazy baby Dalton was begging to do everything on the boat.  Every time my mom would say "who's next?"  Dalton would yell "Me!  Dalton!"  Finally, Kasen's friend Wyatt took him on the tube and he loved it!

Great-Grandpa Roy with all of the cousins!

I LOVE Shaver Lake!  It's one of my favorite places in the world, and now it's one of my kids' favorite places too.  I love having a place to go to get together with family and have a good time.  Can't wait til next time!

Wakeboarding

Every day at Shaver, everyone went wakeboarding.

Every time, Saxon would beg to go.

But by the time all of the big kids had their turn, it was time to go back.

 Finally on the last day, he got a chance to try wakeboarding.

 

(Nate)

However, he was very upset about having to use the pink board.

It was Brookie's old board and it was the smallest board we had.

Kasen and Wyatt got in the water with him to help him.

He got up for a second and then he fell.

After a handful of tries, he decided to kneeboard instead.

I was so proud of him for getting out there and trying.

I remember trying to learn to ski...it was awful.

I hated trying and falling and trying and falling over and over while the boat has to keep circling around.

When I finally got up on one ski for the first time, I was so relieved, that I quit.

I could officially say I did it and I never wanted to do it again.

I never did try it again until Mike and Jeff introduced me to the sally rope in Chicago.

Now I ski every summer, but never without sally.

Wake Surfing

Dylan brought his wake surf to Shaver and let us all try.

It was really fun!

I tried it for the first time...

I love this picture of Kasen throwing the rope back to the boat.

I didn't let go of the rope when I went, but Dylan and Kasen did.

Then Dylan was nice enough to take Saxon.

Everything the big boys did, Saxon wanted to do.

Wakeboarding, wakesurfing, kneeboarding, tubing...everything.

It was so cute and Saxon LOVED it!!!

Knee Boarding

This year at Shaver, Saxon really fell in love with knee boarding.

At first he just wanted to ride on his tummy.

He liked it because he can still maneuver and cross the wake, but he won't fall.

He looked so cute and little out there.

And seriously, this child is FEARLESS!

One time, the boys suggested to him that he should try to get up.  They explained how to loosen the straps, get your knees in place, and then velcro yourself it.  I figured that it was too many instructions for a 5 year old and I thought he would just ignore them.

In fact, at one point, he got so sick of everyone shouting advice to him from the back of the boat that he started saying,

"I'm just going to do this however I want!  Don't tell me to do things."

So, after the latest instructions, my little guy was off behind the boat getting ready.

Then he shouts "Hit it!"

And we're off.

At first he just stays on his belly.  Then he holds the rope with one hand as he starts to loosen the strap.  Then we see his little bum go up in the air and he tries to maneuver his knees under him.  And then he had it!  He was up on his knees, in the right spot, knee boarding.  He was really doing it!  He even strapped himself in.  He adjusted the velcro over his knees and got himself all snugged in.  It was the cutest thing ever!  He looked so little out there.

Not only was he knee boarding, but he was doing an amazing job.  

He had great balance and great control.

After a while Kasen asked,

"What will happen when he falls, now that he's all strapped in?  Will he get trapped under water?"

What will happen?  Now we were a little nervous.  If he were to have a huge wipe out, it would probably knock him out of the board, but what if he just tipped over?

One of the boys suggested that we start pulling him in so that we can get him close and then stop the boat and just pull him in.  It sounded like a good idea, so the boys started pulling him closer.  While they were pulling him, my mom was slowing the boat.

It seemed to be working until the boat got too slow and he tipped over.

The knee board flipped over and trapped him, all strapped in, underneath.

  Kasen immediately jumped in the water and started swimming towards him.  A second later his friend Wyatt jumped in too.  

Saxon some how managed to get his body through the straps and it ended up around his waist.  He could get his head above water just long enough to take a breath and cry out and then the board would push him down again.

It was probably only a minute before Kasen reached him and flipped him over.  The two boys untangled him and towed him in.

When they got him to the swim step, I pulled him in, wrapped him in a towel and hugged him.  He told me how he couldn't breathe and how he was stuck.  We gave him his own Diet Coke to make him feel better (I know, I know...but it was the best I could come up with in the moment...) and then my mom let him help her drive the boat.

After we got back to shore I asked him if he was scared.

I should have known better.

He's not scared...he's mad!  How dare those stupid straps trap him like that...next time, he wants someone to take off those straps and throw them away so he can knee board without getting stuck.

Like I said...

Fearless.

So proud of this boy!

Shaver Lake - Jumping Rocks

We just got back on Sunday night for a trip to CA and camping at Shaver Lake.

Shaver is one of my favorite places in the world!

It seems like everything always falls into place when I'm there.

One year I left Utah with horrible allergies.  When I got to Shaver, they were gone.

The year I was pregnant with Dalton, the perinatologist was worried because he was measuring below the 10%.  After a week at Shaver, he was up to the 15%.

This year, my kids went to bed every night at 8:00, slept through the night, and woke up again at 8:00 a.m.

They behaved, they got along, they didn't have tantrums or meltdowns...it was wonderful.

They loved every minute of being with Grandpa and Jenna!

Saxon fell in love with Aunt Lori and Dalton fell in love with baby Gabby.

Bridger loved having cousins around to play with.

My kids are growing up having the same kind of experiences at Shaver Lake that I loved having as a kid.

I love it! 

One of the kids favorite things to do at Shaver is to find jumping rocks.

Each year, the lake is at a different level, so different rocks are at different heights above the water.  As soon as we get there, the kids start scoping out the best jumping rocks.

This year we camped and beached in the loop and since the lake was low, we had some great jumping rocks right by us.

Here is Dylan and Saxon jumping:

Saxon jumping on his own:

Stevenson Cove:

Left - Saxon getting ready to jump

Right - Saxon jumping

Left - Dylan holding Bridger

Right - Dylan jumping with Bridger

 (Funny side story - See the old guy with the beard?  He was helping us because he was charmed by my mom and Aunt Lori.  My mom started blasting "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog" on her ipod and then her and Aunt Lori got up on the back of the boat and started singing and dancing.  Then these old fisherman grabbed some big sticks and rocking on on guitars and singing along with my mom and Aunt Lori.  After it was over, we all cheered and laughed, and then the fisherman stuck around and helped the kids get up the rocks so they could jump off.)

Kasen and Wyatt helping the boys.

They were a HUGE help the whole trip.

Saxon:

Bridger and Dylan:

Saxon:

We had such and AMAZING trip!

More pictures and stories to come...