The Start of School

I realize I'm all over the place with this . . . but point is I'm back at it and I'm catching up.  I realized I didn't want to miss all the details of our family life because they fade way too fast.

And what's more is we're living by phone pictures mostly these days.

Annual summer lunch with Dad before school starts. 

Drew went to his open house and met his new pre-school teacher, Mrs Shannon.  And she had Cotton candy . . . done, finished . . . he was thrilled.  

This year the big, exciting first day of school snack and chit chat was JCW shakes.  Mom ran out of time for anything creative or homemade - no one seemed to mind. 

Olivia got a letter from the prior occupant of her desk and it turned out to be her friend Emmy . . . it made it all the more exciting.

And these 3 girlies like to walk home together now.  When we drive we try to beat Peyton home who rides the bus now.



And this is what stuff Drew is getting away with now days as my errand buddy.  We'll hit 4-5 different banks in a day for all my clients and those suckers sure add up.

Conference Center

We forgot we live so close to Temple Square.  We forgot it for a couple of years, made a trip last year and then made a few more this summer.

We went to one of the visitor's center and the Joseph Smith movie with Katie this summer.

Then we went back for a tour of the Conference Center.

They don't let people of top of the Conference Center anymore unless you're with a tour guide.  We had never been up there.  

Amazing view of the Temple. 

And what good is a trip to Salt Lake without a drop in at Grandma Sharp's that is here on her mission?!  

They're Pretty, But They're Not Dumb

 These cheer carpool girls are not dumb.

With six different people (3 families with 2 parents each) driving home on various carpools nights, they pretty much wormed a treat for themselves every Tuesday and Wednesday night all Summer.

(more yucky phone pics)

One of our favorites was Maverick frozen yogurt where they could get as big of a cone as they could manage . . . before it fell off.

It was embarressing almost every time . . . but they loved it.  

Drew has no idea what is going on behind him . . . he's just focused on maintaining good forum.  Way to go buddy, Way-to-go.

Soccer - Fall 2013

Team: Tsunami

Addie's team moved into competition soccer this year.  At the end of the summer they played in a tournament. 

And they won 2nd place!

Unfortunately that didn't reflect how they did during the season.  But they're learning how to more aggressive out there and really fight for their wins. 

They'll get there. 

She has some really strong throw ins . . . they always use Addie for throw ins when they can. 

Her biggest fan club. 

Team: Blue Tigers

I ended up having quite a bit of fun coaching Liv's team last year so I did it again.  I had about 1/2 returning players and 1/2 new cute girls. 

We had a great season and only lost 1 game . . . I think.  Since the family photographer was the coach we didn't get very many pictures of these cute girls. 

Team: Monsters

I ended up assistant coaching Drew ChaCho's soccer team too. This is some of our little team looking "tough" as only 4 years can.

Drew is surprisingly good at soccer.  He was the self proclaimed "soccer star" on his team.  He is completely aware of the ball, completely aware of which goal he is heading towards and could totally take it down the field.  We have such high hopes and if soccer doesn't work out, we always have cheer leading to fall back on. 

No Comment

Just my little boy catching bugs in high heels and a skirt. 

Is that weird?

Summer - Part whatever . . .

 The Pool: More swimming . . . Beat the heat.

And what's fun this year . . . Drew (and friends) are pretty good to go in the kiddie pool.  Of course I watch them and they wear life jackets willingly, but I am no longer required to be sitting in the pool, getting a sunburn - it's the best.

Neighborhood Party: Our ward was split this year so we've merged with the neighborhood behind us and are now on the invite list for the neighborhood parties.  We made it to the 24th July.  Everyone donated money and we had quite the fireworks show . . . after food, a live band, dancing (if you were so inclined) and talking of course.

Maine Ward Reunion: We got to go to a little Maine Ward Reunion . . . it's really surprising how many people from Ansen's home ward live in Utah now and how many and how often others come to visit.  It's fun to hear all the stories.

Trampoline Sleepover: We picked the perfect night to sleep on the tramp and we were all snug as a bug for the whole night.  I thought I'd be dying of back pain the next day . . . but I did okay. 

Swimming & Spas: We went to Banna's house to swim in the pool that got delivered the day we got the Lehi water shortage notice. 

They made "spas" out on the back deck which became a contest of who made the best spa.  And I served lunch out to each spa.



There was just no clear winner . . .

And we ended the afternoon with some of Branda's shaved ice - another summer must have. 



REAL Games: Some friends took Ansen and I to our first REAL game and I was completely converted.  Soccer became my new favorite game to watch . . . I understand all the craziness over REAL now.  We took the kids back . .



Tri Athalon 2013

We  . . . I mean only the girls participated in their second Tri Athalon. 

   

And Drew gave it a go this year too. 

Here he is in the "challenging" swim portion of the race.  He pretty much floated around like this until the girls finished in the big pool.  



 

And then onto the Bike portion. 



And Drew cruised around the parking lot on his pink bike with his boy helmet.  Our little neighbor, Peyton, took pity of him and gave it to him earlier this summer. 

The girls ran and Drew decided to "opt" out of this portion.

However, when he realized there were medals, he decided he could at least run over the awards table. 

And some of our fellow, friend contestants . . . with their medals.