*champions, finally*

On July 2, the Scrappers played for the 13U Utah state championship.

I feel a little guilty because during the latter part of June, Nick and Justin would go watch the team play and I didn't realize it was the playoffs for such a tournament. And I almost didn't go to this game because I had worked the night before and didn't get much sleep that day. Thank goodness Andrew and Luke had orthodontist appointments out in Herriman that afternoon or else I probably would not have shown up for this game and I would have missed all the fun.

Imagine my surprise, however, when I walk up to the field and I see Nick swinging a bat with his cast on. My husband and son thought it would be a good idea to manipulate the cast so he could grip the bat better so they actually took out a chunk between the thumb and the pointer finger. Justin was so excited to tell me that "he is hitting the cover off the ball" but all I could see was something happening to the bones above the cast and his baseball days would be over forever. I got over it and just prayed that nothing terrible would happen.

It was a little frightening, though, to watch him slide into a base with his arm held up high. I actually closed my eyes a couple times.



They played against the Timberwolves, a team we had played multiple times during the season. We always fared pretty well against them so I had a good feeling about this game.

Here is Nick pitching. He did a good job despite not playing for four weeks.





And yes, he did hit with his cast on. Shhh, don't tell the doctors.


And all that voodoo mumbo jumbo they performed at their barbeque must have worked because they won! Utah state champions baby!


Here they are lining up to get their rings.






We are so lucky to have such a wonderful mentor and friend for a coach. Thank you for everything.






Great job boys. I knew you could do it!

*two wheeler*

Liam received a new bike for Christmas and asked multiple times to have the training wheels taken off. We procrastinated quite a while (poor thing) and a couple weeks after moving in to our new digs he decided that it had been long enough. It was time.

We have a ginormous driveway and a parking strip that runs from the street to the end of our lot in the backyard. A perfect place to start the learning process.

All of my boys have this crazy idea that the minute they try something, they should be an expert. I don't think Liam was expecting that learning how to ride a bike would be such a challenge. He would try it for a while and get frustrated and storm off. Like every two or three minutes.

The poor guy just wouldn't pedal after Justin let go of his bike and would put his feet down fast so he wouldn't fall. We would tell him over and over that he just needed to keep going but our stubborn little guy wouldn't listen to us.

I think this is the only true genuine smile for any of these early pictures.


Almost running into the wall.


Frustration face.




I love that we finally have a yard to call our own that the boys can play and run around in. We haven't had a light saber war in years. So fun.


Did I mention that we live next to the nicest lady who raised seven boys? She is heaven sent and understands the rough and tumble and the testosterone. She told Justin once that she sometimes sits on her back porch and listens to our boys play. How sweet is that?


Fake happy face.




And....we're done for the night.


The next evening, Liam wanted to try again. Justin took him out to get going and started talking to one of the neighbors. Liam got bored waiting for him and guess what he figured out?






Now this is a genuine smile!


Great job buddy!

*one weekend in june*

One weekend in June my sister, mom, and I ventured to Hogle Zoo to see the new Arctic Shores exhibit.

It is probably one of the coolest things the zoo has ever done. I wonder though if my thinking may be a little warped since our zoo is old and doesn't really have any animals and needs a major overhaul but all they are really adding are more eateries instead of animal exhibits but oh well.

I should just be happy that we now have black bears and polar bears back at the zoo.

Now if we could maybe get a lion?

It was pretty awesome to see this sea lion swimming about.



And I could have watched the polar bear for hours. I do want to go back when it is not so busy to just have it come up and say hello at the window. So darn cute. I wish they weren't so vicious in real life.





It was so blasted hot that day. The boys loved the misting fans. A lot.


A ride on the merry go round...










...and some ice cream ended the day nicely.


The next day Justin and I decided to take the boys hiking. We went up to one of my favorite hikes while I was in high school called the Living Room. I just knew the boys would love it.

It sucked rocks.

To be fair to my wimpy boys, we did drag them up the mountain in 90 degree weather and there really isn't any shade along the trail. I got super bummed out that I was stuck with the whiny bunch while Justin plowed ahead with Nick.

Liam kept slipping and yelling "I HATE HIKING" every thirty seconds and Luke would just plop down in the middle of the trail and cry and cry. Andrew kept saying how he was trying to look at the bright side but every time we would turn the corner and would not be at the top he would throw his head back and groan. I wanted to scream at them and shake some sense into them and it was really, REALLY hard for me to be encouraging and not degrading.

It was one of the most miserable experiences I have ever endured.

We finally made it to the top.

And they were happy.


It has been slightly rearranged since I have been up here last and they added some fun decor:



We had a picnic up there and the boys loved looking at the valley and trying to figure out what everything was from way up on the mountain.


We even saw the zoo. The very place we had been the day before. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.
















Note to self. Don't take the boys hiking when it is wicked hot outside. Unless I have earplugs. And a lot of chocolate.

*the begining of our summer vacation*

We had a huge trip planned for the summer.

It unfortunately revolved around a big baseball tournament in Omaha. Justin and I debated back and forth if we should still go because not only were we going to Omaha, we would hit Nauvoo, visit family in Wisconsin, see a couple MLB games, and finish it off seeing Mount Rushmore.

We decided Nick should go to support his team and we would hang back and start moving into our NEW HOUSE!

This has been a long time coming. We searched for over a year, had offers in on five different houses, lived in a couple apartments and even had a stint with the inlaws and we finally found it.

We love our house, we love our neighborhood and ward, and have never felt so welcome in a new neighborhood as we do here. We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing us with faith and patience that this home actually existed and that we have such a wonderful place to plant roots and watch our family grow.

The house had been updated quite a bit but there is still much we want to do. It is ideal for us since it is totally liveable but I have always wanted to remodel a home but we don't need to do it right now.

Here is our kitchen:


upstairs family room view one:


and view two:


computer room:


jack and jill bathroom:


our room view one:


and view two:


liam's room:


our awesome main floor bathroom:


stairs:


andrew's room:


downstairs family room:


laundry room:


and if you follow the hall from the laundry room there is Nick's room on the right and then a storage room. Directly across from the storage room is Luke's room, then a bathroom, and the utility room.

The boys are pretty excited too!


We didn't just start moving in, we did have some other fun too. Nick helped us over the weekend and then we dropped him off at his coach's house on Tuesday to head to Omaha.

While he was gone, we went swimming, ate at the Sizzler and saw the Avengers, made smores (twice) and visited the downtown library and the City Creek Center.

I love this summer already.