Rock Star

Kaitlyn was invited to a birthday party last Friday, and she was supposed to dress as a ROCK STAR! Here is what we came up with... I thought she looked really cute. We originally were planning to get some temporary hair color, and streak her hair with some fun colors, but I never had the chance to get any... so she was a little concerned that she wouldn't look very Rockstarish, but I think she did, and she was really happy with how everything turned out.

They played Rock Band, watched the Hannah Montana movie, and had a great time :)

Little Buddies

The year that I was pregnant with Hayden, two of my sisters were also expecting. The best part is that we were all due within a month. Justice was born first, then 2 weeks later Sydnee came along, then finally 2 weeks after that Hayden arrived. Not only was that a fun summer with lots of baby showers and births (my mom was in heaven, I'm sure), but they had instant buddies! We wish Sydnee lived closer so we could get the three of them together, but Justice and Hayden are great friends. They will be in preschool together again starting next week and they (and their moms) can't wait! :) We decided to go pick up Justice and bring him over for some cousin fun. Hayden wanted him to bring over his back-hoe (we all know how much Hayden loves to dig in the dirt) but it rained the night before and the dirt was now mud... so I told them they'd have to dig inside. Well, what is there to dig in the house? BEANS! I dumped out a bag of dry beans, and they were entertained for the longest time!

Then they went outside for a little bit to watch some of the construction that is STILL going on near our house. (Gives me a bit of anxiety... it's EVERYWHERE, I tell you!) They weren't supposed to dig in the dirt outside, but it's like a magnet to Hayden, and before I knew it, they were digging! So I made them come inside, and told them that if they would clean up all the beans, we would make a treat. They were great little cleaning machines, so we headed upstairs to make Rice Krispie Treats!! They had fun pouring and stirring (and eating, of course!)

Thanks for coming to play, Justice. Hayden always loves to have you over. It was super fun!

Mr. Woodbadge

While Jared was in the bishopric, he was very much involved in the scouting program. Partly because he had to, and partly because he really learned to enjoy being with the scouts and helping them get the merit badges they need in order to receive their Eagle. Dad Stafford was very involved with scouts and every one of his sons (all 6) received their Eagle - so cool! So Jared had a great example growing up. He and the bishop he was serving with went to a big scout leader training called "Woodbadge." Apparently the "projects" and things you have to do in order to receive your Woodbadge award are fairly equivalent to doing an Eagle project... It took them a while, and of course they are no longer in the bishopric, but they finally received their awards at a recent court of honor. Good job, honey! We are proud of our scout, and look forward to you helping our little scouts as they get older :)

The funny thing is, now that he is no longer in the bishopric, he has been called to be the Young Men's president. So the scouting continues... he has several young men who will receive their Eagle Scout Award by December. The boys in our ward really like Jared, and he likes hanging out and working with them, and really wants to help them get those merit badges!

Let the Games Begin!

Well, soccer season is once again in full swing. This time, however, we have 4 kids playing. Yes, you read that right, we are officially crazy... but it's so fun. Jared is coaching both girls again. It's so great watching how well they are doing having the same coaches consistently season after season. Their teams are really doing well. The boys are having a blast playing. Hayden started out the season really strong. I was really expecting a just-barely-4-yr-old to be clueless and look more at his shadow and passing butterflies than at the ball, but we were pleasantly surprised by his focus. He really tried hard and got several good kicks in. (Don't worry, the next week he was a typical 4-yr-old... hanging upside down from the goal, doing summersaults, etc. But had a great time anyway.) Here are some shots from his very first soccer game!


He was very focused. He followed that ball and really tried his hardest. We were so excited when he got some kicks in!



It was great to see him having so much fun.


Of course, there were moments of boredom when he had to sit out. What was he supposed to do? I mean really! (Someday he'll really hate me for this one!)



Now, here are Bryson's pictures. Some from his first game, and some from his second. He LOVES soccer and playing with some of his friends.

He played pretty well. Got some great kicks, blocked a few goals. He does great!


The best part for B is having fun...

And of course, it would not be fair for me to post a slightly embarrassing picture of Hayden without doing the same for Bryson. But what are you supposed to do when the other team just doesn't get the ball down to your goal? A goalie can only wait so long, folks! So funny! And if you notice that he is missing a leg, it's because I had to act fast in order to capture the moment... therefore I didn't get his whole body in the frame. What a kid!

Hopefully next week I'll have some fun pictures of the girls in action. We have some conflicting games where the boys are playing at the same time as the girls, so it will be harder to get some pictures, but we'll do our best :)

First Day of School

Early Monday morning, three of our kids started school. Since they are in a charter school, they started three days earlier than the regular school district. They were so excited. Eryn started 6th grade... she gets to have a locker and has 6 different classes each day. Kaitlyn is in 4th grade this year, and it's sure to be an adventure. Bryson started 1st grade, and will be going all day this year. That's quite a change after 1/2 day kindergarten. Everyone had to get up quite early, since school starts at 8:00. The nice part is that they wear uniforms, so picking out an outfit is easy! We got there plenty early, and I was able to walk Bryson to class (after which he let me know that it was unnecessary). I really had a hard time leaving him, knowing he'd be there all day. You'd think I'd have that part down by now, since I've already gone through it twice before, but I don't. When I went to pick them up that afternoon, they all said that it was great, and they couldn't wait to go back the next day! Hooray for school.







And what were Hayden and I doing while the rest were gone? We babysat my new little niece. My sister had to go back to work (which was very hard for her) and we got to take care of Harlie. She was such a sweetie. Hayden kept wondering why she couldn't get down and crawl so she could play. I told him that she would be able to in a few months. He was excited to hold her and thought she was just the cutest!



And then we went outside to enjoy what's left of summer. Hayden LOVES playing in the water and getting all wet.

Hogle Zoo

We used to have a Family Zoo pass, and we went a lot, but honestly the last time I remember going to the zoo when right before I had Hayden (with Eryn's school class!) They have done SO much since I've been there. It is so nice! They have lots of really neat animal enclosures, and lots of fun animals to see... including a couple of babies! My favorite part, though, is seeing MY little animals and how much fun they have. We ended up getting another family pass, since they let us "re-new" even though it's been 4 years, and we got a great deal. They also gave us several passes to ride the carousel (which I did not know they had). We walked around and looked at everything we possibly could. It was really fun. The mother elephant was actually in labor while we were there, so they had her in the back. We can't wait to go again so we can see the new baby elephant. We were excited to be able to see the baby giraffe, though. So cute! Enjoy our slideshow of all the pictures we took (between Eryn and I - she was using one of my cameras, since hers wouldn't turn on even with new batteries. She took all the close-up animal shots, because the camera she used could zoom in really well).