Go Bobcats!!!

So soccer season is under way. Ryan is coaching Peanut #1's U8 soccer team and we had our opening day games yesterday! Our team is filled with boys who go to the same elementary school and I have to say how fun that is! For the past two years we enjoyed playing on a different team but noticed that most of the players all went to the same elementary school and Ryan decided he wanted to form a team of Big D's schoolmates.

The morning game went well, despite our team losing 4-2! Ryan was impressed with how well the kids played and after 2 years of playing soccer, Big D scored his first goal!!!!!

He was so thrilled and has improved as a player. After all, his first years as a soccer player consisted of him running up and down the field with no interest of coming near the ball. Yesterday that boy was playing forward and he was doing so very good. Aggressive, fast, and accurate with his kicking! The team we played against just so happened to be the team we were on last year and Big D's past coach (Angela) came up to him after the game and told him how impressed she was!

We were lucky enough (note the sarcasm) to have two games on the same day and the second game was a totally different game. The boys were hot and despite the heat we won that game 2-0. I have a feeling this soccer season will be a fun one.

State Fair

Each year we go to the CA State Fair that is held here in Sacramento. It is fun to see the animals, eat cotton candy and funnel cakes, and my favorite part - people watching. It is here at the state fair where I have learned that it truly takes all kinds to make the world go round!

 

Well we enjoyed our night of cows, pigs, and their little babies. We watched a show of divers do amazing stunts off of platforms as high as 80ft. We ate fair food and enjoyed chocolate dipped frozen bananas. Our evening ended with a few rides! It was fun!

****************UPDATE**********************

I'm sorry to disappoint, but I do not have any pictures of random people. Although we saw some interesting people, I just didn't feel right about taking pictures of them. So you will have to paint your own pictures! ;-)

Thank you

Many thanks to all of your great suggestions and ideas on school lunches. You have helped to make that task a lot less scary for me! You are so creative and I am grateful to have friends like you!!!!

FHE - Obedience

We've been having a slight issue of disobedience in our family, nothing major, but Ryan and I have been praying for ways to address the issue in a positive way. So as I was deciding what to discuss at FHE, Noah popped into my mind.

For our FHE this week I used GAK (Gospel Art Kit) pictures #102 and #102. The great thing about this kit is that on the back is the story and the scripture references. So I just paraphrased what was written there and asked questions that more specifically address the needs of our family! I think it was a good lesson. If we would have had time for a game I would have played "Simon Says" and we would have made a yummy treat! 

GAK #102 Building the Ark (The following info is on the back of the picture you see above)

Genesis 67; Moses 8
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Genesis 6:22


During a time when almost everyone on the earth was wicked, the Lord called Noah to teach people the gospel. Noah told them to repent and be baptized or they would be destroyed by floods, but the people would not listen. Some of them were so angry with Noah that they wanted to kill him, but the Lord protected him. (See Genesis 6:5; Moses 8:1826.)

When the people would not repent, the Lord told Noah that He would "bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh" (Genesis 6:17). To protect Noah and his family from this great flood, the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark. The ark was to have three levels, many rooms, a window on the top, and a door in the side. Noah was to use pitch, or tar, to make the ark watertight, and the ark would be about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. (See Genesis 6:1416.)

Noah and his sons built the ark according to the Lord's instructions (see Genesis 6:22; Genesis 7:5). The Lord told them to take at least one male and one female "of every living thing of all flesh" (Genesis 6:19). They also had to take food for the animals and for themselves (see Genesis 6:21).

When the ark was finished and everything was ready, Noah and his family boarded the ark along with the animals (see Genesis 7:7). Noah was now 600 years old, and the flood waters were about to come upon the earth (see Genesis 7:6). Noah had obeyed the Lord in preaching the gospel, building the ark, and gathering the animals.
Summary

Noah and his family were righteous persons who lived at a time when nearly everyone on the earth was wicked. The Lord called Noah to teach the gospel to the people. Noah warned them that if they did not repent, floods would come to destroy them. When the people would not repent, the Lord told Noah to build an ark to protect his family and at least two of every animal during the Flood. Noah obeyed, and when the Flood came Noah's family and the animals were safe aboard the ark.

Artist, Harry Anderson

© 2002 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA

GAK #103 Noah and the Ark with Animals (The following info is on the back of the picture you see above) 

Genesis 6:1221; Genesis 7:211; Genesis 8
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. Genesis 7:9


Because of the wickedness of the people during Noah's time, God caused a flood to cover the entire earth with water. Noah and his family were righteous, so God spared their lives. He commanded Noah to build an ark so they would not drown. He also commanded Noah to save the animals so that they would not be destroyed. (See Genesis 6:1219.)

Noah built an ark big enough to take at least two of every animal on board. He was commanded, "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female ... and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 7:23, Genesis 7:8).

Noah and his family lived on the ark with the animals for over a year (see Genesis 7:11; Genesis 8:14). When the earth had recovered from the Flood, Noah brought the animals out of the ark so they could "be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth" (Genesis 8:17).
Summary

Because of the righteousness of Noah and his family, the Lord told Noah to build an ark so that his family would be safe during the flooding of the earth. The Lord also commanded Noah to gather each type of animal, male and female, so that they would not be destroyed. All kinds of animals, birds, and creeping things went into the ark. The rains and floods lasted many days. When the water had gone down and the land was dry again, Noah brought the animals out of the ark to multiply upon the earth.

Artist, Clark Kelley Price

© 2002 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA

Dallin's 1st day of 1st grade

I have a first grader!!!! With a mix of emotions my oldest started his 2nd year of school (he did have one year of preschool before elementary). We are excited to start the new year and look forward to getting to know his teacher, Mr.Barnes, who just started at Cowan (he has been teaching for 10 years at another school).

(p.s. What's up with this new picture uploader? I wish I could move the pictures around or add words under my pictures, but it won't let me. Does anyone have any tips?)

Mamma Mia

Last Thursday was a girl's night out to see Mamma Mia and it was so great! Funny, beautiful singing, and good company!

Thank you Marci, Melissa, Leslie, and Chrissy for such a great time! 

I need your help!!!

Okay - I need your help!!! What kind of sack lunches do you provide for your school age kids? Cooking and preparing food is not a strength of mine so please pass along your tips for lunches (including drinks, treats, and snacks) that will appeal to a 6 year old and hold up for a few hours in an insulated lunch bag!

I already have typed up a bunch of little messages for Big D so that he has one each day (I hope to encourage him to read them - he does not think he needs to read at all), but I am seriously lacking for ideas on the food front. All your tips will help! Thanks!

I know, I know....

...you've been wondering where your little orange peanut has been!

Busy - that's for sure!!!

Let's see:

July 25-26 - I enjoyed an overnight High Adventure activity with the young women. We were at Granite Arches Indoor Climbing Facility and it was a blast!

July 26 - Youth dance at the Cannery (we had the dance in the parking lot). It was so much fun and I wish I would have brought my camera!!!! You know I was dancing and having a great time!


July 27 - Big D created a fun game that is played with a ton of cups set up on two sides of a table. There is one player on each end and they take turns bouncing the ball across to the other side in hopes of making it in one of the cups. If you make it in the cup, you get to remove that from the table. The first one with no cups (their cups are opposite them, in front of the other player) on the table wins! Very fun!

July 28, July 30, and August 1 - Big D participated in the Kid Olympics hosted by my friends 2 oldest children! I was very impressed with how organized they were! So professional and fun!


Aug 1 - We hosted the Elders Quorum party at our house (guess that's what happens when your husband is the Elders Quorum President). Those that came had a fun time playing Outburst, boxing each other on the Wii, bowling, and laughing, hard!

Random picture of Little C! Isn't he cute! He's holding a magnifying glass to his face!

Soooo cute!

The Henry's getting ready to box each other!

Aug 2 - Went to a baby shower for a friend! She is so beautiful and so wonderful at pregnancy. Maybe she can be my surrogate?

Aug 3 - I was asked to be a zip code supervisor for the protect marriage campaign - Proposition 8 (protectmarriage.com). That is going to keep me real busy until November!!!!

Aug 4 - The boys and I left for our family vacation to beautiful, and cold, Fort Bragg, CA. After a 4 hour drive we arrived at our cute little cottage!

Aug 5 - All aboard!!!! Little C was very excited to be on the Skunk Train! We took a 4 hour ride into the Redwood Forest. Wow those are some big trees! Big D kept asking what state we were in. We explained several times that we were still in CA just in a different city. He's so use to our vacations out of the country (to warm destinations) and our own city being so dang hot that he couldn't believe there was some where so cold in CA. We also enjoyed a fun game of UNO.

Aug 6 - We searched the tide pools at MacKerricher State Park, watched Carson climb a tall rock (I 'bout had a heart attack), skipped rocks into the ocean, drove to Mendocino, saw the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, ate dinner at a yummy restaurant in Fort Bragg, and watched movies in bed!

This is a small eel that Little C found!

Aug 7 - Drove home. It was a fun vacation, but seriously, anyone have any ideas on how to get a small 2 1/2 year old to stop screaming!!!!! He does this all day long and I am running out of ideas!!!!!!

Well - that's what I've been up to, can't wait to check out everyone's blogs and see what you've been doing.

Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite summer memory has been!