Stop the World! I want to get off!!

Wow! Life is whizzing by at warp speed these days and I can't seem to get a handle on things. It seems like since we took vacation the first of August, I can't get caught up. Note to self, take vacation earlier in the summer...not that this was my fault. Both my brothers decided to get married in August, 3 weeks apart, one on the west coast, one on the east. Throw in school starting, football, two girls in soccer and the regular activities like piano, scouts and achievement days and I pretty much live in the car. I am so far behind in posting I'll likely never catch up. I hope to post more details later about each activity so I can remember, but we'll see.

First, we went to Washington (Seattle area) for my brother David's wedding. We had a wonderful trip that was just too short. We stopped in Oregon to visit family there and have a little fun. We went berry picking...which the kids LOVED. They didn't want to leave.Except for Brooklynn, who had more fun just playing in the dirt. We also spent a day in Tillamook enjoying cheese & ice cream. Then headed towards the coast for lunch and explored the Cape Meares Lighthouse and the Octopus Tree. It was a very cold, foggy day. It was a scene straight out of "Twilight". Which was good, since our planned trip to Forks, WA, wasn't going to pan out. It felt like we had a little taste of it. On the way home we tried to stop by the Roloff Farms in Hillsboro (from the TLC show "Little People, Big World") but it was closed for the season. Of course no trip to Grandma's would be complete without slip and sliding down the big hill!
After Oregon, we headed to my parent's house in Covington, WA for the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and Lauren and McKenna were two of the flower girls. We are very excited for David and his beautiful wife Angela.

We headed home with a week to get all of our school shopping done. School started on the 18th of August and we haven't stopped going since.

On the 28th I flew out to Georgia for my other brother Douglas' wedding. It was a fun trip and a nice break to get away from the daily SAHM routine. I haven't been away from my entire family in over 10 years! Really, I've never been without one kid at all times. Chris and I spent the night once in Park City, but picked the kids up the next morning. So about 12 hours has been the most. So it was a much needed break. Thanks Doug! Georgia and South Carolina were beautiful and I wish we had had more time to explore. The wedding was beautiful and we are excited for Doug and Ashley's new life together. Chris did great and the kids all survived. He even took them all camping for our ward campout!

So life is going by fast and I can't believe Fall is on it's way. The past few mornings have been cool and the grass dewy. We've had our swamp cooler off more than on and you can feel the change in the air. I admit, I'm not at all ready. The kids are already bugging me about Halloween costumes. The candy and decorations are out in the stores so I guess I'll have to get busy with that.

Tyler has been playing football since school started and had his first game on Tuesday. They lost, 0-13 I think, but it was a pre-season game and against the biggest team (34 players against our 14), and we learned a lot. He had a great sack and some great blocks and was happy about that. Tyler is playing Middle Linebacker on Defense and a Lineman on Offense. He is also the kick-off returner. This year has been tougher trying to balance school work and practices (they practice two hours a day, 4 times a week and have one game a week.)

Lauren has been playing soccer and has already had two games, both of which they won 8 or 9 to zero. She loves playing forward. She had a great play this last game (I missed it because I was helping at McKenna's game and off course we didn't have the camera). She brought the ball all the way down the field, did some zig zagging and faked her defenders out and scored a goal. She is a great little player. She was also chosen this week (1 of 10 from her school) to broadcast a local kids news program. She was pretty nervous but I think she did fine.
The clip is just of her segment, the whole program can be found here. (She's the last one with a book review)

McKenna is also playing soccer and doing great. She scored about 3 goals in her first game and 5 in her second. I think she lost both games but is having a blast. I don't think she cares about the score (they don't keep track anyway), just as long as she scores a goal. She plays with a few other girls from our ward and school. They are the cutest things ever! I don't think we've taken any pictures yet of her game. We are the assistant coaches and so Chris and I trade off so the other can watch Lauren's game. They play at the same time.

Brooklynn...poor girl just gets lost in the hustle and bustle. I think she is enjoying her free time in the mornings to do whatever she wants. We tried starting to potty train when school started, but things are just way too busy and she has no interest at all. She'll sit on the potty, but doesn't care in the least about trying. We'll try harder when things slow down a bit. Besides that, I'm really bad at potty training.

So that is our life in a nutshell right now. I finally swept, mopped and vacuumed all of my floors yesterday and lightly cleaned the bathroom, for the first time in FOREVER. I can't believe it's been so long. I actually forgot that I kind of enjoy cleaning. I'm just never home to do it. Feeding my family and keeping enough clothes clean for every one is about all I can manage right now. Maybe some day I'll catch up. :0)