May

Not only are we in soccer full swing, but we are also in the stages of figuring out what to do with Weston for next year.  His coach, Tyler Twitchell has decided not to coach anymore and so the team is disbanding.  Several of the players are "done", one is moving, and a few are ready to move on to bigger and better teams.  Including Weston.  There are three basics levels of soccer: Recreation, Alliance, and Competition.  In recreation, coaches are volunteer (so it is cheap), you play just with other rec teams within the club, you don't "move up", etc. In alliance, coaches are also volunteer, but the cost is more because you play with other alliance or comp teams in different clubs, and you could travel around.  Competition is much more expensive because coaches are paid, you play with other comp teams in several clubs, and you can even travel out of state.  We looked into different Alliance teams but didn't seem to find any we liked--no good coaches or good fit for Weston.  Then we found out that our neighbor is a coach of a comp team in the Utah Glory Club.  There are three or four kids on the team that he knows already and the practices are just down the road.  The best part is that the coach is a great guy and will treat the team well and help them to be good soccer players and GOOD kids (just like our previous coach, who we loved)!  He makes sure they don't practice during Family Night or scouts.  Weston tried out last week and made it!  He is so excited to be a part of a new team. 

Brennan and Aidan have loved soccer this season as well.  Brennan's friend Luke is on his team and they have had a fun time playing together.  Brennan has improved so much and loves to play "world cup" with all the neighbor friends.  Aidan is one of the star players on his team and at the last game scored three of the four goals for his team! 

Nearing the end of school, so the kids are doing quite a bit of testing.  And with the evening being brighter, it is getting hard to get through these last few weeks of school.  It has been a very cool spring with lots of rain (great since we didn't get much snow in the mountains), but now the sun is starting to shine and we are digging our hands into the soil and doing some fun gardening, playing outside with friends, and enjoying the sunshine.  I even went with Elise and my sister in law, Liz to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving point.

Elise is preparing for kindergarten at preschool and at home.  She has been reading in the "How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" and is doing very well.  She is also almost done with her online preschool, UPSTART.  I think she loves learning how to read and write because she is always asking me to help her write notes to her friends.  She has been playing quite a bit with a friend from Preschool, Ellee and they are marvelous friends. 

Scott's sister Lauren came to visit so we got to do some fun things together and with the Daw family.  Weston babysat William (he is so good with kids!) and Elise got to play with Olivia.  We took a trip to the curiosity museum together and the kids had a blast.  I also had an Arbonne party for Lauren while she was here, which ended up being a fun girls night.  Then was the big day: Grandma Bea Memorial Breakfast!  We were worried about the weather, and with good reason.  It was too cold to hold the breakfast outside, so we moved it to the church.  Still fine to run our mile, though.  All the kids either biked or ran, or both, a mile (three times around our "horseshoe") and then they were ready to chow down.  I had fortunately planned for bad weather and reserved the church.  It was a great place to hold it since we could eat in one side of the gym, close the curtain and let the kids play on the other side.  I made a fancy French toast with strawberries and whip cream.  Not necessarily good for you, but DELICIOUS.  The theme was around watermelon (the invite, we ate it... not much of a theme), but I did fine these fun rice crispy treats that were like watermelons.  It was a fun success. 

We didn't do much for Memorial Day except gardening and garage cleaning (sound familiar?).  Scott has been working hard preparing the basement for drywall.  He finished all the framing, cleaned it out, etc.  We are getting to the point where we want this to be over with!  But, it is moving along and hopefully by the end of the summer it will be done!