First Season of Soccer

This past September, Paul not only started Preschool but also his first season of soccer. His team was made up of 3 and 4-year-olds and the games are pretty interesting to watch. It's pretty chaotic out there and the coach/parents are yelling at the kids to get them to run in the right direction. Paul scored one goal this season and we were so proud of him! He usually played most of the first half and then after the half-time snack was given it was hard to get him away from the snack. I think I will have to have my husband be the coach next time. I could tell he really wanted to be the coach. During the first practice I caught him trying to take over as coach. The kids were having a hard time focusing on the drill and Paul was kicking the ball to different players trying to get everyone motivated to play. I had to pull him aside and tell him to let the coach handle it. It made me laugh. There is no one I know that loves the game more than my husband.

First Day of Preschool

We moved to Salt Lake at the end July which did not give me a lot of time to sign up Lil Paul for Preschool. I submitted the paperwork right away but all the 3-year-old programs were full. We put our names on several waiting lists and about a week before school started, we got into a school! I got to go with him to his first day of school. I guess we were both excited because we were the first ones there. Here is Paul waiting for his class to start.

Paul loves his teacher and the classroom. Here he is with his name collar on.

The kids have a spot on a rug that they are to sit on. Here is Paul on his circle.

The theme of the class is monkeys and the kids are the teacher's monkeys. Here is Paul putting his monkey on the board.

We had such a fun time at school. Paul had been asking me to go to school forever and finally he gets to go. When I dropped him off on the second day he eagerly went and didn't even look back to say goodbye. I had to walk over to him and force him to say goodbye to me. I guess he's a big boy now. He really loves school and his teacher always tells me how well behaved he is. He is always the first one to clean up and sit down on his circle. Yeah who knew.

Yellowstone National Park

We decided to make a trip to Yellowstone National Park for the Labor Day Weekend. Paul was given the job of booking us a hotel through Priceline. Well lets just say he will never have this job again. We ended up booking a hotel in Bozeman which is about an hour and 20 minutes from the north side of the park. I was not happy about this as Paige hates being in the car and unnecessary time in the car is not pleasant. It actually ended up being okay and Paige had her moments but overall did pretty well in the car. This trip was one of the most fun our family has ever had together. We started the trip at Old Faithful Geyser.

Lil Paul at Old Faithful

Lil Paul, Mom and Paige at Old Faithful. This is how we got Paige to take naps during the trip.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Grand Prismatic Spring. This was my favorite part of the park.

Dad and Paige at the Grand Prismatic Spring

Mom and Paul at the Excelsior Geyser

Paul and the Spasm Geyser

The highlight of the trip was when we encountered this Bison on the road. We stopped when we saw him walking straight toward us. I was freaking out thinking maybe he would ram into our car but he just walked right past us. I may have peed my pants just a little bit as he was walking past.

Here he is walking past our car.

Having lunch in the trunk

Paul at the Artists Mud Pots. Paul had the most fun running around here. There's nothing like bubbling mud.

Paul again at the Mud Pots.

Paul, Mom and Paige (napping) at the Mud Pots

Paige woke up when it was time to walk back to the car

At the Norris Basin Geyser

At the Dragon's Mouth Spring

Mom and Paige at the Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Paul and Paige taking a break at the Mammoth Hot Springs

Poor Paige was so tired during this trek

Kids were tired after touring the Mammoth Hot Springs and Dad had to carry them both back to the car

Paige fought sleeping in the car for most of the trip but couldn't fight sleep on 2 occasions. Here is one of those times.

Paul spent most of the car rides trading between Mom and Dad's Iphones.

Annual Cabin Trip

Every year we make an annual trip to Paul's family cabin in Idaho over the Labor Day Weekend. However, due to multiple family members starting school we opted to have the trip the last week in July. I was a little nervous because I was driving there alone with the kids and those of you that know my kids know that they HATE the car. It took Paul 3 years to be okay in the car and he is pretty good now. Paige, is a whole other story. She still hates it. Fortunately, the kids did pretty well on this trip. Here is a picture of Paul keeping himself busy/entertained on the ride.

We have such a fun relaxing time at the cabin and this year was no exception. Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures this year maybe because I was relaxing too much. The mornings were spent doing Insanity workouts, the days were spent playing in the lake and on the boat and the evenings were spent around a campfire.

Paige and Addy relaxing in the hammock

Giant marshmallows

Roasting marshmallows

Ben helping Paul eat a smore

Aunt Edee reading books to the kids at night

Paige playing in the lake

Kids helping dad drive the boat

Paul's first time tubing

The Proctor Family on the dock

Our finished house

After 4 years of house remodeling, we finally finished our house! The above two pictures are the BEFORE pictures of the house. I have some interior pictures of the house somewhere but had a hard time locating them. Everything inside and out was outdated and run down when we first moved in.

Below are the AFTER shots of our house completed. After all was said and done we completely remodeled the kitchen and bathroom, put in hard wood floors, painted, put in new light fixtures and doors, added a nook area and a master bathroom and a deck that wrapped around the front of the house. We are really happy with the way things turned out. Unfortunately, Paul got offered a job in Salt Lake City we didn't feel we could turn down and we don't get to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We put our house on the market for a few months but were unable to get an offer we felt was high enough for the amount of money/work that went into the house. In the end, we rented out our house to a nice family and are currently renting a house in Salt Lake as of mid-July. We are happy to be in Utah but really miss California especially our wonderful friends.