Tavin's First Talk In Primary

I have a family here on earth
My family is made up of Mom, Dad, Katie, and Tavin (hold up picture and have him tell who is in it)
Heavenly Father gave me a family so that I could learn to love, to be kind, to share, and learn about him
They are so good to me-I love to read books with mommy, and play marbles with daddy, and run races with Katie....
We also do things like have family home evening
Say prayers together, read scriptures
Give good night kisses, and try to help others.
These things help us stay close to our Heavenly Father so one day we can return to him
I want to share my life with them through all eternity and we can do this through Heavenly Father 's plan for us.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

He did a great job! And wasn't even scared or anything-he seems to like being in the spotlight-he must have gotten that from Dan cause it certainly isn't from me:)

Sadly Soccer Has Come To An End

We are sad that last Thursday marked the last game of the soccer season. Tavin has loved every minute of playing in every game. I am so proud of him! We will definitely be putting him on a team again next year. The girl standing in back of him is Leah and he absolutely adores her! They are the same height, age, and similar in personality. He asks me all the time if she can come and play with him...we will have to have her over to play. They always have their arm around each other or are hugging or laughing at one another:) It is very cute.

Pioneer Day Fun!

So the best thing about living in a little town is all the activities and events that are family oriented...this past weekend we had cousins, grandma fluffies, and grandpa Bob here to visit and take part in the Famous Saint Anthony Pioneer Day celebration. People come from all over to attend the events held every year during this weekend in July.

We all had a blast at the play-this year it was Tom Sawyer (Madison and Aidan were glued to the stage-other than the lovey dovey scene-Aidan hid his face for that part) They came away singing songs from it:) We all attended the Rodeo. My Favorite part has to be watching the kids ride the calves-Tavin wanted to do it but he isn't old enough yet...in a few years.

The cousins also slept in a tent in the back yard with Uncle Dan, got to go to the new water park close to our house, and watched a matinee showing of Kung Fu Panda 2. One of the Highlights was the parade on Saturday Morning. The kids had fun watching all the floats and catching candy. They came away with quite the stash. If I let them, Katie and Tavin would eat the candy they collected every meal!

Katie sat safely in Grandma Fluffies lap-I was just so happy she didn't throw a fit from all the noise-lately she has been quite skiddish about loud noises and big trucks. There were plenty of both-but she made it through as long as someone was holding her. The best was the free chocolate milk they give out every year:)

Tavin is already asking for his cousins and when they will come and visit again-hint hint hint sisters:) We love our family. Thanks for coming to visit!

Dog Days Of Summer

Tavin has become a water baby and as long as he has his "jacket on" he is good to go! It doesn't matter how cold the water is-he is in it. Katie on the other hand-won't touch it with her pinky toe if it is anything colder than bath water! She will literally climb up your body when you are trying to help her get in:) So on this particular day, she opted to just watch and eat some licorice of course! But oh she is such a cute little sun bather in this swim suit.....

Enjoying the New Space

I wondered where my kids had gone to when things got quiet around the house-they had decided to try out the new shower-break it in for Dan and me:) Actually I thought it was pretty cute-Tavin was reading books to Katie and Dora. We read three books every afternoon before nap time and 3 books before bed time at night so he has most of our books memorized. He even does it in the same kind of voices that I do it in:)

Tavin has been saying the cutest things lately-always when I need a good laugh. The other day he did poop and pointed out that it was an ice cream poop....when I asked him what that meant-he told me to look in the toilet-I did and-my gosh- it was an ice cream poop-shaped just like a soft serve ice cream swirled to the top:) (Sorry if this is a little graphic for some!)

Since we have been potty training lately-we have spent lots of time in the bathroom-another instance-he wasn't able to get his pee to come out: "mom why isn't my pee coming out?" Mom: "It just isn't ready yet I guess..." Tavin:Oh does it still have to get dress?" I busted up laughing at this point because he put two and two together...when i say lets get ready to go out-I usually mean -let's get dressed and brush our hair and teeth so we can go run errands or go to the park, etc. So he applied this meaning to his pee as well:)

We were in Subway and there was a table full of police officers-while Dan and I waited in line-Tavin decided to go and talk to them-I heard bits and pieces of the conversation: "Hi my name is Tavin....are you police men? .....I am going to go swimming with my grandma today......OK well bye... make sure and go catch the bad guys so they won't hurt anyone!" :)

We were attending a family reunion on Dan's side of the family and one of the uncles there had a bit of a belly, I saw Tavin staring at him for a while and then all of the sudden he went up to him and pointed at his stomach..."Are you going to have a baby??" I almost died! Kids can be a little too honest sometimes. Luckily the Uncle just laughed and said "nope I am just fat"and they both laughed together. Maybe I should have a talk with Tavin about who has babies and who doesn't....as well as things we should ask and things we should keep to ourselves:)

New Master Bath

It is kind of hard to picture all these separate photos all together as one-but if you can-you will imagine something really cute and updated-a much needed improvement from what we started with. I am so excited to finally have use of the second bathroom in our home now. Three years ago we ripped out the original pieces-we thought we would get right on the remodeling-silly us! Maybe I should have a "bathroom warming" party anyone want to join me-might be a tight squeeze though:) Our house is one step closer to being done. Only 2 more rooms to go-Kitchen, here we come. The best part: when we have guests over-there won't be a waiting line for the bathroom!

Proud To Be An American!

Hiking to a waterfall in the canyon-my wonderful sisters and Katie and I...Katie not happy to be close to the waterfall!

Katie opted to stay in the house once the fireworks started-she still isn't a fan of all the noise. But for this picture she was sitting so pretty with Aunt Kimberly.

Check out where Tavin's sparkler is in the picture above:)

We spent fourth of July Weekend in UT with my family. Our trip consisted of hiking, eating yummy hot dogs and marshmallows-Kimberly is the best at roasting them! Katie did not like the waterfall that we hiked too-the noise scared her( thus the unhappy girls' picture at the top) but she LOVED the marshmallows and got it all over her hands and face. Right after, she wanted to be like the boy cousins and play in the woods-picking leaves and rocks up with her marshmallow hands....hmmm that didn't work so well-when she wanted to let go of those rocks and leaves, they stuck! It was really funny watching her try to shake them off!

I was so happy when Tavin actually enjoyed the fireworks this year. In the past he was less than enthusiastic about the loud popping noises, whistling sounds, and colors that shot in the air. This year he was all for it! Once one finished-he was up clapping his hands and asking for the next one! He was so excited for the explosions that he could hardly contain himself and sit in his little chair.....such a boy:)

Dan almost gave my mom a heart attack with bottle rockets-but miraculously no one got hurt! And uncle Kenny splurged a little to get the big guns-the aerials-for us! My favorite was the one that went off high in the sky and dropped a parachute man! How cool is that! Well I thought it was pretty cool. And of course we had to do sparklers and dance around!

The highlight of the weekend was baby Eli's blessing-he is such a sweet little guy and I know he has a giant spirit in that tiny little body of his. It was a fight to get him here but he is such a blessing to our family. I know he will do amazing things in this life-and Seth gave a beautiful blessing stating just that.

And last of all, I am proud to be an American! When Dan and I got married-the sealer wanted us to recognize how lucky we were to both be born in this choice land-not everyone has the opportunity to be in a place of freedom-some die trying to gain that freedom that I was handed when I was born. I am grateful for those who fought and are still fighting for me to have that freedom-especially the freedom of Religion.

"We claim the privilege of worshipping the All Mighty God and allow all men the same privilege-let them worship how, where, and what they may."

More Soccer Fun!

Katie watching the intense soccer game:)

Tavin Sharing his drink with his team Getting in on the action!

Hanging out with the flower picking girls!

A Side Note: Tavin is now pretty much potty trained. My advise to those who have boys yet to be potty trained-WAIT! We tried to potty train Tavin a couple months back and he just was not into it. So we decided to wait a couple months and give it a try-the second time around he was ready. If you try to potty train too early all you end up doing is pulling your hair out and cleaning a lot of underwear and carpet!!

There are times when I wish he still had a diaper on so I could just tell him to pee his pants-such a time would be at his soccer game when all there is-is a stinky porta potty to go in!

He was very excited when he came home from watching college kids launch rockets they had made-the launch site was in a nice grassy field-what wasn't so nice was there wasnt any bathrooms around. He told Dan he had to go potty and Dan said-well-there are some weeds over there-that will have to do as your potty right now. He told Deedra's roommates all about it! "Daddy let me pee in the weeds!"

Soccer Mania!

Tavin Celebrating after he made his second goal

Tavin doing his best kicking:)

Our handsome soccer player

We signed Tavin up for soccer this year-I know he is only three but we figured he could try it out and see if he really likes it. If anything he would learn the rules of the game-at least the gist of how soccer is played-and make some friends while doing it. I have to admit I also wanted to sign him up for the comical aspect of it-3 to 4 year old kids running around-it is going to be funny!

Don't worry they didn't let me down: The teams consist of both boys and girls-when the girls get bored they will go sit in a little circle and pick grass or flowers, some of them are talented acrobats that preform somersaults and cartwheels for their audience. The boys with try and climb the goal posts or lay down in front of the ball if worst comes to worst. Most are just there for the treats they get after the game is over. The referee spends most of his time running after the kids that continue to run out of bounds and on to the other fields after he blows his whistle.

The first game we played-the only goal we scored was in the other team's goal-but the kid who scored it was so excited that we cheered him on anyway! Tavin actually surprised me-I didn't think that he would have it in him/or have the attention span-to run for the full hour long game-but he does! He runs his heart out and bed time has become easier since he comes home exhausted:) He has actually been asking me lately if he can lay down and go to sleep-hmmm that is a nice change for once.

He also has proven that he can stick up for himself-a kid pushed him down the other day and he got right back up and bopped him on the head saying: "Don't you push me down!" He is proud to have his dad as the coach of his team-and Dan does a good job helping the less aggressive team players get a chance by holding their hands and running/sometimes dragging them along:)

I am proud to announce that so far Tavin has made 2 goals! The first time he scored he stood in the middle of the field and raised his hands in the air screaming to me: "Mom I won, I won!" I was so happy that he wanted to tell me first-not his team or the spectators but me-his mom:) I felt important and very proud. He is also very loving to his team members-a lot of his teammates and the other team members are from story time at our library or in his Sun Beam Class at church. He makes sure to hug them and help them if they fall down. What a handsome and courteous young man he is:) The thing that I love most about him is his energy and excitement-it is contagious to all those he is around. A person can't but help to smile when watching him.

He also shares with his teammates: when one of this team members stated that his mommy forgot to bring him a drink-Tavin was more than willing to share-they just passed the drink around-building team togetherness and camaraderie I guess:)

Just a funny statement I heard from one of the girls today: So where is the dungeon? she asked her coach-the coach points to the opposite team's goal. And where is my castle she says....the coach points to their teams goal- OK I will bring my ball to my castle! the girl says determined! A good way to teach little girls the basics of soccer:)