Eight is Great!

October was a great month.  Matthew turned 8 years old and got to celebrate in many ways!

He had his birthday party a little early, so he could have a swimming party at Nana’s and Grandpa’s pool.  It was tons of fun.

He and Dave did an official backpack and overnighter.  They hiked to Notch Lake, near Kamas, Utah.

He started Cub Scouts and loves it.  He got to participate in a flag retiring ceremony at his firs Pack meeting.  It was REALLY cool!  It was a first for the whole family.  He also got to make and shoot off his rockets and he had a really good launch.  He’s thinking about becoming a rocket scientist.

 

The ward campout was on his ACTUAL birthday and so he had the biggest birthday party EVER!

Matthew’s baptism was definitely the best part of being 8.  He was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on October 30, 2010.

Ali, Matthew and Dave               Sam, Matthew and Coleman

Mrs. Garner               Family fun!

Fall Sports. You name it, we did it!

Wow!  Matthew can really move and he as the sweat to prove it.

Matthew and Brittney were both valuable players on their teams this season.  Matthew is all action.  He is becoming very good friends with the boys on his team and LOVES it.  Soccer is his sport of choice for the moment.  Come to think of it, he loves whatever sport happens to be in season.  Brittney is a GREAT defensive player and really guards the goal well.  She was on a team with lots of friends too, which is half the fun.

Flag Football was a lot of fun for Matthew.  It was his first year and he enjoyed playing, Quarterback, Running Back, Receiver and line positions.  Making touchdowns were definitely the highlights of the season.

Lindsey decided to skip soccer this year and she cheered at Centennial Middle School.  She made lots of new friends and loved cheering.  We had fun watching her games.  She cheered for the football team and they went to the State playoffs and got 2nd place, so that made it even more exciting.

Lindsey and Abbie had their own “little sister” following.

It was a great year – no major injuries!

As soon as soccer and football ended, Matthew moved right on with Jr. Jazz basketball. It was really fun because there were lots of friends again.  It was Matthew’s first year and he really got the hang of it.  He made some points and he was a great defender.

Lindsey had tons of fun playing on our church’s young men/young women volleyball team.  It was really fun because they were good and won all of their games.

It is amazing that we survived August, September and October, but we did and had a ton of fun.  We even managed to get some fun family time at home.  The kids love playing Twister and I love watching it.  Dave is the official spinner and I am wondering if he cheats a little to make it more entertaining?

A Fabulous Fall Break in the San Juan Islands

We had a last minute get away to the San Juan Islands in Washington state and boy was it fun.  We were planning to just stay home and get caught up on some home projects, but we asked Nana and Grandpa if they would take us on their boat in Washington and Grandpa was more than happy to adjust his schedule.  We had so much fun.  The only down side was that it was too little time on the boat and too much time in the car (It is about a 17 hour drive).There really is no place on earth more beautiful.  It is sort of interesting that our 2 favorite places, Lake Powell and the San Juan Islands are so extremely different in climate.  They are both so beautiful and so many fun things to do.  We love to go on the tender and look for whales and explore on the different islands.

It was amazing, we saw a hump back whale, which is really unusual. 

We also had porpoises swim right along side the bow of the boat.

Friday Harbor is always a favorite.  This trip was our lucky trip.  We saw Popeye and everyone got a chance to feed her.  Popeye is a 1 eyed seal that has lived near the fish market in Friday Harbor for nearly 30 years.