Tal's Soccer Debut

Tal couldn't have had a nicer team of boys for his first stint in soccer. At 9-years old he was about 5 years behind everyone else. Soccer in Bartlett is like Basketball in Indiana. Bartlett Parks and Rec invented Micro-soccer. Which starts 3-year olds out on tiny fields with only three kids per team--a goaly and two "runners." That's the kind of team Jack was on. It gets progressively bigger from there. Tal's team had 9 Mormons out of the 11 players. Pretty amazing considering each of them were the only Mormon's in their classes. It was nice for Tal to play with his favorite friend Kaleb Schauerhammer, and Kaleb's Dad was the assistant coach. The head coach, Loren Smith, was also a good friend of ours. Overall a learning experience.

Because Moving isn't Hard enough

This is the monster project we took on the last month before we moved. Really Clint did it all. All I did was take care of the kids while he did this enormous project (after working 12 hours at the base). We had 2 unfinished rooms upstairs. and a realtor told us that a house of our size would be much easier to sell with a bonus room. The room would tip the house over 3,000 feet as well, raising the price. We bought the house thinking it was already 3,400 feet but that's a painful story we won't repeat.

Clint did most of the work himself. He put down a second layer of subfloor--and two where there had been none. He framed it up. We hired Jose and friends to do the drywall. We also got a good deal on the HVAC because Clint worked along side the installer. And because of city codes, we hired the electrical work out as well. Then Clint primed and painted and did a really beautiful job trimming. He was most proud of the two 1/2 access doors into the attic spaces. Our amazing friend Ben helped with the framing. Ben and Joey both put in about 30 hours the last week before the move helping us repaint the entire house. They had to work really hard to get rid of usI wish I had picture of the complete finished project with the trim and carpet in place, but at the time the camera was only working on every other Thursdays when it was a full moon. It's now dead completely.

Jack had a Birthday, Shout, Hooray!

Jack Graduates (for the first time)

I'm not a fan of matriculation for every single baby step of education, but I have to say I really was a fan of this darling pre-school at the Singleton Community Center in Bartlett, Tennessee. It was a 1940s building, just like the building where I attended Kindergarten through 9th grade in Huntsville, Utah. But old as it was, the floors always sparkled with a fresh coat of wax and the walls always had a fresh coat of paint. I loved that old building.

At the front of the line here is Jacks best guy pal, Mathew, who also lived in our neighborhood. Jack is second in line.

Here is Miss Sue. Every day I heard all about what "My teacher told me..." Jack hung on every word. She had a cocker spaniel "mascot" in the class for the kids to love. I think this is where Jack's love of animals was really nurtured and how it came that he begged and begged for a pet...but you've heard that story. I loved Miss Sue because she was never shocked by anything that the kids did. She really got them and just led them along.

Jack said, "I'm ready for Kindergarten because I know how to do crafts."

Jack's friend Macy. A lot of the little girls there had crushes on Jack. Or so their moms told me.

Jacks very best friend from Memphis, Anya Brown. She has a pet bird named "Jack."

Our family, not posing for a family picture.

Mother's Day Breakfast

Clint really knows how to do it up right!

Soccer and other Fantasies

"Jack, you're supposed to be playing soccer, not airbending."
"Oh, I got confused."

Rare Swimming Footage

This was our first swim of 2010. It was April 10th--notice the wet suits. These are not great photos, but these and two photos from 2009 are the only ones we have of the boys in the pool. We were always afraid of the camera going in the water like it did last year. In fact, the camera has never been the same since then and even new batteries will only last for one photo session. That is why new posts have become somewhat scarce. Oh yeah, and we moved across the country with four boys and started a new job. Stay tuned, we will eventually get caught up.

Spring in Memphis

I had to take more pictures of the Memphis Spring. It is the most amazing season I've ever experienced. It goes on and on for months with more and more gorgeous surprises. Every four days a new kind of flower or tree blooms all over Memphis. This picture does not do this pink justice. It was an intense fluorescent violet pink.

This pretty flower draped over the trees is so deceptively pretty. But if you pull back... You'll see that it is a kudzu vine, or the "vine that ate the South." This intruder grows a foot a day and puts down 12-foot roots, making it almost impossible to remove. It causes all kinds of havoc on power lines.

Here's a wide shot of a Dogwood tree. They are so lacy--it's like the blossoms align themselves in multiple horizontal planes--it's hard to keep your eye on the road when you're driving by!

There is a legend of the dogwood, that its leaves represent the Crucifixion. The four petals resemble the cross, and there is a blood red spot in the outside edge of each petal representing where Christ bled from his crown of thorns and the nails in his hands and feet. These trees always bloom around Easter time.

Roses in our backyard.

Another rose bush or it may be a member of the azalea family, also in our backyard.

About the time all the flowers are finishing blooming there is a 24-hour period in which ALL the trees go from naked to full-leaf. It blew my mind to see that full-canopy materialize so suddenly and leaf packets were strewn all over the ground everywhere.

A Long time ago...Tal turned 9

The blog is sorely out of date. We left off somewhere around Easter...And about that same time, April 3rd to be exact, Talmage turned 9. It broke my heart actually, because Clint had to point out "He's half grown!" Say it is not so. I'm so glad Talmage is the oldest of our boys. He has such a sensitive, sweet heart and he thinks deeply. He prays nearly every day that "the brothers will be nicer to each other." And we're getting there, ever so slowly...I think...I hope! For his birthday we had breakfast on couch, presents, a night of cake, and later a trip to Lazertron with Dad, Cole and his best friend Kaleb Schauerhamer.

Those durn numbers!

I found this in a box I unpacked. It made me giggle. What numbers do you want to blow up?

Cruising the Miss-i-sip

We went on a Mississippi cruise out of Memphis. The guide was awesome. He had history from 200 years ago and two weeks ago. I got a better feeling for the history of Memphis. Here's a picture of our family. Is it just me or are all our boys starting to look the same size?

Jack and Tal

At a recent Family Home Evening. I asked the boys what would make them happy. Jack replied,"That our family would be forever and that all cats would die." So sweet and so savage in the same sentence. Please remember that an enemy of rats is an enemy of Jack. Jack's future ambitions are solid. When he grows up he's going to be a "Rat Protector." Talmage's ambitions are equally set in stone. He's going to be a Herpetologist--he's a lover of snakes, which, as you know, love to eat rats. Can you imagine the arguments? Yeah.