A Wonderful Visit

Although our trip to Cincinnati was a short visit, it was packed full of so many wonderful things that it made the long drive so worth it! We arrived there on Friday so that we could attend the baptism of my niece McKenna that night.
All the cousins minus baby Ciara.

The Pierces, Schaeffers, Mebiuses, and Clarks.

Saturday morning we headed out to the soccer fields to cheer on McKenna and Ashlyn. We aren't the only ones who play soccer in this family!
Two of the crazy fans!

 

And two of the pretty fans!

McKenna had an awesome game, scoring 3 goals!

Although Ashlyn loved swinging from the goal she was ready for the ball when it came her way.

She was also a great little defender out on the field. It was so much fun watching them play!

Saturday night Dad, David, and I stayed up watching the BYU/Utah football game. Dad and I zonked out at half-time (we're talking midnight, people) but David was able to make it up for the rest of the game. Needless to say we were pretty proud of our Utes for pulling off the win once again.

Sunday we headed up to the Clark's ward to watch sweet little Ciara be blessed.

Afterwards we had a nice final visit with everyone at the Clark's house while enjoying delicious food and a fabulous dessert. It just doesn't get any better than hangin' with the cousins!

Savannah just couldn't get enough of holding Ciara but really, can you blame her?

What a cutie!

We sure do love our family and are so grateful that we live close enough that we could be there for these special events.

Playing Some Softball

David and some of his church buddies recently formed a softball team and started playing in a league at the local community college. We always love watching David in any sport he plays so for the past few Wednesday evenings we've been cheering him and his teammates on. Although in their first game they looked a bit like the Bad News Bears, they are making some improvements and having fun as well.
Check out the first baseman!

Taking off for second base!

This past Wednesday, while I was focused on David's game, there was a little romance budding on the grassy field behind the bleachers.

Noah is a pretty smart guy...he told his sweet little friend Brinley that he had broken his leg so he needed her help in walking over to where I was. Smooth, Noah, very smooth!

Noah, his special friend Brinley, and her sister Libby.

After the game Brinley's mom told me that Brinley had told her that Noah had been trying to kiss her. We both had a good laugh about it since Brinley had seemed to be the one all over him but on the way home I decided to get to the bottom of everything. I asked him if he had been trying to kiss Brinley and with a big smile on his face he replied, "Yep!" I was a little shocked but continued with, "Were you trying to kiss her on her cheek?" He shook his head no and then pointed to his lips. Oh, my! Xander and Savannah started laughing and Noah seemed quite proud of himself so I told him that Brinley is a good little Mormon girl and deserves at least a few dates before he gets a kiss from her. Since he's not old enough to date, there are to be NO kisses until much later. Boy, are we in trouble!

Another Year Begins

Despite all the fun we had this summer the kids were extremely anxious to get back to school. I'm so lucky to have kids who really love going to school.
The mandatory "first day of school" pictures.

Walking down to the bus stop.

And there go Xander and Savannah!

Although it was Noah's first day of school as well the kids in kindergarten do not ride the bus the first day. In fact, they don't even attend a full day of school on that first day. That afternoon I accompanied Noah to kindergarten for an hour long orientation/gradual entry. Noah got to check out the classroom, meet some of his classmates, and learn a bit of what kindergarten is all about.

Noah and his teacher, Ms. Machovec. She was Xander's reading teacher when he was in kindergarten so we know that she is a great teacher.

Noah was so excited to earn his first golden ABBY award for good behavior! Hopefully there will be many more to come.

Tuesday was the first day that all three kids were in school for the full day, a day that I have anxiously awaited for quite some time. It has been a day that I have looked forward to but also a bittersweet day in my life.
Noah with his "kindergarten" hat and necklace.

Noah was so, SO excited!

And there he goes, my baby, my very last one...off to school!

And what did I do? I celebrated by spending the day shopping with a friend. It was fabulous!

Let the Craziness Begin!

We are most definitely a soccer family and our fall season is always jam packed with practices and games. Since soccer was not a hit with Noah last year he is taking the season off but Xander and Savannah are back out on the field having a great time.
Two weeks ago Xander had his first game and Noah and I were there to cheer him on. His team is the White Sharks and he has the same coach he had for indoor soccer.

This picture is of Xander's shot on goal going right past the goalie!  (Unfortunately I was so excited that I didn't get Xander in the actual shot!) Yep, Xander got a goal in his first game of the season and his team ended up winning 4 - 2.

This past June Savannah tried out for a travel soccer team and made the Northern Elite team.  She has been training hard with 3 days a week practices and a daily fitness workout.  Her coach is fabulous and Savannah seems to really enjoy being part of this team. Savannah and David couldn't attend Xander's first game because they spent the day up in Gettysburg at Savannah's first tournament They left bright and early, 5:45am, to get to Gettysburg by 7:15 for warm ups and an 8:00am game. She had several games throughout that Saturday, tying 2, losing 1, and winning 1. She and David didn't get home until after 8 that night, definitely a long day for the both of them. I was so bummed to miss her first tournament but will be at the next one.

Her first tournament T-shirt.

Her team ended up in the semi-finals on Sunday and ultimately in the championship game which they won. Savannah attended church instead but was excited to hear that her team had done so well. The team manager sent us a text to let us know the good news as well as to tell Savannah that her teammates had said that they couldn't have made it to the championship game on Sunday without Savannah's awesome playing on Saturday.
Her trophy for the tournament!

Goodbye, Lovely Summer!

We love summer! We love the the sun, we love all the fun activities, we love sleeping in, we love playing with our friends, we love our vacations, we love freezie pops, we love staying up late, we love everything about it! Okay, we could do without the humidity but other than that we think that summertime is pretty perfect. It is so, so hard to say goodbye.

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is hit the pool, especially on those horribly hot and humid days.

Every Friday night we have Family Movie Night and we introduced the kids to a lot of great movies this summer: The Sandlot, King Kong (1930's edition), El Cid, The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn and The Bank Dick with W.C. Fields. Some were hits, others were black and white, heavy forbid, but one the kids all enjoyed was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Noah loved it so much that he sported this outfit for a number of days. The hat might be more Zorro than Indiana but he worked with what he had.

Xander perfected his zombie eyes.

We always participate in the library's summer reading program and this year was no different. The kids each read over 20 books and earned a free book for their accomplishment. Savannah also earned a free book through the Barnes and Noble summer reading program which has essentially the same requirements. I love that my kids love to read!

And more time at the pool!

Lots of free time to act silly!

One day I treated the kids to lunch at Red Robin, their favorite place, and then we went to see Brave at the movie theater.

More zombie eyes!

Even Noah is getting the hang of it! What is the deal with zombies these days?

Savannah set up the slip and slide and although I thought it looked a bit ghetto going downhill in our small backyard the kids had a ball!

We went to Chad's setting apart to be a missionary for our church and said our final goodbyes. We will sure miss him.

Every Tuesday night Baskin and Robbins has Family Night; all single cones are only a $1.50 and a child's cone is $1. So, guess where the Pierce family was EVERY Tuesday night? That's right! Stuffing our face with ice cream. Hey, at least it gave us a chance to try out a lot of the 31 flavors.

And did I mention we went to the pool?