Party Time!

Since it's been awhile since Indiana Jones was popular, I had to get a little creative when it came to planning Xander's party. Thank goodness Halloween was right around the corner - it made it a lot easier to stock up on spiders, skulls, and snakes! Who knew that my love for Egyptian statues would finally come in handy!

After all the guests had arrived and put on their Indiana Jones hats, they got right to work deciphering the first clue in tracking down the golden idol that had been stolen by Indy's arch enemy, Beloc. Savannah had written every letter of the alphabet in hieroglyphs and the boys used that to figure out the coded message.

Clue #1 directed the boys to the mummy tomb where they had to separate into teams and fully wrap one member of their team to receive the next clue.

The next clue led them to a staircase where each boy had to step on only the stones that had the letters that would spell out INDIANA JONES. Most of them got it right. When they didn't, there was a loud crack! Good thing they didn't fall into any pits!

Unfortunately for the boys the next clues were scattered around the snake pit. Climbing through the hole, they had to quickly grab a clue without getting bit by the snakes littered all over the ground. Definitely a scary experience!

Directions on the clue led the boys off to a nearby lake where they had to watch out for more snakes, crocodiles, and natives! Uh, oh!  Here come those dart-blowing natives!

Those pesky natives (Savannah and Celine) thoroughly enjoyed their task!

Despite a few poisonous darts hitting their mark, the boys were able to gather the pieces to the next clue which directed them to the Bangkok Palace to feast on some yummy food. Not only were there snake eggs, BBQ bat wings, rat bones, baboon hearts, and mummy dogs,

but for dessert the boys were lucky enough to get MONKEY BRAINS!!

They seemed to enjoy the feast!

They were able to find the next clue hidden in the food which told them to go to Boulder Canyon to retrieve the next clue. Only problem? They had to do it before the boulder knocked them down.

This was probably their favorite activity of the night. All the boys kept asking to do it again and again and again...

After Boulder Canyon the boys traveled through the desert, searching for their next clue. Finding clues is hard work, especially when you have to journey through the blistering heat of a desert, so the water they found was quite refreshing.

Oh, no! Beloc poisoned the water! The boys rushed back inside to find the antidote. Luckily for them the antidotes were located inside these "rocks".  A lot of fun "crushing" of rocks ensued.

Gulping down that antidote!

I'm so sad that I don't have any pictures of the last activity of the night - equipped with only a small flashlight, the boys had to enter the catacombs, crawl through spider webs, fight off scorpions and more spiders, and locate the golden idol. I sent them down two at a time because the boys were actually a little scared and wouldn't go down by themselves. They all emerged victorious, though, and before the party was over each boy had braved the catacombs a number of times.
The boys with their idols, discussing the night's adventure! 

You can't have a party without cake and ice cream.

I think the party was a success! Xander said he had a blast and that's all that matters.

Happy 9th, Xanderman!

Wow! Time sure flies! Our little Xanderman is in his final single-digit year!  He started off his special day with the traditional birthday balloons...

and some yummy donuts.

A Frank Gore jersey was just the right gift to start off his day!

After a long day at school and then scouts in the evening, Xander was ready to open his presents so we gathered as a family to celebrate the birthday boy.  Noah was so, SO excited to give Xander his gift - Noah had saved up all his ABBYs (good behavior tickets) at school and cashed them in for this special medal to give to his brother. What a little sweetie!

Savannah got him an Ipod touch case...I love that the kids get each other gifts.

A little cologne...

and some Star Wars, of course!

The big gift of the night was more Legos Monster Fighters.

Some of mom's strawberry pie, Xander's favorite, to complete his wonderful birthday.

Xander's Favorites at Age 9:
Color: red
Food: ribs
Movie: Les Miserables
TV Show:  Looney Toons
Book: Harry Potter series
Toy:  Star Wars
Animal:  bobcat
Sport to Watch:  baseball
Sport to Play:  baseball
Sports Team:  49ers, Orioles
Sports Player:  Frank Gore, Adam Jones
Fruit:  watermelon
Vegetable:  onions (seriously?)
Singer/Group:  Matchbox 20
Song:  Jingle Bells, What Does the Fox Say (shoot me)
Holiday:  Thanksgiving
Candy:  Butterfinger
Dessert:  mom's strawberry pie
Season:  summer
Restaurant:  Famous Dave's
Temple:  Salt Lake City
Scripture Hero:  Ammon
Place to Go:  Dutch Wonderland, Lagoon
What he wants to be when he grows up:  pilot
Best Friends:  Kyle, Malik, Savannah and Noah

Savannah's Daniel Moment

About a year ago I heard the most wonderful talk at one of our church meetings by a really great guy that I love and respect. I think one of the reasons why his talk really resonated with me is because he loves sports and used several personal sports stories as his examples, ones that we in our family can totally relate to. My friend Scott started off by telling us of his love for baseball and that he has always had quite a talent for playing it. When he was a teenager he was so good that the travel team coach was willing to have him on the team despite the fact that he would not play on Sunday. Scott referred to this as a "Daniel moment" in his life. In the church we often hear stories like this, stories that show us that if we just keep the commandments then all will go right in our lives. Except that that's not always the case. Sometimes we have "Stephen moments" in our lives, times when no matter how faithful we are we still get "stoned". One of his sons experienced his own "Stephen moment" when he was a teenager and was bullied off a travel team for his refusal to play on the Sabbath.  It was definitely a hard thing for his son to go through and Scott still got choked up as he spoke of his son's hurt feelings during this difficult experience.
When we decided to let Savannah try out for travel soccer teams we knew that there was the strong possibility that she would not be chosen based on our family's "no Sunday play" policy. We warned her and prepared her that things might not go her way.  It came as no surprise when one of the teams she tried out for said that, although they wanted her, the Sunday issue was a huge problem and  they would have to take some time to think about it.  The coach from the other team talked to David specifically about Sundays but said he still wanted her and offered her a position on the B team the day after tryouts. We were thrilled! First "Daniel moment"!  Yes, it was the B team, it would have been A if she would play Sundays, but it was a travel team and that's all we really cared about!  Both A and B teams would be practicing together and the coach was the same for both teams.  Savannah had a great first year with Northern Elite; her coach is amazing and has done such a great job with these girls. Savannah's skills have greatly improved and she has become such a great soccer player. This summer came Savannah's second "Daniel moment". After spending a year on the B team her coach approached her  and told her he was moving her up to the A team.  Savannah was ecstatic, thrilled, overjoyed, super excited, and more! As for me and David, we were beyond grateful. Grateful to her coach, grateful that Savannah has stuck to her religious convictions, grateful to Heavenly Father for this tremendous blessing in her life. I know that someday she will probably have to face a "Stephen moment" in her soccer career but for now we will just count our blessings and enjoy some soccer!

Some pictures from her season! I LOVE the white jerseys!

A trophy from one of their tournaments!

Football Time!

We had a tough time recovering from our Niners loss in the Super Bowl earlier this year BUT it's a whole new season now! The kids are always ready to cheer for our Niners!

Noah...ever the entertainer!

Serious (kinda) football faces!

Who knows!

Little Davis with Vernon Davis on the TV.

Xander's Soccer Season

Earlier this year David and Xander decided that this would be the year for Xander to give travel soccer a try. We are always a little hesitant about travel teams due to our belief of not playing sports on Sundays but Xander had pretty much gotten everything out of rec soccer that there was to learn and was ready to take a step up. As David started searching for what team he thought Xander should try out for we found out that a friend of ours from church was coaching a travel team. Yay! No Sunday issues! BUT Xander still had to try out and make the team...which he did. Another yay! To be honest, I was a little hesitant with the whole thing because soccer has never been Xander's love like it is for Savannah. I wasn't sure that the investment would be worth it. The first few weeks of the season were tough for Xander; he had a really hard time with three nights a week practices and he was sooooo out of shape that it was affecting how he was playing. His heart just didn't seem in it and I thought that my misgivings about travel were proving to be true. But some time in late September, after a meltdown about practices, David and I had a heart to heart with Xander that must have helped because right after that his whole attitude changed. He started hustling and working harder and his playing just got better and better. As he got better and started getting more compliments from coaches and parents, he picked it up even more. I am so proud of all he has been able to accomplish this season and have thoroughly enjoyed watching him play. Xander started the season playing midfield but this past month his coach moved him to left fullback, my old position. He has been a great defender!
Some pictures from this season:

The Bocas!