Labor Day Idaho Bound

We made an impromptu Idaho trip for Labor Day weekend. We saw all the grandparents and enjoyed our time with each of them.  It was our last summer trip and it was time spent well.

We are Back to School..

Summer break is officially over and we are all kind of sad.  We have had awesome weather to enjoy our summer and did lots fun things.

The kids were so super excited about their teachers this year! 

 I think its going to be a GREAT year!

Golf lessons

Carter was signed up for golf lessons at the start of the Spring season but we had to move them to after the baseball season since he decided to give baseball another try.  So, here he is at the end of summer break giving this sport a try.

He such a athletic kid that sports just come natural to him.  This is the first time he has had a formal lesson and he really enjoyed the lessons.

 Look at that form...

 Carter on the putting green.

After the lessons were over Carter and Matt have gone to driving range to test out his new skills.  I think he may stick with it if he can find the time in between flag football, basketball this fall/winter and then baseball next spring and we can't forget his sporting stacking :) I love to watch him have fun, smile and learn new things.

Meeting half way...

I forgot to add that we made another trip to Cove Fort in Utah.  When Matt, Carter and I went to Des Moines the kids and I met up with Laura and the kids half way to give up Ashlynn for a days.  Cove Fort was the perfect meeting spot to get out and tour this historical place and let the kids enjoy time with their cousins.  We had a sweet sister missionary that was our tour guide.  She was a delight to be around during our tour.

Official Tumbling Photos

Ashlynn's professional tumbling photos turned out so cute! She loves tumbling and has just about mastered her back hand spring. It makes me gringe every time she flips backwards...but she makes it look so easy. Ashlynn was asked to be on their competition cheer squad but she declined the offer because it does not interest her right now. I am not sure why she is so against any competitions..she likes to have fun with no scoring and judging. I do appreciate her honesty and she knows what she wants to do.  She has taken a summer break and will be starting up classes in September.  She wants to be able to do a back hand spring with out any support, so she is signed up just for this specific class (back hand spring) this year.  She can't wait to get started again!

The County Fair

Ashlynn came to me very concerned that she has never been to a fair before and she felt the need to experience this event.  I had to think about this..and my reply was well we have had lagoon passes and didn't need to go to a fair if she wanted to just ride the rides.  She said it was more about the animals she wanted to see.  So, we went along with our neighbors to the Davis County Fair and walked through all the petting barns, watched a elephant and bear show, and walked through the arts and craft exhibits.  Which we were so interested in the things people entered into the contest.  Ashlynn is wanting to enter next year with some of her creations.   We also grabbed some traditional fair food and rode a couple of rides. I think she was satisfied that she finally has been to a fair.

The Junior Olympics Tournament

 Remember a few posts back when I was talking about Carter has his hobby of cup stacking, well we were so impressed with his intense practicing most of the Spring/Summer that he begged us to let him go to the AAU Junior Olympics competition in Iowa.  He worked really hard to qualify to get into the competition and he did it!  This was a once in a life time opportunity for him! So, we went and he had the best time and left Iowa wanting to do more cup stacking and still talks about the AWESOME time he had there. We were very thankful for Matt's family for donating flight miles for us to be able to go to this tournament. Thanks for the support for Carter!     

 Carter met some new friends and they would hold cup stacking competitions in the hotel lobby and also met up in the hotel pool for swimming fun.

 We were very impressed with Carter's ability to stay calm and enjoy himself because I was a nervous wreck waiting for him to compete.  He was able to qualify for the finals and he was so happy about that! That was a goal he set for him self to make to the finals. He was slightly nervous for the finals but was able to beat his qualifying time and placed 7th in full cycle competition. Although he didn't come with a medal he was very satisfied with a ribbon and he is already planning on next year in Virgina...Yikes...! This was all started because of his fun PE teacher in 4th grade and Grandma & Grandpa Peterson supplying a gift card at Christmas in which Carter got his very first set of cups.  I love that this sport brings out Carter's confidence and happiness in him!

 After the tournament was over we ventured out in the city of Des Moines to do some site seeing.  We ate at some fun restaurants.  We found a place called Zombie Burger and it had the best milk shakes and the place was decorated in Zombie decor even the employees looked scary.  It was fun! Then, we hit the science center to end our fun.  Bright and early the next morning we caught our flight home and I couldn't wait to meet up with Ashlynn again.  She was staying in St. George while we were away. Thanks Mike and Laura for entertaining her! This was such a fun experience for Carter and we are so glad that it was a positive experience for him to remember for a long time.