John 3:16

I love football!  I love football season.  I love football weather.  I love football food.  I love watching games on TV.  I love going to football games even more.  I love Utes Football!  I grew up loving BYU football but don't judge me, I lived in Provo and it was the thing to do.  And BYU was pretty awesome back in the day.  I also loved Friday Night Lights and it is over.  But that's another story.

I had to write a post about  our own, Carbon High School Dino's.  This poor team.  They have lived through 3 seasons with one win.  That's right.  For TWO ENTIRE years, they never won.  I attended many of these games.  It was sad.  Carbon rarely scored, they were beat up, they were a mess.  Here is an example, a true example, but it gives you an idea of how things would usually go for the Dinos.  One game, Carbon tried to go into halftime avoiding the other team scoring one more TD, after a particularly brutal 30 minutes of play, by taking a knee on the last play of their possession.  They fumbled the snap, only to watch the opponent recover the ball and return it 65 yards for a touchdown with two seconds left on the clock.  Seriously, it was gut wrenching to watch.  The Carbon High Dino's actually made it on ESPN as the high school team in the nation with the longest losing streak!  Ouch!

And then last year, a ray of hope....one ugly victory over Monticello.   Maybe the momentum shifted, maybe it was the new coach, but the tides were turning.

Carbon opened up this season with a win over, you guessed it,  Monticello.  Yay!  Dave and I were out of town but were excited to hear the news.

The next week, our little family of five was there to watch Carbon beat ALA. Whhhhaaaaattttt?  2-0!  Good for Carbon.  Carbon hadn't won two games in a row in the last 11 years!

Last weekend, Dave went to the game and I showed up late at halftime with the kids.  As I walked toward the field, I glanced up at the scoreboard.   Is that...??  No....!!  Does it say...???....Could that say 30-something under Carbon???  Yes! Carbon was beating Ben Lomond 32 to 0!  It was unheard of.  I think that was more points than Carbon had scored in the last three seasons combined.  How is this happening?  It was amazing.  They went on to win 42 to 2!  And the best part, they actually looked good!  They made some field goals, they scored their extra points!  They made pass completions!  They ran plays!  They had good defensive stands.  They played with heart.  It is so fun to watch!  Those boys deserve some success and I, for one, am so excited for them.

Carbon is now ranked 69th in the State of Utah and 7527th in the nation!  We are moving up!

So, go CARBON!  It's a little hard for me to wear blue to a football game these days but I will do it for the Dino's.  I hope they have an awesome season!

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preschool

 Preschool is back in session.  As with all things involving Eddie, flexibility is key.  He brushed past all his new school clothes in the closet and picked this polo shirt, explaining to me "Red is much better".  It has something to do with Gryffindor, I think???  When I tried to give Eddie his new, bigger backpack, he said, "That's not my backpack!" and found his old one from last year.  It's easier, with Eddie, to let him be the boss over the little things.

 He "posed" in his typical perpetual motion fashion for a few shots by the front door...

And Eddie, kind of sweetly, asked to take a picture with me...

Saren, was not so agreeable, and made Eddie cry when she wouldn't stand next to him for a picture.  That girl!

Eddie seemed a little nervous on the drive to school, but after hanging up his backpack and sitting down with the other kids to color, he said, "See ya!" without even looking up at me.  I think he is going to be just fine. 

first grader...

summer recap...a really long one

Today is the LAST day of summer vacation (this post took me longer to write than I thought). Let me start over, yesterday was the LAST day of summer vacation. Here is what we did, or at least, what I can remember of our lazy days of summer.

Soccer Camp... It was a great camp and Jacob was given the Respect Award. I cried a little over that because, if he can't respect me, at least has the love for some strangers from Europe. Eddie had a blast and still goes around the house repeating "Crabby, crabby...let's get snappy!" from his favorite camp game. Eddie refused to participate the last day of camp because of a bad hair day. Seriously, I tried for two hours to convince him his hair wasn't crazy. Eddie said, "I don't want my coach to see me like this!".

Baseball...Pee wee coach pitch and T-ball. Never has three innings lasted so long. The boys loved it! Eddie knows which hand the mitt goes on now, most of the time. He played an entire game with one hand on his boy parts, running the bases and all. The whole city was laughing at me. Saren is ready for her turn to play and earn a treat.

Lots of swimming...lessons, wave pool, helper pool, the pirate pool, the slip and slide in the backyard, the sprinklers, the lake. We swam everywhere. The laundry was epic.

Bear Lake...Family Reunion...Bingham style. There was lots of swearing, inappropriate humor and witty banter combined with football and volleyball on the beach, boating and eating ridiculously good food. It was fun! And apparently I have no pictures.

Scofield Reservoir...Fishing, friends, boating, pina colada Starbursts.

Idaho Falls...Stopped to see Uncle Lee and Aunt Elaine, the Idaho Falls Temple, play in the park and to see the Body World exhibit. It was worth the admission just to put a healthy fear of smoking in my kids heads'. I'm not sure they were ready for the crosscut penis dissection, but they seemed too oblivious to be traumatized.

Bear World...Where else can you see Grizzly bears in the.......wild? (Ok, more specifically in a sparsely vegetated parking lot with corrugated metal tubes for shelter). These days, Bear World is also home to carnival rides which are awesome. The cubs were adorable, the petting zoo was fun and watching people pay $25.00 to throw powdered donuts at some of God's most beautiful, powerful creatures broke my heart a little, just like last time.

Eddie and Saren kill me in this next one.

West Yellowstone, Montana...We stayed in this little cabin. I was too scared to jog for fear of being eaten by a bear. Saren helped us shop for food and Jacob slept with a rifle at night for protection.

Yellowstone National Park...What is the one vacation destination you do not want to forget your expensive DSLR Camera? Yellowstone. All these pictures courtesy of Dave's iPhone. Even our nice camera can't do this amazing place justice, it was so beautiful!

The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center... Jacob loved hiding food for the bears, and then watching them find it! It was a fun place for kids. Eddie peed in the playground before I could stop him. These are the things that stand out in my memory.

Here are a few of our great friends who made this trip so much fun.

(By the way, I'm not short, these ladies are all over 6 feet tall)!

Also happening this summer...

I tried unsuccessfully to potty train Saren...Here she is with her diaper duct taped in place when she refused to go in the potty or wear a diaper!

Jacob kissed a girl... and he liked it. This girl. I'm not writing this because I'm proud, just to document it for his future teasing. I heard him bragging about it to a friend, otherwise I'm not sure I ever would have known. They were watching "Princess and the Frog" at the time. Sorry Mark and Jill.

Grand Junction, Colorado...We visited some of our cute cousins, went on this cool hike and ate ice cream which Eddie famously described by saying "Too bad it's cold!"

The Living Planet Aquarium...This is fun, but remind me to wait until the real one is finished!

And also, please don't submit this photo to fail blog.

The Hogle Zoo...I can still smell the fun. Here are a couple of pics of us with animals that are not at all real.

Fishing...The boys both caught their first fish by themselves and quickly afterwards caught the fishing bug.

Lagoon...Which the kids call "Magoon" or "Da Goon". They loved it. I have pictures somewhere.

Going to a couple dozen playgrounds...

Play dates with lots of friends...

And riding a LOT of bikes. I know this because I parked them back in the garage several times a day for the last three months.

Dave and I are going to miss spending all our time with these three little maniacs.