Little League Fun

Clayton had a great time with little league baseball this year; it was his first year playing. He had a great coach and learned a lot about the game. It became one of his favorite sports. It was fun to watch his games because he had such a good time playing with his friends.

Clayton's Baptism

Kent (Clayton's uncle) made a great comment in his talk on baptism just before Clayton was baptized yesterday. He said, "I've been to Clayton's flag football games, soccer games, basketball games, and 5Ks, but I'm most grateful to be here for Clayton's baptism." What a great thing for a young boy to hear from his uncle! Kent's comments, and other things he said in his talk, set a perfect tone for the way we all felt at Clayton's baptism. Being at Clayton's baptism was a special experience for all of us.

Clayton enjoyed contacting various family members asking them to participate in his baptism. He called his grandfathers and asked them to be witnesses. They were, of course, anxious to be involved, but Grandpa Laurence let Clayton know that his participation was conditional: "If I'm going to be a witness I reserve the right to remind you whenever necessary that you've been baptized!" Clayton seems to still be trying to figure out just exactly what Grandpa Laurence was getting at, but he has a hunch that it has something to do with keeping his nose clean!

All the kids sang "I am a Child of God" at the baptism and reminded us of how lucky we are that our kids' cousins are some of their best friends. Some of our family on Craig's side were unable to be there and we missed them, but we felt so blessed to have so many family members and friends there.

We are so pleased that Clayton chose to be baptized. It was an almost perfect day as the spirit of the baptism carried over into the time spent with family afterward in our home. We know Clayton made the right choice; we could feel it in our hearts and in the peace that surrounded us. We love you bud!

The Third and Fourth

We had a very enjoyable Independence Day weekend. Robert and Renee (Craig's sister) visited Utah from California with their twin daughters Daisy and Anabelle. They stayed in Midway at Zermatt, and we cannot pass up an opportunity to go to Zermatt, of course! So we joined them on the 3rd for a swim.

Tarahumara is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, so we ordered take-out and enjoyed a nice poolside lunch. Craig's parents brought yummy donuts for everybody, too. Rumor has it that Clayton and Robert were grateful for the leftovers later that evening!

After our pool party, we went to North Salt Lake for a stop at Kevin and Patrice's. In addition to the festivities of Independence Day, we also always get to celebrate a few birthdays as Morgan's birthday is June 30th, Clayton's is July 3rd, and Kirsten's is July 4th.

So we usually get to have a little birthday party followed by fireworks. Robert and Renee supplied the cakes this year--one for each of the birthday kids, and we all had a lot of fun relaxing, BBQ-ing, exchanging presents, and watching fireworks.

The next day the party moved to our house where we had a little backyard fun. Klara and Morgan seemed to enjoy soaking up the rays.

Almost all of the kids tried out the slip-n-slide. Even Daisy and Anabelle mustered the courage toward the end to give it a go.

This little video is just a funny demonstration of how completely random Morgan can be. Everybody's just having fun relaxing in the sun and Morgan decides it is a good time to remind Craig that he and Grandpa need to fix the bottom step! Hope you saw that, Grandpa, because Morgan seems to think it is a job for Craig AND you! What a character.

Madison and Mackenzie seemed to form a special little bond with their twin cousins. Must be a twin thing!

Grant and Clayton could play for hours on end--and they did. They had a lot of fun with the laser tag guns Clayton got for his birthday.

With a cousin gathering this size, we had to play the candy bar game. Klara seemed a bit frustrated that she wasn't rolling doubles, but Madison made up for Klara's missed opportunities with at least 5 doubles, so Madison got to have her pick of the candy; it was fun for all of the kids.

Independence Day at our house isn't complete without the front yard spectacular, which always starts with the kids chasing down their parachute prizes.

One small disappointment this year was that the flasher fireworks we bought turned out to be duds. They're usually the crowd favorite as they get people onto their feet dancing to the strobe effect. The flashers were a bit short-lived this time around, though. Oh well; there's the 24th to look forward to!

We all had a really great time and had a lot of fun watching Anabelle and Daisy get more accustomed to us, and we also had fun watching them savoring their popsicles! Now we're looking forward to next year!

Bobbleheaders

This is Clayton's first year in little league. Last time we went to a game, Melissa commented that all the little guys look like bobbleheaders with their batting helmets on. This little video is pretty cute because if you watch carefully you can see Clayton sliding into first. He hit a double and the 1st base coach is telling him to go onto second, but he had to slide into first because he loves to slide into the bases. So he slides into first, gets up and trots to second!

Another 5K--Are We Insane?

Apparently we are insane because one 5K wasn't enough. Yesterday Clayton, Craig, and Melissa ran in the Lehi Roundup 5K--our second 5K! All three of us got personal records. Clayton beat his best time by 2 and a half minutes, coming in at 26:50. He's pretty proud of himself, and we are, too! That's pretty amazing for a 7-year-old . . . or any age!

Clayton (and we) really appreciates that Uncle Kent came along. He ran with Clayton to help set his pace and to help push Clayton through some of the tough stretches when walking seems like a really good idea. Kent's pretty much responsible for getting us into this running business. It would seem that the insanity is contagious!

Craig finished with a time of 25:58, which was 5 1/2 minutes faster than his last 5K. Hmm, what does that say for the kind of shape he was in for the first 5K? Ouch. At least he ran the whole thing this time!

Melissa shaved nearly three minutes off her time compared to the last 5K. As you can see from the clock in the picture, she came in at 27:40-and change. It must have been due to the sweet new running shoes Kent won for her at the last 5K. We all had a lot of fun and are actually looking forward to getting ready for our next race; a distance of 5.2 miles. Yeah - insane!

Toofless at the Alumni Pops Concert

After weeks and weeks of wiggling, Clayton FINALLY lost that second front tooth! Of course, of all the times for that last root to snap, it was in the middle of a concert at Melissa's old high school. Dr. Bentley is leaving the music department at Hillcrest and some of the alumni went back to sing at his final concert. Melissa sang two songs from Wicked and saw some old friends; Mackenzie and Madison enjoyed touring the high school where they filmed the Disney movie Hatching Pete, and (after being told it would have to dangle until the concert was over) Clayton was thrilled with his loss. Overall - an enjoyable evening.

Morgan's Preschool Graduation

The other night we had preschool graduation. Our last one for our kids. I can't believe I'm done with that stage and my baby will be in kindergarten next year!

This year Morgan really enjoyed attending the Tree House Preschool. She adored Mrs. Skousen and learned a lot from her. She also loved having her two friends, Lexi and Lauren, in school with her.

The program was great, as it always is when little kids sing.

True to form, Morgan spent all month singing the songs around the house, then barely sang a word during the actual graduation. I really haven't figured out why she does that; it's a crack-up, but it's a bit frustrating, too! Luckily she did at least participate in the pledge of allegiance and say her part. She was thrilled to get her diploma, grinning from ear to ear.

Morgan really had a fun time memorizing her part in the ceremony!

The first time I wrote my name,
it must have looked a mess.
My mom did not know what it was;
she had to guess and guess and guess.
But now our names look great!