basement, bike riding and soccer

We decided to go ahead and finish the basement for resale purposes. Luckily this time around, they were speedy quick and had it drywalled in a week! Painless. But now I have to paint. Blah!
I finally convinced everyone to bike ride to Orange Leaf with me. We all had a blast (I told them!). Best part was listening to Kimmy and Kara yell at mom to try harder up the hills! So funny and yummy. Trying to soak all the summer out of these last days that I can. It's been gorgeous :)
Taylor still loves loves loves soccer games. After a sad game last week (everyone looked tired), we came back in full force and beat the top team 2-0. They hadn't been scored on in 5 games so they were ticked and mean. 2 of their parents got ejected, their coach got carded and injuries were abundant (thankfully not Taylor!) and their whole team was swearing (ridiculous!). They played so tough. Taylor scored a goal and assisted the other. She played so great! Such a rewarding team to beat!
Taylor setting up her free kick or whatever the heck you call them.
on to double header saturdays...this is Melisa hiding out because we won't allow her to talk to Seth while he's batting anymore ;)
cutest kid!
After playing basketball with Daddy in FL, she has learned how to get position much better. She learned how to knock Bryan over :)
Zacky scoring at home. He's been playing great. He is so consistent lately and loving fall ball. I'm not loving the fact that we had to drive to stinking Tooele (rushed out after Taylor's game). But Zacky and I had fun on the drive home. I didn't feel good after my Roxberry green smoothie so he laughed and laughed at me :)
We got home just in time to tease Devin during the BYU football game. They got killed and Kimmy looked frightened after I told Devin that's it's just a game and to have an eternal perspective. Hee hee! Me, mom and Kimmy ran to the store during halftime. Kimmy for a gigantic toblerone (I was laughing at her hormonal breakdown ;) and me for treats for my Beehives. I got released Sunday. So weird, but helpful with my schedule. The girls were NOT happy but we had some good hugs and tears. Time for the next adventure (and I'm sure organ for a bit ;p)
Zacky fell asleep at the end of the game, so Devin and Kimmy loaded chairs around him to be funny, and just as I predicted, the next day Zacky was building a fort out of every blanket in our house!
Next soccer game was in Orem and we got to look directly into the sun the whole time! They won and Taylor had another great game. She got pummled in the head at the beginning (after just getting her braces tightened;( and said she had a killer headache the rest of the game. (her jaw hurt for days!) I could tell something was wrong, but the next day we both got texts from both coaches complimenting her play. They both said she won the game for them with her offense (she didn't score so of course she thought she played terrible but she set everyone else up and moved the ball around up front really well).

baseball/soccer weekend

More baseball in Salem (I'm done with these far away games). Taylor begged to sleep in before her game and so I went alone. Tiffany had to go to a piano recital so that leaves me with crazy Melisa ;) Luckily the weather was nice. Zacky hit like crazy in the first game (2 doubles) so he was happy and that always makes it all butterflies and rainbows ;) Second game they lost due to a terrible call (which the ump admitted at the end). Went into a tie breaker and Zacky had his only 2nd strikeout of the season at his last at bat. He was so upset. Not happy. I hate baseball: it's either super happy or super sad.

We headed back home for Taylor's game. Darren called to have her come play in the D3 game as a reward for her awesome play on Tuesday. She was thrilled to go! She put perfect corners in for a goal and made her PK. Fun evening. Then she FINALLY got to play with Britney...so happy for them :) Zacky played all night with Hudson, Parker and other friends. I decided not to paint. I painted for 5 hours on Friday and only got the first coat done. It's kicking my butt and my back!

Rascall Flatts

Taylor and I grabbed tickets last minute and had a blast while Zacky was at the Dew Tour with grandma gayle...
We got there early because we had lawn seats, waited for an hour in the POURING rain and hail, but later heard there was a guy handing out seat tickets. Somehow Taylor saw who they were talking about and we got seats :) We dragged our sopping wet blankets over and watched the strangest girl in front of us dance....luckily there were several extra seats behind her, so we moved...couldn't take her singing ;) Taylor was not happy because there were 2 opening acts and she said she does not like country, only rascal flatts. Who raised this girl?!!
After almost 2 hours from the start of the concert, they finally came out!
We thought the hail would be the memory....long, crazy night!! But we escaped through the golf course (I couldn't get the fence down ;)
...sitting in the rain.

girls trip to florida

Decided that we needed to take everyone to Florida to see if they really wanted to move there! We had an early flight, had to pick Kimmy up straight from the firestation and mom was freaking about the time while Kara and Dan just laughed at her. Hilarious morning. Here's Kimmy laying on the floor waiting to board and moms over in line already. She's so funny
Kara got yelled at by the flight attendant for taking a first class blanket. It was freezing!
We flew in to Tampa and stopped at Clearwater before driving up to Alachua. It was gorgeous evening! Nothing a beach can't solve! So relaxing!
We had a stop in Dallas and almost peed when we ran in to a Pappasitos. Even though it was breakfast time, we enjoyed our layover with chips and soft tacos! Soooo yummy! And mom got in trouble within minutes....I took her temple calendar away and she just about flipped (while covering up her skin cancer bandaid :) We told her she could not be on her phone this whole trip. She's a good sport to endure our constant teasing!
We were so tired after our long travel day and from laughing so much! Such a fun girls day! We met Bryan at Moes and filled up on yumminess. Then we came home to a fridge full of yummy treats for us and UF sweatshirts for everyone. Bryan is so cute! And of course we enjoyed Blue Bell runs both nights! And the best memory is Bryan telling Kimmy (she actually loved it there because it reminds her of Texas) what to say about his job and moving to Florida. We were all in tears from laughing! Fun night :)
Steak and Shake in between exploring :)
The first day there, we met with Joann to look at houses. We were supposed to go out with her the next day too, but after seeing the property in Alachua that Bryan thought I would hate (modern house- irony!) we decided we found the perfect spot and just explored the 2nd day :) We drove all over....we found the springs in High Springs. Super cool! And shopped at Platos Closet and got Dunkin donuts for mom!
Kimmy and Kara were dying to get a picture on an alligator. Never happened, thank goodness!

On the way to Florida, mom jumped on a train and left us in the dust, but on the way home, the opposite happened. We were cracking up!
And, of course Pappasitos was a must on the way home layover!!
Exhaustion from all the laughing!
View of Utah Lake from the plane :)
We spent hours exploring the property...it was gorgeous and although this move isn't my perfect choice, this place just felt so right. And there were way too many 'coincedences' to ignore. Now the wait game of a short sale..... We had such a fun trip together. One of the best!

end of summer week

last days of summer... pool, chuck o rama with the Earls (tradition) and late night talking :) So sad thinking that it's most likely the last summer in this backyard.
Evon came into town with Sharon. Did haircuts, talked for hours and then on the 25th, I asked her before we were heading to lunch, what she really wanted for her birthday. After some begging, she spit out 'an ipad.' Within 2 hours, I picked one up and we surprised her with it at lunch. She looked like a kid on Christmas morning. She never gets anything cool for herself so it was SO fun to watch her smile! Fun afternoon!
Can't trust Kimmy! Taylor always asks for it though ;)

Mom got surgery on her nose. They dug out the skin cancer and made a big nasty hole! Luckily we have Kimmy the paramedic to take care of it!
Happy Birthday Andy :)

First Day of School!

Taylor and Mac...so excited about their first day of 8th grade! They went shopping the day before together!

dropping Zacky off at school for 6th grade. Cant believe it's his last year of elementary school!...he chose the outfit all by himself ;) My only requirement was that he had to wear actual shorts-not bball shorts! He is the man :) He was funny because on the way to school he said he was a little excited and at the same time, a little nervous. His first time ever of admitting that :)
Zacky walking in...he had a weird first day because he ended up only having track time with Mrs. Nielsen and then has a different teacher (Miss Hamilton) for the remainder of the day. Alec and Melisa were texting me all day freaking out. He was caught off guard but it seems to be working out. They hired a new teacher the evening before because class sizes were too big.
Sad they have to go back already! Summer always goes way too fast!