Eagles!

I don't know if I mentioned that Noah's little 6 guy soccer team chose the name "The Eagles" for their team name - much to Noah's chagrin...as he had been talking about hoping they'd be "The Tigers" for weeks (and I was shocked that he even boldly raised his hands to suggest it). His first lesson in learning to be a good sport, right? Anyway, October 2nd was Noah's first soccer game. He was pretty stoked about getting all dressed up in his uniform. I'm pretty sure that he thought of it more as a costume than anything else though. When I went to take a picture of him before the game he insisted on this pose first (from behind, with hands on hips, to show off his number). He told me that if he could take that picture and an action shot (shown below) that he'd do a nice smile too. Fair enough. I just think that it's pretty cute that Noah would even think to care to get a shot showing his number, or an action shot for that matter...

And a quick shot with a "nice smile"...

Here is Noah's team, minus one player, following their coach out onto the field to "warm up".

Coach Tim and Coach Justin giving the boys a pep talk. Notice Joey wearing sunglasses (awesome), Carter trying to hold both his friends' hands (so cute), and Noah copying the stance of Coach Justin (hilarious).

After Mark and I watched how well Noah did with their little drills at his first practice, we were surprised with how timid he was when it came to game time. He doesn't like to get in with the action (as you can see below). He certainly isn't going to take the ball away from someone, and if the ball ends up in front of him he's more likely to let someone else take "their turn" first. He's such a sweet little guy, and over the last few months he's developed even a bit more of a shy streak. I'm so glad that the kids on his team are all nice and that the coaches are so patient and great with the boys. I'm not sure if things will change as Noah gets older, or if soccer/team sports just won't be his thing...

Lincoln (with Gatorade stained tongue) and Mark cheering for Noah...

Me & Linc.

Joey, Carter, and Noah cheering on their other 3 teammates while they are subbed out.

Finn, Carter, Noah and Finn's older brother (Max?) holding the team sign during the game.

Telling the other team good game.

This little parent tunnel thing was new to me (or I just don't remember it from when I was really young), but the kids love running through it.

Noah's favorite part of soccer...the treats.
So, as time has gone on Noah has expressed that he doesn't want to play soccer. He said he just wants to wear his uniform and go watch...and then play on the playground afterward. We've tried to explain to him that we put him on the team because he begged to play, that his teammates are counting on him for a few more weeks, but that he doesn't have to sign up next season. I think this feeling would have been even more pronounced if he'd been placed on some of the more aggressive teams that we've played (I'm shocked at the skill of some of these 4 year olds!). Our team hasn't scored a goal yet (not counting an own-goal) in 5 games, and Noah isn't the only kid on our team that's expressed disinterest in playing sometimes. He may be the only one that has flown around the field like an eagle though...

Go, Jazz!

Mont, Noah & Mary giving a posed cheer for the Jazz after we arrived at the game (against the Suns!) back on October 14th. In all the years of Jazz games that I've attended, I don't ever recall being nearly 1/2 hour early to a game (except maybe a playoff game where it's packed & crazy). It was really nice to be in my seat relaxing before the team even took the court. A huge thanks to my dad for getting these tickets to this pre-season game while we were in town. Maybe some day we'll become Phoenix Suns fans, but I can't imagine we'll ever be cheering for them when they play the Jazz.

A picture of our family while the teams were warming up down on the court.

A shot of Lincoln protesting that the music and announcer were too loud...

...until Linc realized he was being photographed - then he had to give his mom a big ol' smooch for the camera. Such an affectionate little guy.

Mary & Mont with Noah.

My parents with Noah.

Time for the national anthem. Right before Lincoln took my hand in this picture, he looked around and put both of his hands on his chest (not sure why everyone else had their hand on their chest).

Mark with Linc as the game got started...

This was Lincoln's first NBA game (Noah has been to several Jazz games), and both boys enjoyed themselves. Let's be honest though...what is the highlight of a game to most 2 & 4 year olds?...the food! So, between a couple trips for snacks and a potty break for Noah - my sweet husband was back and forth down our row (and all those stairs) several times. Thankfully between all of us we took up the whole row. Anyway, I had to snap a quick shot of Mark (with Linc on his shoulders) returning from one of those jaunts.




Noah digging into his hot dog!

Lincoln chowing down on pizza.

While Linc was finishing up the last of his pizza, a took a quick clip asking him a couple questions:


Mary & Mont with Lincoln (and his BIG cheeser) after the game. Jazz 108, Suns 97!
Thanks to both of our parents for coming to the game with us! What a fun way to close out our visit to Utah!

Mont & Mary's house

During out trip to Utah we were able to go up to Mark's parents house. We always love going up there. Besides the company (which is most important) we love the beautiful drive, and they have such a lovely yard to enjoy. In addition to spending time with Mark's parents, Mark's brother Dave and his girlfriend (Stephanie) were kind enough to make the drive up there too. We were so excited to spend some time relaxing with all of them. First thing upon arriving we were entertained by a bit of batting fallen apples (their tree drops more than they can gather & use). Here is a shot of Stephanie...she had a mean swing!



Next it was time to feed the chickens.


Stephanie and David with some apples they gathered.

Everyone, the boys particularly, enjoyed walking around the yard while munching on fresh apples. Here's Linc with one in each fist...

Mary recently returned from volunteering in South Africa again. She brought the boys back adorable t-shirts and these super-cool vuvuzelas (plasitc horns), like those that people used during the world cup (which was recently held there, obviously).

The boys were thrilled when shown the noise they make...

Here's Lincoln giving his vuvuzela a try...

Noah thought it appropriate to scamper up to the top of the hill in their backyard to blow his horn...

Noah blowing his horn some more...

Noah also snapped a few pictures of his own. Here is one of Mont:

And one of me:

And before David and Stephanie had to take off for work, we snapped a picture of the boys with Uncle David...who, during our get together, got the official thumbs up on a job offer to teach at a High School in Korea! Congrats, Dave!
We had a wonderful time visiting, munching on tasty food, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings with perfect fall weather. Thanks for having us there, Mont & Mary!

Cornbelly's

After we were done at Gardner Village we decided that we didn't have enough fun, so we headed to Cornbelly's. Ok, not exactly...actually we were supposed to go to Cornbelly's that morning, but due to confusion about their opening time we chose to return and use our pre-purchased tickets later that evening (sorry again, everyone)! It made me, the planner of our little event, feel a teensy-bit better when upon arrival at Cornbelly's earlier that morning - another woman showed up with her kids confused that they weren't open yet either (just Fri/Sat apparently). She said to us, "And I drove a long way to get here too..." I wanted to say - "Further than Arizona?" Ha, ha. Anyway, everything turned out alright and we had a fun (albeit exhausting) day! My mom, our family, and my friend Claire & her boys (who met up with us that evening) enjoyed all sorts of fall-fun. Here are a bunch of pictures to prove it...

First thing after getting to Cornbelly's the boys hit the play area with slides.

There were rope areas to climb to get up to the slides...

And various types of slides to come down on.

We even enjoyed the slides as a family a couple of times.

Check out Lincoln's face in this one...

Couldn't pass up this photo op...

Sweet farmer Noah.

Mark got out on the "jumping pillow" with the kids. Notice Michael (Claire's son) at Mark's feet...and Noah and Lincoln falling down at the perimeter of this photo:


We meandered around a bit, went through the "un-haunted creature" (large inflatable monster thing)...and somehow managed to lose my mom. So, we hopped on this train and saw her as we were pulling away (and she snapped this picture) of us leaving. Sorry about that, Mom.

Mark sat in one train car with the boys, and Claire and I sat in the car next to them. The ride was mellow, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.



Next it was off to some pedal tractors. This is a 5 second clip of Mark giving Lincoln a ride. What he yelled out cracked us up..."Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!":



While we were out cruising the cornfields in our little train, my mom walked around and snapped some scenic photos. She enjoyed herself, long past when we were finished with the train ride...and I eventually began to worry why we couldn't locate my mother. So, I sent Mark to look for her while the boys played. He returned saying that he found her just wandering around the cornfield...I thought he was kidding at first (an "old lady" type joke). Nope. He was serious. She was wandering around the cornfields...taking pictures. I liked several of the pictures that she took too, so here are just a few of them.






Back to adventures with the kids...Mark doing duck races with Lincoln.

And the four boys took off on a little cow-train ride. Here are Linc and Noah.

Drew and Michael.

Linc just chillin' during his "cow ride"...

Yeehaw!

I'm still not sure if Michael was bored with this ride...or if he was just tired, but this is a cute picture either way.

Claire and the boys took off after the cow-ride, but it was so good to see them while we did! Here's a picture that my mom snapped of Claire and me.

Our family.

The boys before beginning the kiddie maze.

My mom with the boys.

A quick clip of the boys in the maze...which turned into mostly a brief explanation of what Noah was picturing the corn maze to be:



...and I should mention that shortly after these corn maze pictures, the boys saw a tower and took off running through the corn (not on paths), and I lost them. Stinkin' partners in crime. Luckily Mark was up on top of a tall stack of hay and saw where they headed and we caught up to them pretty quickly.

We also took the boys over to where you can shoot ears of corn! You can also shoot little pumpkins, but for $1 you either shoot one pumpkin or 3 ears of corn. We opted to let the boys get 3 shots. This old truck was the target to hit, and while they were a little bit unsure of the whole activity right at first - they warmed right up to the fun and enjoyed themselves. I took a quick clip of each of the boys taking a turn with the veggie-blaster, and here's a photo of Noah shooting as well...

A clip of Noah shootin' some corn:


And Linc taking his turn:


Family photo on the giant chair.

There were plenty of random little things to do sprinkled throughout the grounds. We didn't quite get to all of them, but we hit most of them. Here is Noah giving a try at lassoing a bull. Not a real one of course, but that didn't seem to matter to him. Pretty cute.









In one area there was a big stack of hay for kids to climb on, with tubes that ran underneath it (for kids to climb in, of course). Here is Noah sitting on one of those tubes with that "un-haunted creature" in the background that we mentioned going into earlier. Pretty sunset too.

Lincoln scurrying into one of the tubes...

Linc climbing the hay above the tubing. Pretty sky...and cute little guy.

Cute Noah atop the hay pile.
What a fun day. I love autumn time.