Summer Portraits

I needed a studio portrait of Bo at age 5 for my wall gallery - it's a little tradition my mom did that I am copying. And since he was coming up on his 6th birthday quickly, I had to pull something together fast. So we booked a sitting at Yuen Lui and got some handsome shots of him and the motley crew.

Lukers - Age 2

Best Buds and Worst Enemies - depends on the moment

My loves.

Meet Spike

Through unexpected circumstances and a weak mom moment - I was talked into a new (and only) pet for the Dickson family. He's a uromastyx (means: "spiney tailed lizard" in someone's language) and he's actually really easy. He came with the whole set up (cage/rocks/lamps), he's vegetarian, so no buying crickets, he doesn't require water, his heat lamps are on timers, and he never makes a sound! He's kindof prehistoric looking with his spiky tail and changes color when he's basking - the boys think he's cool. And I got a few mom points for being cool about it.

Bo has "primary parental duties" of this not-so-cute-thing. He is suppose to be the one to feed him and clean out his cage. So far I have mostly been the one to feed him with the dutiful reminders from the littlest boys. He's only gotten out of his cage once (when the towel that was draped over it fell down inside - I guess he used his claws to climb up it and over and out and had a little adventure) - but we found him pretty quickly :) Good thing. I was about to have a coronary thinking he was creeping around unknown in my house somewhere!

The boys made him into a pokemon card....oh, pokemon cards....when will that phase end??

State Champs!

This kid is a fierce competetor. He is a natural athlete, driven a hard worker - and loves to compete. And this season in baseball gave him a chance to put all those qualities to the test. He made a 4th grade Federal team (the city's all-star team for his grade) and had a season of intense games and nail-biting finishes. And a lot of chances to light up the field!

It all culminated in the State Tournament on July 16thwhen his team went undefeated making it into the championship game. The game was to be played on Sunday - but thanks to a downpour it was postponed until Tuesday night. Because of our religion, we don't participate in sports on Sunday, so Cade was pretty excited and grateful as the rain-out unfolded. This allowed Cade his chance to come to the mound as the starting pitcher.

We were down in early innings, but kept the game close and then in true form for these ballers, they fought and crept their way back to pull of an exciting win - earning their title of State Champs.

It was so fun to watch their excitment and joy as a team. A great moment to see these boys feel the rewards of hard work and believing in themselves and each other. For me, it's what sports is all about and why we sacrifice for our kids - driving them to and from practices and games, wiping tears of dissapointment, sitting in miserable cold or blasting heat all season, lugging heavy gear, and spending endless money on bats/shoes/gloves - for moments like these that leave a lasting impression. I even left our church's girls camp (where I was acting as camp nurse) for the night to drive back for the game. And Bart changed a flight for a work trip to make it back in time to watch every second. It was wonderful. And we are so proud of our Cade - our buttons could burst!

A group of HAPPY boys and coaches!

It all finished off with a team party at my parent's house. With a top-notch cake,

Swimming,

BBQ and to relax and celebrate!

So grateful for coaches to help our kids shine, guide them to success, but also teach values and life lessons along the way!

At least if we gave up half of our summer for baseball - it ended this good! Now we can enjoy some relaxing weeks of summer...until the fall sports begin :)

Baseball Finale

Ty's 3rd grade baseball team played into Mid July with some great wins at the County Tournament that qualified them to be in the State Finals. It was a fun season with a great group of boys and families - we are so proud of our second baseman and how much he imporoved this season!

Showing his throwing, fielding and hitting skills...

Timberwolves at the State Tournament

Boys...never missing a chance to have fun!

Ty's great Coach had lots of compliments for Ty's skills and effort at the end-of-season party. A long and fun season of baseball has come to a close. Time to catch a little break of summer...

Reunion Road Trip

In July, we piled everyone in the car and drove to Bear Lake, UT for a family reuinion of my mom's side. We made a stop in Boise, ID for a day and played at the water park...

Cole and Maddy changing things up!


Bo and Daddy testing the drop off slides


Then on to Utah for the Weaver reunion. We stayed in cabins at a KOA - I wasn't sure what to expect, but we were super impressed! They were even air conditioned! It was a great reunion turn-out and lots of fun.

My sis and I represented my Grandma Lois family in the "Family Challenge"

Kind of like Minute to Win It, we had to compete in several crazy stunts. We had to string short pastas onto a spaghetti stick with using just our mouth- not easy!

and bounce pencils into plastic cups

I can't say we won...but we had a good laugh out of it.

2 of my Great Uncles - of the original Weaver family. Great, great men. So glad for their examples and influence in my life.

Bear Lake was absolutely beautiful. And we had a fun afternoon out on some waverunners...a trip well worth the hours in the car.

We stopped by the Logan Temple on the way out of Utah. Such a beautiful temple...where my parents eternal family begun. Reunions and family history can be so powerful in reminding us of who we are and what we live for. I am richly blessed with an amazing family who I love. I love trips like these where I get to spend time with them.

4th of July

Ours was an all-day event. It started with a delicious pancake breakfast at our church. (That's not a joke - seriously, it was good :) )

Then we all (hundreds of ward members and friends) did a trek to the temple. We followed a back-way route and walked, ran or biked to the Temple. It was just under 7 miles. Here some of us are at a water stop.

It was a ton of fun and a great way to celebrate our religious freedoms and great opportunities in this country and honor those who worked so hard to provide it for us - like our old and modern-day pioneers. We all agreed that the temple trek will be a yearly tradition for the 4th.

Off our bikes and at the Portland Temple.

Then over to Grammy and Papas house for lots of yummy and festive food...

and hours of swimming...

Burrito Babies

Then at dark it was firework time...we got quite a eyefull between seeing several displays out over the valley from my parents view at their house and all the illegals that my brother-in-law and his brothers brought down from Washington State. It was a first class show.

A very happy Independence Day!