It's #38 for David!

As one gets older, birthdays just don't seem to be that big of a deal. One still has to go to work and do all the mundane things that go on in our lives. But we still tried really hard to make the day special for David. It started with Savannah making breakfast for David all on her own - waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.

Unfortunately both Savannah and Xander have soccer practice on Monday nights, which just so happened to be the day David's birthday fell on, so he missed out on a special birthday dinner (though I did make it a few nights later plus we went out to eat with friends the next night). When we got home from soccer we had a fun family celebration with gifts and ice cream.

I always love seeing what the kids give as gifts...Savannah got him a little notebook to write notes in.



It's not easy buying gifts for David - if he wants something, he just gets it. So I always get the usual: some books, a movie, maybe a nice shirt or tie. But this year I had the best gift ever!!! When I was in the airport in Baltimore waiting to fly to Utah, I came walking out of the restroom and there in front of me was Jerry Rice, David's most favorite football player in the whole world. I mean, David gets choked up just thinking about Jerry and all the wonderful years he watched him play. I was brave and went up to him to get his autograph. Jerry just so happened to be flying to the Hall of Fame ceremony (who knew he would fly Southwest!) and signed his autograph ending with 2010 HOF. It was amazing to meet him and he was so, so nice. And can you believe it? I didn't have my camera on me. Oh, well, I got the autograph, ordered a nice picture, and had it all framed for David's birthday.


Xander drew David some pictures...

and Noah and Savannah ended the night's events with a song. Too cute!

Happy Birthday, Babe! You just keep getting better each year.

Yay! It's Soccer Time!

One of my absolute FAVORITE things to do in the fall is watch Savannah and Xander play soccer! Opening Day was so much fun, with team pictures followed by a scrimmage. Xander is #12 on the black team.


Xander with the ball - he ended up scoring two goals in this scrimmage. He's the leader of the pack.

The cheering fans!

Savannah is #8 for the Green Dragons. She played really tough in her scrimmage as well with several chances to score. Her scrimmage, however, remained a 0-0 tie.

Once again I am the assistant coach for her team and I love it!

A must-have after every soccer game - dirty knees. If you don't have 'em, you didn't play hard enough!

Utah!

First and foremost I want to apologize to any of my Utah friends who might be reading this post and thinking, "Well, Tracie, that certainly was not very nice to come all the way out to Utah and not even say 'hello'!" It has been 3 years since I have been to Utah and there are so many people that I would have loved to have seen but unfortunately I did not have a car and, truthfully, this weekend really was all about family. There were several things I wanted to accomplish on this visit:
1. Meet my two new,cute little nieces, Aveleen and Sophie


2. Visit with my sister Tricia and all her kids. I also got to see Tricia make one of her beautiful cakes and she even included me in the process, having me help her make some of the flowers.



Michaela holding Sophie, Brandon, Lexie, Hannah, Sarah, and Kate.

Two of my very talented nieces, Michaela with her paintings and Hannah with her drawings.


3. While Kelly, Jared, and Aveleen were out celebrating Jared's parents' 40th wedding anniversary at a big Bullock family bash, my mom and I worked on preparing the food for a luncheon that would take place after Aveleen's baby blessing on Sunday.
These pictures were taken prior to Kelly and Jared leaving for the party - they all looked so fabulous!


4. Celebrate my mom's birthday - we went to yummy Tepanyaki for dinner.

5. Be there for Aveleen's baby blessing and what an amazing blessing it was!


Sorry, Kelly, I just couldn't resist!

6. Spend some time with my in-laws, Dave and Jackie, who are heading off on a mission to Texas.

Another picture I just couldn't resist posting - Jackie got a reprimand from an officer for having their dog Fritz in the canyon which apparently is a big no-no.

I also got to see Kelly in action as a lawyer in one of her court cases (which she won!), see the wonderful Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, stock up on some lovely items at Deseret Book, eat out A LOT, and enjoy having a hotel room all to myself. Although it was an extremely busy weekend with VERY long days, I am so glad that I was able to go. On my next visit I promise to see all the friends that I truly miss.

Soccer Camp

From 8:30am to 2:30pm the last two weeks of July, Savannah, Xander, and I attended soccer camp, I as a counselor, Sav and X as campers. It was a blast though I must admit that after the first two days I didn't know if I was going to make it the whole two weeks. The first day of camp I came home with a raging headache that laid me out the rest of the day and, after the second day of camp, I was so exhausted that I was asleep by 8:00 that night. The weather didn't help either; there were some days that were so hot and humid that I just stood watching the kids play and the sweat was streaming down my back. But my body did adjust and I thoroughly enjoyed being with the kids. Savannah and Xander also had a great time and I am so impressed with how much their soccer skills have improved! Each week there were over 60 kids, ranging in age from 7 to 15, boys and girls, so Savannah and Xander were able to make some new friends as well. Savannah started calling me Coach Mommy which was quickly picked up by the majority of the campers and even now, when I run into campers, they still call me Coach Mommy.
Although Savannah says that I was her favorite coach, there were two other coaches that she really liked: Coach Paul (with two of Savannah's best friends Natalie and Jasmina)

and Coach Potter (who she REALLY liked).


I can't wait to do it again next summer!

Kirtland and Palmyra

After three wonderful weeks in Cincinnati, it was time to say our goodbyes. But instead of heading east, we drove north to Kirtland, Ohio. David and I were there way back in 1997 and things have really changed since then. The church has built a beautiful new Visitors Center as well as a replica of the saw mill that once was there. The place was extremely busy and Xander was in a bit of a funk but we still were able to enjoy the tour.





By the time we visited the Kirtland Temple Noah was about done so our visit was kept to the outside.The temple is beautiful!


One of the highlights of any road trip is swimming in the hotel pool.

I LOVE this picture of Noah - it always makes me laugh.




Saturday we arrived in Palmyra just in time to visit the Sacred Grove, the Smith family home, the Palmyra temple, and then watch the wonderful Hill Cumorah pageant.




Savannah loves meeting some of the actors before the pageant begins; she was especially excited to meet "Joseph Smith".

And "Captain Moroni".



We had a wonderful, very spiritually uplifting weekend!