10 Months!

Time sure flies when you have a sweet, easy going baby!  This past Friday Olivia turned 10 months old.  And once again I'm amazed at how fast this first year is going!  The above picture was taken on Thursday in the van while we waited for Faith to finish her piano lesson.  Right now Thursdays are our busiest days - especially when Steve is at work!  On that day Olivia was awoken from her nap to bring Faith to her lesson, and ate her afternoon snack in the van because as soon as Faith was finished with piano we had to rush home for Faith to change into her soccer gear and head to soccer practice.  After soccer we picked up some dinner and took it home to eat before leaving once again for Shane's soccer practice.  And through it all, Olivia just goes with the flow and is happy to eat her snack in the van and dinner at Shane's practice in the stroller. 

In terms of milestones, Olivia is not yet crawling, but it could be any day!  Including today!!  She gets on all fours, rocks, moves her hands, moves one leg, but that's it!  She loves to feed herself, and is starting to really try to talk.  Some of the things she can say include Mama, Dada, diaper, ball, and cowboy!  This stage of growth is so amazing to me as Olivia appears to learn something new each day!  What a fun, sweet addition she is to our family!

Here is Faith in front of her very cool team banner for soccer!  I finally remembered to take her picture in front of it!

 

Finally, Shane earned his vest, book, and bag in Sparks this past week at Awana!  He was so proud and excited!  To earn these things, he had to memorize John 3:16. 

September Havasu Trip

It's September, which means another trip to the lake as this is always our favorite time of the year to go!  While it is still challenging with the baby, the slightly cooler temperatures allowed us to take Olivia out more!  She enjoyed the trip, as did we all!  The above picture was taken from a favorite spot that we used to go to for lunch on the boat called Topak.  They have redone the restaurant, so we decided to stop and check it out as we drove into Lake Havasu City.

 

Olivia had fun floating around the pool in her shaded raft!  And Shane thought it was pretty fun to give her a tour of the pool!

 

Sweet, little Livvy!!

 

Even though we were just there for three nights, we were able to go out on the boat two of the days!  Faith enjoyed seeing all the sights she remembered on the lake again!

 

Our navigator, Shane!!  He claimed the front as his own! 

 

On Tuesday afternoon we took the boat to the Colorado River and found a beach to park the boat!  We ended up having a picnic dinner, and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and time together as a family! 

 

Father and daughter!  Such love!!

 

On Wednesday we took the boat back to the river!  Faith enjoyed helping Steve drive!  Steve's brother Russ took this picture as he came along on the trip too!  It was a great mini vacation, and it was extra great not having to make any trips to the Havasu Urgent Care as everyone stayed healthy! 

Another Soccer Saturday

Since no pictures were taken of Faith playing soccer last week, I felt the need to post some from this week's game!  Faith's team, Pink Thunder, is more thunder than pink!  The girls have started wearing black lines under their eyes, and dominated their opponent today 10-0!! 

 

The team they played today wore pink uniforms - Faith's team is the lighter shade of pink!

 

Olivia came dressed in the right color, and was ready for action!  She loves to play with any type of ball, so it's not too difficult to entertain her during the games!

 

Shane played today too, of course, and his team was also victorious!  Shane even scored his team's first goal!  It was pretty exciting!!  I think he was surprised it went it, but clearly he was excited!  I think he did a little fist pump thing!  It was totally cute!

 

And finally, here is Faith before her game practicing her piano!  She continues to do well in her lessons, and today practiced twice without me even asking her to do so. 

So Long, Farewell!

Our friends visiting Ventura from Long Beach left this morning to go back home.  But not before we were able to hang out two more times with them!

 

On Sunday evening we drove up to Padaro for another dinner!  I think I write this every time, but it is just the most perfect place to go with kids!  They play, the adults talk, and the setting is just perfect!

We stayed until there was no more daylight left to enjoy!  After a some warm days in Ventura, it was perfect to spend an evening right by the ocean!

 

Yesterday afternoon we ventured up to the zoo with them one last time!  This is four the six kids between the two families!

Three of the kids by the elephant!  It was fun to see the elephant so closely!  After the zoo we went to an incredible Mexican restaurant that is near the zoo!  I'm looking forward to our next zoo trip so we can go out to eat there again!  And we hope to see our friends again soon!  Their oldest child asked if we could come down and visit them this coming weekend!! 

An action packed Saturday

It was another busy weekend for our family!  We spent quite a bit of time on Saturday at the soccer fields.  Having fixed the gopher hole problem that cancelled last week's soccer games, the kids were excited to play in their first games of the season.  Shane is on the Silver Dragons this year.  Looking at the team banners for other U6 boys teams, most teams appear to have dragon or ninja incorporated into their team name!

Shane did very well, and his team won 2-1, even though there technically is no score keeping!  He had a lot of fun, and showed off his skills!

 

Faith also had her game, but I made my debut as a referee, so there are no pictures of her or her game!  Next week!  Thankfully, I only have to ref Shane's game this coming Saturday.  It was quite an adventure to be the referee, and I am counting down the games I have left to ref as I would not count it as one of the more fun things I've done in my life!  Hopefully, like all things new, it will become easier over time!

After the games were over, we dashed home and cleaned ourselves up for a "Back to School BBQ" at one of our friends houses!  It was a great way to end the day - relaxing with friends and enjoying some delicious fish tacos!

 

This is a picture of the kids playing a game in which they had to get an Oreo from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands!

My friends and I at the end of the night!  Danica, Julie, and Melissa