Halloween in December!!

When Mathis came to me and told me he wanted to be a Hobo for Halloween, I start picturing what I know a Hobo should look like....big shoes, big tie, patches on his coat, a white frown painted around his mouth, big red nose.....ya know a "Hobo"! So I start saying this to Mathis and he says no to the painted face, no tie, no big floppy shoes. He says, "just a bunch of dirty clothes and a dirty face and a stick with a bandanna tied around the end." I said to him, "well that's sounds more like a Bum" and he replies, "Ya a bum! I want to be a bum!" He even made a sign to hang around his neck that read, "Will work for Candy" but I didn't get a photo of it. He actually made a pretty cute homeless guy.

Hayden had a harder time choosing what he wanted to be, ironically he started with wanting to be a police officer, but ended up being an escaped convict instead!!

I think my boys had more fun playing with their Cousins Kate and Avery, than they did trick or treating. They entertained the girls outside, running around chasing after them, then playing ring-around-the-rosie.

They just love these little girls to pieces!!

There's this hole in Grandma and Grandpa's fence just about the

perfect size for a little face to peek through into the neighbor's yard.

Back to School!!

Has it been 4 months already?!! At least you can say I'm a regular blogger...quarterly!

It has been a crazy summer and EVERYONE is excited for school to start! Mathis is in 5th grade this year, and Hayden is in 2nd. Mathis tried to act too cool for school, and not excited...but I know he really was. Now Hayden on the other hand, has not been hiding his excitement at all. In fact he's been on the verge of out of control with enthusiasm. We had back to school night on Monday to meet their teachers, and the whole way there he was singing his made up song about back to school night. It went something like this "It's back to school night...oh ya....I can't believe it's back to school...uh....huh.....oh ya.....I love back to school....I'm so excited for back to school!" Just imagine this with a very 80's rock band kind of beat and vocals. It was awesome, I wish I had in recorded. So another year begins and I'm sad at how big my boys are, at least they both will still give me a hug and a kiss and say "I love you" as they run down the street, I hope that doesn't end too soon.

Soccer Saturdays have begun!

So it looks like it's time for my "quarterly update"! Time has yet again snuck up on me... I keep begging for it to slow down, give me a chance to breath, but it seems to not be cooperating!

And now our "Super Soccer Saturdays" have arrived! I love spring Soccer... the weather is perfect for spending all day watching my boys do what they love best. You know you're kids have found their passion when they want to stay after their game is over and keep playing and they say, "just one more shot!" And then twenty "more shots" later, you finally have to drag them off the field. Then when you think they've had enough soccer for one day, and they might just want to come home and rest... they jump out of the car and run to the backyard to keep practicing with each other and shooting in the goal set up in our yard. And you probably think I'm just talking about Mathis and Hayden, but no, James is also the one telling me, "just one more shot!" He is just as bad as the kids, but I am so happy he has made such an influence on my boys and they definitely got their passion from their dad!

I love the determination on Hayden's face, he does everything in life at full speed, soccer being no exception.

I love this shot!

I wish you could hear what's going on in this photo... lots of yelling and cheering... and definitely lots of jumping up and down! Pre-game ritual at it's best!

Mathis is all about defense in soccer.

In this shot he just headed the ball out off a corner kick, saving it from going to the back of the net!

So now you will no where to find us every Saturday for the next couple months!

Where have I been?

I can't believe it's been 4 months since I last posted anything!!!

SLAAA-CKKKER! So I'm going to try to play catch-up (Again).

First I want to acknowledge that Mathis turned 10 back in December, WOW..."I have a 10 year old" sounds, well...old! So here is a year of Mathis.

Mathis keeps us busy with his soccer team. He plays for La Roca, and between practices, indoor and outdoor games, futsal and tournaments...we are all over the place. It is all worth it though, because he LOVES soccer and he is such good friends with his team-mates. One of his highlights from this past year was taking first place in the Rampage tournament. Mathis' team and the Rampage team are big rivals, so it was a good tournament to win.

For Halloween, Mathis wanted to make his hair into a Mohawk. He didn't care what he was, as long as he could have a Mohawk and color it Pink and Purple. So after a lot of hair glue and some colored hairspray, he had a 7 inch mohawk.

Mathis also LOVES his baby cousins, Kate and Avery. He's always asking when he can see the girls and play with them, I love that he thinks it's so much fun to play with the girls. Here he is with Avery, dressed as a Bumble Bee for Halloween.

If you were to ask Mathis what his favorite trip is every year...he would say Lake Powell. Swimming all day and sleeping with cousins on top of the houseboat every night?

What's not to love?

And of coarse we've done plenty of Rock Climbing this past year, Mathis is really getting quite good and his Dad can't wait until he's big enough to start belaying him!

Just like Hayden, Mathis also got to fly a plane all by himself. He thought it was awesome until they did Zero G's a few times, he got sick and didn't think it was so awesome after that.

Mathis also loves his dog, Shadow, they snuggle with each other at night and there have been several times I've found shadow sleeping right on top of Mathis' head, but Mathis is a deep sleeper and he loves it!

So happy Belated Birthday Mathis, you are my not so little buddy anymore and I am so proud of the big kid you've become. You are such a good friend and big brother to Hayden, I love you!!

Burton World Cup Soccer Match

The Burton Family has a tradition of having a soccer match at every birthday party that's held at a park. So last week we had Hayden's party at the park and it was one of the best match-ups ever! The youngest cousins are now old enough to participate in the game and actually contribute rather than just being cute little speed bumps! Now I have to tell ya, if you know the Burton's, you know that they take their soccer seriously, they are aggressive, competitive and they don't care if your only 4 feet tall, they play to win! I was so proud to see my boys hold their own against the adults, they didn't care how big the other guy was, they went out full steam, and even knocked a few of them down!

What would a soccer party be without a soccer cake?

As you can tell, these photos are all blurry, the sun was just going down and nobody would hold still, but you can still tell how much fun it was! I had so many photos to choose from, it was hard to narrow it down, here's a few of my favs, plus a slideshow of all the good action.

And a quick break for re-hydration!

Happy Birthday Hayden!!

So my baby boy turned 7 today, and I can't believe it. He is such a joy to have in our family and he is such a funny kid, he's always doing something to get a laugh out of everyone around. He told me the other day that this kid named Jacob at school is his best friend, and then he said, "Ya wanna know why he's my best friend?" so I ask why...."because he always laughs at me and thinks I'm funny!" So that sums Hayden up right there, he loves to make people laugh and is always goofing off. So I thought I'd show some highlights of Hayden from this past year.

First off, Hayden loves his dog Shadow! He sleeps with him every night and they are best buds. Poor Shadow looks as though his eyes are going to pop right out of his head from Haydens hugs!

A friend of ours who owns his own plane, invited us to fly to St. George for the day. The boys thought this was the coolest ever! The best part was that they each got to take a turn flying the plane all by themselves!

Here's Hayden at the Dinosaur park, thinking he's so funny, getting eaten by the T-Rex!

Hayden loves all sports, but soccer is his favorite.

And he also loves tennis...this was in Sedona, Arizona.

Hayden has also had a few trips to the Emergency Room this year, once in an ambulance (which he thought was so fun, we had to remind him that we don't want to make it a habit of taking "rides" in ambulances!) Another trip was when he slipped at Slide Rock in Sedona and split his chin open, the ER there calls it "Slime Rock" due to the high number of chins and heads that get split open every year.

So Happy Birthday Hayden, you are growning up way too fast! I love you!!

USA VS El Salvador

It's a rare opportunity to be able to see a World Cup Qualifier Soccer match, but SLC was lucky to host this game at Rio Tinto Stadium. And of course we bought our tickets right away. We went with my sister Becca and her husband Steve and my nephew Parker, and we had a BLAST! The game was very exciting from the start, the fans were loud and we were on our feet the entire game! El Salvador scored first, but after that it was all USA, final score 2 to 1 for us. 

Me and my sister Rebecca.

Rebecca, Steve and Parker.

James is really passionate about soccer, ya think? This is after USA Scored their first goal, tying the score at one-one.

Final Score USA 2, El Salvador 1       GO USA!