Soccer, Halloween, and Birthdays, oh my!

Jacob had another fun soccer season.  He has played with a lot of the same kids now for several seasons, they have gotten pretty good at working together.  He really likes his soccer buddies, and looks forward to playing every season.  They went almost undefeated this season!  He participated in a skills clinic every Friday night and we really saw his ball handling skills skyrocket.  Go Entity!

 Maren started with the middle school soccer team this fall.  Another brand new group of girls.  But a lot of them go to her school, and most of them are 6th graders, like her.  She had a fabulous season.  And although they didn't win many games, they sure improved a lot.  I was seriously so proud of how hard they worked against some hard teams.  Because I hadn't taken any pictures before fall break, these are all of the tournament game Maren insisted she play in, with her cast bubble wrapped, a week after she broke it.  She was so incredibly tough this game.  

 She also was able to go to the temple for the first time with the youth from our ward.  It was a neat experience to be there with her.

On this trip we stopped in Arches for a hike with the youth.  It was a fun way to end such a spiritual day.

 The kids  had a great Halloween with our
Star Wars theme.  Maren was not thrilled at first, as there were no girl Star Wars characters she wanted to be.  Then I saw a trailer for the new movie, and badda-bing in came Rey into the picture and then she was so excited.  Amanda and Maren both helped out with booths at the ward Halloween party.   And Spencer and Jacob participated in the schools parade.  

  And we couldn't leave Skai out...

Amanda's friend Shayla joined us for Halloween night, as Padme, rounding out our Star Wars theme nicely.

Dave turned the big 40 this year.  We celebrated with a 70's night complete with disco, tie-dye cheese cake, soda floats, 70's board games (twister, rubik's race, trouble, rebound), 70's candy, and lots of friends.  It was fun to talk about the "olden days" with all the kids there.  I think I embarrassed him sufficiently.  But hey, you only turn 40 once!

And of course we made our annual trek up the Mesa to see the fall leaves, and hike Lost Lake.  It is such a beautiful place.

 The splash in the background was from a boulder throwing contest going on...

This picture really captures how blue/green the water is.  It is so beautiful from above, as you hike down into this crater.  A few of the kids (and adults) were brave and went for a swim.  Mind you this is freezing water!  And it is not exactly summer, this is October at 10,000 feet.  Crazies! 

Spencer found the perfect tree stump...

And last, but definitely not least, was a visit from my mom for Thanksgiving.  We took her on a walk along the river walk that is part of a bird preserve prior to our Thanksgiving day feast.  It was beautiful.      

Grandma accompanied us on a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Crested Butte where we celebrated 

Amanda's 15th Birthday.  She got to ski half the day and spend the other half shopping with her Grandma in downtown Crested Butte.  Lucky girl.

 This was her first time back on skies in four years.  I was proud of her to even try it.  She did great, and by the end of the weekend was comfortable on blue runs.

And this second picture was of a white elephant party that they did at seminary.  She got hand underwear.  

And of course it was my birthday that week as well.  I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday, than spending time in the beautiful outdoors with my family.  From skiing, to hot tubing under the stars with a snowball fight.  It was perfect.