Chicago & Notre Dame Football Game

Deven has been wanting to go to a Notre Dame Football game for years!  In October, BYU was going to play Notre Dame at the ND Stadium and he couldn't miss his two alma maters in this showdown.  Our friends Jake and Sunnie, and Jeff and Stacey were going as well which made the whole trip even more worth it.  Now we just had to decide if we were going to bring the kids or not...  It took a couple of weeks to convince me that the kids would be okay without "mom"for a weekend.  Once we decided to fly Grandma Laura here to watch the kids, I felt much better about our decision.  

 My favorite part of the trip may have been eating delicious food at adorable little cafes... and I must admit it was nice to be able to eat a meal without kids climbing on me. But I missed my little munchkins!  Deven laughed that the only reading material I brought on the trip was a parenting book.

We spent most of our time exploring Chicago by foot even though it was cold and raining on and off.  We loved revisiting some of our favorite sites such as Navy Pier, Millennium Park, window shopping on Michigan Avenue, and eating Giordano's Famous Chicago Style Pizza.  We were able to do a lot of new things as well, such as the Sky Deck, the Field Museum of Natural History, try new forms of transportation; the transit, Double Decker Bus, and Trolly, and eat a Chicago style hot dog.   

 

That Saturday we spent the day enjoying the game day traditions that take place all over the Notre Dame campus;  Eating a stake sandwich in the quad, watching the drum line pump up the spectators, visiting the golden dome, buying our ND apparel at the crowded bookstore, and watching the marching band make their long entrance into the stadium.   

 For the record, I cheered for BYU the whole time!

Trenton's First Soccer Team

His first season was nothing like we expected.  We assumed he'd love chasing the soccer ball across the field, be really excited and aggressive.  Nope. Instead he spent most of the season watching from the side lines because he was afraid or tired.  Hmmm.  Three year olds have minds of their own.

It took everything in Deven and I to be patient and understanding.  Eventually the coach suggested that he played goalie.  He really liked that his Dad could stay close to him.

 Go New England Dinosaurs!

Of course, Allison was great at cheering him on!

Lake Travis

At the end of September we were invited by our friends to go visit their lake house on Lake Travis for a weekend.  This was, 15 month old, Allison's first time on a boat and my first attempt at wake boarding. 

Trenton is becoming a mini Deven.  Can you tell?

Deven has become a really good wakeboarder over the past couple of years much due to his involvement in the Young Men's program.  Lucky for me, he is also a really good coach so I was able to get up on my first try.    

Trenton cracks me up.  He has no fear and an endless amount of energy.  

However, I think all of the excitement of being out on the lake all day finally caught up with him.

 

We had 9 kids there among our 3 families.  

We couldn't have asked for a better set up.  Deven frequently talks about owning a boat that would allow more family outings like this.  And I have to admit that after spending a few days on the lake, the idea is growing on me.  (We better start saving our pennies!)

We are so blessed to have wonderful friends to enjoy outings like this with.  We hope to have many more weekends like this in the future!

Summer of Seals IV

 It was yet another successful year of Summer of Seals.  It was held in a new location this year but the structure of the competition remained the same. ( 500 Meter Swim, max Push Ups, max Sit Ups, max Pull Ups, 1.5 Mile Run )  There were around 150 participants and 30 volenteers the day of the event.  Because I was a participant this year, I wasn’t able to take pictures during the event but you can just imagine all of the blood, sweat and tears that go into organizing and competing in the event.  For more information on the event visit the Summer of Seals Facebook page.