Baseball Statue

Before a recent Reds game, Ashleigh spotted this golden statue outside the ballpark. She ran ahead of me and grabbed the arm of the statue only to discover it was a real person, not a statue! She looked like she had seen a ghost and quickly ran back to me. The woman turned out to be really nice and even talked to us a little. She took a ton of pictures with everyone that stopped to check her out. We thought it was really cool!

Interestingly, I had just watched a news special about people who do this as a career in major cities about a month ago. They normally have a collection jar of some sort which is how they make their money. The people highlighted in the news special were careful not interact with people passing by though so that they really did appear like real statues. The woman at the Reds game definitely let people know that she was not a statue and she did not have a collection jar anywhere. We will have to see if she is there when we go to our last game in a couple of weeks.

Soccer Investment

Ashleigh and Owen had their first soccer games on Saturday. Ashleigh is on the far left. Ashleigh's team is the Purple Bruisers and Owen's is the Red Dragons.

Ashleigh was a team captain for her first game! Notice she is one of the smallest girls on the team.

Practice, practice, practice. Twice a week for each of them means four nights of practice for Mom and Dad and games on Saturday. Hence, the title, we are definitely invested in soccer.

Notice Owen is the biggest kid on his team. He is number 8 on the left.

Owen definitely has some "fast feet" and isn't afraid of the ball!

First Day of School...again!

My 3rd and 6th graders! Holy cow, how did this happen?! I think this is going to be a great year. Both have wonderful teachers and exciting things ahead for them. It is Trenton's last year of elementary school, which means some really fun activities. In October, he will be spending three days at Camp Campbell Guard with the entire 6th grade re-enacting the Underground Railroad.

New shoes for growing feet...Ashleigh size 3 and Trenton size 12!!!

Meet Jack

Our family has a new addition...a baby boy addition. Meet Captain Jack, as in Captain Jack Sparrow. Owen played with a friend's hamster one day and fell in love. I mean, in love. That boy would not talk about anything else for days. He wanted one more than he has ever wanted anything. The other kids got excited about the idea too and before you knew it, we were headed to the pet store to check it out. Did you know that hamsters cost only $8! Ashleigh offered to buy him with her money if we allowed them to get him.
Technically, he is a rodent, but you would never know it by how much the kids adore him. Owen immediately wanted to name him Spiderman, but with a little discussion and compromise, we came up with Captain Jack. I like to call him Jack for short, but not in front of Owen because he will inform you that his name is Captain Jack, not Jack.
I love him because he is LOW maintenance. There is little we have to do for him and since he is contained in a cage, there is little mess. Hooray! Jack hasn't been doing much yet because he is still getting used to his cage and our craziness, but we'll post more pictures soon. Owen and Ashleigh are both very good about checking on Jack constantly to make sure he has food and anything else he might need. They are little mother hens. It is too funny!

Park Fun

Nauvoo Visit

We made a quick trip to Nauvoo last month with some friends. We had a good time visiting one of my very favorite places in Church history.

Ashleigh could have totally been a pioneer girl!

Owen loved the sack races.

Dallin LOVED this Christus. He became very excited when he saw it and would not stop pointing and jabbering about it. It was the neatest thing. It was like he was remembering Jesus from a not so distant past!

Picture fun outside the Nauvoo Visitor Center. The gardens are one of my favorite parts of Nauvoo.

Outside the Carthage Jail. Nathan is still in the film they show inside the tour. The kids had a hard time believing their Dad was the 10-year old boy in the film, but it's true!

My friend, Heather, whose family joined us on our trip, braided Ashleigh's hair early one morning, and it turned out darling! She looks like a modern day pioneer!