Sam Does Soccer

Sam holding his most desired trophy! So proud of my Sam in his first sport and hoping for many more activities that make him happy and confident!

Coach Steve with the Orange Crush team: Campbell, Vinny, Jake and Sam.

Dan and I felt it was time to have Sam participate in a sport to see how he does and if he likes it. Well, he was stoked to buy all the cool soccer equipment and loved practicing with daddy. Then picture day and the first game came and we had tears. Once our little Sam needs to perform in front of others the shy wall comes up. When pictures were over we had a pep talk with him on the way over to the playing field and he seemed to feel a little better. Dan warmed up with him a bit and tried to show him how much fun it was going to be and then when the game started, he made the first goal!! Yay Sam!

As for the rest of the season, he was not the shark on the team instead he played the polite kid that felt it was rude to take the ball from others but at least he played hard.

Kate's Wedding

My beautiful niece Kate was married to her husband Matt in August in the Newport Temple. Gorgeous! Dan's mom and dad and Uncle Ted and Aunt Susan came for the wedding.

We had a fun and crazy ride to San Diego for some good bbq with them that no one will forget.

At Kate's wedding they made these adorable gift boxes for the little cousins and Sam thought he was in heaven playing with every cute thing wrapped inside. They also had a dance for all the married couples to see who had been married the longest and the results, both of Kate's grandparents!

Sam had a fun time with his cousin Samantha and Grandpa Bean as grandpa took them on a tour of his College-UVU. Grandpa has been a Accounting Professor there for over 30 years!

Grandpa LOVES fishing and his grand kids, so what better thing to do than to take his grandkids fishing. We went to Mirror Lake in American Fork Canyon and each kid was able to catch a fish! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for putting it all together!

Cousins!

Sam gets a lot of attention when we go to Utah. After visiting with my family for awhile, we visited Dan's parents. Grandma Stromberg took Sam to Hogle Zoo, which brought back a flood of memories for me. The day got better as grandma took mommy to Costa Vida, a treat for me, since I only get to eat there when I visit Utah. But then we topped it off with a visit to the Sweet Tooth Fairy! We had so much fun! Thanks Grandma!

A few random shots of Sam playing with his dad's old car mat that Grandma Stromberg made and Sam posing with Grandma's necklaces from different islands she's visited. Crazy boys and their ideas of silly and cool! Left-right: Tristan, Sam, Liam and Luke.

A must for me when I come home to Utah is to have breakfast in the canyons with the family, a tradition my Grandpa Johnson started. So we went to Provo Canyon for Pioneer day and began celebrating. A few random shots of the family. Just missing Danno and my sister Ashley and her husband Jordan.

The kids decided they needed to go on an adventurous hike. It started with a few ninja moves and then climbing the dangerously tall table and finally the tallest tree. When climbing the tree, they felt it necessary their picture be taken to mark how brave they were. Koala Sam.

Here are two pictures of Sam's cousins. The first, Sam screaming! The second, all is well now that he gets to hold his Baby Cousin Josie's hand. Crazy child!! I also love the look that Mia is giving Baby Josie. Little boys can be CRAZY, SILLY and this was there idea of fun! They repeatedly came to me asking me to take a picture of them, each time getting a little messier.

Rain or shine, we were determined to find a little FREE water park fun for the kiddos. We finally ran into a cute park near Herriman.

It was a must on my list that we stop by the replica house of "UP!" It was pretty cool.

Last minute fun before it all ends and it's time for us to say our goodbyes. Grandpa Bean and Uncle Tom took us to Cabelas. We had a pajama party and we went to a fun bounce house!

Strombergs Visit Nixon Library

We decided it would be fun to visit Nixon's Library, since visiting presidential libraries is something we've tried to do when we are near them. The grounds were beautiful.

I absolutely fell in love with the sweet cottage his father had built. Inside was a floor layout of just what you would barely need to live by and nothing more, SIMPLICITY!

We also saw a piece of the Berlin Wall and the helicopter President Nixon took his last flight on as the serving president.