Cowans, Celebrations, and California

Summer wrapped up with a bang for us. There was so much going on the final weeks before school started, so once again, here is a long (maybe slightly boring) post about the happenings in the Esplin household.

Cowan Reunion
The first weekend in August, all of my immediate family came to Cedar and spent a couple of days at our cabin. We've never had an official reunion, and my kids were ecstatic waiting for everyone to get here. We did a lot of what usually happens at reunions: eating and laughing. The kids loved riding on the four-wheelers and had a great time fishing. The fish must have been hungry at Kids' Pond that day, because I think each of the kids ended up catching one!

While we were all together, we were able to celebrate three birthdays! Dawson's fourth birthday was on Friday, Treyson's 11th birthday was on Saturday, and Colby's (38th. SSHHH, you didn't hear that from me) was on the following Tuesday. Happy birthday, boys!

Birthday Celebration

Treyson turned the big eleven on August 8th. You know, that's really not that far from driving and dating and all those things that "big" kids do. Yikes.

We spent most of his birthday at the cabin with the family, but he was getting pretty anxious to get home so he could open his presents. He's been begging for quite awhile for a cell phone. I've always asked him why a ten-year-old needs a phone. Well, I guess eleven-year-olds do. I had told him not until he was at least twelve, so imagine his surprise when the new shorts he got started to ring! He was so excited! As much as I didn't want to give him one, I have to say, I've loved being able to reach him whenever I want. I love this boy and am so glad I can call him my first. He is such a great example for his younger siblings. He is so self-motivated and wants to succeed in all he does. Love you, Trey Ray!

California

The day after Treyson's birthday, we loaded everyone up and headed to San Bernadino, California to watch the 11-12 year old baseball team play in the regional tournament. The boys didn't have the best tournament, but we loved watching them and just feeling the excitement that is there. Besides baseball, we were able to do all of the kids' school shopping (they were thrilled), eat at some yummy restaurants, and go to the beach! The water was really cold, so Max and I stayed away, but the rest of the family jumped right in! Max loved playing in the sand and trying to bury his legs. It wasn't a super warm day, so we didn't get any sunscreen on Nate or Trey...oops. Not such a pleasant ride home the next day for either of them. We had a great time, and got us super excited for Hawaii in October.

Q's Athletic Debut

After years of watching the boys play sports, Quincy finally got her turn to take the field. She was so excited the day of her soccer game, that she came out of her room, at 6:50 a.m., fully dressed in her soccer uniform (the game wasn't until much later)! She must have been taking notes during the boys' games, because she scored five of her teams seven goals! She was a little firecraker! First career goal!

Look What My Girl Can Do

I love determination. Q has been asking all summer long if I'd take off her training wheels. I told her she had to keep practicing going up hills and over the drive-way bumps before we'd try two wheels. Well, I finally decided that I needed to get rid of the extra security and see how she would do. I think she did just fine, don't you?

Where Has The Time Gone?

I swear summer just started, and here we are getting ready to head back to school. Life has been crazy at our house...who has time for blogging? So now, because of my slacking, is one major long blog, with picture over-load. If you spit on pictures of my kids and recounts of their daily life, stop reading now.

All-Stars
Treyson made the 9-10 year old all-star team again this year! He absolutely loves the game of baseball and was excited to extend his season. His team played great! They easily won their first three games: 17-3 over Snow Canyon, 15-6 over Washington, and 10-0 over Dixie. They went into the championship game as the #1 seed, but really struggled that day. They ended up losing twice that day, to finish in 2nd, behind Washington. I'm proud of their team; second place in state is not too shabby!

*On another baseball related note-Treyson (and Tanner) played in a tournament with their travel teams at the end of July. Treyson hit a GRAND-SLAM!!! Pretty exciting day for him!

Park City

The Esplin family reunion was in Park City this year. We stayed at a nice cabin in the mountains above the city. We had a smashing game of wiffle ball (Quincy has quite the little swing! She amazed us all!), particiapted in family olympics, attended a (cancelled) Utah Beez game, and spent a day at the Winter Sports Park. The kids loved riding the alpine slide and the zip line. Nate and two of his brothers even were brave enough to do the bobsled! They were quite proud of their finish time and spent the rest of the night analyzing how they could have done better. The Beez game got cancelled due to illness, but we were able to watch a home-run derby that was led by up-and-coming player Bryce Harper (he was on the cover of SI and is only 16 years old). Bryce even signed a ball for each of the boys and gave Tanner one of his batting gloves. A few years from now, that glove will be worth some money. Bryce is being called the Michael Jordan of baseball, so Tanner is cherishing that glove.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I HATE mice. Is it any surprise that it was me that was trapped in a bathroom with one while at the cabin? I was just gettting ready to go to bed and went in to use the bathroom. While locking the door, I thought, "no one is going to come in, why lock it?", but did it anyway. Maybe this is too much info, but while I was doing what needed to be done, a mouse appears from under the cupboard. I immediately screamed (not caring that it was 12:30 am and that I might wake up someone), and had three brother-in-laws race to my rescue (Nate was outside sleeping with some of the kids). I quickly got my pants up and stood on the bathtub. The mouse kept trying to get out of the door, but was stuck in with me. I finally had to climb over the toilet (which I somehow remembered to flush), and over the sink to open the door for the guys. Once it was open, they proceeded to attack the mouse with two brooms. I stared up at the ceiling not wanting to see what was happening. Apparently there was a lot of blood and insides on the floor and wall. Luckily I had a dreamless night that night. I still get the shivers thinking about it. Yuck.

We also celebrated cutie-patootie Parker's first birthday and had family pictures taken. We had a great time and are so grateful that we can get together each year.

Kissin' cousins (Max and Jane)

Girls Camp

I love working with the young women! I'm sure I'll be released sooner than later (I got called to be the cubmaster-yuck!-about three months ago), so I'm so grateful for any opportunity to hang out with these cute girls. We rocked it hard at the dance, laughed lots, ate lots, and just had a lot of fun together. Love these girls.