OcToBeR

Who would have thought that as a mom of three kiddos I would be at home on Halloween typing up our happenings for October?!?!?!?!?!?  Olivia hasn't had an interest in Halloween for a couple of years, Taite has never been fond of it, but only dressed up to appease his parents, and Shaylee is off with friends (probably trick-or-treating because I told her I wouldn't let her go since she is 12).  So for Halloween we are at home handing out candy, and enjoying the holiday in a grown-up boring kind of way.

October brought us to the end of a few things, only to begin a few more......

The first three weeks brought an end to soccer season, volleyball season, and cross-country!  Olivia was determined to make the best of playing on the varsity team for the final three weeks.  Even though we knew she wouldn't see very much play time, other than good learning experiences at practice, we fully supported her going and working hard for those final three weeks.  The team ended up placing second in district, which still gave them a berth in the state tournament.  At state they finished 2-1 and brought home the 5th place state trophy.  It was a huge growing experience for Olivia, and also lots of fun for her and the other freshman on the team.  At the soccer banquet she got recognized for her hard work ethic, and as a freshman she lettered in her first high school sport. 

Taite's season ended the second week of October. He had a great time time playing with his cousins, Masen and Kasey, and being coached by Rick and Rose.  This was the first  year he approached us about playing and his attitude was awesome!  He went to practices willingly and loved playing in the games.  He was a bit forgetful when it came to reminding us of schedule changes or extra things, but hey in his words, "I'm only nine."  Of course, while I was at district soccer, he scored his first goal of the season....good for one free milkshake from his coach!

Shaylee has finished both cross-country and volleyball.  Cross-country ended up being an outstanding experience for her.  She placed in the top 10 at all of her meets except one and made a lot of new friends along the way.  I am not sure if she really loved the experience as much as she said she did.  Some days she would come home from practice not too in love with running.  She found towards the end of the season that hard work pays off, and injuries will slow you down.  She had two crazy experiences, one the first meet of the year where she passed out coming across the finish line and the other at the Ririe Dam Invitational.  Apparently the meet started earlier than our team knew so as they were pulling into the parking lot they were announcing the jr. high race to line up.  As our runners were lining up to use the port-a-potty they were shooting off the gun!  Yep, our runners made a race from the potty line to the start line and just kept on running.  Shaylee said her shoes were untied, she slipped and fell up a hill, and just really didn't enjoy the run at all.  Medals were given to the top 15, and guess who was in 16th!  The best part of the whole day - - -  missing school! Possibly it was a combination of  the ability to cross the finish line, and lots of new friends that helped her enjoy this new adventure so much.

Shaylee's junior high team finished out their volleyball season on a low note as far as win/loss record goes, but a good learning experience for her.  I appreciate her coach, Kayla, that she would take the time out of her crazy busy schedule and VOLUNTEER to coach a group of 24 7/8 grade girls!!!  She is an awesome lady.  Shaylee enjoyed playing again, but missed the high intensity level of the competitive tournaments that she has played in the past couple of years.  She had lots of fun playing and working on her basic skills, which will definitely help her if she continues to play.  Right now we are trying to decide if she plays club ball this year, or because of travel, cost, and time just sticks with her basketball team that she just tried out for.  Try-outs for club ball will be sometime in November so we must make a decision.

Now that we have ended three sports we enter the absolute crazy season of BASKETBALL!!  Shaylee picked up basketball two weeks before her other two seasons were over.  There for a while I had a hard remembering if we were in Preston for xcountry, Smithfield for volleyball, or Logan for basketball.  She is playing for Cache Valley Elite 8th grade girls.  They started the Wednesday after her last volleyball game.  She will continue to play for Elite through October-December and then will have junior high school ball try-outs and hopefully play for Preston January-February, and then go back to Elite for spring tournaments/leagues.  She is also going to play on her Preston team, that Dave has coached the past 3 years, in a 6 week league in Logan during the months of November-December.  Basketball is her passion and it is exciting to watch her play. 

Liv started basketball three days after state soccer and this past week.  She just found out today that she will be playing point guard for the freshman team.  First game, Saturday!!!!!

Taite will be playing for a team in Smithfield.  He isn't too thrilled that Dave signed him up to play, so we will see how it goes.  If it isn't Taite's idea it usually backfires in the motivation department.  Their first game is also this Saturday.

Taite's biggest highlights for the month have to be the horse riding that he is getting in.  I seriously am thinking about finding someone that will help him with riding/roping lessons because that is where his greatest love it right now. 

And last, but not least, I cannot forget to put in a quick blurb on the latest hunting adventures.  Both Shaylee and Dave bagged a deer, and Dave came home with an elk.  Dave also snuck up on a turkey, possibly for Thanksgiving dinner??  The local hunting is now over so again we move on to others farther away from home.  Up next, mountain lions in Jackson (and I am sure a few chases around here), to ibex in New Mexico.  I am not so naive any more as to say that hunting season is over, not sure there is ever an end to it.

Here comes November!