Soccer!!

Eliza just finished her rec soccer regular season. Her team was undefeated and will play in a tournament next week. Eliza played in 5 games (about half of them; the other half were played on Sunday). At her last game, her team won 1-0, with Eliza scoring the only goal.

Here are some great action shots taken by a teammate's mother this season:

Eliza is red #12

Heading to the goal...

making a shot... but the goalie stops it.

Going for another goal...

taking the shot...

and the ball goes in this time! (No, she did NOT knock the goalie over)

Eliza (hugging her teammate) celebrating the goal

Singing Isaac

All-City Choir (made up of parts of all the high schools in the area)

Isaac is the first boy on the left (or 6th from the left), 2nd row down

Here is Isaac with his good friend Julie. They're in school choir together, in the ward choir, in the stake Christmas choir, and the stake youth bell choir. They also take piano lessons from the same teacher and compete together in the monthly piano Master's Classes (Julie won, so Isaac's working hard to beat her next time). And they both just made it into the school play, "Les Miserables." Isaac is in the chorus and he's understudy for Enjolras. He was hoping for a better role, but it's hard when they pick a college student for the lead role (in a high school play???) and use a girl for Gavroche. Isaac did NOT want to be Gavroche again, and I did NOT want him to be a sailor. The drama directors picked a lot of their "own" people for the other lead roles, and since Isaac is new and is not in drama, he was at a disadvantage. But the music is great and it will be a great experience even if he just hands out the programs! Eliza and Madi didn't want to try out, but maybe they'll try out for the orchestra for the play when the time comes?

Isaac also went to auditions for the District Choir, which consists of singers from the high schools within about an hour of here. He tried out for 2nd tenor and was excited to make it: he's 6th chair, out of 18 chairs. Interestingly, the boy who got the part of "Enjolras" in the play also tried out for 2nd tenor, but did not make it at all. So that was a comfort to Isaac that even if he didn't get picked for a lead in the school play, he WAS picked by the top choir directors in the area. Next Isaac wants to try out for regional and then state choirs. He really enjoys all this singing experience, plus it all looks good on scholarship applications! He's working on his college applications to BYU, Hillsdale, and Princeton.

Isaac also spoke in stake conference recently. He enjoys his seminary class at 6 a.m. every morning. He has a great seminary teacher and they enjoy joking with each other. For example: as Isaac walked into class one day, the teacher said, "Isaac, what hymn number is 'If I Could Hie to Kolob?'" Isaac immediately said the correct number. The teacher laughed and asked, "Do you stay home from football games to study the hymn book?" And Isaac responded, "I just take my hymn book to the football game and study it there." =)

Isaac has admitted that being in Texas isn't as awful as he expected and that the music programs here are incredible compared to what he would be doing if he were still in CA. Yay! One down, four to go... but by the time they all love Texas it will be time to move again... =(

Great-Grandma Ilene 1923-2010

Here is Lyrad with his mom and 3 of his 6 brothers at his Grandma's funeral. Lyrad flew to Utah Wednesday night after work, drove 2 1/2 hours to rural eastern Utah, stayed at his cousin's house that night, attended his Grandma's funeral and burial the next morning, drove back to the airport, and flew home to get a few hours of sleep before going to work at 5:30 a.m. on Friday. He's so glad he went. We love Grandma Ilene. The children were blessed to know her well and loved visiting her and writing letters to her regularly. Here are some moments with Great Grandma:

1995 -- Baby Mary (Eliza) with cousins Calvin and Chris

1999 -- Mary (Eliza) and cousin Charissa

1999 -- Madi and Rachel with Uncle Darren, Great Grandma, Grandma Shirley, and Lyrad

1999 -- Baby Rachel Ilene with cousins Kaylissa, Justin, and Charissa

2002 -- Madi, Josh and Rachel in this 4-generation-picture

2009 -- 4 generations: Lyrad, Isaac, Great Grandma Ilene, and Grandma Shirley

We will miss you, Grandma Ilene!

Halloween time

Rachel with friends. I liked the clever "Energizer Bunny" costume.

Rachel wanted to be a cowgirl. (That's not really a "costume" here in Texas; it's everyday clothes, I told her) She loves her new boots.

Joshua the Jedi is into Star Wars lately. He wore his cousin Alex's jedi costume and carved this Yoda pumpkin all by himself.

Star Wars fighter ship

Josh found lots of other Jedis at the ward party. Luckily no one was injured in the lightsaber fights that ensued when one Jedi encountered another in the crowded gym.

Isaac and Lyrad with our friend at the ward party who had the coolest costume! I love the sign. Lyrad stopped by on his way home from work so he didn't put a costume on. But no one could tell; he fit right in!

If you've ever wondered what Eliza would look like as a blonde, here she is... as a blonde Viking.

Josh wanted to wear a crazy hat for Crazy Hat Day at school (for Halloween weekend), so he had me sew a bird onto his hat...

This was the coolest homemade costume... the head and hands are cardboard. I don't know the boy, but his parents let me take a picture of him at a shopping center when I saw him. They're from Scandinavia, where legos are made.

I was a German girl/Heidi/Gretel/milkmaid. Madi was a softball player.

Eliza (as a Tunisian), Isaac (doctor) and Madi at the ward party with other youth.

Rachel's Adventures

A Texas cookie!

Rachel hurt her wrist playing soccer at the park. She loves to be goalie while playing with Isaac and their friends, but Isaac's kick was just too powerful this time... she sprained her wrist when she tried to stop the ball. Rachel enjoyed not being able to do things like wash dishes and clean the bathroom and wash the car until her wrist was better.

Here's Rachel playing flute at a football game. She's not loving band, because it is too intense with sectionals after school, detentions given out liberally (for very minor things) and a very strict teacher who says, "If you have less than a 90% in here, you will get a zero." Rachel has a private flute teacher that comes once a week to the school during band and pulls her out to teach her (we pay for that, but I like the convenvience!). But she loves her other activities: she's on the newspaper staff and wrote 2 articles for the first paper that's coming out soon (she wrote about the football team and about band) and she got to design the newspaper staff's shirt, she tried out for the after school Glee Club and made it and will sing at a rest home at Christmastime and do other performances, and she's in the co-ed Soccer Club at school. She enjoys her Art Class, though she wishes she'd taken German class. But she gets to be a guest to German classes and talk about what it was like to live in Germany and to show some of her things she brought from Germany (such as her dirndl/dress). She loves that.

Homecoming ribbons

"Maddinson" with her ribbon
A homecoming tradition here is for boys to give girls these ribbons, then the girls wear them to the homecoming game. A friend of Madi's gave her this big ribbon (top photo), then he gave Eliza a smaller one.

Field Trip

I went with Josh on the 4th grade field trip to Lyndon B. Johnson's grandparent's pioneer home. LBJ is from around here so there are lots of lakes and parks and schools named after him and/or his wife.

Making rope
Sack races

Tug of war

The highlight of the day was listening to Moses. He was an amazing outdoorsman! Josh was mesmerized as Moses threw his hatchet and knife right into a target from different angles.

Hiking with the boys

Lyrad, Isaac, Josh and I went hiking on a beautiful afternoon. Lyrad had worked so many days in a row (going to work in the dark and coming home when it was dark) that he really wanted to enjoy the cooler weather... he still loves his job, but he loves his one day off a week also!

Throwing rocks and watching them break apart... must be a boy thing...

Texas is beautiful!

Josh with his "tail"