My little man is in 7th grade!! Ack! He has been sooooo excited to start school, especially 7th grade. At first I was sooooo nervous. But as the summer has gone on and he's become a little more responsible I've relaxed.

He figured out his locker code, had a couple tours of the school, located all his classrooms and has some great friends in our ward to look out for him (upper classmen, too).

Landen called me when he got home from school and I asked him how his first day was and he said "it was aaaaawesome!" He met knew friends, lunch was so good (but not as good as my spagetti), some of his teachers are funny and he saw some "hot" girls (GrEaT)!!

I tried to be "a cool 7th grader Mom" in the morning when he left, but HE asked for the typical first day of school picture. Megan and I stood on the driveway as he rode away. I was trying to keep my composure and "stay cool"...just when I thought I was OK...1/2 way down the street he turned around and waved...Ugh...I think he took my heart with him (I wished I could be a little mouse in his pocket). I didn't "lose it" but as I'm typing this now I'm getting all teary. Ack! My baby.

Megan cheered me up by telling me "I'm going to tell all my friends about this".

Landen rides his bike to a buddie's house and then a group of them walk together. So blessed he has great friends!!

Landen is heavily into soccer and we've moved on to "comp/club" soccer. He tried out end of May for "Murray Max" and made it! So exciting. The team is a great bunch of kids and the parents are pretty amazing. I love being part of all the fun and comradere on the side line. It's a great family feel and the parents contribute and almost everyone has a role/duty for the game/team. I was in charge of the "roster card" this year. It's the size of a business card with the boy's name and # and the reverse side has the parent/contact information. "That was easy!!"

The boys played in the annual "Murray Max" tournament and took 2nd place. It was a gruelling Championship match. They ended the game with a tie 2-2...went into OT of 2 5 minute quarters...still a tie...and then PKs. We lost in PKs...can't remember the score there. The boys were so disappointed...it was so exciting/intense. It was exciting to finally see the boys play a game together and see how our season is going to go. They played with and worked great together.

Of course...little sister Megan got her Murray Max t-shirt and has so much fun watching her big brother!

Landen and I had the opportunity to attend "Meet the Players Day" at Rio Tinto and stand in long lines in the heat of the day to get an autograph and, if we were lucky, a photo with some ReAL players. We got to all the ones Landen really wanted to meet and were lucky enough to get photos. He didn't get an official pose with Beckerman...but caught him walking past us and shoved his banner to him for an autograph (you can see Landen's legs on the other side of the guy with the Medusa looking hair)...his line was way too long to stand in.

The highlight was Nick Rimando (top mid) and Wingert (bottom mid). On Landen's new soccer team his nickname is "Wingert". One of the soccer Mom's was there and took Landen's item to be signed and we took hers and stood in line at Nick Rimando's for her. We made it back just as they were approaching the table of Wingert. She told Wingert that Landen was nicknamed after him because of how he plays defense like him. Wingert thought it was cool (as I'm sure he thought we were weirdos).

Our last big "hurrah" of the summer was a family drive to Roseville, California to visit my sister, Marley, and her family, my Uncle Dave, the Jelly Belly Factory, Denio's Swap Meet, Stinson Beach and Folsom Lake. It was so fun to see our kids playing together and just being with my sister.

We stopped in Reno, Nevada, on the way home to break up the trip for a night and had dinner at TeXaS RoAdHoUsE with Gary's brother and sister and a dear friend of mine, Michelle. We also enjoyed some time watching a "cruise" of Hot August Nights cars and some fun at "Scheels" (every sport you can imagine & Cabela's all in one stop).

Our family has gotten the athletic competition bug and triathlons are their thing. My SILs (not me...I'm the picture taker and screamer...remember...someone has to right??) participated in the Women of Steel Tri and the boys (Daxton, Liam and Landen) participated in the Tough Kids Tri. It was so fun to watch them and cheer them on. It was the first time for the boys and they did amazing. It was very emotional watching the boys work so hard and complete the tri. I'm AlWaYs amazed at my SILs (Cassie & Janel).

A BiG shout out to Grammy (and the poster), Papa John (who was there to push everyone along at the very end), my brothers (Derric & Dustin), the 'lil kids (Jalene, Claire, Dane and Draedon) and Landen's friend Chase (and the cowbell) who were also there to cheer everyone on.