Wii Play

Our family has contracted Wii-itis. Looking to get something that the whole family could have fun with, we bought a Wii last month. Livi has been averaging around 2 hours per day playing Wii Sports, and the rest of us get to play a little bit, too. Liv is very proficient at Tennis and Bowling, and decent at Baseball and Golf. We don't like boxing much... Other than sports, we'll play a little Mario Kart here and there, with some other random games thrown in for fun. But Livi has pretty much monopolized the Wii, and Tennis is her game of choice. This little movie clip was taken a couple of weeks ago, and she's much better now.

Happy Independence Day

Our neighborhood has an annual 4th of July get-together.  This year, we had it in our yard, since it's nice and open, and people could just wander around without anything like a fence getting in the way.  We had a pretty big group this year, probably more than 50 people for dinner and fireworks.  Then we moved out to the front yard where we have a great view of the fireworks that Lehi City shoots from Thanksgiving Pointe.  It was fun.

Grandma Sheree got all the grandkids red, white, and blue t-shirts for the 4th this year.  So we spent our Sunday evening walking around the park and taking pictures with all the grandkids.

Tricia's 5k

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Lehi 5k Run/Walk, organized to be part of the festivities of Lehi's Roundup Week.  Tricia has been running for several months now, a few times a week, and been building up her stamina and endurance.  Yesterday was her first race. We all woke up really early (for a Saturday anyway) and headed downtown to get ready.

The race started at 7:00 sharp, at the Lehi Legacy Center.  We all watched as the horn sounded and off they went.  The kids and I wandered around for a bit, and then made our way to the finish line.  At about 7:30, we cheered Tricia as she ran across the finish line.  We're all so pleased with the hard work she's doing and glad she did so well. Congratulations!

Mommy waves to the kids as she finishes the race

Nine Years Later

Depending on when you ask me, I might tell you that the last nine years have seemed to last forever. Or else I might say that I can't figure out where the time went. Either way, they've been nine mostly excellent years. Where were we nine years ago? I'm glad you asked.

Matt & Tricia Nine Years Ago
We were both in school at BYU. I had been home from my mission for a short six months. I was working for my brother-in-law and his partner at a company called Grandway, handling the shipping/receiving in the warehouse. Tricia was working at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, handling most of the money that came in and out. We had one car (Tricia's little blue Chevy Cavalier) and frequently took off for a few days after work on Friday. We traveled all over Utah camping, hiking, and doing pretty much whatever we felt like, whenever we felt like doing it. We had callings as Primary teachers in the ward, teaching the 5-yr old sunbeam class. We lived in a basement apartment that belonged to Tricia's uncle and aunt.

Matt & Tricia Today
We're both out of school. I've graduated from BYU with my Bachelors Degree in History. Tricia was within a semester or two of graduating when she left, expecting our fist child. We have three great children: Olivia, Anna, and 'baby' Jarom. Each is an invaluable part of our family, and we love them all. I'm working for Cheetah (an off-shoot of the original Grandway), and running the office and operations. Tricia gets to stay at home being a full-time mom, maid, cook, chauffeur, and chief financial officer. She's obviously working harder than I am... We have two vehicles now: my 'commuter' Jeep, and the family Chevy Tahoe. Both are much bigger and more expensive than our first, but both are more useful, too. We hardly ever leave the house (unless you count going to work, church, the library, or Wal-Mart), and especially not to go camping or anything like that. Once or twice a year is more than enough for us. It just takes too much effort for it to be exceedingly fun anymore. We both still teach in church, only I teach in the Sunday School and Tricia teaches in Relief Society. Please give us the 5-yr olds again! And we're living in a modest home in West Lehi, with plenty of yard-work and other projects that need to be done.

And where have we been in between? Well, we've been on two cruises to Mexico/Central America. We've been in the Cub Scouts and in bishoprics. We've been in the Emergency Room with sick/hurt kids. We've been in plenty of arguments. We've debated everything from baby names to paint colors, and just about everything in between. We've been in shape and out of it (mostly in lately--good work on the running Tricia!). But mostly, we've just been in love. For nine years.

Dear Tooth Fairy

That gap in those front teeth--what remains of Livi's first lost baby tooth.  It's been loose for a while, and she's been driving us crazy wiggling it, talking about it (maybe even whining now and then...).  Yesterday it was being especially wiggly.  Grandma Sheree was telling Livi a story about when Mommy lost her first tooth after biting into an apple.  Livi took one bite of her carrot and the tooth was sticking out at an odd angle.  Grandma reached out and yanked it right out!  As you can tell from the picture, Livi tried to be brave, and she tried to smile through the 'anguish.'  Overall, I'd give her an 'A' for effort.

Too bad we didn't get a picture or a movie of Grandma 'saving' Anna from riding her tricycle down the hill a little bit earlier...

Swimming Jarom

He's mobile.  And while it's not what we were expecting, it's effective enough.  He doesn't really like to perform on command, meaning we can't put something out in front of him and get him to go get it.  But he's very good at waiting until our backs are turned and ending up under the bed, or the couch, or someone's chair.  The house is not baby-proofed in any way.  I suppose it's time to get busy working on that.

Look out below!!!

So this is Anna the night she decided that diving off the couch would be a good idea. Unfortunately, she must not have noticed the coffee table in between her and the floor. We were over at Grandma's house, and put ice on it as soon as we could, but we knew it was going to be a nice black eye.

We thought it looked pretty bad that night, but it got lots worse. Picture #2 here is from about a week later. Ouch. It looked at least this good for probably a good two weeks, and we were afraid to take her out in public for fear of being reported to Child Protective Services. Well not really, but it looked about that bad.

And this is her about a month after the little accident. You can still see a little 'shadow' under her eye, and if you feel her cheek, you might notice a little bump, but overall, she's back to her lovely little self. A little lesson for all of us about the dangers of going to Grandma's house. Just kidding. Just don't go jumping off any couches head-first...