The Golden Thunder Dragons

THEY PLAY.

I COACH.

YOU CHEER.

That would be the slogan on the back of the coach's shirt for Clayton's soccer league. Yep, it's official, Clayton's grown up. Because playing soccer equals grown up, of course.

He's had lots of fun, and has *almost* made about 5 goals now. We've decided that he is good defender material. But, when he gets alone with the ball, he sure goes for it.

Last week, I asked Clayton how many goals he wanted to make at his next game... The ensuing discussion proves that I aim low.

My suggestion: 2 goals

Clayton's: At least 100, mom.

Oh, and Levi is just so much fun at the games. Let's just say he wants to be a soccer player too. We've had to run across the field several times to keep him from joining in...

A few more games left this season, but a good experience for sure. Hopefully he'll be a soccer star like my sis and bro. Let's just say I didn't get the athletic genes in our family.

Garden Haul and Guessing Game

Well, the goat poo worked. We attempted a large garden this year. Had some major failures [slugs + greenbeans = bad news] and some successes [5 ft. tomato plants]. A good friend who has goats allowed us to come get a truckload of the...the good stuff, let's just say. It worked!

It seems like everything has ripened late, but it's so nice to still have cherry tomatoes out the wazoo, and regular tomatoes to turn into tomato sauce - yum! I have to say though, the purple peppers...not so much. I think I need to let them turn red to sweeten up. They were super bitter, though they do look pretty cool. Here's a shot from last week.

And now for the guessing game. What is this??

And a closer shot.

Three hints:

1. Yes, it is this color.

2. My boys will eat it [that says a LOT].

3. Can't think of another hint, sorry.

Because this looks so disgusting and yet tastes so good, I have to share. I'll send a jar to the first person to guess correctly.

[for the couple of people who know what this is, no cheating!!]

The Fam.

This is my new favorite family pic. It's rare to get us all looking the same direction at once, so thanks to my sis-in-law for snapping this one for us.

It was from a recent weekend where we sent Kasey's brother Aaron off...back to Iraq. A great weekend, and a good reminder to be grateful for who and what we have.