Tuckers first Soccer game...

I may have taken a few pictures of Tucker's first soccer game! It was so fun to be back at Plants Ferry in the hustle and bustle of the fall soccer season! At Tuckers age, they still play 3 on 3 and the coaches are on the field with them during the games. 

It is hilarious to watch 5 and 6 year olds play! :)

Tucker seems to be pretty aggressive and seems to be the only one on his team that understand that the ball needs to go through the goal into the net! :) The first Saturday was a double header for us, back to back. By the second half of the second game, the kids weren't even trying to run after the ball, they were more interested in a little fort  off in the trees by the soccer field, and were just kind of done with soccer for the day. It was pretty funny!

And it was so funny after the game, they both cheered for each other then were told to go shake hands with the other team, and neither team had a clue what to do, so the coaches had to literally move their bodies together to show them what to do! :) Tucker and the boys on his team decided to name themselves the blue sharks once they saw that their jerseys were blue!

Tucker had quite the cheering section for him that first game! Papa, Aunt Kayla, Uncle Jason and Kenzie May all came out to watch his first game! I made sure to bring lots of toys for Taylor and Kenzie enjoyed the snacks, but it was fun having everyone there to watch my little man! :)

I told him that I would give him a dollar for every goal he made during the games. So far, he's made a goal every Saturday and has earned $3! He is very happy about that! :) And I love that Saturday traditions of breakfast or Lunch together as a family after the soccer games is becoming a family tradition! We usually don't have so much time with daddy and are loving this new excuse to be together as a family!

I haven't even gotten my camera out since that first game. Except to capture this beauty:

The games are fun and we've already have had some great times with the other parents on the team. We've got some characters! :)

Officially a soccer mom...

Tucker started his first season in soccer. He has been asking me for years when he would start soccer practice and I thought that this would be a good year. He is one happy camper out there on the field, and seems to be getting the hang of it pretty well. His coach is intense! Well, it's kind of strange because he is intense in the fact that he has them practice two nights a week. So, Tuesday and Thursday nights are both shot for us, doing anything other than soccer and a quick bite at home either before or after. Now, he wants to add a third running practice on Friday nights. He insists that they get chocolate milk after every game to help their body recover. (Mind you they are 5 and 6 years old!!!) :) But he is great with them and really knows what he is doing! He played collegiate soccer and is currently the Cheney High School girls soccer coach, so that takes him away from our boys on most Saturdays for their games, so on Saturday's he has these two high-school aged kids coach for him, who are nice enough but definitely aren't as good as Coach Matt. So, practices are great; games...not so much! :) The boys need more direction during their games and I think its a bit confusing for them to not have their coach there. Anyway, Tucker is having a blast and that is all that matters! :)

Here is the big boy on his first day of practice:

And here's what Taylor did on the first day of practice:

And since then, every Tuesday & Thursday from 6:30-7:30 you can find us here:

This little girl likes to do her own 'soccer practice' while Tucker is at his. Every time I say we have to go to Tucker's soccer practice, she makes sure to tell me '...AND my soccer practice!' :)

Most of the time she is just running around like this:

Or bouncing around like this:

A few weeks ago it started to get real cold real fast and the sun was setting in the middle of practice, so these late nights aren't going to be possible anymore! The fall is definitely officially here! :(

One night at the end of practice, it looked like this:

So Papa let Tucker borrow his head lamp that he uses for hunting, but coach Matt wouldn't let him wear it because it was too dangerous! :) I think that he got the hint though because the very next day we all got an e-mail saying that practice time had been bumped up an hour! :) Luckily...it was getting cold!!! Being a soccer mom sure is fun though-- I really enjoy it! :)

Labor day weekend...

Labor day weekend was the perfect end of summer for us! The weather was perfect and we just relaxed our last few days of summer away. We were going to head over to the coast with our good friends for the weekend, her grandparents have a house on the beach in Westpoint, WA and we were so excited, but then that fell through when I realized I had scheduled a few photo shoots. Then we were going to go camping with our other good friends on Saturday-Monday. But we weren't ready and Ben didn't really want to do it, so I didn't push it. So, we just relaxed and got things done at home and it was great!

We did head out to Pig out in the Park at Riverfront park:

Navigating through the mobs of people:

After we got our delicious food, consisting of Nachos, Pizza, a hot dog and some Hawaiian noodles-perfect 'fair' food I'd say- we found ourselves a little corner of the park and ate our yummy food!

Then the kids had some fun in the bounce houses...

It was a great family evening of fun!

On Monday night our friends invited us over to their new house for some BBQ'n and we never pass us up some BBQ! :) 

We are so lucky to have such great friends!

After dinner we had a glow dance party. It was pretty cool, thanks Alicia! :)

Beautiful Summer...

Today marks the first day of October. I can not believe that it is October already! It also marks the end of one of the busiest months of my entire life! We Pyper's had quite a few things going on during the month of September. 

Tucker started school. That was big! I love being in a routine again and love that he has afternoon kindergarten (more to come on that) so that I still have my lazy mornings at home with my babies. I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to be rushed out the door in the mornings. I will be sad! 

Ben is busy busy busy at work (more to come on that, too!). It is such a blessing! We're talking he is out the door every morning by 7:30 at the latest, and not home sometimes until 8-9 pm! He is a hard worker that one, and we appreciate it! 

Tucker started soccer, so there go my Tuesday and Thursday evenings. He loves it and you know there is more to come about that! :) We are officially a soccer family and he loves and so do I! 

Ben is busy as the Young Men's president in our branch. I am in the Primary presidency. Youth activities, temple trips, Activity day's with the girls and presidency meetings fill a lot of our evenings, and it is even harder when our chapel is a half an hour away! But we do love serving in our callings, and are definitely in the throes busyness with them! 

And I just looked back today at my photography schedule over the past month and realized that I had 11 sessions in the month of September. That is a lot for this VERY part-time photography gig I've got going on! Some days I feel as if I'm barely holding my head above the water and at any moment will just drown. But most days I enjoy the busyness and I love filling my time doing things that I feel good about and enjoy. 

I have learned a few things this month, that there is a delicate balance between keeping myself busy 'anxiously engaged in doing good' and being overwhelmed. I've learned that I just need to say no sometimes. I want to do it all and especially with Ben being so busy as he's been lately, I can't do it all! Like in photography, I want to just do every shoot that comes my way. Anyone who calls, whenever they need me. But I've got to set limits for myself because I was getting to the point where I wasn't even enjoying it because I was so stressed out! I've still got the whole month of September to blog about, oh yea-major event in September--our 9th wedding anniversary! Totally can't believe that it has been 9 years!  Anyway, because I don't like a blog post without pictures here are a few summer shots I took to say adios to summer:

{All with my point and shoot camera.}

{I loved the way the sun was coming through this tree in my dad's back yard.}

{And most while driving in a car...shhh....}

{some good cloud days}

The fires in Washington state have been so bad this month that even here in Spokane, miles away it is smokey and hazy:

Adios summer, we will miss your lazy days!

**And I do understand that a lot of families are going through even more craziness than we are, with twice the amount of children and activities. This post was in no way meant to be a complaining session. Just some things I was thinking about this late night as I couldn't sleep and realized it was the first day of October!**

**Oh and also a HUGE THANK-YOU to my dad, Kathryn, sister Kayla and brother in law Jason for totally stepping in and helping a ton with my kids in the evenings when we've had photo shoots or meetings or activities! I seriously don't know what we'd do without family close; it is such a huge blessing. We love you!**

Bouncing babies and the best daddy EVER!

When we got back from Milton-Freewater, Ben surprised us with a trampoline in our backyard! The kids were so so so excited! Anyone who knows my kids knows that they love to bounce! The kids helped Ben put the finishing touches on it (the safety net around it) and started jumping right away! These kids don't know how lucky they are to have such a wonderful daddy! 

The trampoline has literally become a daily routine. They go and jump every single day for hours! We love to make up games on it. We have a shark game, crack the egg, of course, and flip the bacon, of course--but the kids love to be creative and make up their own games.

When Tucker is at school she will just play out here by herself--totally content!

Usually I just can't resist that cute face and go join her! 

(even though I usually have a gazillion things I'm trying to do!) :)

I love my little bouncing babies though and REALLY love their daddy who loves them and totally takes care of them!