Corban's Birthday and Baptism

 Corban's 8th birthday was August 27th.  On his actual birthday he woke up to a birthday door, his sisters bought him a few lego presents (we had already given him a bike a few weeks earlier), and he got his favorite dinner (sushi and pumpkin pie).

He got to finally have his birthday party a week later (because of Labor Day weekend).  We had a military party and all the boys were told to bring their own guns.  We had all kinds of fun things for them to do.  We had them earn their "Precision Star" by hitting targets with their nerf blow pipes. . .

Corb got to be the target for part of the time!

The tree got to be the target another time. . .

And for those that struggled a bit we just had them try to hit the house.  

We had a bit of P.T. (Physical Training)  where they did push-ups. . .

Sit-ups. . .

and some jumping jacks.

When it got hot we took a break and played Sargent Says to help them earn their "Obedience Star."

They earned their "Teamwork Star" by playing tug-of-war.

And their "Strength Star" by beating up a poor pinata with their bare hands!  They each got to take a few punches instead of using a stick.  I was enjoying the fun too much to get any pictures!

Once they had all their stars they earned a few prizes (flashlight, compass and dog tags). And got to eat brownies and ice cream.

Here are all the boys:  Blake, Rocky, Keeton, Matthew, Decker, David, Corban, Luke and Gavin.  Don't they look mean and tough?  I love this age!

On Saturday, September 7th Corban was baptized by his dad.  He really wanted a new suit that looked just like his dad's.  We found an online place to buy suits for very little money and he got just exactly what he wanted.  He looked like a little missionary.  He also got a new set of scriptures.

 On the back of his baptism program I put this picture with the scripture below:

For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.  And then are ye in this strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life… Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (2 Nephi 31:17-20)

I thought it was so perfect to represent the importance of baptism and then continuing on the straight and narrow path toward eternal life.  I can just see him as a missionary in 10 or 11 years, my emotions were very close to the surface all morning.

I didn't take very many pictures of the day.  It got a little crazy afterward when everyone came to the house.  But I snapped this cute picture of my baby brother and his wife.  They saved me during the brunch afterward by cooking all of the Belgium Waffles!  You can also see my brother-in-law, Darin in the background and his wife, Sue playing the piano.  It was a really great program that Corban planned and asked everyone to be part of.

                   Conducting:   Josh Lowry, Ward Mission Leader

                             Pianist:   Sue Williams, Aunt

                Music Leader:   Erin Williams, Mother

               Opening Song:   When I Am Baptized

            Opening Prayer:   Kaylea Collings

                                             Cousin

            Talk on Baptism:   Keaton Williams
                                             Cousin

  Baptismal Ordinance:   Brayden C. Williams

                                             Father

                       Witnesses:   Jared Wright, Uncle

                                             Jeremy Williams, Uncle

                           Primary:   Bethany Killian

                                             Primary President

       Talk on Holy Ghost:   McKenna Wright

                                             Cousin

                 Confirmation:   Brayden C. Williams

                                             Father

     Bishopric Welcome:   Bishop Jason Killian

                 Closing Song:   I am a Child of God   

              Closing Prayer:   Wesley Williams
                                             Cousin

After the baptism and confirmation we all came back to the house for Belgium waffles with ice cream and fresh peaches, strawberries, bananas, nutella, home-make hot fudge, butter syrup and whipped cream.  It was all very wonderful!  People also brought cookies and Grandma and Grandpa Williams sent Corban 2 big pumpkin pies!

When most people had left my niece, Cambric, was nice enough to stay and give Gabby a cute haircut.  Cam is just about finished with beauty school and Gabby was so excited to have her cousin cut her hair.  It's darling again and fits Gabby so well!

You can't tell these guys are brothers can you?

Bump and Ty

Overall it was a really neat day for Corban and for all of us who participated in the baptism with him.  He is a really special boy and the spirit was amazingly strong.  We were surprised by many old friends and new, as well as all the cousins and family that came to support us.  Bishop Killian spoke of all the people that were there not only physically but spiritually.  That Corban's ancestors and his descendants were there to witness this important day.  I felt them and was touched deeply by his words.  I really love this kid and am so pleased that I get to be his mom!

One Last thing to top off a really good day.  Bump and I got to sing at the adult session of the Grantsville Stake Conference that night.  It went really well and I was glad for the opportunity, as I always am when I get to sing with my man.  He was happy that the BYU vs Texas football game had a rain delay and he didn't have to miss it while we were at Stake Conference.  And even better than that???  BYU beat #15 ranked Texas 40 to 21!  What a perfect ending to a perfect day!  :)

Corban Starts Soccer

Bump and I have never really pushed sports on to any of the kids.  We figured that when they wanted to play something that they would ask and we would decide at that point.  Well, this year both Corban and Quincy asked to play soccer.  They both have friends that play and asked if they could.  So, we now begin the phase in our lives of soccer parents.

I have to admit that both Bump and I were pleasantly surprised at how well Corban is doing.  He missed his first game and practice while we were at Bear Lake with Lee and Tricia's family.  His first game that he played in he scored a goal.  Then his second game (these pictures are from it) he scored 5 goals (they took one away, so they only counted 4)!!!  The final score was 7 - 0.

This is the first year that they play specific positions and have goalies and refs.  Corban really doesn't know anything about soccer, but he listens to his coach well and sticks where he should be on the field (for the most part).  We noticed that he wasn't passing the ball to people this game and was kind of being a ball hog, so when he subbed out we talked to him about it.  He told us that he wanted to pass the ball, but both jersey colors look the same to his color blind eyes so he couldn't tell who to pass it to!  We looked at the other team's bright fluorescent green jerseys next to his light grey ones and just had to laugh.  At least the coach knew why he was being a ball hog in this game!

He isn't afraid to get right in and attack the ball and take charge out on the field.  It will be fun to watch him progress and grow in this sport.

He isn't a big celebrator.  This was his biggest reaction after one of his goals.  He clapped once and kind of smiled. 

One of his goals.  I love this shot just as he is about to kick it in. 

The Stone Warriors

Summer Fun!

 I have been so behind on my blog I've decided to just do a bit of catch up and give some highlights of the rest of summer!  Parker got married on July 27th to Lauren Dursler in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. She is a great new addition to the family!  Parker has an instant family since Lauren has a 3 year old daughter Olivia.

Jeremy and Jen went on a pioneer trek with their ward so we had their 3 youngest for a few days.  We took them on a short hike where there was supposed to be water for them to play in.  The water had dried up at that part of the river, so we just played with a fallen tree for a bit then went down by the road to wade in the water that was there.  We had a lot of fun with them!

Bump has been without a job all summer and finally made the decision to go back to school.  Yippee for him!  Because of that decision we came to the conclusion that we need to sell the house.  :(  Not a happy decision to come to, but we know it's right.  So, after 5 1/2 years we are moving from Grantsville and selling our 103 year old home.  We were so unsure about how it would be with the slow market and with such an old home.  We have been blessed in our decision with a solid offer and a good back-up offer in writing.  We move out the end of September.

Because of the decision to sell the house we knew that we had a bit of work to do to make it presentable.  One of those things was to repaint the back of the house.  We rented a power washer to make quick work of all the peeling paint. 

I had to capture a picture of the sun on this day.  There was a bad fire right on the other side of the mountain that was turning the sky a really orange color for a few days.  We not only had paint chips flying everywhere, but had white ashes falling from the fire.

The kids kept wanting Bump to spray them.

A few days later and a lot of paint (the old wood soaks up a lot) and the house looks amazingly better!  I wish we hadn't waited for so long.

We also added some bead board to the inside to cover some old plaster and ugly wallpaper.  It turned out pretty good and really does look better than it did!  Trust me!   I forgot to take before pictures of it.

We had a ward party where there was a dunk tank involved.  The ward voted on people to get dunked. Bump got dunked.

School started on August 20th.  I made the kids stop long enough to snap a quick picture as they headed into the school.  They were so excited to go back!  Gabby is in 4th grade, Corban in 2nd grade and Quincy is in 1st grade.

Quincy and Corban both started soccer.  They both missed their first practice and game while we went to Bear Lake with Lee and Tricia's family (I have no pictures of that trip).  So, Quincy had her first game without a practice.  She was trying to figure everything out, but did pretty good!  She almost scored a goal.  The first game was hard because both Corban and Quincy had games at the exact same time on two different fields, so it was hard to focus on each of them!

Our kids are great little soccer players!! Corban's team is the Stone Warriors and Quincy's is the Rockets!