Happy Birthday Lance!

He did it! Lance turned 8 on September 14th. I still can't believe my oldest child is 8... and I thought it was crazy when he started school!

We celebrated on Friday the 13th with his class: chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting, Lance's cupcake of choice. Lance doesn't mess around with his chocolate.

Jude and Cole loved the frosting, but left the cake. :)

Lucky Lance also got to have lunch at school with his dad right before this--Chipotle! It was fun to be at school with him and watch him light up when the class sang "Happy Birthday". 

Afterwards, it was home again, home again to make another batch of cupcakes for Lance's Birthday party the next day!

The newest member of the family: Molty!

I love animals. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian and I wanted my kids to have pets to care for and love (when I finally had kids). I always assumed we'd have a dog or a cat, or even a horse.

I never, ever thought we'd own a snake.

I like snakes. I really do. I've always thought they were beautiful and their "taboo" nature made them even more intriguing to me. I distinctly remember bringing a 3-foot garter snake home once when I was 8 or 9 only to be greeted in my yard by a frantic mother who had no idea if the snake was dangerous or not. Personally, I thought the reaction was a bit "over the top", but I guess snakes aren't for everyone.

They are, apparently, for Lance. He was out with his soon-to-be Grandpa (Abby's dad) a few weekends ago doing some yard work at Scott and Abby's new house and found a baby black rat snake curled up in a decoration attached to a tree. So, Lance decided to keep it and christened him "Molty".

We still need to get him a proper terrerium--for now he's taken up residence in our old tad pole tank--but he's doing well and growing. I think he's really, really cute. George isn't too smitten, but Jude and Cole think he's awesome.

Scott and I convinced Lance's teacher at Back to School night to let him bring Molty to school for a personal "show and tell" the following Monday. It was neat to be there and see Lance beam as he was the star of the class for 10 minutes while he showed off his snake and answered questions.

I love his teacher's face in this picture. We brought a "pinky mouse" to feed Molty so the class could see how he eats (you can get baby mice from the pet store that are dead and frozen that you then thaw at home to feed your snake), but that got vetoed by the teacher. She claimed she thought it might upset some of the girls in the class, but seeing as all the girls held Molty and the teacher merely touched him quickly, I think she meant to say it might upset her. I had to giggle a bit to myself. Like I said, snakes aren't for everyone.

Molty did a great job! I was a little nervous he might try and bite after being passed around to so many kids, but he was totally calm the whole time.

"Molty!"

Since we didn't feed the snake at school, I fed him at home for Jude and Cole to see. It took Molty a few minutes to locate the mouse, but once he found it, he got right to business.

It was the craziest thing to see a snake swallow a mouse in "real life". I've seen it on TV and such, but to watch it happen right there was a neat experience. Snakes are so cool.

I love his coloring. It's sad he's going to be mostly black when he gets bigger. And he's going to get a lot bigger. When he's full grown, he'll be between 5 and 8 feet long! Scott thinks once he reaches 3 feet, he may need to be released into the wild, but I think he'll be fine.

Welcome to the family, Molty!

Paintballing

Last weekend was a blast! Since George had Saturday and Sunday off, we planned on spending the weekend with his family up in Ashburn. Our first stop on Saturday, however, was the Johnson's house for some paintballing!

Troy hosts a paintballing group at his house every month and it was a blast! This was the first time we've gone. No, being almost 6 months pregnant I didn't get to run around the woods with the guys and rather opted to hang out with a few ladies that were there, but George had a great time.

Lance trying out a round or two.

It was a big group of guys that came--such a fun way to make friends and meet people.

Another boy about 8 or 9 showed up, so we decided to let Lance have some fun and he joined George's squad in the woods.

He did a good job! He mostly hid in bunkers and sniped people as they ran past. He tagged a couple men on his first round which he was very proud about.

Lance walking out of the game after being shot.

Showing off his battle scars.

Jude, Cole and I stayed around the house, playing on the playground in the back yard, talking with the ladies, and (of course) handling the (unarmed) arsenal of paintball guns Troy had.

The boys also discovered the Johnson's Polaris and spent a solid 20 minutes pretending to drive and shot the "bad guys".

It was a fun experience and definitely one we'll be repeating. I hope they still have the group going in about 4 months so I can play too!

A family divided

I was stuck. There was no other option available. It had to be done.

It's not like I had to deal with this conflict in the past. It had always been very cut and dry and the answer very clear. Let me explain:

My parents met and married there. Heck, I was even born there!

(Did I mention that my Dad's parents went there also?)

It's where not only I went to school...

...but all five of my siblings.

My sister even played for their lacrosse team.

 The answer should have been easy, but it wasn't. 

It was easy in 2000...

But in 2008, things changed. 

I found my loyalties in other places as well. 

In my defense, it makes sense. 

George received his Bachelors in Bio-mechanical Engineering here.

His brother graduated from the same place.

George attended Medical School here...

...and became a doctor!

 

And now he practices as a Resident here.

So, when we found out BYU was playing UVA in the opening football game on August 31st, I did the only thing possible in this situation:

I cheered for both sides!

We had a great time! Amy drove down and spent the night with us and helped me make my shirt. Lance was staying with his Dad for the weekend and got to hang out with Abby and her family and friends that came into town for the game. 

It was super hot and muggy, but when the game was about to start we donned our game attire and trekked about a mile and a half to the stadium from our apartments. Tyler was already there with his family and Mom and Glenn drove down to meet us there as well.

Aunt Amy is the best!

She piggy-backed Jude the whole way. I have no idea how she did that in the heat and sweat. She's amazing!

 Family picture! The kids of course had to cheer for UVa. :) Lance was with his dad and was decked out in his BYU attire. At least I had one child on my half-side.

 We got there a bit before the game started, so we sat around on the grass enjoying some kettle corn.

These boys were such good sports! They could tell they were somewhere fun, but it was just so darn hot.

Watching the Marching Band

I love that UVa's mascot gets to ride a horse onto the field.

Our tickets were in the UVa cheering section. Amy, Tyler, Mom and Glenn sat in the opposite corner with fellow BYU fans. It was funny to listen to the people around us commenting on the game and on the "opposing" team. :)

Right at the end of the first quarter, the announcer came on and instructed us all to vacate the stadium due to lightening on the horizon. Since we had to leave our seats and find shelter from the approaching storm, we decided to just walk home.

 Empty stadium. Crazy how it was just completely full of rowdy fans.

 About halfway home, the storm hit and we were left walking about half a mile in heavy rain, lightening and thunder. Jude and Cole thought it was fabulous and laughed as they got wet. 

The game started back up about two hours later, but since we were settled at home we didn't go back. Lance got bored with the wait and was dropped off at our house by Scott before the game resumed. Mom, Tyler, Amy and Glenn stuck it out like champs and cheered BYU all the way through a very intense game.

Look at all that orange!

In the end, UVa pulled through with a 19-16 win. I'm still not sure how I feel about it. George was fairly triumphant, especially since I made him come cheer for BYU back in 2000 when they played against each other and BYU spanked UVA.

After the game, everyone came to the house for dinner before heading home. Amy spent the night again (yay!) which was awesome.

 

It was a fun day! I wish it hadn't rained so we could have stayed longer. Maybe next time!