Spring soccer wrap-up

Clyde and Will had their last soccer games a couple of weeks ago, concluding a highly fun season for both of them:

 Will pulled a Brett Favre and came out of retirement to play some more with the Scoring Rockets and it was a GREAT experience.

 I stayed firmly IN retirement, so another dad from the team awesomely stepped up to coach the kiddos. Will was so excited for Wednesdays and Fridays so he could go to soccer practice and work on his skills.

 

 Game days for Will were so fun to watch - he willingly went out on the field and played, which was a complete 180 from last fall.

 (these are all of his blue uniform games, he's #4)

Granted, he was usually a few steps behind the action, usually swinging his arms and humming, but we're SO proud of how far he's come. 

 (shots from his green uniform games, still #4)

 He even got his foot on the ball a few times, and Coach Rob was so great about having Will kick or throw the ball in after it went out of bounds.

 I was so excited to see four of Will's teammates from the fall return to the team so that I could still watch and cheer for them.

  

 Clyde was SO excited to rejoin the 'Avengers' for another season; his practices were Tuesdays and Thursdays and he loved every minute!

 Well, minus the running at the beginning of every practice... luckily we were late on a fairly regular basis :).

 Clyde was a superstar player once again; he had three games where he scored three goals and (I think) only one game where he didn't score at all. (Blue uniform games, he's #5)

 

 As always, we loved watching his hilariously goofy running style and facial expressions :).

 (Green uniform games).

 Between the two teams, we had soccer practices four nights a week which meant LOTS of hanging out for little Jackers:

 He can't wait until it's his turn to play and have everyone's lives revolve around his activities :).

Jack was also a champ at the Saturday games, even the chilly early-April ones:

 Those first games were pretty cold (and rainy!) for all of us...

 The boys ended up playing at the exact same time three different weeks... none of which Chuck was able to attend (work, Scout campout, work), which left me scurrying back and forth between two (blessedly nearby) fields or watching one boy while constantly swiveling my head around to see the other boy. 

One such week, Cody and Grandma Pam were able to come, which helped a LOT:

 And I think Cody learned his lesson about defying a wise mother's advice and letting Jack out of his stroller :).

As I said, both boys had such an awesome season, and so much of that is due to their respective Coach Robs:

 Clyde LOVED his Coach Rob, who was so good at pushing Clyde and encouraging him to get better and reach his potential. Such a great guy. We're all crossing our fingers that Rob coaches again next year and that we can finagle Clyde onto his team again!!

And I'm not even sure there are words to express our appreciation for Will's Coach Rob. He was the PERFECT coach for Will this season - he was kind and enthusiastic and patient (SO patient) and taught Will so much about soccer/teamwork/etc and genuinely cared about Will and his progress.

To help distract us during the soccer off-season (and in an effort to fulfill some sort of sports-related bucket list), the boys are signed up for a co-ed t-ball league for June and July, on a team with each other and some friends from the ward, which promises to be all sorts of fun - stay tuned!

Team Brandon benefit sale recap

Soooo, remember my spiel about Team Brandon??

 

Here's the quick recap: our friend Brandon has cystic fibrosis and really needs a double lung transplant, so family and friends have combined forces to create 'Team Brandon' and the results have been amazing and awe-inspiring.

The incredible Emily spearheaded efforts for a big fundraising benefit sale at the beginning of May:

Oh, yeah, there was a carnival too. No big deal.

During the weeks leading up to the sale, the Murphys collected donations at their house. Our task that week was to organize it, figure out a pricing strategy, and do as much prep work as possible before Friday. 

[Sidenote: the Murphys are amazing. Seriously. I already knew this from working with them in Scouts, but this weekend reinforced it: they let us all trample all over their yard all week and helped SO much and had so many resources to help. Love them.]

Monday! We pulled everything out of the storage crate and began to sort, price bigger items, organize on tables, etc. We were there from about noon to five-thirty, at which point we shut everything back into the storage shed (in a slightly more organized fashion!) and called it a day.

On Tuesday morning we reconvened at the Murphys', where Brandon's mom and brother met us with a huge trailer of donations they had collected from their friends and neighbors. More sorting and pricing! That afternoon I sneaked away to go help with some Race for the Cure stuff (I folded t-shirts at the 'team packet pick-up' event for four hours. My back may never forgive me) but Emily and co. stayed busy making signs for the sale.

 

By Thursday it was crunch time! The morning was spent at the Murphys', doing more organizing (awesome donations kept rolling in through the week). We took a field trip in the afternoon; a friend's dad donated use of his cotton candy machine so a group of us met there, and 100 bags of cotton candy later, we partied on out. (Blessedly, I got to be in charge of the group of kids there so the other gals could actually work the machine. I walked away tired, they walked away COVERED in sticky sugar, haha).

Then it was back to the Murphys' for the long haul.  

(Can I just say how much I love Chuck's work schedule? He had Mon/Tues off and kept the kids all day both days, and then Thursday he had a training and was home by 4 to take all the kids - and then was off all weekend... with the kids. Blessed.)

I can't believe how much we got done Thursday evening! Tables set up and arranged and items laid out. Sister Murphy headed up the clothing section and it looked sooo nice.

Brandon's a superstar and spent a lot of his week there helping out - complete with his oxygen! One of the most fun aspects of all of this was getting to know him better. We played a pretty hilarious game called, "Guess what this random yard sale item actually is?" and we definitely found some winners, haha.

 Thursday night we all attempted to get some sleep (we even went running, although we were all SO freaking tired that it was probably a pretty pathetic pace. Turns out we all were hoping someone else would cancel, haha) and then EARLY Friday morning it was go time:

Woooo! Doesn't it look amazing? Teena and Brother Murphy saved us from the heat with those awesome canopies for the cashier station, the bake sale table, and the carnival entrance. We had a section over on the lawn that I called 'Furniture Row'; it even had some work-out equipment that Paulina helpfully demonstrated for us :).

Tasha and I teamed up at the Cashier station for most of the day and we had SO much fun together, despite the heat, standing up for hours on end, and some ridiculous customers. People who try to scam you at a BENEFIT sale? Seriously? We just laughed them off :). Plus we had so, so many incredibly generous people that it was impossible to feel anything but joyous and grateful.

Angie came out to help; it was really fun to see her again :). The bake sale was staffed by Sister Holm in the morning and then Brandon's awesome aunt and cousin Stephanie. Tasha and I may have run up a bit of a tab with them :). And Brandon himself sold the carnival tickets for most of the weekend!

Carnival fun! Seriously: a bounce house, icees, go fish, a cake walk (granted, it was only done a couple times just for my kid...), face painting (Em K is my hero, haha), etc.

More pictures from Friday! (That I stole from Emily B). Chuck brought the boys over to visit, which was really sweet. Brother Murphy was the grillmaster extraordinaire in charge of hot dogs. They were delicious!!

That evening we covered and tarped everything and took our weary selves home. The next morning was the 5k but I rolled over to the sale as soon as I got back to Nampa:

It was so fun to see how much more stuff had sold Saturday morning!! And we got cute new helpers in the carnival section :). And I got to prove my self as an Icee girl, haha.

Saturday afternoon was BUSY - we were trying to sell as much stuff as possible so we wouldn't have to pack it up later... which meant lots of wheelin' and dealin' :). My mom and Cody came by and helped by buying some books (shocker!) and making a donation. Love them! It was so incredible to watch people's generosity - they'd give us a twenty-dollar bill for a $4 purchase and tell us to keep the change, etc. Several people wrote sizable checks. It was so, so neat.

 And then Saturday evening came and it was time to pack up! We were slightly worried it would turn into an all-night affair, but back-up arrived (like my cute husband!!) and the clean-up went really smoothly.

Emily and I were even able to sneak away and do a quick unofficial count of the money - and we. were. floored. by how much the benefit sale raised. So amazing to be able to hand that amount over to Nycole and know that their family is that much closer to their goal. The whole week was such a wonderful thing to be a part of - I love serving alongside women who inspire me and make me laugh and there were certainly no shortage of those. Meeting various members of Brandon's family was so great - his sweet mom Kathy is a saint, and I'm pretty sure we're now lifelong friends :). Mostly it was just incredible to see what can be accomplished when so many people work together!

And because we're cheesy and awesome, we rounded most of us up for a quick Team Brandon cheer before heading our separate ways :).

Gooo Team Brandon!!

Izatt Family Homestead in Thatcher

One of the reasons that we were excited to attend Rachel's wedding last month was because of its proximity to the small town where Chuck spent his earliest childhood years - Thatcher, Idaho. I've never been there, so we dedicated most of Sunday to exploring the Izatt Homestead.

Clyde and Will were SO psyched to see where their daddy grew up and played as a little boy; they helpfully inquired every two minutes or so if this stretch of land was it. (Spoiler alert: it wasn't. Yet!)

We started out that morning by attending sacrament meeting in the Thatcher ward, where Chuck was promptly recognized as an Izatt - pretty impressive considering he hasn't lived in that ward since he was 8 (granted, they asked if he was Lee, but still!). It was a really nice meeting, and Chuck's parents had fun afterwards catching up with some old friends and acquaintances. 

Next we moved on to the cemetery where Chuck's great-grandparents and grandparents are buried.

We stayed a few minutes so that we could walk around and see the Izatt family area, which provided a nice visual for Clyde to remember the significance of his middle name.

 The next leg of our adventure called for some off-roading up into the hills to find Chuck's grandpa's sheep cabin:

Still there! In pretty decent condition, too.

 Terri directed my attention to the deluxe outhouse, complete with varying options for comfort... for the right price, of course :).

  We ventured on foot a bit further to find an area where foundation had been poured for another cabin before plans changed:

The kids had such a blast running around and playing. I was mostly in constant awe at how much land there was - hundreds and hundreds of acres that have been in Chuck's family for, well, a couple hundred years. I'm pretty sure I just kept wandering around thinking, "Wow, what a cool little stream. Hey! That stream belongs to Chuck's dad and aunts! Ooh, that's a neat copse of trees. Wait! That copse of trees belongs to Chuck's dad and aunts!" Craziness!!

 This cute fence was just perfect for quick photo op of Grandma and Pops with the grandkids in attendance:

 L to R: Grandpa, Eli, Bri, Will, Lily, Clyde, Courtney, and Grandma. (Jack was napping in the van.)

 From there, it was time to drive down and see the house! Chuck's great-grandparents built this white house back in 1860 - you know, a year before the Civil War started. What??

 Chuck's grandparents lived in it most recently, but it's been vacant for the last few years. Before going in, Dave took a few minutes to share some of the history of the house and the area with us. Again, I was slightly overwhelmed by the hundreds of acres surrounding us that now belong to Chuck's parents.

 The house was amazing - definitely showing signs of age and vacancy, but SO cool:

 Pops gave us permission to look for treasures to take home, which was fun. Courtney and I spent some time in the bedroom that Dave's older sisters shared and I found a couple of dresses in another area that I obviously needed to bring home :).

 

 The second house on the property is the house that Chuck lived in as a wee boy:

Right now it's inhabited by the guy (and his family) who rents out the ranch, so we didn't go inside.

We did walk over and look at the base of the TALL flag pole that Chuck's family put in one year for the 4th of July:

 And Clyde and Will each got a turn putting their hand in Chuck's handprint! Chuck was just a few months shy of 6 when the handprint was made - so right between Clyde and Will's ages, which they (of course) loved.

 It was around this time that Chuck and Lee learned that some of their old childhood things were in the upper part of this barn, so they both climbed up to have a look.

 Clyde was delighted when Chuck found and tossed down an old helicopter from his boyhood. It now resides in our play room!

 

 Someday we'll have to attempt a big Izatt family picture in Thatcher (we've talked about centering one of our summer family reunions there) but in the meantime we gathered up the Izatt men:

 It was quite the task to get Lee, Dave, and Chuck to cooperate for a picture, but I think it was worth it :).

 

 Aaaand since we were there we got a few shots of the five of us:

 I promise we own clothing that isn't blue and orange... we just don't apparently wear it often :).

I'm really glad that I finally made it out to Thatcher - it's a trip that was a long-time in the making and very worthwhile.

 I love my father-in-law so much, and seeing him here - on the land where his family has lived and worked and raised their families for years and years - provides so much context for the incredible man that he is. His admirable work ethic, his devotion to his family, his commitment to serving others --- all have their roots here in Thatcher. I'm grateful to have seen this area, so rich in family history, firsthand.

Race for the Cure 2013: Family & Friends Edition!

I ran another 5k, wahoo! For those of you keeping track (that should be everyone...) this was my fourth 5k in the last three years and NOT as previously thought, my fastest. After a little bit of independent fact-checking (aka I looked at the blog from last year's 5k) my time this year was seven seconds slower than last year's... luckily it's still about ten minutes faster than what I was anticipating considering how flipping tired I was, so I'll take it!

This year brought all sorts of awesome people out to the Race for the Cure, which was really fun.

Some of the gang getting ready for the looong walk to the start line. I believe deeply in a good, solid warm-up walk of a little over a mile before you do any strenuous walking or running [and also the shuttle sounded crowded and also like it left before we got there :)]. I like Holly's go-get-'em attitude in this shot!!

 We all hurried to the start line and had just enough time for my mom to take this picture of me before I handed her the camera and partied on out. (P.S. I like how the hair from some lady behind me makes it look like I'm sporting a randomly messy bump-it style with my braids. Why not??)

 We all (politely!) elbowed our way into the starting mix and off we went! The runners that started out together were: Myself, Kautri, Grace, Aleesha, Holly, Madi, Jeni, Emily, and K. K was obviously a superstar and ended up finishing in right around 20 minutes (and then came back to run the last little bit again with his wife!). As expected, Kautri kept me going at a much faster pace than I would have opted for on my own, and we took turns with Jeni and Emily being a little ahead for motivational purposes :). The four of us ended up finishing in 29:22, wooo! (Although I think Jeni actually sprinted faster and beat us by a few seconds...) Aleesha came in just a bit behind us, following shortly by Holly and Madi, and then Grace just a few minutes after that! Go team!

Finding each other in the crowds without cell phones was tricky, here's the group we rounded up at one point for a picture: (L to R): Kautri, Emily, Holly, Madi, me, and Jeni. Seriously, seriously love these girls. 

After some much needed water, a few of us headed back along the route in search of this cute boy:

 Clyde, who was having all sorts of fun (and occasional breaks) walking the 5k with Grandma Pam! (I also have to give props to my awesome mom; she walked another 5k for her school a couple of weeks prior. Take that, Multiple Sclerosis!!)

It was quite the undertaking for this kiddo (did I mention the extra mile he had to walk before it even started??) but I'm so, so proud of him for hanging in there! And not one to rest on his laurels, he went out in his soccer game that afternoon and scored a stellar three goals, gooo Clyde Monster!

 Kautri and her husband are Clyde's much beloved primary teachers, so we had to get a quick picture with the three of us :).

 Oh, and a picture of Clyde with BOTH grandmas :). Grandma Izatt walked a bit with Bri (Lee walked the race with his kids and the stroller) also ran a bit, good work!

I'm really glad I got to be a part of the race for the third year in a row. It ended up being a super crazy week, but it was so amazing to see all of the pink 'survivor' shirts and be reminded of how brave those women are and how vital the Susan G. Komen Foundation is to those fighting cancer.

...And on a related note, I'm participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in July and I'd LOVE for any and everyone (2nd Ward members in particular!!) to come join me! Here's some info about the what this event/fundraiser is in general: Relay for Life. Here's the details about the one I'm doing: Ada County Relay for Life. AND, last but not least, here's the specific team I'm on: No One Fights Alone, which is captain-ed by my amazing, strong, brave friend Lara Ames. So, if you thinking hanging out with me and other cool people and taking turns walking laps and pulling a mid-summer all-nighter sounds AWESOME (how could it not??) sign up to join the team!!

A very cherry May Day

So, last spring there was a cherry tree floating around (not literally) looking for a home, so we grabbed it from our friends and then promptly stuck it in the backyard. Not in the ground or anything, just... in the backyard.

And it lived! For the last year it's just chilled (often literally) in its little bucket in the backyard, so we officially deemed it hearty enough to [possibly] survive an Izatt upbringing. So one Wednesday evening we gathered up some shovels for a good old-fashioned tree plantin'.

 If you can look at this picture and NOT start singing "Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go" then I'm not sure we can be friends.

 

Clyde informed me pretty early on that this was a 'man activity', although he later amended it to a "man/family activity'... when he was tired of shoveling and wanted me to relieve him.

We picked a lovely spot in our front side yard and we're super psyched to watch this little cherry tree grow and eventually yield delicious cherries for us to eat. 

As a treat for his our hard work and in anticipation of our future bounty of cherries, Chuck set out to perfect a chocolate cherry cobbler recipe in the Dutch oven.

And of course it was delicious. I should know; I ate my serving, polished off what the little boys left, and then had one more serving after my run (what? I'm sure I burned off the calories in at least four spoonfuls...). I also might have had some for breakfast the next morning, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyhow, it was a very happy cherry day, hooray!