BOSS

Big Ben has been a trooper. Since school started for Eva, Grace and Tanner he has pretty much lived in the car. Between school, seminary, soccer practice, soccer games, and errands he has been awesome and mom's helper. We decided to do his favorite thing this weekend, hang out by the tracks and he had such a good time seeing the steamies and diesel engines. The video below captures just how excited and in love with trains he is. While trains are his favorite riding bikes and playing soccer/basketball/football are close second. He is so sweet to his siblings and has such a special bond with each of them, especially Eva.

Long time coming....

 It has been a while since we updated the blog. Here is a very quick look at some of the stuff we have been up to. Tanner started high school, which he loves and is playing on the soccer team. Grace and Eva both started school and soccer as well. Grace turned 9 in Salt Lake we had a wonderful time there and then enjoyed a great time at the cabin. Tanner had his first highschool soccer goal at their first game. Grace is a defense machine stopping anything that comes her way and Eva had 5 goals last game!

 Tanner turned 14! He custom painted his new longboard and loved all his gifts. Thank you.

 First day of school.

 Ben is no longer in a crib and working on potty training. This is the last picture of Ben in the crib that has so many memories from each of our 4. 

Happy Birthday Eva!

For those of you who know Eva, you know she has a unique spirit. To give you an idea of her optimism, as we watched the Olympic Gymnastics on TV she said very seriously, "I think I could do that if I practiced." Another time this week, she was at my soccer game when she turned to Tanner and said "I am going to go make some friends," and 5 seconds later she had achieved her goal. 

Eva is always happy, always willing to tackle challenges, and very energetic and physical. One minute she will be doing cartwheels the next falling into the splits and grooving to some music.  On 7/7/2012 Eva turned 5! She loved her gifts and had such a great time trying them all out. As you can see, she was not afraid to show and scream her excitement. We were so happy to celebrate such a wonderful girl who is growing up way too fast. She is a great sister (Ben and her are the best of friends), talented ballerina, and just a joy to be around. Our family could not get enough of spoiling her. After her gifts and her party we headed to build-a-bear where Eva got to pick out a new friend with accessories. After that Eva wanted Chinese food and Orange Chicken. At the end of the day as she was fading off to sleep she looked at us and said "that was the greatest day ever." 

Although Eva went through many different themes, she ultimately settled on a Hello Kitty theme for her big day.

BRACE FACE- Tanner got his braces friday and although he is hurting he actually was excited to get them on. Braces, somehow, make T look even older. We still can not imagine he starts high school in less than 2 months.

Kim's amazing decoration for E's big day. When Eva saw it she was so excited.

14 Years and Counting

Yesterday was our 14th Anniversary, which both Kim and I can't believe, where has the time gone and how can we be that old?

Anyway, Grace and Eva decided to plan out our evening. First Grace had me take her to the store. On her list she had made the day before there was:

Large Table
Fancy Tablecloth
Colorful flowers-moms favorite color
Exotic Fruit
Chocolate Cake Mix
Chocolate Frosting
Stuff for Carnitas
Raspberries
Squeezy frosting - preferably pink.

After purchasing most of the things on her list, minus the large table, Grace and Eva put on aprons with dress coats over them and got to work making menus, signs, and setting our table complete with floating tea candles. As Kim was returning home from dropping T off at a birthday party, they scrambled to make a romantic playlist on itunes to download to my ipod so that we could eat with the right ambiance. You should have heard the girls comment on songs I clicked as to whether they were romantic or not -pretty funny. Let's just say they were not impressed by cheesy rock ballads. We were sat by the hostess, waited on, and checked on to make sure our drinks were topped off and our plates were cleared. Ben of course followed suit. What a wonderful night with my beautiful, loving wife.

Babe, here's to 70 more anniversaries!

"Eye of the tiger"

Ben saw Tanner's 8th grade class dance to this song for their graduation and he was hooked. This musical plays at least 4 times a day in the Uji home.

End of School year fun!

The end of Preschool, 2nd grade, and 8th grade was a busy time, but chalked full of sweet memories!

 Grace's Greek Festival!  She had so much fun learning of Greece and constantly clarifies that her outfit is NOT called a Toga.  It is a Chiton, for heaven's sake.

 Ben had LOADS of fun at all his sibling's end of school activities.  He has non stop joy...  Except when he doesn't.  ha ha

 At Lovely Eva's Pre-School graduation!  She did a great job getting up on stage for the commencement, especially because she is SO shy.  She was great and had the best year!  She's already figuring out how multiplication works, so I'm pretty sure she'll eat up Kindergarten.

 Getting fancy for the Spring Show at school.

Master Trumpeteer at work.  He did a great job!

 JR had to speak at a conference in Boston for work, so his cute brothers met him there!  Enjoying the games and sites of Boston!

Enjoying his 32nd Bday cake!

Visiting the Rhododendron gardens with good buddies.

                                               Celebrating with Dad on his Father's Day!

Cutest thing ever.  When we were done giving JR his Father's Day gifts, Ben kept running and grabbing toys and favorite things to give his best buddy dad.  He loves him SO much and wanted to make him happy.  He even gave him a little train tunnel "hat." 

 Going fishing for her LAST 2nd grade field trip.  We did this in conjunction with Greek studies.  SO fun!

 Eva LOVED a ballet class she took for a month.  She eats, sleeps, and drinks ballet.