Exciting times at the Parke household...

SO...we have some exciting news around here!  I am very aware that I haven't posted in a while, and have some serious updates, but onto the exciting news!
Kylee (who is in the 9th grade), tried out for the high school soccer team, and out of the 80+ girls that tried out, she made the JV/Varsity team!!!  She worked her fanny literally off.  She is worn out, tired, sore, but most importantly SO FLIPPING EXCITED!!!!!!!  She has had this dream for the last 10 years of playing soccer, and now it is reality!  She will most likely play most of her time with the JV team, but she will dress for all of the varsity games as well...and who knows she may have some playing time with some 18 year old girls!!!  We are so excited for her!!!

Also, Cade tried out for the 6th grade football team, and he made the "A" team!  He is so excited, he loves football, and for how skinny he is, he sure can hit!  So proud of you little dude!  Way to put your mind to it and make it happen!!!

I have tons of pictures from our many adventures over the summer...stay tuned...

Picture Vomit...

I know, I know. It has been F.O.R.E.V.E.R since I updated this poor neglected blog. I have been overwhelmed at updating this thing, and have put it on the back burner...completely. BUT, because this is my "journal", I have to get it up to date, even if it is out of order, and way too many pictures for one post!!!

So, there is no order, and these date back to the end of school...pathetic I know!

Kylee tried out for a new soccer team, that is based out of Provo, and it has been THE best thing that she has ever done! They are a bunch of awesome girls, and amazing coaches! They might not be the best team in the state, but they are one of the top 5! This picture is of them right before they played in the championship game last Saturday...they won in a shoot out! Their goalie stopped 2 of the other teams PK's. Kylee and all of the girls on her team made theirs-this team is the one she played last spring where the goalie punched her in the mouth. She was so excited to beat them!
I love this picture of Kylee, you don't realize how agressive soccer is until you see pictures like this! She is such a fiesty little player...I love watching her play.

Over the 4th of July they put together a team of 6 girls (one is missing), and they played in a 3v3 tournament. They ended up being registered in the age group up, so they were playing against 15 year old girls turning 16...um, yes for the record there is a HUGE size difference in that age! They ended up taking 2nd place! It was awesome to see them whipping some soccer fanny against bigger, much more agressive girls!

Ky had her 13th birthday, and we celebrated with cake & ice cream with the fam.

We went to the REAL salt lake game on the 24th of July, and they had awesome fireworks afterwards.

Halle...much later than her bed time, and apprently Cade is posing like a gangsta?

This is a picture of Halle & her BFF Sadie on the last day of school. They are in the same grade, but sadie is 7 months younger than Halle...that is my justification for the size difference :)

Cade getting ready for the school dance festival in May. Each grade does a dance, and let me tell you something, that boy has groove! He was so cute, not too cool to dance, and he loved it!

Halle getting ready for her dance, they did a teddy bear dance, it was so cute.

Halle had her dance recital the first part of May, and can't you tell that the siblings are just thrilled to sit through a 3 hour dance recital? They better act like they LOVE it, she sits through hundreds of hours of their sports.....

Just proof that I was there, I just love posting pictures of myself .

Halle and her dad. She is such a great dancer, and did such a great job!

Halle & her little friend Lucy (Lucy is 5, and Halle 7, just so you don't think I have a mammoth child!)

Halle in her dress rehearsal, they did the cutest butterfly ballet!

We went to a baseball tournament in Idaho Falls...first time I have ever been there. It rained the whole time, and was miserable. Cade had fun, they got their butts whooped, but who cares if you are on vacation...right?!?!

While we were there, we were told how cool "Bear World" is, and that we should definately go. We didn't have much time, so we decided on our way home we would go there. It was pouring rain, so it wasn't crowded at all. We were so excited! (disclaimer: we went on a Sunday, that is why the following things occured. I am quite sure of it!)

We saw this awesome albino elk, it was pretty cool looking, and some buffalo. The animals were literally 10 feet from your car.

We saw this grizzly bear, but we weren't worried, because it was behind electric wire. Feeling safe at this point.

The black bears were just wandering through the streets...it was so cool...

That is until we got the grand idea to follow the feeding truck. This is a truck that you can pay $30 per person to ride in and feed the bears. We though we would be so smart and just follow behind...getting the same views, but not having to pay...right? right?

This is the result of such thinking. We were following the truck, when a grey wolf almost ran under our car tire. I screamed for Clay to stop and not smash the stupid thing. He stopped, and in that fraction of a second, a black bear climbed onto the hood of our car, and completely tore off the bug guard. While we were honking the horn as loud and as long as we could, another black bear decided to come up to my window and smacked his HUGE paw against it twice...

Sweet nibblets, I was screaming, Halle was bawling, Cade was having a coronary in the back seat, and I remember a few 4 letter words escaping the mouth of my dear husband. But, we escaped with damage less that $100, so we felt uber lucky! All the while I was texting my mom telling her how awesome this is, and that we should come up here sometime and see it, and she was replying that she would love to, and then all of the sudden this happens, and she decides to chicken out as well. I guess I can't say that I blame her :)

So that about sums up the last few months of our lives. We have been busy with soccer, baseball, dance, tournaments, swimming lessons, and family reunions. I can't believe that school starts in 3 weeks...the summer has just blown by!

Playing catch up...

To start off...we, I mean Clay just purchased one of these!!!

And one of these! It is wicked awesome!!! 2 weeks ago we were at a soccer tournament up in Centervile, and these people from Sony were there. They travel all over the country to youth sporting events, and set up a huge booth. They have cameras that you can "rent" (for free) during the games, you take all of the photos that you want, and then you bring the camera back, they download all of the pictures onto a disk, and then give it to you. Well, we did it, and we were sold! I have wanted a really nice camera for quite a while. I wasn't thinking quite this nice, but Clay really wanted to get one that we could take good pictures of the kids in their various sporting events. Well, long story short, he bit the bullet, and purchased it! I am really excited, they even give you a free class on how to use it! So...none of the pictures from this post are from that camera, but just watch out, the next ones from games are going to be awesome...or at least that is what they say!!!

So, now on to the post about my cute family!

I haven't posted in quite a while...except saying that I was going to make my blog private, which Emily convinced me not to do, for now!?! I have been so crazy busy...so here is a QUICK reeeeeee-cap of what has been going on in our lives!

Can you see that little stud running WAY ahead of the defenders??? That would be MY little stud of a son...Cayden!! He played on the turf field up at Juan Diego HS last Saturday. It was way cool to watch him, he had a pass play, (at this age, they aren't really common, because they hardly ever catch the ball!) he caught it, and ran it in 60 yards for a touch down!!! He was so stinking proud of himself, and he is faster than greased lightning! I love watching him do so well at something that he loves! (too bad I didn't have my new camera at that game, you could have seen him much better!)

This would be my dear, sweet, little... I mean really way too big for this bike Halle! She finally gave in and learned how to ride a bike! She is nothing like Kylee, and has been terrified of learning how to ride this dumb little thing! She looked so silly, because she has the longest legs, and with the seat up as high as it goes...she kind of looks like one of those clowns in the circus!!! But, regardless of my 1 long legged child, she is so PROUD of herself!!! WTG Hal!

We had an "end of summer" bbq at our house last Sunday night. My grandparents haven't ever been over here, so we invited them along for the event! They just celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss...or in their case, grandma getting pissy with my grandpa, and him just smiling along with it! What a smart man!

Here are Kylee & grandma...I think Kylee was afraid that she had something in her braces...she wouldn't smile!

Holy schmuck! I can't believe that I am posting this nasty picture of my toe...I am in desperate need to a pedicure...if only! But, I had to show you my darling toes! Meg does such an awesome job, she is so dang talented! This is black, with blue flowers, and then she went over the blue flowers with black lines! It is way cute in person...guess you'll have to see for yourself!

So, there you have it, a quick recap of some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks! Wish me luck with the camera!