The Okuda Olympic Development Soccer Team

If Cody could have it his way all our girls would be the next Mia Hamm. The girls love to get the soccer goal out and play soccer with their dad. AWWW! Tender moments!

Hiking Fletcher Canyon at Mount Charleston

For Memorial Day this year we hiked Fletcher Canyon up at our beloved Mount Charleston. The weather was gorgeous. It was over cast for the most part and it even sprinkled a little bit. I love that we have this beautiful place to visit so close.










Our good friends The Martin's came with us. This is them with their FIVE children! Hiking with EIGHT children and only FOUR adults had other hikers asking if they were all ours!










Last year we also hiked to a waterfall at Mount Charleston with the Martin family. Lance and Cody had a rock throwing contest to see who have the best and most accurate throw. This year the competitive nature came out again. They were seeing who could hit a target (tree) first.










This is Kennedy and her best friend Emma. These two are like sisters. They have the cutest relationship.










(My sweet Leah. We need to work on her camera pose!)
On our way up the hike we found a fort/hut made of sticks and small logs. The kids loved it. We stopped on the way up and down to let them play.

Another one-liner from Kennedy!

Last night Kennedy and Cody were watching the Laker game on T.V. When the announcer said, "We are going to commercial during the timeout", Kennedy looked at Cody, really confused, and said, "Are they in TROUBLE?!"

Leah!!!

The last time we were at Costco, it was just Leah, Elynn and me. The carts at Costco are great because both my children can fit in the basket. Well, Elynn is of course the little sister who is unaware of personal space. Throughout the shopping trip she'd turn side ways in the cart, lean up against Leah, and do everything possible to invade Leah's personal spce. By the time we made it to the checkout line Leah was fed up. She was MAD! She kept telling Elynn to "scoot over", "leave me alone"! The two female employees at the checkout saw and heard Leah's frustration at her little sister. They started talking about how little sisters get away with everything, and how older siblings have to learn to endure. Then, they started reminissing about there childhood and how there little brothers drove them crazy.

Leah just sat in the cart quietly and waited for me to pay. When I was done we walked away and got about 20 feet from the check stand when Leah looked up at me and said' "I'm tired of those ladies!!!" I said, "Really? Why? Were they talking about you?" Leah said "YES!"

What am I in for??? At least she waited for me to walk away. Right?! You never know when a child is listening. This was a lesson for me. I need to watch what I say!

Sweet Dreams!

Kennedy started swim lessons this month. Last week she swam for more than 2 more hours after lessons. When she got home I gave her a bath and when I got her out I left the room, but told her to dry off, lotion herself and get dressed. After about ten minutes of no Kennedy I went looking for her and found her asleep! She was still naked, soaking wet, wrapped up in a towel on the floor.

Happy 1st Birthday Elynn!!!

WOW! Time flies! I feel like this last year flew by.

Elynn is our first child to actually get dirty on her first birthday! We had to start out by holding her hands for the "Happy Birthday Song". At first she was danty and sweet. She only tasted the frosting by sticking her finger in the cake. But, by the end she figures it was much easier to just stick her whole face in. It was too much work to use her hands! We she decided that she had had enough she just tossed the entire cake off her high chair onto the floor.

Holding her hands to make sure she didn't get burned!


Just making sure it was up to her standards!


She likes it. It was good was enough to eat by the hand full!


Forget HANDS! She decided to skip a step and go straight for the cake!