Baseball Guys

The boys had awesome Fall baseball seasons this year. They both played on the Rangers: Miles in 10U and Parker in 14U. We loved Miles' coach so much. He is the grandpa of one of the boys and likes to call Miles "Toy Cannon."

Miles pitched, played catcher and first or second base. He had a great season! I don't have as many pictures of Parker playing because it is not as cute to take pictures of 13 year olds. He excelled on first base for most of the season.

Neal and his dad took the boys to one of the Texas Rangers' playoff games. I love this picture so much!

Scout Stuff

Thanks to our friend, Rick, who is the cousin of the Mullen family we grew up with in California, Parker and some of our ward's Scouts were invited to participate as the color guard during a special flag ceremony at Bell's celebration of the Navy's 241st birthday! Afterward, we were treated to a tour of one of Bell's amazing manufacturing facilities. It was pretty cool, and a fun reason to check out of school early.

Rehearsing before the ceremony.

Someone else snapped this photo of Parker getting some merit badges on night at a Court of Honor. Thanks, someone else! Neal is the Scoutmaster in our ward.

Miles and some of the Cub Scouts from our ward at the local firehouse. I'm Miles' Webelos leader. (This is our last year of cubs!)

Parker's Trip to the Temple

We had a lovely day in the temple for Parker's first visit. It took us longer to get there than I anticipated (a little more than three months!), but it was a beautiful day. He and Audrey were able to be baptized for some family members and it was lovely!

This is us after we were done, when our hair is all crazy! Martha and Mark joined us, which was so nice!

Scout Troop Flag Raising in Keller

Neal took Parker over to City Hall early this morning so he could help raise the flag for the National Day of Prayer Commemoration. We are proud of Parker and all of these good, Mormon boys in Keller! Parker is in the bottom left of this picture, with the maroon neckerchief.

Parker's Birthday

Our quiet, smart dude has turned twelve! He had a great birthday, made even better because Ben was in town to celebrate his birthday, too!

Parker received the Aaronic Priesthood the Sunday after his birthday. Bramma and Pa; Martha and Mark; Julianne, Toni and Ben were able to celebrate the occasion with us. We are so proud of this guy!

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie was on the menu for Parker. He's not a cake fan. As you wish, Parker!

State Science Fair Trip

Parker and his buddy, Tyler, placed well in the Fort Worth Regional Science Fair, so they qualified to compete at the State Science Fair in San Antonio. We made a weekend of it and had a great time with Tyler and his mom and the boys' teacher, Mr. Fuchs. A big group of other students and parents from our school were there, too, as our school had a pretty good contingency there between middle and upper school students.

The whole crew at dinner. These Mariachi guys were so incredible!

The boys with their project, Quantum Clouds. They had to stand here and be judged for a few hours. Meanwhile, the rest of us wandered around the Riverwalk.

Always have to see The Alamo!

We had perfect weather. San Antonio is so lovely!

The boys were totally done when it was time to be done. We checked out of our hotel, ditched the awards ceremony and headed north to Austin to blow off some steam on the river. 

 

The boys' boat.

Girls' boat!

Fun trip!

Robotics Competition

Parker competed with his team, EAYAXY, at the FLL Robotics Competition in Dallas this weekend. They have been building and programming their robot after school and this was the day they put it to the test! They spent a majority of the day there at UTD, and had a fun time. They were successful, but not winners. Alas! They are more interested in creating battling robots than getting the maneuvers just right, so they continue to meet as a team after school even now that the competition is over.

Pics from Parker's year

Parker had a wonderful year at BCI in the Purple Pod! Here are some pictures that his teacher shared at the end of the year.

Here are a couple I took at one of their field trips and Olympic Day.