Miami-Day 2

On Thursday, we spent the morning on South Beach. The water here is so warm...not like the cold west coast ocean that I have been in. Brian's sister and her family were here with us, along with his mom and her husband, so it was just some fun time to play with loved ones we haven't seen for a while.

Brian bought the kids a Boogie Board, and Les figured out how to catch a wave and ride it in to shore. They were all in heaven.

Thursday afternoon, Grammy & Gramps took us to a fun place called Flamingo Gardens. It has local plants and animals all in one place for us tourists to see.

First thing we saw was a peacock. At first, I got excited just for the kids to see the tail feathers. I had no idea that he would open them up and show them to us for a half hour. It was amazing.

This bird was right inside the main entrance, and it fluffed it's feathers and showed off for us too.

This is a lizard of some kind up in the tree. He was huge.

These little lizards were everywhere. The boys pointed out every one of them.

This is the big Banyan tree.

Me, Les, and Amber across the Flamingo pond.

The Gazebo surrounded by beautiful foliage.
These are roots of a tree in a swamp"coming up for air."

Amber didn't see this lizard, and nearly set her hand right on it.
Florida Gator
Amber in the bamboo. I love this picture.

Cousin Davey was determined to get a picture "riding" something. He was too chicken to actually get in with the tortoise though. All the boy cousins in the shade of the tree. Half of them are mine!

Hayden, Davey, Zak & Les

The turtles.

This gazebo was so pretty. The kids wanted to take a picture!

The kids in the Banyan tree.

A flamingo

A Pelican

A Rosiette Spoon-bill
Les learned about these birds in school this year, and was so excited to see one. When he found out that grammy and gramps were near the Everglades where these birds live, he has talked about it and wondered if they would see one. He never dreamed that he would see one!

The story behind this picture is hillarious.

When we first got to the Flamingo Garden, some of the cousins found a palm tree with some coconuts that had fallen off. Les was so excited, that he came running across the parking lot with all of the coconuts he could carry.....2......can you picture it?

All the adults and older cousins were doubled over laughing at the site! The younger ones (including Les) just didn't get it.

Nice coconuts Les! This spider was huge. And they were everywhere that we wanted to crawl into for a picture, including the bamboo.

Another Rosiette Spoon-Bill
This picture doesn't do this tree justice, but it was so beautiful.
After the Flamingo Garden, we met up with the rest of Brian's family for dinner and a night on the beach.

Flight to Ft. Lauderdale-Day 1

On Wednesday, we headed out for our big trip. We were so excited to finally be on our way.

We flew from Salt Lake to Chicago, and then on to Ft. Lauderdale. Zak loved to help his bear (who is also named Zak) look out the airplane window.

When we got to our hotel in Miami's South Beach, we took the kids out to dip their toes in the ocean before bed. They were in heaven. It was dark, so they couldn't even see it, but they managed to get soaked anyway. I knew at that point that is was going to be easy to get them in the water.

Awards Assembly

Today at the awards assembly at the school, Amber earned the Outstanding Scholar award. I am so proud of her. She is learning to take her school work seriously. She said that she feels bad that she gets this award every year. She knows that there are many other kids who deserve it.

We like to tease her that she gets the "Smarty Pants" award!

Clean-Up

May I start by saying, I HATE HOUSEWORK (I know, you've heard this before on other posts). I find nothing enjoyable about it. I will usually find almost anything else to do before I start my housework. But I got a bug the other day after reading an Organize Junkies blog. I knew that I needed to clean out what we call "the computer room" (now, I note that we haven't used the computer in this room for a year since we got the new computer, and put it in a more central part of the house.) This room has become our dumping grounds for everything that there isn't a home for. I had to get it cleaned out so that the window guys could install the window. And I was determined to not just scoot the junk out of the way so they could get through. Before I started cleaning, I could only walk in the room about 2 feet before I had to start climbing over things to get to what I needed. So last week, I gutted the room, I took everything out. I didn't have time to empty the closet, but I did empty everything else in the room.
Before I started, it looked like this:

I know, embarrassing huh. I probably shouldn't post pictures and talk about these scary parts of my life in such a public place (hehehe).

But, I guess that is more incentive to fix the darn problem!

We got rid of the computer and computer desk, which opened the room up a lot. I organized or found a home for everything that I kept. I am always disgusted with the junk I find when I clean out, and wonder why I didn't throw it away in the first place. Now, some of the things are stacked so it isn't easy to get to everything, but that was so it would be out of the way of the window guys, and easy to move out when we put in the new carpet. And I can now see the floor in this room!
I still have 3 boxes of stuff to go through, mostly pictures and stuff to file, but I am happy that it is mostly done. It is such a relief.
And now, as much as I hate the thought of so much cleaning, I am excited to have to do this to every room in my house with all the work we are going to do this summer. It will be so nice to be forced to clean out everything, and then be able to see the changes as the new paint and mouldings go up, and the carpets go in.

Slowly, but surely, I am going to conquer this mess I refer to as home. I really do hate clutter, and things out of place, but I think I must hate cleaning even more!

New Windows!

Yesterday I got new windows. I am so excited. I have been waiting 8 years for this moment.
Our house is 32 years old, and had the original aluminum windows.
They were not very tight, and in the basement,
they were just single pane.
We could hear all the noise from outside, and the basement was
too cold to be in in the winter.
This will make such a difference.
~Before~

~During~

~After!!!!!~

We have been planning for a while to do the windows this year,
but it is just an added bonus that there is so many rebates available right now.
We were able to do an upgrade because of the rebates.

We also did rain gutters last week after 2 winters without them (since we did the new roof).

Next, we are painting, putting in new moldings, and I am finally getting new carpet. I am already so excited at the difference that the windows have made, that I am anxious to do the rest. But that will have to wait a month to get started. I'll keep the blog posted with progress as it comes!

Spring Soccer

Amber and Les both finished their soccer seasons with their current teams on Saturday. They are good players. They both have a lot of speed and endurance. Amber has found that she really likes to play goalie, but she is awesome in any position. Her coach has access to a limo, so he finished the season with a ride in it. The girls loved it!

After the limo ride, they dropped her off at Les's game at another park. I could tell she loved everyone watching her get out of the limo!

Amber and Les's games overlapped this week, so I missed most of Les's game. That is the way soccer is. Next year, all 3 kids will be playing. Brian and are are really starting to feel outnumbered. We can't be at everything, and don't want anyone to feel bad that we missed them. That is going to be interesting.

Les is a good ball handler. He is also fast. In a few years, he will be really good. He needs to be more aggressive. But he's a boy, in the next few years that will come. He is just a nice kid who doesn't want to steal the ball. Brian has enjoyed coaching Les's team because they are now old enough that he can teach skills.

The boys love him, and do exactly what he says. He amazes me with kids.

It was a fun season. It is fun to see the kids finding activities that they love, and want to excel at. I never thought I'd say this, but I am actually looking forward to next year already.

How the West Was Really Won

At our school, the 4th grade has been practicing really hard to do a play called "How the West Was Really Won." Because of pre-school graduation tonight, Brian and I went to a dress rehearsal this morning, so we could be to both events. I was amazed. There are a lot of solo parts, and all of the kids did an amazing job. It is a lot bigger production than I ever imagined, and it was done so much better than I ever thought that it would be. Unfortunately, my nice camera is being serviced right now, so the pictures are not so good. I am pretty disappointed. The scenes that Amber was in were really dark and so the pictures are terrible. But I'll post them anyway.

Amber, McLayne & Megan
Started the story off by reading "a letter from out west."

Square Dancers
Told what life was like in the old west

Packing to go west Scene
All these girls had solos in this scene, and they all have awesome voices.

Indians
Some of these girls had solos too, and also did an awesome job.
They told how the Indians were run off of their land by the white man.

"Utah! What a Great Place to Be!"
They told the story of the old state song, and how the new one came to be.

Cast Finale

This year is the last year of teaching for two of our 4th grade teachers. They have taught together for years, and are both retiring this year. They have done this play a few times. This is kind of their grand finale, and it was. It was awesome. I don't think that I saw one kid rolling their eyes, or embarrassed for their part. The kids all sang at the top of their lungs. They loved every minute of it.

We watched the play with the 5th and 6th graders today, and for those of you who know our 5th and 6th grade classes, they can be very disrespectful. They weren't. They loved it too. I think that they were impressed by it all. Wynton started the play off with an amazing solo that caught their attention immediately, and as they say..."The rest is history!"

If anyone gets any better pictures tonight, especially with Amber in, would you PLEASE send me copies!! It would be so appreciated. Thanks.

I Am Growing Up

This week is Zak's preschool graduation. One of the songs he will be singing for it is so cute, and he sings it all the time. He let me record him singing it. It is hilarious the way that he exaggerates the words. He sang this song for Grammy on the phone, but I though you might enjoy the visual!

Oh, when I started preschool,
I was very, very small.
But now I'm so much bigger now,
Oh, can't you see how tall!
I've learned to write my name
And to say my ABC's,
Oh, I am growing up!
Off we go to Kindergarten.
Off we go to Kindergarten.
Off we go to Kindergarten.
Oh, I am growing up!

Isn't He Cute?

Well it is the time of year at our house when the kids are getting anxious and anticipating the end of the school year. On top of that this year, they are excited for a very fun summer vacation. Needless to say, they are starting to get a little out of control, and I am losing patience with them. Last night, I went in to close the window in the boys bedroom before I went to bed, and was reminded how cute they really are.....when they are asleep! I really am very proud of my kids, they are very well behaved when they have to be, but with our crazy schedules the last 2 weeks, they are tired, and need some down time.
I can't blame them though, last week, I think that we only got home before 9:00 once, and they have been getting to bed at nearly 10:00. They are exhausted. But they are still doing really good in school, and are good for others. What more can I ask for? I guess...Summer!

St. George Triathlon Weekend

This weekend was Brian's annual St. George Triathlon. It is a very important race to him, and he does it each year in memory of his Dad. When he arrived at Sand Hollow resort on Saturday morning, the wind was pretty strong, and didn't let up. The race directors ended up calling off the swim because of the waves in the water (those of you who remember Ironman Utah will understand, although it wasn't that bad). They decided to go with a run, bike, run format to space out the racers for the bike.
When Brian registers for this race, he has to choose between two race options, Olympic distance, or Sprint distance. This year Brian chose to race the sprint distance. It contains a 1/2 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, and a 5k (3.1miles--the Olympic distance is double these distances). Since the swim was canceled, they did a 5k, 12.5 mile bike, and another 5k.
Brian was more ready for his race this year than he has been since he trained for Ironman in 2002. This year, he had very specific goals, and was determined to meet them. And he did.

Finishing the 1st run.

Transition 1 (T1) was quick, he has upgraded some of his gear, which made for a quicker change.

On his bike, everything went smoothly. There were no flat tires or bike problems that he has had a lot of in the past. Thank heaven for the new bike.

He came in from his bike about 4 minutes sooner than I expected him to.

T2 also went very smooth and he was off for another 5k.
The boys made friends with a cute family from Phoenix, and were happy and had fun the whole time. It always makes being a spectator easier when the kids cooperate. It is much easier now they are getting older. No babies to feed or change, and no going to the potty every 10 minutes and having to worry about missing Daddy when he comes through transition
Starting run #2

His second 5k was only a minute longer than his first one. Not too bad considering that he only trained for one of them. I had video of him coming in to the finish line, but it is turned sideways, and I don't know how to fix that (Always a lesson to be learned when you get a new camera and don't play with it first!)

Final results:
8th out of 43 in the Male age 35-39 category
Run 1 24:25
T1 2:00
Bike 40:08
T2 1:17
Run 2 25:41
Final time 1:33:30

After the race, we drove up around Sand Hollow to see the bike course that I have never seen. Because of the wind, the sand was drifted over the road, so we stopped a minute to let the kids play in real sand. It was pretty cool, I wish we had more time to play. This is always a quick trip for us.


On the way home, we stopped in Cedar City to visit with my grandparents. My brother and his kids were there on their way to Disneyland. I also got a chance to visit with an aunt and cousin I haven't seen in years.

Overall the weekend was a lot of fun. Quick, but fun. I am always grateful when Brian races well. He hasn't for several years because it is hard to train on that level with kids and work, and on a budget. He has sacrificed his racing for us, but it is getting a little easier. I am always happy to see my grandparents are well. There have been a few scary times with their health recently. I am so grateful they still live at home and are able to take care of themselves and each other. I am fearful of the time when they can't do that any more. I am grateful for a cousin who lives close to them and checks in on them very regularly when the rest of us can't. I wish that I had pulled out the camera while we were at their house and got a picture of everyone there. Hopefully, we will get that opportunity again.