Jack & Jill Triathlon

On Friday night, Brian, Amber and Les participated in the Jack and Jill Triathlon in Honeyville. This is the first time for this race, and it was so much fun. We have been trying all summer to get Amber into a tri, so we were excited to find one that Les could do to. This was the best venue that Brian has ever raced at from a spectators perspective. There was grass to sit on, water to drink, they put up tents for shade, and we could see some of the race. Usually, all we get to see is the transitions between each event.

Brian started the race with a half mile swim.

Finishing the swim.

Then went to the 12.5 mile bike.

And finished with a 3 mile run.

He finished with a time of 1:19:25. That was under his goal of 1:30.

Les was the most fun to watch him prepare. I had never realized how much he watches what Brian does to prepare for a race. He has been "practicing" his techniques since Brian signed him up for the race. He says he runs the track at school during recess time, he has practiced "tucking" like he has aero-bars, for aerodynamics on the bike, and in the water, he was sure that he needed goggles and a swim cap. Fortunately, the race directors know that all of these things are important to the kids. They have all watched their parents race, so they provided the swim caps, and Brian donated his extra goggles to the cause. As you can see in this picture, all the other kids had goggles too, even though most of their heads never went in the water!
Les is jogging here to "keep his muscles warm" before the race!

Les swam 25 yards.

Then he biked 1 mile.

And he finished with a 400 meter run. We were very confused about where he was running, and didn't really see any of his run. I happened to look over just as he crossed the finish line, but I didn't get a picture.

Amber was really excited to race. She knows that she has a talent for running, and she has been asking this year if she could try a triathlon.

She swam 50 yards.

And biked 4 miles.

Then she ran 1 mile.

At about the half mile point, one of the boys started racing her. It was a coincidence that he was the only kid in the race that she knew. And the competition started. By this point, they had about 50 yards left, and they were both at a full sprint.

Amber ended up finishing the race with a time of 33.33.3, and Ky ended at 33.33.4.
She won! Ky lunged forward like sprinters do, and Amber just kept running. Because the timing chips were on their ankles, she came up the winner!

Brian ended up taking first place in his category.

And Les took second place in his category!

Amber didn't place, but she was racing against kids that were 13 years old. I don't have her exact placing yet, but she did very well overall.

I think the kids are hooked on this racing thing. They were excited, and Brian was excited to share his passion with the kids and see them loving it, and being competitive. I look forward to seeing if they have the interest to continue. I believe that they will.

Labor Day Weekend in Idaho

This year for Labor Day weekend, we went to Idaho because my cousin's daughter was being baptized. We did lots of fun things, and the kids all loved seeing each other again. Two of my cousins in this family have kids the same ages as my kids, so it is always fun to get to spend time with them.

Some of the things we got to do:

• Attend Jerica's baptism
• eat
• Attend the SE Idaho State Fair and see Sabrina's entrys
• eat
• Go to church with the cousins
• eat
• Play at the park. The boys couldn't wait to play in the tank, and the girls seemed to enjoy it as much as the boys
• eat
• Water Ski, and other fun things behind the boat
• eat

As soon as Les saw the tank, he had to run to play on it. Much to his excitement, he also got to play in it. I think that the kids spent about an hour on the two tanks.

I was also reminded how yummy fresh produce is. We ate so many good things from Uncle Gordon's garden. He said the rule was at least two ears of corn each meal, so I made special effort to abide by his garden rules. I already miss all the yummy veggies. I am even more excited to finally attempt putting a garden in at our house next year. I forgot how much I love the produce.

Thanks to my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins for not making us feel like we were a third wheel at your family weekend. We really did have lots of fun!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Monday was the first day of Kindergarten for Zak.
What a relief he wasn't born 2 days later, we would be waiting another whole year.
He is so grown up, and was sure that he didn't need me to walk him to school.

But at our house, it is tradition for me to take the kids on their first day. And since I was sick on Amber and Les's first day, I walked with them today.

Birthday Activities

Since we have neglected the kids with all of their requests for fun things this simmer because of the house project, we decided to take Zak's birthday and spend the whole day doing things that the kids have wanted to do.

They have been asking for quite a while to go to the skate & bike park, so we loaded up their bikes, scooters, and skateboards, and went for a morning of fun.

After only a few minutes, they all had flat tires.
These are the goat heads that we pulled out of Les and Zak's bike tires.

And there were more in Amber's tires than in both of the boys combined.

So, they played at the skate park, and had lots of fun.

Zak tried his new scooter on the ramp.

And Les did every skateboard trick he knows. He was so excited that the park had rails when we pulled in, but he didn't know how to do anything with them.

And we only had one minor injury.

Then, for the afternoon, we went to the state capitol for some activities. All of the activities were centered around the building of the capitol building, or the recent restoration of it. There were also games that would have been played at the time the Capitol was first dedicated.

There was jump rope.

Parachute.

And each child could build a Capitol building with gum drops and toothpicks.

The kids were sad that Brian missed our trip to Salt Lake a few weeks ago, so we revisited some of the places we went that day too. We played in the fountain at the Gateway, went to the Church History Museum, and to Temple Square.

I think that Zak had a fun birthday. He had this smile the whole day

And then on Sunday, we had Grammy and Gramps over for a barbecue.
I think this was his favorite gift yet!

Zak is 5!

On Saturday, Zak turned 5.
He is such a big kid.
And now, he is officially old enough to start Kindergarten!

Zak has been asking for a big kid scooter, and he is amazingly good at doing puzzles.
So he got one of each.

We love you Zak.
Happy Birthday

5 Things I love about Zak
1-Zak knows what he wants and is willing to fight for it
2-If something is not important to him, anything will do
3-If something is important to him, you can't change his mind
4-He loves Primary and knows the scripture stories and songs well
5-He never misses anything around him, and can rehearse anything back to you

Zak's Birthday Party

On Friday, we had Zak's 5 year old birthday party.

The boys played Barrel of Monkeys

Built blocks

And ate birthday cake. He had green cupcakes.

They liked the balloons the best.

We had lots of fun. We keep birthdays pretty simple around here. I usually just let the kids enjoy having friends over. Zak loved the attention, and deciding the activities.

A New School Year

Well, the kids are now one week into the school year. They both love their teachers and so do I.

Amber is in the 5th grade this year. She is starting to turn into a girl. It is important that her hair and clothes be just right. She is a good student and does a good job at being on top of her schoolwork most of the time. She sure is growing up quickly.

Les is in 2nd grade this year, and I am looking forward to a great year for him. He needs a month to brush up on his reading, and then he will start piano lessons. He is a quick learner. Sometimes, I have to remind him to finish his homework before TV time, but he works hard.

I can't believe my kids are so big. They grow so fast. But I am very proud of them.

I know we'll have a good year. I am looking forward to helping with their class activities.

Kitchen Archway

We have been so consumed with our home makeover, that I haven't had time to post anything for a while (and this has upset at least one friend who is going through blog withdrawl so badly that she finally had to subscribe to a newspaper!). While I am still not all put together and ready for pictures of the final product, We are, for the most part, done. So, I thought I'd post a little teaser of one of my favorite things that we did.

The entry to my Dining room/kitchen didn't have a real doorway. The walls just went straight up to the ceiling. For some reason, this has always bugged me.

Before

When Brian started talking about making a doorway, I suggested maybe an arched doorway.

During

For a couple of amateurs using the Internet as our only resource, I think that we did a pretty good job.

After

Of course, this is not the finished product. Hopefully, I'll have that posted soon.

Waterfight!

Last winter, my kids started a snowball fight with the neighbor across the street. Since then, he teases them, takes their toys, and always tells them "I'm watching you." My kids tease him right back, and they all have fun.

Last week while the kids were out playing in the water, the neighbor came home from work. Les was bugging him, and he came over and both Les and Zak threw buckets of water on him.

Well, 2 days later, they were out playing in the water again when he got home from work, but he walked up to the front of his truck and got a bucket of his own. I don't think that my kids really thought that he would dump it on them, and I wasn't even sure it really had water in it until....

He started running, and got Les,

And then Zak

I'm glad they can all play in good fun. Fortunately, the neighbor is mature enough to know when to stop and where to stop. Obviously, my kids are not. But they love the play.

Trip to SLC

Last Friday, Brian took his young men camping, and I wasn't in the mood to have the kids fighting all day. So I surprised them with a very unplanned trip to Salt Lake. Before we left, I was able to pack their swimsuits and towels, and pack a lunch without them knowing. I told them we had to go somewhere, and to get in the car. They didn't really ask any questions until we went past the Layton exits on I-15. Since I don't usually go further than that without them knowing, they started to ask questions.

I thought that we would just spend the day hanging out, doing what we want when we want. No schedules.
We wandered around Temple Square.
We saw the Christus statue,

Looked out the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building,

Went to the top of the Church Office Building to view the City,

And enjoyed the beautiful flowers on the church grounds.

We played in the fountains at the gateway,

And played and smiled the whole time.

Then we went to the Church History Museum where the kids enjoyed the special activities for the children.
Les really enjoyed helping to tie a quilt for the Church's Humanitarian projects,

And Zak had fun doing the CTR rubbings.

We always like to see the Temple, and this day had lots of beautiful brides and grooms.

We also took a few minutes to walk over to the Brigham Young Memorial park
and City Creek Park and the Beehive House.

We spent about 8 hours in downtown Salt Lake and just had fun being together. I need to remember that if the kids have fun things to do, they fight a lot less, and really have fun being together, and I love to be with them. It is definitely a trip I'm glad we took.

Sun in Smoke

This is a picture Amber took of the sun through all the smoke on Thursday night.

MUD!

The other day while Brian and I were working on the kitchen, the boys asked if they could dig in the garden with a little water. We agreed that would be OK.

About an hour later we went out to find two little boys that were in heaven, and a mess bigger than any I have ever let them make.

The bottom stair was completely lost in a mud slide.

The shed and the window were splattered.

And the boys had smiles from ear to ear.