Saying goodbye...

After almost 33 years of living on the Red Hill my parents have officially moved.  While I've had plenty of time to come to terms with the move it was still very difficult for us.  I've really only ever known this house.  It was where we put on plays on the pool table in the basement.  Where we filled up garbage cans with water to swim in during the summer.  Where I would hit tennis balls against the gargage door everyday.  On the porch was where Mat first told me he loved me. 

 Where every summer since I turned six was spent outside swimming in the pool.  Playing with Becca, Christi, and the rest of the neighborhood gang.  Where each Saturday morning we would all meet to hike up to the top of the red hill and goof off in our own "rooms" on top.

 Most people I went to school with have at one time or another come to hang out there.  Most people didn't knock at my parents they just walked right in.  In fact if you knocked we would get irritated for having to answer the door. 

 This is where I learned by trial and many errors how to cook.  Also where I decided that I never wanted a huge house.  I really hated cleaning it. 

This is the place that was welcome to almost anyone.  The only people that weren't ever really wanted there (at least by me) only ever made it inside to the living room.  It was a very formal place and I can remember spending a lot of time trying to be polite but still trying to get a particular group of boys to leave me alone.  Thus, they only ever saw the formal side.

I grew up here. I have so many wonderful memories and my heart breaks that my kids will only get to take a few memories with them.  I loved our home and will miss it greatly. 

Going for GOLD!

This past week was the Utah Summer Games.  Mat so lovingly pointed out to me that it has been 16 years since I competed and took home a gold medal in soccer.  Now I was cheering for my kids chasing after their own golds.  Caleb would have two chances by running the 5k and playing for his soccer team.  Bailey was running the 5k as well. 

 Caleb didn't medal in the 5k but ran his personal best with a time of 23:56 and took fourth!  Bailey did end up getting a medal.  Also running her personal best time of 23:24 she took a bronze home.  Although she was a few minutes faster than the gold medalist from 2010 she was up against some VERY fast kids.  The gold medalist in her division ran a 21:07 and was only eight years old.  Very impressive!

For the most part we just drove up to Cedar everyday.  Hotels were on high demand and they were fairly high dollar.  We did end up staying in one Friday night.  We had to be at the race on Saturday at 6:00 a.m. and since Mat was participating in the Summer Games Triathlon I was on my own.  It worked out nicely since Peyton didn't sleep at all through the night but I was able to leave her with older kids while I took the kids to the race. 

 After the 5k Mat met us up in Cedar for the Gold medal game for Caleb's team.  Mat did awesome in his triathlon and beat the time he had set as his goal by ten minutes!  Caleb's team was playing a team that they had lost to in regular season play but had beat the previous day.  We knew going into it that we had the better team but you never really know how things will go.

 We wanted to not only win but win by a good margin.  The boys ROCKED!  The final score of the game was 8-1 in our favor! They were stoked as well as their parents and coaches!

 It was a great game and the boys had earned it!   They went undefeated in their age group for the Summer Games!

 It was a great way to end a super busy week.  I feel like I am constantly bragging about my kids, (which I really can't stand when parents do) in my defense, I am completely shocked at how amazing they are!  I am stunned at their abilities and while I sometimes have to fight to get them to their practices I know that when I was their age my parents could have NEVER made me get up at 6:00 a.m. in the summer for practice or practice for as many hours as they do.  They constantly impress me.

Our little baby Peyton is growing up far too fast!  She turned three last week and in perfect Peyton style was dressed like a princess for her party.

 We had her party a few days early since we knew her actual birthday would be quite busy.  We rented out the Veyo roller rink and invited all of her cousins and some friends to join us.  Peyton didn't quite last on her roller skates so we gave her our gift at the beginning.

 When Bailey turned three she got a barbie jeep so of course we wanted to get one for Peyton as well.  Peyton didn't want a jeep however.  She wanted a pink barbie car.  She saw this one on the Internet and insisted on it.  She was so cute about it of course we couldn't resist.

 It worked out great at the roller rink.  Peyton and the younger kids rode it around the rink the entire time and had a blast!

 Of course Peyton needed a pink barbie cake as well.  They only make smaller ones now so she also got a princess cake.  She LOVED being the center of attention and of course loved all of the pink!

 It was such a fun party we decided we needed to go up there more often.  We truly didn't even think the old place was still open.  I can't believe how fast the past three years have flown by!  Peyton starts preschool in August and will start ballet as well.  We love her very much and are constantly grateful she came to join our family!



Catching up!

It has been FAR too long since I have updated our blog!  As I was looking through my pics I realized that the last month or so have FLOWN by!  Too many fun things happening.  I love it! 

 The boys both finished their soccer seasons strong.  Caleb played an AWESOME final game and secured him a spot on his team's summer games team (which we are currently in the middle of).  Easton was able to secure him a spot on the comp team that we've been wanting him to play for and can't wait to get the fall season started with him!

 Bailey finished up her 1st year of intermediate school and I totally made it through!  It was touch and go for a few times there but she is an amazing girl and seemed unphased by any crazy stuff happening around her.  While she doesn't turn 12 until July she will be going to girl's camp this year and ... wait for it... GOING TO LAKE POWELL!!! Seriously whatever happened to going to Cedar Mountain and hoping you got the campsite nearest to the flushing toilets?

 The boys both played an awesome season of spring baseball.  Easton hit a home run almost every game (whether his coach let him run home or not). ;)

 Caleb got to try out his pitching arm and was pretty cute out there on the mound.  By the end of the season we actually got him not to walk every time he was up and just swing the bat!  He did and got some great hits.  His team ended up being the Snow Canyon Little League minor champs!

 Of course what's a month or two around our house without a couple of races thrown in?  Easton has officially dropped out of the running challenge we set for the kids at the first of the year. I can't blame him of course.  He's built like me and I LOATHE running!  Mat, Caleb, and Bailey ran a 5k up at the old airport the week school ended and each one took home a medal!  Mat and Caleb both took first in their divisions (this is the first time Mat has not ran with the kids) and Bailey took second in hers.

 We couldn't do much for Memorial Day since the rest of the primary presidency decided they were taking their families on vacations so we hung around town.  We ended up taking the kids up to the Gunlock run off on Monday.

 It's been a very cold spring and so while it wasn't really hot enough to jump in a swim we had a great time hiking around the water and looking at the falls.

 It was pretty packed with people but it was a blast.

 We did convince Easton to run one more race...The New Harmony Mud Run.  For kids they only had to run a 1.5k race through mud, logs, and other obstacles. 

 It was for ages 12 and under so all of the kids were in the same category.  Bailey rocked it with taking 1st! She ran it in 7:15.  Caleb came in a strong 3rd with a time of 7:40-ish.  Easton didn't place but started the race walking with a side ache and came through the finish line muddy and running.

 Bailey and Easton both successfully traversed through the muddy waters and came out looking like it.  Caleb traversed the same waters yet tried his darndest to stay clean and pretty much did.

I truly thought summer was supposed to be a time to relax and unwind.  It seems crazier than ever with all of the day camps, tutoring, sports, and playtime.  As I mentioned before we are currently in the middle of Summer Games.  Caleb had played three games so far and his team looks strong to play in the gold medal game tomorrow.  Bailey and Caleb will be running a 5k in the morning with Mat running a triathlon in the morning as well.  Hopefully we aren't too worn out for the gold medal game at noon.  Busy...I wouldn't change a thing!

Bailey's Vacation

When the kids were younger Mat and I discussed how fun it would be when the kids turned twelve to take them on a trip of their choice just them and us.  We thought it would be fun before we became too lame and before the teenage years set in.  Bailey is approaching her twelveth birthday and we kept asking where she wanted to go.  Bailey's pretty laid back and so she really didn't care.  She even liked the idea of heading up to Park City and shopping.  She did mention a few times the Bahamas.  One of the requirements we had made for the trip was that we needed to go somewhere that had an LDS temple. The Bahamas didn't qualify.  However, we had an opportunity to save some money and go on a cruise before her birthday and the cruise stopped in the Bahamas and so we snuck her out of school and took her a couple of months early so she wasn't old enough to do baptisms anyhow.

 After a red eye flight from Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale and virtually no sleep we accidentally slept until 11:30 the first day that the ship was in port.  We went to Princess Cays in the Bahamas and by the time we made it over to the island we only had three hours to play.  Bailey saw people on the water bikes and that's the first thing she wanted to do.  We saw a stingray in the water and I'm afraid I scared Bailey from going near them the rest of the trip. :(  Mat and Bailey snorkeled for a bit.  Mat somehow didn't pack Bailey's mask with her gear so she didn't snorkel for very long. She did have goggles but she wasn't able to use the breathing tube so it was a tad difficult for her.  Of course I don't snorkel so I worked on my tan.

 Princess Cays was Bailey's favorite island.  It only had people from our ship on it and was a beautiful place.  Of course we did a little shopping before heading back on the boat and were one of the last people back.

 We had our first of two formal nights that evening and while we don't own full formal gowns and tuxes we still had fun dressing up a bit.

 The next day we visited St. Maarten.  Mat and Bailey were scheduled for a para sailing tour that ended up being canceled due to high winds on the coast it was held on. We hit the shopping and beach instead.

 It was surprisingly hot.  We've never been to the Caribbean before but figured the climate would be similar to Hawaii's.  It was quite a bit warmer.  Bailey spent most of her time in the water and impressed many onlookers with her beach tumbling skills.

 Of course, whenever we leave kids at home we are always seeing everything we know they would love if they were with us.  We knew Easton would dig seeing Mat hold an iguana and he wasn't about to pick one up so we tried to fake a picture.

 We spent the following day on St. Thomas.  We went on a kayaking/hiking/snorkeling excursion though a protected mangrove lagoon.  It was gorgeous.  The guides were concerned with Bailey being big enough to paddle so they asked her how many push ups she could do.  She said around thirty so they had no problems after that. :)  It was my favorite part about the trip.  We walked over to a hermit crab village of sorts.  Thousands of hermit crabs were everywhere!  We had never been kayaking before and while it was about as beginner as you get we still had a blast.

 We had two different days at sea within our week cruise so on the second day was the second formal night.

 Our last island we visited was Grand Turk.  It had GORGEOUS beaches.  The island was fairly small and only have about 5,000 residents so it was very laid back which was refreshing after the crowded Virgin Islands. 

The trip was such a fun way to spend time with our little girl who is growing up so blasted fast. As Peyton is learning to sing "I love to see the temple" I can't help think that we were JUST teaching Bailey the same song and buying the same pink barbies and dress ups.  People kept commenting on what a lucky girl Bailey was to get to go on the trip.  WE were the lucky mom and dad however, that got to take her and spend time with her and let her know how much we love her!

Easter 2011

I figured it was time I did a post about Easter since it was almost a month ago.  Usually for Easter we do the usual: Decorate eggs, the bunny comes, hit every egg hunt we can, and play for the rest of the day.  This East Saturday was a bit more laid back than previous years.  Sure we stayed up Friday night and decorated eggs, we just forgot to hide them with the goodies for the kiddos.

 We hid treats and such for the kids outback but we didn't make it to ANY of the other morning eggs hunts and let the kids (except Peyton) go out in their jammies rather than getting dressed and looking springy.

 Since we didn't make it to the morning egg hunts we took the kids to the aquatic center egg hunt.  The older kids didn't care for it too much but Peyton was in heaven.  She had her cast removed earlier on in the week and was still adjusting to walking with it.  The water helped balance and she was an animal going after the eggs.  Peyton had been outside the previous day and while it was warm we didn't think about her leg.  It hadn't been exposed to the sun for weeks so it burned pretty quick while the rest of her body didn't.  A concerned dad at the pool picked her up and took her to the lifeguard worried that she'd been hurt in the hunting process.  I said that she wasn't and explained why her leg was red and she WAS limping badly on it but it wasn't hurt.

After the pool hunt we went back home instead of heading over to Grandpa and Grandma's like we usually do because Bailey, Mat, and I had to pack and catch a plane to Fort Lauderdale.  We didn't get to see the kids in their new Easter clothes and didn't get pictures of them looking all fancy and such but we did at least get to spend SOME time with them over the weekend.