The Last of Summer

We had such a fabulous summer. I have never felt so accomplished, and by that I mean, we actually got in tons of fun, went on plenty of field trips, played with lots of friends, and really took advantage of our pool access at Lifetime. I think the fact that my kids were going to start school August 2nd got me into high gear in making our summer the best it could be in 2 1/2 months-it worked!

Nielsons and Ludwigs in town...
A big part of getting lots of fun in had to do with having our cousins in town! We love that Tucker's family spends a few weeks with us each summer. We love getting out to do fun things, letting the kids play 24/7, and just enjoying each other's company. Some highlights include...
The little girls, Naomin, Isla, and Karoline, (aka Nana, Lala, and Koko), were all singing songs and dancing together up on the hot tub. We had to capture the sweet, sweet moment and included some of the other kids:

 Going to the Dinosaur Museum was a huge hit this year. ALL of the kids had a great time and were so excited to complete the "dino footprint" challenge. They also loved the Discovery Room and would stay in there for hours if we let them...

Since we had all three little girls together, we decided to get their picture taken. They turned out adorable! What was even more fun, was to see these three interact without anyone else in their way. Cuteness explosion!

Hogle Zoo

I bought a season pass to the zoo this year and I am so glad I did! We have gone a bunch and with the new exhibit, it had been a blast! My kids LOVE animals and since we don't have pets, and don't plan on getting them anytime soon, the zoo will have to do. Here are some pictures of various trips...

My Birthday:

I had a fabulous 30th Birthday! It became more of a Birthday Week with all of the festivities including a date night out with friends, girls lunch, and breakfast with my family up at one of my favorite places, Ruth's Diner...

And since we were already so close, why not go to the zoo again?!

My brothers were the best to come along...

Happy Birthday to me! Who wouldn't be happy to be 30 when you have the cutest little family ever!

Paddle Boarding:

My parents and the Fords each bought a paddle board and they are awesome! We had such a wonderful time taking the kids out for little rides right in our lake down the road. They took turns playing on the beach or being out in the lake with us. It turned out to be a perfect afternoon followed by slurpees-something my kids never get so it was a real treat!

Summer Sundays:

And to close my summer post, I will leave you with these pictures of our family after church. I love that we can walk to church when the weather is nice...

Until next year, we will miss you summer!

Boating is the Best!

Even with Grampy's boat available, we just don't get out on the lake enough. Saturdays are usually dedicated to hitting the gym, doing yard work, cleaning the house, and getting any errands done that I didn't during the week. Busy days indeed. Fortunately, we have some friends that gave us the extra motivation to forget what we should be doing, and finally do what we want to be doing.

We planned to head out on a better day of the week, Friday, and get in a few hours on Utah Lake in the late afternoon. We drove down to the dock and just as we pulled up, sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. It started to rain! What?! Rather than give up the day completely, we decided to go swimming at Lifetime. It wasn't raining there and the kids had a blast playing together while us adults chatted on the side. After they got a good long swim in, we hopped on over to Zupas for dinner. The kids were all in their jammies and running like crazy outside. They then collapsed all together on the lawn...

Sarah, Capri, Danny, Roman, Koko, Sam

Koko and Sarah, these girls are only 2 months apart and are already great friends!

Capri and Danny...always end up next to each other! 

Tucker and Brian-total twinners!

Annelise and I-twinners again!

Boating attempt #2 was much more successful. We went on the 24th of July and this time the Ford's joined us. It was awesome. I hadn't been wakeboarding in years and I had a couple of great runs-it was so much fun!! 

Look at these four...great friends that will hopefully be boating together for a very long time!

And the same goes for these three girls...

And these...

Karoline was a bit nervous at first-we obviously need to go out on the boat more often!-but she was happy with her Daddy holding on to her!

This picture makes me laugh! Roman went out on the tube with Tucker and he got a bunch of water in his face so the next time around, he insisted he wear his goggles! They weren't even moving, just floating around, but he was confident in those goggles!

Roman spent most of his time in the back of the boat, watching the wakeboarders behind.

Here I am with my cautious little girl who doesn't love the cold water-she gets that from me...AND her dad! Getting our legs wet was all she needed.

Just look at that glass behind these two-we had a quick trip, but it was worth it for water like that! More importantly, it was awesome bonding time for all of us, just like you see here with Capri and her Daddy.

Oakley Rodeo

With Tucker's family in town, we decided the Oakley Rodeo would be a must for the 4th of July. It doesn't get much more patriotic than that! The kids had SO much fun-Roman loved the cowboys and Capri LOVED the cowgirls, especially the rodeo queens! It was a great time had by all and definitely a plus with all the cousins.

Here is my little cowgirl, hat and boots included.

Koko and cousin Sophie in their patriotic red, white, and blue!

This is Roman's best cowboy pose-seriously, I could eat him up.

Just waiting for things to get going...

Two sleepy rodeo kids with their hats on and blankets in tow.

How many posts can I have about St. George?

One more for now! We just love going down for sunshine, swimming, and mostly a chance to get away from it all. Not a care in the world when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's condo, just lots of great family time. It's especially nice when my hubby is out of town, to head down to St. George with my parents, and have plenty to do with the kids until Daddy gets home. This time, both Tucker and Cody were out of town so Cheri joined me, my parents, and Jon for a few days.
I didn't get many pictures, but we had so much fun swimming, I had to document it...

Capri never gets sick of the pool. She loves having "tea parties" at the bottom of the pool and now tries to talk to me underwater. Love it.

Karoline is my little daredevil and it must be simply to keep up with her big brother and sister. She must have jumped off the edge at least 20 times that day.

Roman and Capri got ahold of some water guns...they took them pretty seriously.

Uncle Jon is the best and Roman would not leave him alone. He was climbing all over him and then jumping off into the water. So glad Jon was there!

These kids are so lucky to have Grandma come swimming. It makes the pool that much more fun!

Grandpa was pretty great too. He set up a canopy at the pool so that we could last for hours without dying of heat. He is always up for a trip to the condo and he always wants to be doing something fun while we are down there. It keeps us on our toes!

Here are all the cousins after a day of swimming and sun, huddled together around the little DVD player watching a movie. Precious moments.

Swimming Success

I think these videos speak for themselves...

I couldn't be happier with our experience with Swim Kids over at Dive Utah. My children LOVE to swim and are safe doing it thanks to the progress made with these lessons. We have taken a break from lessons over the summer, but with the numerous trips to the pool, I can see that they are very confident in the water and that makes me proud!

Capri is my little fish. I cannot believe the difference the past year of lessons has made for her. She can float on her back even after swimming freestyle, she is learning to breathe even better, and now she doesn't even need goggles! The past few pool trips she has told me, "Mom, I can open my eyes under water! I don't need my goggles this time!" She says it with such excitement, but I am even more excited!

Roman is still a rockstar in the water. He has conquered dolphins and freestyle with breathing. He even started getting timed swimming the length of the pool and his teacher said he is ready for precomp. I don't think we are up for swim team yet (he is only 5!), but maybe next year. He had his first "race" during a lesson when he and another girl having a lesson swam against each other. Roman beat her and immediately said, "I beat you! I beat you!" I guess we need to work on sportsmanship, but I was pretty proud of him beating an older girl!

My little Koko. How cute is she in the water?! Obviously Karoline still has a lot to learn, but she is doing great so far. She mastered her floats and even started to learn her "chicken, airplane, soldier" on her back. My favorite thing, however, is when she sits on the wall, puts her hands above her head, and falls head first into the water. She does it with a smile and I can't get enough of it!

My little swimmers!

Thank you Grammy for giving us such great lessons!

Daybreak Tri

As soon as I finished Triathamom last year, I knew I wanted to do another triathlon. A real one. In a lake. Daybreak Lake to be exact. So, fall and winter came and went, and when spring was upon us, I started to train for the Daybreak Tri. To be honest, when I started to train, I was questioning myself and my ability to complete this race. I should have started training a lot earlier, and there was going to be some serious competition racing against me. However, I told myself that I didn't need to be competitive, that I could finish, and that I would be happy with whatever time I got.

In the transition area setting up. There was a couple set up next to me that was getting married that day-how cool is that?!

Race day came and I was as ready as I would ever be. Richard was racing, some guys in my ward were racing, some of my friends were volunteering, Cheri and Cody were putting the race together, and best of all, my husband biked and ran WITH me. I couldn't have asked for more support! So, I headed over to the dock with all of the other competitors and waited for my turn to jump into that ridiculously cold lake. Fortunately, I had some friends to wait with and help calm my pre-race jitters!

On my way over to the dock.

Go Time! I headed out and actually felt really good. I wasn't fast by any means, but I was at a comfortable pace and I never had that "freak out" moment that many experience during their first lake/wetsuit swim. After 800 meters, however, I was definitely ready to be out of the water. It was so great to see my friend Ashley there to greet me and then Cheri right after to run me into transition. I was smiling from ear to ear at that point!
The bike portion was next and it went so much better than I anticipated. I always get so anxious about riding along 11800th South-this road has only inches of a shoulder with loose gravel beyond that. To make matters worse, you have enormous trucks driving up to the mine alongside you and you truly feel them pull you in. SCARY! Fortunately, they had plenty of police patrolling the road and directing traffic. I felt safe, thank goodness. Tucker was now with me which made it that much easier.  We dominated those hills all the way up to the mine. We passed quite a few cyclists and were only passed on the downhill. I was so proud!

At the top of that nasty Bacchus hill.

By the time we started the run, I was tired, my legs were pretty shot, but I was so happy. I knew I was going to finish and have a great time doing it. It was probably my slowest 5k coming in at 31 minutes, but I didn't care. We passed a few runners along the way and I finished really strong. I remember seeing my sister just before the finish line and I wanted to cry-it was such a great feeling knowing I was done!

All of those morning runs, hours in the saddle, and super cold laps were worth it. I had set out to race in a second triathlon, this time the real deal, and I had accomplished just that. It feels good and I hope to compete in a third next year. Go USTrisports!