August Randomness

A few random pics in August. 

Z trying to help pick beans.  The plants ended up being about as tall as him.

Connor getting his summer cub scout awards. 

Z decided that he likes to suck on the tassels of his blanket.  Great for calming him down, if a little weird.

Dan and Alicia celebrated 14th years of marriage.  Wow!  Where did the time go.

Our peach crop was amazing this year.  Beautiful peaches.  We loved making peach shakes and peach crisp.

Z is crazy when it comes to ice cream and shakes.  He goes absolutely bananas when he sees someone eating ice cream and not sharing.

Garrick learned to ride his bike without training  wheels.  And  he would walk around singing this song….except saying “no training wheels”.  Super funny!

Garrick’s new favorite song.

Oh, and Z decided he wanted to walk. 

Aqua Triathlon

The last of August I ran my 2nd Tri this summer.  It was a little rough for me since I was running it on my own.  Amy was in the middle of moving when all of the end of season Tri’s were happening.  So I decided to do a tri close to home by myself.  The Aqua is a reverse tri held at 7 Peaks, which I thought would be interesting doing the swim in the wave pool. 

Anyway, I thought it was crap for most of the way.  I didn’t feel like I was doing well, and finally hit the point of….Just get this over with.  However, I ended strong and got 3rd in my division…..WOW!!  I was super excited after that, however, don’t know if I would do this one again.

I was alone and did not bring a camera, so I didn’t get any pictures on the podium.  Oh, well, got a bronze medal.  The boys thought it was great.

So here are the stats for future reference.

Aqua Tri – Provo
3.1 Miles – 32:44 (running was about the same as the last one.  Definitely my weakness.  Need to speed it up for the Women of Steel Relay in September.)
T1 – 1:06 (Did much better on this than I thought I did.  Had a snafu with my number and it took a little to get it attached.)
12 Mile Bike – 35:24 (I don’t think this was measured right.  My bike computer put it closer to 10 miles, which makes my time more understandable.  Oh well, still a good time.)
T2 – 1:04 (Did not take much to strip down to the swimsuit)
350 Meter Swim- 10:32 (Awful.  The swimming itself, not too disappointed with my time because of the chaos of the pool.  I was literally the middle of the pack, and boy, those lanes were skinny and crowded.)

Final Time - 1:20:48    Goal – 1:23:00  3rd place in division

Beat my goal and placed!!  What a great way to end the season.  I’m almost thinking about doing the Turkey Tri in November.  We’ll see if I keep tri training.  Now it is time to buckle down and start running.  1 month to go until the WOS Relay.

First Day of School 2013

It was a little hectic getting ready for school.  We got home from our trip and had a week to get everything for school.  We managed though, and had fun.

Connor 4th Grade:

Haden 2nd Grade:

Waiting for the bus on the first day.

Running home from the bus.  Great first day.

Garrick started his 2nd year of preschool a week after the boys.

Yippee for the start of school!  So far love their teachers.  Connor has decided he loves to read and is blowing me and his teacher away with the amount of time he is reading.  Haden is still my social butterfly and want to get the lead in his class play (which Connor doesn’t understand at all) and Garrick is loving being the “big” kid in class.  Hoping for another great year.

California–Randomness

So here are the last few pictures that I found from our trip.  Stuff I wanted to remember. 

First off: 
Charger’s Pre-season game

Papa Derek got all of us tickets to a pre-season game of the Chargers in San Diego.  So on Thursday, we headed south and realized how much we hate California freeway traffic.  It was HORRIBLE.  We left 3 hours early and didn’t get there until after the 1st quarter was over.  Did not plan that well at all. 

We get to the stadium and realize what a parking nightmare it was, and of course took some wrong turns.  Finally got in the stadium, and Alicia realized that her boys were dressed for summer weather.  Not summer night weather.  They were freezing by halftime.  At least the hot dogs distracted them a little bit.  It was neat going to a pro football game.  Unfortunately, the Charger’s didn’t come to the game (figuratively), and it was a little painful to watch.  We got the boys to hold out until after the 4th quarter started, then it wasn’t worth it anymore. 

Although, I find it funny that as much as they complained and seemed very unappreciative, if you ask them what they thought about the game, they loved it.  Connor thinks it’s neat to say that he has been to an NFL game.  Go figure. 

Next: The costume box

I know this is a bad picture, but it was the funniest looking costume.  They had amazing costume boxes for both boys and girls.  So all the girls were running around dressed like princesses and Connor comes out with this futuristic police costume which was super skinny and super tight.  It totally emphasized that the child is just skin and bones…and he wore it almost all week. 

The House:

The boys room had a pirate ship bed and a castle bunk bed.  They boys literally played pirates and soldiers all week.  Oh, and the boy’s room also had the creepy pirate captain statue, that Grandma Rita threw a sheet over at night so they could fall asleep.  They were less afraid of a ghost then that pirate. (The girl’s room had a pink castle bunk bed way cute)

The pool and yard:

There was a huge pool in the backyard that we may have swam in almost every day.  In fact we were kind of bad and used the pool as a big bathtub after the beach.  It was easier to remove the sand off the kids by going swimming in the pool than to use the hose.  The kids thought it was awesome to walk in the door from the beach straight out to the pool.

This was the BBQ area and lawn on one side of the pool.  They boys discovered the orange and lemon trees and decided to help harvest them.  Connor also decided to do an experiment with the glasses on the BBQ.  He filled one with pool water and one with tap water and put them in the sun to see which would evaporate first.

This was the back porch.  AMAZING.  The sofa sets were behind the game room and the 10 place dining table was behind the family room.  There was so much space for us to eat and play.  I want a  patio set like this and am already planning how I’m going to redo my deck.  Behind the camera was a playhouse that had split door and a light so it could be used at night.  The house was amazing.  There was plenty of room for the 25 of us, and the location was great.  Dan and I left thinking maybe it wouldn’t be too bad living in Anaheim.  (which is saying a lot because Dan loves Utah and I don’t want to pay California prices). 

THANK YOU SO MUCH GRANDMA RITA & PAPA DEREK!!!  It was an amazing trip and we loved every minute of it!  The boys have been writing about this trip for all their writing assignments at school and are so excited to tell everyone about what they did.  WE LOVE YOU!!!

California–Beaches

The home we stayed in during our trip was REALLY close to Disney (like within a few miles), but not so close to the beach….okay, definitely closer than Utah.  So we made sure to get to the beach a couple of times during our week.  This was a little bit of a trial for Alicia.  I don’t like the sand.  I don’t mind the beach.  I love walking on the beach.  I love the ocean, I just hate sand getting EVERYWHERE.  That, and having a 1 year old, it just seemed like a nightmare, but hey, there will be cousins that will make it fun!  What a blast!!!

Here is the picture overload.

Monday we went headed over to Huntington Beach.  And I didn’t bring my camera.  Because of the sand.   And then I felt guilty, so I’m totally stealing some pics from my sis-in-law Jacqui.  (Sorry!  Although, she is a much better photographer than I am, so I’m glad she caught so many cute shots of my kids!)

Z’s first time on the sand.  He wasn’t too sure of the whole thing.  We made the boo-boo of forgetting to put sunblock on his back where his swim shirt met his trunks.  Let’s just say he had a very red “tramp stamp” and was a little miserable for the next couple of days.

Z and his cousin.  They are only about 6 weeks apart in age.  J was much more mobile, which at times gave Z fits, but they are cute to watch together.

Our group’s hangout.  Dan and I bought the huge sports umbrella and I LOVED it.  I was in my element relaxing under the umbrella listening to a book.  It was great. 

Grandma Rita getting down and dirty with the babies.  She was great about digging in the sand with the kids.

The older kids had fun letting the waves chase them in and trying to body surf.  In the back is Dan taking Alicia out to do some boogie boarding.  Loved it.  I haven’t been in years, and forgot how much fun it is.  The waves were huge at this beach, which wasn’t great for the younger kids, but awesome for those daring enough.

On Friday we headed out to a beach that Jacqui knew of called Corona Del Mar.  I LOVED it.  So different from Huntington.  It was a little more sheltered, so the waves were great for the kids.  It also had softer sand, and it wasn’t quite as long of a hike to the car and bathrooms.  Thank goodness, because G really had to pee a lot that day. 

Z really figured out how to play in the sand.  Although, then he decided he liked to eat it as well.

Connor really didn’t like getting wet. (I blame it on the fact that he has no body fat, so the water is super cold to him).  He was perfectly happy with a shovel and the sand.

He spent the day creating his elaborate sand castle.  When the waves hit, the water would go under the bridge, and fill a pool and moat behind the castle walls.  Wow!

Dan got all of the boys to go boogie boarding at least once.

Then he had to show them how it was really done.

Haden and Garrick spent the day in the waves with their cousins.  They had no fear by the end.  Garrick even ended up taking off his life vest, he felt so comfortable in the water.

Z started randomly standing by himself.  We would look over at him, and he would just be standing up in the middle of the sand.  Growing up too fast.

We also made him get in the water.  Let’s just say he wasn’t impressed.

Alicia just stood there and looked cute!  Nah, I got some more boogie boarding in and inhaled enough salt water to clear my sinuses for the next year.

Garrick found tons of sand crabs and Z kept busy in the sand.

Beautiful beach that I would definitely visit again.