Max Goes to the Temple

This post somehow got left as a draft.  This is at the end of Dec. 28 2012 when Max went to the temple.

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Hike to Donut Falls on Labor Day 2013

We had a fun hike to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon with the cousins.  There were tons, and I  mean a ton of people there.

Here we are starting our hike.  The girls, Emma, Sabine, Maisy and Sarah.  Jack has his back to everyone in the background.  Sam and Tyler

The hike to see the actual falls. See the tons of people.  There are some cousins hanging around waiting for the hikers.  Stephen and Jack.  It was pretty slippery up there.

Here is the top of the falls where the water goes through the hole....the term donut falls

And here is the other side where it comes out into a cool cave.

Syd and Jack in the cave.  Sam and his donuts.  We told the kids there were donuts just laying around at the top of the falls.  And there were!

Jack enjoying his donuts.

Syd in the cave, with a donut.

Good picture of the water coming through the rock.

Missionary mom lunch

Sept. 13, 2013

I had a great time with these ladies visiting with each other and talking about our missionaries!

Mickie-Cody, Me-Max, Cindy-Mason, Holly-Zack, Lorie-Tanner, Cheryl-Alex and Chris

Sam receives his weebelos and arrow of light awards

I'm back to blogging!  I was looking over past blog posts and feeling sad that I have let this go for so long.  It's a great journal for our family.

At pack meeting Sam received his weebelos award and his arrow of light.  Great work Sam and mom (I helped ALOT)!

Brother Bingham handing the weebelos patch to Jack and on up the line to signify the whole family collaborating together to help Sam earn his awards.

The pinning of the weebelos pin

Stuffing their "pack of life".  Now they have everything they need to succeed.

He's got his map and his light

Pinning the arrow of light pin on mom.

Receiving the arrow of light

Me and Sam!

The walk from bear, wolf, weebelos to 11year old scout.

He's ready to take on scouting!  Great job Sam. We love you.  He earned a lot of pins and a lot of belt buckles over the past 3 years.

Women of Steel Triathlon (May 19 2012)

Starting my run

I'm so glad I decided to do this!  My spin instructor at the gym, Karen, asked me one day if I'd do this triathlon with her.  I thought no way would I be able to do that.  But, I registered and thought it's 6 months away..no worries.  I really started training in January.  Running on the treadmill and going to spin twice a week.  About March I decided I better start swimming.  I worked out about 7-8 hours a week from March to May.  Mon-spin and muscle class, Tue-run and swim, Wed-muscle class, Thurs-run and swim, Friday-spin.  By the end of the week I was pretty worn out.  I was getting better at running the whole 5k.  My swimming was getting better.  Some mornings I would swim a mile.  I was never very fast, but my technique got better and I wasn't so winded.  One of my first times swimming a 50 I thought, how does Max do this?  It took me about 2 min to swim 50y and it took him 23 seconds!  In April I got a road bike and started riding with Stephen.  My first time on the bike he took me 12 miles up Provo Canyon.  In May we went to Europe so I had eight days off and I was really nervous about being able to do well because the race was the Saturday after we got back.  I ran once in Germany, but didn't have any other exercise-besides a lot of walking!  There were 7 of us from the ward doing the tri.  It was nice to have all these ladies to train with.  We were all pretty nervous.  It was a first tri for four of us.  The night before we went out to dinner at Olive Garden to get our carbs in.  We loaded our bikes and got all of our gear ready.
I was so nervous I slept about 4 hours.  We left by 645am and unloaded, found our assigned spots for the bikes, and laid out all of our transition clothes. 
Emily and I put ourselves in the 10 min swim time.  We waited around an hour before we could even get in the pool.  By the time we went there were so many women just walking the pool that it was hard to swim.  I'm hoping to speed up my swim time so I can start with a faster group of women. We hopped out after our 300m and ran to transition to put on socks, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, shirts etc.  I grabbed my  bike and ran over to the start.  The bike was the easiest part for me. .  12 miles and only part of that was a hill.  The first hill was a little hard, but I zipped the first 6 miles pretty easy and started on the last 6. The whole time I thought, I am so grateful for Stephen and those darn canyons. Then  my tire went flat.  I rode to the curb and forgot I was clipped in so I fell over!  I was bruised and scraped but OK.  I wasn't sure what to do about the flat.  Finally, a man came by and helped me change it and I was on my way.  I was so bummed that I lost about 15 min.  I was doing so good!  I transitioned again into my running shoes for the 5k.  That first hill was tough.  I had to walk some of it because my legs were tired!  Then I ran and just kept going.  My first thought was there is no way I can run this whole thing, I'm exhausted.  But, I didn't let myself stop. I was so happy to see the finish line!!  My time was 1:37, but I take about 15 min off for the flat.  Not a bad time for a beginner.

Coming into the finish

Women of Steel: Michelle, Me, Lindsay, Molly and Yo.  Emily and Noelle aren't pictured.

 

 

A close up!

The Graduate!

 

 Max's announcement

 Class of 2012

 Max coming out to receive his diploma.

 Shaking hands with the a member of the school board.

 Wahoo!

 Max and Jordan

 Max and mom

 All the family that attended:  Caitlin, Emma, Chase, Finn, Kevin, Michele, Grandma Kimball and Grandma and Grandpa Erickson

 Our family.  Abby was at school celebrating her 6th grade graduation.

 Max and Mason

Look at those candy leis.  I had no idea.  I'll definately get something for Sydney.  People made leis with money too.  Such a cute idea.

What a happy day!  May was a stressful month, making sure Max was passing his classes and ready to graduate. The graduation ceremony was really nice and a little sad.  I am so excited for Max and all that he is going to accomplish!  He'll go to UVU in the fall for a semester, and then off on his mission!
Max spent his graduation night at his friend Mitch's house playing monopoly and was in bed by 1.  He declined to go to the all night school party.  

Dance Festival

The dances are always so cute.  Abby did a great job in hers.  Sam did a dance through the decades with a lot of different songs.  Thriller and Cotton eye joe.

Memorial Day

I took Jack, Sydney and Abby to the Memorial Day Program.  Max, Sam, and Stephen went and helped Grandma Kimball move.
First we went to the fire station for the pancake breakfast.  The line was so long!  We decided to go over to McDonalds instead.  We had a good breakfast and then went over to the park and played while we waited for the program to start.
I like making this a Memorial Day tradition.  I hope my kids will remember and be thankful for the sacrifices many men and women have made in their behalf.  The part that really gets me teary-eyed is when the band plays the song for all the branches of the military and the men and women stand.  One older man stood up four times!  He had served in all the branches. 
We played at the house the rest of the day.  Stephen and I went for a bike ride around the lake, until both of his tires went flat and I had to ride back and get the car.  We went to the gym and then went to the grocery store to stock up on all the donuts you can fit in a box for 3.49 and all the bread you can fit in a bag for 1.99.  Good thing we exercised!

Preschool Graduation!

Jack's preschool graduation at Stonegate (he calls it the white church preschool)

 The fishy song.  We were laughing so hard.  Jack's hat kept falling over his face and he was just being silly!

 Jack Sprat could eat no fat...

 The graduates!

 He is so cute!

 Jack and Spencer

 Neighborhood co-op preschool.  Jack loved having his friends over for preschool!  We had such a great year.  We would have gathering time, calendar, pledge, letter of the day, play time, worksheets and crafts, snack, and more playtime!

 Snack time.  Today we made little graduation hats out of Reeses pb cups and chocolate cookies.

Moms and kids.  We missed Cheryl in the picture.  Robin and Evelyn, Me and Jack and Spencer, Teresa and Max, and Yolanda and Landan