Halloween

We love Halloween at our house! Most of the kids and Russ will tell you that carving pumpkins is the best part. Some of the pumpkins we carved are ones that Russ grew in his garden, some we got from the trip to corn maze and some were from the neighbors who were selling pumpkins on their driveway. Even as we were finishing the last two, Karly still wanted to go down to McMurdie's and buy "just one more!" We were amazed this year by Dylan's skill and diligence at carving, he did awesome!!

Kelsey had her friends over for a party before Halloween and they all looked so cute! I tried to stay out of the way so I didn't take too many pictures.

Trick or treating was a little wet, but fortunately not too cold.

Mom: Dylan how did your hands get so messy?

Dylan: It was a four bar Kit Kat (duh!)

Happy Halloween!!

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After a super fun and busy summer, school started the end of August. Karly and Dylan started at a new charter school two days before Kelsey and Brady started at their schools. They were so excited! We watched the building of the new school on a near daily basis since it's right across the street from NorthShore Aquatic, where we swam several times a week and where Brady worked all summer. Before school started Russ and I got to go meet the kids teachers and hear about the classrooms and how Montessori curriculum would work for each of them..So Amazing!!! The next day, the kids got to go back and spend some time in their classrooms (without parents) meeting the teacher and learning about their new school. Both kids got excellent teachers and were so excited for Monday.

I'm such a fan of Montessori and I haven't been disappointed. Karly has had a few days where she's missed her friends at Lomond View, but we're working on making new friends and there is always something she's excited about at when she comes home from school. She''s been super excited about the class pet, the picture day/yearbook committee she volunteered for and studio fridays, where they get to do an art class, a music class and special PE of their choosing...Karly chose Yoga and loves it! (She's not such a fan of the dance class she picked for her music option, but hopefully it will get better) Dylan was a little worried in the beginning that he might have to repeat Kindergarten since they don't do enough worksheets but I've assured him that he will learn more than enough to move on to 1st grade. We always talk about snack time on the way home from school since montessori kids go to the snack table any time they want during the morning, prepare their own snack according to the directions on the card (one scoop of goldfish, two apples, 4 crackers, etc.) and then clean up after themselves. Dylan was sad the first day because other kids got snack and he didn't and he didn't understand why. I guess he wasn't paying attention when they explained how it works. He hasn't missed since.

Kelsey started 7th grade this year at Orion Jr. High. She was pretty nervous the week before school started, but after the first day was completely comfortable with the exception of her Spanish class that Russ and I insisted on. When she tearfully told me she just didn't want to be in a class of all 9th graders I caved and called the counseling office and got her schedule changed. After a month she seems to have made a super smooth adjustment and is really happy.

Brady is a Junior at Weber High school and super busy!! When we do get to see him, he usually has homework and is really tired, but has managed to carve out a few hours here and there to play Mario (Kart, Galaxy, party, whatever...) with Dylan. Brady is a junior officer so even before school started he was busy with meetings and events getting ready for school to start. Even though he's busy I know he loves it! This past week was homecoming and he was rarely home, Saturday he did a few things in the morning and then slept most of the day after putting in an appearance as Chester the (dancing) Cheetah at a community fun run. To make things busier, he's doing driver's ed from 6-7:30am, and swim team practices started last week as well. (If you see Brady, ask him about the homecoming parade...)

We had a super fun summer, I loved doing things with the kids and seeing friends and family. I'm really enjoying this stage of our lives where I can do fun stuff with the kids and they aren't sucking the life out of me. I won't deny it though, I have enjoyed the quiet time at home, running errands on my own and cleaning the house and having it stay clean until at least 3:00. Dylan gets home from school at 11:30 which barely gives me time to go to the gym and shower so fortunately I still get time with him and I'm not completely on my own.

These pictures were from the night of the first home football game. Karly had done the Warriorette/cheer clinic during the week and at half-time they got to perform the dance and cheers they had learned. No one had to twist her arm to participate, she loves this stuff!! By the time I took pictures of Karly and Brady, Kelsey was already long gone with her friends... not that she would have let me take her picture. ;)

(Whew! Glad I got this Blog done before it was time to put up Halloween pictures! )

S'mores!

One of my favorite things about summer and about our house, is roasting marshmallows out at our fire pit. A few weeks ago we invited a bunch of neighbors to bring their kids and come have a fire with us. Since it's usually about 90 degrees during the day here in July we had to wait til the sun went down a bit and it cooled off before getting the fire going.

Nothing like a gigantic marshmallow to make a gigantic mess with...but oh so yummy!
Brian, Brady, Brian, and Arlene and Ken.
Kenley, Karly, Cayli and Brian.

Looks like Regan is trying to see how many he can get in his mouth. Such a crack-up!
We found out at the end of the night this was little Dylan and Sarah's first time having s'mores, so happy to be a part of it!!

Hopefully we can do it again before school starts! Mmmm! (Not pictured: Lots of other fun people. Sorry I didn't get pictures of everyone.)

Triathlon: Pass the weak...hurdle the dead.

Tina saw that saying on the back of someone's t-shirt and we both thought it was hilarious. (and I hoped I would be neither the weak or the dead by the end of the race...)

We were up before 6am to get ready to go, Russ had expertly loaded our bikes the night before. We were in Layton by 7:00 and finally getting in the water sometime after 8:30. This triathlon has a mini sprint which is 300yd swim (12 lengths of the pool), 5.5 mile bike and 1.5 mile run. The full tri which we did, was the mini, then head back to the pool and do it all over again.

At the end of my run I was truly dreading getting back in the pool to start all over, but to my surprise, the second swim felt so much better than the first!! Of course Brady swam each time in about 4 minutes and seemed to have no problems at all getting through the whole course with the exception of the seat cushion on his bike coming off so he had to hold it for 5 miles. The transitions were kind of a pain, but it's part of the fun.

Brady finished in 1:34 (20th overall!) and I finished in 1:52. (3rd in my age division)

And then there's Karly! She did the kid's tri and she was awesome!! She's been doing swim team this summer, so her swim looked so good and she was fast. Unfortunately other kids weren't such good swimmers and one girl, going the other way, drifted over to Karly's side of the lane and bonked her in the head. She recovered quickly, finished her swim and was off across the parking lot to get on her bike. The kids did a 100 yd swim (4 lengths), 1 mile bike and .5 mile run. Karly finished in 17 mins!

Dylan, Kelsey and Russ were outstanding supporters, cheering us on at every transition!

One thing that made this such a good experience for me was how supportive and fun all the other participants were. Of course there were athletes there that took this very seriously, but everyone was pleasant, smiling and encouraging one another. Most people there did not take themselves too seriously which made it fun. I loved being there with Tina who would not let me catch her on the last bike ride, Brady who always has a good time, and my cute Karly!

As good as this experience was, I do not see an Ironman in my future!