Haley & Doug

Recital and some new moves!

2012-01-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

Kaiya is not a huge fan of the piano, but she doesn't hate it. Thus, we have encouraged her to keep with it for a while longer. I love having music in our home and now Kinley has started lessons, so the competition has begun for who remembers to practice without being reminded (hey, whatever gets them to remember!)

Here is a little clip of Kaiya's recent recital. It's all Christmas music because they do a recital after the holidays (everyone is too busy before, I guess). She loves playing on the $10,000 piano at the studio!

I've also included a couple of clips of new moves Kaiya just learned in the gym. She loves this time of year when there are no competitions and it's just fun time to learn new stuff.

Stay tuned for another post soon . . Coop and Kinley both have basketball going on right now and both have one thing in common--their dad is their coach. Doug has no life right now with coaching both teams, but they are having so much fun!

Happy 14th, Coop!

2012-01-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

I know it's such a cliche, but I really and truly can't believe how fast times goes and that I have a 14-year-old. I have these frames for their school pictures that has 13 openings for photos from K-12. As I put in Cooper's most recent photo, I looked at that frame with only 4 open slots and had a mini meltdown. In just 7 short months, he will be in high school! What???

He had a great birthday weekend. We got to celebrate with extended family on the 6th and he thoroughly enjoyed being there with both of my brothers. Bennett left back for Tulsa the next morning, so saying goodbye that night was horrible. I hate seeing my kids cry. It was so great to have Bennett home for so long this time.

The next night, Cooper had a bunch of friends over for pizza, games and whatever else boys do. I left, so I can't fill in a lot of details, but Doug says they had a great time. He has a great group of friends and I'm especially grateful that he refuses to get involved in any bickering between them. He just chooses to be friends with all of them.

Sunday night was just a family night (although he did have one special friend over, who happens to be a girl, but who also now happens to be ancient history) and so he really got to stretch his birthday out over the whole weekend.

I really just love this kid. We have our normal teenage battles, but he is a great kid at his core. We spend a lot of time just talking like adults about very adult stuff. He thinks a lot about what he wants to do in the future and is very focused on school. We just turned in his application for the honors program at the new high school that opens this fall and I'm proud of him for wanting to do this. I'm mostly proud because he doesn't fall to peer pressure and chooses to be his own person. I love going to his school and hearing all the teachers talk about what a great person he is--helping a kid who recently got diagnosed with diabetes, helping kids resolve fights during peer counseling, juggling sports and school, and just wanting to be a good person.

He gets so mad at me when I get all emotional on his birthday, but his scary start to life is as fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday. It forever changed me and I know there is something within him that knows he is lucky to be here with us and that he plans to make the most of his life.

Couldn't ask for better role models for my son!

Looking so old

Still loves shoes and hats

The whole gang

A few of the gang

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty relaxing Christmas this year and some firsts. It was the first time that we went to someone else's house on Christmas Day. With the birth of Sydney, we were happy to travel to Brandon and Erika's house and enjoy a 3-day-old baby, our entire family, and an awesome meal prepared by Erika's parents.

We had church early on Christmas morning, which was nice because it allowed us to stretch out the gift opening and enjoy the day. Santa stuck with some pretty traditional gifts this year--a scooter, a doll, a bike, a remote control helicopter and some ice skates made for some pretty happy kids. The girls have taken a real liking to ice skating, so having their own skates was exciting. I've now taken them ice skating three times and decided that getting older has its privileges--I can sit on the side with a good book and let them skate! I did try it once and didn't die, so I guess that's a good sign.

I surprised Doug and got him a gift certificate for Lasik eye surgery and some non-prescription sunglasses. He is ready to ditch his glasses once and for all!

It has been great having Bennett home for a month, so we got to enjoy a lot of time with him and will be sad to see him go back to Tulsa on Cooper's birthday (is is possible that he's really almost 14?).

Wireless microphones from Papa

Kaiya and her gym buddy, Evelyn

No fear!

Two Christmas miracles!

2011-12-22T16:21:00.000-08:00

I cannot remember a time in my life that I have been so overcome with emotion for other people than I have been for the last 2 weeks. On December 16th, just as Doug and Cooper were getting in the car to head to Utah for a quick visit (and the USU bowl game), we got the call that my nephew was about to get a heart! Doug and Cooper made it to the hospital before they took him to surgery and were able to see him. What a blessing! I am happy to report that Spencer is HOME as of the time of this post. He came home on New Year's Day, exactly three months after he went in. It's hard to wrap my mind around all that happened in that time frame.

Just 86 hours after transplant!

Doug and Cooper were able to go to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl with Doug's dad and all of his brothers and they had a great time. I love that my boys have been able to take two trips now to be with them and have fun. It's memories for Cooper for a lifetime.

On the blue turf

Just 6 days after Spencer got a new heart, we welcomed a new baby into our family. Sydney Nicole was born on Dec. 22nd at 6:12 pm weighing 8 lbs 3oz. She is perfect in every way and we can't get enough of her. I've made more trips to Greeley in the last 2 weeks that I have in a long time. It's worth it just to hold her for even a moment. It's also pretty fun seeing my little brother being a daddy!

Proud parents

Pretty excited it's a girl!

Just an hour old

Better than any Christmas present

So awesome that Uncle B was home!

I could stare at this photo ALL DAY!

When we're not in Greeley, we've been busy this holiday break doing fun stuff. The girls have a new found love for ice skating and we've been twice to do that. Kinley also got to get her ears pierced because she FINALLY quit sucking her thumb once and for all. Socks, duct tape and the nastiest tasting stuff on her thumb did the trick.

A little nervous

Ta-da!

Telling Santa what's on their list (and Kaiya being a really good sport!)

Miss Martha May in her debut

2011-12-19T19:54:00.001-08:00

After 3 months of practice and rehearsals, Kinley finally got her big moment on stage. She decided she wanted to give acting and singing a try and so we enrolled her in a children's theater group that is put together by a member of our church (and fellow Utah State graduate!). They performed the classic Dr. Seuss story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Kinley got a pretty big part and she practiced hard every week. I didn't know she had a singing solo part until about a month into it, but she was super excited. She memorized all of her lines with ease and had absolutely no stage fright (not surprising if you know her). The play was over an hour, so I'm just posting her solo. We were pretty proud of her and I think she's really got the bug to keep going with this acting thing. I'm just glad to see her trying all kinds of things and finding what she loves. The quality of the video is not great, but the sound quality is good if you turn up the volume. Cooper took a tech class in school and learned how to make this into a fun movie.

A most memorable Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T05:15:00.000-08:00

I think I am safe in saying that this Thanksgiving was one our family will never forget. We had planned to go to Utah for the week, but in light of the event's with Spencer, the trip became that much more important.

We left early on Sunday and drove straight to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. We made it in 7 hours, which meant that we got there in time to see my niece before she was discharged after having back surgery. Talk about a crappy place for a family reunion! Doug's family now has 26 grandkids and enough medical stories to fill a book. They are all miracles to us and now we need one more miracle!

We didn't stay too long on Sunday, but long enough to say goodbye to my niece and to say hello to Spencer and Doug's sister and husband. Cooper was the only one old enough to actually visit Spencer in his room, so that made it tough. Getting to finally see him and kiss his forehead was so wonderful and he really responded to Cooper, which just melted me. This is one remarkable kid and I say this with no bias. After taking care of hundreds of cardiac kids, this kid is simply amazing! He doesn't complain, he doesn't whine, he does what he is asked and when he is not in a good mood, he simply chooses to not engage. He has his Berlin Heart, a tube in his nose, a PICC line in is arm and oxygen under his nose and yet, you'd never know it. He is totally unfazed by his Berlin--he shows it to people and even knows how to get the alarms to stop when it's kinked. I am still in awe of this little man.

On Monday, Cooper got to spend time at Utah State with my best friend from college shadowing her as she treated the injured and banged up athletes. She is the physical therapist for all athletes and Cooper is thinking he might like to follow in her footsteps or at least to be an athletic trainer. He watched her do some therapy on the underwater treadmill and bumped shoulders with some of the big name football players on campus. It was a great experience for him.

We spent the rest of the week helping with Spencer's sisters and making trips to the hospital. It was nice to finally be the ones pitching in a little. My kids love their cousins, so it was a great week for them. Cooper and I spent about 7 hours at the hospital just the two of us on Tuesday and then we all spent Thanksgiving afternoon there. Tuesday was a little bit of a rough day for Spencer due to nausea, but I think he still really enjoyed Cooper's company. We got to meet his transplant surgeon, which was a very "small world" moment, realizing he trained under Cooper's surgeon. He knew all of Cooper's surgeons and where they were now. He knew the nurse manager who hired me and he was genuinely personable (not a common characteristic in cardiothoracic surgeons!). I had some very emotional moments watching Cooper interact with Spencer.

Cooper's gift to Spencer . . one for him, too.

Reading to Spencer in his room. The kid loves books!

We found out later that while we were there on Tuesday, his team was actually looking at a potential donor heart. It wasn't a perfect fit, so they rejected the offer, but it means he is that close. After 8 weeks in that hospital, it is time! As scary as it is, this kid is ready. He looks so good, his eating has improved, his kidneys are normal and he is going to do great. Every time my phone rings, I jump a little, so I can only imagine what it's like for his parents!

Our Thanksgiving at the hospital was perfect. They reserved a conference room for us and Nancy decorated the tables with homemade placemats and covered the tables with bedsheets. Is that awesome or what? It was just our family, Nancy's family and Doug's parents and the highlight of the afternoon was the smile on Spencer's face. He even asked to be turned around in his wheelchair at one point so he could watch his siblings and cousins play in the room. What a champ!

Our Thanksgiving headquarters inside the hospital

Love this pic! He could barely see over the table, but look at that smile!

He loved watching the kids play

The girls loved the white boards in the room

Before we left on Saturday, we were able to celebrate Doug's mom's 70th birthday with her. Doug's brothers fixed a huge Cajun boil and we enjoyed a little more family and cousin time before we hit the road. It was an emotional week, but I am so glad we were able to go.

Cajun boil!

Grandma turns 70

Kinley and Jess (one of our other family medical miracles, born just shy of 28 weeks)

11 in '11

2011-11-16T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have been a blog slacker. Part of it is pure busyness, but part of it was a hope that I could post lots of good news at once. I had it all worked out in my head--I was going to report that my nephew got a heart transplant, Kaiya had a birthday and that she qualified for Level 6 state gymnastics. Well, Kaiya had a birthday, but neither of my other hopes came true.

It was a gut-wrenching gymnastics season for Kaiya. It was a big jump from level 5 to level 6 and the judges even warned us that this level is tough. The judging is picky and the skills are tough. It's the last level in which they all do the same routine. Level 7 becomes her own stuff. She had 5 meets in the last 7 weeks and she just missed qualifying at two of them by tenths of a point. She is crushed, but she also knows that through adversity, she will grow. I offered to switch her to tennis or volleyball, but she won't listen.

I love this shot because her hair seriously glows!

Her favorite event

Floor

Upside down

Her nemesis, the darn beam!

Top finisher on bars at DU

Her birthday was a big success. This was an off year for a party, so the family outing was to see the Broadway show, Lion King. I saw it ten years ago and it was just as amazing this time. It was even more fun to watch my girls' eyes light up. We had dinner at the Olive Garden and then went to the show. It really was a great night. We let her have a couple of her gymnastics friends over the weekend before her birthday for a sleepover and took treats to her class. She has grown into such a beautiful young lady this last year. She maintains A's in school, plays piano, devotes 12+ hours per week to the gym, and has even started babysitting other people's kids. She's also a great big sister and Kinley really looks up to her.

Birthday dinner at Olive Garden

Lion King!

With her teacher, Mrs. Wolfinbarger . . . love her!

Her gym buddies have quickly become her best buddies

No party is complete without a hair salon

So proud of this girl. Through her tears, she gave her teammate a big hug to congratulate her for qualifying. Fortunately, we leave the next day for Utah and as I think about what will face us when we arrive at Primary Children's Medical Center to see Spencer, I am brought back to what's really important right now.

Im looking forward to reporting about our visit next week! Until then, here are some pictures of my beautiful girl.

Loveland Half Marathon

2011-11-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

For some reason (OK, likely because a significant birthday is around the corner), I decided to run another half marathon three weeks after the last one I did with my mom.

At mile 2, I pulled my calf muscle (yet another sign of my age) and had to run 11 miles basically limping. Thank goodness for awesome friends who stuck with me the whole way. I couldn't walk for a few days after that, but it was still worth it.

The weather was so nice and it was awesome to be able to run with friends. Some of the group ran the 10K and some ran the 1/2 marathon. Other than the pain, it really was a great day!

Before the race

About to cross the finish line

The three of us ran every step together

The whole crew of pink ladies

Glad to be done!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T05:10:00.000-07:00

With each year that passes, I realize that my days of little ones trick-or-treating are nearly gone. So sad! My girls still get pretty excited about the big day, however, and this year was no exception. They had a hard time picking a costume, but I think they turned out pretty cute! I put on lots of make-up on Kaiya and when my dad saw her, I about gave him a heart attack. Let's just say that make-up on her pale skin makes really shows up.

Cutest bumble bee

The bee and the vampiress

I love the tradition at the elementary school of a Halloween breakfast. I was able to go to both girls' classrooms and enjoy that time with them. Kaiya also had a Halloween-themed piano recital.

Now that's what I call breakfast!

Kaiya's Halloween piano recital

Cooper decided for the first time in his life to go as a fictional character. Took him 13 years, but he finally decided to go for it. He was Buzz Lightyear and he got quite a few laughs. It doubled as Doug's costume as well, so it was a real bonus.

The weather was so gorgeous that night that they were out for a long time. We got to hit the streets with friends, so it really was a nice night.

Ready to hit the streets

The annual post trick-or-treat candy trade

A hunting they did go . . .

2011-10-27T00:37:00.001-07:00

Doug and Cooper had been planning a hunting trip with Doug's brothers for the last year. With the difficult news about Spencer, the trip became even more pressing because both Doug and Cooper had a strong desire to go see him in the hospital.

They left at 4 a.m. on Thursday and pulled into Doug's brother's house at around 12:30. Unfortunately, his brother was stuck up on the mountain helping a fellow hunter who was lucky enough to get an elk. Doug and Cooper were able to visit with the Manti cousins and even got to watch a bit of Mikala's volleyball game while they waited for Mike. They got up to the camping site that evening and headed to bed. I need to let Doug fill in all the details about their hunting adventures, but suffice it to say, they had a blast riding the 4-wheelers, cooking meals, and hanging out with Doug's 3 brothers and Cooper's cousin, Jacob. No elk were to be found, but it didn't seem to matter. They also shared a special prayer on top of the mountain for Spencer.

Father and son

Cooper and Jacob
On Saturday evening, Doug and Cooper headed to Salt Lake to see Spencer. I get emotional just thinking about what was described to me by both of my boys. I'm not sure which was harder to hear about--Nancy's tears as Doug hugged her or Cooper's account of seeing Spencer on ECMO (which is essentially a portable heart-lung or "bypass" machine that took over Spencer's circulation). Cooper is a sensitive kid anyway and he's a deep thinker and the whole experience has caused the wheels in his head to really turn.

Cooper and I had some pretty deep conversations after he got home and even over this last week after he and I spent Saturday together at the annual Cardiac Kids parent conference. He worked in the daycare all afternoon while I attended the conference. The majority of the kids in the daycare were cardiac patients, some of which were transplant recipients and one of which also had a pacemaker. He told me on the way home that the day was a life-changing experience for him and he knows his life is a gift. I get teary-eyed just putting this down in words.

He has been dragged to Cardiac Kids functions for years because I sit on the board and, honestly, it was getting to the point where he would roll his eyes because he has outgrown all the little kid activities. But, this time was different. After having seen Spencer and I think reflecting on his own health history, the whole day meant something different. We had a great conversation on the way home and my heart was so filled with gratitude for this kid. I'm sure we will continue to do battle over typical teenage stuff, but at his core, he is a great kid--compassionate, caring and intuitive.

I had to throw in one picture of Cooper's recent basketball game because I've teased him about it. He decided to write Spencer's initials on his basketball shoes as a constant reminder of what he's going through. What a thoughtful idea, right? Only problem is that he wrote, using a Sharpie, the initials "SL" all over them. The look on his face when I asked him what SL stood for was priceless because it dawned on him as soon as he said "Spencer Lindhardt" that he goofed. Spencer's last name is Felt. Oops!!

For Spencer

2011-10-10T15:17:00.001-07:00

Our family has been all-consumed with some horrible news we got last week. Doug's sister, Nancy, with whom he is very close and whose kids are super close to my kids (weekly e-mails, sleepovers every time we're in Utah, etc), had her and her husband Matt's world turned upside-down last week.

Her son, Spencer, who is 5 was admitted to the ICU at Primary Children's in SLC in heart failure. He had a stomachache that wouldn't go away and it turned out his pain was due to his enlarged liver caused by the heart failure. Within 48 hrs of arriving at the hospital, he was being prepped for life support and emergently listed for a heart transplant.

Even with my cardiology background, I am stunned. Things just don't normally progress this quickly. But, I took care of lots of kids with cardiomyopathy and I've seen lots of miracles, so that is all I can focus on for now. Tomorrow, he will come off full life support (called ECMO) and put on a VAD, which is essentially and artificial heart, but it's connected outside the body. It is used as a bridge to transplant. Again, I've seen lots of kids get a VAD, get a transplant and then go home healthy! I even took care of a teenager who wheeled her VAD around (it's about the size of a suitcase on wheels) and even into the teen lounge at the hospital to hang out.

When my kids ask how to pray for a transplant, I have simply told them to pray that if someone finds themselves in the situation of having to make the decision to donate life, that they will have the strength and courage to do so. Every single day has been a roller-coaster for Matt and Nancy and the plans seem to keep changing by the hour. We just found out that Spencer's medical team consulted one of the cardiac surgeons in Denver today as they were making new plans--just so happened to be the same doctor who has operated on Cooper three times. The world of pediatric cardiology is indeed very small.

I would love to organize a blood drive or some other significant event for Spencer in the near future, but for now, we just pray and fast and wait.

This last weekend, my mom and I ran with Team Cardiac Kids in the Denver Rock & Roll 1/2 marathon. We all had shirts dedicated to kids with congenital heart disease/defects and we pinned a photo of Spencer on our shirts. I literally thought of Spencer for all 13.1 miles. We love you, buddy! Keep on fighting!!!!

Team Cardiac Kids before the race

Cold, but ready to run

Spencer on the backs of our shirts

About 0.2 miles before the finish line

Glad to be almost done!

First fall gym meet of 2011

2011-09-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Kaiya had her first USAG meet of the season last weekend. Now that she's a level 6, the judging is getting harder and she has her work cut out for her to make it to the state meet. This is the last level before she gets to start doing "optionals", meaning she and her coaches create all of her routines. Check out these cool action shots!

She gave us a little scare on vault when she messed up her approach and almost crashed. This gal is getting so tough, though--she went back and did a second vault just fine.

Her bar routine was awesome, but the judges were ruthless.

The biggest surprise of the night came on balance beam. The beam has always been Kaiya's nemesis, but she went out there and rocked it! She had her highest score of the night on beam with an 8.30.

Cute pic of Kaiya and her lone Level 6 teammate that day, Courtney.

Overall, it was a great first meet and now she has a bit of a break until her next meet in mid-October.

Our first adventure in family camping

2011-09-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

I'm late posting this, but it was still blog worthy. We are not a camping family unless you consider the times the kids sleep on the floor in each other's rooms. My idea of camping is a nice hotel near some open space. But, Doug has always wanted to take us all camping as a family and he got his wish when we were invited to join a group of friends for the weekend near Grand Lake.

We got lucky and the weather was perfect all weekend. We did a short hike up to Adams Falls, which was gorgeous, had a nice fire each morning and night, played games, swam in the lake, cooked some great meals and just enjoyed hanging out. The kids all got along great and our girls cried as we left because they didn't want to go. The kids (19 in all!) had all built a fort and a whole 'city' near our camping spot. With no electronic devices, TVs or anything of the sort, they were just kids for 3 days. Cooper got his fix of fires and the girls loved being helpers to some of the little girls.

All in all, it was just a great weekend and we are looking forward to it again next year! I know . . . I'm actually thinking camping wasn't half bad after all!

What a great venue! Nice work, Tirsa!!

Coop and his little man, Ezra

If it resembles a raquet, Ben will find it

This is the fort the kids built all weekend (complete with a floral entry, thanks to the girls)

Canoeing in the lake

I think Carli and I missed the memo on wearing a plain, solid shirt.

Balancing on a rock while taking a family photo was not easy!

One of the great things about living in Colorado--gorgeous!!

Quality time in the tent

Snuck up on Tasha to get this shot.

Kaiya cannot get enough of this cuties

8th, 5th and 2nd grade . . . here we come!

2011-08-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

I vividly remember telling people that my kids were 8, 5 and 2 years old. Honestly, I remember it well. So, how on earth is it that they are now in 8th, 5th and 2nd grade??? It's such a cliche that they grow up fast, but I still seemed stunned that it's happening to us.

I absolutely love the teachers that the girls got this year and am so excited about the kids in their respective classes. Kinley just keeps losing teeth, so she looks so funny right now. Her front two teeth are almost down to where you can see them when she smiles, but then last week, she lost two teeth in two days at school. Losing teeth at school is a huge deal because they give you this cool tooth necklace to take home that holds the lost tooth. She wrote the Tooth Fairy a long note and was so excited to wake up to some cold hard cash, but when morning came, there was nothing. Luckily, I went in to check for her when she was getting dressed in another room and lo and behold--the crazy lady left the money inside her pillowcase (on a pillow she doesn't even use). She sure can be tricky! Good thing I checked. :)

Life is good when your BFF is in your class!

Kaiya is back to juggling piano, gymnastics and now a new program called MESA (Math, Engineering and Science Achievement), which takes place every Thursday after school. She has also started doing some real babysitting jobs, which has been a major highlight for her. Her gymnastics season starts in just two weeks!!

Kaiya has gone to school with these buddies since kindergarten!

Cooper helped orient the incoming 6th graders and is loving being the big 8th grader on campus. He has a pretty packed schedule, but seems ready to take it on. We had to make one schedule change . . . had to do with his math teacher being more of a believer in UFOs vs teaching algebra. Long story. I am NOT that parent who runs out and fixes all of their child's problems, but this teacher was going nowhere fast. Cooper's first week of notes were about the definition of reality and the traits of a leader and being the pilot of his own learning. The dude never even took the cap off a dry erase marker. Possibly the funniest thing about Cooper's schedule is his involvement in the hand chimes group. We laughed when we saw it on his schedule, but as soon as a pretty cute girl encouraged him to stay in the class, he decided he wanted to give it a try. Cooper's musical ability starts and stops with downloading songs on iTunes, so we shall see how this plays out!

Hoping for a great school year!!!

End of summer fun

2011-08-15T02:21:00.000-07:00

We took a quick trip to Utah to see Doug's family to wrap up our summer, but not before throwing a little birthday party for my mom's 60th. The party was a bit of a comedy of errors, but that's why we'll never forget it.

First, the water level at the lake was too low to put the boat in. No problem. We just played and enjoyed the lake to ourselves. Open gifts and have cake & ice cream. No problem--cake got soaked in the cooler and the ice cream melted. No problem--eat the top of the cake and sip the ice cream. Wind storm comes up and sends the tube out to sea. No problem--Brandon is a good swimmer. Funny stuff!

The birthday girl

Her very own milkshake . . . tee hee

Handstands anywhere there's a flat surface

Lake football

Although our trip to Utah was quick, we packed in a lot of fun and cousin time. I am always amazed at how all the grandkids reconnect each time we go. They might go six months or a year without seeing each other and it doesn't matter--they are instant best friends again. All of Doug's siblings were there (an unplanned reunion of sorts) and we really enjoyed our time together--back yard BBQs, sleepovers, and even a day at the pool with all 26 kids! I think Doug's mom probably slept for 24 straight hours after we left. Of course, it also allowed me to see my bestie from college, Lori, and her kids. It really was a great trip!

Coop and Spencer . . each wishing they had a BROTHER!

Doug's youngest sibling, Paul. Looks just a little like his son, eh?

Pool cuties

Emmett, the fearless swimmer

No fear of the high dive

Blast off!

Love the way these cousins always just pick up where they left off

Just a few of the Grandma Fan Club

So nice of Paige to have a birthday while we were there!

Grandpa's idea of a pool party

Claire and Coop

Almost all 42 of us!

Lori's girls and mine . . . too wired to iPods to even look up

The Brigham City Temple under construction (thanks for the tour, Uncle Tom!)

We got home in time to see Bennett for one night and one quick trip to Jump Street the next day and then he was off to Tulsa to start his junior year of college.

Sweaty bodies at Jump Street before saying goodbye

Just a few more days and we'll be sending kids to 8th, 5th and 2nd grade. I have no idea how that's possible, but it is. I hate the end of summer, but it's always good to get back into a school schedule. It's been a great one this year--probably our busiest yet, but so many good memories! Baseball and more baseball, pool days, Lake Owen, Utah, some Rockies games, good times with friends and so much more.

Camp Innovation

2011-08-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

This post is just for Kinley. She earned it. For two weeks, including the week that Kaiya and I were gone, she got up early and attended a science/engineering camp at IBM in Boulder. She was nominated by her teacher and then selected as one of 75 kids in the entire school district to attend this camp.

Waving goodbye on her way into IBM

Her water wheel prototype

From what I can tell, this was a new thing to our district. It was called "camp", but according to Kinley, it was just like school, but more fun. Each day, she attended classes from 8:30 to 12:30 and learned about resource conservation and innovative ways to help our planet (it was held in Boulder, after all!). Kinley chose the water group (over energy, transportation and food) and by the end of the week, she had made a prototype of a water wheel with the help of her high school buddy. I was amazed a the notebook of drawings and essays she brought home. It was a great experience for her. They did a daily blog on the district's web site. Here is a link to the site: http://blogs.stvrain.k12.co.us/campinnovation

She also was part of a book club this summer, put together by her 1st grade teacher. I sure wish we could take her to 2nd grade with us. Not too many teachers spend their summers putting together a reading group for her outgoing students. They read a book called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane about a china rabbit who gets lost and found numerous times. It's not an easy read and after each 5 chapters, her teacher sent out an e-mail to the group with questions to answer for the group. Then, when they finished the book, we all met at a local pottery creation workshop and each girl got to paint a piece of pottery. What a fun way this girl got to keep her mind fresh this summer!

The summer book club girls at Crack Pots

Lake Owen Gymnastic Camp

2011-07-31T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am going to do my best to keep this abbreviated, but it was such a great week and I have so many photos and videos, that it's going to be hard.

Kaiya and I first talked about going to this camp in the winter when we found out that one of the coaches from her gym (but not her coach) goes to this prestigious gymnastics camp in Cable, Wisconsin every year. She's been going for quite a while and mentioned that they are always in need of camp nurses. Then, we found out that my going as camp nurse meant that Kaiya goes for free ($850 camp). So, Kaiya and one of her teammates got excited about it and decided to go. The only problem was a few months later, the friend quit gymnastics altogether. I left it up to Kaiya if she still wanted to go and she never wavered.

We flew into Minneapolis, which left us with a 3 hr drive to Cable. Fortunately, one of my nursing school buddies lives there and was able to meet us, give us a tour of the city and let us crash at her place. It was great to see her and the city. She lives right on the Mississippi River, so we had a great run the next morning (except I do not enjoy humidity!).

Running along the Mississippi

So good to see Karen!

The drive to Cable was absolutely gorgeous. Mostly 2-lane highway with tiny towns about every 10-20 miles along the way. Lakes, red barns and cute towns made it an easy drive. It is nestled in a wooded area right on a lake. Hard to believe this huge camp sits in this area, but it does. As the camp RN, I had to be there a day early to get set up and take over for the outgoing RN. The camp was a ghost town when we got there, so it was nice to get a tour and get acclimated before all the campers arrived. The other nurse and I had to go through all of the forms and get organized for 160 kids to arrive the next day (30 of which took regular prescription meds!). Kaiya enjoyed meeting some of the stay over campers and getting set up in her cabin. My cohort for the week, Connie, was a nurse from Duluth who had a son there as a skater. The camp has both gymnastics and "action sports", which meant skateboarders and BMX bikers. Their camp was totally separate, but we were in charge of both groups as nurses. Fortunately, she took care of most of them. :)

Arrival at last!

My headquarters, The Health Hut

Kaiya's cabin

Choosing her bunk before the masses arrived

Cafeteria straight ahead

Dock down at the lake

Look at that excited face

One view of just the bar gym

Floor gym--a totally separate building!

Sunday was casual in the morning and I quickly found an awesome running path through the woods. At 3 pm on Sunday, the campers began arriving and it turned into a madhouse fast! We had to get all of them checked in with their meds and figure out a schedule for each camper taking medications. It's a little sad how medicated even our youngsters are these days! They were not allowed to take even ibuprofen without getting it from us. Sunday night was testing night for the gymnasts--they had to show what they already knew how to do so they could be placed in a group of girls with similar skills. Kaiya was already figuring out that the talent there was amazing, so we had to have a little pep talk about not comparing herself to anyone else!

Monday was the first full day of camp and I was prepared to be super busy. Uh . . . not so much. Gave out morning meds, got breakfast and then had the day to watch Kaiya at practice, read my book and occasionally give out some ibuprofen or Tylenol. There are 2 athletic trainers on site who take care of most of the injuires, so my job was so easy! There was one kid with stitches who needed dressing changes, but that was about as difficult as it got. We had to be in our "Health Hut" each day from 8-9am, noon-1, 5-6pm, and 9-10 pm. Other than that, we were free to roam around the camp with our walkie talkies and backpacks. I finished a book in a matter of days, sitting on my deck in the shade. Not too shabby! Kaiya did the ropes course on Monday, which was amazing and then on Monday night, Kaiya got to meet Courtney McCool in her cabin for a Q&A session. Courtney was also one of her coaches during the week, but it was fun to be get up close and personal with her. She was on the 2004 Olympic team and a fun girl. Kaiya also got to meet Paul Hamm, who is a 2-time Olympian and training for the 2012 games right now. He was amazing to watch!

Ropes course

Ready to climb a tree!

Way up there

Shay & Kaiya, her bunk mate from South Dakota

Kaiya & Olympian Courtney McCool

By Tuesday, I figured out that I could get up and put running clothes on, give out meds, then go for a run and shower. I did that every day for the rest of the week. The running path was so gorgeous! This is the day Kaiya got up super early and did the "polar plunge", which meant jumping in the lake at 7 am. I have no idea how she survived the rest of that day. She was already so sore and tired from doing 6 hrs of gymnastics on day 1. Her schedule was basically, get up at 7, eat, gym from 9-11:30, lunch, open gym for 3 hrs (or go play, which she did some days), eat dinner, more gym from 6-8:30 and then a nightly activity. On Tuesday night, they did a camp version of the Warrior Dash and she didn't want to go, but the camp director spotted her and gave some gentle encouragement. It was a giant obstacle course through the water and around the camp. The night before was Extreme Challenge night in the gym where they did things like stacking foam blocks on the beam. Fun stuff!

The view from my daily running path

Wednesday was a relaxing day as well. Kaiya spent both Tuesday and Wed on the trampoline for nearly 2 hrs each day. She desperately wanted to learn her back flip with a full twist and I am not kidding when I say she probably did 250 of them before getting it just right. My old assistant coach at Utah State (who is now the head coach) was there and he was so awesome to work with her in a little private session for over an hour. The same thing happened on Tuesday with a different coach who knew my old club coach. My being there had some definite perks for Kaiya and she was soaking up the private lessons! Wednesday night was 'staff appreciation' night after the big dodgeball night in the gym and we got to meet a lot more of the staff and coaches that night at a little party in the canteen (a/k/a junk food store that makes bank off the campers who bring extra money to camp to put in their account). I was amazed at the amount of food Kaiya put down during the week, but I'm guessing she burned even more than she ate. She is not used to 6+ hrs of gym every day.

Thursday brought my first real nursing excitement. One of the camp counselors (a mom with a gymnast there) dislocated her shoulder on the giant slip and slide. She was in so much pain and I was able to pop it back into place. Felt gross, but it was also kind of cool (I'm sick, I know). Kaiya spent some time at the lake that day. They have a huge water blob that launches kids off the end, two ski boats to pull kids on tubes and just a swimming area. Thursday night's activity was skit night and Kaiya's group chickened out, so there wasn't much to watch.

Friday was a normal day until about 6 pm when the parents began arriving for the gym expo. The evening practice was a "show off" session where the kids could show everything they had learned and do the dances they had learned during their dance class all week. I saw some amazing gymnastics, especially from the guys. Friday night was packing up, saying goodbyes, returning meds to the campers and getting ready to head out.

With Hannah Hartung, daughter of 1984 gold medalist, Jim Hartung

Group shot

Kaiya and I left around 10:30 on Saturday morning and made a few stops on the way back to the Minneapolis airport. We stopped in a few of the cute little towns, including a famous candy shop and a rock shop to grab some stuff for the family at home. Kaiya slept the entire 3 hour drive, other than when we stopped! I have never seen her so tired in my whole life. We had an uneventful flight hope and now it's back to the real world. We are already thinking we'll go back again next year! What an experience.

Until next year . . . .

Famous candy shop in Hayward--the whole town is flowers!

None of the videos are great quality, but they give a little taste of the week. When we got into the Denver airport, we were greeted with big, fat, happy tears from Miss Kinley. She had a great week at her own camp (post forthcoming), but she missed us. I think she missed Kaiya as much as me. Watching those two reunite was a happy mom moment for sure! Cooper looked at least a year older and Doug looked ready to be off duty for a while . . . but I might add that I came home to a totally clean house, all carpets steam cleaned and tons of honey-dos off the list. I'm a lucky girl!!

The first video is Kaiya doing giants on the strap bar and the second is her best full twist on the trampoline--a culmination of HOURS of attempts!

This is the blob water launcher and Kaiya on the bungee trampoline

Giant swings on the high bar (never done them before) and a new tumbling pass into the foam pit.

Up in the trees on the ropes course and a little snipet of the one-on-one instruction she got from Utah State coach, Jeff Richards.

Fly fishing instruction

2011-07-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

For Doug's and Brandon's birthday, my dad got them fly fishing lessons in Estes Park. Not wanting to miss the fun, my dad decided to join them and then we decided Cooper was probably old enough to go, too. Other than getting drenched by a storm toward the end, they had a good day. And, I love this picture (just wish Doug was in it!).

Fun 4th

2011-07-10T13:29:00.001-07:00

I always feel like the summertime goes too fast and I guess this year is no different. The kids have kept us SO busy that it's all I can do to keep up. We have managed to squeeze in a few pool days and movie days and we had a really fun July 4th weekend. I had to also throw in a couple overdue photos--the first one shows that my girls have not spent one night apart from each other this summer. They have been pretty good buddies and it has been fun to watch. That's my idea of a 'sleepover'! Some nights they sleep in Kaiya's bed, some nights on the floor and some nights in the cooler basement. The second photo was taken last month on Doug's birthday. It got a bit overshadowed with the big news of the Houtchens baby on the way, but we didn't forget him or his favorite chocolate cake!!

On Friday night, we went to a Rockies game with some friends and saw their amazing fireworks show. Then, on Saturday, we decided to head up to Estes Park for the day just to enjoy living in Colorado. We had lunch and ice cream up there and let the kids play in the park. The water level in the river and lakes up there was impressive! Then, we got to spend the afternoon with my mom at the lake. We were guests of her neighbors, but the kids got plenty of rides behind the boat on the tubes and had a blast! The night concluded with fireworks, driveway style and homemade root beer floats with friends and neighbors.

The Rox really know how to put on a show!

My budding Rockies fans

There is a long story behind this photo taken in Estes--it's a re-creation for many years ago.

Once a monkey . . . .

They have the best ice cream in Estes!

Lake fun

Daredevils on tubes! Crappy phone video, but Coop and Kinley are on the left and Kaiya and her friend are on the right. They caught some air before wiping out!

I love this picture--Kaiya had a friend over from her gym when we went boating and to my mom's afterward . . . here is what happens when two gymnasts get together.

The next morning, I did a 5K "fun" run. It really was not so 'fun' after all. I really pushed myself and felt crappy the rest of the day. My internal dialouge went something like this . . . . 'this is only 3 miles--push yourself! Why pay to run this race if you're just going to run your normal pace--that's dumb.' What followed the rest of the day was this dialouge . . . . 'You are so dumb. You have no business running that fast--your body does not like that pace. Don't ever do that again!'

After the race, the girls and I headed to Breckenridge for a wedding. Kaiya's gymastics coach got married at the top of the mountain and it was breathtaking! It was a bittersweet day for Miss Kaiya. She loved going to the wedding, but when we left, it meant she had to say goodbye to her coach of 4 years because she is moving to North Carolina. It was so hard seeing her sob as we drove away. :(

Atop Breckenridge Mountain

The bride and all of her gymnasts

This was a hard goodbye!!

Cooper and Doug stayed home from the wedding so that Coop could play in a double header in the 100 degree weather. As has been the case all year, they got smoked by the other team (some of which were juniors in HS), but he has continued to play well. He's pretty pleased that he is consistently getting hits off of pitchers that throw a lot harder than he's ever seen before. That poor kid gets so sweaty behind the plate when he catches, but he can't get enough of it. We've had a few games rained out lately by torrential afternoon thunderstorms

I am gearing up to go be camp RN at our church's Girls Camp for a couple nights this week and then Kaiya and I leave for Wisconsin in two weeks for her gymnastics camp. By the time we get back, school will be just a few short weeks away. I'm going to try to savor every day we have left!

Let the countdown begin!

2011-06-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

To say that I am just a little excited to be an aunt again would be an understatement! We are lucky to have 23 nieces and nephews on Doug's side and now I get to have one on my side, too! We found out on Father's Day that Brandon and Erika are expecting a baby around Christmastime. What an awesome surprise!! Here is how we found out . . . .

Needless to say, when they pulled the cover off the cake, it was a big moment around here. I was completely overcome with emotion. Can't wait! It's great timing because Bennett should be home, too. Speaking of Bennett, we got this photo from him today . . . he and a teammate standing inside Fenway Park in Boston, MA, where he got to take batting practice. He is playing in the prestigious Cape Cod league this summer and finally getting his bearings on the east coast.

Our other countdown around here is for Kaiya's and my trip to Cable, Wisconsin at the end of July for gymnastics camp. I'm a little nervous about what I've gotten myself into, but we're really looking forward to it. I'm going to spend a few days at our church Girl's Camp to get tuned up as camp RN. I hope I'm ready!! Spending the last 9 months as an ER nurse should help, but I'm still not feeling super confident.

Our summer days are going by too quickly! Cooper lives on the baseball field and golf course, Kaiya has gym 4 days a week, and Kinley is doing gym as well now. I have never seen Cooper so tired as I did on Tuesday night. He played 3 hours of baseball, 3 hours of golf and then went to a Rockies game with Papa. Rough life he has! It's been a learning year for baseball playing all of these high school kids, but his team has really improved and Coop just keeps getting better both behind the plate and at the plate. He could play all day, every day.

We've squeezed in a few fun pool days and time with friends, but it's all going by too fast. :( The girls have not spent ONE night in their own beds alone this summer--they've bunked together anywhere and everywhere--the basement, the floor in their rooms, etc. Fun to see them being buddies! They've been so good that I rewarded them by taking them to get feathers in their hair.

Getting ready to catch some air from dad

Their beloved feathers

We're looking forward a fun 4th of July weekend as a family. After Cooper's double header in Cheyenne, we may have stopped at a fireworks stand on the way home and we MAY be planning a little show in our driveway.

Pyro Jr. is a little excited about Wyoming fireworks

Girl's got moves!

2011-06-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Miss Kinley had her big dance recitals on Saturday and I'm telling you--this girl's got moves! We didn't realize that her 4 performances would be split into two different sessions, so we literally were there most all day! As exhausting as sitting through all that has been in the past, I have to say (as did my mom and dad) that the show was actually quite entertaining. The studio had its big 25 year celebration and the talent from the older kids was amazing!

After multiple studio changes and drama trying to fit in, I am so proud of this girl. We almost threw in the towel a few months ago when the drama was at its peak, but I'm so proud of her for sticking with it. She was the very youngest in her ballet and her hip hop dances (a couple of the girls were Kaiya's age!) and she not only hung in there, but she really knew her stuff!

She is going to take a break from dance and try some other things like soccer and volleyball and if she wants to come back to dance someday, she can. We all just needed this break!

Here are my two favorite of her performances. The videos are horrible quality, but you can see enough to see how great this girl did.

Belle of the Ball

Imma Bee

September

Ready for the show

My cute bee

After the show

Lots of proud observers

Meanwhile, Coop has been so knee deep in baseball, that I don't know how this kid does it. He has at least 3 games a week and another 6 hours of practice. And he still can't get enough! He played in a tournament this last weekend with all sophmores and juniors in high school with a handful of freshman and incoming 8th graders and just did great. Even had a 2 RBI double to help his team win one game. He is being coached by the high school head coach and getting some amazing exposure. Crazy to think that high school is just not that far away! He wasn't thrilled to leave baseball, but he's off to scout camp this week. I'm not as nervous as I was last year, but I still don't love him being gone.

Just a slight height difference

Our other big event of the week was Bennett's homecoming. He brought his girlfriend, Casady, home with him and we got to spend a whole day with them. Bennett got to see a little of Kaiya's gym practice, Kinley's recital rehearsal and one of Cooper's games. The kids were in heaven! He is off to Boston now, playing in the prestigious Cape Cod league until school starts. What a week it was!!

Snuggle time

Watching Kaiya at gym

Just the girls

Sibling shot

A rare time with all of us together

Coop and Papa

Lots of lasts

2011-05-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

This last week was filled with lots of lasts . . . last spring baseball tourney for Cooper, last spring gymnastics meet for Kaiya, and the last day of school. Now, if we could just have our last rainy day, I would be thrilled!!

Cooper's last baseball tourney was not pretty, but the boys had a great time. It was in Colorado Springs, so it meant a hotel stay, which was the best part for the boys. They lost their first two games in an ugly fashion and hung in there in game #3. Coop couldn't get his bat going, so he came home pretty frustrated, but he has an entire summer of baseball ahead of him! He will be playing for the high school's 'C' team, which blows my mind because these kids aren't in high school yet! I hope they don't get swallowed whole!

Pool time--best part of the tourney!

Getting a needed pep talk

Cooper finished the year with a 4.0 somehow. He was about as fried and burned out with school as I've ever seen him. More than the grades, I am just so proud of this kid. Middle school is rough! He gets teased for getting good grades, but plugs away and blows it off. He got so many awards at school at their awards ceremony that I lost track, but the best one was a student of the year type award.

Kaiya's last meet was her best yet!! She improved her all-around score by 2 full points and won both bars and beam. It was fun to see a smile on her face and all the hard work paying off. She, too, was ready for school to be over, but it has been funny the last couple days to watch her walk around in a daze--the gym was closed this week, so with no school and no gym, she is a lost soul! She had so much fun playing with friends after school.

Vault and bars champ!

Best floor routine yet

Playing with chopsticks at dinner after the meet . . . nice face, dad!

Last day of school fun

The girls has field day on Monday and had a blast. Kinley's teacher made their last day of school so special. I have absolutely loved her teacher. They came home with a little scrapbook of photos and writing samples and it was fun to see her progression. She even has a reading group going for the summer. We will miss her so much!

Fierce competitor

Can't beat a Popsicle on Field Day

Last day of 4th and 1st grade

We will miss Mrs. Zamudio sooo much!!

The final 'last' was the last day of Erika's time in her 20's. We celebrated her 30th birthday one day early. She's such a special part of our lives. I think my brother knows how lucky he is, but we remind him pretty regularly anyway.

Birthday girl

Fun times

Feeling like a ping pong ball!

2011-05-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was about as nuts as it gets for us. Schedule of events was as follows:

1) Piano recital for Kaiya in Boulder @ 10:30

2) Baseball game for Cooper in Louisville @11:15 . . . moved to 1:15 . . . and finally played at 2:15 due to rain.

3) Gymnastics meet in Bouder @1:00

4) Baseball game at 6:30 in Louisville . . . rained out.

Somehow, all of those events ended up being within 20 minutes of each other. How lucky is that? My dad joined us for most of the day, which was so nice. Kaiya did a great job in her recital--for as little as she practices, she's getting pretty good!

So poised

Cooper's team lost, but he felt like he made good contact with the ball. They put him in at 2nd base for part of the game, which he never plays, so he was a bit out of his element. He was just so bummed to have the weather ruin yet another tournament. Where is the sunshine????

Kaiya's meet went really well. Her only bad event was floor--she just looked so tired. Everything else was awesome and she even stuck beam!! There were only 2 level 6's at the meet, but she won, so it still felt good!!

1st place! (even if there were only 2)

A little wobbly, but she stayed on!!

It was Kinley's turn for some of my time on Monday at her 1st grade field trip to the zoo. I had worked from 3 pm to 3 am the night before, but managed to get up and go with her. I was questioning my sanity, but I think she told me about 10 times how happy she was that I was there. Her group was so well behaved and we saw so many animals in 2 1/2 hrs, including a baby orangutan that was literally hanging onto its mother's back and sitting on her head. Made me think that we really aren't all that different from our primate friends! :)

My last 1st grader to go on the zoo field trip

I just loved this picture . . the mom completely oblivious to the baby hanging all over her!

After the zoo, I turned around and joined my dad and brother and my dad's stockbroker at a Rockies game, sitting in the owner's seats. Front row, baby! It's the 3rd time I've had the privilege of sitting in those seats and it never gets old! Gourmet buffet beforehand and the Rox pulled off a come from behind win, so it was a great finish. What a week!!!

Up close and personal with Tulo from the front row!

April catch-up

2011-05-02T05:11:00.000-07:00

I have been really diligent about trying to update the blog once a week, but since I left my camera at my dad's house on Easter, I had an excuse to take a little break. But, now I have some major catching up to do!

Both of the older kids have kicked into high gear for the spring. Cooper's baseball tournaments are almost every weekend and Kaiya has 3 gymnastics meets, which means some divide and conquer for the two parents. Cooper had a tournament two weeks ago that started off miserable and ended on a high note. They are playing teams that often have 100 kids try out and only the top 12 or so make the team. Seriously, some of the kids are almost double Cooper's size. Not sure how we are even supposed to compete. After day one of getting our butts handed to us, the boys found themselves in the consolation bracket as the last seed. Well, these guys played their guts out and made it clear to the semi-finals, losing by just one run in the last inning. Such a heartbreaker, but so fun to finally have some success at this level! Cooper had the best day of his life at the plate (11 RBI in 3 games!!!) and was just hitting the snot out of the ball. He caught all three games as well and was one tired puppy! The video is one of his best hits of the day.

Castle Rock tournament--11 RBIs in 3 games!!

Solid hit!

Kaiya had her first meet last weekend as a level 6. This is a huge jump from level 5 because every event had a new skill added. She now tumbles into a back flip on floor, does a back flip off the bars and tumbles backward on the balance beam. She was super nervous, but just did awesome! Beam was her nemesis, as usual, but even that wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it was. Enjoy the videos!

Kaiya and her teammate, Maddie

Level 6 bar routine

Floor routine--her best score of the day 8.35!!

Other April highlights . . .

--We had a really nice Easter with my dad, brother and his wife despite the fact that I had to work the night before. :(

Easter morning

--The kids all got to have one friend stay over this last weekend as a reward for good behavior. It was the first time Kinley had a friend stay over and they were so cute and got along perfectly all weekend. Kaiya got to have 2 gym buddies and Cooper had a good friend stay as well. It was a packed house and I felt like all I did was feed them round the clock! I did take them all swimming, too. Whew!! I was wiped out by Saturday night! I am so grateful for my kids' true, good friends.

Love these girls!!

Kinley and her best buddy

--I started swimming lessons in anticipation of attempting a triathlon in August. A good friend of mine is teaching me to swim and thank goodness she is patient! We have had lots of laughs and I've returned the favor by helping her train in the gym with some other friends. I can finally swim the required 1/4 mile on my own, but I am still super inefficient. Could be a long few months getting ready for this thing, plus I'm considering the Warrior Dash in August as well.

--I accepted a position to be the camp nurse at a gymnastics camp for Kaiya the last week in July. We will head to Lake Owen, WI where Kaiya will get intensive gymnastics training and lots of fun on the side and I will get to run in circles being the camp nurse. It was quite the application process (they even called my references!), so we are happy to be going. Kaiya's $1,200 tuition is waived and they pay my expenses, so it's a great deal! We're both excited.

--Kinley is gearing up for her big dance recital at the beginning of June and then she's looking forward to trying some different things this summer. Can't believe the kid only have 3 1/2 weeks left of school! We are all ready for a break from all the homework, lunch packing, getting up early, etc!

--Cooper was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society last week. He has worked his butt off for his good grades (despite the fact that it gets him made fun of by some of his athlete buddies) and we're proud of him for sticking to it. He also got selected to be on the yearbook staff and to be a WEB leader again, so he will be helping to be in charge of first day activities for the incoming 6th graders. So proud of this kid! He has taken some serious heat from his buddies about being a "goody" because he cares about his grades and likes being involved in the school, but he's finally getting better about letting their comments go and recognizing that it's OK to be good in school!

A perfect getaway

2011-04-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

Spring baseball and gymnastics season is upon us, so I took the opportunity last weekend to go visit my best friend, Lori, in SLC. It was my birthday gift and I couldn't have asked for a better one! We both have our big 40th coming up next year, so we're saving up for a big trip somewhere (NYC, Cancun . . who knows!). We both have super busy kids and this was our only weekend to squeeze it in, so we settled on a quick weekend in Park City. Well . . . Mother Nature had other plans and Utah ended up in the midst of a massive spring storm. We almost had to cancel, but decided to just stay in Salt Lake instead and it turned out perfect.

I got in on Friday night and we got dinner in a great downtown spot and then went back to our hotel and crashed. Saturday, we woke up to more snow, but decided to be adventurous and go for a long run in the snow. Using my trusty iPhone, we found a trail in South Jordan that goes along the Jordan River. It was amazing!! So amazing that we returned and did it again the next morning. We can solve a lot of the world's problems on a good, long run. :)

On Saturday, we slept in, went shopping, found another great spot to eat, and stayed up til 2 a.m. talking. Life just doesn't get any better than that! We have been through so much together--college, the births of all of our kids, job changes, life changes, the aging process, vacations, and everything else in between. We talk several times a week, even when life is too busy to even have time. She is a central part of my life and I wouldn't be who I am without her! She gave me a little plaque that sits in my room that says, "A best friend is someone who can sing the song in your heart even when you've forgotten the words." I think that about says it all. :)

Paved running trail along the river!

The only picture we thought to get all weekend. Oops!

Spring Break 2011

2011-04-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

This year marked the 30th year that I have been going to Scottsdale for spring break (missed a couple in college and right after having Kinley, but that's it). I never get tired of it and I look forward to it every year. It is truly like a 2nd home for us. I am so grateful to my dad for hanging onto it and for vacating the place for a week so we can use it. I have so many of my own childhood memories there and it is still so odd to be the parent bringing my own kids there.

This year, we had the added highlight of being 4.4 miles from the Rockies Spring Training facilities at Talking Stick (which are just amazing!). I jogged to it one day--how nice is that? Cooper was in heaven and even though we got there at the tail end of spring training, we still got to see 2 games and to see the players working out. Our weather all week was absolutely perfect, too--mid to high 80's (although it hit 96 on our last day there).

We drove again this year since airfare was so expensive and although it's a long drive, the kids did awesome. We left super early both times (5 am) and got in at a decent hour. The drive is very scenic and with a few naps squeezed in, it's just not that bad at all.

I will keep the details brief, but here is a day-by-day recap of our trip:

Fri - Left at 5 a.m. and drove straight through. We only stopped twice and got in to Scottsdale at 6 pm. We ordered pizza from our favorite local spot, went to the grocery store and then hit the pool and hot tub.

On the road!

Sat - We went to check out the Rockies new facilities and to see if we could get tickets. The place is unreal! There is an entire field just dedicated to bunting! We struck out (no pun intended) at the ticket window, but only because no one was there. We watched a little of the minor league games and just walked around the whole place. The afternoon was spent at the pool and then we grilled some steaks for dinner. I found out that one of my college teammates was in Phoenix as well, so we met them for ice cream at the famous Sugar Bowl that night. So fun!

Cool story behind the cooperative between the Indians and the spring training facility

LOVE the view of Camelback in the background--we climbed the smaller peak on the left!

By the minor league fields

More fields!!

Sun - We headed back to 'The Stick' again to see if we could get tickets. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a very easy run--only 4.4 miles door to door! We were able to get tickets and went to the game. We got there early enough to see them warm up and take batting practice. So fun to be that close to the action and the players. We had to cool off in the pool afterward, of course, and then we stayed in for dinner.

In front of th Rockies' entrance at Talking Stick

Love my Tulo fans

Watching batting practice

Ianetta and Street

Just a gorgeous stadium

Sugar Bowl!!

Mon - The big Camelback Mountain hike. In years past, we had to do this in shifts. Kaiya and I would go and then Cooper and Doug because Kinley was too little. Well, this year she decided she could do it (I had my doubts--she hates walking long distances) and she was right! She never complained once about being tired and did the whole 3 hr hike like a champ! It's over 3 miles round trip and the last part is a straight free climb. It has quickly become a family tradition and it's so fun to be able to go as a family. After we cooled off at the pool again, we got cleaned up and went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and then to our new favorite spot--Yogurtland (home of the best frozen yogurt anywhere!)

On the way up

At the top looking over the valley

We made it!

Proud sis

Tues - We split up a bit this day and the boys went to a second Rockies game (killed me to not go, but had to take one for the team) while the girls went shopping! The girls had saved some of their gift cards from birthdays/holidays and used them there. We really had fun and they got some cute things. That night, we ordered in food and watched a movie.

Wed - This was our annual duck park day. The girls played on the playgroud, the boys played catch, I got to go for a long run, and everyone was happy. They love feeding the huge geese and ducks that come and eat out of your hand. We spent the afternoon at the pool again (can you imagine how green the girls' hair was by this point?) and then went out to dinner.

Thurs - I enjoyed the most relaxing birthday ever! Other than going for a run, I was a total bum. Sat by the pool, read my book and just enjoyed the sunshine. The kids can literally play in the pool all day, so I can't complain! We went to a local Mexican food place that night that was fantastic and then to the yogurt place again.

Fro-yo-aholics

Fri - Our last day there was 97 degrees and Opening Day for the Rockies. So, our day was spent between cooling off in the pool and watching the game as well as doing laundry and cleaning up the place for departure. We took the kids to Benihana for dinner and then left at 5 am on Saturday to head home.

Many hours logged here

What an amazing week!! No driving all over for kids' activities, no work, no stress, no homework. No wonder the kids almost cried when it was time to come home!! Glad we get to go back in a year.

Play ball!

2011-03-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes has to do with baseball (shocking, I know). It says, "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

After months of waiting, baseball season is finally upon us. I love sitting in the bleachers watching games--Cooper's, Bennett's, the Rockies, random games on TV. Bring it on!

Cooper had his first tournament last weekend and they got their rear ends handed to them in all three games. I hate seeing them lose big, but the scores were not indicative of the kind of team they will be. They had one or two bad innings and the other teams capitalized. All of the teams we played were 8th grade teams and we really hung in there. Coop was exhausted after catching three games, but he did great. He was a bit rusty in game one, but pulled it together after that. In game 3, he had two collisions at the plate tagging runners out. So fun! He has been putting in extra time working on blocking and something has finally clicked with his hitting. He went 3-5 over the weekend with one walk. The video is of his 2 RBI double. He was pretty pumped!

Digging a pitch out of the dirt.

Had to also throw in this photo of Kaiya. We now have two kids in braces. As if these kids don't already cost enough! She is pretty sore at the moment, but is hoping it resolves before we head out for sunny Scottsdale on Friday! She got to watch a movie while they were putting on her braces, so it wasn't all bad. I think she looks so old with them on!

Not too thrilled

Finally talked a smile out of her

2 RBI double taken with crappy cell phone video

Tulsa Time, Take Two

2011-03-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

When my little brother headed off to college, I promised him I would make it out at least once a year to see him play. I wish I could go all the time, but I have to settle for once a year.

This time, I took my girls and make a girls' weekend out of it with my mom. We had to be super creative to make this trip work because the flights were all oversold. Add to that the time changes and Daylight Savings, and it was a whirlwind of a weekend! So, this is how it went . . .

1) Fly standby on Friday to Oklahoma City since Frontier no longer flies direct to Tulsa (drat!)

2) Rent a car in OKC and drive to Tulsa airport (plus a scenic drive around Tulsa getting lost thanks go errant Google maps airport address), dropping of rental car #1.

3) Take a shuttle from the Tulsa airport to our hotel

4) Pick up a rental car #2 to drive one-way home on Sunday since all flights were oversold.

That took some careful planning!! The only thing we failed to plan for was bad weather. Just before Salina, KS, we hit a massive spring storm. My mom and I are both bad weather driving wimps, but we survived. It added over 2 hours to our drive time and there were times we couldn't even see the pavement or the lines on the highway, but somehow we made it, arriving home at 5 a.m. on Monday. Whew! The memories were totally worth it and we got some great quality time with Bennett and his girlfriend, Casady, and her family who also came to cheer on Bennett.

My girls did great with all the travel and loved the whole weekend. Neither one wanted to come home!

Getting our rice burner car--good thing this wasn't rental car #2 through the snow!

Finally got to see B after the game Friday night.

The batter is supposed to be a first round draft pick in June and Bennett outplayed him!

After game activites--Casady's younger sister is a cheerleader and Kinley was in heaven!

Walking around ORU campus

Inside the student center--everything has a biblical reference, like these mirrors.

What a good lookin' couple!

The Bennett Pickar fan club

Some snuggle time in our hotel

Perspective

2011-03-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

It's funny how life teaches you little lessons when you least expect it. I have had a rough couple weeks and have been trying so hard to snap out of my funk. All it takes is one life-altering moment to put everything in perspective.

Last weekend, we were at Kaiya's gymnastics banquet enjoying a really nice night when my phone starting ringing off the hook. I kept ignoring the calls, but after about the 10th call from my co-workers, I stepped out and took one of the calls. It was then that I learned that one of my favorite co-workers from the cardiac floor had just tragically lost her husband in a freak accident just days before they were going to head to New Zealand. They had only been married for 18 months and now he's gone at age 27. She and I started at the same time and became buddies very quickly. When you spend 12 hr shifts with people, they become your work family and I just loved this girl! My heart is broken in two for her.

As I've processed the enormity of the event and then attended the memorial service with all of my work family yesterday, it caused me to do some serious reflecting on what is really important in life. Ironically, I had already had plans with some of my old high school friends to get together and we continued on with those plans. We had 12 guests for dinner tonight and had an amazing time--the kids all played and had a ball and it was great to reconnect--I just love every one of these girls and their spouses/significant others. They are just warm, good people in every way. It's the 2nd time we've gotten together since our big 20 year reunion and it's so fun to renew old friendships. I've done the same thing with my gymnastics friends about once a quarter as well and it's just really special to create new memories with people that I have known most of my life.

In honor of Kate, I am going to try really hard to keep this perspective to focus on what's important and let the rest go!

Kaiya's gym family at her banquet--what a neat group of girls!!

Jodi and her super cute girls

Those eyes!

We will not admit our age!!

Shonda and Max

Lupe and Robyn & Jenna

Such a fun night

Excitement and lack thereof

2011-02-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

I was just looking back at my blog posts and realized that I didn't have a single word or photo about Cooper's basketball season. Well, there's a reason! It has been forgettable, to say the least. He has played well and it's been a great way to get him in shape for baseball, but that's about it. It has been a pretty miserable season for lots of reasons, but also a good life lesson that sometimes things aren't fair and even though you feel like quitting, you become a better person by sticking it out. I'm really proud that he has been able to laugh about it. They won ONE game the entire season. Ugh! He did fine--a few buckets here and there and he gives it his all every game.

Baseball season has begun and perhaps that's why his mood has improved. He will be playing in 6 tourneys this spring and then will play Legion ball in the summer. Let the bleacher butt begin!! Bennett's season started this weekend, so we're ready to cheer him on now, too!!

My excitement came on Thursday night at work. A little before 1:00 a.m., a van pulled into our front parking lot and a guy came running in saying that his wife was giving birth and they couldn't make it to the hospital in which she was supposed to deliver! What the??? We all went running out and sure enough, there was his wife with her feet up on the dashboard and the baby's head and shoulders were already out! We grabbed blankets and our one and only OB kit and called 911 (we don't take care of anyone over the age of 22!). We got the baby's feet out, got him suctioned, and clamped/cut the cord. About this time, the baby's father puked in the parking lot from nerves! We ran the baby inside and other than the fact that he was a little early (35.5 weeks) and a little cold, he was healthy and crying and 6 lbs 5oz! Once the baby was stabilized and thoroughly checked over, we sent both the mom and baby to another hospital with the paramedics. Wow!! What a night. It was a first for Children's North Campus--never had a birth before, let alone in the parking lot. Always fun to be a witness to the miracle of life. :)

Finally, I had to throw in these awesome photos that my dad just sent me from Scottsdale. He has been making a daily trip to the Rockies' new spring training site, which is all of 4.8 miles from our condo. Talk about getting up close and personal. He said when he watches practice, he can even hear the players' conversations. Can't wait to get down there next month!!!! What an amazing facility.

Love that you can see Camelback Mountain in the background!

So close to the players as they walk by!

Gorgeous!

Hi, Spilly!

Birthday marathon

2011-02-15T11:50:00.001-08:00

I am always trying to come up with ways to sneak in more one-on-one time with each of my kids, but it's not easy! However, I think I've filled Kinley's bucket for a while after the last several days.

This was her "off" year for a birthday party, so she got to choose what activity to do as a family. It turned out that she was invited to go to a dance convention in Denver over her birthday weekend and the offer was that it would be just the two of us. The decision was made!

New dance shoes called "foot undies" for the big day

After a nice round of influenza made it through our house, I was worried Kinley wasn't going to make it, but Tamiflu saved the day! We had to be at the hotel in Denver at 7:30 a.m., so it was a very early Saturday for us. At 8:00, her first class started and she had 3 hrs of class, lunch, and then 3 more hours of class just on Saturday alone--jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, musical theater, and tap! The convention was put on by Hollywood Connection and they are a group of dancers, actors and actresses, most of whom have ties to the music/dance industry. They tour around the country and host these conventions and competitions. One of her favorite instructors named Brooke works on the set of Glee, has worked with Katy Perry, and was in the Hannah Montana movie and Vanilla Sky! So cool!

The hotel convention room we called home for 2 days

Let the classes begin!

With her fav instructor, Brooke

Barely out of the parking lot to head home

Her dance studio had many older kids competing in the evening, so we also got to watch that. It was very LONG, but so fun to watch all the talent that was there. Dancers from her studio did amazingly well!

When it was all over at 9:30 pm, they had a short pizza party for all the kids and then we crashed! I think Kinley was asleep 10 seconds after her head hit the pillow. She then had class again the next day from 8 am - 2pm and by the time the last class rolled around, she was beat! We got in the car to head home and she fell asleep before we hit the freeway!

Kinley was the very youngest one at the convention (you were supposed to be 7 to go, but she was close enough) and she did so good. I have no idea how she memorizes so many choreographed numbers at such a young age. They tried to teach the moms one of the dances and it was all I could do to keep up. She worked really hard and really held her own in a room of some very serious, competitive kids. I'm really not sure she will be in this for the long haul (I still have issues with all the make-up, some of the costumes, and the time/money commitment), but for now, she is enjoying it.

As soon as we got home, we had family over to celebrate her birthday and fortunately, she got a second wind. We had a very nice night.

Nice swimsuit, dad

Ready for spring training next month!

Her beloved iPod

The requested giant, heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie

The next day was a fun day at her school. I helped in her classroom all day, including both of my girls' Valentine's Day parties. I'm still recovering, but it was such a great day. The neatest part of the day is the way Kinley's teacher recognizes birthdays in her classroom. She has the birthday kid sit on a chair that is on top of a desk and has each student say something they like about him/her (we need to do this for each other as adults, by the way). I had tears in my eyes as I listened to what the kids said and then especially her teacher and her teacher's aide. Most all talked about how she is a friend to everyone, is always positive and funny. Sure love this girl!!

Getting sung to in the cafeteria

Listening to kind words from her classmates

Some of her best buds in 1st grade

Her Valentine's box

Love, love her teacher!!

Hard to see, but you can hear how intense this dance instructor was!

Yet another dance

Moments of fame

2011-01-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

Both Cooper and Kaiya have had a little time in the spotlight in the last couple weeks. Kaiya had a piano recital in Boulder and Cooper got to spend a little quality time at Coors field, rubbing elbows with players, coaches and the media.

Last Saturday, Cooper got the chance to go to Coors Field for Fan Fest. It's an event for season ticket holders in which fans have the opportunity to meet players and coaches and tour the entire facility, including things like the locker room. I had worked the night before, so I had to sleep and Doug was working. So, we gave the tickets to a good friend and he took his two sons and Cooper to the event.

Cooper's moment of fame came when he landed an on camera interview with Alana Rizzo and Marc Stout from FSN. Those names don't mean much to many of you, but they are household names around here. They are two of the primary announcers for FSN, who broadcasts all of the Rockies games on TV. I've always said I wanted Alana's job, but I might have to let Coop have the job instead. It's small and kind of hard to see, but check this out!

Here is Kaiya's piano recital video. It was an after Christmas theme and she worked pretty hard on it, which isn't easy in light of her gym schedule. I'm also posting this link to show her latest feat in the gym--can now do a round off, back handspring, back tuck. She is pretty pumped to be learning all this new stuff! Check this out: http://qik.ly/FgjIZyrfxx3Cv6s54HSEaY

A teenager in the house!

2011-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

More than any other of my kids' birthdays, I struggled with this one! I am not ready to have a teenager and I'm still catching myself doing a reality check. Cooper seemed to take it all in stride, but there is something very different about telling someone I have a 12-year-old vs a 13-year-old. It just sounds different and OLD. I always get very emotional around the time of his birthday thinking back to how scary his beginning was and this year was no different. I was actually at work and looked at the clock at 2:50 a.m., which is when he was born and had to pull myself together. Here I was, working as a nurse, thinking about all the great nurses who helped me after he was born. I would have never pursued a nursing career if not for Coop. It feels so good to be giving back and to be a small glimmer of hope in the lives of other families with sick kids. Whether your kid has croup or a major heart defect, when it's your kid, it's awful.

Cooper has taught me that I am stronger than I thought; that success is sometimes measured in just getting through the day; that being a parent is the hardest, yet most rewarding job I'll ever have; that pride is something you never really understood until you are a parent; that cursive is a waste of time; and that our trials make us stronger.

He is by no means a perfect kid (we do our share of battles), but he is a good person to his very core. He has a conscious stronger than most adults I know, admits his mistakes, can talk to any adult about any subject, and just has a huge heart.

I only let my kids have a big birthday party every other year and Coop was long overdue for one. He actually skipped a formal party for the last several years (his choice), so when he decided he wanted to have one for his 13th, I couldn't argue. We had very little time to plan after getting back from vacation, but it all worked out great.

We let him open gifts from us on his real birthday, but that was about the extent of the excitement that day since he had school and basketball practice. Saturday night was his friend party and I am still amazed how good it turned out. I was a bit paranoid about that many 12 and 13-year-olds in my house, but they all behaved and had a good time. Doug took them all to get wings at Buffalo Wild Wings while I took the girls to a DU gymnastics meet. Then, we all met back at our house for video games, cake, presents and a serious game of tag. I figured they would all be glued to the video games, but they acted more like little kids playing tag around our house. I had several kids come say 'thank you' on their own and most were very well behaved (including one that was not so nice earlier in the year). I was honestly impressed. Cooper had a blast and seeing him interact with his buddies was fun.

Sunday night was our family gathering and he enjoyed a third day in a row of gifts! He had a basketball game over the weekend as well and although it appears his team won't be setting any records for wins or high scoring, he played well. It took him until the very end of the season last year to score, but had a bucket in his first game. Not too shabby!

This group chowed down over 100 wings!

The whole gang!

He's hoping the bat swing trainer also comes with lessons from Brandon!

The kid loves his hats!

Time to go shopping!

Bat bag from Papa

Ready for baseball season already!

Cruisin' the Caribbean!

2011-01-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

I just uploaded 171 pictures from my camera from our trip! It is so fun looking at them, reliving each and every day. It truly was an amazing trip and I know we made memories that will stick with all of us. It's funny because I was worried that my kids would be disappointed on Christmas Day that there weren't a lot of gifts this year, but I have decided that family vacations and the memories that are created are far more exciting than anything that can be wrapped in a box. As I look at how fast my kids are growing and feel like there are only so many years left, I look forward to as many more vacations as we can squeeze in!

I decided to do a day-by-day recap so we can remember what we did each day. Trying to choose pictures to post is hard, so this will be a very long and picture heavy post!

Day 1 - Sun., Dec. 26th - Travel day to New Orleans. Brandon and Erika flew in before us and we caught up to them in the afternoon. Doug and I got a private tour of the plane and cockpit before we took off from Jay, which was a real treat! Our hotel sat just a block from Bourbon Street and it was quite a sight to see. I can only imagine what that place must look like during Mardi Gras. We grabbed dinner at a local joint and Doug and Coop even tried oysters on the half shell (gross!). None of the kids slept well at all that night--too excited to board the ship the next day!

Ready to go!

Our own plane tour!

New Orleans

Some snuggle time at our New Orleans hotel

Bennett's dream club (kidding!)

Day 2 - Mon. Dec. 27th - We slept in a bit, got up and then found a taxi to the port. We checked in at noon and by a little after 1:00, we were through security and all the paperwork and walking on the ship. Just as we were boarding the ship, Kinley said, "This is the best day of my life!!" I don't think they had any real clue of the size of the ship. It was bigger than I remembered, too. We found our cabins and then had lunch. They wasted no time in putting out fancy food! So impressive. After that, we all just walked all over the ship and checked out everything from the kid's club to the workout facilities. Around 4:00, the ship set sail and the kids got a kick out of watching it pull away and start moving. Our assigned dinnertime was 6:00 and we quickly fell in love with our waiter. His name was Anang and he is from Indonesia. He learned our names and just made each night so special. He got a workout, too, keeping up with Bennett's appetite. :) That night, we went to a show in the big theater and the kids went to a 'get to know you' party in the disco lounge. It was unreal how many activities they had for kids all day long!

Almost to the ship!

Finally climbing aboard!

The slide on our ship--The Carnival Triumph

Our teeny cabin

Wearing her warm chocolate melting cake (Kaiya and Erika's fav!)

Trying their luck in the casino

Opening night games in the kids club

Day 3 - Tues. Dec. 28th - Our first full day at sea. It was still cool outside, but by the afternoon, it was warming up as we got further into the Carribean. The kids went to the kid's club for a while after breakfast and started making friends. All 3 kids were in different age groups for activities, but some of them were together. We let them choose when to go (we got a daily schedule) and Kaiya and Coop could sign themselves in and out as they pleased. They did crafts, games, video games, mini golf and so much more. The grown ups all settled into a routine of meeting for a workout or run in the morning (in fact, we all worked out every day including Coop!) and then having a late breakfast. The gym was way up on the top deck and had super nice cardio machines and weights. The afternoon was spent soaking up some sun, reading our books, catching a nap and going to the Marriage Show. That night was the first sports trivia contest and Brandon smoked his competition and won! He got a nice plastic trophy to take home even. Ha! This was the first of two dressy nights and so we were all decked out for dinner. Dinner was amazing, as usual, (always a 3 course meal) and then we headed to the comedy club after dropping the kids off for their own night of fun at the kid's club. The comedians were hilarious!!

All dressed up for formal night #1

Heading to dinner

The sports trivia winner!

Nice pole . . I mean pose!

Our dinner table every night looked out to the ocean

The pool on the top deck at night

Day 4 - Wed. Dec. 29th - Another day at sea, but by now, the weather was really nice! We went to the pool, rode the big slide that was on the top deck, read books, and started to plan for our day in Belize. The boys always snuck in some time at the Blackjack tables and we tried a few penny slots in the casino. That night was a casual night at dinner and by this time, our head waiter really knew our preferences. He always brought chocolate milk for the kids before we even asked and really took care of us. We later learned that he has two daughters about the same age as ours and he is away from them for six months at a time. We caught two comedy shows again that night.

One of many kid's activities

Cookie decorating time

Snoozin on the top deck

A perfect sunbathing spot

Perhaps my favorite photo of these two goofballs I call brothers

Aw . . how cute!

A magic show right at our dinner table!

One of many towel animals that was waiting for us every night!

Day 5 - Thurs. Dec. 30th - Belize! We were too late in trying to buy a shore excursion from the ship, so we just did our own thing in Belize. You had to be tendered in by boat to get to shore and since we didn't buy an excursion, we didn't get off the ship until about 10:30. In Belize, we did some shopping, had lunch at a fun local restaurant (got some spicy jerk chicken and wings that about caught Bennett's lips on fire!), and the girls got their hair braided in corn rows. Those women are amazing to watch and the girls LOVED getting it done. In fact, the braids are still hanging in there and they will get to wear them to school tomorrow! After yet another amazing dinner, we went to a magic show in the theater, which was amazing. I'm still amazed they get all the sets and special effects loaded onto the ship! The kids loved it. After the show, we let the girls order room service for a bedtime snack before going to bed.

Belize hair braiding

Pretty cute!

They did this all in 15 minutes!

Jerked wings were a bit spicy!

Such a fish!

Livin' the good life

Room service!!

Day 6 - Fri. Dec. 31st - New Year's Eve!! We woke up at 7 a.m. to an announcement from the captain that the winds and high seas were going to prevent us from docking at Mahogany Bay in Honduras. Kind of a bummer, but the weather was so nice and the crew went to work coming up with more fun stuff to do on the ship. So, some went back to bed so we could stay up late for New Year's Eve, got our workouts in, others took an afternoon nap, the girls did some kid's club activities and then we got dressed up for our 2nd formal dinner. The crazy part of the day was when Doug went on top by the pool in the morning only to see 9News streaming on the jumbo screen showing the storm and freezing temperatures at home. So crazy!! After dinner, we went to a great New Year's Show in the theater and then headed up top for the big party. We watched the ball drop in NYC and then stayed up there to ring in the new year. We danced and played up there until just after midnight and then headed to bed to get ready for Cozumel the next morning.

Happy New Year!!

Fell asleep right at our dinner table!

Couldn't get enough 'fro yo'

Right at midnight!!

How darling!

2011 ice sculpture

Day 7 - Jan. 1st - Cozumel!! We got off the ship at 9:00 and headed into town. We found a cab and Jay talked to the locals and found a great snorkeling company. We had our own private boat and headed out to three different spots to snorkel. I was a little worried about the kids, but they did awesome! Kinley figured it all out within minutes and was giddy with all of it! Kaiya got the hang of snorkeling, but quickly got freaked out by how close the fish got to us. We were proud of her for hanging in there, but she was not a fan of the fish almost touching her. I have never snorkeled with so many colorful fish up close. I'm hoping our underwater camera got a few good shots. After our snorkeling trip, we found a great Mexican food place for lunch and did a bunch of shopping. The kids got money from my dad for Christmas and they loved being able to buy their own stuff!!! Before dinner, Brandon won his 2nd trophy at sports trivia (after winning a tie breaker!). After dinner, we went to see two new comedy shows and then crashed.

Cozumel

Ready for our snorkeling adventure

On our private boat

Getting ready to jump in

Goofy boys

Watching the pelicans dive for fish was awesome!

Ready to go back to the ship

Day 8 - Jan. 2nd - We all slept in pretty late, got our workouts in, the kids did some more fun crafts and kid's club activities, started packing, read our books, and just enjoyed the day. It was cooler up on the swim deck, so we did some shopping on the boat, looked at all the pictures that had been taken by the photographers, and then enjoyed our last dinner together. Kinley lost a tooth at dinner (she learned the next morning that the Tooth Fairy brings pesos when you lose one in a foreign country!), and we really took our time at dinner. We had a chance to really get to know our waiter and about his life on board the ship. He was truly amazing--always doing little magic tricks at dinner, and just being so warm and friendly that you felt like he was family. Anang is away from home for six months at a time and talked about missing his two girls. We all got a little emotional as we said goodbye to him. After dinner, Doug decided to play penny slots again (after all, he was up about $27). He snuck the girls in with him and was showing them how dumb gambling is. I then took the girls to a show only to find out that right after we left, Doug decided to play just a few more pennies and hit the jackpot. Turd! He won $240 in one shot and came home up a total of $300!!!

Relaxing on the ship

Their belated Christmas card photo

Lost tooth at sea!!

Saying goodbye to Anang

Our last dinner

The map showing where the cruise went in green

Our favorite towel animal hanging from the ceiling

Until next time . . . .

Day 9 - Jan. 3rd - Departure day. We got up early and got off the ship by 8:00 and took a bus to the airport. We had a few stops en route to Denver and had to say goodbye to Bennett in Dallas. You would think we would be getting better at this, but there were plenty of tears all around. We got home to snow on the ground and cold! Yuk!! The laundry is piled to the ceiling and the kids go back to school tomorrow.

It was truly a trip of a lifetime!! Here are some other things we will never forget . . . .

--"The waiters dancing up by the tables every night

-- Kaiya becoming a master at the self-serve frozen yogurt ("fro yo") machine setting a record of 7 small cones in one day

--Our towel animals being made every night when we got back to our room

--Aunt Erika taking each kid on a 'date' to pick out a souvenir

--Spending so much time together with no phones, computers, TVs or other distractions.

As we got off the boat, I saw a tear in Kaiya's eye and all she said was, "Thanks, Mom!" In fact, each of my kids must have said that ten times on their own. It really was a trip of a lifetime. :)

Twas the week before Christmas

2010-12-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

So, here I am waiting for sneaky children to fall asleep on Christmas Eve and I thought that would be a good time to update the blog before we head off on our cruise!

It has been a crazy, busy week, but a super fun one. I had to squeeze in a few shifts before Christmas and the kids were really good to let me get a nap in here and there.

Here is a recap of our week . . .

--Kinley lost her other front tooth, so she looks super cute. She also graced us with some artwork again . . . if you look closely, it reads, "The yelow spots are pee putls." Apparently, she was trying to figure out how to color the snow and white crayon doesn't show up on white paper, so yellow pee puddles was the next best option.

All she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth (but a gold coin from the Tooth Fairy will suffice)

The lovely artwork

--Spent tons of time with Uncle Bennett. Having him sleepover is the best! He was even a soccer mom for a night so Doug and I could join my dad, Brandon & Erika at the famous Ship Tavern at the Brown Palace in Denver with some relatives.

Can't get enough of him!

--Got a visit from Santa on the firetruck as he rode through our neighborhood. Coop wanted to know why Santa had B.O. Gross!!

B.O. Santa - please leave deodorant out for him this year instead of cookies!

--Hosted our extended family party at our house. We did a charity gift exchange, which was pretty cool. We drew names and then made a donation to a charity on behalf of that person and then explained why we chose that charity. Within our own family, we also did a service exchange. It has been really special putting more meaning in Christmas this year.

Decorating the tree!

--Went to a baby shower for a friend with a bunch of my old gymnastics buddies. There is something so magical about holding a brand new baby. So fun to catch up with old friends. We have been pretty good about getting together once a quarter this last year.

--Got to spend a day with Lori and her girls. My kids always giggle so hard when we see them. We decorated cookies, played some Wii, had lunch and opened gifts. We almost had tears, but since we have a trip planned together this spring, it wasn't too horrible saying goodbye.

Decorating cookies with Jordan and Kylie

Silly girls!!

Sugar!!

A blessed friendship

Teaching Kinley Jacob's ladder

--Caught up on some scrapbooking at a friend's house. What a nice little getaway for an evening with friends!!

--Went to a movie and to my dad's for Christmas Eve dinner. He told a story about having lunch at Wendy's last week that brought it all home. He was eating a late lunch and a very dirty, grungy man sat down near him. He was missing most of his teeth and appeared to be homeless. My dad looked up just as this man glanced toward another couple sitting in the restaurant and mouthed the words, "Thank you" to this couple whom had obviously just bought him lunch. I get choked up just putting the story in writing.

Aunt Erika's yummy cookies!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve PJ's

The good, the bad & the oowie

2010-12-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

Cooper had quite the week . . . .

The good - he got a hand-written thank you note from one of his teachers sent to our home for no other reason than to just say thank you for being a fabulous kid. Made his day and I know it made mine.

The bad - he snooped through my computer and found my online receipts for Christmas presents and effectively ruined the only real gift he is getting. He felt so bad that he didn't sleep at all and came and confessed the next day with tears in his eyes. Grrrrr!!!!

The oowie - he got braces on his upper teeth on Thursday. He did great for the first day, but now the inside of his mouth is pretty torn up. We are hoping it's feeling normal when we leave on our cruise in 2 weeks!!!!

Can't believe this kid is going to be a teenager in a few weeks!!!

Level 5 State Meet 2010

2010-12-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally over! Kaiya had her level 5 state meet this weekend and she went out with a bang! She had one fall on beam (which is where she had to start the meet), but had a banner day after that. She had her best floor routine of the season and her second best bar routine ever. After a few tears on beam, she and her coach sat down and actually buried her beam score at the bottom of her gym bag to symbolize it being over and moving on. I'm so proud of her for doing just that!

She just missed getting on the podium on bars, but the competition was amazing today and I had to remind her that this was the cream of the crop at today's meet. She had her whole cheering section there and even had a friend of mine from work come support her. How cool is that? Her coach also pulled me over at the end of the meet and told me that she was so proud of Kaiya--not just for today, but for really having the perseverance to never give up this season. She definitely had a few lessons on developing mental toughness! Her poor coach had to be there the entire weekend because of the 5 girls that made it to state, at least one girl ended up in all 5 sessions! Sure wish they didn't group them by age--Kaiya was not fond of competing by herself without all her teammates!

She is officially a level 6 and says she can't wait to get into the gym to start working on new stuff--a back flip on floor and off the bars. At least my butt gets a 4 month hiatus from the bleachers! :)

Ready to go before the sun was even up!

The fancy 'do' that she begged for

Just arrived at the gym--still not totally awake!

Getting introduced all by her lonesome

Getting her medal!

Danae is the best coach ever!

With teammate Evelyn as we were leaving and she was beginning

Thanksgiving week wrap-up

2010-12-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I love this video or if it just makes my butt tired thinking about how long I sat there to watch these 3 minutes. A good friend took these videos at Kaiya's last meet and compiled them into one video.

Her big state meet is this weekend. She had a little team party get-together last night and it was so fun to see all the girls gearing up for the weekend. I love her teammates and how close they've become. She is making friends for life and they are all such neat girls with great families!

I can't figure out how to paste the video itself into blogger, but here is the link:

http://www.flipshare.com/ViewReshare.aspx?i=a5e3e2aa-fe8f-499b-981f-12eca568c547&s=33706211&emt=&emt=2e1ec646-2c76-438a-8083-6cd7fb65ee6c

I also had to share a couple of pictures from our last few days in Utah, a couple of which came from the Utah vs. Utah State basketball game we went to with most of Doug's brothers and sisters. That has to be one of the best college atmospheres anywhere and it was so fun to see Utah State beat Utah! I had to come home a day early to work, but Doug and the kids got to stay for Grandma's birthday party and had a blast. We really had an amazing week and the kids all cried as they left. Saying goodbye to their cousins is never easy. :(

Go, Aggies!!

Lots of present helpers!

Luckily, they got to come home and spend time with Uncle Bennett! We spent all day on Saturday with him--bowling, playing some Wii, dinner and lots of time just for hugs. Can't wait to see him again in a week and this time, he's home for a month (minus the one week, of course, that we go on our cruise!!).

Wouldn't let him out of their sight!

What a great week!!

Snowed in!

2010-11-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

Doug, Cooper and Kinley left on Friday right after school and headed for Utah for Thanksgiving and it's a good thing they did! It started snowing on Saturday and really hasn't quit yet. Parts of I-80 across Wyoming have been closed off and on and the biggest storm is on its way tonight!

Kaiya had her last meet before the big state meet on Saturday night and then flew to Utah early Sunday morning. I think we were both wondering, initially, if we should have just skipped the meet and headed to Utah with the rest of the family, but she quickly changed her mind after the very first event of the meet. This girl is like a new kid--no more nerves and just so much confidence! She started on beam and got her first 9.0 ever on that dumb piece of equipment! I've never seen her so happy. The rest of the meet followed suit and she had a season best of an 8.7 on floor, an 8.40 on vault and another 9.0 on bars. Her all-around score was a whopping 35.10--good enough for 7th place overall. So, now not only has she qualified for the state meet, but she has scored high enough to move up to Level 6!

Best meet ever--holding their team trophy!

We got to the airport by 6:30 on Sunday only to find out that our flight was delayed for an hour, so we both caught a quick cat nap on each other. Since being in Utah, it has been nonstop action of cousins, 4 wheeler rides, more cousins, sled rides behind the 4 wheeler and a trip up to Utah State's campus to check things out. I called the head gymnastics coach at Utah State (he was an assistant when I was there) and he was so excited to have us come up and watch practice. Kinley and Kaiya were both wide-eyed as I've ever seen them. The gymnasts were so nice and came up to introduce themselves. So fun! Then, we went down to the brand new athletic facilities and my best bud Lori gave them a full tour since she is the head physical therapist at this facility. Coop and Doug got to see the new football locker rooms and meeting facilities and Hall of Fame.

Checking out the USU gym practice

Because of the nasty weather, I am not going to try to fly home until Thursday (Lori and her family aren't even going to attempt the drive now) and will just work Thanksgiving night. Whew! Until then, we have lots more time to play with cousins and go hang out with Lori and her kids. Wohoo!!

Sled rides behind the 4-wheeler

Smoked 12 turkeys with dad, Grandpa and the uncles!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

A ginormous birthday weekend

2010-11-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

I think Kaiya will remember her 10th birthday if for no other reason, it feels like it just keeps going! The weekend started with her birthday party at our house and ended tonight with getting to request what I made for dinner and getting presents from us.

I only let my kids have an actual birthday party every other year (I know, I'm mean) and this was Kaiya's year. We were going to have her party at Michael's (craft store), but they were busy with holiday crafts until late in the afternoon. So, we just took their list of party craft ideas and found one we wanted and got all the stuff to do at our house. It really turned out great and I was amazed at how into the craft these girls were. It was quite a mix of girls--her two besties from the gym, a handful of school friends and church friends and her buddy from Greeley that she's know since she was a baby. They each painted and decorated a wooden first letter of their name, played Just Dance on the Wii, ate pizza and a cookie pie and just giggled like girls. Kaiya hugged me after they all left and said it was her best birthday ever and almost had tears in her eyes. Made my day! After her friends left, we had a little spa night in which I helped her shave her legs for the first time and did a "green treatment" on her hair to remove the green stripes that continue to plague her blonde locks (from copper in our pipes).

Ready to party

Not a cake fan, so she requested a giant chocolate chip cookie

Hard at work on her craft

The whole gang

Fancy new leo from Sara

Thanks, Josi!

Have known each other since they were 5 months old!

A giant monkey for the Monkey girl

Showing off their finished products

She had a meet on Sunday (which is thankfully her only Sunday meet) and it was down to crunch time with only two meets left to qualify. I had my doubts as soon as we walked into the gym and I saw that the two most evil judges in the state were there. Both of them have been around forever (seriously . . . they both judged in my club and college meets 20 years ago!) and both have a reputation for being nasty. In fact, my college coach Ray once threw his shoe at the judge who was on floor! The other one is referred to as "Picky Vicky". So, I wasn't too optimistic.

The meet started kind of rough--the group before our girls were all tiny little robots and they were getting amazing scores. But, as soon as our group started, it was obvious that they preferred the tiny tikes. Kaiya did a good floor routine, but only got a 7.75. She needed a 33.0 in the all-around to qualify, which is an 8.25 average. Not a good start!

Then, she went to vault and completely screwed up her run into her first vault and barely made it over. Oops!! Luckily, they take the highest of the two vault scores and she nailed the second one for an 8.50--her highest of the year.

Off to bars, which is her best event by far, and she did a great routine and scored an 8.75. It all came down to beam and Picky Vicky. Ugh!!! She has worked so hard on beam during the last month because she has had such a rough time on beam in past meets. I think she probably did a hundred routines in the last two weeks.

My parents were both there and we all looked like we might throw up before her beam routine. I can't believe I'm putting them through this drama twice! I had to actually leave and go stand somewhere else to watch. As as added incentive to stay on the beam, they announced at the beginning that every girl who stuck beam got a cute pink and black bag that said "I stuck beam!"

And that she did--she stuck beam! We had all done the math and knew she needed an 7.95 to qualify. I later found out that Kaiya knew what she needed as well--she had done the math on a little notepad in her bag. Well, she did it! She got an 8.55 and we had some tears all around.

Gymnastics is a stupid, subjective sport sometimes, but she worked so hard toward this goal and it is neat to see her achieve it, especially since she was a Level 4 last year and was able to qualify in her first year as a Level 5.

After the meet, we went to Old Chicago to celebrate her birthday with family and she got spoiled again. What's so funny, though, is despite all these amazing gifts she got, she would tell you her favorite is probably the giant stuffed monkey she got from her gym buddy. Guess she's not totally grown up yet. :)

To round out her big weekend that just keeps going, she had a music concert at school on Monday night and tonight was just us. I took treats to her school class today and she got her presents from us and then we enjoyed a fairly low key night. Sure love this young lady--she is growing up so fast and I'm so proud of who she is becoming. She is going to give me a run for my money in the coming years, but she is a good kid and we love this blondie!!

New luggage from Papa

Guess we will all be listening to her iTunes now

The fan club

So spoiled

Key lime pie--her absolute fav!

iPods rule!

The pressure cooker, state qualifying beam routine!

Cute cat

2010-11-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

Miss Kinley had another dance performance this weekend in Boulder. They did two dances--the Shining Star disco number that I've posted before and their new one from the musical CATS. They did a really good job and the girls loved dressing up as cats with makeup and all.

The stage where they performed was actually inside the Boulder Public Library and it was a great venue. They had dancers from all over the area performing all day.

Kinley is moving to a new dance studio starting today (and this should be the last move!). I have really loved her instructors at Mountain because they are so positive and she really had fun, which is the most important thing to me at this age. She also loved getting to do some gymnastics in her combo class like her big sis. One of the biggest problems was that the classes she should have been taking all started too early for us to get her there in time, which meant either being late or pulling her out of school early. It was nice having her at the same place as Kaiya, but the time frames didn't overlap as much as we had hoped, so it still meant multiple trips to Lafayette and back. That, coupled with the fact that Mountain was still trying to build their dance program made it tough. So, Kinley is moving to a closer studio in Longmont--the same one that she did the workshop a few weeks ago and loved. She is such an easy-going kid that as long as she gets to dance (and be with her buddy, Maddie), she is happy!

Two cute cats!

Here is her CATS performance and a fun one from her workshop a few weeks ago. I was having problems getting them to load--if they don't work now, I give up!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

We had a great night, but I think I'm a little sad that my kids are getting older. Coop didn't even want to dress up (although from the amount of teenagers I saw out there, maybe he's not too old . . sheez!), so he and I stayed home and handed out the loot. After a while, he got jealous of all the goodies and put on something and headed out for one street and then we went to visit friends.

The girls seriously LOVE Halloween and usually start planning their costumes in July. Kinley wanted to be a cowgirl and Kaiya decided on Judy Jetson, which is funny because no one even knows who she is anymore. I thought Kinley was going to bust and I had to restrain her from trick-or-treating at 4:30.

The toothless cowgirl

The other pics are from their parties at school (although my dear husband forgot the camera at the breakfast party in Kinley's class since I had to be at a work meeting that morning), a birthday party for Kinley's best buddy at school, and from our pumpkin carving night at home . We roasted the best pumpkin seeds this year . . brown sugar, cinnamon, coarse salt, and butter. Yum!! And, I'm pretty proud of our Rockies pumpkin. Kaiya did the logo completely by herself and Doug carved it.

So happy to finally ride a horse . . . OK, a pony

Kinley's best buds at school

Pretty proud of our Rockies pumpkin!

Until next year . . . . .

Struttin' their stuff

2010-10-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

Once again, Kaiya and Kinley kept us super busy this weekend. Kaiya had a meet clear down in Castle Rock on Saturday night and Kinley had a 6-hr dance workshop in Longmont. When it was all over, Kaiya told me she wishes she would have just enrolled in the dance workshop instead. Yeah . . . it was that bad.

We were excited about this meet because it was small and looked to be a quick and easy meet. Her coaches picked it for that very reason. It turned out to be a JOKE. The gym backed up to some railroad tracks that had loud trains rolling through in the middle of the meet, there was NO seating for families, it started an hour late, and the judges would have been better suited to judging pies at a county fair. So frustrating! BUT, Miss Kaiya hit 4 for 4 routines and felt so good about her performance that we are going to take it and run! She started on bars and did the same great routine she has done all year and scored a 7.10 (that scored a 9.0 two weeks ago). I thought her coach was going to go postal! After the rotation was over, she walked over to the judge with Kaiya in tow (which is not like her coach at all) and demanded an explanation, showing her the code of points that showed she was wrong. Turns out the judge just finished her training and had all these laminated cheat sheets in front of her and had NO clue what she was doing. I really thought her coach was going to just take our girls and walk out.

I was so proud of Kaiya, though, because she shook it off (realizing there is nothing you can do about a bad judge) and nailed her beam routine. She finally stuck one and she was all grins. This girl has worked so dang hard on that stupid beam and she was so happy. She finished out with great floor routines and good vaults and ended up 5th in the all-around, but just shy of qualifying again. Ugh!! I was so proud of her for keeping her chin up and recognizing that the judges were nuts. Subjective judging in sports is NOT fun sometimes!!

Miss Kinley had the time of her life at her workshop. A professional traveling dance group called Fusion traveled to Longmont and put on a 6 hr workshop. She and her dance buddy did it together today and had a blast. I have never seen a couple of kids learn complicated dances so fast. They had 4 one hour classes and had to learn a new dance in each one. The one posted below is the hip-hop class to "Can't Touch This." So cute! Keep in mind she learned this dance in one hour and then performed it for us at the end of the day.

5th place!

"U Can't Touch This!"

Adolescence

2010-10-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I might need to take up yoga or something to get me through the adolescent years that lie ahead in this household. Having a boy as my oldest was supposed to make this transition easier, but I think that is a myth.

I feel like I don't even remember when Cooper was little and it is all a big blur. He is such a great kid, but he has had to deal with some mild bullying at school and is just dealing with other aspects of growing up. He tried the 'girlfriend' thing for about a week, but when she started texting him all the time, he checked out and dumped her.

Then, on Friday he had his semi-annual pacemaker check-up and Dr. Schaffer decided to have him wear a 24 hr holter monitor to check the function of his SA node and to take a further look at his coronaries. Apparently, at his last check-up, Dr. Schaffer saw something that made him want to investigate further. His pacemaker is working great now after some issues with it over the last year and he was even able to turn down the amount of energy required to make it capture (meaning the battery still has 7 years left!), but Dr. Schaffer gave me the impression that there are just enough small anomalies that he needs to keep a close eye on him over the next few years.

I forget sometimes that the surgery Cooper had was only successfully done for the first time about 15 years before he was born. The coronary arteries that feed the heart itself were among those structures that were in the wrong place and had to be switched using stitches that are thinner than a human hair. It stands to reason that messing with them would cause some trauma and some issues later in life--I've just chosen to not think about it.

Anyway, the holter monitor is a very simple test--you wear a small box that you clip to your pants and you have 5 EKG leads on your chest. It gives excellent data not only about the electrical status of your heart, but can show things like ischemia in certain areas, hypertrophy, etc. I'm amazed what you can see from an EKG. Cooper was not pleased that he had to wear it (major understatement here). I think the culmination of what's been going on at school and then not wanting to feel different was the last straw. How easily I forget that middle school can just be ROUGH!!!

As we were leaving the hospital, we ran into one of Cooper's friends that just spent a month at Children's for necrotizing fascitis and nearly lost his arm. He, too, was there for an appt. God works in mysterious ways sometimes because there we were in the lobby at Children's and Cooper is not happy with his holter and his friend had just been poked and had some painful stitches removed and suddenly they didn't care anymore. They instantly forgot their own problems and we ended up having lunch with them. Of course, I had to get a picture of them without shirts on. :)

So, after a drama-filled week, I then got an e-mail from one of Cooper's teachers telling me he had been selected for a behavior award and his picture would be on the wall for the week (probably means more teasing, but oh well!). Here were her comments, "As teachers, we see many responsible students every day. They come to class prepared to learn. They have pencil and paper ready, and they come to class with a positive attitude and that's infectious. When they are missing something for class, they are the student who finds a solution, not an excuse. Although many of our students are responsible, we chose one student who best exemplified this train. It is with pleasure that the 7th grade team honors Cooper Lindhardt." Made my day and helped me remember that even though parenting can be so hard and such a roller coaster sometimes, it is worth every ounce of effort and the most important job I will ever have!

Photos, dances, meets and a new job! Whew!

2010-10-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on current events, so this is a jumbled post!

We had family photos taken last weekend by my friend, Kris, and I couldn't be happier! I feel kind of responsible for pushing her into doing this as more than just a hobby because we were her first family photo shoot last June. :) We are truly not a photogenic group and struggle with natural smiles, etc., so these are even that much more amazing.

Last weekend before we had a photos taken, Kinley had her first performance with her new dance company. It was so dang cute! It was a disco number that was a full 3 minutes long and she really knew her stuff. They performed on a stage in old town Louisville (which reminds me of a mini Aspen or Vail) while a big farmer's market was going on. So fun! And, the best part was that their costumes were just bright shirts from home and black pants. They looked great! Kris took these awesome photos, too.

Boogie on down!

Here is a link to the video of the performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQUNaGBPD9o

On Thursday, I found out that I got a new job!! It was something I had interviewed for in June and took this long to come to fruition. I will be transferring within Children's Hospital to the North Campus, which is 15 minutes from my house. No more one hour commute and nearly falling asleep at the wheel each morning on my drive home. I have some mixed emotions--I will really miss my cardiac kiddos, but I'm looking forward to learning so much more. The North Campus is an emergency room/urgent care facility as well as a short-stay inpatient unit. It's where I've taken my own kids for staples in Cooper's head, a baseball to the eye and when Kaiya had her asthma attack. So excited!!

Then, rounding out the week was Kaiya's 3rd gym meet of the season. She continues to improve and was one step closer to qualifying for state (missed it by only 0.5). She looked so confident, but still had her troubles on beam. She got her first 9.0 on any event last night (bars) and ended up winning the event plus her team also won and she still placed 5th in the all-around! We got to go out to dinner after the meet with her fans, Brandon and Erika, so that was a real bonus, too. Doug stayed home with the other two kids so that Cooper could be in the homecoming float as a 7th grade representative for his school. He had a blast. It's probably a good thing I wasn't at the homecoming game with them last night because sources tell me Cooper was walking around at the game with his friends, one of whom he claims is his girlfriend. Yikes!!

5th place All-Around!

1st place Level 5 team trophy!

When we are not running around doing activities, I feel like my other part-time job is that of a tutor! Kaiya and Kinley both got selected to be in a gifted and talented program at school, which just means more difficult homework. Between algebra, etc. for Cooper and the girls, I feel like we are stretched so thin, yet I couldn't be more proud of my kids.

2 down, 4 to go

2010-09-18T23:16:00.001-07:00

Kaiya's fall gymnastics season is in full swing, which means my butt hurts. 2 weekends in a row on hard bleachers is not good for the rear end! I feel like I get a good workout, however, when it's Kaiya's turn on each event. My heart races until it almost comes out of my chest. I get so nervous for her--it's so dumb!!

She had a pretty big bummer of a first meet. The judges were being extra hard and she let her nerves get the best of her on beam and fell three times on silly stuff. It was a big jump to go from Level 4 to Level 5 in the gym and suddenly, things are not so easy. After a long, hard cry and my begging her to no avail try something a little less competitive, she came back this weekend and did so well! She improved her all-around score from a 30.1 to a 32.4 and just needs a 33.0 to qualify for the Level 5 state meet.

Things have always come pretty easy for Miss Kaiya--school, sports, etc. She and I have had many heart-to-heart conversations this last week about the value of hard work and the importance of the mental "game" in all she does--not just gymnastics. My kids have always had chores and responsibilities, but sometimes life requires more than just going through the motions. Cooper has a baseball teammate in the hospital who was fighting for his life and limb a week ago after a freak accident and she has heard me talk about how much sheer determination and hard work it's going to take for this young man to regain the use of his arm. Hard work and determination are of paramount importance in this life!!

Kaiya and I got a great book that we've been reading together about mental toughness in sports and it has led to a lot of great "ah ha" moments for her. She worked so hard at practice this week and got to see the results of her labor today.

I guess through all my parenting mistakes, every once in a while you get one right. :) So proud of this young lady!!

Action shot of cartwheel on beam

All smiles after meet #2

One of her best floor routines ever!

What would you do . . .

2010-09-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

. . . . if your child's bill for his/her favorite activity came and it was $705 for one month? Stunned? So were we. Sometimes being a parent means making very unpopular decisions and yet, this one was really a no-brainer.

Miss Kinley was invited to be in a jr. dance company in May and had just been loving it. She had 4 parts in the Nutcracker coming up in December and was living at the dance studio. We knew there would be some extra fees associated with the Nutcracker, but when they threw in a handful of mandatory conventions and competitions and started charging for rehearsal time, it became a joke. They have always charged about double their cost for costume fees, which irritates the crap out of me, but then multiply that by 5 and it started to be comical! So, when that $705 bill was presented, we pulled her out.

She had some pretty big tears at first and still has some sad moments, but has been a real champ about it. It didn't hurt that we told her she could start going to the dance studio at Kaiya's gym, who just recently started their own Performance Company. Just one week into it, she is loving it and she and Kaiya have been so cute together talking about being at the same place for dance and gymnastics. And, it was a huge benefit that one of Kinley's bestest buddies decided to bail and come to Mountain Dance as well. It made the transition so much easier and they already have their first performance in two weeks. Add that to the fact that Kaiya's fall meet season starts this weekend and we are gonna be busy!

Both girls got to be in the Louisville Labor Day Parade on Monday and they had a ball! And, I just found out that they won 1st place in the parade in the kid's division! So, there will be a big trophy waiting at the gym when they get there tonight. Kinley just walked along the parade route and did cartwheels and handed out candy while Kaiya's group did a little gymnastics performance for the judges. They really had a fun day!

Ready for the parade!

Performing in front of the parade judges

Getting a little help from sis after so much walking!

Rounding out the week was a fun day yesterday with Cooper at his 7th grade field trip to the Rockies game. I was a chaperon for a small group of kids and we had to walk all over downtown Denver doing math and geometry problems. The game was fantastic as we watched the Rox come from behind and win 6-5 on a stolen home plate move that you almost never see.

Hanging with Kaden at the game

Back to school

2010-08-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

Now that we have settled into a school schedule, I can finally post some back to school photos and a few other items.

It is hard to believe we have a 7th, 4th and 1st grader. It all just needs to slow down a bit!! So far, I have loved all the kids teachers and they are all enjoying school. Cooper was invited to take Algebra I this year based on his CSAP scores in a pilot program this year (it's the first time his school has done Algebra for 7th graders) and so far, so good. I have had to read his text book along side him so that I can actually help with his homework, but I never minded Algebra. I actually use it all the time at work doing drug calculations, so learning something that has practical use is OK with me. He got to be a part of the 6th grade welcome team as well and loved being part of that. He is playing as much golf as he can and has a couple tournaments this fall, but I selfishly enjoy that he is not in a formal team sport this time of year. His sisters are keeping me plenty busy as it is!

Kaiya's fall meet season is about to gear up, so she has been living in the gym. She has become such good buddies with her gym friends and we've had many of them over to our house now. She seems to juggle her schedule better than I do, so for now it's all good!

Kinley was pretty excited to start 1st grade. She has some of her best buddies in her class, so that was a real bonus. Her dance schedule is nuts right now as she prepares for the Nutcracker in December and we may have to reevaluate it all after that, but she really loves it. If she's not at the dance studio, she's is dancing all over our hardwood floors. This last weekend, she had a performance at a local town festival and did great! I was so proud of her because a toddler from the audience made his way onto the stage and she just ignored him and kept going. Her instructor later pointed out to me that she has watched her go from a dancer to a performer, which is true. The last time she had a performance, she was concentrating so hard that she forgot to smile. This time, she was all smiles! She got to do a ballet number and a group dance.

Just tonight, after receiving a bill from her dance studio that about popped my eyes out of my head, we made the decision to pull her out of that place. It about KILLED me because she was so excited about the Nutcracker, but the fees were beyond reasonable. She is going to try to join the dance company at her sister's gym and see how that goes. As soon as she realized that, she was all smiles and Kaiya has been super supportive and excited to have her sis in the dance studio right next to her gym. :) At least she got to do this super cute dance before we bolted. Check them both out below!

Love this photo . . . blowing me a kiss goodbye

The combined dance companies

Ballet performance

Seven Nations Company Dance

Lindhardt University!

2010-08-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

After 2 years of planning and thinking and organizing and stewing, the bi-annual Lindhardt Family Reunion is in the books! Of course I am biased, but I think it was a huge success and most of the credit goes to Doug. He worked tirelessly on every detail and even had an organized spread sheet for the shopping trip.

Doug's immediate family (parents, siblings and their children) has a reunion every 2 years and it was our turn to host (and it won't be our turn again for 14 more years since there are 7 kids in his family!). Reunions up to this point have been at Doug's parents' house and his brother's house. Seeing that we don't have the room to host 42 people, we made the decision 18 months ago to seek out an alternative location here in Colorado. We did some research and found out that the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park has huge cabins designed specifically for family reunions. One trip up there and we were sold!

The reunion officially started on Saturday afternoon at the cabin, but we had two of Doug's siblings and their families join us for a Rockies game on Friday night. They all stayed here that night and then we caravaned up to Estes Park. It was a great Rockies game and my kids about came unglued with anticipation of the cousins' arrival. They had a big sleepover in our basement that night. The next morning, we took our time getting up and getting breakfast and then packing the car became the big challenge of the day. I have never seen such efficient use of space in my life! All the food was packed and we headed up to Estes about 2 p.m.

The following is a brief day-by-day recap of our adventures . . . . enjoy!!

Day 1 - Saturday, Aug. 14th

Arrival day, unpack, room assignments, and dinner. We ordered 8 large pizzas for the group from Bob & Tony's (our fav spot in Estes) and it was all completely devoured!

Day 2 - Sunday, Aug. 15th

Church day! We had enough people that we decided not to crash our own church so we had our own Sacrament Meeting right in the commons area of the cabin after breakfast. The vaulted ceilings with full windows provided a breathtaking backdrop for the services. Gorgeous! We had talks given by some of the grandkids as well as the siblings and Grandma. We even had a special musical number by the grandkids. It was all so well organized and such a special time!!

We took family pictures after church, had lunch and then headed to the field for a family game of kickball. Good times!! My family joined us for dinner that night and we really just enjoyed the evening catching up with everyone and seeing the Manti Lindhardt's talent skit since Miki had to leave early to go home and be a volleyball star.

Our own Sacrament Meeting

Miki and Baby Kara

Coop and Jacob

Jess and Claire

The Manti Lindhardt Pirate Show

Answering questions during the family quiz

Makenzy, Paul and Emmett

Kaiya and Kara . . . she loved the babies!

Day 3 - Monday, Aug. 16th

Day 3 was spent in Rocky Mountain National Park. We headed up and stopped at Bear Lake for an hour or so and then had a picnic lunch at Sprague Lake. Monday night was Family Home Evening capped off with a talent show of epic proportions. The girls put on a fashion show that they had worked on for about a month and there were skits, singing numbers, and the highlight might have been when Abbie had Uncle Paul pull out her loose tooth in front of the audience.

Coop and Claire waiting for our shuttle at RMNP

At Bear Lake

Grandma & Grandpa taking it all in

Our picnic chiefs

FHE lesson by Grandpa

Talent show, round 2

Getting a little messy!

The much anticipated fashion show

Day 4 - Tuesday, Aug. 17th

This was our free day. Some ventured back into RMNP and went to the top of Trail Ridge Road and saw some elk and other animals while others went into the town of Estes for shopping. The afternoon was spent doing all of the activities at the YMCA--the craft cabin, swimming, mini golf, tennis, etc. We had a very small world happening while playing mini-golf. The family that we got to know in April during Spring Break in Arizona was playing mini golf behind us! Cooper recognized them and the whole thing still blows my mind. Kinley and their daughter, Julia, became good buddies at the pool in Arizona and here they were. It was crazy!! They are from Minnesota and were in Estes for a wedding. I still catch myself thinking about how wild that was to run into the same family twice.

Estes Park slides

In downtown Estes

Loving the craft cabin!

Our major deja vu experience . . . Julia from Minnestoa!!

Day 5 - Wednesday, Aug. 18th

The kids and I had to leave Tuesday night (all 3 of my kids were bawling as we pulled out simply because they didn't want the reunion to be over) since they started school on Wednesday, but the reunion officially ended at about 10 a.m. as everyone packed up and headed out. The torch was passed on to Doug's sister, Nancy, who is in charge of hosting the next reunion in 2012. We are done for 14 years! Wohoo!! :)

Great memories!!!

The talent show act that stole the show!

End of summer, part 1

2010-08-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Our summer ended with a bang . . . . twice!

We were first treated to a visit home from Uncle Bennett! He got to come home for 3 days before heading back to college. It was awesome! We got to go to the lake with him and then he spent the night Sunday night (Aug. 8th) with us. We got up Monday morning and headed to Jump Street. I have never seen so many sweaty people in my life. We had a blast jumping on all the trampolines and playing dodge ball. We went out to lunch and then had to say goodbye . . . . again. :( I hate seeing my kids cry!!! Of course, Uncle B was a puddle of tears, too. We will see him again at Thanksgiving, but the goodbyes always suck! But, we are planning a Caribbean cruise over Christmas with Bennett and the whole family. Can't wait!!

Loved this pic--Kinley's arms are getting buff like her sister's!

Relaxing in the hammock

Jump Street with Uncle B

Sweaty fun!

The rest of the week was filled with full-blown preparations for the big Lindhardt Family Reunion. We made multiple trips to Costco and other stores getting ready (spent $1400 to feed 42 people for 4 days . . . yikes!). We had lists about our lists and every day was filled with getting things ready. We got new furniture and a new kitchen island countertop installed and spent plenty of time getting the house and yard ready. It was a ton of work, but fun to plan and see it all come together.

Of course, we made it to the pool a few times before the week was over. Kaiya got quite good at putting on a show off the diving board and I am now an expert on removing green color from blonde hair.

Look closely--Kaiya is upside down!

We also attended Cooper's year end baseball party. His coach's comments almost brought me to tears talking about how hard he works and how other teams and even the umpires always made comments about his work ethic and sportsmanship.

Super cute cake by one the team moms

All of the third year players (minus Kaden, who was on vacay)

Neat speech--made his mom cry

Kicking back

Kinley also had her year end Daisy celebration. She absolutely loved Daisies this year and they did so many neat crafts and service projects. It was fun to see all the girls together.

Daisy end of summer party

Not ready for summer to be over!!!! :(

A little of this & a little of that

2010-08-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

As the summer is winding down, so is my body. We have packed so much into this summer, but it has been great. I absolutely love summer and I'm not really ready for the routine of school to kick in.

In the last couple weeks, we have . . .

1. Finished Cooper's summer baseball season. They won the first game and then lost the next two, but had an awesome season. Cooper caught 16 straight innings in the tournament in the heat and did great. There were a few tears after the last loss--he HATES losing. So proud of that kid!

Great shots taken by my amazing photographer friend (thanks, Kris!!!)

2. Attended a fun outdoor concert with my dad.

Waiting for the music to start!

3. Sent Cooper on his first week-long scout camp . . . with no dad! He did so great and we could not be more pleased with the report we got from his leaders about how he did. Oh, and did I mention that his camp was visited on numerous occasion by BEARS! I still can't really think about it.

4. Had one car break down and got the other one into a parking lot accident that is still not resolved. Grrr!! After working for the at-fault driver's insurance company for 10 years and knowing the system, I am not happy!

5. Attended my 20-year high school reunion. So fun!!! Saw everyone I wanted to and some I didn't. Ha!

My bestest high school buddies

6. Attended Kaiya's first USAG Level 5 meet. She just missed qualifying for the state meet on her first try. Six more meets to go between now and November.

A fun goodie bag after the meet

Kaiya and her best gym buddy, Sara

7. Shuttled Kinley to and from dance all week (thank goodness for a wonderful carpool buddy!) and gearing up for her winter Nutcracker performance for which she auditioned and got 4 parts.

8. Got 24 hours with my best friend, Lori, in town. We stayed up chatting til 3:30 a.m. and then went for a run the next morning before I had to ship her off to her own 20 yr. high school reunion in Denver.

9. Started the final preparations for the big Lindhardt Family Reunion, which we are hosting in Estes Park in two weeks. Many hours spent creating a theme, planning activities, etc.! This is our logo--Doug's parents were married in 1962 and there will be 42 people at the reunion representing just his immediate family and their spouses and children. Whew!!

10. Served as Cooper's caddy in a golf tournament (he still has two days to go in the tournament, but so far, so good!!).

Whew!!!!

Logger Mania!

2010-07-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin to see my little brother, who is spending his summer there playing baseball. He left right after school got out and will go straight from La Crosse back to college in Tulsa. It's nothing but baseball, but he is loving it.

We started our trip super early on Saturday morning. Our flight left at 6:40 a.m. , but the kids shot out of bed at 3:30 when we woke them to go to the airport. My mom and stepdad also went on the trip and we met them at the airport. Lucky for the kids, Papa Jay was able to give them a full tour of the airplane before we left since we were flying on Frontier for whom he is a pilot! They got to go stand and look at the engine and then tour the cockpit. Have to say even I was jealous!'

Personal jet tour!

We flew into Milwaukee, which was a full 3 hour drive from La Crosse, but it was such a pretty drive. That part of the country is so green and all the farms with red barns along the way were amazing. We got checked into our hotel, went for a quick dip in the pool and then headed for the ballfield. One of my best buddies from nursing school is now a Ph.D student in Minnesota and she was able to make the drive and join us. It was so good to see her!

My good buddy, Karen

The town of La Crosse is not big, but they sure love their Loggers! As soon as we got to the field (which sits right by the Mississippi River), we found Bennett who was busy signing autographs for tons of kids. So fun! The kids were so happy to see him.

Hi, Uncle B!

Signing autographs

The whole atmosphere of the game was great--funny games between innings like musical chairs and the toilet seat toss (redneck country?). There were over 3,000 fans there each night and they are die hard! The first night was almost rained out and yet not many people left. We sat through a two hour rain delay and watched a heck of a thunder storm. Bennett only played a couple innings because they were bringing in a new guy to rotate in due to an injury to another catcher.

Before the game

Massive thunder storm!

We spent Sunday just walking around La Crosse and met Bennett for lunch before his game. The town borders right on the Mississippi River, so we walked along the river. The game Sunday night was a great game--Loggers won in extra innings! After the game, the kids got to play with Bennett on the field for over an hour. That might have been their favorite part!

Cheese heads!

Right on the Mississippi

Playing catch on the field after the game

We got to meet the family that is hosting Bennett and their daughter, Rayna, and my girls became instant buddies. They played and entertained each other all weekend at the field. Bennett and one of his roommates are living in the basement of their host family for the summer and they are so good to him and obviously huge Logger fans.

Rayna's new buddies

Doug and Cooper headed back home on Monday morning because Cooper had a baseball game of his own and Doug had some things to do to get ready for his big family reunion. Poor Cooper was so conflicted--he really wanted to stay and go to the water park, but didn't want to miss his game.

Monday was a rare day off for Bennett, so we got up and headed to the country's largest water park called Noah's Ark. It made Water World in Denver look puny. We got there a little before 11:00 and didn't leave until 7 p.m. The girls were tall enough to ride all the big rides and we had a blast! The lines weren't bad at all and it gave us time to just visit when we did have to wait. We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Ready for fun!

What a day!

Rode every ride

The girls and I left super early on Tuesday morning (left our hotel at 3:45 a.m.) and because we were flying on buddy passes, we had to get a little creative to get home. The direct flights back to Denver were all full, so we flew to Omaha and then from Omaha back to Denver. We were stuck in Omaha for about 5 hours before a flight became open, but the girls were such troopers. We read books, played games, watched movies and just hung out. Honestly, as much running around as we do, I had no complaints to just spend that time with them.

Hanging out in Omaha

What a memorable long weekend! We affectionately refer to ourselves now as Team Bennett. :)

Fabulous 4th

2010-07-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

I think I've been slow posting pics from the 4th of July weekend because I'm in denial. I always feel like the summer flies by after the 4th and I'm in no way ready for it to be nearly over!

We had a great 4th of July weekend complete with the traditional homemade root beer floats, the parade, a BBQ and fireworks. This was Kinley's big day because she got to be in the parade. Honestly, I think she looked forward to this day as much or more than Christmas. She worked hard learning the dance that they had to do while walking about 1.5 miles along the route. Then, after the parade, they were all treated to a ride in the limo that they danced behind in the parade. She was in heaven. We had my family over for a BBQ and then headed back to the park for Kinley's performance there. There were only 3 kids in her group and they did a good job. She told me ballet in the grass doesn't work too well, though.

We enjoyed some carnival rides and just as we were leaving, it started pouring rain. We didn't even make it to the town's big fireworks display because it never stopped raining. So, we did our own with our neighbors and friends in the driveway. The kids were so happy to just shoot off our own that I don't think they even missed the big show. What a great weekend!!

Getting ready for the parade with buddy, Maddie

Kinley's personal cheering section

Cheering on sis/scouting for candy

Axis of Movement Dance Co.

All smiles!

Their ride after!

The whole crew

Park performance

Concentrating!

Staying dry while the boys shoot off fireworks

Sweet success!

2010-06-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Even though Cooper's baseball team got rocked last night, they have had a great season so far. They have improved a ton since last year and it's fun to see them having so much success. A week ago, they had the most exciting game I've ever seen.

They were down 1-4 at the end of four innings. We came back to tie it up and then the drama really started. The other team had the bases loaded and there were 2 outs in the top of the 8th (we normally only play 6 innings, but it was still tied). Our pitcher threw one in the dirt and it looked certain they would score on the wild pitch. Somehow, Cooper tracked it down at the fence and made a perfect throw to the pitcher who was covering home and tagged the runner. We then went on to win in the bottom on the 8th. So fun!

Yesterday, Cooper had his first golf tournament of the season in Broomfield. He played the best golf I've ever seen him play and he won his age group. It was a par 3 course, so not his favorite venue (he likes crushing drives on long holes), but he really played well. It was a good thing he played good golf because the baseball game last night was awful! The backstop at this field was about ten feet beyond normal, so every ball that was thrown in the dirt or got passed him was a marathon run to retrieve it. Not fun!

Heading to tee off

He hit the green on this shot!

Kaiya survived her 4 day gymnastics camp. I don't think she slept more than 6 hours a night, but she had a blast. Only one day of homesickness and she learned a ton of new skills. Here is a link to her dance performance on the last day: http://sharing.theflip.com/session/2c395488685da01e8e7701a80429df9c/video/15545754

Last day of camp

Front flip off beam

Flyaway off the high bar

Tumbling on the trampoline

Flyaway into the pit

A bit boring, but we promised Uncle B some catching video

A nice base hit!