Meet the T-birds

SUU had a "meet the team" afternoon today. We went. Miles is completely fascinated with football right now - and yes, he finally convinced me that he is old enough to play flag football (keyword being flag = non-tackle). It was a really nice event that the team put on - Miles now has a huge poster of the team on his wall with lots of autographs on it (the hat that he was wearing is now also sporting those same autographs). They had free watermelon, pizza, chips and dip and lots of little toys. The players were great with the kids - when they saw that I wanted a picture with Miles, they hoisted him right up on the shoulders.
Of course Thor was there also and more than happy to pose for a picture.

They also let the kids come down to the field and run drills with them. However, the only way to get the stroller down to the field was a long walk away, so I opted to just take far away shots instead. I could have cropped this photo so Miles is more recognizable, but I love the mountains in the background, so I opted to let you try to figure out where Miles is. Hint: Miles is in the red hat - trying to get open from the defender so the quarterback can throw the ball to him.

This one I cropped for you - here he is about to catch the ball - wish I had timed it a bit better so you could see the ball in his arms.

Here is a very short clip of Miles in what I think they called "running the gauntlet". I am sure you will see more football posts in the near future - he had a great time and can't wait until his practices and games start.

Another Derby

Yep - you read it right, we had yet another derby tonight. For those of you who are counting (I am) - this is the 3rd derby kit we have had to assemble this year. This time it was the Raingutter Regatta - it was the easiest so far - Miles pretty much did it himself. The wood was a very soft wood (I think called Balsa?) and he was able to shape it with sandpaper - then he painted it (and colored the sail with a sharpie). We used wood glue to attach all the parts and it was done. Here is the finished product with the proud racer.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Raingutter Regatta (as I was myself a few hours ago), the boys actually propel their boats by blowing into the sail. Here is an action shot of Miles - sorry so blurry, but it is an action shot (I think I got him right as he trippd over the sawhorse - which he did every time he raced:)

Miles actually did really well. It was a double elimination competition and he won 3 before he lost 2. He lost to his best friend (who had a really cool "Parry the Platypus" boat) - who ended up taking second place overall. I was really proud of the sportsmanship that Miles is learning - he really had a good time tonight and wasn't upset when he lost. Here is a video of Miles's first race - he picked it up quick (watch for the trip though:).

First Day

The kids went back to school today - it was bittersweet for me. I was almost ready - still had a few things on my list left to do (like night games, can you believe we haven't played night games at all this summer) - but the boys were super excited for school to start again. We live in the perfect location for school - I watch them walk in the front door from my front yard. Here are the "posed first day of school" pictures.
I don't fight battles with Miles anymore unless I deem them worthy of my effort. I have told him that plaid and stripes really don't go together, but he seems to think otherwise. So here he is in his plaid shorts and striped shirt.

Ethan was so excited to do bottle rockets that he wouldn't even put the bottle in his backpack - he insisted on carrying it.

The girls had a great "first day of school for the boys" too! They started it off with a 3+ hour nap. Yes, you read that right - they both slept for over 3 hours. I laid them down right after the boys left at 9:00 and Piper was the first one up around 12:15. Abby and I cleaned, read and colored - it was nice to have some one on one time with her again. We went to the fountains after lunch and let the little girls play - all three of them loved it and all three were completely soaked when we were done. Here is the highlight of the twins day.

Paige is laughing here - not a great shot, but she was having a blast.

The highlight of Abby's day was either helping mom make the after school snack (brownies)...

or eating it with her brothers.

Ethan's highlight was of course shooting off the bottle rockets, and we got an indepth description on how much water to put in the bottle to make it go the highest. Miles's highlight was sharing 5 items with the class that represented who he was (he put a golf ball, googles, a chess piece, lego's and a pez dispenser in his little bag). My highlight was that the house is cleaner than it has been in 3 or so months:)

Goodbye pool - thanks for the memories!

Today was the last day the Cedar Pool is open to the public - to say goodbye, they let everyone in for free and they did away with the height rule to ride the hydrotube. Abby has begged to go down the slide all summer but wasn't even close to the height line - so of course, we waited in a huge line so she could go down the slide - TWICE! She loved it - here she is - I know you can't see her face, but it is Abby. On a side note - I wanted to brag about how talented I am to get such a shot - I rode down the slide right before Abby, jumped out of the pool and grabbed the camera that I had stashed by the fence and still managed to get the camera on and focused before she came down.


While we were climbing the stairs to the hydrotube I started to get a bit nostalgic. Crazy - I know, but I did spend an awful lot of time at that place. So - to say thank you for the good times, I wanted to jot down a few of the memories that I have of the pool (in completely random order).

- running the hydrotube stairs for conditioning

- swimming in clothes during "Hell Week"

- the payphone by the outside door that we used to call all the customer service numbers on our shampoo bottles and request free samples while waiting for parents after middle school swim team.

- the garden hose that would be passed from lane to lane during workouts since the drinking fountain was always broken

- the steam that used to cover the pool when the sliding doors were open

- drawing posters down in the lower hallway

- almost drowning in the hydrotube pool after a train of 5-6 people landed on top of me

- the showers that were never hot and rarely even warm

- practicing my volleyball jump serve out back in the sand courts in my hour break between swim team and teaching lessons

- frozen hair (if hair wasn't wrapped in a towel, it would freeze while running from the pool to the car during winter months)

- guard parties after hours - we would turn the water off on the hydrotube and see how fast we could go down - some would even wrap the safety belts around their heads because they could go so fast that they would flip over inside the tube

- riding my bike down 300 West at 4:45 a.m. when I would substitute for the person who guarded morning lap swim (it was DARK)

- running across the covers on the outdoor pool - it is possible to get clear across the pool before you sink

- Commonwealth games - when I first loved to be Scottish (favorite relay - T-shirt relay!!!)

I don't have time to think anymore (does that make sense?), but I will add memories when I do get around to thinking. Feel free to comment on any of your memories though (Jenny - help me out) maybe it will help me remember.

Kanarraville Falls

We hiked Kanarraville Falls today - it was a blast! Miles's knee was doing better (he even talked me into letting him play in his first soccer game last night - which he scored the first goal in) so I thought we had better do this hike before school starts next week. We went with good friends so it made the hike even more fun - Mariam and Cameron with both their families and their dad came along too. I don't know how I missed this hike growing up here - but it is definately going on the list of hikes that we need to do again (and I will take my dad next time - he will love it - it is almost like a mini narrows). Here we are in the water - must have been near the beginning of the water part because Ethan is still smiling.

The boys both had to bring their camelbacks for water - guess who ended up carrying them for most of the hike though. In fact, I thought I carried them for pretty much the whole time, but as I look through the pictures, the boys had them on in almost everyone. Here is Miles, taking a drink break. For as much as he falls down on flat ground - he was pretty surefooted on the slippery rocks.

The slot canyons were amazing - in my opinion, Southern Utah is the most beautiful place on earth!

Here are the boys at the top of the first falls - they scampered up the ladder before I got a picture of them. Coming back down was another story though - the log was missing a few rungs, and was a bit scary. Mackay came to the rescue though - he wedged himself between the log and the canyon wall and helped us all place our feet.

Here are the kids trying to warm up their feet - the water was really cold - I thought by the middle of August it would be warmer than it was. Miles never complained about the cold, but I can't say the same about Ethan - he thought he might lose a few toes to frostbite (however, I don't know how cold he could have been because I could not convince him to put his shirt back on).

Miles went all the way under near the end of the hike - I caught it on video - here he is on a water slide. He had an audience and had to be the "tough guy".


Thanks Chatfield's and Steffensen's for coming with us - it was nice catch up on what everyone is up to. We missed you Shaliece and LaRae - but we will have to plan to do a fun family hike next summer (LaRae already has one in mind).

Pictures

I got the girls pictures taken today. My sister came with me to help (which is an improvement from last year when it took my mom, my sister and myself just to get the twins pictures taken) - Thanks Britt, I couldn't have done it without your (and your "star powder"). Overall I was pleased with how the pictures turned out - I wish Abby would have let me do her hair, and I wish Paige would have smiled a bit more, and I wish the twins would hold still better, etc. - but I am glad we got as many good shots as we did. Here are some of my favorites...
The one below is my absolute favorite shot of the whole day (it was also the 3rd shot she took - before the twins had a chance to move) Another favorite - I think they are already communicating with each other though - and here they decided that neither one would hold still any more.

Piper was the most photogenic of all of the girls today - usually she is the hardest to get good smiles out of - but she was really cute today.

My favorite of her!

This was my favorite of Paige - wish she were looking at the camera - but a cute smile.

The photographer really did a good job - she had about 1/2 second to take the picture from the time that I set Paige down until she was moving. She was a bit late on this one If Paige wasn't trying to fall off the platform then she was trying to climb up on the props they were using.

Look how cute these bow's are (and no I didn't stage the picture just to get a shot of the bow) - and Paige is even smiling in this shot as well.

Abby turned out to be a bit difficult today - she wanted "princess hair", but when I got out the curling iron she through a fit. Then I tried to put her hair in a cute side ponytail with the bow and she pulled it out. So we resorted to out everyday hair style - but don't be fooled - it took me a whole hour to do her hair.

Abby also insisted on doing her own poses for most of the pictures. Here are some examples...

And last, my favorite of Abby.

Miles visit to the E.R.

We had a visit to the Emergency Room tonight for Miles. Funny thing is that this is only the second time that I have taken a kid to the E.R. and the other time was also for Miles. Somehow it seems like he always gets hurt on Sunday night after the Urgent Care is closed. We had just gone up to my parents for Sunday Dinner and he was outside riding his scooter (or Courtnie's scooter). I heard a crash but didn't think much of it since there was relatively little screaming until I heard my brother yell for help. I ran out and found Caleb trying to hold the gash in Miles leg closed - he was doing a great job, but I could still see how deep the cut was and all the tissue trying to come out of his leg. I am glad that so far all of our emergencies have happened when there are other adults around - I tend to panic a bit. My dad had gotten him a rag to hold on his leg and we loaded him in the car. Caleb offered to come with us and I made him climb in the back since I couldn't lift Miles over the seat so I had him in the front. We made a quick stop at home to pick up our BRAND NEW insurance cards (I just switched companies on Aug 1, and I got the cards in the mail yesterday) and then headed out to the hospital. Poor Caleb - he had been outside when Miles crashed and had seen more of the wound then anyone else - I noticed in the rear view mirror that he was a bit white and then he closed his eyes, next think I heard was his head hitting the head rest of the seat in front of him. He wasn't passed out for long - he was talking to me right away - but he tried to scare me too. When we got to the hospital - I carried Miles in (I need to stop feeding the kid - he is almost too heavy to carry now) and left Caleb to park my car (he was feeling better - or at least he said he was feeling better). They got us right in (and my insurance is better than I thought it was:) and the doctor was super with Miles. He teased Miles the whole time - when Miles said it was a scooter accident, the doctor came right back with "you're not a very good scooter rider huh?" He teased Miles about a girlfriend, and about school - and before Miles knew it he had 6 stitches in his knee. We were supposed to keep it covered for 3 days, but Miles talked me into letting him "peek" - so here is the famous knee.
This is the only good thing about being hurt - the extra Wii time.

Brittnie even has convinced him that he "can't" practice the piano because it was his pedal leg. Thanks Britt!!! I am a bit sad though - I had a whole list of things that I wanted to do before school starts next week - the list included a super fun hike that is now not possible because you are hiking in water most of the way (plus, Miles tends to fall a bit and I can't carry him back from a 6 mile hike if he were to hurt it again - I barely made it from the car to the waiting room). Soccer also starts this week so he will miss a few games, but I am super grateful that it didn't get any tendons or other important stuff. He was a tough kid tonight!!!

Chess Tournament

The boys played in a chess tournament today that the city recreational department organized. They had a great time - they played in the novice division so they played against some kids but also against adults. When I asked Ethan how he did - he promptly replied "I lost all 5 games" (he is actually really good at chess though - so is Miles). Miles won a couple (one against his brother) and stalemated one. They seemed to have a lot of fun though and ate lots of doughnuts. Here are a few "action" shots.

This is why I was not watching the games - it is near impossible to keep the girls quiet and contained - so we were cheering from the swings:)

Here are some close-ups from the girls. All three love swings!!!

Abby

Paige

Piper