Having a Great Summer

We are having a great summer. So great, we can't keep up on our blog! Soooo, here is a brief summary of what we have been up to these last couple of months:



Baseball has been every night of the week. EVERY night! Good thing we love it so much! Alex's position is second base and his team was the Cub's. The team was comprised of 7th and 8th graders and it was really fun to watch this level of baseball. They have come a long way since T-ball!

Ben's team this year was the Mariner's (my favorite ball club, of course!). They had an amazing season going undefeated, winning their division but losing in the championship game. Ben played catch and second base. Way to go M's!

*update* - Ben wanted wanted me to say this is a picture of his inside the park home run!

Austin was a Brave this year. Such a cute age! He had a blast and really became quite the baseball player this year. The last up to bat of the season Austin belted one right over second - the smile on his face was priceless!

We finished up spring soccer in May. Although not my favorite sport, I loved watching Erin and Austin play. We learned Erin is VERY competitive. One particular game when down by a few goals and she was playing her heart out Erin said in tears,"I know I am supposed to be having fun but we're losing and I am NOT having fun!".

Austin is still sticking with soccer. Our older boys just never loved it but Austin does - and doing well, too! Not only can he succesfully play, he can also keep the spectators on the sidelines laughing at all of his comments. Those of you who know Austin personally, know he is a funny kid. Well, he doesn't dissapoint on the field either!

Alex is my "do everything" kid. He wants to do it ALL. So, this last April to June he was involved in track, baseball, and a musical. Not just in a musical, but one of the main leads! So, many days, Alex would have track after school until 5, go straight to baseball practice, then have Suessical until late evening.
This is Alex with his good friend, Alex. His good friend Nathan also ran track with them. Everyday they warmed up with a 3 mile warmup and conditioning for another hour. Way to go Fairfield Falcons!

This is the cast of Suessical Jr. Another AMAZING performance directed by my good friend Dana Francis. Many kids in our neighborhood were in the play - it was so wonderful!

This is Alex as Horton the Elephant and our cute neighbor Madison as Gertrude McFuzz.

This is Alex singing one of my favorite songs, Alone in the Universe. If you notice the backround, you will see the amazing sets my mom painted for the musical. They were awesome, Mom!

Austin played the Mayor of Whoville. He had a couple of solos. Great job, Aus!

Erin had a couple of parts but the most notable was the baby kangeroo. The costumes were so amazingly done by my neighbor Barbara Peterson. So colorful and fun to look at!

I had the opportunity to train and participate in the Boise Ironman 70.3 (half of the distance of a full Ironman's 140.6). The swim was 1.2 miles, the bike was 56 miles, and the run 13.1 miles. It was an amazing exerience and SO glad I did it. I am definately hooked on the longer distances. I hope to do it again next year! I'll be back...(said in a thick Austrian accent).

Ok, that is what we have been up to lately. I hope to keep ya'll posted a little better but looking at my track record, I wouldn't hold your breath. Hope you are all having a great summer!

My Aussie

The last couple of weeks have been crazy as I have been in the thick of finishing the yearbook for the elementary school the kids go to. It is quite the undertaking and I will be pretty happy when I am done. I have been madly taking pictures and organizing pages. I actually enjoy it in a sick, twisted way but wish I had more hours in the day to accomplish everything I need to.

A couple weeks ago Austin was baptized. It was a very special day as we were able to have family and friends there. I can't believe that my third child is old enough to be baptized! Time really flies. Austin is such an amazing kid! I am so proud of him.
I was organizing some files on the computer and found some old pictures of Austin. Here's a few pictures of my "Aussie Bear":

Love you Austin!!!!

Back to Blogging (again) and Day ONE....

I am back to blogging. I promise this time.

Today is day one of my half Ironman training schedule. For those who don't know, I am doing the Boise Ironman 70.3 in June. The 70.3 stands for how many miles you go: half the distance of a full Ironman's 140.6 miles (in case you needed help with the math!). My training schedule lasts 16 weeks and today was my big return to the pool. I haven't been swimming too much this winter because I hate the cold and nothing is colder than getting yourself to the pool at 5am with a foot of snow on the ground. Today was not bad at all! I really enjoyed it actually. Except for the fact that I was slower on my speed sets than I used to be, I was pretty happy with my endurance. I have kept up my running and biking (thanks to spin classes and a bike trainer) so hopefully the swimming will come back quickly.

I hope to keep you posted on my progress as I train in the next 16 weeks. Of course and more importantly, I will be posting family updates as well. My kids have been bugging me to start blogging again as they have really enjoyed it in the past. For those not on facebook, that is what I have been doing with my computer time. I am looking forward to catching up on everyone else's blogs as well.

Just a few pictures to update you on the last couple of months:

Ben's Pinewood Derby Car "The Big Cheese" did pretty well but was by far the most creative (in my opinion!).

Erin participated in the Layton High School Cheerleading mini-clinic that performed at a basketball game. She had a great time.

Bill is coaching both Alex and Ben's Jr. Jazz teams. The boys are constantly outside playing basketball or watching basketball on tv. Both of their teams are doing pretty well.

Austin celebrated his 8th birthday this month. He is excited about being baptized this week.

Oh, and I have addded some of my latest favorite running/workout songs to my playlist. Give them a listen...

It Feels like Christmastime

It's the Christmas season - what a great time of year! Today was the first significant snowstorm of the year and I am helping kids put on their snowpants and boots and find matching gloves and mittens. However, I wanted to post a few pictures before it got too long inbetween posts!

We have had a lot going on as most of you have. Here are a few pictures of some of the things we have been doing this last week:

We went to Salt Lake for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory at Trolly Square where Erin and Austin saw Santa,

then we went to Temple Square to see the lights,




and last Monday we decorated a Gingerbread house. This is a picture of it before the kids ate half of the candy.
Well, these were our festive activities during the last week in a nutshell. I apologize for keeping the commentary to a minimum but I have a million things to do as I sit here. I figure people really only like pictures anyway. Hope you all are having a great holiday season!

Back at It

I have turned into a deadbeat blogger. It has been three weeks since I have posted and I am forcing myself to post something. Anything. I will be better.

I haven't downloaded the Thanksgiving pictures yet but I can assure you we had a great Thanksgiving weekend. However, I am in detox mode from all the naughty food I ate and as of this moment I haven't had any sugar for about 20 hours. We will see how long that lasts. You'd be amazed at how many sugary foods I mindlessly reach for throughout the day!

On another note, Austin really wanted me to post a picture of his book report poster he did for school a while ago. He worked really hard on his poster and was excited for me and the other moms to come see the finished products at school.
(It also happened to be silly sock day that day.)

Austin is pretty creative. A couple weeks ago I was sitting at the computer when a jumbo teddy bear on a rope drops outside the window. I have to say it is quite startling to have a stuffed animal the size of a small child drop outside the window:

Next a note drops down:

Now, unfortunately I had to end the fun because any good mom knows it's dangerous for kids to play at an open second story window but it's little things like this that make me smile and enjoy being a mom.

A Song for a Long Run

Today I ran long to start getting my body used to longer distances again. It was an amazingly beautiful fall morning, the perfect temperature and smelling of fallen leaves. The kind of morning that you're sure to get that runner's high.

One thing I find when I run long, I need to start real easy so when I get close to the end of my run I have the energy to pick up the pace. I find that sometimes fast paced songs are not always the best to listen to at the beginning of these runs. Songs that are somewhat relaxing help to calm me and even relax me while running. Today one song I really enjoyed was "Where are You Going" by Dave Matthews Band. His voice is soothing (even sexy) and I love the style of music, it's real original. Another song I loved this morning was "When You Come Back Down" by Nickel Creek. It's a perfect song for a cool crisp autumn morning run. Listen to it, you'll see what I mean. You'll find this song after "Where are You Going" on my playlist. Happy running!

Friday's Song of the Day

Today's song is "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend. This is a short fun little diddy that has a good running beat.