Life Centre Swimming Babes!

here "bobs" the old ladies who swim at 9:30 am master's swim group.....
denny came up with the idea of getting the old fashioned swim caps and marching out like a synchronized swimming team.....
sooooo, we did just that....check out the video.....


denny found these caps online and we decided that it would be great entertainment for dave ryland, who is our swim coach.....
his face was priceless when we marched out.....
sometimes we think we are so funny and sometimes that time is now! hahahaha

i tried to do my workout in my flower cap on.....
it may keep your head warm, but when you go under water, your head pops back up to the top...
kind of a funny feeling....
oh, we just think we are the funniest!

vicki linton, denny hitchcock, val christensen, me, cathy dover

oh the things old ladies do for kicks and giggles! :0)

the hills are alive with the sound of.....hiking

on labor day (sept. 6th) our family and some of ashley's roommates/friends went hiking up little cottonwood canyon.....
to be exact....we hiked up to lake mary and twin lake, which is up above brighton ski resort.....
it was a beautiful day!
i just love the mountains.....what an amazing creation God made us!
we had lunch at the lake, and then came down and walked around brighton yw girl's camp.....
here are a few highlights of our day.....

..

i am grateful for the beauties of the earth and a wonderful family!

and that my kids have great friends!

Always take your car keys with you.....

what an awesome day!

amy harmer, deanna smith, christina christopherson and myself took off to deer valley ski resort to ride out mountain bikes.....

amy asked me to drive the truck so we could leave it at the bottom (in park city) to shuttle back up to deer valley.....

so our adventure begins.......

what a beautiful ride!

(amy, deanna, christina) (looking down into park city)

we rode for about 1 1/2 hours on the mountain.....

i could do a ride like that every day if it were possible!.....

right after i took these pictures, we started to ride again......

i realized what i had done because we could see the truck from the viewpoint.......

so here's my blonde moment of the day......

i left my car keys in amy's car!

now, we can't use the truck to drive back up to deer valley.....

we have to take the shuttle bus, which is in park city almost to the top of main street......

we were trying to avoid the shuttle because the cars would have been faster.......ugh!

so much for saving time......

oh well, they now have a story to tell........

other than that, the ride was magnificent......

i did almost take out a couple of hikers on the way down......

that would have taken precedence over the car keys story.......haha

moral of the story......

have fun, enjoy the view, and always carry your car keys!

p.s. i need a mountain bike with front and back suspension!

midnight moon 5k run

rewind to august 27th/28th, 2010.....

it has been raining.....with thunder and lightning, too.......

the midnight moon 5k run at alta canyon rec. center starts at midnight.....

we carbo load at dinner with some yummy pizza.......

take a nap at 10 pm to have enough energy to run at midnight......

head over about 11:30 pm......

me, ashley, marlee redford, libby griffieon, and mark line up in the very front on the starting line......

kayla porter, dayne porter, and megan henry were there, also.......

the gun fires and we start off.......FAST!

we started out too fast and i thought......"there is no way i can keep this pace up going up the BIG hill"......

i didn't!

but, i didn't do too bad.....

i knew if i could just keep a decent pace on the hill i could relax a little at the top on the flat.....

half way through it started to sprinkle rain.....ah, that feels good....

i was doing great! i even thought, "i am going to get a time of 21 minutes"....
that's how good i felt!

well, i didn't get 21 minutes, but i put out a good time of 25:28 which was good enough to get me 2nd place in my age group!

marlee took 1st place in her age group!

she booked it up the hill and there was no way of catching her!

mark had a great race considering he had been sick wednesday and thursday!

with not much in him he did it under 30 mins.! good job!

ashley and libby met their goal of under 30 mins, also! way to go girls!

ashley, marlee, and libby

yeah, we did it!!

last year of public education....

Addison - first day of school - 8/31/10

i can't believe that school has started for both of my kids......
this will be ashley's junior year at byu......
and addison's senior year at jordan high......
hence, the last year of public education........

i am proud of them both!
ashley is a good student, a solid person, a spiritual giant
addison is a good student, a solid person, a spiritual giant
oh, wait, they can't be the same.....

so, senior year is supposed to be the fun, take easy classes year.....right?
not so much for addison......
he is working on getting the regent's scholarship, which means......
taking legit classes!
he has......ap english, ap stats, german 3, financial lit (concurrent - which is college level), marketing, us gov't, ceramics, foods, basketball, and seminary......
(i think i am missing some)
he doesn't have any of his good friends in his classes.......
his german 3 teacher used him as a object lesson by kicking him out of class the first day, swearing at him, and telling him that he would sign anything to get him out of his class! ugh!
not a good way to start the year off!
but on a good note.....he does like his ap stats teacher, seminary, ap english, and basketball....
so, half isn't bad.....
i am very proud of him for stepping up to the plate and taking these classes even though he is a lone fish in the big sea of fun classes......

i am proud of both of my kids!
they are hard workers, good friends, strong in the gospel, have a testimony, loving and caring, smart, fun to be with, cute, and down right good people!!!!

i have truly been blessed!

Pioneer children sang as they walked, and walked, and walked.....

we started off the weekend with a girls night here at our house.......
lauren ashcroft, hailey ashcroft, marlee redford (ashley's school roommate), aubrey nilsson, ashley, and me came together for games and fun.......
we played nerts (card game), and did hair wraps, and ate m&m's
at 1:30 am, i sent everyone home and to bed so that we could gather at 6:45 am to go to the pioneer day parade.........family tradition!
we decided against sleeping over at the parade and would just go early.......
we picked up grandpa walter, his ladders and board, and headed to a shady spot to watch.......
we found a perfect spot under a tree but up against a wall........
thank goodness cuz it was hot!.......
it is always hot on july 24th for the parade!........
staying up late and going to the parade can really wipe a person out.......
home to afternoon naps by most of us!........
after a long nap.....head to the store for barbeque food.......
barbeque, homemade raspberry icecream, and fireworks top off a wonderful weekend!
happy pioneer day!

i am grateful for all that the pioneers sacrificed for me and my family! it is amazing to me what they went through to get here to salt lake so that they could practice their religion in peace. i am grateful for their faith and perserverence and i pray that i may learn and apply these two qualities.

bam! it's summer!

from cold to cool to HOT!

last week i made bank with all my many private swim lessons!

i love teaching swimming! except when they scream and cry in my ear....ouch!

the family is signing up for the "alta canyon sports center midnight moon run" on august 27th.

it is a 5k run. mark and add are already talking smack to each other over who is going to win.

oregon/washington trip was perfect most of the time.....

flew into portland.....my bag didn't come.....lost in the abyss of tsa inspection zone

sunday......try to buy clothes for church......have security tag on my shirt.....get it taken off.....security tag on mark's clothes......didn't beep through the door at the store.....mark had to find something in his bag to wear.....took back his clothes.

sunday.....went to nick walter's mission homecoming.....over to his home for scrumptious food....haley walter made this yummy cake......ate too much.......oh no i am feeling sick to my stomach.........head to the bathroom.........feeling is stronger.......yep, lost it all in the porcelain throne! head back to the hotel so that no one knows that i threw up!

okay.....now that i got that over with, the rest of the week went great!

we had beautiful weather.....great company......made a "how to" video for the stanky leg dance move......we rocked at that!

went to mount st. helen's.....what an amazing site.....ashley got her pic taken there in her mt. st. helen's costume that she wore in 3rd grade

headed up to the bair farm in ephrata, wa.

spent a few days there just hanging out with jay and trina, allison, kim, ben, ellen, kyle, necia, jens, marin, and jillian.

played a mean few games of wallyball out in their racquetball court. yes, they have a few toys on the farm to entertain themselves. it was too cold to go waterskiing.......dang!

went to applets and cotlets candy factory......then to leavenworth......which is a little bavarian town.....did some window shopping there.....and then headed over to seattle.

spent the day in seattle at the pikes place farmers market; a science fiction and music museum; the mall and then flew out late saturday, july 3rd.

flew over mt. rainer on the way out of seattle, wa.......wow!
saw some fireworks as we flew into salt lake city airport.

home for a few days and then headed to girl's camp.....more like girl's retreat!

we spent 3 1/2 days at a cabin at bear lake.....

we had so much fun!

time at the beach......time in the freezing water......crafts, games, devotionals, testimony meeting, dancing, more games, "chirps", yummy food, and quiet time at the cabin....and did i mention there was lots and lots of delicious food!

we had almost all of our girls there.....only missing one girl and one nonmember girl.

the most amazing part was that there was no drama!!!

i have never been to girl's camp and not had drama!

everyone.....girls and leaders alike all got along and had some good fun and bonding time at the bear lake girl's retreat!

p.s. "chirps" are little nice notes that we put in everyone's birdhouses at camp.

p.s.s. the theme for girl's retreat was S.O.A.R.........

find your strength in........

S. the savior

O. serving Others

A. aspiring to go to the temple

R. rejoicing in your blessings

scripture is Mosiah 26:12..........yea, i know that i am nothing; as to my strength i am weak; therefore i will not boast of myself, but i will boast of my god, for in his strength i can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.