Adelyn's in 2nd Grade!

This picture was actually taken on the 3rd day of school

Some Fun Things:

Adelyn's Class is bound and determined to be the "Box Tops" Champions, so if you want to start saving them for her, she would be thrilled.

Adelyn lost a tooth the night before school started (she stayed up until 11 pm playing with it apparently) and got to be the first one on the tooth chart.

She was very excited to hear that they are learning about rocks and the night sky in school this year!

First Day of School Celebration

Every year the school invites all the kids to bring a parent for a celebration on the first day of school. It is a great excuse to walk the kids to their classroom for the first time.

Even though kindergarten doesn't start until Aug. 30, they let them come to the celebration with the other kids. It is completely optional for kindergartners, it was NOT optional for Michael. He showed up with his backpack and everything. 

I took Adelyn, and Mike brought Michael an hour later- on the Vespa! Oh, he was in heaven.

Adelyn got to learn a beach ball dance from Uncle G and perform on the football field.  I loved helping her with her writing assignment.  She was supposed to write down her favorite subject in school.  She looked at me and said, "Not Reading!"  But she didn't know any other subjects to choose from, so we talked a bit and decided her favorite subject was Science.  She listed reading as her favorite hobby.  She's going to have a great year!

I bought an inflatable raft, and I love it.

I want another one.

Summer Running... had me a blast!

The kids are growing up, which has brought Mike and I to a new point in our lives where we can't really run together.  The kids are too big, or too little to push around with us, so we have gone our separate ways.  Now, we have running partners.  Mike's main reason for running with friends is that it gets him up early.  It's harder to sleep in when you know someone is waiting for you at the corner.  My main reason is so that I am protected from stranger danger and wild animals.

Mike and one of his running buddies

Alissa and her running buddies

We are still doing a little bit of "racing." It's the fun, social part of running for us and we like to compare our times from previous years. This summer our big running goal was to train for the inaugural Parowan Half Marathon. It was a very steep run, but also very beautiful. I'm not sure where I want to rank it... somewhere between 2nd favorite... or worst ever.

One of the pretty parts of the race

Mike starting the run.  It was a BEAUTIFUL morning at the Yankee.  I spent most of my morning standing in line for the bathroom instead of really enjoying it though.

Other races and paces included:
Mike- Utah Summer Games 10k (8:25)
Alissa- Utah Summer Games 5k (7:54)
Mike/Alissa- Enoch Freedom Run 10k (9:10, 10:10)
Mike/Alissa- Yankee Meadows Half Marathon (10:10)

Mike's first race of the season (it was still cold enough for blankets in June).

Of course, all this means we will be indoctrinating the kids. They had their first race in Cedar City. It was a "Main Street Mile" The kids all finished strong, and they all ran the whole race . Adelyn finished before any of us, so we don't know exactly, but we think she finished in about 9 minutes. Michael was about 11 minutes and Joey was about 17 minutes. 

Joey wanted to run the whole race.  I kept asking him if he wanted to walk and he kept saying no.  When the race was all finished and I saw how red his little face was, I realized what a strong little boy I have on my hands.  All the kids did awesome.  They really tried their hardest.

You know how there are lots of us that make goals to help better ourselves? And some of those goals get checked off the list, some fall off, and some are just there perpetually? Well, I can't figure out where running fits in. It's one of the goals that got checked off the list when we ran a marathon. But now we just keep running. It's like, like... like it worked; the goal to change our lifestyle worked.  Runners... it's what we are.

Going to the Ranch

The Taylor's invited us to come and play at their ranch.  The vacation was perfect.  The kids all enjoyed casual, non-rushed, kid-directed activity including: sand box, impromtu mud fight, feeding the horses, watching movies, playing legos, and enjoying cousins in the awesome room of bunk beds.

Anna designs the girls their own towel dress

Michael and Joey both loved the mud fight and did NOT want to get cleaned off at the end.  Maybe that had something to do with the sub-zero hose water we were using.

Adelyn and her portion of the sand box, building her own neighborhood in Sand City

The kids in Sand City

We all enjoyed good food and great company.  Mike had some mud wars with Nate on the 4-wheelers and maybe got them stuck a few times.  The grand champion of stuck was Tim, when his 4-wheeler sunk halfway down into the "quicksand."  I enjoyed a run/walk with Mandy and we all through a few horseshoes.  We played a few rounds of cards in the evening and a few clips from you tube.

Mike got more stuck than the 4-wheeler when he was helping get it unstuck

Mike on his way to get cleaned off in the lake