Senior moments... part two.

April 25, 2016
Tonight was Tyler's senior pictures night. We are 5 weeks from graduation. Tyler turned 18 and he registered for Snow  College  the same week. I'm just not ready.

May 11, 2016
Got the pictures back. Awesome!! graduation announcements are coming. Its here in 14 days.

Region champs

Well, track season is over for another year. And for Tyler, its over forever. Both boys did well, but unfortunately did not advance to the State Meet at  BYU. Tyler did fanstastic in discus, throwing his best ever at 128'6" and took 5th. Only the top 4 advance. Tyler was devastated he didn't make it in shotput. He was seated 3rd and probably would have done it, but life had other plans. Another athlete was playing with the shotput tossing it from hand to hand around his body, when it slipped and landed right on top of Tyler's foot.  This was just after his first throw of the day. He made finals but he couldn't recover and never threw above 40'3". finishing 7th overall. So his dream of returning to State didn't materialize. He was so upset with the whole thing, he left  to ice his foot and wasn't there when the boys became region champions for the second year in a row!! It was an unexpected win, but our field boys and medley teams definitely put us over the top. We won by 4 points over Canyon View. The girls took 4th.

Boys Region Champs!

Victory Lap

We did go get xrays of Tyler's foot just to be sure there were no cracks. It's just a severe bruise that hurts to touch. He can walk, with just a slight limp.

one of my favorite pictures

Tyler at BYU invite. 43'2"

Discus

Jeremy 800m at Region

Jeremy competed in the mile and 800m. He PRd in the mile by 5 seconds, but was 2 seconds slower in 800m at 2:30.  He did great considering he was hobbling around 10 months ago after surgery to fix his ACL. Hopefully he'll continue to run and be even better next year. I do want him to try throwing.

I'm so proud of my boys. Track is my favorite sport because its up to no one but the athlete how well they do. Yes its disappointing when what you expected doesn't happen, but there are bigger and better things to come. I'm going to miss watching Tyler in all his sports and activities. Today was the last time he is a high school athlete and it didn't end very well. He had such high hopes. He'll be ok later, but today he is hurting both physically and mentally.

Mini Vacations

Chris got a promotion at  work and now is the night manager on weekends.  That means he works graveyard shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.   In order for him to sleep, I decided we needed to go on mini-vacations.

March 18-20. Our first of many (I hope) was a trip to Goblin Valley and Capital Reef.  We left late Friday night and drove to Hanksville to stay in a motel.  The car had to be jump started right before we left, so i was a little worried. I didn't shut off the car until we got to Hanksville.  Thankfully the car started and off we went to Goblin Valley 1/2 hr away the next day. We explored the goblins and had a lot of fun. It was breezy and slightly cold, but we did ok. By the end of the day, we were all sunburned.  We wanted to drive around the campground and go exploring in other places, but the car needed a jump. That put a cramp in our plans.  

We discovered Cameron had a hole in the bottom of his shoe and needed duck tape.  The only place to buy anything was at a convenience store. I should have brought the duck tape on the counter at home. Tyler ripped his shorts climbing the goblins. thank goodness for the duck tape in the bag. (no pictures). What was even more funny was  that at dinner two more people came in with duck tape on their butts. It was great!

On Sunday we drove through Capital Reef. The boys would not get out and hike, so we only stopped one place, and I was a little nervous to turn off the car...  We drove to Richfield, got Cameron some shoes, and attended the Provo City Center Temple Dedication and came home.  I intend to go back and hike some more. Camping at Goblin Valley would be so much more fun!  Camping at Capital Reef would also be great!

March 26: The next weekend we attended our first rugby game at  Uof U. My cousin Tavita plays on the team. Fish and Katie came, which was a surprise. Fish explained some of the rules to us. It was a cold day, as we woke up to snow in Nephi.  I'm thinking we'll go watch another one-- maybe the BYU vs Utah

Track and field 2016

 Tyler has been working on a project all year with some kids in wood shop. Making a record board for track and field.  He showed me a website that lists all records and perhaps other items of interest.  http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/SchoolRecords.aspx?SchoolID=2580

 Jeremy is running distance and being persuaded to try throwing.  Tyler is throwing again this year and doing some running events. We can check results at most meets online at  http://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?results=2016&order=state&class=11.  Just need to know the name of the meet.

Juab ice breaker March 9
Tyler shot put 38'6". Discus 116'. 4x400m relay
Jeremy 800m 2:40

Delta March 16
Tyler Shot put 39'11".  Discus 109'. 400m 58sec
Jeremy mile 6:06. Forgot brace. Threw up after and didn't do anything else.

Salem hills invite March 25 (Mountain Valley Invite 2016)
Tyler Shot put 42'7" 4th place (winner 54'11") Discus 113'3" in prelims, but only 103' in finals 7th place (winner 139'), long jump 15'8" 29th place  winner was 19'
Jeremy mile 5:59:45 26th place (winner 5 min), 800m 2:40.88  42nd place (winner 1min 57s)

Tyler PR 42'7" shot

Jeremy mile 5:59:45

Tyler 15'3" long jump

Juab JV March 29 moved to Mar 30 due to snow!  Cancelled!!!

Juab Invitational April 1
Tyler 10th place both Discus 114'11.5"and shotput 39'10" - didn't make finals in Shotput:(
Jeremy mile 5:53:65 800m medley team 9th place

Desert Hills April 7-8 (2016 Desert Hills Multis and Distance Carnival). Since we were in St. George anyway. I thought it would be a good opportunity to compete against kids we wouldn't normally see. Unfortunately the meet was primarily for Decathletes/Heptathletes. Tyler was competing in Shotput one day and Discus another day. We spend 4 hrs waiting for his heat-both days. It was very frustrating. He took 5ht discus 107'10" and 4th shotput 40'11". Next year, they should NOT have extra athletes allowed, just let the multi-event kids do this.

Old Capital Invitational - Millard
Tyler 3rd shotput 39'10"  5th discus 110'4"

North Summit  April 19--late night getting home. (North Summit Invite 2016)
Tyler shotput 3rd 42'2.75", 400m in medley, and discus --worst distance ever! (103'10")
Jeremy 800m medley 5th place, mile 5:53.50

Stansbury April 23 COLD, WINDY, RAINY (Deseret Peak Invitational 2016)
Tyler 9th discus 109'3.5"  windy, 5th Shotput 39'9" rain in finals
Jeremy mile 6:04:36 into a big headwind  800m  2:34:47 drizzle

Orem (Tiger Trials 2016) April 30

May 3 JV track manti

May 6-7 BYU invite

May 10-11 region track at Juab

May 20-21 state track at BYU

Cameron track
April 26 at Millard 430
May 3 at Juab
May 12 at Manti
May 19 at North Sanpete
May 25 at Payson * (same night as graduation)
June 1 at west lake
June 7 at Juab invitational *(same day as youth conference)

Basketball hurts.

Cameron's team has been playing, but not very well. they've only won one game so far with just 2 more to go.  He fell a week ago during a game and complained about his wrist hurting. we iced it and took pain reliever and wrapped it up. There was a little swelling, but not much. He toughed it out all week and played again the following week. Still hurting. so a doctor visit was in order on 13th. The x-ray shows a chipped bone in his wrist. He's in a brace for a week and will miss at least one game. He'll get a checkup on it on the 22nd.  He hates the brace, it almost makes his wrist hurt worse and his thumb goes numb. Since its his right hand, it should be interesting at school this week.






PS: Cameron missed one week of basketball, then played in the last two with his split.

 His team has one win all season.   It was a tough season.

Midway Ice Castles

Everytime I saw pictures of the ice castles, I thought it would be cool to go. Groupon had a coupon before Christmas to get 4 tickets for a deal, so I did.  I told the boys they got to come with me. I got funny faces and "ok, I guess." One said "NO WAY."  Oh well. We went yesterday and even with bribery I couldn't get one of them to come with me.

I got tickets early enough to see them in the light, but late enough to stay until the lights came on. It was snowing lightly the whole time we were there.  Super cool. When we arrived I thought, it looks kind of small.  Yes it was smaller than I imagined, but what they packed inside was pretty spectacular. The Frozen movie princesses were there for a photo op, we didn't get one---can't imagine why.

Definitely worth the 2 hours inside to see the lights! and the snow made it even prettier.
We all went down the ice slide, but I couldn't get the boys to sit on the throne.

tyler on the ice slide

on our way in. can you see who is really excited to be there?

the white dots= snow

outside on our way to the car.

fountain 

view from the top of the slide

Colors set to music-- Frozen songs were popular

Cam coming slowly down the ice slide

Cam hanging out

looks like the curtains in a cave

popcorn anyone?  

Guys working on the castle-- with chain saws and pick axes. 

Merry Christmas

It seems our life turned into a game, not a fun one sometimes. It came with lots of twists and turns. And with the roll of the dice, life changed suddenly. 

 Jennifer is now a bookkeeper for a property management company. It’s a good job, very challenging, and best of all, the environment is a good one. She feels appreciated and valued as a person and an employee. The only drawback is that it’s a 30 minutes drive.

Jeremy had surgery on his left knee to repair a torn ACL. In the second night of summer football camp, during scrimmages, he got hurt.  Derek and Tyler both had their wisdom teeth removed this year. Unfortunately no funny stuff while they were under the influence of anesthesia

Derek is 20 and trying to decide what to do with his life. He’s still sport fanatic and always has to have the last word.

Tyler is a senior. He lettered in football, basketball, and track, making it to the State Track meet in shot put. Not bad for a first year thrower! He’s competed at region in three very different events. He recently got to play on the Utah Jazz court with his team. It was pretty cool for the rest of us to sit 5^th row from the floor for the game. 

 Jeremy is a freshman. Because of his injury he is unable to participate in sporting events until February, just in time for track season. It’s been hard for him, but he’s found ways to still be involved with his team and found some new friends as well. He’s dying to drive, expecting a driving permit is imminent.

Cameron started junior high and sings in the choir. He also plays football, basketball and track. He wants to be a jumper in track. He’s an excellent student. Now if we could get some scout stuff going so both Cameron and Jeremy could move forward and earn Eagles

We lost Big Red: our truck. It decided to die on the side of the road. In addition, both Derek and Tyler experienced their first accidents. Thank goodness they were minor.

Chris‘s back got to the point he saw a neurosurgeon. Then he had to resign after 16 years of service because he couldn’t perform the duties required of law enforcement, and did not have surgery. He is now working at a residential treatment center for boys in Delta.  Quite a change for him as well, but he loves it. He is happier and under less stress. In fact he was named employee of the month, the first month he was there!

Despite the struggles, disappointments and changes in our lives this year, it is a wonderful life. The Lord blessed us in unimaginable ways. He knew we needed changes and helped us through them. Jennifer and Chris are much happier- it is interesting that they switched roles with Chris working with teenagers and Jennifer in an office.  We got to experience the kindness of neighbors, serve others in small ways, and realize we don’t have it as bad as it looked.  The Payson Temple brought opportunities for the boys to participate in a cultural celebration.  

a foot of snow fell today

chris got a puzzle of BYU stadium, then he had to go to work

silence is golden, so is children not fighting each other or me

comfy and cozy

Always at least one new lego set 

building time

Cameron made us all boxes, and put all kinds of treasures in them

Cameron also wrote us each a note. Such a thoughtful kid.