Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Grand Canyon Hike

Well, we did it again.  Jack and I had to prove that we aren't old folks quite yet--that we still have spring in our step...and this time we took our two awesome buff daughters along.  No they were not kicking and screaming--they actually approached us and said they wanted to go!  Very impressive...and since they are both training for cross country and running for over an hour six days a week, we figured they could hack it.  They did great, and we had a lot of fun with our friends Brooke and Pat, who went with us last time we did the canyon over 4 years ago.  Here ya go:
 
 
Starting the day hopeful and smelling good...
 
 
Brooke and I at our first view of the river on the way down

 My beautiful hard working girls
 
Here's the bridge crossing the river on our way back up.  Some guy actually climbed over the side of this thing and jumped into the river while we were there.  Crazy because the water is not very deep!
 
At the bottom--a family picture.  Maybe if Jack and I can stay in good shape someday we can have a family pic with all our kids here...well, I can dream!

 
 
And we made it---and we all deserved our traditional dinner of Bunhuggers in Flagstaff on the way back.  Fried Zuccini never tasted so good!  This is a very challenging hike, but getting ready for it was a great way for me to get back to a pre-baby exercise routine.  Now I need a new motivation to keep going.  Better sign up for a race soon!   The main question I have with this picture is--why are we all standing so close?  We either are afraid that we will fall over, or we are immune to the smell of each other....nonetheless, a great day!

 
Oh, and despite the warnings that you should never do this (hike all the way down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back in one day) we survived.  Sunny was the one who wanted to tempt fate by taking this shot!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

In the Thick of It

School has started..and how!  We have all the kids at an amazing new school this year.  Well, the school isn’t new, but this campus is.  It is actually two campuses right next to each other—one K-6 and the other 7-12.  The school is American Leadership Academy or ALA.  Love. This. School.  At least so far…I love the uniforms, the curriculum, the directors, the way they have Ang and Sunny on an A and B schedule for classes like in college, love the leadership attributes that they weave into their curriculum, but mostly I love that my kids are loving this school and seem so excited to be a part of it.  Oh, and the fact that they can walk there and back each day in about 5 minutes is a pretty big bonus as well!  Seriously, we feel sooo blessed that it opened up right by where we moved!  Lots of families in this area have their kids there as well and love it too.

First day of school pics…I let them choose a pose and this is what they came up with….

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Don’t know exactly what Sunny is going for here, but I’m pretty sure she did.

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Angie’s objective is a little more obvious.

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Ready to learn!  And lead!

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The cool thing about this school is that, even though its a charter, they still offer pretty much all the same programs and sports as a regular high school.  No, the sports teams are not up to par with the bigger schools, but for the number of kids they have I think they are doing great—and I think it is great because it gives more kids opportunities to be involved.  

Sunny started doing cross country and Angie decided to join up as well—a day before the first meet.  We had no idea how she would do, but she came in 9th which was pretty good.  Sunny came in 4th in her group—and her coach said she should have gotten 1st or 2nd so I guess she needs to up it.  But I was proud of both of them!    Both girls are in other activities as well—Angie is in choir and student council (She won Freshman class President.:) and Sunny is in band.  It sounds like a lot, but those are actually classes in school so it hasn’t been too bad—but they get up every morning for XC practice at 5:30A.M!  It’s great because since Jack and I are up anyway we go running as well!

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Logan is now officially an 11 year old scout (Yeah, I totally need to catch up THREE birthday posts…we’ll see if that happens) and he got his Arrow of Light at his last Cub Scout meeting. 

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He got it with his best friend in the ward Sam..who turned 11 the day before Logan did.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Logan is also doing soccer right now with Sam and Jack is coaching—a nice low key league at a local family sports place.  It’s indoor soccer so that has been fun to watch.

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And the little ones are busy too…in their own way….

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Ella plays all the time with these two little girls in our neighborhood Lucy and Tessa.  They usually play very well unless someone doesn’t want to share something because it is “too special to me.”  They are really sweet girls though and I love that they both live on our street.

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Savannah is getting crazy busy these days…definitely counting down until nursery…and I wish I could get her to keep these bows on her head! 

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Rocking out with cousin Delphine.

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Well, there’s my marathon posts.  We are in the thick of things and keeping busy.  Sometimes it gets a little crazy with all the things the kids do, but I have never forced them to do any of their activities—they have almost always expressed that interest on their own—well except for piano, but the girls love it now.  Anyway, I just think that it isn’t fair to tell your child, “Well, I’m sorry.  You can’t do a sport because we have too many kids in our family and it will be too hard for me.”  So, we try to fit it all in and work together to let them have those fun experiences to work, serve, and grown talents.  I feel very blessed that they have these opportunities, and we’ll most likely be in the thick of it for a while!

Reunion Time

Reunion was great!   We wanted to get up sooner, but Ang had volleyball tryouts so we had to wait…next year we are going up sooner because it is soooo nice to get away from all the heat and stress and relaaaaax….had a really nice time.

 

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Jack’s cousins set up these fun zip lines and swings for the kids every year.  Even Savannah did it and loved it!  I have the most awesome video of it, but I can never figure out how to download videos.  Maybe I will get Jack to help me… Between that stuff and the merry go round and some games they had for them and just all the beauty and adventure around them, they had a fantastic time.  DSCF0132 DSCF0140 DSCF0150

And smores always helps too..fun reunion.

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Sunday, July 29, 2012

July Adventures

We have had lots of fun this month hanging on to the last few weeks of summer and trying to outsmart or just escape from the heat.  Here’s some proof with a few things we’ve been doing:

Crawdad fishing in Eagar over the 4th! (Savannah was napping so she missed it…)

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Hiking and going to the beach at San Diego…

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Yes my mom got in the water…for about 5 seconds…

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(The older girls were there, they were just in the water so much I forgot to get a picture of them!  I think my mom did though…)

 

We also took the girls to serve in the San Diego temple.

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And back at home we couldn’t miss Chick Fil A’s Cow Appreciation Day where you dress as a cow and get a free meal—we actually went for lunch and dinner—yup, we’re that cheap!  Come on, we have six hungry kids okay!

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We also have frequented many a dollar movie day at the mall….Of course, every time we go I end up buying something at the mall so don’t know if that has really saved us much money…

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And if we get really bored or grumpy from the heat, we can always look at our baby girl and enjoy her sweet smiles.

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And school is starting tomorrow!