More Than Just a Helper

Nick and Hailey have always enjoyed being in the kitchen helping me cook. Up to this point, Nick has enjoyed it a little more than Hailey. But on Sunday, Hailey made our lasagna & garlic bread for Sunday dinner and it was delicious!!!! I realized from that, that she is more than just a "helper" in the kitchen...she can actually be the COOK! 

She cut up the entire watermelon too! I was sure a finger would be sliced along with the watermelon, but nope, not even a close call. :)

Another Athlete in the Family

About a month ago, Janet (Hailey's best friend Shaylee's mom) called Hailey and asked if she would be interested in doing a Youth Triathlon with Shaylee, and because Hailey loves Shaylee and Janet so much she said YES! She was pretty nervous about it yesterday and when I told her we wanted to come watch she told us not to because she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of us. :) It was in Kamas so I didn't argue too much with her since that's quite the drive and I knew she'd prefer to go with her friend since I would've too at her age. But as awesome mother's do, Janet took LOADS of pictures for us so between those and the stories from Hailey and Shaylee, I feel as if I was there. :) Next time I WILL be there!!!

 On the way up...they look pretty chipper for 6:30 or so on a Saturday morning.

 They've got their numbers and are ready to go. Janet participated in the Adult Triathlon which was double what the girls did...GO JANET!!!!!

 Hailey was pretty nervous for the run...it's what she's done the least of this summer. Shaylee is a GREAT runner so Hailey was thinking she was going to be left in the dust. The order was run, bike, swim so she was hoping to catch up on the other two events.

 She looks pretty happy for running...I don't think I've ever run anywhere with that kind of smile on my face. :) As expected Shaylee was pretty far ahead in the run.

 On to the biking...

 Notice the two coming in together. :) Shaylee told me she was pretty far ahead of Hailey starting the biking but near the end of the ride she heard, "Hey Beebs" and she turned around and there was Hailey.:)

 Stripping down and heading for the pool...yes there's a swimsuit under there. :)

 Now she's totally in her element coming off of 2 months of swim team.

 Coming across the finish line!!! Woooohoooooo

 They did it!!!

 Hailey took 3rd, Shaylee took 4th and Shaylee's cousin Peyton took 6th in their age group!!!!!

                                                           THESE GIRLS ROCK!!!!!

I LOVE...

...this picture!!! (So I stole it from Heather's blog and put it on my own.)

Back to School 2012

Where did the summer go???

I cannot believe the kids are going back to school!!!

These two are not excited about it either so that makes it even harder. 

The process of getting everything organized for classes just about puts Nick over the edge every year and this year was no exception. He cares so much about his grades, classes, etc. that it creates tons of anxiety leading into the new year. But once we got all the supplies purchased and organized and he had everything he needed for each class he was able to breathe again. :) Next year I'm seriously considering getting him some Valium before the first two days of school. :) 

 Hailey on the other hand has already asked me if she can drop out of school and be a bum. :) She feels like she is educated enough and it's not worth the headache. :)

 I love these kiddos and I wish them the best school year ever!!!! :)

1/2 Marathon

Brian ran a new half marathon this year...the Hobblecreek Half. He was a little nervous about it because he had only run outside twice since his marathon, but he had been running a little bit in the gym. But he ended up rocking this run!!!! He finished in about an hour and 49ish minutes so he was pleased based on his minimal training. He also talked his buddy into running it with him and Jeff was VERY anxious about it because he had never run more than about 8 miles before he signed up for this race. He did end up getting a 10 mile run in before the race but was still pretty nervous about it. He did AWESOME...ran it in just under two hours!

Right after the race Jeff said he will NEVER do this again...we'll see. :)

Girls Camp

Girls camp was a blast this year. We went to Bear Lake the first day/night and then on to a cabin in Idaho for the next two nights. It is so much fun to spend this time with these girls and get to know them better. It's also fun to spend time with some of the funnest women around and laugh till our guts hurt! And it was AWESOME being in a cabin rather than a tent!!! :)

 It's awesome to be able to go to camp with my daughter! She asked me beforehand to treat her like any other girl there (which is an understandable request from a 13 year old) so I tried hard to do just that. I asked other girls to do the assignments I needed help with and I let other leaders ask Hailey to do the things they needed her to do. It honestly made for a very peaceful time because I understand that it's hard to be one of the leader's daughter's. All the other girls get to be "parent free" for a few days so I get that Hailey didn't want a mom nagging at her the whole time. It ended up being GREAT and I love my daughter more than words can express!!!!

 Of course we barely slept the whole time we were there and Hailey had to come straight home and go to volleyball tryouts. Within minutes of being home from tryouts she was crashed on the couch completely out. I think she stayed just like this for at least 2-3 hours.