Swim Team 2010

Ok, so I thought I'd walk down memory lane just a bit and show a then and now of two of my boys. These two picture were in June 2001.
This is now June 2010. (The boy on the far left below, Ben Brown, is sitting right in front of Spencer in the 2001 picture.) The four boys on the left in the picture below had just won a relay race. They have all been swimming each summer together for the past 10 years.
Waiting for their ribbons after a race
My picture taking at the meets this year was pretty sorry. My camera delayed just enough to get weird action shots. But these are what I've got to work with. Here is Spencer swimming breast stroke.
Taylor swimming freestyle
Spencer swimming butterfly
This video shows a 50 yard freestyle race. Spencer comes in first place and Taylor comes in second.



This is those four boys swimming the medley relay at the Meet of Champs, the last meet of the season with all the fastest swimmers on all the teams from two out of five divisions. Marc Outlaw first swims backstroke, then Ben Brown swims breaststroke. Spencer then jumps in and swims butterfly and Taylor finishes with freestyle. They got first.

This is Spencer swimming the freestyle event at the Meet of Champs here. Our children usually don't get put in the individual races because if they are in the top three, they get slated for the next day at the All Star Meet (which is always on Sunday) with the best of the five divisions. (Relays only swim on Saturday, so the kids participate in those.) And we chose as a family 12 years ago that we wouldn't swim on Sunday. But for some reason, the coach had him swim anyway, and he won! Of course he didn't swim the next day, but that was cool.

Oh Danny Boy

Emily took an 8 week group voice class which ended on May 24th with a show of all the girls singing one of the two songs they worked on individually. They also had a group song. Emily sang Danny Boy and did a great job I thought. Here is our video of it. (If you are reading this in an email, the video won't come up. Click on the link to the blog at the end of the email and you will see it.)

A Spencer Post

Spencer got himself a ukulele and he really likes it. He has learned a few songs on it. It is so little!

On Monday, May 24, he decided to buzz his hair. He liked it at first, but now he is anxious for it to grow a little. I wanted some pictures and he humored me with some silly, attitude poses.

From Cumorah's Hill

Our stake put on a production of Steven Kapp Perry's From Cumorah's Hill. There were over 250 youth, and our stake center was not big enough, so we rented a local high school's auditorium for the event. We had a Saturday performance, and two performances on Sunday night there were so many people who wanted to come! It was a great experience for most. (Talk to Spencer:))Uncle Jeff and Aunt Shelby came out on Sunday just to see it, and left after the first show. Sr. D got roped into being a prophet. He wasn't too enthusiastic at first, but I think he warmed up during the performance. The prophets were a surprise for most of the youth, and they ended up being the hit of the show. Some kids wanted pictures with them, and I think he even gave out an autograph! He played the prophet Mormon and held a really nice replica of the gold plates. In this shot I got him out-of-era, holding something a little lighter and easier to write on! (Poor Mormon! A computer would have made things much easier to abridge!)

Here is the part of the cast that I came to see! (Unfortunately, I didn't do a full body shot, or you would see Mormon's awsome legs!) Here is Brian, Tommy, Taylor and his friend, Marcus Anderson

It was so nice that our cousins came! And I'm so grateful for the church organization and talented people who are willing to share their talents to bless the lives of my family and particularly my children!!So if these videos uploaded successfully, you can see and hear 20 seconds of it. Emily is wearing glasses and is behind a girl with a black necklace. Taylor is at the top with a tuft of hair and his eyes showing. The second video is a mistake. I didn't mean to put this one in. It is the last line of the show, but it cuts off the very last note. Uggh. And Blogger isn't letting me delete it. (Sorry!) So I'll put in the one I meant to do as the third video. It shows Sr. D coming out on the stage and onto the wings with his gold plates. It's a dark video, sorry. (That is if it is successfully uploaded.)

Birthday in Beaumont

On Rachel's birthday we woke up and I decided on the spur of the moment to celebrate with her, so I loaded Emily and Taylor into the car and we headed east! We had a fun day with family! Here is Rachel, sporting her new matching shirt and bag she received from Grandma Scott.

The Beaumont Gusher Marathon

Exactly a week after the wedding, we were in Beaumont, Texas where I ran in a 1/2 marathon. I had been seriously training for 9 weeks and was pumped and ready! (Although the day after we got home from Utah, I got sick and was only feeling better the day before the race.) Here is a picture of my training schedule. I have it taped to a bathroom cabinet door. Uncle Jeff, Rachel and Jared all ran in the Gusher 5-K race and Brian ran the 1/2 marathon like me. (He was a lot faster than his ancient shuffling aunt!:)) Brian finished in just under 2 hours and I finished in 2 hours 35 min.
There were 2,600 people who had signed up to run in either the 5-K, the 1/2 marathon, and the full marathon! I don't know how many of them showed up, but there were a LOT of people! Here I am warming up!

Here is a video we found on YouTube that shows the beginning of the race. You can see me at 1 min 11 sec. on the left. (I can't see Brian, but maybe you can find him. He's ahead of me. It gives you an idea of how many people there were! Only the 1/2 and full marathoners are starting here. The 5-K race started a half hour later.

I did really well through 11 miles, only stopping a couple of times at pit stops to stretch for 30 seconds. The last 2 miles were tough and the last mile I had to walk a couple of times for a minute. But I ran across the finish line with achy knee and hip joints. But I did it and it was really emotional. Shelby hugged me afterwards and she and I cried. I didn't expect to do that, I guess I was overwhelmed that I had accomplished a goal I never thought I'd do!

A Trip to Utah

We decided to make our seemingly annual trek to Utah in April to participate in Aubriana's wedding and to see Heather. We stayed at Aunt Allaire's home and were well taken care of. It was loads of fun to spend time with Ed, Allaire, Alora and Elijah! It snowed just for us and Emily and Taylor loved every minute of the snow while it lasted (2 hours), which wasn't long enough for them!

Ron and Auna's wedding was just beautiful and there was so much family! So good to see so many loved ones!

Alora got baptized and there was a lot of family support for her too! After the baptism, Aunt Alissa celebrated all the birthdays that were within a week from each other. She gave each of us masks and everyone sang the Happy Birthday song. I was able to see Uncle James too and that was so fun!

Pictured from left to right: Tiffany, Alora, Ryan, Daenon, Kylee, and Craig

My camera battery wasn't charged and I did not document our trip like I wished. :( But we had a wonderful vacation! Here is a video clip from the day of the wedding. We all walked across the street from the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, across a green grass and down into a stone amphitheater to take pictures. It was such a cool place!