Mustang Mile

Cambrie's school big fundraiser is the Mustang Mile every year.  The kids all get to run around the peanut and when they get to the end there is a festival waiting for them.  We had a beautiful week of sunshine until the day of the race on Friday when the temperatures dropped and it drizzled all day.  We couldn't believe our luck.  We dug out the sweatpants and sweaters to keep cozy and hoped for the best.  Last year was very chaotic because I didn't realize the parents could run with their kids.  I tried running back and forth in sandals while trying to take pictures and carrying a two-year-old.  This year I was better prepared.  I wore my tennis shoes and strapped up the two younger kids in the stroller.  Cambrie lined up with the other first graders and I thought she changed her mind about wanting me to run with her.  She started out really fast so McKenzie, Kelton and I took a short-cut to meet her 1/3 of the way on her run.  

We snapped a few pictures then joined her in the fray.  The rest of the run has a slight uphill and Cambrie was a trooper as she ran almost the whole way around.  

After giving Principal Haviland a high-five she ran under the finish arch and raised her arms in triumph.  

She had such a good time.  After all the kids finished we headed inside the school where the festival had been moved.  It was crazy to say the least.  I don't think the school is supposed to hold that many parents and children.  The girls had fun though and that was all that mattered.  Cambrie is already talking about joining the fun run club next year so she can do even better on the Mustang Mile when it comes again.  It was a great event.

Tummy Time

This is Kelton during "tummy time."  The little guy doesn't like it very much so he doesn't spend much time there.  But when he is there I think it is funny to watch him.  He goes cross-eyed looking at the patterns on his mat.  

His feet raise when he tries to lift his head.  

His eyebrows raise and gives him some funny expressions.   

But my favorite part of tummy time is when he succeeds in lifting his head because he has the proudest expression on his face.  "Look mom!  I did it!  I did it!" 

  

Cannibalistic Tomato

Imagine my surprise when I pulled out one of our garden tomatoes from the fridge only to find that another tomato had reached it first!

Donut dilema

McKenzie eats donuts the same way she eats cupcakes-she eats the frosting and leaves the rest.  It doesn't work as well with donuts simply because she has to find a way to not eat the hole in the center.  Tricky conundrum huh?

Deluge

Colorado has had a bit of a rain problem the last few days.  We have received the equivalent to 100 inches of snow in the last 24 hours (as of Wednesday).  Our family has not had any problems because of it, although there are some in the state who haven't been as lucky.  In fact, until news reports started coming in today (Friday) we just marveled at how wet it has been.  Now I'm feeling a little bit guilty that so many people are having so many problems while we weren't affected at all and have been having a good time in the puddles.  Driving around Wednesday night, the girls and I found as many puddles as we could to splash through.  Then when we came home and I dared the girls to stand in the rain without an umbrella...gasp!  It took a little convincing but they eventually stood in the rain.  Once they were good and wet, Cambrie grabbed her bouncy ball and started bouncing through the puddles on the sidewalk.  

I wish they had a ball big enough to support me because that looked like a blast.  But instead I stood on the porch with Kelton taking pictures.  

While McKenzie was out on one of her runs I heard her start screaming her terrified "something is really wrong" cry.  I rushed out into the rain with Kelton to find McKenzie perched on top of the ball screaming because of the worms on the sidewalk.  Granted, they were seven inch worms, but up until then I had no idea that McKenzie has a terrible fear of earthworms.  

Across the street we have the neighborhood retention basin.  Normally it is just a grassy depression but because of all the rain it became a full pond.  We have never seen it so full so Jeremy and the kids did what any dad and his daughters would do at 8:00 at night in the middle of a rain storm...put on their swimming suits and go wading.  McKenzie was scared that she would step on a worm and Cambrie was afraid that fish were going to swim past her legs.  With some "gentle encouragement" the girls eventually got wet up to their chins then begged for a warm bath.  Can't say I blame them.  

(I took this picture of the retention basin the next morning to see how full it really was)

Today it is sunny and frankly...it's weird to see the sun again.  It's just so bright!  The soft lighting of the past four days is gone, at least for now.  I will miss that.  But it's about time the state dries off, so I can't say I miss the rain quite yet.  

Here are some pictures from around our neighborhood that were taken after we were sent home from church before they closed the roads.  

There is a walking path under that river that we take on bike rides to the park.

This tunnel is under Zuni.  The girls love riding through the tunnel on the left because it makes great echoes.  I think they would be pretty covered if they tried to go through it now.

This tunnel is under 136th.  I run through that far tunnel to access some great running trails.  It had a really strong current from the drainage basin above it overflowing.

Kelton's Blessing

Since all of our family members (minus Elder Johnson) were in Utah this weekend, we decided to bless Kelton in South Jordan.  Jeremy performed the blessing with our brothers and dads joining him in the circle.  It was the most blessing-appropriate sacrament meeting I have ever been to.  The hymns were "Families Can Be Together Forever," "Love One Another," and "Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth."  The speakers spoke on the Proclamation of the Family and focuses on the responsibilities parents have to perform their predestined duties and raise righteous children.  I don't know if it was coordinated that way on purpose or if it was just a coincidence, but I truly enjoyed it.  I feel like there is extra responsibility when raising a son.  He needs to learn to be responsible, to work hard, to respect women, to honor his priesthood, and be ready to provide for his family.  Jeremy learned a lot of wonderful things from his dad on being a good man, and I hope Kelton can learn the same thing from his dad.  

We had a lot of family come to celebrate with us and we ate a lite luncheon at Leesa's house.  I was very grateful that she was able to host it since our home was hundreds of miles away :)  Having lots of family there also meant there were lots of people who wanted to hold Kelton and share their love.  

Our family

The Rogers family

The Johnson family (Faye had decided it was definitely nap time)

Kelton and his little cousin

Cambrie playing Legos with her cousins...her idea of heaven!

Instead of encouraging Kelton to smile like Jeremy, Jeremy decided to smile like Kelton.

I have decided babies are just irresistible.  

  

Yuba Triathlon

Jeremy just finished his last triathlon of the season and I am so proud of him.  Earlier this summer his brother-in-law, Brody, invited him to do it with him.  Besides 7-month pregnant Alysha, the entire King clan raced: mom, dad, both sisters, and another brother-in-law.  The large racing team meant there was a large support group: Bruce, Leesa, Dantley, my girls, Alysha, and myself.  I loved it because it meant my girls were supervised the entire time while I ran around getting pictures of the racers and was completely free to cheer them on.  The girls loved it because they could throw huge rocks in the water with Uncle D.

The race started early so you may notice sleep in everyone's eyes.  

And Kelton, well, he was free to sleep through the entire race.  

Jeremy picked up a new wetsuit for his races and is excited because he thinks it makes him look like an X-Men.  He has trained so much this summer that he is in excellent shape and I don't think he needs his wetsuit to look like an X-Men.  

Brody and Jeremy getting ready for the swim.  

The last two swims have not gone Jeremy's way.  He has hyperventilated because of nerves, cold water, and the adrenaline of the race.  His goal this race was to be able to swim freestyle longer than 30 seconds-which he is perfectly capable to doing.  I watched him as well as I could in the sea of yellow caps and it looked like he was doing better than before.  

I simply couldn't tell and waited for his reaction when he came out of the water. In the transition area he looked positive after his swim (I breathed a sigh of relief) and then he jumped on his bike for his strongest leg, the bike.  His goal the whole summer was to beat Brody. A little competition is good for the boys.  The bike was where he hoped to catch him.  

So as he started on the 12.4 mile ride I sat down to wait to see them appear, hopefully with Jeremy in the lead.  Brody did in fact pass me first but Jeremy was only about a minute behind so I was feeling pretty confident that he was on track for where he wanted to be.  

Before the race Jeremy mentioned that he was going to go really strong on his run.  It was possible he could completely fall apart but it was a risk he was willing to take.  When I saw Jeremy come through first on the last stretch I had a huge grin on my face.  There is nothing better than seeing your spouse and best friend accomplish what they set out to do.  

I ran down to the finish line to give him a congratulatory kiss and was surprised to see a very discouraged look on his face.  Come to find out, he had taken off his timing chip in order to peel off his wetsuit and had forgotten to put it back on.  We didn't know if he would get a final time or not and we no longer knew any of his splits.  It was an intense wait for the results and we were both very relieved to see that they did in fact give him a final time.  While Jeremy had a chance to catch his breath, the rest of the cheering section waited for the King clan.  We had a lot of people to cheer for and it was fun watching for them along the course.  

After all was said and done, Jeremy came in 6th in his age division and improved a ton from the previous races.  He said this race was particularly tricky because of loose gravel roads, cattle crossings, and hilly terrain, but he still enjoyed himself.  He is feeling at a loss now because he doesn't have another race to train for.  He mentioned the possibility of doing at 1/2 Ironman next year...I guess it's time to keep training!  

Proud Parent

I just want to take a moment to brag about my kids...because I can...because it's my blog!  It has been a good week to be a parent.  

~Kelton is smiling and rolling half-way over.
~McKenzie's gymnastics teacher came up to me after her class and said that she was really good.  She always has McKenzie go first to demonstrate for the other kids.  She also has McKenzie do more difficult moves than the other kids in her class.  If the other kids are jumping down the trampoline, McKenzie is jumping with straight legs and arms high in the air or doing straddle jumps.  If the other kids are inching across the balance beam, McKenzie is walking with straight legs and arms in the air.  If the other kids are simply jumping off an apparatus, McKenzie is doing a perfect stick-it.  It is really fun to watch her.
~McKenzie is also the only kid in her preschool class who can write her name.  The other kids are still doing scribbles.
~Cambrie's piano teacher wants her to switch to a different lesson book series because it does a better job at preparing them for competitive play.  (I hadn't even considered it but maybe Cambrie will want to do that). She said that Cambrie is doing really, really well and is one of her best students.  She can't believe how fast Cambrie is progressing.
~Cambrie's 1st grade teacher sent me an email saying that her writing shows concepts that the rest of the class is just barely starting to introduce.  On their assessments last week she also had Cambrie read a more advanced book because she could read the standard book so easily.
~Cambrie is reading the scriptures by herself for family scripture study.  She is reading entire verses pretty fluently.

Yup, a good week of praise for my little munchkins :)

McKenzie's first day of preschool

McKenzie finally started preschool today.  She has been waiting for her turn for years and now it is here.  

I am doing the Mother Goose program with four of her friends: Addi, Madison, Merrick, and Izzy.  I did it with Cambrie and was really happy to be able to spend some time teaching her and learning with her before she disappeared into the public school system all day.  It felt really strange getting two girls ready for school today.  Luckily I have an hour or so after dropping off Cambrie to dropping off McKenzie so it's not super rushed.  But it still felt strange dropping off my littler girl at school.  I had a couple hours with just one kid again spent the whole time alternating between thinking how easy it was with one, to worrying about both of them at school.  When I picked her up she was so happy.  She couldn't wait to show me the family tree she made today and sing me the nursery rhyme they learned.  She was the snack helper today and they ate cheese puffs.  She thought that was the coolest thing ever.  I also saw that she is the only kid in the class that can write her name.  I was surprised because I haven't worked a lot with her one-on-one, but she must have picked up a lot from Cambrie.  I hope that she likes learning as much as her sister.  Good luck in preschool sweetie :)

Elk Creek

We decided to take the family camping for Labor Day weekend.  We hadn't reserved a spot earlier simply because we didn't know if Kelton could handle it or not.  So when it came time to find a place everything was booked.  We put our name on a wait list at Elk Creek and kept our fingers crossed.  Luckily for us there was a cancellation and we were able to go camping!  The drive to the campground was simply breath taking.  We drove through Rocky Mountain National forest and I was so impressed with the view.  The road climbed up to 12,200 feet along step cliffs and across precarious ridges before dropping back down to forested land.  We were in a hurry to get to the campground before it became too dark so we didn't stop at any of the lookouts along the way, but we fixed that on the return trip.

Since we came straight from Jeremy's race we had a couple tired kids.  

Once we arrived at Elk Creek I was very surprised to see ten families from the other ward up there.  I had forgotten that last year they all came up together for the weekend and realized that they were now making this trip a tradition.  It was great for the girls because suddenly they had all of their best friends to play with for the weekend.  We set up camp in the rain and hoped the weather would clear in time for dinner.  We got lucky and didn't have to eat in the rain, but it meant going to bed fairly early.  

Kelton hung out inside the tent during the rain.  Take a good look at his cute little face because it's the last picture we have of him before he sunburned the next day.  

I was nervous about keeping us all warm through the night since the temperatures were supposed to drop into the 40's, but we were all fine and even Kelton only woke up to eat.  The next morning was chilly but the girls didn't care.  They were off on a mission to play with their buddies as early as possible.  

After awhile we gathered everyone up and went hiking to Adam's Falls with the group.  It was a short hike that passed a waterfall and ended at a little pond.  At first everyone was concerned about staying dry as they walked along the shore.  

But it didn't take long before kids started getting their feet wet, 

then wading up to their knees, 

then ultimately wading in up to their necks as they played.  Cambrie's triplet friends, Carrie, Sara, and Abby were little daredevils.  Abby and her little brother swam from shore to shore with a $5 bribe from their dad.  Carrie went next followed by Sara.  Cambrie was right there watching them when she decided she would do it too.  Of course a $5 bribe from their dad helped too.  She struggled with the decision to get in but finally decoded to do it and she too swam across the icy pond.  It was a cold, wet hike back to the car.  

Just as the girls changed into warm clothes and started playing back at camp, it rained.  I think every child in camp went through three pairs of clothes that afternoon in a futile attempt to stay dry.

After lunch McKenzie and I were headed to the sink to wash our dishes when I looked to my left and saw a huge moose 15 feet away happily chomping on the trees.  We quickly and carefully turned back to get the camera.  It didn't take long for the campers to gather and admire the moose.  Apparently moose come through the campground almost daily but the just eat and pass through.  We grew more comfortable having him there as we realized he really wasn't going to disturb anybody.  

The girls went back to the campsite to continue digging their hole and Jeremy and I continued to admire the moose.  

Jeremy commented that the moose was on a path straight towards our tent.  I looked and saw that Kelton was laying right in the moose's path.  It was time for us to vacate our spot.  We picked up, moved to the other side of the clearing, and continued watching the moose as he stepped around our chairs, over the girls bikes, and to the back of our tent looking for yummy food.  I think our tent blocked his customary path because he tried to find a way around our tent before giving up and going a different way.  It was definitely an experience.  

While at camp Jeremy was able to go on a couple of mountain bike rides on some winding trails. 

I went running with Vanessa and Kim to a pond covered in lily pads and came back to find our path crowded by a baby moose and its parent.  The girls rode their bikes through camp, played on the playground with friends, splashed in the stream, blew bubbles, and generally had a good time.  At least I assume so since I hardly saw them at all during the day :)  

The tundra was absolutely gorgeous!  I felt like I belonged in some Lord of the Rings movie with this scenery.  And I am ashamed to admit that it didn't take me as long as I thought it would to wrap my baby boy up in a pink blanket...it was the only one readily available and it was really windy.  

Another elevation shot.

The girls were really concerned about following the rules about not stepping on the tundra plant life.  

Here they are showing me how fast 100 mph goes.  

My girls at 12,000 feet.

Cambrie wanted a silly face picture with the forest below.  

McKenzie had to go to the bathroom and we told her to hold it.  This is her "holding it."  Brings a smile to my face every time I see it.  It really was a great way to spend the weekend.