Daxton's first recital

Daxton responds so well to music that I was so excited when he was old enough to start taking lessons.  He's been working with Owen for a few months now and is thriving.  He practices on his own and just loves the music.  When it came time for his first recital he was very nervous but I couldn't believe how well he handled the pressure.  He only made one small mistake-he jumped up one octave too high-so when he came time to move up again he didn't have anywhere to go!  He kind of shrugged his shoulders and kept going.  I was so proud of him for not panicking.  He may have performed just for the cookies afterwards but I think he actually enjoyed performing too.

 

Spring Formal

Each spring the stakes in our area put together Mormon Prom, also known as Mo Pro or simply Spring Formal.  For the youth it is a great way for them to spend some time together in a way that is a little more wholesome than the school proms. A lot of kids go with dates, but not everyone.  Some kids choose to go in groups of friends which means that more of them have the opportunity to go.  That is what Cambrie and her friends decided to do.  We ordered her dress a month ago to make sure it was going to arrive in time.  Well guess what, it didn't.  So two days before the dance Cambrie and I were driving around like crazy trying to find another dress.  She found this red gown and she just lit up when she tried it on.  Her first comment was "I can totally carry a dagger with this dress."  I guess that means it's a winner!  It made me so happy to see her twirling around in front of the mirror just feeling beautiful.  

We took a couple pictures of her at home before she met up with her friends for dinner at the church.  These girls have been huge blessings in Cambrie's life and I am so, so grateful for them.  

I didn't hear from Cambrie the whole night, which is how it's supposed to be, but I did receive this picture from a friend who was chaperoning.  Being a typical teen, I didn't get many details about the dance, but I hope she enjoyed her evening.  It's hard not to when who look like Gal Gadot!   

Young Mustang Voices

This was Kelton's first year doing choir and he loved it.  He was able to sing with the Young Mustang Voices this spring and is already talking about singing this fall too.  It was fun watching him sing and dance up there with the choreography and his big smile.  

Proud of you kiddo!

The Molly Brown House

Lucky me!  Another field trip!  This time I got to accompany Kelton's class to the Molly Brown House and the State Capital.  My girls have talked about their visits to the Molly Brown House but I have never been.  In fact, I know very little about Colorado history so the whole day was just really fascinating for me.  The Molly Brown house is exactly what it sounds like, the house where Molly Brown lived.  It is right downtown and has been preserved even though most of the surrounding neighborhood has been urbanized.  The home is set up as closely as possible to when Molly would have lived there.  She was an incredible woman who fought for causes she believed in; child labor laws, a youth judicial system, and women's rights.  I loved learning about her.  

(Waiting and singing the courtyard)

We took a walking tour of the neighborhood then ended up at the State Capital.  It reminded me of all of the visits I took to the Utah State Capital as a kid to visit my mom and Grandpa Stratford.  It even smelled the same and I was loving it.  The capital is open to visitors and there were kids and lawmakers filling the halls.  I wish I knew more details about the building to share with my group of kids but I was just happy to be there.

IMTX

Before I knew it I was flying back to Houston for IM Texas.  When I registered for Texas after Kona it was all part of a plan to get me set up for a successful return trip to Kona.  I wanted to win my age group.  But as my winter training progressed...or didn't...we knew that we were going to have to adjust the plan.  Even if I didn't win my age group I still needed to place high enough to secure my Kona slot.  This particular race had a bunch of women slots so I went in thinking that I just needed to place in the top ten and it relieved some of the stress.  Even though my build was not great or traditional in any way, I still went into the race with a fair amount of confidence.  I had just spent 27 hours training on the Texas course. I knew the swim.  I knew the bike.  And most importantly I knew the run.  Because of all that confidence the few days of final race prep were fairly stress free.  

I went running to learn the layout of transition.  

I went to lunch with more Smashfest sisters.  

And I thoroughly enjoyed the peace that comes when you know you've done all you needed to do and there's nothing left but to execute the race.  

Athlete welcome banquet with a preview of Hippie Hollow and a speech from Jocelyn.

I ran into a friend at the athlete briefing and welcome banquet who reminded me that the Houston Temple was only a short drive away.  I didn't have time for a full endowment session, but I did have time for initiatories.  It was so nice to feel my heart and mind just settle.  I was glad that I made time for that.  

Jeremy flew in the night before the race to cheer me on.  He was able to use the Quinn's house as home base during the day, and they even let him borrow a bike so he could hop around the course and see me throughout the day.  The swim was Lake Woodlands.  I had been warned that I shouldn't drink the water, especially because there had been a thunderstorm the day before.  I had a hard time with my sighting and for the first time ran into a kayak on course who had to point me in the right direction.  I ended up swimming more than I needed to.  The final stretch of the swim in down the waterway canal.  There are spectators lining the banks and I could see Jeremy walking next to me as I swam into T1.  I think this picture he took from a bridge is just so cool.  I was first out of the water and thought that was a pretty good way to start my day.  

On the bike I felt really good for the first ten miles or so.  I thought that perhaps I was finally going to have a breakthrough ride.  We rode on a road named Grogan's Mill and the song that kept playing in my head the entire day was "Bill Grogan's Goat" from my grandpa.  It's definitely not a typical pump up type of soundtrack but it was better than nothing. This bike course is not very exciting, it's basically two loops out and back alone the Hardy Toll road-a freeway.  There are no turns, there isn't much to see, and the only elevation are the overpasses.  I was worried about being really bored on the ride but ultimately I kind of enjoyed not having to stress about the road conditions.  Around mile 30 I started to notice my legs were hurting, and not in a normal effort kind of way.  Something was going on with my bike fit and my legs felt like their were seizing up.  I jumped off at mile 40 to do what I could to stretch, but it didn't help.  On the way out there was a headwind and I'm afraid that I adjusted my position to battle it which wasn't good.  It meant there was a tail wind on the way home, but everything still hurt.  I began getting discouraged and could feel my day slipping away with every girl that passed me.  On the second lap I was surrounded by middle of the pack riders and it was such a different vibe.  Jeremy found a way to find me on the bike course and I saw him about five times which I think is one thing that kept me going.  

I knew starting the run that I was going to have to run all of those ladies down.  I've done it in the past and I hoped I could do it again.  I didn't have the run volume I would have liked going into the race.  My longest training run was Oceanside just two weeks earlier, and before that it was only nine miles.  That is not the way to prepare for a marathon.  It was a three loop course and I knew I was probably going to hit a wall about mile 13.  Well, I hit that wall earlier around mile 9.  I took some ibuprofen from my special needs bag and hoped that was going to be enough to help the pain.  It had been a long day by that point and I wasn't very good at responding to Jeremy any more.  I had turned into a running zombie and didn't think about anything.  Around mile 13 I started counting miles.  13, 13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12, 12...  

I had Jeremy giving me positions on course and knew I was sitting about tenth.  I hadn't moved up.  The women in front of me were having too good of a day.  But as I started the third lap he told me that my pace was faster than theirs and if I dug deep I might be able to catch the three ladies ahead of me.  I passed through Hippie Hollow and they were blaring out "Hall of Fame."  That was the final push I needed to bring it home.  My paces went from 8:30 miles to 8:00 miles to 7:30 miles.  My last 10k was a 48:08, and I managed to catch those three women.  I came across that finish line with the strongest running legs I have ever had. I had no idea where that strength came from.  

I was shocked when I looked at my run split and learned that it was a PR marathon time.  I had wanted to walk.  I had wanted to stop the pain.  But I didn't and ended up having a pretty respectable day.  I took 7th in my age group and was the 23rd female (not including pros).

  

Swim 59:37, T1 3:58, Bike 5:41:38, T2 4:07, Run 3:35:10, Overall 10:24:29.

Walking to bike pickup, backwards through Hippie Hollow.  Those guys are rock stars!

My everything.

The next morning Jeremy and I had to change our flight so we could go to the awards ceremony and roll down.  While I wanted to be up on that podium the quality of women who showed up that day was phenomenal.  I would have had to had some type of insane day to knock 45 minutes off my time to take that top spot.  As it was I legitimately secured my spot back to Kona.  They called my name.  I received my lei.  And I walked up there with my head held high for a day well done.

Oh, Bob

Oh, Bob.  About a month ago sweet Bob started getting sick.  McKenzie could hear him wheezing when he breathed and he was starting to lose his appetite.  For our chubby Bob-o-fat that was very unusual.  We took him up to the vet clinic at CSU and they gave us two diagnosis: he could have a respiratory infection or he could have cancer.  If it was just an infection then antibiotics should help.  If it was cancer then there wasn't much they could do.  The sent us home with antibiotics and pain killers and we hoped they would do the trick.  The medicine seemed to help for awhile.  He started eating some specialty soft food and his breathing seemed to be a little better.  McKenzie was the perfect nurse making sure he had everything he needed to be comfortable.  But unfortunately it wasn't enough.  Bob died and we were all so sad to see the little guy go.  Time for a trip down memory lane,

Here's a picture from when McKenzie and Cambrie learned they were getting a hedgehog.

The day she got to see him for the first time.

Celebrating McKenzie's birthday.

The kids introducing him to his new home and building a maze for him.

Bath time!

Grumpy face.

Enjoying his Christmas present.

When Moki came into the picture it didn't take long for the two of them to become friends.  

Watching them play under the couch together was hysterical.

Bye little guy.  We're going to miss you.

Blustery Day at the Zoo

I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the chaperones for Daxton's field trip.  As I watched the weather forecast throughout the week I was worried we wouldn't be able to go because it was supposed to be cold and very wet.  It wasn't wet enough to cancel so we just wore our coats and warm shoes.  When McKenzie heard at breakfast that I was taking Daxton to the zoo she asked if she could come to because she honestly couldn't remember the last time she had been to the zoo.  Ok, why not.  I called the school to excuse her absence and she drove down with me.  There were enough chaperones on the trip that I only had one other girl in my group.  Despite it being just the two of them, she talked like four other children so we were kept busy.  

We tried to strategize our visit to hit as many indoor exhibits as possible.  We even ate our lunch on the floor of the tropics house.  

Because of the rain many of the animals were in their indoor enclosures and we had to do a bit of hunting to find them.  However the lions, zebras, and penguins were very accommodating.  

I love finding the animals.  I love watching the wonder on the kids' faces.  I loved watching McKenzie take her own photos and smiling just as much as Daxton.  I loved watching the two of them interact and was hit again with just how grateful I am for the love my kids have for each other.  I'm thinking I need to take my kids to the zoo more often because it is just clean and simple goodness.