February bits

February has been crazy, which is weird for a February.  Here are some of the other random moments at home:

Kelton is loving young men's.  He gets to hang out with his friends every week and they've had some really fun activities so far.  One night they threw a surprise party for one of the boys and got to attack a pinata.

Kelton is finally old enough to go with his sisters to the temple.  I had to stay home with Daxton this night, but his sisters made sure that he knew the ropes on what to expect while he was there.

This is like a case of "who wore it better," but instead it's "who posed it better?"

There was a woodpecker on my run one morning.  And while it's not the same as the beach, I'm trying to find joyous moments here too.  For some reason I'm attracted to woodpeckers and love when I find them.

Can you believe that spring soccer season has started?  The boys had a couple of intro practices this week, and it made me ridiculously happy to see them playing in the dark with only headlights lighting the field.  This will be an interesting season.  Kelton's team won every game last year so they were promoted to a higher league.  Daxton's team lost every game and his coach quit.  So the club had to frantically find a replacement.  To our delight, it's Kelton's coach.  I'm hoping that their team was relegated to a more appropriate league and that Coach Ish can work the same magic with Daxton's team that he did with Kelton's.  Really, I just want the boys to have fun out there.  Winning helps though.

Teacher Appreciation Night

Our stake has a really cool tradition where the graduating seniors get to nominate a teacher or a coach from their academic career, and honor them at a special event.  Cambrie didn't have to think very hard about one of her favorite teachers, Mr. Booren.  He teaches world history at the high school and Cambrie loved his class.  Every day they would greet each other with a new dad joke. I'm in awe they were able to keep that up all year.  When they were studying the Russian czars he dressed up as Rasputin.  He would also occasionally sport liberty spikes and Cambrie thought that any teacher who had that kind of style would be worth listening to.  Some of the teachers have been nominated before, but this was Mr. Booren's first year (and ours), and it made for a pretty special night.  Even though Cambrie is hesitant any time she has to step in the spotlight, she was ultimately really glad she had the chance to recognize this incredible man who helped her more than I think he knows.

San Diego slice of heaven

Our travel gymnastics meet this year was to San Diego.  Honestly, it couldn't have been a more perfect trip.  McKenzie and I were the only ones to go, and it was so special being able to only travel with this incredible girl.  Since she was the one running the show, it was also up to her to determine the itinerary.  We would hang out with her gymnastics friends when times aligned, but when it was just us, McKenzie could choose what we did.  She chose the beach every time.  It's still winter in San Diego so it's not like the water or the air was particularly warm, but the sunshine and the sand were so therapeutic!  We walked up and down the shore looking for sand dollars.  We found a couple small ones that were mostly whole, and plenty of other pieces of them.  

We also found some creatures still living in their shells (Well chosen creatures.  You chose beautiful homes.)  

When we were tired of walking we just laid out and played pinochle on our phones. 

 At one point during our wanderings we found the old Belmont roller coaster.  The best part was that we could buy a few rides tokens and give it a whirl.  That was a seriously brain-rattling coaster, but it made us laugh so hard!  We had to rest in between rides just because it was so wild, but we definitely rode it more than once.  

For lunch we found an adorable cafe that served acai bowls.  Eating those bowls while lounging in the shade with views of the palm trees and beach...a slice of heaven.  

We weren't just in San Diego for beach time though, McKenzie had a meet!  She competed Friday evening so we tried hard not to wear her out before her competition.  She had a solid first three apparatuses.  I was proud of her for putting together such a great meet.  Then she went and pulled out a 9.3 on vault and I lost my mind!  Her vault looked like it did before her accident, and her smile after she saluted was one of the most beautiful things I saw all weekend.  

She ended up tying for second place with that score, took 6th on bars, beam, and AA.  

Her team also took 3rd!

Coming home with four medals was a great win for her.  

The next day we went to cheer on the rest of her teammates...

 then played at the hotel pool.  To clarify, she played in the pool and hot tub with her friends, while I stayed huddled around the fireplace because it still wasn't very warm. 

While she took advantage of the dark hotel room in the morning, I took advantage of the beach paths and went for a few runs.  I didn't know I was feeling a little vitamin D deprived until those runs.  The breeze, the palm trees, the sun, the waves, the beach...I came home feeling healed.  I find myself wondering why we don't go visit the beach during winter more often.

So this is powder

Once a year we like to rent a condo up in the mountains so we can enjoy a couple days of ski in/ski out convenience.  This year we timed our trip perfectly with a huge snow storm that dumped 2-3 feet of fresh powder.  I couldn't believe our luck that we were going to have such amazing snow, so we decided to take advantage of it.  

We immediately headed up the Bergman to make fresh tracks down those bowls.  The kids have never skied powder this deep and it took a little getting used to.  I've only skied powder like this once in my entire life, and never in Colorado.  We just floated down the runs with each turn.  Poof, poof, poof.  It was like skiing on a cloud.  After we tracked out the open runs we worked our way into the trees on the far side.  It was so fluffy and fun!  It was also really hard work skiing in that much snow.  Daxton and McKenzie had to rest in the lodge early, but Jeremy was going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming off that mountain.  

At lunch we finally went in for food and we realized just how tired we were.  We spend the rest of the afternoon on our more familiar runs and had just as much fun there as we did at the top of the mountain.  

That night we sat in the hot tub trying to save our tired legs, played Apples to Apples, and watched Spider-Man.  We were thoroughly enjoying the fact that we were not stuck on I-70 waiting for the Eisenhower Tunnels to reopen (for the fourth day in a row during ski traffic time). 

Group photo at the top of the mountain.

The next day we were shocked that we had another foot of fresh snow!  Wahoo!  During our warm up run Daxton fell on one of the runs and completely disappeared.  It was so funny seeing him buried like that on a run that is normally completely groomed.

This time we went all the way over to Wolverine to enjoy those trees.  Last time we were on that run both boys were lost and I thought we'd have to send in ski patrol.  This time we didn't have that problem.  Daxton was still getting lost in the snow drifts, and at one point he had a fall that had him literally hanging upside down from a tree by his boot, but other than that we were good!  

Kelton really wanted to hike to some of the upper bowls.  So my mom started working her way over to the lodge for lunch while Jeremy, Kelton, and I hiked.  Guess what, I still hate hiking.  I had hoped that the fresh snow would be enough of a distraction, but it wasn't.  The bowl down was so soft though.  It's hard to beat making fresh tracks.  

The rest of the day I was beat.  Cambrie and Kenzie had to leave early to get her home for gymnastics, so it was the four of us plus my mom again.  I don't know what super powers Kelton gained this last year but I could not keep up with him any more.  He kept dashing into the trees and would fly through them.  The deep snow wasn't even a problem for him and he was not tiring.  I, on the other hand, was reduced to tears because I had skied so hard.  (Skiing with tears in your goggles is not a safe way to ski).  I didn't want to leave though because the boys were having such an incredible time.  They never get to play like they were in that snow, and I didn't want to cut it short.  

I learned a few things this trip: 

#1-Powder is so much more fun than frozen runs, but you pay for it.

#2-I finally experienced what it's like to be tired when skiing, and now I have a lot more compassion for McKenzie when she just needs a break.

#3-I'm getting old and I'm not invincible.

#4-I am officially being out-skied by my 11-year-old son.

#5-We need to get him up here a lot more frequently.

The Lickety Split

Back in November I laid my eyes on the most beautiful bike while we were in Arizona.  Since I did so well, Jeremy decided to ask the shop owners if they'd be willing to sponsor me and help me with my next season.  Surprisingly they said yes and I ended up with both a new sponsor, and a new bike!  We purchased the bike frame on that trip, then I spent the next few weeks choosing every other component on my bike to personalize it for me.  It took longer than I thought, but everything arrived and I could finally fly down to pick it up!  It was a crazy quick trip where I flew down and back to Arizona in one day, but I couldn't be more excited.  

The bike is beautiful and just feels fast.  I can't wait to show up with this speedy machine on race day feeling like I actually belong among those other amazing professional women.  I've named it the Lickety Split, simply because it makes me happy, it sounds like it could still be a dessert (Cambrie was rooting for Key Lime Pie), and it's speedy.  Now it's time to get my legs strong enough to make this bike fly.

  

Happy Birthday Jer!

Happy Birthday Jeremy!  He insisted he didn't want a big deal for his party this year so we kept things really simple.  The two of us went out to lunch and I made him a cake. I don't think it's possible to be more low-key than that.  

The chocolate cherry cake was delicious, but I think he may have enjoyed his present more.  He got a new therapy gun and the boys wanted to treat him to a special night of massage.  They spent nearly twenty minutes massaging him and making him feel relaxed. 

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday-Chiefs vs. the Eagles.  Honestly, I was a little torn on who to cheer for.  Last year we had so much fun cheering for the Chiefs.  But having lived in Philadelphia for four years I have a soft spot for the Eagles too.  Ultimately our house ended up being split.  

It was fun watching the game, but it was almost like the Chiefs didn't show up.  What I enjoyed watching even more than the game, was all of the kids playing.  Jacob came over to hang out with us.  When the boys have a big brother figure show up at the house they treat him like a big brother instantly.  

There was wrestling, nerf battles, trampoline games, and a bunch of other shenanigans going on.  So the game was on, food was everywhere, but the real party was just everyone rough housing for two hours.  It was fabulous.