Saturday, June 10, 2023

McDowell Mountain Frenzy

For many years, I did the McDowell Mountain Frenzy 25K.  It was one of my favorite and most challenging races as well as where my eyes were opened to the beauty of the desert.  But life got busy and I just didn't have the time to train as much as needed to nor would the day of the race usually be available.  But when Hannah caught the racing bug, I suggested we run the 10 mile.  We trained the distance but didn't spend as much time running on the trails as we should have.  That did not affect Hannah but I definitely felt it.  This race is well supported but it suggests you carry your own water, which I did.  But Hannah decided to leave me, which I encouraged her to do, thinking she would get water at the aid stations.  Although, the aid stations did have water, they did not have cups for the water.  So Hannah ran 10 miles on a moderately challenging trail with no food or water and she killed it!  She completed the race in a time of 1:50:57 and finished 17th in the female category.  I finished in 2:01:22 and ranked 23rd in the female category.

 



* race was December 3, 2022

Thursday, June 8, 2023

Christian's Golden Birthday

Christian turned 13 on the 13th!  For his birthday, he skipped school and Chuck and I took him to Mongolian BBQ for lunch.  (Mongolian BBQ is a family favorite but there just wasn't an evening when we could all go together). 

For his party, he had four friends over for dinner (pizza) and cake (mint chip ice cream) and then they went to Bam Kazam which is an amusement center that challenges you physically and mentally.  


Noah Landreth, Christian, Aidan Coronella
Mavrick Socha, Davis Farnsworth



I can not believe our baby is a teenager!  He is weighing in at 104 and measuring just under 5'1.  He is so ready to have his growth spurt.  Christian is such a great kid.  He is smart, handsome, creative, imaginative, and fun.  But he also has a grumpy side and an impatient side, especially with his brother and sister.  He loves to watch TV and play video games.  He got a phone for Christmas and can often be heard giggling at the reels he is watching (or showing them to me).  He is still playing baseball and the piano.  He does not like school as much as he did last year and no longer says math is his favorite subject, but he continues to excel and make straight A's.  He continues to love Legos.  He loves to buy and build sets, but he also is quite creative on his own.  If he has a good book, he might choose to read over watch TV.  He enjoyed several of the books required at school and he is currently reading the Fablehaven series on his own and he and his dad are reading one of the Rick Riordan series together.  But life has been so busy, that nightly reading seems to have become a thing of the past. 

We love Christian and are so blessed to have him as part of our family!

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Girls Trip to Denver

Hannah and I took a trip to Denver during the Christmas break to visit Charity.  Charity has a cute little condo that was very comfortable to stay in.  She had lots of things planned for us to do, but we also had a good bit of down time.  



It did snow while we were there.  I did not venture out to run, but I did see two or three people out for a run one day, one without a shirt on!



We went to the Denver Museum of Art


Although the snow may be beautiful at first, we decided the mess it makes on the roads is not worth it.



We went to a place called Meow Wolf.  I don't know what to say about Meow Wolf other than do NOT go.  What a waste of money, and a lot of it.


We grabbed lunch at the first Chipotle.

We went to tea one day and had a good meal, but more importantly the desserts were amazing.  

We also looked around the world's largest REI.

Charity and Hannah went to the botanical gardens to look at lights.

It was great to see Charity and spend time with her.  Our trip was just the right among of time.  It's fun to see explore and experience different cities, but overall, Hannah and I don't have the desire to live in Denver.

Monday, May 29, 2023

Merry Christmas!










It was a quiet Christmas at home this year (just like I like it).  Life is so busy that we didn't do a lot of pre-Christmas activities but we did decorate graham cracker houses with the Hamblins and Hatches.  We opened presents in the morning, went to church and had family dinner that evening.

I am so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  For his birth, example, teachings and Atonement.  It is always fun to give and receive gifts, but we need to remember that the greatest gift ever given was the Savior and I can't imagine my life without him.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Fall Sports - Football, Swim, Cross Country & Baseball

Cameron - Football

Oh so many things to say about this football season!  After Cameron stood on the side lines a lot during the summer 7 on 7 passing league, we started the year with a one on one with the coach.  We asked, in not so many words, if Cameron would get playing time.  Of course he gave us the expected answers (insert eye roll).  We also asked if it would be possible for him to spend time going to "the lab" which is an opportunity for long snappers and kickers to work with former pro players who do it out of the goodness of their hearts and not for money.  Again, we got the expected answer.  Cameron was expected to always practice with the team (insert another eye roll).  He was told he needed to enroll for weight training, so he did.  But as it turned out, all the football players enrolled for first hour.  Cameron was not able to take first hour weight training because it was the only time band was offered for him.  However, the football players did not lift weights during first hour, they lifted before school.  Cameron had planned on lifting during his sixth hour until he was told (in not so many words) that he would not get to play if he did not attend weight training before school (yes, insert another eye roll).  So he decided to go to weight training before school.  Practice was after school usually until 7pm or so.  So, yes, it was a very long day but no one seemed to care.  The team went down a division this year and did very well.   The finished the season 9-1. They often beat the other teams by 50+ points.  Because they scored so many touch downs, Cameron did get to snap a lot.  He also got to play tight end.  But the coach often kept the first string in and ran up the score.  Yeah, we weren't big fans of the coach.  They ended the season as Regional Champions and secured a spot in the playoffs.



















blond for playoffs

The playoffs did not go so well.  They were beat in the first game 14-17 by a team ranked #14 when they were ranked #3.  I love Cameron and I love his passion for football, but I was so happy the season was over!




In addition to the rewards above, Cameron also received an Honorable Mention as an Elite Scholar athlete.  He was mad because he is "actually taking honors classes when the other kids are not." 

I started the season out as the secretary for the booster club.  The football booster club is out of control!  It's hard to describe how much they did for these boys.  In my opinion is was above and beyond.  But the other board members did not really care what I thought.  In fact, I was excluded from most of the discussions and decision making.  I finally resigned from my position when I was accused of "causing trouble" because I said they should check on whether or not they could have alcohol at the banquet.  Needless to say I did not go to the banquet and neither did Cameron.  He had his wisdom teeth removed the day and was not feeling up to it.  

I probably also caused some trouble when I sent emails to and had discussions with the principal about the language the coaches use with the boys.  Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel like it is appropriate to use the F word with anyone but especially high school students.  I just hate the atmosphere surrounding football.  I am not sad to see the end of high school football in our family!

Hannah - Swim

It was a good swim season.  The team was very small.  Only 2 girls; Pyper and Hannah.  Because there were only the 2 of them, they could not officially compete in relays but sometimes they would each swim two legs and still win.  Other times they would borrow girls from the other team.  Hannah received the Joe Sellah Award.  Even if there were more than two swimmers, she still would have deserved the award.  She is such a hard worker and is so dedicated to the team.  






Christian - Baseball and Cross Country

Christian was invited to play with the Devilbacks 13U team in the Fall.  They practiced a couple times a week and would have one or two tournaments a month.  He only played on Saturdays.  Although he enjoyed it, there were a couple of kids on the team that weren't that nice to him and I am not sure much time was spent coaching him because he wasn't one of the better players.  The team did fairly well so at the beginning of the new year, they moved up a level.  After moving up, they started getting their butts kicked.   So the team cut a few kids, including Christian, and recruited some.  I was unhappy with the coaches, but I think it was actually for the better.  As I mentioned, some of the kids weren't too nice to Christian and the coaches started to care about winning more than developing players and having fun.  Plus he later made the middle school baseball team and he did not need to be playing on two teams.  He wasn't too upset when we told him he had been cut.  I am grateful for that because I was worried he would get really down on himself.





Christian also ran Cross Country in the Fall.  He was never pleased with his times, but he always did his best.  And it was always really really hot.