We are finishing up our first full week and summer and it has gone well.

On Wednesday we drove Joseph over to camp...he is now old enough for their 3 night camp. It is always weird when one of the boys is gone...the dynamic is so different! I sure miss this guy.

We will pick him up on Saturday, tomorrow.


I am way behind in posting pictures from my camera. We celebrated Kristine's 23rd birthday a few weeks ago.

Benjamin 'graduated' from 8th grade and will be off to high school. They had a 'ceremony' for all 256 kids. It is the largest class to ever enter the high school.

he looks so grown up in this picture

It was fun having my mom here for both graduation and Kristine's bday.

With summer here, I have decided to do Crossfit at 6:30 in the mornings, three days a week. Although I don't like getting up and out of the house early, I sure enjoy the earlier workouts. A lot less people and cooler temps for when we are outside. Today's workout, I had been dreading for several weeks. I even went to bed last night trying to think of a legit excuse not to go. I woke up several times in the middle of the night and wondered if I was gonna get out of bed this morning or skip the workout all together. I got out of bed this morning and went to the gym. Turned out the only other one working out was a guy that tends to crush all the workouts. As the coach asked me if I was ready, I had to swallow hard and force the tears back. I did not want to do this workout because this workout was running. I do not like to run, I am one of the slowest and of late, I have really struggled with my breathing and then I feel like I almost hyperventilate and have to stop to walk. I was not looking forward to the 1 mile run, 2000 meter row and then another 1 mile run, all while being timed. My goal was 40 minutes. Matt and I started the run and with the first step, his lead grew greater and greater. After about 200 meters, I was struggling to breath. I dug down deep and really focused on my breathing and then got into a slow, steady pace. (I am doing a running clinic right now, focused on form, so I had lots to think about besides how much I did not want to be running). I put my head down, ran, rowed and ran some more. I finished in 35:57! I was so stoked. That was 12 min miles, and I even walked a few stretches. I am so glad I got out of my comfort zone and faced my fear! I think I have turned a corner in my attitude with running! Not that I will ever be a runner, but hopefully I won't dread it going forward. The gym's June challenge is to walk/run/hike 50 miles. I have been walking 2 miles most days. Joseph rides his bike alongside me, and off we go. Well, when he returns from camp, I can run with him now!

Joseph recently had a field day at school, as well as a dance party for reading 2,000 pages.

I had never seen these cool big stacking cups, but they had relay to move the stacks to the other end of the field.

Dance party..not sure why he looks so unimpressed, but he had a great time.

line dancing

doing the limbo

The lady holding the right side of the rope is the principal.  She unfortunately has resigned after 2 years.  It is more like the school board forced her resignation.  There are huge issues with our school board right now and a lot of distrust with the community.  It has only been recently that community members have been taking notice and showing up in droves to the monthly meetings.  One board member was recently voted out after 15 years of serving.  The Superintendent was also forced out, or should I say his contract was not renewed by the board!  Will be very interesting to see the direction things go in the coming months as more pressure is being put on the school board for some answers.  In the recent election, 4 levies failed, that would have added more staff/resources and expanded technology.  As it is, Joseph's elementary school has 2 computer carts (i pads) that are shared among the whole school.  We are so far behind but can't seem to get the levies passed that we need for our quickly growing district (we are the fastest growing county right now)

This is a terrible picture, but look at Jacob pogo sticking without any hands!!!

The construction in the field continues. The road directly behind our house is basically done, minus the paving. I assume they are waiting for other roads to be done so they can pave everything at once? It is nice to get out there and have non traveled roads to walk on.

Joseph, Kristine and I recently hiked to Storm Castle.  A beautiful day for a hike.  We started at 8am, hoping to avoid the intense sun mid day.  So glad we started earlier.  I never anticipated all the people we would see on the trail as we came down.  We climbed 2500 feet in under 2.5 miles.  A lot of long traversing and almost always slow, gradual climb, but amazing views from the top.

There are not a lot of pics of myself that I like, not sure why, but I really like this one!!

I love this picture...great view of the drive up the canyon.

Bree did pretty good.  We were a little worried up top because there were some drop offs.  The river was also really fast at the bottom, so once we neared the trailhead we tied a shirt around her collar so she would not run ahead of us and get swept away.  We are now at 6.7 miles for the summer!

I have bought a nice glass pitcher with a spout on it for my kitchen sink.  I have started drinking a gallon of lemon water every day (about 1/2 cup lemon juice per gallon).  I am amazed how much more I sweat now, especially at Cross fit.  I have always considered myself pretty hydrated, since water is my favorite beverage, but obviously not!  I can tell some significant differences when I don't get all the water in.  So important to get plenty of water.  There are even a few days I have hit closer to 1.5 gallons.  My body seems to be adjusting and I don't go to the bathroom as frequently as I expected.

Our neighbors finally got their townhouse under contract!  Will be sad to have Jerry and Heidi leave.  All of our neighbors (4 units) are all great.  Very nice and respectful.  Fortunately we have never had, say a roofing issue, where we might have needed to split costs for something.  Hopefully the new person(s) moving in will be just as easy to live next too.

Joseph is done with baseball and he really enjoyed it.  This is Jacob's last week of football.  Then starting next week, the boys will be heading off to summer camp!  Can't believe school ends Thursday and summer is here!

We headed to a pump track the other day.  A pump track is a bike track that, if you ride it correctly, you don't need to pedal, as I understand it.

Look at Ben go!

Look at this, some great air....

but a little too much for that short jump!!

This was a pond just next to the track!