First day of school

Eric and Aubrey started school today.  Eric is in 4th grade and has Mrs. Carpenter.  Aubrey is in 2nd grade and has Mrs. Dean.  They are both very excited for school to begin.  Last night we had "Back to School" and the kids got to meet their teachers, pick out their desks, etc.  For FHE, Zac gave the kids a Father's Blessing.  He went in order of age, so Eric went first, then Aubrey.  When it was time for Jennifer's blessing, Zac began by blessing her to be a good helper at home, etc.  Jennifer, during the middle of the blessing, started yelling, "No, Dad!  You are giving me the wrong blessing!  I don't want to stay home.  Bless me to have a good school year!"  We were trying so hard not to laugh.  Poor kid.  She will be in Kindergarten next year.

Summer Camps

 We signed up Eric and Aubrey for some summer camps at Thanksgiving Point.  Eric attended the Lego WeDo Robotics class for 3 days.  On the last day, they performed a puppet show using their creations that they made.

 Grandpa was able to slip away from his education week classes to come watch Eric perform.  Eric loved this camp.  At the end, they gave all the students their very own lego set.

On Friday, Aubrey attended an all-day Fairytales camp.  Her camp was outside most of the day.  Her activities included: gingerbread houses, princess bounce houses, tangled lanterns, Hanzel & Gretel scavenger hunt, Jack & the Beanstalk, and Cinderella Carriage ride.  She had a wonderful time!

 

After we dropped off Aubrey, we only had 1 1/2 hours before we needed to get back for Eric's puppet show.  It wasn't worth it to drive home, just to drive back again.  Since we only had 2 kids with us, we went out to breakfast.

 

 After breakfast, we still had a 1/2 hour before Eric's show, so we let the girls ride the horses at Farm Country.  While we were there, Aubrey came by with her Fairytale camp.  It was fun to see her.  I think she was really surprised to see us at the horses.

When I picked up Aubrey from her camp, she had her Tangled lantern that she made with her.  They wanted the kids to light the lantern at night and make a wish when they were home.  We made her wait until Sunday to light it off. 

It was really windy outside.  Inside the lantern was a fuel block that you ignite.  The lantern is suppose to fill up like a hot air balloon and float into the sky.

The wind took the lantern so Zac chased it and grabbed it.  It started to burn his hand so he threw it on the ground and stomped out the fire.  As he was doing this, Devin says, "Take that, wish!"  Aubrey was not very happy that Zac stomped out her lantern and ruined her wish.

Hobble Creek Half Marathon

Zac, Amy, Becky and I all ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon on Saturday.  Zac and I have been training for this race since April.  This is the first "official" race that Zac has ever ran.

The night before the race, Zac and I carb loaded with our "Ultra Fuel" drink.  It is so disgusting.  You have to chug the drink and not breathe in while drinking.  I always feel good after the drink though, so I think the effects are worth the disgusting taste.  We woke up bright and early at 4 am to get ready for the race.  Dad and Diane came over at 4:15ish to stay with the kids, get them dressed, feed them, and head to the finish line.

We headed over to pick up Amy and Becky.  When we got to Becky's house, she was outside waiting for us.  A skunk ran right past her into her yard, about 10 feet away from her.  She didn't see it, but we all did!  That was one way to wake up.

We got to Mapleton in great time, found a parking spot, got Amy's race packet, loaded the bus, used the bathrooms, dropped off clothes, and were at the start line with only about 10-20 minutes of wait time.  Not bad!  While we were waiting a man fell completely down the cattle grate in the road.  Both of his legs went all the way inside the grate.  I felt so bad.  Right before the race.  After he got out he was limping.

The race started right on time.  I have heard that this race is notorious for being up to 1 hour late on start time. I think they tried really hard to make sure they had an "on-time" start.  In fact, we didn't even hear the start!  We were talking and looked up and saw all these people running!  So we started.  Zac took off.  We never saw him until the finish line.

Amy, Becky and I ran together during the race.  It was such a beautiful race.  It was a rolling downhill race.  I felt great!  It went by really fast.  Every mile we passed I was shocked that we were already at the next mile.   When we were taking a picture at mile 10, a runner passed and said, "You guys are way to happy at this stage of the race."  About mile 11 there was a really long gradual hill.  I was starting to feel tired.  We hit our last water station at 11 1/2 miles, and we saw we could hit our goal of beating 2 hours.  We all did great and made it to the finish under 2 hours.  We had so many supporters there and it was so great to see everyone.  I loved having Zac cheer me on at the end wearing his medal.   Our official time is 1 hr 57 min.  Zac's official time is 1 hr 44 min.

They gave out finishers medals this year.  All of the women were suppose to get flowers too.  I asked somebody about it and they said they ran out.  Without skipping a beat Eric shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well Mom, I guess you should've ran faster."  Thanks little Zac.  They had a great playground at the finish line, which helped keep the kids occupied while waiting for us.

 

 Zac told me about mile 3 his ankle really started hurting him, so he didn't push as hard as he normally would.  There were 2 cattle grates to run across during the race.  They only put a board over 1/2 of the grate, so you had to slow down to get across.  On the 1st one, Zac just ran and jumped over the grate completely.  He told me that his ankle was hurting about mile 3.  He also said there was a "Phoebe" runner (from the show Friends) out there.  He wished he had his camera then.  For those of you who don't know what type of runner this is, it's when your legs and arms are going in every direction.

It was a great run.  I wouldn't mind doing this race again.  I loved the downhill.  There were only a couple spots that were a little too steep for me.  The rest was a gradual downhill.  Thanks for running it Zac, Amy and Becky!  And thanks Dad and Diane for waking up so early and getting my kids ready!

After the race we headed to my cousin Stephanie's house for swimming and food.  It was great to see my cousins.  The kids loved swimming and it felt so good after running.  Eric told me that Stockton was so amazing.  He was in awe at his flips and dives.  I loved watch Alden go off the diving board.  Such a brave little guy.  When we were coming home, Eric and Aubrey both said that today was a really, really good day.  Thank you Steph for letting us come play and swim!

They turn 4 and 2.

 These 2 little cuties had their birthdays this week.  Jennifer turned 4 on the 7th and Lily turned 2 on the 9th.  We decided to celebrate them on the same day.  We figured this would probably be the last year we could do a "combined" birthday.  Jennifer might start getting to wise to it next year.  Right now all she cared about was her cake and presents. 

 They are both so excited to open their presents.  Grandpa and Nana came over to celebrate with us.

Last week Zac asked Jennifer what kind of cake she wanted.  She told him she wanted a rainbow cake.  Simple enough.  We thought about making a regular cake and use those frosting gel pens and draw a rainbow on the top.  When we were at Dad's house last Sunday, Jennifer was looking at the Children's Friend.  Inside was a "rainbow cake."  Multiple levels of cake, all a different color.  Jennifer squealed and ran and showed Zac the picture.  "My rainbow cake!"  So Zac was now under pressure to make a multi-level, multi-color cake.  He did a great job. 

Instead of our usual slice of bread (which Zac thinks is weird, but appreciates having no spit on top of the cake) he made the girls their own cupcake to blow out the candles.

 Jennifer knew exactly what to do with blowing out the candles.  It took awhile for Lily to blow out her candles.  She kept on trying to touch the flame.

 

Jennifer loved her presents and wasted no time opening them.

 Lily loves Dora and got some Dora presents.  She loved them.

Jennifer loved the way her cake turned out.  Zac did a really great job.

 Zac found all the kids on the stairs the other day.  Just lounging around.  Eating apples and plums.  Jennifer is always lounging in her underwear.

 Zac and I went out to dinner with some friends the other night.  We got to the restaurant early so I wanted to walk around Tai Pan.  I turned around and Zac was playing with this big glass.  He thought it was hilarious.  He said he wanted to buy it and bring it to a party for his "drinking glass."  Nice.