July 1st is Carol's birthday. It's also the anniversary of my dad's death. I feel like I should reach out to Carol and do something nice for her birthday every year. This year that day on my calendar was completely free. That is rare. The kids had no activities that day. I hadn't scheduled anything yet. I decided we should take a trip to Soda Springs to see Carol and celebrate her birthday. I asked her if we could make her a cake and bring it. She said that sounded great. A little while later my in-laws started talking about going to Lava Hot Springs sometime around there. I figured that day would work since we would be there anyway. I invited Carol to come with us but she had some other plans. But we did get to spend a bit of time in Soda, seeing the geyser, walking through the old store she was helping to restore, having lunch and cake. It was a fun day.
We had the championship track meet in July. It was a fun one! They got medals for placing. Kylee ended up with 2nd place in hurdles for her age group. She also ran the 400 and 100.
Dylan participated in mini-javelin, which is kind of a silly event since they are made of foam and if the wind catches them the wrong way, they don't go anywhere. He ran the 100 and this kid from Pocatello was beating him for part of it, but he caught him and ended up beating him by half a step. It was epic. He ended up 3rd overall once the other heats were considered.
Dylan also ran the 4x100 with a team, but he was frustrated because he had a kid or two on the team that weren't very good. We were waiting around for his 200 race which happened to be the last one. By that time he was saying his heel hurt so bad he could barely walk. He was limping around. He was hot and miserable. I told him to go sit in the grass while he waited for his heat and just do the best he could. The funny thing is, after he beat that Pocatello kid, he walked past him and told him good job but the kid just kind of shrugged. He wasn't happy. Then his coach (an intense man) kind of chewed him out (Dylan was calling him his dad because he's also black, but he's definitely the coach. Whether he's also his dad is unknown. The way he chewed him out makes it seem like he could be. Or he could just be that kind of coach.) As they were getting ready to do the 200, I saw that same kid along with at least one other Pocatello kid getting ready to race with Dylan too. Dylan is competitive. He likes to win. But he was so miserable. He could barely walk. And I was sure that this kid would not allow Dylan to beat him again. Not after losing by half a foot last time. Dylan had an outside lane which gives the illusion of starting behind. He limped onto the track, but as soon as the gun went off, he took off. He flew. Those kids didn't stand a chance! He took 1st in his age 11-12.
My mom came to visit! We don't get her in July very often. It was fun! We went on a hike to Palisades and planned on taking all the kids but Kaden. Sadie has been getting tougher and we wanted to try her at Palisades. It's long but not very steep. When the day came, Dylan was still limping because of his heel from track. He decided it wasn't a smart idea to try to hike. He and Kaden stayed back with my in-laws.
The hike was great! We went in the afternoon which wasn't very smart but we didn't have many options. I underestimated how much water I would be sharing with Sadie or that I would need myself. When I hike in the mornings I barely need any water. Sadie drank a lot of mine. Sadie was a trooper for a really long time. But Kylee was leading us and she was setting a pretty quick pace. I had to ask her to slow down a few times to wait for Sadie. We got through the first part by singing lyrics to Mamma Mia songs and trying to guess which song. Sadie, Grandma and Kylee are all big fans of Mamma Mia. I like it too of course. But after the first couple miles Sadie started to fade. She wasn't happy. We were maybe half a mile from the top and she wanted to just turn around.
We did finally make it and Sadie was not impressed, lol. We had candy and snacks. We rested for a bit. I tried to get Sadie to take a decent picture but she just get giving me the stink-eye.
Kylee and Grandma had fun hanging out by the water. I took a picture of them sitting on the bridge but you have to look closely to see them.
Sadie and Ryan decided to start the long hike back, but I got Sadie to smile for one pic with me. Ryan wasn't feeling very well during the hike, so he was happy to walk slowly with Sadie. Sadie told him all about Harry Potter the whole way down, which kept her happy. It was much better for her on the way down.
I did a couple other training workouts in July. This picture is from the top of a trail I did over and over trying to test my legs before I signed up for Utah Spartan. I didn't want a repeat of Boise on those crazy long hills in Utah.
I did the Rigby Lake Triathlon with Takara. I had been training hard! Using my 80/20 book. I wanted to perform well! But my goggles had been giving me problems. The start was postponed and we were hanging out in the water waiting when all of a sudden they started counting down from 10. I tried to get my goggles sealed and then had to start my watch. It was a sloppy start for me. And my goggles were too tight and my eye couldn't open the whole way. So I adjusted them, and then they leaked. So I adjusted them again, and they still leaked. I tried to ignore it but I got a lot of water in them. So I spent the first section messing with my goggles. Then I couldn't breathe and I didn't know why. It was just a mess. Frustrating! But swimming isn't my strong area anyway. I got out of the water just in front of Takara and we took off on the bike at the same time. I thought I would just try to keep her in my sight. But then I heard hissing. I thought I must have a flat. So I had to stop my bike and assess my tires. No flat. No hissing. So I started going again. I think it was just the wind on the number attached to my bike. By then Takara was too far ahead of me. I felt like I rode pretty strong, but I didn't exactly pass anyone in the Olympic. I passed some from the Sprint. I thought my run might be good, since I've been speed training. But it wasn't too special. And by the last two miles I was fading. I did not beat my previous time. I did not get any medals. I was a bit disappointed overall and wondering why I bother. But it is a good sport and winning isn't everything. I think I just need to focus on my running because I don't think I will see any vast improvements in my swim or bike. But running can improve.
I was also invited to participate as a runner in the Great Race for Education. I'd heard a little about this and it sounded really fun. My neighbor invited me to be on his team because he knows I run and that I don't mind making a fool out of myself. I didn't know anybody else on the team but him. The other three runners ended up being guys who looked pretty serious about running. I was nervous. I took Energize but they talked so much at the beginning that it was over an hour before we actually started and I'm sure most of it was worn off. We ran hard, and we had a team working on the clues to tell us where to go so we didn't have to hesitate. We finished all the little challenges quickly. I really didn't want to be the weak link! And I don't think that I was. Not until the last stretch of running at least. We had been running between 6:30-8 minute pace the whole time, only catching breath during the little minute-to-win-it challenges. By the time we were running back I was fading. But I tried to keep up. We were in the lead of all 30 teams! We finished the race portion very first! I was quite proud of myself for keeping up. It was just over 3 miles I think. It didn't really give me an accurate overall pace because we had stopped to do the challenges. The top 10 teams that finished got to move on to the next challenge. We had to pick up tennis balls with our knees/thighs and get them across the lawn. It was hard. We didn't do well. I dropped mine once and took a minute to pick it up again, but everyone on my team did too. I don't think I was the biggest problem. Anyway, it was a fun afternoon and I got a free meal too.
We finished up Grit League with the Freeman Park race that goes through the river. Kaden sure loved this! He had a blast. Sadie was a bit competitive and loved it too. Maybe next year I will have to put her in the competitive group.
Sadie has been swimming twice a week at Swim Club, along with all the other times she swims with the family. She got her hair soaked at Lava Hot Springs and the minerals in that water stuck in her hair for awhile. It was becoming impossible to brush. I spent 20 minutes while she was in the shower trying to brush it with conditioner and it was still impossible. She complained that the water was turning cold! So I had her hurry and rinse and get out and spent another 20-30 minutes outside the shower and it still just would never brush smooth. It was always a mess, always in her face. She claimed she couldn't brush it all. I was over it. I asked her if she wanted to chop it off. A year ago she had asked to chop it but I didn't want to cut her beautiful hair. At this point though, I was fed up. I texted my friend Sherri who does hair for friends occasionally and asked if she could make it cute. I sent her a few pictures of what I wanted. She said, "want to do it tomorrow?" I said, "yes, before I change my mind!" And we did!
I think it took me a few tries to figure out how to style it correctly, but it turned out perfect. She LOVES it! She loves to brush it herself. After a couple days she was turning her head, running her hands over her hair and saying, "I just feel like ME now." I'm happy she's happy. I'm happy we no longer have to fight about her rat's nest hair. I think it's adorable.
Months and months ago Ingrid found out Hugh Jackman was touring and coming to Salt Lake and she HAD TO SEE IT! She was so worked up and begging someone to go with her. It was like January, I had no idea what I would be doing in July. But I agreed to buy tickets with her and figured I could sell them to another one of her friends if it didn't work out. But it did work out and we got to go together and we had a great night! We even stayed the night at Karlee's house in Salt Lake and spent some time visiting with her. It was awesome.
Summertime is long. Dylan had been spending quite a bit of time on screens so I told him to take a break. So he had to rack his brain for something else to do. And this is what he came up with. He quite enjoyed it and used much of his free time creating many fun domino towers.
The two younger kids still enjoy the zoo, and we needed to get out so we went for the morning. They had fun!
Speaking of Kaden, he's officially training wheels free. It was the funniest thing. He had been asking me to take off his training wheels for a few days and I hadn't gotten around to it yet. So I was leaving town for one of my many trips in July and told Ryan that Kaden would like to work on riding his bike if Ryan had the time. Like 10 minutes later Ryan send me a video of Kaden riding just fine by himself. He said he was helping him for a minute and Kaden said, "it's okay Dad, you can let go." And he just took off. Then he got bored after a few minutes because it was so easy... Of course that wasn't the end of the story. He still needed to learn how to start and stop confidently. So Ryan was helping him try to start on his own in the driveway and he fell over. After that he was unwilling to try again. He would yell and scream if we tried to convince him. I bribed him. I held him up. He was not having it. It took a few weeks of trying to find the right motivation. I don't actually remember what I used to motivate him. Probably a treat of some sort. Might've been this snow cone I took a picture of. But I got him to go around the block, stopping and starting when necessary. After that he was good to go. It wasn't much longer before he was an old pro.
On a Sunday when Ryan was driving a few of the kids home in the golf cart, Kaden tried to jump off when it was still moving very slowly in the garage and he somehow fell and slammed his teeth into the ground. There was a lot of blood. And at least one of his front teeth was pushed back. He was so sad! He cried and cried. I called the dentist on his cell phone and left a message. He called back and told me what to watch for and to try to gently coax it forward so it wouldn't interfere with his bite. It was a rough day or two, and he couldn't bite with his front teeth for a week or so, but it's mostly back in place now. But it turned pretty dark. He came with me to the orthodontist for Kylee and he looked at it. Said it's fine unless he develops an infection up above it. I had so many people tell me they had a kid or a nephew or whoever that did this. Everyone had a different story. I just really didn't want him to lose the tooth right now. I was already planning family pictures before Kylee got braces, but now it's even more urgent!
I purged!! Kaden's room was such a disaster and there just wasn't room for all the toys. He helped me to go through his stuff and decide what we should donate. I tried selling it at Once Upon a Child first and got $30+ first, then dropped it at Deseret Industries. I also sold his strider bike for $40. I was feeling pretty good about myself!
Kylee spent two weeks in July doing theater camp with Kylie Paskett. It was all day, five days a week, with three performances at the end. She loved it! They performed Madagascar Jr and it was really cute and fun to see. She had to audition for a speaking part a few weeks before their camp started. She had to bring music and sing a few lines of a broadway show song. She had to read a few lines. And they had to show their improv dance skills. Her and Kylie both ended up with speaking parts! Sure, they were very small parts but still! Kylee was a police woman (speaking part) and a lemur (lots of fun dancing, and she got to do the rainbow fan because she was one of the tallest, and she did a roundoff during one dance routine.) Kylie P was a lioness (speaking part) and a steak, and a tree I think.
We made it to Ross Park one day just as a storm rolled in and they kicked us out for like 90 minutes waiting for the lightning to pass. That was frustrating because we literally had JUST gotten there. But once they let us back in, it was pretty empty so we had some fun.
Celebrated Pioneer Day with the Stake at the church with food and pioneer games and lots of friends.
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