Sometimes....

I never really know how to begin so let's just jump right in....

Jeff- Just when you thought his bike riding season was over, we forgot the other part(s) and races to accomplish. *sigh* the season truly is almost over.. Then it will be time to start training for next season. 

The most recent ride is called Salt to Saint and is a relay. It is from Salt lake to Saint George. He rode in a relay group of eight. This ride goes through the night as well. The scenery is stunning.

Jeff brought the Motorhome to our house the day before and let the kids sleep in it. They had a total ball. We went around town a bit too, just so we could get a real experience riding in one.

The Captin

Co-captin

All the little crew members

Ryleigh- Ry has discovered Volley ball is really her sport. She plays rec right now and is loving it. She also gets to play with her young womens group. I was so excited to hear her say she loved it. She has been practicing out in the backyard as often as she can and she had been taking her ball to school so she can practice at recess. 

Ry and I went to the Women's conference and then went to a late showing of the new movie Storks... We have never been to the new comfy seats and it was A-mazing..... The show was darling. I will fo sho get this for our family library. 

Alex- Meh, sooooooooo Alex has been fighting C-diff again. He somehow got Ecoli and that started his high quantity of stool output.. Which then always turns into a high probability of C-diff starting up. We are doing a Voriconisal wean and hopefully we are going to kick it again. We will also meet with Gastroentrology so that we can talk about his guts and how often he gets C-diff. Gator has had a history of issues at school. Daddy and Gator came up with a plan to help. For four weeks there were no issues. He earned, and will only get to ride this bike if the good behavior continues. 

He has had a few more opportunities to speak in behalf of Primary Children's Hospital. A crew came out last Wednesday for filming. It was such a neat chance to be able to share our feelings and express our gratitude. We won't have this one for a reeeeeeaaallly long time. It won't be until next spring. 

This is my favorite homework assignment in a long time... Let me translate for those of you who don't read third grade chicken scratch. 

If I had a hundred dollars, I would give it to Mrs. Biggs. (his third grade teacher)  Because she is nice and trust worthy. Why I think she is worthy is she is an adult. Not just because she is an adult, also because I know she will not spend it on crap. What I mean by crap, is candy and soda and chips and ice cream and last but not least cupcakes.

He just needs to keep working hard.... 

Oh, and this happened... We went to the safety fair at the school. Gator was not all that safe. GRRRRR.... He fell of the monkey bars and broke his arm. I of course wasn't super nice because I thought he was just being tired, whiney, and grouchy. We decided to wait until today to take him in, always waiting until we are sure it's legit and also I hate taking him in to germ infested doctors offices.

He gets to ice it like crazy and wear this brace/cast for a month. 

Eden- She is the ideal middle child, she patient and helpful and fun!!! She is still working hard in Kindergarten and keeps me busy as I run back and forth. She wants to try some art classes, which I have yet to sign her up for. There are good intentions. 

She loves having friends over. She is ALL about play dates. Her friends are so sweet too. They always let MayLee play too.

MayLee- Can't get enough of preschool. She is also loves friends and play dates...

Asher- I can't even keep up with this boy, he climbs on EVERYTHING... He climbs so often that I can't turn my back or I find him up on the highest item in the room. But we just love his squishy little face....

The messiest man + Clawson side birthday celebration

 The sisters minus Jess.... 

Grams

Eden

MayLee

Ashy

Wells and Alex

Arlington

Papa and daddy

I am missing Marcus and Henning; Oh and Chaison and Jessica (and their puppies) couldn't make it. 

Dang it...

Official first day of preschool

"And I've sent her, and it is done, so I did do that".. Thanks Mayor Bellwether.. Perfect little thing to say. She is loving every minute and asks how many more sleeps until preschool.

She even got to bring in her mercan gurl doll "sweetie" with her the first day.

Ry turned twelve

My amazing, kind hearted, great helper daughter turned twelve... I was sad she got this old, for like 2.5 seconds. Then I realized, built in babysitter whoot whoot... Now, before I get hater mail... We have worked out a system. She isn't being abused as the sitter. She also gets rewards like a house to live in and food to eat. AND I never feel too bad buying her little extras if she has helped with the kids. See win win. She wanted such specific things this year. 12 years means she could finally add a little color to her hair. We decided to do a melt and she looks amazing. (Not hard when you are pretty cute to start with) she also gets to wear a bit of makeup. As in, a light shadow and some mascara. She wanted shoes for her birthday gift. It still makes me laugh that she asked for homemade Salsa and Wonton Salad. Loving herself some salsa!!!

And a mint chocolate cake!!!!

So yummy

LOTOJA is in the books

after months and months of training for Daddy and months and months of patiently cheering him on while he trains, Jeff accomplished LOTOJA. If you aren't sure what that is, that she okay I didn't know before either. It's a bike ride from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole Wyoming. That is roughly 205 miles and over 7,000 feet of elevation gain. That is a dang lot of saddle time. While being a cyclist comes very easy to a lot of people, Jeff works really hard to earn those miles. He has overcome some health issues, changed eating habits, plus he has had been awesome at working the mind game. AND he met all three of his goals.. #1. To finish #2. To complete it in under 13 hours #3. To finish in under 12 hours riding time. I met my goals as his support and as his ride day support. Hurray for us!!

This is where it all starts. It's fun to come for packet pick up and see what the starting line looks like.

Shout out to JJ for being such a huge part of Jeff's training and motivation and support. 

This is how Jeff found me at each supported stop. 

Still smiling.. This was about 140 miles into it...

Oh yeah, driving alone... Singing LOUD and probably off key, but I think I sound phenomenal. 

I killed it as the support.

He did it!!!!!

Not a Lotoja virgin anymore!!!

Hearts in nature

And number Free

In preparation for Ry's birthday we visited Peterson Family farm to pick up some salsa making supplies. Ry asked for homemade salsa the past two years. We got what we needed and the girls asked for a treat.. Nothing and I mean nothing is as yummy as a super juicy peach. And I quote, "this is better than candy" -Eden 

 We also hugged the baby goats, and played in the corn. 

I love how MayLee wants to tell me things like her sibs do.. It goes something like this.

"I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is.... I really don't like this apple.

And number free (three), I said, I don't like this apple."

Also Ashy boy got his stitches out today.. I took the before pictures, but failed to get an after. 

Add one more injury to his growing list. Yesterday we were walking, just walking, and he tripped over his very own feet and fell face first. Instead of catching himself with his hands, he caught himself with his lips.