District Track Meet

This summer has included a lot more running than normal!

Halle continued on to the local Hershey track meet for the 800 meter race.

She came in second, which qualified her to run in the District meet held the middle of June.

Once school was out, we signed her up to be a part of the Springville City track team.  This was MUCH more helpful to help prepare her for her race than just running around with me :)

At the District meet, Halle came in third.

She didn't qualify to move on to the State meet, but we are pretty proud anyway!

Way to go Halle!

Running a 5K

Here we are at the Art City Days 5K.

This is my second 5K that I have run . . . EVER. 

But let me back up a little.

About a month ago, my family attended a free 5K Family Fun Run.  And I had no idea how life changing this event would be for me!

 I had recently started running a little more on our treadmill in addition to some other workouts I do . . . but I didn't really have any goals with the treadmill.

I actually have never really liked running.  

Whenever I would try it, all I could think about was how hard it was, how much it made body hurt, how hard it was to breath, and when can I stop!

Anyways . . . at the 5K last month, for some weird reason, I decided to run it.

My only goal was to not walk.

I had to keep running or jogging.  

It didn't matter to me how long it took.  

I just wanted to know if I could even do it . . . without walking.

I not only only was able to do it, I was able to do it at the same pace I had 

been running (slowly) on my treadmill!

I cannot believe what a rush it was to finish a race that I wasn't sure I could even do!

And it was FUN!

I couldn't stop thinking about it all day . . . for several days after in fact.

I started looking up other races.   I couldn't wait to go out and run again . . . and see what else I can do!

I signed myself and two of my daughters up for another 5K (pictured above).  

I was able to get my sister (who is a real runner) to do it with me!

We ran that race yesterday.

Lisa (my sister) ran with me despite my slowness, but it was so good for me to run with someone who could go faster.  She pushed me further than I would have done by myself.  I was able to run the 5K about 4 1/2 minutes faster than the one I did last month!

My daughters did it too and they were great.  Halle beat me by a few minutes (my daughter who loves to run).  Abby did great and finished not too long after me.  She did an awesome sprint at the end!

I think now I will work on training for a 10K!

Hiking to Timpanogos Cave

This is a hike I have wanted to take our kids on for a while now.  

For some reason though, it just never happened.  

Finally, I decided to just put it on the calendar.  (Scheduling into our lives the things we want to do . . . I should do this more consistently:))

Anyway, we did it.  

ALL of my kids walked the WHOLE way.  

Even Austin.  

Even Gwen who used to tell me she didn't like hiking.  Now she seems to like it!

And they all seemed pretty proud of themselves!

It was really fun.

The day we went it wasn't HOT!

I don't think I have ever hiked  Timp without it being hot, 

or trying to beat the heat by going really early.

We actually took a lot of pictures.  BUT, they are now lost on a corrupted USB drive. :(

I guess we will have to go again :)

Run for Fun

Halle loves to run.

I think that is why she likes soccer so much, and why she is good at it.

She can just keep  going and going.

Today was the Hershey Track Meet for Halle's grade.

She chose to run the 400 and the 800.

She has been practicing this year.  

Sometimes she would run on the treadmill.  She would run outside.  

I was only able to take her to the track once . . . but she ran then too.

She was pretty nervous last night about how she would do.

Today she won both of her races!

Now on to practicing for the local meet in a few weeks!  

We researched what the winning times were at the actual Hershey Track Meet in 

Pennsylvania last year. 

 So now we sort of know what to work towards.

Way to go Halle!

Hot Date

I usually decline when Ben asks me to go to work things with him.

He's going to be busy . . . too busy to really talk to me or anything, so why would I go?

I also just don't like mingling with people I don't know.

I can never think of anything to say.

And I never regret saying "NO" either . . . except when he went to France this last February.

That was a REALLY stupid thing to say "NO" to.

What was I thinking?

Anyway.

Somehow, he managed to ask me to this event at the right time . . . because I found myself saying yes.

Kind of wishing I had said "NO".

But I should give it a shot every once in awhile, right?

This event was actually really fun.

BYU's Vocal Point group was having a CD release party.

They performed too . . . which is always fun to watch and pretty impressive.

And this time, Ben was actually able to hang out. 

Kind of a cool work thing if you ask me.

Too bad most of them are not like that :)

Spring Break Vacay - Day 4

We made it to the top of the "Y"!

This hike was actually so much easier this time . . . and it is NOT because I am in better shape, but because we went in MUCH cooler weather.

In the past, Gwen has really complained about hiking, which of course made me sad because I really like it and want my kids to all like it too.  

But this time, she did really well . . . and even said she liked it!

Here we are on the top!

Austin complained a lot . . . which is kind of what he does these days about everything.

His sisters think that we should just leave him with babysitters when we want to do family things.  

He did whine and cry a lot . . . which led me to be SO glad we did not do the Disneyland trip.

We will wait a little longer :)

Spring Break Vacay - Day 3

 

There are a lot of museums in Salt Lake that we have never checked out before.

So after swimming some more at the hotel of course, we decided to see what The Leonardo was like.

They had some neat exhibits.  Here the kids (and Ben) are seeing what a "green screen" will do.

Here you could move objects around, take pictures of them, and then watch the movie you created.

Abby and Austin both spent a long time at this one!

Halle and Austin worked on a clay person.

Here the girls made things out of clay.

Overall, we had a good time!

I enjoyed the exhibits that were there . . . I just wish there were more.

We were done in about 2 hours, and the kids felt like they had seen and done everything.