Jackson

My grandparents owned a timeshare in Jackson so when they passed away Jason and I decided to buy it.  This was our first summer going up there.  The week fell on the same week as Jared's scout camp so he was only able to spend the weekend with us and then we dropped him off at Camp Bartlett in Idaho and went back to Jackson for the rest of the week. Our kids were dying to go to Yellowstone so we did that the Saturday Jared was still with it.  They were still just as excited about the geysers, mudpots, and animals as they were when we went five years ago.  We could have spent days just in Yellowstone so we didn't get to see everything we wanted but we enjoyed the little bit we got to see.  The highlight for the kids was the bear that we saw in Hayden Valley just across the river just before dark.  It made for a long drive back to Jackson late at night but it was worth it!

The kids were excited about hiking all 328 steps down Uncle Tom's trail to see the view of the falls.

 

Jason's dad came to spend a day in Jackson with us.  We to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park.  We took a shuttle across the lake and hiked to a waterfall and overlook on the other side of the lake.  We didn't run into any bears but we did see some moose!  It ended up being a pretty tough hike since part of the trail was closed and we had to go the long way around.

 

 

We took our bikes with us to Jackson.  Kaitlyn got to try out her new bike on some real mountain biking trails for the first time.  We also enjoyed the paved path that runs all the way from Jackson to Jenny Lake that we could take Skyler along in the bike trailer.  The weather was perfect for getting out and enjoying the beautiful scenery!

We enjoyed exploring the town of Jackson for the week.  We are excited to go back every year and do some of the things we ran out of time for.  I think the kids favorite part was swimming in the pool even though we were right in the middle of some of the wonders of the world!

Jason wanted to go fishing with a guide on the Snake River but the runoff was still too high.  So instead the guide took Jason and Andrew about an hour away to the Green River.  They had a great time fishing and caught a lot of big fish.

On the way home from Jackson we had to stop for one more fishing trip on Granite Creek.  This time Skyler got to join in on the fun.  He is always so excited for Daddy to catch fish for him.  The canyon was gorgeous with wild flowers.  The fishing was slow but finally just before we left Jason caught one big fish for Skyler!

Spring 2015

Spring flew past this year with lots of activities like it always does.  I keep waiting for life to slow down but I'm coming to the realization that it probably won't.  Here's a few highlights.

Jared went to school early a couple mornings a week all spring to attend a STEM(science, technology, engineering, and math) program.  They worked hard designing and building a robot.  They tested the robot on a course that they had to program it to get through.

Kaitlyn had her last dance recital with her teacher Brynn before she moved.  She sure has had fun taking dance from her the last five years.  It's amazing to see how much she has grown and learned!  She's a natural up on stage and doesn't have a problem performing in front of a crowd.  And she's had so much fun with her friends in the class.

Kailtyn and I enjoyed a girls day at Gardener Village with Melanie, Nancy and Brooklyn.  The girls had lots of fun making their own jewelry and going to lunch.

I volunteered to head up the elementary school 5k fundraiser this year.  I made a lot of mistakes and learned a ton about being a race director and a lot of things to do  It felt like a full time job for several weeks but it turned out to be a success with lots of people having fun and raising a lot of funds for the school.

When you live with a bunch of Star Wars fanatics Star Wars Day is a big day.  "May the 4th be with you" was a hit with Tie fighters for dinner and R2D2 treats for dessert.

Andrew had a successful track season running as a 9th grader with the high school.  We watched him get closer and closer to breaking the 5 minute mile in every race all season.  He ended with his best race at the region meet running the mile in 4:57!  Pretty impressive for a freshman!  We are excited to see what he does the next three years!



For the spring piano recital we were excited to finally get in the same recital as our friends the Larsens and Andrus.  It was an awesome group of piano players!  They all received their awards for the year from federation.  Here they all are with their teacher Sharyl Tucker.

Kaitlyn and her friend, Ruth Larsen, were both selected to represent their school at the district math Olympiad in Krypto.  We found out just a couple days before that they could build an egg drop.  Without much time to work on it they threw one together.  First the group at their school tested all the egg drops.  Out of all the ones that didn't break they voted on who would represent them at district and Kaitlyn and Ruth won!  They were thrilled to try it out again at district but unfortunately thunderstorms kept them from being able to test them.  They still had a great job competing at Krypto though.

I volunteered at field day and didn't I have the cutest little helper?  He was pretty wet by the end of the day!



Jason has been struggling with some injuries so he decided to just run the half marathon this year at Ogden instead of the full marathon like he had been planning.  Since Andrew had just finished track season they decided to run it together.  It was the farthest Andrew has ever run.  The weather was terrible with drenching rain and freezing cold temperatures but they finished in 1:36!

Spring also means baseball and softball season.  Jared's team struggled but he enjoyed getting to pitch a lot more this year.  Kaitlyn had fun playing on her coach pitch softball team and was really getting good at hitting the ball.  I also coached the Ogden Track club again.  Kaitlyn worked hard at practice and qualified for the district meet this year although we missed it when we went on vacation.

Kaitlyn's 9th Birthday

Kaitlyn turned nine in May.  Nine has always been a hard age for me because it's hard to believe that my kids are half way grown up.  We celebrated all the May birthdays in the family at our house on her birthday. Skyler really wanted to help her blow out her birthday candles.  We had to convince him he's get his turn in a month.  Kaitlyn's request was the raspberry white chocolate cheesecake.  It turned out tasting a lot better than it looked.  Her cousin, Winston, got to blow out the candles on his Oreo cake.

 

We took Kaitlyn shopping the weekend of her birthday for a new bike.  She picked out the perfect one but it had to be ordered in and then built.  She was very patient waiting for it but it was worth the wait!  I think it's the perfect bike for her!  She was a little scared of the bigger bike and gears at first but in no time she had it all figured out and was biking like a pro.

 

Kaitlyn chose to have her birthday party with her friends at Color Me Mine, a pottery place downtown.  The girls got to pick out a piece of pottery and paint it.  They had a great time painting, opening presents and eating cake and ice cream.  It was a fun afternoon with a cute group of giggly girls!

Here's a look at Kaitlyn at 9: She's smart, happy (most of the time), friendly, outgoing, excited about life, determined, imaginative, playful, daring, and active.  There is never any doubt about what she is feeling.  She lets everyone know!

What I love about Kaitlyn: her happy personality, her hugs (and the fact that she still likes to give them to me), her bubbly personality, and having a girl to do fun things with.  As much as I hate to see my only little girl grow up it is so fun to have her along for girls outings now.

What Kaitlyn likes at 9: Barbies, American Girl Dolls, reading (Ever After High, Gregor the Overlander, and Fabelhaven are a few recent favorites), amusement park rides (she was thrilled to be tall enough to go on all the rides at Lagoon, even the new ride Cannibal), running, biking, soccer, playing with friends, school.

What she doesn't like: practicing the piano (she really doesn't like it but she's also way too good for me to let her quit), chores, being teased by her brother, and not being able to do something (she's a bit of a perfectionist.