Boise Half Ironman

Darren tore a tendon in his knee a few weeks ago.  He wasn't able to run or bike for 3 weeks.  That isn't a good thing when you have a half iron man and a full iron man in the near future.  

We drove to Boise and asked them if we could switch to a relay team for his half iron man.  A few moments later I walked out with this bracelet.  Darren was going to swim 1.2 miles and I was going to bike 56 miles and then run 13.2 miles.  WOW!

We stayed at my cousins house in Meridian.  Jessica is an amazing cook. I could write a whole post about the food we ate.  My uncle Fred (Craig) made us flaming bananas as a kid so Randy and Jessica whipped up some so I could actually try them now.  I never ate them as a kid. They were bananas. This time they were delicious!

Jessica and Randy watched our kids all day on Saturday.  My kids loved it.  

(Ella, Aiden, Elaine)

The race was a bit of a disaster. 

1. the temperature was in the low 40's for the start of the swim

2. the winds were out of control, some places the wind was up to 35 mph on the course

3. There was snow in the benches of Boise

4. Darren had to get in a wetsuit and swim 

5. The water was 54 degrees but getting into the water when your totally freezing is terrible

6. He could barely put his face in the water and he couldn't even cup his hands to paddle

7. Due to all that, they shortened the bike to only 14 miles into town

So really a 14 miles bike ride that was sunny and nice by the time I was finished... then a 13 mile run in great weather wasn't bad.  My one chance to do part of an ironman was not really amazing. 

I didn't get any picture of Darren swimming since it was totally down pouring for hours before the race and then raining at the beginning of the race.  We were just trying to stay warm.  

Darren is back on his bike now.  barely .... but back on it.  He cant run yet.  He has 5 weeks until he has to swim over 2 miles, bike over 100 miles and then run a full marathon.  oh my!

Kindergarten Graduation

I don't know where the time went but I guess it goes on whether I am ready or not.  

I have a 1st grader now.  

how... I am not sure. But I am old enough to have a first grader. 

Ella and I would volunteer once a week in Tyler's class with Ms. Latoni.  

Ella loved her just as much as Tyler did.  

They had a cute graduation program.  Tyler is on the top row on the left.  

They sang some great songs. but the part that brought tears to my eyes was when they each had a turn to talk. 

Tyler said. 

My name is Tyler Balls and when I grow up I want to be an engineer.  

Then each child in turn said what they wanted to be.  

Right now those kids believe that they can be anything and do anything.  They don't have cool kids or uncool kids. They don't know who is smart and who is struggling.  They are all just friends.  I wish it could stay so simple.  I hope and pray that all those students I worked with all year can make their dream come true.  

After school got out we came home and bottled cherries!

I love my kids.  

Ella washed them as I picked them out of the tree.  

Tyler pitted them and put them in jars. Then we processed them.  

I loved it.  I was so happy to be canning with my kids.  

Tyler wanted me to take this picture to show how many jars he did. 

It was awesome. 

Grandma retires

It is terrible that this post is about Grandma Balls retiring from teaching school but yet I find I didn't take one single picture of her!  Sorry Pat!

The kids and I drove up for the actual retirement ceremony at Logan School District.  I need to check on the total but I think it is 32 years of off and on teaching.  There were a few years Pat stayed home and raised her kids. But other than that she has been teaching for a very long time. 

I even got to teach with her at Ellis Elementary for a year.  

We got there just a little early so we stopped at Great Harvest Bread to get some of my favorite food... anything related to bread is my favorite!

When school was officially out Corie planned a big fun retirement party.  The kids collected rolly polly bugs and put them in the bucket. Ella loved them.  She spent a far amount of time bent over in the bucket "playing"with them.  

Its fun to have cousins around.  Jonah and Everett are getting so big.  

Food and me...

I am so grateful my kids are good eaters.  I was the picky eater growing up and didn't eat fruits or vegetables without a fight... 

I also didn't eat anything fish related.  

Darren and I went on a double date the other night with our friends Marco and Olga Medina.  They took us to a nice little sushi restaurant downtown.  

Here is a pathetic video of me trying to choke down a sushi roll.  

Next time (there won't every be a next time)... but if there was... I would cut the darn thing in half first!

Ella ate an entire artichoke by herself the other night.  It was steamed with a little garlic, butter and salt on it.  It was delicious!  So don't boil artichokes or even bake them. Try steaming them in your steamer and wow!  AMAZING!

Tyler was eating a whole plate of coleslaw. It has cabbage in it! 

 I didn't try cabbage until last year!

Soccer games

We just finished up a soccer season. The picture of Tyler looking down at his trophy sums up the season. He loves having three trophies now. Tyler is loving the sport.

Tyler's Train book

Tyler just finished a big project at school.  He and one other kindergartener did this project. 

I may not keep this book forever so I scanned it and put it on my blog so I will have it forever. 

Ms. Latoni his teacher wrote me this email. 

Tyler's book.  He did an amazing job!  He did research and selected a few different types of trains.  He wrote the story well.  Just enough detail and information on each one.  His drawings were terrific and the labeling was nicely done.  I made copies for our listening center. 

Next I will have him read the book to his classmates and the principal.  I will then have him record it for the listening center and his friends will be able to hear it and see it again.  I will then send his original home.  If there are other students that want to give it a try I will have them do the same. 

I think he really enjoyed it and I think he did a fabulous job!  

This is  a mail train. This is how they delivered the mail in the old days.  

This is a fast steam engine. This engine carries passenger cars. 

This is a diesel engine. It runs on diesel power. 

This is a high speed bullet train. It can go very fast. 

This is a really strong steam engine. It can carry a lot. 

This is a monorail. It does not have any wheels. 

This his story board.  Where he outlines prior to writing, all the topics he was going to cover. 

A few of the words in the pictures were written backwards for some reason. 

I love some of his spellings like

engine- enjn

carry- cere

high- hie

very- veree

station- stashun

I love his sounding out abilities. 

My kids

I really love my kids. Today we went to the local library. They were hosting a Lego racing party. Both kids enjoyed building a race car and zoomin it down the tracks. Tyler's car was amazing. I laughed a I watched him hop between each pile of Legos that was dumped out on the floor.

Then we went to my Grandma Harstons house. Tyler and Ella's great grandmothers. I don't know why I didn't get a picture. So sad. I did take one of Ella singin' while Tyler played. Ella also played her guitar. They loved all the praise they got.

The Allen's here

My plan had been to take more pictures of fun cousins but there just wasn't time/energy/or any thinking about that!

Jenny and Eric went to Mexico for a few days.  Their three kids were here with us.  

We had a lot of fun. 

We are missing Sophie the leader/oldest of these cute girls.  Sophie is the style, the cuteness and the know how of this band of girls.  We are so glad she was the first granddaughter born.  She will be here in a few weeks. 

Tessa. Grace. Ruth. Beth. Ella

We did a lot of activities while they were here.  I started off strong with going places, events, outings.  I finished with ... could you go play in the backyard for a while.  I know they had a great time regardless. 

Tyler and Isaac made play dough weights to get a work out with. 

We went to Kennocott one day.  Candace and her crew joined us. 

This cute thing reading books is where most of my energy went.  

You wouldn't think that smile would have an inch of difficulty behind it. 

This little guy, Miles, doesn't like to eat.  He can go forever. 

And if he doesn't like it... He won't eat. 

This was the last morning I had him.  He had baby oatmeal ... with a splash of chocolate in it.  

Yep... he ate it all up!

I loved thinking all week about the nice time Darren and I are going to have in 3 weeks when Jenny has my kids.  A great trade for sure!

Goldilocks, a Birthday Party and a Bees game

May 12th was a fun weekend.  

I woke up early and rode a hundred mile ride with a few girl friends.  It is called Goldilocks.  

What a great location. Bluffdale, Saratoga Springs, Herriman.  

Great ride.  

With rest stops every 20 miles, 100% perfect weather and the ability to draft ... the ride was great. 

I am in the red and white jersey second from the left. 

Then we headed up north for my nephews birthday party.  

It isn't often I remember to get a family photo but I did this time.  

Everett loved opening presents but I think Tyler loved it more.  He helped Everett every step of the way!

I love to spend time with family.  We got to see a lot of the Balls family and the McFall family (Corie's family). The McFall family is Hawaiian blood so they make you feel just like family every time you see them. 

Then we took off and spent time with Harston family.  My dad had arranged a fun night at the Bee's game.  I let Tyler sit by Darren because Tyler asked questions about the game 99% of the time. The man sitting next to us commented to me that he had learned a few new things just listening to the conversation. 

Family weekend times is the best.