Flag Football 2010

Brad is coaching Charlie and Jack in flag football. He is so patient and caring with these young kids, many of whom haven't ever played football. The priorities are to get a center who can snap the ball and a quarterback who can receive the snap...That's just the beginning of the play. If they can get that done without a fumble they need to get a play off, either with a hand-off, pass (it would take a miracle) or the QB running around the defense. The latter brings up the subject of an offensive line...No blockers..NOT SEXY. Everyone wants to carry the ball, run for a TD. Totally understandable for 7 year olds.
They are all so adorable and occasionally the stars align and they score. It's a blast to watch and just reinforces my belief that the sexiest man is one who is being a father.

Back to School

Sam is absent from the photos because he left for his first day of middle school before I thought to pull out the camera. I'll have to take his photos tomorrow and down the road we'll never remember they were on the 2nd day! The other kids each handled going back to school in their own way.
Cairo was so excited she has been practicing carrying her backpack and wearing her clothes for the past week.
Jack has asked me no less than 5 times a day if I'm going to take him to his class and if I will volunteer to work in the class. I've managed to talk him out of having me work in his class EVERY DAY to just having me come once a week. (He reminded me again this morning to sign up to help then wondered why I was leaving his classroom...He thought I would start my job today.)
Charlie marched right into class and found the desk he sat in two nights ago at back to school night. He wore his new watch and got himself up and dressed bright and early.
Sam seemed quite calm. I was more stressed about him going to middle school than he was.
They will all do great. While I'm enjoying the quiet this morning, by the time they all come through the door this afternoon I'll be excited to see them and hear all about their first day back.

Today's Fun

We started our day with circuit training in the cool basement. We had 3 stations..One with 8 lb. weights to do bicep curls, one doing push ups and sit ups and the final one was free dancing to the rockin' tunes we had playing to motivate.
To follow up we had a nice, cold drink of water.
This is a great way for me to get motivated to drink water. I love this water bottle!
While in Australia at a great little beach side cafe we were served our cold water out of a bottle like this. I wanted to take it home but it wasn't for sale.
Thanks to TJMaxx I found one just like it for $2.99...Yea (I've since seen them at IKEA).
It makes me want to have an ice cold drink of water to open the fridge and see this cute bottle full of simple Cedar City tap water. It's also so cute to serve with dinner. It makes me drink more water and we all need more of that.

The Children made the ornaments as one of the activities for the camp. This little tree was used for our "Cowboy Christmas in July". Since Bobbi had her surgery just a few days before Christmas last year we waited to exchange our gifts until now. The weather was wonderful. Let's have Christmas in July every year!



Breathtaking, Bryce Canyon National Park. Just one of the many treasures Mother Nature has given to us...And only 45 minutes from our home. How lucky are we?

Weekend Away in Alborada

Thanks to generous relatives we had access to a very comfortable home as a weekend retreat. We held a family "Squirt Quadathon" Including, running, swimming, biking, and shooting baskets. Bobbi and Grandpa hadn't seen the kids for a really long time due to Bobbi's Chemo schedule, work, and the kids school. It was so much fun to see Mom feeling great and growing some hair back after finishing chemo and being declared a SURVIVOR.
Charlie lost a tooth (he loves to lose teeth!). The Tooth Fairy found him at Alborada.
Charlie, with an extra hole in his mouth...peeking through a hole in the rock.

Weekend Away in Alborada

We had a great time away for the weekend with Bobbi and Grandpa John. We all stayed in Ivins, UT, only 45 minutes from home but it was a much needed get-a-way with Mom and Dad and the kids. We swam, rode bikes, hunted for endangered turtles and had fun playing Uno and just being together.
Cairo, Jack and Charlie went out early one morning with Bobbi and Me and they decided to rock climb. All 3 of them conquered fears and got really high up the rock wall. The fears came when they didn't know quite how they would get down. It was a great exercise physically as well as problem solving. It required them to take deep breaths, relax and pick their foot holds and hand holds carefully. They all got down safely and felt the joy of overcoming fear and achieving a goal.

Opening Ceremonies for Utah Summer Games

The Opening Ceremonies were breathtaking. After a very windy day the air became calm and the ceremonies were perfect. Fireworks, a live band (that had Cairo swooning at the band-stand), and the march of all the athletes.
Prior to the ceremonies we were privileged to have dinner with a few Olympic Athletes that are from Utah. They were honored as inductees to the Hall of Fame for the Utah Summer Games.

Cairo Competes at The Utah Summer Games

Cairo is finally back in the pool. We love watching Cairo swim. After moving from Abu Dhabi she couldn't get excited about swim team. She missed her friends from swim team at ACS and the beautiful pool and palm trees that graced the surroundings at practice.
After she registered for 2 events in the Summer Games we started swimming together twice a week and she had 2 weeks of practice before her events.
Given she hadn't been swimming for over a year, she competed very well. She finished in the middle of the pack on both 50M Butterfly and 50M Freestyle events.

Mom and Charlie with his Silver Medal

Charlie Wins Silver - Arm Wrestling

The Summer Games continue and Charlie competed so well. He took the silver medal in Arm Wrestling. He has never been in an official Arm Wrestling competition before but he knew the rules and understood how to use the special table to his advantage.
Way to go Charlie!