Let's Try This Again

I'm going to try and get back on the bandwagon with the blogging. Not too much probably, but I want to try and keep track of my running on here and do some family updating as well. Hopefully I can get with it.

I ran for the first time this morning since before Christmas. It was pretty rough. I hate running on the treadmill, but I really hate running outside when it's below 30 degrees. I need to get some better cold weather gear and something to cover my face if I'm going to do it.

I did a run/walk mix and kicked up my pace every time I started running again. Not my best time, but I did about 5.4 miles in about 65 minutes. Skipped my strength training. I was completely wiped. Yuck.

My baby turned 7

Carter turned 7 in November. We insisted that he wanted a cake that looked like a fish aquarium that was in a cake book I bought on clearance at Barnes and Noble. So, I gave it my best shot. We had a little party at our house with our family and Grandma Polly and Grandpa Pete. He’s always bummed about not having a “friend” party, but his birthday is always around Thanksgiving and we are always on track break, so it’s hard to have those kinds of parties.

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He said he loved the cake … hopefully I won’t have to do too many more because I am definitely not that creative on my own.

Carter’s Y-ball season

I love the YMCA basketball program right now. The boys are all at the age that they still don’t care if they win or lose and just love to dribble the ball down the court and shoot it. Carter gets so excited about the whole thing. I enjoy it sooooo much more than watching him play soccer. That’s the former athlete in me getting frustrated ;-). We also really like this coach, he has been really great for all the boys playing.

New pics of the Kids

We had some new pics taken of the kids last fall, so definitely need to be redone again. They were pretty darn cute though.

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Let’s try this again

I’ve decided that I really am not a good blogster. I can’t seem to make myself sit down and update. I know I should be better, but life seems to get away from me. I have a bit more time on my hands right now for a variety of reasons … Ryan decided not to play football, Kennedy’s soccer coach decided to be a complete dipstick loser and disbanded their team instead of letting the other parents coach … yes, Jeremy Canning, I am talking about you, you idiot … hopefully you Google your name sometime and this post comes up. So, I’ve decided to try and start updating stuff from the last year, at least so the family can see pictures if they don’t have Facebook. That, I’ve been pretty good at updating.

Back to the daily grind

Once we got home from our Oregon Coast vacation we started back into the regular fall schedule that seems to be the most crazy time of our year. Carter started first grade about three days after we returned home and all the kids jumped into their sports seasons. Carter played soccer, Kennedy decided to play both soccer and volleyball, and Ryan was on the Mountain View freshman football team, which is way more intense than I had anticipated. So, we were running everywhere and I was helping with pre-game meals for the football team, with Young Women’s on top of that. It makes for a crazy three month period, but, everyone had a great time and I enjoy watching the kids play their sports, so I don’t mind the craziness too much.

Getting ready to head into the building.

At his first desk. Woohoo, I now have no kids at home, all day long. That’s probably bad of me to admit it, but I kind of enjoy the alone time.

Carter getting his trophy after the last soccer game this fall. He had a pretty good season, scored a few goals.

Kennedy decked out in her cold-weather gear. We played in some nasty conditions during the season-ending tournament. It snowed and rained and was down right cold.

She had a lot of fun with this team though. They played pretty good and the although she hates playing forward, the one time coach put her there this season, she did score. Way to go sis.

Ryan had a great time playing football this fall. The team ended up tied for first at the end of the year. He met lots of new guys and got in really good shape. Now I’m just trying to get him to keep lifting weights throughout the winter.

Getting his D-line sweatshirt at the football banquet at the end of the year. I love that they have to dress up for the banquet.

We also got to get in a 4 day camping trip at Ponderosa State Park in McCall over Labor Day weekend. There is a huge group that always goes that weekend, probably about 10-15 families or so. Normally we stay at my in-laws condo and go to the campground and hang out and then we can sleep in beds when we leave, but the kids really wanted to tent-it for the weekend, so we did. It was actually a lot of fun and I remembered that I love dutch-oven food and just being outdoors. There was also a 1-2 year old bear running around the campground all weekend. Made for some interesting adventures for Ryan and his YM leader Chris Freeman. They followed it around on their bikes for awhile.

Our camping set-up. It was nice to have the screen tent set up for shade and for keeping the bees away from the cooking area.

Carter at Payette Lake. It’s just a few minutes walk from where we were camping. It had a roped off swimming area.

Kennedy at the lake with the two younger girls she hung out with Shelby and Samantha. She had a good time with them.

Carter trying to get on the raft with the girls.

Not any pics of Ryan in these. He was off with his buddies or just wandering between camps the whole weekend.

Catch up – Oregon Coast

We rented a house on Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon for four nights and then headed up to Portland to visit Chris’ brother Greg and his family for a couple of days before heading back to Boise and getting into the fall grind of sports and school. We had a great time. Kennedy and I were up early every morning and out on the beach. The really low tide was at about 7 am every morning we were there, and we were out there. The kids and Chris were out on the beach pretty much til after dark almost every night. We only had one day of rain and we spent that day at the aquarium. In Portland we hit the Oregon Zoo and a place OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Kind of like an oversized Discovery Center if you are familiar with Boise.

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Pretty much the look on her face the entire time we were there. Totally in her element.

The water was soooo cold and Carter spent most of the time running in and out of the surf.

The sand was great at Nye Beach. Ryan got buried after this.

Ken and I caught a bunch of these little guys around the rocks that were on the beach. Couldn’t get Carter to touch anything though.

Ryan was up on a rock here. We were at the beach by Otter Crest and the Devil’s Punchbowl.

Ryan and Carter being very careful crossing these rocks. I about biffed it walking across them before these guys did. They were so darn slick. Back behind the is the actual Devil’s Punchbowl. When it’s high tide, you definitely don’t want to be in there.

Kennedy holding a starfish. We didn’t see a lot of them on this trip. Normally at this beach there are a ton.

So these two, along with there dad, and sometimes Ryan, would build moats and other sand creations and then we would sit on the beach and wait for the water to come in and destroy them. Definitely getting hit by some cold water here.

Had to sneak in one of the hubby. I don’t get pictures of him very often. Normally he’s the one behind the lens.

After the first couple of days, Ryan discovered that he should probably just wear his swim trunks everywhere so he wasn’t soaking all his regular clothes.

Ry at the Oregon Zoo.

Carter at the zoo.

My niece Piper. Chris’ brother Greg and his family met us at the zoo. Lots of fun, she’s a sweetie.

My other niece, Sydney. She’s a character.

The rest of the fam that we met up with. Kathy, my sister-in-law is in the front in the black shirt. Chris’ cousin Andreas’ is behind her with the blue jacket and Chris’ brother Greg is next to him in the brown and green shirt.

Ken at the zoo. Sorry, no animal pics. I do have some, but nothing too exciting.

Carter at OMSI. We don’t have a lot of pics from here, definitely a hands on place. He built the boat by himself and got it to go. They had wind blowing from behind Carter to make the boats sail.

Catch-up

Crazy, the last time I managed to post something was just after Kennedy’s birthday and a camping trip to a spider infested campground. I keep thinking I will be better, but it hasn’t been happening.

Summer was kind of crazy for us. I spent nearly ever day driving to and from Mountain View High School taking Ryan to summer workouts for football. It made for some interesting days. He enjoyed it and worked hard, so it was worth it. Now if I can just get him through driver’s ed before next season, it will make my life so much easier.

We only had a two week break between summer football workouts and Carter going back to school. Still can’t believe my baby is in first grade. Wow. I spent a week at my parents with my kids in Teton Valley and then we packed up again and headed for the Oregon Coast for another week. That was our summer in a nutshell. Go, go, go.

I guess that’s enough for now, here’s some pictures from those exciting adventures …

We hiked up to the Wind Cave with Ann-Marie and her kids when we were at my parents. It was probably a total of three miles, but you end up pretty far in the mountains. Very beautiful except for the fact that it rained, hailed and thundered and lightening on us on the way down. Here are Avery, Kennedy, Connor and Carter. Ryan was probably headed up the hill already.

Connor, Carter and Addie after our lunch break.

Avery and Kennedy under the ledge. Pretty cool place.

Ryan helping Carter come out of the mouth of the cave. Yep, that’s running water. Very windy, cold and pitch black inside. We went pretty far back, had to climb on our hands and knees a bit.

On to the Oregon Coast. We stayed in Newport. This is a Yaquina Head light house, you can climb clear up to the top.

Just a cute picture of the munchkin as we were headed through the lighthouse.

Ryan and Kennedy at the touch pool when we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Lots of fun, spent most of the day there.

Ryan and I with sharks swimming around us in the glass shark tunnels.

Couldn’t leave without the token picture in the shark mouth.

Here’s the house we rented for the week. About a two minute walk from the beach. Kennedy and I got up about 6:30 every morning to catch low tide. She caught tons of crabs and all the kids spent a lot of time in the water, which was freezing. I’ll have to post pics later, I’m wiped and it’s after midnight here.