Swimming Lessons

Nice googles, T-Dog!

Go Isaac!

The boys have been taking swimming lessons at the Bountiful Rec Center. They were in the same class and were working on stroke development. I maybe signed them up for too high a level because they still need to work on stroke development. They had a fun time. We stayed after several days and swam with cousins; now I am all swimmed out. (Perhaps I should have enrolled myself in a swim coarse. It might have come in handy last weekend.)

Spudman!

Pre-race.
Why are there so many crazy people?
The swim is tough. I kind of freaked out.
David & Wade after the race.
Just before crossing the finish line.

We did it!

Hooray! We did it! I feel so good to be done with this. We are both a little sore but proud to have finished the race. We both improved on our times from our last Spudman. We decided that we need to focus on swimming in open water. It is soooo different. Also if I commit to do the race I need to train more consistently. Do you see a common theme in my life?

We drove to Idaho with Wade and stayed with my aunt and uncle. My kids stayed with my parents. Gayle and Milo were very gracious hosts. Thank you so much to them. Thanks also Mom and Dad, I never have to worry about my kids when they are with you. My cousin, Lisa was also participating in the race for the first time and she did a great job. We talked about doing it again next year and decided that today would not be the day to decide. We also saw Andrea and her family so it was a fun little reunion. Joc was also there with some other friends so she didn't stay with us but she did a great job too.

Pre-race Jitters!

This is all my gear.

Tomorrow we leave for the Spudman. It is Saturday and I am very nervous. My goal is to finish the race and hopefully do it a little bit faster than last time. I think that I am in better shape but I am not sure that I have trained as much as I needed to. I have been focused on the fat man program which, for me, takes a lot of effort. Last spudman, all my siblings participated. This time I will be the only Larsen. David and I decided today that at least our entry forced us to exercise probably more than we would have otherwise. Wish us luck, we may need it.

Behind on Blogging

I am very behind in my blogging. I have not been feeling much like writing lately. You will have to look back in time to see what we have been up to the last month. It has been a busy one.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Dad & Mom with all of the grandkids.
Grandma and Lucy.

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday. (I think we should have had a big birthday bash. Maybe that will have to be for 65. If I start thinking about it now I will have 5 years to plan it.) We had a family BBQ at Jessica's and had a great time.

My mom is a great lady. She is a very hard worker and rarely sits down to relax. She has to be doing something. Her daughters love it when she comes to help them because she can get so much done. We call her Kathy the whirlwind. She has many talents and hobbies. She knows how to do almost everything. I am glad that she raised me with a can do attitude, it helped me become a confident person. I feel so blessed to have her for a mother. She always does the right thing and she can't understand people who don't do the same. (This quality reminds me of my grandma.) People often tell me that I remind them of my mom and it is one of the best compliments I could receive. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

Oceanside

Hudson and Truman buried. Can you tell whos who?

Anzley and Sylvie looking on.

The hot tub was a huge sucess for the kids!

Luckily there were two hot tubs; one designated for adults.
Amy and Adam. Adam is a sweetheart!
Lucy and David on the beach.
Lucy and Mom.
All the kids in one shot; a difficult job.
Lucy loved to crawl on the sand.
James and Isaac building sandcastles.
Rebecca and Isaac buried alive.

We had a great trip to Oceanside, California. We rented a beach house and went with several of David's siblings. I wish all of them could have come but that is still a few more years away. The house was right on the beach and it was so fun. We had plenty of relaxing, hot tubing, boogey boarding, movie going and hanging out. I honestly could have stayed another week.

We took a day and went to Sea World, which is a favorite of mine. When I was a kid I wanted to be a marine biologist. The first time I went to Sea World my sister Jessica was called down out of the audience and she received a kiss from Shamu. It was sooooo cool! So cool, in fact, that for several years I told everyone that Shamu kissed me. I remember being older and thinking to myself, that wasn't really you, it was Jessica. I can not think of Sea World without remembering this story. We saw the Shamu show Believe. I loved it! I have to admit that I was teary eyed.

I also did a bit of shopping. California and Nevada have great outlet malls and for the past several months I have been working hard to loose weight. This was my reward and incentive to keep up the hard work. I studied fashion by watching What Not to Wear and I was actually surprised at how much I learned. I haven't been able to get anyone to nominate me so I have just taken matters into my own hands.

David and I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary while on the trip. We were able to get a night out and we went to dinner and saw the broadway show, WICKED. I love this show. It is kind of like life; full of surprises and misunderstandings. It helps me to remember there is always another point-of-view.

We had a really great trip! Thanks, Matt for all your hard work in putting the trip together. We hope to do it again soon.