Preschool Cutie

This little gal headed out the door this morning for her first day of preschool. She was so excited! She bounced out of bed this morning with excitement for her first day (she's been counting down). 

 

First item of business: dig in the moon sand. Mrs. Provost also had red sand in another sand table. And that is why preschool is amazing.

 

Avery and Mrs. Provost--Avery's first school teacher!

 

We'll miss you Avery! Can't wait for Captain Day :)

 

Also here is a picture of Ella with her buddies at gymnastics. If you can't tell, she is in heaven!

Peace Out

 Back to School kicked off on Wednesday!!! There was magic in the air as we got up on time, ate a healthy breakfast, and saw Ella to the bus stop for her first day of school. She had been waiting for this day for a long time...

First day, first grade. Peace out, peeps.

 

Hello Kitty Head has cheese and crackers for lunch! And Gogurt!

Oh, I can't wait to take on the world. As long as I'm wearing my favorite shirt...the one that my mom thinks looks like pajamas.

Well, I'm not gonna lie--first grade is a long day. The decibel level has gone down 95% in my house from the hours of 1-4 p.m. And there are none of the ongoing she's-touching-me, she-took-my-yellow-crayon skirmishes that wear a momma down. But this taste of the good life was not exactly what I thought. It's kind of too quiet, kind of too empty. I am experiencing emotions I have never felt before: I miss Ella!

When she got home that day, there was another first in the lineup--Champion Gymnastics! Oh my, did she have stars in her eyes coming home from that class. With her love of climbing up light poles, she was thrilled to show off her skills when the teacher asked the kids to climb a rope tied to the ceiling and ring a bell at the top. She has a graceful cartwheel and an Olympics-inspired passion--we can't wait to see where this year will take her!

A Whole New World--4 Years Old!

There's the birthday girl--right there!

Miss Averycakes turned 4 on Wednesday. And she got everything her heart desired: a skateboard, 2 Nerf guns, and a night at Aladdin.

Also crab legs for dinner. Don't ask me about that--she doesn't even like them. But none of us were complaining.

Ready for a night under the stars, with a little help from mandatory nap time!

Everyone loved the show! The 3D Cave of Wonders made the kids jump, the genie was so funny that the kids were laughing even when they didn't understand the jokes, and especially cool to the kiddos was the magic carpet ride right over our heads. We made it to midnight, and we told Avery the fireworks at the end were especially for her!

Also of note, this past week has been full of thunderstorms. Since it's so scorchin hot, we usually run outside to soak up the scene. Ella has been known to do a few cartwheels down the sidewalk. We are nothing but class in this house, I tell you.

Summatime

After the last day of school, summatime begins! We'll miss you Miss Gardner :(

Now it's time for pool days, sidewalk chalk, and...

CHEERLEADING CAMP! Ra! Ra! Ra!

Ella and Avery learned how to do BYU cheers from Shaylie.

And perfected their tumbling tricks with Amy.

And can't stop singing a song called ice cream and cake.

And another one about peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat.

Also Ella got to go to ART CAMP! She took this class very seriously.

VERY.

SERIOUSLY.

Her favorite medium was pastels and getting her hands dirty doing the shading on her portraits.
We enjoyed sampling classy hors d'oeuvres and touring the students' gallery at their end-of-the-week art show.

Bryson spent this week in the Boulder Mountains with the 14-year-olds. From what I have watched of the videos, they spent the entire time rolling large objects off cliffs.

Now I'm spending some quality time with my BFF Pinterest to prep for the 4th of July.

Summer is officially well underway. Done and done.

Swimming Hole

We just discovered the swimming hole at Zion. Yesterday topped 100 degrees, so it was a timely discovery. Who's been here before? We'll definitely be going back.

Kanarracreek Falls

Memorial Day was spent hiking Kanarra Creek Falls (aka mini Narrows). 

We collected snake grass and maze sticks on the way up.

The water takes awhile to get used to...our feet were frozen nub popsicles.

 Hazel loved all of it. She swiped leaves off trees and kicked Bryson in the back to make him go faster. 

Beautiful day! Hats off to Ella and Avery for completing that four-mile hike!

Ring of Fire

Sometimes the moon passes in front of the sun and your whole neighborhood is sitting outside watching. Sometimes you order nerd glasses ahead of time for said occasion. Sometimes your kids look directly into the sun anyway. 

IronSpectators

Ironman festivities are such a treat. Anyone that can swim two-and-a-half miles, bike 112 miles, then tack on a marathon for good measure deserves to be celebrated.

And celebrate we do.

I'm an Ironman groupie, and this event is the crown jewel of working at the tourism office.

This day began on calm waters...but an unpredicted sandstorm quickly turned Sand Hollow into Maui. They don't call it Hurricane for nothing.

So anyone who finished Ironman St. George 2012 is truly an iron man. The swim was brutal.

Rewind to Friday night. We entered our chillens in the IronKids fun run. Ella ran one mile! Ran/walked...but she did it, water backpack and all. Avery's sign is awesome (see below).

And Avery competed in the 200 meter dash. Avery got a little competitive in her race and took off! I missed her at the finish line but she didn't stop there anyway. She ran all the way to the splash pad and we couldn't find her for about 15 minutes. She told us that she won her race because she was the first one to the splash pad...even though that wasn't actually the finish line.

There goes Iron Ella! There was a lot of people there. It was kinda IronKrazy.

 

This was a commemorative year, being the third and last full-distance Ironman. The next two years are set for a 70.3.

At the finish line Saturday I got to hold the ribbon for Meredith Kessler when she won. It was awesome. Check it (8:07 on the video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LDTI3yhluM&feature=youtu.be

Our kids are IronSpectators. I cannot count the number of people Avery yelled out at, "YOU. ARE. AN. IRONMAN."

Ashley joined up at the VIP tent for the real party that ensues after 10 p.m. At that point in the day, everyone is screaming "You are an Ironman!" to people both in the race and not in the race, as the spectators do the YMCA in the bleachers. We got to see Meri and Rich finish together holding hands :)

Paradise Found

Oh craziness.

We have been married for 10 years.

As in: a decade. As in: 2 college degrees, 3 kids, a roller coaster of life experiences, part time to full time to career employment, and settling into the more stable (fingers crossed) 30s that are heralded as the prime of life. Cheers.

So we took the celebration to Havasupi and enjoyed a few days in the most beautiful place on earth. Being there made me want to quit my job and run away from home.

So this hike began here, on the south side of the Grand Canyon, Hilltop trailhead. The town of Supai is the most remote town in the United States. It is an 8-mile hike from a parking lot that's pretty much in the middle of nowhere itself, and all of the town's mail is brought in by donkey.

Smart people carry their packs in like this. (donkey) Note that we are crazy.

After about 8 miles hiking through desert and red rocks, you hit the town of Supai...which kind of looks like a third world country. Animals are running through yards, clothes are hung on the line, residents are digging irrigation ditches, fences are made of chicken coop, and the garbage man is riding on a tractor. Except for the elementary school: that place was surrounded by security gates and cameras and had a marquis out front announcing the last day of school. I guess if I had that many strangers walking through my town each day I'd spend the money on the kids too.
Also check out those two eroding rock pillars on the cliff face coming into the village. Our guide book told us that those were the guardians of the village--male and female--and that the legend is that when they fall, it will be the end of the Havasu people and their canyon.

Then you hike for two hot miles on a very sandy road and coming around the bend you see this...

...and that crazy crystal clear water is so invitingly blue, it's like you've stepped into paradise. People are wading in shallow pools and jumping into the deeper terraces off Havasu Falls.

After you've caught a glimpse of the awesomeness, the hike winds down and halleluia: the campground! I felt so zen.

Also we were so happy to take our backpacks off. Apparently it is harder than it looks to carry 40 pounds through sand for 10 miles. We camped on top of Mooney Falls.

You could see straight to the bottom in that water. The next day we hiked to Beaver Falls, an 8-mile roundtrip. We started off just going right through the water and hiking down waterfalls, which weren't slippery because of mineral deposits from the water that coated the bottom in a white, coral-textured surface.

And when we did have to step out, it was from one postcard to another.

Beaver Falls looked like a little Hawaiian paradise. A tour guide who arrived about the same time as us told us about the cave hidden underneath the falls. We were all too chicken to check it out though! You have to swim really hard through the falls to get there.

Heading out the last day, we noticed Navajo Falls, which we hadn't really made time to see. Love that blue-green water on the dark rocks too. Guess we needed to leave a reason to go back, right?

3 days was not enough time. Not nearly enough time.