Go Utes!

Today Hayley and I went up to the U of U for their intra-squad meet.  It was at the Dumke Gymnastics Center, which is their practice facility.  It was so cool to be up close and personal enough to see their toes grab the beam and hear what they say to each other, and what the coaches have to say to them.

We got there a little late and missed vault, but you can see Hayley and I on the top row of the bleachers when they are filming Uneven Bars.

Next was Beam, which we went upstairs for.  No pictures since we were literally like ten feet from the girls as they flipped and twirled on the four inch wide beam.  Didn't want to make them nervous.  And I wasn't sure if it was against the rules. :)

I did sneak some pictures during Floor Exercise.  Below is Corrie Lothrop, who looked great!

 

When the meet was done, Hayley was itching to get her trading cards signed.  I wasn't sure where she was supposed to go, so I had her go ask the coach, Megan Marsden.  She could not have been any sweeter.  She handed us a Sharpie, called the entire team over to sign Hayley's cards, and then she thanked us for coming!  So sweet, and such a great coach.

Hayley was a little star struck, and so was I.  She especially liked Hailee Hansen, because of the whole same name thing.  She was very sweet and talked to Hayley for a bit, asking her name, and how old she was.  It was so sweet.  Hayley had a group picture with a few of the girls, and I was going to wrap it up...

  

Until one of my total faves, Georgia Dabritz came over!  She signed Hayley's cards, and I told her that she was looking great on her routines, which she was very humble about.  She also told me that the plan is for her to all-around this year (Yay!) and that they hope to have another open-to-the-public intra-squad meet.  She really was just so nice.

  

I was already so excited about gymnastics season coming up, but now that I feel like I know some of the gymnasts on a more personal level, it will be just that much more fun!

Go Utes!

P.S. I know I'm not in any of the pictures.  It just seemed a little weird since I would have to ask another one of the girls to take any of the pictures.  "Um, excuse me.  I know that you are totally busy doing amazing things, but would you mind stopping to take a picture of a strange lady (me) with one of your teammates?" Yeah, see?  Weird.

Halloween

When I took Hayley shopping for a Halloween costume, she surprised me by picking out a mummy costume.  Jackson had a cute little doggie costume that we got last year after Halloween on sale, but had no interest in wearing it.  The few times I forced him to try it on, he just cried and squirmed around on the floor until he slid out of it.  Then he'd tell me, "No thanks, don't like that costume anymore."  So when we found a mummy costume for him too from my mom's costume box, and he actually kept it on, that sealed the deal that this mommy would have two little mummies for Halloween.

The kids first got to wear their costumes to the Witches Breakfast at the Fitness Center. 

They both looked really cute.

 

Hayley also wore her costume in the Halloween parade at school.

She really got into character.  She  walked like this for almost the entire parade route.

  

Jeremy took the night of Halloween off of work, and we headed to my mom's for pizza, and then out to do some trick-or-treating.

 

 I love it when the weather is nice on Halloween.

 

We trick-or-treated on two streets near my mom's house.  That was plenty for my kids.

There was also a house that had a Halloween train the kids could go for a ride in.  That was a definite hit for the little mummies.

 Hayley's a die hard and wanted to do a few more houses after we got home. 

 

It was a fun Halloween, even if it was a bit stressful being during the middle of the week this year.

Too Cute To Not Post

Just some random pictures that were too cute to not share. :)

Hayley and Jackson on a trip to the zoo to see the new Polar Bear.  It's so cool.  If you haven't been since the new Rocky Shores Exhibit opened, it's totally worth it.

Jackson and Grandma Heidi:

 

Hayley and Aunt Whitney:

 

Hayley's Reflections Project:

 The theme this year was "The Magic of a Moment."  Here's what she wrote about it: "Going on Tower of Terror for the first time was magic because the pretend lightning struck and we fell!"

More Cabin Fun

A few pictures from this Fall at the cabin:

Jeremy helped Hayley shoot a gun for the first time.  She didn't like it.  I was relieved.

More progress on the massive treehouse:

Some cabin snacks:

 

And cabin smiles:

 

And some surprise snow!

Just enough to get the snowmobiles out for the Friday evening and Saturday morning we were there.  It had all melted off by Saturday evening.

It's going to be an awfully fun winter at the cabin, especially with Hayley and me being off track for all of December. :)

Preschool Boy

These pictures are from September when I was off track.  Jackson had been going to preschool for a few weeks already at that point.

 

He looked so cute with his little Jackson-sized backpack.

 

He is still loving going to preschool.  Jeremy drops him off, and he hasn't had any tears at all.  Just lines up with his class and heads on in.

My mom picks him up most days, and he is ready to go, with a smile on his face.

Then he usually sings the songs from preschool for the rest of the day.  His favorites are Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the ABC song.

His teachers have also commented on how polite he is.  He does say lots of "please" and "thank you" and "no thanks."  Although lots of times it's when we tell him, "Jackson, it's time to go to bed" and he says back, "Sorry.  No thanks."  Yeah, you try telling the cute, polite boy no.  He's pretty much got life figured out.

The Treehouse

Hayley has a fantastic memory.  So when Jeremy and my stepdad Robert mentioned to her that they would possibly build her a treehouse at the cabin, she did not forget.  On the contrary, she reminded them about it each and every cabin trip.  This summer, they made good on their word.  My mom and I were thinking a cute little playhouse.  We should have known better putting our husbands in charge of the project.  It's anything but little.

 

Don't worry.  Robert has only fallen once.  And he caught himself.  With the tree trunk.  He only scraped off a bunch of the skin on his arm.  I told him it's an awful long half-hour ride to Evanston if you are needing medical attention.  Then I told Jeremy he better not do anything stupid.  And he told me he's not nearly as crazy as Robert.  I'm not sure I believe that...

 Hayley is elated about the whole project, and is out with "the boys" every chance she gets.   Up and down the ladder, passing out tools... Sometimes that girl is a little too brave for my liking.

 

It is coming along nicely though.  Jeremy said it's been good to have something for him to do until we get snow at the cabin, and can break out the $140 snowmobile we scored off of KSL that Jeremy has been restoring.

Keep your eyes peeled for pictures of the final product.  Hopefully before the snow season sets in.

Thanksgiving Point

We'd never done Thanksgiving Point's Two Buck Tuesday that they do every August, and this year it turned out I would be taking the last Tuesday in August off anyway for Jackson's preschool orientation, so I decided we better head on up!

After we were done with the preschool orientation, I checked a surprised Hayley out of school, and told her where we were headed.  I also surprised her with stopping by cousin Zekie's school.  We checked him out for part of the day also.  His mom was cool like that about an educational field trip chaperoned by a teacher playing hookey. :) These cousins were excited to spend the afternoon together.  I don't even remember what they were talking about on the way there, but I know it was cracking me up.

We headed to the dinosaur museum (Museum of Ancient History, I think?) first.  It was really fun, but also pretty crowded.  I love this picture.  They're so like, "Just take the picture already, will you Mom/Aunt!"

Hayley was sweet to help Jackson get in on the dinosaur sand table action.

Nothing like practicing your dinosaur growls.

Right before this we were waiting for some other kids to finish their picture.  The moms told them to sit on that rail.  I'm watching, thinking, "Not a good idea."  Sure enough, before they can even get their picture: "Clunk!"  One of the kids fell straight back and smacked his head on the floor.  Hard.  Not quite the photo op they intended, I'm sure.  Hayley and Zekie watched this mishap, and then Hayley turned to Zekie, and in all seriousness said, "Let's not do that." Yes, Hayley.  Let's not.

This guy was content in the stroller.  For once.  Which is good, because he is a runner, and there were a lot of people.

We did head over to Farm Country for a bit after the dinos.  It was a little bit calmer there, and I let Jackson out of his restraints, er stroller.  In this picture he's laughing at and talking to the ducks.  He kept saying, "Silly ducks! Crazy ducks!  Ducks are swimming! Ducks are walking!"  He had a lot of fun running around outside and seeing all the animals.

 

Worth the day off, and worth the two bucks a person for sure!