Our little Karate Kids!

This weekend we rented Karate Kid.  Our boys LOVED it!  

They watched it twice and played Karate forever after it!  

Here is the greatest trick of all time being performed by 

Mr. Camden Miyagi 

Blake rocked out to the music during the Championship Meet

Blake's favorite is when Mr. Miyagi heals Daniel (The Karate Kid) a couple of times by clapping his hands together, rubbing them quickly and then putting them on Daniel's  shoulder or leg.  Blake was dong it all night Saturday and at church on Sunday during primary!  

They both loved Mr. Miyagi.  He was like Yoda to them!

What a deal!!

My thrifty hubby found a lawn mower at DI for 5 cents!!!!  Yes, 5 cents!  He brought it home, tried it out on a sunny Saturday (a couple of weeks ago) and no luck, it didn't really work.  I said, "Let's just throw that away and buy one at Home Depot!"  But, he did not give up.  He continued his search and found another lawn mower on KSL for only $15.00.  This one didn't work either.  So, he creatively combined the two by taking out the engine from the $15.00 one, and putting it in the 5 cent lawn mower.  It worked!!  Now we have a great working lawn mower!  Total purchase, $15.05.  

Here's Will, trying to hurry out of the picture.  :0)

The two mowers

His little helper checking out the final product.

1/2 Marathon

This is Will...wanting to brag about my wife!

THE EVENT:

So, Becky, the dedicated, committed, runner decides in January to run a 1/2 marathon by March.  For all those who know Becky, she LOVES the warm weather.  If it is not 95+ degrees...she is cold.  When we moved to Utah December 29th, there was over a foot of snow and the average temperature is about 29 degrees.  When most of us would roll over and push snooze at 5 AM (and the temperature outside is 17 degrees), Becky would get up, get ready for a run...beanie and gloves, and head out into the frigid winter morning to run 5, 6, 7+ miles.  Several times during her training, she would come back covered in snow.  These were the warmer mornings, usually around 30 degrees so it can snow.  Need I say more about dedication.  

THE TRAINING:

Her training was going very well until about 3 weeks before the event.  Becky was on an 11 mile run when she came home, nearly in tears from pain in her knee.  She was gone nearly 2 hours and I had figured she was having a great run.  Her knee had given up on her from IT Band tendinitis.  She really had to back off on her training and did everything she could to treat it.  Even the night before the race she was worried it would not hold up.  She is committed.  

RACE DAY:

Race morning was a frigid 30 degrees with winds 10-30 mph.  It was cold and windy!  No fear, my dedicated, committed runner of a wife would not have it any other way.  She trained to hard to give in to knee pain, cold temperatures, and wind.  We cheered her on at 5 different locations along the course.  She looked great and finished with a great time.  It was so exciting to see her complete a goal she set for herself 3 months before.  I am so proud of her!

POST RACE:

It is now Monday, 2 days after the race.  Becky went to aerobics this AM and is wanting to go on a run tomorrow...need I say more?!?! 

I have a wonderful wife who teaches me the value of hard work and dedication.  Great lessons are learned when we persevere through difficulties and trials.  In the end, we receive a greater reward. 

 

Freebies

We love to find free events...here's the latest.  We went to the Olympic Oval last Friday and watched speed skating.  It was the "ISU World Cup Final".  This day was just long track, so no Apolo Anton Ohno!  We thought it was going on for a few hours but realized we made it for the final race!!  Oh well, it was still fun to see!

This picture they were skating so fast it was hard to get a good picture of it!  The winner of this race was from the Czech Republic and of course is who we were rooting for!

This skater was just skating slowly around at the end as everyone was cleaning up.  It was easier to get a picture!

We were wishing once again that we would have attended an event when we came for the 2002 olympics!  I guess now we just pretend like it's the olympics (7 years later!!).

This is actually Camden's little stuffed hockey bear from the Olympics in 2002 that came to life! He attacked Camden with silly string!  

As we were leaving, this guy was changing his record on the wall.  We realized it was a big to do as everyone else was taking pictures and getting autographs.  So, we took a picture too and then found out it was Shani Davis who won a gold medal in the 2006 olympics!  We tried to get Camden to get his autograph but he wouldn't budge! 

Then on Saturday for another 'just about freebie' we went to a University of Utah basketball game!  (It was a "name your ticket price" game so, Will named our prices for the game at $1.00 a piece.)  His dad, Ken came with us.  He took lots of pictures and we forgot our camera so, we'll have to get some from him!  

We LOVED it!  It was so fun to see the Utes play in person again!  Much more exciting than just watching on t.v.  It brought back good memories of walking to the games from our little apartment at school. College sports are like no other.  So exciting!  I was almost in tears (I know, silly) to see this last home game for Seniors this year.  They all get so excited!  There are tons of families, kids, etc.  Everyone wearing red. What fun!  Way to go Utes!  

A picture for the Races...

Just wanted you guys to see your trampoline.  It got a little cold in the snow the other day! :0)

So, Caden, Carsyn, and Nixon, do you think we should jump on it with the water spraying on it today?????  How about we eat popsicles on it??  CRAZY huh!  :0)  

ISH 2

After Camden left for school on Monday Blake wanted to be "Ish" also, so here is our other cute little  "Ish" who made a wish for fish on his dish!

Ta da!!

ISH and Art

Today at school the kids got to dress up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character.  Camden was "ISH"  who wishes for fish on his dish.....here he is before he left for school.

A couple of weeks ago his school had a "Gallery Walk" where we walked throughout the school looking at all the art the children did.  This is an Eric Carle work of art!  Camden says it's a shark.  Blake loved the cookies.

My camera was out of batteries.  When we replaced it, we must not have fixed the date.  Oops.

Camden is really liking school here.  They have a lot of great activities for them.  He has made friends really quickly.  Although he does miss some of his old friends from school in California. He said he still wants Hayden and Tanner in his class again!!  

Cozy 'Temple' Jammies

So a while after the Temple open house, we went to the store and found some pajamas on sale. (Christmas clearance stuff).  Blake really liked these jammies and said they're so soft!  He liked the idea of the feet on the bottom too.  So, for $7.00 we came home with Christmas Jammies in February!  Well, Blake wanted to wear them every night and few days included!  Eventually he has been calling his jammies by name.  He named them "Temple".  We asked, "Why do you call them temple?"  He said, "Because they feel warm and cozy like the temple".  Isn't that awesome?  I'm sure he felt the Spirit when we went to the open house then likened that feeling to his cozy comfy jammies.  Too cute!  I love the special spirits that our children are.  They teach us all the time!