Tour de St. George

Bryan has been biking to work and decided that he wanted to race in the Tour de St. George 30 mile race. He woke up early this morning and was off with the other riders at 8 a.m. I got the kids ready and went downtown at 10 a.m. to be there when he finished so we could cheer him on. The road was blocked off and the ending gate was set up. We were told the riders would be coming down the hill and so we were watching for them. Ethan and I played catch while we waited and about 5 minutes after we got there Ethan pointed the opposite direction and yelled "There he is!" and I turned around just in time to see Bryan and another man racing as fast as they could for the finish line. I didn't even have the camera ready or anything, but Bryan won!!! I was so impressed and he did a great job. 30 miles in about 1 hour 56 minutes. It took him a little while to get his legs back under him and he froze because the wind was blowing, but he had a great time! We are so proud of him!

Evening of the Arts 2010

Ethan played a duet with me last night for Evening of the Arts. He did a great job!!! I was so impressed with him and he had a lot of people there to watch and support him. It was a great night.

Here we are:

Registering for Kindergarten

Does this look like the face of a little girl who knows EXACTLY what she wants?


If you answered, "YES!" then you are correct. Courtney has been so excited about kindergarten registration for the past few months and couldn't wait. Today was the first day of registration so we gathered up her birth certificate, immunization record and doctor's form and headed to the elementary school. We walked in and the secretary gave us some forms for me to fill out. Courtney talked and talked to teh secretaries about how excited she is to start kindergarten and how her birthday is on the second day of school so she is pretty special. She told them that she has been getting ready for school by going to preschool, which she loves, and practicing all her letters and numbers.

They then asked one of the kindergarten teachers (Mrs. Rindlinsbacher) to take Courtney for some testing. This is when it all fell apart!

See, Courtney has made the decision that she HAS TO HAVE Mrs. Clayton (Ethan's kindergarten teacher) for her kindergarten teacher. And no one else is good enough! So when the other teacher came around the corner to test Courtney, Courtney began screaming, clinging to me and telling the other teacher that she wasn't the "right teacher for me!" I finally got her calmed down and the secretary said that testing wasn't a big deal because Courtney is obviously intelligent by the way she was speaking to them earlier. So I took Courtney to some chairs and she CLUNG to me while I attempted to fill out all her paperwork.

Five minutes later, Mrs. Rindlinsbacher tried to say hello to Courtney and make her feel better...BIG MISTAKE. Courtney, once again, started screaming and crying. Mrs. Rindlinsbacher quickly backed up and I felt horrible!

Then...from around the corner came Mrs. Clayton. She saw us and came over to say hello and asked if Courtney had been tested. Courtney said, "No, because you weren't here." So Mrs. Clayton asked if she could test Courtney and Courtney jumped right up, took her hand and said, "Let's go!" They skipped off to testing and left everyone (including the other teacher and the secretaries) with their jaws dropped.

They came back about 10 minutes later laughing and Courtney was just as happy as could be. Mrs. Clayton told me that she did really well on the testing and said that Courtney is a girl who knows what she wants. She laughed and said she was really flattered that she was the only one who would do. Hopefully she'll have some input on placement.

Now, we can't request kindergarten teachers but I think the secretary added a note to Courtney's registration form "strongly suggesting" that she be assigned to Mrs. Clayton's class. I certainly hope it happens because it will make the transition to kindergarten so much easier!

Pumpkin Pie

Someone sent this to me and I thought it was worth posting. This is how pumpkin pie is made. ;)

Backpacking

Ethan and Bryan returned home today from their backpacking trip and they had a great time! Ethan was a trooper and did a great job. He isn't quite accustomed to backpacking food (didn't want the instant oatmeal, etc.) but he had fun. Here are some photos:

Off Backpacking

Ethan and Bryan just left to go on their first backpacking trip! Ethan was super excited and told everyone he saw today that he was going backpacking tonight with his dad.

We bought them camping food (instant oatmeal, Crystal Light, jerkey, etc.), got them packed and they took off. They are going to a trail not far from here called Cottonwood. It's off Old Highway 91 by Hurricane (pronounced "her-a-cun" for some weird reason).

Once I got Ethan's pack all ready and tried it on him, he wouldn't take it off. It was cute. There are some things we need to get him eventually that will lighten his load (a lighter sleeping bag, smaller book to read, etc.) but he is set to go on his first trip. Bryan took the camera so I'll share photos when they get back.

Reading with his backpack on!

Glasses!

Yesterday afternoon Ethan, Courtney and I went to our eye doctor appointments. We haven't had very good success finding an eye doctor that we like, so we were hoping this would be the one.

The kids loved the place. The assistants were so nice and the tests were actually pretty fun...so much so that Ethan asked them to do an extra test that they were, originally, only going to perform on me. It was a bit of a wait, but they had a kids room with all kinds of toys that the kids were able to play in.

Ethan was up first and he did a great job!! I was so impressed with how well he sat up and all the questions he asked. He has had glasses for reading, but hasn't really worn them much. I have been noticing, especially at Disneyland, that he is squinting a lot more and now we know why. His old prescription, from last June, is way off in one eye. So he gets new glasses.

Then it was my turn. I had Lasic about 10 years ago and my vision has been great until the last few years. I have noticed that it has been declining and last year I went to the doctor and tried to get contacts. The doctor never could find a pair that would give me good vision, so I bought some cheap-o glasses online and have been using them for reading and piano playing. With the tests run by this new doctor, we found out that my eyes are basically healthy but I have thinning corneas (not good) and high pressure in the eye (which could be a precursor to glaucoma). So I have eye drops each night and another appointment in 3 weeks. Ah, the joys of genes! ;) Yes, I blame my family for this one! ;)

Courtney was up last and her exam was started while I was in the other room having tests done of my eyes. She did great too!! The doctor found that she is far sighted (something I have NO understanding of) and that her eyes are not working as well together as they should because focusing on things close up is difficult and her eyes fight over who should be dominant. If we don't get her glasses she will develop a lazy eye. So...Courtney got glasses too! Her glasses will be bifocals so the only part that will have a prescription will be the middle part so she can see close up. She was so excited.

We didn't have time last night to order the glasses (the appointment took 1 1/2 hours longer than it was supposed to) so we went back today and the kids picked out what they wanted. They look pretty cute, if you ask me. They will be here in about 7 days. Courtney's may take longer since they are bifocals, but we're hoping they come soon because she is super excited.

Ethan watched TV while Courtney was fitted for her glasses.