Update on State

Thomas was excited that Mitch came to watch him swim the last night!

Madddi not smiling for her picture.

Thanks for coming to watch me swim Mema and Grandpa

Thomas and coach Bubba

Thomas getting ready to start his anchor leg of the 400 medley!

Well the State championship is finally over!! Thomas did great!! He beat his own time in a few events so that was cool. He finished top 20 in some events. If they only had separate age groups he would have been in the top 5 in everything but there are too many 14 year olds that he swims against. But next year watch out! He will be one of the fastest because all of those 14 year olds will have aged up so this is his year! His relay team finished 5th in the 400 medley and they were the only team that had all 13 year olds so they could possibly be State champs in that event next time! It was really hot, long, tiring but fun! We are so proud of Thomas!! By the way his coach gave him Monday off so he got to sleep in for a day!!! Back to the pool tomorrow!!!

It has been a busy week, Maddi had dance camp all week for dance company, and threw a surprise birthday breakfast for her friend Sarah. Thomas had State and Mitch was busy working and hanging out with friends, Jacob got thrown in the car and followed us all around! Mitch was also ordained an Elder this Sunday. He doesn't leave on his mission until next summer but he is going to start college soon so the Bishop wanted to get it done before he started school. We hurried and got it done this weekend because my Mom and Dad stayed longer so they could be here .They started talking about him leaving on his mission and of course I started bawling! I am going to be a basket case next summer at this time! So he is an Elder now, I teased him that now he has to get a date and go to the Elders Quorum BBQ next week. His buddies all start leaving on their missions soon, I am glad I have him for another year!

Just keep swimming...swimming... swimming!!!

These are his ultra cool flip on sunglasses his Uncle Dennis gave him. I call them his old man glasses. He LOVES them!!!

Thomas after swimming the mile... he is still smiling!!

Jacob wanted to try on the swimming cap! I think he will be swimming soon! Don't ya love the missing teeth and the huge crooked one coming in!!!!

Thomas swam the mile last night in the State Championship Meet. He did great! It was wearing me out just watching him! He finished 14th in the state in this event. They score them as age groups so he was swimming against 14 year olds so if they only scored the 13 year olds he would have finished 6th. It is pretty amazing how well he is doing! He usually is sitting home for this meet after he ages up but is here swimming 6 events and 3 relays. He has worked hard and has great coaches!!!!

Bees game

We went to the baseball game last night thanks to my brother in law and sister. It was really fun , both watching the game and seeing everyone that came with us! Jacob brought his mitt but never caught the ball! Once the sun went down it was perfect weather to sit and watch the game! We hadn't been to a game in a LONG time so it was way fun!

amazingly no one got hurt!

We did our annual 24th of July driveway fireworks show last night! It was great fun! Jacob picked out this weird ball thing that was 50 cents and Mitch lit it and Jacob was standing off to the side. At first the stupid thing just sent out a few sparks and then all of a sudden it started off after Jacob! It went all the way across the lawn after him with sparks flying. We were laughing so hard we were crying!! Good thing he can run fast! Mitch enjoyed teasing everyone so if you see alarmed expressions on faces, know that Mitch is near with some sort of sparkler, but notice the joy in Mitch's face, always a tease!!! Wow I can't beleive how fast this summer has gone by! Jacob got a letter from his new second grade teacher yesterday, Mrs. Fluhman. He is really excited! They will be back before long, I wish summer was longer!!!

Cross one off the list!

While I was down and out this summer Jacob made a list of things to do when Mommy gets better. Well we crossed one off today even though we will be doing this one many more times this summer and he already had gone with our good friends Jess and Tyler while I was in the hospital. We went to Lagoona Beach today and last night Jacob and Thomas went to Lagoon with my brother Mike and his family. It was a really fun day, hot but fun! I stayed out of the water but the kids had a blast! Hopefully we will get through the rest of his list before school starts!

Practice makes perfect!

Congrats to Thomas!!!! He has qualified to swim in 6 events in the State Championships next week!!! It is quite an accomplishment as he aged up this year and usually has a hard time qualifying for State the first year he ages up. The best was Saturday ,we had a meet at our pool, he swam the 200 I.M and qualified for State , then swam the 200 fly which he has never swam before and missed state by a bit. Then his coaches informed him they had also signed him up for the mile swim!!!! That is 66 laps of the pool in case you didn't know! He was scared to death! Never has he swam this event or even wanted to!!! He jumped in , swam his race and his time was a minute faster than the qualifying time he needed! He was excited but nervous because now he has to swim it again at State!! Good Luck Thomas!!!!

Quest

Last week Kevin, Mitch, Maddi and myself had the opportunity to go on Quest. It was kind of like Pioneer Trek but with a Book of Mormon theme instead. We headed up to Morgan to a place called camp Zarahemla. All the kids in the stake were there so there were 300 or so people up there. We had been planning on going for over 8 months so I was bummed when it looked like I might not be able to go. We had a great time and I was really excited that my doctor said it was O.K to go. We all had to wear "Tribal wear" and the kids participated in reenactments of Book of Mormon stories, played games, Kevin was in charge of the games, they called him "The Fun Guy". We had a HUGE water slide, a HUGE tug of war and ate lots of good food! Every day there was a "war" the kids all had foam swords and cardboard shields and they got to go out and fight each other. One war they left out the swords and gave them nylon socks filled with four. It was so much fun ( I watched the wars from a chair on the sidelines Mom!). It was an incredible experience and I am so glad I got to go and share it with Kevin and Mitch and Maddi, I just wish Thomas could have gone(the kids had to be 14) he would have LOVED the wars!!!