Super 16!!!

First solo drive!!

Off to practice

We woke up to this on the front lawn on his birthday. We heard honking for 2 days it was so fun. Thanks Jess :)

Maddi surprised us again by coming home for the long weekend. I am trying to convince her to stay home and go to school next year.

Blowing out the candles...Thomas style.

Thumbs up to 16 candles!!!

Adventure time cake, it's one of his favorites.

One of his buddies gave him a Thor helmet...he LOVES it! Why am I worried about him growing up, he still is like a 5 year old sometimes!

It finally just made sense to me why I love Peter Pan so much. It's because I can relate with never growing up. I love each new stage my kids go through but it is hard to watch them grow so darn fast. If I could keep them in Neverland where they would stay kids it would be awesome. But each passing year brings new adventures and this year brings Thomas to the ripe old age of 16. He got his drivers license today and for the first time took the car and drove himself to practice. Now I know many of you are going to say, wait... you have been looking forward to this day when he can drive himself to the pool and back twice a day . It's true, I am happy to cut down on my back and forth trips, but I will miss that time in the car with him, even if it is only for a few minutes. He tells me everything that went on in practice and how he swam and all the details. I am sure I will still get most of it when he gets home but it will be different.
It doesn't seem all that long ago Mitch then Maddi turned 16. It is such a fun time of independence and a little freedom. But it seems as soon as they turned 16 I blinked and they were out of the house.
I am excited for Thomas because he is so excited but it does tug at my heart just a bit that he is so grown up. So if anyone knows the way to Neverland will you please send me the directions, I may want to visit, but not until this summer when all our kids are home so they will all stop growing up...just for a while.

6

O.K are you ready for this??? Holy cow, 6 months. I am so excited to say that in only 6 months we will have Awesome Elder Sheridan back at home. I know he is helping so many people and serving the Lord and loving his time in Peru. But I am over the top excited that it is down to only 6 months! I remember when he had been gone only 6 months and I thought how long it would be to get to this point and now it is here. The countdown begins.....

First Date

Thomas will soon be turing the magic age of 16. Crazy right! It is such a fun age but it really crept up on me way too fast. I still call him and Jake my little boys. When did this happen.
He is super excited to have passed his driving test and as soon as he turns 16 he can go and get his license, oh my.
Also, since he is turning 16 just a few days before the girls choice Sweethearts dance at school, he was just asked on his first date by a good friend of his. He got out of practice to find a bottle of shampoo on his swim bag. There was a note that said " Thomas, will you go to Sweethearts with me? Wash your hair to find out who." Ha ha this is funny because Thomas has yucky hair right!
Any way he answered her with a bottle of conditioner that said, " I would love to go to the dance with you, on one condition...I don't have to wash my hair"
So now we are back to having to order flowers and find a tie to match a dress. Really, when did this happen?????

Spelling Bee

Another year, another Spelling Bee. Jacob won his class Spelling Bee and moved on to the school one. He made it to the the last rounds but ended up misspelling the word RHYTHM. He hadn't practiced that one. He was the last 4th grader left so that was pretty cool. What wasn't cool was that the next few words all the way to the final winning word were ones he had practiced and knew how to spell. I could see it was killing him to hear those 6th graders misspell nobelium, squeegee and mostly vaudeville, he knew that one by heart! He is determined to make it again and go farther next year.
He is an amazing speller. It is pretty sad that I have to ask him how to spell things!

A surprise visit

Jacob ended up getting the flu while we were at the swim meet . The poor kid, I had to find a cool spot for him to lay down because it was so hot and crowded. What a trooper, the poor thing has grown up poolside but only watching.
The rest of the fam ended up catching the flu one by one all week, except Maddi, she escaped it.

As I was cooking dinner Thursday night before State there was a knock on the door and there stood Maddi! She had driven her car home for the weekend to watch Thomas swim. She didn't tell me she was coming because she knew I would tell her not to drive her old car up because I didn't think it would make it. Well she had a couple of boys look at her car that were mechanics and they told her it looked great so her and a few friends drove up and surprised us. It was fun to have her home and I always hate it when she has to go but this time I was kicking her out the door because I didn't want her driving back late at night. They made it back to school safe and sound but I worried the whole time until she arrived.

State...not so great.

The Principal called the State qualifiers to his office the first day of State and gave them all a corsage. We have the most awesome Principal in the state I am sure of it!

It was pretty awesome to have Thomas announced as the Region 6 champion before his races! Also, he looks pretty cool in his new fast skin!

I can't tell you how much I love this group of swimming boys. They can make Thomas laugh even when having a crappy day. Some are from other schools and are amazing examples for Thomas to look up to.

Can't even begin to express how grateful we are for his club coach. Coach Steve has been been just what Thomas needs as he begins to reach his goals.

Backstroke start, pretty cool. Thomas hates swimming at BYU. The worst part of the day is when they stamped our hands with BYU. Jacob smeared the B and Y so he just had a U.

The look on his face says it all! There is always next year!

Last weekend was the High School State Championships held at BYU. Thomas was going into this meet a 2 time Region champ and was wanting to have a really great meet. It didn't quite happen the way he planned. He swam the 200 Im and the 100 back. In the Im he finished 9th in the State and in the backstroke he finished 7th. Not so bad for a Sophomore but he wanted to do much much better. He had a rough meet mixed with a high school coach he is having difficulty with and it was not a very fun weekend for him.
He is ready to put this years high school season behind him and work even harder if that's possible. I know I have said this before but Thomas works so unbelievably hard and is so dedicated to his sport. So when he has a bad meet it breaks my heart to see him unhappy because I know how hard he has worked. It is so funny to have people ask how he did at State and tell them how he finished 7th and they are amazed that a Sophomore did so well, when Thomas feels the exact opposite. He is very driven and next year should be amazing for him as all the big Seniors that won this year will be gone.
He is already back in the pool training for a big USA meet in March. He is going with his club team, with an awesome group of kids that are like family and a club coach that he respects and that respects these kids and treats them like champions. We were very lucky to have Coach Steve on deck at the State Championships and he is so good at helping Thomas understand things with swimming. He told Thomas that there are really only 2 or 3 times a year you can ask your body to do amazing swims and this meet just was one too many.
He is hoping to qualify for Sectionals at this next meet, if he makes it we will have to hold a bake sale or something to get him there, but he is close to doing it! I believe he can do anything! Go Thomas!!!

REGION 6 CHAMP!!!!

Mom made him wear all his medals for the picture.


Standing on the podium.

Thomas with Mr. Park. He is our Principal at WX. He has been so supportive of our swim team and comes to most of our meets, even in Park City, even on his birthday!

Thomas had a secret weapon, his THOR tattoo. I guess it worked!

Finally happy after a meet.

Today was the championship for our high school region. In high school you are only allowed to swim 2 events and 2 relays. Thomas swam the 200 IM and the 100 back along with 2 relays. The first event he swam was the medley relay which he swam the backstroke leg. They ended up winning the event, what a great way to start the meet.
Next up was the 200 IM. This has been one of his best events the entire year and he was going into it seated first. He was positive he would win, no problem, but I was SO nervous for this one. I knew he was swimming against one of his really good buddies that is a Senior from a different school and they train every day together. I was confident in Thomas and his hard work but also knew Zach has worked really hard also. I think I was more nervous for this event than any other event his entire swimming career. Thomas did good in the butterfly, had a small lead and even bigger one in the backstroke leg but then Zach , who is an amazing breaststroker, pulled ahead and then it was up to the freestyle. Zach was ahead the first 25 and then at the wall Thomas started catching up. In the end Thomas powered through and barely out- touched him for the win. It was so close that the whole natatorium was screaming for them. It felt like the Olympics. It was awesome. I video taped it but was shaking so hard it is really hard to watch. That was the first race I have seen Thomas smile at the end because he was happy with the win.
After this his relay team swam the 200 free relay. They finished third.
Next up was the backstroke he was seated second but ended up blowing the other kids out of the water. It was awesome!! So he wins Region in both of his events as a Sophomore and tied with two Seniors for highest individual points.
I can only imagine what he is going to do as a Junior and Senior.
Days like today make up for all the early morning and after school and Saturday practices. I am so incredibly proud of this kid! He is a champion inside and out!
Next up.... High School State Championships first weekend in February.
Stay tuned!
P.S he didn't want to wear his medals so I am wearing them all day. He worked hard to get them, someone should wear them! :)