Swim Meet and Spring Break 2013;Day 1

We started our Spring Break by traveling to Cedar City for the first Long Course swim meet of the season. About 2 miles outside of Beaver my good friend and fellow coach Celeste called and asked where we were. They had run out of gas and were hoping we were close. Luckily we were!! We stopped in Beaver and got some gas for them, and then met them about 15 miles away from there and got them going again. The meet was long and everyone was tired so there weren't that many great swims. Marshall got the swimmers together to play cards during the meet. 

 This pic is of Scott swimming one of the freestyle events.

 He did well and brought home a few medals.

 Amy diving,

 And finishing. She had a rough meet, but swam the 400 IM for the first time and actually did quite well finishing 3rd.

 Samantha swimming the 400 free. She had a pretty strong race and finished 2nd.

 The 10 & Under kids doing an Easter Egg Hunt.

 Scott is in the middle holding the bag. He got quite a few eggs.

 Amy reaching for some eggs. She won a basket that had everything needed for a manicure. Perfect!

 Samantha gave up on trying to use a bag and stuffed the eggs into her suit. She also won a basket that contained lotion and other skin care items. She was excited.

 After the meet we drove to Las Vegas for the night. We spent 4 hours walking the strip and checking out the hotels. Everyone was exhausted by the time we got back to our hotel. Marshall decided that he would make pancakes in our room to save money so we wouldn't have to buy breakfast. I had to get a picture of it. We had some nice views of Vegas outside our window.

 Since it was a Sunday, and Easter, we found a ward by the temple and attended sacrament meeting. Then we drove to the temple and took some pictures.

 Marshall with Samantha and Amy.

 My sweet little boy giving me a kiss. See how I hardly have to bend down?  They are all getting way too tall. Amy is now 1 1/2 inches taller than I am. It's not very fun.

 In case you can't tell, I am the one in the brown dress. Luckily I have another year or two before Scott is taller than I am.

2013 short course state meet

Amy finally had the breakthrough I've been waiting 2 years for. I knew it would come, just didn't know when. She qualified to swim all the distance freestyles.  Her first race was the 1650 yd. free (mile). She started off strong and just kept going. It is so fun to watch her swim. she was seeded 19th going into the race and cut 56 seconds off her time. She went a 20.25 and got 13th, plus qualified for Sr. State, which was her goal. She had the following day off and went up on Friday to swim the 500. I was a little worried because the 1650 is a pretty tough race and I didn't know how much she would have left in her tank, but she managed to drop 7 sec. on that one and went under 6 minutes for the first time with a 5:56, which was another Sr. State time. The last day of the meet I was even more concerned because her arm was hurting, which has bothered her all season, and her stomach hurt and she had to swim the 1000 which is 40 laps. She had a hard time warming up and I knew she was nervous for the race. I figured she had 2 great swims and if she bonked the last one she could still leave happy. Never underestimate a distance swimmer! She took control of her swim right from the start and never let up. She had only qualified for that race 2 weeks prior and had really killed herself to do it, so I wasn't sure how much time she could cut but it ended up being 33 sec. She went a 12.07, another Sr. state time and her very first "A" time!!! She moved up 4 spots in the standings for 15th. Only 4 of the 13-14 girls from our team scored points and Amy was one of them. To top it off she swam the 2nd leg of the 4 x 100 relay that night and dropped 3 seconds off her time. She looked so good that no one recognized her in the water. What a great meet for her. She has worked so hard and it was nice to see it finally paying off. She didn't even qualify as an 11-12 year old and had gotten very discouraged. Scott also swam in the meet. On the first day he cut 3 seconds off his 200 free time and qualified 11th for finals. Then he swam the 200 IM and cut 15 seconds from his time, and just barely missed finals by 1 place. He swam the 4 x 50 relay as the anchor and swam such a fast time, catching the kid in the lane next to him. Everyone was so excited for him, but it seemed like that day really wiped him out because he didn't swim well in finals and the rest of the meet just wasn't quite there. His birthday is at the worst time because next year he'll move up to the 11-12 age group the week before state. But he still has a lot of years left to get it right. 

Amy with her 4 x 100 relay. All 4 girls had best times

 The 3rd place team trophy. We only beat Park City by 11 points, so it was good Amy scored some for us.

 Scott was excited to get to hold the trophy, for which he also scored points for the team.

 Celebrating at Pizza Pie Cafe after the meet.

 The following week, Amy swam in the BC finale in the events she didn't have State times in. Although she couldn't match what she had done the week before in the freestyle events, she swam great in everything else, dropping a lot of time and earning the 3rd place high point trophy for 13-14 girls. Scott wasn't able to swim in this meet because he had qualified for State in too many events.

 Amy and I took this picture because she wanted to prove that she is taller than I am.

 Scott wanted a picture to prove that it won't be long before he is taller than me too.

Scott turned 10

on his actual birthday we had swedish pancakes and bacon, followed by an ice cream cake. He got a new bike and some new skylanders. 

 The next day was his party. He invited 10 of his friends and had an Avengers themed party. They had pizza, cupcakes and ice cream, plus lots of snacks for the movie.

 Samantha and Amy helped me decorate.

 The boys had a battle with the balloons while they waited for everyone to show up.

 our family room is not very big, but we threw down blankets and pillows for the movie. They talked through most of it.

 And then there was a third cake with Marshall's family.

I sure love that sweet little boy, though I guess he's not so little anymore. Happy Birthday Scott!!

Scott at the Blue and Gold Banquet

he moves up to Webelos now.

Marshall Turned 40!!

Dinner with Friends

I am trying to get caught up so there will be some random posts intermittently. Christmas has too many pics so it will have to be on a day when I have more time. Some time ago we invited our good friends, Spencer and Tamra Ockey over for Aussie Burgers. We took a few pics just because we have been friends for a long time and love seeing our children grow up together.