Kiersten’s First Swimming Lessons

Kiersten started swimming lessons for the first time 3 weeks ago. This summer she learned how to be a fish, with a life jacket on!  Every since we have been in the water all summer she has been asking us when she would be able to learn!  She only goes once a week but she has learned so much already!  Last week, only her second lesson, she did the floating star fish (we used to call it dead mans float…guess that isn't politically correct enough for today's children) for 10 full seconds.  She received a certificate for that this week.  I’m very proud of her, and I know in no time at all she will be swimming independently!  She loves the water and does really great going under!

Mark leaving for Australia

My brother is getting a trip of a lifetime to Australia for work.  His company is paying for the trip however he is really nervous to leave Nichele for 33 days.  I try to remind him that its better to do it now, and to enjoy the journey but I still can't imagine how hard it must be leaving her!  The girls and I went down and spent this last weekend in Orofino with Mark and Nichele and then drove to Lewiston to see him off!  While we were down in Lewiston we got the chance to take the girls down to the levy and let them feed bread to the geese.  It was a fun experience and reminded me of when George and I lived in Lewiston.  I love where I live now but being down there made me miss it down there as well. It was great to visit and see some sites that I haven't been able to see in a while.

I ran a Half Marathon!!

So In July of 2012, You could say I had a midlife revelation that was really bothering me!  I was about to turn 30 years old and I was in the worst shape of my life.  I walked Bloomsday in May which was about 7.5 miles and I thought I might die.  My mom out walked me by a long shot and I had the worst blisters on my feet after and couldn't move for a few days after WALKING it.  So in July of last year I mentally decided my 30's were going to be far better than my 20's and my goal was that I was going to RUN.  Yep, I was going to become a runner again.  I've always had a hard time referring to myself as a runner because although I ran in high school and into college briefly, I NEVER enjoyed it.  My original goal was to run a 5K.
When I first started running, I could barely run for a minute continuously on the treadmill.  I started my adventure using an app on my iphone called C25K (Couch 2 5k)  It was a great app to get me started.  The trick is I had to actually START.  A quote I looked at often when I first started was this, "If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up!"  The first 6 months was rough and I truly didn't like it.  Who wants to do something that is hard work.   However, Over the last year I have ran a few organized runs and they have PUSHED me and I actually have enjoyed it. In 2013, I have done a few 5K's;Seaport River Run in Lewiston, Bloomsday, Color Me Rad, The Dirty Dash, and am very Proud to say I did my last race of the year... A 1/2 Marathon in Salt Lake City.
One of my best friends from High School called me in May and asked if I would come down and run it with her.  At first I was excited but also was thinking...Really can I do this.  My Goal was only a 5K this year and maybe look at doing a 1/2 in 2014.  But hesitantly, I agreed!  Because bottom line, I hadn't seen Krissy in a long time and I really wanted to go visit her. So I trained and now happily can say that I ran 13.1 Miles.  The half that we chose to do was an amazing place.  It was called Big Cottonwood Canyon on the out skirts of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Enjoy the pictures...because I will cherish them for a long time... NOW, to decide which 1/2 marathon I'll do next year!

Kiersten starts kindergarten

Wow, can you believe that Kiersten is five years old and started kindergarten on 3rd of September this year and she is loving every minute of it! Although she loves every minute of it, it is quite a change. She has to go to school five days a week which is much different than in the past, where she would go 2 to 3 days a week. The other big change with kindergarten is that she has homework four days a week! Her homework file comes home on Monday, we do homework Monday through Thursday, and then she turns it in on Friday. We are currently in week three and she hasn't really complained about the homework yet! If only she knew that this is how her life will be for the next 13 years. Wow just saying that hit home, I only have 13 more years with her in the house that's crazy it's going to fly by i'm sure.

So prior to school starting I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought I would do it with my girls! We put a K for kindergarten on the sidewalk and had Kiersten sit by it next year we will do a "1" for first grade and so on and so on. Kiersten loved the idea and did a great pose in our driveway. So here is my sweet kindergartner with her "K".  Also a few snap shots from the actual first day in the classroom!