First School Photo

I just received Owen's first school photo!  I know school pictures are cheesy and totally uncreative, but I LOVE it.  Both my mom and dad have my 13 years of cheesy school photos framed together and I can already picture Owen's collage hanging on my wall!

The Green Dragons

The last two months have been filled with soccer practices and games for my two boys.  Micah has been coaching the Green Dragons and Owen has been my favorite player!

Gael, Owen, Ryder, Sohan & Christian

All good soccer teams need a banner and Micah created this masterpiece!

Owen excelled in soccer, mainly because of his speed.  He was always the first down the field and always had his eye on the ball.  I was really proud of him and have to admit, I much prefer soccer over baseball!

Coach Micah giving a pep talk

We finished the season off last week with a pizza party and trophies. 

Here are the boys at their final game last week.

Monterey, CA

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Monterey to visit my bestie, Tracy, and her wonderful family.  It was her daughter Cecily's 4th birthday AND I was able to finally meet the newest member of her family, baby Ian, who was born on August 27th.  He is a sweet, perfect baby who I enjoyed carrying around for much of the weekend.

I was delighted to tote Ian around during the birthday party, so that Tracy and Matt could focus on Cecily and their guests.

 Owen and Adler had a blast hanging with Cecily and playing with her toys (i.e. making a disaster of their cute house).

Adler & Cecily

 We spent a little time at the beach, getting some rays and playing in the sand.  Of course the boys had fun searching tide pools for ocean creatures.

Micah & Owen climbing around the rocks

The Birthday Girl, Miss Cecily!!

 We also spent one afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium but actually have no pictures to prove it.  We were too busy racing around from one exhibit to another.  The kids adore that place and the new Jellyfish exhibit was pretty awesome!

Here are the ladies at Bubba Gump saying our goodbyes before we started our drive home.  It was wonderful spending the weekend together....such a treat to live within driving distance.  We already have plans to see each other again in a few weeks!  Can't wait.

Tough Mudder

Micah and a group of his buddies finished Tough Mudder on September 23rd at Northstar (a ski resort just north of Lake Tahoe and close to Truckee, CA).  The course was 12 miles long, up and around a mountain, and included a bunch of crazy obstacles.  It took them a little over 4 hours to finish.

Go Honey Badgers! Getting ready to start.

Throughout the course, obstacles included: multiple mud crawls, 15 foot high jump into muddy water, swimming through a tank full of ice water, monkey bars, carrying logs up the mountain, carrying a teammate, muddy tunnel crawls, climbing tall wooden walls, electric shock, and getting over a half pipe.

Just after a mud crawl

The Muddy Mile

Gladys and I purchased spectator tickets for the event and took the kids to cheer on their dads.  We didn't get to see very much of them, but the atmosphere was great and we were able to watch the last 2 obstacles at the finish!

I took Owen, Adler and Ethan up the chair lift see see a couple of other obstacles.  We had already missed Micah though.

Owen and Ethan supporting their Tough Dads!

Here's Micah coming into the final obstacles.  After waiting a long time and searching for him, we were thrilled to see him (un-injured).

Micah had no problem climbing/jumping up the giant half pipe.

Here's the Honey Badgers working together to get Steve over the ledge!

View from the top of the half pipe.

One obstacle left to go!

The Honey Badgers right before the final obstacle, the electric shock.

Micah protecting his head from the electrical wires.

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE!!!!

We were so proud of Micah for finishing such a crazy, challenging event!

Owen & Ethan getting their sugar-high on!

Micah all cleaned up and ready for a big meal and a nap.

Iron Girl Triathlon

I competed in my third sprint triathlon on September 16th in South Lake Tahoe.  It took me a little over 2 hours to finish, which was longer than I had hoped for, but that's the way it goes.

Enid and me getting ready to swim!

I was cold before even getting into the water and then the water literally took my breath away.  It was a quick swim, only about 400 meters, but not a good swim for me.

In the water with about 100 other women in my age group.

So glad to be out of that water!!

The bike ride was about 17 miles long, around a portion of Tahoe.

The run was a 5K and I struggled the entire time.  It was definitely a challenge for me.  My legs were like jelly after the bike and my feet were still numb from the cold swim.

Finish line in sight!



 

I had a nice cheering section with my mom, Micah and the kiddos there, as well as the families of my friends also racing.  I'm pretty sure my mom got her excercise that morning as she was running all over the place trying to find me and cheer me on!  It was great seeing her face in the crowd.

Glad we were still able to smile after the race!

Charity, Kelly, Brenda & Enid



My biggest fan!

Sporting my Kaia tattoo and Iron Girl medal

Brenda bought this cute t-shirt for Adler's birthday.  Love it!

Future Iron Girl

Even though my time wasn't that great, I did enjoy the challenge.  Now I need to plan my next event for 2013.  I've finished triathlons in Sacramento, Napa Valley and Lake Tahoe.......where to next???

Adler is THREE!

It's hard to believe that's she's been in our lives for three years, but it's true.  Adler is officially a three year old.

Her birthday was a few weeks ago, but we did have a little party for her at the "Big" park here in town.  She spent about half the time swinging, her favorite park activity.

My mom flew here for her birthday weekend, which was a treat for all of us.  We are also so blessed with wonderful friends in Nevada who helped us celebrate Adler's birthday!

Going down the crazy slides with her Daddy!

"Me three now"

Adler loves her Grandma!

On Adler's actual birthday, which fell on a Monday, my mom and I took the kids to Reno's Build a Bear Workshop.  They had a blast, of course!

Adler picked out a pink bear and Owen a puppy dog.  They better love them for a long time, because I don't see us going back there for a while.  Those are the most expensive stuffed animals I've EVER purchased!

Thanks for coming here for another birthday, Mom!  The kids just loved you being here!