Girls Camp 2024

Girls camp 2024 is here!  We have been so excited for camp and Chelsea has worked so hard to get it together!  We were so lucky and were able to use a cabin in Mt. Pleasant that worked out so perfectly for us! The girls camped outside on the lawn in tents and there were beds inside for the leaders along with a full kitchen and bathrooms.  So it was the best of both worlds for us!

Team Jesus was our theme and the girls were all on board.  

Girls camp is filled with all the good things: silly skits, late nights, bracelet making, goofing around, lots of food, craft making and lots of fun!  This year did not disappoint!

We were close enough to Manti that we took a little trip one day to the temple and walked around and had lunch outside.  The temple is so beautiful and it was fun to get out of camp for a few hours and do something different.  

We had a few polaroid cameras for the week and the girls took pictures and hung them up for everyone to see.  This was one of my favorite parts because you got a little glimpse into the girls' lives and what they love and what's important to them.  It was so fun seeing those hanging up all week!

We also had a spotlight wall and got to recognize and spotlight each of the girls that were there!  It was so fun and cute to see them all as little ones and try to guess who was who.

We ended camp with a water day (so fun!) and the faith walk and testimony meeting the last night.  It was fun to have the bishopric join us and participate in all our activities.  Girls camp is the best time to make memories, build our testimonies and strengthen relationships.  I know we accomplished all those things this week!

 

June at La Brisa

Summer is here and we couldn't wait to get out of town and back to La Brisa as soon as possible! Josh and Rhen had to stay back for a few days for some commitments they had, but the rest of us headed out as soon as school was out.  We had some fairly cheap flights which unfortunately meant we had 2 short layovers.  Well those two short layovers turned into two different delays and overnight in two places (LAX and Miami) before we actually ended up in PR.  It was a LONG trip to say the least and we were so glad once we finally got there.  We were comped two hotel rooms and meal vouchers for both nights, but I still told myself I would try to never book a trip with 2 layovers again - no matter how cheap! 

Once we rolled up to La Brisa we were so happy to be back! The long trip took a toll on us though and we zonked out pretty quickly after getting there and had a long sleep before we had our energy back and could really enjoy it.  

There was lots of rain in the forecast for the first couple of days but that didn't stop us from enjoying every bit of it.  We all swam in the rain anyway and that makes it even more fun! All the water keeps everything so fresh and green that we don't mind it at all.  I think because of the rain, we had quite a few power outages while we were there which is just a little inconvenient.  We're pretty used to it happening so it doesn't slow us down much.  

We were happy to welcome Josh and Rhen once they arrived on island and got to work getting a few projects done around the property.  Josh has been wanting to cut down a tree that he doesn't like and is afraid it will get too big for the area.  So we set the boys loose chopping it down and they got it done in no time.  Trimming and weeding always needs to be done and a night swim is Josh's favorite thing of all!

One day we went to the arcade at the outlets and played for a few hours.  It was fun and a little break from the power outage we were having at La Brisa.

We kind of settle in to a routine when we're here.  Projects, swimming, fruit bowls, homemade pizza, sunsets from the deck.  It's all part of our day and we all join in on it together.  It's such a nice break from the real world for us and we soak up every minute of it.

One of the things we wanted to get done is powerwashing the walls around the pool and painting them gray.  Everyone had their job and worked hard getting it done.  It looks so nice now that it's all painted!

The boys have been asking for haircuts and Josh took them to a Puerto Rican barber to have the full treatment done.  A women in our branch has a son that cuts hair so we went to see him.  They were there for hours getting their cuts just right and finishing off with the right product to make them look fully Puerto Rican!

We got to be at church Sunday and we stopped in to visit one of our favorites - Hermano Vasquez who has been sick for the past few months.  We happened to drop in on his 88th birthday so that was fun to celebrate that big day with him!

One evening we spent in Old San Juan flying kites and hanging out at the Morro.  It was a lovely evening with perfect weather and amazing views.  

Of course we can't got to Old San Juan without a trip to Bari and Anita - it just wouldn't be right.

The best thing about having a couple weeks on the island is we can get a lot of things in and not feel like we're rushed to fit it all in. Josh changed the fan in our main room, we had a visit from Laura and her sisters, we stopped at the school and said hi to some old friends and Rhen got together with her friends for an acai bowl.  

And we got to spend a day at our favorite beach Playa Azul! It felt amazing to be at the beach.  The sun was hot and the water was warm.  We have missed it!

Josh left early for a conference so the last couple days of our trip were spent just me and the kids.  We went to the temple one night with Laura and Jonathon from the branch.  We got one last acai bowl and spent lots of time by the pool.  And we sold our van!  We figured that it wasn't worth keeping since we're not on the island long enough to use it and keep up the maintenance.  So we dropped it off at the dealer on our way out of town and we're sad to see it go!  It's been through the whole rebuild with us so it feels weird that we won't have it anymore.

Our return trip ended up being just as eventful as the way out.  We got stuck in Phoenix one night and only half of us made it on with standby tickets to get to Salt Lake.  I sent all the older kids home and Beck Desh and I stayed overnight again before catching an early flight back the next morning.  What an ordeal getting back and forth, but everything in between was amazing!  And just what we needed!

Rease's 17th birthday

Rease's birthday always falls smack in the middle of a trip to Puerto Rico.  I think she's celebrated the past 4 birthdays there!  What a girl - she's so great and flexible and doesn't mind a birthday on the fly! I promised her an actual cake when we get back so more from that day to come...

We celebrated with Carlos and Laura and Rease's famous Oreo cream cookies.  They're literally the best thing on the planet and she makes them the best.  We're so lucky we got to celebrate this day with some of our very favorite people!

17 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 5'8" - 93%

Weight: 194 lbs - 97%

My favorite things about Rease at at 17:

1 - Rease is about the best oldest child you could ever ask for.  She kind, mild-mannered, helpful and sweet.  But she is also passionate about things and people she loves and stands up for what she believes in.  That combo is just what I would wish on any child and she happens to have it all!  I know we just have one more year with her :( but we'll take every bit of her while we have her!

2 - Rease is a really great student.  She has worked hard to keep her grades up but more importantly, to continue to love to learn.  She loves listening to podcasts and figuring out what's going on in the world.  And forms her own opinions and thoughts about what she wants in the world and how to make that happen.  Love seeing her brain work!

3 - Rease is my go-to sports fanatic to go along with any sort of sporting event that I want to attend or watch.  She loves the Warriors, is loyal to the Cougars and is always a Sentinel in her heart.  I love that she will be by my side for whatever adventure we're up for!

Happiest birthday to you my oldest child!

 

Rease year end

 

Rhen year end

 

Liev year end

 

Keen year end

 

Beck year end

 

Desh year end

 

May comes to an end

I hear May is the new December and I really believe it after the month we've had! As May comes to an end here are the last straggler things we've done:

Activity Days are always an adventure and the boys love it!

Beck had some dental work done and the happy gas made him loopy

Our flowers are blooming and beautiful!

Tilly owns the place and perches on clean towels because she can

The Nude Beach is now open...Way to go Blackridge!

Germies for breakfast every day

Final piano recital before school is out

Phew...we made it through the end of the month

 

Liev's last band concert

What a year this boy has had with the euphonium!  This beginning band class has done so good and come so far from the beginning of the year until now!  It was so fun to hear them in their final concert tonight and we're looking forward to lots of band in the future.  So fun to see Liev up there owning it!

 

Desh's Baptism

Desh got baptized this week and it was a really special day for all of us.  He has been ready for this day for a long time and couldn't wait for it to be here already.  He got up early to get ready and was so excited to be able to wear his suit for the first time.  We loved being there with him and are so proud of his choice to be baptized and follow the Savior!  Desh you're a great example to us all!  Thanks for being you.  

 

Our amazing young women!

We've had so much fun this month with our young men and young women! So many activities and such fun when we get everyone together.  Here are some highlights:

Where's Waldo Walmart hunt (bishopric dressed up in disguises)

Karaoke night with the Priests

Camp kick off with an amazing special guest

A night at Menchies celebrating Amelia's engagement!

And one of our favorites was Cupcake Wars with lots of creative projects and a whole lot of fun doing it! What an amazing group of girls!

 

Desh's 8th birthday

Mr Desh turned 8 this week and we had a Fat Cats party with a bunch of his friends.  Bowling, cake and arcades make for a perfect 8 year old birthday party and these kids had such a blast together!

8 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 4'8" - 98%

Weight: 71 lbs - 86%

My favorite things about Desh at 8 years old:

1- Desh is THE SWEETEST boy and doesn't let a day go by that he doesn't give me a hug, tell me he loves me or helps me around the house.  I can't get enough of his snuggles and don't mind when he wants to cuddle up next to me for no reason at all.  I know I won't have that forever, so I'm taking it while it lasts!

2- Desh is a true and loyal friend.  He loves the boys he hangs out with and never wants to hurt anyone's feelings.  He is thoughtful and kind and a good friend to everyone.  That's a quality that I hope he never loses because it's a good one!

3 - Desh doesn't like to do anything that he thinks might get him in trouble, so he tends to be a pretty obedient boy.  He follows the rules at school and his teachers love him because of it.  And if he does something at home that he feels bad about, he's the first one to apologize and make it right.  We talk a lot about having integrity in our house and I'd say he follows that pretty closely.  He's such a good boy and I know there's a lot of good coming from him in the future!

Happy Birthday big 8 year old! We love you more than you know!

 

Ogden Marathon 2024

Marathon day is always so great!  I love almost everything about it - other than getting super nervous about running 26 miles.  I love going to the expo, picking up my number, eating at Olive Garden (a tradition), laying out my clothes for the morning, going to be early and waking up even earlier to get ready to go!  I've gone through the routine so many times now that I just get excited for it all.  This year I was a little more nervous than I have been in the past because I've been nursing a calf injury for the past 5-6 weeks.  I stopped running for almost a month trying to rehab it and not hurt it any more than it already was.  2 weeks ago I ran a couple mid distance runs just to test it out but that's about all I've done.  I felt nervous that I wasn't going to make it, taking off that much time.  But I told myself I'd just start and go as far as I could or as long as my leg didn't start hurting again.  

Marathon morning came and that's what I went with!  I loaded the bus early and got up to the starting line with plenty of time to use the bathroom, stretch, use the bathroom again and get ready to race.  It was a chilly morning but I knew it was going to be a beautiful day for a run!  

When I started running I told myself that I was under no pressure to run it in a certain amount of time and I was just trying to finish the race.  In the back of my mind I really wanted to qualify for Boston again but didn't know if I could even finish this one, so just tried to stay positive.  I felt pretty good throughout the run and was keeping a pretty good pace.  Most of all my leg wasn't giving me any problems and that made me happy! I made myself wait until at least the halfway point to stop and use the bathroom so I didn't slow down.  After the half I came up around the reservoir and felt myself slowing down a little bit as the route goes uphill.  The 3:35 pacers passed me on that hill and I was silently a little disappointed that I couldn't keep ahead of them.  That's my qualifying pace that I needed to stay at and I saw them run past me and out of sight within a couple of miles.  I kept talking myself into keeping up my pace and doing what I could to just run as fast as I could, even if it wasn't a qualifying pace.

It was a mental battle for those miles up the back hill but by the time I got to mile 20 I was at a race time of 2:44.  I knew I had 6 miles to go and just under an hour to do it.  I felt a surge as I felt like that was something that was do-able if I kept up my pace.  Even though I couldn't see the 3:35 pacers, I knew I wasn't too far behind them.  Luckily the last 5 miles are in the town and a pretty great part of the course as it winds through downtown Ogden.  By the time I turned onto the final stretch I just kept running and I was so happy to see my family not to long after that!  It's always my favorite part of the race when I get to see them all cheering and ready to let me collapse into their laps!

I crossed the finish line with a time of 3:36 - 4 minutes under the Boston qualifying time! I was overjoyed that I finished, first of all, but secondly that I was able to do what I wanted with my run!  Such a miracle and a mind battle that race was. So glad to have it over and mostly glad that I was able to do what I had trained for. 

 

A few things happening around here...

Mid month update:

We attended the MCO concert that Hayley's kids were in and it was OUTSTANDING!

The boys just being boys and practicing their mewing

Our yard all ready for summer!

Tilly sneaking food behind the garbage can

And I snuck in an 11 mile run this week after taking over a month off with my calf injury.  I'm hoping its enough to get me through the marathon next week!

Tilly is such a lazy dog and loves to sleep in the sun

We helped Hayley with her amazing race

Love my Beck - he's so cute

 

Herriman Hawks choir concert

Beck and Desh have been in the choir at school this year and have been practicing before school once a week all year!  It has been a sacrifice for them and for the most part they haven't complained too much about going to school early.  Today was their final concert and it was AWESOME!  I love seeing them do their thing and see their hard work come to life.  Beck had a speaking part and both of them did so good with all their songs.  What a year the for the Herriman Hawks!

 

Rease year end band concert

Rease was emotional tonight as she wrapped up her band for the season.  She has some good friends that are graduating this year and she's going to really miss them!  She has such a great group that she has found over the years and it's getting to where she's one of the oldest in the group.  Senior year next year for this girl and I think it's hitting her hard!  So proud of the year she's had!

 

Finishing up track

The girls wrapped up the track season this week at the region track meet.  They have both loved being on the team and have improved a ton in the past few months!  I love going to watch them and am so proud of their hard work for the team.  Go Sentinels!