Some Random January Events

This picture pretty much sums things up.  There's Shawn all happy and having fun sitting on his bike, and there's me obviously, thinking "why did I think doing this race was a good idea?"  Ugh.  Winter training.

January 12, 2015 will forever be known as the day Jonas finally got his driver's license.  It has been long time coming, and he had to be forced into it a bit, but it's official!  This kid can drive! 

Hallelujah!

One of Samantha's beautiful selfies.

I really can't even believe I am posting this.  It's a serious embarrassment, but now you'll know how things are at our house.  My kids are absolute slobs.  Sometimes when you move the couches, and it's been a while, you find all sorts of fun stuff.  Apparently, shoving things under the couch or under the cushions is equivalent to throwing it away around here.  I have failed as a mother.

Peter's kindergarten dance informance.  Still breaks my heart a little every time I realize how big he is.

More selfie fun with Samantha.

Starting The New Year off Right! - With a Water Main Break

Woohoo! Because we really know how to party and have fun, this is what we came home to on New Year's Day.  We left to drop the girls off at Rob and Michelle's for cupcake wars and a sleep over, and when we pulled back into the driveway, we discovered all this water and a lovely little gushing fountain coming up from under our driveway.  Oh joy.

Despite the amount of leaking water, the city let it run all. night. long.  (The good news is, the break is on their side of the line, not ours, so at least it is only an inconvenience and not costing us an arm and a leg.)

Eventually, they sent someone to take a look at things.  They had to cut out the bottom of our driveway to access the break.

Nothing more fun for a little boy than watching tractors at work in your own front yard.

They made a mess.

And because it's winter, we get to have our lovely little mud hole until spring when it is warm enough to pour concrete.  Can't wait.  I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've been hoping for snow and freezing temperatures just to keep the mud from being tracked all through my house for the rest of the winter...

New Year's Eve With the Kinkarts

Our friends, the Kinkarts, invited our family to celebrate New Year's Eve with them. We had individual, home made pizzas which were delicious.  We played games.

We take our Jenga very seriously.

An action photo of Shawn trying to sable the tower from collapse.  

(Pretty sure that's against the rules.)

I didn't do a very good job of documenting the evening with photos - a sure sign that we were having fun, I guess.

It quickly became apparent that our boys just aren't cut out for this late night stuff.  Staying awake until midnight just wasn't in the cards for them.

The girls and the adults had a great time.

We did make Jonas wake up when it was time to drop the ball.  He is 16 after all, he should be able to hang with he little kids on that one.

A Very Judy Christmas 2014

Some pictures of the festivities at my parents house for our annual December 23rd Christmas gathering.  We always have a nice dinner, followed by gifts, a talk from my Dad, and finish it up with the reading of the Christmas story and singing carols. This was the first time in a long time that all of the cousins were there together.  Wish that could happen more!

Samantha couldn't be happier about her gift.  The Iliad and the Odyssey.  (Don't know how many other teens make that sort of request but she really wanted them.) Books are always a win.

The younger cousins put together a little performance for all of us.  This is one of the favorite things to do when they get together - write and reforms plays and shows.  They are always a good time.

This one was complete with solos.  This was Megan's.

Peter was pretty happy with his light saber.  Loving the decor.

It is always chaotic and crazy, but I love getting together with my family and having my kids spend time with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents.  I hope they will always cherish these memories.

Shawn and Samantha at the Olympic Training Center

Shawn and Samantha were invited to go the the Olympic Training Center in Colorado for water polo. Samantha as an athlete, and Shawn as a coach.  What an awesome experience for a 13 year old girl!

This is Samantha with her new friend, Jenny Scott.  They were the only two athletes from Utah.

Training where the Olympians train!

Samantha with Olympian Melissa Seidemann and Nicole and Morgan from the Junior National team.

Samantha with her team for the Snowball Classic.

Apparently the new car did it's job well and got them where they needed to be.

Smiley face.  That's a good sign.

Running drills after dinner.  Samantha said this was always the most exhausting session of the day.  They'd already had a full day, then food in their bellies then back to work. Their days started at 7:00 when they headed off to breakfast, then 20 minutes of "chalk talk".  There were  four 2-hour sessions in the water the rest of the day broken up with either lunch or rest periods.  Lights out at 10:00. But the after dinner session was always the hardest.

Listening intently to the coaches.  (Black #11)

Samantha has always had a "thing" for Michael Phelps.  I'm sure she would have liked to see him in person even more, but training in the same pool as him was pretty cool.

Shawn and Samantha with picture of Tony Azevedo.  #waterpolohero

One of the paralympians was using this for training during the week.  Samantha never climbed it but said the rope fibers were all over in the pool, got stuck in their suits and so on, but it was cool to watch them train.

The snap, quarter turn, up and shoot drill.

Passing drills.  (Samantha is black #11)

One on one time playing with an Olympian - Melissa Seidemann.

"Pulling lane lines in this pool was the worst!"  Much bigger, longer and heavier than our high school pool lane lines.

Selfie time.

Samantha enjoying a meal with some junior national players and Jenny at the back table, while Shawn eats with the coaches.

Awards and closing meeting.

Utah athletes unite! 

More selfies.

They both had a great time and learned a ton! While Samantha was in the water with Olympians and learning form the National Team coaches, Shawn was also working with and learning from the coaches. Hopefully this all pays off in the water back home!

I think she spent the entire drive home in this state.  She was exhausted from long days in the water and being sick the whole time.  I'm guessing she had strep whileshe was there, but she toughed it out and made it through.

Shawn's views:

While they were away, Fred took the opportunity to nap in Samantha's bed.