Timp Half Marathon

Kyle, my dad, and I ran the Timp half marathon down American Fork Canyon. We absolutely loved it. The course was great, and the event was well organized. We all ran together for the first four miles, and then Kyle and I kept running together until mile seven, and then I sent Kyle on ahead when I could feel myself slowing down. I reached my goal of finishing under two hours (I did it in 1 hr, 58 min), and my dad reached his goal of doing it in 2 hrs, 10 min. Kyle's goal was to have fun running the race with his wife and father-in-law. I'm sure we'll do this race again sometime in the future. A big thanks to my mom for watching Jason and Noah for us!

The Karren Fest: A Medieval Reunion

 The Karren Fest: A Medieval Family Reunion

June 26-28, 2014

Camelot Resort at Strawberry Pinnacles (Fruitland, Utah)

Reunion Goal: To strengthen our family through Unity, Love, Friendly competition, fun, and turning our hearts to our Fathers as we gain an appreciation for those ancestors who left their homelands to create a better life for their posterity.

Jason's favorite activities:

• Dragon egg hunt
• Roasting Marshmallows
• Floating down the river in a tube 

Noah's favorite activities:

• Tire Swing
• Wearing a tunic and having a sword fight

Kate's favorite activities:

• Hiking
• Hearing stories about ancestors
• Watching slide-show of old family photos
• Watching family coat of arms procession and jousting competition

Kyle's favorite activities:

• Floating down the river with Jason
• Pushing the kids in the tire swing
• Playing frisbee
• Hiking

Least favorite activity: Camping with Noah. He did not earn his camping merit badge! He had a hard time settling down, and then had to sleep between me and Kyle on the air mattress.

 I am very grateful for my mother's and Aunt Joanne's hard work in planning this reunion. They did a wonderful job accomplishing the reunion goals. We all had fun and felt more connected to our wonderful family, both present and past. My mom told me that she and Joanne both felt guided by the spirit as they were planning this reunion. I made a goal to come home and read up on my family history. To help myself reach my goal, I have banned myself from checking out any more novels from the library. I am so grateful to my ancestors for all they did to give us a better life.

Jason Turned 5

Jason is so excited to be five. The first thing he wanted to do when he woke up was open his presents. He received his Angry Birds Telepods, an Angry Birds DVD, some candy and gum. He was thrilled! I cooked him pancakes for breakfast, which is one of his favorite breakfast foods.

At ten a.m. we met at Thanksgiving Point's Children's Garden to celebrate his birthday with his cousins. We brought cupcakes to share.

The next day Grandma Linda took Jason on a birthday date. They went to Scheels to ride the ferris wheel and buy a treat. They also went clothes shopping to buy Jason some Angry Bird clothes. He loved his date with Grandma.

Jason had been asking about his birthday for months and thinking about his friends party for just as long. After considering a few different ideas over the past months, he finally decided on yet another "Angry Birds" themed birthday party, but this time he wanted a piñata. 

We decided to try out a home-made piñata. We learned through the process that the art of making a piñata can not be rushed. You must do it the slow way-- no drying in the sun or with a fan. I cracked two in the process of trying to speed it up, and thereby ended up slowing us down. I was so frustrated that I turned it over to Kyle to finish, who did an excellent job. Jason had a blast helping every step of the way. We'll see if we make another home-made piñata again or not.

The friends birthday party took place two days after Jason's actual birthday. When the kids first arrived, I had them decorate their own goodie bags with Angry Bird Pictures.

After everyone had arrived and finished their bags, we served pizza, grapes, salad, and carrots for dinner, complete with Pig Juice (green Kool-Aid) to drink. {Note to self: Four larges was just the right amount of pizza for our group.}

I sewed these Angry Bird and Pig masks out of felt for all the kids. They wore them on an egg scavenger hunt that ended with them throwing water balloons at the two pigs. Shelby and Hunter graciously agreed to be pigs again this year. The final prize in the scavenger hunt was a box of pop-its for each child, and they were a big hit.

Jason said his favorite part of the party was doing the piñata.

We ended the party by letting the kids use their pop-its. We also lit three fireworks for the kids to watch. I originally planned to do more fireworks, but I got nervous thinking about potential firework hazards with a group of five-year-olds, so we kept it short and sweet, which worked out great anyway because we were pressed for time. Overall I felt like things went better this year compared to last year, but I think that is mainly because the kids matured a lot in a year. Also a big thanks to my parents for helping out.

Dear Jason,

I am still surprised that one year later you are still in love with Angry Birds. But it is a lot of fun. They keep you self-entertained for so long, and they inspire a lot of creativity in you. It is hard for you to share them with Noah, but getting new birds for your birthday has made it easier for you to let him use your old birds. 

You are a joy to have in the house. When you were a baby you were pretty high-maintenance, but you have mellowed out a lot. You still don't like to talk to strangers-- or strange relatives-- but that is just fine with me. Arts and crafts are a favorite way for you to express yourself. Sometimes during Noah's nap you will spend two hours coloring. You are very careful with your coloring-- people always comment on how good you are at it. Your imagination is awesome! I have so much fun listening to you and your friends chat away about imaginary scenarios that you act out (most of which include Angry Birds). You are not very aggressive with sports or swimming, but you do enjoy being active. You are always asking me what we will do next. We love to go to the library, to the parks and water parks, to museums, hiking, and we love to set up playdates with your friends. 

In church I am the ward organist. While I play the postlude at the end of church, you love to come sit at the organ with me. When I am all finished playing, you flip all the switches to the off position. Lastly, you stand on the bench and jump off so you can head to primary. We are still working on getting you to sing the songs in primary. You would much rather be silly than sing, but I know there is a good voice somewhere inside of you. Sometimes when Daddy stays home from sacrament meeting while Noah naps, you will sit by me up in the choir seats, or you wait alone on a pew until I am done playing the organ. During these times you are perfectly quiet and well-behaved. But when daddy is around, it is a different story :).

Preschool ended recently, and you were so smart. You can't wait to start kindergarten in the fall. I keep wondering what Noah and I will do without you around as much. We will miss you a lot while you are at school, but I know you will be ready to learn more things. I am enjoying this summer because you and Noah and I get to do so many fun things together.

You and dad had a great experience doing T-ball together this spring. He was so patient with coaching you and your teammates. I hope you can have more experiences like that together. You are lucky to have a father who takes the time to teach you how to play sports, to work around the house and yard, to play video games, to honor God, and who takes you camping. Currently you two play Angry Birds Epic every day. You can't wait for dad to be done eating dinner because you are excited to play the game with him.

Thank you for being a great older brother to Noah. Other than your Angry Birds, you are pretty good about sharing with Noah and playing with him. One of the games you like to play together is 'Noah the Monster.' Noah chases you with zombie arms while you shout "Noah the Monster!" You two also like dancing together, and building and knocking over blocks. You have mostly outgrown the train set and cars, but you enjoy helping Noah build long trains of cars.

Now that you are five you plan to learn how to ride a two-wheeled scooter and a two-wheeled bike. Good luck!

love,

mom

Jason's First T-Ball Season

Jason just completed his first season of T-ball. Kyle coached his team. It was a fun experience for them to do it together. We are enjoying having Kyle work close to home so that he can do things like this. Kyle was so patient in practicing throwing and hitting the ball with Jason. T-ball was a good fit for Jason. It was so orderly-- everyone got a turn to bat, and everyone got a chance to field the ball. No aggressiveness necessary. We will definitely sign him up again.

Summer Fun Begins

We have been playing with Liam and Sadie a lot this summer while Brooke works on remodeling their house. We love having them so close.

Boating time!

Feeding ducks.

Memorial Day 2014

We enjoyed spending lots of time with family this Memorial Day. The morning started off with a hair-cut for me and then family pictures in American Fork. I hope we got some good smiles. 

While Kyle helped move Valerie's furniture, the boys and I had fun playing in Alpine. We had a barbecue at my parents' house. After dinner we all went to Alpine Cemetery to visit Anne's grave. We enjoyed listening to my parents remember some of the experiences they had had with Anne. While the adults talked, Noah was climbing around stone walls and benches and he fell down. When we picked him up, he kept crying over and over, "I died! I died!" It was pretty funny to hear him say that in the cemetery. We've never talked to him about death, but I guess he gathered that piggies die when they fall over in Angry Birds, so he must have died when he fell over.

Noah is becoming quite the chatter box these days, spouting out three-word sentences. He loves to repeat everything we say, although when he brings up his own subjects, we still have to listen hard to figure out what he is saying. His favorite way to apologize is to give a kiss on the lips-- so watch out! It is pretty cute to see him pucker up for Jason and his friends kisses when I tell him to say sorry. 

Jason's Preschool Graduation

Jason graduated from preschool. I can't believe he will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Jason attended preschool at Alta High School's preschool, where each preschooler was paired with one high schooler. High school students enrolled in the class got first-hand experience and instruction on early childhood education. The one-on-one pairing was so great. Jason's teacher was also named Jason. Teacher Jason was an enthusiastic, natural teacher. We could tell he really cared about our preschooler. He created a brilliant Angry Birds reward system to help encourage good classroom behavior; it worked wonders. My Jason feels ready for kindergarten. He keeps asking when it will start.