Last day-- Shark cage diving

This was Chad and my third time in Hawaii. One of the things I always wanted to do was go shark cage diving. This trip I had my chance and the whole family was able to go. We got up really early in the morning and drove to the North Shore. We boarded a boat with some really funny captains who kept joking about lost fingers, passengers, people falling over board etc. At least we thought they were joking, hmmmm. Then we got in the cage by groups. Our family was a group. We were able to climb into the cage and it was scooted away from the boat. We observed at least 10 sharks swimming around us. So thrilling!!! The sharks were so close you could see their beady little eyes looking back at you as they swam by. The first picture is of a sharks fin out of the water.

Sunday-- Church and LDS Temple

On Sunday we went to church with Mike and Autumn and then went out to the LDS Temple visitors center. It was Christmas time so there were tree decorated all over the visitors center. We had a very relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Capital Reef National Park--UEA weekend

Over UEA weekend we took atvantage of school being out and visited Capital Reef National Park. I have to say that Utah is one of the prettiest states in the country. I think it has the most national parks out of all the states. We love living here and love being able to visit some of Gods creations. Below is Hickmans Arch
Why do my kids always like to be near any cliff? They love being daredevils, but it scares the heck out of me.

Strong man contest.... No the rock did not budge at all.

hmm alex thought she could move mountains with here pinky finger.

There were tons of places to climb around.The kids thought the following set of rocks look like a giant butt. So, they all had to take their picture below the butt crack.

Halloween

What a fun Halloween the kids had. Here is a picture of the fun kids Ethan went trick or treating with. Ethan is the kid in the ski mask, he was a robber.

This is the teenage group that went trick or treating together. Alex and Jordan were hobos.

Reflections

Ethan's fourth grade teacher requires that everyone participates in the the reflections program at school. The theme this year was "Diversity Means". Ethan did a board relecting how people live in different homes around the world. He won the 2nd place award for his grade and his type of project (mixed media), Only first place winners continued on to the finals. Great job Ethan.

Hill Air Force Base Triathlon

For my 43nd birthday I celebrated by doing a triathlon with my niece Chelsea and Brother in law Mark. It was a reverse tri, so it was run, bike swim.

The shock of the year

After Alex had the gymnastics accident, she never quite got her confidence back. One day as I was driving her home from practice she said, "Mom, I have thought about it a lot and I think I want to quit gymnastics", I was floored!! She has done this for years and loved it like nothing else. She would be competing level 9 this season, level 10 is the highest level before you become an elite gymnast, which is Olympic level. She said she was tired and her body hurt and she wanted time for friends. We made her wait a few weeks before we gave her notice to make sure that is what she really wanted and then she gave her notice at the gym. It was really hard for her and I the first few weeks after quiting. She could have had a full ride scholarship to college which is a goal she had and it was very hard to see her give up her dream, but we understand that her heart and body were not in the sport anymore, plus she is growing a lot and would probably end up to tall for the sport anyway. She is now involved in Volleyball and loves it and has become really good at it. She is going to try out for the Herriman High team next year. I will have to say, although it was hard to see her leave gymnastics it has been very nice having her home. She used to get out of school early for gym and practice 5 days a week for 4-5 hours and then do homework. Her life was school, gym, homework, day after day. She is not as stressed and has been able to hang with friends more and be more involved in Young women's, plus now with the money we are saving we can start finishing our basement, whoo, whoo. It is nice seeing her become a normal teenager. She volunteers at the gym now until she is 14 and then she can get paid for her coaching time.

New posts

Ok, I just majorly caught up on my blog. There are a lot of new entries, so keep reading and see what kind of fun we had this summer.

Zion-- Warning, I get goofy when around my Sister.

September 16th I was able to St. George with my sister Julie, to visit her daughter who is attending school there. We took a day and went to Zion National Park. We had a blast as you will tell in the pictures. We laughed so hard we cried, we were like two giddy young girls. Here are some of our goofy pictures.

A river runs through it.

My strange sister,,, she is so special.I have something stuck in my teeth.More of the prickly stuff. Watch were you sit.Can you tell we had fun with the catus?

Ok stop showing off.

We saw two tarantulas while at Zions. No, I did not actually step on it.

We tried to get some sexy shots, but it did not quite workout.

Pushing down the tree.. Timber.Falling with the tree. See, I get very weird when around my sisters.Karate Kid