End of Soccer and New Cousin

Whew! School is coming up soon and things are getting a little out of control in our home. Here's what's happened the last few weeks:

Cooper finished soccer with a bang---his last game he took a soccer ball to the face playing defender and broke his glasses. He rallied however, and jumped back in the game with slightly fuzzy vision to complete the quarter. Here's his team photo:

Amelia and I cheered him on from the sidelines. She had a difficult time wrapping up her camp chair:

My amazing soccer player, pre-ball-in-the-face:

He played a great game and has improved so much this year. I really do think soccer will be his sport!

We also had the arrival of another cousin! We were thrilled to be able to meet the newest addition to the Call family only hours after he was born. He's such a cutie and we already love him so much!

That's it for now--next post will probably be first day of school pictures. So exciting to start another year!

Girls Camp....and What We Did While She Was Gone.

Amelia had her first year of girls' camp this year! She was a little nervous to go, but once she got there she didn't want to come back! Here is a picture of my darlin' when I dropped her off. Notice how nice and clean she is. She didn't come back that way. :-)

On Wednesday she had her first year hike. It was a 3 mile round trip jaunt through the wilderness. She said it was hard, but the view where they stopped was worth it. I think she is less scared of a nature now.

She took these pictures:

This is one of her friends. Aren't they lovely?

Amelia came home Friday awfully tired and burned. Here is what she looked like AFTER camp:

Bless her heart. She was asked to speak in sacrament meeting today about her camp experience. She rocked it. As I knew she would. :-) Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming up to listen to her!

Cooper and I had a fun-filled few days without Amelia. We went to lunch, played board games, and worked on scouting stuff. We are soooo close to him getting his Bear.

He also had a couple soccer games. I've tried to get him interested in basketball or baseball, but this boy lives soccer. So soccer it'll be. Here's a picture from one of his last games. It was a really hot day!

That's it! We only have 4 weeks until school starts and I have a feeling they will go quickly. Next up, hopefully two new cousins!

The Blessed Day Has Arrived!

It is here! For years and years and YEARS we have awaited this glorious day! IT. HAS. ARRIVED!

Amelia has lost all her baby teeth. Well, to be honest they've all been pulled. Today at 12:41pm our beloved, patient, kind, long-suffering dentist extracted the last of Amelia's baby teeth.  All five of 'em.

Amelia whined. Amelia cried. She even protested vehemently at times, but when it was over she gave a huge sigh of relief that this chapter of her life is finished. So did I. So did her dentist. And the dental assistant. To think of it, her orthodontist is probably pretty happy too, 'cuz he's about to get ALOT of money from us!

On a bittersweet note, tonight will be Amelia's last visit from the Tooth Fairy. Now, I can't speak for the Tooth Fairy, but I'm pretty sure she'll be relieved because she'll have to empty her account for this final passel of teeth.

                 Next up: braces! They'll be a breeze because they don't hurt at all, right?  :-)

4th of July Weekend!

Well, we can certainly pack ALOT into 5 days. First, Thursday night we started off with our yearly Chukars game. Amelia brought a friend and we managed to stay until the bottom of the ninth--but the score was tied and having a half hour drive home, I made them leave. Luckily due to social media, we discovered our beloved Chukars won at the top of the tenth, so all was well.

Cooper enjoyed his free hat and sno cone. And popcorn. And cotton candy.

Amelia and her friend AJ. Yes, they are the same age. :-)

 Early Friday morning we set off for Mountain Home to meet up with our aunt, uncle, cousins, and their kids for the Call/Dalrymple reunion. It was so hot but fun to see my cousins, aunt, uncles, brothers, sisters-in-law, and all the children. And eating the fabulous food. I'm happy I'm related to such good chefs!
Thanks to my fabulous brother and cousin for playing with Amelia and Cooper for three hours in the pool. They adore you, even if they can't figure out how they're related. :-)  Hopefully our next reunion will be sooner than 3 years.

We arrived home Sunday night, then Monday morning bright and early we were up to attend out ward's flag ceremony and breakfast. Cooper did the "calling" of the colorguard and it was a nice cool morning.

My patriotic kiddos!

 After breakfast and tracking Amelia down, we waited for the parade to start. It was another great year, no one stood in front of us. (It could've been due to my very effective glare.) Ben, Kim, and the boys joined us, along with our neighbors. Happy 4th of July!

And there goes June........

We are settling into summer well.  A month in and we have already done so much! One of these summers we will just hang out. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Anyway, last week we hung out with Lynnli and Coltman for a couple days:

Then yesterday during our "school" hour we learned about spies. Amelia and Cooper grabbed their spy gear and followed two top secret missions to retrieve a stolen red diamond and money stolen from a bank. They did a great job, even avoiding capture from the enemy spy and dodging enemy fire (water gun).


Agent Amelia and Cooper:

Cooper dispatched the guard Billy Bob Joe with his ninja moves:

Cooper also had scout day camp this week.  He had a great time and passed off a lot of requirements. We try to almost have everything completed by the end of summer, because once school starts our free time is at a minimum.

It was a pretty hot day, so when he came home he stripped to the skin, grabbed his water, and relaxed for a bit in the recliner.  Later, he used his savings to buy an Oreo shake to help continue the cooling off. 

We also attended an air show that was fun, although the traffic getting out was a pain! It did give us time to chat and visit with everyone we knew that passed as we inched out of the parking lot. 

Next up, 4th of July festivities!

Summertime Fun!

Two weeks into summer and we've already played hard. We have gone to the drive in movie:

Frequented the spray park:

When they get cold, they lie on the hot cement with a towel over them to warm up.

Rode the carousel:

And had numerous picnics:

Amelia has also started summer ballet and Cooper has scout day camp coming up. In July we have camping with family, the 4th of July parade and rodeo, Amelia's first girls' camp, and lots more. This summer will be over before we know it! Stay tuned!

It's Official, Hell Has Frozen Over!

Why, you ask? Because I just ran a 5K and lived. Not only lived, but did a pretty dam good job! I can say that because I ran in the Dam Marathon, 5K. This year they had new dam courses, so new dam records could be set. The dam kid that won 1st place had a time of 16:35.....he ran 5:45 minute miles! Yaaaaaahhhh, I didn't. I posted my time below, but first you'll have to scroll through my story and pictures. :-) Take your dam time, this is an important moment in time.

Before the dam race: It was nice and cool, and I wasn't too worried--my first goal was to finish, and my second was to do it under 40 minutes.

The race started. I went further back in the pack to avoid getting tramped. Good thing, 'cuz once that starting horn sounded, a cluster of 17-18 year old took off. Like, sprinted. I don't think they ever stopped, hence the amazing new dam record. Those dam kids were pretty dam fast.

I handled the first dam mile like a champ, with help from Jon rocking in my ears. I did fine up until around 1.75. I was getting REALLY damn tired, so I walked for one minute. Exactly. I timed it.

After that, I started jogging again. Mile 2 went well--and just for the record, I don't believe there really is a "runner's high". I think you just go so numb that you can't feel the pain anymore. This occurred from dam mile 1.50 on.

At 2.90, the course went uphill and I continue to jog up it, intent on passing the dam little 12 year old runner in front of me. I made it to the top and saw the dam finish line. I passed Mile 3 and picked up my pace, mostly to make sure that 12-year-old wouldn't catch up. It was a slight downhill, so I was really picking up speed.

As I neared the dam finish line, an official jotted down my bib number and as I approached the finish line the MC announced my name and what race I had run. Luckily, my age was kept out of it. Amelia, Cooper, and Andy were waiting for me and Cooper gave me a high-5 as I passed. It was a lot of fun to cross the finish line with the dam volunteers and spectators yelling and ringing cow bells.

After I stopped running, I received a dam medal and went into the Runner's Corral which was stocked with water, fruit, smoothies, bread and chocolate milk. I felt super special as I collected some dam watermelon and water. All the vendors were congratulating the runners, and it made the pain (which was coming back now that my "high" was over) worth it.

 

I came out of the corral and was almost knocked over by Cooper. To be honest, it wouldn't have taken much to knock me over. My friend Shari was there and Ben, Kim and the boys showed up a few minutes later.

I have to say I'm relieved the dam race is over. While I wouldn't use the word "fun", it was an amazing experience and I'm proud I accomplished it. It is immensely gratifying to achieve a goal I've worked hard for, and to push myself past the limits I thought I had. Maybe I didn't get a runner's high, but I certainly had a "I-finished-and-did-pretty-good" one. While I doubt I will ever become a hard-core runner, I think I"ll certainly run a few more dam 5Ks before I die.

Who knows.....maybe even a dam 10K.

Here are my stats:

I finished in 34 minutes, 55 seconds. My pace was 11:15 a mile. I was 88th out of 126. For women, I was 40th out of 68. In my age class I was 6th out of 8th.