Priceful Memories

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Zuri Triathlon (Olympic Distance)

So last month Tally started training for a sprint triathlon, but he postponed registering for it until the last day since it was scheduled one day before my due date. With only one day until the big race, Tally decided to switch from doing the sprint distance (5oom/20km/5km), to the olympic distance (1500m/40km/10km) plus you have to ride your bike up a very long and steep hill three times in the olympic tri but not the sprint. So, before today, he hadn't swam more than 1000 meters, or run more than 7km in any of his training sessions - but he wanted to "stretch himself." Luckily, he didn't drown and ended up finishing better than expected. Here's some pics of my triathlete and other fun stuff from today.

THE SWIM - 1500 meters

Tal was one of the very few who didn't have a wet suit

THE BIKE - 40 kilometers

THE RUN - 10 kilometers

THE FINISH - 3:01:28

THE FINISHER - Tally, we are so proud of you! He didn't stop once the entire time!

THE FINISHER with his biggest fans

THE CREW - these our our friends Maddie & Justin Tomlinson and Daniel Malm who did the tri. Great job, guys! We're so proud of you!

THE WWF WRESTLER - Kelsey had fun tackling Benjamin, jumping and running. She brought this soccer ball inside the castle and had so much fun kicking it around. She then shared with the cute baby that came in. She loves babies. However, she was not in the mood to take a picture with Maddie and she was scared to death of the cartoon lion that came into the kids paradiis.

Eva & I took the kids on the train since we knew there would be no parking. The absence of a lift proved difficult with strollers, but luckily Eva and I are training for next years' sprint tri. ;)

It was fun to watch the guys work so hard and to cheer them on!

Saturday, July 04, 2009

4th of July in Switzerland

For Independence Day, our friends Anthony & Ashley Shontz had some families over for the 4th of July. And thanks to Alyssa, we had some red, white & blue to celebrate with. I forgot to get a pic of the USA we put on our car and Rachel's yummy cupcakes.

Despite stepping on a bee (still hurts!), the evening was so fun and filled with laughs. We even sang Yankee Doodle after a failed attempt at America the Beautiful.

The pregos once again wanted smores (recall the post about the Tomlinson's farewell party), and were caught roasting long after everyone else was through. Kelsey loved playing in the neighbors' playhouse and played by herself over there for a good 20 minutes or so! Guess we'll have to get her one at some point.

Our patriotic family photo - look at that BELLY!

The boys grillin' the meats

The yummy sides - I love the Polish pottery!

We walked up to the campfire/park - Kelsey loved catching a ride with Emily in the stroller

Not a bad place to spend the 4th, huh? Too bad we didn't have an American flag to put up next to the Swiss one ;).

Kelsey ate at least 5 marshmallows, 4 of them uncooked

Hanging out around the campfire. This is one of my favorite things to do. I didn't like being attacked by locusts though! They were HUGE!

The bows that Alyssa brought for the girls

The kids with sparklers. Kelsey was too afraid of them, which was okay with me.

We still love you, AMERICA!

Friday, July 03, 2009

Birthday Fun and Last Hurrah before baby #2 (5 months late)

I finally convinced my friend Rob to take some time off of work and come visit us in Switzerland by promising him a trip of a lifetime. Rob arrived on my birthday and we enjoyed some great summer weather as we explored Zurich, went for a swim in the lake, checked out Lucern, and spent the evening in Rapperswil.

On Saturday Rob and I headed to Interlaken for perhaps the most extreme and fun activity that I've done in Europe so far. I highly recommend canyoning in Chli Schilere if you are the adventurous type that doesn't have issues jumping off of a 35 foot cliff into small pool of water. The weather was overcast and rainy so the pictures don't do it justice, but the extra water flowing through the narrow canyon made it even more intense.

All geared up and ready to go

"Fritz" and "Hasi" posing after successfully repelling down the waterfall

Some scenery shots on the way back to Zurich

We stopped at Como on the way down to Cinque Terra and explored the sights of Como for a few hours before taking the boat up to Bellagio.

We arrived in Cinque Terra with enough time to scout out our camping site (you're technically not supposed to camp in Cinque Terra, but no hotels offered a view we were looking for). We hiked the trail between all five cities and enjoyed the cool blue water of the Mediterainean several times along the way.

Great Italian food

A great hike between cities

My friend Rabinder from work and her friend Jay drove down with us - they loved it.

After CT we made a stop in Pisa and Siena on before arriving in Florence. I'm glad we made the extra effort to visit to Siena and the rain could dampen the charm or energy of the city.

I was a bit disappointed that the scheduled rehersal of the running of the horses around the main piazza was canceled due to the rain, but the piazza was still very impressive and we had some excellent pizza in an adjacent restaurant.

Florence was impressive and IMO Michelango's David is the most impressive piece of art I have ever seen. The Academia doesn't have much else, but the entry price (and line that we waited in) was well worth the opportunity to behold the David (for a second time).

After Florence, we headed to the Petty's place near Padova. We enjoyed some fantastic italian food at Oda's in preparation for our expedition though Venice the next day.

After Venice, we grabbed some pizza from a great little pizzaria in Camisano and then I headed back to Zurich late that night to a wife who was threatening to go into labor. :-)

Rob had to go on to Rome alone...

Thanks for coming and visiting, and congrats on your engagement to Des!

Kelsey Speaks

April 14: Advertising works, even for kids. Kels just came up to me with my iPhone and the app "Team Umizoomi" ready to purchase. I asked her how she knew about it and she said, "this mom put team umizoomi on for her kids and it teached her kids and he did it all by himself!" I've seen that commercial too, but never realized how much she soaked in! I'm a sucker, I downloaded it.

March 14:

We were having a new babysitter come and Kelsey wanted her to play a game but wasn't sure she'd know how. "What language does she speak?" I said, "English." Kels said, "Oh no!" I said, "Kelsey, did you know that YOU speak English?" She looked surprised, "I do!?"

October 17:

We had our carpet pad replaced today and the carpet guy was using a heavy duty iron that smelled like burning. Kelsey came in and said, "Mom, is that dinner I smell?" Thanks Kels, thanks. Says a lot about my cooking!

October 11:

So I'm on the phone and the Kelsey does soemthing that makes Aiden cry. I tell Kelsey, PLEASE make it better, say your sorry and make him stop crying. She starts singing, "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..." I started cracking up. I think she's a little too obsessed with Tangled.

February 19:
Family prayer
"Thank you that Aiden is incredible and that he could watch Incredibles with me. And thank you that mommy can change things."

February 9:
Family prayer tonight by Kelsey: "Thank you that mommy could be a good listener (?), thank you that mommy can be so stretchable...in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I laughed and asked her what stretchable meant. She said it meant that I can read Aiden books and change his diaper, put us to bed, play with us, and wiggle us and throw us, stuff like that. Does that mean she's grateful I can do mommy stuff?

January 5:
While at my mom's house in California, she said, "I want to stay at Mimi's forever!" I asked, what about your toys and our home in Utah?" She replied, "I like Mimi's toys downstairs." "But what about your friends back in Utah?" She replied, "they can get in the car and drive really, really far and come see me!" She has it all figured out.

January 4, 2011:
Tally read aloud a sign as we passed a church, "Jesus is making a list." She said, "No, Santa is making a list, and checking it twice."

December 20:
She was sad after I scolded her for taking her brother's food. I asked her why she was sad and she said, "My life hurts right now."
"With Christmas just a few days away?" I said. She perked right up.

December 13:
Tal was going to bed early and we all jumped in bed to give him hugs and say goodnight. Kelsey said, "I like it when our whole family is in bed together. Dad, you're hot. But I like it hot. You're the hottest."

December 9:
I had made a big effort to go to the gym and literally had 30 minutes to work out and then be back before everyone came over for play group. I get Kelsey out of the car and walk around to get Aiden. Kelsey says, "Mom, you can't wear THOSE shoes to the gym!" I looked down and sure enough, I was wearing my Crocs. I'm so glad she saw it before I'd gotten Aiden out of his car seat, gotten the kids checked into day care, and stepped on the treadmill. 10 points for trying, right?

October 22:
"Mom, I don't wanna have a baby in my tummy. I don't want to have a baby doggy come out."

October 3:
"Mom, you shut up and I'll shut down." (playing around with the word shut up to get a reaction from me).

September 30:
"Aiden, you have pretty eyebrows."
August 15
While sitting in our master bathroom, Kelsey said, "You guys have two sinks."
Us: "Yes, we have two sinks, isn't that nice?"
K: "No, I don't like it, you need to take one out. I need more room to sit."
Tal: "When you get married, you can have one sink in your bathroom."
K: "When I marry Aiden?" (who she said she wanted to marry when we were talking about weddings the day before).
Tal: "You can't marry Aiden, he's your brother."
K: "I want to marry DADDY!"
Jess: "He's mine, darlin. Daddy is already married to mommy."
K: "My cousins?"
Us: (Laugh, gave up...we'll have this talk one day when she's ready) She is constantly playing with my bouquet of silk flowers in my room and saying, "I'm getting married mom." I guess she picked that up on her own...I don't think I've ever talked about the flowers with her!

August 11:
As I'm putting her to bed I said, "Kelsey, your little body is so tired because you didn't take a nap today and little bodies need naps."
"And sometimes big bodies do too?" she said.
After the gym today, we caught her doing her hand clasp thing. Tally said, "Don't do that, you're doing it so hard you're getting sweaty."
She replied, firmly, "Well I just back from the gym." (which is true, but she was at the play place at the gym)
May
(While shutting herself inside the kitchen pantry)
K: Alright Aiden, I'm going bye-bye to Lily's house, 2 seconds, and when I come back, I'm going to Zoe's house. Okay? Okay, see ya later.
(about 2 seconds later, she opens the door)
K: Oh, hi Zoe's house!
She has been cracking me up (mixed with a little worry) with her imagination. If you ask her what she did today, she'll say she played with her cousins. We don't play with cousins everyday, but she does, in her imaginary play. She'll tell Libby and Zoe to come downstairs to the playroom or come outside with her. Then I'll hear her telling one of them to go hide or that this doll is for them or that they are nice. She will also throw in Lily and Edie, and an occasional Colton, Carter or Spencer. But that's more rare. Maybe because she sees them the most? Or because they are boys.
She also loves to pretend she's mommy and I'm Kelsey. She'll ask me, "is your pee-pees coming, mommy?" (No, is yours?) She'll also say, "you want a treat Kelsey? Okay. " Or my favorite, "You go in time out mommy, no-no." When I ask what I did wrong she'll say it's because I hit Aiden. Shocking.
She is also such a good sister. When I was reading my friend Mary's blog today who just lost her baby girl and bawling, she came over and gave me a big hug and said, "it's okay mommy." Then, because I wasn't paying attention to the fact that Aiden had run out of Cheerios and was "asking" for more, she fed him her Cheerios. Then she came up to me and said, "mommy, Aiden wants more Cheerios." She's a great little mommy.
5/?- (while Tal is at work)
K: Mom, I want to tell dad I had fun at the doctor today - daddy, I had fun at the doctor today - oh you did - yeah, dr. M was really nice. Yeah? Yeah.
She has little conversations with herself as she imagines the conversation she had or will have. These crack me up. She does it all the time, I just need to remember to write them down.
5/29 -
K: Mom, don't let Swiper come swipe our new house, okay?
M: Okay, I will. I'll tell him, Swiper no swiping, okay?
K: Yeah!
She's on this kick where she says "everytime" or "everday" with almost every sentence. I guess she's learning how to tell time/days?
She also sings all the time, usually "I am a Child of God." How can I ever get mad at that sweet little thing?
February 1, 2010
J: "Kelsey, get up on the stool so we can wash your hands."
K: "Mommy, you need to pull my pants up first."
J: "Okay, sorry"
K: "You don't need to say sorry mami."
She's been saying sorry to EVERYTHING and so I think she's heard that a lot lately from me. It's funny to hear your own words come from the mouths of your little ones.
January 28, 2010
K: "I want to be baptized."
J: "You do? How old are you?"
K: "TWO! Aiden wants to be baptized too."
J: "You have to be 8 to be baptized."
K: "Oh, I EIGHT!"
A little boy was baptized last Sunday and she started noticing it more in her books about Jesus and we talked about it a few times this week. But the subject hadn't come up this day - she said it out of the blue.