Harvest

We picked basil (to make pesto) and tomatoes, peppers and some onions from the garden at the end of July.

 We made this "stepping" stone for our garden this summer.  The sun is fading the colors and stuff.  It used to say Marshall.

 Flowers left over from a work thing that James brought home...

Marlins End of Year Pool Party

We got to do the Marlins Pool Party on July 29th.  James was out of town, but the rest of us had fun.  I went early to help set up.  I had all the trophies and medals that I was in charge of ordering and picking up this year.  I had help, so we set up tables and got things organized alphabetically so we could distribute stuff easier.
Coach Sarper handed out the High Point earner medals.

Zack took 1st or Top earner in his age group (9-10 year old boys)

 Kammie was the 1st/top in her group too (11-12 Girls)

 Jordan was 3rd in high points for her age group (13-14 girls) 

[imagine if she had been able to do all 5 meets instead of just 3]

 Go Marshalls!

 The littles with their trophies...

 With Coach Sarper

 It was Coach Sarper's birthday, so we sang to him and let him blow out candles on the cake.

Diving for quarters is always the highlight.  They throw quarters into the pool and let the kids go in by age groups and get as many as they can.  Oh the JOY!

Horseback riding

With swim meets every Saturday during the summer, it was hard to get her to horseback riding.  We finally had the chance on July 27th.

A big, beautiful horse named Lavesco...

 A butterfly on the trail...

 Midnight the cat...

 One of 6 foals born on the farm this summer...

YW Book of Mormon Read-a-thon

As a YW's presidency, we decided to hold a Book-of-Mormon Read-a-thon to help the young women of our ward get closer to their progress of reading that for their Virtue value in Personal Progress.  We spent all day...8am until 10pm reading from 1st Nephi to the book of Alma.  We read all together in a big group, had time to read on our own, read in small groups, and watched a couple of Book of Mormon Living Scriptures DVDs.  We had snacks and took short breaks, went to lunch at Wendy's and got items off the $1 menu, then changed venues to read more in the afternoon.  We took a big break for our combined YM/YW's activity, which was a pool party.  These pictures were taken towards the end of the evening after the missionaries read some to us.

 President Beheshti trying to get Jordan's attention, but she was focused on finishing the part she was to read.

The evening was a success.  We sent the girls home with a reading schedule that would have them read the other half of the Book of Mormon in two months.  My Jordan finished it in a week.  Go J!  Kate, Kammie and I all finished in time.  The reward for doing so was a Willow Tree figurine of a girl reading (one was sitting reading a book, one was standing holding a book to her heart).  That helped Jordan, Kate and I earn our Honor Bee.  Success!

Pepe', Sign, Wind Storm, Garden and Overloaded Apple Tree

The Halls' decided earlier in the summer to no longer let their cat Pepe' be an outside cat.  We felt very bad for him because he is such a hunter and wanderer.  They did finally say we could come down and get him and bring him to our house to "play" if we wanted.  On July 18th, we finally took them up on their offer.  Pepe' is so loved.  

Here is Sidnie spending time quality time with the cat...

When I took the cat home after about an hour, I let him walk freely out the back door for a little ways.  He's so tired of being cooped up.  Then I picked him up and headed from the backyard to the front.  As we passed near the garden we saw a little rabbit.  Pepe' leaped from my arms and was after that bunny so fast.  It took off even faster into the bushes.  I grabbed Pepe' before he could run off and took him home.  Poor Kitty!

I was the assistant parent representative for the summer swim team this year.  And as such, I collected money for an end of the year gift for our Parent Reps who put in a ton of hard work.  I collected a little over $400 dollars and bought them a visa gift card in the amount of $400 (with a 5.95 activation fee).  That way they could use in on vacation and anything they wanted.  I also had James carve a sign for them.  He busted his behind to get it done the Saturday before the swim team end of the year pool party on the 20th.  He got it done, but after all that, there was a severe rain storm and the pool party got postponed.  Oh well.

The sign for the Boggan's turned out great.

Our neighbor's tree lost a major branch in the storm.  They ended up cutting the whole tree down.

 Our Garden took a beating as well.  The zucchini and potatoes took a beating.  We tried to prop the potatoes back up with a rope because they were laying on top of the onions.  The zucchini eventually died, like it does every year here.  We have yet to have success with zucchini, squash and pumpkin.  Something always kills it.

 The other garden box with tomatoes and bell peppers took the beating, but survived.

 

The basil survived too.

 This poor little apple tree was so over loaded.  We could thin the apples, but that seems to happen naturally and we didn't want to ruin our chance at a harvest, so we propped up the branches as best we could.

Meet of Champs

We missed one regular season swim meet while traveling back from our vacation.  (Jordan missed two since she went to UT early to go to EFY.)  We were back in time to practice and to attend the Meet of Champs.  You qualify for the meet, by being a Platinum, Gold or Silver swimmer or by being one of the top 8 bronze swimmers.  (They added the Platinum level this year.)  So, Saturday, July 20th was the annual Meet of Champs.  10 and under swim in the morning [Spencer and Zack] and 11 and up swim in the afternoon [Kammie and Jordan].  That made it an all day even for us.  Yay!
Spencer qualified in 25 Freestyle, 25 Backstroke and 25 Butterfly.

On his mark for 25 Free...

 Still waiting to start...

 And he's in...

 Results Board:  Spencer was in lane 8 and took 6th in his heat and 6th place in the Bronze division with a time of 24:05

 

 Spencer took 8th place in the Silver division on his backstroke with a time of 26.12.

On his mark for 25 fly...

 The dive in...

 I rarely take a photo with them on top of the water...

And Spencer got DQ'd (disqualified) on his 25 butterfly.  We only got one time for him all year in butterfly.  Usually he'd get DQ because of doing a flutter kick or something else.  He was actually a better breast stroker, but he never got a time.  His last meet before meet of champs we were so excited that he didn't get DQ'd all they way across the pool, but then he didn't do a two had touch at the other side and so, the DQ came.  UG!  Maybe next year.

Zack qualified in every event, including the freestyle Relay team, as a Gold or Platinum level swimmer in each.  He hasn't yet caught the competitive spirit or killer instinct, so he's just there to participate.

Waiting to start...

 The dive for his 50 free...

 Go!

 Results board:  Zack was in lane 8 and finished 7th in his heat with a time of 36.73 and took 15th place in the Gold division.

 On his mark for 50 Backstroke...

 His feet after the start...

Zack finished his 50 back with a time of 45:54 and that was 12th place in the Gold Division.

Here he is on his 50 breaststroke (no cap, turquoise goggles)...

 Zack was in lane 3 and finished 3rd in his heat with a time of 57.83 and took 7th in the Bronze division.

 Getting ready for 50 Fly...

 Results Board:  Zack was in lane 8 and finished with a time of 45.53 and was 12th overall.

 On the backstroke portion of his 100 IM (individual medley)...

 Breaststroke...

 Free...

Results Board for IM:   Zack was in lane 1 and was 8th in his heat.  He must have been tired out at this point because he added 10 seconds to his score.  He finished 14th in the Gold division with a time of 1:46.26.

Team Relays were the last events of the morning.  Zack's Freestyle relay team finished in 3rd Place.  Here he is swimming his leg of the 100 yard event.

 A year round swim team was there and they had a fake Olympic Gold medal that they let the kids try on for photos.  A dream for the future...

On to the afternoon...
Team Relays were first for the older kids.  Kammie's team (11-12 year olds) took 3rd place and Jordan's team (13-14 year olds) took 4th place. 
Kammie qualified for everything except breaststroke, because strangely enough I forgot to have her swim that event this year.  Oh well.

Waiting for her 50 Free...

 The dive...

Results Board:  Kammie was in lane 8 and finished 6th in her heat with a time of 31.59.  She took 3rd place in the Gold division.

 Kammie finished her 50 backstroke with a time of 37.20 which was a Gold time and finished 6th in the Platinum division.

Kam's dive in for her 50 Fly...

 Her touch and turn at the wall (yellow cap with turquoise goggles)...

 I rarely get such a good photo, but this one is great with her out of the water.  A great action shot...

 Resluts Board:  Kammie was in lane 4 and finished 3rd in her heat with a time of 39.05.  She finished 8th place in the Gold division.

 Kam ready for her 100 IM...

 Her dive in...

 Backstroke leg...

 Breaststroke leg...

 Freestyle leg with her taking a breath...

 IM Results Board:  Kam was in lane 3 and finished 2nd in her heat with a time of 1:23.79 which was 8th place in the Gold division.

 Here she is after she finished and she's all worn out...

 

Jordan was another one that qualified in every event.  Here's to a busy afternoon of swimming!

Jordan waiting for her 50 Free...

 Jordan finished with a time of 35.67 which was 21st in the Silver Division.

50 yard backstroke...

 Results Board:  Jordan was in lane 7 and finished 6th in her heat with a time of 43.87 and took 12th place in the Bronze division.

 Dive in for 50 breaststroke...

 Results Board:  Jordan was in lane 3 and took 7th in her heat with a time of 46.60 which was 8th place in the silver division.

 Results Board for 50 Fly:  Jordan was in lane 7 and finished 7th in her heat with a time of 41.54 which was 6th in the Bronze division.

 Backstroke leg of her 100 IM...

 Breaststroke...

 Freestyle (black cap)...

 Results Board for IM:  Jordan was in lane 4 and finished with a time of 1:28.09 for 11th place in the silver division.

 Kammie's dream to win Gold someday!

 

Jordan with her gold...

After a long day at the Pool, Jordan and I headed to a Stake Youth Dance over an hour's drive away.  I knew I didn't want to go in the shoes I had worn all day, so before we left that morning I grabbed a pair of sandals to wear later.  This is what I grabbed...

At least there was one right shoe and one left shoe.  I indeed didn't want to wear the other shoes I had worn all day, so this is how I went to the dance.