Happy 13th birthday Kyle & Emily!

Somehow Kyle and Emily are now teenagers. Time has gone by at warp speed. Hard to believe they were little 32 weeker preemies and have come so far. They have forged their own identities and are thriving. Both great runners and active kids, excelling in school and sweet with each other and their brother (most of the time ;-) ). Keep on being the amazing you that you each are, Kyle and Emily. We love you! 

A few days old in this picture

Going to sleep as 12 year olds to wake up as 13 year olds. 

We went to the trampoline park during the day to bounce out some birthday energy. 

Kyle thought he'd pour himself a beer since he's 13 now. :-) He was actually horrified at this because he mistook the beer for a sparkling water. Needless to say he did not drink it and was upset with me for even taking this picture. 

Aaron's birthday

Happy 7th birthday dear Aaron! Time sure is flying by. You still love Star Wars, but especially Yoda. Keep on being the sweet boy that you are. We love you!

Cross Country Season

Cross country season kicked off in September for Kyle and Emily. 

Emily kicked her season off with a great race, finishing in the top 1/3 of JV girls. 

Kyle's first race didn't go so well. Running varsity and wearing XC spikes for the first time... Within the first 100 yards when the course narrowed to a turn, Kyle was taken down by some spikes and couldn't finish. I tried my darnedest to avoid taking him in for stitches, but no amount of bathroom doctoring could hold his wound together. Ended up with 7 stitches (numbing wore off so final 2 were skipped). Oh and this was all on Jeff's birthday. Happy birthday to Jeff. We ended up at ramen dinner at 9pm post ER. 

Happy Birthday Kyle & Emily

Happy 12th birthday Kyle & Emily! Hard to believe these two kids who started off 2 months early at 4 pounds a piece are now on the verge of being teenagers! Time sure does fly.

K1 Speed

For his birthday, Aaron really wanted to go to K1 Speed. We went for Kyle and Emily's birthday over the summer, but Aaron wasn't tall enough yet (less than an inch below their junior threshold). Since that time, he has been working on his growing so he could go to K1 Speed on his birthday. And thankfully he is growing like a weed and made the cut. He was super thrilled to drive his first go-kart and got more and more comfortable driving to really rip around the track. 

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Happy birthday Aaron! Hard to believe you are already 6! You are a sweet, loving brother and son with such a kind heart. You love Yoda and all things Star Wars as well as playing video games. But you also love being outside playing with the kids and riding your bike. Happy birthday baby!

Jeff's birthday

Happy birthday Jeff! We went out to a special fancy dinner for this big birthday. It was a delicious meal up in the mountains in a beautiful setting. 

Kyle & Emily's 11th birthday Bell's Canyon hike

For Kyle and Emily's birthday, we had a brilliant idea of going for a hike. We heard Bell's Canyon was a good, reasonably easy hike... while it was nice to get out with the family for a hike, we were very ill-prepared for this one. We thought an easy hike we would accomplish in an hour or so. So in the morning, we had a light breakfast, set out with our water packs and a bar with the intention of going to brunch / lunch afterward. Not quite how it turned out. It was 11am when we started, it was a million degrees out, we only had 1 bar and those 4 miles seemed like 14. About 4.5 hours later we were back at the car. The steep terrain, winding paths, extreme heat, lack of food and not eating enough for breakfast and making sure to conserve water, it was a challenge to say the least. It taught us a very valuable lesson though to make sure we bring more food than we think we will need and always enough water. And to avoid the heat and have proper covering from the sun in the heat. 

Nonetheless, we powered through and saw the first waterfall at Bell's Canyon. About 1/2 mile from the falls, we divided and conquered because Aaron was just done. So Emily and I went first, came back to our meeting point, and then Jeff & Kyle went to the top. The hike got much harder at that point too so it was a good choice even if it took more time when we were all hungry and exhausted.