Saturday, October 17, 2009

Triathalon


Hanna and Gavin did a triathalon last month. (Gunnar had scouts that day.) It was so adorable. The people running it only started 10 children at a time, so it was fairly non-competitive, but the kids all had a great time, and we are proud of them for their great effort. Neither JD nor I have ever even tried a triathalon. So, way to go kids!


Gavin transitioning from his swim to his bike ride.

Hanna biking 1.5 miles!


Hanna and Gavin crossing the finish line together.

Hanna's race actually started and finished before Gavin ever started, so after she had already finished, Hanna went back and waited by the side of the trail for Gavin, so they could run-in and cross the finish line together.


They both got metals. It was so much fun! Great job guys!

Pinewood Derby

Our ward actually had a Pinewood Derby. We have been here for six years now and this was the first one that we can remember. JD and the boys set out to make the derby cars and as they were sitting in Grandpa's shop, JD admitted to the boys he had no idea what he was doing. He had his old derby car with him and each boy had their block of wood, Gunnar asked him how he had made his car to which JD replied, "I didn't make this car, as a matter of fact I never even saw the car until the night of the derby and then I wasn't even allowed to touch it until the race was over." We had some friends help carve the cars but then JD and the boys painted and put the wheels and stickers on. Gavin's car took 5th place and Gunnar took 6th out of about 12 boys. Although, Gunnar won a prize for the "fastest looking car". JD considered that a moral victory...


Flag Football

Gunnar and Gavin both played flag football for the first time and they ended up on the same team. They had lots of "fun" (isn't that what it suppose to happen). JD was a little more relaxed then baseball season for some reason. Probably because the boys actually played pretty well.


Gunnar playing quarterback and Gavin is playing runningback over Gunnar's sholder.

JD and the boys.



Finally some NY photos

Had 176 photos floating inside our digital camera. Remember the days when you took 24 pictures and actually had them developed. Digital has been nice, besides storing hundreds of photos, you noticed how much longer it takes to actually take pictures..."stand here, let me look through the view finder, ok hold still look at me (snap picture), wait, let me look at the picture, oh wait, one strand of hair was sticking up, let me take another picture (snap), let me look, wait that guy in the background was doing a raise the roof sign, let me snap another picture (snap)...you get the idea, it just takes longer...anyway here are a few photos from our New York trip.


JD (up) and Tasha (down) in Central Park.



Tasha sitting on the Subway. We actually got unlimited subway passes each day and took the subway just about everywhere we went.


JD waiting for the subway.


JD on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That place was ginormous, but very cool.


JD in front of one of Vincent Van Gogh's "Haystacks". Out of the thousands and thousands of pieces of art, this was one of the only ones we recognized. We also saw original Picassos and Rembrandts just to name a few. Pretty amazing.





Radio City Music Hall. That's Tasha on the corner under the umbrella. It rained most of the time we were in New York. Tasha was looking for little orphan Annie...


Tasha at the heart of Times Square.



We watched a few segments of the Today Show. Here we are right behind Matt Lauer and Al Roker. They are both very short...Al is maybe 5'7"



This parking garage was near our hotel and so every time we walked by we stopped and considered what it took to park your car in the city every day. It was simply an elevator system that cost $25 a day.

Outside the NBC studios building. We were actually approached and asked if we would sit in on a Dr. Oz Show taping, it was raining and so we did. We missed it when the show aired, but it wasn't a great show. The whole time inside the studios, we were looking for Tina Fey, or wait, was it Sarah Palin...anyway, didn't see anyone famous.


Statue of Liberty from Battery Park view. The water was pretty rough and it was raining so we elected not to take the boat ride over to the island.


This was also taken at Battery Park, we were actually at Ground Zero on September 11 although this was the only picture we took. There really isn't much at Ground Zero to take photos of. There were several soldiers and memorials around the site. It was a very sobering feeling to be on location. We still felt the spirit of the memorials and are so appreciative of the service men and women that did so much that day.


The Manhattan Temple. Right across the street from the Lincoln Center and the Julliard School of Dance. We did some sealings one day we were there and had a great experience. President Kimball purchased the proper in the early 70's and it was a chapel for many years before being converted into a temple and dedicated in 2004.






Sadly, this is the only picture of the two of us together. We were just coming out of watching Wicked on Broadway. It was a great show and we were so happy we made the effort to go.



Times Square at night after seeing Wicked.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Crazy Summer

We've done a pathetic job of keeping up with our blog this summer. We actually had a great summer with tons of travel, both me and the family. I use to enjoy a moderate amount of travel...not so much anymore. I try and take the family or a kid or two with me when I can. Here is a run down of our summer:

June

  1. Go to Las Vegas for 3 days for work. Take family with me and meet up with Patti, her kids, and mom and Tony.
  2. Camping at Craters of the Moon with Josh and Liz (rained like crazy the entire time, loved the new camper)
  3. 3 trips to SLC and back

July

  1. Camping near Kelly Canyon
  2. JD trip to New York
  3. JD trip to Mesa, AZ
  4. JD trip to Nampa, ID
  5. Griffith Family reunion in McCall

August

  1. Leishman Family reunion in Island Park
  2. JD to Salt Lake meetings for two days
  3. Camping at Buffalo campground in Island Park
  4. JD and Hanna to SLC
  5. JD to Las Vegas
  6. JD to Mesa, AZ
  7. Fathers and Sons camp out at Wright Creek

September

  1. 3 days of camping in Yellowstone
  2. 4 days in New York with Tasha
  3. JD to Mesa, AZ
  4. JD to SLC

Pictures to come at some point. We have not downloaded our pictures for the summer, we have like 150 pictures in our camera right now...joy. Throw in bishopric and PhD classes and it was truly crazy but loved every minute of it.