Katelyn's Girl Scout Camp

Katelyn went to Girl Scout camp at Camp Menzies for six days. This was her second time going to Camp Menzies. She was excited to be attending the "Horse Lovers" program this year. Her friend Angelica also went with her. Here they are before they got on the bus.
Here's Katelyn with some of the girls from her group. They learned how to take care of horses and got to rides the horses too.
They also got to go canoeing.

Katelyn is in the back of the canoe.

They played in the water to keep cool at camp.

Katelyn's favorite camp memories were:

1- making new friends and the fun counselors

2- working with the horses

3- activities (archery, canoeing, crafts)

4- singing songs

5- sleeping in a cabin

Train Museum with the Footes

On June 26, we met up with Earl Foote and his family at the California Sate Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Earl was Lloyd's best friend who lived across the street from him when they grew up in West Valley, Utah. Earl now lives in Park City, Utah. He came out for a vacation here in northern California. Lloyd was so excited to reunite with him. We decided to meet at the train museum because our kids (especially Cameron) love to see all the trains there. Courtney was at Girls Camp and Katelyn was at Girl Scout Camp so they didn't go with us.
Earl and Lloyd - best friends all grown up.
Our familyCameron has been obsessed with trains since he first visited the train museum in 2006. We couldn't resist buying him this Thomas engineer hat.

Our three littlest ones

Kylie

Earl with his three handsome boys and Lloyd with our kids

Cute kids!

Playing upstairs was fun too!

Me and my "baby"

Cameron and Kylie posing for the camera. Cameron loved watching this Thomas train. It was a great day for both of our families. Thanks to Facebook - it's made reuniting even easier!

My First Triathlon

I always knew I wanted to do a triathlon some day. I wanted to branch out and do something besides running. Also, Lloyd mentioned to me that Jennifer Lopez had done a triathlon after she had her twins. I thought if she can do it so can I! I was planning to do one in August and another in September. I found out a few friends were going to do a Tri for Fun on June 20 and I couldn't resist getting involved. Of course, I wasn't worried about the running part, but I was worried about the biking and even more about the swimming. I had an old bike in the shed that I got at Target over ten years ago. Both the tires were flat because I hadn't used it in years. As for the swimming, I knew I could swim, but not more than a few laps. I seemed to get tired after a couple laps of freestyle and always felt out of breath. Despite, my doubts about my bike and swimming ability, I decided to go for the Tri for Fun in Pleasanton on June 20. It's actually a great first-time triathlon with short distances - 400 meter swim, 11 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run. They don't even record the participants time, it's strictly a "fun" competition. My training up to the triathlon went okay. I would swim freestyle laps at my gym. I found if I breathed every stroke I didn't get out of breath. I gave up on counting laps and would time myself for up to 30 minutes of swimming. I was worried about the water being cold at the lake where the triathlon was held. I swam in our cold pool a couple times to make sure I could swim in cold water. One time I hyperventilated while swimming in our pool and it was pretty scary, but I got through it okay. My bike riding started out slow. I did enjoy it because you can go a lot faster on a bike than you can running. However, as far as cycling goes I was pretty slow. I had been doing spin classes at the gym for a while, but riding outside is quite different. I took my bike in to the bike shop and got it a tune up and some more road-friendly tires. That seemed to help a bit. At least, the bike shop workers said I would make it through the 11 mile ride. I stayed at my mom's house in San Jose the night before the triathlon. I was pretty anxious about the whole thing. I practiced my transitions. I bought a tri suit that goes straight from the swim to the bike. I really love the suit; I insisted it be all black so I wouldn't look too fat in it. I arrived at Shadow Cliff Park in Pleasanton about an hour and a half before the race began. I couldn't believe how many people were there - over 700, I think. I could barely find a place to rack my bike.

Here I am before the race begins. I carefully set up all my gear.

Here I am in my tri suit, swim cap, and goggles. I know it's such a fashionable outfit. The water wasn't too cold and I was so glad about that.

Here I am after just completing the 400 meter swim. I was surprised at how fast it went - only about 10 minutes. It was very crowded though with about 150 swimmers in the water at once. One girl started doing the back stroke right next to me and was hitting me in the head. I snagged this photo from the photographer who took pictures at the event.
Here I am on the bike with my friend (just kidding - I don't know who this guy is). I had a couple problems on the bike. I had to stop twice because my shoelace got wrapped around my pedal. Then I switched gears too quickly. I damaged my derailer and my chain came off. I started to panic, but luckily I was able to get my chain back on fairly easily and could finish on the bike. It was actually a very flat ride and a little less than 11 miles. I was a bit discouraged when all the bikers on road bikes passed me up, but I kept plugging away on my mountain bike.

Here I am right after the bike, about to transition to the run. I almost forgot to take off my bike helmet before the run. That would have been a sight!The transition from bike to run is pretty hard on your legs. My legs feel like "jello" for at least a mile after I get off the bike. I was so excited to have my headphones and MP3 player on the run. The music really got me going. The run had a few more hills than I usually run. Here I am a little crazy for the camera. I guess I was having fun.

The run was actually a little longer than 3.1. I was excited to see the finish line. I had made it through my first triathlon! My time on the clock shows 1:37, but I started 15 minutes after the clock in the fourth wave of swimmers. I guess that means it took my 1:22 to complete. Honestly, the whole thing felt like it was only 15 minutes long. After running marathons and half marathons, this seemed so much faster and more exciting. I loved that I wasn't running the entire time. I love how the swimming and biking aren't as hard on your joints. Yes, I'll admit I think I was bitten by the triathlon bug. I couldn't wait to do another one. I knew I couldn't wait until August before doing another one. I went home and found one three weeks after this one on July 11. The swim and bike would be longer, but I was up for the challenge. I actually try to convert everyone I know to try a triathlon. I guess I just assume others will love them as much as I do. Honestly, they aren't that hard. Most people would be surprised that they could do it. If anyone is even considering it, I would say "Go for it!" I'd be happy to help or give advice to anyone interested.
Lloyd couldn't come to watch me at the triathlon because he had to work. After he got off work, I begged him to take me out to my favorite restaurant in San Jose - The Sonoma Chicken Coop. I even enjoyed some chocolate fondue. It was a great celebration!

The Beauties of Yosemite

Yosemite has been said to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. People come from all around the world to visit. I've been to Yosemite only four times. My first time was in 1995 before I had any kids. I didn't go back until 2007. In 2008, I hiked Half Dome for the first time and knew I had to do it again. We were so lucky to have been able to camp in Yosemite this year from June 8-11. It's funny that Yosemite is basically in our backyard, compared to most people, and we haven't gone there more often. As our children are getting older, we would like to visit more frequently. Here are just some of the beauties we experienced on our trip this year.We got to see four waterfalls. Spring is an awesome time to see the waterfalls because the snow is still melting and the falls are very strong. Here is Lower Yosemite Falls.
Here is a picture of Upper Yosemite and Lower Yosemite Falls together.

Here is Vernal Falls on the Mist Trail. I think this waterfall is my favorite. I love to feel the mist as you hike right next to it.

Here is Nevada Falls which is further up the mist trail. Lloyd and I got this picture on our Half Dome hike.Here is Bridalveil Falls. We took the whole family to see this one.
Lloyd got this picture of Cloud's Rest while we were hiking Half Dome. He said he's like to climb it some day.Here's El Capitan. Our entire family was fascinated by the rock climbers who climb to the top. We looked at them through telescopes. They actually sleep in cots attached to the rock. It can take them anywhere from three days to a week to climb to the top of El Capitan. Here's the view of Half Dome from the valley. It's hard to believe we climbed to the top. No wonder it takes so long!

Here's Mirror Lake. If it wasn't so cold we would have gone swimming. We also got to see a lot of wildlife in Yosemite. We saw this bear on our hike to Yosemite Falls. We saw a couple other bears too. There are lots of bears in Yosemite and you have to be really careful that you keep all food in the bear lockers.
My brother got this picture of some deer. They were pretty tame and he was able to get fairly close to them.We saw this mother duck and her ducklings on our last day in Yosemite. Very sweet!
Finally, we did not see this long horn bull in Yosemite, but on our way back. Some of my friends pointed him out when we went scrapbooking at the cabin. His horns are humongous. The poor guy can't even hold his head up!

We feel so grateful we got to experience the beauty of Yosemite this year. The Lord has truly blessed us with an amazing world to enjoy!

Family Fun in Yosemite

There were eleven of us that went camping in Yosemite this year. Our family of seven, my mom and Jay, and my brother, Bryce, and his wife, Chareen. We had a lot of fun, laughed quite a bit, and created some priceless memories. Here's all eleven of us with Yosemite Falls in the background.

Our family of seven, why do my kids keep growing up? They looked smaller when I took this same shot in 2007.
Here's all of us in front of Yosemite Falls.Our family

My kids being so silly!Thank goodness the girls were strong enough to hold up this rock as we hiked around it.Aren't these boys adorable?Meal time under the dining fly. It rained a lot so while we were there so we appreciated the shelter. We always had plenty of food though.

The pool at Curry Village was pretty cold. We tried it out anyway. It was good training for my upcoming triathlon.
Adorable smiles!This guy is pretty adorable too!

Our last group shot in the meadow across from El Capitan.
We all loved seeing the rock climbers on El Capitan through the telescope.Riding the free shuttle buses throughout Yosemite valley was very convenient.

Our family on a bridge by Bridalveil Falls.
In front of Mirror Lake

We would have liked to have spent more time river rafting, but it was very cold. Lloyd did manage to take some of us across the river to a small island by Swinging Bridge. Here he is with Cameron.

Katelyn and Conner had their turn too. Conner loved it!Here I am with Lloyd. I'm not very good at rowing. Lloyd was great to take us all out and back from the island.

Overall, it was a fun and memorable family vacation. Here are our top 10 memories from our 2009 Trip to Yosemite:

1- Bryce's funnel cakes (best I ever had)

2- Rain (lots of wet and dirty clothes, we had to wash our sleeping bags at the laundromat after the trip)

3- Watching the rock climbers on El Capitan (so intriguing)

4- Mom's trip to the medical center for a broken blood vessel in her eye (luckily she was okay and it healed quickly)

5- Pizza from Curry Village (Lloyd and I were too tired to cook after hiking Half Dome)

6- Elmer (you had to be there)

7- Bear sightings (we saw five different bears)

8- Lloyd and I safely hiking Half Dome (someone died there four days after we hiked it)

9- Camping in the valley (we had to reserve in January, but the price and location were just right)

10- The hot shower after hiking Half Dome and swimming in the cold pool (we were only suppose to be in there for five minutes, but we took a little longer - the hot water felt heavenly)