Track and Field Banquet

Tonight was Heather's Track and Field Banquet. It's a fun, dressy occasion where athletes and their families gather to visit have dinner and listen to the awards ceremony.  This year Heather was honored with the award for "Most Inspirational" which was fitting due to the year she had. The coached talked briefly about her heart issue and how Heather has been willing to stick with track and have whatever kind of experience she could have be it racing, sitting and cheering or helping with miscellaneous event tasks. Fortunately, Heather was able to race when the season started, and she did pretty well. It was really great for her to hear her coach's kind words and to be honored for her dedication. It has been a struggle for sure. We're really proud of her for sticking with it and being faithful as she's continues on this journey with her health.

Miscellaneous May

 Jenna's May selfies (found on photo stream) and her nail designs. Nails are definitely getting more intricate. She's doing a great job!

 We were invited to attend the FVHS music program's end of the year concert. Not sure we've ever had an invitation although we know many of the youth. We were SO happy we went. Our friends, Caleb, Penelope, Lauren and Kali all had solos, and we knew so many youth. The music from Wicked was featured, and these kids could give the Broadway stars a run for their money! Can't wait for next year's show!

Awesome Youth Activities

We had some great youth activities this month! Our Mia Maid class put together May-Day cones and hung them from neighbors' doors in their individual neighborhoods. This is an old tradition that was fun to share with the girls. All our girls were involved with a pizza making fundraiser in partnership with Sam's Club. We made several pizzas and raised lots of money for the girls' camp accounts. And finally, the Stake did a Color Run for the youth. It was messy, but oh so fun. Heather had to be careful with her heart rate, but she still gave it a shot. The youth love spending time together, and it was a successful activity.

Memorial Day Remembering

We took our annual trip to both my mom's and Kelly's parents' graves today to clean them and spend some reflection time. The girls are losing some of their memories, so it is good to talk about what we remember and keep those memories fresh. It takes a few hours of our day, but it's good family time away from the worldy distractions. Kelly is great about getting the stones shiny and new looking. He's a dutiful son and son-in-law, and I admire him for his desire to do this for our parents.

Birthday Celebrations and Friends

Grace celebrated birthday #16 with a beach bonfire. It was a great opportunity to hang out with Grace and also for the foursome to be together again. Friends from Kindergarten through now, and they are still kind and loving and wonderful with each other. How blessed they are to have each other! 

Grace, Heather, Kenzie and Madi

Floating Leaf Boats

Lots of rain makes for little rivers curbside. Kelly and Jenna raced leaf boats this afternoon. Silly, but fun. Another testament to our girls having a fun Dad who will do little things like this with them.

Mother Daughter Relief Society Night

 It was Mother-Daughter Relief Society Meeting night! It was so nice to have all the Young Women there with their mommas. The Peterson gals participated in the cookie icing project. Sister Hinkson is the master icing guru (she is the one who has made the gorgeous cookies for us at Christmas!), and it was fun to try doing this ourselves. It will take more practice, but we have her recipes for cookies and icing now which will be a treasure.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day included Shepherd's Pie and a beautiful cake. The girls chose the meal which Kelly cooked, and they decorated the cake too. It was all delicious! We hung out the rest of the night. Kelly and Jenna played Battleship while Sariah watched. It was cute. Feeling the love today.

Sunset League Track and Field Finals

Heather competed in the Sunset League Track and Field Finals today. She qualified at the prelims last week when I was in Utah. The weather was cool and sunny until the evening when it rained. Fortunately, she didn't have to compete in the rain, but we all stayed until the end.

The thing I will remember about this sophomore year track season is Heather's determination after things "clicked" for her. At the Edison meet, she heard our Bishop cheer for her on the sidelines which gave her a boost. She ran from 5th place to 2nd place in the JV 300m hurdles during the last 50 meters. The last 50 have to be the most grueling of this race, but Heather had the stamina to turn it on. This was her breakout meet. The highlight was her finish against Los Alamitos where she ran from 4th at the curve all the way to 1st in the last 50 meters. Los Al had great video on their website, and we've watched it over and over (click HERE to watch). Heather learned to dig deep and pull it out at the end. I say if you're going to be good at something, be good at something like no one else, and that's what the last 50 meeter dig is all about for her and the 300m hurdles.

Heather missed almost four months of training, started competing in March in the school meets, increased her time by almost a second each week, and ended up qualifying for the finals. We could not be more proud of her or more grateful for returning health. It's not perfect yet, but she is able to do what she loves and do it safely. That is priceless.

Teeth Moving Fast!

My cute, self-conscious girl is great at taking selfies which has surprised me because the self-conscious usually don't want attention. I'm not sure I would have been able to do that at her age because I didn't really want to be "seen" either. But she takes lots of photos. I'm grateful for her skills and her willingness this month to take a photo of her braces. She had the before, day of and a first month shots to compare and show the dentist. It's amazing how fast her teeth moved in just a month!

All Because Of A Book-Weekend With The Girls

 Mary, Sarah, Britten, Kirsten, Jennifer, Rhonda, Me, Amy

(B) Mary, Donna, Sarah, Jennifer, Britten (F) Jenny, Amy, Me Rhonda Kirsten

On April 30, I took a plane to Salt Lake City, UT to meet some girlfriends for the weekend. One of the gals picked a couple of us up from the airport and drove us to Sarah's cabin in Oakley. These gals are amazing, and I haven't seen many of them all together since our trip to Forks, WA in 2008. We spent the weekend in the beautiful cabin talking, watching Pride and Prejudice, making Dub-smash videos and paper crowns, taking walks down to the river and hiking up to a lake near the property. It was good to reconnect and be silly together.  This group came together because of a book, and has stayed friends all this time. It has been such a great group of women to be a part of, and life has been richer for knowing them. I'm so glad I was able to make this happen (thank you family!).