Tonight I took the kids to see The Singing Children of Africa. I loved just sitting there listening to their sweet voices. They were so fun to watch. The kids were mesmerized by their their bright colored costumes and their dancing. I was so sad that I forgot to bring my camera. I couldn’t help looking at their little faces and imagining the portraits I could take. The pictures that you see here are all from their website.

I also couldn’t stop thinking about the lives they lead. These children were all from Kenya. Many of them come from single parent homes, some of them are orphans. All of them live in extreme poverty. They know what it is like to go hungry. Most of them live in adobe houses. I just watched them and thought about how happy they all looked to be there singing to us, despite all the hardships in their lives.

There were a few children that I just couldn’t help but feeling a connection with. This little girl Diana was one of them. She was 13 years old and just had a sparkle in her eye that I can’t describe.

It really make me want to do something to help. But I just feel kind of powerless. What can I really do to help? I can donate money, but they need so much more than I am able to give. Never the less, I still want to donate something to them. I looked at their donation page, and I found it difficult to figure out. The organization is in the UK, so all of the donation amounts are in pounds. I am going to email them and just see what I can do. I would love to donate money or sponsor a child or something. Maybe we could be a host family some time. I know I can’t do a lot, I just feel like I want to do something.

Today the JRCC Club Championship wrapped up. Tuesday was the first round, and it didn’t go well for me. I didn’t feel like I did anything terrible, I just didn’t do anything very well. I missed a lot of greens, and didn’t chip well. I made a bunch of bogeys and a few doubles. I ended up shooting 87.

I was hoping for better today, but I didn’t do much better. I started out pretty steady. When I got to hole number 5 I kind of fell apart. I duffed my drive into the hazard and had to re-tee. Then I missed the green and chipped and 2 putted. I ended up with a triple bogey. I was bummed about that, until I got to number seven.

I duffed my drive again, this time into the trees off the front of the tee box. I decided to re-tee, and I hit that one left into the bushes up by the green. I had to hit a third shot. It looked like it was going to be fine, and then it tailed off to the right and went into the bushes too. I found that one, and was able to hit it. I was in the weeds, so I took an extra club, figuring that I wouldn’t be able to make great contact with it. I hit it as well as I could and airmailed the green into another hazard. I ended up getting a 10 on the hole! I walked off the green shaking and trying not to cry. I was so bummed.

But, I was able to hold it together. I finished the front nine with a 49. I had a little talk with myself and decided to just put it behind me, and finish strong. I ended up making a birdie on number 9, and I went on to shoot 37 on the back nine. I was proud of myself for holding it together and finishing so well.

Maybe next year I’ll be in contention!

I finally finished Breaking Dawn last night. I was so engrossed in it, I just wanted to read constantly. Unfortunately, I have other responsibilities I tried to stay up late a few nights to read, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open much past 10:00pm.

No spoilers here. I’ll just say that I really loved it. There were lots of great surprises. I enjoyed it so much that I was sad to see it end. I may go back and start reading the whole series all over!

The last 2 1/2 days I played in the Jeremy Ranch Invitational. I was really looking forward to this tournament and to be back out playing with my friend Jen. I have been playing team this summer, but it has been a long time since I have played in a competitive tournament. I was really excited about getting back into competition again.

Thursday night was the derby. In the derby everyone in your flight tees off on the first hole–think 14 teams. Each 2 woman team takes turns hitting their ball until it is in the hole. The 4 worst scores on each hole were eliminated. It is always so much fun! It is crazy how much pressure you feel when there are so many people watching. I hit the first shot and it was nerve wracking, but I got it in play at least. We ended up getting eliminated on the 3rd hole. All in all, we did pretty well.

The tournament really started on Friday with a 2 woman best ball. We played with the best player at Jeremy Ranch. I played lights out on Friday. I just felt like I was doing everything right. I hit the ball well, especially with my irons. I hit so many shots close to the pins. Jen struggled, but I was happy to be able to come through for our team. I shot a 75 on my own ball. We ended up shooting a 74 gross and were one shot behind our main competition.

Today was the second day. I felt good about where we stood. I knew that Jen would play better today, and I felt like we had a good chance of winning. We came out with a bang. We started on the 5th hole. I hit my drive down the middle of the fairway. I had a pretty long 2nd shot, and I nailed it. It almost went in the hole! I ended up with about a 3 foot put. I made it, and we were back to even with the leaders. Jen and I were a great team and we helped each other when we needed to. Unfortunately 2 holes later we made a bogey and we were back to one down.

The turning point of the day came at the beginning of the second nine. We made a few birdies and pars and they made a few bogeys. Just like that we went from being one down to 2 up. Our competition started to get upset and it showed in their game. They came on strong, but we were able to hang with them. We just kept making pars from all over the place. On the 16th hole I drained a 40 footer for par to stay 2 up. It was crazy and so much fun. I saw the other team just slump when I made it.

We just kept making pars and went into the last hole with a 2 shot lead. The last hole was number 4–an elevated tee box down to a par 3. I knew we pretty much had it locked up. All we needed was for one of us to get it on the green. I hit a great shot about 15 feet from the pin. I knocked that put in, just to put a little icing on the cake. I ended up shooting 76 on my own, and we shot a one under 71 for the day. We won the tournament by 3 strokes.

It was a great 2 days. It was so much fun to be out there competing with my old friend Jen. We have always been a great team. And I was really proud of us for winning!

A few months ago I heard about the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer from a friend’s blog. People were just raving about the books. It was written by an author from BYU who happens to be LDS. It was geared towards a more young adult audience, but people my age were loving it too. I checked it out on Amazon.com and decided to order the 2 books in the series–Twilight and New Moon. I had no idea I would be hooked so fast!

I read both of them over the course of a few days, which is a feat in itself for me! I meet monthly with my book group, and almost always read the book. But, I can’t seem to read much more than one book a month. I just have too much going on. But, I read both books in a few days. I couldn’t wait for the next book to come out. As soon as it did I devoured that one too.

Now I am anxiously waiting for the last book in the series, Breaking Dawn, to come out! I pre-ordered it on Amazon months ago, but now I am having second thoughts When Harry Potter came out, they has some special so that it would arrive to you on the day it came out. It doesn’t look like they are doing that with Breaking Dawn. It comes out on August 2nd, so I probably won’t get it until Monday. Which is probably all for the best anyway. I am playing in a golf tournament on Friday and Saturday. It probably wouldn’t help my golf game to stay up all night Friday night reading

I can’t wait to get it and find out what happens. My sister-in-law is getting a hotel room with a few of her friends so they can have a read-a-thon. I wish I could join them!!

UPDATE: I just checked Amazon.com and my order is now showing release date delivery! Woooo Hoooo! Now I just have to control myself and not stay up all night so I can play well in my tournament.

Ever since I have been mountain biking I have heard people rave about the downhill at Deer Valley. My last experience of riding the lifts and biking down was not a good one, so I was a little hesitant to try it again. Our friend Alex has been trying to get us to come with him for a while now. He called this week and said he was going with a bunch of guys. I decided I was ready to try it. I got Lindsey to come with us, so I wouldn’t be the only girl!

I have gotten so much better at mountain biking. The uphill is still my strength, but I have gotten better at the downhill too. I am not nearly as timid and scared as I used to be. I have gotten better at taking more risks. But, I was still nervous about what the trails would be like, and how I would do

I had so much fun! We started out on Nail Driver, which was an intermediate trail. It had a lot of roots and rocks to ride over, and quite a few banking switchbacks. The switchback were great for me because the were designed for speed, so they were not very tight, but some of them were pretty technical. They were great practice for me, and did just about all of them on every run.

There was a really fun section in the middle with some fun stunts. There was an elevated path that I did a few times. There was also a teeter totter, which I was a total chicken on I did the teeter totter a bunch of times at the Dirt Series camp, but today I just didn’t do it.

I was really happy with how I did. It was great practice for me, since downhill is still my weakness. But, it was fun to see how much I have progressed. I rode so many things today that I never would have done last year. And I had fun while doing them!

Old Red Barn Co is giving away this quilt. It is so beautiful! I love the fabrics. I think it would look awesome in Emma’s room.

Enter by July 22nd to try to win it yourself! Click here to enter.

I saw this on a friend’s blog and thought I’d try it too. Maybe some of you who read all the time but never comment will leave me a memory

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Since this is our family blog, feel free to leave a memory about any of us.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. I look forward to the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game, and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you.

We have been having a great summer. I think I am enjoying it even more because it was such a long time coming! We had snow at the beginning of June and I thought that the weather was never going to cooperate. But, finally summer is definitely here.

And I have been fully taking advantage of the great weather. Since we joined Jeremy CC I started playing with the Ladies Association every Tuesday. I also joined their team, and have played a few team matches. It has been so nice to be back out there playing golf again. I am nowhere near the player I used to be. I have only broken 80 once this summer, and it was just in a casual round with my dad. I have been a bit frustrated about it, but I am trying to be patient with myself. I know that eventually it will come back. Right now I just have too many other things to devote my time to, and I am just trying to enjoy being out there.

Speaking of other things that I have been doing…..I have been mountain biking a ton. I have been riding about 3-4 times a week. I have really made a breakthrough this summer. I have gotten in so much better shape and it has made the rides so much more fun. Now I can enjoy the rides instead of trying not to die on the trail. Yesterday I did the Glenwild Loop with Vicky and Yori. I hadn’t done that trail since the middle of last summer. I was shocked at how much better I did–both in regards to fitness and my skills. Last year I can remember stopping because I felt like I was going to die. I also walked almost all the switchbacks and down some of the steep sections because I was scared. Yesterday I was like a different rider. I did most of the switchbacks and the steep parts didn’t even seem hard. I am really having a great time, and I am getting in shape at the same time.

Besides all the things I have been doing for myself, I have had a busy schedule with the kids. They just finished up their 4th week of swimming lessons. The last session I did a mom and me class with Nora. She had a great time. She loved the water. He most favorite part was jumping in off the side of the pool. After the first class, she didn’t want to do any of the other things. She kept yelling and squealing. She just wanted to get over to the side and jump in. She is so determined and stubborn!

This week Emma and Ian are going to summer camp at Little Miners. Today was the first day, and they had a great time. I am looking forward to a little break too. Running errands is difficult with 3 kids in tow!

Scott has been busy too. He has been working more than normal. He hasn’t been traveling as much as normal, but he has been working a lot at home. He has had time to do some fun things too. He did two centuries on his road bike–the Salt Lake Century and The MS 150. This past weekend he did the Porcupine hill climb. I was really proud of him for completing that! He is going a surf trip with his buddies from California in a few weeks, and then he has his big Ireland trip coming up.

All in all, it has been a great summer. It is flying by, and I can’t believe that in just a little over a month the kids will be back at school!

The “Dry Bed and Bye Bye KiKi” party was a success.

We had a pretty good turn out. Aside from a traffic jam on the way there, things went without a hitch. Emma was in all her glory–she was the center of attention with all her friends.

She absolutely couldn’t wait for the party. She asked “How many more days until my party?” at least a million times. I think we were as excited as she was that the day had finally come

The big slide and the air hockey game were big hits.

The nights since the party have been a bit of a struggle. Emma was really excited about the party, but I don’t think she really thought about the fact that she would be saying goodbye to her blanket forever. When we got home from the party, I gave her the blankie for one last snuggle session. I took some pictures of her with it. Then she helped me pack it up into a mailing box. I told her that we were going to mail it off to a new baby that needed a blankie. I could tell she was sad, but she acted pretty brave. She didn’t really ask about it until she got into bed that night.

The first night without it wasn’t too bad. She was exhausted after the party, and she pretty much just collapsed into bed. The next night, I went on my bike ride, and Garrett watched the kids. He called me about 8:30pm because Emma was crying and said she couldn’t go to bed without her kiki. I told her to get her stuffed animal that she calls “Little Darling” and snuggle with that.

Last night was the hardest night for her. I put her to bed and a little while later I heard her sobbing in her room. I went in, and she was just laying in her bed crying for her kiki. I felt so sad for her, I wanted to give it back to her. But I knew that I couldn’t. I just laid in there with her and cuddled her, and told her I knew how sad she was and how much she missed her blankie. I told her that each night would get easier, and soon she would fall asleep without even thinking about her kiki.